Jack had a study day the next day, and he and Claire sat side by side at the kitchen table, both working through their individual assignments. Jack had gone to the local store at breakfast time and bought some junk food, so they were happily eating their way through a packet of cookies as they worked. Apart from the scratch of pen against paper, the click of Jack's laptop keyboard keys as he typed, and the rustle of the cookie packet, the apartment was silent. So when there was a commotion from the bookstore, they heard it loud and clear; banging shelves and raised voices. Claire and Jack looked at each other as there was stomping up the stairs.

The door to the apartment burst open as they both stood up, and Claire's jaw dropped. Alex had come storming in, looking angry, her face red and puffy. She didn't stop moving until she was in Claire's face, almost nose to nose despite their height difference. Claire wanted to step back, protect her nose, but she didn't want to give any ground either.

"What the hell, Claire?" Alex's voice was raised too, her entire body language setting a challenge.

"What the hell yourself," Claire snapped back. "You could've knocked."

"Your father wasn't letting me up, I had to get past him."

Sure enough, there were more footsteps on the stairs, and Castiel appeared, breathless and as angry as Claire had ever seen him get.

"I asked him not to let you up. Like when you needed some time, Jody wouldn't let me see you." Claire managed to fold her arms in the small space between them.

"Are you serious right now?" Alex spat.

"Are you? I needed some recovery time, I look like an idiot with this thing on my face, I'm allowed to have some time off the grid for that."

"That's not even what the problem is," Alex argued. "The problem is, you got me suspended."

It took a moment for Alex's words to make sense.

"How the hell did I get you suspended?"

"You told Dean it was the cheerleaders, everyone knows you did. He's banned all of us from the squad and suspended us for a week, and he didn't even have the balls to tell us himself, he got vice principal Harvelle to do it. I wasn't even there! You know I wasn't even there!"

Claire pursed her lips, and refused to bite.

"Did you tell Ms Harvelle?"

"What is your problem?!" Alex snapped. "What did I do to you?"

She couldn't help herself.

"You got me beaten up."

Alex finally took a step back.

"When I'm back at school, don't talk to me. Don't even look at me. We're over."

Claire raised her chin in a perfect mimic of her father and kept it there until Alex had stormed back out. As soon as the door downstairs slammed, she sagged against Jack, who put a cautious arm around her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Claire shrugged.

"Not really."

"I tried to stop her, she came into the store like that, chased a couple of our regulars away. I told her you still had a concussion and you needed to rest but she was determined." Castiel looked guilty.

"It's not your fault, Dad. It's hers."

Castiel cocked his head.

"Do you want to talk?"

It would have been so easy to agree, but Claire knew there were no real secrets between Dean and Castiel, and if her principal heard what had happened there would be more confrontations. And Charlie wasn't due in the store for another hour, which meant that he had left it open and unoccupied.

"It's okay. I just need to take five minutes."

"I'm here, Uncle Cas." Jack reminded him. "I'll keep an eye on her and if she's ready to talk, I'll let you know."

Castiel hesitated for another moment, and then walked back down the stairs. When they were sure they were alone, Claire turned to Jack.

"She's mad for a reason."

"I can't think of a reason why she would think you would get your girlfriend in trouble." Jack pointed out.

"That's the thing, it's her fault, that stuff. She got kicked out of the squad for going out with me, that's why she wasn't at the game on Saturday. But she didn't want Dean making a big deal out of it, so she asked me not to say anything to him. Which means not saying it to Dad. And I guess the cheerleaders wanted to make me feel bad about dating her too,"

"Which is how you got your nose broken," Jack frowned, like he was doing the math, working out how it all fit together. "So, either you're in the wrong for telling Uncle Dean that she was kicked off the squad or you're in the wrong because you didn't and she's been unfairly suspended for it?"

"Pretty much."

"I'm sorry, Claire. Maybe in time you'll make it up, and she'll apologise?"

"I won't hold my breath."

"Thanks for telling me, at least. No wonder you wanted a break from school."

"Just from the other kids. I don't get to avoid the work."

Jack looked guilty.

"Yeah, maybe we should get back to studying."

Claire smiled at him gratefully, and slid back into her seat, looking at her latest assignment. Nothing went in, because even though she was staring at the text, all she could think about was how Alex had just broken up with her. It was infuriating, for all the reasons she had told Jack, but also because she had promised herself not to be the victim anymore and now she had to deal with a break up on top of everything else. And maybe she didn't like the physical aspect of a relationship, but she liked the connection she and Alex had had. Or at least, the one that she thought they had had, where they could talk and be open with each other. But reflecting back, Alex wasn't great at communication all the time. And yet, she had been the one to use the L word, the one to lay that bare and she had thrown the relationship away over something she had created?

Jack must have been able to tell that these thoughts were swirling in her head, because after half an hour of them both pretending to work, he shut his textbook.

"I think we've earned the afternoon off. Wanna play a game?"

Claire grinned at him.

"Playstation?"

"Cards," he reached into his pocket and pulled a pack out. Claire shoved their books out of the way to make space for the cards.

"Sure, teach me poker."

By the time Dean came home, Claire and Jack were in a serious game where they were using Oreos as currency, snacking on their winnings as they went.

"Am I meant to say something about gambling?" Dean asked. "Like, parenting, blahblahblah addiction?"

"No, but we're getting low on double stuffs so if you got cookies, we'll deal you in," Jack gave his most charming smile. Dean considered it for a moment, before pulling a tray of donuts out of his work bag.

"My cruller eater's gone AWOL, can I play donuts?"

"There's a cruller fee," Claire winked. Dean sighed.

"Fine, but I get a cookie too."

"Deal," Jack opened the box, snaffling a donut stuffed with cream and covered in a maple bacon glaze. They shuffled the cards and dealt him in, passing him a stack of cookies. He ate one and put a donut in the middle of the pile. When they were all concentrating, Dean started talking.

"Want to go over to the house when Cas closes up and pick out your rooms?"

"Sure," Jack smiled over the top of his cards.

"Cool, cool. So why was Alex over here earlier, screaming at you, Claire?"

Claire studied her cards. There really were no secrets between Dean and Castiel.

"As if you don't know why."

"I don't. Unless she's blaming you for her suspension."

"That's exactly it," Jack nodded.

"Then that's stupid." Dean turned a card in his hand around.

"She said because I knew she wasn't there on Saturday, I should have said something."

Dean didn't break a sweat.

"I talked about that with Chuck, Michael and Ellen. We agreed that we wouldn't be making that an issue, thinking that if we allowed her to stay at school and on the team it would make the whole thing worse. And she's not innocent, why wasn't she at the game? Did she think something would happen to her or did she know what they were planning for you? She wouldn't answer anything, so why should she get the special treatment?" He put a card down and drew another one. "Don't let it get to you."

"I'm trying." Claire swapped two of her own cards, and bit into her donut.

"Good. It's not on you. How's your nose?"

"Sore." She put two cookies in the middle of the table. "What've you got?"

"Fold," Jack threw his cards onto the table, and stood up to get a drink. Claire gave her future stepfather her best poker face, and he gave her a smirk.

"You got nothing."

"Wanna bet, old man?"

His only response was to add another donut to the pile. She pushed all her cookies in. He raised an eyebrow, and threw his cards down too.

"Dammit."

Claire fought the urge to gloat as she scooped up her winnings, and carried on eating her donut. Dean got up to start making dinner, Jack helping him out, and Claire began to pack away the cards. She picked up Dean's hand, and Jack's, and looked at both of them. Dean had a full house, Jack had a royal flush. She looked over at them, at Jack peeling potatoes and Dean mixing a sauce together, both completely harmless domestic jobs. But she knew they were both taking pity on her for the whole situation with Alex and the cheerleaders.

After dinner, where Castiel and Dean had steered the conversation to wedding talk and Jack's studying, they went to the Winchester's family house. It was a gorgeous old farm house, with a wraparound porch and an actual turret. Going in took Claire right back to the day when everyone found out that it was her father and not her who was seeing Dean, prying in the rooms and hearing Mr Singer's stories about Dean as a kid.

She could feel the history of the place, nearly smell the memories of a young Dean. Jack had already made a beeline for some old family pictures, of a young Dean and much younger Sam grinning up from the hood of the Impala Dean still used. They were clutching army men and Lego pieces, and a blonde woman stood a little way behind them. There was a picture of a man who looked much like Dean did now in an army uniform, the quality of the photo fading and giving way to a sepia tone.

"Was that you?" Jack asked him.

"No. My Dad. He was a marine before we came along."

"Was that your mom?" Jack pressed, pointing to the first picture.

"No, that was Ellen, the school's VP. She and Bobby raised Sam and me. Mom died, Dad couldn't deal. But I've got good memories of this place. You wanna see the passageway I used to scare the crap out of Sam when he was a kid? I think the rainbow wig is still in there."

"Really, Dean?" Sam appeared from another room.

"Dammit, I had you believing there was a ghost clown for so long," Dean clicked his fingers, as Sam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure. I knew it was you."

"You still freaked."

"You were an ugly kid," Sam shrugged, but then they both hugged, and Sam looked over at Claire. "How's the nose?"

"All fixed now, it's a miracle. I'm just wearing this as a fashion statement," Claire pointed at her bandage. Sam wasn't fazed, which given he grew up with Dean perhaps wasn't surprising.

"Excellent. So it's just my bad teaching that's making you want to be homeschooled?" Sam grinned. "I don't blame you. When we found you …" Sam looked at a loss for words.

"Yeah, well. Now we're moving in."

Sam grinned, and gestured to the stairs.

"Go pick a room. Jack, it would be great if you could as well, I want to talk with my brother a minute."

Jack followed Claire up the stairs, and they began to look in the rooms together. It was clear which one was Sam's, and where Eileen's influence was. Dean's was recognisable as well. The room that Jack liked seemed to be Sam and Dean's parent's room. It was bare, except for a few photographs of a pretty blonde woman, an old worn journal on the counter top and basic furniture around the room. But there was a large bay window and it was a good size. Claire eventually picked out one near the end of the hall that had a view of the front and side of the house, and a small en suite bathroom. It was made up like a guest bedroom, and they sank together onto the old bed, resting on their elbows as they looked up at the ceiling.

"You're taking this well," Claire said. "The moving, five minutes after you last moved."

"So are you," Jack pointed out. "Uncle Cas told me the whole story. Why I hadn't seen you for so long."

"You mean it's not just because Uncle Luke sucks?"

Jack's happy-go-lucky facade slipped.

"Maybe he does, but I still try with him. He's still my father. He might not be perfect, but he's mine."

"I get that." Claire flopped fully on the old bed, stirring up some dust. "Dad and I didn't get along when I first moved in. But I couldn't be without him now."

Jack flopped down next to her, stirring more dust and making them both cough. They both got up, shaking off the dust as Jack began to laugh. Claire looked at him for a moment, wondering what was so funny, but his laughter was so contagious, Claire soon found herself laughing too.

When they calmed down, Claire grinned at her cousin.

"I'm glad you're here."

"Me too." Jack promised. "I miss Mom, but it's nice spending time with you again."

Castiel started calling up the stairs for the both of them, and Jack stood back to let Claire lead the way back down.