/N: Hello everyone! More favorites and follows, I love it and I love you guys! Seriously, the amount of readers I have has completely taken me by surprise and I just want to keep writing for you. This is a little bit of a filler chapter, something fun and light hearted to balance out all the drama from the previous chapters. Let me know what you guys think about it.
The bunker was quiet with just the three Winchesters and Connor being the only ones left there. Castiel and Gabriel had left not long after the witches had exited the kitchen and Charlie left shortly after lunch to start the drive to North Carolina, she had given her number to Ana and told her to call whenever she needed. Ana took the free time she now had to unpack her suitcase, organizing the few things she had brought with her around her room and separating the clean from the dirty laundry that needed to be washed.
Just as she was hanging up the last of her jeans in the small closet there was a knock at the door, "Come in." she called, moving toward the bed to grab her now empty suitcase and shoving it at the bottom of the closet.
"Hey, kid." Dean greeted as he entered her room, watching as she closed the closet door, "Getting all settled in?" the few books she had on the desk and the picture of her mother, that was now on her nightstand, being the only real changes to the room he could notice.
She nodded, "Yeah. It's still pretty bare, but I didn't want to bring a whole lot since I'm not sure how long I'm going to be staying here."
Pulling out her desk chair, he took a seat and watched as she sat down across from him on her bed, "You know you're welcome to stay here as long as you want. I know you plan on going to college at some point, but if you want to stay here until then... you can."
His words made her smile, she could pick up on the slight worry in his tone and could guess what it was from. "I'm not just going to up and disappear now that it's safer for me to leave the bunker, dad. I like it here with you and Sam, plus now that I'm not being hunted down we have more time to get to know each other better."
Dean returned her smile, "I'd like that." he agreed. They had been so focused on the demons that were after her for either of them to learn much about one another, other than the small things that they picked up, like how incredibly stubborn they both were or how cranky Ana got when she didn't get enough sleep.
"So what's the plan for you and Sam now?" She questioned, crossing her legs underneath herself, "I'm assuming that a hunt will come up sooner or later."
He nodded and relaxed back into the chair, "Yeah, probably, but we'll take a couple of days before we hit the road again. If we come across anything before then we'll send it to another hunter."
"You're not taking time off because you're afraid of leaving Connor and I here alone, are you?" Ana understood how important their job was, they helped save so many people, and she wouldn't let his worry about the relationship she had with Connor get in the way.
"Honestly?" He questioned, brushing a hand through his hair, "A little, but we could also use at least a day to wind down and regroup."
She sighed, "You really don't need to worry about this Connor thing, dad. Neither of us really knows where this is going and I'm not the kind of girl to jump a guy I'm not in a serious relationship with." The explanation made her wince internally, she really didn't want to have this conversation with her father, but if it would help put his worries to rest she would.
"I don't want you jumping any guys." He pointed out. Realistically he understood there was nothing he could do about it, but he couldn't help but want to protect her from all and any trouble a man could cause her.
"Yeah, because that's going to happen." She shook her head at him, "I'm a human being, at some point in my life I am going to have sex again."
Dean stood up quickly at her words, knocking the chair over, "Again? Alright, we're done with this conversation! Let's just leave it at the fact that while you're here, there will be no jumping of any man, deal?" the look on his face a mix between terror and disgust.
Holding back a laugh Ana nodded, "I think I can agree with that." she agreed, "Now that I've effectively scared you maybe we should go see what Sam and Connor are up to in the library." her hope was to distract him from bringing up the subject again. Pushing him toward the door, she got him headed down the hallway and followed close behind him. As they entered the library, she turned to see Sam at the table talking on his phone.
Taking a seat, Dean placed his head in his hands and tried with all of his willpower to push the information he had just learned about his daughter to the back of his head. He waited until Sam was off of the phone before he lifted his head to look at his brother, "What was that about?"
Sam gave his brother a questioning look before setting his phone down, "Uh… I caught news of some strange murders in Wisconsin, I let Garth know what was going on. He's going to take the case and let me know how it goes." He watched as Ana sat down a couple of chairs away from her father, "What's up with you?"
"You really don't want to know." Was all Dean said, but when he caught sight of Connor walking into the room Sam caught the frown that his brother sent the witch's way.
Ana shook her head at her father before looking to her uncle, "He, yet again, decided to bring up conversations he really doesn't want to have with me." she answered, watching as Connor walked her way with a book in his hands. "My next lesson?"
With a nod, Connor set the medium sized book on the table in front of her, "Yep. You did well enough memorizing the herbs that we can move on to mixing them together in spells and rituals."
"So this magic stuff is going alright now that you're not backpacking Gabriel's grace around?" Dean questioned, he hadn't noticed her having any problems, but now that they had time to discuss it he wanted to make sure.
She skimmed over the inside of the book, glancing up at her father for a moment, before looking back at the book's pages. "Other than feeling pretty weak after the fight with Valac, I haven't noticed any problems."
Connor walked around the table and sat down near Sam, "You did use a lot of your power without much training." he gave her a pointed look, "Unless in emergency, I think it's best that you refrain from using that much again. Until you have a better understanding of your power and more control over it, that is."
"So is this what you guys are going to be doing most of the time?" Sam looked back and forth between the witches, "Focusing on Ana learning everything she can about being a witch?"
Setting down the book, Ana looked up at her uncle, "I don't have any other plans until registration for next year's fall semester rolls around. I figure if I'm dedicating a part of each day to studying and practicing maybe it won't take as long as Connor originally thought. I'd really like to be able to focus on just school when it comes around."
Sam nodded, "Speaking of school, do you have any idea where you want to go?"
"Honestly? No, I have no idea." She answered, leaning back in her chair she thought a moment before speaking again, "My original plan was to stay close to Heather, but now I'm considering staying closer to here. Or maybe somewhere in between." she shrugged, "I still need to look around at what schools offer what programs and then there's the whole application process."
"What are you thinking of majoring in?" Sam leaned his arms on the table, he was excited that their recent encounters with the supernatural and the fact that she was a witch weren't seeming to stop her plan.
The question seemed to make Ana's eyes a little brighter, "I'm stuck between literature or going into some sort of medical program." she answered.
Dean watched the conversation unfold before him and he was happy that Sam was there to talk about this kind of stuff with her, since he had no idea what college was like. "Medical? You want to be a doctor?" he was slightly shocked that any child of his could have dreams that big.
"I've considered it." she answered, turning her attention to Dean, "For as long as I can remember all I've wanted to do is help people. Guess it's in my blood." The comment made Dean smile and out of the corner of his eye he could see that his younger brother was smiling as well.
"I have a feeling that even if you don't become a doctor, you'll still end up helping people." Connor spoke up, "Your quick understanding of healing magic makes me think you have a natural affinity for it."
Dean's smile only grew and he laughed softly, "That will probably come in handy for us." he gestured between Sam and himself, "Next time we get hurt you can magic us better."
"Oh, I already expected to be getting in a lot of practice on the two of you. One way or another you end up hurt, I've seen enough of your hunts to know that." Most of the visions she had of their hunts had been of the harder ones. A couple of simple salt and burns had come through, but mostly it had been things like dealing with hell hounds, vampires, or witches.
Connor looked across the table at her, "Speaking of your visions, have you had any recently?" he hadn't been around if she had and he was curious.
Ana shrugged and brushed a hand through her hair, "I've had some in my dreams, but they haven't been of anything dangerous. Just random peaks into the possible future." she explained.
"Well, that's good right?" Dean piped in, "If you were having visions of danger then we would be in more trouble."
"Yeah, I guess that's a good way to look at it." She nodded, contemplating his words, "Maybe we'll get a small break from the big bad before the world decides to screw us over again."
Sam frowned, "Don't get your hopes up, it always happens when you least expect it."
Dean nodded in agreement and a silence fell over the room as they each became lost in their thoughts. When a time came around where they weren't on a hunt and or on their way to one, Dean never really knew what to do with his time. Sure, he'd catch up on laundry and get some decent sleep in his own bed, but other than that he didn't do much. The more he thought about it the more he wanted to do something with his daughter and now that there was no immediate threat to her life, they could actually leave the bunker. "Let's go do something." he spoke up, his eyes holding Ana's for a moment before they flicked to Sam and Connor.
"Go do something?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, normally his brother's idea of 'doing something' was drinking and he assumed that he didn't plan on taking his underage daughter to a bar.
"Yeah, let's get out of here for a while. We've been cooped up here for too long and now that it's finally safe to leave, we should take advantage of it." The older Winchester explained.
Ana grinned, the thought of getting out of the bunker and joining the real world incredibly appealing, "What would we do?" she questioned, from what she could tell there wasn't much to do in Lebanon.
"We could take a car trip to one of the bigger cities. Go bowling or something." Dean shrugged, "I don't know, I'm not used to family outings that don't involve firearms."
Everyone broke out in a soft laughter at that, the truth behind the words making it an odd joke, but they found it funny none the less. "Well you're in luck, Heather and I used to do stuff like this all the time." Ana told her dad with a smile, "Why don't we get ready to leave, pick a city, and on the way there I'll see what our options are?"
Dean nodded, "Sounds like a good plan. Say we meet back here when we're all ready to go?" he questioned, meeting everyone's eyes. With a collective nod, the four stood up and headed toward their bedrooms.
Ana had spent the whole day in her sweatpants and old tee shirt while everyone else was dressed normally. Knowing that it would take her longer to get ready than anyone else, she quickly changed into jeans and a nicer shirt before slipping on her boots. After making a quick stop in her bathroom to sort her hair into a high ponytail and put on a little makeup, she jogged down the hall to meet everyone in the library.
"Took you long enough." Dean teased with a smirk.
"Just for that, next time we're going anywhere I'll take my sweet time getting ready." She sassed back.
Sam shook his head, "Can we go now or are you two going to keep bickering?"
"Yeah!" Ana jumped, moving to stand behind Dean and pushing him toward the garage. "Let's go already!"
Connor laughed as he followed behind the family, "A little excited, Red?" he questioned, watching as she bounced on her toes as she continued to push Dean down the hall.
"I've been stuck inside this bunker almost the entire time I've been here!" She almost whined, "Of course I'm excited! I get to go on an adventure, that doesn't include demons or certain death, with three of my favorite people. It's going to be so much fun!"
"Aww, we're your favorite people?" Dean teased, laughing over his shoulder at his daughter, who still had her hands on his back and was forcing him down the hall.
Ana stuck her tongue out at him, "Shut up, dad. Of course you're some of my favorite people. You all basically threw yourself into the line of fire for me, the least I can do is add you to my favorite list. And you know, I kind of love you guys, so… there's that too."
Dean shot his little brother a wide eyed look, "Did you hear that, Sammy? She said she loves us. I think I'm going to need a tissue."
Sam chuckled as he watched Ana give Dean a big shove, pushing him away from her. "Don't listen to him, Ana, he's been hit on the head one too many times and doesn't understand natural human emotion anymore." he teased, shooting his niece a wink.
"Now you're just being rude, Sammy." Dean grumbled as they entered the garage and everybody moved towards the Impala. Once they were each situated in their seats, he pulled the car out of the garage and headed out of town. "Alright, Ana, where am I headed?"
The girl already had her phone out and was looking around at a map of cities near them that were big enough to house things like bowling alleys, movie theaters, and anything that sounded fun. It had already been decided that they didn't want to go to the larger, more known cities just for the size of the population. "Looks like there's a city about an hour east with an arcade. Go karts, laser tag, and a miniature golf course. What do you think?" she asked from the backseat, looking to Connor and then around to the front to her dad and uncle.
Dean had a goofy grin on his face, "You had me a laser tag." He steered the car onto the highway and speed up.
"My first official Winchester road trip and we're going to an arcade." Ana joked, relaxing back in her seat and focusing on her family in the front seat. It honestly didn't feel like the first time she had been with them on a road trip, she had seen so many of them in her visions that seeing the inside of the Impala as it sped down the road was nothing new to her.
Sam and Dean exchanged a quick look then Dean looked at her via the rear view mirror, "It's not an official Winchester road trip just yet." he informed her before turning on the stereo and playing the cassette that was already in the player.
The moment the song began to play through the speakers, a sad smile spread across Ana's face. The last time she had watched anyone listen to it in the Impala was the day Sam had been thrown into the pit. Def Leppard had always been one of her favorite bands and the song itself was good, but the memory she carried of it made her heart hurt a little and she wondered how Dean could listen to it without focusing on that memory as well. "Hey, dad, turn it up." she told him, forcing her grin to be happier. She needed a new memory of the song and this was the perfect time to do so.
Dean shot her a grin, "That's my girl." and he turned the volume up, nodding his head with the beat of the music.
-A-
They went through a handful of the cassettes in the car before they reached their destination. After the first few songs Dean had turned down the volume and there had been some light conversation, mostly the father and daughter discussing the music that had been playing and Sam interjecting with some sarcastic comments about how they both needed better taste in music. In the end the trip had been nice and once they were parked outside of the large arcade, they all filed out of the car. "So, I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking laser tag first." Ana offered.
"Oh, so you want to get your ass kicked first thing?" Connor asked, "Not to brag, but my laser tag game is pretty strong."
Sam laughed, "You realize what we do for work right?" he raised an eyebrow at the kid, "I can assure you that if anyone is going to win, it's going to be either me or Dean."
"Yeah, what he said." Dean scowled, "You may be pretty skilled with your magic, but put a gun in my hand, laser or otherwise, and I've got the upper hand."
Ana laughed, "You guys are in for a world of hurt. I'm a laser tag champion." she walked toward the doors to the arcade, not bothering to wait for the men, "Who's ready to get beat by a girl?!" the question was thrown over her shoulder as she opened the door and waited for them to follow.
"Oh, it's on." Dean shouted at his daughter as the three of them walked to catch up with her.
After purchasing the round of laser tag, the group was led into the first room of the dark coarse and began to grab their vests and guns as the younger boy who was working the coarse began to give them instructions. "So you get seven minutes and whoever has the most points at the end wins. The guns attached to your vests keep track of points and each vest has been programmed with your names, so when you're all finished the points will be on the scoreboard outside out the coarse." he explained as he went around and made sure each of them had their vests on right. "No rough housing." he added as he opened the door that led to the main room.
"Countdown will begin shortly. Players at ready." A automated female voice came over the speakers, stopping the loud techno music that had been playing for a moment. They hurried through the door and each made their way away from the others, hoping to get a safe distance before their lasers were powered up and the fight began. "Round begins in three...two...one." the female voice announced and the vests lit up while the guns made powering up noises.
-A-
"That was so cheating!" Connor accused the brothers as they exited back into the main part of the arcade.
Dean smirked, "No one ever said we couldn't team up." he pointed out, walking over toward the small flat screen on the wall to check their final scores.
"Honestly we're just used to it at this point. Even if we hadn't meant to, it would have happened." Sam added, following Dean toward the screen.
Ana shook her head at them, "I'm telling you, I still won. You two standing so close to each other most of the time made you really easy targets." she joined the men standing at the screen and looked up to see her name at the top of the list, her score being at least ten over each of them. "Told ya." she grinned, meeting each of their eyes.
"Rematch." Dean demanded.
She shook her head, parts of her red hair sticking to the slight sweat on her forehead, "Sorry dad. You lost, but remember, it's just a game."
"Fine. Go karts. Let's see how you feel when I smoke you on the track." he grinned down at her, knowing that he had the upper hand with a steering wheel in his hands.
-A-
They had spent two hours at the arcade after their round of laser tag. Dean had indeed smoked everyone on the go kart track and surprisingly Connor won the game of minigolf they played, even though it was the first time he had even held a golf club. There were numerous rounds of skeeball, shooting games, and other arcade games as well. It had been a collective decision to leave the arcade in search for food and they settled for a pizza place a couple of blocks away.
Ana had excused herself from the table to take a phone call from Heather just after they had been seated, leaving the men to decided on what to order. Connor wasn't really paying attention to the menu that he held in front of his face, he was contemplating a thought he had been considering since they had set off on their impromptu trip. Finally deciding that he was going to go through with it, he set the menu down and looked at Dean, "Would it be possible for Ana and I to get some time to ourselves while we're here? I was thinking of taking her to get ice cream or something."
Dean lowered his menu slowly and gave the boy sitting across the table from him a long look, "You want to take her on a date?" he questioned.
"If she wants to, yes." Connor answered, refusing to crumble under the glare the older Winchester was now giving him.
"You should have seen this coming." Sam told his brother, not surprised at all by Connor's request.
His brother's comment only made Dean scowl further, "Fine. If she says yes, you get one hour and then we're heading back to the bunker." he went to lift his menu up again, then lowered it quickly,pointing a finger at the kid across from him, "No funny business either, alright? My threat of unspeakable things still stands."
Connor merely nodded because Ana was coming back to the table, "Everything okay with your aunt?" he questioned as she sat down next to him.
"Yeah, she just wanted to check in. I've been terrible about keeping in touch." She informed the table as she picked up her menu, glancing over it. "So did you guys decide on anything?" steering the conversation in the direction of food, she was hungrier than she had been in days now that she wasn't stressed about Valac.
-A-
Dinner went by smoothly. Dean paid for the meal and as they were heading for the door Connor grabbed Ana's elbow and held her back from the rest of the group, "Hey, want to go get ice cream or something? Just the two of us?" he asked, hopeful that she would say yes. He really just wanted to get some time with her to talk about something other than witchcraft or demons and he hoped that they could figure out whatever was going on between them.
Her green eyes flickered to her father and uncle, who had already made it outside, and then back to Connor, "What about my dad and Sam?" Ana had a feeling that Dean wouldn't like the idea of them going off together.
Connor smiled down at her, "I talked to him about it while you were on the phone. He's given us an hour if you're okay with it. I saw a place just down the street, within walking distance."
"Uh, yeah, ice cream sounds good." She returned the smile and then moved to meet with the brothers standing outside by the Impala. Once they were standing in front of Dean and Sam, she smiled up at her dad, "So we'll see you in an hour?"
Dean frowned down at her and didn't seem like he was going to respond, so Sam stepped in, "Yeah, we'll pick you up then. If you need anything just give us a call."
Ana nodded and turned to walk away with Connor, but he was quickly forced to turn and look at Dean, who had a hand on his shoulder and a spark in his eyes, "Unspeakable things." he warned one last time before letting the kid go off with his daughter.
"We'll be fine, dad. Go have a drink with Sam and unwind." Ana gave him a sweet smile, "See you in an hour." with that she wrapped a hand around Connor's wrist and pulled him away from Dean before the man could threaten him more. They walked in silence until they were closer to the ice cream shop, "So… is this like a date or something?"
Connor smiled, glancing down at her hand which was still around his wrist, "I don't know, Red, do you want it to be a date?"
She shrugged, looking down at the ground, "It wouldn't be terrible, but you don't seem like the dating kind to me."
"And just what kind do I seem to you?" He asked. In all honesty, Connor hadn't taken a girl on a real date in years. Working at the bar in Louisiana he'd had a couple of one night stands, but even those were few and far between. With most of his focus being on his work and his craft, he hadn't put much thought into women.
"The first time we met," Ana smiled at the memory, still not looking at him, but she had pulled her focus up and to the path in front of them, "I assumed you were kind of like my dad. You know, the 'I can get any woman I want, so I do' kind of mentality."
He nodded, understanding that he could put off the same cocky vibe that Dean could, which was probably one of the reasons they didn't meet eye-to-eye sometimes. "So that was your first impression, but what do you think now?" Something about the redheaded girl next to him made him want to know what she thought on everything.
She contemplated the question a minute, "I'm not entirely sure. Obviously you take what you do very seriously, I was basically a burden shoved on to you and you took it in stride, even helping further than any of us could have asked you to with the Valac thing."
"Not only is it my responsibility as a Mohr witch to your Good witch, but I like to think that we're friends. I wasn't going to sit back and do nothing while you were in danger, Ana." He explained, pulling her to a stop so that he could look down into her eyes. "And you are not a burden to anyone. I don't know if you've noticed, but everyone who was there that night to protect you cares about you. Even in the shortest amount of time you pull people to you."
"Must be my charming personality." She joked weakly, lost in the sincerity in his eyes.
Connor chuckled, "I'm betting that it has something to do with the Winchester in you. Somehow, even with his abrasive ways, Dean has the same affect on people."
"And has Sam had the same affect on you?" Ana continued to tease, grabbing onto his hand and pulling him along.
"Yes, but he's got that weird eye thing he does down." He stopped to open the door to the ice cream shop for her, "I'm almost positive that he could make that work on anyone."
Nodding in agreement she walked through the door and waited for him to follow before speaking, "I wouldn't be surprised. Dad refers to it as his 'puppy dog look' and I've seen it in action. I bet Sam could get Secret Service to give him national secrets if he tried hard enough."
They laughed together as they walked up to the counter to order their ice cream. When Ana tried to pay for her own Connor quickly placed money in the hand of the cashier, grinning down at her in triumph. Finding a free table near the window, they sat down as the conversation shifted from her family to how life was growing up with her aunt. Connor questioned her until he had basically gotten her whole life story, including the gory details of her hideous relationship with Luke. "I can't believe he cheated on you. First of all, you guys were in high school, who cheats in high school? Secondly, he's a complete idiot if he thought he could find anyone better than you."
His comment made Ana blush slightly, "You might want to watch all the compliments, I might get an ego." she teased, taking a bite of her sundae.
"I highly doubt that you could ever have an ego like your dad." He countered, "You're too level headed for that."
"It's true, but you never know, people change." She sat back in her chair, giving Connor a thoughtful look, "So, what about you? I know that your family life was rough, to say the least, but what about everything else? Were you born in Louisiana?"
Connor shook his head and the movement of his black hair caught Ana's attention before he began to explain to her his life. Carefully avoiding digging too deep into his family relationship, he told her about how he had been born in Boston, but had moved to Louisiana to get away from his family. That had been when he was fourteen and thankfully he had come across another, less powerful, natural witch who had taken him under her wing and helped him along until he was old enough to live on his own. He had finished high school and immediately started working in the bar that was owned by one of his coven members. "And that's all I did until Castiel came along, worked and practiced my craft."
Ana was quiet a moment, taking in all of the new information, "That sounds rough." she finally settled on, not knowing what else to say, though knowing that those words barely touched how it must have been for him.
"It was, but I'm thankful for it. Made me a more resilient person and now I'm teaching the most powerful witch to grace the Good line." Connor gave her a charming smile, "I'll consider that a win."
Before Ana could respond, a loud rumble came from the other side of the window and she didn't even have to look to know that it was the Impala. "I guess our hour is up. Are you ready to sit through another car ride with my family?"
Nodding, he stood up and offered her his hand, "I think I'll live through another round of the best of the eighties."
She took his hand and let him help her to her feet. Walking toward the door together, neither of them let go of the other and they were grinning as they reached the car, finally releasing hands to get into the back seat.
"Did you kids have a good time?" Sam asked with a grin and a mischievous look in his eye.
They both nodded, "Yeah, who knew bathroom sex in an ice cream shop could be so good?" Ana stated in a nonchalant voice.
An almost animalistic sound came out of Dean's throat before he opened his mouth to yell, "ANASTASIA MARIE!"
