[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean was thankful that Lexi seemed to be used to his habit of sticking his foot in his mouth and barely even acknowledged it. Instead, she focused on the fact that he wasn’t happy with sleeping in, which just felt so refreshing, as much as he wanted to complain. He couldn’t help but shrug his shoulders at Lexi’s reasoning for letting him sleep in. Honestly, he could use the rest, even if he wouldn’t admit it half the time. So, he wouldn’t argue too much, “Fair enough. I do feel a bit better…”

When she mentioned that Anna was up and working out, Dean almost frowned in confusion, but he had to remember that this wasn’t exactly the same Anna that they had left in Denver. She was a lot more independent, at this point. She had a little muscle on her and was used to hard farm work and a lot of activity. She wasn’t the ‘mope around the library with a book’ Anna anymore. So, it wasn’t that strange that she would be in the gym.

“Yeah. I don’t think Cason and Nat will be out for a while. If I know anything about Cason, he’ll make her lay in bed until he’s convinced she’s not going to drop dead from being road tired.” Dean scoffed, taking a drink of his coffee as he glanced toward Lexi and watched her every move. Lexi bringing up his lack of resting that typically made him feel like shit made him think of Cason in a little bit of a better light all the sudden. Cason was obsessed with Nat being healthy and being with him as long as possible…considering he was immortal. Dean lived very fast and loose, because he never saw himself living this long. Some days, he could feel every bit of his age. “Well, I’ll accept the care and the spoiling, if you’ll accept that I’m not gonna change. Habits, maybe…but I’m still the same reckless idiot that you heard about. I’m just a little nicer…most of the time.”

Dean chuckled again as Lexi stepped forward and said she was going for a shower. He was tempted to invite himself, but judging by the peck on his lips that didn’t linger and her request for him to keep the coffee pot on, he figured she wanted the space, something he was trying to learn cues of, “Well, I’d offer to join, but I gotta watch…the coffee pot. So, can you give me a rain check on that shared shower? Tree huggers would love us for not wasting water.”

As he teased Lexi, he leaned close to her shoulder, tilting his head to press a tight kiss against her cheek, “Go get a shower. I’ll be here when you get back.”

After a few moments of being alone in the kitchen again, Dean heard footsteps and he turned his head to the sound, half expecting Natalia, but it was Sam, with poor Anya behind him. In the brighter kitchen light, Dean could see the light bruising around the side of her face and over her eyebrow, as well as some purple angry skin to the shoulder of her injured arm. At Sam’s observation, Dean shrugged and frowned, trying to find a way to play off how late he slept in, and finally settled on just admitting he had slept well.

“Believe it or not…I’ve only been awake about an hour. I slept like the dead. It’s odd. I feel like a lazy bum.” He scoffed and glanced down at Anya, “How’s the arm this morning?”

[h3] Anya [/h3]

Anya was so happy to see Sam smiling that morning, as if they hadn’t completely failed the hunt the night before. She didn’t want to feel like part of their failure or have everyone looking at her like some sort of ticking time bomb. She had never known her voice, and it wasn’t the end of her world if she didn’t get it back. It would have just been easier to communicate, that’s all. And having a cast on her arm just made it worse, because she couldn’t sign as effectively and was stuck with a phone reading out her words in the weird little robotic voice that she was pretty sure most people she knew just assumed was her own voice by that point.

When Sam agreed that they could just get coffee and be lazy together, Anya smiled a bit, not catching any sign of looming awkwardness in his eyes, something she was so thankful for. They were their normal bright hazel, and all she could see was support and empathy…her Sam. With a soft nod against his lips, Anya closed her eyes as he kissed the side of her head and reached across for her pain meds. Of course he had kept them close. He had been hovering within a few inches of her since he found her in the woods.

She reached her hand up and signed a simple ‘thank you’ with her good hand, before scooting herself away from him, with a bit of effort and reluctancy. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, and other than hanging off her bad shoulder a bit, she felt covered enough to face whoever was out in the bunker without feeling naked. So, she reached her good arm up and brushed her curly brown hair to one side and waited for Sam to throw on some pants.

Anya reached over to the desk by the door and grabbed the sling that they had given her at the hospital, a simple black fabric (ugly) thing to help with the initial pain of holding her arm down to her side. She hated wearing the stupid thing, but it really did help her fingers not feel like they were hit with a hammer. She tossed the sling over her shoulder, and slipped her elbow into it, using the deep pocket to slip her phone in, like a purse.

Making a face that said ‘hmph. That’s convenient.’, she looked up at Sam as he headed toward the door and then giggled silently, following him out of the room and into the hallway. As they stepped into the kitchen, she narrowed her eyes at Dean, who not only looked very well rested, but still had messy hair and puffy eyes, which Sam pointed out. What she wasn’t prepared for was Dean asking about her. She zoned out for one moment, which caused Dean to frown and look up at Sam as if asking him if everything was okay. Then Anya pulled out her phone and she pressed a few words with her thumb, holding the phone out toward Dean.

“The arm hurts. And I would like to request that you don’t treat me like a kid over all of this. I know what happened. I know what it means. Can I be a part of the conversation instead of the subject, please? I just want everyone to be normal.” 

Dean tilted his head in sympathy, something that he wouldn’t have shown for her if he didn’t feel that she was already part of the family. He nodded, and took a drink of his coffee to show that he was calm and then glanced up at Sam, “I don’t see why not. You’re tough. We should let you be tough.”

“I am tough. I want to stay.” Anya’s phone suddenly blared out to Dean’s face and Dean tilted his head back in a long nod.

“And I don’t see why we can’t talk about that, either. We’ll sit down in a bit and do that. But for now, no kid gloves. How bad does it hurt?”

“Pretty bad.” Anya’s phone played as she snarled her nose and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m going to take some pain medicine with my coffee, I think.”

“Well, I’m sure the hovering giant that is my brother will help with that. Help yourself. Sam, you good? Sleep good…feel good…all that?” Dean asked, giving Sam a face that said he was genuinely concerned about his mental health after how the hunt went.