A/N: Hello! Thank you to the new follows and favorites, always puts a smile on my face when I see a new one! So I got zero feedback on what you guys want to see done with the story, so for now I'm going to write the next couple of chapters and just see where it goes from there! Enjoy :)
It had taken a lot longer than Dean or Sam had anticipated to dispose of Valac's body parts. With Abaddon they had placed her separate pieces relatively close to where they had pulled her apart, but they wanted to be more careful with this Knight of Hell, seeing as his mission was to take Ana's life. Gabriel and Castiel had each taken different body parts to different parts of the globe, the only thing they buried in a pasture outside of the barn was one of his legs.
"Well, that bastard's head is now nice and warm spending eternity in the pit of a volcano in Hawaii." Gabriel announced when he reappeared from taking the last piece away.
Dean nodded with a small smirk, if anything the archangel had style. "We're mostly cleaned up here. Thanks for the help guys."
Castiel looked over the scene. Thankfully no one owned the barn, there was still quite a bit of blood on the ground and it would probably be there for some time, "You are welcome. I have glad that this all worked out in our favor."
"Before we go assuming that Ana's in the clear, are we now sure that there's nothing out there after her blood?" Sam asked, directing the question at everyone. He really didn't want to get Ana's hopes up to have them ruined by a surprise demon attack again.
John sighed, "You know there's no way to be completely sure about that, Sam, but after taking out Valac I think we've sent a pretty good message that it's not going to be easy if some monster wants to get their hands on her."
"Johnny boy has a good point." Gabriel sighed, "I can go check around, see if there's any other talk of the ritual, but I doubt I'll find anything. All of Barbas' lackies went down with him and since Valac was Barbas' puppet master I don't see anyone else taking on the idea as well."
"Well, I'd rather know that we've finally put it to a stop to all of this rather than just assume we did." Dean commented as he packed up the last of his things in his duffle bag.
Castiel nodded, "I will assist Gabriel and we will get back to you once we know one way or the other."
The angels disappeared and the three Winchester men were left to clean up the last little bit of the mess they had created, which didn't take long. Once they had placed their things back in the trunk of the Impala, they piled in and headed back to the bunker. It was no surprise to any of them that it was silent when they arrived, the night had gotten pretty late before they had finished their work in the barn. After bidding each other good night, each man retreated into their separate rooms to deal with the morbid relief of the actions they took that night.
-A-
It had been a restless night for Ana and when she woke up for the fourth time that night, at just after five in the morning, and she decided to get up. What little sleep she had gotten had been filled with nightmares and she felt more tired than she had before she had gone to bed. After taking a long shower and dressing in a pair of sweats and a plain baggy tee shirt, she moved to the kitchen to make some coffee. It was no surprise to her that the main rooms of the bunker were empty, everyone was still asleep and she was thankful for that, having some time to think over things on her own, without being bothered was something she desperately needed. The nightmares she had been plagued with were something she had been expecting after seeing Sam with an angel blade sticking through him, though each nightmare showed a different person in her new family dying at the hands of Valac.
She sat on the table in the library, coffee mug between her hands as she reminded herself that the Knight had been taken care of and for the most part she was safe now. Things would be a little less stressful around the bunker, Charlie would probably be leaving soon and she knew that it wouldn't be long before John was sent back to Heaven since he was only there to help with that problem. The thought of having them both gone made her a little sad, but Charlie would only be a phone call away and John would be back with Mary, where he belonged.
Slowly her thoughts shifted from her family to herself, what she would do now that her life wasn't in imminent danger. She knew that a majority of her time would be spent learning more about witchcraft and some hunting stuff, but other than that she didn't know what else she would be doing. College was still something she wanted to try, but there was no telling what could happen before registration for next fall rolled around. There was no doubt in her mind that her dad and uncle would continue to hunt, but she didn't want to go with them, hunting had never been something she could see herself doing. Things were going to change and though she wasn't one to be put off by something like that, this time it didn't sit as easy with her.
"You're up early." A gruff voice interrupted the silence of the room, causing Ana to jump.
The girl looked up to see her grandfather enter the room, she shrugged slightly, "Couldn't sleep." she explained before finishing the rest of her coffee and setting the mug on the table next to her.
John nodded as he moved to sit down in a chair that was near her, "You make it a habit to sit on tables instead of chairs?"
Ana laughed softly, "Not normally, but something about sitting right here is comfortable and it helps me think."
"Been thinking about anything Earth shattering?" he questioned, making small talk was something he had never been really good at, but he wanted to get more time with her before he returned to Heaven, he wanted to be able to tell Mary about their granddaughter.
"No." she shook her head, eyebrows pulling together as she looked at him, "Just trying to figure out what to do with my time now that Valac is gone."
He seemed to think about that for a moment, "Well, you could always give your dad Hell. Both of those boys had their moments growing up, seems only fair that they get some of that in return."
Ana smiled at that, "Trust me, I have eighteen years worth of trouble to catch up on. Dad will have gray hair before I'm twenty."
They both laughed, but the happy sound was quickly stopped by the sound of fluttering wings. Looking to the side, Ana's face fell at the sight of the female angel standing before them, "Hello Hannah."
"Anastasia." She greeted before turning her attention to John, "You have done what we asked, now it's time to return."
Ana jumped off of the table quickly, "Can he say goodbye first?"
Hannah thought a moment, she wasn't one to go against orders, but a few moments couldn't hurt. "If it is done quickly." she answered.
"I'll go get dad and Sam." Ana told John before hurrying down the hall. She knew that the brothers wouldn't be happy if they didn't get to say goodbye to their father. Sam's room was first and she didn't bother knocking as she threw the door open, "Sam! Wake up!" she spoke loudly, grabbing a shoe off of the ground and tossing it at her uncle.
When the shoe hit him Sam shot up and looked at Ana, "What? What's wrong?" he rubbed a hand over his face.
"John's being summoned back to Heaven. If you want to say goodbye, you need to get up." She told him before turning to head to her father's room, leaving the door wide open to Sam's. Throwing Dean's door open in the same fashion she did with Sam's, she walked over to his bed and shook his shoulder, "Dad, you need to wake up." she told him before taking a quick step back, afraid that he might think he was being attacked and lash out with whatever weapon was under his pillow.
Dean's eyes flew open, landing on the clock nearby before they focused on his daughter, "You better have a damn good reason for waking me up so early, kid."
"Hannah's here to take John back to Heaven, you need to come say goodbye." She explained quickly, there was no telling how long the angel would give them for their goodbyes and she didn't want to waste a minute of it.
Dean's face settled into a frown, but he pushed back his blankets and stood up, "Lead the way." he grumbled, grabbing a nearby shirt and pulling it on over his naked torso as he followed his daughter out of his room. As they walked into the library Dean watched his father and brother embrace in a tight hug.
John pulled back from his youngest son to see Dean and Ana watching them. He walked over to Dean and gave him a warm smile, "It was good to see you, son."
"You too, dad." Dean responded, neither of them good with stuff like this and since they had very few moments like this when John was alive, he wasn't sure how to act.
Stepping forward John pulled Dean into a hug, "Your mother is going to be so proud of you." he told his son softly before letting him go, "I am." he added. All Dean could do was nod, he had no idea what to say to that and he sure as hell wasn't about to tear up at his father being taken from him a second time. John turned his attention to his granddaughter, "Are you gonna give this old man a hug?" he teased, remembering the first words she had said to him.
Ana's eyes began to tear up a little as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around John. She had only spent a few days with the man and though she was still on the fence about how she felt about the way he was when he was alive, she was going to miss him. "Thank you for coming to help." she told him as they embraced each other.
"Nothing comes before my family." He told her, holding her tight. "You take care of my boys, alright?"
She nodded and sniffled as she pulled away from him, "They're in good hands." she promised with a soft smile.
"John, it's time to go." Hannah said as she walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Tell mom we say hi." Sam told him with a sad smile, it wasn't as hard watching John leave this time, but it still wasn't easy.
John nodded, giving them each one last look with a smile, "Keep each other safe." he instructed them before Hannah took him away with her.
Ana sniffled again and wiped a hand underneath her eyes. It was weird to feel like she was losing John since he technically wasn't really back, he was still dead after all, but to her it felt like he was dying for the first time.
Dean stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "He's okay, you know that, right? I have no doubt that he's been happier up in Heaven with our mom than he was the years he spent down here without her."
Ana nodded, "I never thought I'd meet any of my other family, it's always just been Heather and I, but then the three of us kind of found each other." She looked up at her dad, "I knew that you two were the only ones left in your side of the family so I just assumed I would never meet anyone else and then I get to meet John... just to have to watch him go again."
Sam walked over to the pair and wrapped an arm around her shoulders from the opposite side of his brother, the two effectively sandwiching her between them, "It sucks, but we're not the only family you have left. Family doesn't end in blood, Bobby told us that once, and we have made a strange family of our own. You're part of that now."
"Charlie, Jody, Cas, hell even Connor has wormed his way into the family." Dean didn't seem to know what to think about the newest addition to the family, but it was true. Connor had more than proven himself in the time he'd been there and it was peace of mind for Dean to know there was another person around to watch out for Ana.
"Don't let him hear you say that, he'll start to think you like him or something." She smiled as she glanced back and forth between her father and uncle, "You two gonna go back to bed?"
Sam shook his head, "I'd be getting up about now anyway. I am going to get dressed though." he looked down at the old flannel pajama pants and faded, hole filled shirt he was wearing.
"Good idea." Dean agreed as he pulled his arm off of her shoulders and ruffled her hair, "We'll be back in a few minutes." he told her with a grin.
Ana watched as the brothers left the room and then turned back toward the table to grab her empty coffee cup. Just as she walked into the kitchen she caught sudden movement out of the corner of her eye and spun quickly to the side to see Castiel and Gabriel. "Hey, where have you two been?" She hadn't expected them to hang around all the time, having seen enough of Sam and Dean's lives to know that angels pretty much came and went as they pleased, but she had figured they would have at least come back after they were finished with Valac.
"Oh, you know, checking around to make sure that no other demons had the plan to sacrifice you in the name of chaos." Gabriel answered with a shrug.
Castiel's brow creased at his brother's words, "From what we can tell, those who even knew of the ritual's existence have been taken care of."
Turning toward the coffee pot, she let the new information sink in as she refilled her cup, "So other than the run of the mill monsters out there that could appear at any time, I'm pretty safe?" she clarified, glad that they had double checked.
Gabriel nodded, taking a seat at the table, "Seems like it, princess, but we'll keep an eye out for any strange demon movements just in case."
Ana turned around to give them a smile, "Thanks guys, for everything."
"You are welcome, Anastasia." Castiel stated simply.
"Hey, don't thank me," Gabe told her, "I just figured I owed you one since I planted my grace in you without warning. Don't come whining to me the next time you're in trouble."
She scoffed, "Right, I'm sure that's the whole reason for you helping out." Walking over toward the table, she sat across from him, "You can't lie to me, Gabe, I know that you secretly love us Winchesters."
"Of course he does!" Dean agreed with a grin as he walked into the room, "It's hard not to when we're so full of charm and good looks."
Gabe rolled his eyes, "Please, every Winchester I've met has been bull-headed and rude."
"Plus, we all know I got all of the real looks in the family." Ana pointed out as she watched her father pour himself some coffee.
Dean sat down his cup and scowled at her, "Take that back."
She laughed softly and shook her head, "It's not my fault that you're not aging gracefully."
"Oooo, you better watch out, Little Red, Dean is almost as vain about his looks as the actors in Hollywood." Charlie had appeared in the doorway just as Ana threw the insult at her father.
"I am a very good looking man!" Dean argued, turning his glare on to Charlie who was now laughing.
Sam and Connor stopped behind Charlie, each looking around the kitchen, "I think we missed something." Connor muttered to Sam.
"Oh, you did." Charlie moved into the kitchen so the men behind her could enter as well, "We were just discussing Dean's good looks."
"Actually, I was just so kindly pointing out that I must have gotten all of the good look genes from the Winchester line." Ana corrected.
Connor held back a laugh at the heated glare Dean was aiming in his daughter's direction, "I'm not even going to add myself to this conversation." he held his hands up, as if surrendering, and moved to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge.
"Are you saying we're ugly?" Sam questioned, raising an eyebrow at his niece.
Ana shook her head, "No, of course not, I'm just the better looking out of the three of us."
"I may be a little bias, but I've got to agree with her." Charlie spoke up, "I did call her jailbait for a reason." she explained.
Castiel watched everyone and shook his head, "This conversation has gotten completely out of hand."
"Where did all of this come from anyway?" Sam moved past his brother to get himself some coffee, he had seen a look in Ana's eyes that he understood as her clearly joking, but Dean apparently hadn't picked up on that sign quite yet.
"I was just telling Cas and Gabe thank you for helping out with the demon stuff and instead of accepting my gratitude, Gabriel had to be a smartass." Ana kicked at the angel's leg under the table, but he quickly moved his legs and she missed. "So I pointed out his secret love for our family and it kind of spun off in this direction from there."
Sam shook his head, "Of course it did, because logically Gabriel's hidden love for us is somehow connected to the fact that you're the most good looking and that Dean isn't aging as well as he thinks he is."
"Hey!" Dean smacked the back of his brother's head, "I am aging just fine!"
"I don't see any logic in your statement, Sam." Castiel spoke up, becoming confused.
Gabriel rolled his eyes as he stood up and walked over to stand next to Castiel. Gabe placed a hand on his shoulder, "We really need to work on your sarcasm, little brother."
Standing up from the table, Ana walked over to her father and smiled up at him, which made his frown deepen, "I was teasing, dad, calm down." she patted her hand against his cheek, "You're at least half as good looking as I am."
Dean narrowed his eyes at her, "You're lucky that you're my kid." he grumbled, pushing her hand away from his face and ruffling her hair with a grin before moving away quickly. "So, Charlie," he changed the subject as he stopped next to her, "You sticking around for a while?"
"No can do, Winchester. There are signs of a poltergeist in North Carolina so I'm going to head out there and check it out." She answered, glancing over at Sam, "I doubt that you two will be cooped up here much longer before you find something to hunt down too."
Both brothers looked to Ana who had moved back over to the table and was talking to Connor, "Obviously we're not quitting, but we may hold off for a bit." Sam offered.
"Yeah, there's still some stuff we need to figure out before we take on a hunt that's going to be too far from here." Dean added, his eyes focused on his daughter.
Charlie looked at the girl as well, "She's strong, Dean. If you leave on a hunt she's not going to fall apart."
Dean nodded, "You're right, but she's also been through alot in the short amount of time we've known each other and I don't want to just leave her hanging after having to fight off demons for weeks on end."
"It's not like you're leaving her alone." Charlie pointed out, "I highly doubt that Connor will be leaving her for a while. Witch stuff or no."
"Yeah, not sure how I feel about that." Dean muttered, watching as the two talked at the table, "You think I should be worried?" he asked Charlie, raising an eyebrow.
She looked up at him, confused, "How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm not a parent."
"No, but you're a girl and know more about this crap than I do." He pointed out, waving his hand at toward the table.
Sam laughed at his brother, "Maybe you should ask Ana if it's something you need to worry about?"
"Or I could just ignore the fact that there's even a possibility of anything going on with those two." Dean countered, which was something he wished he could do, but he also knew that he couldn't. If for nothing else to make sure the two witches didn't end up in a similar situation that he had with Ana's mom.
"Yeah, good luck with that one, Papa Bear." Charlie patted him on the shoulder, "Anywho, I'm going to go get packed." she walked through the kitchen and left quickly, passing the angels who stood in the corner quietly discussing something.
Dean's attention slowly turned to Gabe and Cas, "What are you two whispering about over there?"
"What? Us?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow and crossed the room to stand by Dean, "We were most definitely not discussing something we may or may not have seen transpire between the lovebirds over there."
Castiel had followed his brother and stood next to him as he spoke to Dean, "We witnessed Anastasia and Connor kissing." he answered, not understanding why Gabriel hadn't just said so in the first place.
"Why do you always have to ruin my fun?" Gabe asked, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.
Dean's eyes darted over to the table after Cas had spoken, "We talking awkward peck or full blown make out?" he asked Gabriel.
Sam rolled his eyes, "I can't believe you're talking about this when they are literally just across the room."
"I really don't give a damn where they're at, I'm getting my information." Dean told his brother before turning his attention back to the angel at his side, "Gabe?"
Gabriel smirked at Sam then looked to the kids at the table, "I wouldn't say full blown make out, more of a desperate last minute declaration of feelings neither of them have owned up to yet."
Dean groaned, "Freaking great."
"It's not like this is her first relationship, plus she's a smart kid." Sam told his brother, "Do not make this out to be something bigger than it is."
"What are you four ladies gossiping about over there?" Ana asked, turning her attention from Connor over to the group of men standing across the room. She had been aware of the other conversations going on around them, but had been so focused on the conversation she had been holding with Connor to worry much about the others.
Sam gave his brother a look like clearly communicated the words 'I told you so', "I'm sure your dad would love to tell you what he and Gabriel have been discussing." he said with a smirk, throwing his brother and the angel under the bus.
She rolled her eyes, "If it was mostly you two I'm sure it was an enlightening conversation." sarcasm thick in her tone.
"That's the only kind of conversation I know how to have." Gabriel gave her a knowing look.
All attention turned to Gabriel, each person giving him their own look of disbelief. "Right." Ana deadpanned then quickly turned her attention to her dad, "So what were you actually talking about?"
Dean shook his head, "Nothing important." there was no way he was going to talk to her about this now, if he had it his way they wouldn't have to ever talk about it.
"I honestly don't understand why you won't just tell them that you were talking about them kissing." Castiel's eyes looked from Dean to Ana and back, "It's a normal human action."
"Of course you had to gossip about that." Ana glared at Gabriel before turning her attention to Dean, "Is this really something we need to discuss? I am old enough to make my own decisions on stuff like this."
"Yeah, whatever." Dean shook his head, "Just don't do anything stupid, alright? I will kick both of your asses."
Connor sat silently but nodded at Dean's threat, his gaze flicking to Ana. Having a conversation about whatever their relationship was in front of her family was awkward to say the least and he honestly just wanted to leave the room.
Ana only rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say, dad." she stood up and carried her mug to the sink. "Can we refrain from talking about stuff like this as a family? I know you're new to this dad thing, but this is something we really don't need to talk about… ever."
"I know enough about being a dad that having your eighteen year old daughter her…" Dean's eyes landed on Connor before looking back to Ana, "whatever he his living in the same place is a pretty bad idea. Add that on top of the fact that you two will most likely be the only ones here at any given point in time and we're going to talk about this whenever I feel like it."
"Hey! Isn't it about time we start finishing my lesson on herbs?" Ana asked Connor, walking over to him, grabbing him by the arm and then pulling him out of the room with her. It didn't surprise her that Gabriel had spilled the beans on the kiss he and Castiel had witnessed, but for them to talk about it when she could have heard at any moment slightly baffled her.
Connor let her tug him through the bunker, "Should, we… uh… talk about that?"
"About my dad sticking his nose in places it doesn't belong?" She questioned, "I have a feeling I'm going to need to get used to that."
"No, not about your dad. About the kiss in the garage or the one in my bedroom?" He clarified for her.
She shook her head, "Later. Let's just focus on finishing up with herbs and then we can handle whatever is going on between us." Honestly she had no clue what to make of whatever relationship they were forming. She hadn't been in any kind of relationship since things had ended between her and Lucas and she wasn't sure if she was ready to start another one now that she was in a world where death was a possibility at any time.
They walked into the training room and closed the door behind them. Ana had been working on memorizing the uses for the herbs in his books and they were running a sort of test now, "Alright, uses for valerian root…" Connor instructed as they took their normal seats on the training mat and got comfortable, these lessons took a while.
