New Beginnings

Dark Dynasty

"We leave first thing in the AM", Claire heard what she assumed to be Dean's footsteps coming towards her and she scrambled to avoid being seen. She hadn't exactly intended to eavesdrop on the conversation, at least not at first. But something about their tones caught her attention, there was an unrecognizable tension between the pair that she couldn't help but be curious about. Although Castiel had assured her otherwise, the boys seemed to get along strangely well from what she noticed. Sure, there were the typical siblings getting on each other's nerves and smart remarks, but that was all normal. The pair seemed to otherwise get along great, Claire had yet to witness a single argument between them. But what she heard wasn't an argument, they were just unexplainably tense and now she was curious as to why. Could she ask Castiel? Would he know what had happened? She almost disgusted herself with her interest in knowing the latest Winchester drama, it just felt so stereotypical. As if she were in high school, gossiping about the cheerleaders or the football team. She almost wished that was the case, even school sounded more interesting than sitting here.

When they had first arrived back at the bunker, the Winchesters had given her the full tour, except for a few areas that Dean decided she wasn't allowed in. She still intended to see those areas should the opportunity present itself. There was an outrageous amount of bedrooms, to the point she was convinced this place was a hotel in its past life. She supposed it kind of was, just one for hunters instead of your average person. And every single one looked exactly like the last, including the one that was apparently her's now. She had already decided to do some redecorating so it would feel less like a prison. But that's exactly how it was beginning to feel, she had wandered up these halls more times than she could count. She had seen the same few rooms, which weren't off limits, more times than that. Sam spent most of his time around the library, which Claire found unsurprising, although it rarely even involved the contents. She had this strange image of the younger Winchester being a textbook definition nerd and just living in the library surrounded by a pile of books. Instead, he hardly touched the books, except during the tour when he gave Claire a long list of recommendations. She nodded along politely and tried her best to listen, but she much preferred the idea of doing rather than reading about it. Over the last few days, however, Claire had noticed Sam seemed to favor sitting in the library, whether he was reading or just looking at something on his laptop. Whereas the elder Winchester had opted to practically live in the kitchen.

"Claire?"

The teen paused, snapping from her thoughts as she noticed Dean standing nearby. Judging by the look on his face, she assumed her eavesdropping hadn't gone unnoticed. Not that she was necessarily surprised as she considered the factors working against her. After another moment of consideration, Claire decided to just own the fact, "What do you think it is we're hunting?". She couldn't help a faint smile, relieved at the idea of getting out of the bunker for a few days.

"We're not hunting anything", Dean emphasized, gesturing between himself and Claire, "Sam and I are heading out in the morning to-"

"Yes, we are.", Claire interrupted him, narrowing her eyes in a glare, "Ever since you brought me here, I have done nothing but sit. I can only walk up and down the same hall so many times, or stare at the same few rooms so much. I'm not even allowed in half of the rooms, and all the while you refuse to let me go anywhere or do anything because 'it's not safe'. I thought the whole point of coming here was that it was safer-". Once Claire started, she realized she couldn't stop, it all came spilling out at once.

"Whoa, okay. Slow down a minute", Dean put his hands up in front of him as he sighed, not even sure where to begin. He almost wished Cas was here so he could deal with this instead, he was the one who insisted she was his responsibility. "Okay, first off, I promise you're not missing out on anything in those rooms. If it's that important to you, I can show you around when I get back or have Cas give you a tour. Most of it is just storage, full of files that are older than you and me combined. You don't seem to have much interest in the library's contents so I doubted you'd be interested in ones even older. Another room is nothing but old wiring and controls that I don't even understand, so if I'm not messing with it, that should tell you something. As for everything else, it's just more hunter-related things that I know wouldn't interest you or that we still need to work on before I'm going to set you loose. Secondly, I never said you couldn't leave or do anything, I just don't want you going by yourself because that defeats the whole 'safer' idea you already mentioned. So once more, if you're that set on it, I'm sure Cas will take you, knowing him you'll probably get a history lesson or two while he's at it".