Seth yawned and looked over at Dean who chuckled.
"Go to bed. I'll take the first night shift," Dean said.
"Wake me up around 5 AM," Seth said.
"Will do, champ," Dean said.
Louisiana had gone to bed an hour ago. Seth and Dean had talked and unwinded during the last hour. Roman had stopped by to pick up her bloody clothes, and he had stayed while she took a pregnancy test. At least she wasn't pregnant so that was one less problem to deal with.
"Goodnight," Seth said.
"Sleep well," Dean said.
Seth stretched his body and then walked out of the room. Dean leaned back on the couch, tilted his head back on the back rest, and stared up in the ceiling. He couldn't even begin to imagine what Louisiana had gone through. All he knew was that it was bad. Really fucking bad. Eventually she would get the help she needed and work her way through whatever she experienced in that house, and hopefully they would get to bring down everyone who had been part of it.
"Dean?" She asked lowly.
He tilted his head back and looked at her. She had entered the room soundlessly. She was probably used to holding her breath and tiptoeing around in that house in order to catch any sound outside of the room she had been in.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" He asked.
"I can't sleep," she said.
"Yeah, I can only imagine how wild your thoughts are running right now," he said.
He patted the couch next to him as an invite to join him. She shifted her weight from foot to foot as if she was debating in her head whether or not to trust him. She finally walked over and sat down next to him.
"You're safe here. No one but us and Roman know where you are, and no one's going to hurt you here," he said.
"I know. It's just hard to believe I'm actually free," she said.
"I understand," he sighed. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really," she said.
He nodded at her. He would never force her to talk about it if she didn't feel comfortable with it.
"I overheard you and Seth call it the murder house," she said.
"Were you sneaking around listening in on our conversation?" He smirked. "That's not nice."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I'm kidding," he chuckled. "Yeah, the house is famous because a family was slaughtered in there. They never caught the killer."
"Why not?" She asked.
"Lack of evidence. Whoever he was, he did it clean. There was no evidence left at all. No finger prints, no hair, no DNA. Nothing," he said. "I think someone hired a pro to do it. It looked like a professional job. Whoever he was, he knew what he was doing. Either that, or that son of a bitch got very lucky."
She pulled her legs up on the couch and wrapped her arms around them. He had seen this behavior in many victims before her. A way of comforting themselves and trying to shield their body from the outside world.
"How do you know it was a man?" She asked.
"Women don't usually leave a crime scene like that," he said.
"Usually?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Alright, I hear you. Girl power and all that," he laughed. "Most women prefer poisoning their victims though. They don't like eye contact and close combat."
"Why not?" She asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'm sure there's studies made about it but I've never looked into it. Maybe you can do that once this is all over. A new hobby might be healthy for you."
"A new hobby where I study murders?" She giggled.
He couldn't help but smile at the little giggle. In that brief moment she had been amused. For a second her thoughts hadn't been back in that house where she had spent months. It felt good having made her giggle even though it was only for a second or two.
"You're funny. I like you," she said.
"Thank you," he said.
"I don't like the other one that much," she said.
"Seth or Roman?" He asked.
"Seth. He seems sort of angry," she said.
"He's a very serious man. He means no harm. He comes from a good place and he wants to help you as much as the rest of us. Seth is a planner. He's not a party guy but he's not angry. That much I know. I'll talk to him tomorrow about lightening up a bit," he said.
"Thank you," she said.
"Don't mention it. It's all about making you feel comfortable. He can put away his serious face for a few days," he said.
He gave her a toothy smile and she sent him a little one back.
"I like talking to you," she said. "You don't seem to judge me and what I've been through."
"I would never judge you," he said. "Anything you wanna talk about, I'm here."
"Well, there is one more thing," she said.
"Shoot," he said.
She fiddled with her fingers and looked away for a moment before looking back at him.
"I deliberately waited with this until Seth had gone to sleep," she said.
"Is it that bad?" He chuckled. "Look, Louisiana, you can tell me anything. No matter how small or weird it might seem, it might end up benefitting your case."
"You're not gonna like it," she said.
Knowing what she had already been through, he had a hard time figuring out what could be worse than that. Of course she hadn't talked about the actual details but his imagination worked just fine after Roman had shown up with a pregnancy test that she felt the need to take. He didn't need to know the details of how many had hurt her or how they had done it, but he was willing to listen if she was willing to talk. He put on his best smile to make her feel comfortable.
"Try me," he said.