[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke almost breathed the largest sigh of relief as Mika explained what she and Dean had talked about. Other than a few details about Dean’s time with Esme, and what drove Esme away…it didn’t seem that Mika knew much more about the dynamic between the three of them. At the very least, she didn’t know any more than what he had told her about his involvement with Esme back in the day. He just really didn’t want the confusion and ‘what were you thinking’ speeches, when he was actually pretty happy with the way things were back then. It could have worked…if Dean had been able to let go of Mika.

“I remember those days all too well.” Duke muttered, tilting his head down a bit as the memories of Mika being shattered into pieces in his motel room flooded his mind, as well as the memories of her phone calls. Duke had no good answers to give her when she called, but he picked up…no matter what. “You guys always manage to come back together. Now, you just gotta work on all that brutal honesty together, if you’re gonna make it work long term, this time.”

He paused, just before Esme stepped in and as the back door opened, Duke nodded, “Yeah…we’re the best we’ve ever been, if I’m honest. Waitin’ around was worth it, this time.”

As soon as Esme was in the room, Duke stepped over to her and he wrapped an arm around her waist. He pressed a gentle kiss to her temple, and dragged his hand down to rest against her hip. He could feel the pressure change in the room, the second Esme came in, and when he glanced back over to Mika, he was happy to see that she had on her kind face. She was ready to be patient and civil toward Esme, which caused Duke to smile a bit and turn his eyes back to Esme’s face. Bringing his spare hand up, he wiped a spare tear away from her face and sighed.

“Well he walked out there in a much different mood than he had when I first walked in. He was simmered down quite a bit. I don’t think Natalia has anything to worry about.” Duke said softly. He turned his attention back to Mika for a moment with a smile, “Seems like we’re all workin’ toward civil.”

[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean watched as Esme pulled away from the hug with Nat and started her walk toward the house to give Dean and Nat some space. As she passed, and echoed Mika’s words, Dean gave her a soft smile, even though he was terrified that he couldn’t do what they asked. He wasn’t exactly good at expressing anything toward his siblings other than protection and anger when they made stupid mistakes. But he had to try, or he would end up losing Nat…and from the feeling in the air, Sam was on his way out, too.

As Nat patted the car next to her, Dean sighed nervously, stepping forward with a bit of a foot drag. She was definitely more calm, and seemed less likely to hit him again, which he was thankful for. As he climbed onto the car, his nervousness in the pit of his stomach grew. Where to even begin?

“I’m not going to beat around the bush, because that’s not what you need from me.” Dean began calmly, his voice low as he glanced up at the busted window of the Impala. He took a deep breath, and continued, “I’m sorry that I kept things from you, like you couldn’t handle it. I treated you like a kid, which is probably what you’ll always be in part of my brain. For that, I’m sorry.”

Dean paused and frowned, glancing out into a random spot in the lot, before turning to look at Nat’s face, “I don’t want you to ever think that there’s anything you could do to change how much I love you. Alright? Take swings at me. Wreck my car. It doesn’t matter. When I told you ‘I’ve got you’ back when we first found you, I know I didn’t deliver. I was horrible to you, for the longest time. But I mean it, now.”

He knew that he needed to let her get her own feelings out there, if he was ever going to try and fix any of the mistakes he had made that had led to this level of distrust and vitriol between them. Dean wasn’t a fixer. He didn’t do the whole ‘I’m sorry I made you feel that way’ dance…but he was willing to try for his baby sister.

“I just feel like we’ve needed to talk for a while…”

[h3] Anna [/h3]

Anna was a little zoned out as Sam booked their room, standing close to him, and moving even closer into his side every time someone passed. She really just wanted to be behind a locked door, safe and sound for the night while she processed Dean’s outburst, and where to go from here. If the tension with Dean was going to be as thick as it was before she and Sam had left the house…Anna had no desire to be around the older Winchester.

As Sam led her outside, she just followed along, handing Sam’s heavier bag off to him. Her own bag bounced against her leg as she walked absentmindedly, her body a bit numb, toward the room with Sam. She took his lead and walked into the room as soon as he unlocked the door, walking over to the side of the bed she preferred and dropping her bag on the floor. She then kicked her own boots off, realizing that she desperately needed a shower, but she was too keyed up to deal with it at that moment.

At that moment, Sam was holding his arms out to her, asking her if she wanted a hug. She simply stood there for a moment, his arms looking way too inviting to say no to, especially now that they were alone, and she could fall apart if she wanted to, without prying eyes. After a moment of watching Sam, Anna walked around to him. She stepped up to the end of the bed, climbing up beside him, instead of into his arms, and laid down beside his legs, using his thigh as a pillow. She brought both her arms up, covering her eyes and just absolutely fell apart.

Dean’s words, mixed with the feelings she had dealt with not long before, when she ran away…were all enough to drive her into another fit of tears. As if she felt like part of the family before, she definitely didn’t now. If not for Sam’s actions, choosing her in the moment that she broke down, she would have run off. She was no good to them as anything other than a weapon…that she didn’t even want to be.

“Thank you…” She whispered, her voice shaky and heartbroken as she wrapped an arm around Sam’s thigh.