[b]NATALIA[/b]

Hearing Esme's voice be the next to speak made Nat go silent. She stared at her bottle on the table, her hands at the base of the bottle, one finger simply tracing over the dark glass bottle. Flashes of what she went through kept repeating through her mind now she had said everything out loud, whilst also half listening to what Esme experienced. She only managed to mentally press pause on her memories when Esme mentioned how she too was tortured in that same place. It all now made sense to her why Esme said she knew what Nat was going through and had gone through. No wonder Esme felt genuine empathy for her situation and never got surprised by her outbursts defending Cason so strongly. She knew at some point when they weren't all beat up and tired she could talk with Esme now that there was someone who can truly get her. 

As Esme continued to talk, Nat went back to spacing out once again not wanting to look at any of them, especially after she did moments ago, see how Dean and Mika reacted to what she said out loud. Everything Esme said about what she did on the top floor of the asylum sounded like a strange echo, almost like she was listening to their conversation from under that watery pool all over again. Which just triggered her memories in her mind to play all over again. She could hear her own screams in her head as she felt the blade cutting through her flesh or when her shoulder got hammered down upon. The lingering pain coming back as if someone had just whacked her with the hammer all over again. Nat didn't want to hear anymore of what happened after that, but she knew she couldn't move from her spot as her body just refused to move. 

She only snapped out of her memories when Esme's legs finally gave out from under her and made her drop to the ground before cursing about the action. Like the others, she looked up quickly to see both Duke and Dean rush to Esme's side and aid, only for Dean to push Duke back and make it his duty to pick Esme off the ground and carry her to the couch in the main room. Seeing Duke get angry, jealous and hurt at Dean having to be the girl's saviour didn't go unnoticed by her, just as it didn't to anybody in the kitchen. 

Bobby's questions were completely valid in her eyes, they were questions she also wanted to know answers to. There had to be more of a reason as to why the demons felt the need to take her and convince Esme back to the asylum. She didn't want to be left thinking they only took her because they could and they considered her an easy target out of her family. She didn't want to be an easy target or someone who just became a liability like the demons tried making her believe. "I wanna know too" she mumbled, pulling her bottle closer to her and up to her lips to take another swig of the drink. When Cason finally spoke up and said he might have a theory about that, she finally looked up from the table top and looked at him to listen. 

Hearing the ultimate goal was to get Anna for Lilith, she didn't know how to process that. She didn't blame Anna for anything that happened, far from it. Cason was right, they all did just get swept along to create chaos amongst their group. This wasn't anyone's fault- not directly at any rate. She felt so sorry for Anna having to find out more and more was stacked against her, which she figured wasn't going to help Dean's conflicted opinion about the girl. 

Then came the moment all of them were dreading- the moment that meant they had to come clean about Esme not even being human. Yet the way Cason bluntly told Bobby after he hinted that she and Dean still looked rough made her scrunch up her face in dislike. The words still didn't sit well on her mind, so she could only imagine how uncomfortable they were making Esme. She couldn't even begin to think how she would react if she was told she wasn't human after thinking her entire life she was. 

[b]SAM[/b]

Being in the kitchen finally, he let Anna wrap a corner of his flannel shirt between her fingers so she had that connection to him to feel safe. Sam knew that she still didn't know how she felt about him leaving Cason and they still had a lot of work to do to get the level of trust they once had with each other back again. So if just grabbing onto his shirt was what she needed right now, he would let her do so. He looked up when Dean came over with a glass of bourbon for Anna, he knew his brother was attempting to make small gestures of apology to her to show her he wasn't going to just give up even though she told him she was done with him. 

He gave Dean a nod before looking round at the others in the kitchen, seeing Duke in his own world next to Cason, Mika against the back worktop where she usually was seen, Natalia sitting opposite Cason and Esme adjacent to to Mika. He sighed as he forced his mind and body to try and relax but the tension in the air was just too thick and it felt like he could cut it with a knife. So he had to admit, he was glad that Bobby entered the room and demanded information, making him feel like he had to be the one who started talking first. 

After Nat had spoken her part and he tried to make himself move on from her haunting words in his mind, he listened partially to what Esme had to say and what happened with her. He looked wide eyed when she explained how she somehow made the whole building come down ontop of herself and Dean which got him wondering how either of them were still alive. He was also surprised that yet again Dean just willingly almost sacrificed himself for someone who wasn't Mika and he couldn't imagine that sitting well with the woman. It was messy and getting more and more complicated as each of them spoke up. He really needed to sleep this whole crap off at this stage. His mind couldn't take anymore information going into it, yet it seemed more information was coming. 

He watched everything quickly unfold when Esme collapsed to the ground but stayed awake. He watched as Dean and Duke silently confronted each other over who would pick up Esme and take her to the couch until Dean won out, but it was clear Duke was angry and he couldn't say he ever knew a time when Duke was like this personally. He watched Mika instantly go to Duke's comfort whilst Dean was in the living room putting Esme down. 

[b]MIKA[/b]

With Dean's hand on her lower back, Mika began to relax a bit more as all she wanted to be close to be Dean without no one else really around. She promised Bobby she would go rest but at the moment that was the last thing she was able to do. At least, fully anyway. She hated hearing everyone discuss what happened, giving Bobby the lowdown in as much detail as they were able to do until Esme collapsed and she watched Dean get to her before Duke could. She understood why he did, it was second nature for him to rush to anyone who just drops to the ground when they're injured, but the fact it was Esme somehow still hurt her heart. 

She saw Duke show jealousy and anger toward Dean and that hurt her just as much as she hated seeing her chosen brother get pushed out and away from the woman he loved and always had loved. She had always known how much Duke had cared for Esme, even if for a long time in the past, she didn't know who Esme actually was. There was always a part of her that knew Duke was in love with someone and he was always the one that people looked passed when he was an incredible guy. 

With Dean out the kitchen with Esme briefly, she instantly went over to Duke and leaned over him from behind, wrapping her arms round his shoulders to hug him. She didn't even say anything at first, just let him know she had his back in her simple action, knowing exactly how to comfort him when he needed it but didn't ask. Then came the news of Esme not being human and she felt Bobby's eyes fell onto her, making her look back at him with sadness, not letting go of Duke. "We only found out after Cas healed Dean and for the most part Nat. He said he couldn't heal Esme because she was not human, but we don't really know what she is or how it's possible. She knows more than we do" she explained, nodding her head toward Esme in the other room. 

Right now, Duke was her priority even though she didn't know how much longer she could be strong for everyone else before she eventually broke. "I know how you feel Duke....I got you little brother...I got you" she said softly and quietly to him, feeling so lucky and privileged to even be holding him right now. She wanted to protect him at all costs and show him that she was never going to hurt him or leave him. She just hoped he didn't hold it against them all for leaving him at the hospital to go get Natalia.