JustAnna

All Roads Lead To You

Dean and Duke

“Nothing happened while you were gone. We’ve been…here. Things have been quiet.” Dean chimed in as Esme began to stretch and ready herself to stand. Duke looked back at Dean, narrowing his eyes and then back down at Esme who still hadn’t really acknowledged him, past a simple ‘hi’. Either they had discussed him, or she was upset with him for leaving…or her and Dean had been way way way closer the past several weeks than ever, which was going to be awkward out with the three of them.

Then Esme suggested that they go out together, and Duke smirked, turning to Dean. Finally, she acknowledged him. Dean took a drink from his coffee and turned his eyes down to the map, as he drew his final line with the marker in his hand. He dropped the marker on the table and looked up at Duke as Esme stood from the from the floor and Duke hovered his hand out, like he was waiting to help her up.

After Esme was on her feet and stretched out, she walked right past Duke, heading to get more coffee without looking at him, and Duke frowned as he watched her. His normally chatty nature was lost, as he just watched her keep the entirety of her attention on Dean.

Dean sighed and leaned back in his chair, placing both hands on the back of his head as he looked up at Esme, watching every move she made, down to the way the coffee cup touched her lips. Duke chewed at his lip, placing his hands on his hips, and tilting his head down as the need to ask about the tension he felt around him, no matter how misplaced or misjudged was. The reality was, the tension was coming from HIS shoulders. He was a little offended that neither of them seemed happy to see him. Neither of them seemed like they cared that he came back.

“I can go on my own. I just thought we might could put last month behind us and have some fun.” Duke sighed, dropping his hands. He walked over and picked his bag up from the chair he had thrown it into but Dean cleared his throat.

“Alright. We can go out.” Dean said, looking up at Esme with an unsure but willing look. He gathered all of the information from the table, and stacked it, writing a quick note for Bobby on a torn off sheet of paper. He placed the piece of paper on the top of the pile, and scooted his chair back just as Duke stepped up to the back door.

“By the way…I’m happy to see both of you. Just thought you might want to know.” Duke muttered, snapping a bit as he pushed the back door open to head out to his RV and change clothes.

“And he’s upset. He’s going to sulk all night…” Dean sighed, waving his hand at the door. He shook his head and walked his coffee mug over to the sink, turning to Esme, “Just because I don’t really trust that he’s back doesn’t mean that you can’t…talk to him or anything. We talked about that.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean

Dean was reeling from the whole conversation, his heart sinking as Mika flinched under his touch. It was all hard to hear, especially what Mika said before he had dropped the bombshell of being jealous of Duke. He hadn’t thought, in his selfishness, about how many times she could have died while he was gone. The mental images that it brought just caused his stomach to cramp painfully again, and he groaned quietly, wrapping his other hand around to grip his stomach.

As she said how much the jealousy hurt her, Dean nodded so quickly that he feared his head would fall off his shoulders, “I know. I don’t want you to. I know.”

Dean gasped lightly as Mika’s hand touched his and he scanned her face. He just let her spill the words out, ready to take any vitriol or anger, sadness, whatever she needed to get off her chest as she spoke. He listened to how bad the relationship with Ethan turned, because of him. Part of him was thankful, and felt justified in the phone calls, since they brought Mika back to him. But the other part of him knew that it hurt her so bad. It hurt her so bad…HE hurt her.

He turned his eyes down to look at their hands, absently nodding at her words. Why she came back to him, after all of that, he couldn’t place. He didn’t deserve the second…third…or hundredth chance she had given him. Her hand touching his face caused him to flinch so hard that he squeezed his eyes closed, pushing some tears over the edge and down his cheeks, off his chin. He reluctantly turned his eyes up to look at her, sniffling to try and push the tears back down.

He couldn’t help the wince that flashed across his face as she explained what she was willing to concede to Esme but was also requesting that he back off Duke’s case, to let him be happy with Esme. Their history, Duke, Esme and Dean, was something that Dean had to assume Mika had heard all about from Duke. She didn’t even seem surprised when he told her that he was pretty sure Duke had always loved Esme. He scrunched his nose and nodded, taking a deep breath.

But when she said she needed him, Dean’s heart rushed back into his chest like it was ready to explode. His ears were ringing, and suddenly, he felt the need to just touch her. He needed to let her know that he wasn’t going anywhere. He needed to let her know that the past was the past, no matter how hurtful it was. He wanted to move on, finally, and break all this tension. He pulled his hand away from her knee and slid off the side of the couch, slowly lowering himself to his knees in front of her, something he would NEVER allow anyone to see any other time. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his head tightly to her chest to hear her heartbeat.

“I’m not going anywhere. I was never going anywhere.” He almost whispered as he held onto her. “Whatever you need me to do…wherever you need me to go. I’ll do it. I don’t deserve it, but I’ll do it…”

He tightened his grip around her waist, and turned his head from her chest, resting his chin there to look up at her, “I mean it. All the lies, the hiding, the coldness…it all stops here. I didn’t tell you any of that to hurt you. I told you so that I can try to fix it. You and Esme both deserve that…I love you so much. I don’t say it enough but I’ve never felt more sure about anything in my life.”

Cason and Anna

Cason rolled his eyes at Nat’s babying of him, looking his hand over and telling him he would be okay, like he was human and had cut his hand on something. He dropped his hand with a sigh, as Nat opened the door and walked inside. He reached his hand out, her taking it, and walked in behind her. With Natalia, he was definitely not the vicious demon that so many were afraid of. He was leashed, and gentle, and part of him hated it. But for her, he would be whatever she needed him to be.

Anna raised her eyebrows at Sam, not saying a word as she looked up at him with those big blue eyes. He was being a gentleman. Maybe he needed to be around Cason more, if Cason could teach him some of his old man manners. She almost cracked another smile, but simply walked through the door, pulling him in behind her.

Anna and Cason took their menus, and Anna looked over the typical greasy spoon menu, her stomach grumbling at the idea of eating literally anything. Anna looked up and watched Nat, feeling the need to pick her brain at some point. Before Anna lost a bit of her shine, she could see herself and Nat having a lot in common. It was hard for her to want to make friends, these days though. She glanced down at her own menu awkwardly, as Nat spoke about Dean’s love for burgers. The conversation between her and Dean was looming over her head like a dark cloud, and she was going to push it away. She wasn’t ready to face him, yet.

Cason shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t eat.”

“We know, idiot.” Anna corrected him, her eyes holding a smirk as he glanced over to her, and frowned. He then smirked and glanced over at Nat’s menu.

“Is it impossible for you to eat something healthy? I mean…human food is disgusting but you and your brother are walking heart attacks.” Cason complained about Nat’s decision in food. Anna couldn’t help the giggle she forced herself to cover when Nat began to rant about the proper way to order a cheeseburger, but Sam asking her what she wanted caused her to look down at the menu, uncovering her mouth to nod.

“Yeah. I think I want the chicken Cobb salad. I’m a little worried about…eating.” Anna replied quietly, almost a whisper. Cason frowned and looked over at her with a sympathetic look on his face.

“You’ll be fine. I got your back. Eat what you want, kid…” Cason spoke softly, turning his eyes up to Sam with a quick smile, and then back down to Anna, who shrugged her shoulders.

“Fine. I’ll take a cheeseburger, then. But if I get sick, it’s on you.” She teased Cason, giving him an accusatory look. She then sat her menu down on the counter, and wrapped back up on Sam’s arm, using his warmth to help with the cool air still hitting little parts of her burning hot skin. She then decided that she did want to say at least something to Natalia, and she reached up and brushed some of her bangs away from her face, “Hey Nat. Wanna walk me to the ladies room? Might be a little awkward to drag Sam along.”

She gave her the smallest of smiles, and squeezed Sam’s arm.

Duke

Duke tilted his head, confused when Esme said she was just sore. There was no way she should even be walking on her own from the looks of it, and yet, here she was, wanting to go out to a bar. He couldn’t wrap his head around it, but apparently, she couldn’t quite figure it out either. He concentrated back on the moment, watching her lips as she kissed the backs of his fingers. A sigh left his chest, finally letting out a breath he had been holding in while in thought, and as she placed his arms around her, he splayed his fingers out across her back, just concentrating on the feeling of her skin under his fingers.

Duke watched her eyes, taking another deep breath at her words. His nickname sounded different falling off her lips, now. It rang like a welcome bell in the quiet RV and Duke softened his face. Just the thought of Esme even wanting to be around him, alone, was still new. Sure, when he had first showed back up, seeing Mika back, he knew he could at least get her alone and talk to her. But it had never occurred to him that they could get this close as a duo…not a trio.

“Fine. But I don’t like it…” Duke muttered, turning his eyes down to Esme’s chin for a brief moment. He really didn’t like it. He wanted to fix it and fix it right then. He leaned into Esme’s touch. It was as if she was reading his mind, when she spoke his exact thoughts out loud, and he furrowed his brow. He shook his head against her hand and sighed, “No. I’d probably look worse. You know me…”, he chuckled sadly. He didn’t want to look at her as if she was broken or anything. He knew she could take care of herself, better than most. But the feeling was still there that he should have been there to back her up.

Duke just wanted to whisk her away from all this. He had a bad feeling about what was coming, and that feeling got worse every single time they came back banged up, and now? Standing in front of her, that feeling was almost painful in his chest. But he couldn’t dwell on it. He knew she could feel every single thing he was feeling, and the last thing he wanted was to bring her down. So, when she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, Duke sighed through his nose, pressing his lips to the top of her head. He smiled softly into her hair as she promised not to be upset with him for protecting her, something that she would NEVER have said back in the day.

He could feel a tiny bit of calm radiating off Esme, even if she wasn’t trying to calm him down, and he didn’t complain. He just took a deep breath against her hair, and then tilted his chin up to stare over her head. He brought a hand up, brushing it through her hair, and frowned when he found the stitches, “You cracked your head pretty good, didn’t you. Actually, you know what…I won’t…I won’t go there. You um…you need help makin’ that more presentable? I think I still remember that little loose braid thing from all our slumber parties.”

Duke forced out a little chuckle, also trying to lighten the mood, although he was worried about the obviously horrible wound that she had suffered to her head. He tightened his arms around her, and trailed his hands down to her lower back, rubbing his thumbs gently against her skin.

“And if we can cover up most of that blood, I’ll take you out…sweep you off your feet, and you might actually let me kiss you this time.” He teased, shrugging a shoulder, and laughed quietly, “Or take you home…pretend we’re strangers…”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

The next morning
Dean woke with a start from a nightmare, gasping as he flinched and his eyes opened wide to stare at the ceiling. He blinked a few times, trying to blink away the images of Mika’s death from the back of his mind. The nightmares were still there, every time he closed his eyes without fail. It seemed, however, as if he had slept quite a while, because his head was groggy and his eyes were sore, as if he had been there a while.

He reached over with his free hand, and picked up his phone, frowning at the time. This was the latest he had slept in a while. It was seven in the morning. He tossed his phone back on the night stand and turned his attention to the weight on his chest. He smiled, pulling himself closer to Lexi who at some point in the night had ended up turned away from him, curled up on his arm. He rolled to press his face into her hair and breathed her in, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against his chest.

“Good morning.” He murmured in a sleepy raspy voice, into her hair. He tilted his head up and nuzzled his nose against her ear with a soft smile, “We should probably get up before the banging on the door starts…”

Anya

Anya smiled as Sam brought her into his side, slinging her arm over his sweaty chest. She snuggled up to him and sighed, just feeling the difference in his gentle touches from the roughness of those same touches over the last hour. She was comfortable. She was safe. It was an odd feeling of safety, being so close to Sam, as if she had known him forever, and knew that he would protect her with his life.

She hummed silently at the feeling of him brushing his fingers over the skin of her arms, goosebumps forming at the light touch. And with his comment, Anya was reminded of exactly how new their connection was…and how innocent it had started. She laughed, her body shaking a bit against his side as the simplicity of the whole thing washed over her…again, like they were meant to end up…here.

“Definitely.” She signed, only able to sign half the word with her hand, using his chest as the base with another soft laugh. Moving herself up on the bed, she brought that hand to rest against his cheek, catching his eyes with her own for a second before pressing a loving and deep kiss to his lips. If this is how Sam was with someone he had barely met, her heart swelled with the thought of how he would treat someone he loved. How lucky that person would be. She broke the kiss, and a mischievous smirk crossed her face before she brought that same hand out in front of his face, signing just the number ‘2’. She raised her eyebrows, wondering if he would take the hint that she was proposing a ‘round two’ and then giggled, kissing him again.

—

The next morning

Anya barely stirred as her body alerted her that it was morning, and she had basically slept like the dead. She tensed her muscles against Sam’s side, made aware immediately that not only was she very sore, but Sam was still in bed. With a soft smile, she moved herself up on the bed with a little effort, wanting to be closer to his face. She then buried her face in the side of his neck, kissing him just behind his ear with his hair tickling her nose. She brought her hand up and buried it in his hair on the other side of his head, tempted to just watch him sleep.

There was no sound in the bunker, other than the slight rattling of the old metal upstairs, clanging and echoing through the halls. So, she had to assume that Dean and Lexi were still asleep, or if they were up, they were being very quiet. Everything echoed in the bunker. The thought brought her back to the teasing she had lobbed at Sam the night before about how ‘loud’ he seemed. Hopefully, Lexi and Dean had been too busy to notice.

The thought made her chuckle against his ear, her breath moving a bit of his hair in a way that made her smile wider. Today was going to be awkward. She just knew it. But at least the dam was broken. She would never look at Sam the same, and she was honestly…truly…okay with it.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean

Dean’s entire heart shattered when Mika wrenched her hand away from him, and then refused to look at him. It was a terror ripping through his chest that he normally only felt on hunts…when things went wrong. And then she said the words ‘you lied to me’, and Dean could have passed out from how hard he was holding his breath. He let it out in a shuddered sigh, and started to hold his hands up to defend himself…but he couldn’t.

“I know…I know…” Dean started, but as she continued, his heart fell into his stomach and he looked down. The feeling of seeing her like this all over again was so overwhelming that he could feel tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He would give anything to stop the verbal beating he was in for. He had never lied to her. It was the one thing that they had. Sure, she had lied to him but he had always been brutally honest with her. But this was something he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her about, until this moment. It killed him.

He glanced up at her face and he saw the tears falling down her cheeks as she somehow remained calm. He found his voice for a moment and shook his head, trying his best to diffuse the intense feeling in his brain that was burning like fire, “I um…I didn’t know how to tell you. I…I thought that it would just be something you didn’t have to know about, because it was in the past.”

Dean stopped trying to explain himself when Mika continued, bringing his hands up to cover his eyes as he leaned his elbows on his knees and squeezed his eyes closed. He pulled his hands away from his face when she asked if he was with Esme the day that he and Mika had run into each other, and he nodded, “Yeah…that was her.”, but she wasn’t actually asking him to confirm. She knew. Dean groaned as she called out how cold his actions were, calling Mika while he was sitting on the side of his and Esme’s bed. It’s what had brought the whole castle tumbling down in the first place. Esme knew. In a way, Mika and Esme both knew, he had to assume. His stomach cramped painfully and he covered his face again with a sigh.

And then came the hit. The words that he believed in his heart already were being said out loud. He deserved to lose them both. Esme walking away from him was definitely earned, and he definitely didn’t deserve Mika’s forgiveness after all these years. He would never have admitted to himself that he had almost strung Esme along with hopes that Mika would show back up, but that was exactly what he did. No matter how much he loved Esme, he still held that hope, and he deserved her walking away…

He almost groaned when Mika explained how she ended up in Ethan’s arms, a sore spot for him that he had fought down for years. He didn’t want to think about someone else touching her, comforting her, or even being in her life in a way that he should have been. He sat up straight, determined to give her the same time to spill that she had given him. As he looked at her, those tears spilled over, and he held no anger, just watching her face.

Then she broke through a part of his brain that seared like fire again, by laying out exactly how much Duke had saved her. Duke had been there for her when he wasn’t. Duke had diffused situations that he couldn’t, and likely took up for him with a smile on his face…protecting him while caring for Mika when Dean was shattering her heart to pieces. He lost the ability to contain his emotions when Mika looked him in the eyes, snarling his nose as a couple of tears fell, “I guess he doesn’t get enough credit for cleaning up my messes…”

Dean paused, watching her face with almost a pleading look gracing his own, “I lied to you. And for that I’m sorry. I did love her. I wanted to walk away from all of it because I couldn’t handle stumbling across you anymore, and she…she was the only reason I wasn’t crazy. I don’t blame you for trying to be happy. Not at all. And I don’t blame you for hating me. You don’t know how long I wanted you to just tell me you hated me.”

He took a deep breath, suddenly finding it hard to breathe, and reached a shaky hand out to place it on her knee, careful, as if she was going to just push him away, “I was so scared when she showed back up, because I didn’t know how to bridge that gap. I didn’t know how to be around someone I slept with…that I loved…that I never got closure with, and also look you in the eyes. So, I lied to you. I lied to everyone but most importantly you.”

As he finished what he would normally consider groveling, he sniffled and glanced toward the front door of the house, “And it was complicated even more when Duke showed up. Me and him…our falling out…a big part of it had to do with her. He’s been in love with her, well, probably since the first time she hugged him. I lost her then. And that lack of closure has brought back a jealousy that I can’t quite place.”

Dean gasped at his own words, and he tilted his head down with a groan. He just admitted to Mika, while she was pouring his heart out to him…that he was still jealous of Duke.

Cason

Cason chuckled at the thought of Natalia fighting with Sam. The size difference alone brought on a hilarious mental image. He couldn’t even decide if he would step in, if they were in a scuffle. Sam would never hurt Nat, but oh would it be funny to watch her wrestle him into submission. As Sam spoke up, Cason shook his head. Dean Winchester, the perpetual death wish with legs, of course he was a dangerous driver. Putting people in danger was kinda Dean’s thing, in Cason’s eyes.

As they pulled into the parking lot, Cason tapped his hands on his jeans, eager to get out of the car. He hated how slow the thing was, how loud the engine was, and how easy it was for humans to just get crunched in the wreckage…while he was in the car with three humans. The last thing he needed was to show up at the house as the sole survivor of a massive car crash.

He opened his door and climbed out of the car, popping the passenger door open for Anna, before walking around to Nat’s side, popping her door and reaching in to grab her hand and help her out of the car. He pulled her toward the door ahead of Sam and Anna. Reaching for the door, he gasped and pulled his hand back as it burned and turned red.

“What is it with Sioux Falls and friggin’ iron!” He hissed at Nat with frustration, gesturing for her to open the door for him, as he wasn’t wearing his jacket.

Anna

Anna rode most of the way to the restaurant with her head leaned against the window. She was still feeling a little iffy about how real her surroundings were, and honestly, as much as she wanted to try to enjoy herself, she wasn’t sure how possible that would be for a while. It sucked. She just wanted to enjoy that Sam was smiling, and Cason was okay and flirting and playing around with Nat. It was nice. The weather was nice. Everything was…nice.

But in the back of her mind, it was all too good to be true. She straightened up as they pulled into the bumpy parking lot of the restaurant. She reached for her door handle, but before she could pop the door, Cason already had and was gone. Smirking, she pushed the door open and stepped out, realizing as she looked down to flatten her shirt that her boots were still covered in blood. She sighed, tilting her head up to the sky to take a deep breath with her eyes closed, just taking in the cold air around her. After being in the panic room, there was something about the crisp air that just…felt good on her skin.

She stood for a moment, letting the others get out of the car, and then walked over to Sam, wrapping her tiny hand in his, linking their fingers as Cason attempted to open the door to the restaurant. When the door handle burned his hand, Anna brought a leather sleeve covered hand up to hide her laugh and she pulled herself closer to Sam’s side.

This was real. It had to be real.

Duke

Duke laughed, turning and flexing his arm like always as Esme slapped his arm. He shrugged, and tilted his head, “I mean, if you consider almost drownin’, you gettin’ drunk because you’re a light weight and were being a drink hoarder, and then sweepin’ you off your feet with my dancin’ skills playin’ dirty, then fine. Guilty as charged.”

He chuckled and started the walk across the yard when he noticed that she was looking at their clothes. The action caused him to look down at his own clothes, and he sighed, realizing he was still in bloody jeans and only a flannel. As he ran his fingers down his chest, he nodded, “Yeah. Let’s um…not scare the hell out of the locals. C’mon…”

He walked with her across the yard, around to the covered carport. Her arm around him was so familiar, and yet it almost felt like they were sneaking around, like Dean was going to run out that door at any minute and start ranting. Duke smirked, realizing that it wasn’t even Dean’s place anymore, and he gently put an arm around Esme’s shoulders, careful to keep his touch closer to her neck. As her words about Sarah pulled him out of his thoughts, he glanced around as if he could see Sarah and shook his head, “I ain’t gonna lie, I’ll never get used to her being around but thank you Sarah!”, he beamed with a goofy smile. He didn’t want her to even think about the barn. He didn’t want her to think about him dying, even though he knew that it was a conversation that would come out eventually.

As they reached the RV, he reached up to open the door while she was grabbing her bag, but she reached up before he could and stepped in like she owned the place. It made him smile behind her head, and he grabbed his own bag and followed her inside. He stepped over to his bed, and tossed his bag down, suddenly super relieved to just have his stuff. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a fresh pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, tossing them on the mattress beside his bag. He stepped out of his jeans quickly, and with a bit of a wince, he shrugged the bloody flannel off his shoulders before removing his hat and tossing it on the sink.

“Don’t go gettin’ dressed without me. I’ll help you out, alright?” He called over his shoulder, as he heard her hiss, just at the action of pulling off her jacket. Duke pulled his jeans on, not even getting them buttoned as he turned to check on her. Seeing that she was already working on her clothes, he frowned, “Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on, I said!”

He took one wide step across the tight space and grabbed both her hands, lowering them to her sides before bringing his hands back up to her shoulders. He gripped the collar of her flannel with both hands, gently pushing it over her shoulders and down her arms, pulling her arms back as gently as he could to whisk it away from her hands. He tossed it onto the couch and then reached for the hem of her tank top.

“Careful…” Duke whispered seriously, frowning with a soft sigh as he looked over the bruises and other injuries that were visible now that her upper body was more uncovered. He swallowed heavily, and began pulling the fabric up, slowly raising her arms above her head. He pulled the fabric over her arms, tossing it behind him, and quickly wrapping his hands around her wrists above her head to help her lower them as slowly as he could. He took another shuddered breath, “I didn’t know it was that bad. I should have come and checked on you…”

As he spoke, he turned his eyes down to the button of her jeans, and he stopped with a sigh. After a couple of seconds to collect himself, he knelt in front of her, tapping her foot to have her raise it so he could remove her boots, removing one, then tapping and removing the other. He didn’t stand, simply looking up at her as he reached up and unbuttoned her jeans, careful as he tugged at them, pulling them off her hips to pool at her feet. He tapped at each of her legs again, and shoved her jeans aside, standing back up. He stood for a moment in front of her, brushing his fingers over the bruises around her neck and chest. His fingers then found their way down her sides, over the bruises there and he sighed again.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”, he asked, his voice raspy and remorseful. The fact that he wasn’t there to take care of her, so that she never got this hurt, killed him. His carelessness in the fight had got him killed…and the only thing he could think about was how he missed protecting her. He hadn’t been there, and now, here she stood in front of him, bruised and cut up, and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean raised his eyebrows, and caught Lexi’s eyes as she looked up at him. He wasn’t sure how she was going to react to him asking if she wanted to stay, until she explained that she would love to. She would love to. He didn’t even think about Sam’s opinion of the decision in that moment. Just hearing her say it, and feeling her touch on his cheek was enough for him. He wouldn’t be able to let her leave if she tried, without practically begging her to stay. He was hooked.

“O-okay. Well, I guess it’s good that you got your own room.” Dean joked lightly, as her thumb continued stroking his cheek. It was a motion that felt almost too intimate and under normal circumstances, he would have reached up and removed her hand from his face, placing it on his chest to keep any awkward attachment from forming in his stomach. But he didn’t. He just let her, letting a smile tease at the corners of his mouth.

As she pulled herself up and kissed him, he sighed happily into the kiss, kissing her back. The temptation to hold her there and just kiss her all night crossed his mind, but he relaxed his shoulders and just tightened his arm around her as she laid back down in her original position.

“Oh yeah?” Dean asked in response to her comment about Sam bringing her home. He chuckled lightly, and smiled up at the ceiling. Then he tilted his head and sighed happily, “I think you might be right.”

Anya

Anya shuddered as the little noises Sam made echoed through her brain. As soon as her back hit the mattress, she smiled brightly as Sam instantly appeared above her. If their body language with each other was this easy, she could imagine herself becoming a bit clingy. It was something she would have to remind herself…not to do, later on. In this moment, clingy was good, and there was no way she was pulling away from him, now.

As his lips met hers again, Anya’s hands raked up his bare back, and into his hair, pressing their lips together so tightly she was afraid that she might hurt his teeth. As he pulled away, though, she was afraid he had changed his mind, only to glance down and watch as Sam quickly worked through the buckle of his belt and the button of his jeans. The quickness of it all made her chuckle softly. Experienced and eager…it made her heart flutter.

His words brought her out of her thoughts and she came back to his eyes, her hands still in his hair as he double checked to make sure they weren’t making some sort of mistake. A smile covered her lips, and she nodded, pulling roughly against the back of his head to bring his lips back to hers. As she did, she wrapped a leg around his waist, pulling his hips down.

Of course she was sure.

——-

A little while later

Anya smiled as she lay there, staring at the ceiling. One arm was raised above her head, twirling her own hair against the pillow and the other was draped over her torso as she let out a sigh through her labored breathing. As she unraveled her hair from her finger, she trailed her fingers down the side of her face, over her neck where she felt the growing bruises there and the thought just made her smile brighter with a giggle that moved her body.

She didn’t know how many bruises and scrapes they both had on their bodies at this point, as everything had kind of blurred together. She did know, however, that if there was anything visible, Dean would never shut up about it.

Either way, it was a good sore. She could handle a little teasing from Dean. She had a passing feeling that she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. Glancing over, she smiled at Sam with sleepy eyes and then brought both her hands up lazily to sign a simple: “Fire…”

All Roads Lead To You

Duke and Dean

Duke stepped away from Bobby after promising to help him with the Chevelle later on, and walked across the lot. As he entered the covered garage area, his heart began to beat a little faster. Coming face to face with Dean after a month away never went well. He slowly approached the house, reaching up to press his hat further down on his head and then opened the back door. The first person he saw was Dean, sitting at the table with a map and a sharpie. He figured Bobby had him on information duty, and sure enough, the closer he got, he could see that the case was already started. Dean was just pouring over notes.

“Mornin’.” Duke called to him, walking around the back of his chair. Dean didn’t say anything at first, as he kept drawing the line he was in the middle of, but when Duke wrapped an arm around his neck, Dean sighed and patted his arm.

“Morning. Where you coming from?” Dean asked and Duke shrugged his shoulders.

“Iowa. North Dakota. Few places. I feel worse than I look and I look better than I did when I left. So, that’s a win, right?” Duke joked, tossing his bag into one of the kitchen chairs. It was then that his eyes fell on Esme and he sighed, “Hey there beautiful. Good to see you’re still here…I guess.”

“We’ve been here the whole time. You got any broken bones?”

“No. Just a busted eye and some scrapes and bruises. Nothin’ bad.” Duke murmured back to Dean, before turning his attention back to Esme, “You look better than the last time I saw you. I should leave more often.”

“Well…no broken bones and you don’t seem on the verge of death. So, why did you come back so early?” Dean grumbled. And Duke sighed.

“Because I missed my house. I can’t miss you guys? We should go out tonight…the three of us. My treat.” Duke diffused Dean, definitely not wanting the fight he knew Dean was trying to start. He wasn’t really feeling the whole ‘where were you? What were you doing? Why do you always run? You’re a horrible son…blahblahblah’ at the moment. “We wanna go out together? What the hell happened while I was gone?”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean

Dean chased Mika’s lips as she pulled away from his kiss, and he frowned, looking down into her eyes. He scanned her eyes as she asked if he was okay and nodded, “Yeah. Yeah I’m fine…”, he muttered, taking a small step back to prevent himself from just kissing her again to prolong the inevitable. With the house silent, he was pretty sure the conversation he was trying to avoid was going to come up. It was going to hurt…no matter how he worded things.

When Mika brought up the conversation, Dean nodded, glancing down at the floor while pressing his lips together. He wanted to tell her ‘why don’t we just wait until after we’re done with the seals’ or anything to prolong things, but truth was, there might not be another time that they could have that conversation.

He followed her into the living room, “Yeah, we might as well use the privacy…”, he sighed, walking around to sit on the couch. As he sank down beside her on the couch, he avoided her eyes for a moment, until she spoke again, and he forced himself to turn and look at her.

“Um…So where to start.” He pondered, bringing a hand up and rubbing at his lips awkwardly for a moment, before dropping the hand back into his lap. He sat on the edge of the couch, as if he was on edge and ready to just run away the second things got awkward. “When um…when you left…”

He broke off for a second, fighting down the shaking in his voice, “I was on a hunt with dad. I was on a suicide run, blaze of glory ‘going out on my terms’ stint. Then, she showed up. She was younger and there was just something about her. She was able to take care of herself. She didn’t need any of us, even if we helped against her will. And after the hunt, we got to talking and found out that we had quite a bit in common…at least enough to be friends.”

“Well there was a point where we lost contact, and I went into a spiral. I think it was somewhere around the time me and you first met back up. I couldn’t handle the loss all over again, and I decided just to drink myself to death…I guess. It’s not like I had Sam and Duke was gone about half the time. I was lost…and there she was.” Dean shrugged, barely glancing up to look at Mika, before glancing to the wall behind her, “She wouldn’t let me kill myself. She wouldn’t let me give up. She was insistent. It was annoying at first, actually. I resented her, but I couldn’t…not really. She saved me and we grew closer. Bobby took us both in.”

Dean paused again and glanced toward the stairs, memories of the three of them drunk and trying to find their way to bed, only to end up all piled up together in various states of undress all over the room flooded his brain. He sighed, “And I fell in love with her. I won’t lie to you about that. I loved her so much.”

Before Dean continued, he reached his hand out and picked Mika’s up off her knee, as if he was afraid she would suddenly stand up and run off. It wouldn’t have been the first time, but he didn’t want to watch her leave…not again.

“I offered to settle down with her, to quit hunting and just…be together. I wanted to give her that normal life. I wanted to try. And she turned me down. I was still in love with you. She could feel it. No matter how much I loved her, she could feel that I would always find my way back to you. And she left me.” Dean said the last part almost incredulously, as if he had never said it out loud before, and as if it sounded ridiculous.

Esme leaving had brought on the worst fight he and Duke ever had. Duke blamed him. Duke accused him of pushing her away, of trying to hold onto both Esme and Mika. Duke hated him for a while after that.

“And Duke…hated me for driving her away.”

He let the room go silent for a few moments, figuring she would have a lot of questions, but also, he couldn’t decide on how to admit to Mika that he had lied to her about how deep the relationship with Esme had gone. He had told Mika that they hadn’t even been together long, or had sex…which was completely untrue.

“If you wanna ask anything…I’ll answer. Anything you want.” He choked out, trying to keep his guilty emotions in check.

Anna and Cason

Cason smiled brightly as Natalia stepped outside and saw her car. She had the exact reaction he had hoped she would have. Cason shrugged sheepishly and his smile widened as she pointed out how happy the simple (to him) action made her, “I just called in a few favors…that’s all. Plus, I’ve grown fond of the death trap…”

He let her go, watching the way that she treated the car much like, her brother seemed to treat his own. It was weird how much she and Dean had in common, even as close as she was with Sam. When Sam called out that he would drive, Cason nodded quickly pointing at Sam, “Yeah. I definitely agree. You need to rest and take care of yourself and…be lazy. Completely lazy. Like…hand fed kind of lazy.”, he teased her.

Anna followed Sam out the door, as he drug her to meet up with Nat and Cason. The cold air hit her instantly, and she was tempted to go and get her jacket from Duke’s truck. She hadn’t even thought about it that morning, but she regretted it, now. As if sensing her frustration, the second Sam let go of her, Cason stepped up and shrugged off his jacket, tossing it over Anna’s head with a chuckle.

“Don’t want you freezing to death.” He joked, and Anna couldn’t help the soft laugh that she breathed out under the curtain of hair and leather. She pulled the jacket down and shrugged her arms into it, wiping the smile off her face as she nodded a thanks to him. He sat down in the back seat without another word, and Anna took that as a sign to get in the passenger seat next to Sam.

“Thanks, Cason…” Anna called back to him, settling in her seat and looking over at Sam as he and Nat talked about where to go eat. She was honestly starving, but she didn’t trust her feelings anymore and wondered in the back of her mind if it was the proximity to Cason making her feel hungry. “I could eat. I don’t think I’ve eaten in a few days…I don’t remember.”

“Well then, burgers for the girls, then!” Cason called out, settling uncomfortably in the back seat. He hated cars. Nat knew that. But now that Sam was driving? He was even more nervous, “Just try not to drive like a maniac, alright Sam?”

Duke

Duke’s heart sank for a moment when Esme closed her eyes and nuzzled his forehead. He considered the way she did so, wondering if he had said something that was going to bring this entire thing crumbling down between them. Asking her to leave Dean was bold, maybe even now, it was bold. But then she opened her eyes and brought her hands up to hold his face and his heart fluttered a bit with hope. That flutter turned into an absolute explosion that forced out an overwhelmed sigh when she said that she would absolutely run away with him, but she echoed his exact thoughts about leaving the group. If they left the group, the group would be in more danger than if they just stayed.

“I know…” Duke whispered, ready to concede to just snuggling up on the couch with the tv or whatever she wanted to do. But she mentioned going out with him, and he raised his eyebrows, letting her continue as a smile began to rise on his face, especially when she kissed his nose. He tilted his head to the side, scrunching his face up like he was thinking, and completely missed Sarah being sent after his hat. He thought it was long gone after the incident in the barn.

“I mean, I wouldn’t complain about a little bar action. We always had fun at the bar…got in a little trouble at times, but we had fun.” He teased. He leaned into the gentle brushing of Esme’s fingers against his forehead. But flinched when his hat was placed on his head, making him feel strangely whole again. He brought a hand up, running his fingers along the edge of the brim with a chuckle, “Someone saved my hat. Well…I feel better already.”

As he turned his eyes down to look at Esme’s face, he raised his eyebrows again at the mischievous look on her face. He knew that face. As soon as she said what was making her eyes light up like that, Duke broke out in a laugh that caused him to wrap his arm around his stomach, “Ow. Okay…okay. So, possible drinkin’. Ramblin’ around…then gettin’ naked in the old lake back there, like the old days? I mean, I don’t know if I can say no to that proposal Sweet Pea.”

He stretched back, laughing again as he held his stomach and then shook his head, suddenly feeling lighter…and younger. Only this time, she was his. She was fully with him.

“I think it’s a little cold for swimmin’ but I’m sure we can find some trouble. I’ll be shrinkin’ up in all the wrong spots. Phew." Duke scrunched his nose up, briefly bringing a hand in front of his crotch with a worried but teasing look on his face. "Can't have that...Raskins? I almost got a kiss out of you the last time we were there.” He teased, nodding toward his truck in the parking lot.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Lexi matching his wit was enough to make Dean punch drunk. He felt almost giggly, as she didn’t miss any beats and seemed to genuinely enjoy his company. He didn’t know what the feeling was supposed to be called, but whatever it was, he didn’t mind it all that much. New romance? Budding love? Ew. Love. But Love?

As Dean’s thoughts rattled around in his buzzed brain, Lexi agreed with his joke about falling into bed together more often. He removed his arm from his face and looked down at her, raising his eyebrows before his face fell into a proud smile. So, she was going to be around. Nice. As she began tracing circles on his chest, Dean brought his own hand down to draw tiny little figure eights between her bare shoulder blades.

He couldn’t help but feel loss already, at the thought of her leaving. Even though she had shown no sign of wanting to, or needing to. He knew how hunters were. As soon as her car was fixed up, she would be gone, and he would…miss her? He had only known her a few days but they clicked in a way he couldn’t quite place. He gulped down the sad thought and pulled her a little closer, “You know, I was thinking…you could just stay here, you know. We have plenty of room and I don’t think Sam would mind. I wouldn’t mind picking your brain a bit…”

Dean snarled his nose at how cheesy it all sounded, like he was begging her to stay. He took a deep breath, “Not that I’m trying to, you know, convince you of anything. I was just thinking if you wanted to…”

Anya

Anya gasped, her mouth opening into the kiss as Sam’s kiss became a bit more rough, and his large hands slid up her torso. There was the touch she was looking for. She lowered her hips against him, pressing her knees forward to press their hips as tightly together as possible, and followed his lead, kissing him rough and deep.

After a few moments, Anya shuddered and broke the kiss, only long enough to reach for the hem of the large shirt keeping her from feeling him on her skin. She pulled it up and over her head, tossing it to the foot of the bed and then instantly reached for the hem of Sam’s shirt, struggling but eventually pulling it over his head with a giggle at how his long hair ruffled out around his face.

She brushed the hair away with her finger tips and a wide, but hazy smile, the action feeling way too intimate and loving. She gently pushed his hair back behind his ears, her smile dropping slowly as she just breathed him in, an unfamiliar flutter in her stomach causing her mouth to drop open. It wasn’t a feeling she had ever felt under the gaze of anyone, and she could stay there forever, just watching his face.

But she knew he wouldn’t allow that. Not after all the teasing. So, she crashed her lips roughly into his, tugging at his bottom lip with his teeth, as she pressed their bare chests together, just long enough to lean to her side. She released him, and laid back on the bed, reaching her arms out for Sam.

Sam might be more of a gentleman than his brother, but he was dangerous. She could feel that after tonight, she could easily become addicted…and that could be a problem.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean

Dean stepped through the living room, barely glancing up at Esme as he passed. He didn’t want her judgement or her chiming in on his relationship with Duke. He and Duke had a complicated one, and Esme knew that. The fought. They came back together. They fought more. They came back together, and while Dean wasn’t the best at smoothing things over in an actually constructive way, they never seemed to lose each other. At least in Dean’s mind, that is.

He stepped into the kitchen and sighed, walking up to stand beside Mika. He crossed his arms, just leaning back against the wall. He glanced over at her before staring at the floor, as a memory came into his mind like a freight train, just seeing Mika zoned out.

Autumn - 3 years ago

Dean laughed at a joke that Esme had made, their relationship at probably the most calm it had ever been, since Duke had left and left both of them with no one to worry about but themselves. Dean pulled Esme closer, and touched a trinket on one of the magic shop shelves. The clerk behind the counter sighed, as Dean’s hands seemed to land on just about everything, like a teenager that was planning to steal them blind.

“This one is cute. Means nothing…but it’s cute.” He chuckled, as he made the necklace swing against the shelf it was hung above. Absentmindedly, Dean glanced out the window, and his heart stopped as he saw what he could only assume was a false memory standing there. Mika stood, looking a bit roughed up, but beautiful to him as her hair blew in the light breeze outside. As she turned her head, Dean panicked and turned his head back down, clearing his throat awkwardly as he pulled Esme close. If it was a visage of some sort, he had to get it out of his head. He tilted his head down, pulling her chin up and passionately kissed her out of nowhere.

It took a moment for him to convince himself it was enough to make Mika disappear and sure enough, when he broke the kiss and glanced back up to the window, she was gone. His heart fell into his stomach, and he was instantly tempted to run out that door and see where she went, try to stop her, try to convince her to talk to him…but he didn’t. He stood there, the way the wind blew her hair playing over and over in his mind, until the clerk cleared her throat again and asked if he and Esme were going to buy anything.

——

Coming out of the memory, Dean suddenly turned and placed a hand on Mika’s cheek, kissing her out of nowhere as if they were the only people in the room.

Cason and Anna

Anna nearly broke out in a giggle when Nat told her she was awesome for putting up with Sam. Truth was, Sam was pretty amazing for putting up with her. She had been a mess from the moment that she had come back into his life, and she knew there were times it had to be too much. She nodded her head and sighed, “Noted. I’m glad that at least I fit in with the mess…”

Cason opened his mouth to speak when Nat said she was going to grab her boots. He was tempted to follow her, or pop into the room without her permission or asking, but he decided against it, dropping his shoulders, “I will be here. Don’t be too long.”

Sam speaking to him caught him off guard, and he raised an eyebrow as he looked up at Sam. He couldn’t see Sam being polite to him in any way and was half expecting the threats to start, but the guy was being legitimately polite. Cason smiled and chuckled, shaking his head, “I’ll take the quirks. As long as she’s safe. That’s what I’m here for. I know it’s hard to believe, but there’s no ulterior motive…”

“He knows. We know.” Anna spoke up, looking into Cason’s eyes with a small raise of the corners of her mouth. Cason rolled his eyes at her but he matched her almost smile, and looked across to the living room door, waiting patiently for Nat to come back. Something about being alone with the Winchesters would never be comfortable.

As Nat showed back up, Cason reached for her, pulling her in close as they prepared to leave. He didn’t wait for Sam to follow, just wrapping his arm around Nat and stepping out the back door. He was rather excited for Nat to see that he had managed to call in some favors to retrieve her car. The last thing he had wanted to do was walk out to the parking lot and for her to be reminded about it.

Duke

Duke almost cringed away from Esme as she brought her hands up to his face, and wiped the tears away from his cheeks. He still wasn’t sure how he wanted to bridge the gap of letting her see him cry. He wasn’t an overly emotional person, and he was the fixer…the one who made other people laugh when they were down. He didn’t ask that anyone returned the favor. Her words, requesting that he didn’t hide those emotions elicited a thick swallow from him, but he nodded obediently without speaking.

He sighed through his nose as she agreed to leave with him, leaning up and kissing his lips. It was the first time he had ever asked her to run away with him, and he had a feeling that she wasn’t actually planning to leave the group, even if he asked her to. He would take any separation he could, even if it meant just going for a walk to get his feet back underneath him, and run some of the frustration out.

Unfortunately, the kitchen was crowded, and the last thing Duke wanted to do was make eye contact with Dean after the conversation they had just had. It would be awkward, and there was no way Dean couldn’t read all over his face that he was not completely okay with the outcome. Thankfully, Esme dragged him toward the front door, and he followed, stepping out onto the porch. The Hellhound bark caused him to flinch really hard, and he brought a hand up to his chest, as if he could calm his heart while watching Esme talk to the dog.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that…” he muttered breathlessly, glancing back at the open door of the house as it moved a bit, and the Hellhound entered and exited with their bags. Duke wrapped his arm around Esme’s back as she came back to him, and took his own deep breath of the cold night air. It reminded him of a time that he came back to Bobby’s around this time of year, and the air was just beginning to get cold enough for a jacket. He could still hear Esme’s laugh and the crunch of the leaves under her boots, during a brief couple of weeks they were alone…without Dean.

Esme’s hands on his hips stopped him in his tracks and he shook himself out of the vivid memory as her boots crunched the leaves at his feet. He turned his eyes down to her, sniffling and dropped his shoulders at her assessment. He didn’t want her to worry about him. He had made that clear to her, and yet here she was…worrying, “I’m fine…”

But she was right with her next words. She could read him like a book. She always could. Duke tilted his head to the side and then looked at the ground with a nod. It was the same cycle, all over again. He turned his eyes back to hers and squinted in frustration, “I would like to agree with the whole tyin’ him to a chair and makin’ him listen thing…but I don’t think it would work. He would wait patiently until you finished and took the tape off, and then he would tell you all the reasons he’s not wrong. It’s just who he is and I gotta stop tryin’, man…”

Duke shook his head sadly, glancing up over Esme’s head briefly, before back down at her eyes, “But that ain’t your problem. You know how this goes. For me and him…this is fine. This is as good as it gets.”

It was then that he was tempted to ask her to run away with him. But he couldn’t. She was in no state to travel, really and with everything going on, both of them were targets that would drag Dean into a trap…especially if they were together. He sighed and reached up, cupping both her cheeks as he pressed his forehead to hers, “I wish we could run away together. I wish this whole Angels and Demons battle wasn’t goin’ on and we could just run away. Would you run away with me?”

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean brushed his fingers through his sweaty hair as he lay still, catching his breath. Lexi’s bed suddenly felt more comfortable than his ever had as she lay on his chest, perfectly fitting right there, as if they had known each other forever. The images and sounds from the last hour would be seared into his brain for life, he figured, as he shook himself from his thoughts with the sound of her voice.

Her comment made him laugh breathlessly, a bright and relaxed smile on his face as he tilted his head to press a kiss to her forehead, his hand wrapping around to brush some stray sweaty hair away from her face, “Well, that’s good to know. But I could say the same about you. Jesus…”

Dean chuckled again, using humor to hide the serious feelings that were bubbling into his mind. He glanced down at the top of Lexi’s head, and flashes from their time together flooded his mind again, the sounds echoing through his brain causing his heart to flutter. He couldn’t tell if that flutter was anxiety, excitement, or a rush of something else. Either way, he wasn’t going to ruin it…not now.

“I’ve been thinking about this since the first time we touched, as pathetic as that sounds.” Dean grumbled, covering his eyes with his free arm. Then he laughed out of nowhere, “We should meet like this more often, darlin’.”

Anya

Anya chewed at her bottom lip when she felt Sam’s hands on her thighs. It seemed her teasing had worked, and when he voiced it out loud, she raised her eyebrows and shrugged as if to say ‘guilty as charged, I guess’ and then she laughed silently. She waited for a moment, toying with his hair as she stared into his eyes. There were a million things she wished she could say, if she had a voice. But she could use her touch.

She tightened her grip on the sides of Sam’s hair, tangling her fingers in the strands before pressing her forehead against him, moving her hips a bit to remind herself that he was touching her. She brushed his nose with hers, breathing against his lips as she pressed her chest against his, feeling his warmth there.

Anya brought one hand down, trailing it over his ear and down the side of his neck, feather soft touch that she knew would bring goosebumps to his skin. She let that hand trail over his shoulder and onto his back, tightening her grip to climb onto his lap, pressing her hips tightly to his. She slowly tilted her head and kissed him deeply, slow and gentle as if teasing his obvious urges, now that they were alone.

They had nothing but time…and each other, and all she could think about as the goosebumps formed under his fingers was ‘who is Sam Winchester behind closed doors?’ And ‘what version of him will be reserved only for me?’ As if she never planned to leave this place…