Note: Hey, loves. I'm super tired and having a tough morning, but I wrote a one shot, and I figured I should share it, give you something to tide you all over until I can get back to writing the real stuff. Sorry to everybody who requested something ages ago and still has yet to see a whisper of what they wanted. I still plan to get to everything, I'm just struggling at the moment. But I haven't forgotten you <3 

I love you guys, and I've missed you a ton. Let me know how you're doing?

In this one, Anna is seventeen.

Insomnia Buddies

Anna adjusted the pillow behind her back, squirming against it to find some measure of comfort. But she'd spent the whole night with it propped between herself and the headrest of her bed, and the poor thing was beyond flat. You could make a paper airplane out of my pillow, she thought to herself. She scrambled with her phone to open Snapchat and send Kate her ingenious bit of 4am humor. But the joke was only funny for a second and only because she hadn't slept in over twenty four hours. And then she'd already forgotten it.

With her pillow so flat, Anna saw no choice but to fold the stupid thing in half. So she scooted lower in bed so she could prop her neck against her doubled up pillow. But now it was too firm a surface, and it was making her neck hurt and damn how had she not realized how hot it was under these blankets?

There were footsteps in the hallway. Anna poked her head up, her pillow unfolding dramatically behind her to lie flat once more. The sound paused, and she sighed, realizing her sleep-deprived brain was probably just imagining things. When she went to flop back down, her pillow didn't meet her quite as far up as expected, and instead she thwacked her head off the board of her bed.

"Fuck," she grouched, curling up until she was sitting with both her hands clutching the back of her head. The movement knocked aside her phone, which started to fall off the bed. She reached for the earbuds attached to it, but they unhelpfully decided to come right out of the headphone jack, so she lunged for the phone itself and barely caught it. The lower half of her body had barely managed to stay on the bed.

And of course Sam walked in while she was half on the floor, clutching her traitorous earbuds and phone in one hand and her head in the other.

"Put me out of my misery," she said pitifully.

Sam made a strange face at her, but at least he didn't seem annoyed that she was still awake at 4am. His chuckle stung a little, though, even if he did walk around and haul her back up onto her bed by the waist. "You know, I always think you can't get any weirder..."

"Hey," Anna grumbled. She waited for Sam to give her that patronizing smile and then followed up with a witty, "I one-up myself every chance I get, and you should know that."

Predictably, Sam smiled at her remark. But when his smile faded, his face kept moving down until it was in full frown mode. "You looked exhausted, Ladybug. Did you sleep at all?"

Anna shrugged, but she might just as well have shaken her head.

"Did you take your meds?"

"C'mon, Sam," she said in a tired drawl, twisting her head purposefully away from him. She hated when they checked up on her. It made her feel every bit the baby sister, and that could be so embarrassing. "I'm not ten. I took my meds."

"Alright," Sam conceded easily. "Just asking."

His voice remained gentle and calm, and Anna wasn't sure whether he was letting the subject drop because it was too early for him to deal with her shit or because he could see that it was too early for Anna to deal with her own shit. Either way she was relieved that he didn't start up with the usual questions about whether they should be upping her sleep meds and blah blah blah.

"Why are you up at four anyway?" she asked, carefully folding her earbuds so that they wouldn't get tangled. She hated that. "Usually it's closer to six before you get up."

Sam gave his own little half shrug. "You know insomnia just might run in the family."

One of her infectious grins spread across her face, causing Sam to smirk a little before he'd even heard what she had to say. "Insomnia buddies," she cheered like it was something to celebrate. She offered him her fist, and Sam knocked his lightly against hers.

"Well as long as we're both up, you wanna go for a run?"

Anna wrinkled her nose. "That sounds gross."

"You gotta stop hanging out with Dean so much," Sam told her. "He's rubbing off on you."

"And there's something wrong with that?" she challenged. But without even pausing to look at Sam's soft smile, she dragged herself to the edge of her bed and stood up. "Lucky for you, cold air sounds really nice right now. Prepare to be schooled by a teenager." She leaned down to pick up a pair of leggings off the floor. She sniffed them and only cringed a little bit. Looking back up at Sam, she offered, "Running buddies?"

Sam tousled her dry, messy curls. "I offered," he reminded her. "I'll meet you outside."

Twenty minutes later, Anna walked atop a guardrail on the side of the road. "I think it's dumb to walk back when you just ran," she said, her breathing mostly even. "It would be way easier to run downhill, and then you burn more calories."

"We don't run to burn calories, Ladybug. We do it to be healthy."

Anna bit the inside of her lip at that reminder. She was trying to stop thinking like that, but it was hard. Especially when there were all those kids at school counting calories and skipping lunch and working out for long enough to make themselves pass out.

But she knew that was all bad. She knew it wasn't a sign that she should join in, but that she should take care of herself.

It just wasn't easy to erase a way of thinking about her own body and what it looked like, what it was worth. Which was why, even though it was a little embarrassing, she appreciated that her brothers noticed the little remarks and behaviors that she let slip out, and that they held her accountable. It was only one of many ways they looked out for her, but it was important. It made her feel a little more certain that she would never run too far down that path.

"And to get away from monsters," Anna added sheepishly. She stepped off the side of the guardrail onto the pavement, letting Sam usher her closer to the rail as a car drove by them.

"That too," he allowed.

She bounced on her feet a little bit, itching to move a little faster or pick a fight or something. She loved adrenaline. "We should spar."

"In the middle of the road?" Sam teased.

Anna rolled her eyes at him. "Stop, that's not what I meant."

"Maybe later, Ladybug. I, for one, would like a cup of coffee and breakfast first."

"Ooh, coffee. Yes please."

"You're such a junkie."

"So are you, man. The way you pull all-nighters even when there's nothing going on. I swear, you think you're still in college."

Sam's face opened in real surprise as he looked over and down at her. "Are you telling me I'm too old to stay up and research."

"Woah woah woah, I didn't say that," Anna said, turning so her back was to the road ahead of them and walking backwards away from Sam. She held her hands up in a feigned surrender.

"Well, now you better run," Sam told her, then suddenly lunged toward her.

She squealed so childishly that she would've been embarrassed if she hadn't been too busy running away.

The sun spread its arms welcomingly above them, and the cloudless morning sky remained such a soft shade of bluish white that there wasn't a chance anybody could have looked up at it and felt afraid. Anna had always liked the night sky best, and so had her brothers. But one of the few good things about her insomnia was that it had gifted her a new sort of understanding and appreciation of the early morning hours she used to ignore altogether, speaking over them with quiet snores.

Sam grabbed onto her and curled over her in a sort of attack bear hug that made Anna squeal a second time. She felt so truly young. The only real feeling that can be identified as youth, because she wasn't even aware of how young she felt. She was just there. Living. Being held, even for just a second, by somebody who loved her.

Anna struggled for a minute, but just like in all their playfights since she was a young, Sam had an easy, strong grip on her. It wasn't painful but it sure was secure. "I'll tell Dean you attacked me and he'll kick your ass," she used her old favorite line.

Sam laughed and let her go. As they continued down the road, he gave a friendly wave to a passing driver and said, "Dean's still in dreamland."

"I hope not," Anna said. "I want to get home and see the coffee pot already full."

La Fin