"𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤. 𝙄'𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣-𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧-𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮?"

"Why did you do it?"

Delaney's head snapped up at Theo's voice as it broke through the silence that the motel room had taken over since Dean and Sam had left. Bobby had given them some intel on a possible case where a man in his mid-thirties suddenly dropped dead of old age. One day he was working out and the next day he had stumbled into his home after being out a bar, dropping dead with white hair and wrinkled skin. According to the phone call Delaney had a bit ago from Dean, there was, in fact, a case and him and Sam were on their way to some brothel to get more information on another older gentleman that had been missing. Dean had found some sort of receipt in his coat pocket and Dean was more than sure that the man might not be missing at all, but rather there at the brothel where he was having an affair little to his wife's knowledge.

Delaney and Theo had been set with the task to try and do whatever research they could on what was happening while Dean and Sam did the outside investigative work. It wasn't Delaney's choice to stay back, in fact, she'd rather have gone with one of her brothers and left one of them there with Theo. The tension in the motel room whenever Theo and Delaney were left alone was incredibly suffocating, not helping Delaney's anxiety in the slightest as her mind still ran off on its own, throwing all the bad things she'd done as of late to the forefront of her mind. It was a wonder how she'd even been able to swallow her attacks down her throat like a painful pill so Dean nor Sam worried over her. 

"Why did I do what exactly?" Delaney questioned, sounding annoyed that Theo had cut off her concentration.

Theo licked his lips, hands fiddling with the keys of his laptop from where he was sat across from Delaney at the table next to the motel room window. The same spot that the duo hadn't left since around ten AM that morning when they started to scour all over the internet and lore books for whatever could be happening. "You know . . . the whole demon blood thing. It doesn't sound like something you'd do."

Delaney scoffed and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair as her eyes narrowed on him. "Cause you know me so well, Theo. I'm not the same fifteen-year-old that hooked up with you underneath the bleachers in between quarters for the football games, okay? You don't know the first thing about me or what I've been through since being suddenly thrown into this mess of a life. I know Bobby may have tried to catch you up, but don't think for a second that it makes you know me. I was betrayed and I was stupid and I didn't make the best decisions. Not that it's your business, of course."

Theo raised an eyebrow, allowing Delaney's sass to roll right off his shoulders as he had been used to it. It was one of the many things that drew Theo towards Delaney in the first place, besides the obvious fact of Bobby introducing them when they were young kids. He had always admired how quick witted she was and how she could clearly always handle herself, regardless of her two older brothers stepping in before she could. He knew she hated feeling like the damsel in distress and that was something that really attracted him to her . . . until he fucked it all up because of his own insecurities. "Your sass levels definitely have not changed in the least bit, Winchester."

"Thanks. I get it from my brother," Delaney quipped, shooting Theo a sarcastic smile as her head tilted to the side condescendingly. "Can we go back to the subject at hand now?"

"And just when we were about to have a heart to heart?" Theo pouted at her, only earning him a scowl in response. "Come on, Delaney. We're gonna be around each other for who knows how long now. We need to at least somehow be civil."

"I am civil. You're still breathing," Delaney mused, dropping her hands back to the laptop before her and going back to the lore page she'd stumbled upon before Theo interrupted her.

Theo rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond when Theo's phone rang, Dean's flashing across the glass screen of it. He slid it open to answer the call and placed it on speaker so the duo could both hear whatever Dean had to say. "Hey, Dean. How did the whole brothel thing go?"

"Friggin' weird," Dean huffed from the other side, the sounds of cars passing along the street that the two brothers more than likely walked down. "This old man wasn't an old man. He had to be a few years older than me when Sam and I burst into the room. Claimed he played some sort of poker games that used life years instead of real chips. Do you know anything about that?"

"Uh . . . vaguely, yeah. There's a bunch of lore on it. Goes back centuries. Traveling card player pops into town. You beat him, you get your best years back. Naturally, not everyone wins the game and they lose," Theo explained, eyes flickering to Delaney's whose eyebrows rose in a momentary sense of impressed that Theo was able to rattle all of that off. Then again, he was practically raised by Bobby and raised to be a hunter just like him. It shouldn't have come as much of a shock to Delaney that Theo knew what he was talking about.

"Well, that would explain that crunchy corpse from the morgue."

Theo nodded even though Dean couldn't see and ran a hand over his soft curls that brushed softly against the top of his forehead, blue eyes shining as he got into the whole retelling of the lore. "Supposedly, this player's a hell of a card shark. Got a lot of years in the bank. Do you know which bar this guy is working in?"

"There's a lot of dives in this town, Theo! Sammy and I will have to split up," Dean sighed, sounding clearly annoyed with the fact that they had a bit of a hunt to go through before they could even continue to figure out more. 

"Well, good luck then. Have fun with your search," Delaney teased before Dean grumbled a half-assed insult to his baby sister and hanging up. She closed her laptop and folded her hands on the top of the laptop with a sigh. "Guess that leaves us with nothing to do until the boys come back, yeah?"

Theo wiggled his eyebrows in amusement at Delaney who threw her head back with a groan. "Only so much we could do here."

"Yep, you're right. I'm gonna take over the shower and you can entertain yourself however it is you please," Delaney said, pushing up from the chair and winking at Theo with a teasing smile. "You have fun."

"You're the actual worst."

"Tell me something I haven't heard, Mitchell."

Wanting to get out and stretch their legs, Delaney and Theo had taken up Sam's suggestion for the duo walk down to the diner a few blocks from the motel room and help him bring back dinner for everyone. Him and Dean had split up to scope out the bars and Sam had come up with nothing, leaving him to be the one to go and get the four hunters some dinner while they waited for Dean to return. Dean hadn't come up with much either but he had one bar left when Sam had called him up so Sam had decided to get the dinner now in the hopes Dean would be back by the time everything was ready.

Delaney had grabbed one of the plastic bags that held the food with a polite small to the hostess when she handed it off to the youngest Winchester. She thanked her while the boys grabbed the other bag and tray of drinks before they all exited the diner, making their way back towards the motel room. Thankfully, it was cool and breezeless night so the walk back to the motel wasn't horrible and Delaney had her key in the hole before she knew it.

"Hey, Dee?" Delaney shouted into the empty space of the room, entering with Theo and Sam behind her. "Did you find anything?"

"Uh, you might say," an older, gravely voice replied. The type of voice that a grandfather would have, earning confused looks from the three hunters.

They were all even more confused when an older man stepped out of the bathroom in a robe. Sam and Theo instantly went for their guns while Delaney whipped out Randy's knife from her boot, hand gripping tightly to the handle as if her life depended on it. The older man's face scrunched up when the four glowered at him, shouting at him to tell them who he was.

The older man tightened the rope around his waist that was connected to the bathrobe he wore and dropped his hands back to his sides. "Guys, relax, would ya? It's me."

Delaney barked out a laugh, her face dropping as she stared longer at the older man. He stood and moved the way Dean would, even doing that little nose twitch he did when he was slightly annoyed with his siblings. She slowly lowered the knife to her side and her lips twitched, a smile fighting its way onto her face. "Holy shit. Dee?"

Dean grimaced and gestured to his now older self with a huff. "Yeah, hi, Della."

Sam slowly lowered his own weapon along with Theo, the duo stuffing their guns into their back pockets. The food and drinks were all placed onto the table as Dean now had the three hunters' full attention now that he was aged about fifty years. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Yeah, Dee, I know I call you old man all the time, but you didn't have to go and literally become one," Delaney mused, snorting when Sam nudged her in the side for her comment.

Dean shot his sister an unamused look and brought a hand up to scratch at his now wrinkled face, a few tiny age spots littering the side of his cheek. "I, you know . . . found the game."

Sam blinked in shock as Dean pushed away from where he stood near the bathroom, brushing past the trio to get to the table where they had dropped the food and drinks. He seemed just as shocked and mildly amused as Delaney felt. "You — I thought you were supposed to be good at poker, Dean."

"I am. Shut up about it!" Dean responded, waving his little brother off as he sat down in one of the chairs at the table and taking out his bacon cheeseburger from the bag and removing it from its paper wrapping. "So, you were just gonna shoot or stab some old guy? Is that it?"

"In our defense, we didn't know what you were," Theo cut in, motioning to Dean's current change of appearance. "I mean, have you seen what you look like right now? You look like — "

"The old chick in Titanic. I know. You shut up, too, Theodore," Dean grumbled, taking a bite from his burger with a dramatic pout.

"Actually, you look more like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars," Delaney corrected, licking her lips that continued to twitch with the urge to laugh. She quickly cleared her throat when Dean sent her a warning glare. "Sorry."

Before anyone else could make a comment, the door to the motel room suddenly burst open and Delaney had Randy's demon blade raised again to attack whoever burst in. That was, until, she looked down and saw that it was Bobby who had knocked the door open and she widened her eyes in surprise at the sight of the man that had like a father figure to her for most of her life, barely missing the surprised gasp of Bobby's name that fell from Theo's mouth. However, neither Dean nor Sam looked all that surprised to see Bobby here and Delaney and Theo had both assumed that he had been called by one of the boys, if not both.

Bobby rolled into the room in his wheelchair, swinging the door shut behind him with his hand. He stopped near the four hunters, closing off the half circle that they had unintentionally made when Dean brushed past them to get to his food. He didn't look the least bit stunned to see Dean's appearance and that only earned confused gazes from Delaney, Sam and Theo. "I see you met John McCain there."

"Yeah. Either of you want to share with the rest of the class on what happened?" Sam quipped, voicing the same thoughts that Delaney and Theo had in their own minds.

"Bobby is an idiot. That's what happened."

"Hey, nobody asked you to play," Bobby countered back to Dean, glaring up at the older Winchester male next to him.

"Right and I should have just let you die."

"And for damn sure, nobody asked you to lose!"

Delaney coughed to cover up the laugh that bubbled deep within her chest, a hand rubbing over her mouth that lost its battle to the grin that spread across it. Theo next to her seemed to share the same sentiment as he ducked his head, shoulders shaking slightly with silent laughs as they watched Bobby and Dean go back and forth. "I swear, it's like watching grumpy old men duke it out."

"Shut up, Delaney!" Bobby and Dean snapped in unison, instantly wiping the smirk from Delaney's face and causing her to rock back on her heels, rolling her lips into her mouth.

"What the hell were you thinking, Bobby? He's a witch," Dean scolded the Singer male, a stern look on his face as if he were scolding a small child for doing something bad. "He has been playing poker since guys wore tights. I get it, Bobby. You saw a chance to turn the hands of the clock back and get out of the damn chair. Pretty tempting." He scoffed softly, shaking his head as he picked up the can of opened beer on the table and taking a small sip. "I can imagine."

"No, you can't."

Dean nodded with a heavy exhale, placing his can of beer back onto the table. "Okay, you got me, Bobby. I have never been paralyzed, but I tell you something — I've been to Hell. I did things I'm not proud of in there. There's an archangel there wanting me to drop the soap. Look at me! My junk's rustier than yours! You hear me bellyaching? Huh?"

Delaney scrunched up her nose at the mention of Dean's rusty junk, shaking her head to remove the vivid image that Dean had made for everyone. "I mean . . . you kinda are right now, Dee."

Dean turned, as if ready to scold Delaney for not backing him up, when he froze with a small twitch of pain to his face. A gurgling sound came from his stomach before he pressed a hand to the unstable body part, hunching over slightly as his free hand gripped to the top of the chair next to him. His voice was strained when he opened his mouth again, "I'm having a heart attack."

It was Bobby's turn to snort at Dean and he glanced over to him with his own amused look. Almost looking satisfied with himself at seeing Dean in pain after he'd gone off on him. "No it's not you idjit. It's acid reflux. Guys your age can't digest certain foods. You're gonna need to put down that cheeseburger, oldy." He watched as Dean grumbled and slammed his half eaten burger onto the table like a child throwing a tantrum, an eyebrow raised at the action. "So, you want to keep emoting or you want to talk about solving this little issue of yours? It's got to be about the chips."

Dean held up a finger, leaning forward in his chair with his face still pinched up a bit from the unease thanks to the acid reflux. He slid his hand across the table as if pushing invisible piles of chips across it. "I pushed the chips across the table. Patrick did his little witchy number and you prettied up in a hurry."

"I mean, what are you guys thinking? Some kind of magic chips or something?" Theo inquired, walking over to the table and taking a seat while Delaney and Sam took the other two so they were all closer to each other to work out what they needed to do. "Do you remember what he chanted? Either of you?"

"Yep — every word," Bobby replied.

"Okay, so then let's find out where he hides his chips," Delaney suggested, coming up with the only situation they possibly had at the moment.

"And steal me fifty and back into burger shape," Dean tacked on, coughing slightly from the acid reflux that still plagued his insides. "What do you think?"

Bobby stared at Dean in disgust when the sides of the robe fell of his thighs and opening a bit. "I think you need to put on some clothes, Dean."

Once Dean had gotten dressed, the now five hunters drove over to the bar that Dean had met the witch, Patrick, in. He was an attractive male with dark hair and eyes and, according to Dean and Bobby, had an Irish accent. He was decked out in a tailored suit, making him ooze off the money that he clearly had. Though, Delaney wasn't sure if the money was actual cash or lives of the innocent that played his poker games. She tilted her head as she had watched him get run over by a silver convertible, appearing dead for all of a minute before he was back on his feet again when the driver of the convertible rushed over to the construction guys on the corner to ask them to call nine-one-one. 

Dean had laughed at the sight, claiming that he kind of the like witch for his heckling skills. It was an obvious joke, but Delaney still socked her older brother in the shoulder for even saying it out loud. They had continued to follow Patrick around after that, leading them to a five star hotel on the other side of town. Patrick had gone inside the hotel for all of a half hour before he left again in the same convertible that he'd stolen.

The five hunters waited for him to get a good distance away before they were out of the Impala and into the hotel where Bobby had to wait in the lobby because the elevator had gotten stuck. Claiming he'd just meet the four back at the Impala, he turned in his wheelchair to roll back outside while the four took their chances with the stairs. Stairs that were suddenly Dean's mortal enemy thanks to his new body and Delaney sheepishly pointed to the sign that read FLOOR TWO on it when Dean was already winded. A loud groan escaped from him before the four continued on up, Delaney eventually wrapping her arm around Dean's waist and helping him up the last flight of stairs and through the door to the floor that Patrick stayed on.

"It's okay, Dean. When we're done here, we'll get you some applesauce," Delaney teased, squealing when Dean merely pinched her side with a huff.

"Shut up, Della."

Theo shook his head in amusement at the sibling duo and turned to the door, using the lockpit kit that Sam handed over to him to pry open the door. The four were inside the suite — which looked more like a small, fancy apartment with its three bedrooms and kitchenette — and they split up around it to try and find where the magic chips were held. Delaney had taken her chances near the drawers and rifling through them for any sort of fake bottoms in them where they could be hidden. It was only a few minutes before Dean's voice shouted out for the other three to come to him.

Dean stood by the standing cabinet, three rows of shelves inside with two chalices neatly placed on the top one. He had moved the two chalices over and pulled the small door off the back of the cabinet to reveal a hidden safe, grinning with pride when he saw just what kind of safe it was. "Dime-store model. Piece of cake."

Sam crossed his arms, watching as Dean turned the dial slowly as his eyes squinted and unsquinted as if trying to focus his newly horrid eyesight. He let this go on for a moment before he pushed Dean over with a small huff. "It's like Mission: Pathetic. Watch out." He had the dial turned a few notches before it finally clicked open and he shot Dean a bitch look for not being able to do it."

"I could have done that," Dean complained, pointing to the safe that Sam had gotten open in less than twenty seconds flat. A frown took over his face as Sam turned away from him, scooping out some of the chips into his pocket to take along with them so they could inspect it.

"What are you doing?"

The four hunters whipped around to see a beautiful brunette stood behind them in a short, black silk night dress with spaghetti straps. She placed her hands on her hips as she scrutinized the four with narrowed eyes.

"Aren't you the chick from the bar?" Dean questioned, eyebrows furrowing over the fact that the woman was stood in the room. 

"I'm a lot more than that," the woman warned, curling her fist as a whoosh sounded through the air and sent all four hunters doubling over in pain with their hands pressed to their chests. It felt as if the woman actually shoved her hand through their chests and gripped their hearts tightly in her vice like grip. Strangled gasps could be heard from the four just as Patrick rushed inside and chuckled, assuring the woman that they were harmless and to let them all go.

Thankfully, she did.

Patrick nodded in appreciation when the woman did as told and stepped forward towards the hunters, hands clasped before him as he faced them. "You guys want chips? Take 'em. They are just chips, Einsteins. It's showmanship. This may come as a shock, but the magic does not lie in a pile of crappy plywood or in any phony abracadabra. It's in the nine-hundred-year-old witch. You guys want years? Score 'em the old fashioned way. Texas Hold 'Em."

"Fine. Let's do it," Dean said after a long beat of silence, earning looks of distaste from his siblings and friend. 

Patrick plucked out a random card from the inside of his leather jacket pocket, holding it between his thumb and forefinger for the hunters to see that it was an eight of hearts. "What card am I holding up?" He smirked to himself when Dean couldn't even read off the card to him because he couldn't see from his distance away. "That's what I thought. If your eyesight's that bad, what about your memory? I am not a murderer." His gaze shifted to Delaney, placing a toothpick in his mouth and grinning around it as he chewed on it. "You, princess, on the other hand . . . "

Delaney's jaw ticked at the nickname, it sending a nauseating feeling to the pit of her stomach as she swallowed down the bile that came with it. However, she tried to ignore the feeling as she knew that she had to do this for Dean. If Patrick wanted her to be the one to play, then she'd be the one to play. Dean had saved her more times than she could count and she would be damned if she didn't do the same back for him. Even if it might cost her her own life.

"No, Della!"

"Dean . . . " Delaney trailed off, her green eyes that matched his flickering up to meet his own with a small frown. 

"What? Baby Winchester not much of a player? Okay, well, happy trails then, Dean. Enjoy the twilight of your life. Should have taken better care of that ticker, though," Patrick walked over to the door and opened it up for the Winchesters and Theo to leave through, allowing them to go free without charges of any kind. "You guys are free to go."

Delaney's frown only deepened when Dean ducked his head and exited the door, accepting his fate as he didn't want Delaney to risk her own years or life to give him back his own. He would never make his baby sister do anything of the sort for him, no matter what. He was meant to protect her and that would be the opposite  of protecting her.

"Oh, but, Baby Winchester," Patrick called as Delaney stepped passed him into the hallway with her brothers and Theo. "Your brother's situation — that's punishment enough, but I can't let you leave without a small parting gift." He clapped his hands three times with a sadistic smirk twisting his face, only sending dread and anxiety through her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Delaney growled, being tugged back by Sam when she went to take a step towards the sinister witch as her green eyes grew dark with anger.

"You'll find out soon enough, sweetness."

Delaney will admit that she has done many stupid and reckless things since she'd become a hunter. Especially since Dean had given up his life to save her life, a life that Delaney knew was cursed from the minute she turned six months old and Azazel bled into her mouth. She had been stuck with this demon blood sickness since before she could even speak a coherent sentence or word besides dada, mama or Dee. However, Delaney knew that nothing would ever live up to her allowing Randy to completely trick her and get her hooked on demon blood. 

Which is why, Delaney didn't feel anything but a bit of anxiety as she stood in the basement of the bar later on the next night. Dean, Sam, Theo and Bobby had all been cooped up in the motel room all that morning as they tried to figure out what they could possibly do to give Dean back his proper age of thirty and not eighty. She did know that Dean would throttle her for going against his word and taking on the game like he didn't want. They were supposed to get back to how things were, but Delaney couldn't just let Dean die. Not again. Not when he still had so much of his life ahead of him, hunter or not.

An older man with hair and wrinkled skin named Hesh had been in a game with Patrick when Delaney arrived, determination showcasing on her face no matter how tightly her chest squeezed in her chest from the anxiety that plagued inside. She knew there was a possibility that she could lose and either end up like Dean or end up like the guy that dropped dead from old age when he was really a man in his mid-thirties. He was clearly being heckled by Patrick, Delaney knowing the smirk that played on Patrick's face too well as it reminded her of one that was worn by a certain dark haired demon. She stood with her arms crossed behind Hesh's chair, noticing the two nines he had against whatever higher number that Delaney knew Patrick had.

"Bet," Hesh finally said after a long, silent moment of debate, chucking three of his chips into the pile that had formed in the middle of the poker table that had been set up by Patrick.

Patrick removed the toothpick that had been perched between his teeth the whole time Delaney had been there and part of her wanted to take it and stab it right into his eye. "I sense you've got me by the jewels on this one, Hesh. I fold. What are you up — like thirteen years there, Hesh? What do you say we call it a night?"

Hesh seemed surprised by Patrick's offer to let the man go with a win, eyes blowing wide for a moment before a chuckle escaped. "Thanks, Patrick."

"Hesh here is gonna live to see his granddaugther's bat mitzvah. Isn't that right, Hesh?" Patrick sent that same smirk to Delaney which only soured her expression more before he turned his attention back to Hesh. "Shalom, my friend. Shalom."

Delaney scoffed softly, allowing Hesh to brush past her as her arms dropped back to her sides again from where they had been crossed tight across her chest and stepped closer to the table where Patrick shuffled the cards. "That was nice of you."

Patrick froze mid shuffler and shrugged as if he had no idea what Delaney was talking about. "I'm a nice guy, Baby Winchester. Now, what can I do for you?"

Delaney poked her tongue into her cheek at his obvious arrogant demeanor and stalked the rest of the way to the table, dropping down into the chair that Hesh had just been in. Her eyes flickered up to Patrick who had placed his toothpick back between his teeth and she jerked her chin to the cards. "I want you to deal."

Unsurprisingly, Patrick didn't comment and dished out both the cards and the enchanted chips to Delaney. Thankfully, Delaney had enough knowledge of the game to play after sitting in Dean's lap when she was younger and watching him play with Sam whenever they got bored in a motel room or Bobby's house while John was on a hunting trip. Her tiny hands would point to Dean's cards and whisper to his ear about what they meant, followed by Dean explaining each one to her observant and curious little mind. Any time he'd win, he'd let Delaney grab the snacks that had replaced the chips they didn't have when they were younger, even letting her take one when they were done.

The room was quiet as they began, Delaney checking her cards over and over and dishing out whatever bet she thought fit her cards or folding if she didn't have a good hand. She had won a decent amount of chips so far, but she didn't let herself get too cocky as he knew the game of Texas Hold 'Em could always do a switch on you so she kept herself composed.

"You know, I like you, Baby Winchester. I do. You're smart and your heart's clearly in the right place here. I can tell a lot about a girl by looking," Patrick said after a few hands that were filled with silence.

Delaney's gaze flickered from her cards and over to the Irish witch before her, folding her arms on the table over her now face down cards. "You mean you're psychic."

"No. That would be cheating, lass. I am talking about good old fashioned intuition."

"Mmmm," Delaney hummed, clearly not giving a single shit what the witch thought he knew about her. "Let's just play, Patrick."

Patrick took a sip of his scotch before placing it back down innocently onto the green table top, a small shrug taking over his shoulders. "We are playing. Do your big brothers and boyfriend know you're here?"

"Theo is not my boyfriend," Delaney snapped, grabbing three chips and dumping them into the pile in the middle with a lick of her lips. "I'm betting five."

"Huh, didn't think so," Patrick remarked, grabbing a stack of his white chips and piling them on top of another. He pushed them into the middle of the table where the other chips were and shot Delaney a wicked grin. "I raise you."

Delaney rolled her eyes but conceded anyways and they continued on with their game. Patrick just continued to drink his scotch the entire time in silence, losing his tie somewhere down the line and unbuttoning the top three buttons of his button up white shirt beneath his suit jacket. His glass was glued to his hands as the bets continued, eyes trailing along Delaney as if trying to assess her.

"Here you are, right . . . " Patrick trailed off around twenty minutes later, taking another drink of his scotch. ". . . cleaning up your brother's mess and they still want you to sit at the kiddie table like you're not over the age twenty-one. You're not the baby sister anymore, Baby Winchester. Then again . . . maybe you are. You are in over your head here, Delaney. I mean, you can keep making these moves — you know . . . playing it cautious, playing the percentages, but I am still gonna kick your ass into the nursing home."

"Does this armchair-psychology routine usually work for you?" Delaney retorted, eyes narrowing on the witch in annoyance. She really wished he'd just shut up already about herself and her brothers. Like Theo, he seemed to think he knew all about her and her brothers when he didn't know the first thing about them when it came down to it. No one did but them and Bobby and Delaney wasn't about to let this witch think he can get under her skin.

Patrick laughed at Delaney's comment, leaning back comfortably in his chair as he sat sideways in it. "You tell me, sweetness. You are the one who is losing here."

Delaney didn't know how much longer they played for before the woman from the night before waltzed in and slapped a kiss onto Patrick's lips. A sparkle gleamed in Patrick's eye as he told Delaney they could take a short break and Delaney rolled her eyes, storming out of the place and into the alleyway of the bar where Dean, Sam and Theo stood waiting for her. She wasn't even surprised they'd found out where she was, Dean clearly tracking her phone.

"How's it going in there?" Dean remarked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"How do you think it's going in there?" Delaney groaned, tugging a hand through her curls and held up the small toothpick she'd stolen from the table. "He keeps chewing on these things and I swear I might stab him in the eye with this sooner or later."

Theo grinned as he snatched the toothpick from Delaney, earning him a grossed out look from Delaney as he rolled the thing between his fingers. "Just what we needed."

Delaney scrunched up her nose in disgust, wiping her hand along the side of her jean. "You mean a chewed on toothpick from an arrogant douchebag?"

"We'll explain later, just keep him busy," Sam replied quickly as Theo turned on his heel, running at the Impala that was parked at the mouth of the alleyway to show Bobby. "Just . . . don't lose."

"Great pep talk, Sammy," Delaney quipped, patting his shoulder as she passed him by to get back into the bar and take on Patrick again while the boys did whatever they needed.

"Question — is this what you meant to give your brothers and boyfriend?" Patrick asked Delaney a few minutes later when they were both sat back at the poker table, holding up a toothpick in between his fingers. "I'm sure you don't know the plan they're engaging in currently, but they needed my DNA and they thought that toothpick had passed my lips — but it didn't. Won't do a scrap of good with the spell they're trying to use to get rid of me. I don't like cheating, Delaney, even if you had no idea you were cheating."

Delaney gasped as Patrick thrusted his hand forward, clenching it into a tight fist and squeezing at her lungs as if she were in the middle of an anxiety attack. She choked on the lack of air she had and pressed a hand to her chest as if that would give her the air back that she needed. She barely heard the words that flew past the woman's lips, gripping to Patrick's wrists as she begged him for something. She couldn't hear anything over the sounds of her gasps and chokes for air that just wouldn't come. 

However, the air was suddenly shoved back into her lungs and Delaney heard the end of the woman's sentence about how she gave the boys the spell in the first place. Her chest heaved, her lungs practically overflowing with the air it had so desperately desired. She watched as Patrick slowly stood up from his chair in shock, hands coming up to cup either side of the woman's face with a betrayed look.

"Why . . . why would you do that?"

"You know why," the woman's voice shook as she responded, hand coming up to fiddle with the silver locket around her throat. "You know."

Patrick pulled away from the woman with a dark look, slowly sitting back down in his chair as he focused his dark look on Delaney who hadn't been the least bit affected by it. "Keep . . . playing."

The cards were dealt once again and Patrick and Delaney were both thrown back into their flow from before they were interrupted. The inside of Delaney's lip was chewed to hell, but it was the only thing keeping her from losing her mind as she waited for her brothers and Theo to do something. There wasn't much Delaney could do from her seat, especially not now that Patrick had his eyes set fully on her.

"Well, look at you," Patrick laughed, watching as Delaney pushed a pile of chips into the middle of the table. "That was pretty transparent of you, sweetness. I mean, if I had a monster hand like you have, I'd trap you right now. You get so excited, you bet yourself right out of a bit pot. I fold. Set of ladies, I'm guessing."

Delaney licked her lips and grabbed the chips from the middle of the table, flipping over her two cards revealing a three of spades and five of hearts. A confident smirk twitched its way onto her face momentarily before she let it drop again, a small sense of pride bubbling in her chest. She wasn't getting cocky, but it did make her feel good to shut up the witch for a bout thirty seconds.

"Nice bluff," Patrick praised, nodding impressively at her. "If we had time, I could make a real player out of you. I mean, of course, you have time, but I cannot say the same for Dean. Your brother's gonna be dead soon . . . again. When I say soon . . . I mean minutes."

Delaney's eyes widened as her anxiety clawed its way up, the mere thought of Dean dying sending her into the beginnings of an attack. She could feel the way her hands grew clammy instantly and the way a terrible chill shot down her spine, lungs closing in on themselves long before Patrick had even clutched his fist again to keep Delaney in her place from going off to save Dean. She wheezed slightly as she grew pale, her eyes blowing wide with the anxiety that terrorized her deep within. 

"The game ain't over till I say it is. Even if your little attack right now persists, you're still playing. Focused on it or not," Patrick demanded, eyes growing darker with the rage that filled them. "Blinds." He handed the cards out again as a chip each was placed in the middle with Delaney trying desperately to get herself to breathe properly again so she can focus on the game before her. "When it comes to your brothers, you get so emotional and panicky . . . that your brain flies right out of the window along with her breathing it seems. Good to know. I won't have to suffocate you myself 'cause you'll do it for me."

"Go . . . t-to Hell, a-asshole," Delaney stuttered, breath still a bit wheezy as her brain echoed Dean's words of in and out, in and out in her head to try and get her breathing back and getting the anxiety to leave her. She suddenly shoved her hand forward, barely glancing at her cards before all of her chips she'd won that night were in the middle of the table. "I'm all - all in."

Patrick sighed and shook his head, placing his cards face down on the table again. "Don't do that, Delaney."

Delaney grit her teeth as she seethed at the witch before her. "I can't leave until it's over? Fine. It's over. Now, where the fuck is my brother?"

"Look, there's poker and then there's suicide," Patrick said, leaning forward onto the table so Delaney looked him in the eyes properly. He eyed Delaney for a long moment, noticing that she wasn't bluffing and rolled his eyes. He grabbed the deck of cards and laid out the final two cards, flipping his own two cards to reveal two aces, giving him three aces with the ace that rested in the row of cards laid out. "I'm sorry, kid. Aces full."

Delaney's eyes flickered over to the woman when she heard a sniffle, surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Whoa, you're crying. For a witch, you're so nice, it's actually kind of creepy. It's okay. It was a great hand, Patrick. Just . . . not as great . . . " She trailed off and flipped her cards over, showcasing two fours that paired up with the two fours in the row of cards. " . . . as four fours, buddy."

Patrick scoffed in disbelief, slowly crashing back against his chair from where he'd been hunched over and ready to take all of Delaney's chips. "Well played, Baby Winchester. You know, that whole . . . going out of your head bit — very method. There is definitely more to you than meets the eye."

"My anxiety's real and so is my win, so why don't you go ahead and cash those in for my brother now?" Delaney sassed, crossing her arms and smirking at Patrick who raised his scotch glass to her.

"With pleasure, sweetness."

"No tricks and you beat him? How the hell?" Bobby asked Delaney incredulously the next morning when everyone had met back up at the motel room. 

Delaney beamed with pride, glancing over her shoulder to Dean who sat on top of the table in the motel room with a glass beer bottle in his hand and cheeseburger in the other. He winked and pointed the glass bottle at her before she turned her head back to Bobby. "I learned from the best, I guess. Now, if you boys will excuse me, I have something to take care of real quick."

Theo snorted and raised his eyebrows, his own glass bottle of beer half way to his lips as he watched Delaney grab her leather jacket from the bed. "Where are you off to alone, Winchester?""

Delaney rolled her lips into her mouth and shrugged on her jacket, turning to face her brothers and Bobby again. "A booster short," she admitted, finger instantly sticking up when the four boys' faces all morphed into ones of amusement. "Shut up the lot of you. Just remember who saved your ass, Dean. I'll give your years back."

"Mhm, yeah, and I'm not young and beautiful again, Della."

"Shut up, Dean."

—the tension around theo and delaney couldn't be cut with a knife wowza. it's okay . . . they'll eventually let that tension out . . . possibly.