NATALIA AND MIKA

In the shower, Natalia had absolutely no clue that Mika had indeed a few minutes later come across and knocked on the door, though like she suggested to Cason, she did expect it to happen at some point but she hoped she would be done in the bathroom before they both came over. Sadly, unbeknownst to her it was not to be. For now though she refused to let her mind wander and think about all the possibilities of how Cason and Dean would slaughter each other at the doorway either verbally or physically. Now was her time to just relax in the shower, get freshened up, ignore the aching throughout her body after sleeping with Cason and feel clean.

When Cason opened the door, Mika instantly noticed how he hadn't even bothered to be dignified in doing up his pants and the brash way he leaned on the door frame to greet her made her skin crawl in some discreet way. She wasn't going to let him know that though and she prayed his undone clothing wasn't down to him getting intimate with Natalia or Dean would absolutely lose his head in anger. She was ready to answer Cason by telling a lie that Dean wasn't beside her in hiding but it seemed Dean had other ideas which made her roll her eyes ever so slightly, but seeing Cason flinch at the sound of Dean's voice did make it difficult for her to hide the smirk threatening to creep onto her lips. She was trying to be devil's advocate and the defense barrier between the two men after all.

The moment the conversation began between the men, Mika knew it was very close to ending in another brawl and she was not in the mood for another fight to break out and them risking Natalia running off completely all over again. They needed to regroup, forgive each other and move on from this drama when there was much bigger fish to fry out in the world. They hadn't even met back up with Sam and Anna yet either. Not to mention there seemed to be some kind drama between Duke and Esme in the close distance which she really didn't want any part of, but she was ready to if it meant standing by Duke. He was like a brother to her and she'd protect him at all costs as well as willingly calling him out on any bullshit if needed.

"Boys calm down" she warned them both calmly. "The fighting needs to stop and that includes the sly digs at each other" she told them both, holding up one finger to Dean and one finger up to Cason. She really didn't want to play the mother role this early, but it seemed they were putting her into such role. "Cason that is downright out of order to say, BUT you also have a point in saying if you two kill each other it won't go down well with Nat." she said.

"Finally seeing it from my side huh?" Natalia's voice broke out as she eventually stepped out of the bathroom freshly washed and dressed, towel drying her hair. "But that's not the only point he's made that's valid. "Dean, I love you, I do, but let's face it...losing our own isn't exactly unusual for the Winchesters. Didn't see dad making an effort to find me all those years before dying, or telling you and Sam I even existed" she shrugged, walking up to the front door.

Mika couldn't help but be the next one to visibly flinch at the words that came out of Natalia's mouth because as painful as they were, she did have a point. John was a complete douchebag of a father to not only his boys but to his daughter as well. If he had just admitted he had a daughter out there to Dean and Sam, they could have protected her and saved her years before they did. Yet she also knew if she didn't do something, Dean would see red at said words, so she quickly grabbed a hand of his and squeezed it to soothe whatever would be inevitably brewing inside of him.

"So....you two coming in or not? I'm willing to forgive you Dean if you are. I'm sick of fighting" Natalia told him, looking at him in the eyes to show him she did actually mean her words, even if it also meant she wasn't leaving Cason's side either, especially after everything the night before. She made that clear by sliding her arm through Cason's after chucking the wet towel on the table to his left, even though she knew Dean would absolutely hate witnessing it.

Mika watched on as the affection was displayed in such a way that told her Nat really did mean every single word she spoke and there was no tearing those two a part now. It made her partially squint her eyes at the two of them and wonder what exactly those two did last night. "Don't voice your suspicions near Dean... he really will lose his head otherwise" she thought to herself before looking at Dean to see what he wanted to do, go back to their room away from the thorn in his side, or step into his sister's room and be watchdog. Either way, she knew he had to put all this drama with her to a stop, once and for all.

SAM

Sam knew he had to tell her more often how much he truly loved her, especially when things were so highly strung and the tension in the air of what's coming for them all could be cut with a knife. So when she acknowledged his proclamation of love with her own proclamation back, he couldn't help but smile just that bit more. He had a feeling that she would have questions about something or other at some point, but he was glad she took what he said as final and didn't press him on anything else or try and debunk anything that he spoke.

The idea of just meeting the others wherever they were heading next did seem like a good plan to him, it would certainly mean they wouldn't have to hang back at that motel until the two of them got back to them and everything wouldn't remain on hold whilst all this personal drama was being aired out between each member of their family like dirty laundry. "I think that might be the best plan, I can call Dean and find out where the next location will be" he replied back to her.

As she moved from being so close to him, he let out a sigh of disappointment but knew she was right to move first or he'd never actually let her leave the bed whatsoever. Witnessing her grab his flannel that she had before and putting it back on, flattening it and pairing it with her boots and a messy bun for a hairstyle made him smile softly and fondly at her. He personally wouldn't have used the word of 'hobo' to describe how she looked, but it was certainly a look. One he felt only she could pull off the way she does.

"I wouldn't say you look like a hobo, but I guess just tell them the truth? We're both coming back to meet up at the next location and despite everything that lead to this trip, we're good." he suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. "What else is there to say at this point? I feel like their own drama is probably worse than what ours was" he smirked then chuckled, running his hands through his hair to try and make it more presentable. He then stood up off the bed and grabbed his jeans that were on the floor beside the bed and yanked them on haphazardly before pulling his boots back on and his other flannel shirt and jacket.

As Esme walked to the park, she continued to clutch the bag tight to her chest. Almost as if she feared someone was going to come up and take it from her. Her reason for going to the park was not only to give Duke space to think about what he wanted to do but to also give herself time to think and to somewhat get back to what she was doing before getting tangled up with the group. She felt that she had been pulled away from it for too long and needed to get back to it. Before she had heard of Dean returning from the dead, she had been chest-deep in research, looking for answers on what took the lives of her father and other family all in one day. Esme still felt the need to find out what had really happened and what monster had done it, and then deal with the monster to avenge the death of her family. She could only hope that looking at every inch of her father's journal, which she carried in the small bag, would reveal all if not most of the answers she was so desperately looking for.

At the sound of Duke’s truck door slamming, Esme flinched, then paused in her tracks. She didn’t dare turn around to see him driving out of the parking lot. She couldn’t bear to watch him drive away. She knew that he was someone who needed to drive to clear their mind, like her, but knew that he could still decide to leave while taking that thought-filled drive. However, she still wanted to have hope that he would return. After the sound of Duke’s truck faded away, Esme started walking to the park once more. Once there, she sat down at one of the tables, then pulled her father’s journal from the purple bag she had been clutching to her chest. She placed the bag flat on the table in front of her, then placed the journal on top of the bag opening it. Before looking over its pages, she looked over at Sarah, who had apparently decided to stay close, to see her lying on the ground next to her. “You don’t have to stick so close. You can wander around if you’d like.” she whispered softly to the Hellhound. Sarah gave a small sigh in return but didn’t move.



As she poured herself over the pages of the journal, the scent of rain was brought in on the breeze, and the sounds of thunder could be heard in the distance. However, that was all drowned out by how focused she became on the pages in front of her. She didn’t smell the rain and she didn’t hear the thunder anymore, she didn’t even hear the other people and their dogs that were in the park. When the first few raindrops appeared, she was still stuck within the pages of the journal, it wasn’t until the sprinkle got heavier did she even notice the rain. She was pulled from the pages and noticed she and Sarah were the only ones left in the park. Quickly closing the journal, she slid it into the purple bag, stood from the table, and looked at Sarah. “Let’s head back to the room before this gets even heavier.” she told her. After receiving a bark in response, Esme tucked the bag under her jacket and jogged back to the room with Sarah close at her side. At the door, she pulled out her key and unlocked the door, letting Sarah in first and then following in after her.

Once inside, she pulled the bag from under her jacket and placed it on the dresser, then shrugged off her damp jacket, and hung it on the back of a chair. As she went to the bathroom, to dry her hair with a towel, the first thing she noticed was how empty the room was without Duke there. In just the short time he had been around, she had gotten quite used to him being there. After tending to her hair and drying her face, Esme headed back to the main part of the room and looked around with a sigh. There wasn’t much she could do without a car or until the others were up and getting around. So she decided to get back to what she was doing in the park. Going to her bag she dug out an iPod and a pair of headphones that she had swiped from some douchebag teenager a couple of weeks before running into Natalia. She then walked over to the bed, grabbing the journal as she walked by the dresser. Adjusting the sheets and blanket, Esme climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable after propping herself up against the headboard.

Laying the journal on her lap, she placed the headphones on her ears and turned on the iPod. After selecting a song and turning up the volume, she placed the iPod on the bed next to her and opened the journal, getting lost in its pages once again. When Esme closed herself off from her surroundings, Sarah went over and jumped up on the end of the bed and laid down by Esme’s feet. Sarah laid her head on her paws, making sure she could see Esme and the door at the same time. A short time later, Sarah’s head rose from her paws when she heard movement outside the door. She looked between the door and Esme, almost as if she was trying to get Esme to notice someone was at the door. Then came a gentle knock on the door, Sarah looked at Esme but she didn’t move. She even nudged Esme’s foot but she didn’t seem to notice. Sliding off the bed, Sarah walked over to the door and opened it with a bit of difficulty. Using her paw and nose, she pulled open the door and looked at Duke who was soaked.

Sarah carefully stepped forward and gently took hold of the corner of Duke’s jacket and slowly pulled him into the doorway. Once he was inside, Sarah backed away and went back over to Esme, who hadn’t noticed Duke yet. She nudged Esme’s arm, then poked her in the ribs with her nose, which caused Esme to jump and look over at Sarah. “What is it?” she asked a little loudly. Before she saw Sarah look towards the door, Esme saw someone standing at the door out of the corner of her eye. She jumped in surprise and took to her feet, causing the journal to fall to the floor at her feet. When she realized it was Duke, she pulled the headphones down to rest around her neck and looked over at the sad wet cowboy, surprise written on her face upon seeing him. “Y…. You came back?” she softly questioned. She honestly thought when he made the decision to stay, he wouldn’t have returned until later in the day. And even though she was surprised he had come back so soon, she was overjoyed to see him standing there but hated seeing him so sad. She wanted to go over to him, to hug him, and to kiss him, but after thinking of him leaving without a word, she hesitated not knowing how he’d react.

As Sam and Anna walked out of the motel room and onto the narrow sidewalk outside, Anna frowned at the sight of a woman standing there. She was barefoot, staring straight at the brick wall in front of her, and she seemed to be mumbling in…Latin. Anna stared at her for a few moments, as a ringing began in her ears. In the ringing, there were slight whispers in various ancient languages, of which she could make out her name a few different times.

Entranced, Anna’s eyes dilated, and she began to rock on the balls of her feet until the woman turned and looked at her. At first, the sound out of her mouth was a loud hiss, which caused Anna to flinch, stepping closer to Sam. But the woman simply smiled and spoke softly.

“Such a lovely couple…”, she cooed at both of them, as Anna’s heart hammered in her chest. Outside of Anna’s head, the woman had simply been closing her motel room door. She was not speaking in tongues, and Sam likely wouldn’t have noticed anything was off at all. But to Anna, this seemed like some sort of omen.

“No. No. No. Not today. Not today…” Anna whispered to herself wiping a hand over her forehead as she squeezed her eyes closed and stepped away from Sam. She felt as if she was going insane, and maybe she was. Maybe the demon blood was finally beginning to seep into her mind. Maybe she needed demon blood to calm herself down. But she couldn’t do that. Drinking demon blood made her psychotic and uncontrollable. She turned and pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes still squeezed shut. “I hate to say this…but we need to tell the group to stay put. I need to um…I need to see Cason.”



Dean growled softly and scowled down at Mika, as she pointed a finger at his face, scolding him for defending Nat against a demon. But Cason seemed to back down as soon as he realized Mika was even somewhat on his side. He shrugged his shoulders and relaxed, smirking at Dean. He unfolded his arms, however, and turned with his eyebrows raised as Nat’s voice rang out from behind him. His expression was full of admiration as he watched her approach them and nodded along with her words.

“I mean…” he muttered.

Dean cleared his throat loudly, fully considering killing Cason right in front of Nat and just dealing with the fallout. Mika grabbing his hand told him that even she was going to protect the loser. There was a delayed reaction to Nat’s words, but the words hit Dean directly in the chest as Mika furthered what she was saying about their dad. Dean tilted his head back and took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger. He squeezed Mika’s hand tightly, and turned his eyes back to Nat, just in time to see her wrap her arm around Cason’s. His hand tightened slightly in MIka’s, and he cleared his throat.

“So that’s it, huh? I just have to deal with him…because what, he made you feel warm and fuzzy? What exactly happened last night, between you two? You don’t so much as hug other people, pretty much the entire time I’ve known you. And now, suddenly you have a cuddle bug. That cuddle bug just HAPPENS to be a demon.” Dean ridiculed Nat. As he spoke, he stepped away from Mika and into the room, finally and Cason straightened a bit more.

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s complicated…right. Nat, what’s going on? If we’re gonna bury whatever this is, I need some…honesty. Is that a lot to ask from all of you? Can we be honest with each other? I don’t know what the hell is going on with my brother, or his…half demon girlfriend. I don’t know what’s going on with my sister, and all I’m asking for is for us all to be on the same page. If we need to fight, let’s fight. If we need to separate for a while…well.” Dean took a break and a deep breath and raised a hand to invite Natalia to explain. “What is going on with you?…right now.”



Duke stood outside the door, the rain pouring off his hat like waterfalls. He didn’t know how Esme would take him coming back, or if she would even want him to come back. When the door opened, his heart jumped into his throat, expecting to see a very hurt and possibly angry Esme standing there. Instead, there was no one. Or rather, there was a Hellhound, he realized as his jacket was tugged and he was forced to walk through the door by Sarah’s strength. The water from his hat continued to cascade around his feet, wetting the carpet as he stood there, staring at Esme’s back.

He gently sat the food down on the dresser, unable to hold onto anything as his hands began to shake and Sarah made Esme aware of his presence. As she stood and turned to him, Duke’s heart leaped into his throat once again and his throat began to tighten with tears he wanted to keep away. He tilted his head up so she could see his face from under his hat and he nodded.

“I came back. I don’t um…”, he stopped his words and sniffled, as his curly blonde hair dripped daggers of cold water around his neck. “I um…I don’t know if I can run. Not this time. I don’t know how to say sorry about it or anything. I was just hopin’ you’d let me back in. You don’t got much of a reason to. I’m not a team player. I obsessed over you for years without sayin’ anything. I almost get killed every time I pick up a knife. I don’t sleep. I barely eat. I’m a mess…”

He took a deep and shaky breath, wrapping his arms around himself like a nervous child. His hat covered his face and he cleared his throat. “But I wanna figure out how to…take care of you. I wanna figure out how to stop runnin’.”

SAM

Sam was beyond glad to be finally moving onward and heading back to join the others once again. He didn't want to imagine what kind of chaos could have gone down with the group without him there to try and calm everyone down. Snapping those thoughts out of his head, he noticed it was a pretty good day weather wise which would mean in theory, their flight shouldn't be interrupted or delayed. He noticed the woman outside closing her room door but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, in fact nothing of their surrounding area of the motel parking lot was unusual. It all looked....normal.

It was all normal until he noticed Anna step closer to him and almost cower for some unknown reason. He couldn't understand why she suddenly gripped onto him and was holding her head. "Anna? Hey...hey, what's wrong? Talk to me" he quickly snapped into protective and worry mode, looking down at her and placing a hand on her arm gently, trying to get her to look at him but it was absolutely no use whatsoever.

He was aware of her whispering to herself but even he could barely make out what she was saying, only the 'no' that repeatedly escaped her lips could reach his ears. As she stepped away from him, he let go of her, figuring she needed room to breathe and he wasn't going to smother her, even though every part of her wanted to wrap her up in his arms and protect her from whatever it was affecting her. He even glanced around their surroundings to see if there was any threat he didn't initially spot but there was absolutely nothing.

It was only when she finally caught her breath and spoke up again did he feel like he could breathe again and be less worried. Then the words reached his ears...need to see Cason. Internally he groaned, it was seeming like Cason was going to be a thorn in both his and Dean's side for all of the girls in their growing group. "Okay, I'll send Dean a text telling them to wait until we get back to them." he replied to her, reaching his hand out for hers as he pulled out his cell phone with his other hand. With the one hand, he quickly typed out his message to Dean and Mika in a group text, just to make sure at least one of them got the message: 'Guys, Stay put where u are until we get bk. AB needs to speak to Cason.' then hit send.

NATALIA AND MIKA

Seeing Dean get angrier and angrier by the second made Mika quickly learn that if this doesn't stay somewhat civil Dean would explode and there would hell to pay. They'd lose Natalia instantly if Dean did anything and she hated that she was inadvertently protecting Cason by trying to be the middle woman in this whole debacle. "just once....I'd like to NOT be in the middle of their fights...just ONCE" she thought to herself.

She even had to force herself to not react to Dean squeezing her hand tightly at Natalia's words and Cason's demeanor to the whole thing. Dean's next words made even Mika wince, just as Nat's words had moments before. She knew Dean's words would hurt and cut deep to Natalia, but she also knew they would only hurt because he was right. Nat HATED people being this close to her usually, Sam was the sole exception to her 'no touchy' rule as she put it. Even then, Nat had to give Sam permission to hold her, yet here was she was willingly and without any kind of hesitation, she was all clinging onto Cason and letting him be extremely close to her. "He has a point Nat, you won't even let Sam hug you unless you give permission" she spoke up, partially to show Dean that she wasn't taking any one side in this situation as she followed him into the room.

Natalia did find her brother's words extremely hurtful. Yet even she knew he was right. She didn't need Mika telling her that fact to know Dean was correct with his vicious tongue. "I don't need reminding of that..." she said, a bit quieter and less defiant than her previous words. She really didn't have the energy to fight with Dean anymore, and this morning was showing that after a while Dean always broke her down, no matter how much she fought back with him. She felt so little suddenly, her grip on Cason's arm loosening. She was thankful that Cason was trying to talk in this moment, but Dean seemed to only want to hear from her.

"Cason is right...it IS complicated" she began saying, perching on the edge of the bed, interlinking her fingers to clasp her hands together. She didn't want to feel this level of vulnerability again, but she knew she couldn't dodge it forever. She certainly didn't want to fist fight with him or just run away and separate from the group. Things were getting too important right now for them to split. So, she did the only thing she could do...begin to tell some honesty. "You already know Cason was at the asylum where I was held for years, we've gone through that story...but what I didn't go into detail about was his role there." she sighed, looking at her hands and not her brother, scared to see his face. Hells, she was scared to any of their faces.

"He literally went against his peers to keep me alive...more alive than the others were keeping me. He risked his own life to feed me proper food...not just water. He spent nights with me watching out for me and talking to me. He told me he'd find a way of getting me out alive, told me not to lose hope. I even remember one night he never came to my room...I wondered why. Turned out he got caught sneaking to see me. He got hurt to protect me Dean. To keep me alive long enough for Sam to find me that night. He was the one who lead Sam toward my room and tried leading you in that direction by even fighting other demons to help create a path for YOU." she explained, still too scared to look up at him.

Her hands starting to shake as they remained clutched tightly. A tear beginning to form in each eye, but she was done with wiping them away. "We had a bond that until he came back into my life I had forgotten because I repressed so much of that time. That's why I'm close to him brother and I hope Cason, you don't mind I've explained this." she continued. "I'm done fighting and you wanted some honesty, so I'm giving it to you. "And yeah...we did get close last night, he made me remember who I was last night. I'm not asking you to like it, I'm just hoping you can see my point of view and try to understand it. If he's helping and I mean truly helping bringing you the sister you deserve to know, not the one you have known, then isn't it worth trying to deal with Cason being around?"

Mika watched and listened to everyone the entire time, seeing the rawness in Nat gave Mika all the facts she needed to know. Nat was being truthful, and painfully so. It was difficult for her not to cry herself as she watched the youngest Winchester speak through her tears. Then her phone buzzed in her pocket, taking it out and seeing a text from Sam to both her and Dean. Flipping open her phone, she read the text and sighed.

Esme continued to stand next to the bed, unmoving as she looked at Duke and listened to him talk. Seeing him in this state tore at her emotionally, and it was all she could do to hold herself back from going to him before he could finish what he had to say. So she held her hands across her stomach to keep herself from reaching for him. His words pulled at her heartstrings, causing to hold back the tears that threatened to show themselves. She couldn’t deny that she was happy to hear that he wasn’t sure he could run this time. She didn’t want to lose anyone else, especially after just getting them back not that long ago. As he explained that he wasn’t a team player, obsessed over her silently for years, almost gets killed when he picks up a knife, doesn't sleep, and barely eats. Then called himself a mess, Esme’s gaze went to Duke’s boots. It was nothing she didn’t already know about him. He was the same way all those years ago and she hadn’t expected that to change about him. At his shaky breath, she looked back up at him and sighed very softly.

He looked like a child standing in front of her, a very nervous child. One that looked like he was about to be rejected even after spilling all their truths. Esme was about to step up to him but stopped when he cleared his throat and spoke once more. A light smile tugged at the corner of her lips as his words reached her ears. He wanted to take care of her and learn how to stop running. But she couldn’t help but think, could she really be the one to help him learn to stop running? She had been running for years, and she was still fighting the urge to run at times. Thinking of this caused her light smile to fade and she could feel old suppressed emotions bubbling to the surface. Kicking herself mentally, she pushed back the emotions and focused on Duke. Sniffling, then taking a deep breath, she pulled her headphones from around her neck and tossed them on the bed before slowly walking up to Duke. Slowly lifting her right hand, she gently placed it on his cheek and lifted his face just enough so that she could see his face under his hat.

“My poor sweet Cowboy.” Esme spoke softly, rubbing her thumb against his cheek. “You really think I wouldn’t let you back in?.... I just got you back and I’m not ready to lose you again. Plus, you haven’t told me anything I didn’t already know.” Standing up on her tiptoes and pushing his hat up a bit, she placed a gentle kiss on the bridge of his nose then on his left cheek. “You have taken care of me, more than you realize but I understand you feel you need to do more after what you’ve learned about me. I’m still the same woman you met all those years ago, just with a little more baggage then I had then.” she told him with a small smile. “And instead of just you taking care of me, how about we take care of each other?” Esme then let her hand slip from his cheek and wrapped both her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace as she rested her head against his chest. “When it comes to figuring out how to stop running, that’s going to be something we’ll have to figure out together.” she added, hugged him tighter.

Even though Duke was soaked, and now she was getting soaked and having cold water drip on her from his hat from hugging him. She didn’t care. She just nuzzled more into him. Not only did she need this, she knew he needed this, to show him that she wanted him there and that they could work out their problems together. Esme wanted him to know that she forgave him without having to come right out and saying it to him. She also hoped that this strong embrace would get him back to his normally bright-eyed self without her having to use her powers of Empathy to ease him. It wasn’t something she liked to do on those she cared for if she didn’t have to. At that moment she was fighting to keep herself from giving in to Duke’s strong emotions. She knew that if she were to give into them, it would be some time before she could regain control of herself.

“Do you remember the demon from Bobby’s? The one that made me drink all the demon blood and made me go all…crazy?” Anna asked Sam, as they walked toward the bus stop. She glanced around her frantically, her paranoia at an all-time high, now that it was evident Hell was in her mind. She paused for a long moment, and then finally took a deep breath. “I don’t think it’s only Lilith that wants to get to me. I hate sounding like the special child of the universe or whatever the hell, but I’m having hallucinations.”

Admitting it out loud just made her feel more crazy. The idea of having hallucinations this far out of drinking any demon blood was terrifying. It was a spiral that she hadn’t planned to have for a while. The closer they got to the seals being broken…and if they couldn’t stop them from being broken, she and Sam would both be targeted more. Knowing what they knew, at this point, either the seals were being shattered left and right, or this was just some wicked pre-game by the demons to tear them apart…to tear her mind apart.

“That woman back there was speaking in tongues. From the way you reacted, I’m assuming you didn’t hear it, which means that she was specifically sent to me, for some reason. I have a weird feeling it’s something big. That’s why I need to talk to Cason. I need to know what he knows about Alastair, and how I can kill him.”

As she finished, she shuddered at the idea of taking on Alastair again, considering how powerful he was. She had beaten him before, only to hear the laughter in her nightmares for months. He seemed excited that she could hurt him. He seemed to want her to be that powerful. Maybe, with Sam, she would be able to kill him…

…but only with demon blood.

She needed to see Cason.

Just as Cason’s face flashed in her mind, a man stepped out from around the bus terminal, as the bus approached. Anna stopped her steps, staring at the man as a quiet hiss could be heard (she wasn’t sure if it was in her brain or not). The hiss was almost rhythmic as if a heart was beating, but so fast that it made a buzzing noise. Was she hearing his heart beating? Was he a demon? The man simply stepped onto the bus as the doors opened, and made his way casually to the back, as Anna stood frozen next to Sam.

“And I think we have company.”



Cason’s instincts were to reach out and grab Nat’s arm as she pulled from him, but he stood still, just letting her say her piece. It was obvious that nothing he could say would change Dean’s mind about him. But maybe Nat could get through to him. However, when she brought up the asylum, his blood ran cold and he swallowed heavily. His role in the asylum was a sore spot in his mind, considering how much was taken from him. His rank, his titles, all ties to other demons, and his reputation were carved out of him, one slice of flesh at a time.

Dean narrowed his eyes, watching both Cason’s reaction to the mention of the asylum and also scanning his eyes over Nat’s face. The way she stared down, as if she was terrified of him, made him feel nauseated and if he was honest, broke his heart. Hearing that Cason had risked his own life softened his expression, and the realization that Nat’s attachment was deeper than just ‘fun with a demon’ hit like a truck. She trauma bonded with the guy. He understood that kind of bond better than almost anyone. He had seen it in hundreds of hunter couples. They were the least likely couples in the world, but because of trauma and a shared connection that no one else could see, they worked together. So did Nat and Cason, even if it wasn’t romantic. He sighed, turning his eyes down from her face, to the floor, weighing the options of what to even say in this moment.

Before Dean could even speak up, Cason cleared his throat and chewed at his lip, causing Dean to flinch at the sudden breach of quiet. As Dean raised his eyes from the floor, to look at Cason, his expression neutral and for the first time since they met, not aggressive, Cason spoke for himself.

“I have never lied to you about my intentions with Nat,” Cason said simply. He shrugged and chewed at his lip for another few seconds. “I told you that I would take care of her. I told you that I wouldn’t let anything hurt her. I told you that I would protect her from herself if I had to…and even from you.”

Dean flinched visibly again, and his expression flickered with anger but Cason didn’t give him a chance to respond. He simply reached out and brushed the back of his hand down Nat’s arm.

“I meant what I said. I’ve lost everything. I have nothing to lose by…being a rebel, I guess. I don’t like any of you. I think you’re a lost cause that will only end in misery, pain, and heartache for anyone who ever gets close to you. I feel it from your cowboy down the way, right now. But, I want Hell in ruins, just as bad as you do. If I have to be good to make that happen…so be it.”

Dean sighed and scrunched his nose to pull back his frustration and emotion. After a moment, he placed his hands on his hips and nodded softly, “Alright.”

“Alright?” Cason asked, urging him to continue, for Nat’s sake.

“I don’t like any of this. I don’t like that he was there…when none of us even knew you existed. It’s not fair. It’s not right. But I…I can accept his existence, until the end of this. You’re willing to die to keep her safe?” Dean turned his gaze to Cason, who muttered ‘yes’ without hesitation. Dean nodded again. “You’re a means to an end. We’re not friends. I don’t want to be your friend. If she ends up hurt…at all, you’re finished. You’re mine. Do you understand?”

Cason nodded and shrugged, even though he knew Nat wouldn’t like the agreement, “Seems fair.”

“Good. Come here…”, Dean gestured to Nat, holding an arm out for her to hug him and squash all of this animosity. This wasn’t being the bigger person. This was creating an insurance policy and making sure that at least Nat would stay. He needed some time to process what Cason meant to her. Helpful or not, getting involved with demons wasn’t high on his to-do list.



Duke stayed completely still as Esme began to approach him. He didn’t know how to react to her staying silent. It wasn’t in her nature to just kick his ass, but it crossed his mind. The thought almost made him smile under the cover of his hat. But then he felt her warm hand against his cheek, and his breath hitched. He trailed his eyes up until he could see hers, and melted into her touch a bit as she began to speak. She wasn’t forcing him out. She wasn’t pushing him away. Instead, she was, with her body language, inviting him back in. He was almost emotional with his relief, letting out a shuddered sigh as she kissed his face.

“Esme…”, Duke whispered, involuntarily arguing with her kindness as his eyes fluttered closed for a split second. He opened them, just taking in her words. It was possibly the first time he could remember another human having any faith in him, whatsoever. It was the first time another human was willing to let him try to take care of something, with no disregard for his feelings or what he wanted. For that, his heart nearly exploded. The overwhelmed feeling only grew as Esme wrapped her arms around him, and the warmth of her body flooded through his numb and cold chest. He wrapped his arms so tightly around her that he was almost afraid he would hurt her.

“I don’t know that I’m the most trustworthy person to try and help anyone. I mean, Bobby says all the time he wouldn’t trust me with a puppy, much less another human. It's why I prefer to do things alone, most of the time.” Duke spoke softly, feeling rather small in his vulnerability. But the longer he held Esme against his chest, the closer to real everything felt. But then an idea that had been nagging his brain crept in again.

“We could leave together.”, he whispered. His heart began to hammer in his chest the second the words left his lips. The idea of running away together was not likely to go over well. Esme was close to Dean again. Together or not, they were on the same path…again. He squeezed her a bit tighter for a few quiet seconds and then pulled back from her, holding her by her upper arms, as his sad and teary eyes met hers. “We could take care of each other and we wouldn’t…we wouldn’t be in danger all the time. You know, just straight demons and vampires without all the angel stuff. I thought about it while I was drivin’ and I don’t…I don’t know if I’m any good to them. But I can be good to you…”

SAM

As Anna started to explain what had happened with her, he listened intently especially as she mentioned the word 'demon'. He had hoped they would make it all the way back to the group without needing to bring up that word or work, but it seemed the demon world had other plans. He nodded at remembering exactly the demon Anna was referring to, wishing he didn't remember that night but it was so seared deep into his mind he couldn't forget it even if he wanted to. He saw how frantic and paranoid she was of who or what was around them, telling him if she was like this then it was for very valid reasons. He was just glad that Ruby hadn't shown her face as well and throw a second spanner into the works.

It worried him immensely that it may not be just Lilith that is after Annabeth. Lilith alone was a threat beyond anything he or his brother or any hunter has dealt with in their lifetime, and now they have to worry about possibly another big threat coming after her? He didn't know how much his mind and heart could take. Then there was the extra information of hallucinations. "Okay... we'll have to figure that out...I don't know how yet but I'll figure it out. Hallucinating has to be some kind of clue or hint for something" he replied to her, keeping her close whilst also keeping a careful eye on their surroundings.

He let her speak some more and shook his head to confirm her suspicions. He didn't hear the woman back at the motel speaking tongues, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary in fact. Which considering he took was on demon blood (unbeknownst to Annabeth), shouldn't be too have seen what she did? Or is it because he had a sneaky shot of Ruby's blood during the night that stopped him from seeing it? Yet more questions crept into his mind. He could now however understand why she needed to talk to Cason about this. If anyone is going to possibly have answers straight away, then it'd surely be their resident demon.

"If anyone is going to possibly going to give you some insight, it would be him. Let's get back as soon as we can" he replied to her as they reached the bus stop to find a bus arriving moments after they did. He saw how she watched the man who got on just ahead of them and even he found something to be off about him. "I think we do too...something isn't right about him. Just try and remain calm and be on guard. Hopefully he won't start anything on the bus" he whispered to her.

MIKA AND NATALIA

Dean remaining silent after Natalia spoke told the youngest Winchester that for once he truly listened to what she was saying and was finally taking it on board. She was expecting him to protest her words, try to say no matter what it shouldn't be Cason she was close with over what happened, that it should himself or Sam she bonded with or clung to, but there was none of that. It was just pure silence, which almost in a weird sense, scared Nat more. She was terrified in some ways of seeing Dean's pity for her or heartache. She never took people pitying her well, just as Dean never did.

Then Cason cleared his throat, breaking the silence like an earthquake. She let Cason speak up for himself whilst hoping that Dean wouldn't stop him. Those two needed air out everything just as much as she did with Dean. Mika also being silent showed Nat that the other woman in the room seemed to think the same as her. She didn't even notice that Mika had got a text and was reading it.

Listening to the boys talk it out and come to some kind of agreement made Natalia discreetly sigh with relief but she also didn't agree with the negotiation. Even after everything Dean was still threatening to kill Cason if she so much as remotely got hurt on his watch?! She couldn't accept that, but it seemed as Cason thought differently to her. All she did do was unlink her hands to lift one hand up to Cason's touch on her arm. Waiting until the boys stopped talking, she then decided to speak once more.

"I don't agree with your terms Dean, I can't but....if Cason has then I'll deal with it." She quietly said, before looking up a bit more to see him holding his arm out, signalling to go to him. She stood up but she found herself hesitant to move from her spot at first, yet the urge to be held by her eldest brother, the brother that was more of a father to her than John ever was overpowered any hesitation she had. She quickly stepped across the room in as few steps as possible and just grabbed onto him, wrapping her arms round his waist, burying her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry I'm a disappointment" she mumbled to him, "I don't want to fight you anymore..." She said once more.

Seeing everything unfold as Mika put her phone away, she knew Dean wasn't being the bigger person in his negotiation with Cason and she was convinced that Cason even knew that.she was just thankful it didn't end in another screaming match between the three of them. She didn't trust Cason either, but hearing how Cason risked his life to keep Natalia a bit more alive than the other demon bastards were willing to keep her, she had to respect him for that. She never realised that night as she was on watch by the impala that Cason would help Dean have a pathway to help Sam get Nat out of that forsaken place.

When Nat finally went and hugged Dean, it felt like they were getting somewhere with the two of them but it broke her heart when she heard Nat call herself a disappointment to Dean. Nat was many things but a disappointment was never one of them. Sure, she drove Dean mad at times and they clashed a lot, but that was because they were so alike and neither liked seeing themselves in each other. "Oh Nat...." She cooked but otherwise remained quiet.

She looked back at Cason and gave him a nod of respect. "In a slight change of subject, Sam text. They're both coming back but told us to hold fort here." She told them after a few minutes of letting Nat and Dean have their bonding moment that was much needed. "Which gives you two more time to squash this feud" she added, looking at Dean and Nat before looking at Cason and nudging her head towards the door of the room, there was just one thing she needed to know and not have Dean in earshot and that was just how close he got with Nat last night.

As soon as Duke’s arms went around Esme, her eyes closed and a small smile came to her lips at how tightly he held her. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed these tight hugs from him. She was also well aware of how overwhelmed he felt from her words, knowing most didn’t have much faith in him when it came to taking care of someone or something. But she did have that faith in him and wanted to show him that and possibly give him some of the confidence he lacked when it came to caring for another. And then, as if he had read her mind, he softly voiced what she had just been thinking about. It caused her smile to fade and her hands tighten into fists at what Bobby had said to him on so many occasions. Esme opened her mouth to say something in response but quickly closed it as she felt something in him change as if something was fighting to leave his lips. What he said and his suddenly quickened heartbeat hit her like a truck, causing her eyes to fly open and question if she had really heard him right.

She hadn’t expected him to bring that up so soon after just getting back. Yes, she knew that he didn’t want to get tangled up with the Winchesters again and wanted to go back to what he was used to, but it still surprised her that he wanted to leave so quickly. She wasn’t even sure she was ready for that physically right now. Before she could fully process his words, Duke squeezed her tighter for a few seconds, then pulled back from her and held her by her upper arms, speaking again. As he spoke, she looked into his sad and teary eyes with her own, her hands rested on his sides. After a few moments, Esme opened her mouth to answer but she couldn’t get the words to leave her lips. After softly clearing her throat, she tried once again. “I would love nothing more than to run off with you into the sunset, Duke. To just get back to our normal and leave all this angel stuff as far behind us as we can get it.” she said softly. “I’d be overjoyed to never deal or ever think of them again for as long as I live….”

“But I’m not sure just how much safer we’d be considering all the demons that seem to be after me after learning I’m more than I seem…. I’m a magnet for them, they always seem to know where to find me. I feel like I’m marked.” She fell silent and dropped her gaze with a heavy sigh, she had always thought about looking to see if there was something that would hide her from demons but something always prevented her from following through with it. She sighed again and slowly lifted her gaze back to his, knowing he probably wasn’t going to like what she had to say next. “I’m not sure how soon you wanted to leave, but something tells me now isn’t the time for us to leave. No matter how much we both feel that we aren’t any good to them…. I’m sure this isn’t what you want to hear but I can’t shake this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something big is coming and they’re going to need all the help they can get. It’s one thing that has kept me here for so long even though I know Mika wants me gone.”

Esme closed her eyes and sighed heavily, letting her head drop and her hair cover her face. As she stood there, her hand gripped his wet shirt, squeezing some of the water from it. “This feeling is much like the ones I would get when it was just the three of us and if you remember, something always seemed to come out of them. This one is so strong I can’t ignore it.” she said just above a whisper. Opening her eyes, she slowly lifted her gaze back up to met his once again. “Do you think you can stick around a little while longer until whatever it is comes to pass?”

Anna nodded at Sam’s advice to just keep cool and try to stay aware of the strange man on the bus. Everything in her bones told her that they should avoid the bus altogether, but they had to get back to the group somehow, and it was unlikely Cason would be willing to just pop in, if she called. So, she followed the man onto the bus, keeping her distance with Sam behind her. She watched the man closely for a moment, and then took a seat a few rows ahead of him, dropping her bag on the floor at her feet.

“I mean, at least there’s the good news…you can exorcise demons.” She said offhandedly. She wasn’t sure if Sam’s powers depended on demon blood the same way hers did. She knew they were linked, but the extent of their link was still a mystery. Either way, Hell had plans for them both. The man’s heartbeat rang out in the bus like some sort of pissed-off snake. It drowned out every voice around them and Anna’s heart pounded in her chest with both annoyance and anxiety.

As the bus began rolling forward, the sound of the man’s heart grew louder, and then without warning, he sat in a free seat beside Sam. His hands were in his lap and he was staring straight ahead. Anna couldn’t handle the tension anymore. She turned, leaned across Sam, and asked, “What do you want?”

The man didn’t turn to her. He simply stared forward, as two men took seats behind Sam, reaching over the back of his seat, and wrapping their arms around his neck to restrain him. Anna yelped, and grabbed one of the men’s arms, trying to burn them desperately. It was then that she realized that no one on the bus seemed bothered by them. She stopped resisting and looked around at every single face. The people all sat, fake smiles plastered to their faces as they watched the struggle.

“W-what is this? Some sort of trap?” She stammered, as her eyes came back to the man in front of her. He was now staring straight into her eyes with a weird trance-like smile on his face.

“A gift…from Alastair.” He muttered, pulling a large dagger and slicing his wrist open. A set of arms wrapped around Anna’s chest, pulling her tight to the seat as the man roughly gripped her jaw, forcing her mouth open, and began pouring his blood down her throat. Slowly, smoke began to pour from the arm around Anna and the demon holding her began to scream. The scene caused the demon that had force-fed her to cackle excitedly. “Amazing!”

Anna spat what little demon blood was left in her mouth, fury in her eyes as her heart hammered in her chest and her skin simmered with the heat of her blood. Without hesitation, she placed both her hands on the demon’s face as he laughed, melting him right in front of Sam’s face. She looked animalistic as the other demons released Sam and scooted back from him, terrified of the duo together. The melting demon never stopped laughing, “C’mon Sam! Take them out! Massacre them! It’s in your blood! Ruby made sure of that. She made sure you were fed. How much have you drank?! How much…”

With a tightened sudden grip, Anna burned him out, dropping his burnt husk on the floor of the bus alley, panting. She turned to Sam, using the back of her hand to wipe a dark smear of blood from her nose, her eyes solid white as she seethed at him.



Dean shook his head at Nat’s argument to his terms. He was unmoving. Cason would die if harm came to her. It was the most he was willing to offer in terms of concession. But when she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, he melted into her grip, forgetting all about the situation with Cason. All he could think about at that moment was making sure she was okay.

Her soft mumble made him smirk, and he shook his head against the top of hers, “You’re not a disappointment, idiot. You’re just careless. I should know about carelessness. Keep your nose clean for a little while…that’s all I ask.”

Dean reached a hand up, stroking Nat’s hair as he held onto her tightly. It seemed like forever ago that she was willing to hug him like that, or even be near him for much of any reason other than to argue and bicker.

Cason looked up at Mika as she nodded, nodding back at her, but then he frowned in confusion and tilted his head. Why would Sam and Anna need them to hang back? It wasn’t like there was anything important happening in this town, anyway. But as she nudged her head toward the door, he took the hint and sighed. He knew exactly what she wanted him outside for. She was going to grill him, away from Nat and especially away from Dean.

As Cason followed her to the door, Dean pulled back from Nat, just enough to smooth her hair back from the sides of her face with a small smile, “I’m trying to understand all of this. You know that, right? You understand why this is…impossible for me. Between whatever the hell is going on with Sam and Anna. I mean, she showed up, with Cason. He’s a demon and she’s…whatever the hell she is, which just brings up whatever Sam is. I refuse to let anyone else get hurt by demons while we’re just…fine with it.”

Cason stepped outside with Mika, immediately buttoning his pants and placing his hands on his bare hips with a sigh, “So, I’m going to get the protective mom ‘I’ll kill you’ speech, aren’t I? I mean…hit me with it. As long as Nat doesn’t have to deal with it anymore, I’ll take it.”



Duke began to smile as Esme confirmed that she would love to run away with him. The urge to scoop her up and run out that door with her was strong, but as she continued, he realized she was turning the idea down. The word ‘but’ hit him in the stomach harder than any demon ever had and his shoulders dropped a bit. He scanned her face as he let her words wash over him, pushing away the disappointment to think with reason. He opened his mouth to speak, but she continued with the absolute truth.

They couldn’t just leave, and pretend that what was happening wasn’t the literal end of the world. Putting on blinders and leaving their friends and family to die wasn’t the answer, here. Even he, a runner, couldn’t disagree with that. Duke gritted his teeth and sighed through his nose, realizing that there wasn’t much way to get away. His conscience wouldn’t allow it.

He leaned his head forward, placing his lips against the top of her head for a moment as he thought it over and she gripped onto his shirt. His mind was made up before she was even able to ask him to stay. He and Dean weren’t as close as they had been all those years ago, but they had sworn to go out in a blaze of glory together, and that’s exactly what would happen if this was the apocalypse.


Duke swept a piece of Esme’s hair from her face and he chewed at his lip, before finally speaking, “We can’t leave…not till we know the job is done. Just don’t seem right to go.” He muttered, turning his gaze to the wall behind her as he thought of what to say, or where to go with his thoughts. After a moment, he looked back down at her.

“Bobby gave me some information about a farm. Apparently, Anna was born there…and had a story kinda like Sam’s. Mom and Dad burned up on the ceilin', burned the house down and I don’t know if she even knows. I don’t know the poor girl too well. But the place is lit up with demon activity and from what Bobby was able to get from the weird nerdy angel…Castiel or whatever, the angels fully expect Dean to handle it.” He finally admitted, turning his gaze down to pull a piece of paper out of his damp pocket. On the paper was scribbled an address for a home in a small town in Western Missouri. “I guess while we make our plans to leave…we can keep him safe, together. That’s takin' care of each other, right?”

He shrugged with a slight glimmer in his eye. If they had to stay, he was going to do some reckless fun in the meantime. Taking Esme with him just kept his head on straight, while he did what he did best. He held the paper out to Esme, giving her a chance to look over it and see if she had any bad vibes before they had to break the news to Dean.

SAM

As much as Sam was reassuring Annabeth to get on the bus and say he doubted anything would happen, he wasn't one hundred percent certain of his own words. He was more on edge than he was prepared to let show as he didn't want worry Anna even more than she already was. He was meant to be protecting her, not freaking her out even more. Finding some seats, he let Anna sit down first before taking a seat opposite her himself, chuckling his bag on the ground just as she had done.

Things really didn't feel right on this mode of transport and he was quickly beginning to think they should have just gotten a cab to the airport instead. He kept telling himself he was being paranoid out of his protectiveness for Anna, but the secret truth was, just as Anna could, he took could hear the heartbeat of the demon and smell their blood a mile off. He just didn't want Anna to know that...just yet. He smirked slightly at her comment about his skills and gave a soft chuckle. "I guess it is" he remarked back just before the demon in question stood up, walked up to them and sat next to him.

Being this close was mentally and physically painful to Sam. All he wanted to do was cut the guy's throat right there and drink every last ounce of his blood but he knew he had to keep some restraint. He still hadn't fully told Anna the truth of how much he could relate to her current situation. His left foot began to twitch ever so slightly as he fought the urge to let it bounce on the spot and shake. Then came what he wasn't ready for..being yanked back and strangled in his seat. He fought against the grip of his assailants but it was proving utterly useless. Their grip was stronger than it seemed.

"Leave her alone!" He choked out, his voice raspy from the lack of air getting to him. He refused to stop fighting, to stop trying to get out of the grip and to get Anna out of this situation. His nostrils flared in anger as he felt the demons just keep him back harder and more forcefully. As he watched the main one slice his wrist and say it was a gift from Alastair, he knew they were in trouble. If Alastair knew where they were then they never truly would be safe until he was dead and gone. "Anna don't!" He tried to cry out but it was of no use, the demon force fed her his blood, making others go up in a puff of smoke as he mentioned Ruby.

Sam's eyes went wide, they knew his secret?! Of course they did, demons were gossipers amongst everything else more sinister. Breaking free of his assailants, he held his hand out, leaning forward and focused, making all the other demons begin to scream and writhe as they went back to Hell in a bellowing trail of black smoke. The bus flooring scorching underneath as they dissipate. His nose began to bleed once more, his eyes blurring his vision that he shook off to regain his focus. Shaking, he lowered his hand and slumped into his seat once more.

Looking up at Anna and seeing her own state. "Anna...don't be mad at me...." He begged as he panted to get his breath back. "I can explain..." He spoke once more.

MIKA AND NATALIA

Hearing Dean call her and idiot brought back all those times Bobby would call the boys idjits and it actually made the smallest of smiles begin to tug at the corner of her lips for a brief moment. "I know I can be... I'm sorry for the way I am Dean...." She said once more, reluctant to let go of him just yet. It felt good to be this close to her other brother and not for fighting reasons. It also was cathartic to her to be close to Dean and not Sam for once. She knew it couldn't have been that easy, especially in the early days of her joining them for him, seeing her get close to Sam so easily but constantly kept her distance with him. Truth was, at the beginning he terrified her and him being weary of her didn't help her fear of him.

Now she was usually angry at him or missing him like crazy when he wasn't around. Their siblings relationship really had to be one of the most complicated ones around in her mind. She gripped him a bit tighter when he started to stroke her hair, a soothing motion to her mind. "I promise I'll try and not be so reckless." She honestly declared to him. "I know I'll never agree to your choice with Cason, as you won't with my bond with him, but I'm glad you're trying to see our point of views as well as me see yours. I know this can't be easy for you...especially after...well..you know" she spoke, not wanting to say the H word. Hell.

"You're just trying to keep me safe, I see that now" she admitted, shifting everything so slightly to look up at him. "I really do" she repeated.

Mika was glad that Cason was silently agreeing to speak to her outside, and his surprise about Sam and Anna's request in the text didn't go unnoticed either. So it seemed there would be two subjects to talk about outside the room and not just the one she was planning. Leading the way outside, she waited for Cason, leaning against the wall, arms folding across her chest as he followed out still topless and casually.

His comment about giving him the mother lecture did make her smirk as it seemed she wasn't as subtle as she thought she was being. She waited for him to finish speaking before she looked at him and gave a nod. "It's partly why yeah. Firstly, from the bluntness of the text from Sam, I think something happened with those two and I'm guessing they need all of us for advice." She clarified on the text situation. "As for the main reason I wanted to speak in private, yeah I do wanna know.

I wasn't born yesterday to notice the two of you and your body language, not to mention your half dressed state. Did you or did you not sleep with her? I won't tell Dean if you did, no one needs to see how he would react to it. He gives her grieve because when he finally accepted she wasn't lying about his sister, he decided he wouldn't let anything happen to her. Just like with Sam. He refused to let their dad tear more of his family a part, like he did with her existence and with making him believe I was dead for years. John has ruined too much for him, he wants to make things right for Nat" she explained.

"But yeah, you're right about one thing, if you hurt her in ANY way, break her heart, betray her.....anything. I will be right behind Dean helping dispose of your body. Capiche?" She added, pointing her finger right at his face, a look of seriousness in her eyes meaning she wasn't just saying these words for fun. She meant them.

She would always take Dean's side when it came to this family, she always has and always will. She then walked back into the room to see if everything was still okay between the siblings.

Esme hated seeing the disappointed look on Duke’s face, but she wasn’t fully turning down his idea, just asking him to wait until they made sure everyone was going to get through this. She’d never forgive herself if something happened after they left and they could have helped prevent it. When Duke swept her hair from her face and said they couldn’t leave, she let out a silent sigh of relief as her grip on his shirt loosened. She knew that deep down within himself, he couldn’t just leave those he called friends and family to deal with this without feeling horrible about it. When he looked at the wall behind her, she studied his face. It was one she knew well. He was searching his thoughts or trying to think of what to say. When Duke looked back at her, she almost held her breath as he spoke. She took in his words, feeling that this was what she felt as the pit in her stomach seemed to worsen. With his words still going through her mind, she watched him as he pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket, and just barely heard what he said next.

Pulling herself together, she looked back at him with a small smile and nodded. “Yes, I would say that’s taking care of each other.” Her tone was soft, but showed she meant what she said. She was glad to have him at her side to help her help them through this, even if she wasn't sure just how much help she would be. She felt like her empathy got in the way of a lot of things. It made certain situations extremely complicated and nearly impossible to get through remaining conscious. Since coming into contact with Hellhounds and learning that they block her empathy, she has wondered if there was a way to put some of their essence into a wearable item that would function in the same way as being near them. If that was at all possible, it would become one of her most prized possessions. But the more she thought about it, the more of a dream she thought it was becoming, but what a wonderful dream it would be to have come true after all these years of dealing with all the emotions she felt from others around her and struggling to keep control of them.

As Duke held out the paper, and the address became visible, the pit in her stomach grew into queasiness. Esme slowly brought her right hand up from his side to take it from him, briefly hesitating before she took hold of it. The moment her fingers came into contact with the paper, Esme let out a gasp and her body went rigid. Her eyes remained glued to the paper as a series of images flashed through her mind, resembling a skipping movie with crucial scenes omitted. The images went by so quickly; she had some trouble making some of them out. What she could make out was the inside of what looked like a barn, a pissed-off Dean talking to someone she couldn’t see, and an assortment of items in front of him that could aid in the working over of a demon. The last thing she saw before finding herself back in the room was a badly beaten Dean. Esme took a deep breath, dropped the paper, and then grabbed onto Duke to keep herself from collapsing onto the floor, her body trembling from the experience. “What in hell was that?” she asked in a breathless and shaky voice.

“Did I just see what could or will happen?” she softly mumbled. The change in Esme had brought Sarah out of her corner to come and check on Esme. Slowly stepping towards Esme, Sarah gave a small whine and nudged the back of her leg after Esme had brought a hand to her head. With her hand on her head, Esme closed her eyes to keep her head from spinning. “I’ll be alright, Sarah.” she said in as soothing a tone as she could. As she stood there, still holding onto Duke for support, she tried her best to decipher what she had just seen from grabbing the paper and what about it made those images appear to her. After a moment, she sighed heavily through her nose and shook her head. “Please tell me another ability didn’t just show itself.” she mumbled. “I don’t know how many more of those I can handle. I feel like my mind was just violated.” It took a few minutes, but Esme finally collected herself enough to stand firmly on her own two feet. She couldn't bring herself to look up and see the worried look she knew would be on Duke’s face.

She looked at the wall across from them just to have something to look at while she explained to Duke what had just happened. “You’re going to think I’m crazy when I tell you what just happened….” she started. She paused for a brief moment to gather her words to make them sound as believable as she possibly could. “When…. When I touched that paper, I was hit with what I can only describe as scenes from a movie with parts missing. The first thing I saw looked like the inside of a barn. It skipped to Dean standing in front of a table with an assortment of items you could use to torture a demon with, and he was talking to someone just out of view. He was definitely pissed off and seemed to be fighting to keep from losing control of himself…. The last thing I saw was…. Dean. He was badly beaten and bloody and looked as if he was just barely holding on to life.” She shivered as that image of Dean showed itself to her again, that was a state she never wanted to see him in. “I hardly know what to make of it.”

Anna’s eyes began to slowly fade back to normal as she frowned so hard that it hurt her head. Sam’s begging tugged at her heart, somewhere behind her anger, but honestly, she was sick of being lied to. She was sick of not fitting in with the group, but being kept around as either some sort of weapon…or for sympathy. She was tired of being treated like a kid. Cason didn’t treat her like a kid.

“Why…does everyone around me feel the need to lie to me?”, she panted, taking a deep breath, before sitting down. The bus driver at the front of the bus continued to drive, his trance not broken, as if he was under a spell.

She shuddered, and flexed her fists, the burns on her hands healing. She then wiped her hands on the back of the seat in front of her and turned back to Sam. “When I was high on demon blood, and I was scared and alone, you told me that you ‘used to’ have a problem. You made it sound like it was some thing in the past. You made me feel like it’s possible to not have this issue, while still being useful. You lied. And the worst question comes into my mind and makes me want to kill Ruby.”

Anna wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve and thought about her next words carefully, before finally taking a deep breath, “What is she, to you? Obviously she’s…feeding you. I’m not going to jealous girlfriend you, here. I just want you to be honest with me. Don’t bring me back and keep lying to me. If that’s your plan, let me off the bus and I’ll take my chances with Max.”



Dean wanted to shake his head and tell Nat to stop worrying about his feelings. While he was silently demanding that she acted less reckless and in his absolute best case scenario, Cason would be gone. But this wasn’t some perfect world, and Nat being in his arms was almost surreal, considering how much they had fought in the last few weeks. Cason held her down. Cason kept her alive. Cason protected her from herself, and without Cason, she likely wouldn’t be hugging him. The thought made him sigh.

“I won’t complain about that…” he responded to her declaration to be less reckless. Dean tensed slightly when Cason’s name popped up again and a bit more when she mentioned his time in Hell. He took a long and shaky breath, while holding her tighter. He wasn’t going to talk about Hell. He refused to discuss it, even with Nat. Eventually, everything that he had left out of the conversations would come to light. He just hoped that it would be on his own terms.

His thoughts were broken when Nat shifted and her eyes met his, softening any tension in his body. He smirked, and nodded, “Well, yeah. You’re that much like Sammy. Someone’s gotta keep you guys out of trouble, or you would kill yourselves. Unfortunately, as the big brother, that falls on me.”

A thought came to his mind, and he kept his smirk, to diffuse any thoughts of tension that might crop up from the question he was about to ask. He brushed his fingers across a very visable bruise on her neck and furrowed his brow, “Getting tangled up with demons isn’t safe, though. You know that…like physically.”

He was trying to carefully tell her that he knew about the night before, without opening the most awkward and heated dialogue of the day. As she had stated, he just wanted to keep her safe.



Cason groaned at the words that left Mika’s mouth first. Of course they were coming back for advice. There was no way that Anna had managed to make it out of a solo trip without being hit up by demons. He just hoped that whatever her need was, it didn’t have to do with their time together before she reached the group. The tension in his head had been building for days, and it felt like something big was coming…and that something big was to do with demons - big ones.

Before he could get too lost in his thoughts, Mika brought up the bigger elephant in the room. Cason tried his hardest to think of a way to lie to her, but it was going to be nearly impossible, judging by the look on her face. The warning that came directly after caused him to roll his eyes. He was very aware that if Dean was to kill him, of course Mika would be on board with all of it. If anyone would understand Cason’s sexual restraint, it would be Mika, though. So, he brushed off her threat, just taking it as an extension of Dean’s blustering. That fight was for if…not when.

Shrugging his shoulders he nodded, “Yeah. We slept together. She was in a bad spot. So, we went out. She had an amazing night and for once, she seemed okay. One thing led to another, and when we got back, it just seemed…appropriate. I didn’t hurt her. I didn’t use any weird demon power on her. I did my best to be gentle, in fact. I don’t do these things with humans, for a reason.”

He stopped and then tilted his head, “You know that I can be safe…”, he almost whispered, bringing up their brief moment together at Bobby’s. He ended the conversation there, and took a deep and shaky breath. At least the revelation had gone better than he expected it to. There was no blow up. Hopefully, this was the beginning of an understanding between all of them, and he could settle here.

Cason followed Mika inside, and the second he made it in, he gestured to Nat, “Can we talk for a minute?”



Duke relaxed at Esme’s reasonable tone, but the second she took the paper from him, the gasp from her throat caused him to flinch aggressively. He let go of the piece of paper, and grabbed both of her shoulders, leaning his head down to get on her level, as he stared into her empty eyes.

“Esme! Hey! No no no…” he groaned, scanning between her eyes as she stared blankly ahead. And just like that, she came back to him, grabbing onto his shirt. Out of reflex, he wrapped his arms around her, his breathing now coming out in pants as he remembered how to breathe. “Holy shit…”

She echoed his own concern, meaning she had no clue what had just happened. It was like she had a seizure or a stroke, right in front of him. With all the stress from her powers, neither would have surprised him. He shook his head, trying to catch his breath as she blanked out, causing him to shake her one single time before she finally started to talk. “Honestly? As long as you don’t zone out again, I can take anything…”

Listening to what happened, Duke’s eyes darted around her face, trying to make sense of what she was saying. He had heard of this sort of thing before, but not from anyone he was close to. She was seeing the future. He didn’t know how to bridge that conversation with her, and break that news to her, but he had a feeling that he had to rip that bandaid off. The thought of Dean being broken and bloody, and not knowing when it would happen sent a shiver down his spine.

“I um…” he started but broke off. When he found the words for the question, he took his own shaky breath, “Was there any idea of when? Like time of day…anything? Any other faces you could recognize? I’ve only seen this kinda thing once or twice and this ain’t good…”

He frowned slightly and then shook his head, “I hate to tell you this, sweetheart, but you just saw the future or somethin’. Something is going to happen, and…I guess we have our answer on leavin’. We just gotta figure out how to handle this, and we gotta figure out how the hell that just happened…and what to tell the others.”

As much as his own emotions were drilling his brain into mush, he was moving into protective little brother mode. If Dean was going to be hurt, he would always be the one to jump in front of that bullet. Between Dean and Duke…Dean would survive. It had always been that way, and it would always be that way. Esme knew this…

SAM

Sam never intended to lie to Annabeth, he hated that he was lying to her about Ruby. The only way he could live with it all was by telling himself that he wasn't lying as such, instead he was just holding back the truth and only telling her bits and pieces when he felt ready to. Truth was however, he WAS lying to her and it was because he was terrifed of making her more scared about herself and he was so used to keeping secrets from Dean and Mika, it seemed it was just dripping down onto happening with Anna as well. Something that he knew now needed to stop and change before it got worse and he really did lose her for good.

He too was aware that the driver was still driving and not stopping once. The reality of what they did or got forced to do hitting him harder, but nothing hit him as hard as seeing Annabeth clearly feeling betrayed by him and feeling angry. Her anger at him was as painful as when Dean was angry with him. It hit his heart like a ton of bricks coming crashing down on it and he wasn't sure how exactly to handle it. He knew he shouldn't have given Ruby the time of day last night and just tried ignoring her but it was painfully obvious to him, it was now too late to be thinking like that.

He tried to find his words when she began talking not once, but twice and pointed out crudely the terms he used when she poured her heart out to him before, over and over again. Glancing down at his lap, he gulped and sighed as he let her calmly rage at him. He knew that she was incredibly valid in her comments and that's why it hurt all the more. When she stopped, he looked up and met her eyes with his own. "I'm sorry Anna, I know I've messed up massively not telling you the whole truth. At the time it was true. I thought I had it handled....I thought I was rid of Ruby." he began explaining, refusing to look away from her to show he was willing to tell her the truth once and for all.

"Last time I saw her was when a lot of you came finding me at that motel. But then she came to me last night..." he was terrified to tell her this, the crack in his voice proved this fact. "She gave me vials of her blood, I haven't fed on her for weeks, I swear to you. She means nothing to me though, she's a means to an end and she says she's able to help me be strong enough to kill Lilith. I have tried to be free of it, and I was for a while, so I never lied to you when I said there is hope on the other side of this. That it's possible to get free of this....this addiction. I didn't even think it was possible for me to stop those demons anymore, but it seems there's enough in my system to be able to..do well...that" he sighed once more, now wiping the blood from under his own nose onto the back of his hand.

"I don't want to lie to you, I guess keeping bits of information, no matter how important they are from people is just second nature to me. Not even Dean and the others know about this. I know I have to tell them and that Dean is suspicious of what's going on with me" he admitted to her, "but please Anna...don't leave me or us. I want to be and do better and I will, I swear to you" he said with conviction.

NATALIA

Nat knew that Dean wouldn't talk about his time in Hell, no matter how much she wished he would but she only mentioned it because she wanted him to know that because of that she understood why he was even more in the Cason hate group. She was glad though that he was willing accept her promise in trying to not be so reckless from today onwards. She accept him gripping her tighter at the subtle Hell mention, giving it a tighter squeeze back. She may get annoyed by him but she did love him dearly.

When she looked up at him and he told her she was very much like Sam she couldn't help but smile slightly. Her comparison to Sam was very much a big compliment in her eyes as she quite frankly idolizes Sam because he was the first to find her and started getting her out, whilst fighting the demons at the same time. That made him her personal hero, even more so than Dean even if Dean did meet them half way out of the asylum and help Sam get her out. It was Sam who found her in her room after Cason left the door unlocked for them to get her. "I wouldn't say it was unfortunate. I'm glad I have you to have my back Dean...even if I don't show it or throw it back in your face at times. I'm glad you're my brother" she told him honestly.

She thought that would be the end of it when something she wasn't expecting suddenly happened. Dean checked her neck and made a point to say something about what she did with Cason the night before. The embarrassment coursing through her was immense, but she tried to keep it off her face....and failed. Her cheeks flushed pink, a true smile appeared on her lips as she brushed her hair back over her shoulder to hide the bruise on her neck. "Don't know what you're talking about...but noted." she tried to lie, but this time playfully and not maliciously.

"Honestly though..I know but I also know what I'm doing when it comes to Cason. I just ask for you to trust me and accept that he made me smile..like...truly smile and laugh last night" she asked him kindly. She didn't want to get into it with him about her activities with Cason, the thought of that was as embarrassing as having the birds and bees talk with a parent. She did NOT want to go through that.

MIKA

Cason was right to not lie to her. It wouldn't have gone down well for either of them as she wouldn't have hesitated to throw fists until he gave her the truth and that would have upset Natalia which in turn would have made life difficult for herself. Like Cason, she just had a feeling something truly big and bad was rearing it's ugly head toward them and now was the time to end these family feuds and get back to being professional. So when he decided to be truthful it was of a great relief to Mika.

She listened to what he had to say and when he started with 'she was in a bad spot' she furrowed her eyebrows not impressed with where this was going but he was seemingly pulling it back and making it less negative sounding as he continued talking. The thought of someone, even him, putting a smile back on their girl's face and making her happy again? She'd let anything almost anything slide if that was the outcome. The tension in her shoulders seemed to drop when he said he was gentle and didn't do anything to hurt her or against her will. That was the best she could have asked for.

"Glad to hear it. I still won't say anything to Dean. I'll leave that for him to find out from Nat just expect him to be happy about it when or if he finds out. I think we both know his earlier comments were more of a promise than a threat deep down. But I'm glad you got her out of her mind for a while, it's all we want for her. She doesn't deserve that amount of trauma to rule her life and yes I know you can be safe which is why I'm choosing to believe you right now." she replied to him. "So as long as you're keeping her safe and happy I will continue to play the safety wall between you and Dean."

With the conversation naturally to an end, she let him head back into the room, her following him inside and seeing that Dean and Nat seemed to be still on good terms and dare she think it....a bit closer mentally as siblings. She watched on as Cason asked to have a private word with Natalia, making her pull away from Dean's protective arms and give Cason a nod.

"Sure" Natalia replied, stepping back from Dean and headed outside where Mika and Cason were just moments ago. Letting her out, Mika walked closer to Dean, "Everything okay with you two finally? She seems happier with you again" she remarked.

Esme finally pulled her eyes away from the wall as Duke started to talk, only to break off. She scanned his face as he searched for his words and tensed up a bit at his shaky breath. She took in his words as she stepped back towards the bed and sat on the edge of it, her eyes never left his face as she sat down. She sadly shook her head at his questions, she couldn't make out any of that. “Sadly, no.” she told him, her hands balled into tight fists on her lap. She wished she had more to go on but what she saw was so broken it was even hard for her to make out what she did. When she tried to look back on what flashed before her eyes, it didn’t make anything any clearer and it gave her a massive headache. When Duke frowned and shook his head, Esme prepared herself for some heavy news. What he said caused her to grit her teeth and clench her fists, causing her nails to dig into the palms of her hands. This caused Sarah to move over to Esme and lay her head in her lap.

When Esme didn’t react to her presence, Sarah moved her head on top of Esme’s hands and gave a small whine. Esme could only look down at Sarah, feeling that her body was frozen in place. Closing her eyes she tried to process Duke’s words that were still echoing in her mind. She just looked into the future, which added more to the strange things she could do. She was an Empath, which let her feel and alter the emotions of those around her, she could burn demons with just a touch or them touching her, she could disintegrate demons with an energy blast, and now she could see the future. What in the hell did that make her? Could she even still call herself a human? She was starting to feel more like one of the monsters they hunted daily. She knew if she ever lost control, she could easily kill someone and that scared the hell out of her, it was always on her mind. Then a scene played out before her closed eyes, she was backed into a corner and the silhouettes of the group loomed over her, guns drawn, and their emotions were through the roof.

With a lot of effort, Esme pulled herself back to reality before the conclusion of her vision could play out. Sighing heavily through her nose, she forced her hands to relax, then pulled her right hand out from under Sarah’s head and placed it on top of her head, giving it a small scratch. Opening her eyes she looked up and over at Duke. “So now I can add seeing the future to the growing list of what I can do. Which gives us both something else to worry about when it comes to my abilities.” she sighed heavily. “I can only pray that this will be the first and last time this ever happens but knowing how bad my luck can be, it won’t be. But I’m with you on figuring out how to handle this and how touching that paper triggered it…..” She trailed off thinking about what they could tell the others and how to explain they knew what was coming. She couldn’t lie to herself and say that she was hesitant to even bring it up to them even though they needed to know what was coming. She knew that no matter how hesitant she was.

“Do you think they can handle this news with everything they already have on their plates?” she asked. As she looked at Duke, she finally saw it, he was going into protective little brother mode and she knew what that meant. She had seen it before and knew what the result would and could be depending on how things went. Esme knew that Duke would die for Dean to live. Gently moving Sarah’s head from her lap, Esme took to her feet and walked over to Duke, taking him by the arms and pulling him over to the bed, she forced him to sit down. Sitting next to him, she turned to face him, then gently took his hands into her own. “Duke…. I can tell you’ve gone into protective little brother mode after what I’ve just told you. I know I can’t stop you from doing whatever you can or have to to keep Dean safe and alive. I won’t stop you, you know I’ll do the same…. All I ask of you is a promise. Can you promise me that you won’t go in half-cocked and think before you go charging into whatever we find ourselves in…. Please?"

“I don’t wanna have to kick your ass for being reckless.” she added to lighten some of the tension in the room. Esme didn’t want it to sound like she was begging him to promise her but she knew just how reckless he could be when it came to Dean’s wellbeing. She had seen him become the same way with her in the past. She just wanted him to have his head on straight when he faced whatever was in store for them, even if he did end up laying down his life for Dean, which was something Esme didn’t want to think about. She didn’t want to see anyone from the group die from this.

Anna listened carefully to Sam’s explanation of his addiction. His gaze was honest and completely set, which for the first time in a long time, told her he was telling the truth. She didn’t change her face, however. She wanted to get to the bottom of the whole Ruby problem, before she was even willing to move forward, whether with or away from the group. Her heart jumped into her throat, however, when he mentioned that Ruby had come to him the night before, while she was asleep.

Thinking of his face just earlier in the morning, while he was lying to her face, and not telling her anything about his little rendevous nearly turned her eyes back to white. She felt used, and manipulated. But she shook the thought for a moment to hear him out. When he mentioned that he could still take care of demons, despite not having blood for a while, Anna’s thoughts began to race. She wasn’t able to burn the demon before, until they had already force fed her a ton of blood. So, was Sam more powerful than she was? Was he something else?

Anna sighed as Sam finished his groveling and she shook her head, “I don’t need you to grovel to me, Sam. I just want you all to stop treating me like a child that’s on the edge of a temper tantrum. I’m no different from you. My powers or whatever don’t seem as strong as yours. I can’t do what I did, just then, without nearly draining a whole demon. The group knows what I’m capable of…and what causes it. You see how they treat me. How do you think they’re going to treat you?”

She winced at the idea of the group ousting him the way they seemed to fear her. The thought was heartbreaking, and the spiral it would probably cause with Sam broke her heart, no matter how mad she was at him.

“I’m not going to leave. But I don’t want sneaking anymore. No more sneaking around. No more meeting with Ruby in the dead of the night, hoping I won’t wake up and ‘catch you’. I want full honesty. We have the same problem. We can deal with it together, or I’ll deal with it on my own…my way.” She ordered, ending with a sigh as the bus squealed to a stop in front of the airport. The bus driver opened the doors and sat there, still in a trance. Without another word, Anna picked up her bags, and although still partially covered in blood (she could change in the airport), she walked off the bus, waiting on the sidewalk for Sam.



Dean didn’t miss the blush on Nat’s face as he asked about the mark on her neck. But the wide smile after conflicted his feelings. She looked genuinely happy, and the fact that Cason was the cause, made Dean uncomfortable. But at the same time…she just looked truly happy. So, he shrugged his shoulders, “Don’t kiss and tell, and all that. I’ll respect that, for now.”

But then she spoke what he had seen on her face, out loud. Dean’s face softened into a loving smile, and he took a deep breath, reaching up and teasingly brushing the back of his fingers across the tip of her nose.

“If you know what you’re doing, and my job from here is to try and treat you less…like a kid or whatever, I’ll do my best. I don’t have to like it. But I like happy, on you. Keep him close. Keep him quiet. And if he so much as says a word that bothers you, or makes you feel weird, you come straight to me. I’ll take care of him.” He ordered, pointing a single finger. His eyebrows were slightly raised and he was entirely serious. But then his nose scrunched a bit.

“But I would like to not…know if you’re doing…that.” He waved his hand in a circle, gesturing toward her neck and making it clear that if he was accepting Cason, he didn’t want more details about their sexual relationship.

Cason was thankful that Mika had agreed not to rat him out to Dean. He honestly didn’t even know where he stood with Nat, at this point. But at least Mika was willing to play fence, and considering what had happened between them, he would take what he could get. This was the closest to acceptance he could hope for.

As soon as Nat agreed to come out with him, he stepped back out the door and reached back for her. When they were both outside the door, Cason turned and placed his hands on both sides of her face, leaning in and kissing her deeply, out of eye shot of the door. After a few moments, he broke the kiss and gently brushed his thumbs over her cheeks with a smirk, “I just wanted to make sure that would still work. I wanted to see where we stand.”

He chuckled softly and then dropped his hands, continuing the conversation that he had pulled her out for, “Anna is coming here with some sort of drama. I wanted to give you a heads up, because I honestly don’t know what to expect. I have a feeling it’s demon stuff. So, if you want to hang back, I get it. But you also seem to be someone that could be a…good ally to her. Might not be the worst idea to stick around.”

He took a deep breath and let it out in an annoyed sigh, “And I have a bad feeling about the cowboy and all the conflict I feel from that room down there. So, be prepared for that…”

Dean smiled and wrapped an arm around Mika as she stepped up beside him. He shrugged and tilted his head, “I think we both know where we stand. That’s the best I can hope for. But I still…don’t like this. I’m not going to like this. It seems like things are falling apart, but with niceties, between Sam and Nat and Esme. This just seems like the beginning.”



Esme’s question of whether or not the group could handle the news of her being able to see the future…and what she had actually witnessed caused Duke to shrug. The simply shook his head and shrugged once again, “I don’t know that they have a choice. We can’t just let things play out…”

Duke followed Esme’s movements, simply going with sitting down. Honestly, he wanted to sit down, as his knees were beginning to feel weak from the weight of the conversation. He resisted the urge to reach out and brush Esme’s hair from her cheek, feeling the need to just touch her and diffuse some of the tension between them.

But then she asked him to do what he would typically consider impossible. He would protect the ones he loved, even if it meant being a literal human shield. He sighed through his nose, and his shoulders tensed at the idea that he would have to restrain himself. But she was asking him to, because she needed him. He knew that. After weighing it in his mind, she continued by diffusing the tension with teasing, and he smirked.

“I will do the best I can to not get myself killed. I can’t promise that I won’t do everything in my power to keep you and Dean safe. I can’t promise that things won’t go south. I won’t disappoint you like that. But I can promise that…I will make sure to make a plan, if I’m gonna do somethin’ stupid.” He conceded, flashing a small smile to make sure she knew he would indeed try. “I’m more scared of your fists, than demons…”

Duke reached out finally, and brushed his fingertips against her cheek. He needed to touch her. He needed to feel comforted from all of this. This could very well be the last few moments they would spend together. This felt so heavy…He didn’t expect to survive any of it. He hid as much of the thoughts from her as he possibly could and bit his lip for a few seconds, “When are we gonna break the news to them? If I’m stayin’, I’ll be with you, till the end of the line, you hear me?”

SAM

He didn't want to hurt Anna even though he ended up doing exactly that. He hated himself for hurting her and lying to her because he was so stuck in his ways with having to lie to Dean and Mika, he didn't know any different with everyone else. Yet here and now, he knew that HAD to change and that change started now with him being as honest as he possibly be. He couldn't understand how or why he was able to take on those demons just now when he didn't have much if any demon blood in his system and that quite frankly unnerved him as much as it confused Anna. Was Sam really getting that powerful or did he still have more demon blood in system than he thought he had? He didn't have the answers to those questions, yet now he wished he did.

Sam let Anna speak her mind at him, he deserved all the lectures she had for him. Hearing her ask the vital question of how they would treat him if they had been treating her the way they had, it shot a wave of anxiety and terror through his body. He knew they wouldn't react well, that's one reason why he was lying to the others. Instead of replying to that question however, he let her continue to speak and take in what he had told her. That was the fair thing to do in his mind.

He nodded at her request for full honesty and to deal with this power together. "Okay. Okay, we'll deal with this together, I swear to you I won't lie or keep certain truths from you anymore. Thank you for hearing me out...it's more than Dean would do" he told her honestly as he saw they were arriving at the airport and the driver stopping at the entrance.

He let her get her bag first before standing up himself, grabbing his own bag and slinging it over his shoulder. Sighing and taking in the conversation they just had, he wondered how things would go from now on as well as it making him realise he knew far less about this power than he thought had. Shaking the thoughts from his mind for the time being, he walked down the bus and got off, stepping down onto the sidewalk beside Anna. "I guess it's time to head back to the others" he sighed, offering his hand to her in an act of solidarity. He too knew that Anna would need to change her shirt in the nearest public toilets. "You want my hoodie until you get to the toilets?" he asked her.

NATALIA and MIKA

Nat was honestly so relieved that Dean didn't want to know exactly what she got up to with Cason the night before. She was also relieved that he was willing accept that for now she was actually truly happy, even if Cason being the cause made him uncomfortable. She even couldn't help but chuckle softly when he brushed her nose as it made her feel so wanted by him, it reminded her of the times when she was very young and lived a normal life, as her mother would stroke the top of her nose in a downward motion-top to bottom, right down the bridge of her nose to make her comfortable and sleepy at night. Or the time when John was around in her life and would flick her nose playfully if she was being cheeky to him.

The memories of those actions filling her mind which made her chuckle softly. One of the few memories to return to her after so many were stripped from her in the asylum. "I've not had anyone do that to me in a very long time" she told him, her tone showing him that it's the first time in a while she's had a happy memory return to her. She then softened a bit more when he explained how he liked the look of happiness on her and yet still managed to be typical Dean by telling her if Cason steps out of line, to go to him. She gave a nod, "I promise, I won't pass go, won't collect 200, and just come straight to you. Hand on heart." she agreed, deciding to play the monopoly line.

---

Outside she was curious to what Cason could want to talk to her about. The first thing that came to mind was maybe it was something Mika said to him and he wanted to be truthful to her about it. She honestly wouldn't have put it passed Mika to have given him a stern word or threat in the name of protecting her. So when he just grabbed her face and kissed her deeply, she gladly returned it, wrapping her own arms round his waist as she did so. When he did finally pull away, she smiled at his words unable to stop thinking that was the most human thing she could have heard from him.

"It still works and I'm happy with you Cason. I know everyone around us says I shouldn't be but I am. I'm willing to see how we work together if you are. I want to be with you...as rebellious of a Winchester that is" she smiled and chuckled once more. She could only imagine how her father would be if he heard what she just said to a demon but she didn't care. Even if he was still alive, she couldn't imagine John caring enough for her- not like Sam and Dean do anyway. After she was done saying what she felt, what she truly felt, in the hopes it was something he wanted to hear, she let him talk about whatever it was that was seemingly on his mind.

Her smile dropped slightly when he mentioned Annabeth and what Mika had actually told him. Sam and Anna were on their way back and needed his guidance. Like him, she knew if that was the case it was demon related. Sighing it was becoming even more obvious that she could never get away from demons no matter how hard she tried- Cason excluded. "If you think I'll be good for her I'll stick around. I like Anna and if I can help in any way I will. I won't run away...not anymore. As long as it never involves THAT place" she told him. She never wanted to see that asylum again.

Back in the room, Mika listened to what Dean had to say. It was honestly the best possible outcome she could have hoped for. They both looked happy and close, probably closer than they ever have been and that was enough for her. "Trust me, I don't like it either but all the while she has a smile on her face and is willing to work with us and not against us at every opportune moment I'll accept it. I'm also all for it if it puts your mind at some ease knowing where you two stand with each other. I don't think I've ever seen her so willing to be hugged by you- it was nice to see." she told him, wrapping one arm round his back and rubbing her hand up and down it soothingly.

"Oh yeah..was that a hint of a hickey I saw her sporting when she walked outside just now?" she asked, an amused smirk on her lips, one eyebrow raised as she looked up at him.

Esme watched Duke’s face and body after she had asked her question. She knew she was asking a lot of him, which would be hard for him. When he sighed through his nose and his shoulders tensed, this half worried her about what he might say, but when Duke smirked at her teasing, a small smile came to her lips. It relieved her slightly that she could get a smirk from him with the high tension between them. As he answered her question, her smile grew a little more. Duke’s willingness to try was all she could ask for from him. She wasn’t about to try and change the way he was; she just wanted him to try and put more thought into his actions. “That’s all I ask.” she replied as he flashed his smile. Then, she gave the softest laugh when he had a comeback from her teasing. “That so? I find that a little hard to believe.” The thought of him being more scared of her fists than demons was funny. As unlikely as it was, Esme could picture Duke cowering in front of her while she was trying to kick his ass for something he’d done.

At his touch, Esme briefly closed her eyes, then looked up into Duke’s eyes. The lightness of his touch told her so much about what he was feeling, probably more than he wanted her to know, and she could mirror wanting to be comforted. She fought the urge to crawl onto his lap, wrap herself around him, and hold him close to her to comfort him; how he bit his lip kept her from doing it. She could feel Duke was hiding something from her. She hoped he’d tell her when he was ready. What Duke said next caused Esme to give partly into her urge. Getting on her knees, she inched closer, wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him in as close as possible, cradling his head against her chest. “I hear you, bright eyes. I wouldn’t expect it to be any other way.” she said softly. She kissed the top of his head, then rested her head on his. That's how it was when it was the three of them; why would it be any different now? “As for when to break the news to the others…. Whenever we can peacefully have them in one room together.”

She honestly didn’t want to think about telling the others now or what was coming. She just wanted to comfort Duke, ease the tension between them, and spend a little more time together before things got chaotic. Was that too much to ask for? Did that make her sound selfish? Maybe, but she didn’t care because of what she knew was coming. She hardly ever asked much of anyone unless it was essential. She also put everyone before herself and would feel guilty about something small for herself. But this, she didn’t just want it; she desperately needed it. She also wanted things right between them before everything got chaotic.

Anna looked down at her shirt again, as Sam offered her his hand and asked if she wanted his hoodie. It was pretty badly stained with blood. But even more ominous looking was her skin, which was essentially painted with it. Sighing, she took his hand and shook her head, “Let’s just get to a bathroom as quickly as we can. I don’t want to potentially draw attention, in case they had friends waiting on us.”

Luckily the bathrooms were closer than she thought they would be, to the door. She stepped away from Sam, squeezing his hand to reassure him that she would be back, and then quickly walked into the bathroom. Now that the demon blood was coursing through her veins, seemingly faster than ever, she felt paranoid. As she stepped in, a hand dryer began to blow as a woman dried her hands, in the corner. The simple action caused Anna to flinch, instantly on full guard against the loud noise. The lights overhead buzzed. The buzzing was so loud that it was nearly deafening as she winced, and tried to ignore it. She stepped into a stall, and quickly closed the door behind her, dropping her bags in the corner.

She pulled an oversized tshirt and a pair of bicycle shorts from her bag and shakily removed Sam’s flannel, rolling it into a ball and shoving it back into her bag, before getting fully dressed.

Just as she was pulling a baby wipe from a small pack in her backpack, to begin cleaning the blood from her chest and hands, the door to the bathroom opened, and she froze. It could have been Sam, but it was an all women’s restroom. Unless something was wrong, Sam likely wouldn’t come in and she was too frozen to call out for him. To her relief, the stall next to her opened and a woman stepped in and seemingly sat down. Leaning her head against the wall for a moment to catch her breath and diffuse a bit of dizziness, Anna took a long and deep breath…

“I don’t blame you for being nervous.” A feminine voice called out from the stall next to her, causing Anna’s blood to run cold as she raised her face from her shaky hand and stared at the wall, wishing she had x-ray vision. “Alastair is very intimidating, but I will tell you…he’s also very fair. Don’t!”

Anna froze once more, just as she reached for the lock on the door, to run. How the person heard her fumbling with the door, she didn’t know, but she instantly dropped her hand and turned back toward the wall. Of course demons were at the airport. They were following them everywhere, “What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything. I am simply here to send a message to you…and by proxy, to Sam. Alastair would like to meet you at a special place. Your group has the address, and he requests that you bring the entire group for a little…rendevous. If Alastair is happy with what he gets, then he will leave your merry band of losers alone. If not, he’ll kill you all.” The voice explained and Anna’s eyes began to slowly cloud over with white in her sudden anger and frustration. She began to breathe heavily and the lady laughed, “Don’t do that. He also wanted me to let you know that it’s non-negotiable. If you don’t show up, he has all of your friends in a fishbowl right now. You might want to start considering the one you could stand to lose…My vote would be fore Dean. Alastair is finished playing games.”

“So, what does he want from me?” Anna choked out, leaning her head against the wall again, with her eyes closed. The person in the stall was a demon. Anna could hear their heartbeat, whirring like an engine, just on the other side of the metal wall.

“Simple. He wants you to be great! He wants you to do what you were made to do, and when the time comes, he wants you to be willing to fulfill your purpose…fully…without Sam Winchester’s morality standing in the way.”

“He’ll never let me go. Now that we’re back together, he’ll be watching me like a hawk. I don’t plan to fight him…” Anna began but the voice called out again.

“That’s why you follow…the plan. Sam won’t have many choices in what happens from there. But it’s you or one of them. I vote we start with the problem, little Sammy. But apparently Lilith wants him alive. So, maybe we take out the little sister…or the girlfriend? Or maybe the cowboy and his girlfriend. Two birds with one stone, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on him…”

“I get it! I get it. Stop. I’ll find a way to get them to come to the location. Where is it?”

“The Cowboy has the address. Bring the family. And drink this. It might help you on the plane. See you soon, sweetheart.” The voice finished. A vial of blood rolled under the wall, and as Anna reached down to retrieve it, the person left, just as quick as they had come in.

A few moments later, Anna stepped out of the bathroom, her bags slung over her shoulder and a scowl on her face as she approached Sam. She didn’t know what to tell him. So, pulling a page from his book, she chose to say nothing, simply nodding for him to follow her to the checkpoints. It was better to just get this overwith.



Dean nodded softly in agreement with Mika basically echoing his own sentiment about Cason. She said it in a nicer way, but he was a means to an end. As long as Nat was happy, Cason was safe. The second he stepped out of line, that was the end of it for him. But Mika was also right about his relief regarding his relationship with his sister. Nat had never really taken to Dean. Maybe he just reminded her too much of John, or maybe it was his lack of putting in any effort to try and understand her. He often just saw her as a more vulnerable and less capable version of Sam, the annoying younger sibling that couldn’t take care of themself.

But Sam was anything but that. Dean was well aware that he still treated Sam the same way he did when Sam was a kid. He still saw him that way, and probably always would, “I’m not the biggest hugger, but I’ll take it from her. Any contact means she feels safe. If she feels safe, she’s less likely to do reckless crap that will get her killed. I’ll take it. I’m not the snuggly type, but I’ll take it.”

He chuckled, but the chuckle broke off when she mentioned the hickey on Nat’s neck. He rolled his eyes and groaned, turning his gaze down to Mika’s. A smirk crept onto his lips as he took in her expression. She was genuinely amused by the whole situation, in spite of his own disgust. “I don’t exactly want to think about what they were doing last night. She doesn’t want to talk about it. I would rather not ask again. All I know is that she does…have some bruises. So, it must have been a good night. Gross.”

Dean crunched up his nose, but chuckled, showing that he was torn between disgusted and amused. His lack of anger was proof that he was willing to give this whole thing a chance, as long as Nat was safe. Cason was the devil he knew.



Cason’s relief at the standing between him and Nat couldn’t be overstated. She made him feel strangely human, and he preferred the idea of keeping her close…safe. It wasn’t like he was in love with her or anything. That sort of emotion wasn’t possible for a demon. But the feeling in his chest was at least strong.

When Nat agreed to stick around and help with Anna, he relaxed his shoulders a bit, and nodded. Anna was going to need a level head that would agree with Cason on reasonable expectations and requests, if this involved any demons beyond his old inner circle. If this was involving the upper regime, even Cason wouldn’t have all the answers. Nat mentioning the asylum took Cason off guard, and he shook his head, stepping a bit closer to her again, before pulling her in, their noses almost touching.

“I can’t promise you much, because I don’t really make promises. Deals? Yes. Promises…not so much.” He chuckled, and brushed the tip of her nose with his. “You will never go back to that place again. I’ll make sure of that. I told you before the chuckleheads came in and stabbed me…once you’re out, you’re never coming back. I meant it.”

He tilted his head forward, and pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, “You’ll be safe. I can at least promise you that. As long as I’m alive, you’re safe.”



Duke didn’t resist when Esme sat up on her knees and pulled him in. It was a very vulnerable position, as his hat fell off and onto the bed and the cold air hit his hair. He closed his eyes and rested his head calmly against her chest, listening to her heartbeat until her voice vibrated her chest with confirmation. That was all he wanted. He wanted her to know where he stood, and what he was willing to do, before they walked into a situation where he was very likely to die. Obviously he was doing his best to keep those feelings repressed, trying to learn how to hide them from Esme. Likely she could sus them out, and honestly…he didn’t know how she could expect him to feel any other way.

He shook the thought from his mind, and wrapped his arms around her, brushing his fingertips up and down her spine. There wasn’t much hope of getting everyone on task and in the same room until Sam was back with them. Dean was probably worried sick about Sam and the Anna girl was in the middle of all of the demon chaos.

“We can just wait til Sam gets back.” He muttered lazily, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not like Dean’s gonna go anywhere until he knows he’s safe anyway. I brought food. We got a tv…”

He reluctantly lifted his head from her chest, and sat back, wrapping the fingers of his right hand around the back of her neck, to pull her face closer. He flashed his bright smile, an attempt to convince her that when they went into all of this, there was nothing to worry about. They were fine. They were on the same page and if they went out, they went out together.

“I don’t know how we could spend a couple of hours, though. Do you?” He teased, through his bright smile.

SAM

When Sam offered his hand to Anna and his hoodie, he was mostly expecting her to shrug off his hand and accept his hoodie, so when she declined the hoodie but accepted his hand he was surprised but content. The revelations on the bus hadn't completely made her disgusted with him. Taking her hand, he nodded at her request to just get through the airport quickly and to a ladies' bathroom for her. If anyone said anything or gave them weird looks, he'd just have to come up with an excuse of it's theater makeup or something and there's nothing to worry about. The last thing they needed was for someone to call the authorities on them out of panic.

Outside the bathroom, he squeezed her hand back and gave her a nod once more. "I'll be right out here" he told her, letting go of her hand and letting her walk inside. Stepping back slightly, only a few steps so he didn't look like he was lurking like a predator outside the women's restrooms, he kept an eye out on his surroundings. He saw people coming and going from both men's and women's restrooms, so seeing one lady walking in didn't seem anything unnatural or a threat in his eyes. Adjusting the bag on his shoulder, he pulled out his phone and gave Dean another text just to keep him updated on whereabouts they were. hey, at the airport. will text when landed.

Putting his phone away, he looked up to eventually see Anna walk out of the restroom and looking angrier than she did when she went in. Yet just by looking at her face, something told him she wasn't going to say what was on her mind, so he didn't ask. Taking her hand once again, he walked with her to their boarding area and check in to get through and finally get back to the others. "I've let the others know we're about to board and will check back in when we land." he decided to tell her, thinking a slight different topic might help her mind ever so slightly.

By the time they had to do everything they needed, it wasn't long before they found themselves boarding their flight and taking their seats.

---------TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER------------

Landing at their destination, Sam was thankful for getting off. His long legs felt cramped and stiff from sitting in a small space for even that short amount of time. "I seriously hate the leg room on flights" he complained to Anna, still trying his best not to focus on the earlier situation for a little while longer. Pulling his phone out for a third time, he gave Dean a text to let him know they landed and are getting a taxi back to the motel, just as he had promised to do.

"you ready to face the group again?" He asked Anna once they got in the back of the taxi and he had given the driver the address.

MIKA

Hearing Dean say that any time Nat wanted to hug him he would take it was like a hallelujah moment to her ears. He was finally it seemed willing to actually be Natalia's brother and not treat her like a nuisance whose in the way. Mika truly thought that if he could have seen just how much his sister had grown when he was away, he'd have actually been rather proud of her. Even though that growth was fueled by grief for Dean being in Hell, she still grew as a person. Nat looked after everyone and stayed pro active the most out of all of them. She still remembers the days Nat would help Bobby in trying to get her to eat when she herself refused to leave her room. "I'm glad. She's grown a lot these last few months, even if she's currently working through a set back. I think she'll make you proud sooner or later" she smiled, speaking from the heart.

Seeing him scrunch his face up at the mention of the hickey made Mika chuckle softly a bit more, "It's probably for the best we don't know" she replied, deciding to not let on that she knew exactly what happened the night before. She made a promise to Cason not to rat him out to Dean and she fully intended on keeping that. Seeing Dean both disgusted and amused just made the whole situation honestly all the more amusing. To Mika, it was like she was witnessing Dean have an internal fight with his hunter and brother sides and it was curious to her to see which side would win out. Though she hoped it would be the brother side just for the time being.

--------TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER--------

Back in their room, she felt Dean's phone vibrate between them on the bed. Glancing down on at it, she saw Sam's name flash up on the screen. "Seems the other couple are almost back" she remarked at a guess, remembering how Sam said he would contact them when they had landed. What Anna wanted to talk to Cason about was still playing on her mind slightly, despite the lighter atmosphere in the air. Whatever it was, she hoped it wouldn't be too horrific but knowing what was looming ahead of them, she doubted it would be anything but horrific.

NATALIA

Natalia could visibly see how much tension seemed to fall from Cason's shoulders when she said she would stick around and help Anna. She didn't WANT to be around more demons than necessary, especially now past trauma has been brought back to the foreground of her mind, but she was a Winchester, a hunter...and now a friend/partner/whatever they decide to call each other to Cason. If he wants or needs her to look out for Anna then she would do it to the best of her ability.

She liked Anna even though she knew her the least amount of time compared to the rest of her family but she had never had a problem with the woman. She also figured if Anna made Sam feel happy and complete, as well as being liked by Cason then the woman was worth keeping around. As he pulled her close after the small chit chat, she smiled softly as their noses practically touched. She listened to him remind her that he would never let her see that horrid building ever again, a reminder that every now and then she realised she still needed to hear. She believed him when he said it. Believed that the only time she would ever find herself in the asylum would be in a nightmare.

As their foreheads then touched, she too closed her eyes briefly as she yet again took in his extra words. "I believe you" she told him, tilting her head just enough to rub her forehead against his in an sentimental manner.

------TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER--------

Nat was back in her room now that her brother and pseudo sister were back in their own room. As much as she cherished bonding with Dean, she was glad he was giving her space again. For some of the time she got bored so decided to pack her remaining bits back into her bag and zipped it up, so if they had to leave soon after Sam arrived back with Anna, she was ready to go.

Now she was sitting at the table drinking a soda and staring out the window through the curtains, wondering what was coming for them and how they were going to be dealing with it.

Before Duke wrapped his arms around Esme and ran his fingertips along her spine, she had gotten caught up in the emotions she felt radiating from him. The more she let herself take them in, the more transparent they became, causing her to inwardly sigh and push down the fear of losing him. She wouldn’t let herself think about that, even though she knew it was a possibility. The thought of losing him was just too much for her to think about right now. She also knew that he knew that even though Duke would do anything to keep her alive, she would do the same for him. When Duke acknowledged her embrace and muttered a response, she was pulled away from that horrible thought. A small smile came to her lips, and she softly nodded to his comment about Dean. She knew that to be a cold, hard fact.

As he lifted his head from her chest, the urge to hold him tighter was strong. When he wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck, pulled her close, and smiled brightly, Esme smiled back, seeing the message he was trying to convey. It did her heart good in that moment to know that everything was good between them, that they were on the same page, and that they were going into this together. It put her mind at ease, knowing nothing conflicting was between them as they dove head-first into what loomed ahead. Esme rested her forehead against his to tell him she got his message loud and clear. When he asked his teasing question with that signature bright smile still on his lips, she softly laughed, then lifted her head just enough to see his face with a thoughtful look. “Hmm, I’m afraid I don’t either.” Esme teased back.

She shifted so she could get her legs out from under herself, then slid herself over to sit across his lap. Placing a gentle hand on his cheek, Esme brought his face closer so their noses touched. “But I’m sure we can put our heads together and figure something out.” She honestly didn’t care what they did for the next few hours. She’d be perfectly content just staying in his lap, holding each other, or even laying in bed wrapped up in each other’s embrace. Smiling more, she softly brushed her nose against his before kissing him passionately.