MIKA

Mika was glad that Dean nodded his agreement to come to bed with her and not insist on staying with Esme. It was that horrible selfish emotion coming into play a little bit, but she was determined to remember what Duke told her. ‘don't let him let you slip through his fingers’. those words continued to play in her head, really making an effort mentally to take on board his wise words. They both had to learn and put that mantra into action. If Duke can try and do it to keep Esme by his side, then she can do it when it came to Dean. She waited where she stood for him, seeing the looks between him and Anna in the process and was glad that everyone was too tired to yell at each other anymore.

Keeping her attention on to Dean, she gave a small smile when she saw him ruffle his hair, a clear sign he truly was beat and needed to rest. His fingers lifting and brushing against her cheek made her smile back, briefly closing her eyes and reopening them again. “Yeah, just you and me” she replied as she followed his hands down to her own, holding his hand back gladly. Feeling the familiar tug, she followed him upstairs, the ascent feeling like more of an effort than it usually was due to how drained she felt of energy. She was shocked she was even still awake at this point, having been convinced that from the moment she yawned in front of Bobby earlier, she was going to be out cold in minutes. Yet somehow she had managed to remain awake and alert enough to help Duke and calm him down before heading to bed herself.

Stepping inside, she felt such calmness wash over her seeing her room. It didn't matter how long she went before coming back to it, it always felt like an eternity since the time prior. She didn't even get a chance though to take it all in or step over to the bed when Dean turned to her and kissed her so deeply and intensely, it felt like if she wasn't so firmly in place, she would have been knocked over. Instantly she closed her eyes and kissed him back, she knew this kiss. She knew it all too well, he was desperate to wash himself off all of his emotions from the night and just forget for a moment. She felt his desperation as she kissed him, lifting her arms up and wrapping them around his neck, her fingers wrapping into the back of his hair.

It was then she knew that she was just as desperate for his attention and for a moment to forget about all the tension, anger and fear they all went through. She just wanted him and him alone. “I love you Dean” she breathed between the kisses, forcing herself to try and control herself around him, even though it was always difficult to do. Could she even sleep now after this moment? She didn't know. She had just as much desperation to keep a hold of him in this moment, Duke was right. She couldn't just let him go again, she was done losing the infamous Dean Winchester. Guiding him to the bed, Mika still couldn't stop kissing him, even though she knew they'd have to if they were to get into bed.

NATALIA

Before she got into the bath, she listened to his explanation and she hated what she heard. He went through so much just to keep Anna safe and alive, only to then get out and have to save her, all while injured. The news that he had to feed Anna didn't come as a full surprise now, knowing that Anna was consuming demon blood and a lot of her power was from it. She figured it was because of that, he got away. She didn't once think that Dean ordered everyone to leave him to die or made the injury in his side worse than it was before. His reassurance that he was okay and right here with her made her nod. She really didn't know what she would do if he never made it back to her. It was such a strange new feeling for her to feel, especially as she swore to herself that being hunter meant there was no time for relationships. Nat always thought it was stupid to get involved with people - even Dean and Mika. The anguish and heartache those two put each other through, she never wanted to experience that, but here she was falling in love with Cason.

As she waited for him to get in the bath, she kept thinking about how much he had changed her thought process on letting people in and allowing others to care about her. Not to mention the constant need to tell herself she wasn't going to drown. She felt him get in behind her, making her feel a lot more secure in the tub. She listened as he cupped water into his hands and began to wash the blood out of her hair, tilting her head ever so slightly so it would be easier for him. The silence for once wasn't uncomfortable, it was calming as she let him wash her.

Then he spoke up and it made a small smile appear on her lips for a moment, “well that's good” she replied, feeling him leave little kisses on her shoulder, she had a millisecond of tensing up before she relaxed partially back into him. “I know….” She replied, but she never tired hearing him tell her she was safe with him. In some ways, she felt safer with him than she did her own brother's and she always felt with them. Yet tonight just shook that opinion greatly. Dean told her she would be safe in his car, that if she just stayed out, she would be safe. Sam said it, Mika practically said it and yet the demons still got her. Still took her to the one place that has caused her so much trauma and memory loss, she didn't think she'd ever get over it.

Then the three words came as she felt his head against her own. Three words she didn't think he would or could ever say to her or feel for her. An emotion she figured would always be one sided. It took her by surprise and she froze for a moment before a warm and shy smile crept onto her face. A smile that didn't have any fear or worry behind it, a smile that didn't need to be faked to fake she was okay. It was genuine. “I love you too Cason…” she spoke back.

Lifting her head forward, away from his just enough to turn herself the smallest amount to be able to look at him. “I love you” she spoke again, as the rest of her body began to relax and she had stopped hugging her knees. She needed to look him in the eyes when she said it a second time, so he could see for himself she meant it when she said it. To show him that she wasn't just saying it for the sake of saying it, knowing how much of a big deal it was for a demon to express that large of an emotion. It was unheard of, and yet here he was. Declaring it to her of all people, the one person who not long ago thought romance was ridiculous in her line of work and life and she was declaring it back.

SAM

Sam had given her time to come over the threshold and into the panic room at her own pace. He knew how hard it must be for her and what they were getting into by sleeping for a while in there. When she finally came in, he saw how she looked at the bed, cuffs still on them and it didn't take much thinking to figure out what was going through her mind. So he was glad he could try and reassure her by telling her he had absolutely no plans on using them on her.

He watched her as she sat down on the bed, and it was becoming clear that now she was in here, the demon blood was already starting to react to the iron built room. He just didn't know how much other stuff was rattling around in her head. Sitting beside her, he took her hands in his own. “I will never leave you alone in here. I'm gonna crash right next to you on the floor” he told her, lifting her hands up to his lips and kissing them. “I meant it when I said we go through this together. You and me” he added, lowering her hands once more and helping her remove her shirt so she didn't pull too many more stitches. Once it was off, he opened the kit and began to rummage to find something to clean around it and be as tender as he could be.

He made sure to really check it over carefully and thoroughly, grabbing some rubbing alcohol out of the kit and some cotton balls to clean the blood that had run down her arm before focusing on around the stitches. “sorry if it stings” he said quietly and softly. Once it was all cleaned up and he could see it properly, he felt he could gauge how big a cover to put on it. “Think you'll be alright. Looks worse than it is. But I will add a couple more stitches to replace the ones that ripped” he told her, grabbing a needle and thread. Opening the sterile packets, he began to work carefully on her shoulder, knitting the stitches off and then wrapping it. “you should be good now, just try and be careful with your movements” he suggested to her with a smile.

Putting the first aid kit away under the fold away bed, he placed a soft kiss on her lips, tucking her hair behind her ears. “I'm gonna be right here. Keeping you safe, and if you wake up needing me you only have to tap me because I'm gonna lay right next to you” he explained.

The moment that Mika tilted her head up and kissed him back, Dean was wrecked. Something that sounded more like a whimper slipped from his throat, in his desperation, her fingers in his hair giving him goosebumps. He was tempted to stay just like that, press her up against the wall and just sink into the feeling. He needed the feeling. But as the words ‘I love you Dean’ slipped from her lips, spilling over his own, Dean lost his ability to control the situation.

As she pushed him toward the bed, he stopped every couple of steps, reaching down and untying his boots, before kicking them off. He reached down, still taking tiny steps backward, and flicked open his belt and jeans button, and stepped out of his jeans. The backs of his knees caught the mattress, and he sat down, as if commanded to. He broke the kiss for a tiny moment, just staring up at Mika’s face. She was beautiful, standing in the low light, there only for him, sticking around for the millionth time when she shouldn’t have.

Dean reached out, and wrapped both his hands around the backs of her thighs, pulling her onto his lap before nuzzling her nose with his, “I love you. You know that right?”

After a moment, he smiled softly, and shoved her jacket off her shoulders, before trailing both hands up into her hair. It wasn’t like either of them was going to sleep until they got this emotion that was hanging over them, whatever it was, out of their systems. Tangling his fingers in her hair, he pulled her back in for another feverish and desperate kiss.

Later that day - into the evening

Dean groaned, his body complaining with every small movement as he stirred from his way too deep sleep. He felt a weight on his left shoulder, and used his right arm to ruffle his hair a bit, trying to shake himself awake. He felt hungover, just from allowing his body to relax enough, from all the adrenaline, to sleep. Finally, he opened his eyes, frowning as they focused in on the ceiling, and it dawned on him that they were still safe. The were still at Bobby’s and the weight against his bare chest was Mika, sleeping.

With a soft sigh, he brushed his fingers through her hair, just taking in the peaceful moment for a bit, until he remembered that the rest of the group were pretty beat up, outside of Sam. Even after sleep…or especially after sleep, they were all going to have a rough day of limping around and feeling pretty miserable.

“Hey sweetheart…” Dean whispered, trying not to startle Mika out of her sleep as he trailed his hand down the side of her face, to tilt her chin up, so that he was the first thing her eyes saw. “I’m gonna head downstairs and get some coffee, alright?”

His accent felt super thick in his grogginess, causing him to crinkle his nose a bit. He needed a drink. He pulled his arm gently from under Mika’s head, making sure that the pillow stayed right where it needed to be to catch her, and then he climbed out of the bed with a swiftness that he had mastered over the years.

As he opened the door and walked out, he could hear Bobby talking on the phone with another hunter, and as soon as he made it to the kitchen, Duke stepped in, shirtless and disoriented.

“Hey bud. You good?”



Cason froze as Nat echoed his words, but punctuated the sentence with his name. There was something about his name slipping off her lips in that context that nearly caused his head to explode. He fought back a groan at the pain that seared through from the back of his brain all the way to his eyebrows. The burn got worse, almost blinding as she turned and made eye contact with him.

As Nat repeated the words again, they buried into Cason’s mind, echoing through and he…shivered. It was a very odd and foreign feeling for a chill to run down his spine and cause him to physically…shiver. He leaned forward just a bit, using her closeness as an excuse to raise a wet hand and rub a small bit of dirt from her cheek, “I’m…I’m glad to…you know, to hear it.”

Trailing that same wet hand down to her chin, Cason pinched her chin, tilting her head up with gentle precision before placing a feather light kiss against her lips. In the back of his mind, he needed to let her know that he meant his words. There was no animalistic touch, or soulless lust behind the kiss, just love.

He knew what this meant for her. He knew the dangers of getting this close to someone who didn’t hold any power. She was just human…fragile and easily broken. Humans could be snuffed with a simple flick of the wrist, or the clutch of a hand to the throat. Every demon in the universe who wanted him dead for betraying Lilith would use her against him, if they knew. It wasn’t impossible for a demon to fall in love, as there had been stories of it in the past…but all those stories ended in anguish. They all ended the same way. The human died. The demon ended up in Hell…or worse, on earth with nothing to lose but themselves, the perfect murder machine.

Cason was confident, maybe stupidly so, that he could keep Nat safe. He didn’t have a choice. There wasn’t a force on earth that could keep him away from her, even if he tried…

So, he gave his signature smirk and kissed her again.

Later that evening

Cason had agreed to lay with Natalia. It wasn’t like he needed to sleep, and honestly, he would much rather be laying there with her, knowing she’s safe and not having to deal with the others, than roaming around bored. He heard Bobby speaking on the phone, through the bedroom door and he sighed, tempted to go out and grab a glass of whiskey, but he remained still for a moment.

Luckily, the burn in his head had subsided for the most part, after Nat had fallen asleep. He needed to speak to someone about that…but he wasn’t even sure who to ask. It wasn’t like there was some book somewhere on ‘demon love sulphuric acid to the brain’ or something. It wasn’t like his situation was normal or even that common. The one person he considered was Ruby. She was a pretty formidable witch and one of the most ardent defectors he knew, but he hated being around her. He didn’t even like the way she smiled, and she was connected to Sam, a bit more…biblically than he had been with Anna.

Shaking from his thoughts, he rolled onto his side and brought a hand up, brushing his fingers down the side of Nat’s face. He knew that if Bobby was already at work, the others would be stirring eventually, and he wasn’t sure if Nat would want to sleep through it all, or try to wake up. So, he kept his motions gentle, just watching her sleep.



Anna sighed at Sam’s insistence that he was going to stay with her. His words seemed far away, and even when his lips made contact with her blood stained knuckles, it didn’t seem real. He didn’t seem real. She constantly reminded herself, deep in her brain that he was sitting in front of her. He was real. She could touch him. He loved her, even when he had no good reason to and he was promising to take care of her…to ride out the high with her, no matter how bad it got.

Just the tenderness of his hands helping her remove her shirt tugged at her heart, and she shifted on the bed a bit, the feeling in the pit of her stomach beautiful but uncomfortable. It was a mystery why he was there. But she tried not to think too much on it, as she turned her eyes back up to study the side of his face, watching him go through the kit. There was something beautiful about the way Sam’s brain worked, and she wished he could see it. He wasn’t just a useful tool in this whole mess.

She was broken from her thoughts by the sudden cold liquid feeling and then a sharp sting from the alcohol making contact with every little scrape and open area of skin on her arm. She said nothing, just hissed quietly at the sting, but as he readied the needle and thread, Anna zoned out. The demon blood brought forward images of the moment the Hellhound chomped down on her shoulder, finding out the hard way that she could burn them as well. The smell of the demon blood, the burning rotting flesh of the hellhounds and the screams flooded her senses as she stared at the wall behind Sam.

But then the pain in her shoulder subsided and Sam’s voice began to echo back through the memories, letting her know that he was finished. Anna took a deep breath and nodded her head, tilting her chin up and returning his kiss eagerly. She could do nothing but nod, as she stared up into Sam’s eyes, “I’m safe. You’re here and I’m safe…”

Later that evening

“Oh little lamb…” Alastair’s voice suddenly rang out in the panic room, echoing off the metal walls. Anna’s eyes shot open, and she searched for him, knowing that there was no way he was there. There was no way for him to get in. This had to be a dream. It had to be.

Please be a dream…

“You’re not an easy one to find, but also so…so predictable. I’m getting a little annoyed by the…stubbornness.” Alastair murmured with a tsk tsk at the end. He stepped out from the shadows, and Anna reached over the side of the bed, only to be made to stay still by what felt like invisible chains. “Ah ah ah. No. It’s just you and me. You…and me. Let’s get those pesky clothes off and have some fun, shall we? I can’t hurt your pretty face, or Lilith would give me the cold shoulder for centuries, but I don’t think she would mind if we carved up the rest. She’ll heal.”

“You’re not real…” Anna sighed, closing her eyes tightly as Alastair shook his head and pulled a knife from behind his back. He stepped over and knelt beside Sam’s sleeping form, causing Anna to wrench her head to the side, staring down at the scene.

“I guess you didn’t hear me. It’s me…and it’s you.” And without another word, Alastair drove the knife through Sam’s heart, Sam’s breath coming out a strangled gasp as he woke up, his eyes wide and helpless before they faded to nothing and he fell dead against the floor. Pulling the knife from Sam’s chest, Alastair smiled sadly up at Anna, “I warned you, little one. I told you how this was going to go.”

Anna’s eyes were still wide, as tears pooled around the edges and she struggled to breathe, just staring at Sam’s lifeless face. She then turned her eyes back to Alastair and closed them tightly, causing Alastair to laugh…as he disappeared, “Sam!”

As the weight came off her chest and she was able to move, Anna pulled herself with her hands, toward the edge of the bed and off the side, falling next to Sam with a painful ‘thud’. She ignored the pain of the fall and crawled up to his face, placing a hand on each of his cheeks and shaking his face, “Sam?! Sam wake up. Please wake up…Please please…”

She knew it was a hallucination, but there was no way to separate things anymore. She could feel Sam’s heartbeat but she needed to see his eyes. She needed to feel him move.



Later that evening

Duke hadn’t moved since he laid down. He was still sleeping on his side, his head pressed into the pillow and drool pooled beneath his mouth. He felt like he was hit by a train, as he groaned and rolled onto his back, glancing toward the window of the RV. From the lack of snoring or even breathing in the RV, no one had come out, while he was asleep. They must have worked out whatever it was, all on their own.

He sat up, groaning rather loudly as the stitches in his stomach pulled and every single muscle screamed at him to just…not move. Not listening, as if he ever did before, Duke reached down after throwing his legs over the side of his bed, and he pulled his boots on. He didn’t know what to expect when he walked into the house. He didn’t know if Dean and Esme had sorted out their crap, or if he would walk in and see them snuggled up on the couch, like the million times he had made that same walk in the past. He didn’t figure that was the case, if Mika had anything to say about it, but it still made his stomach knot uncomfortably.

A few moments later, he opened the door to the trailer, and stepped out, quickly bridging the gap to the back door of the kitchen. As he stepped in, he looked around, as if making sure he was really in Bobby’s house, and Dean’s voice caused him to flinch and stare at him with wide eyes.

“Hey bud. You good?”

“Um…yeah. Yeah. I think so. What time is it?” He asked, reaching a hand up to rustle his messy blonde hair. Dean glanced toward the living room and narrowed his eyes to read the clock behind Bobby’s desk and he smirked.

“It’s like 6 pm. I think we were all a little tired.” Dean chuckled and Duke sighed.

“Yeah, I’d say so. How is everyone?”

Dean raised his eyebrows. Duke sounded almost normal, asking about everyone else. Whatever Mika had said to him, had apparently brought back at least a tiny bit of himself, “Um. Well, I haven’t had a chance to check on everyone yet but…”

Both their heads shot toward the basement door as Anna screamed and Dean sighed, closing his eyes.

“Well that answers for one…demon blood?”

“Yeah. Sam’s down there. I don’t figure either of them got any rest. I don’t know how long she’s been going like this.” Dean explained, as he pressed the button on the coffee maker and he and Duke both gritted their teeth as another scream sounded from the basement.

Duke said nothing else, scooting himself away from the back door and into the living room, where he saw Esme sleeping on the couch. His shoulders fell a bit, and he had trouble moving his feet forward, but forced them to. He stepped up to the couch and gently lowered himself to sit on the edge, turning to lean his body over Esme, “It’s mornin’…”

He had just spoke up, when Bobby hung up his phone and looked over at him, shaking his head, “She’s been out, barely movin’ other than a few mumbles here and there. She had it pretty rough before she went out.”

“Is she okay?” Duke asked, picking up Esme’s hand and placing it on his knee as he held onto her. Bobby shrugged his shoulders.

“I hate to say it, but I don’t know, son. I was just letting her sleep it off.”

MIKA

When it was clear that Dean had lost any kind of control just by her telling him she loved him, she knew there was no stopping them both. She couldn't help the smile from appearing when he bent down to get his boots off as swiftly as he could. They had been here before, they knew what they were doing so neither of them got clumsy. The moment they reached the bed and he sat down looking up at her, she took in his face as he took in hers. It always baffled her why he always took her back and how they had managed to actually stay together this time round. He may have wondered why she stuck around him, but she thought the exact same thing.

Feeling his arms round the back of her legs, she followed the silent command and climbed into his lap. She kept her arms round his neck, and hearing him do the rare thing which was actually telling her he loved her she felt those butterflies in her stomach, just as she did when he said it for the first time when they were kids. She gave a nod, “I do” she replied, when in her head she thought ‘I do now’. She let him shrug her jacket off her shoulders and arms before she chucked it on the floor behind them both, letting him just pull her into another desperate kiss which she gladly returned. Clothes coming off stage by stage….

[u][b]Later that day/in the evening[/u][/b]

Mika didn't want to wake up, subconsciously wishing she could sleep for a hundred years and just let the world burn around her. She ached, felt heavy and did not want to walk into more drama downstairs. However her body and mind was telling her differently as it pulled her out of a deep sleep, just enough to keep her eyes closed and be considered asleep, but awake enough to be aware of her surroundings. Her breathing change being the sign that she was awake enough to hear and feel Dean speak and move. She felt his fingers through her hair, causing her to readjust her head ever so slightly on him as if to lean into his touch.

When he spoke, she let out a sigh through her nose before slowly opening her eyes as he tilted her head up. “Okay… I'll be down in a little while…I just need five more minutes” she mumbled as he carefully lifted her head to place on the pillow as he got out of bed in one swift motion. Without him in their bed, she grabbed ahold of what she considered his pillow and pulled it into her, not even paying attention if he was still in the room as she did so. Closing her eyes again, she refused to get up until she literally had five extra minutes longer than Dean. Hearing his footsteps walk out the room and down the stairs, she snuggled right under the duvet and clung to his pillow even more. The bed just felt so much more comfortable than usual and she put it down to having not been in it for a while, or the fact she went to bed on a really good note with Dean.

Mika did eventually get in out of bed, walking over to her chest of drawers and pulling out a pair of shorts and hoodie. She figured they weren't in any hurry to leave the house and that just some clothes to lounge in would be enough. Appropriately covered, she did make her way downstairs.

NATALIA

Seeing Cason actually shiver for the first time was something Natalia didn't think she'd ever witness. She didn't even know demons could shiver, she figured like with most things human felt or did, it was out of question. Yet once again, another clue that maybe, just maybe, there was something human still in him, fighting to be seen and she saw it. As he lifted his hand up, she let him wipe the dirt off her face, hoping that things didn't just get awkward between them. His words making her feel relieved that it didn't seem to.

As he trailed his hand down to her chin, she didn't once turn away from him, instead she just followed his movements with her own, letting him lift her head enough to kiss her in a way she hadn't ever been kissed by him before. Her eyes closed and she returned the kiss just as softly, she wasn't just saying she loved him, she really did and she knew none of her family would ever understand it.

Like Cason, Natalia knew what this meant. It was dangerous to get close to him, she still remembered trying to fight him off in the crypt, trying to pretend he wasn't even there as he annoyed her to her core, but he still got through her walls. He reminded her, opened up memories of the times he always came to her room in the asylum and kept her alive, snuck her extra food and water and made her not lose hope on getting out. He was ALWAYS there for her, even when she had forgotten it. Their connection in her mind ran so deep that only they could understand it. Yet it didn't stop the fact she was now his weakness, and if word got out she would be in even more danger every day than she already was due to her surname. Being a Winchester and Cason's love was not going to be easy, but it was a rough road she was willing to be on.

She smiled back at him when he smirked at her, that stupid stupid smirk which always got her smiling and brought her round to him and kissed him back once more…

Later that day

For the first time in what would have felt absolute forever, Natalia actually slept soundly. No nightmares which she was expecting to have, no painful memories trying to flood her mind…nothing. Just an empty deep sleep. Part of it was due to seeing the source of her PTSD come crumbling down and part of it was having Cason beside her, making her know that she was indeed safe. It initially felt weird taking Bobby's bed, but exhaustion had won out.

Partially laying facing towards Cason, she had barely moved in her sleep, in touching distance but not actually clinging to him. She only began to stir once Cason had been lightly stroked the side of her face, her eyelids beginning to flicker before slowly opening, a smile appearing on her lips and a content sigh escaping them, knowing that touch well enough at this stage. “hi” she softly greeted him, looking up at him.

SAM

Sam had stayed awake for as long as he could until he was content that Anna had fallen asleep and wasn't going to start having any nightmares to disturb said sleep. He wanted to make sure that when he let himself sleep she was okay, and so when he was happy that she was being able to sleep relatively peacefully, he let himself drift off on the floor beside her bed, close enough so if she had to wake him, she could without worrying too much.

He was still asleep when Anna began the process of coming down off the demon blood and the hullicinating started. Oblivious to what was going on around him, he had fallen into a deeper sleep than he actually wanted to. The exhaustion far greater than he ever knew. It was only when Anna began screaming his name and shaking his face that he woke up a d looked right at her, worry in his eyes at what was happening. “what...what? You okay?” He asked, panicked for her safety until he remembered where they were and putting everything together in his head. “it's okay, it's okay, I'm here. You're safe, it's just the detox remember..I got you, I got you” he said, sitting up quickly and engulfing her in his arms to hold her protectively.

“I've always got you” he cooed, keeping a hold of her, refusing to let go. If she woke him up this stressed out then he had to summise that the hullicinating started and it was one hell of a bad one. “I'm here…I'm here” he softly kept saying in her ear, kissing the side of her head.

Esme slept her day away, dreaming about things that happened in her life and things that could possibly come to pass that were joyful and scared the hell out of her. Her dreams soon became a jumbled mess. Hunts with her father, Sassy, and the guys started interweaving as if it all happened together. She could only remember once, maybe twice, when she and the guys hunted with her father, not counting the day she met Dean. Sassy never joined them on any hunts but would help over the phone whenever they needed her. In fact, Duke, Dean, and Bobby never had the chance to meet Sassy face to face. Esme never told them much about her except that she was her godmother, didn’t live far from her childhood home, and was well-versed in supernatural things. There was always one thing about her that she kept secret from them, not really knowing how they would take the news. Also, there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up, and the guys never really pressed her on anything involving her, but knowing Bobby, he more than likely had figured it out on his own.

After a while, the memory dreams sorted out and played like a movie, playing all her best and worst moments without the guys in her life. Times she got out of hunts within an inch of her life, and others where she came out with hardly a scratch. Esme relived moments when she met other hunters, and they helped each other get through a hunt, shared a beer or two, and parted ways. She even relived the ones that didn’t turn out so well, either by the hunter dying or being completely put out by her showing up or trying to kill her. There were plenty of hunters out there who didn’t like anyone in her family and wanted nothing to do with any member of the family. Many other hunters had tried to get many of them killed by giving false tips about a case they came upon or wanted to kill them themselves. The Stirling family had a dark stain on their name, all because of how her mother had died. That was one reason she tended to give a false last name to other hunters she came across. She would either give her last name as Vespertine or Blackstone for her safety and to keep things peaceful.


Esme’s dreams went completely dark that evening. She relived when she met up with a small group of hunters in their early to mid-twenties. Even though they were young, she still told them that her last name was Vespertine, just in the off chance they had heard the last name, Stirling. After she had saved their asses from a nest of Vampires, the five of them hit it off and became quick friends. Esme gave them lessons and pointers on hunting, and they even showed her a few new tricks they had come across on their own. She had stayed with the group for months, finally feeling like she had found a group she could call her family again. But it wasn’t to last. Before she saw the signs, it was too late. She had gotten too close to the four and missed all the signs that demons had taken them over. The demons must have been watching them for a while because they had their personalities and mannerisms down to a T. If only she had used her Empathy, things wouldn’t have gone south so fast. After a hunt, they all returned to the hotel to clean up and go out for drinks.

But that’s where things went wrong. Once in her room, Esme set her gun and knife on the nightstand and, gathered some fresh clothes, and started to clean up so she wouldn’t scare anyone she came across, but before she could get changed, the door was broken off its hinges, causing her to turn around and look at the door. “Bradley! What the hell!” Esme yelled. Bradley grinned, and his eyes turned black. “Sorry, Sweets. I’m afraid Bradley’s been dead for some time now.” he grinned. “As have Lily, Nathan, and Tasia.” As he spoke their names, they came into the room, all flashing their black eyes at her and grinning widely. “I was almost sure you would catch on to us sooner. Oh well. It was still fun while it lasted.” he laughed. “You bastards!” she yelled. Esme had taken a fighting stance, looking between the four demons and then to the nightstand. Esme took a dive for the bed, but she was stopped and thrown against a wall by the demo’s power. “Yeah, I don’t think so, Sweets.” he was walking over to her. “Now, why don’t you be a good girl and come with us quietly?” “Never!” Esme groaned from the floor.

She plunged her hand into her pocket to grab a handful of salt but was thrown against the wall again, then thrown across the room, smashing into the dresser and television. Demons Lily and Tasia came over, picked her up, dragged her to the center of the room, and threw her down hard. “Still want to do things the hard way?” demon Bradley asked. Esme pushed herself up on her hands and knees, only to be kicked by demon Nathan in the stomach. Esme grunted and fell back to the floor. She then used her Empathy, projecting fear on the four as she got to her hands and knees again. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” she yelled. Then things went dark. She was hit in the head by some blunt object. When she came to, she found herself in a dimly lit room that was damp and cold, strapped to a gurney. Even though groggy, Esme struggled against her restraints, realizing she was in cut-off sweatpants and a sports bra. “Ah, you’re finally awake.” came a male voice from behind her. She could hear footsteps coming toward her, and then a face came into her view with black eyes.

“My, you really are a pretty one. Such a shame.” he cooed as his eyes went normal. “Let me go, you black-eyed son of a bitch!” Esme yelled at him. “No, I don’t think I will. We have plans for you, Miss Stirling.” he grinned. He brought his hand up and bushed Esme’s cheek with the back of his fingers, causing Esme to jerk her head away from his hand, which made him grin more. Esme then used her Empathy on him. His eyes went black, and a scowl came upon his face. “Now, there will be none of that.” he said, then punched her in the face. She pulled her face back, looking at him with a glare. “We’ll see how much fight you have left once a few others get done with you.” he sneered. He stepped away, and she looked at the door as others walked into the room. “Have fun with her, Morana, but don’t kill her.” he said to those who walked in. “Don’t worry, Valdin. I’ll stop before it gets that far.” Morana answered with a grin. Morana and her henchmen quickly got to work, bombarding her with questions that didn’t make sense, cutting, carving, and beating her until she passed out.

They tortured her every day, only stopping when she would pass out. Once she was good and weak, they began wheeling her out of her room, down the halls, and into another room, where they hooked all sorts of things up to her and injected her with needles filled with strange-colored liquids. Esme’s dream caused her to relive each day of the two years she was trapped in the asylum. She relived each punch, stab, cut, broken bone, near drowning, and injunction all over again. She even caught a glimpse of one of them helping her occasionally. Then came the day when she heard the demons panicking that hunters had found them. The demons that were in her room fled and shut the door behind them. In Esme’s weak state, all she could do was listen as the hunters went through the asylum, killing the demons and getting whatever it was they came for, which turned out it wasn’t her. They never found her in the secret room she was put in because she was too weak to scream for help that was loud enough to hear. When all went silent, Esme laid on the gurney and cried.

She knew the demons would be back for her, and it would start all over, or they would leave her there to starve and die alone. Suddenly, the door of the room opened. Esme turned her head to look but could only make out a silhouette. “Help me!” she called weakly. “Don’t worry, help is coming!” a male voice called back to her. They then disappeared, and it all fell silent again. Esme looked at the ceiling and closed her eyes, tears falling from them. “Who’s coming? No one knows I’m even here.” she whispered tearfully. A little time passed before Esme could hear footsteps running down the hall. She opened her eyes and looked at the door. “I’m in here!” she called as loud as she could. “Esme! Can you hear me? Esme!” a woman’s voice called out. “Sassy?! I’m here!” Esme called out again. The woman soon came through the door, followed by a handful of others, and Esme broke into tears. “Sassy!” she cried. She ran over to Esme, undid the straps holding her down to the gurney, and helped her sit up. One of the men who came with her came over and gently draped a jacket around Esme’s shaking shoulders.

“Thank you.” Esme whispered as Sassy hugged her. Esme hugged her back, watching the others keep an eye out for any more demons. “Seraphina, we should get out of here before more show up. There’s no telling how many that first group missed.” Seraphina nodded and pulled herself away to look at Esme, a soft smile on her lips. “Let’s get you out of here and take you home.” Seraphina said warmly. Esme nodded with a weak smile. The man who gave her a jacket stepped over, gently picked her up off the gurney, and carried her out of the room with Seraphina and the others following. The dream faded and went into something new. Esme found herself in a place she had never been before, but it strongly resembled the room from the asylum, and she was strapped down to a gurney so tightly that it was hard to breathe. She looked around the room, seeing a figure in the shadows. “Who are you?” Esme demanded. The figure laughed darkly, flashing a smile that almost seemed to glow in the dim light. “Oh, you know who I am, sweet one.” he said in a low growly tone.

Esme knew that voice, which sent a shiver down her spine as her eyes widened. She never learned his name, but he terrified her. “Ah, so you do remember. Good.” he cooed. “Don’t even bother asking why I brought you here. You know full well why you’re here. We’re going to finish what we started all those years ago.” he said with a grin as he came out of the shadows. Esme's eyes grew into saucers as he came into view. She couldn’t even fight against her restaurants. “You’ve grown so strong, but I think I can make you stronger. Now, be a good girl, and I’ll give you something special after we’re done.” he told her. Esme was plunged into a scene where she was hooked up to machines by tubes and demons all around the room. “Alright, let’s get started!” she heard the demon call out. Esme fought against her restaurants, but they were so tight she couldn’t move. As soon as the liquid from the tubes entered her veins, she screamed. It felt like they were injecting her with acid. “Don’t fight it, sweet one. It’ll only make it burn more.” the demon told her with a hearty laugh.

When Esme felt she couldn’t take the pain any longer and would pass out, the pain and room faded away. She found herself outside a building that looked oddly familiar. She was with the group, and they were heading in on what looked like a routine hunt for what she didn’t know. After entering the building, they were ambushed by demons and separated into small groups. The more demons she killed, the more that seemed to show up and take their place. She was growing tired and irritable as time passed. Esme could feel herself getting dangerously close to her breaking point, then it finally happened, like flipping a switch. She got to the point of going nuclear, and she couldn’t control it as she fell to her knees. There was no way the others would have time to get out, even if they heard her scream to get out. “Duke, run! Now!” she yelled at him. He hesitated, looking at her, worry and fear in his blue eyes as he looked into her bright white eyes. “Go! Now!” she yelled at him again, struggling to hold by the explosion. Esme watched as Duke ran out of the room they were in, but as soon as he was out of her sight, she lost her hold.

Esme’s head went back, and she took in a breath and screamed as she went nuclear. But this time was different from the last ones. When she breathed in, everything was sucked in towards her, then blown outward when she screamed. The blast tore through the building, leveling it. All the debris had been blown away from her. Collecting herself, she looked around her and the damage, and her eyes widened in horror at the sight before her. She scrambled to her feet with tears in her eyes. “No!” she screamed. Esme brought her hands up to her mouth as she looked on in horror at the bodies of the group, none of them moving. Starting with Duke, she ran to each of them to check them. They were all dead. She had killed them. She ran back over to Duke, dropping to her knees beside him, picked up his hand, and held it to her cheek. “I’m sorry, Duke.” she cried. “I’m so so sorry, all of you.” Pulling Duke’s hand to her chest, she looked up at the sky and screamed another, “I’m sorry.” That last sorry came through in the waking world as she jolted awake on the couch.

Esme's eyes snapped open, her heart racing as she looked around, and her fuzzy vision clearing. The familiar surroundings and smell reminding her she was at Bobby’s, she was home, and she was safe. It took her a moment to realize someone was on the couch with her, holding her hand. She looked at her hand, seeing it was, in fact, being held. She knew that touch. She knew it was Duke sitting next to her, holding her hand. Esme gave his hand a gentle squeeze before she brought her other hand up to her face as she closed her eyes. The image of seeing everyone dead because of her was still fresh in her mind. Esme sighed heavily through her nose, griping Duke’s hand a little tighter, realizing how badly her head was pounding. She didn’t want to move. Her whole body was sore, but she knew she would have to get up eventually. She opened one eye and finally looked at Duke. “Hey there, Bright Eyes.” she whispered.

Dean turned as Duke left the kitchen, glancing again to the basement door. The basement had gone quiet and for a moment, at least, Anna’s screams had stopped. He could only assume that Sam had stepped in. A relieved sigh left his nose as the last bit of coffee poured from the maker, and Dean turned to pour himself a cup.

He turned back around and leaned against the counter, shirtless in only his jeans, as usual. This was one of his homes…it was really his only home he had ever had that was solid, outside of his car. He always felt comfortable to just roam around as is, especially when it was just he and Duke.

As Mika appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Dean smiled, watching her walk across the hardwood floor. The tension between them felt like it had dissipated, even if they still had a lot to talk about. Having her safe and sound in such a familiar place…and her not being incredibly angry with him was more than a relief.

“Good morning beautiful…” He called out across the kitchen, pushing off the counter to bring Mika a cup of coffee. He met her at the doorway, pushing the cup into her hands, before dipping and covering her lips in an enthusiastic and deep kiss.



Cason watched as Nat smiled in her sleep, barely beginning to open her eyes at his touch. He couldn’t help his own smile from creeping up on his lips at her little ‘hi’ and he brushed a finger over one of her eyebrows, “Good morning.”

He scooted himself a bit closer to her, tangling his legs with hers as his nose brushed hers. He hadn’t wanted to wake her, but he had been tempted to hold her the entire night. He was restless and had been left with his own thoughts. There were a few times during the night that he had considered disappearing and tracking down some info or intel while she was sleeping. But every time he thought about leaving, the worry that she would wake up and find him gone stopped him in his tracks. So, he sat…and he thought. He thought about everything. He thought about a million scenarios that should have pushed him away from Nat, but here he was, snuggling up to her in the morning, like a human.

“You slept pretty hard. How are you feeling, this morning?” He asked, his voice soft and gentle. He was hoping that outside of a little soreness, she was doing better. His iron burns were barely visible on his bare chest, and other than a gnarly looking thin scar, the hole in his abdomen was pretty much healed. At least…she wouldn’t feel compelled to worry about him. “I wouldn’t have woke you but I can hear the old man chatting on the phone, and I didn’t know how long it would be before the two bumbling idiots made enough noise to wake you up.”

Of course he was referring to Dean and Duke, as he could hear them quietly talking amongst themselves in the kitchen. Duke’s voice sounded like it had a bit more life in it. He seemed like a loud one. Cason chuckled, his eyes crinkling a bit as he scanned Nat’s eyes.

“I do need to do something really fast. You’ll barely notice I’m gone.” He gave an apologetic look, before disappearing for a brief moment. After that brief moment, he landed with a bounce on the bed next to her, and instantly tangled his legs back with hers with a laugh, “Pet demon duty…medicine delivery…tiny girl whisperer…I’m a saint.”



Anna squeaked as Sam suddenly woke up and stared up at her with that worried look in his eyes. It was then that she was firmly convinced that she was hallucinating. She brushed a hand over the area the stab wound should have been in his chest, quickly seeing that it wasn’t actually there, and she breathed a quick sigh of relief, her eyes welling up in frustrated, relieved, and sad tears.

As soon as Sam’s arms were around her, Anna climbed into his lap, hanging her legs over one of his thighs as she buried her face in his shoulder. She brought her left hand up, burying it in his hair and just breathed against him, taking in everything she could feel from the softness of his hair, to his strong arms around her, to the way the stubble on his cheek felt against the side of her face.

“You’re here. You’re okay. You’re here…” She repeated, turning her head to just rest her forehead against Sam’s chin with a deep breath. “It’s okay. It’s not real…”

A banging on the iron door caused Anna to flinch, clutching her fist in Sam’s hair briefly, as she feared for the worst. If another hallucination was coming on so quick, things were about to get dicey and she almost wanted to tell Sam to leave, but she didn’t want to be alone.

“I can’t come in. I think you know that…” Cason’s voice sounded from outside the door, and Anna pulled her head away from Sam’s neck with a confused look on her face, wondering if Sam could hear him too. “But I have something that might help with…that. Take it or leave it, Sam, but I think you know this is only the beginning of the show.”

Cason bent and sat a vial of blood on the floor outside the door of the panic room, the look on his face almost reluctant, before he disappeared, not really wanting to make any kind of eye contact with Sam Winchester, while offering his girlfriend demon blood.



Duke sat back a bit as Esme’s eyes snapped open. It wasn’t his intention to scare her awake, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine what she must have been dreaming about. He watched as she calmed herself down, not moving from his spot. He simply held her hand and allowed her to come back to him, squeezing her hand gently every time she tightened up around his fingers.

“There she is. Hey sweet pea.” Duke smiled, the smile reaching all the way to his eyes as he leaned in a little closer, making sure that all she could see was his face. A tiny hint of mischief brushed across his features as he instantly tried to lighten any sour mood that might be lingering in the air around her from her horrible dreams, “I ain’t gonna ask how you slept, because I know that was crap. But you look like a dream, Miss Stirling.”

Bobby rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself, which only made Duke smile a bit wider, turning his head quickly to poke at Bobby playfully. Bobby simply picked up his coffee cup and shook his head, causing Duke to turn his smiling face back to Esme, “How’re you feelin’? I didn’t exactly have a chance to look at you this mornin’. I passed out. But I’m here now…”

Duke leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Esme’s nose, a gentle gesture that he always used to make her smile, even when she was still with Dean, “You just take your time and tell me what you need.”

MIKA

Mika missed most of the yelling from Anna as she came down the stairs, and it was probably a good thing as she would instantly want to go into mother mode and go down to the basement even though she couldn't go near enough the panic room without hurting for some reason, still unknown to her. She told herself for years she was allergic to the iron like how some people were allergic to silver or gold plating on costume jewelry. It was the only thing that made sense to her without her going insane trying to find any other non natural reasons for it.

As her bare feet touched the hard floor on the main floor, she walked through the hallway, smiling as Dean called out to her even before she made it into his full eyesight. Proof he really has learned every little thing about her, even down to what her footsteps sounded like on the old floorboards. As she met him at the doorway, she gladly took the mug of coffee, the smell of the dark liquid being a welcome fragrance to her after a good sleep. “Hey” she just managed to get out before he leaned in and kissed her, making her return said kiss just as deeply before pulling away just enough to take that first sip of much needed coffee. “So who's up? Other than Bobby” she asked him, having heard Bobby's voice on the phone as she came down the stairs. The temptation to just loop her fingers through one of his belt loops on his jeans, but she decided against it, at least for the time being.

She never tired of seeing him shirtless, it always reminded her how lucky she was to have him, but it also made it very difficult to keep her hands off of him.

NATALIA

Nat couldn't get the smile off her lips and out of her eyes when she saw him smile back at her. Him saying ‘good morning’ to her did make her lightly chuckle slightly, “think it's way past morning” she pointed out as he scooter closer to her, letting him tangle his legs up in hers so they could be closer together. Feeling his nose brush against hers, she closed her eyes and smiled at the sweet touch. The actions confirmed to her that she didn't dream of him admitting he loved her and that it really happened. He was here, being loving on her and making her feel loved. It felt like a moment of bliss in their chaotic and dark lives.

She kept her eyes on him when he spoke up, explaining that she did in fact sleep well, confirming how she felt. “Sore and achy, but mentally refreshed. Well, as refreshed as one can be in this life.” she smiled, telling him the full truth as she never wanted to lie to him. As she spoke, her eyes glanced down to check on his wounds that she saw hours earlier and saw they were healed, only a thin scar visible. Running her fingers over where the wounds once were, she felt relieved he had finally managed to heal up before looking back up at his face as he spoke once more. “I was stirring anyway, but I appreciate the calm wake up compared to how I could have been woken.” She smiled, lifting her hand and placing it on his cheek. “it's a much better wake up call than those idiots waking me.” She softly chuckled, now hearing Dean and Duke's voices from the other room, as well as Bobby's voice seemingly on a phone. “at least they sound much calmer and happier” she remarked.

Then he said he had to do something, but would be right back and she gave a nod. “okay” she replied, letting him go. She figured it would be to check on Anna so she wasn't worried in the slightest, just sighed happily and brushed her hand through her hair, resting it above her head. She never knew she could feel this way and if she was the corny type, she'd have sworn she was on Cloud 9 as all the chick flicks would say, as shw looked up at the ceiling. As soon as she was left alone, she felt him land on the bed again, turning her head back to look at him as he tangled himself back into her again. She chuckled at his remarks and calling himself a pet demon. “figured as much” she replied, wrapping her arm over him to pull herself closer to him.

She really didn't want to leave the room, enjoying their moment together alone and without spying eyes on them both. “But you're more than a pet demon. Even if it's just me that thinks so.” She smiled.

SAM

Seeing the fear and tears in Anna's eyes, he had that silent confirmation that she did indeed have a horrible hallucination and it no doubt involved him in some way. He let her climb onto his lap, holding her securely to him, as she took in whatever she could to ground herself into reality. He just wanted her to get through this first round of detox. “I'm here…” he repeated softly, keeping her safe in his arms and against him.

When the bang on the door happened, he looked up towards it, feeling Anna flinch at the sound. He looked down at Anna and gave a nod to say that yes, he heard Cason's voice as well and it was still reality. He listened to the words aimed at him, instantly being able to guess what Cason was implying he had forgotten Anna. Glancing down at Anna, he carefully moved her off of his lap, “I'm just going to the door, I won't leave your sight” he told her, standing up straight, dusting himself off and walking to the door. He had no idea if Cason was still outside the door or not, but he opened it up. If he was there, he would have asked how Nat was holding up, but with the door now open he saw Cason had already scarpered. Sighing, he looked down and saw the bottle on the floor. Bending down he picked it up and pulled the door shut once more, more for their privacy than for anything else and then walked back over to Anna.

He showed her the bottle, deciding that he would leave it to Anna's choice on what she wanted to do with it. “he left you another vial of his blood….” He simply told her as he got closer and sat down next to her. “I don't wanna force you to drink it, but I also don't want to beg you not to. This is your decision to make and yours only.” He explained calmly, he just wanted her to have some control in what she did with her own self and body.

Esme looked into Duke’s face as he leaned in closer. It was good to see him smiling and having the smile reach his eyes. The state he was in the night before was really worrisome. She slid her hand from her face to rest on her chest as he spoke. She wanted to go and check on him this morning, but after collapsing in the kitchen, throwing her guts up, and then passing out, she didn't quite make it that far. So, him calling her sweet pear and seeing his smiling face with some mischief first thing after waking up did her a little good after being plagued with dreams of bad memories. She stayed quiet as he continued, a slight smirk playing at the corner of her lips at his words. Esme could feel Bobby’s eye roll at Duke’s words to her. “A dream, huh?” she questioned. “Now you’re just being sweet. After what happened this morning and the dream-filled sleep I had. I know I look rough.” She watched Duke as he grinned at Bobby before looking back down at her. This was the Duke she knew and loved more than anything. This was the Duke she had fallen for.

As Duke spoke again, Esme lovingly squeezed his hand as his words reached her ears. Then he leaned forward and gently kissed her nose. She closed her eyes and smiled. It was a gesture she remembered well from when she was still with Dean. It was something that always made her smile when she was upset or in a fair amount of pain. She opened her eyes and looked into Dukes. “I wish I could say I was feeling okay, but I’m feeling pretty rough and sore.” she told him truthfully. “With the lack of a good night's sleep and what happened before I passed out, it’s a wonder I’m even awake right now.” Esme then dropped her eyes to the bandage on Duke’s stomach, and her smile faded. She lifted her hand from her chest and gently brushed her fingers over the bandage. “I wanted to check on you after Bobby patched me up. I didn’t want you to have to stay out in the RV alone. But as you can see, I didn’t make it that far.” Esme fell silent. It was clear she had gone into thought about something, and something she did.

Her thoughts went back to this morning when Bobby asked Dean to get her the glass of whiskey from the kitchen. She could remember how much darker in color the whiskey seemed to be, the foul taste of it, and how sick she got after drinking it. She could even remember how Bobby answered when she told him it might have gone bad. It then hit her like a slap to the face. The whiskey hadn’t gone bad. Bobby had put something in it. But what? What could he have possibly put in the whiskey that made her so sick? She just might have to confront him about it later. After a moment, Esme shook herself from her thoughts and looked back into Duke’s eyes. “I think some aspirin and some of that coffee I smell will work wonders if you get it. I’m not in much of a trusting mood for anything Bobby gives me after this morning.” she told Duke softly. She then moved her hand from his stomach and gently placed it on his cheek, rubbing it lovingly with her thumb. “But more importantly, how are you feeling, my sweet Cowboy?” she asked with concern in her blue eyes.

Dean smirked as Mika pulled away from the kiss and took a sip of her coffee. He would always come second to coffee, after a heavy sleep. He picked up a piece of Mika’s hair and twirled it around his finger lazily while watching her enjoy her coffee, until she asked who was up. Dean glanced toward the living room door, and scrunched his nose to try and remember if he had seen anyone else other than Duke, but no one came to mind.

“Duke came in. He’s in the living room with Esme, I assume. He seems a little better this evening. Anna and Sam are still downstairs and…I don’t think its going too good. She didn’t sound so good earlier. But I don’t think they ever slept.” Dean explained, reaching up to flatten the hair on top of his head. He shrugged, “And Nat and Cason, I haven’t seen them. So, I think it’s just us and Duke, for now.”

“How are you feeling this evening, hmm?” He asked, absentmindedly scratching his chest, before reaching out and placing his hand on her hip, pulling her in and keeping her close. The lingering conversation he knew that he and Mika had to have about Esme buzzed around in his brain. He wasn’t sure what all Duke had told her while she was out in the RV taking care of him. He didn’t figure it was much, as Duke usually didn’t talk about their past, much, other than a cross joke here and there.

“You sleep good? You came to bed with me, this morning. So, I assume we’re good. But we didn’t talk about much. Are we good?”



Cason smiled as Nat pulled herself closer to him, reaching an arm up so he could frame her jaw with his hand, brushing his thumb across her cheek. Her comment about him being more than a pet demon made him chuckle and he shrugged, “Like I said…also a saint. If I keep being this nice, maybe my soul can be saved, after all.”

He leaned in a pressed a tight kiss to Nat’s lips, only lingering for a few seconds before looking into her eyes again with a soft smirk, “You know…I’m fine with just laying here in bed all night and pretending that the idiots out there aren’t going to pull us into whatever mess they’re planning. But I also know that as a human, you’ll eventually need to eat.”

Cason sighed, brushing his thumb over the bruise on Nat’s cheek, wishing that she could heal as fast as he did. He knew she was probably still a little worried about his wounds, or at least how he was actually feeling. He was fine, but convincing a human of that, especially after what she had seen the previous night, was nearly impossible.

“Can I tell you something, about last night?” He asked, his smile fading a bit as he watched her eyes, the eyes he honestly feared he would never see again. The eyes that could cause him to nuke the entire planet. “When I sent the dogs to go and find you guys, the first thing they came back and told me was that you were…there. I was so hurt, that I couldn’t come right then. I had to sit there in the dirt and wait. I can’t begin to explain the things that went through my mind…blinding anger. Panic? Maybe? I am so sorry that I didn’t get to you faster. I’m sorry all this is because…it took me so long.”



Anna listened to what Cason was saying, and her heart suddenly began to hammer in her chest. She didn’t want to drink anymore blood. But she also didn’t want to go through this detox cold turkey. She didn’t want to watch Sam die a million times or end up carved up by Alastair or see Dean the way he had come to her earlier in the day. She sighed, trying to think of what to do, just as Sam shifted her to sit on the floor.

She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs and stared straight ahead, just as Dean’s voice called out to her from the desk, directly behind her. At first, she couldn’t hear what he was saying but then his voice came clear, as Sam’s voice barely sounded in her mind while he walked to the door.

“So, you know I’m not actually here, but do you? Or are you expecting me to walk down those stairs and stab you through the heart? It would put my brother out of a lot of misery. You’re gonna die. Lilith is going to wear your pretty little body, and Sam is going to have to watch you as you are ridden to the apocalypse.” Dean nearly growled at Anna as she closed her eyes, and covered her ears.

“Shut up, Dean. Please. Just shut up.”

“Shut up? Well isn’t that appropriate. Cason coming down here tells me everything I need to know about you, you blood junkie. You hate me because I’m trying to protect him…from you.” Dean sneered, leaning over the back of the chair he was sitting on.

“I said shut up! I’m not going to hurt him. I wouldn’t hurt him, Dean. Just please leave me alone.” Anna whimpered, as the door slamming closed on the panic room caused Dean to disappear, Anna coming back down to earth and blinking as she opened her eyes and looked up at Sam. She glanced behind her, as Sam approached her, seeing that Dean was gone. He wasn’t real after all.

Anna turned her eyes back to Sam as he sat down, and explained that Cason left her a vial of blood. Just seeing it, Anna could taste it. She could smell it through the cap, and her body felt like it was reaching out for it. With a shaky sigh, she nodded at Sam, “I um…I don’t want to drink it, but I can’t…I can’t do it like this anymore. Dean. He keeps showing up. He keeps showing up and trying to convince me that I’m going to kill you or something worse. Alastair. Dean. Some woman I don’t know…Even you. There’s a version of you…and he’s cold. He doesn’t care and he says the worst things.”

Anna reached out and took the vial from Sam, holding it in her hand for a moment as she thought about whether staying exposed to the blood would be worth it, to stop the hallucinations. If things kept up, she wasn’t even sure if she would be able to look Sam in the eyes, no matter how real he was right in front of her.

“I’m um…” Anna’s hands began to shake violently, and brought up her other hand to wipe her forehead with frustration, “I’m going to drink it but…can you um…can you not watch?”

Anna turned her head, making direct eye contact with Dean who was sitting once again, straddling the chair by the desk. As her shaking hands uncapped the bottle and she brought it to her lips, she toasted him, and downed the whole thing in one drink, the effects almost immediate. Dean slowly faded away to nothing as he smirked at her, and she let out a soft growl, feeling the warmth flood through her body, bringing color back to her face.

“He’s gone…” She whispered to Sam, breathing a sigh of relief at how quickly the small amount of blood brought relief.



Duke watched Esme’s face as she admitted that she wasn’t really okay. He didn’t expect her to be, if he was honest. He had only heard half of what everyone was saying, after he got back to the house, but he had heard enough. She wasn’t human…but she was human enough. She had apparently taken down a whole building, and walked out of it with some bangs and bruises. Of course she felt like Hell. Of course she wasn’t doing so hot.

As her eyes fell to his stomach, and she brushed her fingers over the bandage, Duke shook his head and raised his eyebrows, “Don’t worry about all that. Mika came out and patched me back up. I crashed pretty quick after that. I barely even noticed that I was alone after she left. I promise.”

Duke tilted his head as Esme zoned out, obviously remembering something that seemed to bother her. He wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure if it was digging up more feelings about the conversation he had only heard part of. Until she was feeling better, he didn’t want to dig any of that crap up. He just wanted her to rest and to get better. The rest could come after. But her next words caused him to narrow his eyes and almost turn to Bobby for clarification.

What had Bobby given her that would suddenly make her not trust him? Maybe it was just a spiked drink to make her sleep or something. Either way, Bobby cleared his throat and didn’t clarify either, and the whole thing felt sticky. Duke faked a smile for a split second and nodded, “Alright. I can do that.”

He started to turn and stand, but her hand touched his cheek and he was brought back into her eyes with a soft sigh. The glimmer in his eyes didn’t fade, but his smile did as he shrugged his shoulders, “I um…I don’t really…”, he started, before clearing his throat. He rolled his head around to force himself to answer the question and then sighed again, “I’m feelin’ fine. Honestly. I got a couple holes and some bruises, but physically, I’m alright. Mentally? I-I don’t really know how to answer that yet.”

Duke turned his eyes down, staring at the blanket that was sitting just above Esme’s stomach, his eyes searching for the answers he was sure she would want to hear, but he found nothing. So, he turned his eyes back to hers and smiled softly, “I’ll figure it out. I always do, right?”

MIKA

Mika matched Dean's smirk as she slipped her coffee, knowing exactly what he was thinking and he was right. After a long hard sleep, coffee was always her number one or she just couldn't fully function. If she could have drunk an entire jug of the drink without getting heart palpitations she probably would. She let him twirl a piece of her hair between his fingers absentmindedly before scrunching his nose as he went into thinking mode. She listened as he explained he really had only seen Duke be up and back in the house and that brought some relief to her heart. If Duke was already up and made it to the house from the RV, then it meant he felt strong enough after a good rest to do so.

The news about Anna and Sam made her frown slightly, her eyes flicking over to the basement door briefly before back to Dean. She wondered if she needed to get back into mom mode again to go check on them before her thoughts got interrupted by Dean saying he hadn't seen or heard anything from Natalia and Cason. She hoped it was because Nat was still asleep, which she wouldn't have blamed the girl for. She was in a pretty rough shape earlier.

She took in his actions of scratching an itch on his chest and flattening his hair and placing a hand on her hip before asking her if she was alright. “I'm alright, especially once more coffee gets in me” she chuckled before going serious again, “but in all seriousness, we're good. I know we didn't exactly talk much, we uhh..had other things on our minds” she briefly smirked, “but we're good. Duke kinda had a moment of wisdom in his pain. Think we both helped each other just a little” she admitted to him. She was done hiding things from Dean, and if that meant letting him know that she and Duke had a sibling heart to heart then it meant it. She didn't know whether to tell Dean what Duke said to her last night about feeling Dean would prefer him to be dead or not, those words of Duke's still haunted her mind even though she hoped her scolding changed his mind..even a little bit.

She kept her free hand on Dean, enjoying the closeness as it helped her to believe her words to him even more. Eventually she decided on something else, “if you get the chance, check in on Duke properly yeah? He took it pretty hard when he couldn't help Esme himself. Think he needs reminding you're glad he's still us” she said simply, hoping Dean would get the hint and clue of what she was meaning by her words. “He really needs his brother right now” she added, pecking his lips.

NATALIA

Feeling his thumb stroking her cheek made Natalia feel so at home with Cason. It always did and she couldn't imagine it ever being different. She chuckled softly when he said about possibly having his soul saved and yet she wished he could. Nat didn't know if it was even possible or known to happen, but if it was, she wanted that for him. “I hope it can be” she told him honestly. In her eyes, he had proven there was more to him than just being a soulless demon. The fact he could even feel love was proof enough for her to know he wasn't like any other demon or tortured soul in Hell.

Closing her eyes, she kissed him back, the rush of the love she felt for him feeling like fireworks in her mind and heart every single time. It was such a new feeling to her that she didn't think she would ever tire of the excitement and joy she felt when each kiss or touch showed her that she was capable of loving another. When he pulled away, she opened her eyes again and looked at him as he spoke. His words amusing her, “now I'm the one sounding like the pet, a kitten that needs feeding every few hours” she teased. “But you're right, I will need to eat eventually even though laying here with you is far more enticing to me” she added with a smile. Nat also figured Bobby would want his room back at some point, which just reminded her how she really didn't have her own room at Bobby's. She always usually crashed on the couch or on Mika's floor before Cason came along, and that brought a thought to herself, maybe she attempt to find a place of her own nearby or do like Duke did and get her own RV to live in.

At least that way, her and Cason would sort of have their own place to have privacy and somewhere to just relax away from her chaotic family. Her thoughts broke away from her mind when he asked her if he could tell her something, to which she nodded, “you can tell me anything” she told him, a little worried when his smile faded before he spoke up. She listened to him admit how he felt when he found out where she had been taken to, hearing he could do nothing but sit in dirt and wait to get remotely strong enough before coming for her brought a sadness to her eyes, but not for her. For him.

She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek into her palm, “hey…you have nothing to apologize for. You came for me the moment you could and you still got me outta there. You got to me before my own brother did and I don't think Dean would have been able to break me out of that gurney in time…but you did. So please Cason, please don't feel guilty for not getting there sooner” she told him, meaning every single word she told him. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that if it had been Dean who pulled her out of the pool, she would have been unconscious for a lot longer and even closer to death than she was with Cason. “Also, out of your face and Dean's? I know I prefer your face being the first one I see when coming round” she smiled, trying to lighten the mood and remove the guilt he was feeling.

“I love you and don't feel any animosity towards your timing okay? I was so scared of losing you before I was taken. Dean almost cuffed me to his steering wheel to stop me going after you with the head injury I had” she told him, to show she was just as worried about him as he was about her.

SAM

Sam could hear Anna mumbling behind him before he made it back to her and it broke his heart hearing her go through yet another hallucination. He just wanted to rid her of all of them and he couldn't. He didn't know how other than either giving her Cason's blood or riding it out with her in the panic room.

He saw how shaky she was getting from the detox, he listened as she explained how conflicted she clearly was by not wanting to drink it, but also couldn't cope with the hallucinations she was experiencing. It broke his heart hearing that one of those was Dean being cruel with his words and he felt glad that it wasn't really happening or he would have punched Dean himself for speaking so cruelly to Anna. He also didn't like hearing Alastair's name come out her mouth or the vagueness of an unknown woman coming to her. But it was the comment about a cold and cruel version of himself tormenting her in her mind that was the hardest to swallow. He never wanted her to see him in such a way, hell, he didn't even think that was even possible for him to be that cold.

As Anna reached out to take the vial from his hands, he handed it to her. This was her choice and her choice alone. Whatever decision she made he would respect it and help through either situation. With her decision made, he gave a nod, “okay, I won't look” he agreed to her, looking down at his lap so he didn't look at her as she turned away from him and downed the blood in one go. He didn't look up until he heard her whisper about one of the fake versions of the people she saw vanishing. Looking up and back at her, he pulled her into a hug, glad to see the colour coming back into her face and her shaking beginning to subside.

When you're ready, we can head up or we can stay down here. I'm not going to force your hand on anything right now. I just wish I could help you more” he told her, kissing the top of her head, not wanting to let her go.

Esme had noticed the fake smile before Duke answered that he could get her what she asked for. She knew he had to be thinking why did she suddenly not trust Bobby and thinking the same thing she was. What did Bobby give her this morning? When he got up to get what she asked for, she had to stop him and know how he was. So she was glad when he stopped and looked back at her. But she didn’t like how his smile faded from his lips and how he shrugged his shoulders. Esme’s eyes never left his face as he spoke, cleared his throat, and rolled his head to force himself to answer her question. She wasn’t sure if she fully believed his answer about being fine physically, but she knew he had to be struggling mentally, even if he told her he didn’t know how to answer that yet. She didn’t like the answer but would take it for now. The important thing for her right now was that he seemed better than he was this morning. He had a glimmer in his eyes and had been smiling before she asked how he was.

When he looked down at the blanket just above her stomach, she could tell he was looking for answers she wanted to hear. She didn’t expect him to find the answer right then, just as long as he was okay. When Duke turned his eyes back to her, Esme met his gaze and softly smiled back. “You’re half right this time, my sweet Cowboy.” she told him. She forced herself to sit up with a wince and groan as her head and sore muscles protested her moving. Taking his face into her hands, she looked deep into his eyes. “The only difference this time is that you don’t have to go through it alone. You hear me? I’m here with you through it all, and don’t you dare try to keep anything from me. I want you to be honest with me, even if you think it’s unimportant or will hurt.” Esme looked at him for a moment before pulling his face closer and placing a sweet kiss on his forehead. “I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. Okay?” She spoke softly against his forehead before placing another kiss on his forehead. She wanted them to be open with each other, without any more secrets.

Too many years had gone by with them keeping things from one another. It was time to open up and be honest with each other. Otherwise, Esme felt that this relationship wasn’t going to last long. Plus, she didn’t want their relationship built around secrets and lies. It wasn’t healthy, and it wouldn’t last. Esme also didn’t want to drive him away. She needed him just as much as she felt he needed her. Esme slightly turned her head so his forehead was resting on the side of her head. “I love you, Bright Eyes. Nothing will ever change that.” she whispered.

Dean smirked briefly, when Mika joked about drinking coffee. He always knew that the best way to diffuse any potential morning tension was through coffee, even if it was crappy motel coffee. Luckily, this was Bobby’s and Bobby didn’t skimp on the few things he actually enjoyed. When her face went serious, he dropped his smile and listened intently, narrowing his eyes. It had been a while since Mika and Duke had any sort of sibling relationship, and he hadn’t expected them to just snap back to it, after Duke’s last runner. He didn’t say what instantly went through his brain, the same ‘be careful’ he always gave people when they grew closer to Duke. Maybe it was wrong of him, but he couldn’t help it. He knew the kid like the back of his hand.

He opened his mouth to speak on it, but decided against it. If Duke had managed to diffuse whatever bomb was destined to go off between Dean and Mika, he would let it go, for now. He would just pick up her pieces when Duke inevitably ran off. Her next words took him a bit off guard, and he raised his thumb, slipping it under her shirt to rub the skin of her hip with his nervousness.

Flashes of Duke’s angry face from that morning flooded Dean’s brain as Mika spoke, and Dean sighed, nodding his head, but another confused frown graced his face at the words ‘reminding you’re glad he’s still with us’. Did Duke believe that Dean wanted him dead, for some reason? Or was it just a moment of jealousy, Duke was feeling in his emotional state? Dean wasn’t sure, but his face softened when Mika told him that Duke needed his brother. He understood exactly what she meant, as she pecked his lips and he tried to catch her lips briefly as he nodded.

“You’re right. I should have been there for him when he got here. I can’t imagine how he must have been feeling after getting back and seeing Esme like that.” Dean said honestly. He sighed softly, hearing Esme and Duke talking in the other room, “And me and you? We need to talk about the time that you were gone, when we get some alone time. I told you I was going to be honest and I was serious. I want you to know everything…”

He scanned her eyes, and reached a hand up, brushing his finger tips over her cheek, and then he pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear with a soft smile, “You just tell me when.”



Cason shook his head at first, when Nat touched his cheek. He didn’t want her to talk away the fact that he hadn’t been able to save her as fast as he should have been. He wanted to use it as fuel to do better, and to make sure that she was never touched again. He would murder anyone who so much as looked at her, if he thought they might be a threat. What had happened to her would never happen again.

But as she said the simple word ‘hey’, Cason looked up and met her eyes. The fact that she didn’t hold anything against him made the back of his head burn with that familiar wash of acid pain. He almost had to close his eyes, his vision blurring just with Nat’s faith in him. Knowing Nat, if he didn’t forgive himself, even just a little, she would force him to. She wouldn’t allow him to bring it up again. She would make sure that he forgave himself, and let it go.

So, when she teased and smiled to lighten the mood, Cason matched her smile with a smirk of his own, nodding his head, “Obviously. It would be a little weird if Dean kissed you after saving your life. At least I looked cool doing it…”

His frown returned for a moment as she explained that she was willing to put herself in danger to save him from the barn. That wasn’t what he wanted from her at all, and honestly, he would have cuffed her to the steering wheel himself, if he knew she wouldn’t be able to follow him. He would have to thank whoever had talked her out of it, later on. She likely would have been seriously hurt in the barn, as she would have wanted to hang back and wait for Cason…and the demons would have shown up. It was one of his worst fears, after admitting that he loved her. Demons would know and would be all over her.

“Better be glad I wasn’t there. I would have absolutely cuffed you to the steering wheel…” Cason teased, with a chuckle. “I love you. It feels weird to say it out loud but I love you. No one will ever hurt you again. Scorched earth. Entire families killed. The amount of Hell I would unleash if you were even in danger of a paper cut is probably not healthy…”



Anna smiled softly, a rare smile that he couldn’t see, as she was suddenly engulfed in Sam’s arms again. She buried her face in his chest, suddenly feeling a happy buzz in her mind, just at his scent. Just being so close to Sam, while the demon blood reached all part of her body was something akin to heaven. She was half expecting him to turn into some horrible hallucination, bringing her back into the detox like whiplash. But as she sat there, feeling his warmth and his heart beat under her fingertips, she realized that it was actually over, for now.

Anna took a deep breath, as Sam mentioned that they could go upstairs with the others. She wanted to get the hell out of this room, and she wanted to feel somewhat normal, even if it meant being around Dean. She could already feel the looks she was going to get, of everyone knowing that she had drank demon blood in order to cut the detox short. That was also something she wasn’t looking forward to. But she was so thirsty and she wanted to smell something other than whiskey and iron for a bit.

“I do want to…” Anna mumbled against Sam’s chest after a moment. She pulled back from him, and looked up at his eyes, finally seeing him clearly. There was no hallucinated blood on his face. He didn’t seem scared. He didn’t seem like had been through the ringer, and to her surprise, he looked relatively okay after the events of the previous night. Anna couldn’t help herself, rocking up on her knees to press a kiss to Sam’s lips. It wasn’t a kiss of sadness or any negative emotion. It wasn’t overly desperate. It was just a passionate…pleasant kiss, for the first time in what felt like forever.

She dropped the empty vial on the floor, and brought both her hands up to tangle in Sam’s hair, pulling herself impossibly close to his chest as she deepened the kiss, taking advantage of the privacy for a little while longer. After a long few minutes, Anna was forced to break the kiss to catch her breath, and as she gasped for air, she pressed her forehead against Sam’s, not releasing his hair at first.

“I love you.” She whispered against his lips, loosening her fingers from his hair as she opened her eyes and scanned his, once again searching for proof that he was real, before they joined the others.



Duke furrowed his brow, but he followed Esme’s eyes when she told him he was only half right about figuring all this mess out. He didn’t quite know what she was talking about. He always figured out his problems on his own, and those problems he couldn’t handle, he usually just ran off until he could. He reached his hands out, hovering them over Esme’s body with a bit of panic as she suddenly sat up and took his face into her hands, “You should um…”

But Duke’s words broke off as she stared into his eyes, and for the first time that he could remember, someone said that he didn’t have to go through his struggles alone. He couldn’t remember if ANYONE had ever said those words to him, or if they did, he definitely didn’t believe them. His bright blue eyes practically melted as his brow softened and his eyes darted from one blue eye to the other of Esme’s. He felt a weird lump in his throat as his eyes watered, but he refused to cry in front of her again. It had made her so upset to see him cry. He didn’t want to see her face look so sad again, not because of him.

“O-okay.” Duke whispered, not really knowing where to start on the whole honesty thing. His entire being was made up of secrets, unrequited feelings, pushing down emotions and just dealing with life with a smile. It was exhausting, but it was everything to him. But Esme was requesting that he change that. She was requesting to know what was on his mind, and what he was feeling. She was requesting to be an actual partner…not just his best friend. “I um…I want to work on that.”

He closed his eyes at her last kiss to his forehead, breathing her in for a moment as she turned her head. He kept his forehead pressed to her, bringing a hand up to gently wrap around the side of her neck, just brushing his fingertips over her skin, “I don’t think you could imagine how much I love you. I love you so much.”, he whispered, nuzzling his nose against her cheek as he just held her close to him. She was his. She wasn’t going anywhere and for the first time in his life, he didn’t feel the need to run away.

MIKA

Mika didn't want to confuse Dean, nor did she want to risk hurting him but she felt being tactful about how his actions in the early hours of the morning really hurt Duke. She didn't want her soul mate and practical brother fighting, especially over another person. It wasn't fair to either of them and she knew deep down it wasn't fair on Esme to have them both at each other's throats over who looked after her when she was hurt. She was still trying to come round to Esme as a person, a hunter and as an ex of Dean's, but she still wouldn't wish Esme to be brought in the middle of the boys’ fights. It was hard enough to deal with on the rare occasion that Sam and Dean fought and she had to break them up, so if letting Duke open up to her and talk him down, as well as doing the same for Dean would help the situation? Then Mika would damn well do it.

She saw how he wanted so desperately to say something about her getting close with Duke again, but it wouldn't matter if he did say anything, it wouldn't change her mind. The fact he decided against saying anything told Mika that he knew that also, and she was glad if that were to be the case. For now, she wanted to keep the more light-hearted feeling going, smiling as she felt his thumb caressing the skin on her hip. The small action always made her smile, there was just something about it that felt so calming and sweetly intimate about it between them. The smile didn't last long however when she saw the confused look on Dean's face at her next lot of words, but she knew they had to be said.

Hearing him actually say she was right about the whole talking with Duke made her internally sigh with relief he was being so open to the suggestion. All she wanted was for her boys to be on good terms again. She loved them both equally, albeit different types of love and she hated it when they fought it argued it just plain didn't see eye to eye. She wanted them united as a team and friends.

She snapped out of her thoughts when he continued to speak and mentioned about actually getting round to that long talk they so needed about the time she had run off, causing him to find Esme. Sighing, not exactly having been looking forward to it, she nodded. Mika wanted to move forward, get over that period of her life and never remember the kind of person she was back then, but she also knew Dean was right. If they didn't talk it through properly and calmly, she would never get over or accept the reminder of their old ways in the room. Esme. “okay, only if you're willing to hear my side of that time as well, if you're going to be fully honest with me, then I need to be with you too. But talk with Duke first please? Then we can have our chat” she replied, leaning into his hand with her head out of instinct.

She looked him in the eyes the whole time she spoke to show she meant it. Even if she wasn't looking forward to it. But if he was going to tell her his connection with Esme? Then she had to explain properly about Ethan. The man she tried to replace Dean with to no avail. Even if she hadn't checked to see if he was still alive ever since Dean came back to her.

NATALIA

Natalia really wanted Cason to know she didn't hold a grudge or anything negative towards him for getting to her almost too late. The fact that anyone, even him, came for her at all meant the world to her as the other demons had gotten into her head hurt enough to truly sow that seed of doubt that anyone cared enough to save her. If she had forgotten that brief moment and believed that, how could she hold anything against Cason for taking, what he considered, too long in reaching her? Matter of fact was, she couldn't. So she did hope that in time he would be able to forgive himself somewhat and until he could? She would do all the forgiving.

His words about looking cool saving her made her laugh, even though it made her twitch in discomfort in her cheek from the action. “not what I meant and you know it but you still make a valid point” she smirked back before she went into slightly serious mode once more. She hated having to admit that Dean was ready to cuff her to the car for how she recklessly behaved, and she knew in some ways, she could count her blessings for being sick to stop him doing it. She wasn't thinking clearly back at the barn and field, her head had been pounding like a freight train was running in it and she refused to let Cason be taken from her. Even though Dean never explicitly said to her he would cuff her, she did hear him discuss it with Sam when Sam asked if he was going to do it. Even feeling delirious and dizzy, she still could overhear them.

The teasing he gave her made Nat chuckle back but she knew there was most certainly an element of truth in what he said. That was only solidified in her mind when he continued on and said what lengths he'd go to keep her safe. As much as she didn't agree with him possibly killing entire families to keep her out of harm's way, she understood his point. “I love you too and yeah, that's not particularly healthy over a paper cut” she smiled. “but I get what you're saying and I love that you feel that determined to keep me safe” she told him.

It was then she realised she was getting kind of hungry, making her sigh. “I'm getting hungry, we should get up” she grumbled, glancing up at the ceiling before back at him again. Untangling herself from Cason, she carefully sat up and forced herself to get out of bed before walking across to her bag to pull out some clean clothes to wear. Bending down just enough to pick it up, she carried it to the end of the bed so she could unzip it and pull out a clean t-shirt and jeans before slowly and carefully pulling both on with a grunt from the soreness in her limbs.

SAM

Every time Anna buried herself into him, Sam felt like they were closer to being back on fully good terms once more. The relief he felt from her actions as it told him that she still felt safe with him was immeasurable. He kept a protective hold on her, wanting her to move when she was ready to and no sooner than that, even though he himself was ready to get out of the panic room. It wasn't exactly comfortable but that wasn't it's reason for being built.

He felt and heard her mumble against his chest that she did want to go upstairs before lifting his head back as he felt her move back enough to be able to look him in the eye. “okay baby girl” he replied, giving her a reassuring loving smile, moving one hand up to stroke her cheek sweetly. As she readjusted herself and leaned up to him to kiss him, he kissed her back. Something that he realised he always took for granted before now. Since they're disagreement the night before, he didn't think she would ever kiss him the way she was right here and in this moment. As she pulled herself even closer to him, he held her securely, deepening the kiss back, trying with all his might to show her just how much she means to him and how much he loved her. He never wanted to let her go, but he knew at some point he would have to or they'd never get out of the panic room.

As the kiss ended, he felt her rest her forehead against his, just enjoying and appreciating the intimate moment between them both. “I love you too” he replied to her, opening his own eyes and looking at her back, giving her a soft smile and stroked her cheek with his thumb one more time.

He eventually moved them both so they could stand up, dusting himself off once more, purely out of habit as he held his hand out for her to help her into her own feet. “time to see the back of this room and see if any of the others have resisted killing each other” he smirked. He also was curious to know how Nat was now that she had slept for a bit, or so he hoped.

When Esme sat up on the couch, she took note of panic as Duke hovered his hand over her body and nearly told her what she should do before he broke off when she looked into his eyes. She could see that her words had gotten through to him, and they had made him tear up. It also wasn't hard to see he was keeping himself from crying in front of her. She figured it was because of how sad it seemed to make her the last time he cried in front of her. Esme didn't want him to feel like he couldn't cry around her. She wanted him to be open with her with his emotions, no matter what they were. When he agreed to be more open with her, she smiled softly. Esme wanted Duke to know that she was there for him and always would be. She wanted him to know she wouldn't leave him high and dry when things got tough or felt utterly hopeless. When Duke told her he wanted to work on being more honest and open with her, her soft smile grew a little more on her lips. “That’s all I ask for.” she whispered in reply.

When Duke didn’t pull away after she turned her head, she knew she had gotten through to him. Esme closed her eyes when Duke brought his hand up to her neck and brushed his fingertips over her skin. It was a simple touch, but it spoke volumes. His next words, his nuzzle against her cheek, and how he held her close to him made her smile warmly and melt into his embrace. Keeping one hand on his cheek to hold his head to hers, she moved her other hand to the back of his head to stroke his hair. “I think I can if it’s anything like how much I love you.” she whispered. She nuzzled her head against his and sighed contently. “I know this will sound cheesy, but I don’t care…. You complete me, Duke…. All those years I was alone, I felt like a part of me was missing. But as soon as you walked back into my life, saved me from those demons, and we rekindled what he had, I felt whole again.” she whispered, being completely honest with him. “You’re my world, Mr. Hatfield…. I’d be utterly lost without you…. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure that out.”

Esme nuzzled against him again and pulled him in a little closer. She didn’t want to let him go or for him to let her go, but she knew they would have to release each other at some point. So Esme took in the moment, breathing him in and taking in his embrace that she thought she had lost only hours ago. She still didn’t know how he had returned to her, but she wouldn’t question it anymore at that moment. Esme just wanted to hold him close and have him hold her close, to snuggle, to live in the moment, and to talk. She didn’t care about the aspirin and the coffee anymore. She’d be perfectly happy if he whisked her away to the RV with a little snack, and they spent the rest of the night there together in each other's arms.

Dean’s heart fluttered with nerves as he waited for Mika to come around to the idea of having ‘that’ conversation. It wasn’t that he wanted to talk about it, but he wanted to clear the air. It had been hanging over them since way before he died, and now that he was back, it was time for that conversation so they could move forward. As soon as she said the word, ‘okay’, Dean sighed with relief, his puffed chest relaxing just a bit. But he tensed when she mentioned telling her side of the story. Her side of the story wasn’t exactly something he ever wanted to think about.

He didn’t want to think about her with someone else, not that he could really judge. He didn’t want to think about how hard she tried to stay away from him, or why, but it was also something he had always wanted to ask. He had always had the temptation to ask her why…or to pry into things, and never felt it was appropriate. What was done was done.

“Alright. I um…I’ll try to talk to Duke about things. I don’t really know how to bridge that gap with him. He seems so happy, you know? But it’s weird. The relationship he’s aways had with…with her. It’s been a sore spot.” Dean admitted, turning his eyes down briefly, but then he turned his eyes back up to hers. The sound of the panic room’s heavy door opening caused Dean’s eyes to flash to the side briefly, “I’ll talk to him. Then me and you will sit down, and we’ll get all this off our chest. We’ll move on, alright?”

Hearing the sound of footsteps coming up from the basement, Dean pressed a tight kiss to Mika’s forehead, holding her there for a moment with his eyes closed, as those same tiny footsteps entered the kitchen. Dean opened his eyes, looking up to see Anna standing there, her arms crossed.

“Morning Anna…” Dean murmured with a soft smile. Anna didn’t say anything, flashing him a small fake smile, and then she pushed through the doorway, into the kitchen to grab coffee.



Cason shrugged happily when Nat agreed that he didn’t exactly have the healthiest reactions to her being in the smallest bit of danger, but she was happy that he wanted to keep her safe. It’s all he asked for. ‘Shut up and let me protect you.’ He sighed happily, and almost slipped into intrusive thoughts, when Nat spoke up about being hungry. There it was, her humanity, screaming back into the room in the most delightful way. Cason found it adorable.

He smiled, and loosened his hold on Nat to allow her to untangle from him and get out of bed. He laid back, pulling his hands behind his head to watch her as he walked with some effort over to her bag. The protective side of him wanted to stand up and dress her like a doll, to keep her from any pain, but if he did, her muscles wouldn’t heal and strengthen. He knew that much about humans. She had to work through this on her own.

“So, I’m assuming we’re hanging around Bobby’s for the night. We can grab you some food, and see what Bobby’s been on the phone about all night. I’m kinda curious if his…idea…thing for Esme worked. I thought I heard her voice.” He mused as he glanced up at the ceiling, wondering if Esme was yet another person he had to nurse with his blood. Anna would be fine. She just needed to keep microdosing, but the addiction she was developing gave him pause. He wondered if Sam was buzzing with the same lingering addiction…or maybe that was Ruby’s entire plan. He didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her, and boy did she have her hooks in Sam. If only Anna knew…

“I don’t know how many of the group would even be up for another hunt after last night…”

He quickly rolled onto his side, and stepped off the bed, walking by Nat to swipe his jacket from the top of her bag. He disappeared for a moment, and then when he reappeared, he was dressed and wearing his jacket, simply walking over to the door and standing against the wall with his arms crossed.



Anna allowed her eyes to flutter closed as Sam’s thumb brushed her cheek, taking in the feeling of his skin against hers, something that was real. The way his breath brushed over her lips as he told her he loved her…that was real. The look in his eyes as she opened her own and watched the Hazel in his eyes almost fade to blue…that was real. The overwhelming feeling of relief almost brought a smile to her lips…almost.

She leaned back on her heels as Sam moved to stand, and she took his hand, her body feeling heavy as she allowed him to support her weight and pull to stand. She nodded simply and sighed, looking around the room as he mentioned leaving the room and checking in on the others. As much as she wanted to leave the room, she was still a little worried about being around everyone else with demon blood in her system. She was worried that the second she left the room, she would be able to hear Cason’s heart and she would lose her cool.

But she followed him to the door, stepping out in front of him, after the door was open. She took to the stairs, her sore body screaming with every footstep, but she kept moving, just wanting to feel some sense of normal. At the top of the steps, she pushed the basement door open and the first thing she saw was Bobby sitting at his desk, pouring over a book. She sighed softly at the sight, genuinely happy to see him and then her eyes turned to Duke and Esme. They were having a moment that she felt she was intruding on, just by being there. She didn’t say anything, simply walking into the living room and then the kitchen.

At the kitchen door, Anna stopped, as she made eye contact with Dean immediately. She crossed her arms over her chest uncomfortably. As he greeted her, she tensed a bit, letting her hair fall over her eyes as she glanced down at the floor and pushed away from the doorway. She flashed him a fake smile, not able to muster any words for him. She meant what she had said the night before and she wasn’t ready to concede being friends with Dean.

She walked over to the coffee pot, and reached up, hissing as the stitches in her shoulder pulled. She changed arms and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, before pouring a cup of coffee. The smell alone was enough to lighten her mood a bit as she kept her back turned to the room and took a drink of coffee, staring out the kitchen window.



Duke let out a little content hum as Esme’s hand made it to his hair. His head was usually adorned with a hat, so his right hand instinctively twitched to catch it, and push it out of his face, even though it wasn’t there. He just concentrated on the feeling of her fingers brushing through his hair just felt natural, but also like a dream. All the years of pining for her like a puppy, following her every footstep, taking up for her when Dean was wrong, making sure that he kept tabs on her, even when he disappeared…all those years, and now it was this simple.

Her confirmation that she loved him sent a burning flutter through his heart and he had to fight back more happy noises, tilting his head just enough to press a soft kiss against her temple as she brought up the cheesiness of her next statement. Duke chuckled as she said the words ‘you complete me’, but it wasn’t out of ridicule. It was the strangeness of hearing those words from Esme. She was decent at keeping her feelings guarded and there wasn’t any way you could have told him those words would fall out of her mouth, that he would have believed. The longer she spoke, the more uncomfortable the fluttering in his chest became. It was hard not to make a noise, but he knew it was a good feeling.

It was the feeling of being wanted and being so overwhelmed with the idea of being wanted that he felt like he was going to burst and melt into a puddle at her feet. Duke smiled softly, gathering his voice as best as he could without letting those sounds of overwhelmed emotions out, but his voice came out a raspy shaky mess, “Don’t be sorry. Don’t be sorry for that. None of that matters now, alright?”

As the basement door opened, Duke glanced to it briefly, flashing Anna a bright smile, before turning his eyes back to Esme. He pulled his head away from hers, still dizzy and reeling from her admission. Just the sound of his last name falling off her lips was enough to make his head spin…and would probably rattle around in his brain for a while. He used his hand on her neck to press a thumb to the side of her chin, turning her face back to him gently, and leaned in to press a kiss to her lips, sighing through his nose as he closed his eyes and just took in the way her slips felt on his. He brushed his thumb across her jaw, feeling the soft skin underneath his calloused fingers, and then all of it came crashing down with the clearing of a throat.

“Welp. I’m going to the garage. I’ve had about enough of the makeup party. Clean up after yourselves, and please don’t have sex on my couch…I sleep there.” Bobby grumbled, standing from his chair. He took a final drink of a mostly empty coffee cup before grumbling under his breath and walking out of the room, through the kitchen and out the back door without a word to anyone else. The whole time, he mumbled about ‘can’t wait to get my house back from all these horny kids’.

Duke’s eyebrows rose, and his eyes suddenly filled with mischief as he smiled brightly and turned his attention back to Esme, “He’ll live.”, he shrugged, and pressed another soft kiss to her lips.

MIKA

Just as Dean didn't want to hear about Ethan, she didn't particularly want to hear about his time with Esme, but she knew it had to be said. Dean was right, they had to clear the air after both of them pretending for so long that neither had a history with someone that wasn't each other. She had kept her story with Ethan secret for far too long and if she had to accept and move on from knowing Dean was with Esme, then he had to know about Ethan. It wasn't out of spite or selfishness, but ever since Esme came onto the scene, all she kept thinking about was how her past was so buried deep and here was Dean's walking around with them in the open.

Seeing him sigh and relax when she agreed to finally listen to him and clear the air, she knew it was another step to them being even better a couple than they ever have been. She saw the way he tensed up when she requested he hear her side as well, it was clear he didn't want to hear it, but she couldn't help but think he surely must have questions to a certain degree. They both knew how many times he secretly called her in the night, barely saying a word on the phone, probably too scared to but there were those calls nonetheless. Those nights never left her memory, all those nights she crept out of Ethan's bed and sat on a stool in his kitchen just hoping that Dean would actually say something to her down the phone, beg her to come home...anything. They were the most heartbreaking nights she ever dealt with, to the point she had to call Duke and just vent to him about it...or more to the point, sob to him.

His agreement to talk with Duke and at least apologise to him for upsetting him knocked her out of her thoughts, making her smile softly and nod her thanks, even if his next lot of words about Duke being with Esme was a sore spot for him. She was so tempted to say to him 'well now you know how I feel', but she didn't because she truly did want to change and not be that spiteful petty girlfriend. She meant it when she previously told him she was going to work on herself and she wasn't going to go back on that promise now. "hmm" was all she could reply with as he darted his eyes downward before looking back at her and then toward the basement door.

Looking back at him when he spoke once more, she nodded in agreement, "yeah we'll have the chat and we'll be okay. No matter what we'll be okay" she replied, though she didn't know who she was trying to convince more- him or herself. His kiss on her forehead made her close her eyes tightly, desperate to keep her emotions in check and not let them spill out just yet from the anxiety of what Dean had to say. She only opened them again when Anna came in and Dean attempted to greet her, only to be met with the hostility Anna showed the night before. It was so clear the girl needed a lot of time to get over her anger toward Dean.

Looking up and reluctantly pulling away from his grip, she gave his hand a gently squeeze. "Go chat with your boy, I'll be here" she said softly, slowly letting go of his hand.

NATALIA

As she got herself dressed, carefully and slowly she found it very difficult to not just give up and dive back onto the bed and cuddle Cason once more. He looked so inviting on the bed stretched out the way he was, especially as her very first love. She forced herself though to keep focused as he spoke up about what the possible plans were for this evening. The word hunt brought a visible shudder to her shoulders as she really didn't want to even think about hunting right now, let alone actually going on another one just yet. It was horrible enough just thinking about how Castiel would be showing his face in a couple of days with no doubt this lead he hinted at.

"Definitely no hunting tonight, especially for me. I need a break. I just want to eat too much food and relax. I don't blame you wanting to see what Bobby was doing, that man is always working I swear" she replied to him, wishing that Bobby would take some time out for himself one day. Just as she was done getting dressed, she barely blinked when he was suddenly swiping his jacket off the top of her bag and had disappeared. It amused her how quickly he could move and she knew it would take some getting used to. Yet at the same time it was something she loved about him.

In what felt like another blink of an eye, he reappeared and was by the door waiting for her. Smiling, she walked over to him and opened the door but didn't walk through just yet. She looked up at him with a soft smile, "Lets go mingle with the others" she commented, not really ready to see what they were going to be walking into. With that, she headed out into the main room first so Cason wouldn't have to touch the door handles and risk getting hurt. She saw Esme and Duke seemingly in a sweet lovers moment, chatting softly and it brought relief to her to see Duke actually smiling again. As she headed through, she saw Bobby grumbling about the couples and exiting the house to the back garage, then came across Anna, Sam, Mika and Dean all in the kitchen area.

Everyone, except for Anna due to her proximity to Dean seemed in a pretty good mood. She couldn't remove the smile off her face even though she was trying. She kept repeating 'act casual' in her head, but that was the last thing she felt she could do. She slept soundly for the first time in months, realized she was very much in love, she was loved and although she was sore and stiff, she felt happy. She headed to the coffee jug, grabbed a mug and poured herself one before opening the fridge and frowned at the lack of food in it.

"Okay...guess it's a food run then" she complained with a sigh.

SAM

Walking out of the basement, Sam found himself taking notes of who was up and wasn't. He saw Bobby, Duke and Esme but didn't see Nat anywhere. His protective side was screaming at him to go on a search for her but he kept telling himself that she was fine and safe and in the house somewhere. He let Anna go on ahead to the kitchen, witnessing how she didn't reply to Dean when he greeted her and as much as it saddened him, he understood it and respected she still wasn't in the mood to acknowledge Dean. He walked behind and gave his brother a pat on the back to say hi before he waited for Anna to get a coffee first, then got himself one.

He saw how Dean and Mika clearly had their moment interrupted by Anna and himself walking into the area, not really sure what to say to anyone. He just wanted the tension to go away completely but he knew it would take time. As he lifted his mug up to his lips, he saw Natalia enter the area with a smile on her face, one that he recognised. The girl was trying to hide how loved up she was feeling and he didn't know whether to be worried and against her feelings toward Cason, or be happy for her finally opening up her heart to someone. Times really were confusing lately.

"Hey" he greeted Nat, who gave him a little wave as she went straight to the coffee jug and fridge before complaining about lack of food. "A few of us could probably do with eating. How about I drive you into town and we get takeout for everyone?" he suggested to her. Nat didn't know why but it actually surprised her that he offered, she guessed she just figured he'd want to stay with Anna the whole time. "Oh! Uhh...I think Cason and me were going to, but uhh...how about you and Anna come too? Get out the house for a bit?" she counter suggested, looking between Sam, Anna and Cason to see what they all thought. Sam gave the other suggestion a thought, and it did feel pretty solid. It meant he could keep an eye on Anna and drill Nat and Cason about what was going on with the two of them.

Esme noticed Duke’s content hum as her hand made it to his hair and then the twitch to catch his hat that wasn’t on his head. It almost made her laugh. If he had been wearing his hat, she would have taken it off herself and placed it on the back of the couch before pulling him close to her. It also amazed her how the simple action of her stroking his hair affected him. She would have to keep it in mind for anything that might come up in the future. However, she wasn’t sure why it amazed her so much. The same action also worked on her a little too well at times, if she was being honest. As she confirmed her love for him, Esme could feel Duke’s happiness rising, which also made her happy, especially when he softly kissed her temple. When Duke chuckled at her cheesy statement, she wasn’t quite expecting it, but she knew it wasn’t out of ridicule. She knew it had to be strange for him to hear it coming from her mouth since she had always been one who guarded her emotions from others, which was a safety precaution for her.

She had always been afraid to let others fully into her heart, especially with what her father had told her over the years. But now, she knew Duke was her soulmate and needed to let him know. She didn’t need to be so guarded with her emotions with him, even though, in the back of her mind, she was afraid he’d bolt at some point. But she wouldn't let herself think about it now that she had him in her arms and she was in his. When he answered her apology, Esme could hear the emotional overload in his tone, and she teared up at his words but softly nodded her head. “Alright.” she whispered as she heard the basement door open. She opened her eyes but couldn’t turn to see who had come out of the basement first, but judging by the footsteps she heard, it was Anna. Esme attention went back to Duke as he pulled his head away from hers, her hands never leaving his head and face. She let him turn her head to face him, a warm smile on her lips as she looked at him before he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips.

Esme closed her eyes and kissed him back, humming softly as she did and feeling his thumb brush across her jaw. She lovingly brushed her thumb across his cheek just before Bobby cleared his throat. She broke the kiss with a slight flinch, then turned her head to look at Bobby, watching him in his office, fighting against the laugh and smirk that threatened to show itself at his words. After he walked out the back door, she turned her attention back to Duke, studying his face, causing the smirk to show itself. At Duke's comment and shrug, Esme lightly laughed as Duke pressed another kiss to her lips. She gladly returned as she closed her eyes with another hum. She lovingly brushed her thumb across his cheek, smiling behind the kiss before breaking it, and brushed his nose with hers as she took a breath. “Yes, he’ll live, but he’ll have both our hides if things move past kissing and whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears.” she whispered against his lips with a light laugh before kissing him again. Esme deepened the kiss, her fingers slowly working themselves into Duke’s hair. Esme could easily see things moving past the kissing and whispering.

Dean sighed and released Mika as it was clear that she wanted him to turn his focus from her for a bit. He felt anxiety eating at his stomach, bursting at the seams to just get everything off his chest and end the tension that seemed to always bubble up when they weren’t fighting for their lives. Mika deserved to know everything, but he was so scared to admit to her that he was in love with Esme. There were times he wondered if it was possible to be in love with two people at once, because he still had moments of wanting to just protect Esme, pull her away from all of this, and fix the wrongs…but it wasn’t his place anymore, and Mika was back. The torn feelings in his brain destroyed him more than he would ever be able to admit to either of them.

When she told him to go and talk to Duke, Dean closed his eyes, then turned his gaze down to the floor with a nod. He didn’t even know where to start with Duke, at this point. Seeing Duke with Esme brought up a lot of hostile feelings from what ended up a deeply hurtful period of both their lives, filled with jealousy, animosity and loss. Even his worst times with Sam hadn’t matched up with that summer.

As Sam stepped into the kitchen, patting him on the back and Nat followed not too far behind him with Cason, Dean nodded a silent ‘hey’ at Cason and cleared his throat. He didn’t even want to get into Nat and Cason’s crap in the middle of the kitchen. He would talk to Natalia later, and once again, he had some explaining to do…and possibly an apology to a demon…

“Alright. I’ll…I’ll go see what I can do.” Dean murmured, putting on his best passive face. He pressed one more kiss to the side of Mika’s head and then he pushed past her, before he changed his mind, and walked into the living room. As he stepped in, his heart dropped into his feet seeing Duke and Esme so passionate with one another. The way she kissed him was familiar, yet different from the way she ever kissed Dean, and for a moment, he almost turned around. He couldn’t do this.

He stood there for a moment, his brain playing over flashbacks of the rain falling loudly in the parking lot puddles. Duke’s anguish echoing off the stacks of cars. The water falling from the edges of Duke’s hat like a cascading waterfall as Esme pulled him back from that edge and kissed him, right there. Dean had pushed it down for years as a desperate act to keep Duke from leaving, to give him something to stay for, but all it ended up being was the beginning of the end for the three of them. It was the first big domino that changed everything…

Dean shook his head, coming back to the present as he stepped a little louder on the wood floor and cleared his throat, “Um…Can…can I borrow you for a second, man?”



Cason was relieved when Natalia opened the door for him. He had his jacket on, and could easily cover his hand to open it, but this whole house was a giant trap to kick his ass, it seemed. There was iron everywhere. The less he had to touch, the better. He stepped out behind her and smirked at Bobby’s comments on his way by, noticing that Esme and Duke were mighty cozy on the couch. Cason smirked, tempted to chime in, but he decided against it. If they were happy, for the moment, it meant less questions for him to answer about Esme’s ‘humanity’ issue. He still needed to contact his people for that one, and was putting it off. The last thing he wanted to do was find information she didn’t want to hear, and have her explode.

As he stepped into the kitchen behind Nat, he could tell that she was tense, as if they were sneaking around like teenagers, or could read her mind. He found it adorable, speeding up his steps to walk impossibly close to her back as they crossed the floor and up to the coffee pot. He placed a hand on her hip, rolling his eyes as she complained about the lack of food in the house.

“Human problems…fun.” He teased with a smile, but then Sam chimed in about going to get food. Cason narrowed his eyes when Nat told him that they were already planning to go out, wondering when she had mentioned it to him. If she had, he had missed it. But then she suggested that they all go out together, and Cason’s eyes turned to Anna’s face. She was standing there, sipping her coffee and not making any eye contact with anyone in the room, as if she still didn’t feel like she belonged, “How are you doing, Anna?”

“I’m okay.” Anna said quietly, flattening her lips in a fake smile, as she barely looked up at his eyes. She could no longer hear his heart, but she could smell him, and it was enough to make her a bit anxious. Cason was having none of it. He reached his hand out, pinching her chin and lifting her head to look him in the eyes. The touch from him was awkward, and Anna blushed, carefully looking him in the eyes.

“Are you sure? You feeling up to going out?” Cason asked her, releasing her chin, and she nodded awkwardly, taking another drink of her coffee before waving her hand around.

“If everyone will agree not to look at me like some sort of ticking time bomb, yes. I am okay with going out.” Anna explained and Cason nodded.

“You don’t look like a ticking time bomb at all. You look like a hunter...with pretty eyes and a smile that needs to show back up. We’ll get one out of you, eventually.” Cason teased, and Anna’s lips struggled to fight down the smile that almost came up, just at him mentioning her smile. Her eyes turned back to the baseboard of the wall in front of her, and she sighed as Cason continued, “But seriously. I got you back to Sam. You’re alright. Let’s go get some food…I know you’re all starving. Humans and all.”



Duke chased Esme’s lips as she broke their kiss and brushed noses with him, something she knew made him weak in the knees. Luckily he was sitting down. When she smiled against his lips and her breathed passed over them, he laughed, a fully wide smile at the words had heard from Bobby a million times about ‘sweet nothings’. He gasped with a small shudder and a groan as her fingers tangled themselves in his hair again and she deepened the kiss. With the way his heart fluttered somewhere in his stomach, they really needed to get it together, or he was going to lose his mind.

He wrapped an arm gently around her back, ready to lean into her and lay her back down when Dean cleared his throat and Duke reluctantly broke the kiss with a sigh. On one hand he was thankful, because he couldn’t let Esme move things much further. He was too afraid of hurting her, but also because his self control could only handle so much of the little touches. She was fully his, now…

Duke brushed Esme’s nose with his, and leaned back, taking his weight off of her as he glanced up at Dean and nodded, “Yeah. Yeah sure.”

He turned back and looked into Esme’s eyes, bringing his hands up to remove hers from the back of his head. He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed each of her knuckles, “Hold that thought. Please. I’ll be right back.”

He grunted with a little pain as he scooted himself back and stood from the couch, walking over to Dean. Dean nodded his head toward the basement door, and Duke followed his lead, following him down the stairs, closing the door behind him. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Duke instinctively prepared himself for Dean to punch him. It was a reflex, even after all these years, after their last meaningful day together. But instead, Dean turned and leaned against the wall outside the panic room.

“I want to um…I want to apologize for this morning.” Dean started, and Duke narrowed his eyes, trying with his fuzzy mind to remember what Dean would even be apologizing for. “I should have let you take care of her. She’s not…she’s not mine to care for, now.”

“You think I’m upset about that?” Duke asked, shaking his head with a scoff, which caused Dean to tilt his head in confusion. “This ain’t about some petty love triangle. Me and you didn’t exactly leave on good terms way back when, if you remember…”

“I know.” Dean sighed, shaking his head.

“Then you know that whatever you feel between me and you is because of me and you, right?” Duke asked, and Dean nodded but his face still held a bit of confusion. “There are days, man…most of the time I’ve known you, that I feel like you would be a lot happier if I just wasn’t around. It’s why I never called you after…that day…”

“I’m sorry about that too, man.” Dean sighed, closing his eyes as his emotions began to bubble up. He and Duke were closer than brothers, before their falling out. The pain in both their chests, standing in that basement was a reminder of that. “But don’t you ever question how much…what I would do for you. Do you hear me? I would still take a bullet for you in a heartbeat. You’re my brother.”

“I know…”

“Do you? Because from what Mika said, you think I would rather kill you myself than see you happy. You think I wanted you to die last night? I fell apart…” Dean choked the last part of his sentence out, and Duke raised his eyes from the floor to look at his face, hearing him get emotional. His own eyes filled with tears and he shook his head but Dean stopped him, “I felt a piece of me die, right then. No matter what happened between us. No matter what we said…there has never been a day that I stopped loving you. Do you hear me?”

“I hear ya…” Duke whispered, sniffling as he placed his hands on his hips. He didn’t know what to say. After all these years, he just assumed that coming back would only complicate Dean’s life.

Dean pushed away from the wall, and sniffled himself, before wrapping both his arms around Duke, holding him protectively. The hug was so tight that Duke groaned in pain, but he brought both his arms around and hugged him just as tight.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again and don’t you ever think that there’s anything I wouldn’t do for you. I don’t want to hear that again. I love you, okay? Everything else, we can figure out.” Dean spoke against the side of Duke’s face, and then he pulled back and scanned Duke’s eyes, blinking his own tears away from his eyes, “Are we good?”

Duke thought about it for a moment, as he scanned Dean’s eyes. They weren’t good. Not really. There was still so much to say. There was still so much Duke wanted to get off his chest. They needed to discuss his relationship with Esme. They needed to talk about the day they left each other. But Duke simply closed his eyes and nodded. Without another word, Dean patted the side of his face and turned to walk up the stairs, trying to wipe his eyes and make sure no one could tell he was crying. Duke sighed, looking around the basement for a moment, before dropping his shoulders and walking back upstairs, his eyes landing on the couch as soon as he stepped in.

“Wanna get out of here?” He asked Esme bluntly, wiping both hands down his face to clear his emotions.

MIKA

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.

NATALIA

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.

SAM

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.

Esme had smiled again behind the kiss at the reaction she had gotten from Duke. His gasp and shudder alone made it all the better. She felt Duke wrap his arm around her back and knew where this was about to head, but then she heard Dean clear his throat. When Duke broke the kiss, she matched his sigh as she opened her eyes. She knew that if Dean hadn’t interrupted them, Duke probably would have before it got much further for fear of hurting her. Esme closed her eyes briefly when Duke brushed noses with her before he leaned back and answered Dean. When Duke looked back at her, she met his gaze and let him remove her hands from the back of his head. Esme watched him as he brought her hands to his lips and kissed each of her knuckles. “Alright, I’ll still be here.” she said softly with a smile. She released Duke’s hands as he scooted himself back and stood from the couch. She followed both guys with her eyes until they were out of sight to the basement, sighing softly as she heard the door close behind them. She looked down at the blanket that was still partially over her.

Esme decided to fold it and toss it to the other end of the couch. Then, carefully turning her body, she rested her arm on the back of the couch, rested her chin on her arm, and brought her knees up towards her chest, resting her other arm on her knees. Esme stared out the window, going into thought. She knew that look on Dean’s face. He wanted to talk to Duke and try to fix things between them, which used to result in only scratching the surface and not fixing the root problem of it all, and would also result in a scuffle between them. After everything that’s happened, a scuffle between them was one of the last things they needed, and she hoped one wouldn’t break out without anyone down in the basement to break it up. Sighing heavily through her nose, Esme closed her eyes and tried to keep herself from thinking about the worst that could happen down in the basement, but she failed miserably. Her mind was filled with all the times the guys had gotten into it when she was around. For the most part, it would start out fine, but it would quickly get heated, and then a scuffle would happen.

Back then, she didn’t even try to step in and break it up except for yelling at them to stop and break it up. And when they ignored her, she could only walk away and leave them alone until they were finished. She couldn’t watch until they got it out of their systems. She asked Bobby to help her break them up a few times before fists started flying, and he did step in a few times to stop it. However, he wouldn’t touch a few of them with a ten-foot pole, saying they needed to work through it on their own, which didn’t sit well with her, even though she knew Bobby was right. As those memories played themself out, Esme felt the tears burning her eyes, but she willed them not to show themselves. Moments of the boys walking back into Bobby’s house or a motel room showed themselves to her. She’d make them sit and would patch them up, but she wouldn’t talk to them as she did for several hours after, only glare at them and not let them anywhere near her. It would always piss her off when they let things between them build so much that it resulted in them throwing punches.

Thinking back on it now, she should have let them patch themselves up and locked herself in a separate room for a while a few times, not that it would have changed anything. That probably would have surprised or confused the hell out of them since that would have been entirely out of character for her. The thought was almost funny but not quite funny enough to laugh at. A scuffle or fistfight between brothers or other family members was nothing to laugh at if there was hostility behind it. It was pretty sad. There were a few times she almost left when the boys had gotten into it. Esme had been completely fed up and done with it all, but Bobby talked her out of leaving for the boys' sake. Even though she stayed, she would give them the cold shoulder and the silent treatment for a while. Thinking about it now, she didn’t know if Bobby ever said anything to them about it or not. She surely didn’t. Esme was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of the basement door opening. Opening her eyes, she turned her face away from the window and watched for Duke to come back into the living room.

First, she saw Dean, noticing that he’d been crying, which could be good or bad. She almost narrowed her eyes as she watched Dean walk through, but then her eyes fell on Duke as he came into view. Her eyes instantly went to his face, seeing he’d been crying also. Esme sighed just before he asked her if she wanted to get out of there. She nodded, taking in the bluntness of his tone and the way he wiped his hand down his face. Stretching out her legs, she carefully turned her body and swung her legs off the couch. She slowly took to her feet, standing there momentarily on weak-feeling legs. Esme crossed the room to his side, bringing her hands up to cup his face, using her thumbs to wipe away a few tears she saw as she looked up at him. “You don’t have to hide these from me.” she told him softly. “But yes, let’s get out of here.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him before lowering herself and removing her hands from his face. She moved to Duke’s side, wrapped an arm around his waist, and placed her other hand on his stomach just above his bandage.

Looking at the kitchen and seeing how crowded it was, she decided not to go through to get to the back door and to keep some distance between Duke and Dean. Esme gave Duke a light tug away from the kitchen so they could go out the front door. “Come on, Cowboy. Let’s go this way.” she said warmly. Once he compiled, she walked with him to the front door, opened it, and walked outside with her, where Sarah greeted them with a happy bark. “Hey, girl.” Esme said warmly to the Hellhound, patting her head. Sarah barked softly and whined as she moved in and nuzzled Esme. “I know. You must have heard what went on this morning. Sorry, I worried you, girl.” Esme briefly looked back through the open door, then looked back at Sarah. “You think you could do something for me, girl?” she asked. Sarah barked a reply, and Esme smiled warmly. “Could you run in there and grab the duffles with our clothes, please.” Without a sound, except for her nails on the wood, Sarah trotted into the house, returning moments later with both their duffles hanging from her mouth. “Good girl.” Esme cooed softly.

Once Sarah had cleared the door, Esme closed it and led Duke down the steps after placing her hand back on his stomach. She stopped a few feet away. She closed her eyes and breathed in the cool night air, shivering as the cold finally hit her. Opening her eyes, she turned toward Duke, placed her hands on his hips, and looked up at him, reading his face and emotions. “I want to ask if you’re okay, but clearly, you're not.” she started softly. “Judging by the look on your face, that talk went just like it always has. He barely scratched the surface of the problems and then asked if you two were good.” She sighed through her nose in frustration, noticing Sarah walk past them out of the corner of her eye. “He needs to be tied to a chair, have his mouth taped shut, and made to listen.” she told him. The only ones she could see getting away with doing something like that to Dean were Sam and Mika, but whether they would actually do it was the big question.

Dean stepped through the living room, barely glancing up at Esme as he passed. He didn’t want her judgement or her chiming in on his relationship with Duke. He and Duke had a complicated one, and Esme knew that. The fought. They came back together. They fought more. They came back together, and while Dean wasn’t the best at smoothing things over in an actually constructive way, they never seemed to lose each other. At least in Dean’s mind, that is.

He stepped into the kitchen and sighed, walking up to stand beside Mika. He crossed his arms, just leaning back against the wall. He glanced over at her before staring at the floor, as a memory came into his mind like a freight train, just seeing Mika zoned out.

Autumn - 3 years ago

Dean laughed at a joke that Esme had made, their relationship at probably the most calm it had ever been, since Duke had left and left both of them with no one to worry about but themselves. Dean pulled Esme closer, and touched a trinket on one of the magic shop shelves. The clerk behind the counter sighed, as Dean’s hands seemed to land on just about everything, like a teenager that was planning to steal them blind.

“This one is cute. Means nothing…but it’s cute.” He chuckled, as he made the necklace swing against the shelf it was hung above. Absentmindedly, Dean glanced out the window, and his heart stopped as he saw what he could only assume was a false memory standing there. Mika stood, looking a bit roughed up, but beautiful to him as her hair blew in the light breeze outside. As she turned her head, Dean panicked and turned his head back down, clearing his throat awkwardly as he pulled Esme close. If it was a visage of some sort, he had to get it out of his head. He tilted his head down, pulling her chin up and passionately kissed her out of nowhere.

It took a moment for him to convince himself it was enough to make Mika disappear and sure enough, when he broke the kiss and glanced back up to the window, she was gone. His heart fell into his stomach, and he was instantly tempted to run out that door and see where she went, try to stop her, try to convince her to talk to him…but he didn’t. He stood there, the way the wind blew her hair playing over and over in his mind, until the clerk cleared her throat again and asked if he and Esme were going to buy anything.

——

Coming out of the memory, Dean suddenly turned and placed a hand on Mika’s cheek, kissing her out of nowhere as if they were the only people in the room.



Anna nearly broke out in a giggle when Nat told her she was awesome for putting up with Sam. Truth was, Sam was pretty amazing for putting up with her. She had been a mess from the moment that she had come back into his life, and she knew there were times it had to be too much. She nodded her head and sighed, “Noted. I’m glad that at least I fit in with the mess…”

Cason opened his mouth to speak when Nat said she was going to grab her boots. He was tempted to follow her, or pop into the room without her permission or asking, but he decided against it, dropping his shoulders, “I will be here. Don’t be too long.”

Sam speaking to him caught him off guard, and he raised an eyebrow as he looked up at Sam. He couldn’t see Sam being polite to him in any way and was half expecting the threats to start, but the guy was being legitimately polite. Cason smiled and chuckled, shaking his head, “I’ll take the quirks. As long as she’s safe. That’s what I’m here for. I know it’s hard to believe, but there’s no ulterior motive…”

“He knows. We know.” Anna spoke up, looking into Cason’s eyes with a small raise of the corners of her mouth. Cason rolled his eyes at her but he matched her almost smile, and looked across to the living room door, waiting patiently for Nat to come back. Something about being alone with the Winchesters would never be comfortable.

As Nat showed back up, Cason reached for her, pulling her in close as they prepared to leave. He didn’t wait for Sam to follow, just wrapping his arm around Nat and stepping out the back door. He was rather excited for Nat to see that he had managed to call in some favors to retrieve her car. The last thing he had wanted to do was walk out to the parking lot and for her to be reminded about it.



Duke almost cringed away from Esme as she brought her hands up to his face, and wiped the tears away from his cheeks. He still wasn’t sure how he wanted to bridge the gap of letting her see him cry. He wasn’t an overly emotional person, and he was the fixer…the one who made other people laugh when they were down. He didn’t ask that anyone returned the favor. Her words, requesting that he didn’t hide those emotions elicited a thick swallow from him, but he nodded obediently without speaking.

He sighed through his nose as she agreed to leave with him, leaning up and kissing his lips. It was the first time he had ever asked her to run away with him, and he had a feeling that she wasn’t actually planning to leave the group, even if he asked her to. He would take any separation he could, even if it meant just going for a walk to get his feet back underneath him, and run some of the frustration out.

Unfortunately, the kitchen was crowded, and the last thing Duke wanted to do was make eye contact with Dean after the conversation they had just had. It would be awkward, and there was no way Dean couldn’t read all over his face that he was not completely okay with the outcome. Thankfully, Esme dragged him toward the front door, and he followed, stepping out onto the porch. The Hellhound bark caused him to flinch really hard, and he brought a hand up to his chest, as if he could calm his heart while watching Esme talk to the dog.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that…” he muttered breathlessly, glancing back at the open door of the house as it moved a bit, and the Hellhound entered and exited with their bags. Duke wrapped his arm around Esme’s back as she came back to him, and took his own deep breath of the cold night air. It reminded him of a time that he came back to Bobby’s around this time of year, and the air was just beginning to get cold enough for a jacket. He could still hear Esme’s laugh and the crunch of the leaves under her boots, during a brief couple of weeks they were alone…without Dean.

Esme’s hands on his hips stopped him in his tracks and he shook himself out of the vivid memory as her boots crunched the leaves at his feet. He turned his eyes down to her, sniffling and dropped his shoulders at her assessment. He didn’t want her to worry about him. He had made that clear to her, and yet here she was…worrying, “I’m fine…”

But she was right with her next words. She could read him like a book. She always could. Duke tilted his head to the side and then looked at the ground with a nod. It was the same cycle, all over again. He turned his eyes back to hers and squinted in frustration, “I would like to agree with the whole tyin’ him to a chair and makin’ him listen thing…but I don’t think it would work. He would wait patiently until you finished and took the tape off, and then he would tell you all the reasons he’s not wrong. It’s just who he is and I gotta stop tryin’, man…”

Duke shook his head sadly, glancing up over Esme’s head briefly, before back down at her eyes, “But that ain’t your problem. You know how this goes. For me and him…this is fine. This is as good as it gets.”

It was then that he was tempted to ask her to run away with him. But he couldn’t. She was in no state to travel, really and with everything going on, both of them were targets that would drag Dean into a trap…especially if they were together. He sighed and reached up, cupping both her cheeks as he pressed his forehead to hers, “I wish we could run away together. I wish this whole Angels and Demons battle wasn’t goin’ on and we could just run away. Would you run away with me?”