JustAnna

All Roads Lead To You

Dean and Duke

Duke mulled over the idea of taking Esme for drinks. She seemed like the type that would be a lot of fun, when she wasn’t busted up and had a little alcohol in her system. He would have to bring it up to her later on. He was still insanely curious what Dean had said about him. Dean was pretty open with Duke about how he felt on the subject of his running, and his inability to hold onto any kind of friendship with anyone but those who ended up at Bobby’s. Esme at least seemed like one of those…

Duke raised his eyebrows as Dean barely got his dig in, and gave Esme a look that Duke recognized all too well. Esme hit him back immediately, and Duke folded his arms over his bare chest, choosing to watch the show unfold in front of him.

Dean on the other hand was taken aback by Esme’s scolding, at his look. He too raised his eyebrows and held his hands out to his sides, ready to defend himself, when she continued. He placed his hands on his hips and shifted to one foot, glancing between Esme and Duke.

“No of course not. I don’t want you guys fighting or anything I just know…” Dean started, and Duke shifted to his right foot, tilting his head back as if asking Dean to continue whatever potentially hurtful thing he was going to say. “I’m just making sure that we all get to know each other, with no charming or manipulation.”

“So, you think I’m manipulating her?” Duke chimed in, the disappointment written all over his face, but Dean shook his head, holding a hand out.

“I didn’t say that. Look…”

“Well that’s what it sounds like. I mean, I can talk to people, and I can get pretty close to them, I guess, but I’m straight up just tryin’ to help. No romance. No gestures…” Duke explained and Dean nodded.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m tired. I’m tired and I’m grumpy and honestly, I think I need a break.” Dean started, as Duke chuckled and shook his head, turning his eyes down to the ground for a moment, “What?”

“You were gettin’ your alone time, and you had to come out here and check on things, because you think that if you don’t watch me, I’m gonna grab the girl and run off like a bank robber with a hostage.”

“What? No…” Dean started, but then he couldn’t argue because that was the exact reason he had come outside. He wanted to make sure that Esme was heeding his warning and holding Duke at arms length. Walking out and seeing them all tangled up in a hug was a bit jarring. Dean sighed, “Can we start over?”

“I dunno. Ask her.” Duke smirked, and glanced over at Esme, hoping to catch her eyes so she could see the glimmer of mischief in his own. “I owe her a drink…”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Anya

Anya smiled at Dean’s attempt to complain, shaking her head as she made her own plate, and then picked up both plates and turned to the table. As she passed Lexi, she returned her wink with a silent giggle. She already liked Lexi, as she seemed a really good ally to have, when it came to Dean. Anya could tell Dean was sweet on the lady.

She sat Dean’s plate on the table, placing hers on the other side, and then jogged back across the kitchen, swiping her phone from the counter top. As she walked back over to the table, she saw Dean sit down at what he would probably consider the ‘head of the table’, at first. Then he picked up his chair and moved it to sit on one of the flat sides, inviting Lexi to sit next to him silently. Anya smiled and she grabbed her plate, and sat it next to Sam’s, taking her seat as Lexi thanked her the food. As Anya sat down, she smiled shyly and pulled her phone up, typing a simple, “You’re welcome. I just wanted everyone to have a good meal, even if today sucked.”

Dean

Dean rolled his eyes at Sam’s sweet little answer to his complaining. He hated not being right, and at the moment, it seemed he wasn’t right about Anya. When Lexi chimed in and told him he should count himself lucky, he mocked her, rocking his head side to side, before taking his beer to the table. He sat down at one of the small edges first, and then decided that if they were going to be paired up like high schoolers, he might as well sit next to Lexi. He stood up and moved his chair around to sit across from Sam, sitting down with a huff.

Anya bringing his plate to him was a bit of a surprise, too. He raised his hands off the table as she sat it in front of him, the smell of the food nearly causing him to close his eyes and growl. It did look really good, and it smelled like heaven. As Lexi joined him, and Anya took her place next to Sam, Dean looked around at all of them, trying to find something to say.

But then Lexi chimed in again, nudging his ribs with her elbow to force his hand to say ‘thanks’ for the food. “Um…yeah! Yeah, Anya, this all looks really good. I appreciate it.”

Her message playing over her phone made him raise an eyebrow. At least it was a little easier to communicate with her, without all the white boards and sign language. Although, knowing his brother, that wouldn’t last long. Sam would learn ASL faster than anyone has ever learned a language if those blue eyes of hers broke through to him and asked him to. Dean nodded toward Anya’s phone and took a drink of his beer, “So, if you have that, why do you use sign language?”

Without missing a beat, Anya rolled her eyes as Dean took a bit of food and closed his eyes, as if in heaven. The food was really…really good. As he came down from the surprise of the food tasting amazing, Anya was already pressing play on her phone, and her response caused Dean to frown at her wit. The frown quickly turned in to a smirk, and he shook his head, before glancing up at Sam with a look that said ‘you better be careful with that one. She’s quick.’

“Because, Einstein. When I was a kid, we didn’t exactly have magical talking boxes to just type our conversations into. It was either learn to write well enough to communicate, and get hand cramps, or sign language…also with the hand cramps. I prefer the phone. Don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah I think I do…” Dean chuckled, taking another bite of food.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean and Bobby

Dean shook his head at Esme’s words about Duke finding her. Duke had been lost, traveling the world. He may have seemed like he was better off, but Dean liked the word ‘lost’ to describe him. The amount of phone calls he had fielded to Bobby, to try and find help for Duke halfway across the world, when no one else could get to him, had piled up over the years. Duke wasn’t better off without his family, he was on the edge of a cliff and one bad decision would have killed the kid.

“You can’t think of it like that…” Dean spoke up, as Esme turned and he could get a good look at her eyes. Pausing when she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. He didn’t know the answers to all of this, but he knew that Esme was in control more than she gave herself credit for. She had been plenty upset at times around them, and other than Cason and the situation at the asylum, none of them had been harmed by her. “Well…you know what we do?”

He started his best attempt to talk Esme down, feeling like the only person in the universe that could. But then she suggested that they lock her in the basement and Dean’s expression completely fell into heartbreak. There was no way they were locking anyone in the basement…unless Anna went off the rails, which Dean felt she probably wouldn’t, if she was avoiding conflict.

“No. See, that’s not happening. You’re not some monster to hunt, or to lock away, alright? You’ve been with us for a while. If you were going to hurt one of us, you would have. Cason doesn’t count.” Dean half scolded her, “How about this. I have a better idea. You may not be human, and that may be scary, sure. I’m scared to death about it. I won’t lie to you. But you’re human…enough. Do you hear me? We will figure this out. If it’s connected to demons…we figure it out. Of all places to be, while you figure it out, you’re home. You’re with Bobby.”

Dean paused as he heard Bobby’s footsteps, and he sighed, reaching out and pinching Esme’s chin gently, hoping the familiar gesture would at least make her listen to him, “I told you a long time ago that, no matter what, we’ll figure out what comes next when we make it to that mile marker. This is one of those times. You’re hurt. Let’s get you…not hurt, and then we dive into whatever this is…together. You don’t get to give up, now.”

As Bobby stepped up to the couch, Dean scooted back and slowly stood to his feet, giving Bobby room to step in. Bobby didn’t even acknowledge anything that had been said or happened in the kitchen. He was only concerned about the mess they needed to clean up.

“Well, sit up and let me take a look at that head.” Bobby smiled softly, walking over to his desk. He grabbed the old lunchbox he had laid out before they ever got back. Having a first aid kit on hand when his kids came home was something he was way too used to at this point. He returned and sat on the couch, in a position where he could get a good look at Esme’s head. “Dean you wanna grab me that glass of whiskey that’s sittin’ by the sink? She might need it.”

Dean nodded, stepping away as Bobby parted Esme’s hair carefully and winced at the gash in her head. As Dean stepped back into the living room, carrying a glass of whiskey that looked a little darker than usual, Bobby sat back and smirked, “Well. Good news and bad news. Good news, it’s not quite as bad as you probably thought. Bad news, you’re gonna have stains in your hair for a while.”

“Well that ain’t so bad, is it?” Dean quipped, handing the glass of whiskey to Esme. Bobby opened the tool box and pointed to the glass.

“Drink the whole thing in one drink. I need you numb before I start our little game of operation, here.” He explained, only pulling a penlight from the tool box. If he and Cason were right about their little hunch, he should be able to see her head healing…or at least get an idea of whether things would work or not.

Duke

Duke was surprised as Mika began explaining that she could relate to his potential heavenly experience, because she had been there too. His experience also felt like weeks or months of just reliving the happiest days of his life. Esme was there…a lot. He and Dean were on completely good terms. His mom was alive, and for the first time in years, he could actually remember his mom’s face. His favorite horse was there. He rode his horse around that old pasture for what felt like hours in his head. He saw Mika on his twelfth birthday, the day that Bobby had gifted him a brand new ‘grown up’ black cowboy hat to wear when they went out. He saw everything good that had ever happened to him. No pain. No suffering. No fighting. No loss.

And then when he woke up, it felt like all of those good memories were fake, or that he was mourning them…like the dead. Mika described his exact experience and the thought that she had gone through that same torment caused him to sniffle sadly. She had never told him anything about her family, other than a brief overview of how they died. It was just something most kid hunters didn’t bring up very often. Those were memories that were better left buried…they all knew that.

Duke sniffled and quickly wrapped his arms around Mika, his arms seeming to work for the first time since he woke up. He didn’t even realize until they were alone how much he just needed to talk to her. She and Esme were the only two people he felt he could open up to, and Mika knew him like the back of her hand. He hadn’t given her much of a choice, all those years ago. He followed her around like a puppy, and that transferred to Dean, until Duke found his independence through running away from home…over and over.

In a way, Duke was surprised, but also drawn back to deep emotion by Mika’s protective words toward him. He knew that Esme being back in the picture had to be hard on Mika, even if she had put a lot of it on herself back when they were teenagers. It didn’t suck any less to see someone you love right back in front of someone they gave their love to, when you made the decision not to ’know’ them anymore. As she pulled back, Duke nodded, calmed enough to turn his eyes down and sniffle, but the words ‘I’m not having him hurt you anymore than he already has’ swam around in his brain. Someone else was acknowledging that he wasn’t the bad guy, after all this time. Someone else was acknowledging that Dean Winchester, the saint, was wrong in the way he tended to shut off and wipe his hands of people, only to let them back in when HE felt like it.

“I hear ya.” Duke whispered, nodding. But another thought was plaguing his mind, and he frowned, stitching his eyebrows together as he tried not to start crying all over again, “It just…I just…It just feels like Dean might be disappointed that I didn’t die back there. You know? Like…this isn’t the first time that it felt like I barged back in on his life. It ain’t even the tenth time, really.”

He paused and took a deep breath, “And Esme too. I mean, I don’t know what’s goin’ on with her, but from the second I showed up, it’s been nothin’ but Hell. Things have been good. But things have also been tense. I see the way he looks at me…even before I died.”

Anna

Anna’s heart skipped a small beat as Sam called her by his pet name for her once again, proving that he truly wasn’t pushing her away. Far from it. He wasn’t afraid of her. He didn’t even seem that worried about the withdrawals she was having. She closed her eyes tight, letting a couple of tears fall against his shirt as she hugged his arm a little tighter. She did feel like a monster. In a way, she felt like Sam was a monster, but they were two halves of a whole…probably because of Hell’s will. Either way, they seemed safer together.

After he kissed her head, she sniffled, staring off into space for a moment, as she thought over everything, trying to rationalize staying away from Sam. It just wasn’t possible, anymore. If there was anyone she needed to forgive, and step closer to in this whole mess, it was Sam. She pulled one of her arms away from his, and wiped her cheeks and nose on her wrist, before pulling her head away from his shoulder and looking up at him.

“I don’t know why you’re all in…but I’m glad you are.” She admitted, scanning his eyes. She knew she looked like a mess. And in that moment, he didn’t care. He just wanted her to be okay, and that was more than a start. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, letting it linger for a moment as she took a deep breath through her nose, placing her free hand on his cheek to feel his heartbeat. After that moment, she brushed his nose with her own and sighed, “I love you.”

Cason

As Cason lifted his head to look over at Nat, he sighed in frustration, “You know that’s currently my job, right? I don’t know what all that angel fixed and you can’t wait ten seconds? You know I move fast.” Cason scolded her gently, approaching her with a frown on his face. “I will say…you look better than I expected.”

He sat down on the edge of the mattress, picking up his jacket and tossing it over by Nat’s bag. He turned to her, and brushed some of the hair from her face, before placing a finger under her chin and moving her face around. He didn’t say anything as he checked her face over, just pressing on a few spots that he couldn’t determine were bruises or dried blood.

He moved that hand down from her chin, over her chest, brushing the tips of his fingers over what was a very badly broken shoulder. The slight bruising there was faded to the point of almost non existence, and he sighed with relief, brushing his hand down and picking up her wrist. He moved her arm up and down, making sure her shoulder was working as gently as he could.

“Other than all the blood, I think you’ll survive…” He murmured, brushing his fingers over her stomach, before switching to her other arm. It seemed that most of the damage was going to be relegated to soreness. If he wasn’t so disgusted by the idea of angels using their grace on humans, he would thank Castiel. Nat was going to be okay, after all of the torture. “Let me look at your head.”

He gently shifted back on the bed, and turned Nat’s head to the side so that he could see the back of her head better. He let out a sigh of relief as he parted her hair, and there was no gash to be found, only dried blood. He dropped his shoulders and released her head turning her face to look at him, “As much as it weirds me out to say this…you’re fine, sweetheart.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

Duke came out of his memory, as if re-entering the world from space. A mixture of Esme’s voice and the beginning of another memory sucked him out of it. As soon as Duke’s eyes began to clear up so that he could see the room around him, Mika tapped his shoulder and he flinched, tilting his head to hear what she had to say, as clearly as his fuzzy brain could. He gave a simple nod, and sighed, turning in his chair to stand up. He took Mika’s hands, and pulled himself close to her, nodding as Bobby gave him a ‘I wanna talk to you later’ fatherly look. Duke didn’t look to the living room as they passed. The last thing he wanted to see, while struggling with this whole night/morning was Dean reliving his greatest hits with Esme, comforting her and driving her away from him. There was no way to tell what Dean might say to her, this time.

As they stepped out into the covered carport, Duke took a deep breath as the cold night air hit his bare skin, but the familiarity of the big space calmed him, in a strange way. As soon as Mika walked them through the doors of the RV and he felt his thin little mattress and blankets under his fingers as she sat him down, he felt oddly safe. It was like he was in a shell. Duke glanced around the RV for a moment, just taking in the place that had been so safe for him, every time he had come back from one of his trips.

But he brought his eyes down to Mika as she squatted in front of him, her voice an instant calming sound, like it had been pretty much his whole life. He never really forgave Dean for letting her go, all those years ago, and pushing her away from Duke. She was the constant anchor that he didn’t even realize he had needed, until she showed up, when he was way too young to understand how much he needed her. They were as close to blood as Duke had ever had…

But when she lifted his head and made him look her in the eyes, Duke’s eyes filled with tears. It was so rare for him to cry, and so painful to allow himself to that he almost reached for his chest as he wrinkled his nose. He didn’t say anything at first, trying to fight back the urge to just cry and scream and be legitimately angry and scared for the first time in his life.

“I love you…” He suddenly whispered, in a slightly delayed reply to her own words. It was all he knew to say, but just saying words made his chest hurt a little less. This was a safe place. This was a place that no one would think to come to, other than maybe Esme, or Dean if he wanted to start a fight. This was somewhere that Duke could at least let some of those painful tears out, and he did. He closed his eyes tightly and let some of the pressure off his chest, sobbing for a few moments, even though it hurt his stomach and back to do so. It took what felt like forever for him to calm himself down with heaving breaths, enough to talk, and then he shook his head in Mika’s hands.

“Do you believe in Heaven?” He asked her with a small and shaky voice. He didn’t even wait for her to answer, just kept explaining the thoughts that had been rolling around in his brain since he woke up. “When I um…when I passed out in the car, I saw all these things. It was like the greatest hits tape of my life. And it was nice. It was one of those dreams you just…don’t want to wake up to, you know. And then…the lights just came on. I was layin’ there and I couldn’t breathe. I had this tube thing down my throat and a sheet over my face, and at first I thought I was buried…”

He paused, tempted to just go quiet again, not wanting to scare Mika or make her sad. But he needed to say it, to rationalize it to himself.

“But then I got all that off, and out of my throat, and this nurse screamed. She looked at me like I was a zombie or somethin’ worse. I’ve never seen anyone look at me that way before. I’m not a scary guy…and Mika…” He paused again as the tears rushed in once again. “I think when I died…I might have been in heaven before whatever…or whoever dragged me back here.”

Anna

Anna heard Sam step outside, his footsteps thumping against the old wood feeling foreign in the quiet air around her. Even the bugs weren’t singing anymore, but there were a few birds around her that seemed to not understand that she wanted quiet, to clear her head, in the early morning air. As he sat next to her, she sighed, and instantly felt the need to just bury her face in his chest, or his hair. She wanted to touch him, and just be normal, in all this stupid chaos. But she couldn’t bring herself to move.

“I do want you around.” Anna said simply, raising her head from her hands to look over at Sam with teary eyes. She reached her hand out, and slipped it under his elbow against his side. Then an idea came to her mind, and she leaned her head against his shoulder, his heartbeat immediately drowning out the buzzing sound that was wrecking her mind. After what they had heard inside, Anna couldn’t be upset with Sam. She was still mad at the blind following he tended to do with Dean, but she needed him. He was the only one who would understand the feeling in her brain, at least on the base level and he was the only one who would stick with her, it seemed.

“I can hear Cason’s heart buzzing. It’s not really a heartbeat. It’s more like a broken light fixture…just buzzing in my head. It makes me want to rip his throat out.” Anna said honestly, pressing her ear against Sam’s shoulder a bit harder. She didn’t even know if she wanted to talk about the Lilith stuff, at that moment. But she knew they needed to clear the air, even if it sucked. “I don’t want to be a monster…”

Cason

Cason turned his attention to Natalia as she spoke up, and he frowned, seeing how tired she seemed. Of course she was. She was fresh from almost dying and they were so distracted by everything that had happened during the day that they hadn’t even had time to patch anyone up, and the girls were in pretty bad shape. With a small nod, Cason turned to look at Bobby, “Where’s everyone crashing?”

“I figure Mika will take her old room, with whoever she takes with her…” Bobby started, thinking for a moment. He glanced toward the living room, and then sighed, “Sam and the little one don’t seem to be on the best of terms so…I can grab some pillows and blankets and set them up in the study. Nat, you take my room. I’m up for the day.”

Cason raised an eyebrow, as if asking Bobby if he was sure, since Cason was obviously going with Nat. Bobby simply nodded and quipped at him, “Just don’t touch the fixtures on the drawers or the window. Might bite a bit.”

Cason chuckled, in a bit of disbelief that Bobby was being so civil with him, and then he turned back to Nat, since Bobby didn’t seem to force his way into taking care of her. It seemed the old man was attempting to trust Cason with her, “Let’s go get you looked at. I’ll grab your stuff. I’ll be gone less than thirty seconds. Go get comfortable.”

With that Cason disappeared, causing Bobby to raise his eyebrows and scoff, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that…Jesus Cason!”

Cason reappeared with Nat’s bag on his shoulder, stepping out of the kitchen without another word. The other bags were all piled up beside the couch as he passed through the living room and stepped through to Bobby’s bedroom door. He pulled up the bottom of his shirt to cover his hand, and carefully turned the doorknob, opening the door and stepping inside, dropping Nat’s bag by the dresser.

Bobby stepped out of the kitchen after Cason and Nat left, reluctantly stepping over to the couch, looking down at Dean and Esme, “So, who needs a doctor?”

All Roads Lead To You

Duke

Duke continued the calming motion of his fingers in Esme’s hair, tempted to rock her as she seemed to be calming down. He completely ignored her ‘thank you’, expecting nothing from her other than taking his affection, taking a deep breath, and relaxing enough that Dean wouldn’t murder him for upsetting her. But as her body relaxed in his arms, Duke smirked over the side of her head, just taking in how it felt to have her arms around him. In a way, whether he would admit it to her or not, she was grounding him, too.

As she brought up trauma bonding, Duke laughed, and tilted his head in a bit of a shrug, “I mean, I’ve had worst first dates.”

After a moment, Duke chuckled again, and moved his hand down to Esme’s back, rubbing her shoulder blades, “I’m just kiddin’. I may look like a playboy dickhead, but I ain’t that much of one. And thank you for takin’ a hug from a complete stranger who’s half naked and hasn’t even bought you a drink.”

And then Esme brought up the obvious, and Duke stilled for a moment, thinking about Dean coming out and finding them, but he tilted his head, “Oh yeah? What did he tell you about me?”

As if on cue, Dean’s voice called from about twenty feet away from them, “So, I see that shooting’s going well.”

Duke glanced up, and smiled, pulling back from the hug and straightening his hat, “Conversation got a little heavy at all. I’m a hugger. You know that.”

“Yeah. Yeah I know. I also know that your…friendliness gets you in trouble…a lot.” Dean scoffed, turning his eyes to Esme with a look that said ‘you didn’t hear anything I said, did you?’

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

Duke’s brain was flooded with thoughts that he quickly tried to push away as he grappled with the ‘Esme’s not human’ revelation. Sure, he knew she was different. She had made that much clear when they spent time together. She had gone nuclear right there with him, and he had wondered about it then, but the idea that she wasn’t human had only ever briefly crossed his mind.

As Mika’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, Duke tensed for a split second but then leaned his head back against Mika’s shoulder, taking a deep breath as he attempted to relax in her arms, like the old days. And like clockwork, Mika’s voice calmed him down, at least a bit. No one else knew about Esme’s humanity. He wasn’t even sure, by the sounds of it, if Esme knew…at least fully.

His mind instantly began to race with thoughts from the first night that the cracks in his relationship with Dean began to show themselves.

2004

“We need to talk.” Dean muttered, as Duke walked into the kitchen. Duke’s eyebrows raised, and he took off his cowboy hat, laying it in the center of the kitchen table, before pulling a chair. He was used to these conversations coming up, every time he decided to leave and come back. Dean was always there as Bobby’s white knight, letting him know how horrible he was to his surrogate father, and how ashamed he should be. But this one felt a bit different, as Dean didn’t look up at him, simply tilting his beer from side to side as he thought about what to say.

“Alright. Well, spit it out.” Duke pushed him, and Dean finally leaned back in his chair and made eye contact with Duke.

“You can’t…do this again.” Dean started and Duke scoffed, ruffling his own hair in amusement, but he was brought out of his amusement by Dean, “I mean it Jason.”

“And what exactly did I do. Hmm? You’re gonna come in this kitchen and tell me that after all these years, I’m doin’ something awful, as if Bobby doesn’t expect it every now and then?”

“I’m not just talking about Bobby!” Dean raised his voice, and Duke flinched frowning in confusion at the hard look on Dean’s face. “Do you have any idea the mess you left, when you ran off? Esme’s been a mess. I told her early on…not to get attached to you. I told her early on that you probably weren’t the safest person to confide in, to enjoy being around, to hold onto…”

“And what right was that of yours? She’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions.” Duke rationalized, a tiny hint of venom in his voice. Dean shook his head, closing his eyes.

“She is. I know. But I tried to protect her…from you.” Dean spoke in a low and, in Dukes opinion, hurtful voice. Duke snarled his nose and narrowed his eyes in confusion at the sudden tension between himself and Dean. There was no ‘it’s good to have you back’ or ‘I’m glad you’re okay’.

“Well…I will smooth that over. Me and her? See we’ve talked about it before. She knows that sometimes I have to clear my head. I have to get away from all the worry, all the sadness…I need to just hunt and be me.” Duke tried to explain, and Dean laughed and shook his head.

“And you never think about the ones that are left waiting on a call that you’re dead, right? If not for Bobby checking in, we wouldn’t have known. He had to track you like an animal, this time. You covered your tracks well. Why did you come back anyway?”

“Because my family is here.” Duke explained in a small and gentle voice. “I always come back. You know that.”

“Yeah. Yeah I do. But this time felt different. No note. No phone. You just…bailed. But then you come back. You hug her. You seem like you’re coming back from a war and no one knew you were back…except Esme. Why?” Dean pressed, before taking a frustrated drink of his beer. Duke sighed, and nervously wiped his hands on his jeans before shrugging.

“I felt like she was the one that would care the most, I guess. She gets me.”

“Are you in love with her?” Dean suddenly blurted out, and Duke froze, laughing out a sigh as Dean nodded in understanding. “You’re in love with her. Well…see, from what I’ve seen around this house the past few weeks? She’s grown mighty attached to you, too.”

“That don’t matter. Not really. She’s crazy about you, dude.” Duke tried to smooth things over, this rare jealousy from Dean taking him a bit off guard. “Are you…jealous?”

“No.” Dean scoffed, shaking his head. But then he leaned across the table, setting his beer down, and pointing a finger at Duke, “It’s not jealousy. But I will tell you this…I will never watch her go through that again. Do you hear me? Mika dealt with it. Bobby Deals with it. I’m done with it. If you so much as give a sign that you might run off again, I will break both your legs. I can’t stop you from holding onto whatever crush you’re feeling, but you’re not taking her down with you, like you do every…single…person that gets close to you. You break…everything you touch.”

“Wow.” Duke turned his eyes down to the table, and shook his head. “Well, I wonder what she would say if she saw this side of you, hmm?”

“Duke I’m not joking with you. I’m serious here. You don’t love her. You think you love her. If you loved her, you wouldn’t leave her a mess while you go find yourself, or whatever. You would let her know you’re alive, man!”

“Is that what really bothers you? Or does it bother you that I know more about her, than you? Maybe it’s the way that she sleeps out there with me when you’re in one of your moods, or when your daddy calls and you have to run off with him. Or…here’s a thought. Maybe you’re worried that one night, she’s gonna come out there with me and I’m gonna tuck her in and tell her a bedtime story about who you’ve been callin’ late at night, while she’s asleep. Maybe she will find out that you’ve had one foot in and one foot out of your relationship since the day you met her, because Mika also tells me everything. Maybe, just maybe, you’re worried that one day…she’ll leave too.” Duke spat at Dean, standing from the table. He picked up his hat and walked around the table toward the kitchen door, headed for his RV.

“And where the hell are you going?”

“I’m gonna go wait out there. Maybe Esme will stop by later. She might need a break from her possessive boyfriend and I’m happy to oblige…” Duke teased Dean, placing his hat on his chest and bowing, before stepping out into the covered parking garage.

Cason and Bobby

Cason nodded at Mika’s words, as she explained what little they knew about Esme’s humanity. He hadn’t even had time to dig into it. He knew there was something about a demon deal. He knew that she was obviously a demon nuke, which meant her powers were either angelic - unlikely or demonic - most likely. He straightened his leg out, and kicked gently at Nat’s foot under the table, dipping his head to make eye contact with her and gave her a small reassuring smile.

Suddenly, Esme erupted from the living room, and Cason closed his eyes, sighing through his nose. Cason said nothing until Esme was finished, suddenly feeling a bit like the thorn in everyone’s side, until Bobby chimed in, tired of the tension.

“Alright. That’s enough! Quit the fightin’ and the bickerin’ and the blamin’. We gotta stick together on this.” Bobby called out to Esme and Dean both, before turning and glancing at Duke, who was still staring at the top of the table, “Now…what exactly does a demon think about all this?”

“All I know is that if an angel can’t lay hands on her, he’s probably right. It’s something to look into.” Cason muttered, tilting his head to let Bobby know he was speaking directly to him. Bobby nodded his head and sighed.

“Yeah. It’s one hell of a something to look into. I’ll hit the books once I get you all patched up, I guess. The million dollar question still kinda lingers though.” Bobby started and Cason narrowed his eyes, a bit confused as he thought everything had pretty much been covered, in agonizing detail. There were bits and pieces they still had to look into, like Anna’s family, how to hide her from Lilith and what the hell was going on with Esme. “How the hell did Duke come back from the dead?”

Cason stared across the room for a moment, pondering and then he frowned as a thought came over him, “Esme said that the hospital gave him her blood, right?”

Bobby thought about it to, and his eyebrows raised, before he brought a hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Are you suggesting it’s the blood?”

“I mean, would it be so weird?” Cason asked, turning in his chair to look up at Bobby. Bobby tilted his head, trying to find a way around the thought as he didn’t want to agree with Cason on this. But Cason had a point. “I’ve never heard of it, but it’s a possibility. If it is her blood, it begs the question…”

“How does her blood relate to demon blood.” Bobby finished Cason’s sentence and Anna shifted uncomfortably on the counter, wiping her stained hands on her pants. “You think?”

“I think it’s as good a theory as any, right now. Good luck getting her to let us test it out.” Cason replied with a sigh.

“Yeah. I agree. At least we have a demon handy.”

“That we do.” Cason finished, settling back in his seat and pouring another glass for himself. He didn’t want to make eye contact with Duke as they spoke about the poor kid like he wasn’t even in the room. He and Bobby had just had a breakthrough, and as long as Singer wasn’t trying to murder him, he would take what he could get.

Anna

Anna didn’t know what to say or what to even think. Demons were on her trail…still. Lilith wanted her, but was playing games with her. Lilith was a demon. If Lilith really wanted to she could possess Anna at any point and time, kill everyone she loved, and just run off with her body. The thought made Anna feel sick to her stomach and she shook her head, bringing her hands up to push her hair behind her ears in her discomfort.

As Cason and Bobby began discussing demon blood, Anna once again shifted on the counter and sat her drink down. She plugged her ears, leaning her elbows on her knees as she bent over. She closed her eyes, listening to her own breathing to try and drown out the mixed sound of her heartbeat…and Cason’s. If he didn’t give her blood soon, she was going to fall into withdrawal and she knew it. It was coming and so was the basement.

“I think I need some air…” Anna breathed, as tears began to threaten her eyes. The last thing she wanted, was anyone making a fuss over her, while the world seemed to be falling apart. Maybe it was the demon blood in her system talking, but it all felt so hopeless. At the least, it felt like there was nothing she could do to stop what was coming. “Yeah…I need some air.”

She climbed off the counter, and crossed her arms, her shoulder opening up even further as she hugged herself and walked out of the kitchen, to the front door. As she stepped outside, the cold air hit her like a brick and she gasped, taking a deep breath through her nose with her eyes closed. It was then that she realized how tired she really was. It took her a few seconds to open her eyes as a few tears slipped down her cheeks, spattering against her collar bone. She sniffled, and walked over to the steps, stepping down and sitting on the top step to put her head in her shaking hands.

“You’re safe. You’re safe…” She muttered to herself, staring down at her bloody boots for a moment, before closing her eyes tightly, still faintly hearing Cason’s heart buzzing from inside.

Dean

Dean narrowed his eyes, his brain not computing why Esme would apologize to him at all. Nothing that happened was her fault or within her control and he didn’t blame her for any of it. He shook his head and brought a hand up, brushing some of the hair from her forehead, “Don’t apologize. We’re good. You and me are good.”

He smiled down at her, also listening to the conversation that they could both hear coming from the kitchen. After Cason explained everything he knew about Lilith and Anna, Dean glanced up, hearing footsteps. Anna quickly exited the house and Dean was tempted to stand and follow her, but he had to let someone else deal with that, for now. The last person Anna would want on that porch with her, was Dean. He turned his eyes back down to Esme, brushing his thumb across her forehead until Cason blurted out that she wasn’t human and Dean felt the eruption coming before it ever did.

Even after being prepared for it, he still flinched, sitting back on his heels to avoid any flying hands. He closed his eyes as she screamed at Cason, feeling like the tension was only going to get worse, the longer the day went on.

“Hey. Hey…no one is expecting you to have all the answers. Mika just…” He started, as Esme spoke indirectly to Mika, after the comments made about her knowledge of her humanity, or at least the suspicions she must have had. He stayed back, letting her try and calm herself down, but when she turned away from him, he sighed, dipping his head.

Her next words hit him in the chest, and he frowned, shaking his head, “No. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m fine. And Duke? Kid would be lost without you. You know that by now. He’d still be wandering around on the highway, if you hadn’t seen him. You just need to rest. You need to rest and we’ll figure the rest out, alright? Just don’t pass out yet. I still want Bobby to look at that gash in your head.”

Dean almost winced at how much his words sounded really protective and similar to speeches he used to give her when they were together. But it was what she needed to hear at that moment. She needed to know that everything she said back at the asylum, before the building collapsed was completely wrong. She was part of the family, and even if she ran off, she would still be part of that family…

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Anya

Anya laughed at Sam’s response to her joke, realizing that they both had a very similar sense of humor that was begging for unspoken language…her favorite. For a while, as they waited for Dean and Lexi to get back, Anya simply buzzed around the kitchen, cleaning up the mess and making sure that there were plates ready. As the distant sound of the upstairs door opening caught her ear, she listened closely for the voice that followed, a bit nervous for Dean to walk in.

But when Lexi’s voice rang out, Anya smirked as Sam called back to her. She couldn’t wait for Dean to see all the food, but she was still a bit nervous. She stepped over to the fridge and pulled a beer for Dean, standing next to Sam with it in her hand, an invitation of civility.

Dean

Dean tilted his head as Lexi said that Sam might have just been reading up on leads all night. She wasn’t wrong. Sam would stay up until the early hours of the morning combing lore if he needed to find something to finish a case. This case was a little less like their normal ones, but if Sam cared about this girl at all, he was probably obsessing over it.

He stepped out of the car and closed the door, scratching the back of his head as he followed Lexi toward the doorway. They could unpack the car later on, or just bring some more crap out to throw in the trunk. As they stepped through the doorway, the smell of meat and butter hit Dean’s nose, and he raised his eyebrows. It smelled heavenly and he was starving. As Lexi called out for Sam, Dean combed the bookshelves, trying to find any sign of his brother, only to hear his voice from the kitchen.

“Well…that doesn’t make me feel any better.” Dean answered Lexi, her smile piercing through his brain. He couldn’t get enough of seeing it, especially when it had mischief behind it. He sighed, and reached out, pinching her chin with a chuckle. “Fine. If there’s food, I’m at least good until I’m full.”

With that, he stepped away from her and led the way down the stairs. He made his way quickly across the war room and stepped into the kitchen, stopping just inside the doorway as his eyes fell on Anya, standing sweetly with a beer in her hand. Dean glanced up at Sam, a slight look of distrust on his face. He scanned his brother’s face and glanced past them both to the food, “Did you do all this? This is what you’ve been doing since we’ve been gone?”

Anya nodded, not having her phone in her hand to explain further. Dean sighed, and stepped toward her, taking the beer from her hand. “You know what? Bring me a plate and we can…talk, all of us. It looks and smells great.”

Anya smiled up at him as he complimented her cooking. She quickly turned on the ball of her right foot and grabbed a plate, beginning to load it up with food for Dean.

“What is it with you bringing home girls that can cook? You know that if you feed me…I can’t kick them out.” Dean said to Sam, his face serious but pained, as if he was trying to find any way to complain about the situation.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Anna

Anna nodded to Sam as he suggested that they go into the kitchen and get a drink with the others. She wasn’t exactly excited to look any of them in the eyes, especially Dean, who she wanted absolutely nothing to do with. But she also, in a way, missed all of them in one place, safe.

She followed Sam to the corner, glancing around and finally deciding to sit on a piece of counter, within arms distance of him. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about…them, but she knew that in that moment, when the basement might be an option, she wanted to keep him close. She also wanted to hold onto a glimmer of the hope she had felt when she saw his face in the barn, like seeing an angel coming to save her.

Anna climbed up onto the counter, turning her back to it and using her sore arms to hoist herself up with a groan of pain from her shoulder, mostly. She then reached a hand out and wrapped a corner of Sam’s flannel around her fingers, like a little leash to hold onto him. Her head perked up, however, when Dean stepped into the kitchen, and picked up a drink Cason had prepared for him. She kept her eyes on Dean, until his eyes turned up and looked straight at her.

She turned her eyes down for a moment, and then glanced up, and Dean was still staring at her, as if he had something to say. As if Dean and Cason were communicating silently, Cason poured another glass of Bourbon, and slid it to Dean, who picked it up and pushed himself away from his spot. He stepped over to Anna, and without a word, held the whiskey out to her.

Anna turned her eyes down, taking the glass, as Dean shoved it at her a bit more insistently. She said nothing. She told him she was done and she was done. She released Sam’s shirt and took a small drink of the amber liquid, as the hard conversations suddenly started. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to talk about the barn, or Dean…

But she did want to know why they were there in the first place. Maybe the others had figured that out, by this point. Maybe the conversation could be a good thing.

Dean

Dean sighed as Bobby came into the room and demanded answers and explanations. He knew that the conversation was coming, but there was a tension lingering in the air, between all of them, and Dean couldn’t see how the conversation wasn’t going to be just full of more confusion, heartbreak and potentially anger and fighting. He wasn’t quite sure.

His eyes fell on Anna, a million reasons to have a conversation with her running through his brain, but he also hadn’t figured out how to explain himself to her. There really wasn’t anything to explain. In a moment of panic, he had made a harsh decision and as it appeared…it was the wrong decision. Seeing Nat with Cason, in that moment, he couldn’t imagine the shape that Natalia would be in, if Cason had died in that barn. But how could he look Anna in the eyes and just tell her he was wrong? It was a bigger deal to her than him simply ‘making a bad decision’. She had watched the person she believed kept her alive, in that barn get left behind…because of Dean’s decisions.

After a moment, Cason read his expression and poured a glass of bourbon, sliding it toward Dean’s empty hand and Dean sighed, picking the glass up off the counter before pushing himself away from his spot in a moment of bravery. He walked straight over to Anna, and pressed the glass into Anna’s limp hand on her lap. As she took the drink, he dropped his hand and tried his best to coax her to look up at him, but she didn’t, and he gave a sad nod, stepping away from her and returning to Mika’s side.

Once there, he sighed and scratched at his eyebrow as Bobby asked the million dollar question, prompting Sam to begin a general run down of how things went south as fast as they did. Dean tensed when Sam brought up the barn, watching the body language of everyone in the room, especially Cason. Cason didn’t react at all, simply taking a drink from his glass. But when the word ‘asylum’ was uttered, Dean looked down at his feet, taking a deep breath.

He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to have this conversation tonight. Part of him wanted to dip out of the room and run upstairs, before anything progressed. But then Nat began explaining what happened at the asylum further. Dean frowned, hearing every single thing that Nat had gone through in that horrible place, and thanks to Dean, she probably would have died, if Cason wasn’t much more crafty than Dean had given him credit for. Dean glanced up, tears in his eyes, at Cason, giving him a simple nod. The gesture was a mix of ‘thank you’ and ‘we need to talk later’.

Dean was tempted, as Esme began her part of what happened, to step forward and convince her that she didn’t have to tell anything. She didn’t have to tell Bobby she wasn’t human. She didn’t have to break that news to Duke, in the state he was in. She didn’t have to relive all of it, but he kept quiet, glancing to Mika briefly, before taking a long drink of his bourbon.

As Esme worked through every single piece of the asylum, Dean tensed. He knew what he had seen. He knew that he had felt the Hellhounds wrapping themselves around he and Esme, but part of him thought he imagined all of it and got out purely on luck. Of course that wasn’t the case and of course it was something uncomfortable and belief challenging that had saved him.

Before Esme could get to the ‘not human’ part of her story, she collapsed and Dean quickly forgot about the hammering of his own heart in his ears, suddenly having flashbacks of himself, Duke and Esme in the very same kitchen, all of them worse for wear and worried about each other. His body went into that protective mode, and he sat his glass down on the table, rushing around it as Duke scrambled out of his own chair. Dean placed a hand on Duke’s bare chest and shook his head, “I got her.”

The look he got back in return caused him to raise his eyebrows briefly, as Duke seemed angry, or at the least ready to fight Dean, as if Dean was stepping in between himself and Esme.

“Duke. You’re not in any shape to handle anything, alright? Just sit down and relax, and let me help…it’s alright.” Dean comforted Duke, his hand sliding up to Duke’s shoulder to sit him back down in the chair. With a sigh, Duke looked away from him, spacing out, and nodded.

“Esme. Hey…Hey sweetheart. Let’s get you laid out, alright? C’mon…” Dean cooed to Esme, softening his voice as best he could as he carefully slid an arm under her legs and around her back, before hoisting her from the floor. Before stepping around the table, Dean glanced down at Duke, a little uncomfortable with how angry he seemed with the whole situation. Anger wasn’t even an emotion Duke was capable of, half the time…and jealousy? Never.

Duke

Duke barely remembered walking to the kitchen, as his body ran on autopilot and he took his seat that he always sat in, next to Cason at the table. He reached across the table with a shaky hand and picked up a beer, quickly cracking it open and taking a drink as he spaced out, staring toward the blowing curtains in the open window above the sink. The drink felt foreign and strange as he swallowed, and his sore throat screamed at him. He hadn’t even realized until that moment how much damage the breathing tubes and crap they shoved down his throat to try and save him had done.

As the explanations began, Duke continued to stare off into space, memories of the kitchen flooding his brain. Small bits of the conversation rattled around in between images, especially when Esme told her own story of what happened. So, they had told her he died, of course. Obviously she had told Dean, who told Mika and so on. That’s why they were all looking at him so weird. He was dead and they had all left the hospital to go save Natalia, which was why he woke up alone.

The memory of the night that Dean had confronted Duke about his attachment to Esme played over in his brain, as he zoned out once again. They were young. Duke hated seeing Esme alone, when Dean was away…especially right before John went missing. Dean buried himself in work, but refused to let anyone come with him. He had his dad. So, Duke stayed back, and for once didn’t run away, because if he had, Esme would have been alone. That conversation hurt their relationship, and Duke couldn’t remember them ever fixing things, other than time just healing some of the wounds. He felt like Dean blamed him for losing Esme in the first place…

Hearing that Dean had ‘sacrificed’ himself to try and save Esme almost made Duke shake his head, his only reaction coming out as a small finger tap against his bottle, which perked Cason’s head up. Duke sniffled, tilting his head to the side as he grappled with how easy it seemed for Dean to just…move on from people dying, these days. Even with Mika, who Duke looked up to like a big sister, Duke couldn’t help the sinking feeling that Dean was relieved he was dead…

Duke was snapped from his thoughts as Esme collapsed, and he sprung from his chair, ignoring the tugging of his stitches to tend to her. And like clockwork…like a bad dream, there was Dean. Duke stepped up close to Dean, almost nose to nose with him as his blue eyes burned into Dean’s. Dean quickly began to talk him down, pulling the same brotherly crap that always worked when they were kids and the feeling in Duke’s stomach felt foreign. He wasn’t the jealous or the angry type. This unresolved, pushed down feeling didn’t feel right at all.

He sighed, and turned back to his chair, sitting down heavily with a nod, before turning his eyes up to Bobby, who frowned down at him, as if he was disappointed…but worried. Duke then zoned out, turning his beer in circles in his hands as he stared at the window once again.

Bobby

As Bobby heard everyone’s stories, he tried his best to just stay quiet and stoic, being the solid that held them all together as best he could. But his emotions were a mess internally, as tears played at the corners of his eyes. This all seemed so hopeless, even with them safe, now. A million thoughts were rattling around in his brain, along with questions that he would need answered before he could make any sense of what was happening. Why would the demons want them back at the asylum in the first place, just to mess with them? Who was messing around at the barn, and why? Why set such a simple trap, just to…kidnap some of the girls and leave the boys alive after a fight?

But when Esme collapsed, Bobby was snapped from the questions rattling around in his head, and he turned to run and help, seeing both Dean and Duke springing into action. It was a reminder of one of the most tense and heartbreaking summers he had ever had with his kids. He watched them tear each other apart over attachments. He watched Dean leave, break Duke’s heart, and at the same time, bring Mika back to him. He stepped forward, as Duke’s aggression rose, ready to grab his son and keep him from making a mistake…after all the years of holding those emotions in.

“Duke. Don’t.” He called out to him. As Duke agreed to sit down, Bobby simply shook his head the second he made eye contact, trying to keep his face neutral for Duke’s sake. He was really starting to worry about the kid. As soon as Duke settled, and Dean stepped out of the room, Bobby turned to call back to Dean, “I’ll be in there in a few to check her over.”

“Yeah! Her head, man. She needs someone to look at her head.” Dean called back as he carefully laid Esme on the couch.

“Ten-four.” Bobby called back, before turning to those who were left in the kitchen. He looked around at the group and sighed, “So, here’s what I want to know. What the hell did they want with you in Missouri, anyway? I mean there has to be a reason, other than just messing with you.”

“I wasn’t going to bring it up, but I might…I might have managed to dig a bit of info from one of the demons I killed on my way out of that barn.” Cason started, and Anna’s head snapped toward him with raised eyebrows. “They told me some things about the farm…and Anna…and Lilith.”

“What?” Anna asked, straightening with wide eyes as she stared down at Cason.

“Go on.” Bobby urged Cason to continue. His eyes were narrowed in curiosity.

“Lilith wanted her there.” Cason continued, and Anna shifted uncomfortably on the counter. “Lilith wanted her in the place where it all began, because she wanted to use her to break a seal…well…a couple of seals, actually. The house up the way? The one that was burned to a husk? It’s where your family died, Anna.”

“No. No no no. This didn’t all happen because of me.” Anna shook her head, looking around at everyone as if they were going to blame her for the terror they had all experienced the night before. Cason shook his head.

“No. We all just got wrapped up in it. They would have gotten to Nat either way. No matter what we did, we would have ended up somewhere…ambushed and it would have happened either way. This was just the path of least resistance for them.” Cason explained, before taking a drink. Bobby tilted his head, knowing that this information was a lot for Anna to take in, but he was careful not to press. Instead, he moved onto his next question.

“And was it one of the big bads that took her?”

“Alastair.” Cason and Anna said in unison. Anna could almost feel the tension from Dean in the next room as the name slipped from her lips.

“Well that’s great. Here’s a good question, while we’re sharing and caring.” Bobby started, taking a deep and exasperated breath as he tried to handle all the information he was just strapped with, “Why the hell does Dean look the way he does…and Nat looks the way she does…and yet, Esme looks…”

“Because she’s not human.” Cason blurted out, interrupting Bobby. Duke's eyes shot over to Cason, and he narrowed them. Cason nodded sadly, trying to convey to Duke that it wasn't his conversation to have with the cowboy. Esme needed to talk to him.

“Come again?” Bobby asked, looking around at everyone in the room, lingering on Sam and Mika and then Duke, who turned from Cason with a lost and devastated look that Bobby couldn't quite place.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Anya

Anya smiled brightly as Sam complimented the smell of her cooking. It was something she always took pride in, even if she wasn’t able to do it much anymore. She couldn’t get many jobs with her disability, but she could keep people comfortable, and she could be a steady hand for those around her, which she always took as a heavy responsibility. One way, was by feeding them, which she was eager to do for Dean. He would warm up to her, whether he liked it or not.

She didn’t even bother slicing the pie, setting it aside and then cutting into the cheeseburger casserole she had made specially for Dean. Getting him a horde of meat in his stomach might make him feel a bit better. Wash it down with beer and he would be in such a food coma, he wouldn’t be able to bitch about anything.

She picked up her phone and typed a simple message with a silent giggle, “I fully intend to put him to sleep. Peace will be had.”

Dean

Dean smirked as Lexi agreed that he could at least keep an eye on Anya, but when she left off on ‘but first’, Dean raised his eyebrows, raising them almost into his hairline as she kissed him and his eyes fell closed. He kissed her back, absentmindedly bringing a hand up to cradle her chin and tilt her face a bit more. Either she had felt the need, or she felt how hard it was for him to keep to himself. Either way, she had kissed him, and if she wasn’t careful, there was no way they were going to make it back to the bunker.

As if reading his mind, she pulled away and Dean let his eyes open, his gaze a bit lazy and dazed as he stared down at her eyes. Her suggestion to head back seemed so weird and out of place in his buzzing brain, like a hard reset and he forgot that he was even upset as he cleared his throat, dropped his hand and turned to the steering wheel.

“Right. Yeah. Let’s get back. I need a beer.” Dean stammered, starting the car and quickly backing up out of the slim alley they had parked in. As soon as he was on the main road, the tires squealed as he peeled out, wanting to get back home as quick as they could.

A Bit Later

As Dean pulled into the drive of the bunker, and the power gate opened, letting them in, he turned his head and awkwardly smirked toward Lexi, “You know…now I’m gonna feel like a hypocrite if I say anything to them. I mean, I still have my reasons to be weirded out by Sam…hanging out with women outside of work or whatever.”

He paused as he parked and turned the car off, “But I’ll try to play nice. For all we know, they’ve been playing chess all night.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Bobby

Bobby frowned as Mika pulled away from him. Before she even started explaining things, he had a feeling that there was a lot to this hunt, and the feeling was washing over him that he was lucky to have Mika standing in front of him. Then Mika began to explain and Bobby narrowed his eyes in a couple of spots: ‘thanks to Cason’ was the big one. A demon had saved Natalia? Unlikely for any good reason.

At the words ‘Duke did die’ Bobby’s eyes widened, and he gasped, but let it out in a deep relieved sigh. His boy was still alive, and was likely right outside that front door. He frowned once again about Esme, having seen Esme take out demons in his own living room not too long ago. He wasn’t that surprised that Cason would be afraid of her, but what could have happened that would have made him so scared after their…thing? There were a million questions.

“Be civil? When you say ‘something’ you mean…something? That don’t seem like Natalia to me.” Bobby argued with the idea that Cason and Nat were suddenly so close, and seemed to be possibly in a romantic kind of tie up. Bobby released Mika’s shoulders, and watched her yawn, his expression falling into a fatherly concern, “Well let me tell you this…if you’re all okay, you ain’t gonna fret over it, alright? We take the bumps and we move on. We regroup and we figure out how to move forward, even if that starts with just a beer. And if someone says they’re alright?…I think we’ve learned our lesson about holdin’ on too tight, haven’t we? Let me take over for a while, kid. You get some rest…”

He broke from his speech and left it at that, until he could talk to her alone…later on. It was then that he heard Nat’s voice from the other room and he sighed with relief, just hearing the girl speak, “Hey Nat! Pick your poison. We got bourbon, beer, wine coolers Shelby left in the fridge that might be good for the little one when she gets in. Just grab whatever. Ice is on the table.”

Duke

Duke watched as the tension around him unfolded, especially the venom laced way that Anna spoke to Dean. He knew that Dean and Anna weren’t particularly close, but he never expected to see that sweet girl speak to Dean that way. There was definitely something brewing that Duke hoped wouldn’t overflow any time soon. The fighting would send him over the edge, and he honestly just wanted to figure out his brain and have a beer.

He turned his eyes down to Esme and returned her warm smile as she asked if he was ready for Bobby to fuss. He hadn’t seen Bobby in what felt like forever. He had a gut feeling that it would be more arguing than fussing over his wellbeing, but it was a road he had been down with Bobby a million times. It was almost a situation he could chalk up as his expertise.

“Yeah. I’m ready…” He sighed, squeezing Esme’s hand as they walked up to the door. He took a deep breath as they stepped inside, and the familiar smells and odd lighting of the house hit his senses. Immediately, he felt safer, just like all those other times he ran away and came back.

As soon as he cleared the doorway, Bobby glanced over at them, and his eyes went wide. Duke didn’t even realize how pale he still looked, but Bobby was looking at him as if he was a ghost, and it caused Duke’s stomach to drop as the old man crossed the living room from the kitchen. First Bobby brushed a thumb over Esme’s cheek, giving her the warmest fatherly smile he could and then turned his attention to Duke, his eyes welling up in tears.

“It’s good to see you, son…” Bobby spoke in a shuttered breath. He quickly wrapped his arms around Duke, pulling him in roughly with a hug. After a moment, he pulled back from Duke, and grabbed his chin with one hand, turning Duke’s face side to side. “You look like warmed over crap. How you feelin’?”

“Um…alive?” Duke stuttered, not a hint of a smile on his face. The look in Duke’s eyes caused Bobby to frown, scanning his adopted sons eyes for something. He chewed at his lip and released Duke’s chin.

“Well. Then we need to get some of that spark back…yeah? Go get you a drink. Your favorite whiskey is on top of the fridge, brand new bottle, waitin’ for you to come home. Go on.” He urged Duke, gesturing toward the kitchen. Bobby then turned to Esme, wrapping an arm around her neck to pull her into him, and pressed a kiss to her forehead with a sigh. “You don’t look so hot yourself. Get a drink and lets start a repair line for you idjits.”

He smiled warmly and let her go, watching the door as the others stepped inside.

Cason

Cason walked with Natalia to the front door, glancing up at the ceiling of the porch to make sure Bobby hadn’t painted anything on the old wood. Once he was comfortable with the lack of magic to bite him in the ass, he continued to the door with Nat, stopping behind her as she ruined the devils trap there. He was careful not to touch the doorway, in case Bobby had coated it in salt, or built some new reinforcement of iron, which he had his fill of for the century.

As Nat confirmed that he was good to come in, Cason carefully stepped over the threshold and into the living room, instantly hearing Bobby and Mika speaking from the kitchen. He knew he wasn’t exactly welcome in the house, after what had happened with Cupid and the crap that had gone down before. Hell, he figured a lot of his blood was still staining the cracks in the wood of the living room, considering how much he bled in that house.

“Bobby…” Cason nodded politely, releasing Nat’s hand out of politeness for Bobby, and the fear that Bobby didn’t exactly know that he and Nat were close, or even civil with one another. He quickly followed Nat into the kitchen, picking up one of the glasses that Bobby had directed them to. He grabbed the bottle of bourbon that looked the least cheap, and cracked it open, pouring himself a very large glass before recapping the bottle. He looked up at Nat and smirked.

“Since I’m the least damaged person here, I’m just going to sit here and watch the family show. You need to get looked at, though. Would you rather me or the old man do it?” He asked her, as he took a long drink, and nursed his glass in his hand.

Anna

Anna nodded when Sam asked her if she was ready to get in and out of the cold. With the heat radiating from her skin, the air felt at least twice as cold as it actually was, and she was nearly shivering. She wanted to grab some clean clothes, warm up, and hopefully get drunk enough to go to sleep for the rest of the day. She still didn’t know where she stood with Sam in her mind. She was still a bit angry at him, but now that Dean was back, a lot of that anger was transferred to Dean.

She tightened her grip on his hand, feeling Sam’s anxiety of losing her again in his touch. Then she followed him across the lot and into the house, her eyes instantly darting to the stairwell door to the basement. As she stepped through the door, Bobby was there, smiling at her with sympathy. But she couldn’t help notice how pale Duke looked as he stepped away from Bobby and into the kitchen.

“Hey Anna…” Bobby almost whispered, handling her with kid gloves. She barely remembered being completely covered in blood, both her own and Cason’s, but Bobby seemed to notice, his eyes looking her over. “You want a drink? I got fruity stuff all the way to rot gut. You’re welcome to whatever.”

Anna nodded, glancing back at the stairwell door again, which made Bobby turn and follow her eyes. He shook his head at her, and glanced up at Sam, before sighing, “I ain’t even made the bed down there. Don’t worry…”

Dean

Dean sighed as Anna wrapped up with Sam and he was left alone in the lot. It felt like old times. He pissed everyone off, and scared the hell out of those who weren’t pissed, all in the same night. Great. He turned before Anna and Sam could walk toward the house, reaching into the Impala for his phone. As he stood there, he zoned out for a moment and only realized when an involuntary shiver took him over that he was alone in the lot.

Clearing his throat, he pocketed his phone and closed the door to the Impala, strolling away from it as casually as he could, before jogging up the steps of Bobby’s house. As soon as he stepped through the door, he could feel the safety and the tension that he couldn’t quite place. He didn’t even look Bobby in the eyes when he first stepped in, turning to walk straight for the kitchen.

“Dean.” Bobby called to him, stopping him in his tracks. Dean turned back to Bobby and furrowed his brow, causing Bobby to raise his own eyebrows. The kids were in bad shape, that was for sure. Bobby waved him off and sighed, following Dean into the kitchen to reconvene with everyone else, “Go on. Get a drink. I think we all need to have a talk.”

“Understatement.” Dean sighed, his voice a bit hoarse as he wiped a hand down his face, and stepped into the kitchen, quickly stepping up beside Mika. Placing a hand on her lower back, he picked up a glass, right as Cason poured it full of bourbon and slid it to Dean. Dean didn’t even question it, straightening up as Bobby stepped in.

“Alright. Now that we’re all here. Who wants to go first? What went wrong?”