[h3] Cason [/h3]

Cason smirked as Nat began to speak about how corny his words were, scrunching his nose up again, ready for a retort.  However, before her thought could even began, she dozed off and Cason sighed sadly.  He simply stared off into space for a while, as she slept, not sure whether he should actually stay or if he should sneak out and hope she slept well enough to not need support.  Eventually, he made his decision, sliding a hand carefully behind her back to force her body down the bed, until she was lying.  He protected her head with his other hand, carefully laying her head against the pillow. 

He brushed her hair from her forehead, as her hand fell onto the bed, near his leg.  Sighing again, he pulled the covers up around her shoulders and lowered himself back into a seated position against the headboard, his hand falling to rest against her palm.  

At some point during the night, while he stared off into space, he felt her stir.  Her hand moved from under his, balling into a fist as she whimpered in her sleep.  He loosely caught the words, as she relived what he could only imagine was the worst days of her life.

“Nat…”, he murmured, falslely assuming that she would wake up just at the sound of her name, but she continued to dream, and it only seemed to get worse.  Not sure what else to do, he scooted himself down the bed until he was positioned with his face not far from her own, “Nat.  Hey…you’re dreaming sweetheart.  I’m right here.  You’re safe.  Shh.  You’re safe…”

He whispered the words as close to her ear as he could, brushing her hair with his fingers as he spoke.  He wished at that moment that he could do some sort of telepathy, and move through her memories to just let her get some rest, but he couldn’t decide in his mind why he cared so much.

“You’re safe with me…”, he whispered one more time, pulling his face back from her ear to settle his nose against hers, hoping the touch would calm her.

[h3] Duke [/h3]

Dukes face changed from a variation of shocked to angry to confused and back to surprise as the group explained what was happening.  He knew about Cason.  Hell, he had helped save Cason, along with Esme.  From what he could tell, the demon cared a great deal about her, considering the pet hellhound.  

Then again, the idea of Nat being left with demons, considering the loose history he knew about her time with them made his skin crawl.  He cracked his neck, his nostrils flaring as he tried to decide how to react to the news, but as soon as he glanced up at Dean, his face softened a bit.

“We’re gonna keep an ear out…”, Dean explained simply, communicating with his other little brother through his eyes.  Duke stared hard for a few seconds, finally coming to a resolve.  He sighed, and nodded his head gently as he finished his silent conversation with Dean.

“If you’re sure…I’m sure.”, Duke said simply, nodding his head again.  

“Good.  Now, we should probably get some rest before whatever happens tomorrow comes.  Like Anna said, this isn’t the end of it.  It never is.”, Dean said simply, glancing to Anna and then Sam, before wrapping an arm around Mika’s waist, “Everything okay with you and Esme?”

“Yeah.  She’s a little banged up.  Nothin’ a little rest and whiskey can’t fix.”, Duke chuckled, and glanced back at Esme, “I just gotta convince her to either go to bed or at least be still.  She’s…not having the best go at it mentally.”

“Anything I can do?”, Dean asked.

“Nah.  I can handle her.  You know that.  Just gotta get her used to me being around.”, Dean nodded once again, but narrowed his eyes.

“And how long you planning to stay around?”

“I honestly don’t know yet.  But I don’t need to go worryin’ her about it tonight.  It’s been a day, man.”, Duke deflected, shaking his head.  Dean simply sighed, tightening his grip on Mika’s waist.

“Take care of her.  Get some rest.  We’ll all reconvene in the morning…Sound good?”, he asked, looking around the group.