Note: hey beautiful people <3

thank you so much for the love last week. i didn't realize how fluff-deprived you guys are. i guess i'm just gonna have to post some more happy stuff next week.

this week, though, i've got a couple requests filled up:

@poppyy97 asked to see pre-teen Anna fighting with Dean. She's actually 13 in this chapter, but i hope that's okay :)

@Ash_the_nycotophile asked for a chapter based loosely on Freaks and Geeks (the episode with Krissy's return, back in season 8).

I hope this is what you both wanted! I'm sorry that it took me so long to get to your requests, babes 💜

Anna is thirteen

Dad's Rules

Rain dripped sullenly from the eaves to collect in little puddles on the ground, each drop chasing itself out to the edges of the water before settling in and waiting for the next drop to fall. The ground was wet and soft, footprints and tire tracks making deep scars in the muddy surface of the driveway.

In the house behind her, Anna could hear muffled voices rising in anger. A soft glow of light emanated from the window to spread along her back and invade the gentle darkness of evening.

"Do you think they're still talking about us?"

Anna looked sideways at Kat without turning her head. "Yeah," she said simply. She heard Kat sigh heavily, but there were no more words.

They both just looked out at the porch railing to watch water droplets puff up like they wanted to explode and then give in and go still against the wood of the rail.

Finally the screen door swung open with a loud creak and smacked woodenly against the side of the house as Dean stormed outside. "Anna, get your stuff. We're leaving," he commanded.

She'd known he was angry, but this was still a surprise. Anna's face went slack at the information. "But..." She looked down at Kat, who was still sitting on the floor of the porch. Her blue eyes were as full of surprise as Anna's green ones. But Anna looked at Dean again, and all traces of argument dissolved on her tongue. "Okay," she said quietly and ducked past him to go inside.

She felt his hand gently brush the top of her head and took it as the reminder it was that he wasn't angry with her. In fact, she knew he was angry for her.

Yellow light bounced off the walls in the hallway and kicked its way out of the light fixture in the kitchen where Anna stopped to look between Sam and Kat's father, Murphy. "Are we really leaving, Sam?" she asked timidly. There was such an air of anger around them despite the home-y atmosphere that no amount of knowing she was safe could have subtracted from her nervousness.

"Looks like it," Sam said, sounding frustrated. He looked at Murphy again. "Look, I agree with most of what Dean said. Don't get me wrong about that. But I wish we could stay to finish the job at least."

"Me and Kat can handle it," Murphy said loudly. "That's just what I've been trying to get through you and your brothers' thick skulls." He looked at Anna and then looked away again just as quickly. It seemed as if there was something more he wanted to say, something Anna's presence had prompted. But he looked at Sam, and something shuttered closed in his eyes. He stayed quiet.

"Come on," Sam said and nudged Anna down the hallway.

She went with him willingly but couldn't help glancing back at Murphy as they walked. He was hunched over like he felt tired, and his shoulders were tense with anger.

()()()

"I'm not saying I agree with him, Dean. I'm just saying maybe it's not the best idea leaving him to finish this thing by himself."

"So, what, you want to give Anna a shotgun and let her play bait?"

"Don't be a dick," Sam snapped, surprising all three of them. He threw the flannel shirt he was holding so it landed on top of his unzipped duffel bag.

Anna could relate to the way fabric slouched against fabric. She was tired of all the fighting too. She proceeded to quietly pack her clothes into her own duffel bag, throwing shy glances toward the boys every now and again as they argued.

"You know that's not what I meant," Sam continued. He was clearly struggling to keep a good handle on his temper, and Anna hoped he would manage it.

Sam was generally better at maintaining calm when things were starting to go to shit. But once he did lose his temper, all bets were off. He was even scarier than Dean when he got truly angry.

"I know that Sam, but look at Katrina. He's got her runnin' from ancient monsters while he reads off encantations. That's not kids' work."

"There's no such thing as kids' work," Sam murmured pettily. He turned around and sat down heavily on the edge of the mattress beside his bag.

Dean made a face at him for that one. "Mehmehmeh," he mocked, annoyed. His movements were a little less jerky as he returned to folding his jeans, but he was still clearly angry.

"Dean, you gotta realize, as much as you hate what's going on here, it does look awfully familiar."

Anna frowned at that and looked over at the boys, her fingers going still against the pajamas she was shoving into her bag. She caught the sharp look Dean gave Sam, and she also caught the way he looked from her to Sam as if trying to communicate something without saying it out loud.

"That's not what this is about," Dean said.

Sam grit his teeth, but he too looked at Anna for a second and then focused back on Dean. "Fine," he said.

Anna could have screamed in frustration. What the hell were they hiding? Unless... Of course. They were talking about Dad. She knew he'd raised them differently than they were raising her. She knew they'd been hunters already when they were her age. But because she did know all that, it didn't really make sense that they were refusing to talk about him in front of her now. Except, Anna still had a relatively untarnished image of her father, and the boys undoubtedly had a more rounded one, and maybe the fact that she didn't know what they were protecting her from just meant that they were doing a good job protecting her from it.

"But one of Dad's rules: you finish what you start."

"Yeah another one: look out for your sister."

"I'm standing right here," Anna finally said, fed up with being left out of the discussion.

"Anna," both boys said at once, both in the same tone that was attempting to be gentle but mostly came off as tired and frustrated.

"You've been talking about me all night, and you haven't said anything to my face," Anna complained. She was half-tempted to stomp her foot like a kid, but that wouldn't help matters any, and she knew it. "I just wanna know what's going on."

"Come here," Sam invited, gesturing to the bed across from where he was sitting.

"Sam," Dean started, but he stopped himself there. He just shook his head, let out an angry breath through his nose, and returned his attention to his duffel bag and the clothes he was packing into it.

Anna hurried around the end of the bed so she could sit on the edge facing Sam.

"I guess you figured some of it out," he said.

"I mean, obviously you didn't want me to go hunting with you. And Kat said her dad takes her on cases all the time."

"Yeah," Sam said. "The crux of it is, kids should not be hunting. But Murphy doesn't see it that way."

Anna bit her lip and tried to decide where she stood. On the one hand, she'd been itching to jump all the way in and be a hunter alongside her brothers since she really was a little kid. On the other hand, she knew that her brothers knew a lot of stuff that she didn't, and sometimes it was better just to trust them rather than trying to figure things out for herself.

But after a second, she realized something. "We're leaving because of that?" she asked indignantly. "That's stupid." In her peripheral vision, she saw Dean's head shoot up, and when she turned to look at him, there was a warning in his eyes. "Well, it is," she shouted anyway, her own temper starting to really rear its head. "There's people dying, and you can't get your head out of your ass."

Dean was clearly struggling to contain his anger as he rolled his eyes up to look at the ceiling for a second. His tongue poked at the inside of his cheek, and he took a slow breath before looking back down at her and turning so he was giving her his full attention.

Anna looked right back at him, chin pulled up and eyebrows down.

"First of all," Dean said, "quiet down. Yelling ain't helpin' anything. And you know better than swearing at me."

"Five minutes ago, you were yelling."

Dean opened his mouth and inhaled, but then he stopped and made a face that said fair enough.

Anna was satisfied that he was at least giving her that much. But her satisfaction was short lived.

"I don't need you tellin' me there's lives at risk here," Dean continued. "I know that better than anyone. You gotta remember, Sam and I have more of a bird's eye view of this life than you do. We've seen all sides of it."

"What does that even mean?" Anna challenged, kicking her heel back against the wooden bedframe.

"It means hunters can turn into victims like that," he snapped his fingers. "And besides that, you and Katrina shouldn't be thinking about people maybe dying because of a choice you make. That's too much to put on a kid's shoulders."

"Dean, you can't just pick and choose whether or not I feel guilty."

Her words seemed to catch him off guard, and Anna looked over at Sam to see him watching her with interest. But he recovered quickly, as did Dean.

"Well, I can avoid putting you in situations that make it more likely."

This time Anna was the one who didn't know what she could say in response to that.

"Fact remains," Sam said, "we should at least stick around and help Murphy finish the hunt."

"Maybe if you do, Kat won't have to go," Anna added, playing right into Dean's weak spot.

Dean stepped back from his duffel and threw his hands in the air. "Fine. You win. Between the two of you, I swear to God, I'm gonna get gray hairs." He sighed. "Sam, go talk to Murphy."

Anna stood up and nodded in contentment with herself. It wasn't easy getting Dean to see the other side during an argument, especially when he was as angry as he was tonight. "You're doing the right thing," she assured him and was surprised to see him fight a smile.

"You better quit being so damn smart," Dean told her and dragged her into a headlock.

()()()

"But I've never hunted a Wendigo before!" Katrina said, her face going pink with anger. "You showed me how to use the flare gun. I spent two hours studying lore!"

Murphy looked very uncomfortable as he put a hand on Kat's shoulder and glanced between the Winchesters. "I know, Pumpkin," he told her. "But there'll be other chances. It's always good to be learning. 'Sides, maybe these folks are right about this thing being a tad above your paygrade."

Anna watched Kat's face fall. The kid looked heartbroken. "Dad-!"

"Kat, I ain't changing my mind on this one. I know I told you before that you could come along, and I'm sorry about that, I really am. But you're not comin' along."

Katrina's chin was wobbling like she was about to cry or scream. Instead she turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen.

"That went well," Dean mumbled.

Anna just bit the inside of her lip and glanced up at her brother with a disapproving look. He was the reason Katrina was so upset, and he didn't seem to really care.

"Let's get on with it then," Murphy said, his tone a near perfect imitation of Katrina's a few seconds before. "Better get out there and bag this thing before it gets dark outside."

The boys both nodded and shrugged their jackets on.

"See if you can cheer her up a little bit," Sam suggested, then leaned down to give Anna a kiss on the forehead. "We should be back in just a few hours."

"Okay," Anna murmured and gave him a quick hug.

Dean stepped up next, but when he put his hand on her shoulder to pull her in for a hug, she swiped at his arm and knocked it away. She'd almost surprised herself with the move. But she felt righteous in her anger, and she glared up at him. "Don't," she said.

Dean's eyebrows were pulled in from a combination of confusion and hurt. He frowned down at her with some measure of concern and shoved his hands in the pockets of his canvas jacket. "You-" he cut himself off, and his face became the picture of calm. "Alright. You be good."

"I'm not a kid," Anna reminded him, no trace of mercy in her voice. She let out a short breath and watched them all go outside so she could lock the door behind them.

In the resulting quiet of the kitchen, Anna heard sniffles coming from the next room. Her anger faded into a light shade of concern. Poor Kat. Anna knew what it was like to think you were going to get an opportunity and then to have it yanked away from you. Especially when it came to hunting. She kept waiting for the day when the boys would let her actually help instead of just teaching her for self defense purposes. She was getting scared that they were going to make her wait until she was sixteen or something. That was three years away still. Three years.

Anna wasn't sure whether Kat was the type of person to want to be comforted when she was crying, or if she would rather be left alone. But she figured it was only right to at least offer her a hug or something. So she walked quietly around the corner into the living room. Katrina was lying down on the couch, playing on a DS Lite, tear tracks and an angry pout on her face.

"Hey," Anna said cautiously. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Kat said simply. "I'm mad, but I can't do anything about it. So I figured I'll just play Mario Kart."

Anna nodded, trying to piece together what Mario Kart must be. Of course, she'd heard of Mario before, but Mario Kart? She sat down on the floor in front of the couch and looked up at the screen Kat was playing on. It was a racing game. It looked like it could be fun, but she didn't understand why Katrina wasn't more upset. She had been just a minute ago.

"You don't wanna talk about what happened?" she asked.

"What's there to talk about? Your brother is a jerk who doesn't like how my dad is raising me."

Anna might have been angry with Dean at the moment, but she still felt a burn in her chest at the way Katrina was talking about him. "Dean's overprotective, but he's just doing what he thinks is right," she said. And as much as she hated to admit it, the words rang all too true. Now she felt like a jerk for the way she'd pushed her brother away.

She watched Katrina close her DS, set it aside, and sit up. "He has no right trying to protect me," Kat said. "I'm none of his business, and I'm more than capable of handling myself out there."

"Well... yeah, but..."

"He's probably just jealous of how good I can hunt even though I'm only thirteen. He didn't want a kid showing him up."

Anna pursed her lips and stood up. "You're outta your mind," she said simply. "Dean's the best hunter on the whole planet. So is Sam. You're not even close to their level, and you probably never will be."

Katrina's eyes widened in outrage. "I will too," she argued, then began rattling off her accomplishments. "I've already killed a lot of stuff. I know a bunch of lore, and I study it every day. I broke my arm once in the middle of a hunt, and I still got up and burned the spirit's bones. I'm a good hunter. Dean just has to give me a chance."

"Didn't it scare you when you broke your arm?" Anna asked. "Didn't it make you wanna quit?"

Kat made a face of bewilderment. "I mean, sure, at the moment. But now it's awesome. I have a wicked scar on my fore-arm. Look." She pulled up the pink sleeve to her shirt to reveal a wide, short white scar. "The bone poked out," she said, bobbing her eyebrows and smirking. "It was disgusting."

Anna wrinkled her nose and nodded. "It sounds disgusting," she said. "Did you ever... did you ever lose anyone?" she pressed softly. "Did you ever think you were gonna die? Or did you ever watch somebody else die?"

Kat looked somber all of a sudden. She stopped admiring her scar and pulled her sleeve back down to her wrist. She fidgeted, her hands in her lap now. "Once," she said, and suddenly started to blink and turn her head. But the movements seemed involuntary.

"Are you okay?" Anna asked gently.

"It's my tics," Kat said. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt."

"Oh." Anna had heard of tics before. She thought that only happened to people with anxiety. "Is it because I asked you about something painful?"

Katrina nodded. "But it's okay," she assured Anna and flicked her eyes up toward the ceiling. The muscles of her face twitched. "It's not a big deal."

"I've seen it too," Anna said, hoping maybe Kat would find that knowledge comforting. "A lot."

"A lot?" Kat repeated. "I only saw it a couple times, and I can't even... I can't think about it," she said, her voice beginning to break up as she spoke. She pressed her palm against her face as her neck twitched a few more times. "Can we change the subject," she requested.

"Sure," Anna said easily. "Can I watch you play your game?"

Kat nodded, and her tics began to ease as she settled back into her previous position on the couch and opened her DS.

Anna knelt on the floor beside her and gazed up at the screen. There were all kinds of different characters. One of them was a ginormous dinosaur type thing riding a tiny little car that his legs barely fit into. There was a brown gorilla and a cute little mushroom guy too. The music was upbeat, and Anna found she liked watching Kat play. She even sort of wanted to play it herself, though she never bothered actually asking.

()()()

It was after dark when the boys and Murphy got home. Anna was at the door the second she saw headlights in the window. Katrina had fallen asleep on the couch and was still dozing.

But Anna stepped outside and raced to the driver's side of the car. Sam was driving... which meant something was wrong with Dean.

She yanked the back door open the second she reached it. "What happened?" she asked, unable to hide her panic. But she quickly realized what she was looking at. Dean was okay. He was bleeding in a couple places on his face, but he was looking at her with clear eyes, and he didn't appear to be hurting. He had two hands pressed hard against Murphy's shoulder, though.

"Get the First Aid Kit, Anna," he instructed, serious but calm.

"Is there one in the trunk?" Anna asked quickly.

"We used all the bandages."

"Jesus," Anna murmured. She looked back down at Murphy, saw the blood soaking into the bandages and coating the skin of Dean's hands. She forgot where she was until Sam nudged her a little bit.

"Go," he told her softly. "Hurry."

Anna ran into the house. But as she got to the front door, she remembered Katrina sleeping on the couch. Anna already had the image of Murphy's bleeding shoulder and pale face burned behind her eyes. But Kat would be terrified if she saw her father like that. She'd had a hard time talking earlier about whatever it was she'd already seen because of this life. So Anna hurried quietly through the door and into the bathroom where she snatched the First Aid Kit. When she got to the door, she saw the boys were carrying Murphy between them, coming up the steps. She held the door for them and backed out of the way.

"Is he okay?" she couldn't help asking.

"He will be," Sam promised, tossing her a brief glance over his shoulder. "It's not a bad wound. He's just lost a lot of blood."

"Where's Katrina?" Dean asked.

Anna swallowed. "She fell asleep. I didn't want her to see."

Dean's eyes found hers, his eyebrows raised, and Anna couldn't put a name to the look on his face. It wasn't happy, but it was almost proud. It was like a strange breed of frustration or sadness, and yet it wasn't all bad. He nodded once, assuring her that Kat could sleep through this.

Anna followed the boys into Murphy's bedroom where they laid him down. She opened the kit up and opened two little plastic packs of bandages, handing one to Dean immediately. He changed out the blood-soaked one and pressed down hard against the wound in Murphy's shoulder. "Go wait in the living room, Rugrat. We got it from here."

"But I can help."

Dean raised one eyebrow at her. "You are helping. You're helping by waiting with Katrina."

How many times had she heard that type of a response? Anna made a face, shot one last worried glance at Murphy's pale face, and turned to leave. Sam gave her a reassuring pat on the back as she passed him.

In the living room, Anna sat down hard on the armchair adjacent to the couch where Katrina was sleeping. She looked over at the girl's face. She had chubby cheeks that made her look even younger than her thirteen years, and in her sleep, she truly looked like nothing but a kid. It made Anna see her, just for a second, the way that Murphy and the boys must have been seeing her all along.

Kat was a kid. And that was her dad in there fighting for his life.

Well... Dean had said the wound wasn't too bad, but it was still serious enough to have him bleeding and unconscious. By most people's standards, that was pretty bad.

Anna couldn't help but remember the hundred other times she'd sat down and waited for bandages to be secured over injuries. It was always the same. The feelings of helplessness, distant hope, and gut-wrenching worry.

It occurred to her that maybe getting her guts ripped out wasn't the only thing Dean and Sam wanted to protect her from. Maybe it wasn't the only reason they didn't want Kat going out to hunt that wendigo tonight. Maybe part of the reason was this twisted feeling that was always there in Anna's gut– the feeling like something was going wrong or that it was going to go wrong very soon. Maybe it was the way that feeling could make it hard to breathe sometimes or make her wish desperately to be living any other life but this one.

Anna turned her gaze down to the carpet beneath her feet.

Her brown converse were ratty and worn, the laces fraying at the ends, and they looked dirty compared with the pretty purple of the carpet. She'd been wearing these same shoes the night Bobby was shot. She'd been wearing them the night Sam came back from hell, and she was barely twelve that day. This carpet... she wondered how long the carpet had been here. Kat had lived in this house her whole life. Had this carpet spent thirteen years on the floor in this room? Anna's shoes had been all over the United States. They'd stepped in dirt, blood, ectoplasm, and a whole lot of salt. But this carpet had seen the same ceiling and touched the same shoe treads every day for over a decade.

She looked over to the couch where Katrina was.

Kat lived two versions of the same life. She had a beautiful house to come home to every night. But she was constantly leaving it to load shotguns and point them at ghosts. Well, tonight, Sam and Dean had carried her father in and tracked blood on the hallway floor.

Tonight, the pretty purple carpet had met the bottoms of Anna Winchester's shoes.

()()()

Anna jerked awake, a square of light from the window covering the top half of her face. She squinted and lifted one hand to rub her eyes and cheeks. Her whole face felt stiff with exhaustion. As she sat up straight, she noticed about a hundred aches in different places on her body. She stood up and stretched, hearing her joints crack and pop.

A glance at the couch told her Katrina was no longer asleep. She ventured quietly toward the kitchen, hoping one of her brothers would be there. As her converse squeaked against the tile floor, Anna was surprised to see Murphy sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him. He looked a bit pale still, there were bags under his eyes, and he was keeping his left arm close to his chest protectively.

"Good morning," Anna said politely. She looked up and saw Sam pouring himself a cup of coffee at the counter. "You look way better," she told Murphy.

Murphy laughed in such a joyful way that Anna felt his joy niggle at her own chest. "Anything's better than passed out from blood loss, wouldn't you say, Honey?"

Anna smiled shyly. "I guess you're right." She went to stand behind Sam's chair as he sat down. "Can I have coffee?" she asked him hopefully, setting her hands on his shoulders and leaning down next to his face. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, hoping he would remember that she was the sweetest girl on the planet and concede.

"One cup," Sam said, looking up at her seriously.

"Okay," Anna agreed happily. She bounced over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. She took a sip of it without adding any cream or sugar and cringed. She hated the taste of black coffee, but she was going to learn to like it. That was how Dean drank his coffee. Sam, too, sometimes. She was going to be the same way. It was totally awesome drinking your coffee black in the morning.

She sat down beside Sam at the table. "Where's Dean?" she asked.

Sam set his coffee down and cleared his throat. "He's talking to Katrina."

"She likes to be called Kat," Anna corrected gently. She hadn't said anything yesterday, because there'd been more pressing issues at hand. But she figured it was better that she say something rather than just let her brothers keep calling Katrina by her whole first name forever.

"That's good to know, Ladybug. Thanks."

Anna nodded and took a slow sip of coffee. She fought to control her expression of disgust, but her nose wrinkled anyhow.

"You want some cream and sugar, Sweetheart?" Murphy offered.

Anna shook her head and perked up. "I like it like this," she said eagerly.

Murphy had a tiny smile on his face as he nodded and kept drinking his own coffee, which appeared to have been made light and sweet. She caught him sharing a look with Sam but said nothing, just returned to drinking her coffee and pretending that she liked it even though it made her want to eat an entire bag of sugar just to get the taste off her tongue.

"So, Anna, I was wanting to talk to you," Murphy said suddenly.

"We both were," Sam added.

Anna looked between the two of them and shrugged. "Okay," she said. "Did I do something?"

"Why do you always ask that?" Sam said with a frown. He shook his head. "You didn't do anything. We just wanted to talk about last night."

"Oh, you mean that."

"Yeah," Murphy snorted. "I wanted to thank you, Sweetie, for not waking Trina up when we got home last night. She's been through a lot because of this life, and I would rather spare her havin' to see me like that. That's one thing she hasn't had to see yet."

"Really?" Anna said. She glanced over at Sam without even thinking about it. She'd seen her family hurt a hundred times over. She'd seen them passed out from alcohol and from blood loss. She'd seen her family dead and resurrected, hurt and scared. And somehow Kat had been spared that stuff despite being trained as a hunter for thirteen years. "Well... I guess you're welcome," she told Murphy. She looked at Sam again, noticed how tired he looked. She guessed he probably hadn't slept at all last night. "What did you want to say?" she asked.

Sam seemed to prepare himself, taking a quick breath and letting it go, then straightening in his chair. "Yeah, Dean and I were talking about it, and we thought you should hear it outright... since you seemed so surprised last night..."

Anna frowned. What the hell was he talking about? She'd been frustrated last night. She remembered the way she'd pushed Dean away before they'd left. She'd told him she wasn't a kid anymore, maybe that was what this was about? She scratched absentmindedly at the little pine tree design on her coffee cup and looked from Sam's face to the tabletop. The marble was speckled, each little dot a different shape, spreading its arms to give itself some breathing room.

"Anna, you're not a hunter."

The words caught her off guard. She felt her body buzz, her focus tunneling. "What?" she asked numbly, finally tilting her head back so she could look Sam in the eyes again.

"You're just a kid, Anna. You're not supposed to be getting involved in this life at all. The only reason we're teaching you the lore and the fighting skills you know is because we want you to be safe when there's no way to avoid you getting involved."

Anna didn't know what to say. All she could do was sit there and feel lost. If she wasn't a hunter, then who was she? She didn't go to school like all the other kids. She didn't have a house like Kat had. She didn't even have parents. So if she wasn't normal, and she wasn't a hunter... Where did that leave her?

"We don't want you in this life, Anna. We want you to be normal. As normal as you can be."

"But what about what I want?" Anna said. "What if I want to be a hunter?"

"Anna," Sam said sternly. "You can make that choice when you're older. Right now, hunting... it's all you've seen. If you don't see all your options before you decide, then that's not really your decision, is it?"

Anna didn't see how she was supposed to argue with that. But it didn't mean she agreed with him. Maybe it was true that she didn't know any other way. But so what? Wasn't it possible to know what you wanted without getting a real taste of another lifestyle?

"I've met a lot of normal people," she said instead. "They're boring."

Murphy laughed, and Anna looked over at him. She'd forgotten he was even there.

"Anna, there are a lot of different ways to live your life. Just because you're not a hunter doesn't mean your life has to be boring."

"But..." Anna looked over at Murphy, hoping maybe he would come to her rescue. She knew he couldn't be in agreement with Sam, because he let his daughter hunt, and she was the same age as Anna.

"Don't look at me," Murphy said and raised his one good hand in surrender. "This isn't my affair."

"Look, Ladybug-"

"You're not being fair," Anna snapped. "Whatever you're trying to protect me from, I don't care. I already know how bad hunting can get. I've already lost everything. I lost Dad. I lost Bobby. I've even lost you and Dean."

Sam had a pained look in his eyes as he sat there and stared at her. The air around them was thick with hurt and anger, and every breath Anna drew in seemed to intensify her emotions.

"I know hunting isn't fun. I don't wanna have a fun life. I wanna be like you. And Dean. And Dad. I wanna save people."

"Point stands," Dean suddenly said from behind her.

Anna turned her head so she could see his face. He looked stern but gentle, and there was exhaustion lining every inch of his face. She almost felt sorry for arguing with the boys at all.

"You can make that choice when you're older. But right now, you're a kid."

"I am not."

"Yeah, you are," Dean said firmly. "You're five years shy of eighteen, Rugrat. That's a kid."

"But-"

"I know. I heard what you said. But I don't want you in this life, Anna. It's not safe. It changes a person, and it traps you. Maybe you'll be able to be normal, and maybe you won't, but we're gonna at least try and make it happen. You don't have to be like us."

"But I want to be."

"No, you don't," Dean said darkly. "You really don't."

Anna grit her teeth and wrinkled her nose. "You don't get to choose that!"

"Fine," Dean allowed. But her crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her authoritatively. "Right now, that's what you want. But I do get to choose whether or not you hunt right now. And you're not going to."

"It's not fair," Anna said, sounding and feeling more broken-hearted now than angry. "I've done all the hard parts, and now I can't do the job."

"That's what you don't get," Dean said, losing the stern appearance. He crouched beside her chair and gave her a look that begged her to understand. "Every single case we take is the hard part. This whole life is the hard part."

"But..." Anna felt her eyes watering. She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help it. This was everything to her. It was her dream and her nightmare. "But what about Dad?" was all she could say.

Dean frowned. "What about Dad?"

He's dead, Anna didn't say. I lost him. I'm still losing him.

"Anna, what about him?"

But suddenly she was mute. What about Dad? What about Bobby? Her heart burned, and with every pulse, it left a puddle of acid on her ribs. She couldn't speak, and she could barely think. She was just feeling. So she cried.

It was clear by the look on both boys faces that they weren't expecting that reaction from her. Anna hadn't expected it either, if she was being honest.

"Oh, kiddo, don't-" Dean started. He stood up and pulled her out of her chair so he could wrap his arms around her. "It's okay. I'm sorry."

But Anna didn't have words anymore. They weren't changing their minds. They wanted her to be normal.

She sniffled and got a handle on her tears, then pulled back away from Dean and wiped her face with her hands.

Anna wouldn't change her mind either.

Maybe normal was attainable and maybe it wasn't. That didn't matter to her. What mattered was Dad and Dean and Sam. What mattered was family.

Dad's rules said Look out for your family. She couldn't protect her brothers unless she was out there with them when they needed her. Saving people and hunting things was the family business. Keyword: family. She was part of this family too, and no matter what the boys said, she was a hunter. There were some things they just didn't get to decide for her, youngest or not.

Dad's rules said Finish what you start. She'd started out her life a hunter, and she was gonna end it that way, whether that meant dying at thirteen or at ninety-three.

Maybe Dean said Kids shouldn't be hunters. Maybe Sam said Be as close to normal as you can.

But Dad came first, and Dad's rules were the ones Anna planned to follow.

La Fin