[h3] Duke  [/h3]

Duke watched the awkward interaction between Esme and Anna, and his heart hurt a bit. He could tell that something had happened between them, and he couldn’t quite place it, but Anna seemed shaken. As Anna turned her eyes back between the two of them, and then turned and walked back toward the basement, Duke reached his good hand out and ran the backs of his fingers down Esme’s arm. He tilted his head as Esme spoke, genuinely curious about what had happened in the warehouse. Duke could barely even remember the warehouse, and what he could remember made his stomach lurch painfully. Swallowing down the sudden wave of anxiety and grief, he took a deep breath.

“We definitely need to unpack what all of that means.” Duke muttered, forcing himself to match Esme’s smile. When she confirmed that they would talk about things later, Duke simply nodded, neither having the energy to force the conversation nor the want to make Esme upset after the night they had just gone through. Wrapping his fingers around hers as her hand slipped into his, Duke walked with Esme to the RV. She seemed lost in thought and at that moment, being lost in thought was a fear of Duke’s.

The gravel moving under Sarah’s feet as she ran across the lot caused Duke to turn, but as usual, he couldn’t see her. It was only confirmed to be Sarah when Esme fell to the ground, and began attempting to calm Sarah down.

“I swear, I’ll never get used to that.” Duke grumbled, shaking his head. He stepped around them both, and turned to take a seat on the steps of the RV. To his surprise, Sarah took a break, just long enough to stand and nudge Duke’s face, before turning her attention back to Esme, which caused Duke to freeze, “And now the Hellhound has decided she likes me. I don’t know what I need more…a shower or a stiff drink.”

[h3] Dean and Cason [/h3]

Dean could barely move, because every time he blinked it seemed to hurt. He was almost afraid to move any of his limbs. He wasn’t sure if they were all still there. It was one of the worst fights he could remember having with anyone, even if there were parts he couldn’t remember at all. When Nat confirmed that Duke was okay, but had run off, Dean sighed and closed his eyes. 

In the calm of being freshly awake, Dean wasn’t even angry with Duke. It was a strange feeling, going from being willing to kill the best friend he had ever had to feeling an intense guilt in the pit of his stomach. But Nat was right, he couldn’t really do anything to make it better when it was this fresh. 

Dean carefully raised his arm and pressed it against his sore forehead, groaning quietly at the sudden movement.

“I um…I feel like I got hit by a truck. Actually, I feel like I died…again.” He sighed, and Cason crossed his arms and stepped forward. 

“You got in a grief fight with someone who loves you. That tends to be a pretty brutal endeavor.” Cason explained, causing Dean to open one eye and glance at him, as if he was speaking out of pocket, “Don’t look at me like that. If you fight someone you hate, you want the fight to be over as soon as possible. With someone you don’t hate, it tends to be more…prolonged. You guys wore each other out, or it would have probably been a lot worse. Trust me. Duke was a lot easier to bring down when I found him, than I expected, and he still stabbed me. I had to break his arm. Oh yeah…by the way…I broke his arm.”

Cason turned and pointed at Nat as he confirmed that he hadn’t [I]quite[/I] brought Duke back in one piece, but had at least brought him back alive and awake.

“And he’s still walking around. He had a lot of pent up rage going on, but he’s okay. So, don’t worry about him. What we should do is call your angel buddy and…”

“No. No angels.” Dean stopped Cason dead in his tracks, shaking his head. “Angels got us into this mess. No angels. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re in pretty rough shape, Dean…”

“I said no angels! Screw the angels.” Dean raised his voice, causing Cason to sigh and place his hands on his hips in frustration. But he conceded and simply gave a nod and a shrug as if to say ‘alright. Whatever you want.’

[h3] Anna [/h3]

Anna stepped into the basement, crossing her arms the second she came across the threshold of the panic room. She just stood there for a moment, before deciding to try and move Sam, “So, Duke and Esme are back. Duke looks…alright, considering, but I think he broke his arm or Cason broke his arm? I don’t know. Either way, I think….I think you should get some rest. I don’t care where we go, but I think you should rest…with me.”

Seeing Duke and Esme together had given Anna a bit of bravery to attempt to ‘tough love’ Sam into taking care of himself. She didn’t know how Esme and Cason were able to bring Duke back, but Duke seemed, at the least, calm. Considering how he had left, it seemed like he would be okay. And Sam was the only one who wasn’t resting or taking care of himself.

“I don’t know if I’m willing to take ‘no’ for an answer.” She carefully muttered, kicking her boot against the dusty floor as she turned her eyes up to look at Sam, and hopefully sway him to find a car or a couch or even a patch of grass to relax on.