[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke frowned at Esme’s words about a stranger helping her out of the room. He couldn’t think of anyone who would have trailed the Winchesters. Most hunters worked alone. Not to mention, the idea that someone knew she was there…it was most likely someone on the inside. A demon? 

He was shaken from his thoughts as Esme’s hand slipped away from him, but then her hand came to his chest. His frown didn’t leave his face as she told him not to apologize. That was a hard ask, when he felt as if he had failed her. He practically melted in her touch as her hands came to his face, something he was weak for, with Esme. It was an odd safe feeling, every single time. 

When she brought up their mental connection, Duke swallowed heavily and he glanced in a quick turn of his eyes toward Mika. He hadn’t explained any of that to Mika, the weird mental connection that the three of them seemed to have, Duke more than Dean. He snapped his eyes back to hers and he fell into them. Cutting Dean out of his life wasn’t something that he regretted, necessarily. He and Dean made each other weak. Their emotions, jealousy, love for one another, and general dependence on each other almost always got them in trouble.

They were better off alone. He nodded gently, but then opened his mouth to argue with Esme about the issue at the farm, where he literally got himself killed. He quickly closed his mouth and let her remind him that they were both alive…in spite of his mistakes. Duke inhaled a deep breath and he let it out through his nose with a soft smile, echoing the look on her face. 

“You’re right.” He whispered, having trouble tearing his eyes from Esme’s for a moment. Her hands dropping from his face and her speaking to Mika pulled him away and he let out the inhale he had been holding, shaking his head with a soft smile. Esme was right. Whatever the world they were being dumped into was going to bring was big. The odds of them all making it out alive were obviously…pretty much zero. He had a feeling that he was going to have to step up and protect Esme plenty. Mika’s hand on his shoulder and her words, agreeing with Esme nearly made his heart swim with relief. It was all the proof he needed that Mika was going to try and be civil with her. He nodded, and dropped his own eyes to the ground.

Seeing Esme a bit unsteady, Duke absentmindedly placed a hand on her lower back, and looked up at Mika as she spoke up again. He nodded, “We’re gonna stick together. All three of us seem on the same page. We just gotta get the others on that same page…Dean and the little one might be the hardest to get through to.”

[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean loosened up on Nat as she looked up at him, and he knew that he had at least got through to her that he did…indeed love her. He was just horrible of showing it. Her little thank you tugged at his heart, as once again, he was reminded of all the ways he wasn’t there for Sam. Natalia was possibly a second chance, in a way. But mostly, she was his baby sister. She was his responsibility. He just had to find a way to share that responsibility with Cason. 

Dean shook his head as Nat apologized for telling him she hated him. He was well aware that Natalia wasn’t able to grow up. That luxury was taken from her. So, when she had outbursts, a lot of times they were akin to a teenaged girl. Hating everyone came along with the territory, “Don’t. Don’t say you’re sorry. Honestly, I’m surprised you had never said it before then…”

He gave her a soft smile, and looked up at Cason as he and Nat shared a communicative little smile, and Cason nodded his head at her. Dean turned his eyes back to Nat, as she spoke and released him, sitting back. He was about to speak up and stop her, just to say that he would try to be civil with Cason while they talked about the situation, but her mention of Cason taking her to a fair caused Dean to narrow his eyes and tilt his head. Cason had actually taken her to do something totally normal. 

“I don’t know a demon that can feel enough emotion to do something like that, unless they are manipulating you.” He muttered absentmindedly. Cason didn’t move as he lit up another cigarette and kicked his feet at the gravel. The man was a stone, standing there to make sure Nat was safe. It tore at something strange in Dean’s head, as the other half of his brain tried to find ways that Cason’s bad outweighed his good.

“You’re happy with him.” He mumbled, and sighed, “If…and this is a big if…he keeps you safe, he doesn’t hurt your feelings, and he’s good, I mean like giant puppy good, I’ll accept all of this. I’ll do what I can. I’ll talk to him. I’ll be civil.”

[h3] Anna [/h3]

Anna expected Sam to say pretty much exactly what he did. Dean would be more concerned with making amends with Natalia at the moment. He probably barely realized that Sam and Anna were even gone. Something about that, while it should have made her even more worried about the lingering tension, it was calming. Sam’s hand turning her face toward his forced Anna to look up into his eyes, and she sighed through her nose. Her heart fluttered at his words, and she wondered if he was under some new spell, like the one with Cupid. It was the most romantic he had ever been.

She closed her eyes as he leaned in, and the softness of his kiss took her off guard all over again. Sam was the most gentle person she knew in this messed up world, but their time together hadn’t exactly ever been slow…and sweet. She returned the kiss, barely moving her lips as she let him take whatever control he wanted in the moment. But then he breathed the words she had wanted to hear, selfishly, since the day their eyes met.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that…” She whispered, just before his lips covered hers again. There was something new to the second kiss, it was gentle and slow, but desperate and full of that intense passion that seemed to burn in the hazel of Sam’s eyes every single day. She untangled her legs and rocked forward, until she could pull her knees under her, raising her face slightly above Sam’s but never breaking the kiss as she tilted his head back. Her hands found his jaw, sliding back into his hair with a light tug as all of the anger and worry melted away. As long as they were alone together, they were the entire universe.