Note: Hey my loves <3 surprise surprise- I actually managed to post two weeks in a row 😉

Thank you all so much for being supportive and sweet. I'll reply to all your comments as soon as I can, but just know that I appreciate all of you 💜💜💜

This week's chapter was a request by a lovely anonymous reader. And I don't want to give things away, so I won't tell you any more than that.

Anna is fourteen.

You Shouldn't Hit Sammy Either

It had been almost two weeks since the boys had been home. So, when the bunker door finally announced their arrival with its usual squeal, Anna couldn't help her excitement.

She dropped her phone on the table and raced through the library and war room to meet the boys at the bottom of the stairs.

She watched Sam drop his duffel and caught the square of his shoulders. He was angry about something.

"Hey," she said, hoping to lighten the mood with her presence. She ignored the tension and wrapped her arms tightly around Sam's waist from behind.

Sam turned just enough to give her a one-armed hug back.

Dean muttered something under his breath, and Anna turned in his direction. His jaw was clenched, a sure sign that he was angry too. So, they'd been fighting.

"If you have something to say, Dean, then say it."

Yeah, hugging Sam hadn't resolved the situation. Anna puffed out her cheeks and looked awkwardly at the ground. Couldn't they have finished this before getting home?

"I didn't say anything," Dean said and raised his hands in surrender.

Okay, so they were at least going to pretend to keep the peace. That was good. She could work with that. Anna stepped over toward Dean and gave him a careful hug.

He smiled down at her and hugged her back. But then he muttered something again. Something about Sam that was not very nice.

"Really, Dean?" Sam snapped. "That's nice."

"What?" Dean asked, feigning innocence.

Anna sighed and stopped hugging him. She couldn't deal with this. "What happened?" she asked, taking no nonsense. She put her hands on her hips. "Are you guys seriously fighting like middle schoolers?"

"Anna, this has nothing to do with you, okay?" Sam said earnestly. "Just... ignore us."

"It has to do with me if you're gonna act like this all day," she argued. "Either talk it out or shut up."

"Oh, I'd love to shut up," Dean said and looked over at Sam with the purest annoyance on his face. "But Oprah over here wants to talk feelings."

"What is your problem?" Sam demanded. "You're allowed to be pissed off, Dean. You just don't get to take it out on everyone."

"See what I mean?" Dean said. He looked at Anna but threw a hand in Sam's direction.

Anna suddenly wished she hadn't put herself in the middle of this. When had she become the marriage counselor? She made an awkward face and looked at Sam, begging him with her eyes to stop the fight where it was.

Sam barely spared her a glance, though. "You know what your problem is, Dean? You still think I'm twelve years old."

"Come on, Sammy, don't start with that bullshit."

"That's exactly what I mean," Sam shouted. "You brush me off. You call me 'Sammy.' And you still think I can't handle myself out there."

"I never said that," Dean snapped. "But there's a chain of command out there, man. It's always been like that. You don't take the hits for me. It doesn't go both ways."

Anna was piecing things together slowly. And she didn't like what the puzzle was looking like. Had Sam gotten hurt trying to save their brother? Was he okay? He looked okay. There were some bruises and scratches on his face, but that was normal after a hunt.

She was about to ask if he was good, but she was cut off before she could open her mouth.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about, Dean! You think you have to protect me. Like- like I'm some kid. I'm your partner. We're equals. And no, I'm not gonna stand by and watch while some vampire rips your throat out!"

Dean's anger was calm, and Anna knew what that meant. That meant things were getting worse.

"I don't care how old you are, Sam. It has nothing to do with that. Ever. Protecting you? That's my job."

"No, it's not!" Sam argued. "Dad put that on you, but-"

"Don't bring Dad into this!" Dean shouted, stepping closer. "This has nothing to do with Dad."

"It has everything to do with him!" Sam stepped in too.

Both boys were breathing heavily, both enraged. But neither of them seemed to know what to say next. Which meant only one thing.

It was gonna get physical. Anna knew the formula. Sam would say one more thing, which would set Dean off, which would get Sam punched, which would get Dean punched, and so on.

She inched closer, trying to figure out how best to break things up.

"He's been dead for ten years, and you're still following his orders."

Shit.

Anna leapt between them, "Guys-!" She didn't get to finish her sentence, though, because Dean's fist hit her instead of Sam.

()()()

She couldn't have been out more than a minute or two. Anna blinked awake with a throbbing head and blood trickling from her nose.

"I can't believe you!" Sam shouted from over her.

As her eyes focused, Anna realized he was crouched over her, trying to see her eyes.

"Is she okay?" Dean was asking. "God, I didn't even see her."

Anna wrinkled her nose, which hurt. She made a grossed out face as blood slipped past her upper lip into her mouth. "Ugh," she groaned and started to sit up. "Ow."

"You okay, Ladybug?" Sam asked gently. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Anna looked down. "Seven." She frowned. How many fingers were on one hand? "No, that doesn't make sense. Five." Yeah. That was it. "I'm fine."

"That was really convincing," Sam said sarcastically. He squinted at her bloody nose and rubbed his thumb against her face to get the blood off. "You could get a towel or something," he said scathingly.

"Oh brother," Anna groaned. "Are you two still fighting?"

"You, don't worry about anything, Sweetheart," Dean said thoughtfully. "Just sit- Don't move. I'll be right back with a cloth."

"I'm fine," Anna argued. "I was disoriented, okay? Do the finger thing again. I'll get it right."

"Technically you did get it right," Sam said with an apologetic smile. "It just took you two tries."

Anna rubbed her cheek right beside her nose to try and get the soreness out. "He hits hard."

"Well, it wasn't meant for you," Sam assured her.

Anna grinned. "You're welcome."

Sam snorted at her and stood up. He reached a hand down and pulled her easily to her feet.

The change in altitude made her head hurt worse for a minute. But the pain faded back to a dull throb.

"You sure you're okay?" Sam asked her. "You don't feel dizzy or anything, do you? You went down pretty hard."

Anna pursed her lips and tilted her head. "I'm fine. I've been hit before."

"Not by Dean," Sam reminded her. "Dean's got a strong right hook."

He sure did. But Anna wasn't about to say so. "I barely feel it," she said.

"Anna, he knocked you out."

"He didn't mean to."

"Don't defend him," Sam warned her.

Dean ran in with a wet cloth, looking frantic. "Why are you standing?" he asked quickly. He hurried over to the table in the map room and pulled out a chair. "Help her sit," he told Sam. "Are you dizzy?" he asked Anna, trying to see into her eyes. "Sit down."

Anna rolled her eyes but sat down obediently. "I'm fine, Dean. I know you didn't mean to."

"I'm so sorry," Dean told her sincerely.

"I know. It's fine," Anna said.

Dean started to move the cloth toward her face, but Sam spoke up.

"Let me do it," he said.

Dean glared at Sam. "I got it, Sam. You act like I hit her on purpose."

"It doesn't matter, Dean. I don't trust you."

"I'm fine," Anna reminded them both irritably. "I can wash my own face. I'm not a toddler."

"Just take it easy, Rugrat," Dean instructed and wiped gently at her nose. "I'm sorry," he said again as he cleaned the blood away. "You know I wouldn't hurt you, right?"

"I know," Anna reassured him. "I'm really fine, Dean."

"I still can't believe you," Sam said, shaking his head in disapproval. "What's the matter with you?"

"I don't know!" Dean said defensively... and loudly.

Anna wrinkled her nose at the volume.

"I'm sorry," Dean told her again. "You okay? You need some Tylenol? Sammy, get her some Tylenol."

"Dude," Anna moaned. "You need to chill out, okay? It's not a big deal."

"I hit you," Dean said, his face painted with guilt once more. "Oh my god, I hit you. I hit my baby sister. Are you okay?" he asked her for the millionth time.

"Dean!"

"Sorry," he repeated. "Sorry. I just- Are you okay?"

"Oh my god," Anna grouched. "Shut up."

"Okay," Dean surrendered. "I get it. You're okay. Just-" He stood up and tossed the wash cloth on the table. "Alright. What do you want?" he asked. "Anything. Hit me back," he said. "Well, actually, you should probably have Sam hit me back so it's more of an equal blow."

"Hey!" Anna shouted and stood up. "I can hit you myself! I mean, I don't want to. I'm not gonna. But, like, I could if I wanted to."

"Then Sam can do it," Dean told her. "He'll hit me. He's pissed at me anyway."

"That's not gonna make it better," Anna said reasonably. "It's okay. You didn't mean to. It was an accident. Accidents happen."

"Not this kind of accident. I always said I would never ever hurt you." It was clear Dean was having a full blown crisis over this.

"You know, you- you shouldn't really hit Sammy either," Anna told him shyly.

Dean didn't say anything to that. But he did step over to her and gently push her back into her chair. "Sit down," he urged. "What do you need? You want a sandwich, or an iced coffee? You name it, Rugrat."

It was both incredibly sweet and unbearably annoying. Anna figured she might as well take full advantage. She shrugged one shoulder. "I'd take a beer."

"You're funny," Dean said shortly. "What do you really want?"

"Nothing," Anna told him. "I'm fine. I can get my own coffee."

"You want coffee?" Dean asked and ran with it. "Comin' right up!" He hurried to the kitchen and Anna rolled her eyes and sighed. This was going to be a long ass day.

Sam came back in with a cup of water and Tylenol. "Here, take these," he said. "Do you wanna lay down for a while?"

"No, Sam, I'm fine," Anna said grumpily. "I'm not on my deathbed, alright? You guys both need to chill." She swallowed the Tylenol, though, because her face did hurt pretty bad. "By the way, if I find out you punched Dean, I'm gonna be really mad at you."

"He deserves it," Sam said, "But no, I'm not going to. He feels pretty guilty anyway."

"Oh, geez, I hadn't noticed," Anna quipped and set her cup of water on the table.

"Do you need anything else?" Sam asked then suddenly perked up. "You should ice your face," he said. "I'll get you some ice. I'll be right back."

"Oh my god," Anna groaned as he ran out of the room. This was getting out of hand. There had to be some way she could convince them both that she was fine. She got out of her chair and headed for the library where she'd left her phone.

Maybe somebody else could talk some sense into them. Somebody who wouldn't be as insanely overprotective as her brothers were.

Jody was pretty reasonable. Usually she would have gone for Bobby, but... well, he wasn't around anymore. She couldn't think of anyone else.

The phone rang three times before Jody picked up.

"Sheriff Mills."

"Can you tell them I'm fine?" Anna requested.

"I'm sorry?"

"It's Anna. Can you tell them I'm fine?"

"Who's they?"

"My brothers. They're being dumb."

"I'm gonna need a little more to go on, Sweetie."

"I got punched," Anna said. "And now Sam and Dean are, like, running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to give me everything I could possibly want. Just tell them I'm fine, okay?"

Jody had a different agenda, though. "Who punched you?" she asked. "If you want to press charges, I can help with that. You're a minor, so they'd pay for it."

"Jody!" Anna said indignantly. "You're supposed to be reasonable."

"I am being reasonable. Anybody that would hit a young girl should be behind bars."

"Even if it was Dean?" Anna challenged.

"What?!" Jody hollered. A door slammed on the other end of the line. "Put that boy on the phone right now."

"He didn't do it on purpose! He was aiming for Sam, and I kinda stepped in the way." Anna buried her face in her hands. "Please be the reasonable one."

"Alright, alright. I'll tell them to give you some space."

"Thank you," Anna said. She went back into the war room just in time to see Dean and Sam bullying each other out of the doorway to get into the room first.

"I got your coffee," Dean told her and set it on the table.

"Here's that ice for your face," Sam added and held it out to her.

"Jody has something to say to you," Anna said and put the call on speakerphone. "Okay, Jody."

"Dean Winchester, I don't believe you."

"Jody!" Anna cried. "I told you he didn't mean to!"

"Sorry, Anna. I just had to get that out of my system," Jody told her. "You boys need to give your sister some space. Smothering her isn't gonna help, okay? Dean, she knows you're sorry. Nothing you do is gonna change what happened."

Both Sam and Dean looked slightly embarrassed.

"Thank you," Anna said with a massive sigh of relief. She hung up the phone and looked at the boys, waiting for them to admit they'd been overreacting.

"You're sure you're good?" Dean asked her after a minute.

Anna nodded exaggeratedly. "I don't need special treatment." She reached slowly toward Dean's hand. "I'll take the iced coffee, though."

La Fin