Where The Wild Things Are

by MarionLuth

As Sam & Dean investigate a young singer, who shares their Winchester name & face, their lives collide. And...she's hiding a dangerous secret. A Supernatural dramedy deeply developed & richly written, with strong canon characters. Angels, demons, the earth's only Nephilim, Lucifer, Crowley, Jody Mills, Claire, Alex, the boys & a teen girl with the heart of an angel. Spanking.

27. With A Thousand Lies & A Good Disguise

Chapter 27

With A Thousand Lies & A Good Disguise

Title Credit: Lyrics from the song "You're gonna go far kid", by the Offspring (Album: Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace , 2008)

꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ A ꧂

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"Good. See you in the morning. Oh, hey, you think you could bring some of those Greek hamburgers?"

Hearty, feminine laughter could be heard on speaker phone.

"I'll do you one better Dean. I'll make some for you at the bunker."

A grin spreading across his face, Dean's eyes lit up like a little child's on Christmas morning.

"Oh, and do you think you could make a pie or something?"

Laughing again at his charming audacity, Jody knew she'd grant his wish. How could she not. She adored these boys.

"Sure. I'll see what I can do. See ya," and Jody ended the call, her mental grocery list getting longer.

"Not a smart move," Sam commented, eyeing his brother as he unloaded their to-go orders onto plates for all of them.

"What?" Dean asked, pocketing his phone, not sure what Sam meant.

"I don't think Jody will be in a cooking mood, or inclined to spoil any of us, after this particular discussion, Dean," Sam spelled it out for him. When his brother's face visibly fell, Sam couldn't help but snort. Only Dean could be more worried over losing burgers and pie than how Jody would react to all of this.

"So, she'll be here tomorrow..." Sam muttered to himself in confirmation.

"Who is?"

At the unexpected voice coming from the kitchen's doorway, both brothers turned surprised eyes to see Cas standing at the threshold.

"Hey, Cas," Sam called out to him. "Jody is. With Claire knowing about Amber we think it's about time we told Jody, too."

Turning to Dean, Sam added, "Will you get the girls? The food's getting cold."

"Sure thing," Dean nodded, before yelling at the top of his lungs, "AMBER! CLAIRE! FOOD!"

Sam and Cas turned to stare at him with annoyed expressions.

"What?" Dean mumbled, grabbing a beer from the fridge Dean plopped down in a chair in front of his plate. "I'm tired. And we still have a helluva long talk ahead of us. I need my energy."

A look of annoyance shaped Sam's features before he simply ignored this troglodyte-of-a-brother and got on with dinner.

"You stick around for dinner, too, Cas. We'll need your feedback on a couple of things," Dean directed.

Cas knew this must be serious. Dean was in that "take charge mode" that was his default when he felt overwhelmed.

"What things do you need feedback on?" was the angel's earnest response, tilting his head to one side in inquiry.

"Nephilim stuff. Amber played with a few new tricks during the hunt," was Dean's reply. "Kinda need your take on this."

Taking a swig of his beer, Dean settled back in his chair. Eyes casting off to one side in unfocused thought, he formulated a coherent list, bottle still in hand.

Cas could see Dean was tied up warring within himself the way that only an obsessive, circular argument could bind.

"We didn't know she could do any of the stuff she did. So, we need your take on this," was Sam's reflective tone, his eyes meeting the angel's.

Sam wasn't as troubled with Amber hearing and locating Emily during her distressing moments in the closet. But he was not sure how Amber had managed to teleport back with the other girl, especially when she and Cas had only just started practicing longer jumps between the bunker's rooms. He wanted to trust Amber and he hoped this was a power growth-spurt of sorts since she'd had this happen before, but things didn't add up.

Arriving at the table, Claire surveyed the food, looking hungry. Chicken-fried steaks, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, and two large salads of romaine with sliced garden vegetables. One of them was entirely Sam's, the other was ordered upon his insistence for the girls to share. Neither Claire nor Amber were particularly inclined towards salad, but that was not a fight they'd ever win. Not with Sam. Claire grabbed a handful of the salad and placed it on her plate, earning a frown of upside-down U's from Sam. Claire shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "What?"

Having heard the last part of their discussion, Amber entered the kitchen looking at her brothers' faces, assessing the deep shit she was probably walking into. The brothers glanced up at her as he entered, their faces firm. Amber's heart tightened. God, this was going to be one of THOSE conversations. Amber huffed out loud confirming the brothers knew she knew they knew.

Seating herself at the table, Amber took in the different plates of food.

"Getting fancy are we Sam? You plated up the take out?" Amber asked in a pleasant tone, trying to cover her discomfort at what she knew was coming. Take out in plates...that was not a typical Winchester move. Efficiency dictated eating from the box and throwing out the empties. The brothers were efficient.

"It felt like a time to settle back in, you know, and I thought I'd do this," was all Sam offered.

"Waste of resources. Now we have dishes to clean," Claire commented unimpressed.

"You don't have to eat, you know," was Dean's pithy response. He didn't think plating things up was necessary either, but he wasn't in the mood for Claire's sass.

"And you could volunteer for clean-up duty every once in a while," Claire quipped, but sat down anyway.

"I'll keep doing weapons maintenance and you're welcome," was Dean's cavalier attitude.

Cas observed this exchange with a neutral expression, watching everyone settling in their seats, he patiently waiting for his input to be needed.

"So… Ready to debrief?" Sam asked after swallowing the first bite of his salad.

"Debrief? Seriously? We haven't even started eating yet," was Claire's whiney comment.

"No, not you Claire," Sam shook his head. "Not yet."

Both brother's turned their eyes on Amber. "First, we think Amber has some insights to share regarding her powers," Sam continued. His voice was even and calm, yet, Amber could feel the suspicion behind his words. Dean's eyes met hers, cinching the band around her heart tighter.

"Not to mention some 'splainin to do' about goldilock's convenient appearance with...with a fucking golden mace," Dean added through a mouthful of steak.

Amber flushed when everyone's attention turned on her.

"Yeah, about that...," as she trailed off, deflecting her attention as she dished up a plate for herself. The brothers waited for her to continue. Dean spun his hand in the air to indicate she should continue her narrative, his eyes taking on that narrow-eyed 'you'd better take this seriously' look.

Amber felt cornered and uncertain of how to spin this so she didn't have to deal with this whole interrogation. How could she possibly play this off?

"First off, I saved Emily. Don't forget that." Amber was getting tired of this 'baby monitor' crap. She'd helped the hunt tremendously and she didn't want to deal with this right now. "And second, I've paid attention….I mean really paid attention...when Cas and I are training and it's taken hold. Came in real handy, didn't it?" She tried hard to sound nonchalant and confident in her boundaries as she tried to evade answering anything more.

The brothers exchanged a look, knowing bullshit when they heard it. Dean, taking a deep breath, turned to Cas, who looked confused as to what exactly the matter was.

Seeing Sam and Dean's expressions, Amber tried to move the subject in a different direction, hoping she'd manage to draw the focus of this discussion elsewhere.

"It's like you said, Sam, when I heard Emily's scream… it's the same as how Cas could find you guys anywhere, right? I guess, with Emily being so scared, it triggered my grace and I sensed her. And she was pretty close, too. It's not like she was in Japan or something. Is that so weird?" Shifting her gaze from Sam to Cas, she addressed that last question to the angel.

"I'm not sure I'm following," Castiel replied.

"Well… an old friend of mine, Emily, was involved in this case," Amber tried to explain, hoping Cas wouldn't forget that Sam and Dean still had no idea he and Emily had met that day at the cafe.

"At some point during the hunt someone knocked her out, tied her up, and locked her in a room. And when we were searching for some abducted children in the same building, where she was being held, I kinda heard her screaming. Nobody else could hear her. And I focused on locating her and I found her."

Innocent green eyes turned back to her brothers...who didn't buy this. Claire was smirking. Not being in the hot seat, she was enjoying this drama.

"Emily was on the hunt with you?" Cas inquired. He'd hadn't expected this from the young woman he'd met at the coffee house. She seemed as far from the hunting life as one could get.

"She kinda got caught up in the hunt. One of her friend's little brother was taken. Looking at the other faces at the table, Amber acknowledged, "She sort of inserted herself into the hunt."

Looking irritated with Amber's delay in getting to the point, Dean loudly corrected her course.

"Ah huh. And then what happened? Want to tell Cas about how you teleported to Emily and then teleported back...with her in tow?"

And there went her plan. Sam and Dean were more interested in the part of the story she wasn't focusing on. Bringing this last bit to Castiel's attention wasn't good at all. This was so uncomfortable. Despite her best efforts to school her face, Amber was looking trapped.

Claire wondered if Amber was considering teleporting out of the bunker and out of this conversation. She would've. Now, that would be a good use of Nephilim power. Always having an escape hatch out of difficult conversations. Claire wondered how much Amber had considered these practical uses. Zapping into a store, picking up stuff and zapping out, arms full. Very useful indeed.

Amber glanced at Cas and saw his surprise. Handsome brow furrowed horizontally, eyes narrowed, Cas was looking at her just as suspiciously as her brothers. Shit! A sinking feeling was filling her stomach and she felt the inevitability of this. Sighing deeply she shrunk down in her chair, staring at the untouched sweet potato fries on her plate. Suddenly she had no appetite.

Looking up at the angel, Amber thought she'd try one more time. After all there was no hard proof here she did anything wrong.

"Cas… Come on, don't look at me like that… you've seen how much progress I've made with teleporting. I don't know how I did it, it just worked. Maybe it was my friend being in danger that kind of drew my powers out… you know, sort of like an adrenaline rush. Mothers picking trucks off of kids, like that."

"Amber, angelic grace doesn't work like that," Cas answered, his tone thoughtful.

Desperately trying to find a way out of this, a bulb went off in her brain. "But it happened before…with Crowley and Rowena! I had never teleported before and I zapped right out of there when my life was in danger. And teleported all the way back here! From Canada!"

Amber looked at the contemplative faces and felt there was a glimmer of hope. That had been a good example to use.

"Damn, you did that?" Claire was hearing this for the first time.

Dean, getting irritated at this obvious subtifuge, sidestepped Claire's questioning, simply frowning and shaking his head, indicating this was not a time for that story. Claire frowned right back.

"Well… I guess that makes some sense," Castiel finally spoke, his eyes boring into Amber's. Even though her words did indeed make sense, providing a solid reasoning for what had taken place during the hunt, he sensed intense uneasiness coming off of her. He knew she wasn't being entirely truthful with them. But he wasn't sure what he should do with this knowledge or what exactly she was hiding. Bringing this to the attention of Sam and Dean would only serve to lose Amber's trust in him. He wished to preserve the rapport they had established. Deciding he wouldn't make this decision at this exact moment, he remained silent.

Sam's expression was similar to the angel's. Amber's offered explanation, while solid, didn't feel like it comprised the whole truth. He couldn't quite put his finger on what made him think this, but he did. Torn between wanting to trust her, and fearing that she was keeping stuff from them again, he didn't know how to respond. He felt his frustration growing with Amber's secretive attitude and all the magnifying implications this kept creating.

"You think that today could be something similar to the Canada jump?" Sam finally asked, turning to Cas, not letting any of his frustration creep into his tone.

"It's a possibility," was the angel's response, still uncertain of how to navigate this.

Amber felt her face relax a bit at the angel's noncommittal response. It seemed there was a consensus and her explanation had been accepted. That was a win.

"Fine. We're gonna go with that," Dean chimed in. He didn't seem particularly persuaded, but he wasn't as concerned about this either. Amber's explanation did make sense. What he cared about was that she'd done it at all.

"Now let's talk about the fact that both me and Sam told you NOT TO attempt teleporting with Emily, but you did anyway."

Amber's expression changed from relieved to concerned and annoyed at the same time. Rolling her eyes she huffed loudly. Sure, she'd been expecting her brothers to bring this up, but she wasn't backing down. She'd made the right choice. When she spoke, her tone reflected her confidence and strong belief she had made the right call, for Emily and the hunt.

"I know I disobeyed an order in the field… but it was a call I had to make, Dean. And it was the right one! We couldn't have left Emily in there. Hell, if we had we would've never even found the kids! Let alone taken down Nergal," Amber responded, conviction firmly in her corner as she put a hand on her hip and dared the brothers to refute her logic.

"You're right, it ended up being the right call to make. But it could have very easily not been. Amber, did you even consider the complications of such a risky move?" Sam countered, some frustration leaking into his tone.

"I did," she lied. "But it was still our only option, alright? I get how worried you get when it comes to my safety, as hellishly overbearing as it gets…but how am I supposed to learn to control my powers if I don't ever use them when they're needed?" Amber paused there for emphasis and to gauge expressions. Both her brothers were looking at her with serious expressions. She had their attention.

"Teleportation is something I'm getting better at. I'm stronger with every jump I make," she continued. "I felt I could do this. I knew I could do this and I did. This wasn't me disregarding orders or safety protocols because I wasn't careful, or because I wanted to challenge you or prove you guys wrong. I thought this through and made the call. And like you said, it was a good call to make. What the hell is training practice for if not to improvise on a hunt?"

Amber paused again and looked from Sam to Dean. When they remained looking at her thoughtfully she added the last bit of her defense.

"You guys have told me how imperative it is to stick to the plan and follow orders during hunts. But you've also told me that sometimes you have to trust your gut and make a different call and that can save the hunt as well as our lives. That's what I did."

Sam glanced over at Dean and found himself not having anything to counter Amber's arguments with. He was happy to see this wasn't just a spur of the moment decision, that Amber had put some actual thought behind it. And she'd been right to go off script. There are moments that demand you ignore orders and plans, these do occur during a hunt. He and Dean had done this so many times throughout the years...out of necessity. Dean seemed to share this acceptance. Turning back to his sister, Sam wrapped this up.

"Alright, Amb. It seems like you put some thought behind this. And that's what I want to stress here. You're right. There are moments where you have to go a different route than instructed. These do come up. But it's imperative to navigate them with as much caution as you would the original planned action. Alright?"

At his sister's nod, he continued, his eyes boring into Amber's for this last bit.

"But don't make it a habit! This time we're letting it go 'cause it was the right choice, and most importantly a 'thought out choice', but we won't ever let careless disregarding of orders slide. Do you understand?"

"I do, Sam," was Amber's serious answer. She hid her relief as best as she could, glancing at the angel for all of a split second. Unbenounced to her, she wore a penitent expression. Her acting skills were failing her for the moment. To the angel, this was a tell. Castiel still looked thoughtful and suspicious, which Amber wasn't used to seeing. She wondered if he'd try to snoop in her head and fish out the truth. She knew he could do this, but she wasn't sure if he would. If that happened… Well, then crap. All she could do was hope he'd be his usual self and respect her boundaries and her request to not intrude in her mind. She tried to focus on the conversation they were having and controlling her own emotional reactions to all of this.

"Next on our agenda... How did Kyle find you so fast….and that mace...who the hell just happens to have a gold mace with a morning star on a chain?" Dean's voice was full of distrust and annoyance as he touched on the Kyle issue.

Arms crossing in front of his chest, he fixed Amber with a look as he continued, "Don't get me wrong, incredibly useful, but still, that was like a museum piece. You can't tell me he just happened to be in the area and just happened to have brought an arsenal of museum-quality weapons with him?"

"You do," was Claire's deadpan response.

Both men turned to look at the blonde...and said nothing because...well...she was right. Maybe they didn't carry golden maces, but they had their fair share of weapons and artifacts that could easily be on display in a museum and gallery.

Claire's look of satisfaction, laughing back at them as they were trying to have a serious family discussion, threw off the brothers' point and was pissing them off.

"You...you don't get to interfere here. You have your own stuff we're going to deal with."

Dean's voice was taking on that edge everyone knew to respect. It was the edge of his restraint, they didn't want to push him beyond. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have reached this point. Well, he would've, but not quite so fast. Nor would he be so easily irritable. Yeah, it WAS Dean, but these last few days had taken a toll on him and it was showing.

Expression turning sour, Claire wisely chose to not keep kicking this bear trap. She briefly wondered what he meant, her brain replaying the events of the last couple of days, scanning for whatever Dean had implied she'd done.

"So… what's the deal with Kyle?" Dean asked his sister, bringing the conversation back to a focus.

Amber, even more uncomfortable than before, shrugged. "There's no deal. He's a hunter. He has weird shit with him."

"No, Amber, We have weird shit with us. God damn golden museum pieces… that we don't have," Dean countered, unconvinced by her argument.

"Really? You call 'The Colt' not weird, museum quality shit?" Amber countered this obvious falsehood with low hanging fruit.

Amber's frustration was rising at Dean's tone. She wondered if this would be his reaction if Kyle was a woman. She doubted he'd even bring this up or make a big deal out of it. She was convinced this was his overbearing ass not wanting her near a guy she obviously liked and nothing more than that. Yes, she had her suspicions about Kyle, too, but right now all she could focus on was Dean's reaction to his presence. She was in no mood to try and be understanding of the reasons behind it.

With a frustrated sigh, she continued, "You heard what he said… His father had it before him and he inherited it! Why do I have to answer for that? He helped us, didn't he? Why can't you just be glad he was around and could bring the damn thing to us?"

"And how could he bring it to us so fast? What the hell was a guy from Sioux Falls doing in Wichita?" Dean pressed, expression hard, eyes never leaving Amber's, pinning her in place and assessing her every twitch.

"You asked him that, Dean! He was visiting friends. Why do you expect a different answer from me? He told us he was visiting friends and looking into a case," Amber answered, tone clipped, as she reached the edge of her patience and self-restraint.

"There was no other case in the area! And I don't believe for a second he was 'visiting friends', unless by friends he meant he was 'visiting you'!"

"Yeah, 'cause you guys let me have all this free time to myself and offer me so much privacy that I'd have him drive over from Sioux Falls for a nice romantic evening," Amber shot back sarcastically.

"When could I possibly arrange to even see him, Dean? What was my master plan? Please, explain this to me!"

Sam was silently watching this unfold, uncertain of whether he should intervene or not. Dean and Amber, they could go from talking calmly to fighting in a matter of seconds, he knew that. He'd seen that. And Sam usually tried to play a mediating role between the two of them.

But right now, he opted not to.

The more they managed to exasperate one another, the less they'd be able to censor. And right now, that's what he wanted...uncensored intel. Making sure that Amber wasn't being careless with Kyle. That was something she'd be able to hide under normal circumstances. But if Dean worked her up enough, she'd let stuff slip. Or at least that's what Sam hoped for. He was feeling bad for being always suspicious, but Amber was falling back into her old bad habit of hiding things. And Dean was right, something about Kyle didn't add up. They needed to make sure Amber was safe.

"What we let you do and what you end up doing tend to be two very different things! And I'd start watching my mouth if I were you," was Dean's response.

And there it was...the threat. Amber felt her frustration growing, Yeah, she may have felt a little bad for lying to them about Kyle, but this was just ridiculous. Without a thought of restraint Amber's built up hostility burst out.

"If I was a man, you'd never even worry about all this! You'd be fucking happy to have me on your hunt!"

Amber's eyes began to glow gold, her righteous indignation front and center. The others in the room noticed her force pushing back at them, and their faces grew alarmed. Contained as it was, this power held a distinct threat to it. Sam's face held worry and a bit of awe, while Dean's expression was a brow-furrowing condemnation. Claire, recovering from her own alarm, looked at the three Winchesters. Smirk on her face, she simply watched. This was going to be interesting.

Powering through the obvious, Dean stuck to his guns.

"Don't try to make this about something that it's not," his voice boomed. "You're not getting out of this discussion so easily! What would or wouldn't happen if you were a man is an entirely different matter! Now answer the damn question. What was Kyle doing there? How the hell did he come to us so fast with exactly what we needed? And why were you two all cozy with each other if you've only met twice so far?"

"At least we've met twice! How many times did you and your Christmas date meet before fucking around all night, huh Dean?" Amber shot right back, her anger only growing at Dean's insufferable double standards. Her own pent up frustration with him shoving her out of the subterfuge. At this point she didn't even care what they'd find out about Kyle.

Dean was shocked into silence at her words. This was not where he wanted this conversation to go. He knew Amber was still pissed at him for leaving on Christmas. She'd made it very clear throughout the last two days. But still…this was not a conversation he was willing to have. And certainly not with everyone else around. Setting his jaw, he drew in a deep breath that made his nostrils flare and repeated his question.

"Have you two met again? And just how much does he know about you?"

Riveted by the turn in this discussion, Claire was enjoying this scene…watching these hot button issues get everyone...well...hot. And they weren't focusing on her. Win-Win. And Amber's words to Dean… That was so satisfying to watch. Claire knew she could work up Dean if she wanted to, but Amber...Amber could do it so much better than she could ever hope to. She'd have to start taking notes.

Amber shook her head in disbelief, at his persistence and how he completely ignored her question. Realising she wouldn't see the end of this talk if she didn't offer him an answer, she gathered her thoughts so she could give him one and be done with this shitty conversation.

"We haven't met since my birthday. We've talked and texted quite a bit, but that's it," she ground out this lie without even blinking. Dean was making it so easy to lie without an ounce of guilt.

"And does he know about you? About being a Nephilim?" Dean pressed on, threat in his voice.

Amber took a second before she answered this. She considered what she could say. She couldn't focus on the implications. She didn't really care right now about what would follow, she only cared about shutting up Dean and getting back at him for being such a dick. Getting back at him for his prying, for his distrust, and for his hypocrisy.

"He suspects, and I don't expand on his suspicion. Whatever he wants to think, I let him." Amber dropped this bomb like it was nothing and watched as all faces around her shifted into expressions of shock.

"He suspects? HE SUSPECTS? And you're just telling us now? How long has this been going on?" Dean was the first one to break the resonating silence that followed her words.

"Pretty much since Asa's wake. And he doesn't seem to have a problem with it. He doesn't feel threatened, so I let it alone. There, happy now Dean!"

The last part of this was spat out with such ferocity Amber accidentally spit as she spoke. It was anticlimactic to her strong talk as she felt a bit of embarrassment derail her sense of triumph. Her head warring between being furious, worried, and embarrassed, this had the effect of Amber's golden-eyed incandescence dimming, threatening to go out all together. Her diminishing grace settled down the intense wave of anger that had pushed her to lash out and she started wondering how the hell was she going to get out of this now.

Sure, rubbing Dean's face in all this felt good. Releasing her pent up anger at him felt good. But now her brain was catching up with her mouth. The realization of what she had just unleashed, just how much she fucked things up for herself, it was dawning on her big time.

Sam and Dean had been adamant about her not keeping things from them. Especially Nephilim-related stuff. And she had just admitted hiding something huge all this time. Taking in a long, deep breath she tried to calm herself down. Now it was imperative to keep her head on her shoulders, if she wanted to salvage anything she could in this situation.

Sam was watching Amber's attempts to calm herself down and inferred she'd revealed more than she had intended to. Now she was trying to do damage control.

Claire and Castiel were watching silently. The angel looked pensive, while Claire was impressed. She had to give it to Amber, she had balls. Admitting this to Dean's face, yelling at him the way she had, when he was clearly angry, that was really ballsy...and really stupid. She started considering how she could possibly intervene to divert Dean's attention onto herself and diffuse some of his frustration. Still, this would need some careful maneuvering. She wanted to help Amber, but she also wasn't looking to get herself into deep shit. Watching the scene in front of her unfold she racked her brain for a way to intervene.

Seeing the shift of power in his exchange with his sister, Dean redoubled his emphasis on Kyle. He was still in control here and he wasn't being derailed from this inroad. Fear of losing his sister, fear of what Lucifer could do whenever he reemerged, fear that he couldn't control everything and everyone...Dean was on the verge of just beating this kid's ass.

Sam could see all of this going on within Dean and he caught Dean's eye, shaking his head. Not because he didn't agree that Amber should be punished, but Dean needed to calm down and the two of them needed to discuss all of this privately before they made any decisions on how to deal with their sister.

Dean caught Sam's expression. OK...he'd hold it together a bit longer. Frowning his understanding at his brother, Dean stood up. He needed to move. He was bursting with anger and anxiety. Walking back and forth, Dean found he could think more clearly.

Amber was seeing the brothers' silent communication and she knew she'd screwed the pooch.

Giving his brother some time and space to recenter himself, Sam leaned forward on the table, hands resting on its top, fists tense. His eyes studying Amber's face for a few seconds. He could tell that she was starting to realise just how poorly she had played her hand. He let her sweat there for a full minute, his eyes never leaving her before he finally spoke.

"Again, Amber?" Was all he asked. He watched her swallowing and flushing, shifting in her chair.

"It's not like that, alright? I mean… I haven't hidden a single thing from you about my powers. Anything new that comes up you're the first to know! This… This was private. Different. And it's not even certain. I think he suspects. That doesn't mean he actually does…"

"You sounded pretty sure of it just a minute ago," Sam countered, his tone gaining an edge that worried Amber more than any of Dean's yelling.

"Well, I'm not. I was just mad at Dean and wanted to piss him off! Look, I'm not saying he doesn't suspect. But I'm not saying he does, either. It's not like I can ask him. 'Hey Kyle, what are your thoughts on Nephilims? Good or bad? Where do you stand on this?'"

Amber's voice was high-pitched, mocking Dean's concerns. Pushing this down a bit, her tone more contrite and earnest she went on, "And I was worried that if I ever told you…You wouldn't let me see him again."

"Oh, you got that right," Dean countered, still up and walking, arms now folded across his chest.

"Yeah, 'cause that's gonna solve everything!"

At the unexpected source of that comment, all three Winchesters turned to look at Claire.

"Glare all you want, Dean, that's the truth," Claire went on. "If he suspects, cutting Amber off from contacting him would only confirm his suspicions, making things a shit ton worse. And if he doesn't suspect? He might actually start to, if all of a sudden Amber disappeared!"

Dean turned his body to fully face the blonde, towering over her. "And I don't remember asking for your opinion."

"Tough," Claire quipped with a fake smile, eyes not wavering under Dean's intense glare. "You're getting it anyway. And honestly, you're pissed about Amber not sharing the possibility of a suspicion… How the hell do you expect her to tell you guys anything when you react like this, huh? If I were her, I wouldn't tell you shit, let alone personal stuff like that!"

Amber was staring at Claire in complete disbelief. She hadn't expected her to voice an opinion and she definitely hadn't expected Claire to defend her. Despite her situation the tiniest smile formed on her lips. Claire was being a friend. And it felt nice. The two girls' eyes met, this brief exchange forged a new solidarity. Amber's own expression was gratitude.

Sam and Dean both saw this and weren't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Taking in Claire's words, Sam didn't respond immediately. She had a point. Not so much on the Kyle front. He doubted it would make any kind of a difference in his suspicions if Amber stopped communicating with him. But the second part of her speech did hold truth. He knew there wasn't much of a way around it. With Amber's unique situation they couldn't let things like dishonesty slide. Not when lying and hiding things was so deeply ingrained in their sister. Sure, she didn't have a choice in the matter, it was the only way to survive out of the foster care system. However, with her powers unleashed, and with Lucifer and hell after her, it was paramount that she didn't keep things from them. She knew this, too. They had gone over this, more than once. There had to be consequences.

Still, a part of him understood where she was coming from. She had to leave behind her home, her life, her best friend. She had to distance herself from everyone and everything she knew, becoming immersed in this new reality, this scary and lonely reality. Kyle had been one of the few people she'd gained. Sam could see why she didn't want to risk losing him. It pained him that she was in a situation where she had to make these calls. But that didn't change the fact that she had to make them. And she had to learn to make the right ones.

Up to this point he was ambivalent in regards to Dean's reaction. He knew his brother was set on handing Amber her ass. But now Sam felt he knew where they should go with this. Or rather where they shouldn't go. Coming down on her too harshly for this would only lead to her keeping more things from them. He only hoped he'd manage to make Dean see this too.

Everyone sitting at the table watched as Dean's face clouded over with an unreadable expression. The tension was still high, but something was shifting internally for him. Sam, glancing at Claire, saw the blonde's look of satisfaction...without her trademark cynicism. Looking up at his brother, he was wondering if Claire's words had broken through to Dean. From his expression, it appeared they might have.

Amber, glancing at Claire, met her eyes and a softened look of appreciation passed from her to Claire. This was unexpected and Amber's subtle communication was met with a sly, sideways smile.

Pausing his pacing, a hand rubbing at the tension in his neck, Dean's eyes shifted around the room. "I don't know where to go with this..."

Dean was looking back at the table of faces turned towards him. His concerns were being torn in two. His priority remained keeping everyone safe, yet Claire had a point. And part of him knew he was way more irritated than he'd normally be. And not all of it had to do with the current situation.

"And I'm hungry and haven't slept in three days. So this is what happens. We sit down, we shut up, we eat, we go catch some shut-eye, and we're picking this up sometime tomorrow."

Shock. The look on their faces was shock.

This was Dean being reasonable...and it was entirely foreign to them. Welcomed for sure, but completely unexpected. Sam almost smiled at his brother's mature and collected decision. Usually someone had to intervene to make Dean opt for time to cool off before dealing with stuff. Sam was proud seeing him getting there on his own.

"This is a sound plan. I can talk with Amber after you finish eating and by tomorrow everyone will be calmer." Cas scanned the table for receptiveness to his words and found it.

"Yeah, let's eat. I'm hungry and everything's already cold," was Claire's robust confirmation, reaching out to finish plating up her food.

No one knew how to respond to Dean beyond listening, so they all fell into line, each with their own dinner. They sat in silence, the quiet sounds of eating consuming the entirety of the room.

Amber kept her eyes downcast on her plate, only glancing up at Claire to check out her actions. Seeing sly mirth, Amber was confused. This had been such a painful discussion...and it still wasn't over. How the hell could Claire be so comfortable in the moment? She almost envied her for this 'couldn't-care-less' attitude.

Eyes meeting, Claire pointed her chin in Sam's direction, indicating Amber should look towards Sam. Following her lead, Amber saw that Sam was not yet eating. He was picking at his salad, deeply in thought, a look of pensive contemplation evident. Not sure what Claire found interesting, she returned her focus to her plate, finding herself even more worried than before. Sam was too perceptive.

Cas was reading all of the energies here, sitting upright, no plate, simply being present. Head held high, face of pensive concentration as he assessed each person's projected thoughts. Cas was picking up on Claire's desire to intervene for Amber while causing Dean some grief. She was all about some Dean taunting. Yes, she and Dean had had a better understanding of late but still, for Claire, this was Dean and it still felt good to 'give him a boot to the head'.

Dean seemed lost in a sea of tangled thoughts and emotions. To Cas' surprise, anger wasn't one of them. Not at that moment, anyway. Fear, sadness, worry, and the tiniest hint of guilt were riding his thoughts, radiating off of him in strong waves which filled the room.

His focus shifting to Amber, Cas remembered his promise to allow her the privacy of her thoughts. It had been his promise, yet he felt the moment needed some reassurance. Lightly touching the edges of Amber's psyche, Cas read her anxiety and anger. He felt the injustice of her situation.

Backing away from any further intrusion, Cas shifted his focus to Sam...surprised to feel his anger at his sister. Sam was currently considering how he was going to deal with Amber's continuing hiding of 'details'. Sam's conviction that he had to deal with Amber in some way was...well, this was unexpected. Lingering, Cas was seeing Sam's thoughts go to a prolonged, drawn out retribution.

Processing everything that took place in the last half hour, Cas realised he needed to delve deeper into Amber's situation. He'd been able to cipher her attempts to hide something earlier and he was worried what this could be. Directing a message towards Amber, he asked her in the privacy of her own mind, 'Can we talk later in your room?'

Hearing the angel in her head, Amber responded with a curt, 'Why?'

Reading her hesitation, her fear spiking, Cas responded as reassuringly as he could.

'We need to discuss something and I don't wish to involve your brothers.'

'If I can help it,' he added to himself, sincerely hoping he'd be able to keep his word. His aim was to make sure Amber was being safe and used her powers prudently, not get her into any more trouble.

'Ok,' was Amber's cautious agreement. Glancing up at Cas, she considered what he wanted to talk about. She had felt his suspicion earlier when they were discussing her teleporting with Emily and the Kyle situation. And yet it could be so many things...and she had secrets. Deciding to deal with all this only when she had to, she turned her attention back to eating.

Their food done, the silence remained as they each found their own rooms.

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Walking into her room, Amber gasped slightly upon seeing Cas already in there.

"Augh! God, Cas…"

"I am not him," was Cas's pragmatic response...drawing out a frustrated sigh from Amber.

She was expecting to talk with him, just not that he'd beat her in arriving at the point of discussion. She hadn't even noticed him leaving the table before her.

Rolling her eyes at his response, she stared at him standing rigidly next to her dresser. She moved to her bed plopping down on it, propping her back against the headboard. Kicking her shoes off she drew her feet up onto the bed and hugged them close to her chest, as she glanced at the angel expectantly.

"Amber, I need to know what you're hiding."

Then the angel simply stood still waiting for her response. He was steady and she could see he was onto her.

Amber stared blankly, not expecting such a blunt statement. Then again, she should've known better. Cas was the bluntest person she knew...next to Claire.

"Nothing that's any of your concern, Cas," she replied as casually as she could. "Don't let Dean's overreacting to everything get to you. Not everything has to do with me being a Nephilim. I happen to be a person, too."

Cas knew she was avoiding answering. What she told him wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. And it definitely wasn't what he was looking for.

"Amber, you being able to teleport to Emily and bring her out with you...you shouldn't have been able to do this. You've never tried even teleporting on your own before beyond the few floors in the bunker. Or at least you shouldn't have."

Amber's sudden body language told Cas he'd pinned her accurately. Pulling her knees up tighter to her chest, she looked uncomfortable.

"Maybe it was the equivalent of an adrenaline rush then… I don't know, okay? But I did it and it worked. I don't get why you're all so worried about it. It's a good thing! It could prove helpful in the future!"

"Amber, your success in doing this isn't the point here." The angel simply stated the fact and let it hang in their exchange...unopposed by Amber.

Amber pursed her lips together not knowing where to go with this. She was already in trouble, if she admitted her unauthorized training sessions right now there was no way Cas would keep it from Sam and Dean. She just knew it.

"I don't know what you want from me, Cas. That's all the insight I have to give." Focusing her mind in sealing her thoughts from any potential intrusion, Amber looked the angel straight in the eye, unflinching.

In the few seconds it took her to achieve this guarding of her thoughts, Cas caught glimpses of an empty road at night and a young man's face. He supposed that was Kyle. And this told him Amber had more to hide than he originally suspected.

"Amber, if you tell me what's going on I'll do my best to keep it between the two of us. I don't want to involve Sam and Dean. If I wanted them involved, I'd ask these questions while we were in the kitchen. You know you can trust me."

Ah man, Amber was cornered. She could feel Cas knew she was hiding Kyle and...and other stuff. Her teleporting practice… She could feel his presence on the edge of her mind and he'd seen some of her memories.

Reading her resolution to not tell him what she'd been up to, Castiel decided on a different persuasion. It wasn't his preferred one, but he'd made use of it more than once since mixing with humans.

"Amber, if you don't tell me what is going on, what you're hiding, you'll leave me no choice but to stop training you. If I can't trust you're taking this seriously, if I can't trust you're not doing unauthorized training on your own without my presence and supervision, then I simply can't risk it. You might end up harming yourself and I can't be the cause of that. And if I stop training you, your brothers are going to question why. I don't like doing this, but you're leaving me no choice."

Castiel watched Amber's face shifting from surprised to cornered to angry in a matter of milliseconds. She hadn't expected that from him, this much was obvious. He was bluffing of course, but she didn't need to know that. He wouldn't stop training her. That would be pointless. But if it got her to where he wanted her, if this ultimatum forced her to share critical data with him, then his dishonesty would be worth it. He was now comfortable with white lies. He'd been around humans too much.

"Get out of my room, Cas," Amber said in a quiet voice, her eyes glaring at the angel in a way they hadn't seen in a long time. She would expect this from Dean, but coming from Cas, an overt threat…that wasn't something she'd thought possible. And she felt a deep ire with him for going there. She was tired of having to constantly cover her ass. Sure, this was her own doing, but the results were still frustrating and inconvenient.

"Amber, if I leave now without an answer from you, then I will have to stop training you."

"Do what the fuck you want," Amber answered angrilly. She'd reached her breaking point. She didn't care what this would mean, what new shitstorm it would bring upon her, but she was simply done.

"What I want is to know the truth."

"No. What you want is for me to confirm what you think is the truth. I'm not doing that. I've said all I had to say. Do what you want."

"I know you've met a young man, he's blond, and that you've been outside of the bunker alone. Teleporting alone."

Amber's jaw dropped. She thought Cas had only caught glimpses of what she'd been thinking… but it seemed he'd seen more than she thought. More than she could cover. She was caught. Shit, shit, shit!

With a sharp intake of breath, Amber's whole body involuntarily clenched up was such a strong and unconscious reaction, Amber knew she 'd been found out.

Trying to think things through she came back with, "Sam and Dean know about Kyle, Cas. They know I've seen him. They were there. What's your point?" She asked, choosing not to comment about the jumps.

"They weren't there that time at the cafe, when you called me to get you. And there's more to it. You've been outside, on the road… Outside of the bunker."

Amber felt her panic rising at every word that left the angel's mouth. Her brain jumped from trying to conceal her thoughts to actually bringing them forward. Glimpses of Kyle at the cafe where she first met Emily...

"And I see you and Kyle talking…" and here Cas was perplexed. He was looking away from amber, processing what he was seeing. Looking up again, he leveled Amber with his gaze.

"He stayed with you outside the coffee house that night, until I arrived."

Cas' voice showed his astonishment. Kyle seemed to be protecting Amber and she seemed to be arguing with him about this. Then why did Sam and Dean seem so worried about him?

Mouth dipping open, eyes round with fear, Amber couldn't look away at the angel's pinpoint accuracy. Bringing two hands to hide her face she felt at the verge of tears. Now Sam and Dean would have a real reason to be mad. Sam's words from a few weeks back, when they were staying at Jody's for the first time came to her mind: 'I need you to make sure that the two of you won't get into a situation that would make us not trust him around you. Because then we will have reason and right to forbid you from seeing him'. Somehow this prospect made her stomach churn even more than any possible consequences her brothers would dole out for her lying.

"Amber, I see that Kyle is protecting you. Why would you keep this from me?"

"Because you'd tell Sam and Dean and then I'd be in so much trouble and..."

Here Amber's voice cracked with emotion. She was starting to cry. She could feel her eyes tearing up, her face grimacing in sadness, drool starting to accumulate. She hated this. She'd trained herself not to cry. Crying was a sign of weakness and she'd learned that early on in her life. Ever since she came to live here, she found herself losing the grip on her emotions more and more often and she hated it. When she continued talking her voice was trembling.

"And I wouldn't get to see him again."

Speaking through intense feelings of loss, Amber's voice was slurred and wet sounding...distorting her words. She leaned into her hands, muffling her sobs, her world crashing down on her again. All the tension, the worry, the things she was so desperately trying to hide, all came crashing down on her and she couldn't help her emotional reaction. She was undone by this all.

"I think I told you I don't wish to involve Sam and Dean in this," Castiel reminded her, feeling uncertain on how to react to her crying. He took a step closer to the bed, but remained standing awkwardly at a distance.

Rocking, unconsciously attempting to comfort herself, her sadness took on a palpable tension...engulfing Cas. He felt this and sincerely wished he could take this burden from her.

"That's a lie. You wouldn't keep this from them," she managed through her hitched breathing.

"Amber, I have told you before… You can trust me. If this is not threatening your safety, I have no reason to speak of it to anyone else. There's no reason for me to tell them about you meeting a boy. Especially when he appears adamant about keeping you safe."

Amber looked up at the angel's face through her wet eyes, dark lashes heavy from her tears. She wanted to believe him, but she had a hard time doing so. How could he cover for her? Especially after she'd been lying to him repeatedly over the last ten minutes?

"So...you'll lie for me? To Sam and Dean?" she asked with a scoff.

"I don't lie. But I will not share this if I don't see a reason to do so. Like I didn't see a reason to share about you meeting with Emily that night. I know you teleported there spontaneously. I know you didn't plan to meet Emily or Kyle that night. None of that was a reckless plan you had made. It wasn't like Denver."

Amber thought this over, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Swallowing with difficulty, wiping at her nose, she then asked, "What about the jumps?"

"I need you to tell me about the jumps. I can tell you've jumped outside of the bunker. I don't know how you got back inside."

Letting out a deep sigh...Amber was coming to terms with what she had to disclose.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but you have to keep this to yourself."

"I promise that if I feel this doesn't put you at risk, I will keep it between us."

Hesitating, Amber wondered if what she considered a small thing was what the angel considered 'life threatening'. Cas had pretty much figured it out and he didn't seem too reactionary towards what he'd guessed.

Arms propped up on her knees, her lower face buried in the crook of one elbow, her eyes peeking out, Amber looked like a dog who was trying to decide if its owner was taking it for a walk or taking it to the vet. It was a curiously charming appearance for such an emotionally fraught moment.

Coming close to her, Cas sat down on her bed, the mattress depressing as his weight was added. Still looking cautious, Amber kept her eyes on the angel's actions. She was visibly calmer even as she was still trying to reign in her tears.

"Amber, please tell me about your teleporting." The angel sat there expectantly, ramrod straight, face open.

"Alright."

Pausing, she gathered her thoughts and forged ahead.

"You know, you don't let me practice to my full capacity."

At the angel's confused look, Amber's volume increased slightly.

"You don't! Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about. Cas… God! Cas...you sometimes keep me from really growing. 'Amber don't do this. Amber, don't do that.'" Amber was irrationally mimicking a shrill, nagging voice that was supposed to be Castiel's.

It sounded nothing like him.

"Amber, that is not my intention. I only..."

"No!"

It was Amber's turn. If she was going to be forced to disclose this, she was doing this on her own terms.

"No Cas. You're doing this all the time! 'Go slow…', 'don't tire yourself out', 'pace yourself', 'don't overexert your powers'..." Amber was again mocking the angel's voice in a singsong inflection, clearly upset even as she acquiesced to his request.

"So when you insisted I should stop teleporting, but I knew I could go further… I just tried it. I was careful. I did it slowly and carefully. I even carried a key with me in case I had to get back in the bunker using the door. I did great Cas...and you wouldn't even let me try!"

Seeing Cas's look of discomfort at this, Amber redoubled her defense.

"I really was careful. I first only tried going just outside and back to my room, then a bit further down the road and back. It was just like that...really...you know, I kept increasing the distance with every jump, always returning to my room before the next jump. And I made sure I was within walking distance, in case I couldn't zap back for any reason. And it went great! I did great!"

Amber's cadence was becoming excited, animated, her eyes held energy. Cas could see this had been a huge accomplishment which had cemented her confidence and he felt conflicted. He waited for her to finish her short speech as he thought things over. He really was at a loss on what to do here. This was by no means her being safe or careful with her powers.

"Amber, first of all, my trying to pace your practice isn't me trying to hold you back. It's me making sure your powers don't spike and you don't end up blowing up walls or getting stuck in between dimensions. You're too new to understand the reasons behind everything I instruct you to do. You have to trust that I know what's best for you and your growth."

"And if you know what's best, then how come I did fine, huh? Explain that."

Amber's challenging tone was like a slap...angry and sharp...backing up her direct experience and demanding he explain her excellent results. If he had his way, she'd never have had this skillful experience when Emily needed her.

"Because you were lucky, Amber. Just like you were lucky in successfully transporting Emily with you without anything happening to either of you. But you need to understand I must be informed of such things."

"Why? So you can stop me?" sarcasm dripping, Amber was protecting her feelings of disappointment.

Sounding only angry, the girl pulled back within herself, feeling no inclination to share any further with this pain-in-the-ass angel. Cas felt this and realized he needed to step up his own pacing.

"No Amber, not so that I can stop you. So that I can know what you've tried and what you haven't and be prepared to help and intervene as needed. Did you see how easily your grace went off at the table? The glowing eyes?"

Amber hadn't consciously known her grace had been triggered, but she'd felt a power moving throughout her body and watched her brother's eyes grow fearful. This, more than anything, had been her mirror.

"I've seen you angry at Dean but this hasn't happened before. This is an example of an imbalance you can trigger in your grace when you're going too fast," Castiel tried to reason with her. "Overall, your energy has balanced out well, and you are not so erratic anymore, you are still subject to uncontrolled bursts."

Peering at the girl, Cas placed his hand on her shoulder and Amber shook it off, angry at his attempt to calm her down. She had her reasons to be upset and she sure-as-shit wasn't going to let him try to placate her.

Maybe he had a point, but she wasn't about to let him avoid talking about what she really wanted to address: Him not allowing her to push her limits more while training.

If he stopped doing this she wouldn't need to risk practicing on her own.

Cas pulled back. He hadn't expected her to like his caution, they'd made such inroads into their friendship, and he had hoped this obtuse response could be avoided.

He was wrong.

"Just leave. You're not even listening to me. Get out!"

Amber's harsh tone stunned Castiel, her recoiled anger igniting her grace and her eyes glowed gold...a wave of angry sadness exuded outwards from her, reminding Cas of the point of creation, the big bang, when all matter came into being...but this was in miniature. With sadness. And tears, proving the point he'd just made.

Amber was crying again, no sobs this time, only angry, frustrated tears which she wiped off with the back of her hands. It was the second time she'd become tearful from their conversation. They were getting nowhere. Cas needed to take a different approach.

From the moment of his existence as an angel of the lord, Cas was reminded of the ever-present aspect of ongoing creation, the symbols that catalyze this in human unconsciousness and how it comes into human awareness. An image came to mind.

Remembering him fondly, Cas reflected on King Wen and the I-Ching, particularly the images that corresponded to hexagram 57: Wind over Wind: Gentleness makes gentle progress. And then it was all clear: The glaring message this divination proclaimed was, 'Get to it! More dedication is needed.'

This crystal realization spoke to him. Castiel began to reconsider his approach to this conundrum with Amber. Had he been alive, King Wen would have loudly admonished Castiel's previous attempts to reign in her talents at the expense of extinguishing her joy. He could just hear the old guy now, "Be more confident in your charges for the winds are favorable. More action is needed lest their dreams die a gentle death." Yeah, right. But then again, King Wen didn't have to deal with a teenage Nephilim, did he?

Changing his stance, Cas changed his approach.

"Amber. Please, stop crying. I don't agree with how you pursued this, but I think I can work with you more as you've requested in expanding your training."

Hearing his tone change, and sort of following his words, Amber was considering what she thought she'd just heard.

Cautiously peeking up at him from having buried her face in the crook of her elbow, Amber sized him up with one eye. Meeting only an open-faced expression, she didn't know what else to do but listen.

"I think we can accelerate your training. But this cannot be negotiable. You need to have me with you in case something unexpected occurs. If you agree to these terms, and stop trying to train secretly on your own, I think we can do this."

"So you'll let me do more from now on? Listen to me when I tell you I can push further?" was her reluctant question.

"I will let you do more, yes. And I'll try letting you push your limits. This second part will be experimental at the beginning. If you manage to control your powers adequately in between training sessions, we'll keep pushing your limits. But you'll have to trust me if I tell you something is too much for you. I'll trust you to know your limits, but you'll trust me to be the judge of when you're going over the top. And you can't have any more secret training sessions without me. That is too dangerous. Do you agree with all of this?"

Amber contemplated the deal and decided she liked it. "I do."

And just like that, their argument was resolved. Amber was having a bit of emotional whiplash...but this was a win. For sure, she was upset that Cas hadn't come round to her way of thinking from the beginning. Jerk angel! Still, she had his cooperation now.

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He stood there for a full 30 seconds, his ear to her door listening. Nothing. With the knuckles of his fingers he rapped on Amber's door. After three attempts and no noise coming from the other side, he repeated the rapping before cracking open her door and peering in. Covers pulled up over her head, only her nose and mop of wild hair sticking out from underneath, Amber looked very cute. Dean couldn't help but smile.

Entering, he walked over to Amber's bed and sat down on the edge, depressing the mattress with his weight. He couldn't remember when he'd ever just looked at his sister, really looked at her when she was unguarded and relaxed. She was really sweet looking. Amber must have felt his weight as she began to stir, shifting around and as she did her pillow case showed evidence of mascara stains...stains deposited in a haze with black bits of mascara from being diluted by tears. Seeing this, Dean was being informed of how Amber had probably fallen asleep. Yesterday was a tough day. He really hadn't thought about the toll this had taken on her. He'd been much more focused on his need to keep everyone safe, under control, fully compliant.

Hand on her shoulder, Dean gave her a small rock to her frame. Stirring, Amber's face emerged from beneath the blankets looking hazy from sleep. She had black smudges around her eyes that matched the stains on her pillowcase, but otherwise, seemed more disoriented than upset.

"Wakey, wakey buttercup," Dean chanted, a grin covering his face. Amber had no idea what was happening.

"Dean? What do you want?"

"Hey, good morning to you, too. Why don't you get up and get showered. You and I are going out for breakfast."

Amber looked at him almost suspiciously as she gradually became more alert. "Why?"

"What? I can't take my sister out for breakfast?"

"You never have before."

This was true, he'd never done this for her specifically. In fact, it had usually been Sam who'd taken extra time with Amber, picking up burgers, shopping for books, grocery store runs... Dean hadn't done this with her.

"Well, I am now. Shower! Panda look is cute and all, but I don't think it'll work for outside the bunker," Dean quipped, getting to his feet. "I'll be waiting for you in the war room."

Moving beneath the covers, Amber was sitting upright now, eyes open, her brain kicking into gear.

Dean smiled at her and it was a genuine, open smile she'd seen, but not of late. Closing the door behind him, Amber was again alone in her room. A huge yawn escaped her, and she felt the oxygen working its way through to her brain. Standing, she happened to glance down at her stained pillow and was startled. Then it all came flooding back. She'd cried herself to sleep last night.

Getting to her feet, uncertain of what to expect, she hurried to shower and got ready. She was suspicious of why Dean was being nice, yet any time outside of the bunker was always good. She still didn't know what Dean's agenda was, but she sure as hell wasn't going to miss out on an outing. Plus, breakfast meant a diner. A diner was a public space and there was so much Dean could do in a public space.

Almost an hour later, sitting in Dean's favorite local diner, Amber found herself staring awkwardly at her hands. She and Dean patiently waited for the waitress to fill in their mugs with coffee. Dean had been pleasant, funny even, and she was still suspicious.

Once the woman walked away with their orders noted down, Amber looked up at Dean, expression serious.

"So… is this gonna be like last night's "dinner"?"

Dean's lip twitched but he shook his head.

"No. Not unless Sam takes you out too, then you should get worried," he answered casually before taking a sip out of his mug. "God I love this place. Real good coffee."

Amber tried to decipher his meaning but soon decided it didn't really matter. Dean seemed to be in a good mood and that was rare. Considering what she had been expecting from him this morning, going out for breakfast with him wasn't bad at all. Glancing back to her brother, his cryptic words about Sam finally registering, she looked at him, her face firmly stoic with her concern.

She watched Dean looking at the display case, checking out the pies they had today. Amber's eyes followed his and she found herself considering the apple crumble pie. It looked to be half apple pie, half coffee cake...all golden goodness.

"Want some pie?" Dean asked, noticing her eyeing the display, too.

"It looks good. The crumble stuff...god that looks delicious."

"Oh, it is. I've had it. Get a piece. I won't tell," he winked at her conspiratorially.

"But we've already ordered a bunch of stuff," Amber countered, not sure what to make of Dean's eagerness to please her.

"I'm sure between the two of us, we'll finish everything and go for seconds. Get the pie."

"What's this? Fattening up the turkey before the slaughter?" Amber asked, unable to stop herself. This was too good to be true.

"No slaughtering today, kid. Not from me anyway. I promise we're here to have a nice breakfast and nothing more than that."

"Why are you being so nice? It's weird!" Amber pressed on, taking a tentative sip from her own coffee, eyes never leaving Dean, as if she expected him to go off on her any minute now.

"I'm tired of fighting over everything, Amber."

Sitting still, listening to this statement, Ambe had no idea what to do with it. Looking up into Dean's face, a happy Dean who was charming and funny, she wasn't convinced.

"You didn't seem tired yesterday," she shot back.

"Yeah, well, I got it out of my system."

"So, am I supposed to just let it all go? You get a...a 'take two' and we just….." here Amber was casting her eyes around the diner searching for a word to describe her dismay and not finding it. "We just carry on like nothing happened?"

"That's the plan."

Taking a sip of his coffee, Dean kept his eyes on his sister. This was a possibility Sam had anticipated when the two of them had discussed the situation the previous night.

"That's bull," Amber declared. "I know you too well. There's no way you're not gonna give me crap about what I told you guys yesterday…" Here she paused. Deciding to go for the ultimate test, she went on, "About Kyle suspecting and all… There's no way you won't pitch a fit and not… You know…"

Dean raised an eyebrow at that.

"What? Dole out consequences, like Sammy would put it?" He asked, trying to keep his face straight. Now that he wasn't the one burdened with that particular responsibility, it was almost amusing watching Amber sweat over it. Maybe they were doing something right after all.

Shrinking down in her seat, shoulders slumped forward, she confirmed that this was exactly what she was talking about.

"Well, yeah…" She mumbled.

"I never said that wasn't gonna happen. But I already told you, this is not what we're here for."

"Then what ARE we here for?" Amber's voice was becoming shrill. Attracting glances from other tables, she lowered her voice.

"Damn it, kid. Is it really that hard to believe we're here to spend some time together? No secret agendas? No gameplan?"

"Kinda…"

"Well that's what it is. And I'm done trying to persuade you. Now... How are you holding up? After yesterday? And I mean the hunt. Not the other stuff."

Amber was thrown off by this question. And by who it came from. This was a conversation she'd expect to have with Sam. They'd had them in the past. Multiple times. But not with Dean. Managing to overcome this novel fact she focused on herself. She hadn't even considered how she was feeling. Physically, she was fine. She was really fine. No cuts, no bruises...she wasn't tired. Nada. But emotionally, she was frayed.

"Honestly? Shitty."

Dean's snort made her snap her head up and look at him incredulously.

"Did you just snort?"

"Sorry, kid… Not at what you said. I just got a glimpse of what it must feel like to Sam when he tries to get me to talk about stuff. Why shitty? Emily?"

Internally, Amber was experiencing a kaleidoscope of images and memories of Emily….interlaced with emotion and their friendship...ending with the back of her walking away.

Dean watched her deep in thought and he knew where she was. He'd been there….he knew the ache and despair of being' kicked to the curb.' Amber's eyes glossed over and Dean felt himself collapse internally. He knew the heart-shredding sadness..which he habitually medicated with booze.

"I know it sucks. She was a friend. Hey, she'll get over it."

Clearing her throat and pulling herself together, a few of her tears getting past her restraint, Amber shook her head.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't have too many friends, Dean. Losing one of them is kind of a big deal. And Emily…we go way back," there she stopped. Not seeing the point in elaborating further.

"I get it, Amber. The thing is… This is part of the life. You learn to live with the idea that losing people happens. One way or another. At least you got to make sure she's safe. This could have ended in a very different kind of way. Trust me, losing her 'cause she just doesn't want anything to do with what we do, is far better than her being killed off."

Dean drank some more of his coffee and regarded his sister intently. Amber saw the hardness in his jawline. He looked haunted by his own words. Regarding her brother, Amber occupied herself with her own coffee, glancing up into Dean's face.

Dean knew his words weren't easy to hear. But he also knew first hand they held truth. And the sooner Amber got used to this reality, the better off she'd be.

Amber, glancing back up at him, tried to decide if his words made her feel better or worse. Until she noticed his darkened expression.

"I take it you've had to see a lot of people you cared about die?"

Dean's whole continence stopped suddenly, taken aback by the bluntness of this question. Then he nodded, solemnly, his lips compressed, his eyes becoming shiny. Clearing his throat, Dean was emotionally 'putting a cork in it'.

"Yeah. A lot." Dean's deep tone sounded like a stone door shutting on a tomb. "And I'd give anything to know they're alive and kicking even if it meant they hate me."

Amber mulled these words over and found a weird sense of comfort in them.

"I get it," she said quietly.

The two of them remained silent as the waitress arrived with their orders. Plates of eggs, bacon, and pancakes served, she smiled down at the pair.

"Can I get you two anything else?"

Head lifting to the woman, Amber smiled.

"Yes, actually. Two pieces of that apple crumble pie, please."

"Good choice. Your dad always gets our apple crumble pie," and the waitress left to get their pie, pouring some more coffee at an adjoining table, as she efficiently retraced her steps back to the counter.

Amber watched the woman walking away. Turning her face to her brother, she encountered an unfazed Dean. Neither knew what to do with this confirmation. Their waitress returned and served them each a slice of the pie.

Reaching into her apron pocket, the woman held a can of whipping cream aloft, a smile on her face clearly asking if they wanted a final, luscious glory on top. Amber's face eased into a broad grin as she nearly laughed.

"Yes, please!"

Not letting this opportunity pass him by, a smiling Dean indicated with his finger he'd like some, too.

Pleased with herself, the waitress left the two to enjoy their morning extravaganza.

A forkful of pie enjoyably eaten with a sip of coffee, Amber looked up at Dean. Swallowing, she decided to address the elephant in the room.

"So, what's our story? You my dad or my brother?"

"I'm your 'drother'," Dean grinned, whipping cream smeared on the edge of his lips.

Laughing at this idotic phrase, Amber's heart lightened as she tried not to choke on her current bite of pie.

"Easy there. You good?" Dean asked, noticing her confused emotional swallowing.

Clearing her throat, Amber nodded an affirmative, smile gracing her face, her eyes gaining a sparkle he hadn't seen since Christmas eve.

"Cause if you're my brother, you sure seem confused."

Snorting, trying not to choke on his own bite of pie, Dean finished swallowing. Clearing his throat he smiled at Amber's sideways grin.

"Kid, I'm whatever is needed. Kind of like a Swiss Army knife...but without the corkscrew."

"I'd say you have plenty of 'screw'," Amber rattled off, a sarcastic edge to her comment. Like the true reason for an argument that goes unsaid until deep into the anger, her resentment of Dean disappearing on their first Christmas was suddenly being dug up and thrown in his face. She didn't even know she was going to say this. An unconscious provocation, like the disruptive negative K-force of a compressed emotional spring, this spontaneous rebound would keep vandalizing every opportunity simply by remaining unresolved.

Nervous eyes looking up at Dean's she wondered how her angry jab would go down.

Face becoming more serious, Dean's eyes dimmed from their fun moment, his mouth a straight line. Seems that they were going there.

"Look, I know the timing sucked, but you do realize that's bound to happen from time to time right?"

Amber chewed on her bite sceptically. "I know that…but Dean, on Christmas? Our first Christmas?"

"Well…" Dean trailed off as his usual justification didn't hold up in light of he and Sam now having these kids depending on them. "It used to be like a tradition. I can't change what happened, but I can promise you, I'll change the timing of this tradition."

Eyebrow raising Amber came back with, "So, that means I can also have a similar tradition, right? As long as it's not Christmas day or night?"

Sharp eyes flashed at her and Dean's body snapped to attention.

"No! And...and you stay away from that Kyle douche." Dean was fighting to keep anger and frustration out of his voice as he glared at his sister. He was getting them both flustered. The mere thought of her and that Kyle going there made him shiver.

"Why not, Dean? It's only natural, right?"

"Because your situation is dangerous, that's why. And...I don't like that blond douche. You just can't. End of discussion."

Mimicking his earlier solemn tone, Amber raised the next question.

"So… say in six months from now, we find a way to get rid of…you know, 'who' makes my situation dangerous. You do realize that seeing boys 'like that' is bound to happen from time to time, right? That it HAS happened before?"

Closing his eyes, Dean tried to purge his mind from the mere idea of his sister ever having sex. Verging on turning this breakfast bonding into yet another argument, he tried hard not to answer to what he had just heard. He was tired of fighting.

"Let's just eat. I know Sam wants to talk to you when we get back and Jody will be coming over in the next couple of hours. So finish your breakfast."

Amber contemplated pressing the issue, but decided she didn't want to. It would only turn this morning sour and they'd kinda had a good time so far. She wouldn't spoil it further. She was sure she'd have to fight this fight at some point, but now was not the time.

"Yeah, let's eat. And, Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for today. It was nice. We should do this more often."

---

꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ A ꧂

---

Lowering himself into a chair Sam nodded, indicating that his sister should take a seat, too.

Unintentionally creating a loud squeak as she pulled her chair out, Amber looked nervous. The library had those comfy English Gentlemen's Club wingback chairs and more utilitarian wooden straight back chairs for study. Sam had seated them at the end of a study table with its hard, cold wooden seats. This had been intentional. Sam had seated her here to get her full attention on several levels. Discomfort helped.

Seating herself, Amber was now face-to-face with a serious-looking Sam. He had a determination about him, dimples showing from the clenched muscular of his incensed expression, eyebrows intimidating low over his eyes.

Her heart stuttered to a halt as she realized what this was. Dean was letting Sam deal with her.

Looking up at him, with the angle reinforcing the height difference between them, Amber was feeling rather small. She'd taken the chance and not told her brothers about her suspicions with Kyle. It was a calculated risk. Like so many of the things they didn't know she'd done since they'd met, this was only one. It held disproportionate weight compared to some of her other secrets. And now she was caught.

Even sitting, his broad shoulders atop his long, muscular torso reminded her of his strength and ability to administer forceful discussions.

Between her breakfast with an easy-going Dean, and facing this rather intimidating version of Sam, she felt completely out of her element, uncertain of what to expect.

Clearing his throat Sam began.

"Dean told you that you and I were going to talk, right?"

"Yeah," was Amber's laconic response, nervous eyes trying to hide behind a firm expression. She wasn't fooling Sam.

"Amber, you came through for us and I'm not going to pretend you didn't, cause you did. And you saved the hunt."

Sam's grave tone, acknowledging Amber's good points, was the obvious lead up to highlighting her 'bad points'.

"I'm saying this because you did. And you did this at great risk to yourself. You made some good calls, thought things through and really made me see our training has been working. That you're shaping up to be, not just a good hunter, but also someone who thinks things through and doesn't rush into risky and irresponsible decisions."

'And here we go,' Amber thought to herself, arms crossed over her chest as she glanced off to the side of the library.

"So, I'm having a really hard time understanding all the lying and hiding regarding Kyle," Sam continued, his tone gaining a stern edge Amber hadn't heard in a while. Even sitting as she was, her stomach dropped to her feet, a tingle passing through her hindquarters on its descent.

Amber was having a strong déjà vu of their early morning discussion in that park in Sioux Falls. That had been after Asa's funeral. Suddenly, Amber was swept back to their time sitting on the cold, wooden picnic tables in the dark, dew dripping down around them all, Sam scaring the hell out of her with his intense anger. And he was doing it again.

"How can someone who's supposedly mature and responsible make the call to hide something as big as what you kept from us? Huh? I don't get it. Especially after having already gone over the importance of not omitting things like this?"

Amber felt her face heat up and she knew she was probably flushing. She hated how guilty Sam could make her feel with just a few words. Staring at her hands she avoided his gaze and remained silent, not knowing how to respond to him.

This was all true and she'd had her reasons.

Sitting in her silence, Sam allowed Amber to think. He waited for her to reply.

Amber's face clouded over, looking off to the side, she fell into a contemplative moment. She'd kept it from them because if she had told them, she'd never see Kyle again...and she very much wanted to see Kyle again. Theirs was the classic dance of attraction to the excitement of a bad boy who cared for her despite his obvious flaws. A true paradox.

And she was hiding many more things regarding Kyle.

Kyle knew she'd been up at the cemetery in Sioux Falls. He'd practically dragged her out of the tavern during their lunchtime rehearsal the next day. He seemed to have a bead on her every move. She knew he wasn't human...that's for sure. And he tried to protect her. Her brothers had even seen this. And she really liked kissing him, his hands on her. She wanted much more.

God, she loved his hands on her.

Her face flushing, Sam incorrectly interpreted Amber's emotional response as embarrassment. Without raising his voice further Sam pursued her response.

"I'm not going to let this go. Why do you keep lying regarding Kyle?"

A rush of grounded decisiveness swept through her. She was a young adult...hell, she was nearly an adult...and she needed to have her secrets.

Looking up at her brother, Amber's face held an odd conviction Sam hadn't seen before.

"For one, I'm not a child. I have a right to my privacy, to a life of my own. And yeah, this means some secrets that are all mine."

Sam was stunned. This boundary held weight. He had his own secrets. But this kept being the problem Amber kept butting up against; their situation was complicated and she was not normal.

"Ok, sure. I get that you would want to text him...talk...maybe more? But Amber, your circumstances, our circumstances, are a lot more complex than that. You know all of this. So...No. I'm not buying this."

"You're telling me that if I'd said, 'Hey, Kyle's in the area and wants to meet up. He's gotten us a room. You guys don't wait up,' that you'd have been cool with this?" Amber was upset and angry and exaggerating to get her point made. It was childish.

And it wasn't the best example to fabricate.

"Is this what's been happening? You two been meeting up at a motel?"

Sam was confused. Had she snuck away, snuck out and met up with Kyle? Spent a night away without them even noticing? How?

"Have you two been meeting up outside of the bunker?" Leaning forward, Sam's face kept a tight composure, his dimples deepening into slits along his compressed mouth. "Has this happened?" He felt his temper rising.

Staring at Sam, Amber's face took on a detached expression. She was hiding her horror. What had she just done? None of that had even come close to happening. Why did she say such garbage?

Sure, she'd met up with him a couple more times. Sam was even present during one of those meet-ups, even though Sam hadn't seen him in the bookstore. But this definitely hadn't been what she'd just insinuated.

In that moment, in her mind's eye, Amber had the escapist fantasy of standing up and walking away...just getting up and leaving this conversation behind. She could almost see herself doing this, still she remained in her chair. Experience had taught her this wasn't a smart move even as she was incredibly close to doing just that.

Feeling cornered by her own manufactured drama, Amber remained quiet. She'd really stepped in it this time and she wasn't going to thrash around and kick this shit around any more than she had to. Sam kept his attention on her, looking stern and intimidating.

"Well, is it?"

Taking a deep breath, Amber calmed herself down. Cas' words, 'Take a deep breath into your abdomen and hold it. Count to 10. Then slowly let it out. Keep doing this. This triggers the parasympathetic system which will calm down your fight or flight response and let you think more rationally.

Taking another deep breath, she watched Sam recognize that she was soothing herself, yet he remained right on the edge of losing his patience with her.

"No, Sam. This hasn't happened. But your reaction alone proves my point. I can't share this stuff with you. And I have a right not to," Amber finally answered, her own tone gaining a frustrated edge.

"I have to give it to you, trying to dance around the subject, draw my attention elsewhere, and avoid what we're really discussing here… Well played. But I'm getting tired of it and of your refusal to accept responsibility."

Amber watched as Sam's face hardened with every word. She was momentarily distracted by the familiar sensation of her stomach dropping to her feet with the worry of what would follow.

"We're not talking about the two of you texting. We're not talking about your privacy during phone conversations. We're talking about you not telling us, choosing not to tell us, that he might know what you are. Some secrets are all yours. This one isn't. And it's not the first time we're having a discussion about hiding things of this magnitude!"

He needed to stand up. He needed to move and let off some of his anger; this retribution had to serve a bigger purpose. He sooo wanted to just pull her under his arm and smack her good. But he knew he shouldn't.

Amber was getting a flashback to the several times Sam had had it with her. And he'd managed to drop her right back to feeling guilty about lying to him. Hell, she was starting to feel guilty about lying to both of them. Even Dean, who had been kinda nice at breakfast. Emotions unsettled and mind scanning for options of avoidance, she was dawning on her memories and coming up empty. She was well and truly caught.

"Alright Sam...let's assume I haven't stepped outside the bunker to meet him."

Sam narrowed his eyes in a dangerous way.

"I haven't. This is the truth. Besides...you'd...you'd know. And aside from accidentally teleporting to the Target parking lot that one time, I haven't met up with him."

Amber was weaving truth and lies, focusing her mind on the truth, so Sam would feel the truth stronger. It was a gamble as Sam was subtle and recognized subtly.

"So you're saying you met up with Kyle that night you teleported to Target?"

Oh shit!

Her confidence dropped away even as she held her face neutral. It was a tell Sam had picked up on. She looked too held-tightly-in-place.

"Augh! No!"

Elbows on the table, head in her hands, Amber realized she did meet up with him there...only because he showed up unannounced. And his creepy stalker texts asking why she was out of the bunker and if her family knew where she was. Head still in her hands, face covered, Amber shifted her face upward, her hands sliding down to only cover the lower half of her face. She and Sam were now eye-to-eye.

"Ok, yesss….but it wasn't like that."

Seeing Sam cock his head in disbelief, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, Amber panicked. She wasn't being believed yet this was the truth!

"No Sam. Don't...it was Emily….I mean I was thinking about Emily…"

As Sam's skeptical look turned down the outer edges of his mouth, Amber decided to come clean. After all, Cas could back her up if need be here and this would help her cause.

"I guess...yeah...I did see Kyle outside of the bunker that night I accidentally teleported out. You see, I'd been thinking about Emily and I felt so bad about the way you guys met...I guess I was longing to see her again. Then whoosh, there I was and she was getting off shift."

"So you're telling me you also saw Emily that night?" Sam asked, having a hard time believing how many more things were coming to light, and how much she'd managed to hide. He wondered why Cas hadn't shared this bit of info with them either, when the four of them had discussed Amber's spontaneous teleporting. Noting he had to talk to the angel about this, he focused on Amber and her now helpless expression.

Amber considered lying again, but didn't dare to. Everything was getting too complicated and she doubted Sam would buy it anyways. Sighing, she nodded slowly.

"I did, but again, it wasn't arranged or anything. I just happened upon her when she was leaving after her shift was over. She saw me and we talked. We grabbed a tea while waiting for Cas to come and get me."

Expression hard but not commenting, Sam refocused their conversation. "And where is Kyle in this?"

Sam was listening, his eyes still narrowed, his brows depressed menacingly. He was not seeing the connection and wasn't going to be led astray from his question.

"Well, like I said… I called Cas to let him know what had happened and while I waited Emily and I went into that coffee house."

"And Kyle was in there?"

"No." Amber rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She was getting to that.

Sam's warning glare let her know that attitude wasn't going to be tolerated. Shifting in her seat she schooled her expression as she went on.

"He texted me and asked why I was out of the bunker and if you guys knew where I was."

Sam's face reflected his surprise. He'd noticed how protective Kyle was of Amber even though they hadn't known each other long. Being a hunter, Sam had chalked this up to an overprotective, sexist upbringing. And yet, this was not what he'd expected to hear.

"Then he showed up and I had to go out to talk to him." Here Amber was remembering being infuriated with him.

"Had to?" Sam raised an eyebrow at her chosen phrasing.

"Yeah. He interrupted Emily and I getting tea...you know, while I waited for Cas. Kyle wouldn't leave, kept tapping on the window right beside us...we couldn't talk...so I went outside to make him leave."

"And did he?" Sam didn't let his curiosity slip into his tone. He waited patiently for her answer and was trying to figure this Kyle guy out.

"He only agreed to leave when Cas arrived. He was worried that I was out alone. Exposed. And when Cas arrived, he left. You know the rest. Cas told you. That's it. Saaam, that's it." Imploring him to believe her, she was sounding whiny.

"How'd he know where you were?" This was a critical part of this story that hadn't been touched upon and Sam was very curious how this happened. How did Kyle find Amber? There was no way this was a random meetup. It might be, if Kyle lived in Kansas, but he was living in Sioux Falls. And this was another thing. Why was he in Kansas and not Sioux Falls? These unanswered questions started making Sam suspicious over Kyle...and rather uncomfortable.

Sitting up in her chair, hands both flat on the table, Amber's face showed her own puzzlement.

"How should I know."

Sam was wondering if Kyle had installed a 'FindMyPhone' App with Amber's phone being the target. He had them on both his and Dean's phones...on all of them. Internally, Sam whacked his forehead. He hadn't installed one on Amber's phone and now he was realizing his oversight. He should install one on Claire's phone, too.

"Can he track you with an app?"

Amber scrunched up her nose at that. He'd better not. "No. At least I don't think so. I'd have found it in my settings. No Sam… I have no idea how he knew I was there. He just knew where I was and showed up. It was kinda creepy."

It WAS kinda creepy and Sam's face showed a slight snarl of distaste as he listened. Was this textbook stalker behavior or something more?

"But why would he want you not to be out of the bunker? It...this is something Dean or I would be concerned about. Not him. Who IS he? Why would he even think this was important?" Sam asked next in an effort to figure this situation out.

"I have no idea. But he's mentioned demons being after me, and gets really upset about this." She'd almost said, 'He thinks I take too many chances.' Thank god she'd held that statement back. She kept that thought under wraps, deeply, deeply relieved she hadn't said this out loud. Sam would've been on that like a hawk on a shrew...with lightning speed.

"Did you tell him?" Sam's eyes were now sharp and bright, sitting up straighter at the implications; if Kyle knew about the demons of hell being after her, what else did he know?

"No. No, I didn't tell him anything. I swear I didn't."

Sighing heavily, looking off to the side of the library, Amber was wondering if he'd believe her or not. She couldn't really blame him if he didn't. Not after all the lies and half-truths she'd admitted to.

"So, let me make sure I understand this. Kyle can somehow track your location and is concerned about you not being in the bunker. He has also appeared in Kansas twice now… The night you just told me about and then at the hunt yesterday."

Three times if you count the bookstore, Amber thought to herself, but there was no way in hell she was telling Sam about that one.

"Yes. Well, he's concerned about me not being home with you guys. He doesn't really know about the bunker or where we live or anything. But yeah, he's worried if I'm outside alone. He trusts you guys if I'm with you. For some reason he really likes you two."

Making a clucking sound with her tongue, Amber added in a mumble, "Frankly, I don't see why the 'hero worship'."

Sam sent her a look but didn't comment on this last bit. Focusing on something else his sister just shared, he leaned forward scanning her face intently.

"So, how often has he gotten upset that you were alone, not with us?"

Augh! This was agonizing. She'd tried to avoid this. OK, what could she say. What could she say? Ooohhh, that would work and it was true...with a few details left out.

"When I was at Jody's, the day after my birthday Claire and I went back to that tavern for lunch and Kyle showed up, barged in all upset that I wasn't with you guys or another hunter. Pissed Claire off royally. He was scared for my safety and said I needed to get back to Jody's and that there were demons looking for me. He knew I was...I mean..he knows I am being chased by demons. I don't know how he knew where I was and I don't know how he knows this. He. Just. Does. And this is all correct if he somehow knows I'm a Nephilim. It's exactly what you or Dean would say. He's kind of annoying like that."

"OK...I can see what you mean. It's not definitive." Remembering all the undercurrents of challenge he'd watched Kyle and the bouncer engaged in, their major standoff in the tavern the night of your birthday, Sam was putting a lot together.

"That bouncer and Kyle...they were locked in some kind of battle. Amber, you already know this, it was the same bouncer whose body was found up at the cemetery the night Claire decided to go hunting on her own."

And here Sam's brain kicked in. Kyle had been up there, too. According to Claire, Kyle had just showed up and happened to help her with the demons she encountered. Huh? What did this mean?

Seeing Amber's body slightly relaxed, open, and eyes steady, Sam was fairly certain he was getting the truth. The whole truth? That he couldn't tell.

"Alight. The way I understand it, he does act like he suspects what you are. And I don't like the implications of that. Not one bit," Sam paused there and thought carefully before he continued, bringing his hands together, fingers intertwining. "If that's the case, I guess he's doing everything right. Protecting you, making sure you're safe. But, Amber if he doesn't… There's nothing normal or healthy into all of this. It's hard to tell with just our points of view though. You think Kyle and I should have a talk?"

Horror!

Sam watched Amber's face blanching at his words. For the first time during this conversation he felt slightly amused.

"Oh, it's that bad. How far have you two gone? You used protection, right?"

Sputtering, Amber was flustered, embarrassed, guilty and indignant. It was a confusing expression on her face and Sam was close to smirking with satisfaction.

"Okay… Not getting there. Yet. And despite all the imponderables, from what you've told me, Kyle seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I still don't like one bit his 'knowing where you are' thing. I'll check your phone for a tracking code or ghost app. He might have airdropped one to your phone. If that's not the case, then we need to start considering and possibly confront him on how he does this. And mainly why."

Looking offended and adverse to this suggestion, Amber lay her hand on her pocket, feeling her phone securely in it, palming it defensively.

"Amber, all this is important. I won't read your texts to Kyle. I promise."

"Like hell you won't. I know you and Dean and you'll...Ok...maybe not you, but Dean...Dean will read whatever he feels he needs to." He justifies everything. Asshat.

"Hey, why the hostility towards him? Didn't you two have a nice time at breakfast?"

Leaning back, arms folded across her chest, Amber was thinking about breakfast. Yeah, Dean had tried to be nice...and he had been. He still was an asshat. Most of the time.

She didn't answer Sam's question.

"Amber, I think I now understand more of what you mean regarding Kyle. Do you still wish to see him?"

Face snapping to attention, mouth dipping open in alarm, Sam saw she did.

"Alright, I see. Do you feel safe around him?"

"I know where you're going with this. And yes...yes I do."

At Sam's questioning, she continued.

"I know. I know I should feel really on edge about him just showing up and what he knows. But here's the thing Sam: I could blast him easily. I could teleport away from him in an instant. I could probably take him down even without involving my powers with the training you and Dean have given me. I'm not afraid of him hurting me. He can't. He won't. I don't know how to explain this, but I know he's not a threat. And he kinda reminds me of you guys...in a good way, you know."

Sam listened carefully.

"Then I expect your cooperation. You'll let me check your phone so that we know some more about the situation. It's the only way we can currently allow communication between the two of you to continue," Sam said with finality.

Amber wanted to fight this tooth and nail, but she had learned to pick her battles. And despite Sam's tone having evened out, she knew this discussion wasn't over. Not yet. Considering her options and realising this conversation could have ended very differently, with Sam simply forbidding her from contacting Kyle ever again, she decided this was a compromise she had to make. Sighing she nodded.

"Fine. But not today," she conceded. She'd at least go over her texts and make sure she'd get rid of anything she had to.

"And even though you feel safe around him... I don't want you seeing him away from us. And definitely not without us knowing about you meeting him. Not until we know more about him," here Sam paused at his sister's dropping face, but he didn't let it faze him.

"No. This is non-negotiable. Not after all the lies. It'll take time for us to trust you around Kyle, and Amber, this is your own doing. If you had come clean with everything as it happened we wouldn't be here now."

He allowed a few seconds to pass, but Amber didn't respond to his words. She could now see he was right. And she could now see that coming to them… Well, maybe not them, but coming to Sam with all these could have been ok. At least some of these lies could have been avoided. Maybe not everything, but enough to avoid this showdown.

"Amber, you always need to remember... Lucifer is still our biggest concern. You being a Nephilim, you have so many enemies. Our biggest enemy might be currently trapped at the bottom of the ocean, but don't think for a moment this is anything other than temporary. It isn't. And I know this all sucks. I'm sorry you can't have a normal life. I really am. I know you and Kyle would like to date, see each other more, do stuff."

Here Sam smirked lightly as Amber blushed and placed her right palm across her mouth, looking off to the left side of the library...face blushing. Sam shook his head lightly at her reaction. She'd wave sex stuff into Dean's face for the sheer enjoyment of watching his overreactions. Yet when the roles were reversed and he was mentioning anything remotely close to her sexual life she was embarrassed and uncomfortable.

He allowed himself to enjoy teasing her for a few more seconds before getting back down to business. There was a reason they were there, having this conversation. And the fact was she'd broken her promise to share important things with them. She'd broken this particular promise several times now. And this had to be addressed.

"Amber, how would you deal with yourself if you'd lied repeatedly, to our faces, about something this important? Keeping this critical information from us. Hmmm?"

Shit! He'd done it again, flipping their role to put her in charge of her own comeuppance. God dammit! She hated him doing this.

"Sam, I'm not playing this game." Amber's face held a staunch refusal to consider any of this. This is how Sam would take her down and she wouldn't step into this trap again.

Leaning forward, Sam's face was looking scary. His left eyebrow raised in warning as all levity vanished from his face. Internally, Amber was feeling his growing conviction that he was needing to handle this more forcefully. Involuntarily, she leaned back, arms still crossed across her chest, her face reflecting her unguarded fear and worry.

Pushing back from the table, Sam's chair screeched as he prepared to stand up and go over to her side of the table. Not a word was said as Amber's face took on a look of dread, her acting skills falling away from her face at this very real threat.

"Alright, Stop! Stop it. Saaam!"

It was too late. Sam needed to get her attention. She wasn't taking this seriously.

In two strides, reaching her side of the table, Sam grabbed Amber's left arm and hauled her up to standing. Amber, so shocked she wasn't even fighting back against his hold presented little resistance. Swinging her to the side, Sam landed three strong smacks to her bottom, swinging her back around to face him, his hand still holding her left arm. Amber was stunned, face blushing, eyes round with shock. He had her full-on attention.

"I've had it up to here with your lies and... and frankly your attitude." Pausing to gather his own thoughts, Amber was immobile with the speed of her brother's punctuated statement.

"How can we trust you when you hide...when you hide secrets like this! How? Tell me?" Here Sam paused. He was truly expecting an answer.

Amber wasn't sure if this was a rhetorical question or a real one. She didn't know what she should say next. Sam helped her.

"Amber, I'm entirely serious. If you don't answer me, if you don't start taking this seriously, I swear I'm going to put you across my knee, right here right now. Answer my question. How would you respond to your own lies and intentional omissions?"

Amber's mind was spinning. She was entirely off her game. Sam had intended this. He hated her games.

Despite her alarm, none of this had triggered her powers. She was allowing this from him. Cas appeared to have been correct. Despite her being able to use her powers to stop him, she didn't appear to feel the need to do so in response to him or Dean.

Seeing Amber's face stricken and open, Sam decided he'd pace with her.

Taking a deep breath of his own, Sam was regulating his own breathing, loosening his grip on Amber's arm, guiding her back down to sitting in her chair. As her ass made contact with the chair, Amber offered a slight wince and she was truly focusing on reading her brother's face. And Sam noticed this.

Standing above his seated sister, Sam decided to step back round to his place and sit across from her once again, listening to what she had to say. He reminded himself the goal of today was to avoid spanking her. To stress she was to come to them with things like that, that she could do so without fear. He didn't want this particular lesson connotated with an ass-busting, not that he wasn't going to give it to her, if he deemed it necessary.

Resuming his seat, Sam continued his pacing to lead her up to the real situation she was in.

"Amber, you lied and hid things from us. Important things. Repeatedly. By keeping this from us you exposed yourself to potential danger...real danger from who knows what. We know so little about Kyle and his intentions. For all we know, he could be working with demons himself."

To his surprise Amber wasn't as startled at this suggestion as he would've expected her to be. This, in and of itself, was telling. What had she suspected already and chose to simply ignore?

"He can't be a demon. He has an anti-possession tattoo, remember? You've seen that. And… I tried to exorcise him once… That time at the cafe, when he just appeared there? I… I tried the exorcism. Nothing happened," Amber answered in a serious yet hushed tone. She was again weaving lies and truths together here, but she had thought about this possibility and the proof simply didn't add up.

"One can work with demons without necessarily being one, Amber," was Sam's curt response. "And by hiding all this from us, like I just said, you've potentially exposed yourself to danger, maybe some really big danger. We don't know yet. You said earlier you feel he's not a threat, that you could take him if you had to and these might all be true… But we still had to know about this. It's the only way we can help protect you, you know this. We've been over this. Again and again. And you chose to ignore this. Again. You can't expect us to trust you and to respect your privacy when you're constantly sneaking around with everything you think we won't like."

"But you'd jump the gun… You wouldn't let me see him, talk to him," Amber tried once again to find an excuse to save her. To justify this lying. Any excuse would do. After their lengthy conversation, she knew more than well there was none that would cut it this time, but now that she was face to face with an actual punishment, she could only focus on how to avoid it.

Sam pursed his lips together and put in some serious effort not to let his rising temper show.

"You don't know that. No, actually you do know. Our conversation today proves exactly the opposite. We'd listen and think things through and we'd find a compromise. Just like I did today. Had you come to us when you should, there would be no punishments and no fights. You'd be safer and we would be able to trust you."

To that Amber had nothing to counter. Crossing her hands against her chest, she kept her eyes trained on the table top in front of her, resigned. She let out a long sigh.

Sam scanned her for a few seconds. He could tell she was now getting it. She was at that point, where no matter how hard she tried she couldn't justify her actions even to herself.

"So, I'll ask you again and I expect an answer and no attitude this time. How would you deal with this repetitive lying?"

"What's even the point in asking me? You've already decided you're gonna bust my ass for this," Amber mumbled her face flushing.

"At some point you need to learn to stop jumping to conclusions or taking people's reactions for granted, Amber," Sam answered evenly. "What I've decided or not decided to do is another matter entirely. I want to see your perspective on this. What do you think constitutes appropriate consequences for this?"

Amber glanced at Sam surprised. Did that mean she wasn't getting her ass handed to her for this? She was so certain that was her imminent fate, that this threw her off completely. Closing her eyes for a second and drawing in a deep breath she shook her head. Her memory took her back to that day at the park, right after Asa's funeral. She knew there was no getting out of this and she'd have to give Sam what he wanted one way or another.

"I don't know… I guess…" She tried to really think what her reaction would be if she was in Sam's shoes. Having someone she loved and was taking care of lying to her for all this time, for a bunch of things… It was a strange scenario for her to consider and she couldn't really see herself ever being in such a position with anyone else.

"I guess you'd be right if you chose to…" pursing her lips together, avoiding eye contact, a cascading blush furiously covering her face, she managed to force out the next words, "...spank me."

Sam was watching her sweat over this and was surprised to hear these words come out of her mouth. He thought she'd try to avoid bringing this up at all costs...although she did the first time he played this gambit with her. He gave her another few seconds to see if she had anything to add before clearing his throat.

"You're absolutely right. Spanking you would be more than appropriate considering how many lies you fed us and how this hiding important things has been addressed multiple times before today, " Sam paused here, watching as Amber shrank back in her chair, her expression miserable. He let her simmer for a few seconds before continuing.

"But I won't."

When his sister's head snapped up in complete disbelief and surprise he eyed her seriously.

"You're getting a second… No, a third and last chance with this. If we catch you in a lie again, if we catch you hiding things as important and big as this from us again, you will get your ass busted. And trust me when I say, neither me nor Dean will be inclined to be lenient with your consequences if this comes to pass. Is that perfectly clear?"

Amber gulped at this promise but nodded immediately.

"Perfectly."

"Amber, coming to us is not only imperative for your safety it's also imperative for our trust in you. I hope you understand this. And despite how certain you feel about our reaction, you need to start to trust us too. We're not here to make your life miserable. We're here to make it easier, safer, better, and as long as possible. And it's high time you let us do this."

"I will. I promise, Sam. I promise to come to you with anything big that comes up," Amber said earnestly. And Sam could tell she meant this.

"Good. I'll hold you to that promise. Now, this is what's going to happen for keeping this all from us: You're going to go through this entire library and check the call numbers on the books to make sure everything is in order. All of it. I expect you to check every single tome, atlas or artifact we own. Every shelve you cover, will be thoroughly dusted and cleaned. I don't think this library has ever been cleaned since Dean and I first moved here and it's in dire need for some deep cleaning. So dusting, polishing shelves, reshelving books in the right order. This way you'll also become much more familiar with what we have. Which is important for you to know. And it's intentionally tedious. Once that's done… You'll clean this whole room from top to bottom. The whole gig… dusting the cobwebs, cleaning the windows, vacuuming and mopping the floors, cleaning and polishing all the tables and chairs. I want this whole room spotless."

Amber's face had changed from hopeful and apologetic to horrified at the prospect of what laid ahead of her. Turning to glance around the large room with horror, she wondered if an ass-busting would actually be preferable to this. Rethinking this last bit she decided that it wasn't. Standing up, Amber cast her eyes around the Library, looking overwhelmed.

"I didn't say you had to have this done in a day. I did this once when we moved in here and it took me ten days. Now, considering you have your regular training on top of this, I'll give you two weeks to finish.

Amber rolled her eyes, huffing her angst at this monumental task.

Sam, feeling pleased with himself at how he handled the situation, stood up as well. Walking to Amber he gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze as he stood beside her.

"I'll bring you a cup of coffee and you can get started."

"What about lore study?" Amber asked gloomily, turning to look at him questioningly.

"No lore study today. No training in general. Jody is already here. She's catching up with Claire until we're done here. She, Dean, and I need to fill her in on your situation. And we think it's gonna take a while."

Despite his even tone, Amber could tell he sounded almost worried about this impending talk. Smirking with satisfaction she really hoped Jody would tear Sam and Dean a new one for their lying to her.

"Karma is a bitch, Sam," Amber said, not hiding her satisfied smile and glancing up at her brother. If she was getting punished for lying, well, Sam and Dean deserved all the hell Jody would give them. And more. She could of course tell how different this situation was compared to her own lying, but she wasn't going to bring this up.

Ruffling her hair with a shake of his head, Sam simply walked away. "Get started. I'm getting you that coffee even if you're being a brat."

"Thank god for small favors. Can you add some whiskey to that?"

Sam stopped, turning back to face her and leveled Amber with an unamused look that stunned her right through.

"Kidding. I'm just kidding. Geez Sam, you don't need to be so goddam serious all the time. Go, go get the slave her coffee," was her placating response to that look, hand waving as if to shoo him away. She looked uneasy and Sam was sure there was a good reason for this. Figuring this was the most normal thing she had in her life, sneaking alcohol wasn't the worst thing and he was choosing his battles.

Shaking his head in warning, he turned back around and headed down the stairs, wondering where Amber had heard of putting Whiskey in coffee.

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The bed squeaked as Claire readjusted herself. Nervous, under Jody's raised brow, she had just admitted to venturing away from Sam and Dean during the hunt to gather intel without clearing this with them first.

"Not you too, Jody…Dean already reamed me about this," she said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her tone.

"Good. I'm glad he lectured you. Claire, from what they told me, you did good. Yeah, you snuck away and it complicated things a bit, but overall, I think you were great. Figured out the end game before the rules of the game were even understood. That's really something."

Jody hugged Claire around her shoulder, kissing her on the side of her head. Claire looked slightly uncomfortable, even as she was clearly enjoying the affection. She'd missed Jody so much.

"I saved this hunt and they're sticking to stupid little details," Claire complained, her expression sour. "I should be getting some sort of award for this… A day off or something. Instead I have to write a stupid three-page debriefing report."

"That's nothing for you. You'll have that done so fast. And things could be worse as we both know, right?"

Looking at Jody, Claire's mouth twisted up a bit, getting ready to argue that she didn't need to do this. How easy it was wasn't the point. As she started to get some steam under her argument, Jody leveled her with a look...a look Claire knew.

"Claire, sweetie, you have to let these hunters immerse you in their methods. You'll only get better, safer, and more versed in the lore. This is why they are legends...they do this for themselves." Seeing she wasn't being listened to, Jody's voice took on an edge. "Need I remind you what got you sent over here in the first place, huh?"

Augh! Jody had gone there. She'd gone there and was rubbing it in. And Claire wanted to argue this, refute this, but she didn't feel she had any leverage...being here at the bunker was the result of her past decisions. God, she hated having no leverage.

"Yeah, yeah… I know how that song goes, Jody. Well, at least give them some extra hell today for me. That will cheer me up," was Claire's resigned response.

Brow furrowing, Jody looked at Claire questioningly.

"Give them 'extra hell'? Why would I do that? Do you know what they want to talk to me about?"

Smirk forming, Claire shrugged. "I have an idea, yeah."

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Grabbing another beer, Dean was leaning up against the kitchen wall, his face uncomfortable. Beer was his anesthesia for the pain of his own missteps. Sam, sitting down at the table, was looking more contrite.

Standing in frustration, Jody was leaning over the table, weight supported by her hands that laid flat on the wooden surface, looking back at these two hunters, eyes ignited with anger.

Shaking her head, standing up straight she leaned back against the wall, arms crossing, looking off to the side of the kitchen. Jody was contemplating the implications of their bombshell confession.

Amber was not Dean's daughter. She was his and Sam's sister. Daughter of John and some angel. A Nephilim. A NEPHILIM.

"This is fucking unbelievable. And unacceptable! Keeping this from me, when you entrusted that girl to my care… Not warning me… Not…" Jody trailed, her voice trembled with intense anger.

"We wanted to, Jody, we wanted to, but…"

Rounding on Sam, Jody was vibrating with anger, with betrayal...with hurt.

"You wanted to because you should have. This was the most basic courtesy I can imagine. You two...God! I can't believe you did this.." Jody was now standing, both hands covering her lower face, eyes round with alarm, thinking about the 'what ifs'.

"It's not like we wanted to keep this from you or anything, Jody. We just thought at the time that the fewer people who knew about this, the better. For Amber's safety," Dean countered strongly.

Jody turned to him, a dangerous look on her face, that made him unconsciously gulp.

"For Amber's safety? For her safety? How was her safety your priority when you chose to keep this from me, Dean? How was I supposed to protect her without knowing this, huh? Do you have any idea how much more added risk this imbecilic decision brought? What if something had happened to her while she was on my watch, because I wasn't vigilant enough? Because I didn't know this, huh?"

Her thoughts traveled to Amber's short stay at their home. The hours she had spent out of the house due to unexpected work those days, Claire and Amber out and about Sioux Falls on their own… With Amber targeted by hell...She cringed at the mere thought of all the possibilities. At the brothers' silence she kept going, her volume only increasing.

"How was I supposed to protect her, my girls, myself, without this critical bit of information? Do you even realise what a position you put me in?"

Dean didn't have an answer for any of this, and simply took another pull of his beer and looked away. Jody was right and they'd...Fucked. Up. Royally.

Sam also remained silent, not seeing a point in offering an answer. Jody was right. This was a bad call on their part. But they had made it and they couldn't take it back. They could only try to fix this.

"And of course I'm the last one finding out about this," she continued to fume.

Dean considered pointing out that Alex didn't know, so she wasn't the last one, but wisely kept his mouth shut, occupying it with another swig of his beer.

"I doubt I'd ever find out about this, if Claire hadn't accidentally learned your little secret and you decided to share it with me too," Jody went on. "Well, I know now. At least I know what I'm dealing with...a Nephilim. A Nephilim!"

At this word, Jody drew her anger inward, turning it into a more deeply examined dilemma for her to contemplate. This was her forte. Give this sheriff a situation, stand back and let her rumiante on it, then fall into line following her game plan and things got done well.

Outside in the hallway, Claire and Amber were standing quietly, listening.

They couldn't help hearing Jody's upset. Her loudly-phrased anger couldn't be contained in the kitchen, the loudest of her rant was understood all the way out into the War Room.

Neither girl had ever heard these hunters' being spoken to like this. It was kind of weird. Listening to this, Amber was struck by how mom-like Jody sounded. They recognized the lecture Dean and Sam were getting and it sounded like they'd pissed off their parent. Nonetheless, it was weirdly satisfying even as both girls cringed at the loudest part. Jody was furious and Amber was very glad that it wasn't her who was getting this singular attention.

Claire was enjoying this. Grinning, the blonde made eye contact with Amber and raised an eyebrow to emphasize her own recognition of the Winchesters being in this tough spot. Having been where Sam and Dean were currently at, on the receiving end of Jody's unleashed wrath, Claire was utterly savoring this moment. Her attention diverted from the loud voices coming from the kitchen, Amber looked over at Claire, feeling the glee oozing off of her. Well, Amber kind of got it.

Focusing her attention back towards the kitchen, Amber was starting to feel the energies of Jody, Sam and Dean. The woman's intense anger and feelings of betrayal, her brothers' worry and uneasiness with the situation. A tinge of fear. Assessing all these she found herself going from enjoying this "show" to worrying about the implications of what was going on. What would this confrontation result in? Would Jody forgive her brothers? Could their friendship handle this? Would she grab Claire and go, wanting nothing to do with them ever again? This thought… this prospect scared the crap out of her.

"You shouldn't be here."

Both girls jumped, not having heard the angel approach them as they were eavesdropping on this volatile argument.

"Cas!" Amber uttered in fright, jumping at the sound of his voice, making her heart stutter to a stop. "Shit! Don't sneak…"

"You two are listening in on a conversation that doesn't concern you," Castiel added, his tone neutral, simply stating fact.

Rolling her eyes, Claire turned her attention back to the closed door, as if she could see right through it.

"Piss off, Clarence."

Castiel looked at the blonde's direction but didn't comment on her words. Instead he declared, "I'll go in now. This means I will open this door," and this was his only warning as he stepped closer to the threshold, arm extended to push through the swinging door.

Realizing his words were not only to declare his action, but to allow them both to get out of sight as he opened the swinging door to the kitchen, the girls withdrew farther away down the hallway. Getting caught wouldn't be a good addition to Jody's existing ire.

Castiel entered the kitchen in his usual quiet manner. Sam caught a glimpse of him from where he sat, but Dean and Jody didn't notice the angel. Jody, her back turned to Cas, was still lost in her molten, silent contemplation. Dean, for his part, did everything he could to avoid looking at the woman, his eyes only shifting between his beer and his feet.

"Jody, I don't believe Sam and Dean kept this from you out of a lack of respect for you."

Startled by the closeness of a voice she hadn't expected, Jody snapped her attention to Cas' face, the angel only tilting his head to the side as he took in her sudden reaction.

Shoulders squared, Jody was taking in the presence of the three adults in the bunker. The three people she'd counted on to be honest with her. Oh, this was rich.

"Don't start. Just don't start. In fact Cas, you need to go. I'm not finished with these two."

Hearing this, both men suddenly jerked their attention back from the angel to the sheriff. What did she mean by this? Cas not moving from within the doorway, Jody took a step towards him as if to dispatch him herself and Cas instinctively retreated out of the door and back into the hallway. Both brothers watched this phenomenon...having never seen an angel of the lord cowed by a fierce pixie before. It was a marvel. And now they were alone with her again.

Seeing the woman reeling, Dean inserted, "Jody, we made the decision...and I'll admit, it maybe wasn't the best decision..." and here Dean was interrupted.

Walking over to where Dean was leaning against the wall, Jody looked up at his face, her own unflinching.

Finger in his face, Jody added emphasis to her point.

"You're damn right it wasn't the best decision...Dammit, boys! I've always shown you nothing but respect! And whenever I've been in a position of having intel you need, I give it to you, no questions asked, so you can do your thing and protect who you need to protect."

Turning around to look at the seated Sam, Jody continued. "And yet, I wasn't given the same courtesy. You clearly don't see me as competent...and you endangered all of us with this omission...me, Claire, Alex...Amber!"

Sam felt all of 10 years old, being lectured by Bobby. This was very uncomfortable. Not wishing to appear to diminish her any further, Sam offered no rebuttal. He and Dean were guilty.

"We need to get past this Jody. I'm sorry. We blew it. We didn't mean to, but we screwed the pooch on this one. Can't we move onto what's important?"

Dean was looking desperate to move past Jody's justifiable rant. Being apologetic, being sincerely contrite, any of this would've been a good first step...and it wasn't happening on his end. Dean was failing to convince Jody of his remorse. And this was the crux of it all: She couldn't move on and get to what's important right now because Dean didn't seem to be sufficiently remorseful.

"Dean, I swear I am so close to…" and this is where Dean's face colored as he heard these words and felt their meaning, the meaning that was on the verge of spilling out inappropriately, maternally.

"Jody, I don't think Dean is intending to minimize your upset. I believe..."

"Sam, I love you. Just...Sam, I..." and here Jody was gathering her thoughts.

"God knows I love you both, but right now I...I…" Looking around, Jody was thinking about what she needed. "I need a drink. Alone! Point me in the direction of a room and forget I'm here for a few hours."

Outside, in the hallway, Amber and Claire exchanged a look at these words. This was not typical of the Sheriff. No, not at all. Their awareness heightened, sensitive to how Jody must be feeling...and any possible friendship-altering decisions. The girls exchanged an alarmed look as they were hearing Sam and Jody's voices moving closer. Shit!

Disappearing as quietly and as fast as they could towards their respective rooms, they didn't want to be caught eavesdropping...especially not by Jody.

Sam, standing up, his face tightlipped and concerned, extended his upturned palm in front of them as if to say, 'you go first', and allowed the sheriff to head out of the kitchen before he led her upstairs to the library.

Dean, watching them go, felt his own insides churning. Once he was the only one remaining in the kitchen, he let out a deep breath, appearing to deflate as the danger passed leaving a miasma of regret clinging to him like a nasty fart. Tossing the empty beer bottle in the trash, he got out another and twisted the cap off with his ring. It would take a few more of these to settle him back down. Grabbing another beer from out of the fridge, he headed to his own room to hole up and wait out the passing of this storm, numbing his feelings of fear.

Up in the library, Sam was walking towards where he'd locked the bourbon decanter in the desk drawer, away from teenage hands. Reaching for a crystal tumbler, and filling it past the two-finger's mark, Sam offered Jody the drink. Jody took it from him. Drink in hand, with her other she reached past Sam for the decanter he was still holding, grabbing it out of his grip. Mouth slightly open, Sam was stunned with this. Jody's relationship with them had never needed anesthetizing before. Not looking in his direction any further, she settled into one of the leather wingback chairs, setting the decanter within arm's reach on the side table, she took her first long gulp of bourbon. The burn felt justified to the situation. Everything burned in her mind.

Not knowing what else to do, Sam looked uncomfortable. He wasn't used to leaving things unresolved. Respecting her wishes, he turned on his heel and left the library giving Jody the time alone she had requested.

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Reaching into the old refrigerator icebox, Amber grabbed the small carton of Irish Cream flavored half-and-half. Claire had discovered she really enjoyed this in her coffee and the two girls were in the kitchen, getting a fresh pot started. They needed to have something to do.

Claire watched Amber bringing the creamer to the table, leaning back in her chair, using her feet to push the two front legs off the ground and lightly swinging it back and forth.

"Has she come down yet?" Sam had stepped into the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee and found the girls. Both solemnly shook their heads. Looking over at the coffee maker he noticed it was brewing a fresh pot, but wasn't ready yet. Amber followed his gaze.

"I'll bring you a cup when it's done."

A wane smile, Sam uttered a quiet "Thanks, Amber," before heading back to his own room.

It was a rare instance for Claire to have nothing to say and this was one of these instances. The bunker's atmosphere felt heavy, murky.

The loud percolating sound lent a warm 'purk, purk, purk' sound that filled the vacuous quiet of the kitchen.

Amber leaned against the counter, next to the coffee maker, waiting patiently for it to finish brewing, inhaling the strong aroma that gradually filled the kitchen. Her eyes stared at the darkening coffee and she was mulling over all she and Claire had overheard not half an hour ago.

The old-fashion coffee percolator was a feel-as-you-go appliance. You filled it, heated it on the stove top and watched it percolate it until you felt it was dark enough and smelled strong enough to deliver the desired kick.

Seeing that it was nearly there, Amber grabbed three coffee cups from out of the cabinet, placing them on the table in front of Claire. Silently walking to the stove, she grabbed the handle of the percolator, bringing it back to fill the cups.

By the time she was back at the table, Claire's cup was already filled with some of her flavored half-and-half, eager to get her coffee first. Amber saw this and acquiesced, and started filling it her cup first.

Claire watched as her mug was filled, and filled higher than usual..and then it was being overfilled, the mocha liquid flowing up and over the rim, onto the table, eventually running off the sides of the table onto the floor. Claire watched this without understanding what she was seeing. Jumping to her feet to avoid hot coffee pouring on her lap, Claire assessed the mess. What was going on?

Looking up at Amber's face, trying to understand this miscalculation, Claire noticed a blank expression on her face, dead-eyes staring straight ahead at nothing in particular, as she kept pouring the hot liquid...that was still overflowing the cup. There was now a slowly forming puddle on the kitchen floor.

"Amber? What the hell? Amber!" Claire called to her, trying to understand what was going on. When the other girl didn't seem to hear or notice her, she stepped closer to her and attempted to grab the percolator out of her hand, but Amber had a vice grip on it. She wasn't fighting Claire, she simply held it firmly. When Claire touched her hand, in her effort to stop the pouring, she felt waves of vibrations coming off of Amber. A powerful energy was making Claire's hair stand on end.

Now in complete freak-out mode, Claire took a step back, calling at the top of her lungs, "GUYS! JODY!"

Dean was the first to rush through the kitchen's swinging door, Sam and Jody only a second behind him, Castiel entering last. Expressions alarmed, all the adults scanned the kitchen trying to figure out what was going on.

Cas was the first to understand the emergency. Reaching towards Amber, Cas touched her forehead when a rebounding flash of light pushed the angel away from her, forcing him to back away from Amber, who remained pouring the coffee.

Sam tried vainly to grab the coffee pot out of his sister's hand, but couldn't get her grip to release. In this tranced state she was immensely strong. It was frightening.

"What the hell is going on?" Dean asked, his tone frantic as he took in Amber's blank expression.

"Amber?" Jody tentatively touched a hand on her shoulder, not sure if she'd be forced away like the angel had been. Feeling the intense energy radiating off of Amber's body, she backed up a step. She was at a complete loss of what to do or how to help in this situation.

Turning to Claire, Jody did the only thing she could and asked, "What happened?"

"I've no idea. One second she's pouring me a cup, and the next she's frozen like this, coffee spilling everywhere," Claire answered, worry lacing her tone.

"What were you talking about?" Sam asked next trying to figure out what was causing this.

"Nothing. Literally, nothing! Last words out of her mouth were to you, before you left the kitchen," Claire explained.

"I think she's having a vision," the angel intervened, eyes never leaving Amber's still frame.

Dean turned to him, eyebrows furrowed and forehead wrinkled. "Last time she had one of those she was asleep. It was like a dream, only felt different. That's what she told us."

"So she's had visions before?" Jody asked, trying to piece things together. In her anger and shock after the boys told her the truth about their sister, she had never considered what Amber being a Nephilim might entail.

"Yes," was Cas' economical reply to the woman.

Silence followed the angel's confirmation. The energy filling the room was becoming strong enough that everyone could feel a vibration building in their own bodies, hearing a building tone that ran along the jawbone into their ear bones emparting a tone they could all feel and hear at all-at-once.

Amber's face remained blank and this was terrifying.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Amber's face slumped, her hand fell to her side, the percolator falling from her grip and clattering on the floor, sending a splatter of coffee radiating outward like a Jackson Pollock painting. Her body feeling weak, Amber grabbed the table's edge with her left hand, her feet just barely supporting her own weight.

Dean took the two strides between them, and placed an arm around her, steadying her, before grabbing the closest chair and helping her sit.

"Amber? You okay? What's going on? What just happened?"

Responding to her brother's frightened voice, Amber's eyes turned slowly towards him, not really hearing his questioning. The blankness was now replaced with dread and horror.

Sam, Claire and Castiel all crowded around Amber, seeking to reassure themselves she was alright again. Anticipating the need, Jody filled a glass with water as fast as she could and brought it to Amber, looking at the girl with a deep concern and worry.

"Amber, can you hear me?" Dean was squeezing her shoulders, frightened to his core.

Taking the glass with a trembling hand, Amber brought it to her lips and sipped some of the cold water slowly. Her throat felt dry and rough and she couldn't form the words. Not yet.

Cas stepped back, seeing the thoughts flooding through Amer's mind, feeling the energetic signature of a vision. Amber had had a vision...and this time she was awake for it.

Sam kneeled in front of Amber's chair, a hand touching her knee, looking up into Amber's face. "Amber, what happened? Can you talk?"

Looking at Sam, eyes beginning to focus Amber teared up. She was frightened by what she'd seen. Her shaking was making the water slosh around in her glass and Jody took the water back from her to prevent it from falling.

Now Amber was visibly shaking, tears streaming down her face….her mouth wordlessly an open grimace. Covering her face with her hands she began to rock back and forth. Cas was seeing everything streaming through Amber's mind completely disregarding the boundaries of respect for the necessity of rescuing her from the flood of incoming knowledge.

"Lucifer is back. He's walking the earth again."

All eyes were on him as he flatly delivered this pronouncement. Amber listened to him too, covering her face completely with both hands, her shoulders shaking.

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A/N: You know what Mark Twain says… "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." And lies do tend to come back and bite you in the ass! That was true for more than one of our characters in this chapter. Truths came to light, friendships got tested and shit is getting real with Lucifer's big comeback. Wonder what's in store next for everyone? Just stick with the story and you'll soon find out!

This was one of those chapters that ended up being almost 60 pages long. Guys, that's A LOT OF writing, A LOT OF rewriting, and EVEN MORE editing on our part. On an already crazy schedule on both our ends! So we'd like to think all y'all will at least offer us a review as big or small as you'd like, to let us know your thoughts on our work.

What you loved or hated about it, or just if you're still enjoying this story. We won't lie (pun intended), we were a bit concerned by the sudden drop of reviews the two previous chapters brought. We'd like to think this is you people being as busy and crazed as we are, but we'd still like to reconnect with all of you and feel like this story is still being read and appreciated. So please, please, please, make us happy by clicking the review button!

Not a ton of questions this time… Just a couple we're really interested in! Feel free to answer or completely ignore them and write your own thoughts and impressions :)

We wonder…

-How did you find the change in dynamics in this chapter? We're talking about Sam and Dean deciding to switch gears and each of them try to reach Amber in a different way than their usual modus operandi.

-And what did you think about Jody and Castiel's more confrontational sides? They both stepped into new territories in this chapter. Do you think it worked? Did you feel we managed to keep them in character while writing them doing so? We'd love some feedback on this!

Favorite scenes, lines, parts of the story that cracked you up are ALWAYS things we love to hear about, too!

Till next time,

Marion Luth & Lau Whisperer