The Grand Plan

Trouble On The Rise

"You have a game night?", Claire stared down at the small stack of colorful boxes she had been handed, "Isn't that a little too 'white picket fence' for you guys?". When both Castiel and Dean kept insisting she swing by, she had been expecting a hunt or a monster-related disaster.

Dean raised an eyebrow with a faint smirk, "Really? You're using my own phrases against me now?"

Claire returned the favor with a small smirk of her own, watching as the hunter gathered another small stack of games. "I'm just saying", she replied with a playful expression, "It's a little too 'Full House' considering we're standing in a secret club house for hunters".

"Well, if you want to get technical, this place was for the Men of Letters", Dean argued as he followed the teen back into the library, "They were a little too sophisticated to be associated with lowly hunters". The elder Winchester made a face at that, earning a small laugh from the blonde.

Claire dropped her stack onto the nearest table before dropping herself into one of the chairs, "Still, the games, the snacks...it's all just so...normal".

"You say that like it's a bad thing", Dean gave a concerned look as he set his own pile down, some days the kid reminded him a bit too much of himself. On the flip side, she could be a total mystery to him and he was never quite sure what she was thinking. This was definitely one of the latter times.

"It is. Kind of, I mean", Claire attempted to explain, "It's just another reminder that this isn't our life and it never can be. Friday night games are for normal families who live in normal houses with normal neighbors, they get to be blissfully ignorant...we don't". The teen couldn't stop once she started, even if she knew she should.

"Whoa, slow down..", Dean put his hands up in mock surrender, "Where's all this coming from?"

"Nowhere.", Claire quickly defended, roughly pushing against the table as she moved to stand. Unfortunately, she moved a little too quickly and the back of the chair connected with the floor behind her, the blonde wincing as the sound echoed throughout the room.

"Everything okay in here?", Sam appearing in the main entrance only moments later, glancing between the two and the downed chair.

"Fine.", Claire replied with a small huff before putting the chair back into place.

The brothers exchanged a look, knowing all too well it was anything but fine. Dean wondered if Cas and him had handled the invitation wrong, they hadn't explicitly explained their reason for wanting her to come visit. Knowing Claire, she was probably expecting something more monster-based. Or more specifically, Kaia-based. Ever since that night, she was chasing after phantom leads, anything that might be connected. When Jody had caught word of their invitation, she had pushed for the idea even more so than they had. He knew the idea of Claire out there hunting rattled her nerves already, he wasn't exactly keen on the idea either. This more recent obsession to find whatever had gotten Kaia was only amplifying concerns and was becoming a little too familiar in Dean's book.

"Listen, I appreciate the invitation and being included in your guys' 'family bonding time', but I-", Claire started to explain, using air quotes for family bonding comment.

Dean put a hand up to stop her, "You're partially right. But just because it can't be our full time life doesn't mean we can't enjoy the few moments we can have it. I know things  haven't been easy lately, and I know how much you want to be out there avenging Kaia's death...I get it-"

"You don't 'get it'!"Claire interrupted harshly, "I promised I'd protect her! She was terrified of that place, the only reason she went along was because of me! What happened to her was my fault! It should have been me instead...."