The phone started ringing at almost exactly noon, because her cuckoo clock had just finished singing its fluffy little heart out when she picked up the phone.
"This is Kathleen," she said, and what came next changed the way she lived for the rest of her life.
"Kath? Thank God, is that really you?"
"Dean?" She would recognize that voice anywhere. "Dean, how are you? Where are you? How'd you get my number? How's Sammy? And Dad? Please tell me they're alright. Gosh, it's been forever since we've talked, I figured you'd probably forgotten about me, and I've been starting to get so anxious-" She would have rambled on for minutes had he given her the chance, but today wasn't an ordinary day.
"Kath, catch the quickest flight you have to Jefferson City. You need to be here." There was something wrong in his voice, like he was having trouble speaking.
"Dean, what happened? You know I'm not supposed to be anywhere near you two, remember what Dad said-"
"Screw what Dad said," Dean snapped into the phone. "You need to be here."
He never snapped at her. Maybe with Dad, if he was angry enough. Definitely with Sam, whom he was usually miffed with. But never at her. "Dean. What is going on?"
There was a pause, and she heard the pain in his voice as he struggled to get out the words. "Dad's dead, Kath. He's gone."
Kath felt herself fall backwards before she had the chance to recover, the phone slipping from her grasp as she hit the floor. I thought he was bluffing, she thought to herself. This is all my fault. She heard as Dean yelled something into the phone, probably asking if she were okay. She scrambled on her knees, reaching for the phone, and when she grabbed it, felt her hand trembling as she picked it up. It took a few seconds for her to respond to his shouts into the phone. "I-I've been better. Don't worry about me, I'll be there in a few hours. Dean, what are you going to tell Sam about me?"
Another pause. "When you get here, we'll tell him the truth. Together."
"Flight 64R, seat 2A. Ms. Sarah Robinson, could you please come to the front desk?"
Kath had to grin to herself. Sometimes flying solo did have its perks. She extended the long, collapsible cane that she carried everywhere with her and slowly made her way to where she knew the front desk was located after asking a clerk when she first arrived, apologizing as she accidentally hit a few wayward passengers.
"Ms. Robinson?" The perky desk clerk asked with a hint of caution. She was a new voice, but was obviously choosing her words carefully to avoid insulting the passenger. "Here ma'am, let me grab your bag." Kath could just make out the figure moving in her direction and stepped backwards.
"No need dear," Kath said with a smile. "I travel light for a reason." It really was a light bag, flung over her shoulder with one arm and while she held her cane with the other. Thankfully the clerk didn't seem the type to invade her privacy and insist on carrying it for her. Kath never let the bag out of her care when she traveled. "Now, would you mind showing me the way to the plane? That's why I was called up, I assume."
"Of course ma'am. Right this way." The clerk held out her arm to Kath and she took it, using her as a guide down the tunnel toward the plane.
Strangely, this hall seemed just a little too long to be a airplane tunnel. Kath paused for a moment. "Would you be a dear and grab the water bottle in the front pocket for me? I get so thirsty before a flight."
"No problem Ms. Robinson." The water bottle, an ordinary-shaped container that from what Kath knew had no outside markings, was thrust into her hand. Kath unstoppered it, lifted it to her mouth, then threw the liquid at the clerk. The resounding hiss as the holy water hit the clerk's body actually made Kath grin.
"I may be blind, demon, but that doesn't make me stupid." She jerked upward, was met with a happy thud when her silver cane contacted with the demon's jaw, and heard a growl come from the thing as she twisted quickly to hold a pointed dagger at its throat, slipped out from her boot faster than most people could blink. "What do you want?"
The demon laughed instead, its chuckles demented as they mixed with the blood in the possessed body's mouth. "You're a Winchester, Kathleen, but you're not really a Winchester. Stay out of this fight and you won't get hurt."
Kath kept a straight face, but internally seethed. "I just found out that both of my parents are now dead. I hadn't spoken to any of my family for a year before this happened. I'm blind, you stupid creature. I've already been hurt in more way than you can count. So I'll give you the same advice. Leave, and I won't kill you. At least not today."
She stood up promptly, dusted herself off, picked up her cane and bag, and walked away. It wouldn't come after her. She would see it coming. It was her one and only blessing in her eternal land of darkness. If it was supernatural, she could see it. And this one was already gone.
Kathleen Winchester sat in her aisle seat of the plane to Jefferson City, tapping over and over again on her armrest. First flight out of New York to Missouri, exactly one hour and fifty-three minutes after Dean had called her. She refused to let herself think the impossible, but suddenly true; John Winchester was dead. And she'd never have the chance to say goodbye.
He may have left me behind, but it was always to keep me and the boys safe. Two weeks after John discovered the truth about his wife's death, he took off for the nearest supernatural creature, the little boys in tow. It was one thing to care for a toddler and infant on the road. It was entirely different to bring along a blind child as well. Kath needed a proper education, supplies that John couldn't provide for her as a hunter. And there was always the case of what happened the night she went blind... Anyways, Sam and Dean just weren't safe with her around. Missouri the psychic was a piece of heaven found in a hopeless man's refuge. Before Kathleen knew it, she had a new mother: a woman who taught her to sense and understand everything around her. Thanks to Missouri, Kath could read, write, and sense demons before she reached the age of five. Fighting them off came with time and lessons. But John never forgot her, never missed a birthday. Until the day that she turned him away. It was the day before her twenty-third birthday too, a night after she'd survived a vicious demon attack that nearly cost her everything. John had shown up to try too little, too late.
"Kathleen Winchester, you open the door right now!" She could hear him pounding on the door of her temporary apartment, but refused to answer it.
"What are you going to do, sir?" That term had always been used with respect, but there was no respect this evening. "Break the door down? Feel free to, I'd just love to have a reason to call the cops on you."
"Kath," he tried to reason with her now. "I'm your father."
"No!" She shouted through the doorway, ignoring the angry tears that began to stream down her face. "Not anymore! Not after everything that you've made me do! You can't keep trying to pretend that you actually care about what happens to me. I should have died; that demon wanted me a rotting corpse. If it weren't for this stupid feud, I probably wouldn't have had to deal with it. I'm tired of this. If I hadn't been on my deathbed, I probably wouldn't have seen you for years, and that's not what family is supposed to do. I wanted to have a real family, Dad: a real father and two real brothers, not the bullshit I had to tell kids at school about why I was an only child of an adoptive mom. They were all lies! And you expect me to keep lying until I die?"
She heard John's press against the door in exasperation. "I'm trying to keep you safe, Kath. I'm trying to keep us all safe."
"I'm tired of safe, Dad!" She grabbed the nearest item on her coffee table, which she knew to be a hard-copy Braille version of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and threw it at an offending wall. "Safe hasn't really worked for us, has it? I'm still hunted like the pieces of crap that you and Dean go looking for. I heard that Sammy left too; he couldn't put up with it either, huh? Mom's dead, Dad, and she's not coming back. Can't you just quit on this revenge and let the thing on its way? Maybe then I can come out of this hermit life. Maybe then I can actually meet my baby brother."
Silence. Then,'"You know that can't happen, Kathleen."
She grabbed a bigger book this time, an encyclopedia of some sorts, and threw it at the door. Thud. "Fine. Continue with this stupid hunt. I won't interfere with your idiot plans. But don't contact me again. Stay out of my life. Give my regards to the boys- Oh, I'm sorry. Boy. Dean. My twin. Since I haven't seen the 'baby' of our family since he was a few months old. According to Dean, now he's apparently taller than me." She was shaking in anger by this point. "Go to hell, John Winchester."
More silence. Then she heard the stomp of footsteps as her father walked away, defeated for probably the first time in his life. She was to never see him alive again.
It was a conversation that she regretted the moment that it left her tongue. The repercussions, however, lasted for three years. Today they were all over, but Kath was empty inside. The plane took off and she placed sunglasses over her eyes, so that no one could see her silent tears. John Winchester was dead. And it may have been all her fault.
Hello there! Forgive me, this is my first Supernatural story: As a newbie to the show (I've only seen 1 & 10/11ths of the entire show), I may not know exactly what will happen in the future, which should help shape my characterization at the moment. This story starts at the beginning of Season 2, but it will probably travel through time when needed. There will be three POV characters: Sam, Dean, and Kath, but I may add some randomness in the midst of it all. I'm not exactly sure where this story will take me, but I hope you stick around for the ride. I promise, all of your favorite characters will most likely make your way into this story (I haven't personally met Castiel or the other angels yet, so bear with my slow continuation with the show!). I hope you enjoyed! Please review (It really helps me continue on, and I need constructive criticism)!