** Sorry, I totally forgot the whole disclaimer thing, but I think that it goes without saying that I DO NOT own Sam or Dean Winchester. Sad. **

THREE

"Elementals are a specific type of witch," Sam explained to Dean, his tone like he was reading straight out of a textbook, "They're born witches, and they have to be consecutive members of the same family, so they're very rare. Usually they don't even get their powers until later on in life because they have to come into them together."

Claire nodded at Sam as he spoke, her smile widened. It looked to Dean that she seemed to be enjoying his brother's presence more than any normal person. That irked him, but mostly because a hunch told him that she liked him because he was smart. Dean rolled his eyes; he was smart too. Just a different kind of smart.

"So, what do you elementals do then?" Dean asked, cutting straight to the chase.

Claire reluctantly switched her gaze to him, the impression fading from her green eyes, "We control the elements. Elementals. Get it?"

"You...control the elements?" Dean said slowly.

Claire sighed, but smiled, "That invisible force out there that kept throwing you back? That was me. Just a little manipulation and then-" She lifted a finger and flicked it lightly to the left, the vase on the table moved to the left with it. "Easy as pie."

Dean's mouth formed a startled 'o', "You did move the salt shaker."

Claire laughed and nodded.

"Wind," Sam muttered under his breath.

Claire continued, "Rose here was responsible for the earthquake you felt earlier. She's quite talented at knocking people off their feet, should she choose to, she also grows amazing vegetables. Never a bad patch." Claire looked proud. Rose blushed and waved a dismissive hand her way.

"It's nothing."

"Earth," Sam mumbled again.

Rose didn't hear him and continued, "Marina is great to have around at the beach. The surfers go wild, and, well, the downpour you're wearing – that's her fault."

"It's a talent," Marina smiled at Dean, a challenging look that dared him to fight back. Dean only smiled back tightly and looked Sam's way.

Of course, he was still mumbling, "Water."

"And Amber-," Marina started, before Claire lifted a hand. Amber licked her lips again and gave the brothers a mischievous smirk.

"She gets into trouble a lot," Claire smiled affectionately.

"Fire," Dean said, before Sam had the chance. Amber nodded seductively and Dean swallowed hard, looking away at the carpet again.

A silence hung in the room, before they were joined all at once by a much younger woman. The Winchesters assumed she was part of the family, the blonde hair and green eyes gave her away, but she didn't give either Sam or Dean a second glance as she came into the room. She didn't even say anything.

"Hey, Tana, is there something you need?" Claire stood up and faced the girl. The girl, presumably Tana, just stared back. Claire nodded slowly, "Well, we have guests. Do you think you could get whatever it is for yourself?"

Tana looked from Claire at Amber now. Dean and Sam were both surprised to see that, the moment Amber set her eyes on Tana's, all traces of the seductive and mischievous Amber faded from sight.

"What's up, girl?" Amber asked, reaching out and placing a hand on Tana's cheek for a few seconds and then she took it back and smiled pleasantly, "Everything okay?"

Tana stared a moment longer and then nodded slowly, turned around and left the room.

The silence rested over the room a moment longer after Tana was gone and then Claire sat down again and shrugged sheepishly.

"That was Tana. She's also my sister, the youngest obviously. She's...sensitive."

"Why?" Dean asked. He got a stern look from Sam for that, which he assumed was because his brother thought that he was being rude, but Claire continued all the same.

"Well, the four of us were born with powers and Tana..." Claire shook her head slowly, "Tana wasn't."

"Tana doesn't have any powers?" Sam blurted, without a second thought about being rude.

"Nope, unfortunately. She and dad were the only two in our family without powers of any kind. Completely normal," Claire shook her head again.

Sam scoffed, "You say that like it's a crime or something."

Claire stopped herself and exchanged glances with all of her sisters and then turned sheepishly back to the brothers, "In our family being normal made you the freak. I regret to say that we weren't all that...nice to Tana about it when we were kids."

"She was always the fifth wheel," Marina cut in. She looked ashamed of herself even as she said it.

Sam and Dean were shocked once more when Amber spoke up, "She hasn't spoken since...well, I haven't heard her say anything for a long time. At least since she was eight."

"How old is she now?" Dean asked softly.

"Seventeen." Claire responded. She wouldn't look them in the eye, none of the sisters would. Treating their sister, Tana, the way they had when they were kids was obviously something that the Elementals regretted deeply.

"Seventeen," Sam repeated. He looked a bit defeated. Even Dean felt sorry for the girl.

Imagine growing up in a family where, if you didn't have powers, you weren't accepted or treated like a normal person. You were the freak in the family. It must have been especially horrible for Tana if she'd ceased speaking for nine years.

"So," Sam cleared his throat, "you mentioned earlier that you weren't the witches who were causing those deaths. I'm not that familiar with all types of witches..." He trailed off, as if ashamed that he didn't know something.

"Well, you've met two types I assume," Claire took Sam's statement as an excuse to turn the conversation away from Tana and launched into explanation mode, "The sell-your-soul-to-the-devil kind and us, who have powers, but don't cast spells or do any other magic of any kind."

Sam nodded in interest and leaned forward in his seat.

Dean could see that this was going to be a long conversation for the geeks, so he quickly excused himself to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure. It's in the room just behind me and to the right. The glasses should be clean in the dishwasher," Claire said, before turning back to Sam and picked up again right where she left off. Her sisters seemed just as invested in the conversation as she was, even though it was clear by now that Claire held the most authority and was the chosen speaker of the group.

Dean also got the impression that Rose was the under-spoken, modest sister, Marina was most like Dean, with her sharp tongue and her 'dare me' attitude, and, of course, they all knew what type of girl that Amber was. But he wondered about Tana.

He wondered if anyone really knew who she was, since she hadn't talked to anyone for such a long time. Had anyone ever even taken the time to listen to her when she did speak? Was that why she'd just stopped talking altogether?

If so, Dean knew what she felt like sometimes. To be heard, but not really be listened to; to be underestimated.

That was why, when he entered the kitchen and saw Tana sitting outside on the steps of the backyard patio, he took a deep breath and stepped outside. It wasn't raining any longer, but the patio was still wet. Even so, Dean sat down beside Tana and looked up at the full moon overhead.

She was staring at it, even as Dean came up behind her. Dean was fairly certain that she'd heard him coming, the door was squeaky enough to give that away if his footfalls hadn't, but she didn't even look his way when he sat down.

He was okay with that. They could sit in silence for a while as the water seeped through Dean's socks.

After a while, Tana finally did turn and acknowledge Dean's presence. She looked him in the eyes, her expression unreadable, and Dean smiled back.

"I'm Dean," He held out a hand and was surprised, though he knew he shouldn't have been, when she took it and shook it once with an impressive grip, "You must be Tana."

She didn't nod or smile, she just turned silently back to staring up at the moon.

Dean nodded slowly and looked up again, "It's nice out here. Do you do this often?" He could've slapped himself in the forehead.

She doesn't speak, he reminded himself, but when he looked over she was smiling.

"Yeah? I don't often get chances like this; to just sit, relax and look at the stars. Most of the places I travel to I don't get to see the stars. The city lights are too bright."

They sat in silence for a minute, before Dean began again.

"So, I know that you don't talk much," understatement of the year, "but I was just...thinking, I guess, about how hard growing up must've been for you. You probably don't want to hear this, you don't even know me, but, sometimes in my life, I know exactly how you feel. I was never the favourite in my family. I don't mean to imply that you weren't, but-" Dean shook his head, "I'll just quit while I'm ahead. Forget about it. Sorry."

The clouds shaded the moon and the sky was grey, Dean noticed upon looking up again. It was eerie, but peaceful. He almost wished he owned a camera.

"What's so great about powers anyway?" Dean mumbled, directing his question at the eerie moon, "I've never had any and I get along fine. I have a gun. Works just fine for me, keeps me safe, I guess."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tana look over at him again, so he turned slowly and brought his hand to his belt.

"Want to see it?" He asked, for lack of anything better to say to keep her attention. He knew that he probably shouldn't be letting a child of seventeen be touching a weapon like his, but her eyes betrayed a curiosity that he couldn't help smiling at. She was a weird kid; he could relate.

He pulled the gun from his belt strap again, checked to make sure that the safety was still on and handed it over into her waiting hands.

Dean watched her carefully as she turned it over and over in her hands and examined it as if it were a patient on the operating table. She didn't lose any curiosity as she tilted her head this way and that, assessing every angle; she looked interested, a little bit frightened and power hungry all at the same time.

"I do feel powerful holding that thing," Dean smiled, still watching her look at the gun, "It's like having an actual power, I guess, because you can whip it out and choose to use it when you need it. It kind of makes me feel safe, like I've got some kind of higher ground, even when I'm scared shitless."

She turned towards him again and looked him straight in the eye. Something about the look there said that she'd be scolding him if she could talk.

"Sorry," Dean held up his hand in defeat, "I shouldn't swear. I'm used to it. I'll try to remember not to use those words around young ears...so, you like it? Shiny, huh?"

She smiled and held it out for him to take, which he did, but he laid it on his lap instead of tucking it back in his belt. This time, instead of turning away again, she kept staring at him the way her sisters had when he'd been sitting in their living room. He didn't find her staring so awkward though. Tana's staring felt more akin to having a conversation, weirdly enough.

"My dad taught me how to use one. He told me that if I was scared, even if it was nothing, if I held one of these I'd feel better. And it worked. Still does. Everyone's got a security blanket, I guess. I think my brother's is his laptop. He likes to know everything or he freaks out. It's kind of annoying."

Tana laughed. He was surprised that she made sound when she laughed. It was a girly sound, but it made him smile all the same and he was about to continue making jokes, actually enjoying his time spent with someone who was listening to him and finding him funny for once, when he heard Sam call his name from inside.

Dean turned to look over his shoulder. Through the screen door he could see movement in the living room, although he couldn't tell you who was leaving. His best bet, however, was that they were. He surprised himself again by actually being disappointed that he had to go.

He turned back to Tana, who'd gone back to staring at the moon.

"Listen, I probably have to go, but if you ever want to...I don't know, if you ever need help, I'll give you this," Dean dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out the napkin he'd taken from the restaurant. He'd planned to use it to get Claire's number, but now he wasn't interested, especially since he knew she was interested in his brother.

Using the pen in his other pocket, he jotted down his cell phone number and then put the napkin on the patio next to Tana.

Then he stood up, and she still hadn't looked at him.

"Tana?"

She looked up at him and they connected eyes, green to green, for a moment. Then Dean smiled widely and she followed suit.

"Bye." He said softly, turned and walked inside, leaving Tana to the moon.