The Runt of the Litter

Scorpio

Note: heyyy babes <3 thanks for the love

here is the follow-up to Orion that many people asked for! anna is six years old.

Scorpio

The laundry was done, and Dean tried to take solace in small victories as he bundled Anna into the backseat of the Impala. She was still white-faced and quiet, her hands clinging for a second every time he brushed against her as he buckled her in. "Wait here and be good, okay?" he said softly, placing Halloween carefully in his sister's lap. "I got a few more things to grab, and we'll get going."

Anna nodded silently, chewing on her lower lip.

"Okay," Dean murmured, more to himself than to Anna. He closed the back door and headed inside for the last couple duffel bags- containing a mini arsenal and their laundry.

As he put the last of their things in the trunk a minute later, Dean couldn't help but slam the laundry bag down with extra force. He shouldn't have done the fucking laundry today. If he'd been home when Dad and Anna had returned from that field trip, he would have been able to mediate.

Without conscious thought, he opened the back door again, wanting to check on Anna before getting on the road. "You got everything?" he asked gently. "You need something to drink before we go?"

Anna shook her head, still mute.

"You can still talk, right?" Dean teased and used the back of his hand to wipe mostly-dried tears from under Anna's eyes.

"Uh-huh," Anna replied faintly. She kneaded the stuffed frog in her small hands and gripped the sleeve of Dean's flannel for a second before letting go again. As she sniffled, Dean brushed a stray curl away from her face.

"Okay," he mumbled. "Okay, Sweetheart."

The engine rumbling to life was usually such a comfort in their whirlwind of a life. But Dean felt guilty turning the key and backing out of his parking space.

"What should we listen to?" he asked with fake cheer. "CCR? Zeppelin? The Beatles?"

Anna's sniffles intensified, and Dean glanced at her in the mirror to see tears spilling over her eyelids again.

"Hey, it's okay," he promised. "Think your tape is still in here, let me see." He turned the volume up on the radio, and Eleanor Rigby serenaded them. But it sounded creepy and damning after such a hard day, so Dean skipped the track and prayed something more gentle would be up next. "There we go," he crooned when the opening notes of Let It Be sounded from the radio. "You love this song, huh?"

Anna nodded, chewing harder on her lip and hugging her stuffed animal more tightly to her stomach. "Did w-we have to- have to go, Dean?" she stammered, tone so cautious it broke Dean's heart in two.

"Yeah, Baby, we had to go," Dean told her, then realized he was doing a shit job of making this feel more normal.

He was being too gentle. But he couldn't bring himself not to be, so he decided to lean into it. Maybe the move wasn't to brush this off. Maybe they needed to talk about it. He turned the radio back down so the music was mere background noise.

"Dad didn't tell me what was going on," Dean explained, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel restlessly. "But he said we had to bolt and it wasn't safe there anymore."

"Why?" Anna cried. "It was- was nice there. Daddy- Daddy ruined it. I made him mad. I- I made him mad aga-again." Between the sniffles and the hiccups, Dean struggled to make out what his sister was actually saying.