[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean sighed as he walked down the stairs with Mika, glancing around the room to see if anyone else was awake and moving around. It seemed like he and Mika were the only ones stirring, except Bobby, who was already pouring over some research at his desk with a cup of coffee. He nodded as Bobby glanced up at him from his desk, not really ready to bridge the conversation about what they had planned for the day with him, yet. Bobby would be one that could talk him out of helping the angels, even if it meant fighting them and at the moment, Dean was willing to try and see what Castiel wanted, before he fought too hard.

He stepped into the kitchen with Mika and simply leaned against the doorway, as Mika searched the kitchen for food to make for them. As she called out to Bobby, Bobby huffed and called back to her, making Dean smirk.

“Yeah, yeah…I swear, having all of you back in the house is like raisin’ a bunch of kids. I’ll make a list of things so you can continue to eat me out of house and home.” Bobby called out with a small smile, and Dean couldn’t help the chuckle that left his chest. The reality was, Bobby loved having his house full. He loved feeling useful, and having plenty of minds to pick and a bit of noise around. He always had.

Dean’s mind then fell on Sam, and he was tempted to pull his phone and call his brother, but he didn’t quite know if Sam would answer him if he even tried. He didn’t know how raw Sam’s emotions were from the night before, or if Sam would be even more angry with his plans. So, he pushed him from his mind as best he could, despite the sinking pit in his stomach at not having him within arms reach. No matter how much they fought, Dean’s priority was still to protect his baby brother. 

“I keep just waiting for him to pop in and start grumbling…” Dean said suddenly, referring to Castiel as he glanced around the kitchen. He brought his hands up and ruffled his own hair, almost afraid to talk about the little nerdy angel, in case he accidentally called him down early, “And we gotta somehow make sure that we keep the kids away from wherever we’re going. The last thing that anyone needs is Anna showing up near Alastair. Remember the last time he got his hands on her? She turned into a nuke…”

[h3] Duke [/h3] 

Duke laughed softly at Esme’s agreement to make the warning list of signs that she was going to fall into something that would scare the hell out of him. He was appreciative, but the idea of her actually writing down every single detail of her powers was amusing to him. He leaned into her touch a bit but then frowned when she mentioned that they had to get out of bed. He could definitely use a shower, even if it would be a bit awkward with his bandaged stomach. He could still feel a bit of the dried blood that was sticky on his back, and he wasn’t sure if it looked as bad as it felt, but it felt pretty gross.

“Alright. I can’t really argue with that. Self care is valid.” Duke grumbled with a dramatic eye roll before breaking into a wide smile as she pushed some of his hair away from his face. He kissed Esme back, tempted to just roll over and pull her with him, forcing her to stay in bed. But he couldn’t do that. She needed to eat…and shower…and be human.

As she broke the kiss and glanced toward the house, Duke concentrated on her face, taking in every expression as he slowly started to realize exactly what she was feeling. Something was brewing in the house. As she complained about exactly what he suspected, Duke sighed and he brushed his fingers across Esme’s forehead. 

“I should probably go and make sure Dean hasn’t started another fight. I’m kinda the only one that seems to be able to calm him down when Sam’s not around. It’s a good mornin’ for a broken nose.” He teased, moving away from Esme to allow her to sit up and leave the bed. He lay there for a few moments, just watching her get dressed with his hand resting on his cheek and his elbow propping him up. But then she turned and teased him with a line that he used…a lot, and Duke laughed.

“Well, I could just tempt you more and get you to stay here, safe and warm with me. But since you asked so nicely…I’ll get up.” Duke teased her back, reluctantly pulling the blankets back and sliding off the edge of the bed. He stood, stepping over to the sink where he had tossed his hat and his jeans the night before. He quickly got dressed, grabbing a flannel from the back of the couch and slipping it over his arms, before grabbing his hat and stepping into his boots.

“Let’s go check the temperature of that water, shall we?”

[h3] Cason [/h3]

Cason shook his head as Nat spoke about her eating habits and then spoke as if she was hard to love, “I was just making an observation that when you get busy, you could forget to eat. Trust me…I know you eat. Sometimes, I wish I had some sort of magic wand to change the way you eat.” 

He smiled, a small chuckled leaving his chest but then he continued, “And you’re easy to be around. Way easier than most humans. Give yourself some credit, or I’ll turn up the charm and make you believe it. I’m a demon. I can be full of surprises.”

He nuzzled Natalia’s nose, and then Bobby and Mika’s voices caught his ear as well. And he could overhear Dean talking about someone showing up out of nowhere, reinforcing Cason’s concern that today wasn’t going to be quite as relaxing as they originally thought. Someone was coming for Dean. The demon channels were right. With a sigh, Cason turned his attention back to Nat as she questioned why Dean and Mika were awake.

“They’re probably just excited to start their boring day.” Cason lied, using his ability to do so convincingly as a demon to his advantage. He hated lying to Nat, but he didn’t really have a choice. She was not leaving this house, if anything was happening with angels. Not a chance. “Maybe we should get up and around and find some way to make ourselves useful?”

[h3] Anna [/h3]

Anna raised her eyebrows at Ruby’s explanation for her just barging in the way she did. Anna wasn’t even aware that Sam had still been drinking demon blood, especially not from Ruby. But as Ruby mentioned that Anna’s name had come up in demon circles, Anna’s stomach clenched painfully. She didn’t want demons talking about her. She didn’t want to deal with demons at all…and now she was stuck in a room with one that was just talking about her like an extension of Sam.

‘You both need to be stronger.’

Cason’s words about not taking anything from Ruby echoed through Anna’s brain when Ruby glanced to her, and she shook her head without realizing it, telling her that she wasn’t willing to accept blood from her. She only drank from Cason. As Sam attempted to reason with Ruby and she brought up Lilith riding in Anna’s body, Anna swallowed thickly and she wrapped her arms around her legs a bit tighter. The temptation to summon Cason was high, but she could never get him there fast enough to argue with Ruby, not really. 

When Ruby pulled the bottles of demon blood, Anna shook her head again and she finally spoke up, figuring that it would probably go over like a lead brick with Ruby, “Cason told me not to drink any blood that wasn’t his or that he didn’t give me. So, I don’t think I want to. I also don’t normally drink that much. It would make me…high.”, Anna explained innocently, trying her best to play at emotions, or anything to keep from being force fed demon blood.