[h3] Dean [/h3]

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.”

[h3] Anna [/h3]

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.

[h3] Anya [/h3]

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…”