A/N: hey guys! i'm so sorry to be late with this one! i had a weird week and a busy weekend and some serious writer's block with this particular chapter

thank you so much for reviewing and reading and favoriting and just being all around lovely!

Murphy's Law

Anna is fifteen

Anna shivered in the cool autumn air, leading Kate toward the entrance of the bunker. Leaves crunched sullenly beneath their sneakers as the girls made their way.

Kate reached down idly to pluck a torn leaf out of her Converse while waiting for Anna to open the super heavy bunker door. The familiar squeal of the door was followed immediately by echoing voices, one of which was distinctly feminine and weighted with anger.

Anna grabbed Kate's wrist and pulled her friend swiftly inside the bunker, curiosity putting a zip in her step. They both hurried inside with Anna closing the door behind them. Simultaneously, both girls leaned forward against the railing at the top of the stairs, peeking over at the group of people down below.

"Who's that?" Kate whispered, though there was no need. The argument was clearly holding everyone's attention since they hadn't noticed the bunker door opening or closing– odd for a group of hunters.

"I don't know," Anna admitted, voice soft but not a full whisper. "I can't see his face."

"No, I meant the kid," Kate amended, pointing to a girl with a brown ponytail who was certainly short enough to be their age or younger. "You know her?"

"Probably."

"I didn't ask to come here!" the girl shouted in the war room. "I didn't ask to quit hunting! I didn't ask to start hunting! I didn't ask for any of it. So quit punishing me for your choices!" With that, the girl turned on her heel and stormed down the hallway.

"Is that our cue?" Kate whispered, looking sideways at Anna but still leaning on the railing.

"I think it is," Anna said awkwardly. She led the way down the staircase, where they only got halfway down before they were noticed.

"Anna, hey," Sam greeted, clearly surprised to see them. "Kate," he acknowledged. "Is it- Is it after three?"

"Almost four," Anna told him and did finger guns before looking anxiously toward their guest who had his face in one hand. "It's fine. Kate gave me a ride."

"Sorry, Runt. We had a- uh- situation," Dean explained, looking pointedly at the dark-haired man across the table from them. "You remember Murphy, don't you?" he nudged Anna.

Anna's eyes widened as soon as she heard the name. "Oh my god, yeah. I thought you guys were done, what happened?" she asked, then realized that it was maybe none of her business. "Uh, sorry," she said as Murphy raised his head, looking weary and a little beat up. "I mean, nice to see you. How- how… are you?" she trailed off when she felt both her brothers looking at her. She was definitely making a fool of herself.

Murphy looked her up and down, though, and smiled kindly. "You got taller," he observed.

Anna smiled awkwardly, fidgeting with her backpack straps. "Yeah, I guess," she allowed. "I mean, it's been, what? Two years?"

"Something like that," Dean agreed. "Kat and Murphy are staying with us for a few days," he explained then.

"We lost the house," Murphy added, then closed his eyes in what looked like grief. "Katrina ain't takin' it too well."

"Yeah," Anna murmured, remembering the girl who'd stormed out of the room earlier. She had renewed empathy for the outburst now.

"Well, we have more pressing problems," Sam pointed out. "Like figuring out what the hell has it out for you."

"Yeah, and takin' the son of a bitch out," Dean said, leaning one hip against the map table. "Anna, why don't you and Kate go see if Katrina's okay."

Anna knew a request to leave the room when she heard one. She shrugged and headed for the hallway without argument.

"Katrina," Kate spoke from behind her as they wandered toward the bedrooms. "Who's that?"

"They were hunters," Anna supplied, then sighed as she realized there was no way of telling which room Kat would be in. "Met 'em when I was really little, then again when I was thirteen. Kat's the same age as us. We got along okay."

"Oh," Kate said. "Well, that's cool, I guess. I didn't know there were more kids doing this kind of work."

Anna bobbed her eyebrows even as a puddle of anger formed in the bottom of her stomach. "It's not really just work, Katie. It's kind of a way of life."

"Did you just quote a movie?"

"Not intentionally," Anna defended. She let her backpack drop by the doorway to her own bedroom and spoke again as she waited for Kate to leave her bag as well. "It's just, like, hunters tend to have long rap sheets and bad people skills. Plus, you know, it's not like there's a good recruitment tactic to get new people interested in the life. You're kinda either born into it or you set out for revenge."

"Yeah," Kate said, though she wasn't looking at Anna, focused instead on her own shoes. She tugged the sleeves of her cardigan over her hands. "I guess it just doesn't make much sense to me," she admitted. "I mean, you get hurt doing that stuff. I don't think I could let my kids do something so dangerous."

"People let their kids become firefighters and join the military."

"Not until they're adults."

Anna swallowed at the point that she somehow hadn't expected Kate to come back with. "Well, like I said," she argued with much less confidence than before, "It's a life. It's not just a job."

"Yeah," Kate mumbled, following Anna toward an open door further down the hall.

A peek inside told Anna that Katrina had indeed taken up at the desk in this room. "Hey," she greeted carefully. "Long time no see."

Kat's eyes flicked to Anna before rolling upward into a handful of tics. "Hey," she ground out.

Anna studied the girl for a moment. Her face had thinned out some, and the few freckles that had once been sparsely scattered under her eyes were faded to almost nothing now. "You look different."

Kat sighed like she was a little annoyed at Anna's very presence. "You too," she said tightly. "But your life looks pretty much the same."

"Yeah," Anna replied with an awkward smile and a half-abandoned chuckle. "Not really."

"Well, I would say sorry, but…"

Anna sighed this time. "Hey, uh, meet my friend Kate," she said, tugging said friend into the room by one sweater-covered hand. "She's awesome and super nice, so… Kate, this is Kat."

"That won't be confusing for anyone," Kat said sardonically, but reached out to shake Kate's hand. "You a hunter?"

"Um, no," Kate answered shyly. She went in for the handshake, but Anna could see clearly that she didn't make an effort to shake with confidence or firmness. Kate hadn't exactly had much reason to perfect a handshake yet.

But hunters had to ooze confidence, so Kat gripped hard and shook once, firmly. "Yeah, I shoulda guessed," Kat said, though she softened the blow with a polite smile.

Anna tilted her head just slightly. "Be nice, dude," she requested. "Kate's a sweetheart, okay?"

"My point," Kat said, but took a breath. She blinked hard a couple times, her head twitching some as well. "I'm not trying to be mean, okay? I'm not a hunter anymore either. Thanks to my asshole dad."

Anna's eyebrows went up, her mouth falling open. She'd known Kat and Murphy were out of the life. That had been a big deal for them a couple years ago. What surprised her was the way Kat was talking about her father.

Anna had always liked Murphy, had always thought he was soft-hearted and compassionate, especially as far as dads went. Reminded her more of Dean than John by a longshot. Except he had that roughness to him that John had always had.

Kat had always seemed to get along with her father. Hell, she'd seemed to adore him. To hear her call him an asshole was… new.

"What'd he do?" Anna asked.

"He made me quit," Kat told her sharply. "He didn't ask me what I wanted. He never asks me what I want."

Anna nodded thoughtfully at that, looking apologetically at Kate.

Kate, who was still standing awkwardly behind her, stared pointedly at her shoes and twisted the ends of her sweater sleeves in anxious fingers.

"Yeah, that sounds kinda familiar," Anna admitted. Though, in her life, she usually got the chance to speak her mind. It was just that her family always put protecting one another physically above protecting one another emotionally. So, yeah, her opinion was often heard but not highly valued.

"Yeah," Kat murmured and looked angrily at her hands on the desk. "So. You still hunt?"

"Uh, kinda," Anna said. "I mean, every once in a while. Mostly I train for self defense. I will be a hunter, though. Once I get the choice." She sighed and buried one hand in her hair for a second. "It's kind of an ongoing battle," she confessed. "I do get it, Kat. Better than most people probably."

"Sure."

Kate shifted uncomfortably by Anna. "Hey, uh, I know this isn't really my business. If you want me to shut up, just say the word. I'll shut up."

She waited a second, giving Kat the opportunity to shut her down. When it became clear she would be allowed to continue, she did.

"I think it's a sign of how weird both your lives were as kids that either of you wants to be a hunter right now. Like, don't get me wrong, I see the value in it. You know, you save lives. You get to be the hero. I assume there's, like, an adrenaline rush in it. Plus, it's, like, cop show vibes, solving cases." Kate shuffled again, seeming to grow more confident when neither of the other girls told her to can it. She rolled her shoulders nervously but stood a little taller. "I guess I just mean, it's good. It's good to try normal stuff too. Or, I mean, I think so anyway." She bit her lip and sighed in a way that seemed to release some nervous energy. "Sorry."

Anna nudged Kate gently with her elbow and smiled kindly at her in support. "I get it," she said quietly.

Kat, however, was quiet. Her tics were still elevated, but she seemed otherwise calm.

"Anyway, you okay?" Anna asked after another second of awkward silence. "I mean, I heard you guys lost your house. That's awful."

Kat snorted at that understatement.

"Sorry," Anna said self-consciously. "I don't really know what you're supposed to say."

Kat rolled her eyes, but it was hard to tell whether it was a tic or an intentional act. "It's not… the house burning down is the latest in a long line of shitty happenings."

Anna raised her eyebrows. "That why you're, like, super pissed at your dad?" she asked, leaning a little more comfortably into the doorframe.

Kat nodded very deliberately. "Dude, look at you," she said then. "You have friends." She gestured jerkily toward Kate, who straightened some at being included again. "You have a wicked cool bunker. You have a connection to the life you were raised in. Your brothers are, like, famous."

Anna snorted at that. "Don't let them hear you say that."

"No, but I mean it," Kat said emphatically, and Anna was surprised to see the desperation in her blue eyes. Desperation to be heard or seen, maybe. Or maybe desperation to have what Anna had.

"It's not roses, dude," Anna replied with a frown and a disbelieving shake of the head. She stood away from the doorframe and walked further into the room so she could drop onto the edge of the bed. "I mean, you have no clue the shit we've been through."

"Yeah," Kat allowed more softly. But she looked pointedly away from Anna and at Kate instead. Kate let out a heavy breath and said, "Uh, Anna, I think I'm gonna hang out in your room. Let you guys… catch up, I guess?"

Anna said, "Yeah. Sorry, dude. This isn't exactly the movie night you were promised."

Kate laughed breathily. "Yeah, it's cool," she promised. She was quick, then, to get away from this conversation.

"I'm sorry to ruin your night," Kat said. But it didn't sound bitter or sarcastic. It sounded pretty sincere, actually.

Anna frowned sympathetically. "Dude, I think you're having a way worse time than me at the moment. So, like, don't worry about it."

Kat sighed in what sounded like frustration. Her tics had eased somewhat when Kate left the room. "You don't even know," she said softly, voice quivering.

Anna straightened her spine. "What's wrong?" she asked, hoping like hell it would be easy to fix. But it wouldn't be. She knew it wouldn't.

Kat shook her head and pressed her palms to her face. "Fucking tics, oh my god," she snapped, curling her hands into fists against her eyes.

"Hey, it's fine," Anna told her gently. She sounded like Sam to her own ears, and it made her flinch for a second. "Sorry," she said. "That must suck."

"It does," Kat said simply. She took another deep breath and lowered her hands. Her eyes continued to tic, but she seemed marginally calmer. Her voice was still shaky, though, when she spoke again, "I miss my mom sometimes, you know."

Anna had been expecting just about anything but that. She found herself unable to speak for a minute. Something about the comment opened wounds that were a little too fresh for her to revisit. "Oh," she managed after spending a little too long in tense silence. "S-sorry." She was surprised at the vulnerability in her own voice.

Kat looked at her with teary eyes. "Sorry. I don't know why I even said that to you. I just… Sorry."

"No, don't-" Anna cleared her throat, willing the pit in her stomach to disappear. But it was never so easy. "Sorry, I just… Some stuff happened. Not as bad as yours, I bet. But… sorry."

Kat was giving her such a strange look. But she was gracious enough not to comment on Anna's fumbling words. "My dad and I, we don't talk about things like we did when we hunted together. It's like, I think he thought my problems were worthwhile when they were about hunting. Like hunting was real life. And now, it's like he thinks anything I'm going through can't possibly matter as much as that stuff did."

Anna's chest ached thinking about that. She often told herself that kind of thing. But being told by your father that your problems weren't important… that was worse. That was considerably more difficult. "What kind of problems?" she asked carefully. "I mean, if you want to talk about them."

Kat shook her head briefly. But then she said, "I don't have any friends. I've been going to public school since I was a little kid. But it never mattered that nobody liked me. Because my dad was my best friend. Now it's different. Now I go to school, and I'm alone. And I come home, and I'm alone."

Anna nodded, thinking about the utter loneliness and isolation. "You don't spend time together?"

"It's not-" Kat sighed harshly again and moved restlessly in her chair. "We do. We just- We don't talk. We don't talk about the things I want to talk about. I tried, before, but he just… He doesn't get it. He doesn't even try."

Anna opened her mouth to offer some kind of comfort. But Kat interrupted her before she could begin.

"I'm sorry. This isn't your problem, I know that."

Anna said, "Dude, really, it's fine. I get it, you know. I mean, not all the way. I just… I spend a lot of time alone here. You know, I still miss the way life was when we lived out of the car."

Kat scoffed. "You have your own room now."

"Yeah, well," Anna smirked, trying for charming.

Kat's own smile was watery but real. "I want him to just acknowledge stuff," she said with another heavy sigh. "I really want him to just admit that maybe he didn't make the best choice for us."

Anna laughed, then hurried to apologize when she saw Kat's offended look. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "I just was trying to imagine a man admitting he's wrong. Doesn't happen often, right?"

"Not too often," Kat admitted with a chuckle. She sighed and ran a hand through over her smoothed back brown hair, squeezing her ponytail tightly in her fist for a second before she let it go again. "Would be so nice though, right?"

"Hell yeah," Anna said. Then she remembered, very suddenly, the way Dean had apologized to her after killing Abaddon. How he'd said he didn't like having to drag her out to the car. And she felt bad for talking ill of him however indirectly. "No, I- I guess that's not fair. I think we have to keep trying," she said, voice catching on every couple words as she struggled to figure out her wording. "I think they're learning too, you know?"

Kat looked at her with some measure of confusion. "Sure," she said impatiently. "Look, I'm kinda tired. I'm gonna sleep, I think. If you're…"

Anna nodded easily. "Right," she agreed and moved hurriedly for the door. "Just, you know. If you need something…"

"Thanks," Kat told her tersely and got up to close the door.

Anna stood in the hallway for a moment, feeling like she'd messed that up somehow. Projected or misunderstood or just failed.

()()()

Kate looked up from her phone as Anna walked into her bedroom.

"Dude," Anna breathed, sitting heavily beside Kate on the bed. She didn't say anything more, just letting her tone and facial expression say it all. Her exhaustion and empathy and the way they came together.

"Yeah," Kate mumbled and sighed. "I might go home."

Anna pouted but then let the expression melt into sympathy. "I get it," she said sweetly. "I'm sorry. And thanks. For the ride. And for what you said before. You have a cool brain."

Kate laughed at that one and reached her left arm over to give Anna a sideways hug. "You too, A."

Anna smiled and let her temple hit Kate's shoulder for just a second of respite. "Kay. See you later then."

"Tomorrow maybe," Kate suggested. "For this thing called school."

"Ew, yeah," Anna relented. "I forgot we had to do that again tomorrow."

"And the next day."

"Too many days," Anna groaned and fell onto her back.

Kate stood up and headed for the doorway. "Let me know if you want a ride in tomorrow," she said. "Cause, like, I kinda want an update before school anyway."

"I'm gonna want to vent anyway," Anna smirked. "This is why we work."

Kate returned the smile, though hers was a little reluctant. "No, we work because you're impossible."

"And you're perfect."

"Exactly," Kate said proudly and made a cute face, tongue poking out playfully.

Anna giggled, then felt like a loser. But Kate was still smiling at her, which made her feel a little better about being a dork. "Hang on, I'll walk you out. You know, so no one traps you in a weird man conversation."

Kate snorted at her ineloquence but said, "Please do."

As they passed through the war room again, Anna heard voices from the library. She really wanted to eavesdrop. But for Kate's sake, she didn't.

"I feel like it's all serious in here today," Kate sighed as she pulled the door open. A cool breeze ruffled her long brown hair, a few strands collecting around her face.

"It'll be fine," Anna promised with a falsely cocky smile. "Always is."

"Sure," Kate said with a sardonic, close-lipped smile. "Things being fine in the past doesn't actually mean they'll be fine in the future. But okay."

"You're being a bummer," Anna told her with a good natured nudge out the door.

Kate smiled playfully over her shoulder as she headed for her car. "Stay perfect," she sing-songed.

"You fiiiirst," Anna called, matching her energy. Then she closed the door and swiveled with a sigh.

It really did feel all serious in the bunker. Even more so now that Kate was gone.

As she walked down the steps, she caught Sam hovering in the doorway between the library and war room.

"Kate leave?" he asked her with an apology in his voice.

"Yeah," Anna told him. "It's fine. I'll see her tomorrow."

"I know," Sam said lightly. "Sorry no one was there to pick you up, Ladybug. I swear, we just lost track of time."

Anna laughed and hopped up to sit on the map table. If Sam hadn't been in apology mode, he totally would have told her to get down. "Dude, it's fine. I was annoyed at first, but I mean… pressing issues," she said with her hands held out to her sides. "I get it."

Sam let out a breath that made him sound weary. "Still," he said, then came over to sit in a chair at the table. He grabbed one of her sneakers and shook her foot gently. "Get off the table, please."

Anna rolled her eyes but half-smiled as she got down.

"So, you talk to Kat?" Sam asked, a totally smooth transition.

"Yep. She's pretty mad at Murphy. Surprising to no one, I guess."

Sam inhaled slowly. "Yeah," he sighed. "He's not the only one she's mad at. Guess she kinda blames Dean and me for Murphy makin' the call to get out of the life a couple years back. So, we're not on her favorite persons list either."

Anna raised her eyebrows. That made sense to her. But it was a little surprising that Kat hadn't brought it up earlier. "Well, she doesn't hate my guts," she offered. "So, I win? I guess?"

Sam snorted at her, shaking his head in exasperation. "Win what, exactly?"

Anna bit her tongue as she tried to think of something clever to retort with. All she came up with was, "I don't know. Coolest Winchester, I guess."

"Yeah, okay. Take that up with Dean," Sam challenged. "And while you're at it, maybe you can make him see Kat's side of something. Cause he and Murphy are now commiserating about teenagers."

Anna wrinkled her nose. Typical Dean, she caught herself thinking. But really, what annoyed her was that it wasn't typical Dean. It was hurtful that he might be talking about her like that, however indirectly. He was oversimplifying things that he knew weren't simple.

"Sorry," Sam said gently. "I probably shouldn't have told you that."

"It's okay," Anna said. "He probably shouldn't be a jerk if he doesn't want me to know."

"True," Sam allowed, though he looked a little hesitant. "But it's not really Dean I was apologizing for."

Anna bobbed her eyebrows once. Her mouth twisted off to the side thoughtfully as she tried to determine whether there was anything she could offer the situation. "So, you think they're gonna go back to hunting? Kinda sounded like it earlier."

Sam frowned at her. "They're not. Murphy already said they weren't. Why would you think that?"

Anna wrinkled her nose and frowned right back at her brother. "Well, it sounded like he was gonna help you guys kill whatever burned their house down. I mean, it only makes sense. Anyway, it never works, trying to stop hunting. It always comes back for you."

"That's not true," Sam said in a high, somewhat defensive voice.

"Uh… yeah it is," Anna argued with more sass than was admittedly necessary. "You tried. Dean and I tried. Then you and I tried again, kinda. And Claire. And Krissy and her dad and her friends. And-"

"Okay, well, just because we haven't seen it, doesn't mean it's not possible," Sam told her, holding out a hand to stop her endless list of examples. "Anyway, none of those people were committed to living a different life. Maybe when I was at Stanford. But that was different. That was… That was…"

The way Sam trailed off made Anna feel guilty for making mention of his time at Stanford in the first place. "Okay," she conceded, hands up in surrender. "Fine, but still. Krissy's dad wanted out, and he got killed for it. That's probably step two if Kat and Murphy don't deal with whatever destroyed their house."

"Well, that's why Dean and I are gonna take care of it," Sam told her impatiently. "Anna, you get choices. Even hunters get choices."

"You're still calling them hunters," Anna said. "You know why?" she challenged, standing angrily from her chair. "Because it's not a job. It's a life. That's what we always call it. 'The life.' You know I'm right. It's never gonna let them go. Because it's who they are."

"Anna, come on," Sam called half-heartedly after her.

Anna took a frustrated breath and released it too quickly for it to make her feel any calmer. "What?" she asked shortly. "I don't get why this is a conversation. They tried to leave. It didn't work. Anyway, Kat was happier when they were hunters. Isn't that the point? Trying to be happy? Or be who you are, at least?"

"The point is being safe," Sam corrected, standing up without matching Anna's angry posture. In fact, he was slouched enough that Anna felt he was being deliberate about not towering over her. "Maybe they will always have some part of their identity that's wrapped up in this li- this- hunting."

Anna couldn't help but smirk and look righteously at her brother. He'd almost said 'the life.'

Sam made a frustrated sound and put his hands out in front of him as if to pause. "Okay. Look. My point is, just because you have experience as a hunter, doesn't mean that's all you can do."

Anna shook her head and sighed again, feeling pretty depleted by this whole debate. "Whatever," she said finally. She didn't agree with her brother, but that didn't tend to matter much. Not on this subject anyway. "But just so you know?" She made a circular gesture with her palm facing Sam. "This is why Kat is pissed. And it's why I have a hard time not agreeing with her. You guys don't listen. Or you do, but then you don't care. Because we're teenagers," she said with a mocking edge to her voice. "So have fun telling Murphy his daughter will never forgive him. And it's got nothing to do with hunting."

Maybe that was her cue to turn on her heel and leave the room. But Anna wanted Sam to respond to that. She wanted him to tell her she was right or that he was wrong or that Dean and Murphy were. Or she wanted him to explain to her why she was wrong in a way that made some kind of sense– and in a way that didn't crush her in the process. Sam was good at that. He was good at all those things.

This time, though, he stood there staring at her in what seemed to be some combination of hurt, anger, and sympathy. "What do you mean, it's not about hunting?" he asked after a moment.

Anna sighed sharply. Of course, he was focused on the information she might be able to give him. Never mind the frustration she'd been trying to give voice to. "I mean it's about the way he treats her."

Sam looked like he was going to say something gentle, whether to defuse the situation or to get more information, Anna didn't know. But Murphy and Dean had apparently come in behind her from the library, because Murphy's voice startled her.

"Trina tell you that?" he asked in a low, rumbling voice.

Anna shifted uncomfortably closer to Sam, trying to think of a way to answer the man that didn't involve betraying Kat's trust. She swallowed and opened her mouth but couldn't come up with any kind of answer.

Dean was frowning at her, standing next to Murphy like they were on some kind of team.

Anna looked at him, pleading for some help.

"Seems like a simple question," Murphy pushed, voice a little louder this time. He stepped toward her, and the move didn't appear to be threatening. It was more like he was trying to fully insert himself into the conversation by coming further into the room.

But his tone reminded Anna a little too much of John. So, to her, the advance did feel like a sort of a threat. She found herself tensing nervously, and she looked at Dean one more time. She saw the switch in his face as he took her side.

"Ease up," he told Murphy and planted a hand firmly against his chest.

Murphy raised his hands immediately and eased back a step. "Sorry," he said, looking Dean in the eye. He looked, then, to Anna and said, "I'm sorry, honey. I don't mean to be an ass. I guess I'm a little strung out right about now."

"S'fine," Anna said quietly and fidgeted a little.

Sam's hand landing on her shoulder made her flinch, but then it felt comforting.

She took a deep breath and said, "I just feel like… like she should be the one to tell you this stuff, you know?" She swallowed and took another step back toward Sam, worried that her words wouldn't be taken too well. The fear in her gut was by no means new, but it wasn't something she'd felt about Murphy before.

"It's fine, Ladybug," Sam told her gently. Then he said harshly, "Dean. We were talking."

Dean looked surprised at the commanding tone but then made a face of surrender and led Murphy out of the room.

Sam took his hand from Anna's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Anna said defensively. "Sorry. I don't know why I got all weird about it. He didn't do anything wrong."

"Hey, it's fine," Sam told her gently. He nodded toward the table and took a seat, inviting Anna to follow his lead.

Anna sat adjacent to him and buried her hands in her hair. "I'm sorry," she said again, though this time it was for more than one reason.

Sam smiled carefully at her. "Anna. It's fine. I'm sorry too, okay? I didn't… I didn't know you felt like that. Like we didn't listen to you."

"It's not-" Anna took another breath, trying to get her thoughts together. "Kate said something," she told Sam abruptly. "Before she left. She said Kat and I don't have perspective, because we grew up in this, like, weird community of badassery and fear."

Sam snorted. "Kate said that?"

"Okay, I paraphrased," Anna admitted with a matching laugh. She sighed, trying to recover her equilibrium and seriousness. "Kat said…" She glanced over her shoulder, worried just for a second that Murphy might overhear a second time. "She said he doesn't care what she thinks anymore. Or how she feels. Like he thinks her problems aren't worth worrying about."

"She say why?" Sam asked.

Anna's gratitude that he was taking her seriously was overshadowed by the stress from the whole situation. She bit her lip for a second and said, "Yeah. He doesn't listen to her. She said they don't talk. They still hang out. They just don't talk."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "That why she still wants to hunt?"

"I don't know, Sam. I'm not a therapist," Anna snapped. Then she sighed again and said more calmly, "I think so, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of things to hate about it. But mostly I think she's just mad he made choices that affect her without consulting her. Kinda makes you feel like you have no control, you know?"

Sam looked pointedly away from her for a minute, and Anna realized belatedly that she'd hit a nerve somewhere along the line. "Yeah, I know," he said softly. "Let me talk to Murphy, Ladybug. In the meantime, do me a favor and get Dean and Kat out of the bunker."

Anna perked up at the thought of maybe doing something fun. "To do what, see a movie? Get coffee? Go bowling?"

"You and Dean aren't allowed to bowl together anymore," Sam said. "Not without me there."

"That's not fair," Anna whined.

"They banned you from that bowling alley, Anna. Does that not bother you a little bit?"

"No, it's a great story," Anna told him. "Anyway, it was Dean's idea to slide on all the lanes. I just wanted to keep my Converse on."

"Yeah, and you were both wrong," Sam told her sternly.

Anna crossed her arms petulantly. "What are we supposed to do then? Coffee?"

"It's too late in the day for coffee."

"You're no fun," Anna complained, uncrossing her arms just so she could make a dramatic gesture with both arms flung out in front of her. "There's nothing else to do on a school night."

"Get dinner. Go mini-golfing. See a movie."

"Ew, a weekday movie?"

"Anna," Sam said firmly. "Please."

"Fine," Anna groaned. "But I bet you Dean will take us bowling."

Sam planted his face in his hands and said wearily, "You scuffed up every single lane."

"It was fun." Anna hopped up from her chair and scurried off to find Dean. But just before leaving the room, she called, "Thank you, Sammy." She knew he'd know what for.

()()()

Being banned from the nicer bowling alley in Lebanon meant Anna had to convince Dean the twenty minute drive to Great Bend would be worthwhile. But it wasn't too hard. Turned out Dean was jonesing for a reason to get out of the bunker anyway.

"Why did you drag me into this?" Kat grumbled as they all walked across the parking lot.

Anna leaned a little closer to Kat so Dean wouldn't hear and said, "So Sam can talk sense into your dad."

"You sure your brother doesn't need sense talked into him too?"

Anna wrinkled her nose. "I don't know which one you're talking about," she admitted. "But either way, shut up."

"I did not drive twenty minutes to listen to you two bicker," Dean informed them.

"Not bickering," Anna said at the same time as Kat scoffed.

Dean held the door to the bowling alley open, letting both girls walk in before himself.

"Street shoes on the lanes again?" Anna asked. "Or we playin' clean?"

"You guys wore street shoes on the lanes?" Kat repeated in horror.

"Yeah, they kicked us out," Anna admitted.

"And we're not doin' it again," Dean said. "Cause the next closest bowling alley is 45 minutes from the bunker."

Anna made a face but said, "Yeah, that's a good point. We have to be able to bowl."

"That, and Sam would kill us both," Dean said and ruffled Anna's hair as they approached the counter.

The entire room was empty save for an old guy working the counter. He looked at them and sighed, clearly annoyed that his quiet shift wasn't quiet anymore. "Shoe sizes?" he asked. He picked the farthest lane from the counter for them to bowl at, likely trying to make them easy for him to ignore. "Jukebox don't work," he informed them grumpily. "Arcade closed at five. Keep to your lane and don't bother me."

Dean paid the man, and they all changed their shoes in silence, eager to get away from the grouchy old guy.

"You any good?" Anna asked conversationally as she punched their names into the system.

Kat snorted, "I'm a fucking champion."

Anna grinned at her, "Good. Put Dean in his place for me, will you?"

Dean gave a performative, booming laugh from behind her. "By my place, you must mean number one on the scoreboard," he said and chose the biggest bowling ball available.

"Dream on," Kat said with a competitive bite to her voice.

Anna and Dean looked at each other, "That would be a good bowling song."

Kat rolled her eyes at them, sitting in one of the red plastic chairs near their lane. "Jukebox is broken."

Anna wrinkled her nose. "I think he just didn't want us to use it. He's grumpy and old."

Dean snorted at her, but reached into his back pocket for his wallet. "Try it," he told her, handing her some cash.

Anna grinned and scampered off toward the jukebox on the far side of the room. The guy at the counter called her a whipper snapper as she passed him, whatever that meant. Anna was delighted to find that he had, in fact, been lying about the state of the jukebox.

She put in Dream On and looked back to see how Dean would react to hearing it blare over the speakers. But he and Kat were talking, and he didn't look at Anna.

Anna took the opportunity to spend all the cash Dean had given her, adding all their usual bowling songs as well as some she loved but Dean didn't. She wished she knew what kind of music Kat liked to listen to, so she could add a couple songs for her friend.

Once the money was gone, she hurried back over to Dean and Kat. Anna immediately felt the icy tension between the other two. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Nothing," Dean told her and chuckled. "God forbid I try to help her."

Anna frowned and looked at Kat, whose tics were flaring.

"It's the lights," Kat told her simply. "Don't worry about it. I knew it would happen."

Anna looked up at the many colorful lights that flashed and moved along the ceiling. "Shit, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know light could-"

"I said, it's fine," Kat told her. "Just tell your brother not to touch me."

Anna looked at Dean, hoping he would be mature about this. He looked calm, if a little annoyed. "Hands to myself," he recited. "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't know."

Kat looked pointedly away from him and down their lane instead. "Who's first?"

Anna looked at the board. "You."

Kat stood up and grabbed the first ball available. She didn't seem to be trying as she took her turn. Two gutter balls from the self-proclaimed bowling champion.

"What was that?" Dean goaded. He sat down next to Kat and raised his hands half-heartedly in front of himself as if to promise again that he wouldn't invade her space. "Hey," he said gently. "We're here to have fun. Ignore the other crap for now."

When Kat said nothing, Anna shifted uncomfortably and settled in a chair across from them both. "Still mad at him?" she asked sullenly, foot bouncing anxiously.

"Of course, I am," Kat snapped and stood up. "He just had to have an opinion on my life." She gestured angrily toward Dean. "He got in my dad's head."

"Okaaay," Anna breathed awkwardly. "I was actually talking about your dad."

Kat shook her head, tics intensifying as she took a few steps away from them.

Anna looked at her brother, wanting him to have an answer. He was the one who knew how to make things light again. He fixed shit all the time. But this time he'd had a hand in breaking things. Maybe that was why he just shook his head at Anna and didn't offer anything helpful.

"Forget it," Kat said. "I'm sorry. Let's just keep going. It's your turn, Anna."

"Right," Anna mumbled. "Cool." She picked a magenta ball and focused harder on not slipping than on getting a strike. She managed to stay on her feet but only hit one pin on the side. "Dammit," she grouched and picked a smaller ball. "This is why I wore my Converse. They're not slippery."

"That's the reason they make you wear bowling shoes," Kat told her, tone a little lighter than a moment ago. "Cause you're supposed to be able to slide into your fancy bowling pose. My dad's, like, crazy serious about that crap."

"No kidding?" Dean laughed. "Murphy, a league bowler."

"Not technically a league guy, but yeah," Kat said and snickered again. "He tests the weight of every single ball, too, before he picks one."

Anna laughed, grateful nobody had been paying attention when she sent her second ball into the gutter. "He should just do the Dean method– use the biggest one."

"Bigger surface area," Dean explained, lifting a ball for his own turn. He ran his hand over the outside of it. "More pins fall. That's just math."

"That is not math," Anna laughed.

"It totally is," Dean argued. His first ball sailed down the lane and knocked down half the pins. "See, that's what skill looks like."

"Sure," Kat snorted and looked away.

"I wouldn't want to bowl with your dad," Anna admitted. "I'm not very good at it, to be honest. I'd feel like a loser."

Kat shrugged, blinking rapidly against the light. She blocked her eyes with her hand, and her tics eased a little. "He's not that bad. He used to be worse. When I was younger, he literally picked my ball for me."

Anna raised her eyebrows, "That's excessive."

"Little bit," Kat agreed. She sighed, "That's kinda his thing, though. He thinks he knows what's best."

Anna held her breath. How had she missed the slide back into seriousness? "Yeah," she murmured.

"Maybe he does sometimes," Dean told Kat. "Your turn."

Kat didn't answer him, but she did get up and take her turn. This time she bowled a strike immediately.

"Luck," Dean muttered.

"No such thing," Kat said. "And if there were, I think I'd be sorta cursed, so…"

Anna cringed. She knew for a fact that Dean wouldn't be able to resist answering that one. He tended to hate any remarks he saw as teenage drama.

"You're not cursed," Dean said impatiently, just as Anna had known he would. "Shit goes wrong, Kat. That's life. Shit goes wrong. You deal with it, and you move on."

"Move on to what?" Kat asked, ignoring her second turn in favor of glaring at Dean. "What exactly do I have left? You think you know so much about my life. You think you know what's best for me. But you don't know anything about me."

Dean sighed, "Right. Anna, help a guy out."

Anna sighed too, "Kat, just, please…"

"What?" Kat asked, and the pressure in her voice was building. "Do you want to take his side now?"

"I don't want to take any side," Anna answered desperately.

"Neither do I," Kat snapped. "I want to kill the thing that burned down the house where my mom died. Do you get that?" She was looking at Dean again, anger burning hot in her irises. "I want to make my own choices. Because maybe if I'd been able to do that two years ago, my home would still exist."

Dean was quiet this time, though he looked more empathetic.

"I'm sorry," Anna said quietly.

"I know you are," Kat said impatiently, and there were tears in her eyes now. Angry tears. "But he isn't." She gestured at Dean then turned deliberately away from them both. "Just like my dad. You don't get it."

Anna sighed again and looked awkwardly between Dean and Kat for the millionth time that night.

"Kat, I do get it," Dean said softly. He put his hands in his pockets and looked away from Kat even as she turned back to engage with him again. "I lost my house once too. When I was a kid. And my mom died there too."

Kat's face turned to one of devastation. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Dean told her simply. A muscle twitched in his face. "Fact is, kid, there are things you and your old man aren't gonna see eye to eye on. And he gets final say."

"Trust me," Kat said, closing off again. "He's made that clear."

Green and blue light danced across her face, making her blink rapidly and turn her face down to block everything out.

Anna breathed carefully as Fortunate Son filled the space between them all.

()()()

Sam opened two beers and walked quietly into the library. He offered one to Murphy, who was scrolling through apartment listings at the table nearest the kitchen.

"Find anything?" Sam asked.

"Nothin' on the demon," Murphy said gruffly. "But lots of housing options."

Sam nodded. "We'll work on the demon tomorrow. Dean'll want in on that anyway."

"Where did he go?" Murphy asked, leaning back in his chair and closing the laptop.

"Took the girls bowling," Sam replied. "I kinda wanted to talk to you."

"That right?" Murphy took a long drink of beer and then said, "Have at."

Sam said, "You heard Anna earlier."

"Heard her say somethin' about the way I treat Kat," Murphy said stand-offishly.

"It's not as bad as that probably sounds to you," Sam assured him. "It's more about the way you guys communicate."

"Communicate," Murphy repeated with a dull chuckle. "Ain't much communicating to speak of, Sam."

"That's kinda the point," Sam told him and shook his head with a wry smile. "You know Kat isn't dealing well with this. But you know that because she's boiling over."

"Yep," Murphy confirmed. "Ain't like her."

"Exactly."

"What's your point here?"

Sam picked at the label on his beer and said, "Few months ago, Anna ran off on us."

Murphy leaned forward in his chair. "She did what now?"

"Dean dropped her off at school. When he went to pick her up, she wasn't there. Talked to the school, and we found out she hadn't gone to class all day." Sam flexed his hands to quell their shaking. The anxiety of that afternoon was all too fresh in his memory. "It wasn't hard to figure out where she'd gone, though."

"Where's that?" Murphy asked.

"Lawrence," Sam said simply. "Her mother was there."

"Her mother?"

"Yeah. She wasn't dead. We'd told her she was dead. That's what our dad always said. Truth is, she left Anna with us right after she was born."

Murphy nodded thoughtfully. "Found Anna alright?" he asked cautiously.

"We found her," Sam said. "But it turns out her mom had come back in the picture because she was possessed by a demon. A demon working for a more powerful demon. Maybe you heard of her. Abaddon."

"Don't really run in hunters' circles anymore," Murphy reminded him in a drawl. He took another swig of beer and said, "What'd they do to her?"

"Beat her up some," Sam confessed, feeling rage build in him at the memory of Anna's blood and bruises. "The worst of it was that they killed her mom. And they made her think it was her fault."

Murphy leaned back in his chair again, this time with an expression of heavy understanding in his face. He blew out a low breath. "Poor kid," he murmured and drank off his beer again.

"Yeah," Sam breathed in a dead laugh. "She was… not okay."

"Seems okay now, though," Murphy reminded him.

"Yeah, she does," Sam allowed. "But it took time."

"What's this got to do with me and Kat?"

Sam breathed in carefully, bracing himself. "If Dean and I had listened to Anna, she wouldn't have run off to Lawrence by herself in the first place."

Murphy's expression went from open curiosity and empathy to closed off as he came to understand.

Sam gave him a moment to process but continued before long, "I don't know exactly how much you and Kat talk. But she told Anna you don't. She seems to think you don't care about her problems now that she's not your hunting partner."

"It ain't like that," Murphy argued weakly.

"That's how Kat sees it," Sam repeated gently. He didn't want to let Murphy off the hook, but he didn't want to make him feel like everything was his fault either. It was hard, Sam knew, raising a teenager. It was hard because you were constantly failing them in ways that you couldn't see and that they didn't want to talk to you about.

Murphy lifted his beer to his lips again but lowered it without taking a sip. "Trina's mother died in that house," he said quietly. "That's what got me started hunting in the first place. It is takin' everything in me not to jump back in."

"I get it," Sam said truthfully. "They took your wife, and now they took the house you lived in with her." At Murphy's solemn nod, he added, "But revenge doesn't change that."

"No, it doesn't," Murphy agreed and turned to his beer again for a little bit of solace. "She's right, you know. I don't listen to her. Truth is, I care too much. Day comes, she stops shouting about wanting to hunt and starts crying instead, I don't know how I'll be able to tell her no."

Sam studied Murphy's face, saw the honesty and fear in his eyes. He was reminded of his father for a moment. But then he saw himself. And soon after, he saw Katrina. "It's easy," he said. "You picture her crying over your dead body instead."

Murphy looked up, startled and angry, chin wobbling for a second before he got a hold of his emotions.

"I've seen it, Murphy," Sam confessed. "I've seen children lose everything, because their parents made the wrong choice for them. My dad did that. And Dean and me? We've been to Hell and back. Literally. And Anna had to watch it happen."

Murphy closed his eyes, finished off his beer, and nodded slowly. "I know."

"But you still have to hear her out, man."

Murphy nodded again, this time wiping tiredly at his eyes. "Yeah."

"Another beer?" Sam offered in the resulting quiet.

Murphy's nod was a lot more eager this time. "Yeah."

()()()

"Lemme ask you something," Kat said in the bunker's kitchen a few days later.

"Sure," Anna agreed, sliding a pint of ice cream over toward her friend.

"How'd you make friends with a normal kid?"

Anna laughed. "Kate's not normal. I assume you're talking about Kate."

"Duh," Kat said and dipped her spoon into the ice cream. Cherry Garcia, gone a little soft from the warm air around them. "And you said she wasn't a hunter."

"I don't really think hunting is a requirement for a compatible friend," Anna replied frankly. "I mean, I used to think so. You know, I went to public school when I was really little, and those kids were so mean. But back then, I didn't really realize that my family system was what made them think I was weird."

"Your family system," Kat repeated with interest. "Was it just you and your brothers then?"

"No," Anna said quietly. "Dad was alive back then. He wasn't around a lot, though."

"How old were you when he-"

"Seven, I think."

"Sorry," Kat said softly, sliding the ice cream back in Anna's direction.

"No, it's fine. I mean, it's not- But it's fine."

"Yeah."

Anna sighed. "Anyway, they used to make fun of me because I didn't have a mom. I don't think they really meant to be mean, even. They just didn't get it. They would ask me where I came from if I didn't have a mom. And then one of them said I only had a brother, so I must have come from him, and everyone thought that was so funny. I don't know. Maybe there were nice kids too. The schools all kinda run together in my memory."

"Is that why you quit?"

"I didn't quit," Anna said. "My dad pulled me out. Don't really remember why."

Kat hummed at that, like she didn't know what to make of it.

Anna didn't either.

"I went to the same school my whole life," Kat mentioned off-handedly. "I still don't have friends."

"That sucks," Anna said. "People treat you like crap?"

"Not really," Kat replied. "They kinda just ignore me. Like I don't exist. I had this one friend when I was little. He moved away in, like, third grade."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it's fine. His mom and my mom were friends. That's how we met. After my mom died, his mom got some kind of job or- or maybe she just couldn't stand to be in that same town. Picking him up from sleepovers at the house where my mom got killed." Kat let out a shaky breath. "Anyway, he was the only real friend I ever had."

"Yeah," Anna murmured. She took a small bite of ice cream and passed the pint back to Kat. "I met Kate on a hunt, you know. It was kinda… dumb luck that she moved to Kansas afterward."

"No such thing as luck," Kat grumbled. But she smiled then. "But, then, I guess bad shit isn't the only shit that just kinda happens."

"Guess not," Anna agreed with an amicable smile.

"My dad showed me the house he wants to buy. And the hotel we're gonna stay at in the meantime."

"How's it look?"

Kat shrugged, digging half-heartedly at the ice cream with her spoon. "Looks like a house," she said. "Looks different from our house. But it looks fine."

"Yeah."

"Dad said he was sorry, you know."

"For everything?" Anna clarified.

"For not listening to me," Kat said. "So, thank you, I guess, for snitching."

Anna said, "I didn't tell your dad anything." And technically that was true.

Kat looked dubious but said nothing. She started to scoop some ice cream onto her spoon but abandoned the task again and looked at Anna. "I think maybe hunting wasn't the thing I missed."

"Yeah," Anna agreed. "There's not actually much about hunting to miss."

"Guess not."

"You know, my dad told me once that hunting is in my family's blood. Like, it's what we had to do."

"Seems like a weird thing to tell a little kid."

Anna shrugged. That hadn't been her point at all. "Didn't seem weird at the time. But, you know, I think he was right. I think some people can choose not to hunt. Even if my brothers and I can't. I think you just have to be willing to see your choices through, you know? Even when normal shit is harder than you thought it would be."

Kat nodded with a weak smile. "Dad said Sam and Dean are gonna head out and find that demon."

"He's not going with them?"

"Nope." Kat closed her eyes so tightly for a second that Anna thought at first it was a tic. She realized after a second that her friend was merely trying to hold back her tears. "He said he wanted to spend some time with me. Talk about stuff."

Anna's smile was slow to spread but beautifully warm. "That's awesome," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Kat said through a laugh. She took a deep breath, and tension oozed out of her as she exhaled. "It's a start."

La Fin