[h3] Dean and Cason [/h3]

Cason pulled a hand away from Mika’s legs, reaching forward to open the back door into the kitchen, before stepping inside with her. He took a deep breath and then decided to respond to her comment touching on her own confusion.

“Trust me when I say, everyone here is confused. No one here made any deals. I watched them to make sure. There’s no…explanation.” He explained quietly as he walked her over to the living room. He sat Mika down on the cushion on the opposite side to Dean’s pillows, quickly covering her up with the blankets that were still there.

Dean wasn’t far behind Cason, not stopping to check on anyone else. He shoved his way past Duke to enter the kitchen, and almost jogged into the living room. He wedged himself between Cason and Mika, quickly reaching out to touch her face in the less harsh light of the living room.

Duke stood back for a few moments, until Nat approached, and he nodded. He wrapped Nat’s arm with his own as Bobby passed them, staggering up the steps behind the others.

“How are you feeling? Are you thirsty? Go get her some water…” He ordered Cason over his shoulder, causing Cason to frown in confusion. Dean was bossing him around? Cason rolled his eyes, after glancing down at Mika, and stood up to go fetch water from the kitchen.

“How about we give her some space to just…process things?” Duke chimed in, crossing his arms to prevent himself from smothering Mika more. He shivered slightly, now warming up from the chill outside. But stayed close to Natalia. At least that way, while Cason was busy, she wasn’t left on her own.

“She’s fine.” Dean responded simply, brushing his fingers over every place that he could remember there being a cut or a bruise. Duke growled in frustration, rolling his eyes and began to step forward when Cason brought back the bottle of water he went to the kitchen for. Cason reached between Dean and Mika, causing Dean to lean back a bit. Dean then reached under the blanket to pick up Mika’s free hand. “Are you warm enough? I can um…I can warm you up if you want.”

[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke rolled his eyes again as Dean navigated how to take care of Mika, as if she wasn’t still the same person. Dean almost seemed afraid of her, or afraid he would break her. His annoyance tempted him to step forward and pull Dean away, just to give Mika some space to process even being alive. It wasn’t going to help her process anything for Dean to act as if she was glass. If she wanted connection, she needed to be held…tightly.

“Oh shit…” Duke whispered, realizing he had just left Esme outside in all the chaos. Knowing how she internalized everyone’s emotions, she was probably drained and barely standing, if she was standing at all. As Duke turned around to head outside, prepared to apologize profusely for leaving her alone, she stepped into the room and perched against a wall.

“Hey! I was afraid you were still out there freezin’ to death.” Duke reached out, pulling Esme’s arms away from her body to hold both her hands. He could see, by the look in Esme’s eyes and by Sarah’s weight against his own legs between them, that she was spent. She was absolutely wiped out and as he watched her face, he could also tell that she was thinking about something heavy, “You alright? I know this is…it’s shocking. I mean, I’m not even sure any of this is real. But you don’t look so hot.”

He brought his good hand up, brushing it through the side of Esme’s hair, before cradling her cheek, his thumb brushing a soft line over her cheek, “It ain’t like I’m needed over there right now. I’ll have to kidnap her to get a word in…”

[h3] Anna [/h3]

As soon as Sam had returned to Anna from lighting the fire, she quickly buried her face in his side, holding onto him as if her life depended on it.  As she sobbed into his side, she could feel him tense, as if something was going wrong and she hoped with every fiber of her being that something wasn’t coming to destroy this moment. It could be the angels or the demons, but she couldn’t will herself away from Sam, until she heard Duke.

Reluctantly, Anna pulled her face away from Sam’s jacket, back toward the fire, where her eyes widened teary and afraid at the sight. She looked around at the others. Even Duke seemed terrified by what he was seeing, and Dean couldn’t move. But then Duke ran to Mika, and it was clear to Anna that Mika was alive. She didn’t offer to hurt Duke. In fact, she seemed more than relieved to be in Duke’s arms.

Looking up at Sam’s face, Anna took a deep breath, trying to calm down the hurricane of emotions she was still feeling in her chest. She was still heartbroken and confused but at the same time she was feeling an overwhelming relief that was washing through her brain like a tidal wave.

“I don’t understand…” She whispered, holding onto Sam’s arm as he began following the others. She unstuck her feet from the gravel, and followed him, shuddering at the uneasy feeling she had about the whole situation. But as soon as they entered, and Duke and Dean began bickering, Anna’s shoulders relaxed a bit. She stayed with Sam, watching Duke suddenly realize that Esme had stayed outside. Anna tore her eyes away from Mika and Dean, watching as Duke walked over to Esme, his entire demeanor now calm, relieved and maybe a little tired.

Cason’s heartbeat in Anna’s brain caused her to clench her teeth, her jaw popping a bit, but she pushed it aside and turned her eyes back to Mika and Dean, “Who was it?”, she asked innocently, looking up at Sam. Her gaze was almost accusatory, but she didn’t believe that Sam would have had even a moment to make some sort of deal, “Surely someone made a deal, right? Duke maybe?”