[h3] Dean and Duke [/h3]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[h3] Cason [/h3]

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

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

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