everyonelives | there are prizes all around you if you're wise enough to see

Love you too. Talk to you tomorrow.

[And with that he will pass out to try and get some sleep, even if sleep isn't coming easy.

The next morning he gets up and drives the rest of the way, arriving at the bunker somewhere in the late afternoon and he studies the exterior for a bit before pulling out his phone and texting his mother:]

I'm here. How do I get in?

Edited 2024-12-21 22:54 (UTC)

( After a morning run and an awkward group breakfast, Evelyn joins Sam and Dean with the books, in case something else emerges to give her son a leg up. So far, blood is the going idea and Dean has plans to make Lucas his own bullets before they fly out tonight or tomorrow.

She gets Cooper's text and Dean meets him at the landing.

From behind him, Cooper can hear the bunker's door unlock and in a few minutes, he'll see Dean's face greeting him.

"Over here," he says, veering him back across the grass and up. He exchanges quick pleasantries but knows he's a man on a mission, so he lets Coop make his way down the stairs himself. )

Edited 2024-12-21 23:03 (UTC)

[Coop gives Dean a wave and a smile, but he's not wrong - as good as it to see him, any hunter, in one piece when they do the job they do is always good. But Coop is here to see the man who meets him at the bottom of the stairs and pulls him into a warm hug.

It's good to see Lucas again, touch him again. He asks all kinds of questions that Lucas doesn't have answers for, at least not yet, but eventually it gets down to "what are we going to do about it," and he's less than pleased.]

So in order to free them from the evil witch, Lucas has to go murder her. It has to be Lucas.

[He wants to make sure he's understanding the situation.]

Or, Grayson, or Miranda, but, everyone agrees Lucas has the experience behind him, and the best chance at this, if we have only one chance.

( and that's the gist. )

[Coop nods slowly, because it's a solid plan. He then looks back to his brother.]

Do you need backup?

["There'll be witches there. Supposedly they want the same things we do, so I'll have help."

Coop doesn't think that's the most ringing endorsement, but fine. Lucas makes a face before:

"Did you call - "]

Yeah. Do you want me to -

[Lucas shakes his head. "No, not yet. Not until we're sure it sticks."]

( A silent look passes between their parents, but Evelyn isn't going to pry. )

One of the witches is here. He helped your father and me. ( Tried. ) He knows what he's talking about and, as far as we're concerned, we trust him.

( All that trust could topple at any moment, but. )

[Cooper nods slowly. He's not sure he's thrilled with this witch, but if Mom trusts him, then he'll follow her lead.]

Okay. Then we trust him.

[Coop sighs heavily, running a hand over his face.]

When do you have to leave?

As soon as possible. They have boots on the ground in Mexico already. He and Ezra are joining them.

( So, it's a shortlived reunion with the promise and hope of more to come. )

[Coop nods before pulling out his phone.]

Did they give you a phone?

[Lucas nods before fishing his out. As he exchanges numbers with his brother he frowns. "Hey, where's Mickey? Dad said he made it out."

Coop's mouth gapes for a minute.]

Uh. He's up in Star City.

[Lucas pauses, studying his brother. "Did you tell him?"

Coop rubs the back of his neck.]

No, not exactly.

["Why the fuck not?"

Coop glances at his father, who raises an eyebrow.]

Uh. Well. It's a little ... complicated.

["What's complicated about it, Coop?"

Coop can't get his mouth around it because he doesn't want to out Mickey, but before he can get it out, Sullivan does it for him: "Because Mickey got turned, and inviting him in would be complicated."

Lucas bolts up and looks at his brother. "The fuck?"

Cooper, however, is staring at his father.]

You knew?

[Michael gives his son a look. "I spent a cross country road trip with that boy, he was a inside man for the Mikaelsons of all people, and you two disappeared for a few hours and the next day, the Central City blood bank reported a shortage. It may take me a bit to catch on, but I ain't stupid."

Coop buries his face in his hands while Lucas just glances between the two of them. "What the fuck happened after I died?"]

( Evelyn is back to being behind, just watching her boys come to a stalemate her husband wins for himself. She doesn't know Mickey, or much about what happened personally in Europe, only the basics and the aftermath.

Dean's slipped in behind everyone, unlocking his burner drawer. Elena's parents need two to their name to start, in case there are people not dead they want to contact, and each other.

He pauses, drawer open. Two plus two usually equals four: )

You two share a bf who was turned and compelled by Klaus?

( Never the subtle brother. )

The guy at drinks?

Edited 2024-12-31 01:18 (UTC)

[Lucas blinks and then turns to his brother like please explain.]

He was turned by Damon Salvatore, actually, but yeah.

["And where the fuck were you? You were supposed to have his back!"]

I did! Until they split us up. They sent me to Prague and Mickey to Mystic Falls. I'm not sure what happened, but the next time I saw him, he was a vampire, compelled to be Klaus' inside man and trying to kill me to keep his cover.

[To be honest, neither of them have dug too deeply into this, and from Cooper's perspective the ways he failed Mickey tread too closely to a lot of things about New Orleans that he would prefer to forget. He didn't want to have this conversation this way but here they are.]

( Damon Salvatore pulled the trigger, that's right. But, Dean can put the pieces of this together. )

Mickey's army-hunter friends stocked up to hit a kid's graduation, but Mickey got itchy on his trigger finger and attacked the other Salvatore brother. Elena got involved, we tracked him back to a hunter bar and captured him. ...You know the rest.

( Dean can at least smooth this over, though because: )

You missed out on all of Tamara Monroe's hunters disbanding. You ask me, London was the start of that.

[Lucas runs a hand over his face, trying to process all of this, and he's angry. He's so angry that things seemed to have gotten worse, rather than better. That his friends and family may not be dead, but for some of them she's not sure it's better.]

You need to tell him.

["I will. Once everything's -"]

No.

[He has energy to walk off so he's going to go do that - maybe find Ezra because they should probably hit the road, but he's going to make his wishes clear here:]

Tell him now.

[He takes a breath, trying to burn off some of it.]

I'm gonna go pack.

He gets that Tamara Monroe's hunties falling apart is a good thing, right?

( but Lucas was in London, so he was in the middle of it. maybe he doesn't...

Evelyn puts a hand on her son's shoulder and Dean takes his leave, returning to the Gilberts.

"You're doing what you think is best. He knows that, honey," she says, before leaving her son and husband to check in on Lucas. )

["No, he knows," Michael says in response to Dean's question. "But he and Mickey were also close. I feel like that might be coloring everything else."

But Michael will leave Evelyn to deal with their son, and Cooper will nod at what his mother said, before plopping himself in a chair and pulling out his phone. He stares at it for a bit, before opting to not be an even bigger dick than he already is being, and heads out of the bunker to sit on the hood of his car and giving Mickey a call.

And when the man does pick up, he opens with:]

So I've been an asshole, and I'm sorry.

( Mickey spent years moving from one phase of life to another, often with no lead-up. He left Texas and joined the military before being plucked by a lieutenant of Tamara Monroe's, lost the best friend he made there (and probably the only person who really knew the real him), separated from Lucas' little brother, jumped the shark in Mystic Falls, was turned in an instant... One thing after another.

Finally, in Star City, he slows down. It isn't easy. And it comes with soul searching and dates he hopes are leading somewhere. While Wes has grounded him, it's really Mia, Cooper's boyfriend's sister that saves him from aimlessness. He patrols with her. Applies to a job in her uncle's club to keep himself busy. (Bouncing is easy when you're a vampire.) She's the only one who knows Wes exists (and has met him), and the only other one he thinks knows he's a vampire. That wasn't an easy conversation, but he's never heard about a slayer. He doesn't know anything about the supernatural world. He and Mia had that in common, being thrust into something they never asked for.

He finally works the courage up to invite Wes back to his first ever apartment after his shift, and leaves Wes in the front room with William's sister to answer the call on the balcony.

Maybe a part of him resented Cooper, finding William as a touchstone, someone to ground him after everything, but he doesn't hold that to him. Doesn't begrudge him his own life and his own mourning.

Truth be told, he hasn't had a chance to mourn. That came out on one of his dates with Wes. Not attractive or hot, but necessary.

He's given Cooper his space. Cooper has earned that. So, when he sees his name on the phone, he thinks maybe it's something hunter-related. Or related to what he is... )

Coop --

( He doesn't get any more words in before Cooper says that.

Looking over Star City, he doesn't really know what to say. There was a time, early on in his transition that he wished for a call like this. Or, an in-person something. Any acknowledgement with New Orleans. But fuck if he also wanted to leave it in the past.

So, his first instinct is to dismiss it. He doesn't need the guilt on either end. )

I'm not holding you to anything. We both have our stuff.

Maybe, but ... I've made some deliberately dick moves lately. I've been a really shitty friend.

[Maybe his intention wasn't to hurt him, but he did. He's going to. He takes a deep breath, before running a hand over his face. He usually prides himself on being a better friend.]

Okay, first thing: my dad knows you're a vampire.

[He'll start with the smaller blow.]

I didn't know until today, but apparently he figured it out after we hit the blood bank.

Fair play, I was asked to kill you.

( That could remain under his skin, he doesn't begrudge him that. But, Cooper sounds determined, so he stays on the line and hears him out. )

Coop, what the fuck.

( He's not as bothered as he would be three months ago, but it's his thing, not Cooper's. But, he doesn't want to ask his next question, doesn't even know what question to even ask. Is he being marched back? Threatened? Welcomed back into the friend-fold? This didn't start negative. )

Fine. He knows. Unless he and your mom doubled back to off me, I don't care, man.

They're not. He doesn't seem pissed, more amused that we thought he was that dumb, apparently. That's not the worst thing.

[No, the worst thing is the douchebag move he knew would be a douchebag move but did it anyway.]

That call I got at dinner the other night? It was my mom. She was helping the Winchesters out with something, and it triggered some kind of magic that brought Lucas back.

( If his heart could beat, it would drop. )

What's the worst thing.

( And why now? He doesn't care about the call. It was nice to be invited and then kicked out shortly after getting there, though, that, too was a dick... move. )

Back from - where - from - ( he half drops against the exposed brick of the building, fighting to keep his legs up. ) the dead?

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