JustAnna

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason appeared back at the hotel, in Nat’s room. He growled in frustration as he shrugged his leather jacket off, and brought his still sizzling hand up, looking it over, “Fuckin’ Winchesters. Use the demon as bait. Great! Use the demon as a battering ram. Great! Let the demon get close to a single human, and he gets attacked like a feral dog…”

As he grumbled, he stepped into the bathroom, and turned on the faucet. Hissing, he shoved his hand under the cold water, letting the iron shavings wash away from his skin. Slowly, the color began to calm, and his palm healed. He took a deep breath, wiping the water from his hands with a nearby towel, “And now I’m in her room. They’ll get back and start screaming at me, like a child that spilled his milk on the floor. Just move on…you can leave them. It’s not like any of this has been anything other than a shit show, since you showed up.”

He continued grumbling to himself, walking back over to the table, where he had dumped his jacket. He paced for a few seconds, his mind going over all of the scenarios if he left, without saying a word. Would they be okay with Anna? Of course they would. She barely even wanted anything to do with him, as it was. Would Esme be okay? Of course she would, she was on to the next blonde shiny thing. She didn’t need him.

But Nat.

What felt like a hand gripping his chest knocked a bit of wind from him as he thought about apologizing, which was a rare occurance for him. She seemed the only one in the group that, after letting her walls down, would actually see him as her equal. She was already opening up to him, despite her past. He was the only one of them who knew any of the major details of her past, and he was someone she could truly lean on…if she would let him in.

“But she won’t…”, he scoffed, shoving his arms through his jacket sleeves. He then disappeared, reappearing in a bar nearby to clear his head.

AnnaBeth

Anna was shaken from her thoughts by Sam’s voice, suddenly realizing that he was right in front of her. He was safe. She was safe, at least for now. As his words registered, she met his eyes and nodded, “I’ll be here…”

She followed him with her eyes as he ran back in after the other two girls, wincing at Dean stabbing one of the zombies in the head, before throwing one of his stakes at another. As Nat walked over to her, she stayed quiet, stepping closer to her to wait for Sam and Mika to eventually join them, and when they did, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Even though it seemed the family drama was only just beginning, at least they were all alive.

At the mention of Nat being drunk, Anna turned to scan Nat’s face, seeing more than just drunkeness. She wouldn’t dare mention anything, at the risk of potentially sharing anything Nat didn’t want the boys to know, but the temptation was strong. Cason was magnetic, and being drunk…and a hunter made what happened all the worse.

“I think I’m fine. Cason has a pretty strong grip, when he’s pissed…and he seemed really pissed.”, she explained to Sam, scanning over the skin on her arm, as he checked her for bites. Once he seemed happy that she wasn’t on deaths door, she smirked and wrapped her arm around his, needing any comfort she could grasp with the tension in the air.

As they walked back to the car, Anna stayed silent, but as soon as she sat down in the front seat, she leaned in close to Sam, “I’m really afraid all hell is going to break loose back at the hotel…especially if Cason went back…”

Dean

Dean jumped, stabbing the last of the shamblers in the forehead, following it to the ground, where he straddled it, and twisted the stake with a growl. The crypt fell silent, now that everyone was cleared out, and the shamblers were dead.

“Son of a bitch, I’m too old for this…”, he groaned, standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans. As he walked toward the open doorway, he caught the blue and red lights on the wall behind him. He sped up his walking a bit into a slow run, swiping his duffel on his way through the doors. He made it back to the Impala, and revved the engine, driving back to the hotel with a million questions in his mind. What had happened with Cason that had him so aggressive toward Anna? Why were the girls so slow to react to such an obvious problem? Was the hunt over? Did they lose?

The whole way back, these thoughts plagued his brain, and he feared that the angels might have already gotten back to the girls, causing him to step on the gas just a little harder, to make it back.

Dean climbed out of the Impala, glancing at Esme’s window as he did so. Seeing the lights off, he assumed she was probably fine. She seemed alright with Duke…at least for the night, and although back in the day he would have knocked his teeth out for even glancing at her, at the moment, he was glad they had each other. He scanned over the other three rooms, until his eyes landed on Nat’s room…the only one with a light.

“Sammy, they better be in good shape, or so help me…”, he muttered to himself as he reached for the doorknob, and slowly cracked it open, preparing for the worst.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason and Anna

Anna whipped around, seeing the bodies slithering out of the crypt, and gasped lightly. She began to protest, as Mika told her to go help the boys with the doors, but quickly decided against it, as she scanned Mika’s face. The last thing she needed was a new reason for Dean to treat her like dirt, and pissing Mika off would likely help with that.

Cason frowned as Nat suddenly pushed him away from the kiss, scanning her eyes with a mixture of annoyance and confusion, “Well, that’s not…I didn’t expect. What do you mean?! You didn’t seem to mind being snuggled up to me a couple of seconds ago, and I…I misread that somehow? I mean…”

As he spoke, Mika stormed over, causing Cason to place his hands on his hips with an exasperated sigh. Always a Winchester of some sort to come in as a knight for another. Typical.

“I did nothing. I only obliged to…”, he started with a half annoyed smirk, “And aren’t you supposed to be watching our little weapon you guys so helpfully brought with us? Where is she? Maybe someone should go get her…”

He raised his hands, intending to poof out of the crypt, to break into the crypt from the outside…but he couldn’t. Growling, he glared at Mika, “And that’s just great. I’m going to lose my body because of this stupid crypt. The bars are IRON! I have to walk…”

Brushing past both Mika and Nat in a huff, Cason began shoving his way through the crowd.

Anna ran across the crypt, dodging teenagers, a couple of which ran into her with enough force to nearly knock her off her feet. Over the roar of the screaming kids and the growling zombies, she caught the sound of Sam’s voice, standing on her tiptoes to try and see him.

“SAM?!”, she cried out over the group, ducking a little lower to avoid elbows and shoulders as she moved. Stepping by one teen, she yelped as he reached for her, clawing at her arms.

“HELP ME! PLEASE!”, he cried out, before being sucked into one of the ‘empty’ crypts. Anna froze, staring with wide eyes, as a river of blood suddenly rolled out of the dark, and puddled around her fingers on the ground. Scrambling on shaking hands, she began crawling faster toward the door, and toward the sound of Sam’s voice again, trying to ignore the zombie that crawled out, after maiming the poor kid.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her arm with enough force to cause her to cry out in both pain and terror, yanking her from the ground, to her feet. The attacker swung her around to face them, and Cason’s nose nearly brushed hers as he shoved her back to make her walk, “Move. If we don’t get that door open, we’re all going to die. Well…you’ll all die. Move.”

Narrowing her eyes in a dazed confusion, Anna stepped back and began to stumble with Cason, barely noticing the massive bruise that would be left on her arm from his grip.

Dean

“You don’t think I’m damn aware of what the stakes are here, Sam?!”, Dean snapped at his brother, as he grunted, trying to pry the door open with a crowbar. Pulling the crowbar back, it was bent almost in half. With a growl, Dean threw it to the side, stepping back from the gate, “Step back.”

Leaning back on one foot, he kicked at the lock with the other, trying everything to get it open, but it barely budged, groaning as the old metal bent but didn’t break open. Making matters worse, he caught Anna’s voice over the chaos, and his heart plummeted. It started loud and clear, and suddenly dropped, and silenced, as if she was taken down by something.

“C’mon. Break open you son of a bitch…”, he grumbled, panicked. He heard Anna’s cry again, this time full of pain, and a mix of regret and panick filled his chest, as he kicked the door again. After a few more kicks, the door was suddenly forced open, ripped from its hinges, causing Dean to gasp, “What the hell?!”

“There. Did my job. I’m leaving.”, Cason snapped, shoving Anna toward Sam as he passed through the door, followed by a wave of teenagers. He disappeared, and Anna wiped her bloody hand through her hair, barely noticing that she was smearing blood, in her panic.

“So, whatever the hell that was…”, Dean grumbled, scanning Anna’s body for any obvious signs of damage.

“Zombies…”, she almost whispered, pointing toward the growling shamblers that were now filing out at a rate that would take a while to subdue. Dean followed her pointing, and groaned, bending down to his bag that sat on the ground.

“Get the girls rounded up. Get them out. I’ll call you when I’m done.”, he ordered to Sam, pulling two large silver stakes from the bag. He turned and without another word, he stepped into the crypt and began slaughtering zombies, one by one.

Duke

Duke shook his head as Esme spoke about teaming up with Cason as something ‘crazy’. It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea, in his mind, to team up with some sort of monster on the right side of things. It just so happened that demons didn’t tend to fight on the right side of things, which complicated the whole ‘working relationship’ with them. He glanced down at Sarah again, although he couldn’t see anything other than an indentation.

“I don’t think it’s crazy. I think it’s smart. I mean…who’s gonna mess with you, with a Hellhound around?”, he asked with a thoughtful look on his face, thinking back to how he found her in the warehouse. A million questions came into his mind, over Sarah’s whereabouts during that entire thing, but he quickly shook them from his mind, “And teaming up with a demon is a…it’s a strange one, ‘specially for Dean. I can’t imagine they’re buddies…”

As Esme fell silent, Duke almost fell into a state of worry, afraid he had said something wrong, or set of some chain reaction of memories, until she started rambling. His mouth ever so slightly turned up on one side, in a smirk as he scanned her face, "Gaelic?".

He followed her eyes down to Sarah once again, and sighed, “Well, how bout this. I’m here until you want me to leave…or until you agree to go with me. So, why don’t we rest? The others will probably let you know when they’re back. You heal better when you can sleep…and we have a pretty good guard dog. As long as she agrees to not kill me in my sleep, I’m down for a nap.”

As he spoke, he smiled a bit brighter, slowly closing the pizza box. He slid off the bed carefully, carrying the pizza box to the dresser, and then quickly returned, slipping under the blankets and offering his arm to Esme, “Just…keep your hands to yourself…if you want.”, he teased with a chuckle.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

Duke took a bite of a slice of pizza he had pulled for himself, just as Sarah’s weight shifted the bed. Stopping himself from flinching, his heartrate sped, he glanced up at Esme’s face. He glanced back at Sarah, as if he could see her, and not just an imprint of her paw on the bed. The thought that this murder machine of a Hellhound was just listening to Esme made all of this even more jarring. He quickly turned his gaze back to Esme’s face. His smirk began to fall as he noticed that Esme had lowered her pizza slice and now had a seriousness to her face that he couldn’t quite place. Swallowing his bite, he followed her eyes, all the way to Sarah, and then back to her. He scanned her face carefully and tightened his jaw as she spoke, “That wasn’t meant to be a serious…I didn’t mean…”

He cut his words off to make sure he wasn’t interrupting her as she finished her questions and his chest tightened. Memories of Cason’s not so happy reaction to him ‘saving the day’, as well as the absolute paranoia the guy seemed to show for her flashed through Duke’s brain. Cason seemed absolutely enamored by Esme, even if she didn’t reciprocate, there was no missing his side of things.

“Well…I mean, I just assumed. I never put anything past anyone in this little family, to be honest.”, he answered her honestly, glancing down at her lips for a moment, before shaking his head, “I ain’t here to pry into whatever’s goin’ on. I don’t know what he has in his head about you guys…or what he thinks you are, but I’ll be honest. It’s written all over his face every time he looks at you. I know that look…”

Duke took a deep and nervous breath, letting the sentence linger in the air, in fear of pushing further and potentially wearing out his welcome. The last thing he wanted to do was bunk up with either of the boys, after a night of partying/working.

“But by the look on your face, you’re both not convinced one way or another how you feel about him.”

Cason and Anna

Cason smirked as Nat turned to shoot daggers at the teen, his hands gripping her arms a bit tighter to make sure she didn’t stagger away from him to beat the kid to a pulp. When she turned back to him, however, her eyes showed both her annoyance and what he could almost read as intrigue, “You could just step back, you know…I don’t think you’re that drunk.”

He chuckled, tilting his head up just enough to brush the tip of her nose with his. A rush of screams suddenly erupted from a crypt not too far away, catching Anna’s attention immediately. She turned her head, watching the teenagers run, as she heard Dean’s grunts from a distance, as he worked at the door.

“We really should help them. But at the same time, would they be pissed if we ran to help them…and left her alone?”, Anna asked Mika casually, shifting on her feet, “Hard choice. Well maybe not so hard…Oh no…”

As soon as Anna turned her head back toward Cason and Nat, a look of absolute disgusted disappointment covered her face. She pointed with her chin, snarling her nose at the way Cason was wiggling his way into Nat’s head…one nuzzle at a time.

Cason smirked a bit wider, the kids screaming and running around him barely phasing him in the slightest, as if he had seen it a million times before, and this was just another party of demons. Taking Nat’s inability to will herself to step back from him as an opportunity, he tilted his head a bit, and covered her lips with his. He wrapped an arm around her waist slowly, pulling her closer as he kissed her, his other hand coming up to cradle her cheek.

“Oh no. Mika…should I burn him? I can burn him…”, Anna groaned, balling up her fists, but having no clue what to actually do with them in this awkward situation.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason scanned his eyes across the crowd of teenagers, his nose scrunching in disgust every now and then as she shrugged the young girls away from him. He flinched uncharacteristically as Natalia’s voice broke through the chatter, a bit louder than he would have expected. Realizing the volume change was likely because of the alcohol in her system, he scooted a bit closer to her. He scanned the area behind her, over her head, and then turned his eyes down to meet hers with a smirk.

“I mean, it’s not like demons are just going to announce themselves out in the open, you know. They have to make sure you’re thoroughly…”, Cason started, reaching his hand out to attempt to block Nat from grabbing another cup of anything alcoholic. But before he could take it from her, she had already downed the entire cup. Wincing slightly, he rolled his eyes, “Drunk…”

Shifting on his feet, he straightened his jacket, shaking his head discreetly at another teen coming to offer Nat more beer, but his attention was pulled straight to her as she asked a question he really didn’t want to answer. He had honestly hoped she was either too stressed or too drunk to remember anything he had said at the motel. But in the same respect…he hoped she remembered it forever, in case she needed him.

“I um…”, he started, scratching his head awkwardly, “No! Getting under your skin would be the last thing on my mind. Demon…remember? I don’t exactly have the luxury of just messing with you.”

He met her eyes again, finally, and his gaze softened into something that resembled sympathy, “I just know that demons have a particular way of fucking over humans. From the inside…or from what I gather in your case, the outside. You don’t seem like a bad person and…”

Cason winced again, awkwardly glancing above her head, “You intrigue me. I’ll protect you if you’ll let me. That’s all. I want to know why.”

As he finished speaking, he turned his eyes down to hers once again, scanning them deeply as if he could read her mind somewhere behind them. Suddenly, a rowdy and very drunk teen shoved into Nat’s back, giggling the entire time. The action pushed her close enough that Cason had to shift his head back to avoid crashing noses with her, but he smirked, catching both her arms to keep her from completely losing her balance.

Anna

Anna stood, her arms crossed as a guy near herself and Mika mumbled on about some issue he had been having in school. She rolled her eyes, and leaned in close to Mika as she scanned the crowd for any sign of Sam or Dean…or even Cason in the chaos.

“I’m about to die. I swear. I’ve apparently killed people for less than boring me this badly…”, she grumbled over Mika’s shoulder, her eyes falling on Cason and Nat finally, “And I’m starting to feel like we’ve been cast aside so they can…mingle. What’s that about?”

She nodded her head toward them, and sighed, raising her eyebrows at how close they became in a split second from the shove, “And are we about to see an explosion? I feel like we’re about to see an explosion.”

Duke

Duke sighed with a wide smirk, carefully kissing Esme back as his heart fluttered. Whatever was happening between them was more than unexpected, but in his eyes, it was a long time coming. At this rate, he would end up staying…again…

He pulled the pizza toward him as his cheeks slowly turned red from the use of his nickname, somehow sounding different with him being the only one in Esme’s sights. It felt more like an actual loving nickname and less like a little fun poking at him, and as he pulled a slice of pizza and carefully handed it to her, he bit down on his bottom lip, “You don’t know how much I missed that nickname. I hate nicknames. But I guess it’s just you that gets away with it.”

He laughed softly, pulling his own slice and taking a large bite from it, “So, with everything I just learned about you, I almost feel the need to reintroduce myself or somethin’.”, he teased, trying to make sure the mood stayed light.

“Like…hi! Name’s Duke. I’ve traveled the world huntin’ all the monsters the locals don’t understand. Terminally single. Doesn’t normally work out well for girls in the industry…bein’ around Winchesters, I’m sure you get that. But now I’m back in the states and I don’t know where the hell I’m goin’. Can I stay the night?”, he rambled off with a laugh, his bright blue eyes lighting up as he tried his best to show her that he was completely relaxed with the entire situation, at this point. It was a lot of information to process, but honestly, their entire relationship had been ups and downs of mass info dumps, “Particularly good at protecting people from all the creepy crawlies, even of the demon ex boyfriend variety.”

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"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean was surprised that Lexi barely reacted to his offhand musing of watching a movie with him, after everything. It wasn’t like he believed for a second that they would be able to watch a movie and keep their hands off each other. He shook himself from his thoughts as she mentioned the whole reason they were out in the first place, and he turned to walk with her as she patted his arm and turned to the store.

As they entered the store, Dean glanced down at Lexi, and picked up one of the hand baskets at the door, “Basic stuff. Plenty of booze and I think we need more popcorn and some chocolate for you, if we’re gonna do the whole movie night thing again.”

He chuckled and grabbed his favorite whiskey off the shelf closest to the register, a habit that he didn’t figure he could break all that easily. He nodded at the cashier, who was sizing Lexi up as if she couldn’t believe Dean had a girl with him. He brushed off the uncomfortable thought that flooded his mind, sending an image of Mika through his headspace, “And if you’re staying for a bit, we may need some more…girly things for the shower. Or I guess you could just use Sam’s. It’s close enough.”

He teased her as he reached his free hand out to guide her with her lower back into the next aisle to grab snacks.

---

Anya sighed with relief as Sam understood a bit of her sign language, at least good enough to understand that she was doing her best not to scare him off. He seemed nice, and she wasn’t completely an angry mess of a human, other than when she was incredibly frustrated. His agreement to have coffee with her pulled her smile even higher into her cheeks and she held up a thumbs up, before signaling for him to follow her to the cafe across the street.

Once they were out on the street, she looked down at the pad of paper, and began scribbling, “I’m not always so angry. You seem nice. Sorry if I seem aggressive.”, she wrote down, before tilting the pad of paper toward him, as they stepped up to the door of the coffee shop. She pulled the door open, holding it to where he could catch it with his much taller frame, and then she stepped inside.

She wrote her simple coffee order down on the pad, sighing in frustration that she even had to, and then turned it around to the barista as soon as they stepped up. She then placed the pad against her chest, looking up to scan over Sam’s face, just taking in his features. There was something about the worry lines on his face, and the way his eyes drooped just a bit at the edges that told Anya he had been through a lot, and was either working on getting to a better place, or was happier, now.

After he ordered his own coffee, she scribbled on the pad, and turned it to him, “Clinical or loss?”, asking about his sad eyes.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason raised his eyebrows as Nat essentially agreed with him, and praised him all within a few seconds, an absolute surprise to him. He turned to look at her, scanning her face, and then he let his eyebrows fall into a proud smirk. He nodded, “As bad as it hurts me to say it out loud, I do trust your brothers. If they play their cards right, we’ll just be headed to a Halloween party.”

He turned to side eye the backseat as Anna took a breath to retort to him, “And until we hear otherwise, we should just try to have fun. I’m not that bad to hang out with, am I? Anna? Tell Nat. I’m fun.”, he teased, trying to lighten his own mood with Nat’s efforts. If she wasn’t going to complain and be as rude to him as her brothers, he would keep the pleasantries, while keeping her safe.

“You’ll both be safe.”, he started again, before turning back to scan Nat’s eyes from his side, “I promise you, that. Relax. Enjoy the night. We’ll intervene if we have to…”

————-

At the Cemetery

Cason nodded shortly to Nat as she turned to get out of the car, after a moment of silence. He wanted to reach out, and try to make sure her head was on straight, but he was still afraid to touch her. After a moment, he followed her movements, opening his door and stepping out. Before he even opened Anna’s door for him, the Impala rolled up, and parked next to them.

He opened Anna’s door, gesturing for her to get out of the car with a huff, and she slipped off the back seat, having already stashed as many weapons as she could in her less than ideal outfit for a fight. She pressed her hands against his chest for a moment to gain her stability, and then quickly pushed him away to stroll over to the Impala, while calling out to Dean the second he stepped out, “Are you guys good? If we’re gonna make this look realistic, I think we have to split, here…”

“We do have to split here…”, Cason called out over her voice, and she turned to shoot him a glare, “I’ll take the girls. They’ll be safe with me at the party, and if anything comes up, I’m the hardest of the three to kill. So, I’ll keep them safe, regardless what you’re probably thinking.”

Dean furrowed his brow, still wondering what Cason’s angle was, “I’m not thinking anything, except that you seem lonely and like you would love nothing more than to take advantage of any one of the girls…You know what will happen if they raise a hand and ask for help.”

“Yes, Dean. I’m aware that you’ll slice my head off…blahblahblah. Let’s just go. We can fight later…again.”, Cason rolled his eyes and mocked Dean, which only made Dean clench his fists angrily at his sides, “And next time, I won’t let you beat me…”

“That’s enough. You boys can measure dicks later. We have a job to do…”, Anna reached out and wrapped an arm across Cason’s chest, turning him back toward Nat’s car. He chuckled, but didn’t turn back to egg Dean on further. Getting him that mad in such a short time was enough of a reward, for now.

“Let’s go dance…and drink…and be a thruple, before your brother slits my throat tonight, eh?”, Cason teased Nat with a wide smile.

Duke

Duke shrugged at Esme’s question as he brought the pizza to set it on the bedside table, pointing at it, “Well…you feed her. You tell her she’s beautiful. Feed her a little more. Once she has her belly full, and she enjoyed all that pizza, then you can just whisper sweet nothings in her ear and…seduction happens?”

He laughed, his wide smile meeting his eyes as he stood near the edge of the bed, glancing nervously over at Sarah. His smile never faded from his face, however, and he raised his eyebrows, leaning in close to Esme’s face, “Would that work? I mean…there was a day when you could have touched my knee and I would have been ruined for a month. At least I’ve grown up enough to touch your skin…and seduce you.”

He flipped the box open, and picked it up, carrying it with him as he crawled onto the bed on his knees, and sat it in front of her. He finally dropped himself to land against the pillows with another laugh, “How are you feeling, now?”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean melted into the kiss as Lexi returned it gladly. He wasn’t surprised, but at the same time, he couldn’t help the jolt of electricity that flooded down his spine. He leaned forward, tempted to lean her back onto the seat, the fact that they were in public leaving his mind momentarily. But then she pulled away from the kiss, and Dean gasped, still holding her face in his hand. He chuckled breathlessly at her comment, “Yeah…I definitely think you should…”

As he said the last words, he squinted his eyes sarcastically, and tilted his head to the side, “We should probably get in there. Sam’s whiney when I leave him waiting anywhere, and I have a feeling that you’re sticking around.”

He chuckled softly again, leaning in to press his lips gently to hers one more time, before forcing himself to release her. He pulled back, trailing his fingers across her cheek as he reached for the door handle. He stepped out of the Impala and ran around to her door, pulling it open for her, just trying to keep a passive expression on his face, despite how much his heart hammered away in his chest.

“When we get back, I might just have to convince you to have another movie night with me.”, he randomly blurted out, wincing with gritted teeth the second the words left his mouth, and he turned his eyes down toward the pavement. Kicking himself, he took a deep breath and mentally shook himself.

---

Anya smiled back at Sam as he understood exactly what she was trying to say, and with a smile, nonetheless. She shrugged, and waved off the newness of the clerk, even if he was so rude to her. She knew that the language barrier was strong with ASL and spoken languages. She just wondered how much Sam knew.

As Sam held out his hand, Anya stared at it for a few seconds, before taking it with a small smile. She shook his hand, and then as she pulled her hand back, she signed out her name, letter by letter, but sighed as she realized Sam probably couldn’t understand her, or maybe that was one of the few things he would know. A lot of Americans seemed to at least know most of the alphabet.

She didn’t have to worry long, as the clerk came back and shoved a notepad and a pen into Anya’s hands. She quickly scribbled down her name, with a tiny heart next to it, and turned it around to Sam with a soft smile. Turning the note pad back around to herself, she wrote down a list of things she needed, and tore it out, handing it to the clerk. He read over it, and sighed, “Miss…I’m going to have to order half of these parts. I hope you have a couple of days. We don’t keep a lot in stock around here.”

Anya rolled her eyes, and scribbled on the paper again, “Fine. Call me when it gets here.” And her number underneath, tearing the paper out and handing it to the clerk, before turning back with Sam. She wrote a single word on the piece of paper, and turned it to Sam, “Coffee?”

Realizing that she was asking him out without any context, she quickly turned the paper back toward her and wrote, “For helping me and not being a dick.”, and she turned it back to him.

“Just keep that. Consider it an apology for the delay, and…a little help with your friend.”, the clerk said with a smirk, folding the paper in his hands, before turning and walking back behind the counter. Anya stared up at Sam and shrugged her shoulders. She then signed to him, to test his knowledge.

“I’m nice. I promise.”, with a small giggle.