Anna played with the button on the right sleeve of Sam’s flannel as she stared out the window of the plane. She didn’t even know she was capable of controlling anyone’s mind, outside of demons, but in her desperation at the airport, she had convinced a desk attendent to not only give her a ticket, but to get her a rush ticket to Sacramento.

While waiting for the plane to taxi, she had called the one person she knew she could trust, Max, her sort of ex boyfriend and former Stanford roommate. Of course he said he would pick her up from the airport. He never could tell her no.

“It’s almost over…”, she whispered, as the plane began to circle over the city, readying itself for landing. The only thing playing through Anna’s mind, the entire time they decended, was the hope that Sam would be okay this time, and that he wouldn’t follow her to California. She reached under her seat, pulling her backpack and holding it in her lap, taking a deep breath at the fact that she was almost home…well…her old home.

Walking through the airport, she shivered, nervously glancing around for any signs of the Winchesters, or Cason for that matter. But the airport was surprisingly empty. Taking another deep breath, she played with the button on the sleeve of Sam’s flannel, which she was wearing as a dress and finally Max came into view.

He gave her a wide smile, like her tired and devastated face was the best thing he had ever seen, and the look made her stomach drop. She wasn’t here to give him some false hope. She just needed his apartment. It was selfish.

“Hey! How have you been?!”, he asked loudly as he ran up to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Her heart sped up a bit and she swallowed down her tears as the first physical contact she had felt since leaving Sam washed over her.

“I um…It’s a long story. But, I’m here.”, she explained simply as he pulled back from her and pulled her backpack straps from her shoulders. He slung the backpack onto his back and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“We have plenty of time to catch up, kid. First, let’s get you back to the house and out of…whatever you’re wearing. And from the looks of it, we need to get some food into your system.”, he laughed. Anna feigned a small smile, nodding her head as he guided her out of the airport, back to what she was assuming was their old apartment.



Dean glanced back at the door when he heard footsteps walking out, only to see Nat. He diverted his eyes from her for a moment, only to turn fully and look down at her as she asked to talk to him. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, squinting at the ideas in his head of what she could possibly have to say to him. But as awkward as they both were toward each other, he took a deep breath and followed her away from the group, silently agreeing to let her say her piece.

He crossed his arms, shielding himself from whatever she decided to throw at him, only for her to make him visibly flinch with her first few words. She was apologizing. And then Hell came back up and he visibly flinched again, just at the mention and the quick flash of memories. He opened his mouth to speak, only for her to continue, causing him to quickly close his mouth and scan her eyes.

What she dumped next caused him to make the most confused face he had caught himself making in a while, processing everything she was telling him so fast that his head hurt. Once she slowed down, he took a very deep breath, letting it out with a shake of his head, his hands coming down to his hips.

“He…basically saved your life.”, he said softly, looking up at her from under his brow. He was processing out loud and honestly wasn’t completely convinced that she wasn’t being manipulated by Cason. Then the realization dawned on him, “You remember him from the asylum, don’t you. He was there…”

Tilting his head back, he stared over her head, toward the door of her room, chewing at his lip, before reaching forward and gently pulling her into a hug.

As he hugged her, the door behind her slammed loudly and Cason stomped out onto the sidewalk.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just…ready to fling myself into Hell. I’ll be here when you’re finished.”, Cason grumbled, pacing as he tried to decide whether to just leave and go to the first idea he had for where Anna could be, or whether to stay and make sure everyone was on the same page. He glanced down the sidewalk at Sam, sighing, as he almost felt bad for him.



As Dean walked away with Nat, Duke sighed at how heavy the morning was already, between the fall out from the night before with Dean and Nat, and the missing girl that he honestly didn’t even know…but apparently was important to Sam. When Mika spoke up, he nodded, “Yeah, I gathered. Looks like they might be able to salvage things though. They always do.”

He chuckled, but flinched when the door slammed, and turned his head, to see Cason stomping out of the room that Esme had just entered. He had to force his feet to stay still, as worry welled up, only for Esme to follow him out a few moments later. As she approached, he reached a hand out for her, but she went to Sam first.

His shoulders fell, but he patiently waited for her, relieved instantly for Sam. At least he would have hope…

But then she ran off toward their room without even acknowledging him and he tilted his head, frowning, “I think I messed up…”, he muttered to Mika, nodding to her and Sam, before following after Esme. As soon as he got to the door, he leaned his head against it, gently knocking, “Can I come in or should I um…go spend some time with my cooler in the back of the truck?”

NATALIA (AND PARTIAL CASON COLLAB)

When Nat just got silently enveloped in by Dean's arms, she went a little wide eyed before instantly squeezing her eyes shut to stop herself from crying. Sure, they had grown closer over time, but nowhere near the level of herself and Sam, so when Dean showed this level of comfort to her it always took her aback. She gripped the back of his shirt rightly in her fingers as she hugged him back, trying to hold it together. "Yeah....I do remember him being there...he's the only one who showed me kindness Dean.. he kept me watered and fed...even against the others wishes" she told him. Then as she was soaking in his hug, Cason came charging out of her room and ranting like a child having a tantrum.

She pulled her head out of the hug and looked at him, "Cason! Where you going?!" She called out, worried Esme had made him leave her.

Cason stopped for a moment and took a deep breath as Nat's eyes caught his, “I have been recruited.”

He said the words in a way that made Dean flinch. If Cason was this upset, he could only imagine what Esme said to him.

“Anna apparently ran away from your brother in the middle of the night. And I have been manipulated into finding her.”

She looked at Cason with surprise at what he just told her. As surprising as it was that Anna ran away....again, it wasn't nearly as surprising as hearing Esme manipulated him. She slowly let go of Dean, giving him a single hand wave and gesture to say 'be right right back' and then walked over to Cason. "You'll come back though...right?" She asked him.

Nat's words caused Dean to narrow his eyes, as she stepped away from him and over to Cason. Cason stared down at his feet for a moment before turning his eyes back up to her face with a smirk, “If I survive. Yes.”

Cason's words did not reduce her worries whatsoever, if anything they made them worse. She did not just unfog some of her memory and somewhat gain trust and security in Cason, just for him to leave her. "I'm serious Cason, come back to me, alive. I need you" she told him honestly.

Cason sighed, a small smirk creeping onto his lips as Dean groaned in the background, shaking his head and wiping a stressed hand down his face.

“I should be back tonight. If I’m right, maybe sooner.”, Cason confirmed, reaching a hand up to push a strand of hair behind Nat's ear, eliciting another miserable groan from Dean that made Cason chuckle, “I promise.”

Nat closed her eyes as he swept some hair behind her ear and nodded lightly. "Okay. I'm holding you to that" she replied reopening her eyes to look at him straight on, deciding to ignore Dean's groaning for now. No doubt he'd bombard her with questions the moment Cason disappeared.

Cason smiled, stepping back from Nat, “I fully expected you to.”

With a chuckle, he disappeared, leaving no more time for him to change his mind.

As Cason did his disappearing act, Natalia sighed heavily as she felt more than one set of eyes falling on her. Her guess was it wasn't just Dean staring at her, but it was also Mika and Sam. Cason smiled, stepping back from Nat, “I fully expected you to.”

With a chuckle, he disappeared, leaving no more time for him to change his mind.Ignoring the others, she turned to face Dean first, she still felt like she had a way to go to make it up to him. "Go on then....I know you got questions rattling round in that head of yours so may as well get it over with" she told him.

MIKA AND SAM

Mika felt glad that if her hunch was correct, Dean and Natalia could indeed patch things up. She knew deep down that Dean cared for the youngest Winchester more than he ever let on, she had heard plenty of ranting of worry from him about Nat before he got taken from them all for four months. So she had faith in them and their sibling connection. "Yeah, he cares about her more than he lets her realise. Hopefully this can be the start of letting her in on that." she replied.

Then came the door slamming and a very pissed off Cason exiting Nat's room, which made her also wince slightly. Things clearly did not go as well or calmly as they were hoping it to. Maybe sending Esme in wasn't the brightest idea they had after all she thought to herself.

She noticed Esme leaving the room shortly after and going to Sam first to give him the answer he and they all were waiting for. Cason's temper tantrum and yell told her that he had agreed but it wasn't under any polite circumstances, and then came the movement that surprised her and made her cock an eyebrow in curiosity. Natalia actually let go of Dean and went over to Cason. Not only that she was witnessing Nat begging him to come back to her. "well well..." she muttered under her breath, but still heard what Duke said to her.

"Good luck Duke" she said to him as he walked off to follow Esme and try and patch things up. It honestly felt like everyone was needing to patch things...everyone except for her and Dean that is.

Sam gave Esme a simple nod at what she said to him, appreciating what she had done for him. He didn't even care that Cason was having a temper tantrum like a child because of it. All he cared about was having Anna back and him having a moment to prove to her he did love her and he didn't want her leaving when things got confusing to her or tough.

He let Esme and Duke leave, which made his attention turn to his sister talking with Cason and somewhat managing to calm him down, even make him smirk again. He glanced toward Mika then Dean as if to say 'we are seeing this right?', not sure what he was witnessing was even real. He couldn't tear his eyes away, unable to think of anything other than 'if he so much as does anything to her I'm having him'. He wasn't in the mood for Cason's antics and like Dean, he was still convinced Cason was manipulating her because she was the youngest in their group.

He only let out the breath he was unaware of holding when Cason left and Nat turned to Dean first. "He isn't the only one who has questions" he said loud enough for everyone left outside to hear.

Esme only had seconds to dwell on her words to Cason and how they had affected him before there was a knock on the door, followed by Duke’s voice. She almost smiled behind her hands at what he said but how she was feeling prevented her from doing so. She let his words echo in her mind for a moment, truly debating if she wanted company, other than Sarah, in the room with her. She was also surprised that he’d even want to be in the room with her after she scolded him not that long ago. This morning she had gone from being sweet and happy to a bitch to both Duke and Cason all in less than an hour. She wouldn’t blame either if they didn’t want to be around her, but surprisingly Duke did. She didn’t even acknowledge him after talking to Cason. She had gone straight to Sam, told him Cason was going to help them, then went to the room, all without even casting a glance his way. He was far too sweet a man and at that moment she felt she didn’t deserve him. That she didn’t deserve to have him at her side taking care of her injuries or even comforting her but she wanted him there with her.

She needed to hear him say that it was alright, and he understood why his words had hit her so hard to have her react the way she did to them, even if she felt she didn’t deserve them. Sighing heavily, she lifted her face from her hands and ran both hands through her hair to push it from her face. “You can come in if you want to.” she finally called out to him, her tone holding a mixture of emotions. She didn’t even look at the door when she called out to him, she had looked down at Sarah and placed a hand on her head and gently rubbed it. “I really don’t deserve him.” she softly breathed to Sarah. When she heard the door open, she leaned back on the bed, letting her hand slide off Sarah’s head before bringing both her arms up and laying them across her face. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the hurt she knew was on his face. Though she was sure he’d end up coming over to the bed and then gently remove her arms from her face, asking her not to hide from him.

Cason dropped in the middle of an empty hallway, in the old apartment building that he had lived in…when he met Anna. He knew where she was. She always ran to one person when they would fight, or when she had a bad test day and needed someone who could relate. In fact, it’s where she was living when they met in this very hallway.

He smiled fondly of the memories that flooded his mind of the parties, and the late nights helping guys back to their apartments after a bender. Glancing around at the numbers on the doors, he oriented himself and walked down the hallway. Only a few doors down, he came to the apartment he was looking for, and straightened his jacket, before knocking.

He could hear voices behind the door, both of which were familiar, and surprisingly happy. He could even hear Anna giggle as Max stalked over to the door and swung it open.

“Cason!”, he beamed, a bright smile gracing his face as soon as he saw Cason’s face. Anna’s head popped up in the background as she stood to her feet, looking almost faint.

“Hey Max. Hello, Anna.”, Cason answered back, as Max stepped aside, letting Cason into the apartment. Cason glanced at the ceiling, and scanned his eyes down to his feet, just in case Anna had already planned for him to come after her, but from what he gathered, she had no idea he was coming.

“What are you doing here?”, Anna asked with a shaky voice, causing Max to frown in confusion. She might have forgotten to mention that they were long broken up, and not…exactly on the best terms. She sighed, and Cason shrugged his shoulders.

“You kinda ran off without saying anything. I was worried.”

“Max…could you excuse us for a moment?”, she asked, hesitantly taking her eyes off Cason long enough to turn to Max.

“Of-Of course. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, alright?”, he responded, glancing between her and Cason with suspicion. She simply nodded, crossing her arms as he left her alone with him.

“What the hell are you doing here?! I hope you’re not here to bring me back. I’m not going. I will scream.”, she started immediately, but Cason raised his hands to stop her.

“First. I know you will. Second. I’m not here to bring you back. Your boyfriend was losing his mind, and I’m just here to make sure you’re alive and well. You are. I have what I need and I don’t plan to make any more drama for you than necessary.”, Cason explained, shrugging his shoulders. Anna narrowed her eyes in suspicion, scanning his face for any sign that he was lying, but she could find nothing.

“How is he?”, she asked finally.

“A mess. He’s confused. He’s a bit zoned out and upset, if I’m honest. He doesn’t understand why you left. Why did you leave?”

“It’s what I do, I guess.”, she answered, shrugging her shoulders. She turned her eyes awkwardly to the ground and kicked her boots against the floor, causing Cason to narrow his eyes.

“Right…”, he said, but his voice held suspicion. He knew that there was more to her story, and that something had caused her to leave. But instead of pushing it, he reached out, cradling her face in his hands. He pulled her forward and pressed a tight kiss to her forehead, “You know you can call me if you need me…even now.”

“I know.”, she whispered, her eyes closed, “But can you leave?”

“Of course. I need to let them know you’re alive. Keep him safe, alright? Don’t open the door, and put a trap under that door mat, just in case whoever made you leave shows up.”, Cason explained casually, stepping back from her. He disappeared before she could even correct him, and she dropped her arms in exasperation, tears threatening the corners of her eyes.



As soon as Cason disappeared, Dean stayed silent for a moment, until Nat turned to him, and accused him of having something to say. At first, he feigned innocence, shaking his head, “I don’t know what you want me to say…”

He crossed his arms but then held a hand up, shifting to one leg, “He suddenly decides to protect you, after all this time. What is it? He has been taking care of you from afar and suddenly he feels the need to be close enough to sleep in your bed? I’m just confused, Nat. This is Cason. You know…Cason? The guy who slept with my girlfriend. The guy who essentially lied to Anna for God knows how long about what he was. And suddenly he’s a saint. Saint demon…”

He took a deep breath, and shook his head, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just need to know…how do you…feel about him? Is it an ‘I owe him’ kind of attachment or is it a ‘he’s dangerous, let me jump in bed with him’ kind of thing?”

Before he could even get an answer from her, Cason appeared behind her, much faster than he had anticipated. He rolled his eyes, and gave Nat a look that said ‘I expect that answer when you’re finished with him’. Luckily for Dean, Cason stood still and quiet, holding a piece of paper in his hands as he waited for the stress to leave the area around Nat.



Duke listened carefully for Esme’s voice in the room, breathing deep through his nose. Finally, he heard her voice and a wide relieved smile spread across his face. He gently pressed on the door, pushing it open, before removing the trashcan from the gap, and closing the door behind him. He didn’t immediately go to touch her, deciding instead to get some clothes on, just in case she decided to continue screaming at him. At least he wouldn’t end up back outside, naked.

He kicked off his boots and threw his hat on the dresser, before grabbing a pair of boxers and a tshirt, throwing them both over his body. He stood still at the foot of the bed, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, and then crawled onto the mattress. He carefully crawled all the way up until he was leaning on his hands and knees beside Esme, and reached a gentle hand over to wrap his fingers around one of her wrists.

“Hey. Darlin, look at me.”, he whispered, bringing her hand up to his lips, where he pressed soft kisses to her knuckles, “I mean, I can’t flash my baby blues and apologize right if you don’t look at me.”

As he lightly teased her, he smiled against her knuckles so she could feel it, and then balanced on just his knees, reaching for her other hand, “C’mon, sweet pea…”

NATALIA

Dean's feigning of innocence didn't wash over Natalia in the slightest. She just gave an unimpressed look to show him she didn't believe him at all that he 'didn't know what she was talking about'. She folded her arms across her chest to show him this was not going to be dropped and he may as well just come out with it before they butt heads all over again. It was quite the sight to see her almost mimic her brother's stance, showing there was no denying she was his sister, but unlike Dean, she didn't unfold her arms when he finally caved and began saying a load of questions at her.

The moment he sarcastically called Cason 'Saint Demon' she narrowed her eyes at him and it seemed to be enough as he seemed to back down on that remark and try and word his question better, but it didn't get any better. He essentially asked her if she was already sleeping with him, making her scoff in disbelief that he'd think that low of her. She started opening her mouth to speak but Cason suddenly appeared behind her, making Dean let her know this conversation was far from over.

Sighing, she finally unfolded her arms and gave Dean a nod. "Cason I'm alright, if you know where Anna is please tell Sam, I've got some more discussing to do with my brother" she told him, shooting him a quick glance but then looked straight back at Dean, her tone showing she was not happy with Dean still and she had some very strong words to say to him. She wasn't going to hold things back any more and instead of bottling everything up and keeping people out of her thoughts and opinions, she was going to start being open with them.

SAM AND MIKA

Mika and Sam were both ready to pounce between the two siblings the moment Dean started to ask his questions. Questions that Sam found valid and he himself was thinking even if he would have asked them in a slightly more tactful manner. He knew Nat was still in a very much delicate state and any wrongfully worded question to her could make her flip out on them all over again if they weren't careful. It seemed to him and to Mika, that Dean didn't share the same thought process.

Then came the very blunt question of 'are you shagging him?' even if Dean didn't outright ask it in that manner and Mika instantly started to walk toward the two of them when Cason's re-appearance made her pause her walking and see just how close Cason had put himself to Nat. She gently shook her head at Dean to silently say 'be careful Dean', especially as she didn't appreciate getting brought into the earlier questions, but could understand why he did.

To try and break up the silence, Sam cleared his throat and stepped forward to Cason, noticing the piece of paper in his hands. "Is that her location?" he asked him, gesturing to the paper in Cason's hand, wanting answers to Natalia's situation but also wanting Anna's location even more so.

As Esme lay on the bed, with her arms still over her face, she listened to Duke come into the room and shut the door behind him. When he didn’t immediately come over to the bed, she grew a bit worried but still couldn’t bring herself to look over at him. When she heard his boots hit the floor and his hat land on the dresser, she figured he was getting dressed and would maybe walk back out giving her space when he was done. She wouldn’t have thought anything of it if that was what he would have done, but he didn’t. He stood at the end of the bed, she could feel his presence there and heard his deep breath to calm his nerves. She had made him nervous to come near her after everything that happened outside. Concentrating, to push past the shield Sarah caused, she could feel his nervousness, and it made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t want him to ever be nervous to approach her after one of her little episodes, which she hadn’t had in some time. She wanted to hide away from him more than ever now.

She then felt the mattress dip as Duke crawled onto the mattress, then all the way up until he was next to her. It was strange witnessing him be so careful as if he was afraid she would go off on him again. She didn’t have it in her to go off on him again, and she was still kicking herself for going about it the way she did. When he took hold of her wrist, her heart sped up. The gentleness of his touch started to break her out of her makeshift walls. She didn’t fight against him when he pulled her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles after he spoke. Duke’s light teasing and making sure she could feel his smile, caused an ever-so-slight smile to tug at the corners of her mouth. With him acting like this, she was finding it difficult to keep up her shield. Plus, it wasn’t him that needed to apologize, it was her. She was the one that needed to apologize to him for her actions outside. Calling her Sweet Pea was what did her in, she could no longer lay there without looking at him, especially with how sweet and gentle he was being.

Esme slowly pulled her arm from her face to see he was reaching for her other hand. Without thinking, she placed her hand within his, then looked up at him. She then forced herself to sit up and looked into his blue eyes, so she could talk to him, her eyes shifting between his as she looked at him. “Duke, I’m s….” she dropped her head and looked at their hands. “I’m sorry for the way I acted out there.” She then lifted her head to look at him, then looked over at his hat on the dresser. “In less than an hour, I became a completely different person. I blew on you over the bounty hunter idea. Then when I went and talked to Cason, I used blackmail to get him to help us find Anna.” She then dropped her head and shook it with a heavy sigh. “That’s not me. I don’t blackmail those that have helped me or are a part of the group I’m in.” she rambled to him. “I’m honestly surprised you’re even here next to me after I bit your head off. I’ve been a real bitch this morning.”

Dean watched the way Nat handled Cason and even tilted his head to the side in amusement at the way that Cason simply nodded, almost like a puppy in Dean’s eyes, and pushed past both her and Dean.

“Isn’t that cute?”, Dean muttered without even realizing it. He quickly looked down at Nat’s face, and shot her a cheeky smile, before wiping it from his face completely. She would kill him before she would give him the satisfaction of insulting Cason, at the moment.

“So, he seems to listen to you. That’s nice. My question would be, why?”, he asked, scanning Nat’s face. He knew she was probably going to blow up on him. She would probably find every reason in the world to defend Cason, and honestly? He was tempted to give the guy benefit of the doubt, if his story was true.



Cason met Sam halfway, after leaving Nat, albeit reluctantly. As soon as the taller man stepped in front of him, he held the paper out in front of him and nodded, “Yeah. She was exactly where I figured she would be. She’s a creature of habit, which is good for you, bad for her, I guess.”

Cason let Sam take the piece of paper and sighed, scratching his neck awkwardly to decide how to even talk to Sam as anything other than some random human, or at the least, the awkward new boyfriend of his ex. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed Sam hovering here and there in the background, at Stanford. Or like Sam didn’t pop up and come across Anna in coffee shops, where Cason would have to distract her to keep her from getting too close to him…for reasons.

“I have to warn you. She’s not alone.”, he started, before holding his hands up to let Sam know he would explain, “I don’t know if you remember Max. Short little guy with a bit of a droopy lip, dreamy blue eyes…had a bit of a crush on Anna before I met her. Well, she’s staying at his place. He’s a good kid. I don’t recommend, if your plan is to bring her home, that you hurt him. Just trust me on that.”

Cason stepped over to the railing of the motel sidewalk, and leaned against it, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter, before lighting up. Now that Nat was all but demanding he stick around, even looking at the others was awkward.



Duke was relieved as the smile appeared from nowhere on Esme’s lips, and when she pulled her other hand down, he dropped his shoulders with relief, a bright and familiar smile flooding over his face. But that smile faded after a moment, as she started to apologize. He gripped her hands a bit tighter and started to argue with her, but he knew that arguing, while trying to get his own apology in was probably not the best move.

What surprised him was her explanation for her apology. Not only had she lost it on him but apparently she had all but bullied Cason into leaving, which was successful, so he didn’t see harm. But he also knew Esme well enough to know that she was very VERY sensitive to manipulation.

“So, you stop with that…first off.”, he corrected her about him being there with her, “And as far as the blow up at me? You’ve blown up at me before. At least this time, I was being dumb…”

His accent shined as he reached out and tilted her chin with one of his fingers, a smile spreading over his face again, “It takes a hell of a lot more than snappin’ my head off, over bounty hunter drama for me to just run off. You know that. At least you didn’t hit me, this time. No stitches…no foul.”

Duke pinched her chin gently, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip, while watching the contact intently, “I just assumed you were hungry. You always did turn into some other not so human kind of creature when you were hungry. Hangry…”, he teased, before flashing his pearly white smile again.

NATALIA AND MIKA

Nat just about heard Dean make the snarky remark about Cason agreeing to let her deal with Dean on her own. To her it came across as respect for her wishes, which for a demon was an incredibly rare trait, if not non existent. Yet Cason somehow had that respect for her, he didn't even try anything with her in her room so Dean unable to hold his tongue for five minutes really got under her skin. She glared at Dean when he gave her a cheeky smile to show him she was in no entertaining mood.

She dropped the glare when he spoke to her and asking her why Cason would listen to her. "Because Dean" she started speaking, putting emphasis on his name, "as hard as it is to comprehend, and believe me, I still finding it difficult to comprehend as well, but he respects me and my wishes. He has sworn that no more hurt will come to me as long as he's breathing and doesn't want my PTSD from that as- that place acting up anymore than it already is. If it wasn't for him you and Sam wouldn't have even found me!" She scolded him.

"I know you don't trust him, and hells, not long ago I was hesitant about him being around too but I know what I remember to be true! Everything is familiar to me, my memories are finally being unfogged! Why can't you actually for once in your life be happy for me?! And for your previous questions, no I'm not just some hussy who sleeps with demons coz he's a "bad boy" or out of manipulated revenge!" She told him, her words coming out way quicker than her mind can stop her.

"Now hold on a damn minute Natalia!" Mika couldn't help but step in and speak up when she got brought into Nat's counter at Dean. She walked to between Natalia and Dean, deliberately using Nat's full name to make a point she was NOT happy with her. "I have done nothing but be devil's advocate and be on your side over this, don't go bringing me up like that!" She complained.

"No! He brought you into it first! I'm sick of staying quiet and Dean seeming to not trust my instincts to be valid! I get it, I'm the "baby Winchester" but my opinions and gut instincts are just as valid as yours, Sam's, Esme's or anyone else! It's not fair he treats me like a kid!" Nat spat back, trying her hardest to not cry out of frustration. "You know Dean...I really thought you cared about me for a moment when you hugged me, I guess I was wrong" she said, her voice trying to crack.

"He does care Nat" Mika tried to Eastside, looking at Dean and holding her hand out toward to Nat to say 'tell her!'. She didn't want to lose anymore family members or see family breaking apart yet again.

SAM

Seeing Dean unable to not make a remark about Cason listening to Natalia, he knew a verbal bomb was going to happen. So as much as he wanted to side with Dean on this one, he had to focus on what Cason had about Anna's location.

He looked down at Cason and listened to what he was saying as he took the paper from him when it was handed to him. He unfolded the paper to look at the location and he knew instantly where it was. He looked up again at Cason as he began talking about Max. The old college friend who always had a thing for Anna. "I briefly remember him" he replied, taking note of what he was warning him. He wouldn't hurt anyone Anna was with unless there was justifiable cause to.

The last thing he wanted was to push Anna further away from him than he accidentally already had done. "I won't hurt him, I won't hurt anyone unless it's justified" he replied as he let Cason walk away from the other drama that was unfolding in front of him. Shoving the paper in his jeans pocket, he walked closer to the others, standing beside Nat but he wasn't siding with her in the slightest, even though he understood where she was coming from.

"I think we need to all calm down" he said calmly.

Esme kept her head down and closed her eyes as Duke began to talk, inwardly flinching as he corrected her, and reminded her she had blown on him before, and at least this time he was being dumb. A new smile almost came to her lips from him calling himself dumb. There were a few times she heard him call himself dumb before but she never thought she’d hear him say it again. It had always felt like some rare moment when he did. As soon as his fingers touched her chin, she opened her eyes and looked at him as he tilted her chin. The smile she saw spreading across his face was contagious. That particular smile always had been, it was one that could light up the darkest of rooms and lift anyone out of their foulest of moods. In her mind, she referred to it as one of his superpowers, because it always worked no matter how much she tried to fight against it.

She took in his next words, knowing full well how true they were but not benign around him for years, she hadn’t been sure if things had changed. Though what he said after that made her visibly wince. In the past, there had been many times she had hit him in one of her outbursts, a few of those resulting in stitches that Dean had to take care of. She could still remember each and every time she hit him which resulted in him needing stitches because of the ring she wore then and still did. Before her first kidnapping by demons, she could be downright fiery and hard to reason with when someone or something pissed her off. Both Dean and Duke had known to keep their distance from her during those times, but a few times they couldn’t help themselves and would team up to pull her out of her mood by doing sweet or stupid things.

The pinching of her chin and his thumb brushing over her bottom lip brought her back from dwelling on the past and made her heart flutter. A soft smile came to her lips as she watched him watch the contact intently, and seeing his nervousness had seemed to fade. Duke’s next words caused Esme to laugh because she knew just how true they were. She did in fact suffer from bouts of being hangry. “Hangry, huh?” she laughed, seeing his smile. She then acted as if she was going into thought, averting her eyes from his for a moment. “I guess you’re right, I was hangry…. Now I’m just hungry.” She laughed again as she looked into his eyes. He had worked his magic on her again. How was he so good at bringing her out of her funk? Also, how did he get her to fall for him despite all the walls she had put up after her trauma? Lifting her free hand, she brought it up, and gently brushed some of his hair from his face with a warm smile.

She then rested her hand on his cheek. “You still know how to work your magic on my mood.” she said softly with a smile. Esme then pulled his face closer to hers and softly nuzzled his nose with hers. “I guess that makes you my chill pill.” she whispered against his lips. She was moments from kissing him when the yelling from outside reached her ears. She sighed through her nose and then looked over at the drawn curtains. “Should we go check on that or let them work it out themselves.” she asked him.

Dean cringed as Nat lit into him. Just the inflection on the way she said his name nearly sent him into another blind rage screaming fit, but she continued and his shoulders slowly began to drop in defeat. Hearing that Cason swore to protect her, Dean dropped his eyes from her face to the ground. As her brother, he should be supportive of that. It’s not like a demon couldn’t tear anything apart that came near her. He could disappear and reappear, and take her with him if there was trouble.

“I am happy…”, Dean started as Nat continued to chew him out. He stopped, holding his mouth open for a moment, and then closing it as she came to the meanest part of his questioning, the claims of her sleeping with Cason as some weird way to get back at him. His face instantly turned to anger as soon as she brought up Mika, as if he hadn’t already been down that road, but Mika stepped up right at that moment and he let out a breath, placing an arm in front of Mika, just in case.

Nat’s next words hit him right in the chest and he softened his face, “No hold on a second…HOLD ON!”, he yelled, interrupting both Mika and Nat, as Mika gestured for him to fix things.

Sam stepping in only made him more stressed, nearly an instant reaction. He dropped his arm from in front of Mika’s waist, and took a deep breath.

“I do care about you. I wouldn’t be so…freaked out if I didn’t care.”, he attempted to smooth things over, as he could feel things devolving quickly, and Sam was right. They had bigger issues to deal with than petty fighting between them, “I just don’t want you to get hurt again, or wrapped up in some insane demon situation where we end up right back where we started. And I’m sorry, but I’m not as trusting as you are, Nat…”



Cason had just nodded to Sam’s promise, only to be bombarded from behind with all the chaos of the argument. He turned at the same time as Sam, sighing in annoyance to see Dean holding Mika back from Nat, as if the two women were going to claw each other’s face off. Taking a chance, he stepped over to Nat, also wrapping his arms loosely around her waist from behind, mostly just to give Dean some room.

“I agree with Sam…”, he muttered, before leaning in, pulling Nat back to his chest, “I agree…with Sam.”

He shushed her in her ear, tightening his grip on her waist before deciding to play devil’s advocate for a moment, “Your brother…is an idiot. But your brother loves you. I’m sure there’s a better way of handling this than having to apologize for yelling at him every day, right?”, he murmured into her ear, before letting her go, causing Dean to take a slow and deep breath, in agreement. There was a small moment of nicety between Dean and Cason, as they made eye contact with one another and simply nodded.

“Now. Are we all calm enough to have a civil discussion?”



Duke smiled even brighter as Esme pushed his hair from his face, and he saw that smile creep onto her face. It was the only thing he wanted at the moment, was just to know she wasn’t mad at him, and that she could smile. There was enough bad going on. She didn’t need to worry more than she normally did, which was pretty much all the time.

“I honestly like being the magical chill pill.”, he chuckled, snarling his nose as she nuzzled it, “Makes me a bit expendable…”

As she hovered closer to his lips, he let his eyes flutter closed until the commotion outside distracted the both of them, and he matched her sigh, frowning as he flexed his hand around her wrist. He opened his eyes and chuckled softly, and glanced over toward the window. Lifting his gaze into the air in thought, he pondered her words, tightening his lips, “Hmm.”

After a moment, he shook his head and leaned back down to capture her lips with his, kissing her deeply. After the attitude shift, there was no way he was leaving this room with her, only to throw both of them into a potentially volatile afternoon. No thank you.

He pulled back and took a deep breath of air, nuzzling her nose, “I think they can handle it themselves, this time.”

NATALIA

She knew she had overstepped yet again with her words about Mika, but she was still so tired of Dean assuming things about her because he wasn't trusting in anyone other than Sam and Mika. Out of the two brothers, she always felt like she wasn't good enough in Dean's eyes and in the early days she even wondered about just leaving them all together but Sam always managed to keep her staying. She didn't WANT to fight with Dean every damn day, but she felt like her temper had been squashed down for so long, she didn't know how to control it when Dean said something that she perceived as being out of line.

Dean holding Mika back was probably a good call as she could have easily slapped the woman for sticking her nose in and she knew if she did, she would have instantly regretted it and no doubt got a lot more from Dean than just words thrown at him. She flinched slightly when Dean yelled at her to just stop as Sam jumped in to be that calming source for everyone. Seeing her brother visibly hurting was starting to break through her anger to rid her of the emotion, but then Cason also jumped in and wrapped his arms round her, making her flinch initially yet again.

Hearing him agree with Sam made her take a few deep slow breaths to try and calm down, as well as reminding her she didn't need to fight her way out of every confrontation. It wasn't the asylum anymore, she had family, a home of sorts at Bobby's and in her car and in her family. Part of her wanted to shrug out of his grip and it felt like he must have sensed it as his grip tightened around her waist as he agreed Dean was an idiot but this wasn't the time for a busy up with him.

She stared forward at Dean as she forced herself to calm down and eventually she nodded and gave into Cason and Sam's pleas to calm down. She even dropped the clenched fist she didn't even realise she was holding. "....fine" she replied as Cason let go of her. "But if he so much as accuses me of sleeping with you out of some kind rebellion again, I'm having him" she told Cason, looking at him in the eyes, the hurt in her eyes being evident.

MIKA AND SAM

Mika could see just how wired yet again Nat was and it was honestly starting to truly concern her just how easily Nat was losing her temper all of a sudden. It had been months since she last saw her this bad, and even then the anger was directed at demons they tried to use to get Dean home. This was on a whole new level in her eyes and it quite frankly scared her slightly.

She placed a hand on Dean's shoulder to let him know she wasn't planning on stepping any more forward than where she was. She also didn't want Dean storming up to Nat and doing something he'd regret.

With everyone agreeing things needed to calm down before someone called the police or something for the disturbance, she felt calmed herself. She then looked at how Cason and Sam were able to calm Natalia down, glancing at the clenched fist softening of Natalia's. She was surprised that the brothers and Cason were agreeing with each other, as she was completely expecting one of them to tell Cason to stay out of it, so when neither did she felt she just witnessed a monumental moment. "Okay, now we're all calm, Sam you know where Anna is?" She asked, cautiously staying behind Dean still.

"Yeah, california" Sam replied, seeing the shocked face on Mika's face he just gave a sad nod. "I know...so much for not getting far" he told her, just knowing what she was thinking without her saying a single word.

"So what's the plan?" Mika asked him, wondering what he was going to do. "the only thing I can do...get to her location and bring her home...somehow" he shrugged.

He looked at Dean, knowing his distaste for flying, he wasn't going ask him to go with him. Sure he could drive, but that would take so much longer bad he was convinced if Anna was with Max, then he didn't have time to drive there. "I think I gotta go alone...and take a flight there. If we all go get her she'll refuse to come back." He told his brother, though he also knew it was risky leaving Dean and Natalia alone for a while. Which brought him to look at Cason.

"Can I trust you to keep her safe and stop any busy ups with Dean?"

As Esme looked at the window listening to the commotion outside, she felt Duke’s hands flex around her waist as she asked her question. She knew he was, just as much as she, was getting tired of the interruptions during these moments. As he pondered his answer, she turned her gaze back to him, watching his face intently. If she was being truthful with herself, she didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever was going on out there. She had had enough of being hit with negative emotions this morning and having someone yell in her face. She knew if she were to say what she was thinking out loud, she’d sound completely selfish but she didn’t really care at that moment. She was thoroughly enjoying being drowned in all the love and positive emotions coming from Duke. She was letting them take her over and was getting drunk off them.

As soon as Duke shook his head, and then leaned down and kissed her deeply, she was pretty sure she knew what his answer was. She felt her heart skip a beat as she closed her eyes and kissed him back. She then brought her hand back to his cheek after it fell from turning towards the window. When he pulled away, she also took in a deep breath, a smile returning to her lips as he nuzzled her nose. Her smile grew at his words and she nuzzled his nose again. “I was hoping you would say that.” she whispered sweetly against his lips with a light laugh. She lightly brushed her lips over his and closed her eyes. “Neither of us needs that negativity right now.” Esme then brushed her lips over his again before kissing him sweetly, then slid her arms around his neck.

Cason dropped his arms, reaching out to pick up one of Nat’s hands as she turned to him and looked into his eyes. He nodded his head, conceding to her threats, and shrugged one of his shoulders, “And if that happens, I’ll pretend I don’t have eyes. I swear.”

He rubbed his thumb across the back of her knuckles, and Dean sighed. There were still a million questions flooding Dean’s brain, but he agreed that they had bigger problems than Nat being just a little too snuggly with the one demon he had his sights on. Unfortunately, Cason was right, like Sam. They had to focus.

Dean and Cason both focused on Sam when Mika asked him where Anna was. Cason already knew, but he wanted Sam to explain it in a way that might convince everyone she was at least safe, which at the moment…other than being alone without them, she was.

Cason nodded his head at Sam’s assertion that he needed to go alone, “She’s going to be mad enough at me for coming back to you. She’ll be doubly pissed if she feels ambushed. Sending Sam alone isn’t the worst idea.”

Dean shrugged his shoulders in a bit of frustration, “I don’t like it.”

“You may not like it, but you know it’s the best idea.”, Cason chimed in again, causing Dean to shoot him dagger eyes. But after a moment, he relaxed his face, as Sam put his trust in Cason to keep Nat safe and to keep her from exploding again, “I won’t let anything happen to her, even if I have to just keep them separate.”

Dean chuckled, visibly amused at the idea that Cason would somehow be able to keep Nat locked up or tied down in some way, to keep her away from Dean, “I’m done fighting. I just want to get Anna back, figure out why the hell she left in the first place, and get some more answers about…the plan or whatever.”

NATALIA, MIKA AND SAM

Sam watched Dean's facial expressions the entire time Cason backed up his ideas about him going alone to bring Anna back. He knew Dean probably would want Anna back just as much as himself, and he certainly knew that his brother wouldn't like him going alone anywhere to bring her back, but truth was in the last four months, he had to do a lot of things alone whilst Dean was in Hell and thus that meant he was a lot more capable than his brother could ever know. "I know you don't like it, but trust me when I say I can do this on my own and I'll keep in touch the entire time. I will bring her back Dean" he tried to reassure him.

He then looked over at Cason as he nodded to keep Natalia safe from herself and from Dean whilst he was gone. If he was going to be worried about any of them when he wasn't around it was Nat. With his wish agreed to, he nodded a single firm nod to Cason before looking back at Dean and seeing him visibly amused at the request, which made him just subtly just shake his head slowly at his brother. It wasn't the time to show anything that could Nat could deem as an attack on her. It was now clear to him that she was still learning, even after all this time, how to react to human people again.

He did however sigh with relief when Dean said he was done fighting with Natalia, even though he knew his brother better than that statement. "Okay, I'm gonna grab my stuff, book a flight to where she is and get moving" he explained to everyone.

As the discussion went on, Natalia focused on the soothing slow movements of Cason's thumb running on the back of her hand to continue keeping her calm which luckily for him, it was working. "I really hope you get her back Sam" she told him, talking to him in a much kinder tone than she was previously talking to Mika and especially Dean. "So do I Nat, and stay out of trouble for me yeah?" he replied, giving her a very small genuine smile. Part of her wanted to say 'well that's asking a bit much isn't it?' but instead she decided to not say it, and just nod instead. "good enough for me" Sam smiled at her.

"Good luck baby bro" Mika spoke up before letting Sam finally walk back to his room to gather whatever he may need for the long trip to getting Anna back to him. She looped one arm through Dean's now they were alone with Cason and Natalia and wondered how this was going to go. "Can we continue this civil conversation or no?" she asked the group, looking between the three of them, seeing Nat simply half shrug. She wanted to remain civil, she truly did but Dean just had that knack of getting on her nerves so easily.

"Seeing as you're refusing to say much else Nat I'm gonna simply say this. You and Dean need to get passed this conflict at some point, even if you remain away from each other for a while. Find a hunt to do go your own way for a while or just swallow your emotions and actually spend some time with Dean. I don't care which route you decide to take, but you gotta decide. We all love you dearly and like Dean said earlier, he gets like this because he cares about you. You're literally the baby sister he never knew he'd need in his life and because of that things get heated. None of us are perfect, but he just wants you safe" she said to her calmly and softly.

Natalia listened to Mika talk, taking in her words and eventually sighing deeply. She honestly didn't know what else she could possibly say, the options she was being given weren't all that appealing either way. "I love you all too...it's why your words hurt Dean" she calmly told him, still refusing to let go of Cason. She knew this wouldn't be easy on her brother, but she hoped in time it would become easier. "I guess...I guess I need time away to clear my head. Just don't give up on me....please. I don't wanna be that sister you disown. I've lost one family, I can't lose another" she admitted to both Mika and Dean.

That was the closest she was going to get to saying 'I need you Dean', at least for now.

Cason nodded back at Sam as he stepped away, sighing at the thought of how upset Anna would be when she came back, and the damage she could easily do to him, in that anger. But surely Sam could contain her anger, or maybe even head it off before they got back.

“I think we can definitely be civil…”, he murmured, reaching across Nat, and spinning her to where her back was to his chest, and she was forced to face both Mika and Dean.

Dean lowered his head, listening to both the instructions from Mika, and the response from Nat. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward, “I want you to take some time off. Get some rest…take…take Cason with you, and figure out whatever it is that you need to figure out. I’ll be here when you figure it out.”

“I think what he’s saying is that you need to rest, so you guys don’t end up blowing up on each other again.”, Cason said simply, leaning his head over her shoulder, to which Dean shrugged and nodded.

“Pretty much.”

“Maybe all the humans in this group should use the time you’re not defending…or destroying the planet to get some rest. I can’t protect all of you.”, Cason explained with a wave of his hand, to which Dean scoffed.

“I don’t think a rest day would kill anyone.”, he chuckled, wrapping an arm around Mika, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with the demon.”



Later that night, Anna laid on the couch, reading a book that she had picked up at the bookstore near the apartment. She couldn’t believe how absolutely normal life was for Max and the other friends that seemed like they were lifetimes away. She hadn’t even imagined that anyone had normal lives, after all the time she had spent with the Winchesters.

And just like that…Sam flooded into her brain, again. She wondered if Cason had told him where she was, or if maybe he had actually done what she told him to do, and was quiet…and just staying with Nat.

“You want dinner? I’m thinking about ordering Asian food.”, Max suddenly startled her out of her daydream, stepping into the living room. He held up a menu, and his free hand as if to make sure she knew it was him, “You’re awful jumpy.”

“I’m sorry. It’s been a long few months, and I don’t honestly know how to explain it to you, at the moment.”, she said with a soft sigh. She closed her book and held her hand out for the menu, and like the precious human he was, Max simply ignored the conversation, and walked over to the couch. Pulling her legs onto his lap, he handed her the menu.

“So, about Cason showing up…”

“Oh no. No. I don’t want to talk about that. Maybe one day, but not today. Today, I want to forget about that…drama. I want to eat crappy food and I want to watch a stupid movie, and I want to not be stressed.”, she said quickly, settling on the food she wanted. She pointed to it, and handed the menu back, causing Max to sigh.

“I feel like there’s more to the story, is all.”, he said sadly, as a knock at the door barely distracted them both. Anna shook her head, tapping on the menu, and pointed toward the door, “Fine! Fine. Crappy food…whoever this is, and movies. Got it.”

NATALIA AND MIKA

Mika was thankful that Natalia was agreeing to some time away. She knew deep down that it was her best option but she wanted Nat to decide for herself so she didn't make the girl feel like she was being forced into a particular decision. She listened to everyone talk, even watched as Cason had turned Natalia round to make her look at them as they talked with each other. She absolutely hated it, but she was thankful for Cason's help right now. She was even more surprised that Dean was agreeing with Cason.

"Then it's decided, we'll all take a rest day, or two and we'll reunite when we're ready to. Nat you know to call us if you need us okay?" she said, sliding her arm that was through Dean's, now round his waist, glad to be standing so close to him once more.

Natalia nodded in agreement, instinctively grabbing Cason's arms whilst he had a grip on her. "I know, and I will, I promise" she replied to Mika before patting Cason's arms to signal letting go of her, then when she was free of his hold she went to her room to grab her belongings. Unlike Esme, she had her car and knew she could just go whenever she was ready. She also realised this would be the first time she'd let Cason in the front seat after swearing the night before there would be no way a demon would sit shotgun in her car....

SAM

It took him most of the day by the time he said his goodbyes to everyone in the group, packed his stuff and got a seat booked on a plane, but he managed to get to California and head to the old stomping ground that Anna used to live with Max. He used the paper of instructions and directions from Cason to get there and by the time the evening came round, he was knocking on the door of Max's apartment.

It had taken him in truth a few minutes to even gain the courage to knock, all kinds of paranoid worries swirling round in his head. What if he was too late and this Max guy had convinced Anna that a normal relationship with a normal life was the way she wanted to live? What if Max could give her a safer and calmer life than he could? What if she really was done with him?

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he managed to knock on the door and awaited for someone to answer, praying that Anna wouldn't kill him for going against her wishes and follow her to her location to bring her home. Yet he knew deep down he wouldn't be able to live without having at least answers for her leaving in the middle of the night.

“I’ll take care of her.”, Cason answered to the underlying question, as Nat patted his arms. He released her, but followed her quickly, not letting her out of his sight while she was talking about leaving the group. For all he knew, he would have to go on his own goose chase, with far less information to go on, than Sam had with Anna.

Dean, however, pulled Mika as close as he could, turning her toward their own room, “And what exactly do you want to do with your time off? I mean, I’m good with anything as long as we’re not babysitting…or fighting.”

He laughed, leaning over and kissing the top of her head as they reached their room, gesturing for her to open the door. At the least, maybe they could go out to a bar, like the old days, and just take a load off. Angels could wait.

Cason stepped into the room, behind her, and closed the door. Standing near the table, he tapped his fingers, and stared at her for a moment, “So, where do you wanna go? You can choose literally anywhere…Paris. Rome. I mean…anywhere.”

He smirked as he finished, glancing up from under his brow at her. He wanted to see her relax and smile, for the first time since he had met her. If there was anyone who deserved a little break, it was Nat, and it didn’t hurt that he was on her good side now, and maybe they could get closer in the process.



Max stepped away from the couch, jogging to the door. He still had the smile on his face as he grabbed the doorknob, looking over his shoulder at her, “But you’re eventually going to have to spill the beans, this is my house, you know…”, he joked with a laugh, before pulling the door open and going silent with a confused frown, “Um, hi?”

Anna didn’t like the sound of his voice, assuming it was Cason again, by the disappointment…or rather confusion she heard. She stood from the couch, setting the menu aside as she pulled Sam’s flannel a bit tighter around the front of her body, like a robe. She quickly walked over to stand behind Max, glancing under his arm that was still holding the door protectively. The body she saw on the other side of the door nearly made her faint, and she tilted her gaze down toward the floor.

“Anna it’s…”

“Sam. Dammit Cason.”, she groaned, stepping closer to the door. Max didn’t move his arm as he sized Sam up, still not having answers as to what had driven Anna to call him. But Anna peered over his shoulder, finally seeing Sam’s face, “What are you doing here?”

MIKA AND NATALIA

Natalia had no intention of leaving without Cason. Barely over 24hours ago, she never would have thought she'd been thinking like this but truth of the matter was, now her foggy memories were becoming clearer round him, he was like a security blanket for her sanity. She was starting to understand why Anna had trusted him so easily all those years ago and get close to him. She just wanted to get a head start on grabbing her things, so she didn't even notice how Dean pulled Mika closer to him, the complete opposite to her making Cason let go.

"The very idea of not babysitting or fighting sou ds like a pipe dream that I'm totally down for experiencing" Mika chuckled in reply to Dean as Nat and Cason started walking away from them. Walking back to their own room, she took the lead and opened the door, stepping inside and letting him walk in before closing the door behind them both. "this might sound awful, but it almost feels like I've forgotten how to be a normal person who does normal things" she laughed, "but maybe hit up a bar at some point, because I don't know about you but I think today definitely warrants a damn strong drink" she suggested.

In Natalia's room, she was already grabbing the few clothes that were out of her bag and shoving them haphazardly. She just wanted gone from this room as it all gave her was the overwhelming feeling of all the truths that were said inside the four walls. She paused her actions however when Cason asked her where she wanted to go. Mentioning all kinds of countries off the top of his head. "Honestly? I wouldn't know where to start deciding. As you know, I've spent all my teenage life in that hellhole, so I've never been anywhere." She began saying, "I wanna experience something away from this big upcoming war or whatever it will be, I wanna experience actual fun" she told him. "Somewhere that will make me not think of a hunter life" she added, looking him straight in the eye after zipping her duffel bag closed.

Seeing his smirk, she couldn't stop the left corner of her lips tilting upwards ever so slightly before they lowered again. "I wanna be harm free reckless, I just wanna be happy again" she sighed, grabbing her bag and stepping over to him.

SAM

The sound of voices coming from inside the apartment have Sam even more butterflies as he tried to remember exactly what he was going to say and how he was going to say it. He barely got time to figure it all out in his head when Max opened the door and looked utterly confused. He looked down at Max, finding his face looking familiar properly all over again, but did his best to not let it show on his face.

He was about to introduce himself when Anna showed up to the door and cursed Cason for ratting her out. "..hi. I came here for you" he told her. "Can we...talk in private?" He asked of her politely. "it's just I could let you leave without hearing me out a d I know you're pissed at Cason, but I didn't give him much of a choice to tell me where you are. so don't be too hard on him" he explained, deciding that if Cason was going to keep Nat safe, the least he could do is make Cason out to be more of a victim in this escapade of his, than Cason actually was.

He just wanted to engulf Anna in his arms, beg her on his hands and knees to some extent, but he didn't want to do it in front of Max. So he hoped that Anna would at least hear him out and let him say his peace. If she still insisted on leaving him after he said what he did, then he would try and learn to live with it. However he was going to fight hard to keep her and he was willing to do anything to win her back round to his side.

Dean chuckled at Mika’s wish for casual drinking, and just being normal for a night. Honestly, he was feeling the same way. There hadn’t been much time for anything other than dealing with all the chaos in their lives in months, ever since he came back from Hell. He deserved, and they all deserved a single day of just…nothing. No angels. No demons. No apocalypse. Just, being human.

“I vote we go to a boring bar, we get some drinks, we see what trouble we can get into, and then we do…whatever humans do these days.”, he teased, holding his hands out in front of him. He stepped up to her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, “Or we just go out and walk around. I don’t care, as long as we’re together and not working.”

He knew these words would surprise anyone else around him, but that Mika would understand. His way of getting his mind back together was always crappy food and alcohol, even if they were beaten up and bloody. If he could get through the night without a bar fight, even better.



Cason listened to all her own options in response to his laundry list of countries he wanted her to experience, and mentally made a more simple list. She wanted to have fun. She wanted to go out, but not do anything potentially harmful. Those were things he honestly didn’t even know how to give her, but he would try. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and smiled softly, “I mean, we could…”

He stopped his words as she stepped over to him with her bag in tow. Reaching out, he took her bag from her shoulder, and shoved his own through the strap, leaning his head forward to briefly bump her forehead with his, a comfort thing for him, “Harm free reckless…”, he repeated her with a smile. Tilting his eyes up, he pondered what they could do, and finally he came to a solution.

“How about…we hit the carnival I saw when I got back to town. I mean, I only bounced past it, while grabbing a drink to wash down all the California-ness of my trip. But, it looked bright and…gross. Might be good?”, he pondered with her, reaching his free hand out to brush a thumb across her cheek, “I’m not exactly human. I’m pretty fire at carnival games.”



Anna’s face fell even more when Sam said that he was there for her. Of course he was. He was there to try and convince her to come back, and she didn’t even know what to say to him about why she left. When he asked so politely to speak in private, she nearly just slammed the door in his face. It was easier than facing him. It was easier than any of the questions he would have about why.

“Um…”, she started, before Sam started his normal explanation of things. She took a deep breath and shook her head, closing her eyes tightly as she contemplated her next move. Cason was there to scout. Sam couldn’t lie well enough to cover that part up, and no one in the group cared enough about her to send him…other than Sam. Even Cason wouldn’t have come on his own.

“Let’s…let’s step out into the hall.”, she finally said, not looking him in the eyes. As she crossed her arms, Max narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on her lower back, glancing between her and Sam.

“You sure you wanna be alone? You seem uncomfortable.”, Max said softly, glancing back up at Sam with suspicion, “You don’t have to go anywhere with him.”

“Max…it’s complicated, alright? I’ll be right out in the hall, and you’ll know if anything happens. Trust me. But I know Sam wouldn’t hurt me or anything. It’s just complicated.”, Anna explained quickly, turning her back on Sam to place her hands on Max’s chest, just in case. She didn’t want either of them going at each other over this.

“Alright. Call if you need me.”, he answered back, shooting one more skeptical look at Sam. As he did so, Anna turned around and pushed Sam through the doorway, into the hall.

“I don’t have any answers for you. We…we have been in and out of each others lives for so long that I don’t know if I can do…that anymore. I can’t do the whole, whatever we were, anymore.”, she explained unconvincingly, still not looking at his eyes. She stared at his chest, crossing her arms over her chest awkwardly.



Duke drew circles on Esme’s shoulder as he did his best not to breathe in her hair. Taking a deep breath, he let it out with a small chuckle, “Well, the last 24 hours has been…interesting.”, he teased, turning his head toward hers, placing a soft kiss to her temple.

“If you had told me two days ago that I would not only accidentally save the one person I felt was ‘the one that got away’ but I would end up here…I would tell you that you were insane.”, he teased more, a bright smile breaking across his face as he laughed. It was true, he honestly never expected her to want anything to do with him again, after the big break up of their trio, and yet, it seemed like leaving would be harder than he anticipated.

The thought of leaving caused the corners of his mouth to fall slightly, but he held them up, forcing the smile to stay on his face. That wasn’t a thought he wanted to have at the moment. He just wanted to enjoy the time he had with her, and half way plan a way to not break her heart in the process.

Esme closed her eyes as she listened to Duke talk, a smile coming to her lips, and a laugh escaping her as he chuckled. She was thinking closely about the same thing he was expressing to her. Gently rolling, she propped herself up so she could look down at him, she smiled warmly down at him, her hand resting on his chest. “Interesting, huh? I think it’s been a little more than interesting.” she teased back. For her, joining back up with Dean, despite her better judgment, then getting saved by Duke a short time later, and then ending up here was enough to make her head spin. She was still trying to wrap her head around everything that had gone on since learning Dean was back from the dead to now. She had, somewhat willingly, thrown herself back into the chaos that followed the name, Winchester. Yes, chaos also followed the name Stirling, but it seemed like even more chaos revolved around the Winchester name. Hell, both names had their fair share of running into demons and the occasional rare creature. It also always seemed like something was after them to wipe them from the face of the earth. Was it fate that brought them all together the first time and now? Or was it just some strange coincidence? Either way, here she was in one of the last places she thought she’d find herself.

“I know exactly what you mean. This is the last place I thought I’d find myself.” she told him. “If I had been told I would join up with the Winchesters, get saved by a handsome cowboy that happened to be from my past that I cared for…. I’d tell them they needed their head examined.” she laughed. “I’m not complaining though.” she added as she brought her hand up to play with a little of his hair. She then felt the shift in his emotions and just barely caught the corners of his mouth fall. In her mind, there was only one thing he could be thinking about, and it was also something she was dreading. Esme laid back down and rested her head on his chest while still playing with his hair. After everything, was he still planning on leaving? The thought of him still planning to leave at some point caused her smile to fade and snuggle up to him. She didn’t want to think about it now. She just wanted to enjoy his company and continued to stay lost in the moment. Duke had broken through the walls she had put up around her heart. Which was something she wasn’t prepared for. She thought falling in love with someone would keep her from finding out what happened to her father and other family, and she still did. But there was just something about Duke that caused those walls to crumble.

Esme pushed the thought of him leaving from her mind, she just wanted to think about the time they were sharing now and not much else. As she lay there, things other than him leaving started to go through her mind. It seemed like nothing was going to happen today since no one had come to the door in quite some time to tell them to get ready to leave. “So.” she said after a moment of silence. “What would you like to do? Stay in bed and continue this? Go out and grab a bit and do something fun afterward? Get my car from the makeshift roadblock?” She listed a few things to do off the top of her head, not really caring what they did as long as it was with him. She felt highly needy of his company, and that bothered her a little, but not enough for her to hate herself for it. It had been something she both longed for and tried to keep from falling into. But when anything involved Duke, it didn’t seem to matter what kind of walls or rules you set in place, they were always broken.