[h3] AnnaBeth and Dean [/h3]
Anna leaned up at a point during the trip back to the motel, scanning Sam’s face as he drove to try and gauge what sort of situation they were running into when the returned.  But nothing she could find on his face gave any answers.  It was obvious he was struggling with his emotions, and he didn’t even know half of what happened, outside of the girls obviously being too distracted to complete the mission without nearly dying.  

As they arrived back to the motel, she sighed, glancing down at her lap as Nat jumped out of the car, starting what was definitely going to be a long and rough night of possible fighting betweeen everyone.  She watched her close the door, hearing the familiar rumble of the Impala engine in the background as Mika and Sam discussed what had happened, their voices muffled in Anna’s busy mind.

Sam’s raised voice at Mika admitting that Nat had kissed Cason caused Anna to flinch.  She quickly came back to earth and snapped her head to read Sam’s face, but he was already out of the car, “Sam, wait!”

She quickly scrambled out of the car, as the Impala rumble grew louder.  She followed Sam into the motel room, scooting to the side for Mika to get through, just as the fight seemed to be revving up.

“Can we just calm down?”, she asked, a little quieter than she originally intended, feeling quite small.  As Mika attempted to diffuse things, and Nat stormed off to the bathroom, Dean casually burst through the front door.

“Oh Jesus Christ…Hell would be better than this…”, she groaned as Dean dropped his bag heavily on the floor and his eyes instantly fell on Sam, knocking on the door to try and get Nat to open up.

“What’s going on with her?”, he asked, turning in almost a circle to ask the girls with his eyes what the hell was going on.  Anna, being the innocent spectator saw no reason to delay the inevitable, and she took a deep breath, quickly glancing at Mika.

“Nat and Cason kissed…”, she blurted out.  Dean completely froze, his brain physically shaking to try and change the words that had left her mouth.  No matter what gymnastics he tried to do in his mind, the words didn’t change.

He turned, walking to the door of the bathroom, where he tried the handle, as if she wouldn’t have locked the door, “Open the door.  Now!”

“Dean…i don’t know if that’s…”

“Shut up.  Nat! Open the damn door or I swear I’ll kick it in and drag you out myself!”, he screamed over any protest.

[h3] Cason [/h3]

Cason cradled his tenth glass of whiskey in his hand, staring into the mirror behind the bar, as if looking into his own eyes would tell him what to do about this whole scenario.  Undoubtedly the Winchesters would never allow this to lie, even if he just wanted to befriend Nat.  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t already stuck his hand into the pool with every girl they knew…except her.  It wasn’t as if his relationship with the girls didn’t already seem a little sketchy on the surface.  

It wasn’t as if he wasn’t already the nuclear option.  The reluctant ally.  The one they could kill at any moment, and just find another…likely Ruby, if Dean would allow it.  Hell, of course Dean would allow it.

But he felt something, in the pit of his stomach, that felt like guilt.  He had acted on impulse, something demons were already known for.  He had put all of them in danger, including his own body.  He took a deep breath, raising his glass for a refill, but the bartender shook his head.

“Son, I have to cut you off.  I don’t know where you get the stamina, but I’m half worried you’re gonna take out every table in this bar when you finally get off that stool.  Go home.  Deal with…whatever this is.  No use in killin’ yourself over it.”, the old man explained with sympathy.  He took the glass from Cason’s very sober hand, and wiped the bar in front of him, before walking off.  With a low growl, Cason stood from the stool, shrugging his jacket back onto his shoulders.

Without thinking about the possibility that the others were already back at the motel, he disappeared and reappeared next to Nat’s bed, beside Anna, who flinched with a small yelp.

“What the HELL Cason?!”, she cried out, causing Dean to spin around with fire in his eyes, “Oh no.  NO NO NO!”

But before Anna could block him, or even get Sam to step in, Dean already had a hand wrapped around Cason’s throat.  He slammed his head back against the nearest wall, growling loudly as he came nose to nose with him, “I should kill you for even THINKING about touching her, after what you’ve done.  Why are you here, huh?  Did you think she was the weakest one?  The one with the least to lose?  The one that would take the most risks?  What is it?!  You’re gonna use her against us, like you tried to do with Mika?”

“Choking me is a bit antithetical to the whole…answering you thing…”, Cason wheezed with a wide smile, sneering down at Dean.  He could tell Dean was too angry to even attempt to reason with, as the grip on his throat tightened, and he smiled bigger, “M-Mika made her decisions…and with magic.  Angels…whatever.  I’m n-not…here to…break up your gang…”

“Sure you’re not.  Of course you’re not.  You just want to [i] protect [/i] them, right?  But you won’t tell anyone why.  Well, tell me.  Tell me why, or I’ll slit your throat.”, Dean sneered, pressing himself against Cason even harder.

“STOP THIS!”, Anna called out to them both, grabbing Dean’s wrist.  Her eyes faded to a pale white as she tightened her tiny hand around his arm.  Dean didn’t budge at first, but with the growl that left Anna’s throat, both Cason and Dean glanced down at her face, “Dean Winchester, step back or I’ll snap your wrist.  Step back…”

Dean frowned at Anna, glancing back at Cason in disbelief that she would still take his side after everything.  He turned his eyes back to her face, and gritted his teeth, “You [i] still[/i] want to protect this DOG?”

“No.  I don’t want your sister to come out of that bathroom to find out that you’ve killed him.  She’s fragile…and you’re just going to make everything worse if you kill him, no matter how she feels about him.  And you’re worthless to all of us with a snapped wrist…”, Anna explained simply, tightening her grip to a point that made Dean wince, “Let him go, and focus on your sister…”

Dean winced with a small groan and finally released Cason, taking a step back.  Cason chuckled, and rubbed at the fading bruise around his throat, the sound causing Dean to turn on his heel, punching Cason in the nose with a loud crunch.  The punch caught Cason of guard enough to pull a loud groan from his throat, and he leaned over, holding his bleeding nose as the blood pooled on the floor.

“He deserved that…”, Anna said simply, her eyes fading back to normal, as the bathroom door opened.  Cason sat down on the floor, in the corner behind the bed, wiggling his nose around to attempt to heal it, as Nat walked over to the table.

Dean crossed his arms, expecting a thousand excuses for Nat’s bad behavior, like they had heard a million times before, with no explanation.  Just excuses.  But instead, she actually began to open up.  As she spoke, Dean’s expression began to soften, his eyebrows stitching together in worry for his sister, but also a new form of rage.

As she spoke about the demons’ manipulation, he turned slowly to glare at Cason, who was beginning to click the pieces of his nose back together, completely withdrawn, but seemingly bothered by Nat’s story.  Of course, Cason already knew most of her story.  He was in the same group that had captured her.  He was part of the same group meant to take down the Winchesters…until he rebelled.  

As the final pieces of his nose clicked back together, he stood slowly from the floor and Dean hardened himself, just as Nat began to finish.  There were tears in Deans eyes, processing what his sister had been through, in a wave of emotion.  He wanted to tear every demon apart, but also wanted answers. On a separate hand he felt ashamed, and guilty.  
As Cason stepped forward, Dean reached an arm out to block him from getting any closer to Nat, his eyes threatening, wide and devastated, but Cason shrugged him off, sitting quietly down on the bed next to Nat’s chair.

He didn’t reach for her.  He only sat there, while Anna sat heavily at the foot of the bed, taking a deep and shaky breath to keep herself from bursting out in tears.  They all sat in silence for a few moments, before Dean finally spoke up, “If you had told us sooner …a lot of this would have made more sense.  I mean… I still wouldn’t understand trusting the most sketchy member of our crew, but…Nat, you know you could have told us, right?  It didn’t have to come to this.”

As Dean spoke, Cason gently reached a hand out and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear, careful not to touch her too much, but wanting to wave a white flag.  The action caused both Anna and Dean to flinch, wanting to stop him, but he quickly dropped his hand after the simple gesture and turned his eyes down to the floor.  Anna narrowed her eyes, because she knew that look.  He had something on his mind…a secret or feeling that he needed to say, but he wouldn’t…

[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke smirked as Esme asked him to keep his hands to himself, as if that was truly possible now that she was snuggling up to his arm. He snuggled down against the pillow, allowing her to wrap around him as much as she needed to in order to be comfortable. And as she mentioned Sarah, he glanced down toward where she was curled up, taking a deep breath, “I’ll just…let her keep guard for a while. No biting at my feet though.”

He chuckled, and reached his other hand up, stroking it through her hair as she nuzzled into him. 

“Get some sleep. You’re safe now…”, he whispered softly, feeling her breathing even out as she fell asleep. And as soon as he was positive she would rest, he also closed his eyes, leaning his face down close to her hair and fell into a deep sleep.