Kate Reynolds kicked at the dirt, embarrassment staining her cheeks red. It was bad enough to get dumped at an uncle's that she hadn't seen since she was a baby, but to realize that not only didn't her mother call ahead, he was utterly opposed to taking in an eighteen year old girl for the summer.

"Come on Bobby, it's just for a few months till I can get back on my feet. I just can't drag her from place to place while I look for a job and a place to live," Sandy Reynolds pleaded. "You're the only person that she can even claim as kin." When Bobby shook his head, Sandy pulled out the last card she had. "What would my sister say if she knew that you refused to take in her only niece?"

"Balls," the old man grumbled. "Fine, the girl can stay, but only for three months. Agreed?"

Sandy sighed, relieved. "No problem. I'm sure I'll be able to get settled by then. Thanks Bobby." Taking her only daughter's shoulders she planted a kiss on Kate's forehead. "Be good for your uncle, and for heaven's sake, stay out of trouble."

The sullen teenager nodded and then watched as her mother climbed into the old Buick and headed down the dirt drive.

"Grab your things girl, I ain't got all day." Bobby said.

Reluctantly, she grabbed the duffel at her feet and followed him into the house. She caught the scent of some type of whiskey that clung to her uncle almost like cologne. She stepped through the front door and her eyes widened in surprise. The place was a mess. Books and random objects were piled on every available surface. She was surveying the living room when she heard someone clomping towards them.

"Hey Bobby!" a young man hobbled around the corner on a pair of crutches. "I think I got something about that-"

"Dean!" Bobby barked out. He cocked his head towards Kate. "We got company." He cleared his throat. "Dean's an old family friend."

Dean stopped so quickly, Kate was afraid that he might fall right off those crutches. She could see his eyes skim over her and she examined him as well. If she had to guess, he was probably twenty-two maybe twenty-three. His jeans were split right up the seam to make room for the large cast that encased his right leg from the upper thigh down. Only the tips of his toes were visible. His other foot wore a broken in work boot, and the worn denim clung to the well defined muscles in his left leg. Some sort of band t-shirt was barely visible underneath an open button-down.

She brought her eyes up to his face and paused. He was looking directly at her. Her bright blue eyes met his hazel ones. Although she wasn't exactly sure if hazel was the right word. They had specks of brown but were more green-gray. His light brown hair was short and spikey. A smile played at his lips.

"Dean this is Kate, she'll be staying here for a while." Bobby said.

Dean's eyes widened in surprise. "Bobby, you can't be serious."

"Well I am you idjit. Kate's family and needs a place for a while. She's going to take the extra room." He directed his next comment to her. "Top of the stairs and it's the third door on the left. Stay out of the other rooms, you hear me? I mean it, if a door is shut, keep it that way."

"Sure Bobby," Kate said softly. Hoisting her bag a little higher, she climbed the stairs and pushed open the door to the room Bobby had indicated.

"Ugh," she groaned. The room smelled like rotting books and dirt. She could almost taste the stale air. Tossing her things on the bed, which caused a cloud of dust to rise up, she marched over to the windows to open them. Gulping in the fresh air gratefully, she turned to survey the small room.

Like every other room she'd seen so far, it was covered in books. Not paperbacks, but big old books with leather spines. Picking up one of the closest volumes she was surprised to see it was in Greek. She didn't know much about Bobby Singer besides the fact that he had once been married to her mother's sister Karen and that she'd died years ago. All her mother ever said about him, was that after Aunt Karen died he got strange. If what she'd seen so far was typical, Kate would have to agree.

Tossing the book aside, she set about making the room livable.

A few hours later, she finished spreading the freshly washed sheets across the bed. The blanket and quilt were too large to fit into the dryer, but they were hanging on the clothesline out back. With any luck they'd be dry by bedtime. Even if they weren't, no big deal, June in South Dakota was typically pretty warm.

Realizing that she was starving, Kate headed downstairs. She opened up the fridge and stared into it, not quite sure of what she was seeing. Beer dominated the top shelf, but there on the shelf next to the bottles was a jar of what looked like blood.

Gingerly, she picked up the mason jar. Holding it up to the light, she slowly turned it, looking for something that might be in it. Not seeing anything, she hesitated, torn between going and asking her uncle what the hell it was, and putting it back. Sensing Bobby wouldn't appreciate any questions, she put the jar back in the fridge. Seeing nothing edible in the fridge next to the mystery jar, she turned to check the cabinets which yielded nothing except a can of green beans that looked like they were from the Kennedy era and a half empty box of pasta.

"There's no food," she complained walking into the family room.

Bobby and Dean looked up from the baseball game. "Uh, we usually just get take out," Bobby said.

"I'm not eating takeout for three meals a day," Kate protested. "Give me the car keys and some money and I'll go grocery shopping." When Bobby just looked at her she said, "Or I can sit down and you can explain to me what you're watching. I've never watched a baseball game before."

Bobby pushed himself up. "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

Kate shrugged, "I've heard that a time or two."

Soon as he heard the old pickup rumble down the driveway Dean turned to the older man. "What the fuck Bobby? What were you thinking?"

Bobby fixed his eye on Dean. "You best watch it. This is still my house. That girl needs a place to stay and I gave it to her. End of story."

Dean drained his beer all in one long gulp. "There's no way that she's going to be able to stay here and not figure things out. Hell, I mean look at this place. You got books about every monster ever to be rumored to set foot on this planet, not to mention the other odds and ends that you got stashed everywhere." Dean turned back to the tv. "Did you take that lamb's blood out of the fridge?"

Bobby glanced towards the kitchen. "Balls."

Dean chuckled and leaned back. "If you're going in the kitchen to move it, want to bring me back another beer?"

He sat back and thought about the girl with the black hair and startling blue eyes.

"What is it?" Dean pushed at the food.

"Fried catfish, spinach and cornbread," Kate replied, sounding a lot more confident than she was. She cooked for herself a lot, but tended to stay with the same few items all the time. While they tended to come out above average, if she did say so herself, she didn't think she was going to be able to sell these two on tofu and plain chicken breasts.

"Were they out of ground beef?" Dean asked.

"Just eat it Dean. It wouldn't kill you to skip a cheeseburger every once in a while," Bobby said. "Besides, smells pretty good." He speared a forkful and ate it. "Tastes pretty good too."

Kate took a cautious bite of the fish and was relieved to find that it was actually quite good. She'd have to thank the lady behind the fish counter for the recipe next time she was in the grocery store.

Dinner was quiet, with everyone content just to eat the food on their plate. The only noise was from the comedy show on the TV and the occasional satisfactory grunt or smacking of the lips.

"Girl, where'd you learn to cook like that? I know it wasn't from your mother. That woman could make a steak taste like cardboard." Bobby leaned back and patted his stomach appreciatively.

"It's good," Dean chimed in with his mouth half full. "Is there any more cornbread?"

"Thanks," Kate said as she passed Dean the tray. "I guess it's probably because my mom's such a bad cook. Dad pretty much always did the cooking, but once he took off, it was either learn or suffer."

"I'd say you learned pretty well. Be nice to have some real food around here for a change." Bobby smiled.

"Figured I might as well earn my keep somehow, seeing that you're stuck with me." She pushed back from the table and began to gather the dishes.

Dean hobbled over to stand next to her. "You wash, I'll dry."

"That'd be great," Kate said passing him a dish. "What happened to your leg anyway and why you holding up at Bobby's?"

Dean cleared his throat. "Bobby's an old family friend. I work with my dad, and we travel around a lot. Don't really have a home base. Anyways, when I broke my leg, seemed like staying with Bobby would be the best thing."

Realizing that he hadn't answered her first question, she asked slowly, "So…how'd you break it?"

Not quite meeting her eyes, Dean replied, "Fell."

Kate narrowed her eyes, convinced he wasn't exactly telling her the truth. "Must have been some fall."

Dean scoffed. "You have no idea."

Dean hobbled into Bobby's study, pulling the pocket doors shut behind him. "Man, I don't know what's wrong with me." He poured himself two fingers of bourbon and tossed it back. "I can't lie to her."

Bobby looked up from the book he'd been pursuing. "What the hell you talking about? You lie to people all the time."

Tossing back a second glass of the amber liquid he shook his head. "I know, right? She asked me how I fell and I couldn't think of anything to say."

"Well what did you tell her?" Bobby asked.

"Fell. That's it, one word."

Bobby threw up his hands. "Fell? Dean, you broke your leg in three places and have a cast all the way to your hip. Tripping on the sidewalk doesn't typically cause that. Not unless you're an eight-five year old lady."

"Ya, well…. I couldn't very well tell her that a werewolf threw me into a tree. I'll figure something out."

"You better," Bobby said. "That girl has Karen's blood in her. I don't want my last remaining kin getting mixed up with what we do."

Dean couldn't help but look in the direction of where he last saw her. "I hear ya Bobby. I don't want to get her involved any more than you do."

Kate was bored. Not just slightly bored but really bored. So bored that for the last five days she'd taken to scrubbing Bobby's house from top to bottom. Well, at least the rooms she was allowed in.

Bobby and Dean's room were off limits of course, but there was the study. Bobby must have shut the doors leading to the room right after she got there and they had been shut ever since. It irked her that Bobby and Dean would hold up in there for hours at a time, talking in low voices and answering what seemed to be a system of phones.

And while they were in there doing God knows what, she was relegated to cooking, cleaning, and watching horrible daytime tv. She tried to change the channel but nothing was happening. She smacked the device against the coffee table but it still didn't work. Frustration boiled up in her and she began banging it harder and harder.

"Everything alright?" Dean asked from behind her.

"No." In disgust she tossed the battered remote aside. "I've been here for five days and the only time I've been out of the house is to go to the grocery store." Irritated with the voice coming out of the tv, she marched over and hit the power button hard enough to make the unit rock. "If I have to watch one more talk show I'm going to scream."

Dean smiled, "Then let's get out of here."

Since his right leg was the one in the cast, Kate drove into town. Dean didn't mind it gave him a chance to study her. Like every female he ever knew, she refused to head into town without going upstairs and doing whatever it was they did in the bathroom. Though he had to admit, she had been faster than most and the results were spectacular.

Up until now she had dressed in loose tops paired with cargo pants. When she had come down the stairs Dean had just about fallen off his chair. Kate was dressed in a tight top that showed a strip of pale skin and a pair of jeans that hugged her figure all the way down. If she had paired the outfit with high heels Dean would have thought that she looked borderline trashy, but she hadn't. Instead she had put on a pair of red sandals with just the smallest hint of a heel.

She had put on make-up too, not so that you could really see it, but she managed to highlight just how beautiful she was. No, beautiful wasn't the right word. Her face didn't hold to classic beauty. It was a little too unusual. Her cheekbones were high but her nose was a little too angular, her mouth a touch too full. But when it was put all together, her features fit her face perfectly. And with the unusual combination of long jet black hair and piercing blue eyes, Dean had to admit, she was a show stopper. But she was also Bobby's niece and just a kid at that.

"You want to get a bite to eat first?" Kate asked.

"What? Oh yeah, that'd be good." Dean stammered. He hoped she hadn't realized that he'd been staring at her for the last few miles. "Kay's Dinner is on Tresson Street. Just go down Main and take a right after the post office."

"Going through burger withdrawal?" Kate laughed. "Think you've asked for a burger at least once a day since I've been here."

Dean chuckled. "You noticed. I thought I was losing my touch for a while."

"Dean, I have a feeling you're about as subtle as a sledgehammer when you want something."

Kate held the door open for Dean so he could swing himself through into McKay's. Dean couldn't help but notice all the men that turned to look as Kate walked in the door. He started to reconsider the wisdom of bringing her here. "Come on," he said gruffer than he meant to. "Over here."

Nimbly Dean maneuvered around the pool tables and patrons till he came to the one open table. "Wanna rack or break?"

"Considering your handicap, I'll rack this time." She held out her hand. "I'm assuming you brought some quarters."

She wasn't half bad, Dean admitted to himself. With some practice she could actually be quite good. "Where'd you learn to play?" he asked.

"There was the movie theater or the pool hall, you went to one or the other or both on Fridays and Saturdays." Kate took aim at the three ball and knocked it into the side pocket.

"Nice shot. So small town then?" Dean took another swig of his beer.

Kate scoffed. "The smallest. Pretty much everyone in town worked at the factory."

Dean pulled his eyes away from her heart shaped ass. "So what happened, why'd you come here?"

"When the factory closed, the whole town started to dry up. Mom lost her job and couldn't find another, everyone was out of work. Day after I graduated, Mom packed us up and here I am." The four ball missed the pocket and Dean sighed with relief as she straightened.

"And it's just the two of you? You and your mom I mean?"

"Yeah, my dad took off years ago, and my mom doesn't have any family left." Kate sat down on the stool next to him. "What about you? Is it just you and your dad?"

"Nope, I have a little brother, Sam. He's at Stanford, pre law or some such bull shit." Dean felt a twinge talking about Sam. "Haven't seen him in almost two years though." The twelve ball found it's pocket, followed by the fourteen and the nine.

"Why not?" Kate asked. "You don't seem like the type of person that turns his back on family."

Dean missed the eight ball almost completely. "Son of a bitch." He looked across the pool table at her. "It was Sam's choice. He wanted Stanford, he didn't want the family business."

She slowly walked around the table to stand right beside him. Her perfume filled his nose. It was light and musky, Dean felt his stomach tighten. "And what exactly is the family business? I haven't been able to figure that out."

Dean's mind raced frantically for the answer he and Bobby had decided on. "Uh, consulting on construction projects. Budgets, material selection, things like that."

"Huh," Kate looked down at the table. "Excuse me, you're in my way." She lined up the shot and sunk the four ball. As she lined up for the eight ball she asked, "Don't you have contracts, things like that? I would think that a lawyer would come in handy for things like that." The eight ball dropped cleanly into the pocket. "My game. Do you wanna play another?"

Damn the girl was too smart for her own good. Quickly Dean drained his beer. "Sure. I gotta hit the head. Have the waitress bring another, would ya?"

When he emerged a short time later, Kate was talking to a heavyset guy. As he approached, he heard him say, "See you Thursday then."

Kate shook his hand. "See you then."

"What was that?" Dean asked, sliding into the stool next to her.

Kate beamed at him. "I got a job waitressing here, every Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights."

Dean looked around. The bar was filled with truckers, bikers and just all around rough looking guys. "Here? You're going to work here?"

Kate pushed her hair back. "Why not here? Our waitress, Lacey says she makes great tips on the weekends and it's not too bad during the week either. Talk about good timing, I guess one of their waitresses just gave notice yesterday."

"I don't know Kate, I don't think Bobby's going to like this."

Kate clamped her jaw tightly. "Well Bobby doesn't have any choice in the matter. I'm eighteen and I can work anywhere I want. He's giving me a place to crash for a while, not taking over as a parent."

"Okay….. You're decision. I got it." Dean gave her an admiring look. She was sexy as hell when she was angry. "I guess it's my turn to rack."

Kate sipped her soda, visibly relaxing. "Damn right it is."

AC/DC's Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution started playing on the jukebox. "Oh! I love this song!" Kate cried and started singing along. "Whiskey, gin and brandy, With a glass I'm pretty handy, I'm trying to walk a straight line, On sour mash and cheap wine."

"Wait, wait," Dean interrupted her. "You know AC/DC?" he asked dubiously.

"Why shouldn't I like AC/DC?"

Dean tossed the last ball into the triangle. "I don't know, you're young…and a girl."

Kate sashayed her way over in time to the music. As she positioned the cue ball she said, "I'm not that much younger than you and I don't see what being a girl has to do with anything." She hit the ball and sent the racked ones flying all over the table.

"Well if you know so much about them, what album did this song come from?" Dean challenged her.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Back in Black. It was their seventh album released in Australia, but only their sixth international release. It was also the first album after Bon Scott's death. It has since become the second best selling album of all time." She looked up from her shot. "Any more questions?"

"Nope," Dean said. "Think that just about covers it."

"Everyone shows up for graduation and there's this giant pink elephant sitting right in front of the stage. I have no idea how they ended up getting it off the trailer but they did somehow."

"You're kidding," Dean said slamming the passenger door shut.

Kate laughed, "They ended up moving the podium all the way to the far side so people could see. It made for some interesting pictures I bet."

Dean chuckled, "Sounds like something I probably would have tried to do."

Kate looked him over, "I bet you would've. Probably would have figured out a way to get that thing on the stage too."

"You two have a good time?" Bobby asked coming in from the kitchen with a beer.

Kate nodded. "I got a job down at McKay's, three nights a week."

Bobby frowned. "You don't gotta work, especially at McKay's."

"It's good pay and they were hiring. I can't sit around here all the time, I'll go crazy." She gave Bobby a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry so much. I'm going to bed." She started up the stairs but turned around after just a few steps. "Thanks for taking me out Dean, I had a great time."

"Yeah, me too." He watched as she climbed the rest of the stairs.

Bobby's hand shot out and smacked him off the back of the head. "Don't even think about it," he growled.

Dean rubbed the sore spot. "I wasn't!" he protested.

Bobby grunted, clearly not convinced. "Come on, your dad called. We got to do some work."

Dean risked another glance up the steps before following Bobby into the study.

Hi y'all. You might have noticed that I've changed the timing of the story from Canon. Dean was three, not four when his mother died, and Sam's only been at college for two full years. I hope you all don't mind this, but I needed it for the story to work. Let me know what you think. This is my first supernatural fic, although I've watched it from the moment it started. (It's one of my favs).

Please review. Even if you just give me an emoticon, at least I'll have an idea of how you feel about it. There's nothing worse than seeing that people have read what you wrote and they don't give you any feedback. Positive, negative, neutral... I can handle it all.