Dean barely slept that night. His frantic anxiety kept him awake, and each time he did drift off it could barely be called sleeping. He couldn't keep the images of the previous days out of his mind. Kat lying in a hospital bed, white as the bedding, the blood on Sam's shirt, slick and heavy. Cas being dragged down into a black pool. They swam in his subconscious like the souls languishing in Hades.
The sun had just begun to shine through the broken blinds of the bedroom when Dean slipped into a sound sleep.
Kat was running. Her breaths came in sharp pangs as the wind whipped around her. The force was enough to lift her off the ground. She felt pulled in one direction and then abruptly another. All the while fighting to keep her course. Pure blackness was surrounding her and she wasn't sure where it was she was running to. A mysterious force propelled her forward. All around her were sounds of battle, the clanking of metal, gunfire, the sound of skin meeting skin. Somehow she remained in a bubble, where the cacophony of the battle was muted as if she were underwater. She continued to run, turning her head towards each noise that sounded. The light in her amniotic vessel seemed to be shining from above, and without a source.
Suddenly she stopped. A shadowy image stood in her path. The man's back was to her and a staggering sense of deja vu overcame her. She'd seen this man before. As he turned the light cast itself on his sharp features. Curly, black hair crowned his head. He had skin like too much milk poured in coffee with startling green eyes. Full lips and a square jaw.
"You again..." Kat said trailing off.
"We don't have long, you'll be awake soon. We had to time it perfectly," the man said.
"Who-" began Kat, but he cut her off.
"You face Rowena alone. But that doesn't have to be the way time plays out. Keep Sam close and do not under any circumstance get separated," he raced on.
"Separated where," Kat interrogated, her eyes narrowing taking in his words carefully.
"The Great Oak. You have maybe a month before certain events bring you there." His face betrayed frustration as he struggled to find the perfect words. It was an expression Kat knew immediately. It was one of Dean's.
"I die, don't I?" Kat said directly. His face fell and pain flashed across it before he recovered his composure. His eyes held a longing she couldn't place. As if he was pleading with destiny, an unseen force that couldn't be reasoned with.
"Have a backup, look for Slainges Well," he said decisively. Kat took a step forward. She realized the face she was looking at.
"James...?" She asked, tentative. He smiled wistfully and vanished in front of her eyes. The light above her became blinding and she threw her hands up to protect her eyes. Slowly the world around her began to dissolve into white light.
Kat stirred as a streak of light fell across her left eye. She cracked it, to take in her surroundings. Although blurry at first, they began to materialize as her room at the church. Had she been dead? Is that where she had seen James? Limbo? She remembered the stabbing pain in her back, being blinded by sterile, fluorescent lights at the hospital and Dean's face. There was a desperation in his eyes that she didn't think she'd be able to forget. His wrinkles sunk into his face to create caverns of anguish.
As Kat became more aware of her body she slid her leg off the low bed and slowly propped herself up on her elbows. She closed her eyes and allowed the dizziness to pass.
When she opened her eyes she saw a sleeping form next to her. She'd recognize it anywhere. Dean's large body was on its side, facing her. His mouth was open slightly and bright purple bags appeared under his eyes. His face had a tinge of yellow and he looked purely exhausted. She felt bad for all he must have gone through over the past few days. Especially being thrown into fatherhood. Panic rushed through her and as she surveyed the room and found no trace of her son. She remembered the boy, screaming, as a kind-faced nurse carried him around the curtains and placed him by Kat's head.
The sight of him made Kat surge with an energy she had never felt before. That same energy propelled her out of bed now. She clutched the antique dresser to support her weight as she hobbled to the door. Her body was fatigued, she knew there had to be some magic at work here but she didn't care. Flinging the door open she rushed out holding onto the knob as she shut it, leaning her whole body on the door once closed. Traveling just the distance between the bed and her door made Kat wheeze. She looked around the living space frantically and saw a humongous form standing in the kitchen. Sam was craning his neck down to a small clump of blankets in his arms. Half hunched, he inspected the bottle that the baby happily slurped away on.
Kat tried to take a step but her strength was exhausted and she jerked forward towards the floor. A pair of thin arms caught her, resting under her own. She turned to see Castiel's furrowed brow.
"How long has it been?" Kat demanded.
"3 days," said Sam who had noticed her presence and placed the infant down in a beat-up looking Pack N Play.
"3 days..." Kat mimicked as Cas lead her to the couch.
"You should refrain from strenuous activity for the next few hours. Your body has been through a trauma and Barachiel's grace is less potent than other angels," Cas explained.
Kat twisted at her waist and lifted her shirt slightly to where she remembered the knife entering.
"Woah," Sam breathed as he saw her back.
"What, what," Kat twisted more fervently now to see what was there. Sam whipped out this phone, took a picture and gave it to her. The blade had left a bumpy jagged scar. Black veins stemmed from it on all sides, reaching a few inches up her back.
"The grace is fighting off the demonic energy," Cas explained. "Crowley must've given the professor, Yates, a demonic weapon. It should reduce but you may have a scar."
"Fine by me, "Kat dismissed as she handed the phone back to Sam.
"He's not asleep by chance is he?" Kat sighed as she pointed to the door of the bedroom, referencing Dean.
"No," Sam conceded, "we thought he needed a rest. It' just he'd been up for like 48 hours straight and Cas heard him all night with the baby so we..." Sam looked to Cas for help.
"We knocked him out," Cas stated. Kat laughed despite herself. She imagined Cas descending on Dean with his forefinger held aloft, Dean unaware of the attack.
"Thank you," Kat said.
"It's good to have you back," said Sam.
A few hours went by and Cas and Sam had dutifully mother-henned Kat and James. She'd finally lost her patience and banished them to work on recon. They needed to get back to the bunker. They filled her on her "funeral" and all they could hope for was that Rowena believed Kat had been killed. As Sam researched and Cas reconned Lebanon, Kat dove back into her journal. She recorded the warnings of her adult son. She had to look for a well, the well held some sort of power over, what seemed to be Kat's fate. She wondered if he had been traveling through time, or if it was just her subconscious trying to breakthrough. The possibilities swam through her head like flies in honey. More questions blocking their path than answers. She decided not to tell Dean what she'd seen. After what they'd been through he couldn't handle the prospect of losing her for good...again. She'd heed the warning and watch her back.
Infant James lay on the couch next to her cooing with barely open eyes. He kicked his feet against her thighs and each time he did Kat felt a rush of energy. She felt compelled to look around for threats, to hold him tightly and promise him the world, and to be better. It felt almost absurd how she wanted to reevaluate every part of herself and cut away any attributes she didn't want to expose her child to. For the first time in her life, she wanted to create a home.
A sudden rustling pulled her face from her journal. It had been about eight hours since she'd awoken and the sun had begun to go down. An orange glow filled the small living space. The music Kat had been playing softly on her phone seemed to bounce between the specks of dust floating in the warm sunbeams. Dean burst from the bedroom with a wild ferocity in his eyes. Kat waved her hand to direct his attention and placed a finger to her lips then pointed another at James, who snorted like a sleeping hippopotamus at the commotion. Dean's face swelled with emotion.
He swiftly closed the space between them, grabbed her face in the heel of his hands, and wrapped his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck with such force it almost hurt. Kat felt his same concern and intense longing as if they hadn't seen each other in twenty years rather than three days. Seeing Dean on the opposite side of all the adversity they'd faced in the past week was intense. Like being outside on a muggy summer day and licking an ice cream cone. Staring into Dean's eyes was like staring into stormy seas of green-blue water.
"Don't ever do that again," Dean commanded. Kat simply shook her head in response, tears welling up rather than words.
"I missed you," he confessed.
"I missed you too," she confided. Kat pulled Dean forward. He continued to kneel in front of her but as she pulled him he wrapped his arms around her back and leaned to rest on her. They stayed like this for a long time, listening to the sound of their son breathing calmly.
"You know what I could use right now?" Kat said playfully.
"What," asked Dean, allowing himself to smile a bit.
"There should be some beer in the fridge..." Dean let his smile overtake his face.
Cas had appeared in the living room as Dean cracked the beer bottles. Sam had gone out for food, but Cas did not wait to gather the whole group before speaking.
"Rowena has pulled Fomori from Lebanon, they seem to be making their way here. Presumably, because they assume you won't be able to protect James for long here on your own," he blurted out.
"She's not wrong," Kat conceded.
"Cas, you can take us all back right. Kat, James and me? Sam could take the Impala the long way,"
"Assuredly," Cas replied. "As far as Lebanon goes, it seems to be overtaken by a case of blight. Everything is rotted. The plants seem to have a film, like mildew on their foliage."
"I'm sure we could help out with that," Kat suggested and Dean shot her a sideways glance as if to say, 'don't get yourself in any more trouble'.
"A few residents have left town but many are still there," Cas said seeming to grow more distressed.
"It's time to make a big play. We'll evacuate the town by posing as CDC. Tell them the rot is some disease. Then, what if we get hunters, the witches Rowena's using against their will, hell anybody who owes us a favor to set up camp in the houses?" Dean posed.
"Like a compound," Kat mused.
"Exactly," Cas said nodding in agreement.
A couple of hours later Kat found herself standing in the bunker's great room. They'd thrown together Kat's few belongings, the Pack N Play Cas had purchased at a thrift store and the car seat in the Impala. Sam had driven off from the church and Cas rounded on the small family.
Her chest was flooded by a sense of safety. Safety that her stubbornness had lead her to believe she didn't need. James was clutched to her chest, she looked at Dean he had already been staring at her. Taking in the seemingly wondrous look in her eyes. He felt reassured that while he couldn't give much to her, he could give a home.
Once they'd fed and settled the baby into a basket Dean found that they padded with bedding, they set to work. Kat immediately began researching ways to combat blight and Dean went door to door, explaining to residents that they had to evacuate. As he drove he called every hunter he knew. Many agreed immediately but hunters would always be hunters and watch out for themselves.
A pinging noise rang out from his cellphone. 'Pick up formula for James. Bottles and diapers too, they should be in the same aisle.' read the text from Kat. He smiled at seeing his son's name on the screen. Dean considered the fact that he'd succeeded in even getting him this far a victory.
Back at the bunker, Kat was on an internet deep dive for the Slainge's Well. She couldn't believe she'd missed the lore before. Perhaps because she hadn't thought it could be used preventatively? Whatever the reason, she knew it could be the key to keeping her safe against Rowena. If she had to face her, she'd better have all possible weapons at her disposal.
The door swung open and Dean walked through, arms laden with bags.
"I got some stuff," he said by way of explanation.
A case of beer was placed on the table and Kat immediately opened one. Dean sighed as he placed the plastic bags down next. A few tipped over and Kat saw packages of small onesies spill out with bibs, spit rags, and a few blankets.
"We needed supplies," he expanded and he saw her eyes narrow.
"That was very smart of you," Kat complimented. He left the mess and grabbed a beer for himself. He sat next to Kat and she put her legs up on his lap. He looked down and raised an eyebrow. "Comfy?" he asked.
"We should talk," Kat said. "About?" Dean shifted in his chair. "I guess you could say I was awake in my mind while I was unconscious. I think the final throwdown is coming. And we're gonna need more than some hunters to help us win." Dean nodded.
"We know I'm descended from ancient Celts. Those people were called the Tuatha De Danann, the Fomori's sworn enemies. I think we should call them up. Summon them to fight. It was their whole way of life, I'm sure they have to sense that something is wrong in this realm. If the Fomori were easy enough for Rowena to drag out of the Other why can't we do the same with the Tuatha?"
Dean pondered for a moment, "Sounds like a good idea to me. Easier said than done but, we've gotta end this."
"When I was unconscious I also had a kind of vision. I saw things about the Tuatha's abilities," she lied. She had told herself she wouldn't tell Dean who had given her the idea to research the well and why but she was going to need help hunting it down. "There was one of my descendants called Dian Cecht who was the god of healing. It was said he had a magic well and by mixing the water and herbs, all sorts of injuries could be healed. I don't think it would be a bad idea to have a remedy like that up our sleeve."
"I don't think it would either," Dean said with a worried expression. No doubt contemplating the possible ways in which they would have to employ it.
James squealed in his basket and Dean snapped to attention, practically dumping Kat's legs to the floor. He bent and scooped the baby up into his arms, swaying back and forth. Kat had only seen Dean in this new role for half a day and already understood what Sam had told her back at the church. Dean may fight it, but he was made to care for people.
He walked off towards the kitchen and began a rhetorical conversation. "Hungry dude? Me too."
A/N: Welcome back everyone. What an exceedingly long and unexpected hiatus. But, we're back and committed to finishing this story. In all honesty there's not long to go. I expect to have updates for you approximately every 2 weeks, but don't hold me to that haha. Song-spiration for this chapter is Fallingwater by Maggie Rogers. If anyone has anything to say, please do so. Until next time, Kelly 3