Standing Outside the Fire

1

[Exile on Main St.]

(Dean and Frankie along the line move up from an apartment.)

ONE YEAR AGO

NOW

An alarm beeped at precisely seven am. Dean woke up in bed next to Francesca.

"You okay?" Francesca asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Dean replied.

INT. BAR

Dean was having a beer with Sid.

Sid spoke. "And thank God this is before Facebook, right? Because it'd be me and that goat all over the Internet. Don't get me wrong, right? No complaints. But if you'd have said to me, "hey, you -- 15 years from now? Suburbia.""

"Oh. Yeah," Dean agreed.

"Right?"

"Believe me, I know."

"So, you've traveled around a lot, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. Yeah, my whole life, pretty much."

"And?"

"I don't know."

"Come on. You -- what, you moved in, what, about a year ago?"

"Yeah, thereabouts."

"So I been buying you beer for a year. And I think that means you owe me a couple of gory details."

"Oh, no. There's not much to tell, you know? It's, uh... I lived on the road... Took, uh, crap jobs that nobody else wanted."

"Like?"

"Like... Pest control."

"Really? Pest control."

"Yeah. You get to work with a partner or two. You get to help people. You have no idea what's in some people's walls. It could eat 'em alive."

"Yeesh."

"'Course, that was then. And now..."

"You're practically respectable."

"Yeah. Wow. I guess. That's kind of scary, actually."

"Thanks, guys," a waitress said.

"Thank you," Sid replied. "I think she likes you."

Dean held up the receipt with her name, Brigitta, and her phone number on it. "You think?"

"What is it with you?! Like, every time!"

"It's like chicks specifically dig unavailable." He ripped up the receipt. "Who knew?"

"I will see you tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks, man."

EXT. STREET

A woman screamed in the distance.

Dean got a flashlight and gun from his truck and entered a deserted building. He found some claw marks and blood.

INT. DEAN'S HOUSE

Dean sat at his computer and was on the phone. "And no one's called about a missing person?" ... "No, this would have been today." ... "So no reports of anything around Vineland and Oak Tree, near that hotel renovation?" ... "Uh, call it a hunch." ... "I've been a cop for a long time." ... "Okay, yeah." ... "No, I'll call you tomorrow. You too, man. Bye."

Francesca stepped in the doorway. "Hey. Who was that?"

"Sid. I'm just setting up a poker game."

"It's 11:30."