Dean sighed heavily, staring at Sam with worried eyes. Instant regret filled him, as he noticed his brother’s demeanor. He knew what it was like to find that spark in another person that made you want to do crazy things. He also knew that Sam was better off without he and his dad, but they were family. Hell, they were hunters. Once you’re a hunter, you die a hunter.

He turned to Kenzi, shoving his gun back into the waistband of his pants with another sigh, “I know. I just wonder if we know her mom…like…should we try to tell her, or just let her go?”

He said the words mostly to himself, but his heart wanted to go and get her, the more his anger faded at the situation. He knew Sam was hurt, and upset, and honestly it was killing him. When Sam shrugged Kenzi off, Dean stopped, “Hey…calm down, okay? Its probably in your best interest to stay with us. I’ll let dad know when we get back. Sammy, I’m sorry about Anna…”

———-

Anna ran as fast as she could, every snap and noise in the woods calling her frantic attention. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of her, smiling with bright white teeth in the darkness. The man was attractive as his features came into view, but he didn’t seem to be human.

“Please…”, Anna begged as the man smiled at her.

“I’m not going to hurt you, darling. I want to help. Let me take all your trouble away.”

“How?”, she whispered, clinching her bag tighter to her shoulder, as she turned to look back at the cabin. She could run back. They could protect her.

“Come with me…”, the man whispered back, grabbing her hand. They both disappeared with a yelp from Anna.

Mika didn't know what was the right thing to do wholeheartedly. It was probably to go after the young girl and stop her from being vamp food, but her heart was just too tainted to fully make that decision properly. Instead she picked the other which was to leave her be, even if it meant Sam grew to hate her for it. "I don't know. It's possible but we have to focus on keeping Sam safe first and foremost. I know that's selfish but it's that or risk getting Sam hurt and John going absolutely apeshit" she told him.

Sam looked at Dean when he told him to calm down and not be so pissy with Kenzi. "whatever, like you'd tell dad she's here. Even I know you're not that suicidal and whatever" he said, opening the door and starting to head back toward the motel through the dense woodland, whilst also making sure he wasn't out of sight Dean and Kenzi.

Mika did indeed start walking back behind Sam, wanting to make sure that he didn't either run off or get ambushed again. Yet she also did find herself looking around to see if there was any sign of Anna around, but there didn't seem to be which made her sigh. "when did tonight become so messed up?" she thought to herself. After all the drama all she wanted to do was crash on the bed, but she had no idea if that was even going to be possible. She was fully expecting to see a pissed off John looking for Sam and Dean, seeing her and making her leave the motel. To which she would get in her car, drive out a few yards and sleep in her car once she parked up somewhere. That wasn't to say she hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

Dean shoved Sam forward at his and Kenzi’s words, stepping out the door behind him. He allowed him to have his space, but kept his eyes square on the back of his baby brother’s head. A million thoughts went through his own head as they walked. What if Sam had run away? What if he had been successful? What if he had’ve died? What if this girl was leading him into some weird trap?

He shook the thoughts from his head, brushing shoulders with Kenzi as he walked close to her as well. He pulled his phone from his pocket, and dialed his dad. John picked up on the first ring, causing Dean to clench his teeth.

“Dean? Sam’s…”

“Missing? Nah. He’s with me, Dad.”, Dean answered, trying to sound casual and cheery behind his shaky voice. He faked a smile to make it sound more authentic, “You know how he is. He met some nerdy kid, and they ended up getting some drinks and chilling in the courtyard…”

“Really, Dean? Because I’ve searched this entire motel. There’s a girl missing. Her mother is terrified. I was going to go out and help her look for the girl, but I couldn’t find either of you. Where are you?”, John spoke quickly, telling Dean he was packing a bag of tools to go out on his own.

“We took a walk before it got dark and got a bit…tangled up in the woods. We’re fine. We’re actually headed back, now. If this is something you think you can handle, Dad…I can stay with Sammy.”

“Sam doesn’t need a babysitter. But, considering the company, it might not be the worst idea for you to hang back. Have you had any sleep?”, John asked, slinging his bag onto his back as he exited the hotel room, and nodded at a hunter outside.

“Um…no. That’s what I was thinking. He seems pretty beat. I figured we would just turn in for the night. I have plenty of room.”, Dean lied, glancing back up at the back of Sam’s head. He softened his face, still feeling a pang of guilt as they walked, “Check in, you hear?”

“I will. Don’t leave the motel on foot. We don’t know what’s going on here…”, John finished, before hanging up the phone. Dean sighed deeply, speeding up enough to slap the back of his hand against Sam’s back.

“You’re clear…And you’re staying with me."

Sam frowned when he got shoved forward by Dean but dealt with it and kept walking nonetheless. If he was walking beside Dean he probably would have attempted to stop him from calling their dad but he was in front of him and couldn't stop him even if he wanted to. It was only when he heard talking to their dad on the phone that he thought he had royally screwed up, but judging by Dean's replies he was managing to keep his dad from absolutely going apeshit at him.

As Dean brushed shoulders with her, Mika had to really refrained from looping her arm through his as they walked back, keeping an eye on Sam the entire time. She remained silent as she let Dean make the dreaded phone call to John, a phone call she couldn't help but listen in on as best she could as she casually walked back with the brothers. She couldn't quite hear what John was saying but going by Dean's replies she could get enough of an idea. She had to hand it to him that Dean really was working a good angle at stopping John from pulling him and Sam out with them. The moment Dean mentioned about having Sam in his room, she could tell it was a lie and if she was to stay for the night then Sam would take one of the beds, meaning they'd have to share the other and after their argument, could they really cope with that? She didn't know but they'd have to try.

With Dean speeding up to slap the back of Sam's back, Mika sped up also and smirked at how he was with Sam. It honestly reminding her of the old days. "thanks Dean...and seriously? Is Kenzi staying too?" Sam replied, "only if Dean wants me to" Mika replied, "if not, my car ain't awful to sleep in" she added.

Dean nodded and smiled, trying to relieve the tension with his brother before he was trapped in a hotel room with him all night. He shrugged his shoulders, walking close to Sam, “I was going to say ‘if she wants to’, but…sure. She can stay. It’s not like I’ve never slept on a couch before.”

His eyes wandered over to Kenzi’s as they began to see lights breaking through the trees, signaling they were close to being out of the woods. Cars were peeling out of the parking lot, he assumed to go an search for the missing girl, John was talking about. They were looking for Anna.

A pang of guilt crept back up into the pit of his stomach as he remembered her face, Sam’s face, and the look of excitement and worth leaving both of their faces before she ran out into the night, and into her likely demise. Shaking his head, he gritted his teeth for a few seconds, “Let’s go. We have cold pizza in the room.”

Leading them across the parking lot, careful to make sure the hunters had cleared the area, they ended up at the door of his hotel room. He hadn’t locked up, in the chaos of their search and rescue. He swung the door open, walking into the room while turning to Sam.

“Sammy. You gonna be okay, man?”, he asked, his eyes traveling to Kenzi’s and then back to Sam’s, as if to ask them both. He almost felt bad for her, too…almost.

Sam didn't know how to react to the agreement that Kenzi would be staying in the room with them. On one hand he didn't want her anywhere near his brother, on the other he wanted her to stay because he wanted to know if his hunches on her true identity were indeed true. It would just mean waiting for both Dean and Kenzi to be fast asleep first. He nodded and just gave a sort of half huff noise out. "Fair enough" he then said, as he too saw the clearing coming into view and clearly numerous hunters all pulling out of the parking lot to go on the search for Anna.

He still hated that she went on the run without anyone to keep her safe and he hoped to anything and everything that she would be safe and get away, make her life better for herself somehow. He just didn't want her mother to find her if what was said about she endured was as true as Anna made it out to be, and he certainly didn't have any reason to not believe her. WHen Anna spoke, to him, she sounded more believable than half of the things that ever came out of Kenzi's mouth. He also was aware of how Kenzi and Dean glanced at each other as they neared the clearing but decided to keep silent.

With it safe to cross the road and get to the motel, Mika with the boys headed back to the room Dean had and got inside. Sighing with relief, she dekitted her weapons and placed them back in her bag before turning to Dean and looking at him as he looked at her and Sam. "I'll be fine" Sam replied, stealing a slice of pizza that he just knew was Dean's judging by the toppings. He also noted how Kenzi's pizza was the very same as what Mika always ordered without fail, deciding to log that in his mind as yet another piece of evidence, not realising that that was entirely Dean's doing. "We'll all be fine" Mika told Dean, sitting down on one of the beds. "What about you?" she then asked Dean, concerned about the amount of rage he had been feeling this night.

Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother saying he’d be fine. He knew Sam would hold a bit of contempt, especially if this girl turned up dead or harmed. But, it was a risk he had to take for Sam’s well being. It was always Sam…

He looked up at Kenzi, and shrugged his shoulders, “I mean. Yeah. I’m fine.”

However, as he looked at her, he noticed that had bruised her chest. The bruise almost jumped out and slapped him in the face, causing him to grit his teeth and clinch his jaw. He wiped a hand down his face and shook his head, leaning both hands on the table to stabilize himself, “I’ll be fine.”

Within a couple of hours of sitting drowning them both out with his thoughts, Dean found himself collapse on his bed, asleep. He awoke to a pain in his stomach. Guilt. Probably from a dream, or rather nightmare about the altercation from earlier in the night. He sighed, running a hand down his face and stared over at Kenzi’s bed.

“Dammit Dean…”, he whispered to himself, reaching a hand up under his pillow to make sure his gun was still secure, before slipping out of his bed. He gently stepped over, lowering himself carefully into her bed, without looking around the room. He raised her blanket, and slipped his legs under, curling himself up around her and drifting off to sleep again, his face buried in her hair.

Neither Sam or Mika fully believed that Dean was okay, and his eyes darting down to where he had bruised her didn't go unnoticed. Sam thought nothing of it as he just assumed she had the bruise already and it wasn't Dean who caused it. She was a hutner after all, so it wasn't completely impossible for her to have gained a bruised chest in some altercation or another. Mika glanced her own eyes downward and noticed she was already starting to bruise up where he pinned her against the wall and gave him the look to say 'Don't worry about it, I've had worse'. Which was true, her whole back though now tattooed was scarred heavily from the wendigo shredding it in the attack. So for her, a bruise was nothing.

As the night progressed, Sam had fallen asleep on the sofa as he sat there watching tv which left Dean and kenzi to keep the beds. Luckily for him, he fitted on the sofa well enough that he wouldn't get a sore back when he woke up in the morning, if he slept al the way through. He did infact wake up during the night to find Dean had moved from his bed to the one Kenzi was in, hugging her from behind and seemingly in her sleep, Kenzi had wrapped her arms over his, holding his hands as she snuggled right back into him. Rolling his eyes in the dark, going solely by the moonlight to see around the room, he carefully got up off the sofa and out from under the spare blanket that one of them had laid over him without him realising and crept round Kenzi's bed to find her bag.

He made sure to keep as quiet as he possibly could as he slowly unzipped her duffel bag and started to rummage through it, hoping to find something...anything that would give him more evidence that Kenzi was Mika. He didn't particularly like snooping in a woman's bag, but he had to do it, for his brother's sanity and his own morbid curiosity. As he rummaged, being careful to not leave anything too out of place, he found a hidden inside pocket that had clearly been added by Kenzi herself, and not part of the original design. Opening the pocket he carefully delved his hand in and felt something tangle up in his fingers making him pull it out. Holding the chain up in the moonlight he quickly had to cover his mouth with his hand as he saw he was holding the necklace that Dean bought for Mika for her birthday the week of the attack. This was it...this was the hard proof he needed to put Dean out of his misery!

His silent joy was quickly shut down when he heard a noise escape from Kenzi so out of fear she was stirring awake (which she wasn't), he put the necklace back where he found it, zipped the bag back up and rushed as quietly as possible back to the sofa and under the blanket, closing his eyes and falling asleep once more until morning came.

John pulled the Impala to the side of the road, near a bridge and caused Dean to jolt forward with a groan.

“What the hell do you mean you want to leave?!”, he screamed as he shut the car off, opening his door to get out. Dean panicked, stepping out of the Impala to try and intercept his dad before he could reach Sam. He grabbed John the second he stepped out and started for the backseat door.

“Dad that’s enough! We can talk about this! As a family. We can talk about all of it, but you’re not touching him.”, Dean screamed, echoing through the empty darkness. John shrugged his arm off, raising a fist as if to punch Dean, “Do it, if it’ll make you feel better. But we’re going to talk about this…”

“If he wants to go to college, he can find one…while working. He doesn’t get to run away. That’s never been an option. This is the life. The job is HIS life.”, John screamed back, his rational brain obviously shut off by Sam’s request to be dropped off, for good, “And you…I don’t want to hear from you about how much this family means to you, after you specifically went against what I asked you to do with that girl. She poisoned your mind! “

Dean sighed, knowing that the attack was going to be on one of them or the other. He would rather it be him, than Sam.

Sam had hoped that his dad would be a bit more calm when he heard the news he said, but as he predicted as the more plausible reaction, John sreeched the impala to a halt and got out the car, screaming his head off. Sam was initially too terrified to leave the car, especially as he saw Dean trying to diffuse the situation and save him from being hit. Yet the moment JOhn went on the attack verbally to Dean, he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed his bag and got out the car, keeping his distance from his dad and decided now was the time to speak back. "Enough!! Don't hit him! Or me! This isn't normal dad! THis job? THis life? it's YOUR life! Maybe even Dean's! But this has NEVER been my life! I've never wanted this life! I'm going dad whether you like it or not! And Dean hasn't been poisoned by Kenzi!" he screamed at him, showing him all the pain and anger he had pent up in his words.

-------

Mika was elsewhere, nowhere near the Winchesters for once in her life. The last year and a half had been difficult. John found out what she was still meeting up with Dean either in their motels or on cases to help each other out when they really needed backup. She couldn't forget the night John found them in the motel as Dean was patching her up after she had patched him up and John absolutely lost his shit over it and quite literally threw her out of the room to have a go at Dean after screaming at her for being around his son. That night she found herself getting to the nearest dive bar and drinking until she felt she could pass out and sleep in her car. Ever since then, it was even more of a risk whenever she met up with Dean.

Here and now she was on a hunt, a simple one really involving a vengeful ghost that just refused to move on and pass over, instead enjoying terrorising poor bastards on the side of the road, luring them into the woods to kill them.

“Oh really?!”, John screamed back at Sam, stepping toward him. He had tears in his eyes, the disappointment palpable as he moved. Dean placed a hand on his Dad’s shoulder, a little more firm this time. But John didn’t stop, “You know? I’ve always tried to take care of you. I’ve tried, Sam. You never knew your mother, and I was aware of that. I was aware that none of this meant as much to you as it did to us…but walking out on your family for YOURSELF! You disappoint me boy…”

“Alright, enough! Sam…get in the car. You’re not going anywhere. This is ridiculous.”, Dean chimed in, shoving John roughly toward the car. As John recovered from the shove, Dean pointed a finger at Sam, “I’m trying to back you up, here. But don’t do this. This is a bridge you don’t want to burn…and I’ve lost enough, man.”

“This isn’t about you!”, John screamed, walking swiftly to Sam and grabbing both sides of his jacket, pulling his face close as he spoke, “Go, if you want. I’m done with you. But if you leave, now…don’t you EVER come back!”

“Dad…”, Dean muttered, his voice catching in his throat, childish fear creeping back up into his mind, “Dad, don’t do this…Sam. Tell him. Tell him you’ll stay, man.”

Sam listened to John as he yelled at him even more, tried to give excuses for his choices in bringing him and Dean up but none of it washed with Sam. He was done with being treated like shit and always being the one that never matched up to John's levels. He watched as Dean tried to back him up but it was pointless. Utterly pointless. He tried to step back and away from Jack hn more but sadl ly John still got ahold of him and threatened him to never come back if he left. But was that really all that bad?

He violently shrugged out of John's grip and stepped back two steps, "I'm sorry Dean but I csnt do this anymore. I have to live my own life and maybe you should too. You've wanted nothibg more than to find Mika or justice for her and she's been with us the whole damn time! Yet you've let dad talk and treat her like shit too! For God's sake Dean, Kenzi IS Mika!!" he told him, pulling out the necklace he stole from her bag a few weeks ago and threw it at him before turning on his heels and making a run for it.

Dean sighed when Sam told him he couldn’t stay, knowing that it was going to be a long drive with his dad, until Sam inevitably came back to them. He had never been on his own. He wouldn’t make it on his own. But as Sam became even more heated, and shoved their dad off of him, Dean narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

“Sam what are you…”, he started, as it dawned on him what Sam was saying. He caught the necklace, holding up in his hand. It was Mika’s. Kenzi was Mika…

“Sam wait! Stop!”, he screamed in the darkness, attempting to run after him, before John’s hand came to his shoulder, holding him back.

“Let him go.”

“Get off me. You know…he might be right. I think I’m gonna go spend some time at Bobby’s.”, Dean snapped, staring John down. He had tears in his eyes, “You need to figure out how to live with yourself…if something happens to Sammy.”

——

Somewhere along the road, Dean hitched a ride to Sioux Falls. It wasn’t as if they were far, anyway. He stared out the window the entire way, thinking over what Sam had said. This wasn’t just a hunch. This was something he had thought about as well, and now…well…now he wanted answers.

If there was anyone who had answers, it was Bobby Singer. As he dropped to his feet out of the truck, he grabbed his bag, the necklace clutched in the other hand. Carefully, he walked up the way through the junkyard, reaching Bobby’s door. He pressed the doorbell, and took a deep breath.

Bobby groaned hearing the door go and wondered who would be come knocking at his door at this time. It couldn't have been Mika as she was still on her hunt, not to mention she had her own keys to let herself in. So he got up and walked to the door, looking through the spyhole and seeing Dean, shocked he opened the door and ushering him inside, closing the door behind him. "Dean? What are you doing here boy? And where's Sam?" he asked. He couldn't imagine for any moment that Dean was here because of Mika and her true identity.

------

Mika managed to find the place in the wood where the woman was buries who was haunting the road and tried to rush her way through digging the ground up so she could salt and burn the remains, but she could also hear the spirit creeping up on her fast. "Shit Mika...come on!" she scolded herself, as she got to the remains and dug her lighter out of her jacket pocket, trying to get it to light up. "Don't fail me now" she muttered, when suddenly the lighter got thrown from her hands and she went flying back into a tree, making her hiss in pain.

At the mention of Sam, Dean sighed again, the worry and pain creeping up in his throat. He shook his head, “He left. He and dad had a falling out, and he’s gone, Bobby…”

A single tear fell from his eye as he explained the circumstances, stepping forward to let himself into the house. He sighed once again, and it dawned on him that he couldn’t just ask Bobby about what was going on, even though the necklace was still wrapped firmly around his hand.

“Um…do you wanna have a drink?”, he asked in a broken voice, “After that fight…I need a drink, or twelve. And um…I have a few questions about something Sam said.”

He could already tell that Bobby had been night capping, either winding down to get ready for bed, or get ready for his night shift watching the phones. It gave him a bit of courage, “About Mika.”

Hearing that yet again Sam and JOhn were at each other's throats wasn't much of a surprise but the fact Sam actually left this time was a surprise. "OH boy..." he sighed, letting Dean walk through the house to wherever he wanted to be whilst he followed on. He noticed something wrapped round Dean's hand but couldn't quite work out exactly what it was at first from the way Dean was gripping it. "Sure, the good stuff is in the living room, you know where" he told him. He didn't let it show in his reply, but hearing that he had questions about Mika momentarily caught him off guard. 'I was wondering when this day would creep back up' he thought to himself. He knew he had to try and lie as much as possible, especially with Mika out of the house.

"What has Sam said about her? I thought you moved on" he eventually managed to get the courage to say back to him. To say he was worried about how these next few minutes or hours were going to pan out would be an understatement. He knew if he slipped up only once, Mika would absolutely be pissed off with him, so he had tread carefully with this.

---------

Mika managed to get free from the tree with a swipe of her hand to shove the spirit off of her, where she clambered across the ground trying to find her lighter. It took a little bit of scurrying around, but she finally found it and got it to finally light where she threw it into the remains, seeing them burst into flames and the spirit screamed as it dissipated and left this plain.

With it over, she let herself lay on the floor and sigh. "Finally....so much for an easy hunt" she complained to herself, as she let herself regulate her breathing better so she wasn't panting. "Man I need a drink" she sighed.

Dean poured himself some whiskey, definitely needing it for this conversation, before holding up the necklace in his free hand. He kicked back the shot of whiskey, and dangled the necklace from his hand.

“He says that Mika is alive.”, he blurted out, laying the necklace on the desk beside the whiskey bottle. He smiled and gave a disbelieving scoff, pouring two glasses this time, “…he says that…Kenzi…is Mika. You can see why I would be a little…concerned by that.”

He kicked back his second glass, and pointed at Bobby, “So, I’m asking you, in all your wisdom and your inability to lie to me, especially since you’re halfway through this bottle…”, he paused and stepped forward.

“Is Mika alive?”

Bobby knew the last thing he should be doing is drinking with Dean whilst he's asking questions about Mika's whereabouts. Dean knew that if he was drunk enough, Bobby would spill everything and he was doing a damn good job at getting him drunk enough, no matter how hard he tried to avoid drinking. Seeing the necklace drop down in Dean's grip, he suddenly recognised it instantly. The necklace that Mika treasured more than anything else in her possession, the necklace Dean gave her.

"how did you...?" he started to ask before trailing off and finally blurting out the answer Dean had been wanting all this time. "..... Yes" he looked down before back up at him, "Sam is right... The Kenzi you know is Mika.....she bleached her hair much to my disapproval, changed her look and became 'Kenzi'." he began to explain. "she managed to stagger all the way here that night looking a right mess.... Her back was torn to shreds I could sworn her spine was starting to show through. I didn't think I'd ever be able to save her. She passed out at my feet when she got here after just managing to say mom, dad, dead to me" he couldn't stop himself talking now he had started.

"I still don't understand how she survived, but she did. She was hiding upstairs when you, Sammy and John came over to tell me what happened. She overheard John declaring her dead" he said before downing another whiskey.

----------

It took Mika a good ten minutes before she got herself up off the ground and managed to fish her lighter out of the charred ashes so she could head back to Bobby's. Trudging back to her car she pulled out her phone and text Bobby declaring her ETA of around fifteen minutes. She was tired and dirty, desperate for a shower, drink and bed. Little did she know what was waiting for her back at the house as she got into her car, started the ignition and started driving back.

Dean gasped lightly, his eyes welling up in what felt like acid tears as Bobby confirmed everything. He didn’t move, couldn’t move, as he stared at the older man with wide and tortured eyes.

“You gotta be kidding me…”, he scoffed, his face twisting a bit as a sob left his throat, “All this time? All this time…”

He clenched his teeth together through another sob, and looked down at his glass, his fingers tapping against it lightly. He had been with Kenzi off and on ever since Mika had ‘died’. It was the most toxic relationship he had ever had, but something about it always seemed familiar. Her kiss seemed familiar. Her fingers felt familiar. Hell, even her eyes, as different as they were…felt familiar.

Sighing loudly, he collected himself, staring at Bobby, “I um…I assume she’s not here, right now. I think. I um…I think I want to wait for her. Enough is enough of this.”

He sat the glass down on the table beside him, and stood, clapping Bobby on the shoulder as he passed him. It was his way to let him know that while disappointed, he wasn’t angry with him. He ascended the stairs slowly, the necklace hanging from his hand again as he prepared to come face to face with the woman that was two totally different beings to him.

“C’mon Dean…”, he whispered, as his legs began to get heavier as he walked, a response to a mixture of relief and absolute anguish.

Bobby nodded to confirm yet again that it really had been all this time. He didn't want Dean to find out this way, Hell's, he had tried for all these years to make Mika just come clean with him but nothing ever convinced her enough. It was like being Kenzi for all this time had completely changed her from her old self. He missed the niece who would enjoy just sitting on his couch reading old classic literature on the odd days she could actually visit him, the bright red hair and the happy smile that barely ever left her face and made her darkest of eyes seem so bright and full of life. He had an inkling of how toxic the weird relationship had been between Dean and Mika and that just broke his heart all the more but he knew he couldn't say anything... Until now.

It was then he looked down and saw the message from Mika saying she was on her way back. "she's on her way home... About ten minutes away by now. Dean I'm sorry..." he said to him as he got patted on the shoulder and watched as the man he considered a son walked up to the room Mika had made her own....

----------

Justbas Mika had said, she did indeed only take about fifteen minutes to get home. She pulled out her keys and unlocked the door, "Bobby I'm back! Talk in the morning, I'm shattered!" she called through as she went straight for the stairs and into her room. Standing by the door she turned on the light and was left stunned in her spot as she saw Dean.. "Dean..." she gasped.