Authors Notes: Okay, so you mess around with a timeline, and things end up a little differently. This is a chapter I've been looking forward to since... about the time that Dark Side of the Moon was written. Just, placement. Did I mean to name this chapter after an existing episode of Gilmore Girls? Sincerely no.

"But life doesn't often spell things out for you or give you what you want exactly when you want it, otherwise it wouldn't be called life, it would be called vending machine."
— Lauren Graham

The rain was pouring on the car. Kat switched the side where the back pack would open.

"Now you got everything? Salt, lighter, salt bullets, silver bullets, gun?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, yeah we went through this for the past two hours on the ride up here," she said. "And, ya know, pure iron."

She saw Sam try to hold back a laugh in the front seat.

"And you got regular shit hiding it right?" Dean asked.

"Yes," she responded.

"Call if you need anything," Sam said.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. Then she opened the door and started running through the rain. It was drenching her and if she wasn't focused on being cold she would've laughed. Then she came up to a white house that had columns in the front. The light was on to the front door. She hit the door bell. Now she was freezing. Why did she allow Dean to think this was a good idea?

The door opened to reveal a girl with dark wavy hair wearing yoga pants and a loose t shirt.

"Um, hi," Kat forced out. "My car broke down back somewhere..."

"Oh my god, come in," the girl said.

She felt herself dragged inside. There was a familiar song playing but she couldn't quite place it. The girl dragged her into a large living room that had a large flat screen tv and a cream colored couch. There were roughly five other girls.

"Click pause," the girl said.

One of them gave an irritated groan before doing so.

"So this is..." the girl started.

"Kat," she said, there wasn't a point in her lying. The truth could sometimes help in a lie.

"Kat's car broke down and I figured we could let her stay here for the night and then call like a tow service or something for her in the morning," the girl said excitedly.

"Melanie, are you sure that's a good idea?" a blonde asked.

"Yeah she should be fine," Melanie said. She froze up and looked over at Kat. "You're not like an axe murderer or anything, are you?"

"Um, no," Kat said.

"Carey, can she borrow some of your clothes? I don't think she's my size," Melanie said.

"Um, sure," Carey, a girl with short brown hair and glasses, said.

"I know I hate this episode, but can you guys please keep it paused?" Melanie whined.

"Fine," the blonde sighed.

Melanie squealed and dragged Kat upstairs. They went into a room on the right down the loft, and the other girl turned the light on to the room. She started looking through a walk in closet.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything," Kat said.

"Not at all! It's just our Friday Night Show. Tends to be Gilmore Girls most of the time though," Melanie said. "Sometimes it's a Rom-Com, but then everyone cries and it ruins our tissue budget."

She bit her lip and gave an agreeable nod. That would explain the music. Melanie pulled something from a drawer and passed it to her.

"Did you want to take a shower to?" she asked.

"I think I can manage for now, but thank you so much," Kat smiled.

She went into the bathroom and changed into the pair of loose pink pajama pants and the blue t-shirt that said NEED MORE COFFEE. There was also a pair of white fluffy slippers waiting for her at the door. She held the wet clothes in her hands and Melanie showed up and grabbed them.

"You can use our washer," she said. "It's not a problem."

"Um, thank you?"

"Let's get downstairs before they try to change the tape again."

Melanie turned a corner downstairs, and Kat felt awkward walking into the room with the girls.

"Popcorn?" Carey asked.

"Um, sure," she said.

She sat down next to Carey and the blonde turned the show back on. It was the same in this universe as her own. Not that the other girls would care. Or know to care. She felt something hit her shoulder. She turned around and saw someone trying to pass her a box of Junior Mints.

"Oh thanks," she said, taking the box.

She pulled some out and leaned it towards Melanie.

"Pass some over to Carey," she said.

"Oh no I'm good," Carey said, noticing the box that was angled towards her.

She nearly choked on the mint candy in her mouth.

"That's not Dean," she said.

"No... that's Dean," Carey said.

"No, the hair's wrong and that's... that's Colin Ford."

Her eyes must have been bulging at the realization. It was definitely the "younger" Sam, Colin Ford. Which was probably a relief because if it had been the other guy that was almost Dean from the Alternate Pilot, that sorely would've been a nightmare. The amount of cringe and how wrong it was for him to not be Dean. It was traumatizing enough seeing the Alternate Pilot once that she couldn't remember the actors name. Like someone had sharpied the name over in her memory.

"Pardon me," she muttered, passing Melanie the box.

She flipped her phone open and tried to dial Sam. She bounced between her feet at the top of the stairs away from the other girls. Ring... ring... pick up, pick up.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Dean... it's not the right one in this universe," she said quickly.

"Huh?"

"Dean, Gilmore Girls Dean, he's not the right actor. Because apparently it's Colin Ford, which he played you in flash back sequences in the show in my universe, which considering the fact that he's younger means that something is off. I mean, he's younger than you which means he can't be like old enough to play a role that was originally you in the current timeline because he wasn't old enough! It's freaky! So what if it's not the other guy that was almost Dean, it doesn't make sense. And his hair isn't even shaggy! It's like... pretty much the same as the season 1 hair style because that was a weird early two thousands hair style for men that was popular!"

"Hey... hey slow down Kat."

"This is... isn't a change I was expecting in this universe."

"Can't be that bad. Any cold spots?"

"Uh... just cold. Nothing that's causing me to see my breath."

"Okay... focus on that. Do you need me to check up on you?"

"Um... no. No, I think I'm good. Thanks though."

She heard Dean in the background.

"I'll let you go now," she said.

"Be safe," he said.

The line cut. She held the phone in her hand as she went back downstairs. She slinked back into her spot. Lorelai was laughing about Kirk being naked... and then it was that moment. It was a very surreal moment when it wasn't really Dean... no, Sam... ugh, Jared. Her head was hurting.

"C'mon turn on the next season," one of the girls said.

"Why can't we watch a horror movie or something instead?" the blonde asked.

If the silence was because of a bitter Gilmore Girls season finale, or if it was anything related to horror / paranormal / supernatural, it was still up for debate.

"Okay, fine, turn on the next episode," the blonde said reluctantly.

They started the next episode. It was at the part where Rory walked by the butchers seeing a frustrated Lindsay. Her insides turned a bit. There was a banging noise from the upstairs. The girls looked between each other anxiously; Kat pursed her lips wondering if there was indeed a ghost in the house.

Sam paced around the room of the motel. Dean was biting off a piece of beef jerky over the laptop.

"Was this even a good idea?" Sam asked. "I mean, we just sent her in there on her own and she hasn't done a lot of solo hunts. What if she gets hurt? Or what if we under prepared her?"

"Sammy," Dean said. "Ya gotta trust her on this. We asked her if she wanted to do this hunt solo and she was all for it."

"That doesn't mean we should've let her!"

"Seriously, you need a xanax or something? Anything but coffee."

"I'm... I'm fine, Dean."

He gave a heavy sigh. Maybe Dean was right, maybe he was just overreacting. After all, she'd managed to find Amy on her own. Only that had been to warn Amy and the other woman didn't pose that much of a threat to her.

"I just didn't... she called me pretty quick into it and I'm anxious. It just seemed really early to call in for any tips," Sam said. "Although... it was about that Gilmore Girls show."

"Seriously mama bear, chill," Dean shrugged. "She can protect herself."

"That doesn't mean I can't try to protect her."

"Dude, she's a damn good fighter, she's picking the shit up. Chill."

"Dean, I can't just 'chill'. If there's a moment where something goes wrong and I can't protect her when I should've been able to... I can't do that. I can't do that unless I'm dead."

Dean's lips thinned anxiously as he tried to focus on the lead on Roman he had pulled up on the laptop. She wasn't going to grow if they wouldn't let her. She'd been with them for a year, the thought should've been more reassuring. It just felt sad. He looked back up at his brother.

"Catch some z's. If she calls I'm gonna wake you," Dean said.

Sam gave a reluctant nod before trying to lay on top of the bed.

The blonde, Samantha, hadn't complained when the girls stuck Kat with her in her room. They'd retired to their rooms after the marathon of Gilmore Girls around two. There were two twin beds in the room, the one Samantha had had navy blue and white stripes on the comforter whereas the one she would have was puffy white. She brushed her teeth in the adjacent bathroom with the charcoal toothpaste that Samantha had brought out. The girls here seemed pleasant enough and they were nice to each other. They were just nice. There wasn't any talk of monsters, it was just some quips about their jobs and their homework or professors, and it was normal.

Of course, she found it strange that the girls had been anxious about the kitchen. Why the damn kitchen?

Still, she could overlook it. For one night in her life, she felt like she could be a normal girl. She was surrounded by normal girls. These girls were friendly and it was nice after being relatively overlooked in her previous life. She'd never had too many female friends. Partially because they would stab her in the back at some point or another. Then she got used to being around the boys and hunting. Pretending to be a normal girl... it was nice.

Then a pillow hit her face as she put her toothbrush down. She looked down and saw a gold square pillow by her foot.

"What the hell?" she screamed.

"You need to get out," Samantha said.

She looked at the other girl strangely.

"You need to get out," Samantha repeated.

24 Hours Earlier

They had been holed up in a motel somewhere in Nebraska. A variety of hunts and Kat had started to be able to hold her own. It started to irritate her that Sam would try to mother hen her or be on her tail over protective. There was something off and Kat couldn't quite place what it was. She had the safety on her gun as she messed around trying to unload and load it. The faster she could work with a magazine the faster she could be on the field.

"Hey, check this out," Dean said. "Sorority house has a ghost."

"Aren't you a little old to be checking out Sorority houses?" Kat asked.

"Hey!" Dean said defensively. "Just thought you'd want a hunt on your own."

"No way, Dean," Sam said.

"C'mon it's in California, and if anything happens she can just call us if it gets a little much for her," Dean said.

"She's not doing it," Sam said.

"You didn't even ask me, Sam," Kat said harshly.

"Why would you want to?" Sam said. It sounded patronizing in retrospect.

"Why wouldn't you want me to? You wanted me to learn how to hunt when I got here. Where did that Sam go?" she responded.

It was cold and the hurt look on his face didn't help.

"Uh... so apparently some guy died in the house a few months ago, and it's looking like a ghost," Dean said. "We just can't salt and burn it right away because the death record says he got cremated."

"That's great, Dean," Sam said coldly.

"I think I can handle it," Kat said.

"Great, we'll drive out in the morning," Dean said.

She thumped the gun against her thigh.

"Bobby," she said.

"What?" Dean asked.

"There was supposed to be a hunt about this time where your friend went missing and Bobby's ghost helped her. I think it was Annie or somethin. But she hasn't called us yet, so maybe this is, like, taking it's place because Bobby's not a ghost anymore. Because why else would that hunt come up? I mean..." Kat trailed.

"Maybe you could handle it," Sam said coldly.

"Yeah, yeah maybe I can," Kat said.

Sam slept on the couch that night.

There wasn't a gun to her head. Samantha didn't seem like the type to have a gun. But that was a face value topic.

"Look, one girl already nearly died a month ago. Friend of one of the girls. You need to get out," Samantha said.

"How?" Kat asked calmly.

Samantha let out an annoyed sigh.

"Fell down the stairs," Samantha said.

"Anyone could fall down the stairs," Kat shrugged.

"And there was this, giant gash that just formed on her out of nowhere."

"You... want me to get out because a girl got a random cut on her?"

"Okay, okay, I sound insane mentioning that part to you."

Kat leaned against the door frame of the bathroom.

"Sounds a little supernatural to me," Kat said.

Samantha gritted her teeth.

"The other girls want to act like I'm insane for what I saw, and now you sound insane trying to justify it," Samantha said.

"Well, we might as well solve this mystery," Kat said.

"You're insane."

Samantha started to walk out the door.

"Well are you coming?" she yelled.

Kat sped up trying to catch up to Samantha. She saw the other girl leaning against the wall; it was more so clinging to it as she looked at the stairway.

"I didn't mean to," Samantha started. "But he was beating Carey to a pulp. I got her away from him but then he was after me. Bastard was too drunk to realize I had my butterfly knife on me."

"And he fell down the stairs," Kat finished.

The other girl nodded. Kat got close to the ground, trying to find a dark spot on the rug, anywhere that would've given Carey's deceased boyfriend a tie to the human world. She let out a sigh and saw her breath materialize in front of her.

"Shit," she muttered.

"Did it get cold in here?" Samantha asked.

"Where's the salt?"

"What?"

"SALT? Where!?"

A door opened down the hallway. Melanie walked out of the room.

"Who turned the heat down?" she demanded.

Kat saw a figure flash into form in front of her. He had a black beanie on with a black t shirt; it looked like there was acne scarring on his face but the shirt and part of his neck had a thick line down it. There was a thick cold air that blew by her and she found herself rolling down the stairs. Everything hurt and she felt something on her chest.

Sam.

She forced herself to get up and saw the ghost in the middle of the stairs. Samantha was leaning over the railing looking over at her.

"Did you keep the knife?" Kat yelled hoarsely.

"Yeah," Samantha yelled.

"Burn it! It's gotta have his blood on it right?"

She saw Melanie approach the stairs.

"Keep the girls in their rooms!" she yelled.

The ghost flickered next to her. She ran down the dark hall into the kitchen. The lights flickered and she saw a small salt shaker on the ledge by the sink. She poured a circle around herself as the ghost approached her. Her hands patted themselves around her legs. Damn, no pockets and she forgot her phone upstairs. The ghost stood in front of her looking pissed.

Her hand wrapped itself tighter around the salt. The other girls wouldn't know what to do if the ghost decided to move its attention away from her. With a shaky breath, she had her left hand hook the ghost and she ran through it. She clenched her fist, grateful for the iron ring Sam had given her. Her feet nearly tripped over themselves as she ran back up the stairs. She started to make a line with the salt shaker by the railing, only to end up short. Damn.

Her gun.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the ghost approaching. Then she went into Samantha's room where her backpack was. Samantha was standing in fright with a small knife.

"Got a lighter?" Kat asked.

"Uhhh... no?" Samantha responded.

"The peroxide in your bathroom."

She dug her lighter out and threw it at Samantha.

Then she grabbed her gun, full of salt bullets, and pointed it at the entry. She heard the lighter click. The ghost started making its way towards her again. She pulled the trigger. It stalled it. She peaked into the bathroom and saw a small flame starting in the sink. The ghost was closer to her now and she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger again. There was a small flash of light and then the ghost was gone.

"Is it gone?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah... yeah he's gone," Kat said. "Am I the only one finding it hard to breathe?"

She put a hand over her chest trying to level her breathing. Samantha turned on the lights to the room and screamed.

"Why are you screaming?" Kat asked, her voice faint.

Then she found herself rolling over. Her hand pulled away from her chest seeing red on her hand.

"That's not good," she said.

"You're bleeding out!" Samantha yelled.

"Call Sam... call Sam."

She woke up with her chest feeling heavy and light assaulting her eyes. Her eyes forced themselves to open, albeit slowly. There was a blonde figure sitting on a chair.

"Hi?" she forced out.

The blonde looked up from her phone.

"You're awake!" Samantha beamed.

"Where's my Sam?" Kat asked.

"Uh... model guy had to pull him out for a moment. Went nuts over seeing you injured."

"Good to know."

Kat looked at the cords attached to her.

"Thanks for saving us, by the way," Samantha said.

"Part of the job," Kat shrugged.

"No, seriously. There were blood tracks all over the place, and you still held up pretty long against uh the ghost guy."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

Samantha stood up and fixed her hoodie over herself.

"The other girls are fine, right?" Kat asked.

"Bit startled, but yeah," Samantha said. "I also left your stuff on the uh stand over there once they brought you out of surgery."

"Thanks."

"I don't think we'll have anymore ghost troubles for a while, but you're free to drop by whenever. You seem like you need some friends."

"We drive all over the place..."

"I'm trying to be nice. Just say you'll drop by. Even for like, a night again."

"I'll drop by if I can."

Samantha started to push the door handle to the room down.

"You're guy out there? The tall one? He seems like a keeper. Bit over protective, but he cares about you. You're lucky to have him," Samantha said.

"Yeah... yeah I am," Kat said.

"See ya round."

"Yeah... see you."

The door shut behind her and for a moment there was silence. She closed her eyes. Her hunt had ended successfully. Her? Not so much. But it was saving other people that mattered. Then the door slammed open and her eyes shot wide.

"You nearly died, Kat!" Sam shouted.

"Everyone else survived, right?" she said half heartedly.

"You didn't even call me! If it was getting that bad you should've!"

"There wasn't any time!"

She was mad. Mad that he couldn't trust her to be on her own. He was mad that she put herself into so much jeopardy.

"I might have a few stitches on my chest, but I got everyone out alive," she hissed.

"How could you be so reckless with yourself?" he said coldly.

"It's not like I meant to be."

The door let out a small thud as it closed. They looked over and saw Dean standing by the door.

"Doc said she should let the stitches heal on their own, and that she should still stay here for another couple of days," Dean said. "Doesn't mean we gotta listen to that part, right?"

"Dean, are you sure..." Kat started.

Something felt like it was ripping through her arm. She saw Sam pulling out the needles that were in her arms.

"Hey! I could've needed that!" she snapped.

He kissed her forehead and picked her up bridal style out of the bed. They ran out of the hospital and Kat found herself having to hug Sam to feel secure. Ironically, he was the last person she wanted to touch.

He sat with her in the back of the car and kept looking at her like she was insane as she kept trying to push him off of her.

"Can't you let me breathe for a moment?" she snapped.

"You need to rest," he said.

"You need to rest! You've never been this over protective!"

"You nearly died, Kat!"

"And so have you!"

Her chest still felt weird when she tried to breathe. She didn't like yelling at him. She didn't like being mad at him. Ever. His fingers sat over her hand that had the iron ring.

"I liked you better when you were Dean," she said coldly.

He pulled his hand away from her, actually most of her body. She leaned on the window on her side of the car. Her eyes fixated on the ring.

Authors Notes: I'm screaming, are you screaming? There's a bit of planting this chapter, but ! Sorry that this chapter took so long to post, but... that's life. I think it's been a while since I've written my own "episode". Or maybe that's just how long this chapter took to write. Feel free to leave a review about what you thought about this chapter. x