JustAnna

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason dragged Nat all the way to the car, holding his hand out as she fished out her keys and slapped them into his palm. He brought her hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it as if he was some sort of hopeless romantic and with a wide smile, he let her hand go and opened the drivers door, “I wouldn’t dare crash your precious car. I’m not a monster.”, he joked, feigning offense.

He sat down in the car, and stuck the key into the ignition as she climbed in on her side, and as he started the car with a rumble, he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He hated driving cars. Honestly, he found them to be a waste, and more dangerous for humans than almost any other means of transportation. Though, humans didn’t exactly have the ability to fly or disappear the way he did. The thought made him smirk. Such fragile creatures.

“So…”, he quipped as he backed out of the parking space and headed out onto the road, “Since you’re tolerating me, now, we should probably get to know each other. I can start…the annoying human side of my brain still likes classical music. I find it a little calm, on the demon side of things, but that’s the unfornate part of having a split personality that is kinda…glued together. I’ve heard of demons that were unfortunately graced with the sides of themselves melding together under the right circumstances. I don’t plan to ever do that. But…I’m rambling.”

He laughed, and shook his head, “I just don’t know how to do the whole…niceties thing.”

Dean

Dean noticed the way Mika’s face changed when he mentioned Esme, and he couldn’t honestly blame her. It wasn’t as if he had done any sort of good job hiding his repressed feelings from the sudden breakup he had experienced with Esme. He hadn’t had closure and no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t just…ignore that.

He bent his knees, meeting her eyes a bit lower as she tried to hide that she was annoyed, “Hey. It’s only a courtesy. I’m not going to go over there and ask her to come out with us…or be convinced to stay or anything, okay? I’m all yours. I’ll eventually get that to sink into your brain again, but I don’t want Duke to worry either. He’s like a brother to me.”

With that, he leaned in and pecked her on the lips again, stepping toward the door as he reached his hand back for her. Once she willingly came with him, he stepped out the door and out onto the sidewalk. He made the quick walk over to Esme and Duke’s room, clearing his throat before knocking on the door.

At first, no one came to answer it, but after a moment, Duke swung the door open, still buttoning his jeans, which caused Dean to raise an eyebrow, “Um…hey. You seem um…busy. We’re gonna head out for a bit and I didn’t want you guys to think everyone bailed on you. I’ll…I’ll leave you to it.”, he explained awkwardly.

Duke

Duke smiled brightly at Esme’s words as she broke the kiss to confirm their plans, and a chuckle left his chest as she kissed his nose before kissing him again. The kiss took his breath away, reminding him once again how long he had waited for her to be willing to reciprocate his feelings. If she was to ask him in this moment to stay forever, he just might. He reached both his hands up, brushing his fingers through her hair, before cradling her face in his hands and flipping them both. He chuckled at how awkward it was under the covers, but after a moment, he settled in, kissing her passionately.

Suddenly a knock at the door rang out through the room. He ignored it at first, but Dean’s quick knocks were not something you could ignore for long, before he ended up in the room, one way or another. With a low growl, he broke the kiss, keeping her head cradled in his arms. He glanced up at the window, seeing Mika standing on the sidewalk through the thin curtains and he groaned, “Dammit. Somethin’s probably goin’ on. I should probably…he’s not goin’ away any time soon.”, he explained dropping his head with his eyes closed in frustration. After a moment, he pushed himself up on his knees, and stepped off the side of the bed, whisking a pair of jeans from his bag on the way to the door. He quickly slipped them over his legs and swung the door open, buttoning his pants before even looking up at Dean.

He narrowed his eyes at how awkward Dean spoke, as if he expected anything different from Duke and Esme, now that they weren’t held down by geography or relationships, leaning on the door frame in amusement, “Don’t lose your shit, now. You guys go have fun. Don’t get into any trouble and if I need you, I’m probably dead, because I ain’t never relied on you for anything.”, he teased, and Dean scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“Just…keep your head up.”, Dean waved him off, stepping away from the door with a shake of his head.

“I don’t plan on it!”, Duke called down the sidewalk at him, before shutting the door.

Anna

As Sam pulled away from their kiss, Anna took a deep breath, almost forgetting to breathe for a long while, with the passionate kiss. She pulled his hands slowly down the sides of her face, dropping her own hands to his chest as she thought about where they could go. After a moment, she sighed softly and reached for both his hands, “Let’s go to a motel nearby. I’ll go and grab my things.”

She stared up into his eyes for a moment, to make sure he knew for sure she was coming back, and she was planning to leave with him. She then turned around, and walked back into the apartment, to Max bombarding her with questions.

At the motel

Anna sat her things down in the floor of the motel room, crossing her arms as she turned to Sam, and tried to wrap her brain around what she was going to say to him. She wasn’t sure if she should lie to him about why she left, or if she should just tell him the truth. So, she settled on the truth, hoping that their link to each other mentally might help him not tip Lilith off.

“So um…I guess I should just get it all out there.”, she started, before taking a deep breath, and taking a seat at the foot of the bed, “Um…I was visited by…by someone that I didn’t honestly know I was connected to, well not really.”

She broke off, not realizing before just how emotional explaining all this would make her. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and she exhaled roughly, pulling her hands down to her lap to play with her fingers, “She’s a demon, and um…she threatened to kill you, and maybe the others if I didn’t leave. She said she had a plan or something? And that I had to ‘be good’.”

She brought her hands up to do quotations, and then sniffled, taking another shaky and deep breath, “With the way that things had been for us, and how disconnected we have felt, and all the times we had broken apart before, I thought that you would just accept things and move on. I thought maybe you would be safe. Upset, maybe, but safe, and now…I feel selfish and stupid, and you’re here, and I don’t know what to do.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason smiled softly as Nat agreed to go to the carnival, tilting his head back with a very amused chuckle as she all but challenged him and his talent for carnival games. She wasn’t smiling big just yet, but he could see it peeking through. By the end of the night, she would have a bright smile on her face, if he had anything to say about it. And by the end of the night, she wouldn’t want him to leave, for sure, no matter what her brothers said.

“I like a challenge.”, he teased, dropping his hand as she suggested that he drive her car. For a moment, he made a face that mirrored a confused dog, even cocking his head to the side at the prospect of driving somewhere, “You want to take the car? You realize I can get us there in less than a second, right? We could stash your stuff in the car and I could…you know what? If you want to take the car, I’ll…drive, I guess.”

He shrugged his shoulders, still confused at this particular group of humans and their obsession with their cars. He would almost rather go back to hell than be stuck in a moving can that smelled like leather and gas station food, for any forseeable time. However, Nat had things she loved, and she was used to, and until he could break through and gain more of her trust, he would abide.

Reaching down to pick up her hand, he pulled her toward him and stepped back toward the door again, “Let’s go do human things and eat disgusting human food. Hell, they might even have beer.”, he teased, as he backed through the door, headed to her car to…drive.

Dean

Dean laughed out loud when Mika mentioned the night they ended up banged up, drunk and lost in the rain at Bobby’s. Fond memories, but honestly they seemed so distant now. It had been so long since they were able to just unwind, and not be on a case. Hell, even that night, they were forced onto a case by vampires.

He stepped over to his bag, digging around for a moment before he found a flannel. He pulled the red flannel out and pushed his arms through the sleeves before picking his jacket up off the back of the chair he had thrown it over the night before, “I say yes to living like the old days. Though, the odds of being sore tomorrow go up every single year…”

As he teased her, he leaned in and pecked her on the lips sweetly, and then he sighed with a groan, “But we can’t just leave Esme here without her knowing where we went. She had the incident yesterday, and who knows if Duke will stay, and she doesn’t have a vehicle and…let’s just go let her know. Hopefully, he’ll still be there, and they’re too distracted to care.”, he rambled, shrugging his shoulders with his eyebrows raised in reason. He hated even mentioning Esme to Mika at this point, as she always seemed to be a point of contention with them…for good reason.

Anna

Anna winced visibly, and closed her eyes. As she pressed them together, her nostrils flared. Sam’s words broke her heart, because realistically, he hadn’t been horrible to her. They were just…disconnected. It might not even be anyone’s fault but the universe, and the angels, and the demons. It wasn’t just Sam. But then he said the three words she had never heard from him, and her breath caught in her throat, causing her eyes to shoot open as she stared wildly at his face. The gravity of the words almost seemed lost in his desperation to explain things to her, as if she would just disappear from in front of him.

Her eyes darted between his, trying to muster up the words to respond to him, when he continued, reaching for her hands, which she didn’t even have the strength to pull from him. She just allowed it, beginning to shiver. If she told him what Lilith had told her, she would likely just kill him. But if they both knew, could she kill him? Surely it wasn’t that simple.

“Sam, I…”, she started, but before she could even finish her thought, his lips were on hers, his hands capturing her in a hold that melted all sense of control over the situation that she thought she had. She reached both hands up to wrap them around his wrists, tiptoeing as she leaned into the kiss, deepening it on her own. She kissed him for a moment, before pulling away, and pressing her forehead tightly to his, “Y-you really shouldn’t have come…”

Anna tightened her grip on his wrists, to make sure he didn’t pull away from her as she finished her thought, “But if you will let me figure out a way to explain, we can get a room and I’ll…try.”, she explained, her eyes still closed as she just breathed him in for a moment. Just with the day that they had been apart, it felt like a piece of her had broken off. He was just so familiar, and having him in front of her felt surreal. She pushed herself up on her toes and kissed him deeply again.

Duke

Duke smiled a bit brighter at the way that Esme explained how weird them coming back together was, more eloquently explaining his own thoughts. His eyes nearly fluttered closed as she played with his hair, one of his many weaknesses, but he couldn’t drag his eyes off her face, seeing her smile, seeing the fading bruises show more of her natural features…

But then she laid back down, and it was almost as if he could read what the motion meant. He wrapped his arm around her a bit tighter, concentrating on her fingers in his hair. Then it hit him. Whether she meant to or not, she was in his brain, wrapped up in his emotions, and no doubt could tell that he was feeling less than sure about his own motives and direction. He didn’t let his emotional state change much when the realization hit him, he simply drew circles on her upper back, his eyes darting around the blank white ceiling to try and keep any one thought from resting in his brain.

Her voice broke through the silence in his mind, and he almost flinched from the sudden sound. He stopped his motion on her back, contemplating her options for what they could do for the day. Realistically, they needed to go get her car, before in ended up towed, but he also just wanted to stay wrapped up in her all day, before he had to leave…

He quickly pushed the thought of leaving aside again, and cleared his throat, tightening his hold on her once again, “I say…we enjoy being warm a bit longer, stretch the legs, you know the drill. Then, if you want, I’ll drive you back to get your car. Ain’t a reason I can think of to rush, today…”, he muttered, reaching over with his free hand to place a finger under her chin. He pulled her chin up, to where he could crane his neck down and kiss her lips gently, the thoughts of leaving barely brushing through the back of his mind. After a moment, he broke the kiss long enough to add, “And I still need to feed you.”, he murmured against her lips with a bright laugh.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Anya

Anya pulled her phone back, and held it close to her chest as Sam shook her hand. The small touch and the niceties toward each other nearly caused her to take a nice deep breath, but she didn’t want to seem overly relieved around him. Not that he was doing a good job of hiding his own relief. She giggled silently and pushed her hair behind her ear when she had her hand back, nodding her head at his comments about the room.

“I’m sure I’ll find some way to fill the space with my existence.”, she typed on her phone, playing it with an obvious laugh. She then dropped her smile as a thought came to her mind, and she frowned, trying to decide how to ask her next question. Glancing past him toward the hall, she finally gathered her thoughts and began typing again.

“So, what else is there in the bunker? Obviously if you live here, you’ve explored.”

Dean

Dean narrowed his eyes momentarily as Nat’s words about Crowley rang back into his mind. He would have to bring it up the second he decided how. He didn’t often come across other hunters that had the displeasure of dealing with the dick head demon. But if she knew of him, maybe she was more fitting for their little life than he originally thought. Red string theory and all that.

When Lexi brought up kids, after he had let his own opinions of hunters kids slip, he went still. Lowering himself to his chair slowly. He had never really wanted kids. Hell, he still couldn’t imagine putting a kid through any part of their life, bunker or not. Sure, they would be safe, but for how long?

He poured a glass of whiskey for her, and then poured one for himself, dragging a journal toward the space in front of him before glancing at her face over the top edge of her laptop, “Um…not to bring up anything uncomfortable…you know, considering, but how do you know about Crowley?”, he said, changing the subject.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Anya

Anya’s shoulders relaxed a bit as Sam explained that she could relax in the bunker, because it was incredibly safe and secured. She figured as such. Hunters usually lived in one of two types of places, in her experience. They either lived in literal fortresses underground or unassuming homes in the middle of nowhere, that were typically protected by a host of booby traps.

She tore her eyes away from Sam’s face as he opened a door and ushered her in. She stepped into the room, looking around at the dimly lit space. There was a desk against one wall, a small tv at the foot of the bed, and a metal bed in the center. The walls were made of brick, which meant that they would be very sound proof, and honestly, although the bed looked terrible, it looked like heaven compared to some of the motels she had stayed in.

Sam continued to over explain their situation, her smile grew, although he couldn’t see it as she peered around the room. She walked over to the bed, and dropped her duffel there, unzipping it and digging around inside. She pulled out a sliding cellphone she had fashioned with a small speaker, and flipped it open. She typed a message as Sam apologized for the situation at the coffee shop. She glanced up at him, not finishing her message at first as she scanned his face, and tilted her head to the side as if pondering her options.

She then continued typing her message, and pressed send, which caused the phone to speak, “The room is great, although I don’t need so much space. I’m good at making myself very small in times of need. And I’m not angry with you, Sam. If you want, we can start over.”

She let the phone stop speaking her words out loud, and then typed another small message, “Hello. I’m Anya.”

And with that, she held out her hand for him to shake.

Dean

Dean nodded, and stepped away toward the kitchen. Once there, he took a deep breath, rubbing his hands together and then grabbed a couple of glasses in one hand, and two different bottles of whiskey in the other hand, turning on his heel to walk back out to the war room. The whole time his mind raced a bit about whether or not he wanted to dig so hard into this, in case the worst case scenario played out.

Clanking the glasses together, he mustered the courage and the energy to step out of the kitchen and back into the war room, “So, there are a lot of really…REALLY bad places this investigation could take us. Even getting and keeping that gun was nearly impossible when we got ahold of it. I mean, Crowley…need I say more?”

He held out both arms, tilting his head in a convincing way, and then sat the bottles and the glasses down on the table near their chairs. He stepped away from the table again, tilting his head back to speak to her as he walked around the library area, gathering journals and things to write on, “It can kill anything, as far as we know…except angels. So, there’s that. Obviously any hunter who’s ever heard of it would want it. Demons don’t want it to exist, and if her dad got ahold of it, either he’s an innocent antiques dealer or collector, or he’s a hunter and just never told his daughter.”

He returned to the table, and sat all of the things down in front of Lexi, “It’s what I would do.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean

Dean chuckled at Mika’s wish for casual drinking, and just being normal for a night. Honestly, he was feeling the same way. There hadn’t been much time for anything other than dealing with all the chaos in their lives in months, ever since he came back from Hell. He deserved, and they all deserved a single day of just…nothing. No angels. No demons. No apocalypse. Just, being human.

“I vote we go to a boring bar, we get some drinks, we see what trouble we can get into, and then we do…whatever humans do these days.”, he teased, holding his hands out in front of him. He stepped up to her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, “Or we just go out and walk around. I don’t care, as long as we’re together and not working.”

He knew these words would surprise anyone else around him, but that Mika would understand. His way of getting his mind back together was always crappy food and alcohol, even if they were beaten up and bloody. If he could get through the night without a bar fight, even better.

Cason

Cason listened to all her own options in response to his laundry list of countries he wanted her to experience, and mentally made a more simple list. She wanted to have fun. She wanted to go out, but not do anything potentially harmful. Those were things he honestly didn’t even know how to give her, but he would try. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and smiled softly, “I mean, we could…”

He stopped his words as she stepped over to him with her bag in tow. Reaching out, he took her bag from her shoulder, and shoved his own through the strap, leaning his head forward to briefly bump her forehead with his, a comfort thing for him, “Harm free reckless…”, he repeated her with a smile. Tilting his eyes up, he pondered what they could do, and finally he came to a solution.

“How about…we hit the carnival I saw when I got back to town. I mean, I only bounced past it, while grabbing a drink to wash down all the California-ness of my trip. But, it looked bright and…gross. Might be good?”, he pondered with her, reaching his free hand out to brush a thumb across her cheek, “I’m not exactly human. I’m pretty fire at carnival games.”

Anna

Anna’s face fell even more when Sam said that he was there for her. Of course he was. He was there to try and convince her to come back, and she didn’t even know what to say to him about why she left. When he asked so politely to speak in private, she nearly just slammed the door in his face. It was easier than facing him. It was easier than any of the questions he would have about why.

“Um…”, she started, before Sam started his normal explanation of things. She took a deep breath and shook her head, closing her eyes tightly as she contemplated her next move. Cason was there to scout. Sam couldn’t lie well enough to cover that part up, and no one in the group cared enough about her to send him…other than Sam. Even Cason wouldn’t have come on his own.

“Let’s…let’s step out into the hall.”, she finally said, not looking him in the eyes. As she crossed her arms, Max narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on her lower back, glancing between her and Sam.

“You sure you wanna be alone? You seem uncomfortable.”, Max said softly, glancing back up at Sam with suspicion, “You don’t have to go anywhere with him.”

“Max…it’s complicated, alright? I’ll be right out in the hall, and you’ll know if anything happens. Trust me. But I know Sam wouldn’t hurt me or anything. It’s just complicated.”, Anna explained quickly, turning her back on Sam to place her hands on Max’s chest, just in case. She didn’t want either of them going at each other over this.

“Alright. Call if you need me.”, he answered back, shooting one more skeptical look at Sam. As he did so, Anna turned around and pushed Sam through the doorway, into the hall.

“I don’t have any answers for you. We…we have been in and out of each others lives for so long that I don’t know if I can do…that anymore. I can’t do the whole, whatever we were, anymore.”, she explained unconvincingly, still not looking at his eyes. She stared at his chest, crossing her arms over her chest awkwardly.

Duke

Duke drew circles on Esme’s shoulder as he did his best not to breathe in her hair. Taking a deep breath, he let it out with a small chuckle, “Well, the last 24 hours has been…interesting.”, he teased, turning his head toward hers, placing a soft kiss to her temple.

“If you had told me two days ago that I would not only accidentally save the one person I felt was ‘the one that got away’ but I would end up here…I would tell you that you were insane.”, he teased more, a bright smile breaking across his face as he laughed. It was true, he honestly never expected her to want anything to do with him again, after the big break up of their trio, and yet, it seemed like leaving would be harder than he anticipated.

The thought of leaving caused the corners of his mouth to fall slightly, but he held them up, forcing the smile to stay on his face. That wasn’t a thought he wanted to have at the moment. He just wanted to enjoy the time he had with her, and half way plan a way to not break her heart in the process.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Anya

Anya couldn’t help a smile that stayed on her face at the fact that even though Lexi didn’t need to sign to her in order to speak, she did anyway. It could be useful, in the future, considering neither of the boys seemed to know any ASL, especially Dean. As she turned back to Sam, she could feel Dean’s eyes on her, but decided that at least for a while, she would have to ignore Dean. He seemed to see her as some sort of alien, or at least he still treated her as if she was deaf, which would likely complicate things for him later.

As Sam escorted her down the long corridor, she couldn’t help marvel in the fact that the place looked ancient, and it was built like a fortress. The floors all the way to the ceilings had a feeling of safety underneath them, and she touched each brick as they passed them. Each room that they passed made her smile, as they appeared almost like dorm rooms.

She turned to Sam and tapped his arm gently, bringing her hand to her chest, where she signed, “Sorry.” Before bringing her free hand up to her head to signal that she was feeling crazy, and stressed. She then signed a simple, “Thank you for helping me.”

Dean

Dean glanced down at the paper as Lexi looked it over as well. He was surprised by the amount of work that Anya seemed to have done, meaning this was not the first dead end she had found. The thought of her going from hunter to hunter, trying to learn more about her dad’s death felt familiar, and made his stomach wrench with sadness. He let out a sigh, watching her walk away with Sam.

He couldn’t help the bright smile that tried to spread across his face as Lexi commented on Sam being good with Anya, “Yeah. He has a thing for the misfit types, especially the monsters.”

He scrunched his face, “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean he always seems to gravitate toward people he feels like he can relate to. She’s just a girl…who can’t speak. But there’s something about her. Trust me, they’ll be joined at the hip before she leaves. IF she leaves. And you would know about spitfires.”

As Dean teased, he elbowed her playfully, pulling the paper closer to his gaze, looking closer at the photo. He imagined the guy in the photo holding the Colt, and who could have come for him. They had to have had it, or have just lost it right as he was killed, he assumed…or maybe her father was killed BECAUSE they ended up with the Colt.

“I just hope we didn’t get her father killed…”, he mumbled, with a deep sigh, glancing up again as Anya and Sam disappeared down the hall. This research could take them somewhere that could destroy her, and it wasn’t something he was sure was a good idea, “I’m going to need whiskey for this…”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason and Dean

“I’ll take care of her.”, Cason answered to the underlying question, as Nat patted his arms. He released her, but followed her quickly, not letting her out of his sight while she was talking about leaving the group. For all he knew, he would have to go on his own goose chase, with far less information to go on, than Sam had with Anna.

Dean, however, pulled Mika as close as he could, turning her toward their own room, “And what exactly do you want to do with your time off? I mean, I’m good with anything as long as we’re not babysitting…or fighting.”

He laughed, leaning over and kissing the top of her head as they reached their room, gesturing for her to open the door. At the least, maybe they could go out to a bar, like the old days, and just take a load off. Angels could wait.

Cason stepped into the room, behind her, and closed the door. Standing near the table, he tapped his fingers, and stared at her for a moment, “So, where do you wanna go? You can choose literally anywhere…Paris. Rome. I mean…anywhere.”

He smirked as he finished, glancing up from under his brow at her. He wanted to see her relax and smile, for the first time since he had met her. If there was anyone who deserved a little break, it was Nat, and it didn’t hurt that he was on her good side now, and maybe they could get closer in the process.

Anna

Max stepped away from the couch, jogging to the door. He still had the smile on his face as he grabbed the doorknob, looking over his shoulder at her, “But you’re eventually going to have to spill the beans, this is my house, you know…”, he joked with a laugh, before pulling the door open and going silent with a confused frown, “Um, hi?”

Anna didn’t like the sound of his voice, assuming it was Cason again, by the disappointment…or rather confusion she heard. She stood from the couch, setting the menu aside as she pulled Sam’s flannel a bit tighter around the front of her body, like a robe. She quickly walked over to stand behind Max, glancing under his arm that was still holding the door protectively. The body she saw on the other side of the door nearly made her faint, and she tilted her gaze down toward the floor.

“Anna it’s…”

“Sam. Dammit Cason.”, she groaned, stepping closer to the door. Max didn’t move his arm as he sized Sam up, still not having answers as to what had driven Anna to call him. But Anna peered over his shoulder, finally seeing Sam’s face, “What are you doing here?”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason nodded back at Sam as he stepped away, sighing at the thought of how upset Anna would be when she came back, and the damage she could easily do to him, in that anger. But surely Sam could contain her anger, or maybe even head it off before they got back.

“I think we can definitely be civil…”, he murmured, reaching across Nat, and spinning her to where her back was to his chest, and she was forced to face both Mika and Dean.

Dean lowered his head, listening to both the instructions from Mika, and the response from Nat. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward, “I want you to take some time off. Get some rest…take…take Cason with you, and figure out whatever it is that you need to figure out. I’ll be here when you figure it out.”

“I think what he’s saying is that you need to rest, so you guys don’t end up blowing up on each other again.”, Cason said simply, leaning his head over her shoulder, to which Dean shrugged and nodded.

“Pretty much.”

“Maybe all the humans in this group should use the time you’re not defending…or destroying the planet to get some rest. I can’t protect all of you.”, Cason explained with a wave of his hand, to which Dean scoffed.

“I don’t think a rest day would kill anyone.”, he chuckled, wrapping an arm around Mika, “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with the demon.”

Anna

Later that night, Anna laid on the couch, reading a book that she had picked up at the bookstore near the apartment. She couldn’t believe how absolutely normal life was for Max and the other friends that seemed like they were lifetimes away. She hadn’t even imagined that anyone had normal lives, after all the time she had spent with the Winchesters.

And just like that…Sam flooded into her brain, again. She wondered if Cason had told him where she was, or if maybe he had actually done what she told him to do, and was quiet…and just staying with Nat.

“You want dinner? I’m thinking about ordering Asian food.”, Max suddenly startled her out of her daydream, stepping into the living room. He held up a menu, and his free hand as if to make sure she knew it was him, “You’re awful jumpy.”

“I’m sorry. It’s been a long few months, and I don’t honestly know how to explain it to you, at the moment.”, she said with a soft sigh. She closed her book and held her hand out for the menu, and like the precious human he was, Max simply ignored the conversation, and walked over to the couch. Pulling her legs onto his lap, he handed her the menu.

“So, about Cason showing up…”

“Oh no. No. I don’t want to talk about that. Maybe one day, but not today. Today, I want to forget about that…drama. I want to eat crappy food and I want to watch a stupid movie, and I want to not be stressed.”, she said quickly, settling on the food she wanted. She pointed to it, and handed the menu back, causing Max to sigh.

“I feel like there’s more to the story, is all.”, he said sadly, as a knock at the door barely distracted them both. Anna shook her head, tapping on the menu, and pointed toward the door, “Fine! Fine. Crappy food…whoever this is, and movies. Got it.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean and Cason

Cason dropped his arms, reaching out to pick up one of Nat’s hands as she turned to him and looked into his eyes. He nodded his head, conceding to her threats, and shrugged one of his shoulders, “And if that happens, I’ll pretend I don’t have eyes. I swear.”

He rubbed his thumb across the back of her knuckles, and Dean sighed. There were still a million questions flooding Dean’s brain, but he agreed that they had bigger problems than Nat being just a little too snuggly with the one demon he had his sights on. Unfortunately, Cason was right, like Sam. They had to focus.

Dean and Cason both focused on Sam when Mika asked him where Anna was. Cason already knew, but he wanted Sam to explain it in a way that might convince everyone she was at least safe, which at the moment…other than being alone without them, she was.

Cason nodded his head at Sam’s assertion that he needed to go alone, “She’s going to be mad enough at me for coming back to you. She’ll be doubly pissed if she feels ambushed. Sending Sam alone isn’t the worst idea.”

Dean shrugged his shoulders in a bit of frustration, “I don’t like it.”

“You may not like it, but you know it’s the best idea.”, Cason chimed in again, causing Dean to shoot him dagger eyes. But after a moment, he relaxed his face, as Sam put his trust in Cason to keep Nat safe and to keep her from exploding again, “I won’t let anything happen to her, even if I have to just keep them separate.”

Dean chuckled, visibly amused at the idea that Cason would somehow be able to keep Nat locked up or tied down in some way, to keep her away from Dean, “I’m done fighting. I just want to get Anna back, figure out why the hell she left in the first place, and get some more answers about…the plan or whatever.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean

Dean cringed as Nat lit into him. Just the inflection on the way she said his name nearly sent him into another blind rage screaming fit, but she continued and his shoulders slowly began to drop in defeat. Hearing that Cason swore to protect her, Dean dropped his eyes from her face to the ground. As her brother, he should be supportive of that. It’s not like a demon couldn’t tear anything apart that came near her. He could disappear and reappear, and take her with him if there was trouble.

“I am happy…”, Dean started as Nat continued to chew him out. He stopped, holding his mouth open for a moment, and then closing it as she came to the meanest part of his questioning, the claims of her sleeping with Cason as some weird way to get back at him. His face instantly turned to anger as soon as she brought up Mika, as if he hadn’t already been down that road, but Mika stepped up right at that moment and he let out a breath, placing an arm in front of Mika, just in case.

Nat’s next words hit him right in the chest and he softened his face, “No hold on a second…HOLD ON!”, he yelled, interrupting both Mika and Nat, as Mika gestured for him to fix things.

Sam stepping in only made him more stressed, nearly an instant reaction. He dropped his arm from in front of Mika’s waist, and took a deep breath.

“I do care about you. I wouldn’t be so…freaked out if I didn’t care.”, he attempted to smooth things over, as he could feel things devolving quickly, and Sam was right. They had bigger issues to deal with than petty fighting between them, “I just don’t want you to get hurt again, or wrapped up in some insane demon situation where we end up right back where we started. And I’m sorry, but I’m not as trusting as you are, Nat…”

Cason

Cason had just nodded to Sam’s promise, only to be bombarded from behind with all the chaos of the argument. He turned at the same time as Sam, sighing in annoyance to see Dean holding Mika back from Nat, as if the two women were going to claw each other’s face off. Taking a chance, he stepped over to Nat, also wrapping his arms loosely around her waist from behind, mostly just to give Dean some room.

“I agree with Sam…”, he muttered, before leaning in, pulling Nat back to his chest, “I agree…with Sam.”

He shushed her in her ear, tightening his grip on her waist before deciding to play devil’s advocate for a moment, “Your brother…is an idiot. But your brother loves you. I’m sure there’s a better way of handling this than having to apologize for yelling at him every day, right?”, he murmured into her ear, before letting her go, causing Dean to take a slow and deep breath, in agreement. There was a small moment of nicety between Dean and Cason, as they made eye contact with one another and simply nodded.

“Now. Are we all calm enough to have a civil discussion?”

Duke

Duke smiled even brighter as Esme pushed his hair from his face, and he saw that smile creep onto her face. It was the only thing he wanted at the moment, was just to know she wasn’t mad at him, and that she could smile. There was enough bad going on. She didn’t need to worry more than she normally did, which was pretty much all the time.

“I honestly like being the magical chill pill.”, he chuckled, snarling his nose as she nuzzled it, “Makes me a bit expendable…”

As she hovered closer to his lips, he let his eyes flutter closed until the commotion outside distracted the both of them, and he matched her sigh, frowning as he flexed his hand around her wrist. He opened his eyes and chuckled softly, and glanced over toward the window. Lifting his gaze into the air in thought, he pondered her words, tightening his lips, “Hmm.”

After a moment, he shook his head and leaned back down to capture her lips with his, kissing her deeply. After the attitude shift, there was no way he was leaving this room with her, only to throw both of them into a potentially volatile afternoon. No thank you.

He pulled back and took a deep breath of air, nuzzling her nose, “I think they can handle it themselves, this time.”