SAM

As he walked with Anya through the corridors of the bunker, he couldn't help but smile again as he noticed how she had a similar, albeit more tactile, reaction to the decor as Lexi had. He knew it was an impressive looking building once someone got down the staircase, but he had gotten so used to it that he didn't see it with fresh eyes...until the girls showed up. He looked down at her when she signed sorry and she was stressed. He shook his head and a smiled, "you're not crazy, I know that much. As for stressed? I'm guessing that's you're saying, that's understandable." He replied to her.

"But know this, whilst you're in this bunker? You can relax and feel safe here. No demon, monster or ghost can get in here without setting off a dozen or more alarms. It's the safest place to be." He explained to her, finding an empty decent sized room with a bed in it for her. Opening the door, he gestured for her to go on ahead into the room. "you can make yourself at home here. The bed might not be the comfiest in the world but they're comfy enough. Not only that, I can say with confidence Lexi is an incredible cook if you ever get hungry" he chuckled.

"As for helping you, you're welcome and I'm sorry for being hesitant about the situation before. I should have gotten more information on it first before dismissing it. I was out of line in that coffee shop and I hope we can make a better first impression of each other from now on." He added, wanting her to know that he wasn't usually that rude.

LEXI

Lexi was glad that Anya appreciated her using very basic ASL before Sam took her down the corridors to find a room for her to relax in. Like Dean, she too was impressed with the amount of information on the paper, not having expected so much to be given to them. It showed her that Anya really did mean business and wasn't going to give up easily until she got answers she so desperately bad clearly needed.

Though when Dean started talking about Sam and the kinda of beings he gravitated to, she quickly shot him a look with a raised eyebrow before lowering it again as he quickly corrected himself. She was honestly thankful he wasn't calling Anya a monster. She smirked and scoffed as he teased her and nudged her in the arm, making her nudge him back. "Uh huh..sure!" She chuckled back.

She let him take the paper and look at it closer, studying it almost. She couldn't imagine what Dean must be thinking in his head when it came to this iconic firearm and honestly she was glad she never got the pressure of knowing she once owned it. She looked up at him as he spoke once more and placed a hand on his back, gently rubbing it in a comforting manner. "as it stands now, you can't think of hat possibility. All we can do think about the facts we got now." She told him.

"But yeah, this isn't going to be a job for sodas and caffeine." She agreed with him.

Anya’s shoulders relaxed a bit as Sam explained that she could relax in the bunker, because it was incredibly safe and secured. She figured as such. Hunters usually lived in one of two types of places, in her experience. They either lived in literal fortresses underground or unassuming homes in the middle of nowhere, that were typically protected by a host of booby traps.

She tore her eyes away from Sam’s face as he opened a door and ushered her in. She stepped into the room, looking around at the dimly lit space. There was a desk against one wall, a small tv at the foot of the bed, and a metal bed in the center. The walls were made of brick, which meant that they would be very sound proof, and honestly, although the bed looked terrible, it looked like heaven compared to some of the motels she had stayed in.

Sam continued to over explain their situation, her smile grew, although he couldn’t see it as she peered around the room. She walked over to the bed, and dropped her duffel there, unzipping it and digging around inside. She pulled out a sliding cellphone she had fashioned with a small speaker, and flipped it open. She typed a message as Sam apologized for the situation at the coffee shop. She glanced up at him, not finishing her message at first as she scanned his face, and tilted her head to the side as if pondering her options.

She then continued typing her message, and pressed send, which caused the phone to speak, “The room is great, although I don’t need so much space. I’m good at making myself very small in times of need. And I’m not angry with you, Sam. If you want, we can start over.”

She let the phone stop speaking her words out loud, and then typed another small message, “Hello. I’m Anya.”

And with that, she held out her hand for him to shake.



Dean nodded, and stepped away toward the kitchen. Once there, he took a deep breath, rubbing his hands together and then grabbed a couple of glasses in one hand, and two different bottles of whiskey in the other hand, turning on his heel to walk back out to the war room. The whole time his mind raced a bit about whether or not he wanted to dig so hard into this, in case the worst case scenario played out.

Clanking the glasses together, he mustered the courage and the energy to step out of the kitchen and back into the war room, “So, there are a lot of really…REALLY bad places this investigation could take us. Even getting and keeping that gun was nearly impossible when we got ahold of it. I mean, Crowley…need I say more?”

He held out both arms, tilting his head in a convincing way, and then sat the bottles and the glasses down on the table near their chairs. He stepped away from the table again, tilting his head back to speak to her as he walked around the library area, gathering journals and things to write on, “It can kill anything, as far as we know…except angels. So, there’s that. Obviously any hunter who’s ever heard of it would want it. Demons don’t want it to exist, and if her dad got ahold of it, either he’s an innocent antiques dealer or collector, or he’s a hunter and just never told his daughter.”

He returned to the table, and sat all of the things down in front of Lexi, “It’s what I would do.”

SAM

Sam let her walk in and take in the surroundings that was the room she could call her own for as long as she wished to stay here at the bunker. He let her put her duffel down as he rambled on and on without him even realising he was doing so.

When she pulled out the phone and speaker, he looked at her device with curiosity and wondered if this was she what she meant when she signed earlier about having things covered communication wise. He had to admit, it was basic enough in the design but impressive nonetheless. It was actually refreshing to know that he met someone who was seemingly as technologically minded as himself and not like Dean who would fall asleep when he tried having things explained to him.

He listened when the speaker spoke out what she had typed, making him sheepishly run a hand through his hair and smile with a little chuckle under his breath. He then held his hand out back and shook her hand back, "I'm glad you're not mad. I don't normally mess up first impressions quite that spectacularly" he chuckled, "So Anya, it's nice to meet you" he smiled.

"As for the size of the room? They're all the same size. So... enjoy the space" he explained to her. He could understand where she was coming from though, he and Dean had spent far too many nights sleeping in the impala if they weren't sharing a motel room.

LEXI

As Dean went to the kitchen to grab the whiskey and glasses, Lexi sighed and wondered where the hell to start with this research. She could only think to start with looking online and luckily for her her laptop was still on the end of the table from the day before when herself and Sam were looking at various things, whilst Dean was still cooped up in his room.

She walked to her laptop and grabbed it, bringing it back to the other end where her and Dean had seemed to chosen to work from, despite the war room table being pretty large. Flipping it open and turning it on, she pulled out a chair and sat down whilst she waited for Dean to come back. She wondered what was taking him a while, but decided it wasn't any of her business.

When he did come back and said what he said, she nodded wishing she never had to hear the name of Crowley again. "oh, yeah. You're right about that asshat" she replied, her tone saying she knew exactly what kind of demon Crowley was and that there was clearly a long story behind it, but one she wasn't going to get into right this moment. Helping Anya was far more important to her than disclosing her history with Crowley.

She listened to him say his worries about this investigation and she could honestly understand it. She had heard of the power of the Colt, heard the stories from hunters who wanted it as a power move against all things that went bump in the night. She even heard the stories from Sam about his and Dean's history with the gun, so much so she felt like she had it in her possession once when the fact was, she never had. Then came the last part of Dean's sentence that made her glance up from her laptop screen, "Understandable. I couldn't imagine letting a kid know about this world. I know you and Sam did but...things have changed even since we were kids" she replied. "I wouldn't want my kid scared of every little thing that went bump in the dark before fighting it all. Kids deserve a normal childhood" she said back. She may not be a parent, but that never stopped her in the past thinking if she could be.

Her and Nate spoke about it once or twice, but every time they decided they couldn't bring a kid up as long as they were hunting. If they could have gotten out of the business then it was something they would have liked, but the world never gave them that opportunity. Shaking the thoughts of the past out of her head, she looked back at the laptop screen and typed in Anya's father's name in the search engine as a starting point.

Anya pulled her phone back, and held it close to her chest as Sam shook her hand. The small touch and the niceties toward each other nearly caused her to take a nice deep breath, but she didn’t want to seem overly relieved around him. Not that he was doing a good job of hiding his own relief. She giggled silently and pushed her hair behind her ear when she had her hand back, nodding her head at his comments about the room.

“I’m sure I’ll find some way to fill the space with my existence.”, she typed on her phone, playing it with an obvious laugh. She then dropped her smile as a thought came to her mind, and she frowned, trying to decide how to ask her next question. Glancing past him toward the hall, she finally gathered her thoughts and began typing again.

“So, what else is there in the bunker? Obviously if you live here, you’ve explored.”



Dean narrowed his eyes momentarily as Nat’s words about Crowley rang back into his mind. He would have to bring it up the second he decided how. He didn’t often come across other hunters that had the displeasure of dealing with the dick head demon. But if she knew of him, maybe she was more fitting for their little life than he originally thought. Red string theory and all that.

When Lexi brought up kids, after he had let his own opinions of hunters kids slip, he went still. Lowering himself to his chair slowly. He had never really wanted kids. Hell, he still couldn’t imagine putting a kid through any part of their life, bunker or not. Sure, they would be safe, but for how long?

He poured a glass of whiskey for her, and then poured one for himself, dragging a journal toward the space in front of him before glancing at her face over the top edge of her laptop, “Um…not to bring up anything uncomfortable…you know, considering, but how do you know about Crowley?”, he said, changing the subject.

SAM

Seeing Anya smile and sweep her hair behind her ear made him smile more. It showed him he was doing much better at portraying himself than he previously had. He let her take back her phone to type a new message and as he listened to the reply he couldn't help but laugh at the obnoxious computer generated laugh that came from it at the end of her comments.

As her smile dropped and a frown overtook it's place, he looked confused at her, wondering what it was that had her changing facial expressions so rapidly, noticing her look passed him and out toward the hallway again. He wondered for a split moment if she was thinking about the other two doing the research to help her, it seemed his internal questions were answered however when she began typing on the phone again and her query came through via the ai voice. "Ah yeah, I can give you a tour if you want? Some places would be better not to go in, we haven't fully made every room safe yet ourselves and I'm pretty sure there's some rooms we haven't even found ourselves yet, but the ones I know about? I don't mind showing you" he explained.

"Would save you getting lost in this place, it's bigger than you'd think" he smiled and chuckled, refraining from making a doctor who tardis reference in case she didn't understand it and end up showing himself up for a massive nerd.

LEXI

When Lexi brought up Crowley, she didn't even notice Dean's eyes narrow at first as she had gone straight to her other comments about his previous comments on kids. She didn't even take into consideration on what his opinions are on kids or having kids.

She gave a nod of thanks when he poured her a glass of whiskey, pushing it toward her as she had her eyes on the laptop, only to find Dean asking the question she had hoped he wouldn't ask or even take much notice of. Grabbing her whiskey glass she took a sip of it as she sighed, partially lowering her laptop screen so she could look at him properly. If she was going to explain the story then the least she could do, is let him see her whole face as she told it.

"It's a long story but I'll try and keep it as short as I can." She warned him, swirling the whiskey in the glass slowly. "Crowley came to me once. Soon after Nate was killed actually. A shapeshifter I had been hunting was also hunting me back, and to get it's upper hand on me it broke into my house and murdered him..." she started talking, needing to take a split moment to gather herself. "So anyway, turns out that Crowley gave the shapeshifter a heads up on my location and is the cause for Nate's death. At some point I had somehow crossed his radar and pissed him off on a demon hunt of mine which lead me to some artifact which once belonged to him. He wanted it back, came to me days before and asked for it back but I had already sent it off to another hunter who stores such items. That pissed him off and out of retaliation, he found out a shapeshifter wanted revenge on me and Nate ended up in the crossfire" she finished explaining, trying to hold it together as best she could.

She still found it hard to accept in some ways, and she would never forgive Crowley for having a tempter tantrum to end all temper tantrums resulting in Nate's death. The guy was innocent in everything, just wanted to be a successful photographer and his life ended prematurely because she handed over a damn artifact. Taking in a deep inhale and exhale, she mentally shook off her emotions and looked at Dean in the face. A light that came into her darkness and about the only good thing to have come from the whole thing a year ago.

She took another large swig of her whiskey, only now realising that her hands were even shaking from mentally revisiting that horrific night. Coming home and finding her fiance's neck slashed open and laying in a pool of his own blood, with the shapeshifter standing over him triumphantly. Even to this day, she was so thankful for Sam arriving just in time and being there for her before she did something she'd regret as it would have meant she never would have met Dean.

Anya smiled brightly as Sam offered to take her on a tour of the bunker. Of course she wanted to go. This place was a fortress and it looked old and the odds of finding some crazy old artifacts or even just technology that was so outdated that it was rare were high. She listened to his explanation, frowning in a way to make him understand that she was completely in agreement with not entering any room the brothers hadn’t already gone into. Obviously, in a place like this, there was no telling what would be behind an unopened door. The thought kind of creeped her out.

She typed on her phone. First a short message, that she silently laughed at, mirroring Sam’s thoughts, “Like the Tardis. I’m a bit of a nerd for sci-fi.”

And then she typed another message, playing it as she reached out for his hand, making her first pass at what might be friendship, by linking her fingers with his. She looked up at him with a smile as the message played, “As much as I love the room, I would like the Sam Winchester tour, please.”



Dean went still as Lexi lowered the back of her laptop and looked at his face, telling him that the story was either going to be devastating, or at the least extremely serious, and likely never to be spoken about again. Both options worried him a bit, considering he hadn’t known Lexi long, and didn’t want to potentially push her away with his nosiness. But then she explained that it was a long story, to which he nodded, glancing down at the table and waving his hand for her to take her time.

He listened closely, frowning in sadness as she explained exactly how Nate had been killed. It seemed as if he was an absolute innocent to the situation, which was honestly depressing. But when she continued, he looked back up to meet her eyes, shocked by what he was hearing, but not…that much. It was Crowley. He was petty and self serving, like most demons. They had their own dealings with him, most that didn’t end well, and somehow they were all still alive. Unfortunately for Lexi, Nate wasn’t so lucky.

When she finished, he tightened his lips, glancing up at the ceiling as he took a long drink of his whiskey, finishing it off. He reached across the table without looking at her, as he tried to find the words to use, and pulled the bottle toward him, topping off his own glass and then hers, “I’m sorry it went down that way…”, he said simply, not sure what else to say at first.

After a moment, he capped the whiskey, and sighed, “Unfortunately, it seems like that’s the game, you know? You’re always gonna piss someone off, doing what we do. There’s always going to be that one dick…like Crowley that will gain just enough of an upper hand to bring your whole world down. It’s what you do after, that determines whether they win.”

As he went quiet, her eyes met his again, and he narrowed his own in a way that made sure she could tell he was deadly serious, “And Crowley didn't win. He won’t. When we get a chance, in the right spot, with the right weapons, I’ll make sure you get the shot.”

SAM

Seeing Anya smile brightly at his offer to give her a tour of the place, he couldn't help but smile brightly back. There was just something about her smile that was completely and utterly contagious. He watched her face as she reacted to what he was telling her, seeing that she understood his polite warnings and so forth, yet it was the Tardis comment she gave next that made him laugh and nod.

'Cute, smart and a nerd. Could she be any more perfect for me?' he thought to himself, "Good to know you're as much of a nerd as I am. Dean makes fun of my likes like that, so it's refreshing to see someone gets it" he smiled and chuckled as she interlocked their fingers after offering her hand out as a sign of blooming friendship.

He took her hand gladly, leading her back out of her new room and started walking further down the hallway, deciding that he would take her to the communications computer room first, figuring she would appreciate the vintage technology in there as much as he did when he and Dean first found it. "Okay, I'm hoping this first room you'll like. You seem the type that would, considering we met in a computer and tech store" he smiled, leading her down another flight of stairs and into the room in question, flicking the light switch and seeing everything roar to life.

"It's an old men of letters communications room. It's how they'd get the information of a new hunt or monster coming into play." he explained to her, out stretching his arm to let her know she can walk around and look as much as she wanted.

LEXI

Being in this life, she knew it was risky getting involved with a non hunter, but as the saying goes you can't help who you fall in love with. It just so happened Nate was seen to be the one at the time. Her lifestyle and job cost him his life and she knew she would forever feel that guilt for that.

As she looked up at Dean, she watched him tighten his lips shut as he pondered on how to react to her story. She didn't want his pity, she had gone through a year of receiving that from people, but she also didn't see the point in not telling him exactly how her ex died. She let him top his drink, as well as her own, pulling her own glass back toward her again as he finally spoke up. His initial apology only making her just nod in response.

Then came the words she had once heard from Sam when he first kept coming round to make sure she wouldn't do anything stupid in those first few weeks. "Oh I know that all too well" she agreed with his first sentiment of the harsh truth of being a hunter and finding people you care about. She looked back at him again as she lifted her glass one more time up to her lip, taking a good gulp of the strong liquid. She saw him narrow his eyes and wondered what he was going to say next, and as she suspected, got surprised but thankful for his next words.

She could have that kill shot on Crowley. "Oh I'm planning on it. He may not have been the actual killer, but Nate would still be alive if it wasn't for him and his meddling. If I can get the bastard for Nate, then I ain't wasting the opportunity." she told him back, her tone showing just serious she also was and making it clear, she had been planning on killing Crowley from the moment that night happened.

"Nate didn't deserve to go out that way. If I can bring him some kind justice, I'll be good with that" she added, leaning back in her chair slightly before slowly exhaling to gather herself once more. "So...now you know my tragic back story" she smirked.

"and for what it's worth, there isn't much I won't keep from you, you wanna know something about me? Don't hesitate to ask" she enlightened.

Anya scoffed, rolling her eyes at the fact that Dean made fun of Sam for being a nerd. Of course he did. He didn't exactly seem the most moldable of humans, and maybe even a tiny bit prejudice against anything that didn't fit his narrow view of the world. They were going to have a lot of fun together…

She tightened her hand in Sam’s as he led her down the hallway toward the first area he wanted to show her. Honestly, she wanted to try and prove to him that she did want to be his friend, and that even though she was stressed, tired, and disappointed in his dismissal, she could forgive him for it. As they stepped into the first room, she raised her eyebrows as soon as they hit the landing. The room was expansive, and full of pre-World War 2 era computers that she had never seen before. A couple of them even lit up with their green cursors blinking wildly.

She pulled her hand from his for a moment, as he stretched his arm out to the room, and pulled her phone up, “This is amazing! Even the smell is amazing!”, she pressed play and then ran over to the nearest working computer, running her fingers over the old slick black keyboard with a wide smile on her face. She pulled the phone back to her front, and when she pressed send, she turned back to him and smiled, “It’s crazy that you live here. With all of this. Imagine if you could use it all, and stuff. I would never leave.”



Dean nodded, and raised his eyebrows, tipping his glass toward Lexi when she confirmed that she wanted to take the shot. He was hoping for that answer, and the look on his face was almost that of pride. He was proud of her, for being tough enough to at least be willing to keep hunting, despite the horror she went through. He stopped at the last words she said, at first, ‘her tragic backstory’. He swallowed a bit heavily, and turned his eyes down to the table, as the thought of talking about Mika in anything other than vague explanations caused his stomach to plummet.

“Yeah, well…we all have backstories.”, he started, but he couldn’t help the smile that threatened the corners of his mouth, even if he didn’t necessarily feel the same way. She wanted to be open with him. She wanted to have those hard conversations, and he didn’t know if he could reciprocate.

“I um…I’ll get there too. I honestly feel the need to ask you a million questions, but I…I don’t know if I can um…”, he stopped talking, tapping his glass on the table in frustration before clearing his throat, “Talking about things isn’t exactly my strong suit. I’m more of the eternalize and ruin my liver type.”

SAM

Anya's initial reaction to the room was one he was hoping for. Seeing her face light up as she saw all the vintage technology was one he felt like he had to mentally snapshot in his memory bank. It was so refreshing to have someone else in the bunker who got and understood his interests. He smiled and nodded as she used her phone to start speaking her initial thoughts on the room. "It really is amazing, and you know it's amazing when even Dean was impressed by it when we first found the room" he replied to her.

He let her go over to it all and take a closer look and feel of it all, as he leaned back against the wall near the doorway just watching her happily. He couldn't drop the smile from his face when she commented on it again, "I've been working on getting some of this stuff working in full working order on and off when we've not had jobs to do. But it's a lot of work when most of the components don't even exist anymore, but some of it seems to work solely with the use of magic I've also noticed" he explained, pushing himself off the wall and going over to show her one part that seemed to have a glowing rune under a latch.

"I always seem to find new things in this room every time I come in here" he chuckled as he let her continue her look around. Whilst she looked around, he thought about the other rooms and tried to think if there were any other rooms that she'd particularly would be interested in. Then he wondered if she'd be interested in the library room that wasn't attached to the main war room.

LEXI

Dean's look of pride didn't go amiss on Lexi, and it warmed her heart that he was proud of her just by one little comment she made. She had hardened her heart a lot over the last year, but she also had learned to open it up a little bit and be herself again thanks to Sam and his help on the odd hunt. She had a lot to be thankful for when it came to the Winchesters and she wasn't planning on letting that go. Between Dean and Sam, she was feeling more like herself again and not solely a cold hearted revenge driven hunter.

She also then noticed the way his demeanor changed after she mentioned 'tragic backstory' and internally she hit herself for being so stupid with her words. He had lost his ex more recently than her, of course he wouldn't be as far along the grief as she was. She wanted to take the words back and was about to apologise when he spoke up.

She gave a sad but understanding nod at his first words, before letting him continue talking about how he was dealing with things currently. "Dean it's okay, you don't have to feel obligated to talk about what you've gone through, your ex or anything like that to me just because I've been open with you. I've had to live with this longer, it's not surprising to me you're not ready yet." she explained to him softly. "Believe me, I was right where you are now not that long ago. You have your brother to thank for the version of me you've met. He got the Lexi who was constantly drunk, picking bar fights or curled up somewhere eating her body weight in ice cream" she softly smiled.

"But as I said, until you're ready to talk and when you feel you can ask me anything, just know you can" she told him truthfully. She took a deep inhale before exhaling and tapped the table with the palms of her hands. "Come on, we got a girl to help and possibly a Colt to find. Help me with that and I'll bake another pie" she gave him a cheeky but loving smile, fully aware she was using playful blackmail to snap him out of his upsetting mental state.

‘Magic?’, Anya thought to herself as Sam joined her, and she glanced up from the table she was looking at to scan over his face as he spoke about his home with such excitement. It was endearing, and even though she refused to get attached to any hunters, ever again, this place seemed safe enough to at least pry. Just a little.

When he pointed out the glowing rune, she looked at it closely, gasping a soft breath at how cool it was. Her mind wandered, almost in time with him mentioning the same thing she was thinking. She wondered how many times you could walk into a room in the bunker, move one thing, and find a whole new world under it. Sam’s words matching her thoughts just made her smile, and she pulled her phone up to type, “I was actually just thinking that you must find things all the time.”

She laughed silently, and straightened up, running her hand through her hair to push it behind her ear with a shy look. She thought about what to say, and eventually settled on something she had meant to say when he first agree with Dean to help her.

“By the way. Thank you. I don’t have anywhere else to go at this point, and to be honest, you’re the most normal and relatable…and young hunter I’ve dealt with. I have high hopes for you.”, she pushed play and smiled at the small joke at the end of her sentence. She didn’t know how long she would be staying, but they were off to a good start as far as getting to know each other. She had no family, or friends. Just finding common ground with someone else was refreshing.



Dean felt almost guilty when Lexi began to explain that he didn’t have to rush himself. He didn’t even want to put that on her. He didn’t want to be taken care of. But he could tell in her words that she wasn’t necessarily trying to take care of him. She was giving him space. The space that Sam normally refused to give him. He would take it. He sighed, and nodded, with a small chuckle at the mental image of her in dirty pajamas eating a barrel of ice cream. It was honestly so fitting.

“Yeah…well…”, he started, but she drove home the point of him being able to ask her anything he wanted to know. Honestly, he wanted to know everything about her. As guilty as he felt half the time he touched her, he also felt some sort of comfort in having her so close. And he wanted to know why. He wanted to know every inner working of her brain…eventually.

“I’ll have to give you the Sam Winchester interrogation, soon. Cheaper than a therapist and better in the sack.”, he joked with her to lighten the mood, as she took her deep breath and he glanced down at his glass of whiskey. Then came the call to action, mixed with a tiny bit of blackmail for his stomach that caused him to groan.

“Of course you’re going to use food to blackmail me into work. Of course you are. That’s just who you are…”, he feigned misery, finishing with a light chuckle, as he sat up straight in his chair, downed his whiskey, and pulled a book toward him, “I guess we should get to work. But I’m getting that pie! And you have to cook it in my t-shirt. Don’t ask. Just do.”

SAM

Sam continued to smile as she confirmed that she was just thinking how much they would find that's new even to him. He gave a nod, glad that he could confirm her thought process just by what he had said to her. He watched her as she seemed to go shy for some reason, sweeping her hair behind her ear which got him wondering why she would suddenly become shy all of a sudden.

He was going to ask her if everything was okay, when he saw her typing on the phone she had and so he decided it was better to wait and see what she wanted to say first. Listening to the voice that came from the speaker, he gave a soft smile as she thanked him for letting her stay in the bunker before giving a light chuckle at her calling him the most relatable and young hunter she's ever met. "well gotta say, that's one of the biggest compliments I've been given in a long time" he replied to her honestly. Honestly, he had been this job for so long now, he didn't even think of himself as young anymore, even though he was still young compared to a lot of seasoned hunters. He just felt mentally older than he actually was.

"I'm glad though that you feel you can be yourself here and that I'm relatable among other points you've made" he added, before gesturing that they should continue the tour. He was quite frankly still amused by the fact she stated she had high hopes for him. It was such an original comment to make that he took it as a compliment.

"So, for the rest of the tour, I can show you where the boring rooms are like the bathrooms, the kitchen and stuff or I could show you the library, records room that has some pretty cool old files from like the thirties or something." he suggested to her.

LEXI

Lexi never wanted him to feel like she was going fuss over him and feel like she was gonna mother him. She knew exactly what he was going through and knew that would be the last thing he'd need or want currently. She may not have fully computed his guilt for touching her or being round sometimes, but she knew he must feel some kind of guilt for it. There were times when she herself felt like just being around another male in the most casual of situations was a betrayal to Nate, but she knew it wouldn't last.

When he said about giving her the 'Sam Winchester interrogation' and how it was cheaper than therapy and he was better in the sack, she couldn't help but laugh at the remark. She understood the reference of Sam's interrogation style as she had been on the end of it when they first met and when he was trying to pull her out of her home and out of her own head.

Hearing him groan when she blackmailed him with homemade pie, she couldn't help but smirk, feeling rather proud of herself for getting that reaction out of him. She just got more amused when he complained and said it's just who she was. She may not know much about Dean...yet but she did know all about his obsession with pie thanks to Sam and the fact her first night here, she made one as a thanks for letting her stay. She let him pull his book closer to them after downing his whiskey and sniggered when he gave his negotiation for working.

"Oh, that's rather bold of you to try and negotiate on this" she quipped back, as she raised her laptop screen again so she could start searching once more. "But I guess I can work with your counter demand. Depends on how much help you are with this research! You gotta earn those kinds of privileges" she smirked slightly in a cocky but playful manner.

Anya let her shoulders relax as Sam laughed at her sense of humor. They hadn’t exactly started on the best foot for friendship, but it was starting to seem like they had a lot more in common than not. The thought nearly caused her to blush, which made her feel even more ridiculous, like she had some sort of school girl crush on the attractive stranger she had just met..

When he gestured for them to continue the tour, Anya practically hopped in the air with a bit of excitement. His list of places they could go check out were all really boring, but for some reason they still sounded exciting, especially when he came to the one word she had hoped he would say, ‘library’. She beamed, her eyes lighting up, and she quickly fumbled with her phone.

“Library.”, it said simply, and then she furthered her sentence in the machine, “I would like to see the library…Please.”

She finished the message with a bright smile, taking in the features of his face, finally. She scanned from his bright hazel eyes, to the way his face creased when he smiled, and the scrunch of his forehead when he was in thought. His smile that seemed to stretch from ear to ear. But he was a hunter, despite being beautiful.



Dean raised his eyebrows at Lexi all but telling him that he had no negotiation power. As fast as their relationship had moved, of course he had negotiation power. He was kind of the one who made the first move. But when she continued, he tilted his head back with a small ‘ah’, understanding the route she was going to go down. He had to work for the next step in their relationship.

With a deep frown, he glared at her jokingly, “That’s not exactly fair. You’re here. You wear the clothing…that…makes you look…like that, and I can’t even request that you wear my clothes?”, he spoke as if he was negotiating a bank deal, “Doesn’t seem like a fair deal, unless you tell me just how much work I need to get done to warrant such a thing.”

He tapped the table, as if he had won, opening his book with sass, but then something dawned on him, and he laid his arm across the book and leaned forward again. Lowering his voice, he cringed before asking, “Does that mean…s-you know…sex is out too? Because you know…that’s a big step for us and I just think if you’re interested, you probably shouldn’t miss out just to um…stick it to the man or whatever. Not that I’m not dedicated to the case.”, he rambled, raising his eyebrows as if it would convince her that he was dedicated and more interested in the case than their budding (quickly) romance.

SAM

Sam knew his first lot of suggestions were boring, in his own little way it was a ploy to make the other things sound more interesting and judging by Anya's reaction to the word 'library' it seemed to work. He smiled more when she fumbled with her phone and asked to see the library. "Library it is" he replied, holding his hand out to her if she wished to take it, so he could guide her to the room she wanted to see the most.

With the decisions made, he lead her down the corridors and round a corner or two to the library and like he did with the communications room, he turned on the light and shelves and shelves of books appeared before her eyes. A small-ish table in the middle with some chairs, similar to what was in the war room, except the table was plain and not decked out like a map of the united states.

"Here it is, the library" he introduced the room to Anya, guiding her inside and letting her have free reign to look around, just as he did before in the previous room. "The books in here might be a bit dusty in comparison to the war room lot, but there's still some fascinating ones in here, including old diaries from the makers of this bunker" he explained, but the moment he mentioned about the dairies, he got a moment of remembrance as he remembered the days Mika would spend in this room reading said dairies, not to mention he was certain she wrote her own in this room and hid it in here, but he never found it.

Snapping out of his memories so not to bring the mood down, he watched Anya glance around.

LEXI

Seeing Dean understand where she was coming from when she teased about him not having negotiation power, Lexi became more and more amused by the whole conversation they were having and was starting to think that the more they went on, the less work they were gonna end up doing.

She smirked at him as he playfully glared at her, letting him speak his opinions. She stifled a chuckle as he mentioned about the way she dressed, instantly having an idea of where this was going and she was curious to how far he was going to take rambling. She looked at him, propping her elbow up on the table, then placing her chin into the palm of her hand.

Seeing him tap the table as if he just won the deal, she chuckled a bit more but it was still a soft chuckle nonetheless. "You--" she began to speak but he continued on, and so she listened and watched him lean forward and cringe at what he was about to say to her. When he then just came out with what he did like a horny teenager, she had to cover her mouth as she stifled the laughter that was bubbling up in her throat.

"oh, I can totally tell you're not dedicated to the case" she teased back, lowering her hand again so not to obstruct her face. "You're right it is a big step but I wouldn't say it was off the table completely. I mean, I always grew up with the motto of never say never after all." she smiled coyly at him because she was most definitely interested, just as he was with her. She just didn't want to push him into anything too fast, but seeing as he was bringing it up first and quite bluntly, she didn't see the harm in playing along.

"And FYI, if you think this outfit" she said, waving a hand up and down her jeans and ribbed shirt combo, "is attractive, you've literally seen nothing of the kinds of things I once wore" she smirked, remembering all the times she'd let Nate use her as his model for his photography.

Anya reached out and took Sam’s hand as he extended it to her, allowing him to pull her from the room and down the hall with him. It was such a simple gesture, but it meant a lot. She felt oddly safe around Sam, and she felt safe here. Her father would have had plenty to say about her behavior, considering she had only known Sam a few hours and was already walking around his home, holding his hand, and going on a tour as if they were meeting at the altar in a week.

When they stepped into the library, she staggered a bit in the doorway and then she finally processed how amazing the library looked, even with the visible dust all over the whole room. It was clear that many of these books hadn’t been touched in many many years, which made her want to read them all. She stepped further between the shelves, brushing a bit of dust off one of the diaries, one Ben Trimble - Men of Letters. She ran her finger along the embedded name and glanced up at Sam as he went quiet.

She looked up at him, grabbing for another book to dust off as she frowned, wondering what he was thinking. It was times like these that she wished she could just ask him, without having to fumble with anything, or have both her hands free. She brushed it off for a moment, and dusted off a plate that told what was in a particular shelf. She then stepped around to the small table, brushing her fingers across a few carvings in the wood. She pulled her phone out and typed a message, “I’ll probably be in here, if you ever lose me.”

Anya held it up beside her head with a sly smirk, and then pulled it down after it played, and typed a quick message, “Are you okay? If you’re tired or you need some alone time or something, I am happy to just find a book and head back to my room.”, she played the message, and looked up at him with a sympathetic look. She honestly hoped he would say ‘no’ and that she wasn’t being too much, and that maybe they had just trudged up some bad memories or something. Then again, it would be a lot easier to leave him, if she never really got to know him.



Dean honestly felt his chest swell a bit as Lexi covered her face and hid her laughter from him. He could make her laugh. No. He was making her laugh. That was a welcome sight as he rolled his eyes. She confirmed that she knew he wasn’t dedicated to the case, at which he didn’t have a choice but to shrug his shoulders innocently, “I can’t help it.”, he started. But then his mouth nearly dropped open.

She all but confirmed that she was willing to giving thought to having sex with him, something he had a very hard time getting out of his mouth as a request or even a flirtation. He opened his mouth a few times to speak, but couldn’t quite find the words to even begin to cover what was going through his head. And of course…she continued.

He followed her hands up and down as she teased him, taking in every inch of her body that he could see above the table, and he swallowed heavily at the end of her flirtation, “And um…do…d-do you still h-have those clothes? Just wondering. I mean…I-I’m a panties kinda guy anyway, but it never hurts to um…experiment.”

Dean’s heart hammered at the amount of energy it took to stammer out that entire sentence and he took a deep breath, blowing it out as if he had just ran a marathon, “You know what I mean, don’t even look at me like that…tease.”

SAM

Anya's phone speaking to him made him snap out of his thoughts even more than he already was doing, making him chuckle at her words. He saw her type another message straight after and let her talk before he made any kind of reply to her first words. When she asked him if he was okay, he gave a nod. "yeah, sorry...just had a memory flash through my mind that's all but I'm okay." he smiled, hoping that it would reassure her there was nothing to actually worry about. He didn't want to worry her when they were still learning about each other and he definitely didn't want her thinking his mind was compromised when it came to helping her get answers.

"But we don't need to put a pause on the tour. I can still show you around and you're more than welcome to come to this room whenever you want whilst you're here." he then said once more. He just wondered if she did come here a lot if she would find Mika's old diary or if it would remain lost in these archives. It also got him wondering if it was ever found, would he actually give it to Dean or would he keep it from his brother? But now wasn't the time to think about that. For now it could remain lost and he can continue showing Anya around and making her happier than when they had a disagreement in the cafe.

Which got him momentarily wondering how the other two were getting on in finding any information for Anya in the war room. Though he also knew what utter flirts they both were and was partly thinking they may not be actually getting any work done whatsoever.

LEXI

Dean admitting he 'couldn't help it' when it came to the case just made Lexi feel all the more amused, and the fact he was genuinely making her laugh and feel warm inside from the laughter told her that she could not let this man go under any circumstance. He was bringing her out of herself, even in a manner that Sam couldn't achieve. Seeing him also stutter silently as he tried to find the words to say at her comeback just made her chuckle all the more.

It was so endearing and sweet to see him so flustered over her comeback, she never would have pegged him as someone to get so flustered if she just went by his appearance, but here he was showing her there was a lot of sides to him, and she wanted to see all of those sides as often as possible. She watched him as his eyes followed her hand gestures and how he swallowed deeply at her flirtation. She was having him hooked line and sinker and she felt pretty proud of herself for it.

Then his reply got her smiling all the more, an eyebrow raised, and a tiny flush coming to her cheeks at the same time. "I don't have much in that regard no. But that's not to say I don't have anything at all still, and what I don't have I probably still have photos somewhere" she admitted. To anyone else that statement would have come across as quite pretentious but for Lexi, it was to have a bit of Nate with her still as they were all photos he took.

Holding her hands up in a playful defensive manner after being accused of looking at him in a particular manner, she then smirked. "You're being as much of a tease as I am Dean" she said back to him, tempted to just skip all this work and leave the war room with him in tow. But she made a promise to Anya and she didn't want to come across as someone who broke those promises.

"You're also making it very difficult to get back to work ya know." she commented, looking down at her laptop seeing an article come up on her screen from the dark web about the Colt.

Anya didn’t quite believe Sam when he said he was okay. There was obviously some pull of baggage in this room, the same baggage that seemed to hang over both brothers’ heads. She didn’t dwell on it, however, and concentrated on the way that he said she could stay in the library as much as she wanted. Letting a smile that didn’t reach her eyes spread across her lips, she replaced a book she was holding, and sighed.

He didn’t owe her any explanations of what had happened in their lives that had them sharing what felt a lot like unrepented grief. He barely knew her. She would squeeze it out of him eventually. She stepped off the small platform, brushing her fingers across another book, and walked to stand in front of Sam with a small smile. Pulling her phone, Anya typed a message, “So, I’m seeing that I might be intruding on something. Maybe it’s just me reading into things, like some super power of the quiet.”

Anya thought out her next sentence, and wrote another message, “But even if there is a girlfriend, I’m only here as your aquaintance. I have pure intentions, and once I find what I need, I’ll be out of here. What exactly does Sam Winchester do with his alone time?”



Dean rolled his eyes at Lexi, but he was even more intrigued than before. She tried to write him off, pretending that there wasn’t a very specific sexual tension in the air around them. Possibly, that was due to how fast they had moved, and bonded, leading to those thoughts cropping up, the way they did for Dean when he had her in the weapons vault. He pointed his finger at her, and shook his head, “I am not a tease. I am the most straight forward man that you will ever meet. But if you keep up the pace…I might have to change that.”

He smirked, and looked down at his book, just as she mentioned the case again. He took a few deep breaths to try and cool himself off but then looked up, “You need to cool down. Maybe it’s the whiskey. You seem out of control.”, he teased, and turned the page of his book. Truthfully, he also wanted to slam this book shut and just run off with her, but he knew that if Sam came back into the room, only to find them wrapped up in each other, he would be good and pissed at Dean.

But then again, the way Sam shoved them together, Dean wasn’t completely convinced that was the case. Sam might be just relieved they got it out of the way. He tapped on the back of the book as he absentmindedly read through the journal in front of him, until a sentence caught him by surprise, jolting his heart almost as much as Lexi had.

“June 10, 1960: May have to hide the gun in plain sight with a human. Why would demons look for it, outside of the Men of Letters. We don’t share much.

June 12, 1960: It has been 24 hours since giving the gun to that human. And he is now dead. He appears to have been attacked in the middle of the night, along with his wife, child, and two dogs. We have failed him.”, Dean read, before tapping the book aggressively, “Maybe some hunter took a page out of these idiots book, and put a human on the chopping block for the Colt after we lost it. I mean, hunters don’t have it. Unless demons have it, why wouldn’t hunters give it to a human…and in this particular case, Anya’s dad.”

SAM

Sam watched Anya continue to look around and touch all the old leather bound books, and as much as he saw her smile at him for telling her it was nothing or no big deal, he could see she didn't quite believe him. He hoped she would drop it and just want to see something else but it seemed his hopes were dashed when she sighed and walked over to him before typing a message on her phone and it speaking for her.

He listened to it and appreciated at least that she was aware she could be over thinking on things and intruding on his thoughts but he let her continue anyway. Then came the word of 'girlfriend' and he couldn't help chuckle lightly before shaking his head. "it's nothing like that. Honestly. To be honest I forgot all about what I remembered until now, but uhh...my sister in law, or at least, she was pretty much it without the legal formality of marriage to Dean, used to come here a lot when she needed a quiet room to write. She was an avid dairy writer but neither me or Dean know where she hid said dairy in here." he explained, figuring she'd no doubt find some clue about a woman having lived here that wasn't Lexi.

"So I mean it when I say I'll be okay. I promise." he reassured her before deciding to answer her other question. What did Sam Winchester like to do in his down time. "As for your other question? I usually resort to watching a lot of box sets of shows or upgrading my laptop with new parts for fun. Nerdy I know, but it keeps my brain focused" he admitted with a sheepish smirk. "so that's me, ultimate nerd through and through" he chuckled.

LEXI

She smirked when he denied being a tease and just being straight forward. She couldn't deny he was being rather straight forward, especially when he brought sex the way he did. Yet that wasn't going to stop her from seeing just how far she could play it out before they truly did just give up on the case in question and decided to fully focus on each other...intimately.

She chuckled when he told her about needing to cool down, thinking how ironic that was considering he was being just as bad as she was, but she loved that they could be so flirty with each other like this. "Pot kettle black Dean, you should head your own words" she teased back. She thought about what else to say whilst she looked at the article she came across online, but paused her reading when Dean clearly found something in his book and read it out loud. Listening to what he was reading, Lexi found it interesting to say the least.

"okay that's interesting and it seems to match up sort of with what I've seen here. It'd make sense if Anya's dad was one of the poor sods who got given the Colt to watch over if this is anything to go by." she explained, turning her laptop round so he could see what she found herself. It seemed to be a dark web auction site, or more precisely a items needed for auctions site and there were people asking for a gun that sounded a lot like the Colt.

"Seems the hunt for the gun is still on-going and whoever this user is, they're desperate for it after hearing it's gone from it's previous owner" she explained, deciding to jot things down on the notepad next to her so they could have the information easily obtainable without needing to find this site again.

Anya listened to Sam speak, her face twisting a bit into sadness over the fact that not only was his ‘sister in law’ not around, which Anya could only assume meant she was dead, but also that Sam’s memories of her were fond, which meant that Dean was likely in shambles. She didn’t know him, or know if she even liked him, but losing the person closest to you was something she could relate to.

She took his ‘I’m fine’ at face value and decided not to press it further, and potentially open a new can of emotional worms, instead, concentrated on learning more about him in general. Her sad look evolved into an amused smile at his answers, imagining such a serious person actually enjoying tv, but of course he did. He had understood her Dr. Who reference and was obviously a nerd.

She thought for a moment, and then pulled her phone up, “Honestly, I love that. I’m a huge nerd when it comes to tv shows and computers. We could possibly chill out together sometime, while I’m stuck here and give the others some space after dinner?”



Dean blew air up from his lips to his forehead to prevent letting Lexi see him fanning himself, or seeing the red face that he had plastered on from their flirting. Thankfully, she popped into work mode at the same moment he did. When she turned her laptop around, he leaned in close and began reading some of the information that was, while very limited, telling of someone who was desperate. Either they were being chased, or they had demon issues. That was the only excuses he could think of.

“Well…”, he stopped, and pointed at the profile picture, which was vague, and seemed to be a pseudo face claim. He frowned, and then pointed up toward the envelope to message the person, “Maybe we should do a little undercover job. Get ahold of the buyer, pretend we might have a lead. We have proof we can send if he needs it. Then we shake him down for answers?”

He held his hands out, and leaned back in his chair with a ‘sounds like a plan, right?’ expression. He then reached forward and grabbed the bottle of whiskey, and poured some into his glass, “Might give Anya some peace of mind that we’re at least working on this. We can go tomorrow if he’s as excited as he seems. He’ll answer tonight…”

SAM

Sam was honestly glad that she didn't pursue the topic and what he said was just enough to drop the subject. As much as he found it easier to talk about Mika than Dean did at the moment, it was still a blow to his mental state, losing someone who had been tied to their family since they were kids. No matter the connection, that's not the kind of grief you get over very easily. He only pushed himself through it quicker for Dean's sake and out of sheer determination to try and help his brother get out of his head. The fact that he knew at least Anya lost her father, made it easier for him to explain as he knew she'd understand.

He watched her sad expression turn to one of amusement and he knew in that moment that his hobbies outside of hunting clearly was funny to her to some extent. Letting her mull over what she wanted to say, he waited for her answer, which when spoken through her phone, made him smile sheepishly. "That'd actually be really nice to be honest. If it means I don't have to hear Dean's choices of tv watching through the walls I'm one hundred percentage on board with watching stuff with you" he chuckled.

"And before you ask, Dean's choices branch from old westerns to scooby doo...I'm totally serious" he added, sensing that she would no doubt want to know what Dean could possibly watch loudly to make Sam want a break from hearing it. Truth was, he did actually miss the days he, Dean and Mika would all cram into one of their rooms together with the biggest bowl of popcorn and snacks imaginable and all watch Game of Thrones together. They never did get round to finishing the series before Mika was killed and so he figured it'd be something they'd never finish watching. He was just thankful he had read all the books over the years and he didn't need the series to know how it would all end.

"So what are your favourite shows or films?" he asked her,curious to just how nerdy she truly was and if it matched up to anywhere near his level of nerdiness. Though Dean always called him a nerd a lot more than he called himself one. He much preferred the word 'cultured'.

LEXI

As much as Dean tried to hide it, Lexi could tell he was getting a pink flush to his cheeks from their flirting and it made her feel rather accomplished that she could make the infamous Dean Winchester blush. She was sure that not many people could have achieved such a task if the stories told were at all true.

She let him read what she found on the dark web forum and nodded at his take from it all. It was on the same lines as her own thoughts. There couldn't be many reasons why someone would sound desperate on the dark web to get their hands upon such a gun so messaging said person did seem like the only logical option for them to go down. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time she did this kind of thing to get answers and a case over with.

"I'm thinking the same thing, it's a solid lead and if anywhere is going to give us answers it's going to be people like this user on the dark web." she replied, pulling her laptop back toward herself and clicking on the envelope icon to open up the messaging. "Agreed, if we can give her at least this then I'm content for the time being" she said as she began typing a message to the user in question.

"OccultNrd333,
I came across your request for seeking the item mentioned,
Although I do not possess the item in question, I am certain I have the lead you need,
Can provide any proof you want,
respond if you wish to meet for info.
HuntrssDknss76'

With the message typed out, she clicked send, waited for the message to show up delivered then leaned back in her chair. "And now we simply wait" she commented.

Anya’s face lit up a bit when Sam agreed that watching movies with her sounded like an actual fun idea. Even though she was pretty sure he was just excited to have someone to hang out with that wasn’t just his brother. She didn’t care. She was just excited to get to know him, and it’s not like she had anything better to do in the near future. She was “stuck”.

She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her chest at his description of Dean’s movie taste, but she also shrugged as if to say ‘it could be worse’. His question of her taste caused her to glance up at the ceiling with a thoughtful frown, and she chewed at her lip for a moment, before coming up with a few things. She furiously typed on the phone, and then pressed the send button causing the phone to read out her thoughts.

“I’m honestly into whatever shows up. I like the old horror shows of the 90’s and lovey dovey movies. I’m down with anything where the guy gets the girl against all odds, especially if they seem perfect for each other but are from completely different lifestyles and all that. So, I guess…horror and romance? Nerdy stuff mostly includes Star Wars and super hero movies. You know, the usual. So, I’m literally good with whatever. You seem sappy enough to relate.”

As the phone finished reading, she chuckled and scanned his face.



Dean sighed in relief that Lexi seemed back on task as she typed out her message. He read the message over before she sent it and tilted his head to the side, impressed by how simple her take was. The guy did seem a little too eager. So, the simple message was probably for the best and the odds of him responding and giving them everything they wanted were pretty high.

“And waiting means…sitting here…”, he muttered awkwardly. He ran both his hands down his face and looked around the room, before awkwardly stretching his arms above his head. As he settled, he turned his eyes back toward Lexi. “So, what do we do while we wait for him? I mean, in any other situation, I would say strip poker, but we’re on a job so…that might not be best…”

At that moment, he realized he was leading himself right back into trouble, teasing Lexi when he was barely calm, himself. Knowing that she was attracted to him not only felt wrong, being in the bunker, but it also made it incredibly hard to keep his hands and his eyes to himself. He cleared his throat, and brushed his hands through his hair before smiling.

“Or we can both cool down before I have a stroke. Work. You know…we gotta work. I wonder what Sam’s up to!”