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.

Anya kept her eyes on Sam’s face, choosing to help him work through whatever his emotions were running to with Anna. She thought about what advice she would give to him if he wasn’t a potential partner, and she tilted her head to the side, letting her curly hair fall around her face. She pulled her hand from Sam for a moment and typed.

“You tell her that whatever you did was to keep her safe, whether she likes it or not. You tell her you’re sorry that you didn’t come back for her. She needs to hear that you’re sorry. I would. She needs to know that it’s not her fault you stayed away. That’s what I would want to hear. And if you’re lucky, she’ll at least understand enough to not hate you. I can tell by the look on her face that she’s shouldering everything you did, like she made a mistake and drove you away. It’s not hate. It’s regret.”

After she typed the message, she placed her hand back into Sam’s, letting him use the back of her hand like a stress ball, if he needed to. But as he apologized for dragging her into the drama, Anya shook her head, and she wiggled her phone in front of her face, not letting him read the message just yet. But after a moment, she turned the phone and held it close to his face so he could read the entire message.

She then pulled his hand up and kissed his fingers, just as Natalia approached them. With a small smile, Anya listened to Nat and after a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and absentmindedly signed, “Why not?”

She didn’t know if Nat understood ASL but hopefully she could read body language. Pulling Sam’s hand up to her cheek, she flattened his fingers against her skin, and then tilted her head toward Anna, giving Sam a look that told him to ‘try to talk to her’. She then turned to Nat and dropped Sam’s hand slowly, pointing her finger at the spiral staircase to tell Nat she was ready for whatever.



Dean had to agree with Cason. Both of Anna’s deaths had affected her, but she came back on the other side just as strong as she left. Other than the demon blood addiction, Anna had always carried herself more like a hunter than almost anyone he had seen dragged into it so suddenly. Maybe it was her love for Sam that carried her, or maybe it was just a natural draw to the life. Dean never knew. He turned his eyes over to Lexi as she mentioned that Anya was supposed to begin her training the day before. Dean had never planned to throw Anya into all of this so quickly, like Anna was forced to. Even if Anna took well to it, that didn’t mean Anya would.

Dean reached his hand across as Nat bucked up against Lexi with the training. Dean wanted Lexi to be the one to train Anya, if anything so that she would know her capabilities when they were out together, and so that she could work with Anya to make sure she was strong enough to handle what she would see. But Natalia was a good ally for Anya to have as well. Nat was a Winchester. She had a lot of the natural strengths that Dean and Sam had, and she was patient. With Anya being mute, that patience would likely work really well.

He squeezed Lexi’s thigh, and he leaned in, “Me and you can go and gather some tools. We’re gonna need everything we can carry. Who better to pack up, than us?”

Dean paused and he thought about things for a moment and then he glanced over at Anna, who was already scanning the far end of the library for any books she could find. She was gathering books quickly, and glancing up at Sam and Anya every now and then, “And, if we let the little one gather those books, we can make ourselves disappear to the armory, give Sam and Anna time to squash all of this.”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, making sure only Lexi could hear him, “If they ever touch, trust me when I say…we’re not going to want to be around. So, partners? Me and you?”



Anna had stepped away from everyone else, when Cason gave her the order to search the books for anything she could find about rogue demons. She had long lost the habit of arguing with Cason when he was on a roll. She just went along with it, nodding and doing her best to keep him in a good mood. As she skimmed the massive library of the bunker, she recognized a few books that she had flipped through, and pulled them, stacking them in an open area of the shorter bookshelves on her side.

As she sat a book on the shelf, she glanced over, seeing the way that Anya touched Sam, and the way they spoke. She could tell that Sam was used to talking to the doe eyed brunette through a lot of texting and crutches, which would have made Anna smile, if it wasn't obvious that this girl had Sam's heart in a chokehold. She knew his looks. She knew his body language better than almost anyone, and he was fighting his emotions, to try and be present for this girl.

Anna tried to fight with her jealous emotions. She fought with the thought of someone being so close to 'her Sam'. But he wasn't hers anymore...not really. Sure, they had their rogue moments, if he came too close, or if their fingers touched during a moment of being too close in the same room. But Sam wasn't hers. The memory of why just made her slam a book rather loudly on the stack as Anya stepped away from Sam and followed Nat, presumably to go and, as Nat said 'learn to use a knife properly'. As Anna calmed herself, she gathered the books, wiping a hand across her forehead, and brought them over to the table, dropping them in front of Cason.

"I need to take a walk." She grumbled, pulling her hair behind her ears and crossing her arms. Cason glanced up at her, scanning her face for a moment, before he nodded.

"Alright. Take a walk. We have a bit of time." Cason said softly, giving Anna his neutral understanding face that bugged her. She rolled her eyes, and didn't uncross her arms, as she turned and walked toward the war room. It wasn't as if there weren't plenty of areas of the bunker to walk around in. If anything, she would go to the gym and beat something, just to get this frustration out. "Just don't get lost!"

"I used to live here. I'll be fine." Anna shot back at Cason as she reached the corridors.

LEXI

Now Natalia was walking away from them to go over to Anya, Lexi felt herself relax a bit and listened as Dean leaned in once more and spoke quietly to her and her alone. She had to agree, they did need people to gather supplies and it may as well be them as the others were occupied in one way or another. She saw how Anna was being at the bookshelf and it didn't bode well that things would remain quiet for long. “Sure, partners” she said back to him with a smile. She still would have preferred to train Anya herself as she promised Anya she would, but if it meant it kept Nat happy and kept the peace, she was willing to go gather supplies and tools for their upcoming trio, once Cason had got any relevant information on where they needed to go. Standing up from her chair, she glanced at Cason, “nice meeting you” she simply said before stepping towards the hallway and waiting for Dean to catch up. As she was briefly on her own, she let out a sigh that she had been holding back whilst in the library, wondering how she could possibly win Natalia over whilst also feeling like a teenager needing to make a good impression on her boyfriend's parents. It felt weird and alien to her as she didn't normally have to work so hard to show people she was a good person.

As she waited for Dean, she became aware of Anna suddenly walking into the halls and calling out to Cason about having used to live here at the bunker. She didn't say anything to her, but she did feel sorry for the girl, not that she could imagine Anna would want the pity, especially from a woman who she didn't know.

SAM

Sam honestly felt like an asshole asking Anya what he could even say to Anna. Yet he couldn't help asking her for her advice, hoping that because she was a woman she'd be able to give him an insight that he hadn't had before. He refused to ask Esme about it all as that meant risking hearing Anna in the background if he called, texting didn't feel right either and he certainly wasn't going to dump it all on his sister. Not only that, the one person he usually sought advice from and somehow always had the answers was dead. So he really only had Anya and it was clear his mind knew that. He waited for her to be ready to show him what she thought about the situation as he tried to not see Anna at the bookshelf, rummaging through books quickly, even though he also knew he couldn't exactly avoid Anna the whole time she was in the bunker and involved in this case. He really wished Cason didn't convince her to come, so much of him wanted to have a go at Cason for bringing her, but he also knew it would be absolutely pointless so he didn't even entertain that idea.

When Anya did show him what she typed, he read it and took everything on board. What she said made sense and hearing that Anna was seemingly full of regret and that's why she's hurting was a bit of a surprise to him. He figured it would be only him that had regrets. He regretted not being able to fully articulate why he left her at the farm house with Duke and Esme, he regretted hurting Anna so much, but that regret didn't stop him from feeling he still did the right thing. Anna didn't drive him away, and hearing that Anya thought that's what Anna could be possibly thinking, he knew he did have to talk with her no matter how painful it would be. “Thanks Anya…that helps a lot” he told her as Natalia came over and said she was tasked with training Anya some basics outside if she was okay with it. He couldn't help but wonder what happened to the idea of Lexi training Anya, but he kept quiet. Then Anna closing a book harshly made him flinch. She was struggling being in this room and he knew it was all because of him.

As Anna walked away ‘for air’ he sighed, glancing at Nat, “you can go out in the fields opposite, it's close enough to here if you have to come back for any reason but far enough away that no one will bat an eyelid at what you're teaching her. Mostly because no one will be around” he suggested to his sister, not wanting Nat to take Anya any further than that for his own peace of mind.

NATALIA

Hearing Anna leave the room and tell Cason she wouldn't get lost made her feel more guilty about letting Cason decide Anna should come. It felt like every moment that went by, the more guilty she felt. She was really starting to see Anna not staying very long at this rate even though Anna would be crucial as another body to help Anya out. Refocusing her mind, she gave Anya a nod, figuring that what Anya signed was agreement in heading out and training. Looking up at Sam, she listened to his instructions on where to go and it made her smile, “that's exactly where I planned on going. I've got some stuff in my car that we can use so we don't need any gear from here. And Sam?” She started to reply before continuing, “please go talk with Anna…this tension is a serious mood killer and you two need to get past all this tip toeing around each other. It's not healthy for either of you” she said, giving her own bit of advice. Sam took the advice on board and with a pat on Anya's shoulder to say she's safe with Nat, he went and followed Anna.

Turning back to Anya, she gestured for the woman to follow her. “I hope you're a quick study like Red thinks you will be, because although I'm patient, I'm not gonna go too easy. You have the disadvantage of needing to learn a few things as quickly as possible.” She explained to her as she began to head towards the main room where the spiral staircase was to head on up. At the foot of the steps, she waited for Anya to catch up and grab whatever she needed to. Looking around, she had to admit she did kind of miss the bunker when she wasn't there, and being back in it she realized this was the closest to a normal home her brothers will probably have for the foreseeable future.

When Anya was ready, she headed up and pointed to her own car, “we'll grab some stuff from that car” she said, walking over to it and unlocking the trunk, opening it up and revealing the hidden compartment with her duffel and other supplies. “So I think we should focus on some knife skills for you and generic self defense skills” she said to her.

Anya smiled up at Sam, echoing Nat’s look to him as she basically told him the same thing that Anya did. Sam and Anna needed to talk, even if it was awkward. Even if some hard truths came up, and even if they ended up closer, and reconnected…it was good for them. She reached her hand up and squeezed Sam’s hand on her shoulder as she stepped away from him and followed Natalia. If ever there was a time that Anya wished she could talk, it was this one. She wanted to tell Nat that she was a lot tougher than she looked, and she could handle whatever she would throw to her.

Instead, she pulled her phone, ready to type anything she needed to, to defend herself. Nat didn’t seem to be coming at her super aggressively. Instead, she seemed to be looking out for her wellbeing. So, she simply nodded and followed her up the stairs and over to Nat’s car.

As she stood there, her eyes scanning over all of the things in the trunk, Anya pulled her phone up and typed a message, “I think knowing how to use a knife and how to use my smaller frame to get someone off me is good enough, maybe. At least I won’t be alone. I have a little bit of self defense under my belt, but obviously, I’ve never dealt with demons.”



Anna walked through the corridors with her arms crossed, winding through the echoing halls that used to be her home. As she passed one of the familiar doors, she stopped and stared at it for a moment. The sign was still there that Dean had made during one of his many ‘housewarming’ moments, when they had all first moved into the bunker. Her name was neatly written in sharpie across a plank of wood, nailed to the old oak as if she had never left. She brushed her fingers over the doorknob and then opened the door, stepping into the room. To her surprise, nothing about the room had changed. Her blankets were still piled neatly at the foot of the bed, Sam’s flannel she had slept in the night before they took her to Colorado still laid across them.

There were frames with pictures of the three of them during happier days, and one photo that glared like a beacon, now…with Sam and herself, huddled up in Bobby’s lot. Dean and Mika were nearby, their stiff pose showing that they were posing for the photo, while she and Sam were a bit more relaxed, as if caught off guard by Bobby holding a camera at them. Anna’s eyes flooded with tears as she ran her finger across the top of the photo frame, and she quickly reached up and whisked the tears away, in case Dean walked in.

She stepped over to her dresser, opening the top drawer and smirking fondly at how neatly her collection of Sam’s clothes were situated inside, as if he funded her entire pajama collection with a ‘boyfriend tax’. She closed the drawer with a sigh, and looked over the top of the dresser, at the small collection of rings and other jewelry that lay in a bowl there. A memory flashed through her mind, of Sam, on one of the nights he was particularly sick. He sat in her room for hours, and eventually fell asleep curled up at the foot of her bed. She had taken all of her jewelry off and tossed it into the bowl on the dresser, so she could sponge cold water across his burning face, to help him sleep.

She fished out one of the rings, and turned it over in her hand, quickly dropping it back into the bowl as if it electrocuted her. It was an ‘if we survive this’ engagement ring that never actually made it to becoming official. After a year of watching Esme and Duke love each other, being quite literally the perfect married couple, Anna couldn’t even touch the ring.

Anna quickly moved to take her jacket off, tossing it at the foot of the bed, before walking around and sitting on the edge of the mattress, pushing her hair back with both hands and then rested her head in her hands as she took a deep breath. None of this was fair. Losing Sam wasn’t fair. They were supposed to make it to the other side of all of this…

But her dying changed everything…overnight.



Dean jumped up as soon as Lexi did, and he tapped the table in front of Cason, brushing his fingers across Anna’s back in a brotherly small encouragement. He then turned and walked almost at pace with Anna, until she passed him, walking down the corridor while arguing with Cason. With a sigh, Dean watched her with his eyes, and then as she turned the bend toward her room, Dean glanced down at Lexi.

“So, let’s hit the armory and grab what we can. Angel blades might be good, but you also look like you need a breath.” He explained, reaching out and brushing a strand of Lexi’s hair away from her face. He tilted his head toward the deeper part of the corridor and pulled her with him briefly with his touch. As they walked deeper into the halls, Dean reached down and picked up Lexi’s hand, squeezing it tightly, “If you need to vent, feel free to vent. I know my sister can be a lot, and there’s a lot of tension around, right now. We haven’t all been around each other for a while…people change and feelings are a bit tense.”

LEXI

Lexi didn't even notice initially that Dean was as close to her as he was. She thought he was further behind than he was, until he spoke up and she suddenly saw that he was right beside her. She briefly closed her eyes at his soft touch of sweeping a strand of her hair behind her ear and out of her face. She thought she had hidden her cues of needing a breather well enough, convinced that it hadn't been long enough knowing Dean for him to not see said cues, but he proved her wrong by picking up on them instantly. Looking where he was tilting his head, she followed him to the deeper part of the corridor, squeezing his hand back to try and convey that she was okay deep down. She looked up at him when he spoke to her, practically giving her the okay to vent to him no matter what it was, something she appreciated. “It's not that…well, not entirely. I'm just computing everything discussed whilst feeling like I've been put in the position to prove myself to your sister like some kind teenage girl.” She admitted to him. Now she had said it out loud, she came to the conclusion it sounded absolutely ridiculous, she was older than Nat, her own person, and knew Dean wouldn't have gotten close to her if he didn't want to. So why was she letting herself feel like this?

“It's stupid I know. I just don't want Nat's judgment of me to add to the tension that's around the bunker right now. We don't have time to be piling on the tension and I just wanna help Anya.” she explained with a sigh, briefly looking down at the floor between herself and Dean before she looked back up at his eyes. “Natalia seems like a great sister, truly, I just don't want to come between you both, but I also don't want to sacrifice our happiness for what we've got going on either.” She finally said, lifting her hands up and stroking his arms as a way to soothe herself more than anything. She wanted him to know she would be okay, that he didn't have to worry about her when they had so much work to do.

Then it dawned on her what he said before this heart to heart in the corridor. “Did you say you had Angel blades in the armory?” she questioned with an raised eyebrow. “You've been holding out on me!” She smiled once more.

SAM

With Natalia having guided Anya out of the bunker for some basic training, Lexi and Dean leaving the library and Anna walking off, Sam saw it was just simply himself and Cason in the library. He pondered what to do, should he really go after Anna or should he focus on the job at hand? Thinking about it, he decided on the former choice. The girls were right, he did have to talk with Anna even though he knew how it would probably end up. Heading towards the corridor, he paused to look over his shoulder at Cason, “if you're hanging around for a bit before asking around, there's drinks in the kitchen or I'm pretty certain Dean has a secret stash somewhere in this room” he said, then walked off down the corridor. He couldn't see Lexi or Dean but didn't worry about where they went, assuming they already made it to the armory and were packing supplies. He searched for Anna, not finding her initially, but then he remembered the one place she would have gone to. Walking to her room, he stood out her door for a moment, hesitating for what felt like hours, but was in fact only about a minute. Plucking up the courage, he lifted his hand up and using his knuckles, he knocked on the door.

He hoped he wouldn't have to call out to her, for fear of her refusing to see him or talk with him. In the end, he decided to just call out anyway, “Anna? Can we um…can we talk?” He said through the door, just wanting to try and make an attempt at putting some kind of closure to everything. She deserved that and deserved to finally hear why he did what he did. He stood still, waiting for her to make a decision whether or not to let him in, letting himself acknowledge that he hadn't been at her room since she was last here. The thought of being in the room was just too painful for the longest time. He knew one of the last times he was in there he was incredibly sick from the trials, he was barely surviving and she became a carer for him. He didn't want that for her. Then came the time she died and Cason had to bring her back and that was the last straw for him. He couldn't stand around and watch her die again, or have her watch him die. He was so convinced that the trials would kill one of them and he couldn't be with her when he thought it was going to happen.

But that was some time ago and the longer the time went by, the harder he found it to go get Anna back. Now they were at another moment of being near each other and thoughts and feelings were racing through both their minds all over again. He hoped she would answer the door before he decides to bolt it, but the longer he waited, the more he was convincing himself she didn't want to talk to him

NATALIA

Nat let Anya look over all the equipment and tools of the trade, knowing that sooner or later Anya would have to familiarize herself with every single one. She listened to the voice that came out of the phone, giving a nod of approval that she had some kind of self defense training under her belt. “Good because you'll need to remember all of it if you're seriously wanting to stick around in this biz” she replied. “You’re also very lucky you found my bozo brothers. They're the best in this world and I'm not just being biased in that. Once they set their minds to a case, they don't stop until it's solved, so if there's a way out of this deal of yours, they'll find it. Just as Cason will.” she explained with a smile. She really hoped a way out could be found because no one deserved to have their voice just stripped from them like they were in some kind of Hans Christian Anderson novel. Grabbing a couple of her knives and a flask of holy water. “Okay, think I got all that's required for now. So let's head out” she commented, stashing the tools away and closing the trunk.

“No need to take the car. You've no doubt seen the fields just opposite, that's where we're going.” She explained, leading the way out whilst also staying close to Anya. “So how'd you come into contact with Sam and Dean? If you don't mind me asking that is and if I'm ever prying too much, just tell me to shut up” she smiled at her. It was clear that Sam was doting on Anya and even though she always thought he and Anna were endgame, she also wanted Sam to be happy again and clearly Anya was being the right kind of influence on him. Sure it made her a hypocrite as Lexi was clearly making Dean happy but she couldn't help but find it being a completely different situation. Anna was still alive, Anna and Sam all but silently broke up, but Dean was looking at another woman when he had been so swallowed up in grief of Mika being dead. She just wanted to know that Lexi wasn't taking advantage of that or Dean wasn't using Lexi as a scapegoat to pretend Mika was never in his life. That's why she was suspicious of the redheaded woman. She was just terrible at explaining that.

—--

Over on the fields, she went to a pretty secluded area that had enough trees to hide them for privacy but also for targets to throwing knives. Close combat was one thing, but she already knew Anya would need to know how to do ranged attacks with melee weapons as well.

Dean almost shook his head as Lexi took him up on his offer to hear her vent to him…and she said the last thing he would want her to feel. Despite Nat being abrasive at times, Lexi had nothing to prove to her. He could convince Nat himself that he wasn’t moving on out of some sort of coercion. But he kept quiet, just walking with her as she spilled to him. But the words only hit him worse as she continued.

“Hold on.” Dean muttered as Lexi’s hands began stroking his arms in a soothing manner, and her words rolled around in his mind. “Nat knows better, first of all, than to try and convince me of anything. You don’t have anything to prove to her. She’s not going to be happy seeing me with anyone, no matter how good they are for me, because she thinks I’m easy to manipulate when I’m upset.”

He took a deep breath, and leaned in close to her face, “Nothing is going to screw up what we’ve got. Alright? I’m right here. I’m not going to put on any sort of ‘I don’t want the parents to know we’re together’ face to make her feel more comfortable. Let me handle her…”

After a moment, Dean stood up a little straighter, and he ushered her further toward the armory as Lexi asked about the angel blade to diffuse the tension, “Oh yeah. We have a ton of them. We started picking them up, and just kinda stashing them in the armory. Don’t call it holding out. Call it…insurance to make sure I could trust you.”

Dean gave Lexi a playful wink as they reached the armory and he began to release the locks on the door. After all the locks were released and the door creaked open, Dean pulled it further open, letting Lexi step in before following her inside. As he did, he thought about their conversation in the hall and he raised his eyebrows, “Also, about my sister…I’m pretty sure that if she sees you out hunting, or even just existing in the field, she’ll come around.”



Anna’s head snapped up, staring at the door of her room with a furrowed brow. Part of her thought it might be Cason coming to check on her, but he would never be caught dead this far into the bunker halls without someone with him. He would also never come to have a heart to heart with her with company. She simply stared at the dark wood for a few moments until she heard Sam’s voice and her stomach fell into her feet. He had come after her, and he wanted to talk. He wanted talk…

Sam wanted to talk.

Anna thought it over. If he came into the room, she couldn’t think of any other way that it could end, than them falling straight into each other’s arms. They always pieced themselves back together, even if only temporarily. It just seemed that they were destined to be magnetized to one another. After a few moments, she stood from the side of the bed and she walked over to the door, not giving herself time to think it over. She opened the door, and reluctantly turned her eyes up to see Sam’s face standing there…in her doorway. A memory flooded her mind, as she looked him over. He was full of life, now, his face sun kissed and full of color. He was muscular, more so than the last time she had seen him, but still thinner than their happier times together.

Her memories were flooded with his sunken tired eyes, and his soft voice that almost seemed strained. His hair was constantly melted to his head with sweat, and he seemed on the verge of death, but back then…she refused to accept it. Seeing him now, the tears instantly pricked at the corners of her eyes, and she leaned against the doorway, just drinking him in.

“You want to talk?” She asked in a small voice, her blue eyes glittering in the dim light of the bunker halls. She stepped back slowly from the door, and ushered him in. After a moment, she reached out, knowing it was a bad idea, and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, pulling him into the room with her. “C’mon. Sit down.”

She pointed toward the edge of her bed, and then stood in front of Sam with her arms crossed, looking down at him with a soft sigh. She reached a hand up and whisked a tear away from her cheek, “You don’t know how tempting it is, being back in this room, to ask you if I can come home.”, she admitted suddenly. She knew that if she said something to Dean, he would likely push the issue, but it would also make things incredibly tense in the bunker, since Anna had to assume Anya was staying with them, for the time being.

“You seem good.”



Anya smiled fondly at the way that Natalia described her brothers. From what little Anya knew of them, she already knew that they were both headstrong and obviously good at their jobs. They already seemed so confident they could squash this issue for her. She trusted them explicitly. She fell into a quiet moment, until Nat pulled away from the trunk and closed it. Anya smiled a bit brighter and she stepped away from the car with Nat with a nod.

Anya kept her phone close to her chest, enjoying the fact that Nat didn’t seem to mind her speaking through a tool like her phone. She didn’t seem to flinch a bit, like Sam didn’t. Anya nodded about the fields. She had only been back and forth from the bunker a few times, but she had passed those fields every time. They didn’t seem like a bad walk, and they also seemed incredibly private, unless someone knew they were there and had access. The question of how she came to meet Sam and Dean made Anya smile fondly once again and she began typing on her phone.

“You’re not prying. You’re getting to know me. I literally met Sam in an electronics store, and it just happened that he was the person I was looking for. Well, not as much him, but Dean. I got their names from a hunter who figured they might have the gun my dad lost. They didn’t have it, but Sam was willing to help. So, he helped.”

She pressed play on the message and as the message ended, she decided to try and help Lexi out with a bit of diffusing language.

“Me and Sam have gotten close. Lexi was already here and she’s good with Dean. She makes sure he eats. She gets him out of the bunker sometimes. She seems to be a bit of a safe space for him. I don’t know him that well, but I can tell that he’s struggling. From what I’ve gathered, his drinking is better…”

Anya didn’t want to delve much into her relationship as Sam, as they ended up at the fields and she figured the conversation would end, at least until Nat started asking questions again. Anya glanced around the area, and she sighed, eager but nervous to start training. She could tell that Sam didn’t seem too excited for her to start hunting, and even seemed surprised that Dean would even consider it. She typed a short message as they reached the area and Anya glanced back at the hill that the bunker sat beneath, “So, what’s first? You’re the teacher and I’ll be your mole on the inside, now that no one can hear us.”

She pressed play with a playful smirk, raising an eyebrow at Nat as she offered to spill tea while they worked.

LEXI

Dean's words to her stuck in her mind instantly as he tried to reassure her about Natalia. At his first words, she simply gave a nod before he leaned in closer and promised her nothing will screw up what they got going on, and Nat is only being like this because she's being over protective of him basically. It made sense, she could have imagined if she stuck around and got anywhere near Owen's family, they would no doubt be just as cautious of Dean as Nat was of her. If anyone would be able to get through to Natalia, then it surely would be her brothers. She trusted that Dean could get through to Natalia whenever Nat got back from starting Anya's training, even though she knew it was probably important to keep being nice to Nat, so as not to give the girl more ammunition against her.

When Dean said about how he wasn't holding out on her about the angel blades, just making sure he could trust her, she had to smirk at the taunting. The way he winked at her made her heart flutter and skip a beat, glad that he was willing to entertain her attempts at changing the subject. Walking with him, she stood back when they reached the large metal door to the armory, letting him open it up before stepping inside and seeing everything. It felt familiar in so many ways and new at the same time. It was an impressive collection and she instantly spotted the angel blades, guessing it was them from the design of them. “You were kidding about the amount you collected” she remarked, as he commented about Natalia once more. Dropping her smile briefly, she looked back at him and smiled softly with a nod. “I trust your judgment Dean” she replied simply before looking back around the armory and walking over to the angel blades. She couldn't help picking one up and testing the weight distribution of it, “impressively balanced” she commented. “Gotta say, whoever upstairs is their blacksmith has incredible skills” she half chuckled, knowing it probably wasn't even a blacksmith, but it still impressed her.

“And yes…I know a good weighted blade when I see one. Owen was a bit of a nerd for these things in his spare time, so I kinda picked up a few things, which came in handy for our line of work” she smirked, before the smirk grew a somberness to it. She remembered the day Owen got his first fantasy sword in the mail and he was so ecstatic about it, it was like watching a kid getting their first Pokémon plush or their very first lightsaber toy for Christmas. She had intended on buying Owen said item herself, but Owen went and bought it for himself anyway, which started a snowball avalanche of collecting. Sadly, once he died, apart from the one she insisted on burning his body with, she sold the entire lot of them to be able to leave town. Something that Owen probably wouldn't have been happy about, but she couldn't take looking at them at the time. It brought too much emotional pain.

SAM

Sam was ready to walk away when the door opened and Anna was standing right in front of him and looking up at him. He really took in her new look, how much healthier and fit she looked, clearly living with Duke on the ranch had done a lot of good for her. Then there was the hair change, which kept taking him aback every time he looked at her, but he liked it. It somehow suited her more than he ever thought it could, even though he still had a soft spot for her natural brunette hair. He also was under no illusion that she probably thought very similarly about him. He knew the last time she saw him, he looked ill and practically on death's door. It was a miracle back then that he even had the body strength to take her to Duke's with Dean's help and walk away. But the time apart meant he could work on himself, get fit again, get healthy again and overcome the side effects of what the trials brought onto him.

At her question, he gave a sheepish nod and at her gesture and permission, he stepped inside into her room and saw that Dean had left it exactly the way she had it, with nothing overturned. Following her toward her bed as she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, he did as she asked and sat on the edge, whilst she remained standing. As he listened to her say about the temptation to ask him to let her come home, his heart pulled tightly in his chest. So much of him wanted to fall I to old habits, but he knew if they did then he'd never get out what he needed to say to her, so for now, he would do the talking first then see where it led them.

“I am…for the most part” he replied to her, “well, you know as good as anyone can be when they're trying to keep Dean from drowning in self pity and alcoholism” he gave a sad smirk. “You look good too,” he then said. “Anna, I want you to know none of what happened between us was your fault” he sighed, knowing he had to get it off his chest as soon as he could. He looked down at his hands in his lap, his foot tapping constantly and rapidly out of nervousness. “It was…IS all on me. I truly thought I was doing the right thing letting you have a chance at a normal life with Duke and Esme on the ranch. You deserve all of that Anna” he said, glancing up at her then back down again so he could get his words out. “I want you to have stability in your life, and I can't give you that… I couldn't give you that, back then. It wasn't fair on you for me to keep you nearby when I was dying, and I couldn't take the thought of seeing you die again. It was too hard to deal with. We have dealt with too much death in this family….” He explained, trying to hold it together but it was proving more and more difficult by each word that left his mouth.

NATALIA

Nat knew it would take a little longer for Anya to reply to her, having quickly noticed back in the bunker that she needed her phone to communicate. In Natalia's eyes it was actually quite smart that she could use a phone to still have a voice when she couldn't use her own. Though, it wouldn't be very convenient on a hunt if she had to remain either silent or be quick with communication. So she hopes Anya would get her voice back to make life so much easier for her. When the message was done being typed, she listened to the phone explain the story of how Anya met Sam and hearing it was in an electronics store made Nat smirk and half chuckle. Of course they met in a geeky store, she thought to herself. She gave an intrigued nod at the rest of the story, curious to who that hunter was. “I see” she replied, “Sam is always willing to help people so you were certainly lucky you bumped into him. Even if it wasn't hunting related, knowing him, he'd have helped if he could” she added, whilst Anya was typing something else out.

As the next message played and Anya was mentioning Lexi, she sighed but listened anyway. The moment Anya said about how Lexi had gotten Dean to eat and lower his drinking, she raised an eyebrow. So Red was actually helping Dean out of his grief out of the goodness of her own heart? Interesting, she thought. “You're right about him struggling. He lost the love of his life, his endgame you could say. That woman was like a sister to me, bordering on a mother figure. She was so important to us Winchester's, especially Dean. They had known each other since they were about 13 years old. Been through so much together. So when demons killed her with a unique blade, it hit us all hard. I was convinced that Dean was going to kill himself to be back with her for a while…” she sadly explained to Anya, to give the woman more context as to why she was so uptight about Lexi.

“and I can tell you're close with Sam, it's sweet.” She added as they made it to their desired destination in the fields and Anya asked about what was first, and she was willing to be a mole for her. The very notion of her own little spy in the by ker made her chuckle. “First up, knife work” she instructed, pulling out one of the knives she brought with them, handing her one, handle first. “And I might take you up on that offer of being my mole on the inside. Think Cason would prefer it to be someone else too” she laughed.

“Okay, so, have you ever used a knife before? And not for chopping foods” she asked, wanting to know how much Anya knew.

Dean decided to drop the conversation about Natalia as soon as he saw Lexi’s smile drop. She definitely didn’t seem to want to talk about it anymore, and he was happy to let it go, if it would ease ANY of the tension in the bunker. As she stepped inside and picked up one of the angel blades, Dean shoved his hands in his pockets and he just watched, having to chuckle as she commented on the craftsmanship of the blade.

“They are pretty nice. It’s the dicks that carry them I don’t care for as much.” Dean chuckled, shaking his head. Hearing that her fiancé’s nerdiness for swords and blades rubbed off on Lexi just made him tilt his head back with a smirk that said ‘interesting’. He walked a little closer, picking up one of the blades and spinning it on his palm, “And if you’ve picked up on a few things, then that means you’re good with one of these. I would say that comes way…way in handy in this line of work.”

He held the blade up in the light, watching the way the light flickered onto the wall next to him and then he turned his eyes back up to Lexi with a bright smile, “And you wanna know the best part? These things? They can kill demons. Not smoke ‘em out. Not send ‘em back to Hell…kill them. Dead as they would be if we shot them with the Colt. Hell, they can kill anything, and we have a ton of them, one for each of us.”



Anna tilted her head, dropping Sam’s hand as she placed her hands on her hips and listened to him explain that he was as good as could be expected. She was genuinely glad to hear it, although she did wonder if things would have been easier for him to handle Dean’s grief and binge drinking if she had come home. She was good with Dean, after some healing between them. Maybe she could have kept him off that ledge, but at least he seemed good for the moment. He seemed almost healthier than when they dropped her off.

“I’ve been good.” She replied when he complimented her, but quickly he started explaining himself, and Anna took a deep breath, not quite sure how to handle Sam actually talking. They normally didn’t talk. They just…let the past sit there, festering until the next awkward moment. Around and around that bend. He had also never stated that he might have been wrong, which took Anna aback. He was saying everything she had wanted to hear from him for months, but never thought he would say out loud. But as he continued speaking, Anna’s heart plummeted. He was protecting her after she had died. It made her feel like dying was an inconvenience, like if she could have prevented it somehow, he wouldn’t have left. He would still be hers. She would still be home.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that things have been stable, or normal.” Anna started, sniffling as she began to pace back and forth, slowly in front of him. She took a deep breath, pushing down the anger that suddenly began to bubble up, now that they were spilling their guts to one another, “I mean, unless you count Duke having to sit with me until dawn most nights, right after you left, because I woke up screaming for you. I still dream about you. I dream about the look on your face, while the light faded from my eyes. I saw your face. Did I ever tell you that? I watched you, until the very end…”

Anna’s voice broke, and she let out a soft sob, gritting her teeth, “And I was there for you, through everything. Dean even promised me, and you know he doesn’t make promises…he promised me you would come back. He promised that he would come get me, and yet here we are. I get it. You were scared. You were scared you were going to watch me die, or that I was going to have to live without you but all you did was make me have panic attacks every time the phone rang…”

Anna stopped and she squatted for a moment, collecting herself by pushing her hair back from her face and wiping both her hands over her cheeks to try and reign in some of her emotions. Standing to her feet again, she sniffled and turned back to Sam, holding her hand out.

“Did you stop and think for one second about what I might have wanted? That maybe I was scared too, and all I wanted was to be there for you? Or that maybe after everything we have been through together that I could handle what was coming? Or did you just…think of yourself without so much as speaking to me about what you were feeling. That’s not you, Sam.”

She pointed a finger at Sam’s face, and then went quiet for a moment, beginning to pace again as she grappled with the confused emotions that were rumbling around in her brain. Part of her hated Sam for what he did to her, and the other part of her just wanted him to tell her to come home and they could start over like nothing had ever happened…



Anya hadn’t heard the entire story of Mika and Dean’s relationship, but she knew that Mika had been close with the Winchester’s entire group. From what Anya knew, they had all split up after her death, in one way or another. So, hearing that Dean had known Mika forever, Anya’s eyes softened into a sad frown. She could tell that Dean was still struggling his way back to normal, or at least whatever was normal for him. But thinking of him being so worse off that those closest to him would fear he was going to kill himself, Anya couldn’t help the pit that formed in her stomach.

Anya changed her face back to a neutral smirk as Natalia mentioned that she was actually happy to have a mole on the inside. She nodded, and pulled her phone, typing a quick, “Ask me anything. I’m an open book. But I might have some questions too…about Sam.”

When Natalia asked her if she knew how to use a knife, Anya typed another message, letting it play, before sliding her phone in her back pocket and out of the way, “I assume you just stab them with the pointy end and hope for the best. But I also assume there’s more to it than that, or you wouldn’t have me in a muddy field to teach me how to do it right. So, I’m your student. Show me…and let’s talk.”

LEXI

Lexi couldn't help but chuckle when Dean called the angels dicks. She may not have dealt with angels, at least, knowingly, herself but if they were as high and mighty as demons thought of themselves, then she could easily imagine angels being dicks. “Not hard to imagine” she replied, glancing at him as she inspected the blade. It truly was quite the piece of weaponry and she just knew if Owen was still alive, he'd have begged Dean for one to keep in his collection if he ever clapped eyes on it. Glancing up at Dean, she saw how he found her little random tidbit of information intrigued him. As he walked a little closer and took a blade for himself, spinning it on his palm, she couldn't help but smirk at the action. “Oh it does and I can most certainly work with one of these. Won't be my first time working with a blade. I can be quite resourceful when I need to be” she smirked.

She kept ahold of the blade she was admiring but looked at Dean and how he was watching the light reflecting off the blade as he held it up to the light. His next words caught her interest greatly, the idea of just stopping a demon dead with something that wasn't the Colt was quite the thought. It certainly made her like the angel blades more, “huh…well these just got more beautiful by the minute” she smiled, taking another look at the blade in her hand before making herself get back on track to the task at hand. Taking a look around the armory, she tried to decide what else she thought they might need. In theory if it was just a rogue demon, who thought they were higher up the food chain than they actually were, then they should be relatively easy to break into undoing the contract for Anya and giving her voice back. Which in Lexi's eyes meant, not too much fighting. But she also learned over the years not to underestimate a demon. So they truly had to prepare for every single possible outcome.

Sure the angel blades were powerful enough for them all, but could they really rely on solely that? Probably not. “See you got a good stock of holy water in here…might be worth taking that just in case.” She remarked.

SAM

Sam was honestly glad that Anna was good. That she has been doing good. It was all he wanted for her. Before he started word vomiting what he wanted to say to her, he gave her a nod to acknowledge her reply. It felt so different this time being so close to her now that he could actually speak to her.

As she replied to his first onslaught of words, he looked up at her sadly as she said nothing had been normal or even stable. It broke his heart to hear that as he had hoped leaving her with Duke and Esme, she would have had a stable life. He expected her to be upset for a while, but still had a stable life. He watched her as she sniffled and began to pace, her actions making him nervous but he knew it was inevitable so he just let her do whatever she needed to to process what he was telling her. When she finally found her voice and words, clearly angry still after all this time he flinched as she told him what Duke did for her, and what she still goes through every single night. Yet the thing that made him hurt the most? Hearing that she saw his face until her very last breath and everything faded to black when she died.

Then she continued on, needing to get a lot off her chest and it was the least he could give her. His heart knotted up even tighter as he listened to her words, listened as she told him how Dean promised to bring her back, that Sam himself would come round, and yet he didn't. He left her with Duke and never looked back. Just walked away, hoped she would move on from him and he got close to Anya. He broke her heart in ways he never thought he could have ever done and it made him feel sick at himself as she really drove that truth home. He stared at the ground until she squatted to gather herself and then stood up again, holding her hand out as she continued to lecture him about everything. He deserved it, he deserves every single bit of pain and anger she threw at him.

“I'm sorry…” he mumbled, forcing himself to look at her. “You're right, it wasn't me. I wasn't myself. Not in the slightest…the trials messed me up so much mentally that looking back, I don't think I even knew who I was or what I should have done” he sighed, trying not to cry himself. He toyed with the idea of standing up from her old bed and walking over to her, but he was honestly scared. As much as he felt she had every right to kick him out of the room, shout and hit him, he was scared of those actions. In the end he decided to face that possibility and stood up, stepping in front of her. “Look at me…please” he asked of her. “I know there's not much I can say to make any of this better. If hitting me will help, hit me. If screaming at me will help, scream at me…if telling me to leave will help? Tell me to leave” he said, the tears he tried to fight away, now spilling over and down his cheeks. “I don't know what to do to make any of this better” he added, reaching out and taking her hand without even thinking.

NATALIA

Natalia was glad that Anya didn't ask anymore questions about her family story, she felt like she had said enough. She was glad though that Anya was willing to move the conversation along and agree to being her mole in the bunker, smirking when she said about asking her own questions about Sam. “I’m sure I can accommodate that request. I can answer to the best of my ability” she agreed. She wasn't sure what Anya would want to know about Sam, but if it didn't delve too much into his history with Anna, Nat didn't see a problem in letting Anya know a few things. The last thing she would want was to scare Anya off so early before she knew how to defend herself. Lexi? Now Lexi she didn't mind scaring off in the slightest, Anya she was liking as a person.

As she moved the topic along and Anya then said her assumption about using a knife, Nat couldn't help but smirk and chuckle ever so slightly. “I mean…you're not entirely wrong. Yes, this end you use to stab” she said, pointing the blade as she walked over to Anya and handed her the knife, before then pulling out the second knife she brought. “But, you wouldn't have to hope for the best if you know where to stab and you learn how to do that without breaking your own wrist,” she explained. She gestured for Anya to watch her as she showed how to grip the knife at the handle properly, “you need to hold it like this or you run the risk of losing a grip on it” she said to her. Waiting until she was satisfied that Anya had understood what she was saying, she then moved forward with the teachings.

“Okay…so, come at me as if I'm an enemy. Just don't actually make contact with me. Show me where you think would be the take down with a knife” she instructed.

Dean smiled a bit brighter when Lexi mused at the idea of killing a demon. He wanted to see it. He wanted her to get that high, of being able to stop what they had thought their entire lives were unstoppable. But he still had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, letting her hunt with them at all. He knew that part of it was trauma from losing Mika…twice. He had lost Anna…twice. He had watched everyone he had ever loved die in some horrific way, and the fear of dragging new people that he was attached to into his business scared the hell out of him, hunter or not.

As she stepped away from him, Dean grabbed a few more of the angel blades from their rack and pulled a duffel bag, tossing it on the counter. He shoved the angel blades inside, and then thought about something that Cason had said. The demon could have never given Anya her voice, even if it wanted to. She was basically born without it. It wasn’t some sort of deal that caused it, as far as they knew, which meant that the demons, outside of the crossroads, couldn’t interfere. Only angels and crossroads demons had that kind of juice.

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts and he glanced up, pointing to the shelf that held literally hundreds of gallons of holy water, a dispenser on the bottle at the top. That was Sam’s idea, “Yeah. We kinda keep it on tap. I don’t know why we never thought about it before we had the bunker, but it comes in handy. We can grab some bottles and flasks and at least make sure everyone has plenty with them.”

With a smile, Dean pointed toward the older clay bottles above the water, “And that is Holy Oil. Good for trapping angels. Like I said, we’ve learned a lot…gathered a lot. It’s why we win.”, he said with pride, opening a drawer in front of him. He pulled a few empty metal flasks and then dipped back in for some salt canisters, placing them into the duffel. Cason’s words were still bugging him, and he decided to bring them up, since it was only himself and Lexi in the room.

“Cason mentioned something about demons not having the juice to give Anya her voice back. We don’t think that she believes it’s going to happen when we get there, do we? I mean, from the way she talked, she’s never had a voice. It’s not something she made a deal with…” Dean explained his concerns, hoping that they weren’t going to bring Anya out of this broken and disappointed.



Anna almost scoffed at Sam’s apology, expecting it to remain so simple, two words that she had wanted to hear since the day he left. But now? The words felt hollow. They felt useless. There was just too much hurt for her to accept an apology from him, but she needed it. Once again, her emotions were tearing her mind apart, and she growled softly, covering her eyes with both hands as she stood in front of him, just trying to process. But as he continued, Anna thought back to how he looked while he was undergoing the trials. A tug of sympathy hit her chest, rumbling up in a bit of anger, as if he was attacking her for being upset…playing on her emotions.

But he was right. During the trials, he was so sick he was seeing things, at times. She was there…the whole time, until he left her. She could still see, in slow motion, his body collapse in front of her when his fever got to the point that it took him out. If Dean hadn’t showed up and helped her drag him into that bathtub of ice, he would have died…visions or no visions.

She nodded absentmindedly, and dropped her hands from her face, staring off toward the foot of the bed with a whispered, “I know…”

As Sam stood from the bed, Anna took a step back and she held out her hand, as if she was fighting him off from touching her. But like always, when he said the words ‘look at me’, she turned her sad blue eyes up to his and she let out a soft sob. She could still see parts of his smile behind his eyes, even though they were full of tears. She could still hear him talking, back when his voice was softer and less broken. The memories just made it harder to look at him, as he began to ramble through all of the ways she could hurt him back, get some sort of revenge.

She shook her head softly. She didn’t want any of those things. She didn’t want any more hurt. She wanted to come home. But was this home, anymore? It felt like home. It smelled like home. Dean’s cheap beer reminded her…of home. She glanced down from his eyes as he picked up her hand and let out a small huff of sad amusement at how perfectly their fingers seemed to intertwine, even after all the time apart. Their heartbeats synced immediately, and Anna shook her head again.

“I don’t know that there’s anything that can make it better.” She whimpered honestly, stepping closer to Sam as she looked up into his eyes. She took a deep breath, and brought her other hand up to place it against his chest, just feeling his identical heartbeat thumping beneath her fingers, “M-maybe one day we can. I can come back, and things can just…work themselves out. A different world…”

After a moment of just letting the proposition linger, Anna stood on her tiptoes and she pressed a feather light kiss against Sam’s lips, falling into the old habits, like clockwork. In a different world, this would be as natural as breathing. For the moment? Falling back into each other’s arms would have to be closure enough…



Anya was rather happy with the way her conversation with Natalia was going. Nat seemed an open book with those that she trusted, and she seemed to be gaining a bit of Nat’s trust with every bit of conversation. When Nat moved the conversation forward, Anya shrugged at the correction of her assumptions, and she took the knife from Nat, holding it tight in her hand. She simply held it, pointing it at nothing for a moment.

Nat’s explanation on how to hold the knife properly caused Anya to raise her eyebrows, and she adjusted her hand around the knife, mimicking what Nat was teaching. She already felt more confident, just holding a knife properly in a way that would allow her to stab any demon or human that came at her. She almost wished she had learned this earlier, well before meeting the Winchesters.

As Nat offered for Anya to come at her, Anya shook her head at first. She didn’t want to risk hurting Nat, but at the same time, she had to assume that Nat was at least just as fast as her brothers. From what she had gathered from Dean, he was very confident around knives…and guns…and all of it. So, she squared her shoulders with a small nod, changing her mind.

She turned toward Nat, and glanced over Nat’s chest and torso, thinking about her first move. She decided to aim for the center of her chest and she lunged forward, stopping the knife just before it could poke Nat’s shirt or make any contact with her skin. Surely, the path to the heart was right through the center of the chest.

LEXI

Dean's pointing to the holy water on tap, whilst also explaining about it, Lexi has to admit, she was incredibly impressed by the idea. “It is a pretty genius idea, more hunters should have this kind of set up to some degree” she replied, looking at it before he gestured to the clay bottles above the holy water canister. Now she felt like she heard everything, there were ways to trap angels? Lexi was beginning to think she had been hunting old school for far too long, but then again, she hasn't had a reason to be going after angels and learning about how to trap them. She definitely was going to need to up her research if she was going to be learning more things such as this. “Impressive” she replied once more with a smile, seeing how proud he was of what he told her as he pulled out some flasks and salt canisters to fill up with holy water. She continued to look through everything to see if anything else caught her eye on what might be useful to use.

Glancing back at him when he spoke up and mentioned what he thought of Cason's earlier words. Stepping back to him from round the shelving where she was, she thought on it, wanting to give him an honest answer and not just something he'd want to hear. “Honestly? I don't know. I'd like to hope she isn't getting her hopes up in getting her voice, but it's pretty clear how much of an optimistic person she is, so it's really hard to gauge what she expects to get out of this situation” she said as honestly as possible. “I don't want her getting disappointed and hurt if it doesn't go the way she wants, and quite frankly, I really don't think it will. If what Cason says is true, and well, a demon is going to know better than all of us what demons can and can't break deals, then it's not going to be in Anya's favor” she expressed. “I truly hope we're all wrong and some kind of miracle happens for the girl, she certainly deserves it, but I'm not holding my breath on it” she added, looking up at him.

She felt like all they could do is be there for Anya if, and it most certainly wouldn't, go the way she wants, and that Anya won't hold it against them all when it happens.

SAM

Sam wasn't expecting some miraculous turn of feelings towards him when he told Anna his honest truth. He was expecting her to really go for him, but she didn't. She just scoffed at him whilst remaining silent for him to just keep talking. He gave her what felt like so many options but none of it was remotely an option, judging by Anna's body language. He was glad that at least she had stopped stepping further away from him and I stayed stepped closer, close enough so he could have grabbed for her hand. He kept a hold of it as she instinctively placed her other hand on his chest. The dam was breaking and they were falling into their old ways, but at least they started the long talk that they had been overdue for for a long time. He gave a soft nod at her words, wondering if it would be truly possible one day for her to come back and nothing would be awkward.

Sam found himself leaning his head down as she leaned upward to meet her half way, and returned the light kiss. Pausing at the realization of what they did, he kept telling himself in his head not to fall into their old ways. Not to cave under the natural draw they had with each other. He may not have been with Anya long, but he didn't want to hurt her. Yet none of this internal screaming at himself to do the right thing and step back, he couldn't listen. He leaned back forward and kissed her with a bit more pressure into the kiss this time. If the dam was to break, and it had, they may as well get it out of their system, or so he thought.

NATALIA

As Anya mimicked what she was doing, Nat felt happy that Anya was seemingly understanding what she was teaching her easily enough. She could see how much more confident Anya felt holding the knife, and how much more secure the knife was in her hand. “Good” she smiled. If Anya kept understanding her instructions this well then it would be a breeze teaching her Nat thought. Nat couldn't help but think Anya had the markings of being a natural hunter, which although her brothers always found sad because they wouldn't recommend this life to anyone, Natalia saw it as a good thing. Even if Anya left the life, or decided she didn't want to be a hunter after all, she'd come out of this with good survival skills and a new knowledge of how to use her muteness to her advantage.

Nat gave her a reassuring smile when Anya initially shook her head, not wanting to come at her with a knife. “It's okay Anya, you won't hurt me I promise.” She spoke to her, having full faith in her own skills as well as Anya. As Anya gave a nod and squared her shoulders up, Nat gave a single nod to show she was ready whenever Anya was. Watching Anya's eyes as they scanned all over her body to find the best area to go for, before she lunged and stopped just in front of the center of her chest. Smirking, she was proud of Anya for going to the correct area on the chest. “Good! You'd be surprised how many people believe the movies and go too far left for the heart.” She complimented and explained to Anya. “I’m glad to see you know better,” she added. “Now, with the knife here, if your opponent stops you before you get the kill, I'm gonna show you a move on how to regain the advantage” she explained. Going step by step, Natalia lifted her hands up, using her own knife to knock Anya's onto the ground, acting like the enemy initially. “Okay, so the enemy has knocked your knife on the ground, this is what you're gonna do” she said, throwing her own knife on the ground for safety, the blade digging into the ground.

She spoke as she moved, making sure Anya could see every single action, swinging her right leg round and behind Anya's legs, she knocked her balance off, so she could grab a hold of Anya, and flip her onto the ground. “You're gonna want to shake your opponent’s balance, get them on the ground close to your weapon for yourself, but not them. With them pinned, grabbed your knife” she grabbed one of the knives and using the handle for safety pretended to stab Anya. “Obviously with the blade, not the handle. I'm showing for safety reasons”. She finished explaining. “So even when it looks bad, there's always an opening to regain control of the situation. It's about looking for that opening and guessing the enemy's next move before they even use it.” She explained as she stood up and held her hand out to help Anya up.

Dean was almost hoping that Lexi would have the same optimism that Anya did about how this hunt was going to go down, but as she walked over to him and explained that she felt the same way his internal gut feeling was telling him to feel, Dean sighed. Anya was either going to have her heart broken, or maybe…just maybe she knew that there was no way to really get her way with this. Sure, getting her voice would be more convenient for her, but she managed, and it wasn’t worth losing her life over.

“Yeah, I have to agree…” Dean sighed again, glancing down at Lexi with a sad nod. He turned, needing a bit of contact as he admitted a bit of defeat, “We have to go into this with the mindset of getting her out of the deal, not finishing it. The demon dies, and Anya comes out of it and rides off into the sunset with my brother, like nothing ever happened. If she comes out without a voice? We make it work…”

He reached his hand out and cradled Lexi’s face, reaching for that touch that he craved when the pit in his stomach was growing. He couldn’t pinpoint if it was nervousness, hopelessness, or a mix of many emotions, but holding her face in his hand made the feeling calm, just a bit.

“And this is normally where I would start barking orders, but the only order I’m going to give you is to be careful…” His voice raised at the end, as if he was more asking her to take care of herself, than ordering her to. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “We’ve lost enough. And we’ve lost a lot to dumb, in and out cases that weren’t supposed to be able to go south…and yet they did. This can’t be one of those hunts.”



As Sam paused, Anna furrowed her brow, realizing that for the first time, Sam was having second thoughts about sleeping with her. Every time they had met up, Sam had been the one that seemed to fall into HER arms. It was as if he was trying to make up for lost time, or right his wrongs, make it up to her in some way. This time, however, he hesitated. Anna sighed, realizing that he may put a stop to things, but as she conceded to stopping and asking him to leave the room, he leaned in and kissed her again, this time deeper.

Melting into the kiss, Anna released his hand and she brought that hand up to his chest, pushing him back as she took a step between his legs and walked them back toward the bed. Before his legs reached the edge of the mattress, she pulled back from the kiss and she brought her hand up, tangling her fingers in his longer hair as gently as ever. She trailed the hand down, brushing her fingers over his lips with a soft smile.

“It’s okay Sammy…” She whispered, before leaning back in and covering his lips in a deep and familiar kiss, sealing her fate and likely making a decision that would throw her into months of missing him, regret, and a hollow chest. But for tonight? It was worth it.



Anya was super proud of herself when Natalia smirked at her choice of places to stab an enemy. Anya stayed still as Nat praised her, nodding a thankful nod as she couldn’t sign or type with her hands full. As Nat began to demonstrate how an enemy might disarm her, Anya watched her hands, seeing the knife fall to the ground, before her eyes turned down to Nat’s leg. The flip was a bit quick, but Anya could feel every movement in her muscles as she landed onto her back and the handle of Nat’s knife came down to her chest, like she was stabbing her with it.

With a breathless chuckle, Anya nodded and absentmindedly signed, “There’s always hope.”, forgetting for a moment that Nat didn’t know ASL like her boyfriend. She reached her hand out and took Nat’s, standing from the ground and shaking her shoulders out. She pulled her phone from her pocket, and typed.

“That seems simple enough. It’s all leverage and timing. Luckily, I was a dancer when I was younger.” As she pressed play, she giggled silently, and then typed another message, “So, if I get separated from the group, at least I would be able to use this to hopefully buy myself some time. I assume demons aren’t as easy to kill as humans. Buying time is better than dying.”

Anya pressed play on the second message with a shrug and pouty eyes, in her mind playing it smarter rather than harder. She was going to be out in the open with four seasoned hunters and a demon that was on their side. Surely, she wouldn’t be on her own for long. Although, she did remember something that had happened to her dad, before he disappeared and she decided to share it with Nat, giving her a heads up.

“My dad was lured out by the demon at one point. The demon pretended to have my voice and it called out to him. Because it was using nicknames and dad had never heard it, he assumed it was me. It’s crafty. So, I don’t know what other tricks it would have up its sleeve…”

LEXI

Judging by the sad nod that Dean gave her in response to her opinions on this case, Lexi guessed he had wished she had a more hopeful reaction or opinion. Yet she didn't and she never saw a point in lying or giving false hope if she truly didn't see it. Unknowingly that was the biggest difference between herself and who Mika was. Where Mika would always try to be as hopeful as possible, even if she didn't believe it, she would still try to give that hope to others, whereas Lexi would be real, even if it wasn't positive. The only time she ever faked hopefulness was when Owen was alive and she didn't have a good feeling about certain hunts. She thought numerous times in the past that she wouldn't come back alive, but she somehow managed to every single time. Yet it was the night Owen died, she lost any point to fake hopefulness, a habit she would have to change now she was with Dean.

She listened to what he was saying and she agreed with every word. “I agree, whatever becomes of this hunt, we get Anya out of this deal and we end this demon’s life. Like you say, if she doesn't get her voice back then we'll make it work, we'll be there for her if she needs it and if that means she goes away with Sam for a while? Then we give her that. At least with Sam she'd be safe” she replied as he reached up and cradled her face. An action that seemed to make her naturally tilt her head into his hands more every time. She looked up at him, not letting her eyes stray away from his when he began to speak once more and asked her to be careful. As he leaned down and kissed her forehead, she closed her eyes, taking it in. She listened as he explained how he couldn't lose anymore people to easy hunts, something she understood well. She had teamed up with hunters before and when they died, she went straight back to being a solo hunter until she met Sam. “I will, I swear to you. I will be as careful as you need me to be Dean and I will be coming back with you all” she said to him.

She figured some of his request wasn't just because they had lost people on simple hunts that should have stayed simple, she figured some of it was still his grief at losing Mika during a hunt. Something she was incredibly sympathetic and empathetic to, so if promising him that she would be careful and even better behind him if needs be was the way to go reassuring him, then she would do that. “Together, with the others, we won't let it be one of those hunts.” She said once more, leaning up pressing her lips onto his for a moment before pulling back.

SAM

Sam knew he should just pull away, apologize for falling into ways and leave, go find Anya and Nat or do something else entirely but he couldn't do it. All he wanted in this moment was Anna, even if it would mean he'd feel incredibly guilty for it towards Anya. He let Anna push him back as he stepped backwards in tandem with her own steps, pausing at the edge of the bed of hers as she pulled away, causing him to chase her lips momentarily. As her hand trailed up and I to his hair, he remembered how much he missed her doing that, causing him to close his eyes and try not to get emotional at such a simple touch. He reopened his eyes when he felt her fingers brush down and over his lips, seeing her smile once again.

He nodded at her whisper, in this moment believing her when she said it to him. Reality was it wasn't okay, they shouldn't be falling into old habits, but right now he believed it was okay and he refused to believe anything else. He kissed her back, desperate for that familiarity that only her kisses could actually give him. He held her close to him as he deepened the kiss, until his hands could stay in one place no more. Running his hands down and under her shirt, lifting it up and over her head before running his hands back down to her waist, holding her close once more and returning his lips into hers.

NATALIA

Nat didn't know ASL like Cason did, but she took what she signed as a positive, even though she didn't understand it really. She made a mental note to herself to get Cason to teach her some ASL so she could communicate with Anya without the use of a phone. After helping her up, Nat waited before continuing as she saw Anya pull out her phone and begin to type. Listening to the message, she couldn't help but smile and find it interesting that Anya used to be a dancer. That flexibility would most definitely come in handy in this line of work. She listened to the second part of what Anya wanted to say and nodded at her words. “Buying yourself time for backup to get to you is always a must. You're right, demons aren't as easy to kill as humans if you don't get it right straight away. Which is why learning ways to either guarantee a kill or at least slow a demon down is so so important. Obviously, none of us will put you in a position where you're alone, we'll do our hardest to keep you close. But like you say, learn to be prepared for any situation” she explained.

Nat was so proud of Anya for seeing this smartly and not thinking it was all like a video game. If she got killed there was no respawning, Anya didn't have an Angel on her side to bring her back like Dean and Sam had Castiel, and she certainly didn't have a demon boyfriend like Cason on her side. She was ready to ask if Anya was ready to learn how to properly throw a knife, when she noticed Anya typing another message, so she waited and listened when the message was played. The message seemed so important and she couldn't help but look at Anya with sympathy but understanding what she was saying. “That's really vital to know. Thank you for telling me Anya. Also, I'm sorry that happened to your dad. That is really one dirty trick to play, but sadly one I've heard be used before by demons and wendigoes. Not many tricks piss me off more than that one.” She replied.

“but rest assured, you're in the safest hands with my brothers, Cason and me.” She gave her a smile, squatting down to pick up the knives off the ground. “So…how about learning how to properly throw these babies? Wanna see if you'll get them in the tree without bouncing out” she smirked.

Dean sat at the table in the war room, waiting for Cason to arrive so they could pack up and roll out, hopefully. He fidgeted with the pages of the book he was combing through, when Cason randomly appeared in the chair across from him. Dean instinctively reached his arm out across Lexi’s chest next to him, but he relaxed quickly as he realized it was Cason.

“Jesus Christ, Cason…” Dean sighed, and Cason smiled widely propping both his feet up on the edge of the table, his arms behind his head. Dean raised his eyebrows and held his hands out, “Well?”

“Yeah. I know where he is. I know who he is. He’s tricky, smart, quick but he’s also kind of an idiot. If we can get to him, and overwhelm him, we should be able to kill him pretty quick. You got angel blades?”

“Yeah. We have plenty. Let’s go.” Dean called out, glancing up at the small window above the stairs. It was now getting dark, and Anya and Natalia should be back any minute, which meant they could roll out and get all of this over with. Cason shook his head and held up a hand, “What?”

“Where are Sam and Anna?”

Dean winced, and he turned his eyes down to the table for a moment, before looking back up at Cason with a sheepish shrug of his shoulders, “You brought her here. They are…catching up, if the sounds coming from her room were any hint. They’ve been back there a while. I’m not going to get them.”

“Alright, then let them get it out of their systems. When they come back, we’ll pack up and leave. I’m most definitely not going out there without your other half. We need the experience with this guy, and Anna’s quiet probably wouldn’t hurt anything either. She’s sneaky and she won’t leave anyone behind…including her ex’s girlfriend or whatever she is.” Cason sighed, waving his hand around. He pulled the knife from his boot and began twirling it around his fingers as Dean sat back in his chair and turned to Lexi.

“So, you prepared for a late night hunt? You need to change or anything?” He asked her with a smirk, as they waited for the others to get back into the main room.



Anna lay there on her bed, staring at the familiar ceiling as she brushed her hand through Sam’s hair, just taking in all of the familiar emotions around her. It was tempting to just stay like this with him, forever, familiar and loving. There was something so simple about it. As her fingers combed through his sweaty hair, a painful pit of knowing began to creep back into her stomach. She knew that their time together was coming to an end, and probably for the last time. She rolled over, gliding a hand over his bare chest and up his jaw with a sigh, before propping herself up to look down at his face.

“So...the girl down there. You’re close to her, aren’t you?” She asked earnestly, with no malice or judgement in her voice as she twirled a strand of his hair around her finger, just lovingly scanning his eyes. She could see the answer, the longer she stared at those hopeful hazel eyes that she missed so much. And there was her closure. She would never stop missing him. She would never not mourn what they had. But Sam was an inch from beginning again, which is all he had wanted for her. She understood that, now. There was a chance they would always fall together. They were destined to. But Sam’s emotions were torn, and she could see the hope in his eyes, just with that little question, “Then we should help her.”

Anna brushed her fingertips over his eyebrow, down to his jaw, and she gently leaned down, pressing a loving and deep kiss to his lips. As she pulled away from the kiss, she nuzzled Sam’s nose and then carefully pulled away from him, sitting on the edge of the bed. She reached down and grabbed her clothes, beginning to redress with her back to him, “I love you, you know that, right?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him, and then pulled her shirt on, standing to button her jeans and shove her feet back into her boots, standing full dressed with her arms crossed, “And I’m a phone call away. Even if it’s awkward. Even if we say things we shouldn’t…I would like to know that you’re okay.”



As the sun began to sink down over the hill beside them, Anya buried all three knives she had been holding into the side of the tree, none of them bouncing, for once. She stood up straight and puffed out her chest, turning to Nat with a proud look on her face. She couldn’t believe how quick she learned things, and honestly? It was a relief. If she was going to get into hunting, she was going to have to learn quickly, so she didn’t put herself or anyone else at risk.

She pulled her phone, glancing up at the sky before typing, “We should probably go check and see if the others have found anything. I also really want a drink.”

With a small giggle, Anya pressed play and then walked over to the three, grabbing the handles of each individual knife, pulling them from the wood with a bit of effort. She turned back to Nat and walked the knives over, handing them to her. After a few moments of helping Nat pack up, Anya walked back toward the bunker garage with her, feeling a lot more confident and a little tired and thirsty. She couldn’t wait to tell Sam how much safer she would be on the hunt. She knew he still wouldn’t want her out there any more than he had already seemed to protest, but at least she knew what she was doing.

Anya pulled the garage door open, and she entered the bunker, coming out onto the landing above the others. Dean glanced up and he smirked, holding out his hand to quietly ask her how things went.

“I’m okay.” She signed back to him, and he tapped his fingers on the table with excitement before signing back a ‘Good’ that he had learned from eavesdropping on her conversations with Sam, while she was teaching him. Anya slowly descended the stairs, just as Anna rounded the corner from the corridors, flattening her hair and pushing it behind her ears awkwardly. Dean said nothing to her, just let her pass him as Anya watched her, wondering if she was okay.

Dean shrugged his shoulders when Anya made eye contact with him, letting her silently know that he had no clue where Anna had been. But Cason turned to her and signed, “You ready to go, soon?”

“Tonight?” She asked him back and he nodded. “Okay. Sure! Where’s Sam?”

LEXI

Sat next to Dean, Lexi was reading another book in the hopes that it would give her more information that she didn't already know of. The library's collection was impressive and it was clear that the old Men of Letters were extremely thorough in their own research of pretty much anything that went bump in the night and day. As Cason appeared out of nowhere, she flinched ever so slightly and noticed how even Dean went into protective mode before seeing who it was, to which they both relaxed again. She saw how seemingly proud of himself Cason was and she couldn't work out if it was because he made them both jump or because he actually found something useful on his little sluth adventure. Or maybe it was a bit of both, Cason at the moment was a little hard to read but something told her if she was around him long enough, she'd be able to read him well enough to get by and not be as phased by his stints like this. It still amazed her that the youngest Winchester was dating him.

Listening to the boys exchange words, taking on board what Cason was saying. ‘So he actually knows this demon in question…interesting’ she couldn't help but think to herself. She agreed with Dean that they should probably just head out and get it done the moment the others got back, the sooner they could get Anya out of her desk the better in her eyes. She hoped Anya was alright outside with Natalia and that Anya felt she had actually learned something useful as now that she too saw it was getting dark out, she realized how long the girls had been out.

At the mention of Sam and Anna, Lexi decided she was most definitely staying out of that conversation, as like Dean, she too heard all kinds of noises coming from Anna's old bedroom and she did not want to get involved. Even after being warned by Dean hours ago about Sam and Anna, she still didn't want to be involved as she didn't want to think about all the possible ways Anya could react to it if she finds out. Seeing Cason pull a knife out of his boot, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how comfortably he was making himself. It was bad enough that every part of her wanted to knock his boots off the table, but she didn't know him well enough to feel comfortable in doing it. Turning her attention back to Dean as he looked at her and spoke to her, she gave a nod and smirk back. “Always prepared for a late night hunt. Other than a jacket, I'm all good to go when everyone is here” she replied.

SAM

Laying in Anna's bed the way they were brought back so many happier times that he could almost have fooled himself things hadn't changed between them, but truth was they had. Like Anna, there was that painful feeling in the pit of his stomach knowing this had to be the last time they did this. Despite having said that plenty of times before, he knew this really did have to be the last. He turned his head to look at her as she moved to look down at him, a hand lifting up to hold hers in place on his face before it lowered again at the mention of Anya. There may not have been malice or judgment from Anna when she asked about Anya, but he still felt incredibly guilty that Anna felt she had to mention Anya, and felt guilty towards Anya for having slept with Anna behind her back. Hlat first, he didn't know how to answer the question as he didn't want to hurt Anna, but the truth was he was close to Anya.

They had gotten naturally close so effortlessly that it felt normal. He soon gave a nod as Anna twirled some of his hair in her fingers. “Yeah…yeah I am” he finally said, looking at her with apologetic eyes. He never imagined he would get close to anyone other than Anna, but then Anya came into his life and she felt like a breath of fresh air, a second chance to not screw up. He wanted to do right by someone and not let them down like he let down Anna so horrifically. He didn't know how Anna was going to react to his admittance that he was close to someone else after all this time and that he wanted to be close with someone else, so when she simply said that they have to help her, he looked partially surprised but grateful.

He returned the kiss that she gave him, this time feeling like it was a kiss of closure and goodbye in a way. That Anna was accepting in letting go and starting anew just like he wanted for her. Pulling away from the kiss, he nuzzled her nose back before letting her scoot to the end of the bed and sit up to get dressed once more. Doing the same, he leaned down and grabbed his clothes, chucking them on the bed beside him and, item by item, got dressed once more. He glanced at her as she did him and nodded. “I know…and there will always be a part of me that will love you. That'll never change.” He admitted to her as he pushed his legs through his jeans, doing them up. He didn't know if telling her that was a good idea but he had to get it off his chest. She had to know there would always be a part of him that would still love her, even if that love had changed ever so slightly. They had too much history that would mean that love couldn't ever be fully erased.

At her next words, he couldn't help but smile softly. “I'll make sure to remember that in the future.” He replied, picking up his flannel shirt and slipping his arms through it.

He waited a few moments for Anna to go back to everyone first before he walked to the war room himself, seeing that Anya and Natalia had made it back from his distance. Glancing down, he saw he had buttoned his flannel shirt up crookedly, so he undid the couple of buttons and redid them correctly only to have Nat give him a look that he knew all too well. He just gave her a sheepish look and turned his face away from her, knowing if he kept eye contact with her long enough, she'd insist on pulling him to one side and giving him a lecture. He had hoped that he could have fixed his shirt and made it in before anyone noticed him, but it seemed that wasn't to be. “I'm here” he said back to Cason as he showed himself to the rest of the group.

NATALIA

The moment Anya mastered the throwing knives techniques, Natalia felt incredibly proud of her. She even got the knives quite close together which was even more impressive for a newbie. She clapped out of joy and pride before she too noticed that the sun was setting and it was probably time to head back in, before someone sent out a search party for them both. Probably Dean or Cason, she figured. At Anya's suggestion of also heading back, she gave a nod and smile, “I was just thinking the same thing. Or we'll have one of them searching for us.” She chuckled back as she let Anya pull the knives out of the tree trunk and handing them to her. Taking the knives from her, she stashed them away safely with Anya's help and headed back to the bunker the same way they walked over earlier on in the day.

She stopped off at her car to put her supplies back in the trunk, letting Anya continue forward before she jogged over to catch up and headed inside behind Anya. She noticed the looks and basic signs that Dean and Anya exchanged, wondering when Dean suddenly learned a little ASL. As she descended the stairs behind Anya, she saw how Anna was when she entered the war room and Nat couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. She had an unsettling feeling that the dam broke once again between Anna and Sam and she really hoped she was wrong, but from the distance she saw Sam finally start to make an appearance and from the way he was sorting his shirt out, she wasn't wrong about her guess. The moment Sam caught her eye, she gave him her signature disappointed and annoyed look, which he looked away from swiftly. Pretending she didn't just see Sam, she walked over to everyone else, forcefully pulling Cason's legs off the table so she could perch on his lap. Exactly where she preferred to sit even if there was a spare chair next to him.

As Cason and Anya kept signing to each other, Sam finally entered the room with the declaration that he was here. “Better late than never, idiot” she smirked.

Dean smirked at Lexi’s simplicity, nodding his head. He was just about to tell her to go and grab her jacket so that they were all ready, when he heard the upper door open, and he glanced up toward the sound to see Anya and Natalia stepping back in. As Anna filed into the room, soon after, and Dean and Anya shared a small and simple conversation, Dean tapped his fingers on the table nervously. His shoulders tensed as Anya asked about Sam, but he didn’t say anything. He simply turned his eyes toward Natalia, practically begging everyone to just keep on task.

The look on Natalia’s face when she spotted Sam told him that it would be unlikely, but as she stepped over to Cason, pretending that she never caught a glimpse of their brother, Dean relaxed his shoulders a bit. He scoffed as Nat shoved Cason’s feet off the table, causing Cason to huff in annoyance, but then Cason seemed to melt as Nat sat on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her.

“Sammy! Good of you to join the realm of the living!” Dean called out to his brother, standing from his seat. He pushed his chair back in and picked the bag of weapons he and Lexi had packed off the floor by a bookshelf. He then held up a hand, “I’m gonna go pack the car. Lexi, you can come if you want. The rest of you, get dressed, grab a snack and a drink and let’s get ready to get this done.”

He patted Sam’s chest on his way by, choosing not to discuss whatever had happened between Sam and Anna. They had to help Anya, and then it was up to Sam to bridge that gap with her, when the time came. For once, he would let Sam just deal with his mistakes on his own, and not play cleanup crew. He stood near the stairs, holding a hand out to invite Lexi to follow him with a smirk.

“Well, doesn’t this feel like old times?” Cason mused to Natalia, chuckling against the side of her face before he kissed her cheek. “You dressed and ready to go? I mean…you’re dressed, but are you comfortable? I’ll fill you in on everything on the way there.”

“I’ll ride with you guys. It’s…it’s her first hunt. Probably better if she has Sam along for the ride.” Anna chimed in awkwardly, shoving her hands into her pockets as she rocked forward on her feet. Cason leaned forward and he lowered his voice so that only Anna and Nat could hear him.

“It has nothing to do with the fact that you and Sam can’t be in the same room without…things happening?”

“We’re past it.” Anna shrugged turning her eyes away from Cason’s face.

“Past it? Like…thirty seconds past it, and you’re good. Wow. So, bringing you was the right move.” Cason muttered sarcastically, and Anna rolled her eyes, flipping him off before she walked over to join Dean. She would wait in the car, rather than be interrogated by Cason like a parent.



Anya raised her eyes from the table as Sam announced that he was in the room. She took in his appearance, and tilted her head a bit, but she chose to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her mind. Surely, Anya’s idea for Sam to have a full conversation with Anna hadn’t led to anything he would regret. That just didn’t seem like Sam. Anya stepped over to him, and she flattened her hand out over his chest, straightening a deep wrinkle that prevented the buttons of his shirt from laying flat.

Once she reached the bottom of his flannel, she unrolled a bit of the fabric for him, doing it as casually as she could, to make sure he didn’t notice her suspicion and she gave his flannel a tug, before signing to him.

“You okay? Ready to go?” She asked him, turning her eyes up to meet his, finally. She gave him a sweet smile, before gently reaching back and pulling her phone, to make it easier for him, “Cason found where we’re going. We were just waiting for you, and now you’re here. So, let’s go find the demon, gig it, and we can get back here in time to take one of those cars out there down to the fields and watch the very nerdy and very impressive meteor shower that I don’t think Sam Winchester would miss, on purpose.”

Anya used their mutual nerdiness to try and relax some of his tension, showing him that she was still right there in his hands, if he wanted to spend time with her. But first, they needed to kill this demon. She turned the phone to him, letting him read the message and then smiled sweetly over the top of the phone, raising her eyebrows in a way that said ‘please?’

LEXI

Lexi had to admit, seeing the way Nat was with Cason told her that although the Winchester's could never fully forget Cason was a demon, Nat was most certainly not a push over when it came to her boyfriend. It was pretty badass in Lexi's eyes as it was clear that Nat didn't take no fools despite being in love with a demon. The way Nat's actions of pushing Cason's legs off the table did actually make her smirk, covering her mouth as discreetly as possible so as not to laugh at the action, whilst Dean scoffed. Yet it was clear to her how much Cason wasn't really that annoyed as he did seem to just melt at Nat sitting on his lap. It was a unique relationship but one Lexi could respect nonetheless.

As Sam finally joined them in the room looking a bit disheveled, Lexi found herself raising an eyebrow briefly as she remained seated for a moment longer to watch how he would be with Anya. But that didn't last long when Dean saying her name made her look towards him, seeing he had stood up. Giving him a nod to silently say she'll come help him with the bag and packing the car, she stood up from her table just as she saw Cason speak to Nat and kiss her cheek. Deciding to just keep moving on instead of checking in on Sam and the others, she looked up at Dean who had his hand held out for her with a smirk. He really wasn't letting Nat's over protective suspicions rule how he was with Lexi and she was so grateful. Smiling back at him, she walked over, grabbed her jacket on the way off the back of a spare chair and took his hand. It felt good to be getting back on the road on a proper hunt again after a few days off. She still has every plan to play it safe, but she was ready to try and help Anya out of this deal. Sure the last few hunts she had been on with Sam ended up helping people, but they were mostly generic hunts to just prevent people getting hurt. This time it was directly helping someone who was asking for their help.

She also really liked Anya and liked how she brought Sam out of himself, so Lexi wanted to help her as best she could.

SAM

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's teasing words about rejoining the rest of the group. Of course Dean would make some smartass remark about him being the last one back in the room with everyone else. At least Nat didn't say anything, so he counted it as a small blessing in disguise. He simply gave a nod when Dean walked past him and patted his chest, he knew what that meant. Dean was giving him the signal of theirs to say he knew what happened, but he wasn't going to get involved. Something he didn't know whether to feel thankful for or annoyed by. As Anya stepped up to him and helped with his shirt, he got the feeling she somehow just knew something happened between himself and Anna and that broke his heart. He never wanted to hurt Anya or break her heart when they were getting so close so quickly. They gelled so perfectly, connected in a way he never thought was possible to do with someone new after Anna, and here he had possibly done something that would drive her away. After the hunt, he would have to talk to her and be open, even if that scares him to death.

He signed thank you to her for helping fix his shirt before giving her a simple nod to answer her question if he was okay and ready to go. He let her type on her phone and when she was done, he read the message and yet again, she managed to make him smile. “Sorry to have kept you waiting. That actually sounds perfect” he replied, leaning down and pecking her lips sweetly after seeing her sweet little pleading smile. “You need to get a drink for the road first?” He asked her, as Anna spoke with Cason and Natalia before walking off towards the garage.

NATALIA

Looking up as Dean got up and openly said the only person who could follow him to the car was Lexi made Nat roll her eyes before narrowing them over the comment. The. She remembered what Anna and Anya both told her, ‘try being nice to Lexi, she's a good person’ rolled in her head and the memory made her sigh through her nose. Her thoughts got interrupted when Cason said about how it was like old times and she didn't know if she wanted to be in agreement or offended at the comment. If it was like old times Mika would be following Dean to the steps, not Lexi. She did however give a smile when he kissed her cheek. “I'm okay, I'm really proud of Anya, she's an incredibly quick learner but it's not quite like old times…is it? If it was… she'd be here…” she replied honestly. “But yeah, filling me in would be helpful” she then added, showing she didn't want to fully dwell on the old times, but she couldn’t help but acknowledge it at the same time.

She turned her head towards Anna when she said she'll ride with them and that was completely understandable. As Cason leaned forward to quietly mention Anna and Sam's habits, she really wished Cason didn't say anything. Though she couldn't help but think it as well, she wanted to give Anna the respect of not bringing it up, and it seemed Cason thought differently. Seeing Anna flip him off before walking off behind Dean and Lexi, Nat couldn't help but smirk in pride at Anna. *Hey Anna!” She called out as she delved into her jacket pocket and threw her the car keys. “You'll need these to get in” she gave her a sympathetic smile.

When Anna headed off upstairs, she stood up off Cason's lap, but not before giving him a nudge. “I know we both think the same things but lay off her a bit yeah? It's a lot for her to deal with, we're not her mom and dad, we shouldn't act like it” she said calmly and softly. She wasn't going to let the two of them be at each other's throats the entire drive, but she also didn't want Cason thinking she was picking sides as she was trying to be impartial, or at the very least, sympathetic to Anna and Sam's situation, even if it didn't ever come across as that all the time. “So, let's take advantage of the kitchen's stock to restock the car with drinks and snacks then go after this demon for Anya.” She suggested.