FYI-I own rights to nothing...all fantasy...
Katelyn rolled over in bed annoyed to be awoken by the sliver of light coming through the bottom of the doorway. Groaning, she slipped out of bed and into her robe and glanced at the clock. 2:30 in the morning, Christmas day, her father didn't have to play Santa anymore and should definitely be in bed. She paused as she reached her door, hearing voices in the living room. Her father was not alone. She turned the knob and opened the door quietly, hoping to overhear part of the conversation; but the furnace was laboring loudly, doing its best to keep the house warm despite the below freezing temperatures outside. Missouri in December was just about as cold as Katelyn could stand. She really couldn't complain though, it was the first white Christmas in ten years. She moved quietly down the hallway, creeping closer to the voices in the living room. She stood just inside the hallway and listened, "I could really use your help on this one Paul. I can't tell which way I'm headed anymore," she heard a man say and almost immediately Katelyn recognized the voice. She stepped around the corner, wishing she'd put on her slippers as the cold air hit her feet, and collided with Dean Winchester. "Oh my God, Dean...you scared the hell out of me," Katelyn said leaning against the wall, recovering her breath.
Dean muttered something as he moved around her. "Didn't think you were up," he said pointing at the room at the end of the hall, "is it all right if I throw my stuff in here?"
Katelyn nodded, then put a hand over her heart in an attempt to slow it down. She looked across the room at the man who had been talking with her father. He stood there just looking at her with the stupidest grin on his face and any annoyance or irritation Katelyn had felt for being awoken in the middle of the night immediately left. "John Winchester," Katelyn said, crossing the room to give him a big hug, "it's so good to see you." Despite the cold outside he was already warm and Katelyn always loved the way his jacket smelled. John Winchester had always been, and would always be her favorite friend of her dad's. Which was saying a lot 'cause her dad had some great friends.
John held her tight, "It's great to see you too Katie, sorry to wake you."
"Katelyn's well on her way to being valedictorian...she's gonna leave high school with lots of college already under her belt," her dad was saying as Katie fought back her tears. John was a hunter and Katie knew all too well how much a blessing it was that he was here, in her living room, standing on his own two feet. And with that infamous Winchester grin on his face.
"That's great Katie," John said kissing the top of her head, "Merry Christmas sweetie."
"Merry Christmas to you too John Winchester." She pulled away from him and looked at the young boy standing in the doorway. He was only a few years younger than she, but as he'd yet to hit his growth spurt she could still think of him as little Sammy. She smiled as she walked over to hug him, "Merry Christmas sleepy head." Sam yawned as he dropped one of the bags he was carrying at his feet.
"Merry Christmas Katie, I like your tree...now can I got to bed?"
"Go ahead and stick your stuff in the room at the top of the stairs. Throw your Dad's in his room too...I'll be up to change the sheets in a minute and then we'll get you into bed."
"Okay," Sam sighed heavily, picking the bags back up, "I'm exhausted."
"So you guys are staying for a while?" Katelyn asked as she turned back down the hallway to the linen closet and grabbed three sets of sheets. The Morris home was always open to hunters in the area, but only the Winchesters got fresh sheets.
"Well, some of us are," John responded.
"You got a hunt near here?" Katelyn asked still talking to John but peeking into the room at the end of the hallway, she saw Dean sprawled out on the bed and he was definitely snoring.
"Katie, it looks like I'll be going away for a little bit," she heard her father say.
Katelyn entered the living room, "You know what? Let's not talk about anybody leaving until after tomorrow...let me have Christmas, then you guys can go do your thing, okay?" She flipped the lock on the front door and did her best to conceal her already building anxiety. "I'm going to go put new sheets on all your beds, and then I suggest we all get some sleep...now that all you guys are here I've got a lot more baking and cooking to do and I'm gonna need all the help I can get."
After getting John and Sam into bed Katelyn found herself sighing as she went down the stairs. She told herself there was no use in starting to worry now, there would be more than enough time for that later, but she'd had this bad feeling coming on for over a week now, and it only seemed to be getting more intense. It was the same kind of feeling she got every time her dad went on a hunt and it stayed in her the whole time he was gone. She stopped at the base of the stairs, noticing Dean standing in the doorway to his room. She loved John Winchester like a father, Sam Winchester like a brother and Dean Winchester like no one else.
"I'm standing here 'cause I heard you upstairs and I know you want to change the sheets and if I sit or lay down right now I'm going to be out for the count," Dean said, responding to a question Katie hadn't even asked.
She moved around him, into the room and started stripping the bed. "Where you guys coming from?" Katelyn asked pulling the old pillowcases off the pillows.
"West VA," Dean said moving to the other side of the bed to give her a hand.
"Quite a drive,"she pulled the sheets off.
"Dad wanted to see you for Christmas...Sammy too... and he probably figured you'd be a little more okay with him needing your dad that way."
"My dad's an adult, when he wants to go, he goes. So the implication is that you didn't want to be here?"
"No," he looked at her and grinned, "I love it here...you always have pie."
"No kidding," she pulled the sheet over her two corners, "I seem to be making a lot of pies lately."
"What do you mean?" Dean asked pulling his side of the sheet down.
Katelyn sighed, "Nothing...just let's get this done so we can both go to bed."
"You could just let me sleep in your bed...I assume it already has sheets on it," he said, grin again covering his face.
"Yeah right," Katelyn said, hoping she wasn't blushing as she threw the top sheet at him and went to the closet for a few more blankets.
"So, valedictorian huh?" Dean said as he slid the pillowcases on.
Katelyn returned to the room and started spreading the blankets out on the bed. "Maybe...it's still undecided...but you know since I can count on one hand the number of times in the past year I've been around Dad for more than three days in a row, and when he's not here I worry...and what do I do when I worry? One of two things, I bake or I study. Which explains why I'm getting fat and why I'm probably going to be valedictorian. So all things considered, I think I'd rather have my dad around more," she spread the last blanket out over the top of the bed.
"Yeah," Dean said shaking his head, "I wasn't going to say anything about the weight thing, but, whew...talk about 'an elephant in the room.'"
Katelyn shook her head, and threw one of the pillows at him, "You are such an asshole."
Dean laughed, "I know...but what can you do?"
"Absolutely nothing...so I'm going to bed..." Katelyn walked towards the door, turned and smiled, "Merry Christmas Dean...all in all, I'm glad you're here not in West VA."
Dean nodded and smiled walking towards her, "Yeah, me too..." he wrapped her in a hug and kissed her lightly on the lips, "Merry Christmas to you too Katelyn Lorraine Morris."
Katelyn whispered good night and left the room thinking how great it was to have the Winchesters home for Christmas.
The next morning Dean was sitting by his dad in Paul's study, watching his father and his father's best friend talk about hunting demons...on Christmas day. He was opening and closing the knife Katie had given him. She said it had belonged to Superman...he was still trying to figure out what the hell that meant. He was only half listening as Paul and his father traded stories concerning this particular demon. His dad came to Paul when he needed special help with the heavy hitters. According to his dad, and everyone who knew him really, few people knew more about demons than Paul, and nobody knew more about how to kill them. Like he only had to think about blasting one and it was done. At least that's what Dean's dad had always told him, Dean had never actually seen it for himself. It was shaping up to be quite a hunting trip, and to be honest Dean was more than a little upset that he wasn't going along, but his dad really wanted him to finish school. He couldn't believe he was graduating this year. He'd been in five different schools so far this year, it was only half way over...God he hated school, and he didn't think Winston High would be any different. Especially since it was smack dab in the middle of nowhere. The only thing he'd ever liked about Winston, MO was Katelyn. He liked the way she smelled, the way she always tried to stop smiling at him but couldn't seem to most of the time. And she wasn't getting fat, she was getting hot. Just thinking about that made him feel weird...they were practically brother and sister. They did a lot of growing up together. He remembered when her mom died and her dad was out on a hunt with his dad so he and Sammy had been staying with her. Dean was 14, Katie was 13, and Sam had just turned 10. When the State Trooper showed up at the door he was sure it was going to be about one of their dad's. It was the hardest thing he'd done in his life, telling Katie about her mom's accident. He really wasn't looking forward to topping that one. And last night he barely slept at all, even though he was dead on his feet because he kept thinking about her...she had definitely grown up since he'd seen her last year, and in all the right places. He could just imagine her lips on his...
"Dean," his dad said, breaking his train of thought, "why don't you go help Katie in the kitchen, you don't need to hear all this."
Dean nodded and got up, he hadn't been paying attention anyway. But he really doubted Katie needed any help in the kitchen. He could tell from the smells hanging in the air that she was getting along quite nicely, with out any help from him. But dad said jump...
