A/N: Hello, hello! Thank you for reading! Quick warning: talk of child abuse, it's pretty dark, not very detailed, but it's still there and wanted you all to be prepared. I do not own Supernatural or any of it's characters. Enjoy.
It was nine the next morning when Ana's phone began to ring obnoxiously loud on the small side table next to the bed. She buried herself underneath her pillow, groaning at the sound. When it stopped she sighed happily and was on the verge of going back to sleep when it began to ring again. Swearing to herself, she slapped her hand around on the table until she found it, "What?" She growled at the caller, still hiding under the pillow.
"Don't you 'what' me, Anastasia. It's been days and you haven't called me." Her aunt snapped at her, "Then I hear from Luke of all people that you found your father! Is that what this trip was about? Hunting down that man?"
"Uggghh, Heather, calm down." Ana pleaded, her heartbeat vibrating through her head painfully.
Heather scoffed, "Calm down? I don't even know where you're at, let alone who the man that you've decided is your father is!"
Ana cringed at her aunt's raised voice, "Heather, I'm not just hanging out with some random man twice my age who may or may not be my father. Trust me, Dean is my dad."
There was a short pause, "Dean? Dean Winchester?"
"Yes, Dean Winchester."
"I thought it might have been him, but your mother wouldn't tell anyone." Heather muttered something Ana couldn't hear, then more clearly, "Are you with him now?"
"I..." a knock at the door interrupted her, "Ana, are you alive in there?" Dean called through the door.
"I'm alive." Ana answered, pushing her pillow off of her face.
"Is that him? Give him your phone, I want to talk to him." Heather demanded.
Ana rolled her eyes as Dean opened the door, "I'm not giving him the phone, Heather. You don't need to give him whatever lecture you have in your head."
Dean raised an eyebrow and held his hand out for the phone, "Hand it over." He told her.
"Fine." She groaned, giving him the phone and hiding back underneath her pillow, she didn't feel too good.
"Hello?" There was a brief pause, "Yeah, hi, Heather." He responded awkwardly. Ana peeked out from hiding to see him wince. "Woah, woah..." she heard Heather raise her voice, "Heather shut up! I'm taking care of her, okay? She's safe with me. Just let me get to know my daughter for Christ sake!" He snapped and hung up on her. "That woman has never liked me." He mumbled looking over at Ana, "How are you feeling?"
She just shook her head at him and let the pillow fall back over her head, "I was a complete idiot last night."
Dean chuckled, grabbing her pillow and tossing it across the room, "Can't disagree much there. Come on, time to get up."
"Dean!" She whined, "Just let me sleep!"
He shook his head, "No way, you get to work through your stupid decision with me and some training. You're being targeted by God knows how many demons and unless you want to stay here for the rest of your life, not being able to ever leave, you need to learn to defend yourself." He grabbed the blankets and pulled them back. "You have ten minutes to get up, change clothes and meet me in the library."
"How am I supposed to train with stitches in my foot?" She grumbled at him, sitting up slowly, which she instantly regretted as a wave of nausea hit her.
"I've fought through worse, so has Sam, our dad, and a lot of good hunters we've known over the years." Dean raised an eyebrow at her, "You're a Winchester, power through it." he walked toward the door, leaving her to change, "Nine minutes!" he called over his shoulder as he closed the door.
Ana groaned and rolled her eyes, today was going to suck, there was no doubt about that. Standing out of bed she limped toward her dresser, the pain that had been dulled considerably by whiskey last night was in full effect. Once dressed in clean jeans and a black tank top, she grabbed her boots then limped back over to the bed, if she was going to be training to protect herself might as well do it in clothes she was going to be wearing on a daily basis. Getting her right boot on turned out to be a challenge, the cut that was stitched up on the bottom was long and sat right in the middle. She winced through the pain of moving it, but once she stood on it she was glad to find that the support from the soles made it a little easier to walk; at least she wasn't hobbling like she had been with them off.
She made it into the library with a minute to spare, pausing at the glass that still covered the table. Embarrassment filled her, she'd been an idiot. Drinking what was left in the bottle of whiskey, deciding that the table was a good place to sit and then dance, add that on top of the conversation she had with Dean, specifically the part where she asked if he would ever love her, and she felt like child.
"Right on time." Dean commented, walking up behind her with a broom in his hand, "First part of your training today is cleaning up messes you leave behind." he held the broom out for her.
"This is what you call training? I'm perfectly capable of cleaning up after myself." She shook her head, taking the broom and walking over to the table, "I wasn't aware that you can count cleaning skills as an effective form of protection from demons."
He shrugged, "We'll get there soon enough, for now you clean. Try not to cut yourself again, alright? I'm going to grab a trash can."
"I think I can handle a little glass." she muttered to herself, then thought about what she said a moment, "Well, while not extremely drunk." she corrected as she started sweeping the glass that had already fallen on the floor.
"Hello, Ana." Castiel spoke from where he had appeared suddenly behind her.
She let out a squeak of surprise and jumped, "Damn." she breathed quickly for a moment, heart racing, "You scared the crap out of me."
Dean rounded the corner with the trash can from the kitchen in his hand, "He's pretty good at that." he commented before looking to the angel, "What's going on, Cas?"
"Things have settled down in Heaven for the moment, I wasn't able to find any further information on Barbas' plans though. I thought I would see if you had any leads." Castiel explained, he frowned as he looked at Ana's forehead, "Were you attacked by more demons?"
"Yeah, a demon called Jack Daniels." Dean scoffed, setting the trash can near Ana, "Keep cleaning kid, we have other things to do today." he instructed.
Castiel approached Ana, "Would you like me to heal you? I can heal your physical wounds and take away the effects of the alcohol."
She thought on it a moment, glancing over at Dean who seemed to be waiting for her response, then shook her head, "I think I'm going to count this as a life lesson and just deal with the hangover and the cuts. Thanks though." she told Castiel with a sincere smile.
"Good answer." Dean mumbled. "So, Cas, any idea on how many demons Barbas has got working for him? Ballpark estimate at least?"
Castiel's forehead scrunched in confusion, "What does baseball have to do with the number of demons?"
Ana laughed, she had almost forgotten how much Cas had to learn about humans, "He means do you have an approximate guess." she explained, sweeping the pile of glass on the floor into the dust pan then dumping it in the trash.
He gave Ana a quick nod in thanks then turned to Dean, "Why didn't you say that in the first place? There was no need to bring sports into the conversation."
Dean shook his head, "Do we know what kind of force we're up against or not?" he questioned, sometimes talking to angels was a lot harder than he personally thought it should have been.
Castiel's focused shifted from trying to understand strange human phrases to Dean's question, "He doesn't have nearly the force that Lilith had, but as far as I can tell he's physically as powerful as she was."
"Freaking great." Dean rubbed a hand over his eyes, memories of Lilith surfacing, "Well at least we have a better idea of how to handle it this time."
Ana began to slide the glass that was on the table into the trash can, "Come on, you and Sam stopped the freaking apocalypse, I think we can handle this Barbas guy." She pointed out.
Dean met her eyes with his own, "There is no we in this fight, Ana. You will be taught to protect yourself, but we will not be bringing you with us when we go to gank that bastard."
She rolled her eyes, "Fine, my point still stands. I'm not going to say it's going to be easy, but at least you have a better chance at getting out alive." Her phone began to ring in the pocket of her jeans. With a glance at the screen, she ended the call and put it back in her pocket.
"Heather again?" Dean asked as he looked over the table and floor, making sure that she had gotten all of the glass.
"What? Oh, no." She shook her head, groaning as her phone rang again. "I apparently need to take this." Leaning the broom against the table she grabbed her phone again and walked across the room, "Yeah?" She answered, clearly not happy.
Dean watched her a moment before turning to look at Cas, "You didn't find anything else on the witches in her family?"
"I did find something, though it could just be a coincidence." Castiel sighed, "The only time a woman in her line has had visions is when they are destined to be witches."
"So she's going to eventually be a witch." Dean stated.
"Its a very likely possibility, yes."
Dean sighed, "What am I supposed to do? A hunter with a witch daughter?"
"Damn it, Luke, just shut up and stay out of this!" Ana snapped, interrupting the men's conversation. "I swear to God, if you start pulling the same crap you did when we were dating I'm going kick your ass."
Dean crossed the room, "Ana..."
She held a finger up to him, telling him to wait, "Just leave it alone. I'm done trying to explain this to you. Don't call back if you're going to act like this." Hanging up her phone she brushed her hands through her hair before turning to look at Dean, "Sorry. What?" Anger slowly fading from her voice.
"What was that about. Who is Luke?" He raised an eyebrow at her, she'd mentioned the name a couple of times.
"Luke's my ex boyfriend. Sometimes he forgets that we're not together anymore and thinks he has the right to stick his nose in my business." She explained.
Boyfriend. The word made him cringe on the inside, thinking about his daughter with some punk kid. A kid just like he'd been... a kid who had gotten a girl pregnant too young. "I could put the fear of God into him."
"What?" His words shocked Ana, "No, you're not going to do that, I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself. Plus, how much fear can you put into a person you don't know over the phone?"
"Who said anything about it being over the phone? The full effect only sets in when done in person, something about a sawed-off just gets people worked up." He shrugged nonchalantly.
Ana scoffed, "Sure, Dean, drive all the way to Montana to scare a twenty year old guy for being nosy. That's not crazy at all."
"You dated someone two years older than you?" He snapped the question out.
"Could we not have this conversation? Like ever?" She asked, turning to walk away from him.
Dean grabbed her arm and moved so he was standing in front of her, "Not until you explain to me why you were dating some guy two years older than you." He crossed his arms across his chest, waiting.
"Seriously? I've known you for all of a week, known you are my father for just over twenty-four hours and you're already going to start acting like this?" She questioned, "You do know it's a little late to pull the overprotective dad crap, right?"
"When did you start dating this guy? Was he even in school?"
"What is your deal?" Ana snapped, "You are acting crazy right now."
Castiel walked up to the arguing pair, "He has just learned that you will most likely become a witch and I believe he's trying to avoid his worry over that by placing it somewhere else."
Dean whirled on the angel, "What the hell, Cas?"
"I'm a what?!" She demanded, glaring at her father. "Were you going to tell me or is this another secret you planned on keeping from me?"
"Its not set in stone." Dean sighed turning to her, "The angel of bad timing over here," he gestured to Castiel, "found out that the only women in your mother's family that had visions turned out to be witches. So the possibility is likely."
"Very likely." Cas interjected.
As their words sunk in Ana could feel her heart rate increase and her chest start to tighten, then the sinking feeling in her stomach like she hadn't eaten for days quickly swooped in. She had grown used to the first signs of an anxiety attack, but it didn't make it any easier. It didn't take long for the tremors to start in her hands and it took even less time for them to move up her arms. The only thought forming in her mind was that Dean and Sam's first instinct would to be to kill her.
"Ana?" Dean watched as she paled and began to shake, "Ana, what's wrong?" when it was clear that she wasn't going to respond, he placed firm hand against her back and pushed her toward a chair.
Sam walked into the room shortly after Dean got her in a chair and rushed over, "What happened?" he asked, worried about how pale and sick Ana looked.
"We informed her that she's a witch and this is the reaction it caused." Castiel answered Sam as Dean continued to try to get the girl's attention.
"How do we know she's a witch?" Sam furrowed his brow, he read that it took months, sometimes years for the previous witches to get to their full power from just having visions.
Dean waved his hand in front of Ana's face, "Damn it, Ana!" he was beginning to worry. "We'll explain later," he snapped at Sam, "there's something wrong with her!"
Sam looked between Cas and Dean before turning his attention to the redhead, "She's probably in shock." he commented, looking to Dean, "A lot of things have changed for her in a small period of time." He turned his attention back to his niece, "Ana? Hey, try to calm down." he tried to sooth her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Flashbacks to visions of the two Winchesters killing monsters had taken all of her focus, their few run ins with witches being prominent and repetitive. She hadn't heard a word any of the men said, but when Sam's hand made contact it she jumped and screamed. "No!" she stood up on wobbly legs and tried to hurry out of the room.
"Sit back down." Dean moved quickly to grab her, afraid that she would fall over and hurt herself.
"No!" She screamed again, pushing away his hands, convinced that all he would want to do now was get rid of her. If there was a list of things Dean Winchester hated most in the world somewhere very near the top would be witches. "Don't, please don't hurt me!" she had begun to cry, the anxiety attack growing worse.
The three men looked back and forth between each other before looking back to her, "Ana, we're not going to hurt you. We would never. Why would you think that?" Dean questioned, confusion and hurt setting in.
"I'm a witch." Was all she could get out before she fell over, the attack being too much for her body to handle. She curled into herself on the floor, hiding her face from them as her body trembled, silent tears falling from her eyes.
Sam and Dean moved quickly to her side, "Ana…" Dean was afraid to touch her in case she freaked out again, "Do you remember what we talked about last night?" he questioned, tone soft and calm. The nod he received in answer was almost too small to notice, but he caught it. Sitting down next to her, he tried to see her face, but she kept it hidden, "Remember what you asked me while I was stitching up your foot." another nod, "I have loved you for eighteen years, nothing will change that, especially not something like this." he reached for her head, smiling softly when she didn't pull away from him, "We're not going to let anything happen to you."
Ana slowly looked up at him, letting his words set in and seeing the truth in his eyes. Grabbing tightly on to his hand, she used it to pull herself up against his chest, needing comforting physical contact to calm herself down. When he positioned himself so that she could curl up against him, he let out a relieved sigh.
Sam had stayed back slightly, wanting to be close enough in case something went wrong, but as he watched his brother talk down the frightened girl, he smiled softly. He had always thought that Dean would have made a good dad, even when the man himself didn't and it warmed his heart to know that even if it had been delayed eighteen years he was still able to have that experience.
Silence filled the room as they waited for Ana to calm down, her breathing slowed as the effects of the attack began to slowly wear off, "I'm sorry." she whispered, not moving away from Dean.
"There's nothing to apologize for, kid." He reassured her, his big hand rubbing calming circles on her back.
Sam smiled softly at her, "Just give us the benefit of the doubt next time?" he asked, wanting her to feel as if she could trust them. He received a week nod as an answer. "Can I ask you something?" another nod, "That was more than just shock wasn't it?"
Dean looked at his brother confused, "What else could it have been?"
"It looked a lot like an anxiety attack." Sam told him, "I had a friend in college who would get them really bad." he explained.
Ana nodded slightly, "From time to time I get them." she answered, voice soft, "I.. uh… The majority of the time it's only triggered by certain things, but if I get too stressed or tired random things can set them off."
"What are your normal triggers?" Sam asked, "It may help if we know so that we can avoid them or help you if you have another attack."
She winced at a memory then shook her head, hiding her face in Dean's chest, "I don't want to talk about it." she muttered.
"Okay, you don't have to." Dean glanced at Sam, worry clear in his eyes, "Why don't you go with Sam and get some water? Maybe try to eat something?" he suggested, brushing his hand through her hair.
Sam stood up and offered her his hand, "I think we have hot choco." he smiled at her.
Ana turned to look at Sam, pausing a moment before she took his hand and let him help her to her feet. Once he was sure she was stable, Dean quickly grabbed her phone that had dropped on to the floor and stood up. He watched as Sam led her toward the kitchen and then turned to Cas, "Things are definitely going to be different around here."
"Yes, Dean, there is a third person living here now. Being as that she is female a lot will most likely change." Castiel agreed.
"Not exactly what I meant, Cas." He glanced down at the phone in his hand, deciding if he should act on his urge to find out about her anxiety. Pulling the number up on the screen quickly, he hit the call button before he could change his mind.
"Ana?" Heather asked from the other line.
"No.. uh… it's Dean. Look I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier, but I need you to tell me something."
Heather scoffed, "I don't need to tell you anything, Dean. Let me talk to Ana."
"She's not really in a good place to talk right now." He sighed, sliding a hand down his face as he walked over to a chair, "She had an anxiety attack and is still pretty shook up."
Heather paused, "What happened?"
"There's just a lot for her to deal with right now, she said that when she gets too stressed that they're easily triggered. I think that's what happened." He explained, not entirely sure he understood what had happened, "She mentioned something about having specific triggers, but when we asked her about it she didn't want to talk. Mind filling me in?"
"Why do you want to know?" She sounded guarded, as if what he was bringing up was uncomfortable to talk about.
He rolled his eyes, remembering how the few conversations he had with the women when they were younger had felt like a game of twenty questions, "So that we can avoid this happening as much as possible."
Heather paused, "It's not my place to tell you, Dean, not something like this. When she feels like you need to know, she'll tell you herself."
"How am I supposed to help her with this if I don't even know why it happens?" he pushed, wanting answers.
"There was an… incident when she was younger, four or five." she sighed, "It's caused her quite a few problems. I'm not going to tell you, I can't. Just give her time to tell you."
When it was clear that she was going to stick to her decision, Dean sighed, "Fine."
"Dean…"
"Yeah?"
She sighed, "Don't push this with her. It's hard for her to talk about. Just… just keep her safe."
The comment surprised Dean, of course he would keep her safe, he was her father, "I will." he assured her and hung up the phone. A deeper worry began to set in, what was so bad that Heather wouldn't talk to him about it. The way she made it sound had his mind rushing to the worst possibilities. "Cas, I need a favor." he sat her phone down on the table as he looked over at his friend.
"What would you like me to do, Dean?" Castiel moved over to the table, he had been giving Dean space to talk on the phone in some amount of privacy.
"I need you to find out what happened to Ana when she was a child. Between four and five years old, it sounds like something bad." He requested.
Castiel gave him a curt nod, "I will see what I can find out, but Dean, maybe this is something you should wait for her to tell you herself."
"Just go find out."
"Don't bother." Ana stopped Castiel before he could disappear and go dig around in Heaven or wherever for his answers. She looked at her father and lifted up the bottom of her shirt to just below the line of her bust, revealing circular scars scattered across the skin. They varied in size, some just smaller than a dime and other about the size of a nickel. "There was a family who lived just down the street from us while I was growing up, they would take care of me sometimes when Heather had to work. The husband and wife were nice, but their sixteen year old son decided to use me as an ashtray." She pointed to a couple of the smaller ones, "Then there were the times where it was just more fun to put the car port lighter directly to my skin." she moved her finger to a larger burn.
Sam was standing behind her, listening as she spoke, noticing that the burns circled around on her back as well, "Please tell me someone turned him in for that." anger in his voice.
She pulled her shirt back down and nodded, "He got locked up about six months later and I got left with an extreme fear of lighters and cigarettes." Her gaze dropped to the floor for a moment as she took in a deep breath before she raised them again to meet Dean's. Moving quickly, she walked over to where he was sitting, grabbed her phone off of the table and then walked out of the room, needing some time to recover from her attack. Once in her room, she closed the door behind her and climbed back into bed. Exhaustion set in fast and she was asleep within minutes.
Extra A/N: So this chapter was rough for me, I wanted some extra background knowledge on Ana before we start getting deep into the ritual/sacrifice nonsense. I would love to know what you think! Please, please leave a review! Thanks for reading :)
