"So, let me get this straight . . . not only are angels real and they want to kill me or maim me or something, but there are demons and magic and other . . . things, too?"

The three girls sat in Alex's room, scattered. Claire was spinning in the computer chair; Alex was sat on the floor, painting her toenails; and Sara sat on her bed, holding a pillow and asking questions.

"You got it," Claire said.

"I was raised by vampires," Alex said nonchalantly.

"And your father . . . is an angel?" Sara asked, frowning.

"Not my dad," Claire said sharply. "Just his body. I know, it's weird. I mean . . . he's kinda dad-like. So that's . . . still weird, yeah. Still weird."

"It's not Cas you want anyway," Alex said, grinning and leaning back. "It's Dean."

"Ew, dude, that's like, my weird uncle twice removed or something like that," Claire said, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Alex, who laughed. "Besides, Sam is better looking."

"And Sam and Dean," Sara frowned. "They hunt these things? By choice?"

"Guess so," Claire shrugged. "I don't know much about them, except for Cas lives with them and they're like, famous as far as hunters go."

Sara shook her head. "This is so weird to me. Don't get me wrong – I believe you. It's just . . . there's this whole world I never even knew about. It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Claire nodded. "I was just a kid when Castiel invaded my dad's personal space."

"Do you blame him?" Sara asked curiously.

"I used to," Claire admitted. "I hated Cas because he looked like and talked like and lived in my dad. But then I found out it was my dad's choice, and he died a hero. He helped save the world."

"That's something to look up to," Sara agreed. "What about your parents, Alex?"

"Dunno," Alex said, not bothered at all about the turn in conversation. "I only remember them a little. I was taken when I was just a kid, and I guess the Stockholm or whatever made me not miss them. I remember my mom and dad taking me to the park a lot. My dad liked baseball, and he was a paramedic. One of the only things I remember is his beeper going off at night and him kissing me goodnight and promising he'd see me in the morning. After Jody rescued me, I tried to find them. They got divorced. My dad moved halfway across the country and has a whole family of his own now. My mom, well . . . she OD'd. Brain damage. No one ever came forward so they pulled the plug."

"Don't you want to see your father?"

"I called him," she admitted. "But when I heard their voicemail, I hung up. He's so happy and his kids sound cute and his wife looks nice on Facebook. So I'm going to leave it."

"He'd want to see you," Claire said quietly.

"Maybe. But probably not." She shrugged. "I have Jody. She's the only family I need. Along with you, I mean."

"Your lives were so much more difficult than mine," Sara said. "And I was feeling sorry for myself. I'm ashamed."

"Um, there aren't a bunch of angels trying to stab us," Alex said.

"Point," Claire nodded.

They paused, and Claire and Alex looked at each other for a long moment.

"What?" Sara frowned.

"We were talking with Jody last night," Alex started.

"After you went to bed," Claire added. "Look, Sam and Dean, they're bad mofo's. They're going to stop these guys, and you won't have to run anymore."

"We want you to stay with us," Alex finished.

Sara blinked, surprised. "Oh."

"It's just, we know what it's like to feel alone," Claire said.

"Yeah, it sucks," Alex said.

"So, if you want, the guest room is yours," Claire finished.

Sara was taken aback. They'd only known her a day, and already they were offering her a place in their home? In their monster hunting, rebellious, women run home?

"You don't have to," Claire was saying quickly.

"Yes," Sara said. "I mean, yes. I want to stay."

A new life. A new day. No more running and hiding and living off of garbage and stealing . . . the thought of the bedroom down the hall made her heart beat a little faster. She was going to live here. With sisters. And a mother. And a cat and some dogs and there were actual chickens outside and an actual farm down the road. And she was going to go to school! She'd be able to go to college one day! Everything was going to be completely new.

"Do either of you have a pair of scissors?" she asked.

Jody opened the door, and smiled brightly as she hugged each of the Winchester boys and Castiel in turn. She also immediately instructed them to take their shoes off, which they found amusing.

The girls came down the stairs, and Dean had to admit, there was definitely something familiar in a "am I staring at a demon" kinda way when he saw the other girl, Sara. Her whole appearance was almost . . . melancholy, but also very unsettling, to him.

"Sara," Jody sounded surprised. "You cut your hair."

Sara reached up and self consciously touched her straight, copper hair. It was shoulder length now, lighter and breezier than her long, tangled curls were earlier that day.

"Claire did, actually," she said.

"I'm a style god," Claire admitted.

Jody smiled. "It looks great. Sara, I want you to meet some very good friends. This is Dean Winchester, his brother Sam, and this is Castiel."

"Hi," Sara waved, smiling.

"It's nice to meet you," Sam said, smiling. "Claire didn't mention you were British. Where are you from?"

"Leeds."

"No kidding? My favorite book takes place in Leeds . . ."

She relaxed as Sam talked to her in that assuring, kind way he had, and Dean examined her thoroughly. Her hair was almost the exact shade of Charlie's, he thought with a sad pang. A little darker, maybe. Her eyes gave nothing away; they were a deep, shining brown, darker than Sam's even, almost black. She looked older than her seventeen years, with a small but willowy body. For some reason, she reminded him of Bela, but he pushed that thought from his head.

"Hello, Claire," Castiel said, stepping forward to his vessel's daughter. "I brought you something."

She rolled her eyes. "You don't have to bring me something every time you visit, you know. You're not my dad."

"I think you'll like this one," he said, reaching into his inside coat pocket. He handed her a small box, and she frowned, opening it.

"A locket?" she raised an eyebrow, lifting the small, silver oval on a chain. On closer inspection, she found the same symbol Sam and Dean had tattooed on their chest, the anti-possession symbol, etched into it.

"Oh," she said. "Hey, thanks. Can never have too much protection." She started to put it back in the box.

"Open it," Cas urged, and she did. She blinked a few times, and swallowed.

"It's –" Cas started.

"My parents," she said softly. From one side, her mother's smiling face looked up at her, and on the other, Jimmy Novak pre-vessel. She blinked rapidly trying not to cry.

"Sam found the pictures online and somehow made them small enough to fit in that," he said, pointing at the necklace. "The necklace belonged to Sam and Dean's mother."

"We found it in one of our dads old storage sheds," Dean added.

"This was your moms?" Claire looked at it. "I – I can't accept this, it belongs to . . ."

"You," Dean said. "We're keeping it in the family."

Claire felt almost like puking. Damn. Emotions. What the hell, she asked herself as she put the necklace on and silently swore to never, ever take it off.

"Dinner!" Jody called from the kitchen.

"How're things, Alex?" Dean asked as they all headed towards the dining room. "Missing the vampire lifestyle?"

"Nah," she said, with a small grin. "Cold and undead's not really my color."

Dean smirked, and they all sat down.

"Should we pray?" Jody asked, her face deadly serious.

Sara started to hold her hands out, but stopped as everyone burst into laughter. Even the angel, Castiel, gave a slight smile.

"She makes that joke every night," Claire rolled her eyes, grinning as she began passing green beans around.

"And you always laugh," Jody grinned back.

"Hey," Claire said, grabbing some dinner rolls as the pork roast was passed around. "How's the hunt for God's Evil Twin going?"

"Stop calling the Darkness God's Evil Twin," Jody sighed.

"It's a good name!" Claire argued.

"Kinda is," Sam agreed in a mutter.

"And it's going nowhere," Dean added, taking a drink of his beer.

"You'll get a lead," Jody reassured him.

"We need to do more research," Sam said.

"We need Bobby," Dean corrected, and everyone was quiet. Even Claire and Alex didn't say anything, and Sara wondered who Bobby was.

"Almost four years now," Jody said quietly.

"We ain't seen the last of him," Dean swore.

"Well, I can agree with that," Castiel nodded. "I saw him just last year."

"How was he?" Jody asked as she cut her meat.

"He was . . . surly."

Sam, Dean, and Jody laughed again, and Sara found that she liked the sound of it, and smiled. She listened with interest as they exchanged stories, talked about old times, made inside jokes, and complimented each other. It was so much nicer than the dinners Sara used to have, with all the other kids screaming and fighting and throwing food.

"Sara wants to stay," Claire said after a while, and Jody dropped her fork.

"You – you do?" she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes," Sara said, turning as red as her hair. "I mean, if that's alright with you, Jody."

"Look at you, mama bear," Dean grinned at Jody, squeezing her shoulder.

"Sara, I would love for you to stay," Jody replied honestly. "I'll have to make some calls to your last foster home and get your citizenship on the road . . . and you'll have to go to school."

"When?" Sara asked excitedly, and Dean groaned.

"She's gonna be a Sam," he sighed, and Sam grinned.

"Dean's jealous because he didn't go to law school," Sam winked, and Sara smiled brightly. Family. What a great word. What a great life. Two days ago, if someone had asked her where she would be in a week, she would have said a bus to someplace warm, or in a shelter. But instead she was in a nice house, with a nice woman, nice girls her ages, nice hunters, everything was so nice.

Dean's cell phone rang, and he looked at it, sighing in annoyance, and stood.

"No phones at dinner," Jody said, only half joking.

"It's Crowley," Dean said grumpily. "Want me to say hi for you?"

"Go to hell, Winchester," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Would be, if Sam had his way," he grumped quietly, leaving the room and barking "What?" into his phone.

"What the hell does that mean, Sam?" Jody demanded, turning on Sam and using her Mom Voice.

"Who's Crowley, then?" Sara asked Claire quietly as Sam tried to defend himself to Jody.

"The Big Bad from what I hear," she whispered back.

"Was the Big Bad," Alex corrected, just as quiet. "Before his mom showed up."

"So, mother-son evil duo team up?" Sara asked.

"Guess so. Only he's also Dean's BFF," Claire shrugged, turning back to dinner.

"I heard that!" Dean said as he reentered. "And I was not his BFF."

"You kinda were," Sam agreed, and Cas nodded in agreement.

Dean glared.

"Um, excuse me? Did you almost kiss him? No? Then shut up," Jody replied.

"Bobby did that one time," Dean said, and the adults were all laughing again.

"What'd he want?" Dean asked.

"Nothing important. There's this lead he's got for us. But we need things straightened out here."

"I should go see what he wants," Castiel said, standing. "The last thing we want is for him to show up here. I'll see what it's about and follow the lead, but I doubt it amounts to anything."

"Let me go!" Claire said excitedly. "Oh, please, please, please let me go."

"Claire –"

"Come on, Cas, I'm never gonna be able to really protect myself without experience!" She begged. "So train me!'

"I don't think it's a good idea . . ."

"You said yourself, you don't think it's going to amount to anything!"

Castiel sighed. "What about school?"

"I'm suspended," she said, and Dean snorted in laughter.

Cas looked conflicted. On one hand, he wanted her to be safe. On the other, he wanted to spend time with her – he felt like he owed her that much. And he did want her to be able to protect herself.

He looked towards the others. "Jody?"

Jody didn't look happy. "Don't let her out of your sights. She stays in the car the whole time you're talking to him, and I want her decked out in protective symbols, Castiel. And if the lead goes somewhere dangerous, bring her bright back."

Claire was already out of her seat, running up the stairs to pack.

"It's like training a puppy," Dean said.

"Will she be safe?" Sara asked hesitantly.

"It's how we were trained," Sam admitted.

Moments later, Claire reappeared, a sloppily packed backpack slung over her shoulder and her angel blade hooked to her belt.

"We'll be back by tomorrow evening," Castiel promised. "Come on, Claire. My car's outside."

"The Pimp Mobile? Can't we take the –"

"Don't even think about it," Dean said without looking up from his dinner.

She rolled her eyes, but headed outside, Cas close behind her. "Hey, can I drive?" she asked as they left.

"I guess . . ." Cas mumbled, and Jody grinned and little bit and took a sip of her beer.

"He's in for it," she promised.