-September 22, 2008…..

Katie stirred in her bed at the sound of raised voices. She moaned and looked at the bedside clock. She sat up and ran a hand through her brown hair. She sighed. She padded downstairs and looked at her dad and uncle. "What's with the raised voices, guys?" she muttered. She walked to the coffee pot that just had water in it. She poured some water into the mug on the counter.

Dean winced. "I'm sorry, Baby. Me and Uncle Sam are discussing what Castiel said to us the other night."

She prepared her hot chocolate the way she liked it and then turned to her dad. She sipped and then smiled. "Don't let me stop you. Is anyone going to town today?"

"We could," Sam said. "Whatcha need?"

She looked at each guy and sighed. "Girl stuff. Not to mention some school supplies. If we're gonna do this whole homeschool thing then I want to be prepared. Grace wasn't last year and we always seemed to be stopping for supplies at each case location."

Sam nodded. "That can be arranged. Once you eat your breakfast and take a shower."

She nodded. She walked over to the table and sat across from Sam. "So, what's the debate about?"

"Your dad doesn't think that Castiel pulled him from hell."

"He didn't!" he exclaimed.

"Well, then tell me what else it could be."

"Look, all I know is I was not groped by an angel."

"Yeah, it seems plausible," she said. "And he did have wings."

Sam smirked. "Thank you, Katie." He looked at Dean. "Okay, look, Dean. Why do you think this Castiel would lie to you about it?"

"Maybe he's some kind of demon. Demons lie."

"Demon's don't have wings," she pointed out.

"A demon who's immune to salt rounds and devil's traps... and Ruby's knife? Dean, Lilith is scared of that thing!" Sam told him.

"Wait, hold up," Katie said. "Who's Ruby and who's Lilith?"

Dean exhaled. "Ruby's a demon. We met her last year. Lilith is a big time demon in hell. When I made the deal to keep Sam alive, Lilith held my deal."

"Ahh…so, she's Hell's Bookie," she said sarcastically. "How nice for her."

The boys laughed. Satisfied with Katie's catch up, Dean looked at Sam.m "Don't you think that if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one... at some point... ever?"

"Yeah. You just did, Dean," he said matter-of-factly.

"I'm trying to come up with a theory here. Okay? Work with me."

"Dean, we have a theory."

"Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it, please."

"Why is this so unbelievable to you?"

Dean looked down into Katie's matching green eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Okay, look. I'm not saying we know for sure. I'm just saying that I thing we-"

"Okay, okay. That's the point. We don't know for sure, so I'm not gonna believe that this thing is a freaking Angel of the Lord because it says so!"

"You two chuckleheads want to keep arguing religion, or do you want to come take a look at this?" He looked at Katie. "Could you come in here please."

All 3 Winchesters walked into the room. "I got stacks of lore - Biblical, pre-Biblical. Some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the pit."

"What's cuneiform?" Katie asked, generally interested.

"It's an old ancient style of writing."

"Oh, cool."

"What else?" Dean demanded.

"What else, what?" Bobby said grumpily.

"What else could do it?" Dean needed to know.

"Airlift your ass out of the hot box?" Bobby asked. Dean nodded. "As far as I can tell, nothing."

"Dean, this is good news."

"How?"

"Because for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap. I mean, maybe you were saved by one of the good guys, you know?

"Okay. Say it's true. Say there are angels. Then what? There's a God?"

"Of course!" Katie said.

"At this point, Vegas money's on yeah."

"I don't know, guys."

"Okay, look. I know you're not all choirboy about this stuff, but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof.

"Proof?"

Yes.

Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it.

"Why not?"

"Because why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?"

"Dean-"

"I mean, I've saved some people, okay? I figured that made up for the stealing and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy."

"Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs."

"Well, that creeps me out. I mean, I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by... God."

"Okay, well, too bad, Dean, because I think he wants you to strap on your party hat."

"Fine. What do we know about angels?"

Bobby picked up a pile of books and placed them in front of him and said to Dean, "Start reading."

Dean looked at the pile of books and turns to Sam. "You're gonna get me some pie." Dean grabbed a book off the top of the pile.

Sam smirked and looked at Katie. "Go take a shower and get dressed and then we'll run into town, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

They pulled into the parking lot of the store and they both got out of the car. Sam was talking to Dean on the phone and Katie pulled her list out of her jeans back pocket. Sam looked up to see Ruby lurking behind the building. He hung up with Dean and looked at Katie. "Go ahead and head in. I'll be there in a sec."

She nodded and walked into the store. Sam walked to Ruby. They talked about the fact that an angel saved Dean and Ruby seems really freaked out by it. They got back to the house and they were packing up to leave. Bobby told them they were going to check on Olivia Lowry, a hunter friend of his.

She climbed into the backseat as Sam slid over so that Dean could take the wheel. Dean took the bag and looked inside. "Dude?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's the pie?"

Katie smirked. "Hey," she tapped Dean's shoulder. "I don't know how you feel about these, but I'll share one of the two I got."

He looked down and seen an apple pie in a box in her hand. He smiled. "Thanks, Beautiful."

"You're welcome."

They got to Olivia's place and Dean looked at Katie. "Stay between me and Sam, okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, Sir."

He halted. "Don't do that."

"Wha..what?" she asked genuinely innocent.

"Sir," Sam explained. "Your grandfather made us call him that."

"Oh," she said. "Sorry. I didn't know. Mom made me call her ma'am, so…"

"Well, don't call me 'Sir." He looked at her and said firmly. "I'll tolerate 'Dean' for now and at some point I'd hope for dad, but it's on your timetable, Kiddo, but I will not tolerate 'sir', okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

They got out of the car and she did as she was told, staying between Dean and Sam. They walked into the house, all 3 men had shotguns. She took a hold of her dad's coat and then stopped when he did. She turned to look and laying on the floor was Olivia's body. "Oh, God…"

Bobby gasped slightly and then walked out. Dean called after him and then looked at Katie. "I want you to go outside."

"But, I've seen-"

"Katie, please," he pleaded. "I know your mom probably let you see this stuff, but I'm not your mom and I don't want you to see it."

She looked into his eyes and sighed. "Okay. I'll go…check on Uncle Bobby."

"Thank you."

They investigated the room and noted some things, then Bobby came back in, Katie stood by the door. "Bobby, you all right?" Dean asked.

"I called some hunters nearby…"

"Good. We can use their help," Dean said.

"...except they ain't answering their phones either."

"Something's up, huh?" Sam asked, standing.

"You think?"

"Uncle Bobby!" Katie exclaimed.

Bobby walked out of the room. Sam and Dean exchanged concerned looks. Katie's stomach dropped in fear. If hunters were dying like Olivia did, did that mean she'd lose them? She walked further into the house. "Um…Dean."

"Yeah?"

"If hunters are dying will you?"

Sam looked at his brother and then at his niece. He knew what this was. Dean walked to her. "Not if I can help it, Sweetheart."

They checked other hunters, and just like Olivia they were dead. Katie was getting more and more frightened. What if she did lose them before her dad knew that she looked at him like a dad? She sighed. Dean called Bobby and told him what was up at Jed's house. They decided to head back to Bobby's.

At some point, Katie had fallen asleep in the backseat and Dean had switched places with Sam to sleep himself. Sam stopped off at a Gas and Sip and got some gas. He headed in to pay and use the bathroom. When he finished, he started washing his hands when the are smoked like it was really cold. The ghost of Victor Henriksen began kicking Sam's ass.

Outside, Dean woke up and realized that they had stopped. He got out of the car and shut the door. Katie began to stir. "Go back to sleep, Sweetheart. I'm just going to check on Uncle Sam."

"With the shotgun?" she asked, still half asleep.

He nodded. "Yeah."

He walked into the bathroom and shot at Henriksen. The ghost disappeared. On the way back to Bobby's Dean attempted and failed to get a hold of Bobby. Katie sat up and looked at her uncle and father. "Is Uncle Bobby going to be okay?"

He opened his mouth to lie and decided lying wasn't the best course of action. "I don't know, Katie."

She looked at Sam and saw the abrasion on his forehead. "What happened to you?"

He smiled. "A ghost and I didn't see eye to eye."

"So, he beat the crap out of you?"

He nodded, "Pretty much."

"When we get back to the house I can fix you up. I used to do it for mom and Grace." She looked at Dean. "Bullets are really, really hard to get out, did you know?"

He laughed. "Yeah. I know."

They got to the house and all rushed in, the boys with shotguns, and Katie between them. They searched the entire downstairs. No Bobby. She sighed. "Where could he be?" She asked out loud as she picked up an iron fireplace accessory. "Iron still "kills" them, right?"

Dean smiled. "Right."

She looked at both guys. "If you have to separate, who do I stay with?" She looked at them in the eyes. "This is something I need to know."

"Your dad," Sam said.

They see an iron fireplace rod on the floor in front of the stairs and they check it out. They hear a noise and they separate. Dean and Katie go check out the noise and Sam goes to check outside. They slowly climbed the stairs. They get to the top of the stairs and round the corner when a door blows shut. Katie squeaks in fright. Her hands, which are holding the iron is shaking.

A door creaks open and Katie looked at her dad. "Are we going in there?"

He nodded. She groaned. "But…"

Dean looked at her. "Just trust me, okay? I know that's hard for you because you don't know me, but please trust me."

She didn't say anything, just followed him in, holding the iron. The air became cold, their breaths smoky. Katie looked behind her when she seen a blond haired girl come out of nowhere. She gasped. Not caring that she hadn't said it to him, she stammered, "Da-da-da-dad!"

"Dean Winchester, still so bossy."

Dean turned and Meg said, "This is what I looked like before that demon cut off my hair and dressed me like a slut."

"Meg?"

"It's okay, I'm not a demon."

Katie looked at her dad. "You know her?"

"Long story." He looked at Meg. "You're the girl the demon possessed."

"Meg Masters. Nice to finally talk to you when I'm not, you know, choking on my own blood. It's okay. Seriously, I'm just a college girl. Sorry - was. I was walking home one night and got jumped by all this smoke. Next thing you know, I'm a prisoner…" she touched her head. "….in here. Now, I was awake. I had to watch while she murdered people."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, yeah? So sorry you had me thrown off a building?"

"Well, we thought-"

"No, you didn't think! I kept waiting, praying! I was trapped in there screaming at you! "Just help me, please!" You're supposed to help people, Dean. Why didn't you help me?" she pleaded.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying you're sorry!" She hit him and knocked him to the floor, which knocked Katie to the floor.

Meg slapped Dean and knocks him to the floor.

"Meg. Meg…" Dean tried.

Meg kicked him. Katie gasped. "Dad!"

"We didn't know," he insisted.

"No... You just attacked. Did you ever think there was a girl in here? No. You just charged in, slashing and burning. You think you're some kind of hero?"

"No, I don't."

She grabbed Dean's jacket and he notices the hand has a brand on it as she says, "You're damn right. Do you have any idea what it's like to be ridden for months by pure evil... while your family has no idea what happened to you?"

"We did the best we could."

She shoved him to the floor and kicked him again. He looked at Katie. "Move."

She scampered up and started backing up down the hall as Meg kept at him and at him, kicking him. Katie's gut tightened as she watched her father get up. She looked at Meg and then at her father again. Tears welled in her eyes. "Dad…" she said tearfully.

He crawled into a room away from Katie and took his gun out as Meg followed him inside. "Come on, Dean, did your brain get french-fried in Hell? You can't shoot me with bullets," she taunted.

"I'm not shooting you." Dean shot at the ceiling and an iron chandelier falls and lands on Meg, she disappeared. "Iron," he said.

"DAD!" she rushed inside and threw herself in his arms. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm good." He kissed her hair. "Now." And he had never spoken more truer words than in that moment.

They get back downstairs and the chaos starts happening again. Katie sighed, "Oh, not again."

"Come on, Katie," Bobby said. They gathered up some stuff and went to the basement.

He opened a completely iron-clad, salt-covered panic room. Katie looked around when the lights when on. "What…is this?"

"You built a panic room?" Sam asked, smiling.

"I had a weekend off," Bobby said, looking serious.

Katie laughed. "Of course," she looked at Sam, "Because something like this only takes seventy-two hours to build."

Sam snickered.

"Bobby."

"What?"

"You're awesome." He smiled and then the smile faded when he seen a poster of the famous Bo Derek picture of her in a bathing suit. "Oh."

Katie was pacing to keep awake. Dean watched her. "Hey, Beautiful."

"Yeah?"

"Go to sleep."

She shook her head. "I'll sleep when my dad, uncle and pseudo-grandfather's lives aren't being threatened."

Sam smiled. "Do you even know what that word means?"

"Um…no…" she said innocently.

"It means fake," Sam said. "An imposter."

Her mouth formed an 'O' and she looked at her dad and then Bobby. "I'm sorry!"

He laughed. "It's okay. You should sleep."

She shook her head. "Can't, even though I want to."

An hour or so later, Sam and Dean are making salt bullets at a table, while Katie's reading one of the many books Bobby's got in the room with them. "See, this is why I can't get behind God."

"Huh?" Katie asked, confused. "Have you finally cracked?"

Sam chuckled. "What are you talking about?"

"If he doesn't exist, fine. Bad crap happens to good people. That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason - just random, horrible, evil - I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself? You know, why doesn't he help?"

Sam and Katie, then Dean turn to look at Bobby.

"I ain't touching this one with at 10-foot pole."

"Yeah."

Seconds later, Bobby said, "Found it."

"What?" Sam and Katie said in unison.

"The symbol you saw - the brand on the ghosts…" Bobby explained.

"Yeah?"

"Mark of the Witness."

"What?" Katie asked walking to Bobby.

"Witness? Witness to what?" Sam asked as Katie read to herself over Bobby's shoulder.

"The unnatural. None of them died what you'd call ordinary deaths. See, these ghosts - they were forced to rise. They woke up in agony. They were like rabid dogs. It ain't their fault. Someone rose them... on purpose."

"Who?"

"Do I look like I know? But whoever it was used a spell so powerful it left a mark, a brand on their souls." Sam walked to him, standing beside Katie. "Whoever did this had big plans. It's called "the rising of the witnesses." It figures into an ancient prophecy."

"Wait, wait." Dean rose. "What - what book is that prophecy from?"

"Well, the widely distributed version's just for tourists, you know. But long story short - Revelations. This is a sign, boys."

In unison the brothers asked, "A sign of what?"

"The apocalypse."

"Whoa, time out," Katie said. "As in 'the world is coming to end' and all that crap?"

"That would be it."

"Great. As if finding your father who was risen from hell by an angelic butthead wasn't enough."

"Butthead?" Sam and Dean said in unison.

"Well, the word I wanted to say I'm not old enough to yet," she said sassily.

Dean laughed. "Oh, kiddo, you're exactly what I needed."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell you later."

They decide before taking the End of the World Road Trip, that they should take care of the ghosts upstairs. Dean looked at Katie. "Sweetheart."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how to use a shotgun?"

She nodded. "One of the rare times mom actually taught me, she taught me to use a gun. Why?"

Dean smiled. "Good. We're gonna need your help."

She nodded. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Shoot anything that don't look like us," Sam told her.

She nodded and cocked the gun. "Got it."

After shooting a ghost on the way upstairs, they got to the library. Dean and Sam helped Bobby gather everything, while Katie stood watch. The twin girls that had died on one of Bobby's cases appeared. She aimed and fired, they disappeared.

"Good job, Baby."

As Dean walked into the kitchen to gather some ingredients the twin girls appeared again. Katie aimed, and fired again. As Bobby continued to gather stuff, the sliding doors to the kitchen closed. Katie looked at Bobby and Bobby said, "Dean?"

"I'm all right, Bobby. Keep working."

After Dean and Sam came out of the kitchen and Bobby started the chanting, all that could be heard through the place was the sounds of gunshots as Dean, Katie and Sam just kept shooting. As they got closer, Meg's ghost tried to get Bobby and he dropped the bowl. Dean caught it and threw it into the fire.

Katie put the gun down and rushed to the older man. "Bobby!"

"I'm…o….kay…" he told her.

The boys helped him to his feet.

Later that night, Katie couldn't sleep even though her mind, body and soul were exhausted. Wrapping the blanket around her, she went downstairs. She found her dad and uncle sleeping in the living room. She went to her knees beside her dad and woke him up. "Dean."

He blinked tiredly. "Baby, what are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep," she said softly. "Can I lay with you?"

Dean looked into her eyes and could tell she was exhausted. "Sure, baby. Come here."

She laid down and Dean wrapped an arm around her. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered. He had no idea how okay it was. No one besides Grace had held her while she slept. She always wondered what it would feel like to have her dad hold her while she slept. "Good night…dad."

His heart swelled with joy. "Good night, Baby." He kissed her hair. And listening to her sleep lulled him to sleep also.

In the morning, Dean jerked awake and found the spot where Katie had been laying empty, but her blanket was there. He looked around and saw Sam getting ready for the day. Sam looked at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Where's Kate?"

"Bathroom. She's taking a shower. She said she wanted to make sure it was free when you woke up." He smiled. "Dean. I gotta say, you have one amazing kid."

"I know."

"Why did she come lay next to you last night?"

"I think she had a bad dream or something," he answered. "So... You got no problem believing in... God and Angels?"

"No, not really."

"So, I guess that means that you believe in the Devil."

"Why are you asking me all this?"