Cason tensed as Dean walked down the stairs with Mika in tow. Dean looked like hell, and Cason would have felt bad about it, if the man hadn’t attacked him first. Deserved or not, he defended himself against the most ruthless hunter on the planet. He wouldn’t apologize for that.

Violet wrapped herself tighter around him, but he quickly shoved her off, her paws gently padding the floor as she landed. He stood from the couch, and ran his hand up the back of Violet’s head to tell her to follow him. Cason didn’t want to stay in the house with Dean Winchester up and around, any longer than he had to, and he still hadn’t checked on the perimeter hounds.

“I’m going to go for a walk…”, he muttered to Esme, and walked out the front door with Violet huffing as the cold air hit her face.



Dean kept his possessive hold on Mika until the hit the bottom step, seeing everyone watching them. He realized then how worried everyone was that he was going to kill someone, after the nights events. He really needed to learn different avenues to release his stress, if this was the reaction he was going to get every time he got in a fight.

He instantly nodded to his brother, a silent gesture of ‘Everything is cool. Get some rest.’. He could tell that Sam took the message, as he decided to retire for the night. When he approached Dean, Dean wrapped his arm around Sam’s waist, clapping his hand simply against his back to tell him he loved him, and also a small apology for his actions. Sam understood. Sam always understood.

Dean turned back, seeing Cason step out the door, his Hellhound ruffling papers as it walked with him. He shuddered at the idea that he got lucky. The Hellhounds had let him fight with Cason, because Cason made them. Otherwise, they would have easily ripped Dean apart, a feeling he was intimate with, and didn’t want to feel ever again.
“Well, everyone looks pretty good, down here.”, Dean muttered, smiling. As he smiled, the blood on his nose cracked a bit, and Bobby sighed, pointing at him with the pair of scissors he was toying with.

“We’re all fine, but you look like shit, boy. That hole in the back of your head. Does it need stitches?”, he asked Dean, too which Dean shook his head and brought his hand up to check the wound again.

“No. It seems like it’s mostly a knot. It’ll be fine. I’ll wash my hair before I head to bed…don’t worry about bloodstains anymore tonight…”, Dean joked with Bobby, who rolled his eyes and waved the scissors at him.

“Better not get anything bloody. And Dean?”

Dean turned his head slightly, making eye contact with Bobby.

“We need to talk about those outbursts you’re having. You were in Hell for four months. That kind of anger…we need to snuff it. Deal?”

“Deal…”, Dean sighed, smirking at Bobby, “I’m just glad everyone is okay, for the most part. That was a shitty situation for everyone…especially…”

He turned to Esme, and waved his hand at her, “How are you doing?”

Esme opened her eyes and lifted her head when she heard Dean’s footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs. She then looked over at Cason as he stood from the couch. It was easy to see he didn’t want to be around Dean. At his words, she gave a small nod. “Alright.” she said simply. She watched as Violet followed him to the front door, then turned her attention back to Dean and Mika. Dean looked rough, to say the least. As Dean and Sam interacted, Esme gently pushed Sarah’s head from her lap and took to her feet from the floor with Sarah’s help. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cason and Violet walk out the front, also catching Dean’s shudder at the ruffling papers from Violet walking on them.

She was thankful that none of the hellhounds had jumped in to break up the fight between Dean and Cason. That was something she knew she wouldn’t have been able to handle seeing and knew that she would have really lost it. Dean’s voice pulled her from her thoughts of the fight, a slight smile coming to her lips at his words. As Bobby spoke, she could stop herself from giving a slight nod in agreement at his statement. She was happy to hear that Dean’s head injury wasn’t too bad, but she had to agree with Bobby that Dean’s outbursts needed to be snuffed before they got too far out of hand.

She could lend a hand with that, but she wasn’t sure just how Mika would take to that after what had happened tonight. Only time would tell how that would play out. When Dean replied to Bobby, Esme focused back on him, listening to what he said and feeling the same as he did. When he turned to her and waved his hand at her, she sighed heavily. He knew her better than anyone in the room, almost better than she knew herself. When he asked how she was, she gave him a warm yet tired smile. “I’m fine. Nothing a good night's sleep shouldn’t remedy.” The tiredness from the night showed in her tone, but you could see that she was truthful in what she said. She knew after a night of uninterrupted sleep she would be ready to face whatever they ran into the next day.

MIKA CHAMBERS AND NATALIA WINCHESTER

Even though Dean let go of his obvious possessive hold on her, Mika still remained close to his side. Partly because she didn't want to be far from him and partly because she was worried if she was too far away she wouldn't be able to catch him if his concussion made him pass out. She too hugged Sam back when he hugged her after his brother and then disappeared downstairs into the basement and back to Annabeth.

She also noted how Cason refused to be in the same room as Dean, the shudder from him as Cason's hellhound made the papers on the floor flutter in the breeze they created being noticed by her, making her place a comforting hand on his back to keep him calm. She was also thankful that Cason didn't let his hounds rip into Dean as unlike Esme, she did see it the first time and it was the worst thing she had witnessed since seeing her parents being ripped apart when she was merely eighteen years old. It had triggered her supressed memories of that night, which didn't help with her grieving for him. That night made so much of her past come back to the forefront, blaming herself for yet another loved one dying in a very similar manner in front of her. It was a blessing for Esme to have not experienced that. She supposed also, this was partly why she was so quick to jealousy when it came to Dean and Esme before Dean finally came clean with his history with the other woman.

She remained silent for a while, letting Bobby tell Dean how he looked in a typical Bobby manner, whilst lightly smirking at Dean making some kind of quip about not getting bloodstains on things. Truth was, she was glad that he said he was going to clean up, as she really didn't want bloodstains on their bedsheets. Just for once, she'd like them actually to remain clean. She found herself scanning the room at the everyone else as the discussion was had between her uncle and Dean, then Dean and Esme.

Despite how she was towards the other woman, she was glad that Esme was alright. She didn't want anymore people hurt tonight after everything they had to be forced to endure. "I'm glad everyone is okay" she said finally, opening her mouth. "I'm sorry everything I've put everyone through as well...." she finally apologised, but her look at Esme told her she mostly meant that apology to her. An apology that made Natalia actually outwardly sigh with relief.

"Esme, need me to get you to the motel or do you know the way to it?" Nat asked her, deciding that it was only polite to actually ask before she got herself comfortable on the couch that would be her bed for the night.

Mika looked at Dean, "Come on, lets get you cleaned up so you don't get blood on my clean sheets" she told him.

SAM WINCHESTER

Reaching the bottom stairs, Sam walked over to the vault and went inside, seeing Annabeth in there. "I brought more comfortable pillows for us." he said as a bit of a 'sorry I left you in here'. "Everyone is calm and fine though up there, think they'r eall just making the start of going off to where they wanna sleep for the night. Bobby is getting tired of having around" he smirked, walking over and handing her two of the four good pillows.

He then put the other two down where he would sleep beside her in the makeshift bed, then walked across the vault to grab the other unused blankets so they could use those also. He knew this vault wasn't ideal and he would probably wake up with a sore back afterwards, but there was nowhere else to sleep in Bobby's house and he wasn't going to leave Annabeth on her own for the night either.

Happy that Esme was even willing to speak to him, Dean couldn’t help but smile softly when he heard her voice. He knew that her answer was a half answer, but he would take it. He smiled warmly back at her, and nodded. Esme was someone that needed a lot of rest after a stressful situation. Dean remembered that well. Odds were, she would be more than ready to talk to him about everything, once she had rest and he didn’t look so rough.

He couldn’t help but smile proudly at Mika when she apologized, although he had plenty of apologies to dole out, himself. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it at the time, while he was doing his best to just not sit down and give into the sleepiness, now that his adrenaline was calming.

Dean turned his face to look at Mika, and nodded lazily, “Yeah. I think I’m about ready for bed. We all need some rest…finally. So, take me away, nurse!”

He chuckled, and held his arm out for her to grab as he nodded to everyone else to tell them goodnight.

“Keep an eye on him Meeko. I’m right here if you need me…”, Bobby chimed in, nodding to Mika as he leaned back in his desk chair.



Anna was sitting in the center of the room, on their little makeshift bed when Sam opened the vault door, causing her head to pop up, and a small smile to form on her face. She nodded at his explanation of the situation upstairs, “I’m just glad everyone seems okay…”

She situated the pillows on the floor and frowned as he gathered things from around the vault, “Sam, you can get a motel room. I’ll be fine…”

Anna knew that she could curl up almost anywhere and go to sleep, but with Sam being much larger, he would have some issues. And she knew he was doing it for her.

Esme watched Dean for a moment to see if he’d accept her half answer. When he did, with a smile and a nod, she smiled a little more, thankful he didn’t push for more of an answer. Once she was well rested, she would be more than willing to sit down and talk to him more about everything. When Mika apologized to everyone, she looked over at her, noting Mika’s look to her. Esme sighed in relief with a warm smile to her, then she placed her right hand on her chest and dipped her head deeply to the woman. This was her way of showing Mika that she truly accepted her apology and held nothing against her.

It was a great relief to hear Mika apologize for everything. It would definitely make getting a good night’s sleep easier. She knew that she needed to apologize herself, but she would do that when she was rested and had a clearer mind. Letting her hand drop back to her side, she looked over at Natalia at her offer. Esme shook her head softly. “No, it’s alright. You go ahead and get yourself comfortable for the night. I pretty much know where it is.” she said in a kind tone. She looked back at Dean and Mika and lightly laughed at the words between them. It was easy to see that they were both good and that Dean’s injuries would be well taken care of.

Esme then walked to the door, running her hand along Sarah’s side to have her follow. At the door, she turned to everyone in the room with a small and tired smile. “Goodnight everyone. Rest well.” She gave them a small wave, then walked out the door and onto the porch with Sarah in tow. Pulling her jacket around her, she walked across the porch and down the stairs, then to her car. After unlocking her car, she got in with a sigh and sat there for a moment. Being outside and in her car, she felt as if someone had lifted a weight off her chest and shoulders. After taking her moment, Esme told Sarah to follow her, shut her door, started the car and drove out of Bobby’s place.

The drive to the motel seemed to take a bit of time, only because of how tired she felt. She would occasionally look out at Sarah running alongside her car. Once at the motel, she got her a room, then quickly got into it after grabbing her bag from the trunk. “Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to get cleaned up.” she told Sarah as she dropped her bag on the end of the bed. Opening her bag, she grabbed some comfortable clothes and went into the bathroom to shower. Once she was clean, dressed, and had her hair dry, she walked out of the bathroom and to the bed with her dirty clothes in hand, noticing Sarah had made herself comfortable on it.

Pulling a bag from her bag, she put her dirty clothes in it, then dropped broth bags on the floor at the foot of the bed. Esme then crawled up on the bed, not bothering to pull down the covers, turned off the light and laid down on her side almost in the middle of it. Before she had dozed off, Sarah slowly made her way up the bed and curled up next to her, bringing a smile to Esme’s lips. She then reached up and pulled the pillow closer and nuzzled into it. “If Cason decides to pop in please keep him at a distance. I really need some uninterrupted sleep.” she said to Sarah tiredly.

Sarah responded with a soft nuzzle to let her know she’d do as asked, then watched Esme finally drift off to sleep. When Esme was in a deep sleep, Sarah laid her head above Esme’s and scooted as close as she could to her in a protective manner. She was determined to keep anyone and anything from disturbing Esme while she slept.

MIKA CHAMBERS

When Esme accepted her apology, Mika inwardly sighed with relief. She knew she would still need to have that chat with Esme but she wanted to do it when they were all a lot more awake and refreshed, and in private. The woman deserved it, even if there was still that same twinge of dislike toward her for letting Dean do what he did. Yet it was no less than how she felt about Dean and what she said to him. She would need time to fully accept their history, even if she was thankful for her keeping him alive.

She also thought that yet again, Nat was showing her what a better person she was as she offered to take Esme to the motel, even if Esme turned round and said she didn't require said offer. Nat in her eyes, was still young but such an amazing woman considering her own history. She also noticed out the corner of her eye how Dean gave his 'i'm proud of you' smile when she apologised to everyone and that gave her a lot more hope that they could really get over this blip easier than they may have done in the past.

When Dean looked at her and agreed they should head back up and get him cleaned up before going to bed, she nodded with a soft smile and light chuckle at him calling her his nurse. She grabbed his arm and started to turn and head back to the stairs when Bobby's voice made her pause and look back at him over her shoulder, "I will and I know" she replied to him, noting how he used her nickname once again. As she and Dean reached the stairs again, she saw Esme wlaking to the front door and leaving with a goodbye.

Getting herself and Dean upstairs, she took him straight to the bathroom, gesturing for him to perch somewhere as she opened her bathroom cabinet and pulled down some painkillers and the first aid kit. She then filled the sink with some luke warm water so she could help him get the blood out of the back of his hair before making sure he really was alright. She also felt she should help with putting some cream on his black eye from her original punch which she was starting to regret doing, even if it was still justified. So with her decisions made, she helped where she could fixing him up, making sure she was thorough until she was satisified that his head wouldn't need stitches and it probably felt worse than it actually was.

It took her a good few minutes, but she was done and chucked the bloody cloth away into her bin, glad that she always kept a decent stash of wash cloths. "You're good, now lets head to bed" she told him, stroking his cheek gently before pecking his lips and walking back to the bedroom with him. In the bedroom she got changed into her usual vest before climbing into bed, surprising herself that she really did want Dean with her and not elsewhere. For a long while she was convicned she would be telling him to go sleep in the basement or anywhere that was away from her, but he managed to win her back over just like he always did before he knew her better than anyone. But right now all she wanted was her Dean and sleep, in the hopes that during said sleep, she could just try and forget everything that happened.

It took Mika merely seconds before she fell asleep once in bed laying on her side and curling up into herself facing Dean.

SAM WINCHESTER

Sam found himself smiling when Annabeth told him he didn't have to sleep down here with her but he just shook his head as if to shake away her suggestion. "Don't be silly, it's no problem sleeping down here with you Anna. I'll be fine, and besides, if I'm around in the house I can come to anyone's aid if it comes to it." he replied to her honestly.

He really did think that if she didn't end up needing him, then someone else may do and he didn't want to find himself in a motel unable to help if that occurred. He got down onto the make shift bed and pulled his shirt off, but otherwise remained dressed. He let Annabeth get as comfortable as she could, taking her time to do so as he rested against the incredibly comfortable pillow, one arm underneath it.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep for the night.

------THE NEXT DAY------

NATALIA AND SAM WINCHESTER, MIKA CHAMBERS

Nat woke up early on the couch with a yawn and stretch, turning onto her side and pulling the blanket tightly round her. She could tell it was relatively early still and she couldn't initially hear anyone else up so she figured she would take a moment for herself.

She knew however she coiuldn't stay 'asleep' on the couch forever so she figured she would peel herself out of the blanket and sat upright. Sighing and yawning once again, she stood up and headed to the kitchen deciding to get the coffee brewed up for everyone and herself whilst she was awake. "pLease let everyone be okay this morning" she mumbled to herself sleepily, as she pulled down enough mugs for everyone, including Annabeth and Sam.

Mika woke up with a groan of complaint at being awake already, refusing to open her eyes she stole the duvet to shroud herself in it, her hair just poking out the top on the pillow, whilst also being close to Dean. She had no idea if Dean was awake but she refused to open her eyes and find out.

WHilst the girls woke up above him, Sam woke up in the vault with Annabeth, his arm having draped round her during the night, his other arm by his side. He looked down at Annabeth and wondered if she was awake, "Morning" he said softly, lifting his hand up from his waist and stroked his hair, kissing the top of her head.

Dean didn’t honestly like being taken care of, but he was glad that at least Mika was willing to help him, and let him stay with her. As she doctored his wounds, he stayed as still as he could, following her hands from time to time, with his eyes to see where she was headed with the various tools from the first aid kit.

He stepped down from the back of the toilet as she finished up with him, “You’re a pretty good nurse…”

He smiled brightly, his eyes lazy as he stepped back into the bedroom and collapsed on his stomach on the bed. He kicked his boots off, letting them fall to the floor at the foot of the bed, and then rolled enough to unbuckle his belt and shove his pants down, also kicking them to the foot of the bed.

Turning back onto his stomach, he reached both hands up under his pillow and as Mika joined him, he draped an arm around her waist and passed out.



Annabeth smiled and nodded, scooting her body down against the makeshift bed. As he laid down shirtless, she scooted closer to him, turning her back to him and pulled his free arm over her as if it was a blanket, “Goodnight Sam…”



After a few hours of boring human sleep watching, Cason popped away from the lot, showing up at the foot of Esme’s bed silently. Sarah, however, raised her head just enough to growl at Cason.

“Shut your mouth. I’m just checking in…”, Cason hissed at her, but her growl didn’t stop, “Would you really hurt me?”

Sarah lowered her head even more around Esme, as if telling Cason that she would absolutely kill him if she had to. Huffing, he pointed a finger at her.

“You’re a traitor. I sent you to protect her, because I’m protecting her…You’re not supposed to turn on me.”, he hissed, before disappearing back to Bobby’s lot with a loud sigh. The hellhounds might have been a bad idea…

————————



Dean groaned as Mika moved against his side. He pulled her closer to his body, and kissed her neck gently, “If we don’t go downstairs, they’ll never know we’re awake.”

He nuzzled further into her neck with small kisses, pulling the blanket up over his head to block out the sun.

Annabeth’s eyes fluttered open as she laid with her head resting against Sam’s chin, a pleasant sigh leaving her lips. She scooted herself back, pressing her back against his bare chest more, and smiled, “Good morning, handsome…”

Esme slept peacefully, even with Cason popping in and Sarah growling at him and him griping at her. At Sarah’s growling at Cason, she had unconsciously curled up into herself and into Sarah’s side. When Sarah curled her head more around her, she had sighed softly in her sleep, unaware of anything going on in the room. She slept peacefully the rest of the night with Sarah at her side, keeping watch over her. When it was clear that Cason wouldn’t be coming back again that night, Sarah relaxed and placed her head on the pillow above Esme’s head, but still kept herself pressed up against the woman she was told to protect.

During the night, Sarah noticed Esme looked cold and pulled some of the blanket over Esme to keep her warm. It wasn’t a simple task to do while trying not to wake her and move too much, but she got the job done and laid back down.



The sun rose and shone through a crack in the curtains, hitting Sarah in the face. She huffed and lifted her head, looking down at Esme, who was still sleeping. She lowered her hand closer to Esme’s, listening to see if she was still breathing. She was, but seemed, very soft, as if she was in a deep sleep still. Sarah lifted her head and tilted it to the side, a bit confused on why she was still asleep. Lowering her head back to the pillows, she decided to let Esme sleep a little longer even if she felt she should be awake. Some time passed, and the sun came through the curtains now shown on the back of Esme’s head, but she still hadn’t stirred from her sleep.

Sarah lifted her head again from the pillows and looked down at Esme, her head tilting to the side again as she watched her sleep. She should definitely be awake by now, or that’s what Sarah thought. Sarah put her nose on Esme’s cheek and gave it a gentle nudge, but nothing happened. With a whine, she tried it again. Nothing happened. Getting up and jumping off the bed, she walked over and hit the light switch with her nose and then pulled the curtains open a bit more, thinking the light would wake Esme. It didn’t. Walking back to the bed, she barked at Esme. Nothing, not even a flinch. Sarah growled a little, then nosed Esme in the ribs. Still nothing. She then jumped back on the bed and laid down next to Esme with a huff.

MIKA CHAMBERS

Dean's matching groan to being awake as herself made her smile sleepily as he pulled her into him so she couldn't steal the duvet for too long. Him pulling the duvet over the both of them after kissing her neck made her chuckle as she cuddled into him. "you know one of them will come and drag us out of bed at some point" she replied to him, always finding it amusing that neither ever liked mornings, especially when they were at home. Their bed was so much better than any grubby motel bed they could ever use and yet she always liked those motel nights as it meant when she did come home for a bit, this bed was appreciated so much more.

"But this is something I don't think I'll ever take for granted these kinds of morning again" she told him, referring to waking with him. After he went to Hell her bed felt like a physical piece bit of torture for the first two months and a lot of mornings she would have been found by either Bobby, Sam or Natalia sleeping in her corner chair or on a blanket pile on the floor under the window because she refused to sleep in the bed that gave her so many loving memories of herself and Dean. It took her many attempts before she felt she could sleep in the bed again, clutching his pillow for dear life like it was the only thing left of his that she ever had.

Now she didn't need to have that pained night ever again as he was back in her life, even if she thought last night that she was about to lose him all over again. Mentally shaking her thoughts from her head, she nuzzled into him again before tilting her head upwards so she could look at him, seeing the state of his face. Lifting her hand up, she stroked gently and carefully his beaten up side of his face before reaching her head up and pecking his lips. "I'm sorry for punching you...I really did a number on your face huh?" she remarked, finally apologising to him.

SAM AND NATALIA WINCHESTER

Sam smiled and properly opened his eyes as Annabeth replied to him, letting him know she was indeed awake as she turned over and pressed her back against him some more. "Did you sleep alright?" he asked her, brushing his fingers through her hair and down her back softly as he could hear Natalia walking around upstairs. He even glanced behind him to see he left the vault door slightly ajar so they could leave the vault this morning, which also brought on the realisation that even though she had a moment to escape when he was alseep, she didn't.

"Think I hear Nat upstairs, so I guess at least one of them is awake" he chuckled, looking back down at her. "Reckon you'll be alright to go upstairs today and get some breakfast?" he asked her.

Natalia was walking around the kitchen, trying to see what Bobby had in to make everyone breakfast and saw it was the usual things making her shaking her head smiling to herself. She was also feeling impatient at the coffee brewing, so she decided to do what she could whilst she waited, she walked to the stairs to the basement and called down, "If you two are awake, I got the coffee brewing!" before going to the stairs that went upstairs and walked up them, skipping every other step before reaching Mika's bedroom door and rapped on it in a melodic fashion.

"Coffee is being brewed if you two are awake and I'm about to make breakfast, so if you don't wanna poisoned from my cooking get your asses up!" she teased, walking to the stairs and going back downstairs. She decided she would leave Bobby alone, figuring he deserved a good rest. If it came to it, she would bring him in a coffee.

Dean sighed through his nose at Mika’s reply about the others coming to drag them out of bed. He was tempted to pull a gun on them if they tried. He was comfy, and his head was pounding. He heard the tone of her voice as she mentioned taking mornings together for granted, something he had to agree with. In his forty years in Hell, he often thought about the fact that he would never be able to have these moments again. Having them back, he couldn’t help bask in them. He tightened his arms around her instinctively at the thoughts, and opened his eyes finally.

He stared down at her, flinching a bit at her fingertips against the bruised side of his face. Between her punch to his cheek and the fight, his entire face from his forehead to his lower cheek was bruised to hell. Both of his eyes were slightly blackened, but not too swollen, from the headbutt he had received to the nose, and honestly, he didn’t mind all of it. It was a stark reminder of his mistakes and anger problems that needed to be atoned for.

“Meh. I deserved it. I was surprised that you finally punched me again, after all these years, but I did deserve it…”, he muttered, kissing her back gently. He brought his lips up to kiss her nose and smirked, “But now I’m all bruised up. I remember someone having a bit of a soft spot for scars…”



Cason noticed that everyone was starting to roam around and stir from their sleep, but he hadn’t checked in on Esme in a while. He wondered if she was awake, and felt the need, after last night, to take her out for breakfast. At the very least, he wanted to apologize for causing another outburst from her.

He stood from the steps of the front porch, and disappeared, popping up at the foot of Esme’s bed. She was still sleeping soundly, but he couldn’t hear her breathing. Sarah’s head perked up when she heard him, and she didn’t instantly growl at him, which concerned him.

“Is she okay?”, he asked Sarah, who simply looked down at her, which Cason took as worry. He carefully walked over to the side of the bed where Esme was turned, sleeping like a stone and placed a hand carefully on her shoulder, his eyes raising to Sarah, “Dont…bite me.”

He gently shook Esme, but noticed that she wasn’t waking, which caused him to frown and pat her cheek. He pushed her hair back from her face, patting it a bit harder, and sighed. He needed to do something he wasn’t sure if he wanted to even consider. He had to call someone who knew her better than he did.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialed Dean’s number and held his breath until Dean answered.

Dean flinched as his phone rang from under his pillow, reaching up under the pillow and pulling it out. Seeing that it was Cason, he rolled his eyes and groaned, “What do you want?”

“Um. Trust me. I don’t want to call you either.”, Cason snapped at him in a whisper, his fingers still stroking through Esme’s hair, “But Esme won’t wake up. I figure you’ve been down this road before, with her…and unfortunately for me, I need your help.”

“Did you try kissing her?”, Dean asked, rolling his eyes once more.

“No…what?!”

“Snow White? You know. Kiss her. It always worked for me…”, Dean spoke carefully, “Look. The worst she’s going to do to you is blow your brains out again. Best case scenario, she likes it. I’m fine with either…good luck.”

Cason pulled his phone away from his ear and stared at it with narrowed eyes, “Dean? Dean! Don’t hang…dammit.”

Tossing his phone onto the mattress, he stared at Esme for a few seconds, contemplating his options, before leaning in carefully and placing a gentle kiss against her lips with a sigh.



Annabeth sighed happily as Sam’s fingers moved through her hair and down her back, the simple and calming feeling almost making her want to go back to sleep. She rolled once again, wanting to watch his face in such a calm moment, as this was the first time they had ever woke up together, “I slept surprisingly well. You’re warm…”

She gave a small giggle, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist as she scooted herself to touch noses with him, and watch his smile. As he mentioned others being awake, she sighed, “I would honestly rather not. I’m gonna be cold, but I am pretty hungry. And I guess, now, you’re stuck with me anyway.”

She laughed softly, and placed a soft kiss against his lips. She also had noticed the door hanging open, which didn’t phase her, as she had never planned to escape. She felt safe with Sam, from herself and from everyone else. And she didn’t plan to allow herself to be separated from him again.

Anna couldn’t help but giggle lightly at Natalia’s screaming down at them, despite her not wanting to move from his warmth.

Esme continued to sleep like a rock, completely unaware that Cason had popped into the room again, had tried to wake her up, and had called Dean for help in waking her up. It had been some time since she had been hit with so much emotion and had gone into such a deep sleep. If left alone, she’d wake up in a couple of days, but with everything going on, they couldn’t really afford to wait for her to wake up on her own. They needed everyone they had to go through the books and gather all the information they could. Not to mention, everyone knew how Cason was with her and wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Before she had gone to bed, she knew there was a possibility that she wouldn’t wake for a few days, but also knew that Cason would check in on her if she hadn’t shown back up at Bobby’s, and would more than likely do whatever he could to wake her up. It was probably a good thing for Cason that she forgot to grab her gun from her bag and put it under her pillow before she fell asleep last night. At Cason’s kiss, Esme took in a deep breath through her nose, followed by a small groan. In her sleepy state, she slightly kissed him back, but as her mind registered everything, her eyes flew open to see Cason’s face.

Startled, she then quickly shoved him back as she sat up in the bed, balled up her right fist and aimed a punch at his face. “What the hell, Cason.” she breathed, trying not to yell. She pushed herself up in the bed and leaned back against the headboard and brought up her knees, then ran her hands through her hair and down her face before resting her elbows on her knees with her face in her hands. Why did he insist on being so close to her when she woke up? She breathed in deeply and let it out slowly to calm her racing heart from being startled. Sarah inched her way over to her side and placed her head in the bend of Esme’s arm and nuzzled her gently with a small whine.

“I know. I’m sorry I worried you.” she whispered softly to Sarah. “I was just so tired from yesterday.” She leaned her head over and placed it against Sarah’s with a sigh. Esme brought her hands away from her face, laid them over her knees and looked over at Cason, feeling slightly bad for punching him. “Dean told you to kiss me to wake me up, didn’t he?” she asked softly.

MIKA CHAMBERS

Dean's tightening grip around her as she mentioned about having taken these moments for granted before didn't go unnoticed. She just knew why his grip got tighter, he didn't even need to say his thoughts for her to know he was thinking the exact same thing as she was, if not more so than herself. She could never forget what he told her when he opened up to her about Hell, about how for him it was forty years and not four months, meaning she could only imagine if how heartbroken she felt not having him beside her, how much that must have been amplified for him. The idea of him begging for his family, fighting as hard as he could to not give into Alistair's offer was utterly devastating to her, so when he held her closer and tighert, she hugged him tighter before she had lifted her hand up to his face.

She was aware of him flinching and tried to be as delicate as she possibly could, wishing that she could heal him up somehow but knew it was impossible. So the best she could do, is make sure that he kept up with the creams and such she used last night to help with the bruising until it was healed up. Mika also couldn't deny that he didn't deserve it because as sorry as she was, she did still stand by her mindset that he did deserve it. She wouldn't ever tell him otherwise on that point. As always what happenedm Mika closed her eyes as he kissed her nose, reopening them as she saw him smirk and made his other quip, making her smirk back at him. "You know me far too well still Dean" she remarked, "but don't go getting more scars than me now, I'm meant to be battered one out of us" she said continuing to smirk back at him.

That smirk however soon faded when his phone started vibrating and going off with a call as she laid against him so he could answer the call. Judging by Dean's reaction, it was Cason on the line and if that was the case, then it was about Esme. She couldn't hear anything Cason was saying on the phone, but she did listen to what Dean was saying which was enough to figure out the topic at hand. She noticed how he was attempting to pick his words carefully but even those words didn't sit entirely well with her but she made a promise to try and be better, and that was one she wasn't planning on going back on.

His ending words however were much more appealing to her as she wouldn't have much of an issue of Esme shooting Cason either or if she ended up liking it. Infact she selfishly would revel in the idea of Esme and Cason getting mutual feelings for each other if it meant she didn't have to be scared about losing Dean to her ever again. Then came Natalia's voice through the door and she sighed whilst also finding it slightly amusing.

"Guess the world is making us get up and out of bed huh?" she remarked to Dean, giving him one more squeeze of a hug before rolling away from him and sitting upright to get out of bed. Brushing her hair out of the way and behind her, she got up, placing her bare feet down on her floor feeling the coolness of it. Pushing herself out of bed, she stood up straight and walked across their room to pull some pants on so she was a bit more dignified for being around everyone.

SAM WINCHESTER

Sam was so relieved that she slept well and didn't have a bad night. He could easily have imagined the rest of her detox possibly giving her bad dreams, so the fact Annabeth didn't was of a great relief to him. He chuckled at her calling him warm, smiling at her as she touched noses with him, hugging her back as she said she would rather remain in the warmth of him, rather than upstairs in the cooler rooms.

"Well as comfortable as this is with you down here, I think we should get you fed" he told her, and then came Nat's shout down which made him chuckle as well as it did with Annabeth. "Guess that answers it then" he smirked, brushing her hair behind her ear and gently pushing her back so he could get up and grab his shirt to shove it on until he went to his bag upstairs and changed.

He even heard Natalia's voice shout through Mika's door upstairs and as he smiled, he shook his head. "Damn my sister is loud this morning" he said, but there was fondness in his tone.

As he got off the phone, Dean smiled back down at her with a sigh. He glanced to the door as Nat called through to them and rolled his eyes, “Yeah it seems that way. I don’t want to deal with Nat throwing cold water on me again for missing breakfast. I’m up!”

He quickly shuffled to the edge of the bed, looking down at his torso, and then over to his clothes. He lazily picked his bloody jeans off the floor and slipped them over his legs, deciding that he would grab his bag and get dressed later. For now, he just wanted to get down stairs before he managed to piss Natalia off.

He then remembered something that made him smirk as he buckled his belt, “Sam slept in the vault last night, right? You don’t think he and Anna…Sweet little Anna.”

Dean shook his head, snickering at the thought of his brother being brave enough to even kiss her outside of desperation. Although, it wouldn’t be the first time they had been hot and heavy, just the first time they had been alone long enough to make anything out of it. He stepped over to Mika, and leaned down placing one sweet kiss on her lips, before reaching his hand out for hers, “Let’s go make a grand entrance, and no…I’m not putting on a shirt.”



Cason smiled as Esme kissed him back, and started to deepen the kiss against her lips just as she woke up and shoved him. He held his hands up to apologize and explain himself, but she punched him, causing a loud and defeated groan to leave his lips as he stepped back from the bed, sitting roughly on his ass on the floor.

“I’m sorry. Esme I’m sorry…”, he grumbled, running a hand through his hair, “You wouldn’t wake up and I tried everything I knew. Sarah tried. I tried. So, I had to improvise and…”

When Esme asked if he had talked to Dean, he sighed, relieved that she at least partially understood what he was trying to do, “Yes. Yes he did. I called him, because he’s the only one who knows you better than me, and he told me…to kiss you.”



Anna stared up at Sam and smiled. His skin was always so relaxing to her, for some reason. He was like a walking Xanax, even now, with the demon blood situation. She groaned outwardly at the idea of getting up coming up again. She had to admit after two days of not eating, she was starving. So, she simply nodded at his request for her to eat, “Alright. Let’s go.”

As Anna heard Natalia’s voice ringing down from all the way upstairs, she chuckled, glancing over at Sam to see his smile. She was glad he had woke up smiling this morning. Her mind flashed back to their time the night before, while chaos was breaking out around them, and she blushed a bit, standing from the makeshift bed.

Being already dressed, she stepped over to him, and slipped under his arm, leaning up on her tiptoes to give him a sweet kiss on the lips, “She’s playing mom, which means we have probably thirty seconds to get up there, before she starts throwing things at us…”

Esme sighed heavily after Cason explained it was in fact Dean that told him to kiss her to wake her up. “I see.” she said simply, no emotion in her tone. She turned her gaze from him and leaned her head back on the headboard, and closed her eyes. “That would be his answer of help.” she whispered. After everything that happened last night, why did Dean have to tell Cason that was one way to wake her up when she fell into a deep sleep? The action had brought memories back to the front of her mind. She tried to push them back, but they kept pushing themselves forward.

She could remember the first time with Dean, she had overdone it by projecting her emotions to another and had passed out. Dean had told her he had let her sleep the rest of the day and tried to wake her up the next day every way he knew how. He even told her she had him worried sick, thinking she’d fallen into a coma, but had decided to try kissing her to wake her up. When she woke up, she saw the worry on his face turn to relief and he pulled her into a tight embrace, telling her not to scare him like that again. A few more memories played out as she sat there, making her want to cry at how sweet they were.

They were her fairy tale moments with him. She mentally kicked herself for wanting to cry. Why must I be so emotional? You need to get a grip on them and shove them down. she told herself. Sometimes she wished she was just numb to everything she felt. Opening her eyes, she patted Sarah’s head as she looked over at her. Esme then quietly made her way down to the end of the bed, placed her feet on the floor so her bag was between them and bent down and dug through it for some clothes. She pulled out a pair of jeans and laid them on the bed next to her, then did the same thing with a shirt, bra, and socks.

Leaning up, she brushed her hair back from her face, grabbed her clothes and stood up from the bed. “Give me a bit and I’ll be ready to go.” she muttered as she walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. While in the bathroom, she got herself changed, teeth and hair brushed, and put on what makeup she usually wore. Then she gathered everything, even the little bottles of shampoo and conditioner from the shower. She then opened up the door and exited the bathroom, grabbing her bag from the floor. She put it on the bed and packed in her things after grabbing her gun off the top and putting it into the back of her pants.

It was clear to see that she wasn’t at a hundred percent, but she looked better than she did yesterday. Esme gave the room a sweep with her eyes, the only thing she had was her phone and its charger, which she didn’t remember plugging in. She brought up a hand to cover her yawn before she zipped up her bag. Moving her bag over, she sat on the edge of the bed and put on her boots and began to lace them. “I’m sorry.” she said breaking the silence in the room. “I shouldn’t have punched you.” She sat up and looked over at him after getting her boots laced and tied.

There was a reason she always woke up the way she did, but that was something she wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about just yet. She brushed her hair back from her face again as she looked over at him. “But I wasn’t expecting to wake up to you kissing me. I half expected to have cold water thrown on me.”

Castiel and Uriel

The murder of angels was a very serious thing & grave crime against the celestial order. This recent trade was a disturbing one, the soldiers of Heaven hadn't walked the earth in an organized fashion in nearly 2000 years. Yet within months no weeks of there arrival and return to humanity's domain a number of them had been slain.

Even with the breaking of the seals with the intent to liberate the devil from his cage, it was a bit unnerving that some of his winged brethren had already fallen to the enemy hand. Was it possible that the demons were behind this, all but the oldest of their kin hadn't even known the truth of angel's existence until there return return to walking the earth. So that seemed likely, still Castiel had been tasked by his garrison to investigate this peculiar matter & Uriel was to oversee his investigation.

Since his meeting with Dean Winchester & researching his past prior to being captured in Hell just like his father there were many happenings that were of intrigue & concern to the faith filled angel. One thing that truly was astounding to him that many angels seemed to overlook was Dean's father John, a righteous man like him had ended up in Hell. But even more mysteriously after Dean & Sam had liberated him from Hell two years ago, he was admitted into Heaven. Whilst a quick examination of his life showed that it was no strange matter that John had ended up in Heaven, his spot was well deserved with the years he spent vanquishing evil.

The part that was a true mystery, was typically souls that had plummeted into hell were doomed to be forbidden from admission into Heaven. Of course souls almost always ended up in their proper spiritual resting him, John had been a special case. But legend & lore stated that only the almighty father God himself could allow a soul tainted by the tortures of hell to still enter through the pearly gates.

"This is most interesting, I've stopped by John's heaven." Castiel stated to his angelic brother in arms only receiving a scowl from Uriel.

"So a monkey that was in the furnace, managed to slip into our domain. I don't see why you find it so interesting, after all it seems the demons original plan was to have Alastair shatter his will to break the first seal, but unlike his son who we ourselves liberated John never broke and that was without Heaven's help, honestly if you ask me we would have been better off raising him from the dead, then risking our own kind to break his brat son out of hell, he hasn't exactly been co-operative with our methods, our plans to stop Lucifer's return to the land of the living." Uriel retorted, showing that although he generally was very dismissive of humans, he had a begrudging respect for John Winchester. Although he'd never been cast into Hell himself, like all angels he had innate knowledge of the true horrors of that dimension, things that made even some angels quiver in fear like a child like being .

"No we stick to our orders, all these years and the garrison has't been wrong. To defy them, to defy Naomi would be almost the same thing as disobeying our father." Castiel said firmly, he still had his questions, but direct disobedience was out of the question for him.

MIKA CHAMBERS

Mika couldn't stop the soft chuckle that escaped her when Dean said about Natalia's previous choice of wake up call for him. She knew she probably shouldn't laugh and should side with Dean on that one, but it was funny when it happened that time and she would never say it wasn't funny. It only amused her more when he called back at Natalia that he was up already. "She certainly enjoys playing the mom role when it suits her. Either that or she's just really good at being the annoying younger sister even at the age of 27." she replied to him.

She waited for Dean to finish getting appropriately dressed when she smirked at his realisation of Sam having slept in the vault with Annabeth. Rolling her eyes she looked at him, "you always think with your downstairs brain? But I dunno, I mean, it's possible but this is Sam we're on about" she said back to him, although she was fully aware how different Sam had become during those four months when Dean was in Hell. She just didn't want to drop all that on Dean and figured it was better that he gradually noticed that as time went on for himself.

Seeing Dean not bother with a shirt wasn't that much of a surprise to Mika as she was all too used to him parading the house in such a manner, just not always when they had so many people in said house. She kissed him back, smiling into the kiss and took his hand back, interlocking their fingers as she did so. "I am not surprised at all, but yeah lets go downstairs" she agreed and walked with him downstairs, smelling the coffee that was freshly brewed, smiling at the welcome smell. "well the place isnt on fire so that's a good sign" she muttered to Dean with a smirk.

SAM WINCHESTER AND NATALIA WINCHESTER

Sam let her get up after she agreed to go upstairs, letting her take her time a bit as well, not wanting to rush her. He smiled at her more as she smiled and chuckled at how Natalia was being, or more to the point, how loud she was being as he just knew she was feeling she had to be because Dean was incredibly to get up sometimes.

He kissed her back and chuckled at her assumption of Nat, nodding his head. "Oh you got that spot on. Though she's much worse with Dean than she is with me. It helps being the favourite" he smirked amusedly, taking her hand and exiting the vault with her, then walking upstairs into the main house, where he saw Nat in the kitchen trying to figure out Bobby's cooker.

"Morning loud mouth" he teased to his sister. "I'm not a loud mouth, only when Dean brings it out of me am I such a thing" Natalia protested back, but saw how much more normal Anna looked this morning and calmer. "Morning Anna, help yourself to the coffee. Mugs are all laid out, just gotta pick one and fill it" she told her, before turning to her brother, giving him the look of 'help with the cooker'.

Sam shook his head and came over, turning it on with no problem which made him receive kiss on his cheek and side hug. "Thanks bro, you're the best" Nat said.

"Nat what have I told you about picking favourites with the boys" Mika's voice came through, "oh ha ha, it's not like you have favourites now is it?" Nat teased back. "And besides, Sammy is the one who convicned Dean to let me tag along back in the day, of course I'm gonna favour him!" Natalia then chuckled.

Dean held Mika’s hand tightly, walking down stairs with her. He knew that they would probably get a few looks, coming down together, holding hands. The night before could have ended much worse than it did. But instead, they were on good terms, for the most part. The smell of coffee instantly hit his nose as they entered the living room, and he scratched his chest absentmindedly in anticipation for his first drink of the day, “Maybe she learned to cook…”

He muttered the words back down to Mika, before lifting his his head to glance over at Natalia, “Good morning, my lovely sister…”

As he said the words, Sam and Anna appeared from the basement, and Sam chimed in to Nat, who made her snarky comment about him, “Hey! I have never done anything to deserve what you do to me. Cold water. Turning the hot water heater off before my shower. Hiding my boots, my car keys, whatever else you don’t want me to get ahold of to leave…”

“And I can cook. Can Sam cook? I made one mistake before I saw how…fun…you are, and you hold it against me forever.”, he released Mika’s hand, stepping up beside Nat to sweetly kiss her cheek, “Thanks for cooking breakfast, sis.”



Cason watched Esme’s face carefully as she went through what he could tell were both good and painful memories of Dean Winchester. His heart sank, as he sat down in the chair by the window, crossing his legs. As she came out of her thoughts, and scooted off the bed to go and take a shower, he raised his eyes to meet her face, “I’ll be here.”

He chewed at the skin on his lips, waiting patiently for her to come out of the bathroom. Sarah jumped off the bed, coming over to place her head lovingly on his leg, as if to try and calm his nerves. He both regretted and didn’t regret kissing Esme. It wasn’t the ideal first kiss, but it was something he had wanted to do for days.

As she came out of the bathroom, and began collecting her things, Cason watched, his fingers on his chin with his elbow propped on the table. Her voice startled him a bit as she apologized. He brought his hand into the air and waved her off, “Don’t be…”

He let her finish and shrugged his shoulders, “Call me a civilized demon that’s smitten, I guess. Throwing water never occurred to me. You kissed me back, though…”



Anna giggled at Sam’s words about Natalia. She quietly hoped Nat would like her as well, considering her connection to Sam. She took Sam’s hand, carefully walking up the stairs, where they were met by a flurry of activity, from Natalia cooking, to the others showing up with their own loud talking. Anna couldn’t help but smile, her hand running up Sam’s arm as he joked with Nat.

She met Nat’s eyes and smiled politely, “Thanks Nat.”, she muttered to her, before turning to Sam, “Time for you to save the day.”

She laughed quietly, stepping away from Sam to go and pour a cup of coffee for herself. The coffee smelled amazing, and she was dying to have a drink. But Dean stepped up next to her, after finally leaving Nat alone. He stared down at her with a smirk on his face, causing her to scan up to his eyes, and shove an empty mug into his chest.

“Good morning Anna…”, he chimed, taking the empty mug from her to pour himself a cup of coffee, “How are you doing this morning?”

“I’m um…fine! I feel brand new. Apparently I hadn’t been high long enough to really make an impact that surpassed…Sam.”, she answered him back, which caused his eyebrows to raise.

“You don’t say…”, he turned toward Sam, catching his brother’s eyesight briefly with his eyebrows waggling and his tongue between his teeth.

“You’re so disgusting.”, Anna scoffed, slapping Dean hard in the chest, before walking across to sit on the counter behind Sam, as he helped Natalia cook.

NATALIA AND SAM WINCHESTER

When Dean and Mika appeared in the kitchen and Dean felt the need to protest why he was the one always picked on, nat coiuldn't stop the chuckle and smirk from escaping her. Being reminded of all the pranks she had done to him made her snigger again, still proud of each and every one of them. Yet it wasn't just because she was bored or restless, she was almost testing him each of those times, to see how far she could push him to see where she would fit in with the brothers. It was her way of trying to be the person she was before the mental institute as well.

"Well.....you did try to convince Sam to not bring me along, you did every single damn test under the book to make sure I wasn't some shifter, demon, ghoul or whatever else after I had been tortured in the hospital, you've used me as bait plenty of times on hunts...." she started cheekily listing off things, whilst also letting a little snippet of what happened to her out to everyone for the first time. "And besides, I'm the younger sister of two brothers when I always thought I was an only child so yeah, i'm gonna abuse that title and be the annoying little shit every once in a while" she grinned.

Sam found himself having to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing at his brother and sister both bantering back and forth. They really had come a long way compared to when she joined them. He still remembered the utter mistrust Dean had for her and vise versa. Which always surprised him considering the two of them liked the same music and was very similar personality wise at times. He remembered the times when he would leave the room with Mika because neither wanted to be in the middle of whatever was going on between Natalia and Dean, clashing of ideas or a snarky remark setting one or the other off into a rage fit.

Now he felt like if he hadn't ever witnessed those days himself, he never would have believed they had a rocky start. Especially as Dean walked over and kissed Nat's cheek, thanking her for starting the breakfast.

Nat smiled and pretended to be grossed out by Dean showing affection to her in front of everyone, lightly pretending to swat him away from her. "Gross, you're being sappy again." she teased fondly, "but you're welcome" she added. "Meeko, can you go take Bobby his coffee?" she asked, to which Mika nodded and made Bobby his coffee then taking to his room, where she knocked on the door before she thought to walk in.

Seeing his brother then turn to Annabeth, insinuate Annabeth was only better because she had sex with him made Sam roll his eyes. He caught his brother's glance and was about to say something back, but Anna beat him to it making him laugh as he got impressed that Anna could shoot Dean down in such a perfect manner. "She ain't wrong Dean" he pointed out, making his own coffee and taking a sip as the girls did breakfast for everyone. "So, you and Meeko...you both definitely good again?" he asked him a bit more seriously and out of concern for the two of them.

"because we can't have mom and dad fighting again" he then smirked and sniggered.

Esme watched Cason wave off her apology as she spoke to him. At his next words, she dropped her head slightly and shook it gently. Of course, throwing water didn’t come to his mind and he would tell her about her kissing him back. She was aware that she had kissed him back while still half asleep. “I know.” she replied softly as she lifted her gaze. “But what do you expect from someone still half asleep?” Could she really be in control of her actions after being woken from a deep sleep and only being half awake? She went quiet for a moment, then stood from the bed and walked to the bedside table and unplugged her phone from its charger, then the charger from the wall.

Walking back to the end of the bed, she sat her phone on the bed and rolled up the charger and placed it in a side pocket of her bag. She then grabbed her jacket from a chair in the room's corner and threw it on, then picked up her phone and put it in one of the inside pockets of her jacket. She then turned to Cason once more, glancing down a moment to look at Sarah. “Are you two ready to blow the popsicle stand?” Esme was more than ready to get out of the room, just so she could get something to eat and maybe some coffee. Her stomach lightly growled as she stood there waiting for an answer from Cason.

This was already starting out to be a strange day for her and she hoped it wouldn’t get too much stranger, since she wasn’t completely a hundred percent today. She honestly felt like she could lie back down in the bed and go right back to sleep. She definitely could use a pick me up of some sort to wake her up and give her energy.

Dean turned to Natalia as Annabeth walked away from him, his pride hurt a bit. He gave her a scowl, and held his coffee up, “You’re a smartass, you know that? I’m gonna make you like me, one day. It’s only fair. I’m your big brother, after all. I’m supposed to take care of you, not…this. But, we are a lot of like, so it’s only right that you’re as big of an asshole as I am.”

He chuckled, taking a sip of coffee as he watched Anna walk away. He mocked Sam as he chimed in over the conversation with Anna but nodded his head, taking another long drink of coffee when he asked about Mika, “I think everything’s good. Honestly. My face is complaining, but she doesn’t seem to be. Stop laughing, Bitch.”

Dean shrugged his shoulders, pushing himself up onto the blank counter top to hover over his coffee as he watched his little family buzz around the kitchen.

Bobby had just pulled himself out of bed when Mika showed up at his bedroom door. He heard her familiar knock, and opened the door carefully, “Good morning, darlin.”

He took the coffee from her hand without being prompted, closing his bedroom door behind him as he stepped out into the living room. Snaking an arm around Mika’s shoulders, he hugged her to him briefly, before stepping over to his normal place at his desk, “How are you feeling this morning? They all sound mighty happy, considering what they went to bed to…”



“Okay. It couldn’t possibly be because…”, Cason started as he watched Esme’s body language. He stopped his words, as to not cause her to punch him again. He stood from the chair and stretched, his wounds from the night before mostly healed.

Sarah stepped up between them, seemingly happy that they were together and getting along. Cason couldn’t help but reach a hand down to pat her head, as he agreed that things were decent, and Esme seemed not completely against being near him, and wasn’t even mad about the kiss. It was a win for him, for the day.

He held his arm out, offering it to Esme, as he stepped toward the door, “Let’s go see what state your merry band of dicks is in, this morning?”

Cason moved his arm a bit, asking for her to grab it, while Sarah nudged between them both lovingly.



Annabeth giggled at Sam’s teasing of Dean. The whole room seemed totally different from the day before, and she was relieved. She was also relieved that no one had brought up the fact that she had just shown up back at the house drenched in blood. It wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with anyone but Sam, at the moment.

She leaned forward, as Sam teased Dean, and ran her fingers through the back of Sam’s hair lovingly, pulling him back to lean his back against the counter between her legs. Even sitting on the counter, he was too tall for her to place her head on his shoulder. So, keeping her hand in his hair, she leaned to look around him as she smiled.

“Dean…if it will wipe the pathetic off your face, you’re my favorite.”, she teased, winking at Dean, who raised his eyebrows and turned his eyes up to Sam’s.

“I’m…her favorite. Wow. I’m flattered. Sam, I’m so sorry…”, he joked back, raising his hand before taking a drink of coffee. He lowered the mug and nodded, “Thanks Anna. That means a lot.”