best to take a moment present

[maleficum]

Comments

[praevaricatio]

Improve. I think I said, beef up.

( he hands his husband the phone. )

The wards.

[imnot_likeyou]

I understand that you want to keep her safe, but this doesn't mean you can come and go as you please.

["That isn't what we're asking."]

Then you won't mind if we have someone double check your work.

["Really? I thought we were allies."]

Yeah, that was before you didn't think through your plans, got a friend of ours branded and on the run and coerced Allison's best friend into going on your suicide mission. So no, I don't really feel like we're friends right now.

[praevaricatio]

He didn't say friends.

( he's leaning in close now, ear to ear, also invested in this. )

He said allies. And you can blame me for Lydia, or for Stiles, or for whatever you want. But, your wards will only do so much good against the Gauntlet. We're talking ancient, bloodthirsty witches coming out of the woodwork. By all means, check our work. We do the best. Your wards are good. But they're also dated, Sam.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam and Elena share a glance over top of the table, and he sighs before walking away.]

I'm calling Rowena.

[Elena sighs as well, though hers is more exasperated.

"I'll pick somewhere for us to meet. Once you're done in Moscow, text me and I'll send David the door."]

[cholesterol]

( Dean listens, can't argue against a ward-overlay - but he will argue who's doing it. He nods, though. So, they're taking her. Got it.

He ends the call, not unhappy the tension ratched between all parties. So it wasn't him after all.

He looks at Elena. )

Did we just inherit a kid.

[braveandstupid]

We are babysitting a kid.

[They are not inheriting.]

It's just temporary until they finish what they're doing with the Inner Circle.

[She is not going to ask if they died in the process. If they die then ... well, they'll figure that out later.]

[cholesterol]

( it's been a long time, but we can all see that Dean will slay babysitting as he always seems to slay a 'job' of some sort and he took decent care of sammy!

but, in this case, he's concerned with elena more than anything. he knows ezra's been in touch. he's how they found out about the inner circle in the first place. )

How close were you and Ezra before you found out what he was?

[braveandstupid]

Pretty.

[It did sting when she found out he'd been a plant all along. She thought they had really bonded, and when she found out it was all a ploy to get close to her, she was both hurt and disappointed.]

We started our residencies together. Which meant we saw each other more than we saw anyone else in our lives for several years.

[cholesterol]

Say the word and he's out on his ass. He planted himself in your life for the coven he wants to bring down. Don't think I don't see the conflict here.

( he will choose Elena every time. even though they need a witch. )

He doesn't work out, Rowena's in the wings. ( he calls out ) How's it going, Sammy?

[braveandstupid]

["Rowena's on her way back from seeing Damian in Chicago. It didn't go great but it didn't go terribly either." Meaning Damian's still alive but he's probably still cursed.

Elena rubs her eyes as she leans back in her seat.]

Honestly, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with him staying in the bunker. But Irina's just a little girl who's whole life got burned down around her. She deserves to be somewhere where she can feel safe.

[cholesterol]

He's not expecting to stay here.

( he says and asks incredulously. it's one thing to overhaul their wards, it's another to bunk with them. )

How'd he reveal himself again?

[braveandstupid]

He didn't. We figured it out and then confronted him.

[She runs her hand through her hair.]

When I was in the accident back in Mystic Falls, he came across the accident scene and Caroline figured out he was a witch - which I didn't previously know about. Then these other Colony witches started showing up, one of which was his husband, and we put two and two together from there.

[cholesterol]

The jig was up. And then he goes and throws Lydia to the proverbial wolves and, apparently, dragged the motormouth vampire in, too.

( he doesn't like it. )

Didn't Bonnie cross David's path?

[braveandstupid]

In London. He helped her when the Knightsbridge coven was under attack, and he helped her get her magic back when hunters took it in Prague. She trusts him, I think.

[She hasn't really spent much time with David, so she doesn't know what to make of him. But she doesn't have to be looking at Sam to know he's making a face at that.]

But I don't really know him.

[cholesterol]

It wouldn't be our first guest star team-up.

( he can feel Sam's expression behind him, too. )

Rowena was our frenemy for a long time before we found common ground. ( Lucifer. Sam's witch studies. There was a lot in between then and now. ) We have any reason to believe they don't want to off the Inner Circle?

( the enemy of my enemy )

[braveandstupid]

[She shakes her head.]

If they don't, there's a chance they wind up forcibly possessed by ancient witch ghosts in the not too distant future.

[And they definitely don't want that.]

[cholesterol]

Then, call Rowena in. Double check their work. The Gauntlet's coming home to roost, and there's a lot in our records that a wayward witch might want to get their hands on.

( he tilts his head. )

And call me Elisabeth Shue.

[braveandstupid]

[She smirks a bit at that.]

We're probably going to have to make sure that she can't get access to some of the weirder rooms of the bunker.

[Especially since they don't really know what's in some of them.]

[cholesterol]

Yeah, we wouldn't want to let out the Wicked Witch of the West again.

( right? )

[braveandstupid]

[Elena blinks at him because that's not what she expected. Then she glances over at Sam, and he sighs then nods.

"Yeah, it was ... a whole thing."

Elena nods slowly.]

You know, I thought my experience with the supernatural was weird, but you guys continue to find something new to surprise me.

[cholesterol]

We can top fantasy boarding school any day of the week.

( fictional creatures or not. he heard about the dragon, but jack missed out.

in all seriousness. )

If you trust Ezra. We trust Ezra. And we need numbers. They do, too. But, if he pulls a Lydia or a Stiles again, we're voting him off the island.

( Heidi Klum might as well say he's OUT )

[braveandstupid]

Agreed.

[Especially considering he was watching her because she's the doppelganger, which means she might be the thing he tries to pull. But she doesn't want to put that thought in Dean's brain right now so she won't.]

And I wouldn't say I trust him. I want to, but ... fool me once. So we can see where things go.

[cholesterol]

We've done worse.

( worked with worse. )

Rowena rerouting her Hell trip to come on back?

[imnot_likeyou]

[He nods as he hangs up.]

She and Abernathy just left Katherine and Damian, so she should be back soon.

[Elena nods, before getting up. "I'm going to go see what we might need in terms of the basics. Maybe make a run for toiletries and stuff for a kid."]

[cholesterol]

Right behind you.

( he can tag-along and help. they had that one baby case. the one time. he has no experience, it's true. but. he raised sam. )