A/N: Hello all of my beautiful readers! The pole is in! Be expecting the appearance of a handful of canon characters in the next few chapters! Yes, I said handful because I couldn't just bring back one at a time, you're going to get the smorgasbord of them! Quick hello and thank you to my most recent favorite and follow readers!
DracoPotter80: I'm so glad you're loving Connor! Thanks for the vote and for the review!
It had been hours since Dean and Sam had come back from their rounds of questioning that morning and Ana had been asleep the whole time, which the brothers and Connor were all thankful for. Each hoping that she would feel better once she woke up. The three men had eaten their breakfast, the Winchesters had changed into their normal clothes, and they made a game plan for going after the vampires that night.
Dean sat on his bed in the motel room he was sharing with his daughter, he had been killing time reading through a couple of the local newspapers since Connor and Sam had left. The witch had explained that he needed certain things for the spell he would be casting and that he had none of it with him. After a little searching Sam had found a small occult shop not far from the hotel where they could get what Connor needed. Though he made it clear he didn't want to leave Ana, he had also explained to Dean that because she was so weak it would take a while longer for the magic to build up in her again so she should be safe while he was gone.
Ana groaned softly as she rolled from one side to the other, the sound drew Dean's attention to her. Bringing a hand to her face, she rubbed at her eyes before opening them, then smiled weakly as she saw her father. "Hey."
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." He returned her smile with a warm one of his own, "How are you feeling?"
Slowly sitting up, she took a moment to assess how she felt, "Not as bad as I did this morning," she informed him. "but I'm starving."
He chuckled and stood up from his bed, "That's a good sign. I'll get Sam and Connor to pick up something on their way back here." he walked over to the small fridge in the room and grabbed the juice and fruit bowl he had brought her earlier.
When he handed her both, she raised an eyebrow at him, "You brought me fruit and it wasn't baked into a pie?"
"You said you weren't too hungry and I figured if you were going to eat anything, might as well be packed full of vitamins." Dean explained as he sat down next to her. "We need to talk about what we're going to do about this power thing, Ana."
She opened the fruit bowl and poked around until she found a blueberry, popping it in her mouth she nodded, "What about it exactly?"
He heaved a sigh, "I really wish I was saying the opposite, but I don't want you going anywhere without Connor until we get this figured out. Since he's the only one of us who can sense it before it happens and then help you through it, he's going to have to be pretty much glued to your side."
"I assumed that would happen." She picked up a slice of apple and twirled it between her fingers, "When did he become Connor to you?"
Dean gave her a confused look, watching as she slowly picked through the food, "What do you mean?"
"You've been using his name. No Gandalf or Harry Potter or Dumbledore." she pointed out, "I was just wondering why the sudden change." she quickly ate the rest of the fruit and then opened the bottle of juice.
He shrugged, "I don't know. He's slowly proving himself. I'm not saying I trust the guy one hundred percent, but he's legitimately worried about you and this power overload thing. Figured if he's going to stick around for a while I might as well use his name."
Ana hummed in response as she downed the juice from its bottle, "Where are he and Sam anyway?"
"Connor's going to help us track down the vamp nest with a spell and he needed somethings. They've been gone for a while so they'll probably be back soon." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up Sam's number, "What do you want for lunch?"
"I honestly don't care. I'm so hungry I'd eat anything." She answered, preparing to get out of bed to throw her trash away.
Dean stood up quickly and pushed her back down on the bed, taking the trash out of her hands, "Hey, Sammy. You guys almost done?" he spoke into the phone as he moved across the room to throw the containers away. "Good. Pick up some lunch on your way back? Ana's awake and apparently starving." The aforementioned girl scowled at him, "Sounds good. See ya soon."
"So am I not allowed to get out of bed?" Ana huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, she hated being treated like a child when she was sick.
"You need to rest and after seeing you the way you were…" he shook his head as he moved back across the room to sit next to her, "It was a close call and I don't want to see you like that again."
With a nod she dropped the subject, she could see how much it had scared him, "So… what happened to Luke after I passed out?"
"Well," he drew out the word, "Connor and I may have threatened him… a little."
"A little?" She raised an eyebrow at him, "Dean Winchester doesn't do little threats, they're normally dramatic and kind of scary."
His brow furrowed, "I am not dramatic." he argued, "Though I do pride myself on being scary when need be. That kid was a down right dick, Ana, how did you end up with him in the first place?"
"I really don't want to have this conversation with you." She turned to adjust her pillow, avoiding his gaze.
Dean watched her a minute before standing back up from the bed, "Fine, but do me a favor?" he paused, waiting as she turned back around to look at him, "Don't make guys like him a trend."
Ana rolled her eyes, "Actually, I don't think you need to bother worrying about that happening again. I'm batting for the other team now."
He had just began to walk away when she made the comment, which made him stop dead in his tracks and turn back to look at her, "Oh, really?"
"Yep." she answered, popping her lips on the last letter, "You men are all trouble. At least I semi-understand women." she tugged at the blanket that laid over her, trying her best to not let on to her joke by avoiding eye contact.
"Right." The word came out in a tone that gave off the impression he didn't believe her, but before he could say such his phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced that the screen, "Speaking of batting for the other team." he mumbled as he placed the phone to his ear, "Heya, Charlie. How've you been?"
Ana's perked up at the name, "Oh, you have got to let me talk to her!" she demanded, kicking the blanket off of her and scooting closer to Dean, reaching her hand out for the device.
"Hold on, Charlie." he moved the phone away from his face, "You know about her?" he raised an eyebrow. They still hadn't gone through everything Ana had seen in her visions before they'd met her.
"Of course I know about Charlie! She was honestly a fresh breath of air when all of my visions were doom and gloom, then pow! Charlie Bradbury pops in and gave you two chuckleheads something you desperately needed." She set both hands on her hips, giving her father a pointed look. "Now, let me talk to her."
Dean put the phone back to his ear, "Hey." he paused, listening to whatever Charlie was saying, "No, that was not…. Look, there's a lot you've missed out on. We'll talk about it later." pause, "Yeah, what's up?"
It quickly became clear that he wasn't going to hand over the phone which caused Ana to frown at him. Giving a quick look around the room, she moved over to the other side of the bed and stood up, but before she made it more than a step Dean was clearing his throat to get her attention. A glance over her shoulder showed him pointing to the bed with a stern look, "Dad, chill. I'm just going to the bathroom." she informed him as she walked toward the door.
"Yes, she did just call me dad and no that is not a weird bedroom name. Gross, Charlie." Ana heard Dean say as she closed the door. Standing in front of the sink, she looked at herself in the mirror. Man, did she look bad. Her skin was still paler than it normally was, causing the light freckles that covered her nose and cheeks to stand out further. The green of her eyes wasn't as lively as it normally was and her hair seriously needed to be washed.
Quickly, she exited the room, found her duffle bag, and then retreated back into the bathroom before her father could try and stop her. Digging out her toiletries, she placed them in the shower and turned on the water, letting it warm up before she stripped her clothing and stepped under the warm spray.
Halfway through her normal routine there was a loud bang at the door, "Hey! You better still be alive in there! I don't believe showering was in the 'stay in bed' plan." Dean shouted through the door.
"Can't a girl shower in peace!" She yelled back, "I may feel like crap, but I think I can handle a shower alone. That is, unless you wanted me to wait until Connor got back, so I could be supervised."
Dean shook his head and ran a hand over his face, pausing as Sam and Connor came through the door, "Hurry it up! The food is here!" he told her before stalking over to the table where Connor was setting a couple of sacks on the table.
"Is it a good idea to have her showering?" Connor raised an eyebrow, "She could barely stand after she got sick this morning."
"You really think she asked me for permission?" Dean raised an eyebrow as he grabbed a red and white chinese food container out of one of the bags, "She seems to be feeling better though." he jabbed a fork into his food and sat down, "Oh, Charlie called. Sounds like there's some weird stuff going on in Ohio. I told her we would meet her there after we deal with these vamps and get Ana back to the bunker."
Ana opened the door, looking a little better than she had when she went in the bathroom and more comfortable in sweats and a tee shirt. She shook a towel through her wet hair and looked at her father, "There is no way in hell you're taking me back to the bunker. I want to meet Charlie and help with whatever is going on."
"No." Sam and Dean spoke at the same time, which caused them both to cast each other a glance before turning their attention back to her. "I said no hunting." Dean added.
Sam shook his head at that, "You are in no shape to be doing much of anything right now but resting. Plus, you and Connor need to work on a way to fix this power overload thing."
"So you're both okay with leaving Connor and I alone in the bunker?" She raised an eyebrow at them, watching as Connor sat quietly eating his food.
"One of us will stay with you." Sam offered, grabbing a container of food and walking over to give it to her, "You could have died, Ana, and we're not going to let that happen again."
Dean cleared his throat, "This thing in Ohio sounds pretty big, Sammy." he pointed out.
"How big?"
"Demonic omens big. There's enough of them for it to be a large gathering." Dean answered, glancing at Ana before turning his attention back to Sam, "We may need to call in some extra help on this one."
With a dramatic sigh, Ana balled up the towel in her hands and threw it at her dad, "Or, you know, you could take your mass demon killing witch daughter with you." she grabbed the container of food that Sam offered her, sitting down on the bed to eat.
"There's no telling when you're going to be able to do that again, Ana." Connor chimed in, "You need to rest and get back to normal before we can begin to determine where to go from here with your magic."
"So here's the deal," Ana looks each man in the eye, "I am going to stay in bed all day and recoup while you three do what you need to find the vampire nest. Once this job is taken care of we will all spend one more night here and we will all leave in the morning for Ohio, to help Charlie with this demon thing. If any of you try to tell me otherwise, I will find a traveling spell and use that to get me there. Those are your options."
Dean scoffed, "Your mother was good at bargaining in a way that didn't actually give me a choice either."
"Like you or Sam have never done it." She retorted, before turning her attention to Connor. "We can figure all of this out while we're on the road. I'm not going to just ignore this, I can't, but I'm also not going to spend anymore time locked up in the damn bunker."
Connor gave her an amused smile, "Yes ma'am."
"You cave way too quickly." Dean told him as he shoved a fork full of food into his mouth.
"It's not my job to order her around. I'm just here to teach her what I can and keep her alive." Connor didn't take his eyes off of Ana, "Plus, she gets that same murderous look in her eyes that you do and, let me tell you, it's much more frightening coming from a short redheaded female than it is coming from you."
Sam chuckled at that, shrugging at the glare he received from his brother as he continued to eat his food. Dean sighed, realizing that this was one of many battles he wasn't going to be able to win with Ana, "Fine, you get to come with, but your first priority is to deal with your magic. Leave the demons to us. Got it?"
She grinned at him, "Until you need my help, I will focus on magic stuff, but you're going to need my help. I can feel it. Whatever this is, it's not just big, it's going to get worse before it gets better."
"Did you have a vision?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow at her words.
"No," Ana shook her head, "It's just this strange feeling I have in my gut. Call it witches intuition."
All three men seemed to take that answer in a different way, but Ana was too busy devouring her food to care about anything. That is until she remembered that her car was still parked at her house and she didn't really want to break it to her aunt that she was leaving for God knew how long. "Shit! Is my car still at my house?"
Dean nodded, "We were going to go back and get it at some point today, but I figured you should talk to Heather before we leave again. We'll get it later."
She scowled at him, "It's going to kill her that I'm just up and moving like this."
"That woman already hates me, I'm not going to let you make that worse because you don't want to talk to her." He countered, "You're just going to have to suck it up."
"It would be worse if you didn't tell her face to face. Sneaking in while she's at work and packing your things is a pretty bad move." Sam added as he sat beside her on the bed. "Plus, I think it will be a great time for Dean to catch up with her." he grinned.
Dean glared at his brother, "Oh, no. I did not agree to that. Did you miss the part where I said she hates me?"
Sam shrugged, "She's been raising your daughter for the past eighteen years, the least you can do is talk to the woman." The older Winchester just grumbled in response.
Silence fell over the room as they finished their food, each person occupied by their own thoughts. When everyone was done eating Connor began to set up everything he needed for the spell. Ana had tried to get up from her bed to help and maybe learn something, but with a stern look from her father she sat back down with a frown. The witch mixed the ingredients and chanted before pouring the thick black liquid he concocted onto the map laid across the table. The brothers stood back and watched as the liquid began to separate into different size dots, each dot stopping at a different location on the map.
"Okay, so the smaller dots are most likely single entities. A witch or ghoul or what have you that works alone. The larger the dots, the larger the groups." Connor explained as he looked over the map, Sam and Dean joining at his sides. "You said the attacks were in this small town, right?" he pointed to Huntley on the map.
Sam nodded, "Yeah, but with how open the land is out here, we're figuring a fifteen mile perimeter around it as the search radius for the nest."
Dean nodded, "Looks like most monsters are closer to the big cities. What are we looking at? Two in the area?" he drew a circle around the area of Huntley with his finger.
"Looks like this here is just one, maybe two at most." Connor pointed north of the town, "This one is going to be your best bet." he pointed to the largest dot to the west, between the small town and the city they were in.
Ana stood up while they were staring at the map and snuck up to Dean's side, taking her own look at the map, "Hey, get back in that bed." he looked down his shoulder at her.
"Would you hush? I'm not going to die just from standing up." she smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand, not taking her eyes off of the map, "That's an old dirt road. Bunch of farms all along these roads that come off of the highway." she traced her finger over the lines. "If I was trying to corral a bunch of rabid new vampires, a big barn would be a smart place to do it."
Sam watched as she traced her finger along the road, "Surrounded by however many acres of empty land, whoever is leading them has at least some experience... So why are they leaving the bodies out in the open?"
Dean shrugged, "Who the hell knows. Let's just go gank them so we can get on the road to help out Charlie."
"We still have a lot of sunlight to work off of. We could probably head out now, find the place and kill them before night sets in." Sam suggested, looking up from the map.
"Sounds good, let's get rolling." Dean placed a hand on Ana's shoulder and turned her around, directing her back to bed, "You rest, we'll go take care of this nest and then bring back dinner." when she was sitting down he turned to grab his jacket. Putting it on, his eyes landed on Connor, "If you have to tie her down to keep her there, do it."
With a grin, Connor turned to look at Ana, "Hear that? Your dad said I could tie you down." he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Dean's face fell into a scowl, "Seriously? I'm right here!" he looked between the two of them, "Keep the dirty sarcasm to yourself." he growled at Connor before walking toward the door.
Ana quickly got off of the bed and grabbed Dean's wrist, stopping him before he could walk out of the door, "Be careful, alright? I know you've gone after bigger and badder things than some vampires, but still… keep each other safe." she glanced around him at Sam, who stood by the door waiting.
"We'll be fine, Ana." Sam gave her a reassuring smile.
Placing a hand on her head, Dean ruffled her hair, "You just worry about you, okay? We'll be back before you know it. Now get back in bed." She wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug before letting go and turning back to her bed. He waited until she was seated before turning and following Sam out of the door.
Once the brothers were gone Ana and Connor situated themselves on her bed like they had been that morning. They turned on the one semi-decent show they could find, some comedy that neither of them had heard about, and prepared for the long wait that it would take for the older men to return. Neither of them spoke much, just laughing here and there, and making comments about the horrible one-liners when they surfaced.
A couple of hours had passed when Connor noticed that the girl next to him couldn't sit still. If she wasn't playing with her hair, she was pulling at the blankets on the bed. "They'll be okay, Ana. It probably took them a while to find the nest."
She nodded, though she was still worried, "Can I ask you something?" she looked over at him, his slightly long hair was a mess from moving around on his pillow.
When his eyes landed on her's he smiled, "Of course."
"How old are you?" She'd been wondering about it for a while, he didn't look like he was much older than his early twenties, but he didn't act like the irresponsible twenty-somethings she had met before.
"Twenty-two. How old are you?" He raised an eyebrow, once he'd actually come face to face with her, felt her power right in front of him, her age no longer mattered. It seemed that she was going to completely break all of the rules of her family before her, he knew that she was more powerful than all of her family had been at her age, whatever it may be.
"Eighteen."
The look of shock that crossed his face made Ana laugh, "There is no way! Are you still in high school?"
She shook her head, "I started a year earlier than most people, something about my birthday falling just before the cut off date or whatever. I graduated in May."
"Well, look at you, miss smarty-pants." he teased, still not caring that she was considerably younger than him. Though he knew that if what they saw in her vision was to come to reality that Dean would be extremely angry.
In response she stuck her tongue out at him then turned back to watch the TV. A few minutes passed before she looked out the window, "Sunset is still a couple hours away…" she trailed off and looked at him, "They'll be back, right?" her thoughts were filled with worry that something would go wrong and that they wouldn't make it back. She wasn't sure that she could go through this whole witch business without them to be there for her.
Connor reached over and took her hand, "You think that the mighty Winchester brothers are going to let a group of new vampires get the jump on them? There's no way that Dean would let that happen, he and Sam both care about you too much to leave you now."
"Thanks." she spoke softly, grateful that she wasn't alone waiting for her family to return.
A few more episodes of the show later and Ana's phone began to ring. She quickly grabbed it off of the nightstand next to her and glanced at the screen for only a moment before she was answering, "Did it go okay? Please tell me you and Sam are both in one piece." the words flew out of her mouth.
"We're fine, Ana. It was pretty cut and dry, even the vampire that was turning the new ones was there." Dean explained, "We lucked out that they were all there. How are things going with you?"
She let out a relieved sigh and smiled, "Things are fine here. I'm feeling better." she assured him.
"Connor didn't have to tie you down?" He spoke over the sound of the Impala's engine starting.
"Nope. I behaved, haven't tried to do anything crazy."
Dean smiled, "Good. We're on our way back, feeling like leaving the room for a bit? We can find a diner or something for dinner."
Ana began to nod and then paused, realizing he wouldn't see her, "I think I could handle being out for a while, fresh air might do me some good." she paused as the call-waiting sound chimed in her ear, glancing at the screen she swore, "Heather's on the other line."
"Well, talk to her and we'll see you guys in a bit." With that he hung up, leaving her to talk with her aunt.
Accepting the call, she winced before putting the phone back to her ear, "Hey, Heather."
"So I'm just going to assume that the magical car fairies delivered your car to my house, because you're no where to be found and the girl I raised would have let me know that she was going to be trekking back across the country to come home." Heather didn't sound angry, just curious.
Glancing over at Connor, she realized that he had been staring at her the entire time she'd been on the phone, "I'm back in town." she assured her aunt, "I'm with a friend right now, but I'll be dropping by soon. There's some things I need to tell you about."
"Okay, honey, I'm just glad your back and safe." She could hear the smile in her aunt's voice.
Giving a brief pause, Ana contemplated telling Heather that she would be bringing company with her. She knew Connor would have to be there and she wasn't sure she could have this conversation without Dean and Sam there with her. It was going to break Heather's heart to see her leave. "I'm going to be bringing some people with me."
"Dean?" Heather questioned, "Did he come with you?"
"Yeah, Dean and his brother Sam followed me up." she answered, "We'll be by later to visit. I love you!" she hurried the rest of her words and then hung up.
Connor laughed softly, "So that sounds like it's going to be fun."
Ignoring his comment, she stood up, "My dad and Sam are going to be back soon, we're going to go out for dinner."
With a nod, Connor stood up and moved over to where he'd left his boots by the table. It didn't take them long to get ready to go and once the brothers were back they cleaned themselves up quickly so they could leave to eat.
-A-
Ana had explained her phone call with Heather while they ate and once they were finished they went back to her childhood home. The moment they were through the door Heather was snapping at Dean for missing out on Ana's life and not being there for Stephanie while she was pregnant. Once they had each gotten done yelling at each other, Heather seemed to realize that there were other people in the room.
"What's going on, Ana?" The woman could tell her niece wasn't feeling well and the boy who was sitting next to her on the couch seemed to be acutely aware of the fact. A thought struck Heather and she felt her stomach churn, "Oh, God, you're not pregnant are you?"
The question shocked everyone in the room, Ana the most, "Heather, I was gone for two weeks. I didn't get pregnant that fast."
"Well, we've always been pretty open about everything in this house, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have hid a relationship with this boy from me." she pointed out.
Ana laughed at that, "I met Connor a few days ago. I am not pregnant, I promise. Just haven't been feeling too good, you know how I get in the fall."
Heather nodded, the girl always got sick when the weather changed. "So, what did you need to talk to me about that you had to bring bodyguards for?"
The girl took in a deep breath, "I'm going to be moving in with Sam and dad for a while."
"Dad?" Heather raised an eyebrow, shooting a glare at Dean before turning her attention back to Ana. "How long is a while? You're not just going to disappear on me, are you?"
Frowning, Ana stood up from the couch and moved to stand in front of her aunt, "No, I'm not going to disappear on you. There's just some stuff I have to take care of with them." she grabbed her aunts hand, "I've spent my whole life wondering about the other side of my family and now I finally have the chance to learn about them."
Heather nodded, tears forming in her eyes, "I understand, I just want you to be careful." she pulled Ana into a hug, "You've always been wise beyond your years, Anastasia, don't forget to listen to your head."
Returning the hug with a tight squeeze, she pulled away and smiled up at the woman who had raised her, the only family she'd know before she met the Winchesters. "I love you."
"I love you too, Ana." Heather placed a kiss on her forehead before letting her go and turning to look at Dean, "You better take good care of my girl, Winchester." she warned him.
Seeing the two interact, Dean began to understand why Heather was so protective of his daughter, she had been the only one left for Ana when Steph died. "I will." the words a promise he meant to keep, though he knew better than anyone how hard it would be to not break it.
Ana and Heather said their goodbyes, though Ana was beginning to feel a lot better, she was still weak and was quickly becoming tired. Connor helped her into the passenger seat of her car and followed the Impala back to the hotel. When they arrived she was barely awake and required more than a little help getting inside. Sam had excused himself to the room he was sharing with Connor as the witch moved around the car to get Ana out. Realizing that she was basically dead on her feet, Connor picked her up as Dean unlocked the door to her room. By the time he got her inside and laid down on the bed, she was passed out.
Dean watched the kid as he closed the door, noticing how careful he was with Ana. Shrugging out of his jacket he tossed it on the foot of his bed as Connor took off her boots and then helped her out of her jacket. Once the blanket was covering her, Connor turned to look at Dean, "She should sleep like a rock."
"Think she'll be okay to travel tomorrow?" Dean asked, walking over to the table to crumple up the map they had used to locate the vamp nest.
Connor nodded as he walked toward the door that connected the rooms together, "She should be fine. I'll drive so she can rest on the way there, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was almost back to normal by tomorrow evening."
Nodding, Dean watched his daughter a moment before he turned to look at Connor, "Thanks for keeping an eye on her."
"Of course. Good night, Dean." Connor opened the door and walked into his room.
"Night." Dean offered in response, waiting until the door was closed again before he got himself ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and he hoped that whatever was going on where Charlie was that they could handle it.
A/N: Who is excited for Charlie?! I know I am! Let me know what you guys think of the chapter or the story in general. Thanks for reading!
