Short fluffy transition chapter so you aren't left with the sadness of the previous one.
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Kate sat on a chair in Bobby's kitchen while Sam checked the wounds on her leg. They were already healing but had been irritated by her trip through the woods. She stared down at the scratches and her breath hitched. "So it is really real?"
"What?" Sam said, looking up at her.
"The thing in my vision. The thing that grabbed me." She said, running her fingers along the scratches.
Sam bit his tongue. Brian hadn't mentioned hell hounds and Sam wasn't sure that Kate knowing that detail would be helpful.
"Sam. Is it real?" Kate said pleadingly.
"I think you should talk to your dad." He said. He didn't want her to know about them right before she went to bed.
Kate rolled her eyes. Footsteps coming down the hall way caused Kate to turn her head as John walked in the room. "Are they real?" She asked more forcefully.
Sam held his hands up. "Look, Kate. I'm not the one to ask about that."
"Ask about what?" John said, sitting down at the table.
"The monster from my vision. I want to know if it is real, what it is and why it was after me." She said crossing her arms.
"I see Bobby's little talk with you earlier didn't stick." John said lightly.
Kate blushed. "It did stick. My dad already told me the bad stuff."
John snorted and shook his head. "I'd call this digging."
Kate scrunched her face and thought. "If I have the vision again, it would be best for me to know what it is and how to fight it because visions have the possibility to be dangerous and for me to remain safe, I need to know what I am dealing with."
She sounded like Sam, but more sure of herself. John tapped the table and propped his feet on another chair. She wasn't going to stop and for her sake as well as Brian's he wanted to curb the angst. "They are real."
Kate sat forward, putting her weight on her elbows on top of the table. "And?"
"They are called hellhounds." John answered honestly.
"Dad." Sam hissed.
Kate looked over at Sam and glared at him. "What are hellhounds? Why did one chase me? Why couldn't I see it?" She rattled off.
John put his feet back on the floor. "Not tonight. You are about to go to sleep and you have too much on your mind already."
Kate huffed. "No, tonight. I need to know. I-" She said firmly before Sam jabbed her in the side.
"Remember what I said in the forest?" Sam whispered.
Kate's eyes flew open and she looked at John and back to Sam. She sunk down in her chair. "What if I have a vision?"
"Then I'll be there to pull you out." Sam said, patting her.
Kate gave up and went to find her dad.
"What did you tell her in the forest?" John asked.
Sam smirked. "Sorry, that is between us."
John shrugged and put his feet back up. "Fair enough." He said before sipping his drink.
Sam darted out of the kitchen to help Dean and Bobby figure out sleeping situations.
"Dad could sleep anywhere." Dean said.
Bobby rubbed his neck. "He can take the couch downstairs, I guess." Usually Sam or Dean would get kicked out of their bed and take the couch but Kate threw a wrench in that plan.
"I want to be near Kate incase she has a vision." Sam said.
Dean grinned. "I have an idea."
They put Kate's mattress back on her bed gathered extra blankets. They grabbed camping mats and pillows as well.
Bobby caught onto what the plan was and chuckled. When Sam and Dean were much younger, they would talk him into letting them camp in the living room, watching tv until they fell asleep.
Dean moved the coffee table out of the way and threw the mats down. Soon, the living room floor was nearly covered in blankets and cushions.
"What are you doing?" Kate asked curiously.
"Camping." Sam said with a smile.
"Dad, you have mine and Sam's room. Brian, you have Kate's." Dean said without looking at them.
Brian raised his brow.
Kate hopped off the couch and laid down on the mat that Sam had thrown her pillow on. "Camping inside?"
John shook his head and smiled. It had been many years since he had come back from a hunt to the boys still passed out in Bobby's floor on mats. It would look like a blanket factory exploded and he would fuss at Bobby for spoiling them. They would stay up late watching tv under the guise that they were waiting on him to get back.
"The best kind of camping, trust me." Dean said, nudging her with his foot.
Sam returned with a copious amount of snacks and sat them on the table.
Brian went to say something but John motioned for him to walk to the kitchen. "I could have taken the couch. They didn't need to give up their room."
Bobby laughed. "They are going to stay up late watching movies and snacking on junk food. The boys used to do this when they were little."
"How late do they stay up?" Brian asked, worried about Kate's state of mind.
"Sam wants to be close by if she has a vision but I doubt she will stay up late. I doubt she will make it through the first movie." Bobby said as he walked out of the room.
Brian had expected the night to go a lot worse and felt off about just going up stairs to sleep.
"It is a calm before the storm. Let her have her calm." John said, taking a handful of jellybeans.
He wasn't sure if that made him feel worse or better. Kate was in shock and still processing but she had both of her friends with her who had a knack for keeping her distracted. Tomorrow would be a new day and he needed the calm as well.
Sam skidded back in the kitchen, bumping into John. "Sorry, dad. Forgot the stove." He said grabbing at the pot he had put on. He poured the warm milk into three separate mugs and mixed in the powdered chocolate. He eyed both John and Brian before grabbing something from the fridge and stepping sideways around them.
Brian chuckled. "What was that?"
"Knowing Sam, whipped cream. She may be in a sugar coma but she will get some sleep." He said with a twinkle in his eye.
That was good enough for Brian. Kate needed all the joy she could get and the boys were making a big deal of the camping set up to keep her mind off darker things before she fell asleep. His whole body ached and he needed rest. He excused himself and walked to the living room, stopping to knock on the door facing.
Kate was kneeling on her pallet with a full smile on her face. She turned to see Brian and jumped up to give him a hug. "It is okay if I stay down here, right?"
Brian smiled and kissed her head. "Yeah, sweetie. Just don't stay up too late."
She looked him in the eye and tried her best to wink. "Of course not."
He ruffled her hair and hugged her tighter. "I love you, so so much."
"I love you too dad. Are you going to bed?"
"I should. I don't have quite as much energy as you do." He said lightly.
Kate grinned and stepped on the couch in order to kiss Brian's cheek. "Sweet dreams. I promise I will not stay up tooooo late."
He chuckled and gave her one last hug. "Goodnight Katie bug."
Kate waited for him to get to the top of the stairs before bouncing back over to her mat.
Dean turned on the first movie and propped his feet up on the couch, with his pillow behind him. He tossed Sam's pillow over to the other mat and grabbed his mug.
"Why do you get the couch?" Sam asked swinging at Dean with the pillow.
"I'm the oldest. Now hush, movies starting."
Sam threw his pillow down and grabbed his own drink and a bag of chips.
Bobby headed back to the kitchen and sat down across from John, sharing a few drinks of their own.
"Do we want to take bets on which one of them passes out first?" John said.
Bobby snorted and sat his glass down. "My money is on Dean."
John nodded his head in agreeance.
They two sat in the kitchen and talked idly for a while before John found himself giving into his sleep deprivation. He stretched and checked on the kids before going upstairs. He chuckled. All three were conked out.
Bobby walked up behind him and chuckled as well. "Guess that bet is off." He walked over and rounded up the cold snacks and took them back to the kitchen. He turned the tv off and left a light on in the hallway. He tossed a blanket over Sam's shoulders and took the mug from Dean's hand. He walked to his own room and shut the door before sitting down heavily on the bed. He looked back and sighed at the empty side of the bed. He missed Karen on bad days and on good days. He missed Karen on days when the house was quiet and especially on days when the living room looked like the aftermath of a sugared up version of a frat party. She would have loved all of it.
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The next morning, Bobby was the first to rise. He got busy making coffee and breakfast. All three campers were still sound asleep so he kept the kitchen noise to a minimum. John joined him and they quietly shared a cup of coffee before the sun came up.
Brian rambled down the stairs not long after and groaned when he sat down, holding his side. Bobby passed him a bottle of ibuprofen and a mug of coffee. "When did they go to bed?"
"An hour or two after you did." Bobby answered. "Kate hasn't moved a muscle since I checked on them before I called it a night."
Brian looked in the living room and then sat back down. "She looks peaceful enough."
John chuckled and sipped his coffee. "Calm before the storm."