JustAnna

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean let the air hang around himself and Lexi as she took in the words he had spilled onto her. He hoped that his words didn’t come across as too scared, although in reality…he was terrified. He didn’t feel like himself, if he was anywhere near the first blade. He felt like all there was…was rage. As the silence hung heavy in the room, he suddenly heard the wheels of her chair rolling across the concrete floor and then her arms were around him and Dean melted into her touch a bit. Every part of his brain told him to push her away, to tell her to run or to break her heart to where she didn’t have a choice but to leave. It was his way of spiraling right back into the mode he needed to be, in order to get things done. If there was no one for him to hurt, he could handle being reckless. He could handle dying, if it was necessary. But knowing that he would possibly leave someone to deal with the same grief that had eaten him alive, it complicated things.

Lexi saying that she wasn’t leaving caused Dean to bury his face in her shoulder with a shuddered sigh. This was his time to force her to go, but he didn’t. He just let her talk. She said what he had kind of feared she would say. She wasn’t leaving. She wanted to help him, although that was the last thing he wanted. He wanted her on the moon, if it would keep her away from all of this.

As she pulled back, Dean’s eyes scanned between hers, and he swallowed down emotion that was threatening to bubble up and roll down his cheeks, right in her hands, “I don’t um…I don’t want you to help. I don’t want you anywhere near this, Lexi. You have to understand. This is…this is probably not going to end well. And if this goes wrong, I don’t want you to watch me die. Understand?”

He took a deep breath, and leaned his head forward, pressing his forehead against hers, “And I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt…or worse. I think it would kill me, at this point. I don’t think I would survive losing someone else I love.”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean turned his eyes from the bottle of whiskey, as Lexi’s hand came forward and she moved it away from him. He had to admit that the temptation was there to fight her over the bottle. It was his fall back to wash the emotions back down that he didn’t want to deal with. But then she began to speak, and he looked up, catching her eyes. If it was Sam telling him this, he would have already rolled his eyes, scoffed, grabbed the bottle and disappeared into his room, but he pressed his lips together and nodded at her words. Obviously, she had some experience with those same habits. Maybe her advice was exactly what he needed…

Her words about them having a lot in common rang true. She understood a lot of what he was going through, but there was still a huge secret lingering in the air that he didn’t even know how to bring up. He was swimming in grief, but he was also dealing with a constant rage that he struggled to swallow down. Mix that with a self sacrificial death wish that tugged at his chest every single time he left the bunker…he was a wreck.

He squeezed Lexi’s hand, matching her soft smile with his own and he nodded, “You’re right. There’s plenty of crap to dwell on. The past isn’t exactly something we can afford to get lost in, these days…don’t I know that…”

Dean’s brain flinched, and his ears rang a bit when she brought up the mark on his arm. He hadn’t exactly hidden it, choosing to ignore it and not bring it up, in hopes that she would just think it was some kind of weird remnant of a hunt from days long past. He thought about it for a moment, and he sighed, “Well…that story might sour any hopes of a good moment we might be having here.”, he finished his words with an incredulous chuckle, turning his arm over while still holding her hand. He looked over the mark and took a deep breath.

“But…if you’re going to stick around, now would be the time to scare you off.” He started, looking back up at her face. He scanned between her eyes, trying to decide how to tell her, and finally settled on just telling her straight out, “It’s the Mark of Cain. Like…THE Cain. There’s no good explanation for how I got it, other than I needed a means to an end for a really REALLY bad demon problem. So, I let a demon…”

Dean paused, as the words made him feel a little like an idiot, “I let a demon manipulate me into taking the damn thing. Now, the big bad demon is dead, the tool I killed her with is locked in the trunk of my car, and I’m stuck with the mark and all the crap that comes with it. I should have told you earlier…things are bad, Lexi. I wanted a normal few days. I wanted to feel human for a bit. But things are really bad.”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean watched and poured himself a bit more whiskey as Lexi looked at the photos he had placed in front of her. As she commented on Anna being adorable, Dean nodded and a fond smirk covered his lips. She was adorable. She had hated him off and on the whole time that he knew her, but she never failed to stick up for both he and Sam. She was a needed light in Dean’s life that he had taken for granted, a lot. There were times he was tempted to reach out to her, but with his connection with Sam, he resisted bringing up any bad memories for her…or any temptation for her to come to Kansas. He nodded his head in a wide, and exasperated way when Lexi stated that they should hope Anna didn’t show up at the bunker.

“Yeah, well…she avoids Kansas just as much as Sam avoids Colorado. They both know how things are with them.” He grumbled, taking a small drink. He paused his drink as Lexi pulled a photo of Dean and Mika, his heart falling into the pit of his stomach. He tilted his head back and pressed his lips together with a small nod, “Yeah…yeah that’s her.”

His voice was more hoarse than he had expected, emotion threatening to break that really pretty barrier he had built between himself and handling her death. He liked not thinking about it, but he knew that eventually, there wouldn’t be much of a choice. He would have to try and move on. Eventually it wouldn’t hurt so bad, but he couldn’t imagine what that day would even look like. As Lexi patted his thigh, Dean perked up a bit and he nodded, watching her with a furrowed brow as she stepped away from the table and headed down the dorm corridor. Right on cue, his phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket, looking at the screen with a frown.

He read over the message a few times, suddenly a bit worried about Anya and Sam being out alone. Sam could handle himself against a demon, but Anya was new to all of this. He didn’t even now if they took weapons with them. He pushed down the worry and texted Sam back with a deep breath.

‘Just take care of her. Make sure you have what you need to keep yourself safe and move normally. Don’t draw attention to yourself. And keep her close, Sammy.’

He sent the message and laid his phone back on the table as Lexi came back, a pouch in her hands. Dean turned to look at her, following her hands as she pulled a photo and pushed it toward him. His chest clenched as he realized she was opening up about her own loss, and they had reached a point of actually sharing their big traumas with one another. Hearing her correct herself into the past tense, Dean could feel the struggle in her voice and he knew that struggle well. It took a long time to be able to refer to Mika in the past tense, and he wasn’t even sure he could in normal conversation…even now.

He picked up the photo and took in how happy the both looked. The photo was beautiful and it captured Lexi’s real and natural smile to a fault, something that almost pulled a smile onto Dean’s lips. But as Lexi spoke about him, he realized how much their emotions and their loss echoed one another, “It does look like a happy day. Like…you look genuinely happy. I’m so sorry you lost him.”

Dean looked up from the photo, and he took a deep breath, scanning her face as she took a drink. He could tell that she was on the verge of becoming emotional, and he fought down his own lump in his throat, laying the photo on the table in front of him before drinking down the last of his second glass of whiskey, “That’s why we keep them, the pictures. Happier times and all that. It’s how we hold onto them. I’m sure Sam would rather I got rid of them all, but I can’t. You shouldn’t…”

Thinking of everything they had both lost, Dean was reminded of Sam’s text and he absentmindedly glanced at the mark on his arm, glaring in the dim light of the bunker. He rolled his arm just a bit, trying to ignore it as he tapped his glass on the table, tempted to pour more whiskey.

“Moving on is tough…” He randomly muttered, staring the bottle down with his eyebrows raised.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

Duke smiled brightly as Esme agreed to not only allow him to take care of her, but that it would be ‘absolutely wonderful’. Taking care of her was now his life mission, outside of all the hunting and the chaos in their lives…he just wanted to take care of Esme. He never thought she would come back to him, after the way the three of them separated. He honestly never had plans to see her again, but all their pieces had fallen into place. If there was a God, he was definitely on board with whatever this plan was…

As Esme sat down and Duke clearly heard her stomach rumble, he tilted his head and frowned, trying to remember if Bobby had anything in the fridge that she could eat. Duke was fine with his usual late night whiskey to hold him off until morning, but Esme was hurt and exhausted. She needed food, sleep and maybe a giant gallon jug of water that he would never convince her to drink.

He smiled sweetly and nodded, “You got it. I’ll be right back. Don’t…”

As he started to order her to not fall asleep and to get comfortable so she could rest, she read his mind and he simply nodded, turning to open the door. He jogged down the RV steps again, closing the door quietly, and he cleared the gap between himself and the house. He didn’t bother to look around the lot, figuring that everyone was already getting ready to go their separate ways…into peace. As he walked into the kitchen, Bobby had already come inside, and was making himself a sandwich at the counter. He turned his head and smiled at Duke, who stepped up next to him.

“You got it in you to make one of those for my very tired lady out there?” Duke asked Bobby with a smile, and Bobby chuckled, tilting his head back and forth in a mocking way as he pulled more bread from the bag in front of him.

“Never thought I’d see you guys so close again. It’s almost like a flashback, just with less awkwardness on your end. It’s nice.” Bobby chimed in his opinion of Duke’s relationship with Esme. Duke smirked, thinking back to how gentle and timid he was with her back before the big breakup. He was scared to even touch her, and the thought almost seemed foreign to him, now.

“Yeah, well…I think she would hold me hostage and make me get over it if I even tried to be shy around her, now. Life’s too short.”

“Speaking of life being short. You doin’ okay?” Bobby asked as he finished making Esme’s sandwich. Duke paused, glancing down at his stomach with a deep breath.

“Yeah.” He let the breath out as he said the word. “Good thing about dyin’ and coming back is there aren’t a lot of memories, ya know? I’ll be alright. I always am.”

“And you always bottle up whatever that is that’s buzzin’ around under that hat.” Bobby pointed a knife toward Duke’s hat and he sighed, cutting the sandwich in half, before handing the plate to Duke, “Let’s not do that anymore, while you got her back, alright? You ain’t gotta shoulder all that heavy stuff by yourself anymore, Jason.”

“I know…” Duke sighed, taking the plate from Bobby. He clapped a hand down on his shoulder, and simply turned, walking back out of the kitchen and to the RV. As he opened the door, he plastered a smile on his face and then hopped inside, holding the plate out in front of him. “I brought a Bobby special!”

Dean

Dean raised his eyebrows as Mika explained that she had helped Duke get Esme to the RV and that she had had a ‘good talk’ with Esme. The thought of the two women agreeing with each other, after the jealousy spill and vitriol that had flooded the house earlier in the night almost seemed like a miracle. Dean tilted his head, pressing his lips together tightly, impressed that Mika was trying to get along with her. It was definitely a start. He was proud of her.

When she explained where Sam took Anna, Dean took a deep breath and he let it out through his nose. Sam was likely more angry with him than he had been in a long time. Dean had lost his cool and assaulted Anna, which he didn’t even know he had in him, at this point in his life. He couldn’t allow himself to chalk the reaction up to trauma or any other excuse. He had simply lost his cool, and she was the first nail the hammer saw…and the only clear one for him to blame for his own mistakes. The thought cramped his stomach and he had no idea how he was going to apologize for the way he spoke to her, or physically hurt her.

“Yeah. He’ll cool off and come back…hopefully.” Dean muttered as Mika explained that Sam was just angry with him, and she was right. Sam always seemed to cool off, take a swing whether verbally or physically, and then he and Dean were able to reconcile. Dean just hoped that having someone to run away with, Sam would actually come back, this time.

As Mika turned and cupped his face in her hands, Dean watched her eyes with a slightly furrowed brow, nodding at her words. Truthfully, he was exhausted all over again, and he wasn’t even sure what was coming for them. He didn’t know what they needed to prepare for, and that was mentally exhausting all by itself, “Alright. Let’s go get some sleep…I promise I’ll sleep.”

Hearing her say the words ‘I love you’ and ‘I’m proud of you’ after what had happened earlier in the day made his heart flutter in his chest, and his eyes softened as he stared into hers. He took a deep breath, and reached out, turning her around to wrap his arms around her from behind as he awkwardly walked them toward the stairs, “I’m going to try to be more…open. It seems to get me further with all the women in the house. But thank you, for being my voice of reason. I don’t know what I would do without you…”, he chuckled against her ear. He released her shoulders, placing a hand on her lower back as he guided her up the stairs to her room. As he reached the room, he pushed the door open, only to see Castiel standing there at the foot of the bed.

“I thought you might be coming to this…room.” Castiel muttered as Dean stepped in, and immediately stepped in front of Mika, even though he trusted Castiel. Dean frowned and shook his head.

“No. No no no. You’re not here for anything good.”

“No. I’m not. You need to come with me, now. Just you. We have Alastair and the garrison seems to think you may be our key to…understanding him.” Cas explained simply, glancing over Dean’s shoulder at Mika before meeting Dean’s eyes again as Dean shook his head and laughed.

“Don’t angels know all about him, by now? I mean, it’s not like he hides what he wants. He does…what he wants.” Dean shook his head incredulously, and Castiel didn’t move. He simply tilted his head to the side and he squinted at Dean.

“But you know him better than anyone. That’s why you need to come with me.”

Cason

Cason stepped away from the car he had been standing against while Natalia and Dean had their heart to heart. He was so thankful she was back. He was getting worried about the cold air, and her possibly getting sick, but he didn’t want to force the conversation to end. So, he had bit his tongue, but he wasn’t planning to do that much longer, “Yeah. Let’s get you inside before you freeze to death. This is your daily reminder that even though you’re hanging around a demon? You’re still human.”

He chuckled, wrapping his arm around Natalia’s waist as he led the way across the lot, ready to get her all bundled up in bed, preferably in his clothes, and resting. She may have had a pretty long nap that morning, but humans needed sleep-sleep. And sleep-sleep wasn’t something Nat had experienced in a while, that he could remember. As Mika and Dean crossed through the kitchen and into the living room, Cason pulled the kitchen door open and stepped inside, pulling Nat with him.

“Now. Warm house…time for warm bed. No pit stops until we get into the room.” Cason teased Nat as he walked across the living room to Bobby’s room, and pulled Nat inside. He closed the door behind him and quickly shrugged his jacket from his shoulders, quickly followed by his shirt being pulled from his head. Once her ‘pillow’ was sorted, Cason walked over to the bed and he flopped down, stretching his legs out and placing his hands behind his head, “Bare chest…just waiting to be laid on.”

Anna

Anna hummed her approval as Sam finally confirmed her words with a simple ‘mine’. She shoved at the waistband of his jeans, letting him take control in pushing them down his own legs and eventually, she heard his belt jingle as his jeans hit the floor. Her body erupted with goosebumps again, as his fingers trailed up her thigh, causing her mouth to fall open against his lips briefly. As his fingers made contact with her bare skin so that he could unbutton her jeans and push them down, she lifted her lower back from the bed, reaching a hand back to shove at the denim until it was far enough down her legs that she could shimmy them down to her ankles and then onto the floor with his pants.

It was then, mostly skin on skin that she melted into him. For once, they were present, there was no lingering fear of death hanging over them, forcing them into each other’s arms. There was no fear of dying, and never experiencing each other, like their first time together. There was just…this. No fear. Nothing but their bodies fitting together as if they were puzzle pieces, designed to snap right back into place…a perfect fit.

Anna opened her mouth to catch her breath, and she weaved her fingers through Sam’s hair, pulling his head back enough to look at her. She smiled breathlessly up at him, “I love you so much…”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

Duke raised his head with a soft ‘hmm?’ as Mika stated that she wanted him to help her get Esme back to the RV for a little rest. She did look absolutely exhausted, between the bad sleep on the couch, their extracurricular activities and now all the crazy emotions running crazy in the house. He could only imagine how tired she really was.

“I agree. C’mon princess.” Duke wrapped his arm around Esme’s waist and he dragged his feet pulling her toward the door as Mika opened it up. He carefully walked down the back steps, helping Esme take one step at a time, until he could stroll across that familiar gravel with no problems. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had to help her into the house a million times before after botched hunts…or long nights out.

“Night babygirl.” Duke called back to Mika as he helped Esme into the RV and then stepped in behind her. He closed the door and turned back to Esme with a soft smile, “Now. I get to take care of you for the night. You know where the bed is. I can turn on some music. We can get some rest. I’ll be here all night. A whole night…no drama.”

Dean and Cason

Dean watched Natalia’s face as she spoke about Cason, nodding slowly at how similarly she talked about Cason…to how he felt about Mika. It was odd and it made his stomach do a tiny flip, thinking about a demon having that much sway over his sister. But he had promised to give him a chance, and he would.

When she mentioned Mika, Dean turned and he chuckled, nodding “Yeah. I think it might be time for the porch light flicker. She looks like she’s freezing. Don’t stay out too late. Get…some rest.”

He ordered her with his words after she promised to come in right after himself and Mika. As she pulled him in for a hug, he happily wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight for a moment. He kissed the side of her head and then ruffled her hair as she stepped off the car, “Be good.”

He pushed himself off the car, and strolled over to Mika with a soft smile. As he stepped into a more open part of the parking lot, the air bit through his clothes, and he shivered, seeing his breath in the night air as he approached her.

“You’re gonna die of some kind of cold air…something out here. Let’s go inside.” Dean muttered to Mika, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as he turned her and guided her toward the house. He wanted to just get her back to bed, get some rest and wait for the inevitable. The whole place seemed calmer, now. Sam and Anna were still in the wind, but everyone else seemed calm, possibly on the same page with one another. “So, everything okay with everyone else? Heard from Sam?”

Anna

Anna’s skin lit up in goosebumps as Sam’s arms came to hold her, keeping her sturdy against his body. But after a moment, she was straddling his hips and she could feel Sam holding back. She could feel it in his kiss, the way that his hands sat against her body. He wasn’t pulling her down against him, like he always did when he was lost in the heat of the moment. He was simply waiting for her to tell him, with her body, what to do. So, she did. She fluttered her tongue across his bottom lip, teasing his lips open as his hands began to trail up her back under her shirt. She pulled back, just a bit and allowed him to remove the garment without pause.

“It’s okay…”, she whispered as she came right back to his lips. As if answering her with his own body, he stood and she wrapped her legs around his waist, allowing him to turn and lay her on the bed. Keeping her legs on either side of his, she took the time between kisses to quickly push his flannel down his shoulders. She pushed it to his elbows, letting him remove it himself from his hands and then she went to work on his t-shirt, reaching underneath to trace his abs with her fingertips. She kissed him deeply, raking her fingernails over the sensitive skin of his stomach, but broke her kiss for a moment, tilting her chin back, “It’s just me and you here, Sam. I’m…yours.”

She smiled, using her thumbs to work his shirt up his chest, and then she kept tugging until she pulled it off over his head and tossed it to the side. She craned her neck back up to kiss him desperately, her nails raking back down his chest, until she found his belt buckle. Opening her mouth to gasp for air, she chuckled against Sam’s lips, flicking the belt buckle open, “I’m…yours.”, she repeated against his lips.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean walked over to the library briefly, pressing on one of the books in the front shelf. As he did so, the bookshelf opened to reveal a liquor cabinet with plenty of bottles and glasses. He grabbed a couple of glasses in case Lexi needed a drink and then snatched a cheap screw top whiskey from the bottom shelf, before closing the door and strolling back up the steps to the war room.

“Oh Denver…” Dean sighed as he approached the table again, and sat the bottle and glasses down. He pulled one of the rolling chairs to sit in, and groaned as he sat back and unscrewed the lid of the bottle. “Denver is Sam’s big bad one big mistake, regret, emotional atomic bomb…all of it wrapped into one. To put it mildly, I think that my brother was going to marry that girl, if our life had slowed down long enough.”

Dean truly believed it, too. If he had managed to get Anna and Sam out of the life, like some of the others had managed, he would have fully endorsed them tying the knot and living happily ever after in the most boring life possible. He would have died to give that to them. They deserved it after being demon toys their entire lives.

“See, sometime before you met up with Sam, there were these trials. The idea was that we could slam the gates shut on Hell…forever. It seemed easy enough. Each trial was pretty straight forward. The first one, I was going to take on.” Dean explained, pouring a tall glass of whiskey for himself. “Sam…being Sam, put himself in there, and got saddled with all of it.”

Dean took a drink of his whiskey as he shook his head, “And then he started getting sick. The girl, Anna, walked in on him one day. He was having a…a seizure. He was sick. His fever was more than any human could take. We’re talking brain melting heat. Anna was scared to death. She called me and we managed to get him back to a somewhat safe spot, but after that, something in Sam snapped. The second he got to feeling okay enough to travel, he made me drive them to Denver under the guise of ‘checking in with family’.”

The memories of Anna’s face, when Sam explained to her that she couldn’t leave with them, and he wasn’t going to let her watch him die made Dean shudder, and he closed his eyes to push down emotions that he didn’t even realize were still there, under the surface.

“She was everything to him. He walked away from her, practically threatened to kill me if I spoke her name out loud, and swore that he would never go to Colorado again. Even after he…well…after the trials, and everything he dealt with, it’s been rough on him. Then…then we lost Mika, and I can’t even begin to talk about that.” Dean’s voice cracked and he finished off his glass of whiskey, spilling his guts to Lexi in a way that he obviously had needed to…to someone, anyone for months.

Dean reached across the table, where John’s journal sat, wrapped up and stuffed full of papers and photos. He pulled it toward him, and flipped it open, pulling a few photos of the group, Sam and Anna smiling together at Bobby’s, Duke and Anna hugging, and finally, one of Sam and Anna, all busted up but happy, cuddling on a couch. He slid the photos across the table to Lexi, and tapped his finger on Anna in the group photo.

“Let’s just say that the few times they have run into each other, things have been a little more than chaotic and toxic. They fall back into old habits. They wrap up in each other’s emotions, and then they leave…He eventually ends up within a hundred miles of Denver and it all starts over. God forbid she ever showed up here.”

Anya

Anya’s eyes widened as Sam explained the reason why demons were after Dean. No matter what idea she might have had about what he was going to say, his actual words trumped it completely. She thought back to seeing Dean shirtless in the hall, and the weird brand that she had seen on his forearm. She had assumed it was some sort of scar, or other hazard of hunting. Maybe he had been branded by a random hunter or had been involved in something she didn’t know about. Never had she thought it would have something to do with…Cain and Abel. Jesus.

She almost suggested that they just go back to the bunker and tell Dean about what had happened on the outside, but Sam didn’t seem to agree as he suggested that they go ahead with their plans. Anya tapped her finger against her phone, trying to decide on an argument, but maybe the demons couldn’t find Dean. That might explain why they hadn’t already found him, this close to the bunker. Maybe that was why they were looking for someone connected to him, so that person would take them back to the bunker.

Anya sighed, not quite sure she agreed with leaving Dean and Lexi with no information, and she nodded. She opened her door and stepped out of the car, with a slump of her shoulders. As they walked up to the door of the tattoo shop, Anya scanned the parking lot with a bit of nervousness, but there were no people outside, only a random assortment of empty cars. They were safe, for the time being.

She allowed Sam to show the artist at the counter what they were wanting to have done, and the artist turned to Anya, “Where you want it sweetheart?”

Anya carefully lifted her shirt, and realized that her hip bone was bruised, so she turned her back to the artist and pulled her hair to the side, showing him the back of her neck. He gestured for her to follow him back to his table, and began to set up his station. Anya held up a finger at him, and he nodded, telling her to take her time.

She turned to Sam and typed a message, before lowering the volume on her phone and holding it close to Sam, “If we need to save our fun time for another night to make sure that Dean is okay, we can. Maybe check in with them and make sure he’s okay?”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Cason and Dean

Cason frowned at the conversation between Nat and Dean, as he knew where it was leading and he was way less than enthused about helping the Winchesters. The little vacation without them had been nice and quiet. He and Nat were in a place where things were nice…and quiet. When Nat put the phone on speaker and put it between them, Cason sighed at her next words and he sat back in his seat a bit.

“Find me somewhere to sit that is free of iron, salt, or any hints of spray paint. I don’t trust that place, Winchester…” Cason grumbled in between Nat’s words, and Dean nodded as he paced around rubbing at his eyebrow.

“As long as you stay in the main room, close to the wood tables and don’t touch any of the bookshelves, you should be good. I promise. I’ll double check for sigils. I’m really tryin’ here man.” Dean grumbled and Cason nodded with a shrug, as Nat answered Dean’s previous question about Denver.

“Fine.”

Dean smirked at Duke’s sentimental name for one of his horses. It showed Dean that at least one of them was handling Mika’s death in a healthy way. Duke had been burying himself with work on the ranch since the group went their separate ways, and in a strange way, even with their falling out in the past, Dean missed the hell out of the kid. But he was happy he had work to fall back on that wasn’t hunting. Hearing that Anna was happy just made his heart swell even more. She was okay, after his brother had practically dumped her on the only family she had left. He still didn’t agree with Sam’s decisions, but at least Anna seemed okay.

“I’m glad she’s okay.” Dean said softly, genuinely happy. “I miss hearing her voice around here, you know.”

Cason chewed at his lip as an idea came to his head, an idea that Sam would hate him for, but might lift Dean’s spirits and would add an extra set of somewhat experienced hands to this whole fiasco. When Nat spoke up, mentioning that she planned to make a pit stop in Denver, Cason’s idea grew and he would bring it up to her as soon as she was off the phone.

Dean nodded, “Yeah. Just…tell Anna hi for me, if you stop by the ranch. I’ll see you tomorrow night sometime? We can order in. Lots of horrible food that will make your boyfriend twitch. You’ll be in my house…my rules.”, he teased Natalia, knowing that Cason could hear every word.

After a moment, Dean ended the call with a simple, “Be safe.” And then turned to Lexi with a sigh.

“So, they’re gonna drive through the night and get here tomorrow sometime, I think. She said they’re stopping off in Denver. Boy, am I glad Sam’s not here to hear that…I think his head would explode, just hearing the name.”

Cason glanced over at Nat as Dean ended the call and he chewed at his lip before bringing up his idea with caution, “Maybe we should bring Anna with us. She knows just as much about demons as we do, and from the sounds of it, it might be good for Dean to be around her. I know Sam won’t like it, but he seems…busy.”

Anya

Anya tapped her fingers on the trim of the window in the car as they pulled out of the parking lot and on their way toward the tattoo shop. She didn’t know what to think about demons suddenly trying to track down Dean, through her. Someone must have seen them together, or must have caught wind that they were together. Some demon must have found out that she was coming for them, and was using Dean, or there was something Dean wasn’t telling her about himself…and now she was wrapped up in his tangled web of supernatural bullshit.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the tattoo shop, Anya flinched at Sam’s sudden speaking up, and she closed her eyes for a moment, not really wanting to tell him that demons were looking for his brother, and that she had an idea that it had something to do with her deal…or with something that Dean was hiding. But she also couldn’t lie to him. If they were getting to know each other and had any hope of possibly having a relationship in this horrible world, they had to be honest with one another.

Anya squeezed his hand as he held hers, and then she released his hand, looking up at him briefly. She pulled her phone and typed out a message, as best she could explain.

“Some demons showed up apparently at the motel. Luckily they didn’t kill anyone. They were looking for Dean, and they thought that I might know where he is, which means they know we’re connected, now. That’s all I really know.”

She pressed play and immediately typed another message.

“It looks like they didn’t find anything they were looking for, but I’m worried about your brother. What is he into that has demons stirred up enough to target those around him?”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Cason

Cason cracked his nose back into place as he walked back to the car with Natalia. Of the two of them, as usually, he came out a bit worse than she did. As a demon, at least he was able to heal within the hour. So, better him than her. When Nat complained about how aggressive the werwolves were, Cason laughed softly and shook his head, “I mean, you’re the one who found the case. Dogs. I like my dogs…but I hate dogs, especially of the mostly human variety.”

As Nat pulled her phone from her pocket, Cason glanced down at it, and he frowned. Dean never contacted them, anymore. He was so deep in his own grief that Cason had expected to get a call from Sam of all people, telling them that Dean had basically starved to death in his room. When she explained what Dean was wanting, Cason’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, “He wants my…help. Me. Wow, this is…”

Part of him figured it was some sort of ploy to get Nat to the bunker and ask her once again to stay with them. Cason couldn’t imagine living in such a place. Every weapon, shackle, chain, and doorway in the bunker was engineered specifically to hurt things like him. It wasn’t exactly a prized mansion they had inherited…

Cason walked around to his side of the car, and he dumped himself into the passenger seat and closed the door. He nodded as Nat said she was going to call him, and settled himself into the seat. They were driving to Kansas…nice.

Dean

Dean had just sat down in a chair, when his phone buzzed and he pulled it up with a frown. Natalia was calling him. She couldn’t just text him back. As usual, she wanted to hear his voice, suss out how he was doing. So, with a clearing of his throat, he answered the phone, but not before smiling at Lexi, “Gotta do a little manipulation, here…”

“Yeah…” He answered the phone simply, letting his breath out in a huff as he heard Natalia’s voice. She sounded tired but she sounded good. She sounded happy. Dean paused, trying to decide how to deal with the situation in a way that would actually convince Nat to come out.

“We have a girl who is stuck in a demon deal. Cason has helped a couple of kids before, and I wanted to see if he was willing to help this one. She kinda fell in our lap.” Dean explained calmly, and then he shifted his voice just a little, to appeal to Nat’s emotions, “And I don’t know if I’m in the shape to handle all this on my own. I could really use…well, I wanted to see if you wanted to come stay for a few days and help us mull this over. I’m still on the mend, you know? Have you heard anything out of Denver, lately?”

Anya

Anya could definitely echo Sam’s sentiments about staying in crappy motels. If she never had to see the inside of one again, she would be better for it. As she walked ahead of Sam with her things, she didn’t look back at the room, only trained her eyes on his car and walked over to stand next to it. She had completely forgotten the need to turn the key in, figuring that the owner already thought she might have run off with it. But when Sam brought it up, she sighed, dropping her shoulders as if to say ‘oh yeah. The key!’.

She handed her stuff to him, and with a bit of a pout, she stepped away from him and into the office, where the owner was waiting for her. With pride, he signed with a smile.

“So, you’re leaving me?”

“I’ve been gone for two days, Fred. I don’t really plan to be back, but thank you for everything you’ve done.” She signed back, her eyes glancing up to the bandage covering his eyebrow. She glanced around the office nervously, and then signed, “You okay?”

“Yeah. Some guys came, roughed me up and asked for some guy named Dean Winchester. Ring a bell?”

As soon as Fred was finished signing Dean’s name, Anya’s face went pale and she froze, staring off into space. The demons knew that she was with Dean, but maybe they weren’t watching. Maybe they didn’t know she was in the area at all, if they hadn’t found her when the hurt Fred.

“No. No the name doesn’t really mean anything. Did they leave?”

“Yeah, they said they needed to make some calls and wait for ‘her’ to show up, whatever that meant. They didn’t seem like very nice guys. Anya, are you okay?” Fred signed, the last few words slow, as he softened his eyes.

“I’m fine. I’m with someone who can keep me safe. Just…don’t tell anyone I left, okay? Don’t tell them which way we headed. Don’t tell them I’m with anyone. That’s the best help. Here…” She signed back, handing Fred the key. She then lifted her hand to thank him, and quickly turned to practically run out of the office, back to Sam. She chose not to tell him any details of the conversation, simply signed, “Let’s go. All is good.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

Duke frowned at Esme’s words about a stranger helping her out of the room. He couldn’t think of anyone who would have trailed the Winchesters. Most hunters worked alone. Not to mention, the idea that someone knew she was there…it was most likely someone on the inside. A demon?

He was shaken from his thoughts as Esme’s hand slipped away from him, but then her hand came to his chest. His frown didn’t leave his face as she told him not to apologize. That was a hard ask, when he felt as if he had failed her. He practically melted in her touch as her hands came to his face, something he was weak for, with Esme. It was an odd safe feeling, every single time.

When she brought up their mental connection, Duke swallowed heavily and he glanced in a quick turn of his eyes toward Mika. He hadn’t explained any of that to Mika, the weird mental connection that the three of them seemed to have, Duke more than Dean. He snapped his eyes back to hers and he fell into them. Cutting Dean out of his life wasn’t something that he regretted, necessarily. He and Dean made each other weak. Their emotions, jealousy, love for one another, and general dependence on each other almost always got them in trouble.

They were better off alone. He nodded gently, but then opened his mouth to argue with Esme about the issue at the farm, where he literally got himself killed. He quickly closed his mouth and let her remind him that they were both alive…in spite of his mistakes. Duke inhaled a deep breath and he let it out through his nose with a soft smile, echoing the look on her face.

“You’re right.” He whispered, having trouble tearing his eyes from Esme’s for a moment. Her hands dropping from his face and her speaking to Mika pulled him away and he let out the inhale he had been holding, shaking his head with a soft smile. Esme was right. Whatever the world they were being dumped into was going to bring was big. The odds of them all making it out alive were obviously…pretty much zero. He had a feeling that he was going to have to step up and protect Esme plenty. Mika’s hand on his shoulder and her words, agreeing with Esme nearly made his heart swim with relief. It was all the proof he needed that Mika was going to try and be civil with her. He nodded, and dropped his own eyes to the ground.

Seeing Esme a bit unsteady, Duke absentmindedly placed a hand on her lower back, and looked up at Mika as she spoke up again. He nodded, “We’re gonna stick together. All three of us seem on the same page. We just gotta get the others on that same page…Dean and the little one might be the hardest to get through to.”

Dean

Dean loosened up on Nat as she looked up at him, and he knew that he had at least got through to her that he did…indeed love her. He was just horrible of showing it. Her little thank you tugged at his heart, as once again, he was reminded of all the ways he wasn’t there for Sam. Natalia was possibly a second chance, in a way. But mostly, she was his baby sister. She was his responsibility. He just had to find a way to share that responsibility with Cason.

Dean shook his head as Nat apologized for telling him she hated him. He was well aware that Natalia wasn’t able to grow up. That luxury was taken from her. So, when she had outbursts, a lot of times they were akin to a teenaged girl. Hating everyone came along with the territory, “Don’t. Don’t say you’re sorry. Honestly, I’m surprised you had never said it before then…”

He gave her a soft smile, and looked up at Cason as he and Nat shared a communicative little smile, and Cason nodded his head at her. Dean turned his eyes back to Nat, as she spoke and released him, sitting back. He was about to speak up and stop her, just to say that he would try to be civil with Cason while they talked about the situation, but her mention of Cason taking her to a fair caused Dean to narrow his eyes and tilt his head. Cason had actually taken her to do something totally normal.

“I don’t know a demon that can feel enough emotion to do something like that, unless they are manipulating you.” He muttered absentmindedly. Cason didn’t move as he lit up another cigarette and kicked his feet at the gravel. The man was a stone, standing there to make sure Nat was safe. It tore at something strange in Dean’s head, as the other half of his brain tried to find ways that Cason’s bad outweighed his good.

“You’re happy with him.” He mumbled, and sighed, “If…and this is a big if…he keeps you safe, he doesn’t hurt your feelings, and he’s good, I mean like giant puppy good, I’ll accept all of this. I’ll do what I can. I’ll talk to him. I’ll be civil.”

Anna

Anna expected Sam to say pretty much exactly what he did. Dean would be more concerned with making amends with Natalia at the moment. He probably barely realized that Sam and Anna were even gone. Something about that, while it should have made her even more worried about the lingering tension, it was calming. Sam’s hand turning her face toward his forced Anna to look up into his eyes, and she sighed through her nose. Her heart fluttered at his words, and she wondered if he was under some new spell, like the one with Cupid. It was the most romantic he had ever been.

She closed her eyes as he leaned in, and the softness of his kiss took her off guard all over again. Sam was the most gentle person she knew in this messed up world, but their time together hadn’t exactly ever been slow…and sweet. She returned the kiss, barely moving her lips as she let him take whatever control he wanted in the moment. But then he breathed the words she had wanted to hear, selfishly, since the day their eyes met.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that…” She whispered, just before his lips covered hers again. There was something new to the second kiss, it was gentle and slow, but desperate and full of that intense passion that seemed to burn in the hazel of Sam’s eyes every single day. She untangled her legs and rocked forward, until she could pull her knees under her, raising her face slightly above Sam’s but never breaking the kiss as she tilted his head back. Her hands found his jaw, sliding back into his hair with a light tug as all of the anger and worry melted away. As long as they were alone together, they were the entire universe.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean raised an eyebrow and his smile widened as Lexi told him that she believed she would ‘help’ his reputation, “Is that so? Hmm.”

But then she sat back on her feet and Dean almost pouted, until it dawned on him that they were supposed to be working. Things had been so carefree and happily simple since dinner, it was hard to want to go back to the depressing and dreary reality of their day to day. But she was right. They had work to do. He reached his hand out, taking Lexi’s, but supported most of his own weight as he carefully stood to his feet on the wet floor. The drain in the floor was already taking care of the majority of the water, so Dean just shrugged in his mind about cleaning up the rest.

“Yeah. I’ll call her. She’s gonna love hearing from me…especially if she has to drive all the way to Kansas.” Dean grumbled, fishing his phone from his…LUCKILY…dry pocket. He texted Nat, instead of calling her, at first, just to make sure she was even available for a new job.

“Hey. SOS. Demon stuff. I need to talk to Cason and I wouldn’t mind seeing you. Why don’t you come out to Kansas?”

He locked his screen as his heart fluttered at the idea of meeting up with Nat …in a permanent home he had begged her to come live in. He stepped through and walked out of the kitchen to join Lexi in the war room.

“So, I texted her. I never know what she’s doing, you know? She could be in the middle of something. I’d hate to be the dumbass who got her killed because her phone rang.”

Anya

Anya could tell, just by the way that Sam stuttered that he wasn’t as excited about the idea of celebrating autumn as she was. She had to assume it was all of the Halloween references, considering the job he did. Who would want to celebrate a holiday about the spooky and creepy, when they saw that crap every single day in their real life? But for Anya, it was more about how romantic the autumn air was when it hit your skin, the spicy goodness of all the food and the drink, and just how hopeful and clean the air felt around you.

She smiled and squeezed Sam’s hand in a thanks as his reluctant smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. She pulled her phone with one hand, and typed a quick message, “I promise you’ll have fun. You are allowed to have fun, Sam.”

Anya didn’t wait long after Sam parked the car. She nodded at his words, making sure he could see her eyes, and then quickly stepped out of the car. She held her hand out for the room key, and once he gave it to her, she placed it into the rusty doorknob, and turned it, pushing the door open. The room was simple, barely touched, other than the ruffled blankets on the bed. A large duffel bag, a spare pair of boots and a jacket lay at the foot of the bed, all packed and ready to move onto the next spot.

She didn’t waste much time, walking over and grabbing her duffel. She slung the jacket over her arm and grabbed her boots, before turning to Sam and giving him a look that said “This is it. Easy trip!”

Placing her boots under her arm, she walked past Sam, and opened the door, stepping back out into the cool air. She stood on the sidewalk and waited for him, wanting to get past the memories that she had unfortunately made while staying in this room…things she would never speak about willingly.