Back at the apartment, Claire went straight to her bedroom, and curled up on the bed, putting on her Netflix and staring at the TV, not absorbing any of the show in front of her. She cuddled up to a cushion, and tried not to let the weight of the weekend press down on her.

She failed. She kept thinking back to that game, to how she'd tried to protect Alex from Dean's curiosity. How she should have just kept her mouth shut with the cheerleaders, but how that probably wouldn't have made any difference in the end. And how stupid she was, how easily she let them surround her and just took the beating. Like she thought she deserved it.

The tears rolled along her cheeks, soaking the edges of her bandages, just as her door creaked open. She refused to look over at the person disturbing her privacy. They sat next to her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into their side. She spotted the carton of ice cream in their other hand, two spoons already stuck in.

"My mom swore by ice cream when she felt bad," Jack spoke quietly, offering her the tub. "And you're not being yourself right now, so … ice cream?"

Claire took a spoon, and dug out a huge chunk of gooey chocolatey goodness. Jack did the same after wedging the pot between them. They ate about a quarter of the pot in silence before Jack started talking again.

"So, can I ask why you didn't want to talk to your girlfriend earlier?"

Claire poked around in the ice cream tub rather than answer.

"She's worried about you."

She looked up sharply, and Jack gave her an innocent smile. He looked like butter wouldn't melt, but she knew there was a lot going on in his head. He had probably already worked out what had happened, or enough of it.

"She feels guilty." Claire deflected.

"Why? She didn't hit you." Jack didn't make a big deal of the fact it was the first thing Claire had said in days.

"Exactly."

"And you're mad at her." It wasn't a question, which Claire was grateful for.

"Yep."

"Why?" Jack swiped a lump of chocolate out of the carton that Claire had been eyeballing. "I mean, she wasn't involved in what happened. I know Uncle Cas said she was a cheerleader and they think the cheerleaders did this to you, but why would she join in and why would you be mad at her if she didn't?"

Claire clammed up again. Jack had made it sound so reasonable, so logical, and it would have been so easy to tell him the whole truth, but Claire had promised not to say anything about Alex being kicked out of cheerleading. And though she was mad at her girlfriend, she wasn't going to spill her secrets.

"Claire?"

"My nose hurts. I think I want to nap." She stuck her spoon in the ice cream and laid down, turning away from him. It took Jack a couple of minutes to realise she was serious, and leave the room.

In the morning, Claire woke to an empty apartment. Dean was at work, Castiel in the bookstore and Jack must have gone to school. Claire got changed into jeans and a sweater, and headed into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror properly for the first time since the game. Her eye sockets were mottled blue and purple, and her nose bandage spread across her face, tugging on her cheeks and her upper lip. Everything around the bandage was puffy. And staring at herself in the mirror was making her feel lightheaded, so she made her way to the sofa in the living room, holding on to the walls and sideboards until she made it safely to the sofa. Jack's cover was thrown over the back of the cushions, and Claire wrapped herself in it, waiting for the room to stop spinning.

She felt pathetic. Humiliated that the other girls had taken her by surprise so easily, that she hadn't fought back hard enough and now she was a fricking victim. Angry that she had let this happen in the first place, and angry that covering for Alex had led to this. If she had been allowed to confront that Chelsea when she wanted to, if she could have given Dean a heads up about what was going on in his own school, then maybe she'd be in class right now, getting mildly excited by Kaia's ideas at lunch period, grateful for Patience's cool, logical approach that tempered their youngest friend.

Even her last school hadn't been that bad. She would have still been there if it hadn't been for that faulty bunsen burner knocking over. But then Dean wouldn't be part of their family, and she might not have bonded well with Castiel, still angry at him for a situation she'd only been given one side of …

Castiel came into the apartment for his lunch break, and smiled at Claire as he settled in the nearby armchair with a pot of ramen noodles.

"I hope it's okay we kept you off school today. I didn't think you'd be up to it."

"I'm not. I got dizzy just coming in here."

"How are you now?"

Claire shrugged, as Castiel ate a huge mouthful of noodles.

"Dad?" She asked while he was still chewing. "I want to be homeschooled."

He chewed furiously, and swallowed hard.

"Homeschooled? Why?"

"Because I don't want to go back there."

Castiel put his noodles down.

"Claire, don't let them chase you away. That's what bigots like that want-"

"They're not chasing me," Claire interrupted, sounding more sure of herself than she had for a while. "I just feel like there's been a lot of drama and I don't need any more. It wouldn't be forever, just maybe for the rest of the year? That's only a couple of months away. Dean could bring my schoolwork every evening and I'll work on it when he brings it over, and then he can take it in the morning with him. And I could help out in the store as well."

Castiel looked down at his noodles, sitting there uneaten.

"What about Alex? And your new friends? Dean was excited for you to get involved in the LGBT group. I think if you don't go back you might regret it."

"If they're my friends, they'll still be my friends when I go back, we'll stay in touch."

"I'll think about it," Castiel picked his lunch back up. Claire didn't point out that it was Tuesday and she still wasn't back at school because of his decisions. Instead, she let him eat, and fuss over some painkillers for her. As he was going back to the store for his afternoon shift, Claire spoke up again.

"Dad? If Alex comes by, don't let her in. I don't want to see her."

Castiel had been at the door, about to leave the apartment, but he turned and looked at her, appraising her from where he stood.

"Is this something to do with her not being there on Saturday?"

She could have told him so easily, but he would tell Dean and then it would be an even bigger drama.

"I just don't want her to see me with my bandages on."

Castiel paused for a moment before nodding. After all, he didn't know she had been awake when Alex had been in the hospital, and no one had mentioned her girlfriend visiting, so he couldn't blame her for that sentiment.

"Okay. I think she's trying to avoid Dean anyway."

He left the room, and Claire deflated on the sofa. At least she had bought time away from Alex. She was way too angry with her girlfriend to want to see her.

At dinner that night, Castiel brought up the subject. Claire was finding it hard to eat around her nose guard, and Dean had barely looked up from his plate since the meal was served.

"Claire wants to be homeschooled," he declared, with no beating around the bush. Claire watched as Dean finally looked up, loaded fork already half-raised to his full mouth. He chewed furiously, but his need to speak won out against talking with an empty mouth.

"Waadomeehuskul?"

Claire thought it was an achievement that her father could look at Dean so tenderly when that was the face he had to deal with, half-chewed food rolling around barely formed sentences.

"I mean," Castiel interpreted his fiancé. "She wants to have her work brought home, where she will work on it and send it back in with you. Or even email it back and forth."

Dean chewed furiously and swallowed.

"My school not good enough for you?" He asked Claire, but there was a twinkle in his eye. A small one, but it was there. "I get it, kid. If it makes you feel any better, Ellen suspended all the cheerleaders."

"What?" Claire practically choked the word out.

"Yep, suspended. Off the team. They're arranging tryouts for anyone who hasn't been a cheerleader before. I'm not tolerating anyone getting beaten up, but especially not you."

"I didn't say anything about what happened," Claire pointed out. Dean shrugged.

"I had a couple of eye witnesses, and cameras in the hallways after some locker thefts last year. I watched the tapes yesterday with Ellen and the governors who came in for my hearing, we discussed our options then." He raised his fork a little more, and then paused again. "You being homeschooled might be a good thing."

"Really?" Castiel sounded let down. Dean dropped his fork onto his plate.

"Yeah. It'll give Claire a break, it'll let us sort out the situation without overcomplicating it, and it means you won't worry about her. And she won't drop behind so much if she starts homeschool tomorrow instead of after her nose heals."

"I just don't want her to get too scared to go," Castiel muttered.

"Claire? Nah, my cousin is too kick ass for that," Jack chimed in with a huge grin. Claire shot him a grateful one back, hoping he could see it around her bandage.

"I just want to breathe. I'm not running."

They all looked at Castiel.

"When did this become a group decision?" He muttered.

"When you made Dean a part of the family and let Jack stay here," Claire teased. Her father sighed.

"Fine. I'll talk to your principal about homeschooling you for the rest of the semester."

"Very funny," Dean flicked a pea at his fiancé.

"I think your principal is going to agree," Jack joked.

"Yep, or my dad's going to have to grovel."

"I like Cas on his knees," Dean laughed. Claire and Jack groaned and catcalled, and Castiel pelted him back with a spoonful of peas. When they had calmed down a little, Castiel started speaking again.

"You know, Dean and I have been talking, and perhaps this is the wrong time to bring it up, but," he looked at Dean who was once again eating a huge mouthful, but who immediately reached across and stroked the back of Castiel's hand. "We're considering moving."

Claire sobered up immediately, and her father noticed.

"Not too far! But this apartment was fine when it was just you and I, and then with Dean moving in … and now Jack … it's not built for so many people. It's not fair that Jack just has a couch. And the Winchester family home is so big, too big for just Sam and Eileen … they're talking about moving into Eileen's place, which is smaller. We could have the Winchester house, and Charlie could rent this apartment. Her lease is almost up on her apartment and it would mean I could trust the person living above the store. What do you think?"

Claire remembered the house they were talking about from after the hearing. It was huge, definitely better than squeezing into the apartment above the store.

"It could be great, you can both have your own room, we can have a dining room and a den and a study. Claire could have a room just for homeschooling. We'll make a room a games room," Dean had clearly been planning this for a while.

"I don't know if I can afford it," Jack muttered.

"Jack," Dean squared up to him. "My grandparents paid off the mortgage years ago. It's just running costs. We wouldn't charge you much, not when you're family."

Jack gave Dean a huge grin.

"Then yes, thank you. Yes!" He laughed as he stood up to hug Dean, and then Castiel. Claire caught her father's eye, and gave him a small smile.

"Well, you did only look for a two bed apartment while you were waiting for me. We've gotten bigger since then."

Castiel looked relieved, and held his arms out for her. She curled into her father's arms, who held her gently to avoid her bruised ribs.

"I have another question for you, Claire. An important one." He lowered his voice.

"Shoot."

"Will you be my best person? When Dean and I get married?" He seemed flustered, nervous, as though he thought for a second Claire would suddenly no longer accept her principal as her stepfather.

"Uh, I already am your best person." She teased him.

"I meant like a best man, standing there, making sure I say the right things at the right time, looking after my ring for Dean. But you're not a man, obviously."

"I knew what you meant, Dad. But like I would let you pick anyone else."

He kissed her forehead gently, and freed her to go and play some video games with Jack while he and Dean cleaned up and then discussed how they were going to organise the move.