JustAnna

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason and Anna

Cason dropped in the middle of an empty hallway, in the old apartment building that he had lived in…when he met Anna. He knew where she was. She always ran to one person when they would fight, or when she had a bad test day and needed someone who could relate. In fact, it’s where she was living when they met in this very hallway.

He smiled fondly of the memories that flooded his mind of the parties, and the late nights helping guys back to their apartments after a bender. Glancing around at the numbers on the doors, he oriented himself and walked down the hallway. Only a few doors down, he came to the apartment he was looking for, and straightened his jacket, before knocking.

He could hear voices behind the door, both of which were familiar, and surprisingly happy. He could even hear Anna giggle as Max stalked over to the door and swung it open.

“Cason!”, he beamed, a bright smile gracing his face as soon as he saw Cason’s face. Anna’s head popped up in the background as she stood to her feet, looking almost faint.

“Hey Max. Hello, Anna.”, Cason answered back, as Max stepped aside, letting Cason into the apartment. Cason glanced at the ceiling, and scanned his eyes down to his feet, just in case Anna had already planned for him to come after her, but from what he gathered, she had no idea he was coming.

“What are you doing here?”, Anna asked with a shaky voice, causing Max to frown in confusion. She might have forgotten to mention that they were long broken up, and not…exactly on the best terms. She sighed, and Cason shrugged his shoulders.

“You kinda ran off without saying anything. I was worried.”

“Max…could you excuse us for a moment?”, she asked, hesitantly taking her eyes off Cason long enough to turn to Max.

“Of-Of course. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, alright?”, he responded, glancing between her and Cason with suspicion. She simply nodded, crossing her arms as he left her alone with him.

“What the hell are you doing here?! I hope you’re not here to bring me back. I’m not going. I will scream.”, she started immediately, but Cason raised his hands to stop her.

“First. I know you will. Second. I’m not here to bring you back. Your boyfriend was losing his mind, and I’m just here to make sure you’re alive and well. You are. I have what I need and I don’t plan to make any more drama for you than necessary.”, Cason explained, shrugging his shoulders. Anna narrowed her eyes in suspicion, scanning his face for any sign that he was lying, but she could find nothing.

“How is he?”, she asked finally.

“A mess. He’s confused. He’s a bit zoned out and upset, if I’m honest. He doesn’t understand why you left. Why did you leave?”

“It’s what I do, I guess.”, she answered, shrugging her shoulders. She turned her eyes awkwardly to the ground and kicked her boots against the floor, causing Cason to narrow his eyes.

“Right…”, he said, but his voice held suspicion. He knew that there was more to her story, and that something had caused her to leave. But instead of pushing it, he reached out, cradling her face in his hands. He pulled her forward and pressed a tight kiss to her forehead, “You know you can call me if you need me…even now.”

“I know.”, she whispered, her eyes closed, “But can you leave?”

“Of course. I need to let them know you’re alive. Keep him safe, alright? Don’t open the door, and put a trap under that door mat, just in case whoever made you leave shows up.”, Cason explained casually, stepping back from her. He disappeared before she could even correct him, and she dropped her arms in exasperation, tears threatening the corners of her eyes.

Dean

As soon as Cason disappeared, Dean stayed silent for a moment, until Nat turned to him, and accused him of having something to say. At first, he feigned innocence, shaking his head, “I don’t know what you want me to say…”

He crossed his arms but then held a hand up, shifting to one leg, “He suddenly decides to protect you, after all this time. What is it? He has been taking care of you from afar and suddenly he feels the need to be close enough to sleep in your bed? I’m just confused, Nat. This is Cason. You know…Cason? The guy who slept with my girlfriend. The guy who essentially lied to Anna for God knows how long about what he was. And suddenly he’s a saint. Saint demon…”

He took a deep breath, and shook his head, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just need to know…how do you…feel about him? Is it an ‘I owe him’ kind of attachment or is it a ‘he’s dangerous, let me jump in bed with him’ kind of thing?”

Before he could even get an answer from her, Cason appeared behind her, much faster than he had anticipated. He rolled his eyes, and gave Nat a look that said ‘I expect that answer when you’re finished with him’. Luckily for Dean, Cason stood still and quiet, holding a piece of paper in his hands as he waited for the stress to leave the area around Nat.

Duke

Duke listened carefully for Esme’s voice in the room, breathing deep through his nose. Finally, he heard her voice and a wide relieved smile spread across his face. He gently pressed on the door, pushing it open, before removing the trashcan from the gap, and closing the door behind him. He didn’t immediately go to touch her, deciding instead to get some clothes on, just in case she decided to continue screaming at him. At least he wouldn’t end up back outside, naked.

He kicked off his boots and threw his hat on the dresser, before grabbing a pair of boxers and a tshirt, throwing them both over his body. He stood still at the foot of the bed, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, and then crawled onto the mattress. He carefully crawled all the way up until he was leaning on his hands and knees beside Esme, and reached a gentle hand over to wrap his fingers around one of her wrists.

“Hey. Darlin, look at me.”, he whispered, bringing her hand up to his lips, where he pressed soft kisses to her knuckles, “I mean, I can’t flash my baby blues and apologize right if you don’t look at me.”

As he lightly teased her, he smiled against her knuckles so she could feel it, and then balanced on just his knees, reaching for her other hand, “C’mon, sweet pea…”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Anna

Anna played with the button on the right sleeve of Sam’s flannel as she stared out the window of the plane. She didn’t even know she was capable of controlling anyone’s mind, outside of demons, but in her desperation at the airport, she had convinced a desk attendent to not only give her a ticket, but to get her a rush ticket to Sacramento.

While waiting for the plane to taxi, she had called the one person she knew she could trust, Max, her sort of ex boyfriend and former Stanford roommate. Of course he said he would pick her up from the airport. He never could tell her no.

“It’s almost over…”, she whispered, as the plane began to circle over the city, readying itself for landing. The only thing playing through Anna’s mind, the entire time they decended, was the hope that Sam would be okay this time, and that he wouldn’t follow her to California. She reached under her seat, pulling her backpack and holding it in her lap, taking a deep breath at the fact that she was almost home…well…her old home.

Walking through the airport, she shivered, nervously glancing around for any signs of the Winchesters, or Cason for that matter. But the airport was surprisingly empty. Taking another deep breath, she played with the button on the sleeve of Sam’s flannel, which she was wearing as a dress and finally Max came into view.

Max

He gave her a wide smile, like her tired and devastated face was the best thing he had ever seen, and the look made her stomach drop. She wasn’t here to give him some false hope. She just needed his apartment. It was selfish.

“Hey! How have you been?!”, he asked loudly as he ran up to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Her heart sped up a bit and she swallowed down her tears as the first physical contact she had felt since leaving Sam washed over her.

“I um…It’s a long story. But, I’m here.”, she explained simply as he pulled back from her and pulled her backpack straps from her shoulders. He slung the backpack onto his back and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“We have plenty of time to catch up, kid. First, let’s get you back to the house and out of…whatever you’re wearing. And from the looks of it, we need to get some food into your system.”, he laughed. Anna feigned a small smile, nodding her head as he guided her out of the airport, back to what she was assuming was their old apartment.

Dean and Cason

Dean glanced back at the door when he heard footsteps walking out, only to see Nat. He diverted his eyes from her for a moment, only to turn fully and look down at her as she asked to talk to him. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, squinting at the ideas in his head of what she could possibly have to say to him. But as awkward as they both were toward each other, he took a deep breath and followed her away from the group, silently agreeing to let her say her piece.

He crossed his arms, shielding himself from whatever she decided to throw at him, only for her to make him visibly flinch with her first few words. She was apologizing. And then Hell came back up and he visibly flinched again, just at the mention and the quick flash of memories. He opened his mouth to speak, only for her to continue, causing him to quickly close his mouth and scan her eyes.

What she dumped next caused him to make the most confused face he had caught himself making in a while, processing everything she was telling him so fast that his head hurt. Once she slowed down, he took a very deep breath, letting it out with a shake of his head, his hands coming down to his hips.

“He…basically saved your life.”, he said softly, looking up at her from under his brow. He was processing out loud and honestly wasn’t completely convinced that she wasn’t being manipulated by Cason. Then the realization dawned on him, “You remember him from the asylum, don’t you. He was there…”

Tilting his head back, he stared over her head, toward the door of her room, chewing at his lip, before reaching forward and gently pulling her into a hug.

As he hugged her, the door behind her slammed loudly and Cason stomped out onto the sidewalk.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just…ready to fling myself into Hell. I’ll be here when you’re finished.”, Cason grumbled, pacing as he tried to decide whether to just leave and go to the first idea he had for where Anna could be, or whether to stay and make sure everyone was on the same page. He glanced down the sidewalk at Sam, sighing, as he almost felt bad for him.

Duke

As Dean walked away with Nat, Duke sighed at how heavy the morning was already, between the fall out from the night before with Dean and Nat, and the missing girl that he honestly didn’t even know…but apparently was important to Sam. When Mika spoke up, he nodded, “Yeah, I gathered. Looks like they might be able to salvage things though. They always do.”

He chuckled, but flinched when the door slammed, and turned his head, to see Cason stomping out of the room that Esme had just entered. He had to force his feet to stay still, as worry welled up, only for Esme to follow him out a few moments later. As she approached, he reached a hand out for her, but she went to Sam first.

His shoulders fell, but he patiently waited for her, relieved instantly for Sam. At least he would have hope…

But then she ran off toward their room without even acknowledging him and he tilted his head, frowning, “I think I messed up…”, he muttered to Mika, nodding to her and Sam, before following after Esme. As soon as he got to the door, he leaned his head against it, gently knocking, “Can I come in or should I um…go spend some time with my cooler in the back of the truck?”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean and Anya

Dean waved as Lexi asked what the demons wanted from Anya. He was genuinely curious to know how a girl like her could end up in such a mess. But the mention of the Colt instantly caused his eyes to practically pop out of his head.

“The Colt. Like…THE Colt?”, he asked incredulously as Sam explained that Anya knew they couldn’t get the gun back. His excitement wained a bit, having a brief moment of thinking that maybe this girl was some sort of key to finding it. But alas, she didn’t seem to even know what they were talking about, judging by her face, “Even if we had the gun, we would never give it to a d-…to an aquaintance. That would be stupid.”

Anya didn’t even know how to respond to any of them, but she picked up the pad of paper she had used to communicate with Sam, and wrote down, “My father had it just a few years ago. But when he was killed, it disappeared.”

“What? He what?!”, Dean asked, as she turned the pad around, causing her to flinch visibly. She tapped aggressively at the word ‘killed’, and then spelled out ‘because of the gun’ in sign. Rolling her eyes after Dean stared at her for a moment, she made a gun with her fingers, and pulled it up to her temple, pretending to kill herself with it, and then held it up.

“He was killed for the Colt.”, he asked slowly, and Anya nodded, putting the paper pad back onto the table, “Well…then I guess we have work to do. I’m not making the mistake I want to make right now. So, back to the bunker?”

Anya wondered what mistake that could be. Leaving her alone? Teaching her stuff? Was Dean more of the answer here than Sam? She didn’t know, but as soon as Dean got the words out of his mouth, she smiled, feeling accomplished and signed to Sam, “Let’s go.”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean and Anya

Dean flinched and frowned even deeper when Lexi slapped his arm and scolded him, “It was an honest question! For all I know, she’s hexing me or something with those hand skills.”, he grumbled, rubbing his arm. But as soon as they had an actual name, he raised his eyebrows and nodded, “Anya! Small angry woman’s name is Anya. Good to know.”

Anya was just about to turn to Dean and let him know that she could hear him fine, when Sam spoke up, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She honestly didn’t want to have to pass another language barrier with a stranger. It was getting to be exhausting in this town.

She looked down at the floor, crossing her arms again, to show that she was verbally disarmed, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other as Sam explained what she needed. She half expected yet another lecture, but instead, Dean simply huffed.

“You always seem to find them, don’t you?”, he muttered with a chuckle, causing Anya to look up at him, so she could judge his face. He seemed relaxed, and not as worried as she expected, which was both concerning and a relief. What if he just said they couldn’t help?, “By aquaintances we’re talking about the kind with…not so normal eyes, right?”
Anya simply nodded, bringing out one of her hands to sign to him, but deciding against it. Dean was already waving off her attempt to speak.

“We don’t train hunters.”, he said simply, and Anya’s eyes widened and she looked back at Sam, begging him for an answer to what that meant, “But I guess we have to help…”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean and Anya

Dean frowned as they approached the table, and he noticed that not only was the girl signing, meaning she was deaf? He assumed? But also, it looked as if she was leaving in a hurry. What had Sam done to deserve this kind of attention?

Anya glanced up at Dean and Lexi, assuming they were waiting on the table at first, but then Sam stood and asked for a compromise and her head whipped back to face him in shock. She honestly didn’t expect him to concede so easily, but the look on his face was hard to ignore.

She sighed through her nose, her shoulders dropping as she folded her arms across her chest, a sign she wasn’t willing to discuss this any further, but then he mentioned his brother, and she turned to scan over the two people she thought were waiting for a table. Pulling her hands from their pretzel, she slowly signed, “Fine. But I’m not dumb, just because I can’t speak.”

She hoped he would at least understand that small sentence enough to respect her, and then Dean spoke up, “So, this isn’t how I expected to find you. Who’s your friend?”

“Anya.”, she sighed quickly, barely looking at Dean before turning her eyes back to Sam for confirmation. Dean flinched and his face scrunched in confusion as he turned to Lexi and held his hand out.

“Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean and Duke

Dean sighed in relief as Mika listened to his brother and simply nodded at him. But as she passed, her words in his ear both perked him up and frightened him. He swallowed heavily, not even glancing at her with a simple, “Noted.”

Duke frowned, glancing down at Esme’s arm as she pulled him to the side, and quickly pushed his hat back on his head so that he could see the fire in her eyes. He had either really messed up, or she was needing something, and judging by the brand of fire he saw, she was pissed.

“Now hold on…”, he started, as she laid into him over the bounty hunter comments. He had no intention of sending some hack job after Anna, though he couldn’t guarantee they would follow instructions…

This Esme definitely brought back memories. Slightly less physical than she used to be, which he chalked up to the fact that she still had stitches (and he was thankful for that), but when she continued, he winced. He opened his mouth to speak, after she finished, feeling very small. But he was cut off before he could speak, turning his eyes down to the ground like a scolded little boy, “Yes, ma’am…”

Dean couldn’t help but notice the exchange, knowing that he likely had his own scolding coming…luckily not from Esme, this time. But Esme was right. Bounty Hunters jobs were to bring back bodies. If the bodies were banged and bruised, they still got paid. If they were dead, they got paid less…but still paid. Duke knew this, but then again, Duke himself had done some bounty hunting with Dean for a bit, during their dark years. It almost made Dean feel bad for him.

“You alright?”, he asked Duke as Mika showed back up behind him. Duke simply waved him off, and leaned against the post in front of the rooms, waiting to see what went down in the other room.

Dean instead looked down at Mika with a sigh, “He’ll help, or he’ll deal with Sam. I’m sure that’s a decent incentive.”

Cason

Cason listened to Nat essentially beg him to stay. It’s not like he would leave if she didn’t want him to. He didn’t have a reason to. She was safer with him near her, and she was safer mentally if she wasn’t alone. At the same time, he knew the tension between her and her brothers wasn’t exactly productive. There was work to do, and as much as he wanted to blip her out of the game completely, he couldn’t. He opened his mouth to argue with her, when the knock at the door came and he dropped the issue for the time being, smirking at how jumpy Nat was, being wrapped up in their conversation.

“It seems we’ll have to continue this later.”, he agreed, dropping his hands onto his lap, before scooting himself off the bed behind her. He followed her to the door, but stood back, wanting to be the last body in the path of her brother, but what he saw on the other side of the open door caused him to frown in confusion.

“Esme? Why um…why would they send you of all people?”, he asked awkwardly, his pride still a bit wounded by the shunning he felt like he had received after their meet up with the demons. He fully expected her to still be wrapped up with Duke, her knight in shining armor, and though he didn’t fully know what jealousy should feel like, he still felt a bit…hurt.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean smiled widely at her agreement to coffee and turned back to the steering wheel, bringing the Impala to life with a roar. He peeled out of the parking lot, but slowed once he was on the road, driving slowly while looking around for the coffee shop he had picked Sam up from time and time again.

“Hopefully…hopefully, the bunker will be a little more comfortable with all these creature comforts. I mean, having other people around might help Sam. I’m fine…most of the time. But Sam, he gets lonely…”, he rambled, before parallel parking in front of the coffee shop, and putting the car into park.

“Although. I vote that you stay, if not just for sanity. I’ve been ready to kill Sam and his hovering nature for months.”, he quipped with a chuckle, opening the door quickly and stepping out. Before Lexi even opened the door, he glanced over the roof of the car at the window of the coffee shop and huffed another chuckle, “Well, will you look at that. Sam…is with a girl.”

Anya

Anya held her frustrated face for a moment, while Sam attempted to talk his way out of her anger. She couldn’t help but soften her face as he spoke, turning her eyes down from his face to the table. It was obvious he had seen people like her before, and apparently had lost people because of it. The thought hurt her heart, but she couldn’t back down.

Truthfully, she had also lost people, but for the opposite reason. She lost them because they weren’t prepared. They didn’t know what little she knew. They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into and were slaughtered like ants because of it.

Shaking her head lightly, she pulled the pad back one more time, as the door opened and Dean stepped in, “I’m going to find a way to learn. If you don’t want to help me, I understand. But I have to do this.”

She stood up, pushing her chair back and straightened her jacket, before digging in her pocket for a couple of bills to tip the waitresses. She laid them on the table and pushed her chair back in behind her, before turning to him and signing, “See you around, Sam.”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean popped the trunk of the Impala as soon as they reached it, still laughing at the fact that Lexi actually believed he would let her buy him a beer when they went out. As she approached, and began putting the groceries in the car, he raised an eyebrow. Sam hadn’t texted either of them. Odd. Maybe he was talking to someone.

“That’s weird. But also not weird.”, he grumbled and then closed the tunk as Lexi made a joke about Sam’s ability to research on the road. She was right. Somehow Sam’s wifi always seemed strong, whether or not they had cell service, “Eh. It’s those nerd powers he was blessed with. Dude can read a book in two hours, and can research almost anything in the middle of the woods. Nerd. Power.”

He laughed out loud, and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door for her. Once she was inside, he shut the door and jogged around to the drivers side, “But I do think he’s fine. He probably found some old lady to have a compelling conversation with about gardening…or whatever my brother reads about when he’s alone. On the other hand, you wanna grab some coffee?”

Dean glanced over at her, after putting the key in the ignition. Without pausing, he leaned across the seat, and placed a quick and tight kiss to her lips, pulling back to scan her eyes for a yes or a no.

Anya

Anya nearly rolled her eyes as Sam began to explain why she shouldn’t be a hunter. She had heard it before, from her father and from hunters. But after being involved, she was marked, right? Knowing what she knew, she was already doomed. Why not be equipped to handle what was coming for her, if something was coming for her.

She began to sign her frustration to him, trying to cut his words off with an argument, but she remembered almost immediately that he didn’t understand fluent sign language. So, instead, she pulled the notepad over as he finished speaking with a huffy sigh.

“I’m already in this world, and I don’t appreciate being spoken to like some weak little girl. Everyone that I’ve ever watched die treated me that way, and guess who survived.

ME.

You don’t know anything about me, and if I made a mistake by coming to you, then fine. But I have reasons I don’t want to discuss on a piece of paper for why I want to learn.”

And with that, she punctuated her sentence aggressively, and slid the paper back toward him, sitting back and crossing her arms with a huff. It was the same song and dance that she dealt with the last time she was around hunters. And although Sam didn’t seem to treat her like an object at least, she still wanted to plead her case.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason flinched slightly when Nat reached up and touched his face. He couldn’t place why he half expected her to just slap him, or pull an Esme and shoot him in the head for not dragging her ass out of there. But instead, her touch was gentle, and he leaned his face into it, opening his eyes to scan her eyes.

“I…”, he started, after her words, before she engulfed him in a hug. At first he was still, but then he gently brought his arms up to wrap her up, placing one hand on the back of her head, blanketing his fingers in her hair.

“Trust me, I didn’t want you to remember any more of that place than you were forced to.”, he answered back, flexing his hand against the back of her head, “But if any good could come of it, you should hear it from me. You don’t owe me anything. I know, weird to hear from a demon.”

He chuckled softly, before forcing her to pull back from him, cradling her face in his hands, “And I’ll go…if it’s too much. I’m not sure your brothers would understand my side of things, as much as you might think.”

Dean and Duke

Dean shook his head immediately as Sam began to blame himself after breaking the news to them and himself that Anna was likely going to be very hard to track down. He reached a hand out to Sam and shook his head again, “No. No, you’re not going to blame yourself for this. We don’t know who got to her. It’s not out of the question for it to be any of the sons of bitches we have dealt with. Remember Alastair?”

He held his hand out toward Mika as she basically said the same thing. This wasn’t normal for Anna. She had been stuck to Sam like glue. For her to just bail, it didn’t seem natural. It seemed forced.

But then Esme spoke up, and Dean tilted his head. She had a point. Of all the people in the current group, Esme would be the quickest one to get information out of Cason. Mika was probably the last person he should talk to. Dean and Sam were a non starter and Duke barely knew him.

“I agree with Esme and Mika.”, he spoke finally, in agreement with Mika. Duke however, was still frowning at Mika, as if he was genuinely confused as to what was wrong with the idea of bounty hunting. They were quick and effective, and they wouldn’t hurt her…most likely. But he kept his mouth shut and instead lifted his eyes to meet Mika’s gaze as she looked toward him.

“Sammy we’ll figure this out. Esme can um…she can go over there and butter him up. Maybe he’ll have an old address, or even just narrow it down to a state. He can pop in and out of wherever. It beats driving around with no lead.”, Dean explained with a shrug.

“I still think we should hire a bounty hunter and leave the demon out of it. I mean…is there a reason we shouldn’t just kill him.”

“We’re NOT killing anyone. Will you shut your mouth? Nat will cut off your head if she’s found any sort of comfort in him. Demon or not, he’s off limits.”, Dean quickly corrected Duke who held his hands up to each side of his head in surrender.

“Fine! Fine. But if he…”, he started, before Dean shook his head and gave him a hard look, “I’m not doing it.”

“Then that leaves Esme. Go get dressed and we can get this show on the road.”, Dean said simply, waving Esme toward her room, before placing his hands on his hips.

“Only one problem, chief. She ain’t got no clothes, here.”, Duke chimed in with a sigh.

“Where’s her bag? Where’s your bag.”

“No bag. No car. No things. We came here to get her patched up, man.”, Duke explained and Dean sighed loudly, wiping a frustrated hand down his face, before he turned to Mika with a stone cold face.

“Then Mika can lone her something. Why don’t you go get her something to wear…I can make it up to you or something.”, Dean barked at Mika, before softening his face slightly with a sweet smile, “Please…”

“Honestly, with all this trouble, we should just hire a bounty hunter…”, Duke chimed again, shrugging his shoulders as he hid his eyes under his hat brim.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason smirked as Nat grumbled, her scrunched face amusing him enough to almost laugh out loud. But he stifled his chuckle only long enough to hear her insult her brother, and then his chest shook against hers with soft laughter, “Eh. Don’t be so hard on him…”

He stretched his legs, releasing her knee from between them. He didn’t sleep, but at times he would zone out, and her knee being pinned meant that at the least she wouldn’t hurt herself thrashing around if she had another bad dream. He watched her face for those few moments of silence, doing his best to read her expression, but before he could ask her what she was thinking, she thanked him.

He nearly laughed out loud again, but instead, he softened his face into a relaxed smile and shrugged his shoulders, “I meant what I said. You’re safe as long as I’m alive.”, he explained simply, as she sat up and began showing her remorse for what she had said to her idiot brother the night before.

“I don’t think you were a bitch at all. But then again, I was resetting my nose after being assaulted by the idiot, and so…I might be biased. You were emotional. You were understandably on edge, after what I…you know. I don’t think he’ll hold it against you for more than the time it takes you to inevitably apologize.”, he explained simply, with an amused look on his face. He sat himself up against the headboard beside her, and reached a hand over, pulling her hands away from her face, holding one of them in his own, “And if you want to get that inevitable apology out of the way before we talk, I definitely understand. They are not far outside the door…I can hear them.”

Dean

Dean winced at the look on Sam’s face when he mentioned Anna’s name. It was an instant reaction, and thus answered his own question. When Sam explained further, Dean couldn’t help the miserable groan that left his chest. He glanced down at the note, right as Mika stepped up and asked about the situation.

“I mean, she couldn’t have gone far, right? She doesn’t really know anyone, and she’s never had any reason to leave your side. Even with the…attacking Cason thing, you were right there. You guys even…you know…seemed to get along fine.”, he awkwardly tried to talk his brother down. But he realized quickly that the approach he was taking was probably not the right one. The last thing he wanted to remind Sam of was his…attachment to her.

“Where would she have gone? She must have mentioned something, right?”, he asked, trying to be a little more professional about things as he took the letter from Sam’s hand. Reading it, he frowned, looking up at Sam right after, while handing the letter to Mika.

Sam,
I hate myself for doing this to you…again. It’s just not fair to either of us to pretend that this can work. It never has. We barely speak. We barely look at each other outside of hunting together, which tells me that time has not been kind to whatever connection we made all those years ago.

That’s why I think it’s best that I let you go, for good this time. I shouldn’t have stayed. I shouldn’t have held onto you, as if you were mine to lose. We weren’t each others to lose. So please be safe. Please don’t lose that shine in your eyes, and your smile. Don’t lose yourself in this horror show, and give all that love that I know you have buried somewhere in there to someone who can hold it for you.

I’ll miss you for the rest of my life. Don’t look for me. Please.

Love forever,
AnnaBeth

Part of Dean’s solumn look came from the fact that she signed the letter with her full name. He hadn’t heard that name in months, and just reading it almost made him choke up.

Duke

Duke smiled as Esme nuzzled his nose with hers, sweetly asking how he slept. Truthfully, he had slept better than he had in a while, between the warmth of the Hellhound pillow he was laying on, and Esme being wrapped up in his long arms. He nuzzled her nose back, brushing his lips over hers with a bright smile, “I actually slept pretty amazing. I’m assuming by the smile on your face, it was good for you too.”

He laughed softly, but quickly pulled back from her as she sat up, Sarah pulling from under his head, and hopping over the side of the truck bed. He sat up and glanced toward the others, as Esme turned back to him. With a nod, he reached down and tightened the towel around his waist, “Yeah none of them look very happy to greet the morning.”

He slowly scooted himself down the tailgate, until his booted feet touched the ground, and then reached out to wrap his arm around Esme, making sure that if the blanket fell, at least he would be able to grab it. He walked with her over to the group, and sighed as soon as he stepped up and saw Dean reading a letter, “Who is it, Nat?”

“Anna.”, Dean said simply, nodding at Esme to tell her good morning. He ran both his hands through his hair, and Duke instantly placed both his hands on his hips.

“What do you need me to do? Need a bounty hunter?”

“No. Duke not yet. We’re…we’re letting Sam decide how to handle this. But…do we know if she knows anyone? Anyone that might know…”, Dean started, before it dawned on him, “We do know someone she knows. Someone she knows very well.”

Dean turned to Mika and then glanced back toward Nat’s door.