[b]MIKA[/b]

With Dean finally agreeing to go talk, Mika was relieved. She just wanted her boys to get along as she hated seeing them like they currently are. It really brought the mood down and it made her worry about their mental states. There were too many far greater things coming into play for them all that they really had to put all their focus on and not be squabbling like playground kids. She just hoped that after her chat with Duke this morning, that he would begin to slowly listen to Dean and make an effort to hear him out. 

As he pushed past her, she stepped to one side to let him through to the main room and sighed into her coffee mug. ‘oh boy oh boy….’ she thought to herself as she turned her attention to the other two couples in the kitchen, noticing how Nat was trying so hard to act casually around them all but Cason was incredibly close to her. An eyebrow quickly rise in curiosity before lowering back down again, deciding she wasn't going to get involved. She would just wait everything out until Dean came back for her to have their own long chat. A chat she was dreading more than the impending apocalypse if she was really honest with herself. She could see how Dean was still clearly in love with Esme to some degree and she didn't think she would ever get over that, but was she really any different? There were times when she still thought about Ethan and wondered if he was safe and still tattooing. She wondered if he ever hated her for just running off back to Dean. 

As she mulled over it all, she couldn't help but fall down memory lane as she stared absentmindedly into her coffee. 

[I][b]one Autumn, 3 years ago[/I][/b]

Mika was walking back to the tattoo shop to get into the apartment above it. The place she spent the last year living. It was a chilly evening, late and barely a soul outside other than the drunks or to be drunks out for a night out, oblivious to what was really out in the world. She had just been on a hunt, she was dirty, bloody and scuffed up. Her duffel bag over her shoulder and felt incredibly tired. Seeing the shop I'm her view, two doors up, she sighed with relief, glad to be somewhere she sort of called home but it never truly felt like home. Turning right, she pulled out her keys, unlocked the door to the stairs and headed on up after locking the door behind her. 

She saw the lights on low and figured that Ethan was still up, which she hoped he wouldn't be. She wasn't in the mood to try and explain why she was bashed up when she never wanted to tell him why. It was safer he didn't know what her job was. It was safer he didn't know she did these jobs alone when she should have had someone else with her. Hunts were so much more difficult without Dean beside her being her perfect hunt partner. Dean….he crept back into her mind once more when she hoped he would just stop entering it. She had to move on from him, even though it hurt more than any injury she could collect on a hunt. He was her soulmate and here she was trying to make it work with someone else. 

“You're back” Ethan's voice rang out in the dim light, already holding a first aid kit in his hands. “yeah…I'm back” she said flatly. Dumping her bag down on the floor in the hallway, she entered the main room and saw him on the couch. Joggers on but nothing else. His tattooed body just stretched out on the couch waiting for her, worry written all over his face. “what injuries is it this time?” He asked her, sitting upright as she stepped over and sat down beside him. “Just grazes, I'm fine” she replied, “well that's a damn lie. I know you Mika, you're never just fine. You go out all times of night, sometimes don't even get back until the next morning and you're always in a state. What is going on? I'm worried about you, you're not okay, not in the slightest” he told her as he opened the kit and began to clean up what cuts he could see on her face. 

“It's s-” she began to reply but Ethan just stopped her before she could even continue that sentence, “don't you dare say it's safer I don't know. Heard it all before. I love you and I hate seeing you like this. It's self-destructive. I don't know if you're doing stupid illegal fights or what but I can't keep seeing you like this. It's breaking my heart” he told her, a bit more softly than he spoke the previous sentences. It was then she just brushed his hands away from her and stood up, “I'm never going to tell you Ethan, you don't like my answer or reason why but it's the truth. So please, just drop the subject. I'm going to bed” she told him, clearly fed up with this same old rotation of words between them. “Not in that state. You won't talk to me? Coming in bashed up and dirty and think I'm just gonna roll over and remain in the dark? Not this time. You can sleep on the couch” he told her, this time he got up and went to bed, leaving her alone in the main room where she sat down and just started crying, head in hands. 

A few minutes later she grabbed her phone and pulled up Dean's number, tempted to text him or call him, but her hand shook and unable to actually do it. So she did all she could…she called Duke. 

[b]NATALIA[/b]

Truth was, Nat and Cason hadn't planned on going out. But the moment she saw absolutely no food in the fridge that she considered edible or would hit the spot right here and now, she had decided for them. She was also hyper aware of the look Dean and Mika gave her and Cason and she really didn't want to be questioned by Dean, so if she could scarper so she could put it off for as long as possible, she was going to take that opportunity with both hands. She shot Cason a look of ‘sorry for deciding for Us' before she offered Sam and Anna to join them. She figured Anna would be grateful for the temporary run away as well as herself and if it meant she could start bonding with Anna now that she was dating Cason, and Anna back with Sam then it was a complete win win situation in Nat's eyes. 

With Cason's hand on her hip, she instinctively wrapped an arm around his waist in return. ‘so much for acting casual’ she thought to herself, but she was in a pretty good mood for once and she wanted to make the most of it. She looked over at Anna when Cason asked her how she was doing and it was then she took in how Anna looked and she really felt for the girl. She had been through a lot by the looks of it and she wished Anna didn't have to. But it also looked like Sam was really looking after her and she had the best support system in her brother. That much she knew for certain. “He's right ya know. I don't see you as a time bomb. Just my big lug of a brother's girlfriend who's awesome for putting up with him” she smiled at her, which got her a fake disgruntled look from Sam that she just grinned at him back to. 

Now deciding that they needed to get out to go pick up food for everyone (mostly herself), Nat downed her coffee and put the mug in the sink. “Guess I should put some boots on” she remarked, suddenly remembering that although she got dressed, she didn't actually put socks and shoes on. “I'll be right back” she told them, but mostly to Cason so he wouldn't freak out about her going back to Bobby's room on her own. Letting him go, she wandered back to the bedroom, perching on the edge on the bed and slowly saw to getting footwear on. It hurt, but she was determined not to call Cason for help. She didn't want to feel like a complete invalid who needed her boyfriend to put on her boots for her, even though it would have been so much easier. 

She soon got them on, stood up with a groan and headed out the bedroom, swiping her very old and very oversized favored jacket as she exited and went back to the others. “Okay, I'm good to go” she stated, sliding one arm through Cason's and her other to his hand. 

[b]SAM[/b]

Sam could tell that Anna was still uncomfortable being around everyone else, but he tried his best to make her feel more comfortable. So when he and Natalia spoke about food and Cason asked Anna if she was alright, he felt quite thankful that even Nat could see Anna needed a moment of normal mundane things to do. Her words about having people looking at her like a ticking time bomb made him frown, he didn't want her thinking that the others saw her as that, when he certainly didn't and it seemed neither did Cason and Nat. The smile she started to show at Cason's words made him give the man a nod of thanks for helping cheer Anna up before Nat's words made him look at her in a disgruntled manner. “Wow…” he breathed but chuckled at her just grinning at him in response. 

As Nat spoke about needing shoes on, he couldn't help but look down and see she was indeed bare footed like Mika was before she scarpered off to fix that situation. “I swear she'll never change” he remarked amused by his sister, before looking at Cason. “Guess these little quirks of hers are your problem now, if the closeness between you is anything to go by” he commented whilst Nat wasn't around to put an end to the conversation. Same knew that any given moment he could try and get something out of the two lovebirds he would. He was a big brother after all and had to do his duty of questioning any love interest Nat got, despite his cool and casual demeanor. He still didn't like that her first love was a demon, but considering everything, and how he saved Natalia from the asylum, he had to give the man the benefit of the doubt for the time being. 

After a short moment, Nat seemed to come back in the jacket he constantly tried to convince her to replace, even though he could understand why she had such an attachment to it. It was the first coat he found and put her in when they got her out of the asylum the first time 2 and a half years ago, he saw over those years how it quite literally became a comfort blanket to her, but it never failed to amuse him how she never really grew into it. “okay, let's head out” he replied, before stepping up to Mika, “I'm gonna go with those three to get Nat and Anna fed. Want anything?” He asked her, seeing she was in her own little world. Snapping out of her memory, she just have a nod, “yeah..just get me anything. Maybe as well get Dean the usual stuff” she replied, to which he nodded, and went back to the other three.