Claire took a deep breath in through her nose, enjoying the way it barely hurt now. Her mask had just come off, and her skin felt oddly doughy, and had a weird smell to it that she was intending to wash off when she got the chance.

After the mask came off, the doctors checked her ribs, reassuring her that they were mending well. It barely hurt her anymore, and she couldn't feel much discomfort as she took another deep breath in and out. Jack, who had driven her to her appointment while Dean and Cas worked, saw what she was doing and smiled at her reassuringly from the corner of the room. She had a final few check ups, and then they were free to go.

"What do you want to do now?" Jack asked as they walked down the hallway. "We got the whole day."

"I don't know, what do you wanna do?"

Jack thought about it as they walked into the parking lot and climbed into the car.

"You know what? We should just drive around, go exploring. How much of the town have you actually seen?"

"Most of it. It's a small town."

"So let's go look at the towns around here. See what there is out there."

"Okay." Claire nodded. "Let's go."

Jack grinned, and started driving out of the lot, down the road and towards the edge of town. They passed Claire's old school, and ended up driving past an orchard, and around a bunch of fields. They didn't play the radio, or fall into silence, but talked endlessly instead.

"Do you remember the last family reunion you came to? When Uncle Gabe and Uncle Balthazar were doing a scavenger hunt for all us kids?" Jack asked as he rested an elbow on the door.

"Uh, kinda. I think I was about six?"

"Yeah, about that. Uncle Mike had arranged everything and they were meant to supervise, we were meant to find keychains around Grandpa's house or something. And Gabe and Balthazar just made it up as they went along. I think the game stopped when they encouraged you to climb up onto the counter and grab some crystal tumblers worth a fortune."

"I don't remember that at all!" Claire laughed.

"Really? As soon as they said climb you were up there! But then Great Aunt Amara came in and lost it, grabbing you down and yelling at them, then giving us all some candy because she felt bad for yelling."

"Do you still see the family a lot?" Claire asked quietly.

"No. Not really. That was one of my last reunions too, Dad and Mike fell out like they used to do all the time, and no one really wanted anything to do with either of them after that. But I still had Mom and all her family. No one half as fun as Gabe and Balthazar though."

"And me."

"Of course," Jack grinned. "I guess it was the same for you, right? Your Mom's family were there after the divorce, right?"

"I guess. Mom was an only child, so I saw her parents a lot. We used to get on really well."

"What happened?"

So Claire told Jack everything, surprised that he didn't already know from Castiel. He tapped a thumb against the steering wheel as he listened, circling around the nearest town and making his way to the next one. She told him how they had been there through Amelia's illness, how they had fought Castiel when he decided he wanted his daughter with him, and how the last couple of meetings with them had been, and their prejudices, and how it had tainted their whole relationship. He listened until Claire ran out of words.

"I'm sorry, Claire."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

"Do you think it would be different now? Now you've broken up with Alex?"

"No, because Dad's still with Dean."

Jack nodded, and silence fell between them as Jack changed direction again. Claire's phone beeped, and she picked it up to see a text from her father, asking how the hospital had gone. She texted back, sending him a quick snap of her face and letting him know what she and Jack were doing.

"It's stupid, isn't it? They've known you your whole life, and they know you want to be with your dad, so you would think to keep that connection they'd swallow their opinion and put up with it to see you."

Claire grinned at her cousin.

"I hope you're around next time I have to see them. I think they'd love you."

Jack flashed her an innocent grin, then pulled into a gas station.

"Come on, we need gas, and I'm hungry for nougat."

He started pumping the gas, and Claire wondered into the store, grabbing a basket and filling it with chips, soda, and a decent amount of candy. Jack wandered in as she was being rung up and handed the cash over.

"You didn't have to do that." Claire told him.

"Of course I did. You're my favourite cousin, and there's candy in that bag:"

They eventually stopped at an orchard, though the trees were only just blossoming and no one else was around. They sat side-by-side under a tree and tucked into their snacks happily, talking the whole time about their childhoods and the things they'd lived through since they had last been together.

Eventually, Jack leaned back against the tree and sighed, looking up at the apple blossom above them. Claire rested her head against his shoulder.

"Thanks for this, Jack."

"Anything to avoid studying … I mean, to hang out with my favourite cousin."

"Nerd."

"Ouch," Jack pretended to grab his chest. "That hurt."

She elbowed him, and he slung an arm around her shoulders.

"This is so much better than being stuck in school, dealing with the politics of other kids," Claire decided. "Work done whenever, time with my best cousin, no cafeteria food."

"No worrying about coming across your ex-girlfriend and seeing your friends hanging around her?" Jack zeroed in on something that Claire hadn't spoken about so far, but something that had hurt a little. After all, Kaia had approached her, Patience had inserted herself into their friendship too. And then as soon as Claire got hurt there was nothing from the girls who had tried to force a friendship with her. But Alex had said that they had visited every day of her suspension … it didn't seem fair to Claire.

"Well, I mean," Claire tried to put on an air of bravado. "We did agree to be friends, but yeah, it's nice not having to worry about what she thinks every word and gesture means."

"Hmmm." Jack started playing with a lock of her hair. "I'm sure they have a reason for staying away, Claire. You do wear an armour, maybe they think you're okay."

"You see through everything, don't you?" Claire smiled to herself.

"I just remember one time, you scraped your knee and it was obviously killing you, but you refused to cry. It was sweet, you were this chubby little kid and you were limping and it was bleeding, you went bright red trying not to cry, even when they covered it. I always wanted to be strong like you."

"I always wanted to be kind like you. You're so nice, and happy all the time."

"Thanks."

"And maybe you're right. I didn't exactly want to hang out with Kaia and Patience in the first place, but then I got to know them and I thought we were friends. It sucks that they haven't even texted to say hi or check how I am."

"Maybe they don't know what to say?" Jack was diplomatic as ever.

"Yeah, maybe."

They drifted into silence until Claire's cell began to ring.

"Dad," she announced, before picking up. "Hey."

"Hi Claire, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, just hanging out with Jack."

"Okay. Are you coming home for dinner?"

"Sure. See you in a while." She hung up. "Come on."

They helped each other up, and Jack slung his arm around her again as they headed for his car.

"You'll be okay, Claire."

"Yeah, I will. I got you."

Jack chuckled, and squeezed her in a one-arm hug before heading back to the car, and home.

After eating dinner, and Castiel scrutinised Claire's face for at least half an hour, he and Dean went out to finalise some more details for their wedding. Jack had gone to his room to FaceTime his mother, and Claire found herself wandering around the house, at all the things Dean had grown up with.

She found a battered journal laying on a shelf on the bookcase in the main room and sat down in the love seat to read it. The leather crackled under her fingers, and made a satisfying creak as it opened. There was a row of medals on the inside, and a couple of photos of a young family browning in the pocket. The pages were full of scribbles, newspaper clippings, and rough drawings. She tried to make sense of the messy handwriting, and ended up getting caught up in an electic mix of folk lore and myths.

"What've you got there?"

Her dad's voice made her jump, and drop the journal. Dean picked it up, chuckling.

"God, I forgot about this. It's my dad's old journal," he looked at Claire, still turning the pages. "He had this story in his head, he'd write stuff down for it all the time. Monsters he'd thought up, crazy hauntings he'd heard of. When we saw him, he'd scare the crap out of us with his stories."

He thought for a moment, then closed the journal.

"Forget about it, Claire. You'll give yourself nightmares. It used to spook Sam."

"How'd everything go?" Claire changed the subject rather than having to admit that she had been scared reading the journal. But good scared, watching a horror movie scared.

"Pretty well," Castiel mused. "I think we're almost sorted now."

"Not long to go," Claire pointed out. Dean grinned, putting the book down and winding his arms around Castiel.

"Nope. Can't wait until you're actually my stepdaughter."

Claire stood up, shaking her head at Dean's cheesiness.

"Night, dorks."

"Night sweetheart," Castiel muttered. Claire made her way into her bedroom, got ready for sleep and curled up under her covers. She waited for the terror Dean had warned her about, but instead she found herself dwelling on her day with her cousin, on the way Jack's eyes lit up with pure joy, the small smile he seemed to wear all the time, and how comforting his hugs were. Whether they were cousins or not, he'd been a really good friend to her, supportive and considerate and just what she'd needed.