LEXI

Dean getting all defensive in his response to her words about winding both he and Sam up was easy, she couldn't help but find it amusing. It felt so typical and yet also innocent of Dean which felt like she was seeing a whole new layer to him. There was no denying he was eldest sibling in this moment and it was clear that he really did love Natalia and it was clear that it wouldn't matter how old Natalia got, he would always see her as his baby sibling that if he so wished to, would probably wrap her up in a blanket and not let her out of his grip. When he leaned closer to her and quietly spoke about how to handle Anya's current attitude to everything that happened the night before, he glanced over at the girl then back at Dean. "Just roll with it for now. I know it's tempting to be a bit more pushy but something tells me she'll eventually open up to us when she's ready to. She's a tough spirit" she quietly replied to him as Anna entered the room.

Glancing at Anna's demeanour, it seemed that being in the gym did her a bit of good, just as it had for herself. Looking between Anna and Dean, she could sense that Dean felt some level of anxiety around Anna although she didn't fully know why, she could only imagine it was something to do with Sam or the night before. Yet Anna proved in her reply that things seemed to be truly okay with her and Dean could possibly be overthinking on things. He seemed the overthinking type and that was something Lexi couldn't blame him for. A lot of hunters seemed to gain the trait of overthinking every single scenario known to man, as they were all very paranoid individuals and had to make sure that they didn't end a hunt in a body bag.

As the two of them spoke, Lexi remained silent as she finally started to sip her coffee, glad to have caffeine in her system. She noted how surprised Dean seemed to be when Anna confirmed she was in fact feeling okay. As he then turned the conversation to 'you can't leave yet', Lexi couldn't stop the smirk from forming on her lips as she held her mug to them. Then Anna's comment made her let out a short chuckle in her throat as she drank her coffee. She may not know Nat all that well yet, but it was clear that Nat was indeed the pissy one out of his family. Especially as she still had to work on having Natalia warm up to her and show Natalia that she wasn't this big bad monster that was going to steal Dean from them all and make Dean pretend that Mika never existed in his life. That just wasn't her in the slightest and she would never want to take over Mika's spot in their family, she just hoped that she could add to the family by being another spot.

NATALIA AND SAM

Nat knew that if she let Cason convince her to stay in bed all day, she would do exactly that very willingly. She was always hyper aware of how extra cautious he was when in the bunker. She did always feel for him with how he had to be in the bunker, but she was also aware that when not on the road, this was technically her forever home, for as long as Dean and Sam stayed here. Which meant that as much as she liked not being in the bunker for Cason's comfort, there were times when she couldn't hide away in her room and not socialise when they were here. As much as she rarely admitted it, she did miss both her brothers and now she had spent a night in her old room, she realised just how much she had missed them and wanted to be around them for a while.

As he got up reluctantly to get dressed, she didn't even have to look at him to know he was full of reluctance in his actions but at least he could still chuckle and find amusement in their comments before she stepped out and started talking with Sam.

Sam smirked with a chuckle at Nat calling Dean an old man, feeling glad that she hadn't completely lost her ability to give jibes at Dean's express whilst she was away doing whatever hunt came her way with Cason. He gave a nod of 'good morning' to Cason when he showed his face, looking just as dishevelled as Natalia was. "Oh he won't suddenly think that but that won't stop him from forever hoping it will happen" Sam joked. "Pretty sure he'll forever see you Nat as the young fragile thing we found all those years ago" he remarked, looking at her with soft eyes. "And that kinda creeps me out because he wasn't even sure of me back then. Like a cat on edge as they come across a dog" Natalia replied, trying not to smirk but failing miserably. Sam scoffed in amusement at the analogy of Dean and he couldn't even fully disagree with it.

"well...just be prepared for the third degree" Sam replied before turning to Cason to finally answer his questions. "as for Anya, she's doing alright I think. Sore but she seems to be chipper which is a good sign" he explained. "she's tough and I gotta say I'm pretty impressed with how she's taking it, even if its all an act, she's fooling me" he added. "but uhh... coffee is on in the kitchen and I guess if you ask nicely Nat, Dean will make you whatever you want...think he's freaking out about not knowing what you eat nowadays. But you didn't hear that from me" he said, giving his sister the heads up. "Got it" Nat simply said, taking Cason's arm and leading him toward the kitchen ahead of Sam, whilst Sam walked behind them.

Dean sighed, both from relief and annoyance at Anna’s words. The coldness she had shown off and on the day before seemed to be gone, and she seemed completely open to sticking around for at least a day or two. He still felt that he needed to talk to Sam about whatever had gone down between him and Anna to change her attitude. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know.

“Fair enough. I’ll take it. And I’ll take the better attitude.” Dean conceded. Anna nodded her head and stepped over to the table, carefully approaching Anya, to attempt to play nice. Dean watched her carefully, tilting his head to the side as she took a seat across from Anya. Turning his attention from the other two girls, he turned back to Lexi and smirked, “So, we’re letting everyone wake up, and get caffeinated, and I didn’t ask how your shower was.”

Dean gave an awkward but sweet smile, obviously worried that the hard conversations coming up were going to take things from tense to boiling over, within the bunker.



Anya looked up from her phone, quick to make eye contact and then awkwardly shift her eyes away from Anna. She wasn’t sure if Anna would even want to talk to her, but Anna spoke first.

“So, how are you feeling? I know you took quite the hit out there. You stick around here and you’ll get used to that.” Anna spoke lightly, chuckling at the joke that she hoped would loosen Anya up. Anya rolled her eyes as she laughed at the joke and quickly began typing on her phone.

“I’m assuming you’ve broken a few bones over the years.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve even died a couple of times.” Anna said casually, which caused Anya’s eyes to widen and then narrow, as if she had a million questions. Anna held up her hands, and she stopped the potential questions, “But those are stories and explanations for another time. I’m not sure Sam would want me airing all of the secrets just yet.”

Anya shrugged and bobbed her head back and forth, as if to say ‘fair enough’.

Just as Anya thought of the next question to ask Anna, while she had her alone, Cason and Natalia appeared through the door way. The first thing Cason did was slap the table next to Anya, attempting to tease her and lighten what he was afraid was a sour mood. He had failed to protect her the night before and he still felt a small pain of guilt in the back of his head when he saw her.

“You look alive! And Anna is actually sitting with someone other than a book. Today already feels better!” Cason teased as he ruffled Anna’s hair and Anya rolled her eyes at him. Anya suddenly began to type, and then played a message that settled some of the burn in Cason’s brain.

“I’m not upset with you, if you want to stop acting weird, now. You couldn’t have known that the demon would go off script. You did what you could with the information we had…and I got lucky. So, all is good!”

Cason sighed, turning to look at Anna with a look that said ‘she’s so much like you, it’s creepy’, to which Anna just shrugged and raised her eyebrows with a smirk that silently said ‘does that have to be a bad thing?’

Cason continued their silent conversation by tilting his head with a goofy smirk that said ‘a little awkward’ to which Anna simply shoved him away, waving her hand at him.

“Go cook your girlfriend some breakfast and stop harassing. Be useful but don’t touch the pot hanger…again.” Anna finally spoke out loud, waving Cason away again but reminding him of the last time he was in the bunker and was unaware that the pot hanger was iron. Cason mocked her, rolling his eyes and stepped back toward Natalia. As he stepped away, Anna could see the doorway and saw Sam approaching the kitchen. This was either going to be very awkward or a step forward. The latter, Anna couldn’t see happening until Sam had a conversation with Anya. Anna turned her eyes back down and scanned Anya’s face as the girl watched Dean and Lexi, completely innocent to the world around her…for the most part.

SAM AND NATALIA

As they walked into the kitchen, Nat made note of where everyone was and saw how Anna was sat with Anya and seemed to be chatting pretty normally with her which she could only assume was a good thing. Nat genuinely liked Anya from what little time she had spent with her, also noting how much like Anna the girl's attitude and personality was but never really said anything. She stepped to one side to let Cason walk in and over to the two of them, whilst she herself went closer toward Lexi and Dean, even though she was still very dubious about Lexi, she didn't want the woman to stop her from being close with Dean. He was her brother before he was whatever he was to Lexi after all. She also couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversations happening in the kitchen, finding it was in fact a nice feeling and thing to witness.

The way Cason was with Anya, told her that he still felt bad for how the night before transpired and that he probably would continue to feel bad to some extent until he was certain that Anya was telling him the truth that she was in fact fine. "If he gets too much Anya, just tell him to sod off...he's a worrier" she smirked, teasing Cason with what she considered the truth, whilst he had the recognisable silent conversation with Anna. Stepping to Dean's other side, she gave him a hug to say good morning, then let go when she heard Anna suddenly tell Cason to make her breakfast instead of fussing over Anya and Anna, which made Nat smirk and chuckle, also remembering the time he burned his hand on the pot hanger. As much as she felt bad for Cason that day, she did find it an amusing memory now, even if it was one of those days where she panicked initially and fussed over him like no tomorrow, despite knowing he healed up easily enough.

As Sam walked into the room lastly, he saw Anna and Anya seemingly chatting and seemingly to be on good terms but he was worried about how long that would stick. He was nervous about how the girls would get along and he was more worried about what Anna would possibly say to Anya before he could. For now though, he knew he had to try and not overthink things. Glancing round to everyone else, he saw how Nat got clingy onto Dean and he couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face as he walked around and sat next to Anya, lifting a hand up and used his thumb to rub her back soothingly, "You okay?" he asked, wondering how the pain was for her and if she had managed to take any of her pain relief yet.

LEXI

Lexi watched Nat walk in with Cason and couldn't help but follow Nat's steps with her eyes and watch her hug Dean as her way to say good morning, whilst also noting the untidy state Natalia and Cason were in which told her so much without a single word being spoken. "You sleep well?" she asked Nat when she had the opportunity to after the little quips were spoken between Nat, Cason and Anna. "Uh huh" Nat just simply replied to Lexi, not wanting to give her any more of a solid answer than that. However that reply meant she got a look of 'be nice' from Sam, making Nat roll her eyes and Lexi noticing it. "Yeah I slept fine, felt weird being in my old room again though, but a good weird" she then clarified for her brothers' sake more than her own. This new answer got a nod of acknowledgement from Lexi and a smile, "I can only imagine" she replied between mouthfuls of coffee.

Lexi could easily imagine how weird it must have been for Natalia, as she knew if she ever went back to her old house and slept in her old bedroom again it would feel incredibly weird. The only difference being, is that for Lexi, it wouldn't be a good weird. It would be a haunting weird filled with traumatic memories and happy memories that would inevitably make her feel incredibly melancholy. So she never wanted to even think about that. Yet she felt like Nat was extremely lucky to always have a place here in the bunker to come home to, with the boys welcoming her back with open arms each and every single time. "So where do you usually stay when you're not visiting this place?" Nat asked Lexi, taking Lexi completely off guard. "my car usually." Lexi replied in just a matter of fact way. "Oh..." Nat replied, feeling a pang of guilt in her heart very briefly for asking. "Yeah, it's no big deal or uncommon in this field" Lexi said, trying to make Nat feel less bad for asking.

She wanted so badly to get along with Natalia and for Natalia to accept her but she still wasn't sure just how long that would take.

Anya laughed silently at Natalia making it clear that Cason would likely hover around her, due to his own worry and guilt. Anya could feel it oozing off Cason, even as he flipped Anna and Nat the bird and walked over to the stove, beginning to gather things for breakfast.

As Sam walked into the kitchen, Anna looked up at him, watching him walk to the table. Knowing Sam as well as she did, and knowing how to read every bit of his body language, Anna could tell that he was nervous about her sitting with Anya, as if she was going to air their dirty laundry to the poor girl. That was on Sam. Anna didn’t know the girl well enough to just dump a potentially upsetting tell all on her at the breakfast table.

She turned her eyes down to the table as Sam sat down and instantly checked on Anya. Anya turned and looked at him, causing Anna to lift her eyes to watch them together, only a small pang of jealousy tugging at her stomach. Anya almost seemed to be speaking to Sam with just her eyes, but then picked up the medicine bottle next to her coffee mug, rattling it side to side. She sat the bottle down and signed with one hand, “Better.”

Anna smiled softly and turned to look at Cason, who had stopped his own movements and was now watching her intently. Widening her eyes, she shot him a ‘what?!’ Look, to which Cason nodded his head to tell her to come over and help him.

“I’ll be back.” Anna sighed, standing from the table and walking over to Cason, who went back to poking at bacon in a pan, “Yes?”

“I just thought it might be awkward for you, over there. I know that look anywhere.” Cason mumbled, glancing up from the pan only briefly.

“It wasn’t that awkward.”

“Your ex…whom I could smell all over you, yesterday…is staring longingly into the eyes of a girl that looks like you, before you dyed your hair. She’s sweet. She’s innocent to the hunter life and she believes that Sam Winchester is this ‘do no wrong’, Prince Charming. You’re going to try to look me in the eyes and tell me that there’s not a single part of you who wants to sabotage that?” Cason whispered, raising his eyebrows in judgement and disbelief.

“I wouldn’t use the word sabotage…” Anna grumbled, nudging Cason, “I would say something closer to ‘heavily tempted to just come home because being here makes me miss the hunter life, but I have a home in Colorado, now…where I was dumped’.”

As Anna whispered the words, she shrugged and Cason narrowed his eyes in confusion, “How is that not potential sabotage?”

At the table, Anya was simply scanning over Sam’s face and she could see that there was a bit of tension in his shoulders, like something was hiding behind his eyes. She figured it had to be related to the hunt going horribly wrong the night before, a conversation that even Dean felt tense about.

Anya typed out a message and then turned her phone so that Sam could see it, a neutral smile on her face as she watched his face, “What about you? You seem really tense, but happy. I’m not sure what to make of that.”



Dean watched the rest of the crew step into the kitchen, after he managed to pull his gaze away from Lexi. Without skipping much of a beat, Nat crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him. Dean smiled softly and pulled her into a tight hug, just thankful to have her near him while he could. It felt like it had been forever since he could just be the overprotective older brother that he had been so used to, by the time the girls left the bunker.

He was about to ask how she slept when Lexi chimed in, much to his surprise. Only then did it dawn on him how disheveled (and not just ‘I just woke up’ disheveled) both Nat and Cason looked. Dean narrowed his eyes as a million ways to make Natalia uncomfortable bounced around in his head, but for once, he was waiting for the right moment. Nat and Lexi were having a conversation. Nat was actually attempting to get along with Lexi, something he had wanted to beg her for, since she had arrived.

The conversation wasn’t as awkward as Dean was expecting. He wrapped one of his arms around Nat’s back, brushing his fingers up and down her spine, the way he normally would when she would curl up beside him in the bunker. It was his way of trying to encourage her to keep things light and not hostile. But things never even tried to move into hostility, other than the awkward conversation about Lexi’s life outside the bunker.

Dean sadly nodded, glancing between them as it dawned on Nat that Lexi was a lot like the rest of them. Lexi was just a hunter that Dean clicked with. She wasn’t an outsider who was a liability, or taking up space in the bunker. There was no way Nat couldn’t relate to her…

“So, I would say that you slept a bit harder than you’re admitting…judging by your hair…” Dean blurted out, looking down at Nat with a judgmental look, “Either that or we’re back in our ‘teenager that can’t keep their hands off their boyfriend’ phase.”

“It’s natural, Dean!” Cason chimed in, to which Dean rolled his eyes dramatically.

“And no one asked you…” Dean sang back to him.

SAM

Anya's confirmation that she was starting to feel a little better at least after taking the painkillers put some mental relief in Sam. He still hated that she got so hurt on the first outing, but knew it was no doubt inevitable at some point if she was so determined to stick around them all. No one really came back from a hunt with him and his brother unscathed, no matter how much he wished that would be the case. "I'm glad" he replied before noticing that Anna and Cason seemed to be exchanging a silent conversation in the form of glances before Cason signalled for Anna to come and help him cook something as simple as bacon.

He decided however not to worry about it and just put it down to the usual Cason looking out for Anna as he always did. He was still feeling slightly tense about both girls being in such close proximity but he kept trying to comfort himself in the reminder that he and Anna had a conversation and bring everything between them to a close once and for all, despite the cheating that happened, something he still felt incredibly guilty for. He didn't want to ruin whatever was blossoming between himself and Anya, but it wasn't like he could completely ignore everything that he had with Anna either which was the driving factor for his mistake.

Sam knew deep down he probably should tell Anya what happened between himself and Anna but he also knew now was most certainly not the time. He got brought out of his thoughts when Anya showed him her phone and what she was asking him. "I'm okay, honestly. I guess I'm still just tense from the unsuccessful attempt at getting your voice back" he told her, something that wasn't entirely a lie either. He did still feel tense and bad about it as he wanted to successfully help her and make her happy, not get her hurt to the point he had to take her to the hospital and then get accused of hitting her by doctors and nurses.

LEXI AND NATALIA

Feeling Dean's thumb run up and down her back made Natalia feel well and truly home again. She never really truly realised how much she missed her brothers and Dean in particular until this morning and this very action he did. Sam was still very much her favourite brother, even after all these years but as the years had gone, she had grown much much closer to Dean than she ever thought would have been possible. His action brought back so many memories of when she'd curl up by his side when she needed him and not Sam for whatever reason or if they watched movies together and she just wanted to be comfy and curl up into him.

Nat noticed how Dean had glanced at the state of her hair and then glanced at Cason and his current state and she just knew he was having a million and one thoughts in his head as she spoke with Lexi about where she lived before coming to the bunker. Lexi's answer did hit home rather hard and it did make her feel a tad guilty about even asking the woman that very question. Not enough guilt to apologise for asking, but a tiny pang of guilt none the less. It was clear that Lexi was trying to not make her feel bad about asking, if her tone and body language was anything to go by.

Natalia could relate to what Lexi said as she didn't have a home before Dean and Sam found her all those years ago because her 'home' was a torture building. Then it came....the question from Dean and accusation about her love life with Cason, in an attempt to embarrass her or at least make her feel uncomfortable, like a typical older brother. As he looked down at her in a judgemental manner, she rolled her eyes, not wanting it to get to her, when Cason defended them both by calling out that it was only natural to want to be intimate with each other.

"he ain't wrong though Dean, it is natural and so what...we slept together, it's not like its an activity that's exclusive to you or Sam" she retorted back, making Lexi stifle a chuckle. "It's not like she's actually a teenager Dean" Lexi also commented, hoping she wasn't over stepping by backing up Natalia. "See! She gets it!" Nat replied without even thinking, pointing her hand toward Lexi.

"Me and Cason are gonna sleep together whenever we feel like it, deal with it. I'm not your little baby sister anymore.." Natalia stated, even though she knew all too well Dean would always see her as such. "I mean...I can always tell you every in depth detail of what we get up to if you really wanted but that would make you super weird!" Nat smirked, making Lexi chuckle all over again.

"she's got you there" Lexi commented.

Anya watched Sam’s face closely as he contemplated how he as feeling. She could tell something might be on his mind, but she had to chalk it up to worry for her, or at least guilt. Then, he mentioned that tension and the reason for it, and Anya sighed, waving her hand as if to tell him not to worry about her voice. But she knew he would dwell on it. Even Cason seemed to be dwelling on it and he was a demon.

She pulled her phone down to her chest, and typed a message, turning back to him to look up at his eyes. After she knew that she had eye contact, she raised her eyebrows, giving a stern ‘listen to me’ look, before pressing play on the phone.

“I hate it too. But can we still talk? Yes. Are we all alive? Yes. We will find another way, if there’s another way. But this isn’t your fault.”

After the message finished playing, Anya leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to Sam’s lips, pulling back to give him one more stern look, just to punctuate the fact that she wouldn’t tolerate him self blaming any more than he already had…or any more than the nurses had at the hospital.



Dean frowned in confusion as Nat took Cason’s side and repeated his words, as if Dean was expecting anything less. And then when Lexi laughed at Nat’s retort, Dean nearly clutched his metaphorical pearls, turning to give Lexi a look. “I didn’t say she was a teenager. I…”

But then Nat agreed with Lexi and Dean instantly felt overpowered and outnumbered, an uncomfortable situation that Dean usually avoided like the plague with women. He threw his hands up a bit and then held them out in front of him, as Nat continued to tell him off.

“No. No no no. I don’t want to know what you and…your demon boyfriend do in the dark. I would rather gouge my eyes out with screwdrivers. And since when do you take up for her?!” Dean asked, turning to Lexi with an exasperated look. “I was just…I’m just…You know what? Nevermind. Nevermind. Now that you guys are getting along, I should just keep my mouth shut.”

Cason stepped away from the stove, with Anna behind him, bringing a bunch of bacon and eggs to the table. Anna sat her plates down on the table in front of Sam and Anya, before walking back to the counter to grab the last two pieces of toast from the toaster.

“Alright kids. Let’s get to a bigger table and see what today’s gonna hold, shall we?” Cason called out to everyone, gesturing for someone else to grab the plates.

“Since when are you the boss?” Dean asked with a scoff, dodging Anna’s slap to his hand as he attempted to steal a piece of toast. Cason shrugged his shoulders.

“Since I’m the only demon you know, and…you need my expertise.”

Dean was quiet for a moment, trying to decide how to respond, until Anya’s phone suddenly broke the silence and Anna had to turn her head to her shoulder to stifle her laughter as she walked out of the kitchen, toward the war room. Anya stood from the table, holding her phone in the air as it played her message and she followed Anna.

“I would rather the demon be the boss right now. He has the food and the information.”

LEXI AND NATALIA

Seeing Dean get all flustered and worked up made both girls smirk, especially as he was quickly discovering that he wasn't going to win this teasing of Natalia. His reaction to Nat's fake invitation to hearing all about her love life with Cason made her chuckle smugly, feeling rather proud of herself for getting under her brother's skin just enough to still classed as playful. Yet she also got more amused when Dean turned onto Lexi for sticking up for her. "natural instinct?" Lexi retorted with a shrug, which seemed to be a good move in Natalia's eyes as she was starting to see more of Lexi than she initially did when she first arrived.

"Oh brother, don't ever change" Nat said as Cason turned away from the stove and started to bring the plates of bacon and eggs across. Hearing Cason call out to them all to refocus their attentions to breakfast and what needs to be done on this day. As Dean scoffed about Cason acting like the boss, Natalia rolled her eyes, whereas Cason just gave a straight laced answer.

Lexi, with one arm still partly round Dean's back, rubbed his back with her thumb whilst her head turned toward Anya's phone out of a newly formed habit. Anya's comment about preferring Cason to take the lead did make Lexi softly chuckle as she couldn't deny that Anya's words were pretty valid. She then let go of Dean and walked over to help with the plates and cutlery, as did Natalia, except Natalia couldn't resist deliberately brushing passed Cason, leaning up slightly and kissing his cheek before she grabbed whatever was left to be grabbed and walked out into the war room for the bigger table.

SAM

Sam looked at Anya when it was clear she was wanting eye contact with him and saw the expression she was giving him. He knew in that moment he needed to let go of the tension he mentioned, even if it was always hard for him to do so as he had a tendency to cling onto negative feelings- albeit not nearly as much as Dean did.

He gave her a small but genuine nod to let her know he would listen to whatever she had to say, and he did. The moment she pressed play on her phone, he took to heart the words that came through. Her positive energy and mindset was such a breath of fresh air yet again to him, reminding him of just why he was so drawn to her. He kissed her back when she leaned up to kiss him and he instantly began to softly smile again and not feel so tense. "I'm sorry for being so tense and pensive...but you're right" he replied to her as the others all spoke amongst themselves until Cason broke up the individual conversations.

He smirked seeing Cason and Dean still slightly butting heads, whilst he clearly was still feeling ganged up on between Natalia and Lexi. If Anna, Natalia and Cason all stayed for a little while, he just knew this bunker's vibe was going to become very interesting to say the least. He watched as everyone began to scatter and help with the plates, whilst also being amused at Anna smacking Dean's hand away from the toast. She really hadn't changed too much when it came to feeling confident enough to do such an action to Dean. He was grateful that what he did to her and everything else in this life didn't completely destroy her personality around Dean.

Standing up from the table, he followed everyone else into the war room before grabbing a plate and helping himself to food when it was good to do so. He then found himself a new seat and grabbed a fork to begin to eating, without really waiting for anyone else.

"well someone is hungry" Lexi teased with a smirk, "and you're not?" Sam retorted back, noticing Lexi didn't exactly wait either for grabbing food. "fair point" she replied, sitting down.

Dean was reluctant to just let Lexi and Nat walk toward the war room without him holding onto both of them, now that they were getting along. He was almost afraid they would gang up against him, and he would begin to be left out, something he didn’t handle well. Shaking aside his childish thoughts, he followed behind everyone as they filed into the war room with the food.

Cason leaned into Nat’s kiss to his cheek, staying close to her back as they both walked to the war room, knowing that Dean was probably shooting daggers with his eyes behind him. He sat the food down on the table and walked around to his seat, choosing to not kick his feet up on the table, but rather to drape them over the arm of the chair that Anna sat down in. Without skipping a beat, Anna draped her arm over Cason’s legs, grabbing a plate and some cutlery.

Cason grabbed a few pieces of bacon, toast and then stole Anna’s fork to throw some eggs on her plate, before grabbing a plate and doing the same for Nat. He sat Nat’s plate in the spot to his left and then leaned back in his chair, tempted to start day drinking for the conversation coming…even though he couldn’t get drunk.

Dean wasted no time, grabbing himself a piled up plate while everyone else grabbed theirs. When he took his seat, the glanced over at Anna, who seemed perfectly fine with Cason just draping himself over her lap, and he narrowed his eyes. He was genuinely curious how much he had missed while Anna wasn’t around. Obviously, the situation between her and Cason and Nat had changed. They all seemed like a unit, almost.

As soon as Lexi sat down, Dean reached over to her rolling chair and pulled her closer, reaching up and pulling her plate toward him as well.

“So, Anna…How hard do you think it would be to convince Duke to come visit?” He randomly asked, and Anna raised her eyebrows mid chew, confused by the sudden question.

“I think you would have a better chance of convincing him to cut his hair again, than getting him to come to this bunker.” Anna bluntly admitted. Duke hadn’t stepped foot in Kansas since Mika died. He had buried himself in working on the farm and didn’t really hunt anymore. He definitely didn’t want to be around reminders of Mika…

“I might have to stop in if we’re ever out that way…”



Anya was relieved that Sam was at least listening to her, whether he would actually act on the advice or not. At least for a moment, he seemed to be okay, and he seemed to be letting some of the guilt go. She followed the others into the war room, taking a seat that had been rolled into the stacks and rolling it back to the table with her legs, like a Bedrock car.

As she got there, she reached forward, watching Sam load his plate up with a chuckle before she began loading up a plate and then sat it down and pulled her phone. She typed a message and turned it to where Sam could hear it in the larger room.

“Just don’t choke. We’ve got nothing but time.” She pressed play with a laugh, and turned to smile at Lexi. She then typed one more message, “But should we get the hard conversations out of the way today?”

NATALIA AND LEXI

The moment Cason leaned into her kiss, Nat just knew it cause a reaction out of Dean, even if it was minor. She just enjoyed every now and then getting under her brother's skin in a playful manner and not an malicious manner. It was her way of showing she knew her place as the annoying younger sister and she enjoyed living up to it, no matter how long it had been since she was last in the bunker for Cason's comfort.

She let Cason pile up her plate for her with food as he was closest and less likely to spill food everywhere compared to herself. She thanked him for the plate when he gave it to her and picked up a fork to begin eating with no hesitation whatsoever. She loved Cason's cooking, even if he did make her eat for the most part a lot healthier than she ever used to. She also didn't look twice when he flipped his legs up onto Anna's lap as again, it was pretty normal to see. They had become a unit, just as Dean had suspected, with Anna practically being being her best friend.

As she ate, she looked across the table at everyone briefly, seeing how Dean pulled Lexi's chair closer to him, along with her plate, clearly not wanting to be further from her than strictly necessary. It still panged at her heart seeing him be so clingy with another woman that wasn't Mika, but Lexi was slowly proving she could give as good as she got and maybe, just maybe, Nat could start giving Lexi a chance.

Lexi caught Nat looking across at them and she just gave her a small smile before picking up her own cutlery after Dean had pulled her chair closer to him. He seemed to be super clingy on this morning but she didn't mind, she just let him do what he felt he needed to to make himself feel comfortable or better. With her free hand, she reached across and gave his knee a comforting squeeze. She and Natalia both listened when he asked Anna how Duke was and whether or not he would ever come back to the bunker to visit, only to get that idea shot down.

Nat wasn't surprised Duke never wanted to come back here, it was difficult enough for herself to be back here, let alone someone like Duke who was incredibly close to Mika. She still could remember vividly how easily Duke found it to leave and choose to never come back. She really couldn't blame him for the decision as she was more surprised that Dean and Sam decided to stay in the bunker and keep it as their home.

It didn't take much for Lexi to guess why Anna said Duke would rather do pretty much anything than come back here as it seemed to be a theme with this family. It always bottled down to Dean's ex and that made Lexi feel even more determined to not overstep her mark with any of them, especially now she seemed to be somewhat becoming civil with Natalia.

SAM

Sam let the others all chat amongst themselves, also seeing that Nat seemed to be finally being nice to Lexi and not taking every opportunity to take a shot at her. It was a pleasant surprise but one he was going to appreciate greatly as it meant it was one thing that he or anyone else had to worry about. He began eating his breakfast, nodding his approval of the food as Anya then told him not to choke, which made him smile. He glanced between Anya and Lexi who both smiled at each other and he couldn't help but think it almost looked like they were having some sort of silent conversation about his eating habits.

He glanced down at his plate and wondered if he was turning into Dean with the way he was eating but then decided that was a stupid thought and turned to Anya, "Don't worry, I won't choke- I'm not Dean" he smirked after he finished a mouthful of food and Anya asked about getting the difficult conversations out of the way whilst they were all together in one room. "Right...I guess you're right" he replied, looking up at the others, "So uhh- me and Anya were wondering what the next move is. Last night was a fail, but what can we do now?" he asked everyone.

"Talk about starting the heavy stuff early" Nat remarked back between mouthfuls.