"So, I noticed," Dean began after they'd ordered, "that your style changed a few months after you started with us. Do you remember that?"

"Yeah," Gen said, nodding, "I do. That was a decision."

"What happened? It wasn't like to found your groove. You just, like, completely changed."

"The way you fight and hunt when you're alone is different to when you're with others. Which is so duh, but I didn't realise how much right away. I was trying to do my thing alongside you two, but it wasn't working. I was getting in the way sometimes. Like, I was still effective, but we-" she gestured wider, "-we weren't as good as we could be. And you guys have already got you guys figured out. So I shifted. I do the edges, fill in the gaps."

"Work your advantages."

"Yeah, I can be small, and accurate and quiet. Not that you guys can't, but sometimes the job won't let you."

"Yeah…" Dean thought about it. He could recall all those times she'd come out of nowhere, slicing or shooting, even with arrows a few times. She could be stealthy, and no one seemed to expect a third wheel to the Winchesters. "What were you like alone?"

"Distant. I did as much as I could with a gun or a crossbow. Disable something with a poison tip and then go in for the kill, that sort of stuff. Lots of recon. There was a time where I worked by remote so much I had to go looking for fights just to brush up."

Dean almost choked on his beer. "Sorry. How did that work?"

"One time," she described, half embarrassed, "I was trying to get this martial arts teacher to believe what I wanted. Him and me, in a car park, jeans and jackets, and a short stick for a fake machete." Dean started to bounce his shoulders from laughing. "I couldn't tell if he was scared for me or himself," she smiled sheepishly. "I ended up pretending to be a guy by a bar, poking someone till he threw the first punch. It was pathetic."

Dean was laughing openly now. "Desperate times," he shook his head and drank again.

"I did find one guy early on," she leaned in, "a victim. He was an aspiring cage fighter and fought a vampire attack – just one on one – and he did really well, but it was dark and crowded and he couldn't get the distance. Without knowing what he was fighting I'm not sure he could've won. After I finished it he was pretty grateful and I asked him to let me fight him for practice, as a thank you."

"Really?" Dean was leaning in too now, curious and impressed. "That's pretty gutsy. I mean, with monsters you know their deal. People can be pretty crazy. And cage fighting's intense."

"Yeah, I know," she reflected on the risk, "but it was good. I picked the location, I set the rules. I gave him instructions about what to go at, my neck or whatever, and we'd keep score. It wasn't like the fighting he was used to, because I kept running. It was awesome."

Dean stared at her for a bit. This regular woman, with apparently glamorous eyes, who went a night with an amateur cage fighter. She added, to play it down, "He was really a beginner. He'd only done, like, two fights. And I'm sure he went easy. But still, after an hour I walked away with cuts and bruises and light concussion."

"You walked away."

"Exactly," she nodded and leaned back with her wine.

"Wow," he breathed, "would you do it again?"

"I did, once more, but he wanted to come with me and do the next hunt. I called it quits after a quarter hour. He got too excited, went too hard, ended up in cuffs… I couldn't figure out what to say to get him off the idea."

"Delusions of grandeur?"

"More like realising that cage fighting's kinda is safe, I think. Which is crazy… But he had family… Anyway, I drove to the next state that night. Never again."

Dean nodded. She smiled. They drank.

"Gotta say Gen," he'd wanted to say this for a while, "I love the way you fight. I mean, I still worry, coz you're small-"

"I'm five-eight!"

"-so small, but you're so neat about it. And creative. You're so focused."

"I like the flow," she said, without even thinking, "and the adrenaline is a little addictive… but thank you. You - you and Sam - you're goddam impressive. I've learned a lot from you two."

"Aw, am I blushing," he jeered.

"Tell me about your first djinn again grandpa?"

"You watch it," he pointed at her. He hadn't seen the look she threw right then, he hadn't yet seen that kind of daring mischievous glint. It made his breath hitch. But she dropped it almost instantly.

"Honestly," Gen went on, "I'm not sure I'll ever be as good as you two."

Dean considered the compliment, and how it was heavy with bitterness. Only through all their misfortune could they be this kind of experienced. "Well, it's kinda hard when you're only one."

She let it go.

And they relaxed. Completely.