NATALIA

Nat aware that Anna was following her to the kitchen, something that wasn't surprising to her. She almost guessed that Anna would use her own exit to exit herself. "I really tried to talk him out of convincing you to come here with us. I didn't think it was fair on you or Sam" she replied honestly. She loved Anna dearly like a sister, but she also loved Sam so she tried to be there for them both whilst doing her best to remain impartial. "But I'm glad you are here. I don't think they're babysitting...well, not fully. They're clearly doing it to a degree with that Anya girl." She said as she poured her coffee I to a clean mug once she found one.

"I'm getting the feeling that other girl is seeing Dean though. Sam told me to be nice, but I don't know her." She added, trying to weave some sort of lighter conversation within the more serious side. "But hey...if it gets too much we can head out for a break together. If you ever feel like you need it" she offered, walking over to Anna and giving her a comforting hug. "Though I do think you two are overdue a good talk. He's just as uptight as you're feeling right now. I hate seeing you two like this. I love you both so much" she told Anna.

She also wondered if it truly got too much for Anna, if there was an option for her to get Anna out and back to Denver. Even if it meant she drove half way there and tried sweet talking Duke or Esme into meeting half way to pick Anna up. Nat was willing to do whatever it took to help Anna. Whether it was a long way to get her back to Denver or have Cason take her. "You got this Anna, and I got your back this whole time okay?" She tried reassuring her once more.

SAM AND LEXI

As Anna made a point to not touch him as she followed Natalia into the kitchen, Sam sighed, looking at the ground before looking at Anya as she got his attention and Cason followed Lexi and Dean to the tables and chairs. He followed her to the book shelves and waited for her to finish typing out her message to him before she showed it. Reading it, he wondered how on earth he would explain what Anna was to him. He gave a somber nod, as he thought about the words to use so not to hurt Anya and himself.

"It's a complicated history we have...I've known her since we were kids. Been through a lot and when I last saw I kinda...left her at a friend's house and never looked back a year ago. I did it to protect her for what me and Dean were about to have to do...but it didn't leave me and her in a good spot" he tried to explain in a very brief way. "It's a very long story and if you really wanna know it, I'll explain it later. But I warn youz it's not easy to hear" he explained.

LEXI

The moment Cason started asking her questions, Lexi knew Natalia had put Cason up to this. She was going to answer gladly if it meant Natalia would be happier about her being around, but Dean was clearly irritated by the interrogation situation. "It's fine Dean..." She said, placing a hand on his knee as she said it. "Yes I'm a hunter, came here thanks to Sam bringing me here because my car broke down at the time after a case. The boys have made me feel welcome here and after spending a year on the road constantly because I can't go back to my old home, I'm thankful for being welcome here. The fa t I've cooked for them both has helped too" she said simply, smiling at her last words.

She stopped talking when Dean insisted on putting an end to it, something she was okay with as she didn't want to get into why she couldn't go back to her old home. After the dream memory she had, she didn't want to bring up Owen to Cason of all people. Under the table, she kept her hand on Dean's thigh, wanting to just stay close to him, even if it was discreetly.

Lexi leaned slightly closer to Dean as he leaned in to her and whispered about which one was Anna. She glanced at him surprised that the blonde girl was the same brunette from the photos he showed her the day before. She followed his glance to Sam, seeing him walk over to the car book shelf with Anya and she could see how worked up he was. "All we can do is be there when the crap hits the fan I guess, it's certainly going to be tense" she whispered back to him.

Part of her was curious to why Cason and Natalia would bring the girl, but she also knew it wasn't her place to ask so she didn't. She remained silent and drinking her coffee, trying to not be a target for more interrogations from Cason or anyone else. Wanting to stay close to Dean without causing any possible drama with his sister, she just minded her own business, figuring it was the best course of action.

A few minutes later, she spotted Natalia return into the library, walking over to Cason, standing behind him, placing one hand on his right shoulder. "So Dean, what have you guys actually figured out or is what you said already the only things you know? If we're gonna help, we kinda need more information." Nat said, looking between her brother and the new woman, already deciding that she would only ever call her Red until she decided to use her real name. Right now she didn't care to, and it wasn't like in the bunker Lexi could do much to win her over.

Lexi got the vibes Nat was giving out towards her and she hoped there would be a time that she could try and convince Natalia she wasn't the bad guy or trying to replace Mika. Something she was assuming was why Natalia was being rather cold towards her. If that was the case, Lexi could understand it quite honestly. The whole family were clearly a tight knit group if the photos were anything to go by, but Dean was a grown man and capable of making his own decisions.

Anna knew that Natalia wasn’t responsible for the tension in the bunker, although it seemed she was dealing with her own annoyance about their arrival and the girls being there…particularly the red head that was pretty connected at the hip with Dean. Of course Nat was glad she was there. If anything, Anna was an experienced hunter who would be able to help diffuse any arguments that came between Cason and Dean, and she typically was one of the few people that could call Dean and talk him off ledges, because of their complicated history and long road to growing close as siblings. So, Anna couldn’t help the small sigh of understanding as she nodded her head.

But she nearly rolled her eyes when Natalia went off over Lexi. “Maybe being nice is a good way to get to know her, yeah? It’s worked for you before…”, she grumbled with a small smirk. When Nat offered to take her out of the bunker if things got too tense, Anna’s shoulders relaxed and she hugged her back, wrapping her arms loosely around Nat’s waist. She frowned over her shoulder, however, when Nat mentioned that she and Sam needed to talk. They had seen each other in passing, not that anyone but Dean really knew about it, and not much…talking had been done. They always seemed to just fall into the same habits. Emotions would run high. They would end up both stuck, not knowing what to say, and the next morning, they woke up in bed together, separated, and went right back through the same cycle all over again.

“I wish it was that simple to just…talk.” Anna grumbled once again, before Nat pulled back and reassured her. With a small nod, Anna looked down at her feet and she brushed her hair away from her face, deciding that this time…she was going to talk to Sam. She didn’t know when and she didn’t even know if her emotions would allow her to finish a sentence without the cycle taking over, but she had to try. She needed that closure, or for him to just…let her come home. She would take whichever he was willing to give her.

She followed Nat a few minutes later, stepping into the library with a pause as she caught Sam and Anya over to the side, having a conversation in close contact with one another. A small pang of jealousy that she didn’t even know she was capable of bubbled up in the pit of her stomach and she crossed her arms, walking over to lean against a bookshelf on the opposite side of the room.



Dean noticed Lexi’s hand on his thigh, her attempt to make him be civil with Cason, something that seemed hit or miss with the two of them. As the conversation was squashed, he reached down and placed his hand over hers, wrapping his fingers loosely around it to make sure she knew she could touch him as much as she wanted to…whether Natalia liked it or not.

He stayed leaned in as Lexi acknowledged the tension between Sam and Anna and he nodded, “It’ll be tense until the dam breaks. I just hope it breaks in private and not out in the middle. I would hate to see the look on Anya’s face. In fact, I think I would break Sam’s face over the look that I’m imagining.”

As Nat came out of the kitchen with Anna close behind her, he watched Anna’s body language and sighed. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into the chair on his other side, and wrap his arm around her to make her feel safe. It was obvious that she didn’t trust herself around Sam, after all of the late night meetings that they thought were behind Dean’s back. He had confronted Anna, months back, and the breakdown she had in return wasn’t something he was prepared to handle again, either.

Nat’s voice forced his eyes up to her and he nodded, clearing his throat.

“Right. So, what we know is that a demon came to her. Her dad…a hunter adjacent human had the Colt for a while.” Dean explained and Cason sat up straighter, hearing him say that they were that close to the Colt. “But he didn’t have it when he died. The deal is the Colt for her voice. We haven’t found a lead on the gun. We haven’t found a lead on the demon. We don’t even have a name…or a meat suit. Some demons tried to find her yesterday, probably running in the same pack.”

“Or they’re after you.” Cason grumbled from across the table, his eyes glancing down at Dean’s arm. Cason’s eyes were almost black as he stared at the mark and Dean quickly pulled his arm down from the top of the table before Natalia could see it.

“They came to her. We are going to assume they’re after her.” Dean corrected Cason, giving him a look that said ‘I’ll explain later’. Cason almost seemed scared of the mark, as if he knew exactly what it meant and Dean was dying to pick his brain over it as well.

“Right. So, demons are circling her early, for what? They’re not after her soul. Do we know for a fact that there’s no connection with her and the Colt? Maybe her old house? Her dad’s house? A car?” Cason changed the subject back to Anya, closing his eyes for a moment to make them go back to normal.

“We hadn’t sussed any of that out, yet.”

“Well, that’s where we start, then. I’ll go ask around, get some addresses and see what I can find. Anna, you can skim the books and see if there’s any mentioning of rogue demons. Get names, motives, habits, anything you can find in the library. And, as for everything else, we just need to find out who we’re dealing with.” Cason handed out tasks, glancing across at Dean again, “We’re probably going to need some snacks for the humans, make sure Anya knows how to use at least some basic weapons…because she’ll have to come with us when we go after the demon.”

“No. She hasn’t even started getting ready for that.” Dean argued and Cason shrugged.

“Well, that’s a ‘you’ problem. She has to be there, or the demon will never show. So, she’ll come with us, trained up or not. Teach her how to use a knife and a flask of holy water, and hope for the best. That’s what you did to Anna.” Cason shrugged again, glancing to Anna, who was much stronger and independent than she was when she first came to the Winchesters. “And she only died twice. Odds are, the girl comes out in one piece, attached to your brother’s hip and we all ride off into the sunset…deal free.”



Anya could see the conflict on Sam’s face as he tried to find a way to explain what was going on. Hearing that he had known Anna since he was a kid didn’t exactly throw Anya off at all. Okay. So, they were friends way back in the day, and they had grown close as adults. But when he mentioned that he had left Anna at a friends house and left her because he wanted to protect her, Anya’s stomach dropped. That’ didn’t seem like Sam at all. It didn’t seem like something he was even capable of, and Anya was tempted to ask him what exactly was so bad that he had to abandon Anna, if Cason brought her to help them. She was obviously capable.

She could tell that he didn’t want to talk about it much with Anna in the room, and she sighed, chewing at her lip at how awkward the whole situation felt. Just with Anna being in the room, Anya could feel Sam’s attention shift. She could feel how careful he was around herself, and she could almost feel that their relationship had screeched to a halt. The tension had replaced everything…

She pulled her phone back up and typed, turning the phone around to him after she was finished, “Well. If you guys need to talk, maybe you should try to talk. But I do want to know everything, the good and the bad. If I’m going to be here for the long haul, I need to know everything. Honest question…Do I need to leave for a bit? I’m not upset if your answer is Yes. I just want to know.”

As she let him read it, she kept a stern and worried look on her face, staring up at Sam’s face. She reached her other hand out and picked his hand up, rubbing at the back of his fingers.

LEXI

Feeling Dean’s hand and fingers wrap over her hand, Lexi felt better knowing Dean had her back right now. She couldn't believe that Natalia suspicions over her were actually getting under her skin a little, but they were. She just wanted to make a good impression on Dean's family and that included Natalia. So she was grateful that Dean was giving her more warnings about Anna and Sam, so her mind was thinking about anything other than Nat’s judgment. “We can hope for the best case scenario then” she said back to him, not wanting anyone to get hurt. She liked Anya, she adored Sam and she could see that Anna was a kind soul who also didn't deserve to get hurt anymore than Sam had already hurt her.

Like Natalia, Lexi listened to the two men discuss what they knew so far, which was very little. They had been so focused on being laid back until Nat and Cason arrived, that they hadn't gotten very far at all in even the basic bit of information. As the discussion went on, she saw how Cason reacted to the mark of Cain on Dean's arm and how Dean reacted to it being noticed. That instantly told her that he hadn't even told Natalia about it and she couldn't imagine that going down well with his sister when that bombshell drops. She was also a little taken aback how Cason felt so comfortable with them all that he felt justified just dishing out orders the way he was. “I was going to start training her in basic self defense yesterday but the day just got away from us. I can train her today though” she spoke up finally, deciding to ignore the remark about how Anna has died twice over the years and yet is still standing in the bunker very much alive. Sure she had some close to death moments in her career as a hunter, but she hadn't ever officially been considered dead before.

She couldn't help but think Cason did have a point. If this is a demon pretending to be a crossroads demon, then Anya would have to be around if they were to draw the demon out. “I have faith that Anya is a quick study so I can definitely teach her things to keep her alive” she added, tapping her fingertips on Dean's thigh as a way to reassure him that she wouldn't let anything happen to Anya. But then Natalia also offered to train Anya some basics and she just sighed. “If you wanna train her, be my guest though, I'm sure I can help Anna or Dean find more info on something, like Anya's dad” she replied to Natalia, trying to be diplomatic and polite.

SAM

Sam knew what he was beginning to tell Anya wouldn't be easy to hear. He knew it was tough to hear that the man Anya was beginning to get attached to and like had some serious history with another woman. If roles were reversed he wouldn't want to hear any of it, but the fact she typed out a new message saying she wanted to know it all, he couldn't help but wonder how she was so perfect. “I know I need to talk with her, I just don't know how…” he told her truthfully. “It's been so long, and I treated her badly when I shouldn't have, and yet I still stand by what I did ..how do I tell her that?” He said to Anya, hoping she could give him some advice of some kind, even if it was just about where to start. Glancing briefly at his siblings, Cason and Lexi all chatting together, he could see how even Nat and Lexi were tense around each other. At least he wasn't the only one having a tense moment around someone.

He held her hand back, rubbing his thumb up and down the back of her hand. “I'm so sorry you have to be thrown into the middle of this drama between me and my ex. I never wanted this to happen” he apologized to her honestly. “I don't wanna put a massive wedge between us Anya. I really do care about you” he said, hoping it would be of some reassurance to her. He didn't want her thinking that just because Anna was here, he was going to ignore her because that was far from the truth. He felt awful that his awkwardness towards Anna was being noticed so much by Anya, that she felt she even had to suggest leaving the bunker for a bit. In his eyes Anya shouldn't HAVE to leave because Anna was in the bunker.

NATALIA

Anna's suggestion of trying to be nice to Lexi would go a long way rattled around in Natalia's mind as she listened to what Dean was saying. She saw how closely Lexi and Dean sat next together and she knew deep down that Anna was right but she still couldn't shake the feeling that Lexi was using Dean's grief as an advantage. She just wanted to make sure Dean wasn't being used. Shaking her thoughts out of her head, she forced herself to focus solely on what Dean was telling her and Cason, the information that Anyasudad was a hunter and at one point, had the Colt helped her refocus her mind. She couldn't help but wonder if they tried to searching for Anya's dadyname online or phone around the Hunter's circles to get any information on her dad. She kept quiet while Dean and Cason discussed everything, but her eyebrows raised when the whole ‘demons tried to find her’ spiel was said. She didn't like Cason's response, following his glance to Dean's arm, but Dean covered his arm before she could see what Cason did.

That was something she was going to have to ask about when they could have a moment to themselves. She didn't like the idea that he had been keeping something from her, even if whatever it was was to protect her in some way. She didn't see Cason's eyes turn black for that moment as she was still standing behind him, despite there being plenty of chairs around. Yet she could feel him tense up under her hand that wasn't holding her coffee mug, and if whatever he saw on Dean's arm was making him tense up, then it couldn't be anything good. Nat let Cason suggest a starting point, nodding her agreement at it as she figured it was as good as anywhere to start. “I can teach her some basics outside, I don't mind, unless Cason needs me as backup” she spoke up finally. She mostly just wanted a job that didn't involve being near Lexi, she wasn't ready to try and be nice and give a better first impression.

Nat knew also offering to train Anya was a petty move, but she couldn't help herself. But as she glanced between Anna and Sam, the tension between them tugged at her heart, so when Lexi caved and said she could train Anya instead, she gave a nod. If she trained her, it was an excuse to get Anya out of the way of Sam and Anna and would force her brother to actually talk to Anna for a change. When Lexi conceded to giving her the training Anya some basics, she simply nodded. She could see Lexi was trying to be nice to her, so maybe she should try back. For now though, Anya needed to know some basics if she was going to get out of this fiasco alive. “Sounds like a plan” she replied to Lexi, before leaning down just enough to hug Cason behind, kiss his cheek and then walk over to Anya and Sam. “Hey so, I know you really don't know me right now but figured we can get to know each other. We've come up with some kind of plan so whilst Cason does his own research for you, I said I can give you some basic tips and stuff on how to use some of our tools of the trade. So fancy coming outside? If I start teaching you how to use a knife in here Moose here might have a go at me” she explained and then chuckled, causing Sam to give her a look that said he wasn't impressed with her calling him a moose like a Crowley always did.