[h3] Anna [/h3]

Anna whimpered as Nat’s arms wrapped around her, and her eyes went wide over Natalia’s shoulder. She would have never expected a hug, after admitting that she was there…and survived when Cason was expected to die. Nat’s words about her brothers being serial liars hit Anna little harder in the chest than she expected, and she closed her eyes tightly, clinging to Natalia. Finally, there was someone that understood why she was so angry, and betrayed, and hurt…and felt like she had been lied to. She wanted to cling to this feeling, and so she did, as long as Natalia was willing to hug her.

As Nat pulled away, Anna just nodded at her with wide teary eyes. In a world where it felt like every single problem rested on her shoulders, or Sam’s shoulders, it was nice to have someone actually look her in the eyes and tell her she wasn’t at fault for something. It wasn’t true, though. They all knew that the barn incident was because of her. She wouldn’t be able to shake that feeling no matter how hard she tried, but she wished she could take it all back, and keep Cason safe…as silly as it sounded rattling around in her head.

“Thank you.” Anna whispered, pressing her lips together and nodding. She turned to the mirror behind her and took in her appearance. Her nose was red, something she wouldn’t be able to hide from Sam, no matter how hard she tried. But she could at least dry her eyes up and wipe some of the last bits of dirt away from her streaky cheeks. 

She was just wiping the last bit of tear stains away from her cheeks, trying to compose herself not to start the whole teary process all over again as the overwhelm of Nat knowing…and likely planning to confront Dean cramped her stomach. She nodded as Nat said that they needed to leave the bathroom, and she returned her sad smile, walking toward the door. She opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom, walking straight toward Sam with her eyes on the floor. Maybe if she didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t notice her red nose.

[h3] Cason [/h3]

Cason’s smirk turned into a full laugh when Sam joked back with him. He knew that in the tiniest of ways, he was now friendly with Sam, which gave him a lot more protection from the others than Sam would ever give himself credit for. He followed Sam’s gaze and turned to glance at the bathroom door as Sam commented on the delay. He was a bit curious, but he figured they were just hashing out whatever it was that was bothering Anna. Anna could be talkative when she was upset.

“I could always pop in and…” Cason started to suggest, before being interrupted by the sweet waitress from earlier. He turned his eyes up to her and put on his most charming smile, shaking his head, “No ma’am. I had a bit of a long day. I think I would rather just have beer for dinner.”

The girls piled out of the bathroom, obstructed at first by a few people stepping away from the counter and walking out the door. Cason turned his eyes from Maddie to both of them, and he instantly noticed that Anna’s hair was pushed behind her ears. She had pulled her hands into his jacket sleeves and had crossed her arms…and her nose was red. They hadn’t been together a lifetime or anything, but he knew her well enough to know her body language like the back of his hand. He narrowed his eyes, burning his gaze into her eyelids as she looked at the floor, trying to get her to make eye contact with him…but she didn’t.

“Everything alright?” He asked Nat as Anna sat on the edge of Sam’s side of the booth, hugging herself a little tighter as she took a deep breath. “Anna? You okay?”

“Yep. Just a little emotional, today, I guess.” Anna deflected, never turning her eyes from her knees. Cason narrowed his eyes even more at the fact that she couldn’t make eye contact with him, and he turned to Nat.

“Mhm. Okay. Well…what about you? You good?”