Tuesday, August 15, 2000. Kate wrote the date down and circled it.
"Why this day?" Hannah asked.
"It's a full moon."
Hannah folded the paper and put it in her pocket. "I wish you didn't have to move."
Kate hugged her. "It is just a few hours away. We can call each other."
"I'm really worried." Hannah said.
Kate was worried too. "I know what I'm doing." Kate offered, unconvincingly.
Hannah hugged her firmly.
"Remember, keep the rest of the stuff hidden. If they do find out about this, I'll be screwed but they wont have all of it. I'll still be able to go back and finish it." Kate whispered.
Hannah frowned. "Please tell someone."
"I will... after." Kate assured her.
Hannah waved as Kate got into the back seat of Brian's car.
Kate bit back the sobs that wanted to spill out. She had to stay calm. Although, she could blame the panic on leaving a friend she needed to avoid suspicion. The plan had two important parts. The first part needed to be done on a full moon and the second part on the day the hellhounds came.
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Both Sam and Dean were happy to have Kate back in close proximity. The next few months would be grueling and they wanted to keep an eye on her.
Kate also liked being back but the extra eyes were proving to be stressful. She couldn't even safely talk to Hellen for fear that Sam would notice and butt into the vision. Her plan was still in motion and she just needed to make it to August.
Brian drank more than he usually did and no one stopped him. No one could claim that they'd do anything different if it was them in hell's sites.
Bobby, Sam, and Dean tried to keep Kate occupied by taking her fishing and other fun summer activities.
Kate liked spending time with each of them and it did help pass the time. She was less focused on keeping her secret, which made it easier to hide.
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On the night of August 15, Kate waited for the others to fall asleep. The smallest noise would cause them to wake up and she desperately needed to sneak away. She could still hear voices downstairs and silently groaned in frustration. She'd have to go out the window. She had no way of opening the window without climbing on Sam's bed. The window was heavy and wouldn't open quietly. She grabbed her bag, causing Dean to stir. Her heart dropped. She slowly walked over and whispered "stay asleep" in his ear. He turned over and drifted back off. Kate knew that he would be angry once he figured that bit out. She did the same to Sam and managed to get out the window, shutting it behind her.
Bobby heard a rustle upstairs and squinted his eyes. It was faint but he knew one of the boys would react if it was anything more than one of them rolling over.
Brian was upstairs passed out. He was exhausted and let himself crash.
John was headed back from a hunt.
Kate slipped off the roof and landed gracefully. She knew the suggestion wouldn't hold very long and needed to get away from the house before Dean woke up again. She fought the urge to throw up. Even if she wanted to turn back, there was no way back to her bed without going through one of the downstairs doors first. She just had to dive in head first.
Bobby scrubbed his beard and rubbed his neck. It was late and he needed to get some rest.
Kate made it to the road in front of Bobby's house and looked both ways. She needed to be away from the warding so that she could do what she needed to do. She also figured that they'd check the woods around his house first, once they realized she was gone. She needed a small fire and couldn't afford for the flames to give away her position. The moon made it possible to walk through the woods without a flashlight but the more dense the trees became, the harder it was to see. She kept a close count of how many steps she went, in which direction. She needed to find her way back to the road once she was done.
She found a circle of trees with a small clearing in the middle. It would work for what she needed. She knelt down on the ground and emptied the contents of her bag. She took the crystal from her neck and placed it beside her. She poured a mix of herbs into a bowl and crushed them into powder. She bit her lip as she drug her knife across her palm and let the blood trickle down over the herbs. She took a deep breath and bit back the panic. She placed the bowl in the center of a carefully drawn sigil and dropped the crystal into the bowl. 'Its now or never.' she thought. She lit a match and dropped it into the bowl as well.
Bobby shut his bedroom door and then sat on the edge of his bed. He tried to shut his mind off but a nagging feeling told him to check on the kids. He sighed and headed up the stairs. He cracked the door to the bedroom. Dean was rolled over with his hand hanging off the bed. Kate was curled up on her mat next to Sam's bed and Sam was sleeping peacefully as well. He shut the door and turned to go downstairs. He stopped. He had seen Sam and Dean's faces but technically hadn't seen Kate's.
Dean woke up and squinted his eyes. He heard the door open.
Bobby cracked the door again and made eye contact with Dean. He walked over and pulled Kate's blanket back. She had balled up a blanket. She wasn't in her bed.
Dean rolled off the bed with a loud thunk. "Son of a bitch."
Sam startled and umped up as well. "What? What's going on?"
Bobby's mind raced. "Where is she?"
Sam looked down and sucked in a breath of air.
Bobby and Dean split up to check the house.
"Did she leave?" Bobby asked.
"I don't know how she would have. We were on either side of her and I would have heard her get up." Dean said in disbelief.
"I was awake and in my study. She didn't go out the front door."
Sam tested the window in the bedroom. "It's unlocked."
Dean walked over and grabbed him by the shirt. "Did you let her go? There is absolutely no way she climbed over you, raised that window and left and you didn't know about it."
Bobby grabbed his shoulder.
"No, Dean I swear. I don't know how she would have gotten out. I didn't let her go. Come on, Dean. It is the middle of the night. Even if she talked me into helping her with something, don't you think I would go with her?" Sam said with his hands raised.
Dean let go of his shirt and patted his shoulder. "Yeah, sorry." He paced back and forth trying to figure out how she left.
"If she is gone, where did she go?" Bobby asked.
Dean snapped his fingers. "Sam, you got that off feeling a while back and thought she was planning something."
Sam raised a brow. "What are you talking about?"
Dean groaned. "Sam, you have said more than once that you thought she was hiding something but talked to her and then said you must have been wrong."
Sam tilted his head. "Dude, what the hell are you talking about?"
Dean spun around. Sam looked genuinely confused. "Did you hit your head or something?"
Sam shook his head. "No?"
Bobby looked between the brothers. "What has that got to do with it?"
Dean threw his hands up. "Sam is connected to her. A few times he said that she was acting weird. He thought maybe she was looking into more demon deal stuff."
"And she wasn't?" Bobby asked.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know what he's talking about."
Kate watched the flames dance above the bowl. She said an incantation and waited for something to happen. She started to question her pronunciation of the spell. She heard a whirring sound behind her and turned to see a blue glowing orb floating toward her. She stared in amazement. She tried to touch it but it radiated a cold heat. She didn't even know such a thing was possible. The orb hovered above the bowl for a few moments before dropping into the flames. Kate turned her head at the bright flash of light. When she turned back, her crystal glowed blue and pulsed. She picked it up and held it in her hands. The glow faded and the crystal returned to its normal color. She smiled, it worked. She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket and the smile quickly left her face.
Dean fumed as the phone rang for a fourth time. She better pick up.
"Hi, Dean." She said, sheepishly.
"Where are you?" He demanded.
"I'm going to come back." She offered.
"Kate, where are you?"
Bobby was relieved that she sounded okay but she wouldn't be once she got back.
"Dean, I need you to listen." Kate tried.
"You tell me where you are, now!"
Kate bit back another sob. "Okay, you're mad. I get it. I'm not coming back until you listen."
"No, one of us will come get you and we can talk once you are back here." Dean tried to keep his temper under control.
Kate looked around her. "No way, I won't get two words in. You all are just going to be angry anyway."
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. "What did you do?"
Kate gathered her things and discarded the evidence of what she was actually doing. "Are you going to listen?"
"Kate, talk." He said as he opened the front door.
Kate heard the squeak of Bobby's door over the phone. "I'm not where I was last time, so you might as well not even try driving."
Dean was going to kill the kid. "Do you really think copping an attitude is going to help you right now?"
"No, of course not. I figure I'm in the maximum amount of trouble already and a few quips can't hurt." She was buying herself time to come up with a plan.
Dean thought for sure that his head was going to burst. "Where. Are. You."
"I'll be back in a little bit." She said and hung up the phone.
Bobby grabbed Dean by the shoulders. "Son, breathe. She is in one piece. We will deal with this. We just need to keep a level head." Bobby didn't feel anymore calm than Dean did but someone needed to be the voice of reason.
Sam ran upstairs to wake Brian up but couldn't get him to open his eyes. He yelled for Bobby.
Bobby had seen enough inebriated people in his life time but Brian should have still woken up at least a little. What in the world was happening?
Kate couldn't let herself cry. She hated the way she had spoken to Dean but she needed to think fast. They knew, obviously but she couldn't let them mess up the whole plan. She could twist things to hide the actual spell if she needed to. She took the crystal from her neck and used a roll of tape to tape it to her ribs. She pulled a second crystal from her bag and put it around her neck. She didn't know if the real crystal would light up again but wasn't prepared to explain it.
Kate looked around her and realized she had walked away from her path. She felt panic bubbling to the surface but briefly contemplated just running away. She did not want to face any of them. She didn't regret her decision but wasn't excited to deal with the fall out.
Sam called Kate from his own phone.
Kate begrudgingly answered.
"Kate, please let us know where you are."
Kate looked around her again. "Well there are trees."
Sam sighed. "Stop, look around for some kind of marker."
Kate stopped walking. "There are a whole lot of trees."
"Try to focus. Even if you give me a glimpse around you, I might be able to tell where you are." Sam said calmly.
"I don't know if I want to come back tonight." She said, honestly.
Sam sighed again. "Everyone is worried sick. Yeah, we are mad but mostly we just want you back here safe."
Kate whimpered. Sam was hard to fight with because he was more soft spoken. Kate closed her eyes and focused.
Sam had a sudden pain in his head but knew the general area she was in by looking at a fence row.
"Sam, I really need to explain why I left. They aren't going to let me." Kate whined.
Sam gritted his teeth. "How about, I talk to them and make sure you get to talk first?"
"Good luck with that." Kate said sarcastically.
Sam ran is fingers through his hair. "Stay where you are. I'll talk to them. Step one is getting you home safe."
Kate sat down against the fence and took a drink of water. The first part of the plan had seemingly worked, so she should be happy. However, she was miserable and wanted to fade away. An owl hooted loudly and startled her. She looked around and felt like the forest was closing in on her. She got up and started walking again. She reasoned that she was safer if she kept walking. The phone beeped several times and the call dropped. She had walked out of signal range. The crystal on her side pulsed, causing her to look at it. She kept her side to the fence line. She walked a few steps one way and the crystal nearly blinded her. She turned and walked the other way and the pulsing slowed down before stopping completely. 'Great, either it is leading me home or leading me to my death.' she thought.
Sam tried to call Kate back but the phone wouldn't ring.
Dean hit the wall. "Damn it. Now we have no way of knowing where she is or if she is okay." He was terrified.
Bobby placed a hand on his shoulder. "We will find her."
Kate was tired. Her feet hurt and her eyes were heavy. She stumbled along the fence line, determined to find the road. She may be going the wrong direction but the fence kept her from doubling back on accident. She froze when she heard branches snap. She turned around and peered into the trees. When she heard nothing else, she turned back around and promptly ran into something. She fell back and landed with a thud on the ground. She looked up with wide eyes and her mouth went dry.
John reached down and helped her to her feet.
"I thought you were on a hunt." Kate squeaked.
"And I thought you were at Bobby's house, sleeping." John said smoothly.
Kate took a few steps back. "How did you find me?"
"Its my job, Katelyn."
Kate suddenly missed the few moments she thought the sound could have been a bear.
John took her by the arm and walked swiftly down the fence row.
Kate tried to follow along but her panic renewed. She dug her heels in. "Wait."
John stopped. "Walk."
She shook her head and tried to dart around him she made it a few steps before she froze.
John growled and broke a limp off of a tree.
Kate heard it and spun around. "I'll walk!" She tried to pick up the pace in the direction they were heading.
John grabbed her and sat her down on top of the fence. "Do not move."
Kate tried to slip down off the rail.
John glared at her. "Did I stutter?"
Kate shook her head. "I need to explain."
John didn't look at her as he stripped the switch. "Oh, you will."
Kate shifted her weight. "Before... before that."
John gave it a test swing. "You just tried to run."
"I mean, can you blame me?" Kate tried.
John smirked. That was a Dean comment. "You ran away from Bobby's. I don't know what you were doing out here but I am sure it is something that is going to land you in hot water. I got a panicked call from Bobby and just happened to be close enough to speed over here and track you down."
Kate licked her lips. "Uh, thanks for finding me. We can go back and I can explain my side of it." John reached for her arm but she quickly fell backwards off the fence post and jumped away from his grasp. She knew she was making it worse but any sane person would be in fight or flight mode.
John hopped over the fence and grabbed her arm, spinning her to the side and lit into her with the switch.
"Okay, okay." Kate said, putting her hand back to stop the sting.
John just shifted her under his arm and continued laying stripes down.
Kate broke into sobs and stopped trying to fight it.
John put her back on her feet and started walking back to the road.
Kate tried to catch her breath but couldn't through the tears.
John sighed and stopped.
Kate was shaking. "Can I get water?"
John nodded his head.
Kate sniffled pitifully. He had made good on his promise to wear her out.
John watched the thoughts pass over Kate's eyes.
Kate started crying harder.
John raised a brow and sat down on the ground beside her. "What's wrong?"
Kate looked at him with wide eyes. "You just whipped me with a switch!" She covered her mouth, not meaning to yell.
"Are you surprised?" John asked.
"Yes. No. Yes... it hurt."
John tilted his head.
Kate looked in his eyes and started crying again.
John picked her up and hugged her. "What is actually wrong?"
Kate was embarrassed. She spit it out through sobs.
John rubbed her back. "Did you just say we were going to send you away?"
Kate nodded.
John sighed again. "You think that we are going to be so mad about this that I wont adopt you?"
Kate nodded again.
John chuckled. That was a Sam comment. "Kate.. We are mad. I'm mad. I'm frustrated and yeah, I did whip you with a switch. I promised you I would and you deserved every lick."
Kate looked in his eyes, worried.
"That was just for trying to run."
Kate jerked her head back. The running was the least of her worries. "What?"
"You heard me. You are still in deep over everything else and I don't even know all the details. BUT no one is going to send you away. My boys have done plenty of stupid things and I never got rid of them. Admittedly, I think this is going to take the cake but I wouldn't be out here running through the woods trying to find you if I didn't plan on keeping you safe."
Kate slumped.
"What I am trying to say is, I will still adopt you if that is what you want. I can't promise the next few days are going to easy but we will work through it. God, kid." John said.
"Am I going to get to explain?" Kate asked quietly.
"Yes. If you try anything like you just did, you'll be right back in the same position. Otherwise, you will have a chance to try to make sense out of what went through your head." He stood up and scooped her up into his arms.
Kate tried to wiggle down but stopped when he cleared his throat.
John smiled a bit when she wrapped her arms back around his neck.
Kate buried her face in his shoulder and let him carry her back. "Thanks."
John hummed low in his throat. "No problem, kid."
They made it to John's truck and Kate fought to stay awake. They were only a few miles from Bobby's and she startled when her door swung open.
Dean grabbed her and crushed her with a hug.
John whistled and gave him a look. "She is going to explain first."
Dean rolled his eyes. "You must be lucky."
Kate shook her head. "Switch."
Dean nodded knowingly.
Sam hugged her too and was followed by Bobby.
"Where is my dad?" Kate asked.
"He is asleep and no one can wake him up." Sam said gently.
Kate's eyes flew open. "Shit."
Bobby turned to her. "What did you just say?"
She covered her mouth. "I'm panicking!" She had told him to sleep, just like she had with Sam and Dean. She wasn't sure why it worked so well on him but had done it before. That was going to be a fun conversation. How was she going to tell them that she had been compelling them for weeks? Kate whimpered. "I think I have a lot to tell you."
Bobby grabbed her shoulder and steered her toward the couch. "Start talking."
Kate sat down and looked like a mouse caught in a trap. She looked to John and pleaded with her eyes. She couldn't find her words.
John sat down in one of the chairs and looked at Dean and Bobby. "We are going to hear her out before reacting."
Dean eyed him skeptically. "You know, I don't just grab people and start wailing on them."
Kate slid down in her chair. "You're going to want to, trust me."
Dean turned toward her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Kate grimaced. She wasn't surprised at the eyes on her but it didn't make it easier to cope with. She took a deep breath.
"From the beginning." John said.
Kate swallowed hard. "Okay, so, it started last year..."