Authors Note:

I'm thinking of writing an off shoot/sequel that focuses around Bray and Angie and their whole story. Let me know if anyone's interested or would be interested in that.

Footsteps.

Bray sucked in a ragged breath as they scrapped their way across the cold concrete floor. He was utterly annoyed that someone had dared to shatter the silence of the barn, let alone have the nerve to approach him. What could they possibly want now? All morning he'd been bothered, all of them needing one dreadful thing after another. Dean more so than the rest. Despite Bray telling him they were done, he was still clinging to the idea that he could stay. After hours of Dean's pleas, Bray had had enough. He sought the solitude of the old barn, finding it easier to tolerate the damp muskiness of it than to listen to Dean continue to whine. All he had wanted was to wait in silence, to prepare himself for the war that was coming. He hadn't felt it was a lot to ask, but at least for someone, it had been.
"I thought I made it clear I wanted to be left on my own." His voice was gruff and cold. "Obviously you want something." He got no answer. "I asked you a question." Again nothing. Just faintest sound of someone breathing. Bray slammed his fist against the workbench, hurriedly turning to see Luke standing just a few feet away; silently waiting. "Well?" The older man absently scratched his beard before wrapping his hands around the edges of his flannel shirt. "Are you simply checking in on me or has something come up?" The second Bray had said it, he felt a little stupid. Of course something had come up. Luke wouldn't be here if it wasn't.
"You're needed." Bray nodded, grinding his teeth slightly. More problems. Lately it felt like the problems were never ending, today was no exception. It never dawned on Bray that what he was needed for, was the very thing he had spent his morning waiting on.
"Is it Dean?" Luke shook his head no. "An interloper?" Again Luke shook his head no, peeving Bray even further.
"I'm not interested in playing any more games brother." Luke cocked his head slightly. "You tell me I'm needed, so just tell me what I'm needed for."
"Angie called." Bray swallowed, feeling his stomach drop into his feet at that news. His previous irritation was long forgotten. Instead he felt the anxiety quickly build up inside of him, filling him to the brim. He'd sat here for most of the morning, waiting to hear those words. Now they had come and he didn't feel any more confident about them than he had when he had woken up this morning. "And?"
"Seems she had some trouble at the airport and was unable to call until now." Bray's eyebrows went up in suspicion. He didn't like how Luke had phrased that.
"Trouble?"

Bray narrowed his eyes slightly as he pondered that word; trouble. The only trouble she could have had was either with the airline or with security. Beyond that, it should have been clear sailing for her. "What kind of trouble?"
"Roman." Bray's eyes opened to the point that they nearly bulged out of his skull. Unquestionably, it had have to have been Roman. Nothing else beyond it being Roman seemed appropriate. "Seems he used her stolen phone to follow her here." Bray closed his eyes, shaking his head. That damn phone. How could one stupid little device cause so much worry? "Once he tracked her down at the airport, he coerced her into bringing him out here."
"Coerced?" Bray made no attempt to hide his contempt of that word. Nor did he bother to hide his disdain at the idea that Angie had been forced into helping the over grown brute. "Coerced how?"
"He threatened to expose her as your spy and your..." Luke uncharacteristically paused. Bray opened his eyes, the silence only irritating him further. "My what? He accused her of being my what?" The look became pained. It was obvious he was trying to be tactful. Bray leaned back against the work bench, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Just say it." Luke hesitated again. "The insults already been laid down brother. You won't hurt either of our feelings by repeating it." The weight of insulting either of them quickly lifted, finally allowing Luke to voice the two words he had been holding back; your whore.

Bray didn't remember hurling the hammer. He barely remembered the percussive sound that the glass made as the hammer sailed through the nearest window. All he could remember was the shear anger that was pulsing through him at that particular moment. He stood there seething, his fingers twisting their way into his thick beard. He was tired of this; tired of being levied with the false accusations and lies. It was vexing that all of them were being measured against a hypocrite's double standard.
"Denial must be a wonderful thing." Luke didn't respond to that statement. He didn't need too. "Of course that petty fool accused her of that. He's too damn blind to his own short comings not too." Bray's fingers made their way out of his beard, his hands falling back to his sides. "I assume the result of his threat would be that someone would become unemployed?"
"It was." Neither man needed to voice who that would be. The both already knew. Bray quickly ran a hand over his hair, easily letting out another frustrated sigh.
"I'm done this, with these charlatans." Bray looked up at Luke. "We are so much better than them. Yet they continue to drag us down and now..." Bray faded off, not wanting to voice the last part. He didn't even want to think it. After all the misfortune they had already had, Bray didn't want to hang even more out in the universe by the mere suggestion of something happening to Angie.

Instead, Bray quickly turned the conversation back to Angie's arrival. It was his hope that he could distract himself with the happy news of her impending arrival. He needed the happy news right now. Everything else could be handled in due time. For now, he just needed to know that she was here without any further complications. "Has she arrived yet?" Bray couldn't hide the impatience in his voice if he tried.
"She's here." Those two words made everything stop. Finally. Bray closed his eyes, letting the sheer joy of the news wash over him. How long had he waited to hear those two words? "I knew you'd be pleased with that news." Bray opened his eyes to see Luke's sober expression.
"Mildly." Bray shot him a wry smile. "Where is she?"
"She asked to lay down for a while." Bray only nodded, quelling his irritation of missing her arrival. It had been his own fault for missing it. Had he stayed in the house, then he would have been there to take the phone call himself. Instead he'd come out here. Obviously the price for that was missing Angie's arrival.
"Then come get me when she wakes."
"There may be obstacles with her." Bray cocked an eyebrow to that. It seemed like Luke was acting as if obstacles regarding Angie were something new. "Obstacles beyond the norm anyway." Bray gave him a skeptical look. "Coming here has made the exterior fall away. She can't hide that she's damaged…broken." Luke got quiet for a moment, seemingly reflecting on the situation. "She could lash out."
"She won't." Bray shoved his hands into his pockets, squaring his stance slightly. "Not in the way you think anyway." Luke narrowed his eyes, slightly unsure by that. "I wouldn't have asked this of her if I thought she would be any different than she is now. I can see her, the whole her. I know what's been hiding just beneath that cool surface all along." Bray gave Luke a confident smirk. "Leave her to me brother. I'll take care of her." The larger man nodded, seemingly satisfied with Bray's answer.
"She insisted on a room with a lock on the inside." Of course she had. He had expected her too. Bray would have thought her a fool not too. "So naturally that only left yours."
"Naturally." Luke shifted uncomfortably at Bray's tone.
"We can move…" Bray easily shook his head no, cutting Luke off.
"Let her stay there for now. If she wakes up somewhere different then she's likely to leave for that abysmal hell pit she calls home at her first chance." Bray stretched his shoulders, grunting when one of them popped from the strain. "I can fight that battle with her when the time comes. In the meantime..." Bray scratched his jaw. "There are more pressing matters that require my attention. I trust you handled Roman." The name came out as a growl. "I'm assuming he arrived as well." Luke nodded.
"Erick dumped him with Ambrose for the time being." Dumped?
"Why? There's no need for them to stay. If Roman's here, then have him take Dean. Let them sort out their problems elsewhere. They surely don't need my house for that." Luke made an unreadable face. "What is it? What else has happened?" Luke hesitated for a moment, seemingly grimacing at the idea of having to deliver more bad news.
"Roman had an accident of sorts." Bray closed his eyes, grinding his. "As a result, he may not be fit to travel for a day or two." Bray's whole body sagged under the weight of that news. He had wanted them gone the second Luke had told him Roman was on his way. He needed them to be gone, if for nothing else than to retain what was left of his sanity. "Your hands are full as it is. If you want, Erick and Braun can handle them. You don't need to worry about it." Bray scoffed, running his hands over his face. Unfortunately it was exactly what he needed to worry about. It had been hard enough keeping Dean confined to the house. Things weren't going to be any easier now that both of them were here. The second Roman was well, he wasn't likely to just leave. He would be sure to cause even more problems than he already had, just for spite.
"They're both in Dean's room?" Luke nodded.
"Do you want them moved?" Bray quickly shook his head no.
"Leave them. I'll go up and address them once I've had a chance to collect my thoughts. In the interim….just keep them contained. Lock them in if you need too. " Bray scratched his forehead, missing Luke's smile at that last part. "Put Erick with Angie. He can stop her if she tries something stupid." Not that Bray expected her too. Never the less, the last thing he wanted was for her to wind up hurt or dead before ever getting the chance to see her. "I'll deal with the rest once I've had a chance to handle Roman and Dean." He let his hand fall away from his face as he turned back towards the work bench. Bray let himself lean against it, welcoming the support it offered. He felt like he had aged a year in the last five minutes. It wasn't a good feeling.
"There is one other thing." Bray winced, letting his forehead fall onto the table. God what else could there be? "In her rush, Angie left her car keys with me."

Bray instantly stood up, easily facing Luke. He would have sworn he hadn't heard the larger man right. She hadn't been that careless. There was no way she could have been that careless.
"She did what?" Luke produced the keys, effortlessly holding them out so Bray could see.
"I drove us in and in her haste to get into the house, she must have forgotten about them. I doubt she's even missed them." Bray doubted that as well. If she had, then she would have made her presence felt faster than he could breathe. "What should I do with them?" That was the big question, wasn't it? Bray couldn't stifle the temptation of holding onto them, simply because it gave him complete control over the game. As long as he had her keys, she would be forced to stay. There would be no running home. No hiding behind the hard exterior. She would have to face him as her broken self. That was a decided advantage when it came to him fulfilling her purpose for being here. But he couldn't go back his promise of good intentions simply to slate his own desires, could he?
"It would be…wrong…to keep them." Bray glanced up at Luke, seeing the older man's curious expression. "Wouldn't it?"
"She left them behind. Keeping them seems appropriate." Luke grinned ever so slightly. "For safety." Bray grinned back, liking where this was heading. "She still has her phone. If she wants to leave that badly then all she needs to do is call a cab." Bray's grin fell, his lip involuntarily twitching at that statement. He briefly wondered how difficult it would be to relieve her of the damn thing, if nothing else then for him to throw it in the swamp for all the trouble it had caused. "I can always say they were lost. It's not like she would be any wiser." She wouldn't be, at least not right away. But there was always the chance of the lie being discovered, followed by the unimaginable fury that discovery would bring. It was a huge risk for Bray to even consider it, let alone take it. So why was he still thinking about taking it?
"I brought her here to save her." Bray paused, taking a deep breath. "She's drowning man." He paused again. "The battle between us, it's long overdue. I can't have that battle with her if she's out there. I need it to be here." His eyes traveled back to the keys, staring at them again. "I can make her listen to me if she's here." Bray closed his eyes for a moment. "I can save her. I can spin her into something so sweet that I could have whatever I wanted regarding her." He paused again. But it would be a lie; and Bray didn't want it to be a lie. He didn't want the eternal Sword of Damocles that was her learning the truth hanging over his head. He never wanted to dread coming home one day to find her long gone. If she was here, then let her be here because it was real. After his experience with Dean, he wouldn't accept anything less than real.
"Then maybe there's another way."

Another way. Bray felt like a fool for not thinking of it himself. There was another way, there was always another way. His eyes snapped back up to Luke's stoic face before dropping back down to the car keys. His lips twitched again as he gaze at them. They hadn't been missed yet and there was a very good chance they may not ever be missed, it all depended on how the next few days went. Either way, she couldn't get mad at him for holding onto the keys for now; especially if it was in the interest of safety.
"Put them with the other keys." Luke smirked, his hand closing around them. "If she asks for them, then you'll be happy to provide them to her." The older man nodded. "But, we'll see if she has any need of them come Monday." A sly grin played across Bray's lips as the words fell from his mouth. "Who knows…" He let out a small chuckle. "She may decide to stay."