December 1989
John drove into town. He had left Sam and Dean a couple of towns over. He wondered how bad of a father he had to be to leave his 10 year old in charge of his 6 year old. Dean was almost 11, but still. He shook it off. He had a job to do. Corpses had been disappearing in this town. That meant ghouls. He went to a funeral and hid behind the trees, seeing if he could spot the offender.
There was no luck there, so he decided to stake out the local crypt. He had been sitting there about an hour when he heard it. A man came in and started busting open one of the drawers.
"Hey!" John yelled.
The ghoul attacked him.
SSS
Deputy Joe Barton had never seen a case like this in his life. Who would want corpses? It didn't make a lick of sense. But he thought maybe a stake-out was in order. He headed to the crypt. He heard noise coming from inside. He drew his gun. When he went in, he saw one man attacking another.
"Police. Freeze!" he yelled.
The attacker made him no mind and went on attacking. Joe shot the man square in the back. He fell off of his victim. But then he stood up. Like nothing had ever happened. And he turned his attention on Joe. As he came at Joe, Joe discharged his gun again. The man kept coming. It was like a bad horror movie. He felt himself being tackled and smelt the most vile breath he had ever smelt. Then he heard a shot and the man's head exploded on to him and Joe was freed from its grasp.
Joe pushed the thing off of him and stood up. "What was that?" he asked.
"You don't want to know," John answered.
"Who are you?" Joe asked.
"Somebody who takes care of things like these," John answered. No name of course.
"Looks like you could use some taking care of yourself," Joe said, indicating John's mangled everything.
"No hospital."
"It's OK. I'm the deputy. I'll tell them it's a hunting accident, what are they going to say about it?"
"You would do that?" John asked.
"You just saved my life in case you hadn't noticed."
"Yeah, I guess I did," John smiled.
"What's your name?" Joe asked.
John figured he could trust this guy. "John Winchester."
"Nice to meet you, John. I'm Joe Barton." He helped John out to his squad car to take him to the emergency room. Little did either of them know that two little ghouls were listening at the edge of the crypt. They looked at each other and swore their revenge.
SSS
Joe had helped John into the emergency room. He was explaining to the doctor about the "hunting accident." A nurse came in to administer the doctor's orders. John did a double take.
"Kathy? Kathy Ward?" he couldn't believe he would run into his old high school girlfriend.
"John Winchester?" she was equally amazed. "I actually go by Kate now. It's more grown-up I think. And my last name is Milligan."
"You're married?" John asked as she wrapped gauze around his arm.
"I was," she said. Then the doctor came in and their conversation ceased.
John's wounds looked a lot worse than they were. All he needed was some stitches and the doctor told him he could go home.
"Do you live around here?" Kate asked. She was surprised she hadn't run into him before.
"No. Just passing through," he said.
"You were passing through, hunting?" she asked.
John remained silent.
"Well, you can come stay overnight at my place. This town isn't really known for its hotels."
"I couldn't put you out," John said.
"I insist."
"OK, then," John said.
Once in the car, John said, "So you were married?"
"Yes. A few months after we broke up, I left town and met Jeff Milligan. I fell head over heels in love. We were married the next year."
"What happened?" John asked.
"Five months of absolute wedded bliss and then he got cancer. It was so fast and so slow at the same time. He died three months after he was diagnosed, but the pain levels during that time were unbelievable. It's why I decided to become a nurse. If I can alleviate even one person's pain. I'm sorry," she said as she began to tear up. "Here we are," she said as pulled into a driveway.
"Nice house," John said.
"Well, Jeff had a little bit of life insurance and his family had money, so I had enough to pay off our mortgage and for nursing school after he died. Now, I'm all on my own, though."
John wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sorry, Kathy, I mean Kate."
"So, what about you? You married?"
"I was."
"Well, then what's your story?"
"You probably won't believe this, but I married Mary Campbell."
"No way, you two hated each other," Kathy said. "Do you want something to drink?"
"Water would be good," John said. "Yeah. We got married when I got back from Vietnam." No point in telling her that he fell in love with Mary the same day he broke up with her. That would be a little cruel.
"Any kids?"
"Two boys. Sam and Dean."
"Named after her parents," Kate noted.
"Yes. They both remind me so much of her."
"So what happened? I noticed you also used the past tense."
"Mary died in a house fire when our youngest was six months old."
"That's awful," Kate said. She started to tear up all over again. "I'm sorry. It's just she was my best friend for so long. Sometimes I think about her and wonder what happened to her."
"What ever happened with you two anyway? You would never tell me and by the time Mary and I got together it seemed like ancient history, so I never thought to ask."
Kate smiled. "Honestly? We broke up because she got mad at me for going out with you. I thought she was just being a snob or something, but in hindsight, maybe she was jealous."
John couldn't help it. He smiled. "I don't know if that's true, but I'm going to pretend that it is."
Kate laughed. "Go right ahead."
They spent the whole night talking about Mary and Jeff. Old friends from high school that neither of them had seen for years. Sam and Dean. When the sun came up, John kissed Kate. She was surprised, but she kissed him back. They fell back on to her couch and gave in to all their feelings of lust, grief, shared history and just plain convenience.
When they got up, John got dressed and left. No good-bye or anything. He felt like a major jerk. But he did it anyway. He had a job to do, a vow to keep, and kids to raise the best he could.