Thank you very much 'Igotzapped' for beta-reading this chapter in spite of your illness. Hope you'll get better soon

'Bonne lecture' everybody !

Five days later.

Abandoned building on the road in between Canyon Ferry Lake and Helena, Montana.

Late night.

Bang!

"Oh my God, I did it. Matt, I did it!" Kate shouted excitedly as she held his gun up, turning around and looking at him with a huge grin on her face. It was the first time she managed to shoot well and to hit her target, so she was more than enthusiastic to have finally done it.

All of sudden, she was tackled to the ground. She groaned and tried to fight back the brown-haired man she had just shot a silver bullet right in the heart. He was straddling her now, his strong hands trying to hold her down as she kept on budging under him, trying to push him away. When he brought his head down, she hit him with her own head. He cringed, his hands gripping her forearms forcefully, holding them down. He opened his mouth wide, and rows of sharp teeth appeared up and down. They looked like shark teeth, so sharp and numerous. Her eyes widened at the view as she realized this creature wasn't a shape-shifter like Matt had said. He backed away a bit before leaning his head, ready to bite her.

Suddenly, the creature's face expressed shock before its entire head dropped next to hers, rolling a bit away. Some blood splashed on her face, down to her mid-chest. She could feel warm blood drops on her face but didn't react as she noticed the headless body starting to fall forward on her. It was caught in time from behind, and Kate saw Matt pulling the body away from her before throwing it on the side. She looked up at him before looking at her right where the motionless and bloody head was. She winced and stood up in a swift movement, eager to get away from that cut off head.

"Vampires," Matt just said as he stared at the body on the floor, a sharp machete in one hand.

"You said shape-shifter!" Kate shot at him as she slapped his arm, her brown eyes looking up at his face.

"I was wrong," he replied in a serious low tone, his gaze still focused on the body. A deep expression was painted all over his face as his blue eyes held something indescribable. She frowned her eyebrows as she scanned his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked him in a soft voice. He didn't say anything before he turned his attention back at her.

"Well done with the shooting," he told her as she nodded and handed him back his gun. He took it, put it in his jeans back pocket, his eyes glancing at the dead creature. Kate touched her face with her fingertips, then brought her hand down to look at the vampire's blood covering her fingertips. She grimaced.

"You got some tissue?" She asked, looking up at him. His eyes traveled her whole face. Under the blood drops all over her face, he could see the almost paleness of her skin. Dark shadows were drawn under her brown eyes, and even though her eyes were wide open, he knew that the only thing keeping her awake was the adrenaline.

Ever since that day when she had called him on the phone to pick her up at that hospital, she had been acting very strange. She hadn't told him much, but once they were at Bobby's, he had caught her crying three times. The minute Bobby had announced the arrival of the Winchester brothers, so that the elder brother could rest up there for a few days, she had suggested staying with Rufus. Bobby had been quite surprised, wondering why she wouldn't wanna stay around. However, after a little conversation with her, the old man had agreed for her to go away with Matt for a few days. Matt had been very confused and concerned about what was happening exactly. He was curious about what had happened when she had been taken away by that big black guy, but he hadn't asked her anything seeing that she really didn't want to talk about it. The only problem now, was that when he wanted to drop her off with Rufus, she had insisted on following him to his hunt instead. The young hunter had been convinced quickly thinking it would be a rather good training for her. Nonetheless, he had started to get even more worried when he realized she had been keeping herself awake ever since he picked her up from that hospital. He had tried asking her why she wouldn't sleep, but she always managed to change the subject.

"You'll wash later," he told her as he walked to a wall where an emergency axe was. He took it off the wall and walked back towards her while she was wiping her face with the hem of her shirt. "We still got at least another vampire to take care of."

"What?" She asked him as she pulled her shirt down and looked up at him.

"I don't think there's a nest here, but I'm pretty sure, this vampire wasn't here on his own. They don't like being alone," he told her as he handed her the axe.

"Who does," she whispered as she took the axe. He studied her face and pondered with himself, before finally concluding that maybe she shouldn't be there with him. He reached for the axe, confusing her.

"If you'd rather, I can send you back to the motel so you can get some shut-eye-"

"I'm fine, Matt," she cut him off as she pulled the axe towards her. His eyes traveled from her shaky hands gripping at the handle of the axe, to her face that looked almost ill. She was obviously exhausted. He sighed and spun around, walking towards the staircases.

"After we're finished here, what do you say we go back to your uncle's and get some rest?"

"No," she replied shaking her head as he glanced down at her. She really didn't want to go there as long as Sam and Dean were there. This was starting to make him wonder a lot about those boys and what happened back then. "So, you go up and I go down?" She asked trying to change the subject. He shook his head.

"I want you with me," he told her and she sighed, rolling her eyes. "If anything happens to you, your uncle will make sure I don't see daylight anymore."

"Alright, then basement first," she said as she started to walk towards the stairs. He stopped her by grabbing her forearm. "What?"

"I need to grab something in my car, first," he told her as he nodded his head to one of the doors.

"You're serious?" She asked him. "What if they escape while we go to your car?"

"I think that if there was a vampire alive in this building right now, it would have already attacked us by now," he told her, letting go of her arm. "Come on."

Once they reached his car, Matt glanced at Kate who couldn't stand still. He opened one of the backseat doors of his car, put the machete up on the roof and turned around to look at the brunette with one sided braid as she was rubbing her eyelids. He leaned one arm over the door, as he watched her. She put her hand away and met his gaze.

"What?"

"Why don't you sleep?" He asked her, making her sigh out of annoyance as she turned around to walk away. "Wait, no, no." He told her as he made quick long steps and was now facing her. He looked down into her eyes, and gently put his hands on her shoulders as she kept her gaze away. "Look, I got it. Something happened back there, with the Winchesters. And you can't find sleep. But you're obviously dead tired, Kate. It's been days, you can't keep on going on like that. Trust me, I've tried this once and at the end I almost got myself killed." She looked at him. "What's keeping you awake, Kate? Because you're obviously not possessed by a demon or anything."

"You'd have to do the tests, to make sure of that," she replied sarcastically.

"I did," he replied making her raise her eyebrows. "Made you drink holy water a couple of days ago." She stared at him in disbelief. "I did other tests so I'm pretty sure you're still human."

"Good to know," she only replied. He scanned her face and she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Look, Matt. I'm fine. I just don't wanna fall asleep and dream… That's all."

"Afraid of nightmares?" He asked her and she looked at him with an expression that told him he had touched the right button. "Alright, then I'm sorry, but you really need to sleep."

"What are you sorry for?" She asked him, confused as she felt his fingers slowly go up to the back of her neck.

"For what I'm about to do," he replied gently as he gave her a little smile. Suddenly he put some pressure on the back of her neck with his fingers, and she immediately passed out, the axe in her hand dropping on the ground. His hand held the back of her neck as his free arm wrapped around her waist. He managed to carry her to the backseat and laid her down there. "You had to rest one way or another," he said more to himself than to her as he closed the door. He bent down, grabbed the axe and then took his machete. He put them in his hood before walking to the driver seat. He started the car, glancing at the brunette through the rearview mirror. "Alright, I drop you off at the motel, and I come back here to take care of what's left."

3 days later.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.

"Hey, it's me again… Sam. Well, Bobby told me you called him and that you took care of a ghost on your own last night, and also that you took care of a couple of vampires a few days ago… That's awesome, congrats," the young man said, holding his cell phone against his ear as he was sitting behind the wheel of the Impala. A weak smile was playing on his lips before it vanished as he glanced outside. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I just wanted to check on you… Again. Hum, it's been a while and you haven't been at Bobby's for over a week now, and we're all kinda worried about you. If you could, um, call me later maybe? We could catch up, you know. Alright, um say hi to Matt and, um talk to you soon, okay? Bye." He hung up and sighed as he looked down at the phone in his hand.

The young Winchester couldn't help wondering if he had frightened her. Ever since she had seen him killing Alastair with his telekinesis power, she's been away from them and she's been avoiding talking to him and to his brother. She had gone as far as leaving Bobby's house before their arrival. He was starting to worry more and more, and the fact that she wasn't answering any of his calls or texts, only increased his concerns. The only way they got news from her was through Bobby who talked to her on the phone every two days. He had wanted to ask his brother to call her, but his brother had been acting a bit strange lately too.

All Dean ever did was lock himself in one of the rooms upstairs and listen to music while slowly getting better. Sam had tried to tell him about an interesting case that might be a seal, but Dean hadn't wanted to hear anything about it. He seemed to have lost everything that kept him going, and it worried Sam to see his big brother like that. He couldn't make out what was happening to his brother exactly, but he knew that Dean had given up completely on everything linked to the breaking seals and the upcoming end of the world. He had given up on the job Heaven had given him, and this only made him think that Dean certainly couldn't do what Heaven wanted him to. Besides, whenever Bobby started to say something about one of those coordinates Kate had given him, he would just walk away. Sam knew now that absolutely everything rested on his shoulders. He had to stop Lilith, stop the breaking of the seals and prevent the Apocalypse, simply because there was no one else stronger enough to make it, but him.

"Hey Katie, it's Sam again. Um, Bobby just told me you and Matt stopped the breaking of a seal near Denver, in Colorado. Well done! I just hope you're being careful… It's been what, two weeks since I last saw you back in that hospital? Um, I hope you're doing alright… Dean is doing better… Still has a few medications to take, and he's being a real pain in the ass, he never wants to take them. All he wants to do is fix a few things in his car all day long even though it's friggin' cold outside… Haha… Um, anyways, I hope to hear from you soon, bye."

"Katie, um just wanted to check on you since you haven't called Bobby today... Um, we've been studying the coordinates you gave Bobby, and, well, all of them turned out to be places where seals are supposed to happen. So yeah, with Bobby we're trying to send as many hunters there as possible. Oh and by the way, Bobby's been reading those books Pamela left for you, but he's waiting for you to get back here to start listening to the tapes…Talk to you soon."

"Hi, um it's me again… Just the usual, you know? Trying to check on you and to make sure you're alright… Which I actually know since you call Bobby and let him know you're okay… It's Dean's birthday in a week, and I was hoping you'd be back before to wish him, you know? He's kinda grumpy lately with all that January snow, and I thought he would enjoy seeing you again. I dunno, it might give him that push to go back to hunting… Alright, um you tell me, okay? Bye."

Kate looked down at her phone, pressed a button and the diegetic female voice announced that all of her voicemails were deleted. Her brown eyes never looked away from the tiny black item in her right hand. Sam had given it to her, when he returned from wherever he left while she was shopping on her second day here – or was it the third day? It felt like ages ago for her, but it was just a few months ago. It was in the days when she was just a girl trying to find her way back to her normal and ordinary universe, and when she had absolutely no idea what the difference between a wendigo and rougarou was. In the days when everything seemed so much easier for her, and yet it was still so complicated. It has always been complicated. Her whole life has always seemed to be this kind of big scribble done by a kid from kindergarten. So messy and senseless for an adult, and yet so beautiful and meaningful for this kid. As much as she knew how messy and senseless her life has always been, she knew some had it harder. This made her believe that her life had to be beautiful and meaningful somehow. But truth be told, she had never felt this way, and it had hurt her a lot to realize this back on the day her father passed away. Loneliness had embraced her so tightly that day, that she had even stopped looking for the possibility of beauty or sense in her life. As she shifted the phone slightly, her eyes landed on her palm where four little scars were aligned. Memory of the reason of their presence provoked a slight heartache.

Everything from that day back in December had made her want to run away. Because she was afraid; afraid of facing that good man she had destroyed instead of helping. He had been the one to save her from her own mind. He had been the one making her understand that she wasn't alone even though she had lost the man she admired and loved the most. He had been the one to pull her away from the tight embrace loneliness had been given her ever since her father's death. He was a good man who truly believed she was a good girl no matter what. He didn't deserve her to push him into doing what he was so terrified of. There was no way she could face that man she had betrayed because she was just so self-centered and so hypocritical. Sam had been nice enough to try to get in touch with her all of those times even though she kept on ignoring his calls and texts, but the fact that Dean had never once tried to contact her, had just made her realize that he didn't want anything to do with her. Why would he want to do anything with the woman who forced him into doing something he begged not to? Why would he want to do anything with someone like her?

All she had to do now, was to wait for the Winchesters to leave Bobby's house so she could get back there and research more on how to get back to her universe. She didn't belong in this universe with angels and demons and other creatures. She had no idea why she was brought here, but she wasn't going to stay no matter what purpose she had been sent here for in the first hand. She wasn't going to be their ghost of Christmas or whatever, besides Christmas was over now. She wasn't going to let any of those angels decide for her anymore. She was going to return to her universe weather Heaven and Hell liked it or not.

Tapping her long red polished nails on the reception's counter, the young woman in a black two-button jacket, a crimson red shirt underneath and a knee-long black pencil skirt, was starting to get impatient. She looked up at the clock and let out a long sigh. Not only was she suffering in those high heels, but she was also going to be late for that interview if the reception lady didn't come back from wherever she left. Turning her brown eyes to the left, she noticed a window permitting a reflection just like a mirror. She gave herself a quick once-over, before reaching for her high ponytail that hung her straightened brown her up in a very professional way. She pulled at the base of her ponytail to tighten it. Her coat was resting on the edge of the receptionist's counter along with her side bag in which her flat boots were for when she'd have to leave this place. Even though she could walk with high heels, she was afraid to wear them outside in some cold and snowy days just like today. Sure, there was a bright sun today and it seemed to snow only at nights, but still the ground outside had a few parts covered with ice and it was dangerous for anyone wearing high heels or any other kind of shoes not adapted like the boots in her bag.

"Miss Andrew," the middle-aged receptionist said making her turn around. "You can go ahead, the director of sales and marketing is waiting for you. You take the elevator up to twenty-two, walk straight, and turn left. The third door on your right will be his office. Office 2208; his name's on the door." The young brunette gave a nod and a polite smile, before grabbing her shoulder bag and walking towards the elevator.

When the elevator's doors slid open, she sighed in relief to see it empty. She stepped in and pushed the 22nd floor button, spinning around to face the doors. The elevator's doors almost closed shut when a very tall man in a yellow short-sleeved shirt, a jacket in his arms, a shoulder bag and a dark-blue scarf around his neck, ran towards it. She quickly pressed the button making the doors open. The tall brown-haired man let out a long exhale of relief as he was inside. She stepped aside as he glanced at her.

"Thanks," he told her and she gave him a gentle smile. He reached his long and strong arm and pushed on the button leading to his floor. Pulling his bag up, he turned his head back towards her and frowned. "You're new here?"

"Um, kinda. I've got an interview to, perhaps, become the assistant of the director in sales and marketing," she replied. He nodded before pulling his hand out almost abruptly.

"Sam Wesson," he introduced himself.

"Kate Andrew," she shook his large hand firmly with her little one, glancing up at his shirt that said 'Sandover Bridge & Iron Inc. Tech Support'.

"Good firm handshake," he noted with an amused smile as they pulled hands away. She couldn't help the little smile that grew on her lips as she noticed the cute dimples forming on his cheeks.

"I've heard it shows confidence, assurance and strength," she told him as she looked up at the floor numbers. "I practiced all night." He chuckled before looking down at her face again, which she didn't take long to notice. "What?"

"No, it's just… You look familiar," he admitted when a beep rang, announcing he had reached his floor. "Anyways, um good luck with your interview."

"Thanks," she replied as he walked out of the elevator throwing a curious and thoughtful glance at her before the doors closed.

Kate followed the directions the receptionist had given her, passing by the lobby in which a Sandover Bridge & Iron history was displayed along one wall. She quickly found herself in front of a wide open door. Glancing in, she noticed a tall man, giving his back as he was standing in front of the wide window behind his desk. She looked at the door and read the sign on it.

2208 DEAN SMITH. Director, sales and marketing.

'Right office, at least I didn't get lost', she whispered to herself before turning her head back at the man talking to someone into a head phone set. She hated those kind of things as she remembered having to wear one of those all day long on her last temp job. She bit on her bottom lip, hesitating to knock on the door and make her presence known. Her hesitation didn't last long. The man in his striped blue and white shirt and a red tie, turned around and his gaze immediately landed on her. His eyes looked her up and down, from the top of her head to her toes, in the split of a second before he told whoever was on the other end of the line, he'd call them back later.

"Hey."

"Hey," she simply replied as she took in his gelled hair and his freckled face. He looked young to be a director in an enterprise and truth be told he looked like a life-size Ken doll. "Um, I'm Kate Andrew, I'm supposed to have a little interview with you about-"

"About the project 3B for next month, right?" He cut her off.

"Yes," she nodded as she stood in the doorway. He motioned for her to come in and sit down on one of the leather chairs facing his desk. Sitting down behind his desk, he watched her as she put down her shoulder bag and looked up at him. Her brown eyes met his green eyes, and she gave him a polite smile as she felt her neck flush a little bit. His eyes held an intense green she had never seen before, and the fact that he was watching her so closely made her feel a bit uncomfortable. "Um, I was told I had to have an interview with you, to make sure we can team up on this project."

"Yeah, yeah. You're supposed to be kind of my assistant, right?" He told her as he held eye contact with her.

"Kind of, yeah," she nodded her head, as she felt like getting hypnotized by the deep apple green of his eyes. She cleared her throat and reached for her bag. "I've got some papers to show you," she said as she pulled out a few files and looked through them. He glanced between her hands and her face. She had very delicate traits and looked like a very responsible and careful person. "Here," she said handing him a few papers. He took them and looked down at it. "I was called by Mr. Alder who told me to bring all of this." Dean skimmed a few of the few pages in his hands before putting them down.

"Looks pretty interesting," he told her. "You mind if I keep them for the day? I'll give them back to you, later."

"Um, sure alright," she nodded and then stuttered as she continued. "It's just, um I thought you were kinda supposed to see if that's what you're looking for. So that I can be hired, maybe."

"You are," he told her and she frowned in confusion. "You are hired. I've read your resume before you came, and the few lines I just read," he said as he rested one digit on the top of the pages she had given them. He tapped his fingertip on it. "That's good stuff."

"So, I got the job?" She asked, completely surprised. He tilted his head, his tongue raked his lips making her look there. She forced herself to look up into his eyes, and to forget the fullness of his naturally pink lips.

"You got one week of trial period. Think you can do it?" He said and she arched an eyebrow as a smile appeared on her lips.

Putting some files in his briefcase, Dean Smith looked up when he heard the sounds of clicking heels coming from the hallway. Noticing his new assistant in her long black coat walking, he hurried up to catch her. He had had two meetings with her and a few other colleagues today, and there was no denying that she was good. She was very intelligent and tried to take part in the brainstorming in a very subtle way which had made him realize that she didn't like being in the spotlight. During the second meeting he was sitting right next to her and he had noticed a few words and ideas she had written down on her notebook. After that, he had told her that she should have shared them with everyone but according to her, on a first day it wasn't good to bring too much attention on oneself, so sharing just two ideas per meeting was good enough. All he took note of was that she was going to be a very good and promising co-worker.

When Dean finished walking towards the elevator, he found her standing in front of its doors, head down as her fingers quickly tapped on her cellphone, probably texting someone. He opened his mouth to say something when his own cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. Sighing quietly, he pulled it out and looked at the mail he had just received concerning some new clients he had to take care of next week. He let out an exhale of tiredness. As much of a good and devoted worker as he was, he wasn't really in the mood to work again so late tonight. This promotion he had received a few weeks ago was sucking his personal life more and more every day. He looked up when he felt like if he was watched. Indeed, her brown eyes were glued to him. She gave him a polite smile as she felt awkward to have been caught on the action.

"Working late on your first day, huh?" He told her, in a gently teasing tone.

"I got some people to impress during my trial period," she replied jokingly. He chuckled, opening his mouth to interject when the bell of the elevator made her turn around. He followed her inside the elevator where another man already was standing there. She grinned at the very tall tech man. "Hi."

"Hey, Kate," he replied with an even bigger grin on his lips. Dean looked back and forth at them for a second before turning his attention back down on his phone. "So you stayed all day long, I suppose the interview went all right?"

"Yeah," she just replied and Dean could hear the little smile on her lips. With his face still lowered, he let his eyes travel to her long creamy legs in those high heels and this pencil skirt. He hadn't been with a woman for quite some time with all the work he's been having lately. Surely, working with that woman wasn't going to help him focus entirely on this new project that was given to him.

"He wasn't a dick to you, was he? The guy who gave you that interview," Sam whispered to her. Unfortunately for him, it was loud enough for Dean to hear him, which made this latter one look up at him with a dirty look.

"I don't think I was a dick to her… Was I, Miss Andrew?" Dean replied glancing at the brunette who pressed her lips together as she shook her head frantically. Sam's face had dropped.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean any disrespect," Sam stuttered as Dean just huffed before shaking his head and looking down at his phone. Kate pressed her lips together as she looked up at Sam, with an expression of apology on her face. However, he didn't look at her at all. His eyes were completely glued to the other man. "Do I know you?" He asked as Dean looked up, frowning his eyebrows as he questioned with his eyes if the question really was asked to him.

"I don't think so," he replied before tilting his head as he looked down at his phone. "And you're lucky for that."

"I'm sorry man, you just look very familiar," Sam said as Kate watched the interaction between the two, curiously, when Sam's face turned towards her. "And so do you."

"That's because we've met this morning," Kate replied with a light chuckle.

"No, I mean ever since that morning, I got this feeling I know you from somewhere," Sam told her as Dean looked up at the two of them. "But, you," he said turning his hazel eyes towards Dean. "I feel like you're really, really familiar."

"Save it for the health club, pal," Dean replied making Kate raise her eyebrows. The elevator bell rang before opening its doors. "You're not going to the parking lot?" He asked Kate as he looked at her. There was a little technical problem with the elevators of that building. To get to the parking lot you had to change elevator at the second floor or to simply take the stairs there.

"No, I've got someone waiting for me outside the building."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then." He told her and she nodded. He threw a glance at Sam as he walked out.

Kate turned her head towards Sam who was staring at the elevator's doors. He looked very pensive, as though something was very bothering him deep down but he was unable to figure out what. And somehow, Kate realized right at that moment how familiar he looked to her.

The next day.

As Sam headed for the coffeepot, his colleague and friend named Ian, went to a supply cabinet. He opened it and started pocketing packets of pencils while Sam poured coffee for both of them. Suddenly a soft female voice spoke up from the doorway, surprising Ian which made him drop one packet of pencils on the floor.

"You should do it at the end of the day, when no one's on alert."

"Kate!" Sam exclaimed as he saw the brunette in a brown button up, a black straight-leg pants, ending with the same black polished high heels than the day before. Her hair was still tied in a high ponytail, but unlike yesterday she wasn't wearing any make up aside from some eyeliner that made her brown eyes pop out of her delicate face.

"Sam," she smiled as she crouched down and grabbed the packet before standing up and handing it back to the man with casual clothes. "Your friend?" She said nodding her head at the man who stared at her.

"We're best buddies," the man with blue eyes and a few days long beard replied making Sam raise his eyebrows. "So if Sam's your friend that makes me your friend too, right? So, you're not gonna head to the big boss and get me fired right?" He continued in a rapid and obviously panicked voice. She looked at him before a little smile cracked on her lips.

"I'm just here to warm my food," she said rising the box lunch in her other hand to show it. She gave Sam a friendly smile as she walked to the microwave.

"Dude," Sam mouthed at Ian who shrugged.

"What? I was just doing a little shopping. Running low at home," he replied as Sam sighed and handed him a cup of coffee.

"Want some, Kate?" He asked her as she closed the microwave and looked at the buttons of it.

"No thanks," she said after glancing at the coffee. She pressed the buttons and pulled out from her pants pocket her phone. She opened a mail and started reading it.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Ian asked.

"Hum, we just met yesterday in the elevator," Sam replied before glancing at her and then at the microwave. "May I ask why you're not warming your food up there, with the other higher ups?"

"Their microwave doesn't work. Besides, all of them have like rabbit food… Cold fresh salad or pieces of vegetables… while I have some great leftovers," she replied before grinning as she nodded at the microwave. "Macaroni and cheese."

"Oh that's heaven," he smiled jokingly as Ian watched the two with attention.

"You bet it is," she replied before looking down at her cell phone again.

"So, Sam, had any of those dreams lately?" Ian asked making a bitch face expression appear on the face of the tall man who decided to turn away. Kate glanced up at him, curious. "What? Don't be like that. Come on. It's the highlight of my day."

"I never should have told you in the first place," Sam replied almost mumbling. Kate looked back and forth at the two men, understanding that Sam was rather embarrassed by his dreams which made her even more curious to hear about them.

"They're genius. Don't hold out on me, dude. Share with the class," Ian said as he threw a glance at Kate. Sam looked at Kate who raised her eyebrows, and held her hands up as to show him she hadn't done nor said anything and wasn't planning on. Ian turned his head towards Kate. "He has the best dreams ever! You have to hear that. Come on, Sam, share with the class."

"You're just gonna be a dick about it, Ian," Sam replied.

"What? No way. I won't say a word. Come on, they're genius!"

"You're already being a dick about it, Ian," Sam told him and Kate pressed her lips together trying not to laugh.

"Come on! Total respect, go!" Ian said as Sam clenched his teeth a little bit, looking down at Kate who turned her attention back to the microwave, getting her warmed food out.

"If that makes you more comfortable, I have weird dreams all the time," Kate said as Ian waved his hand at her making an expression to Sam as if to tell he could say it then.

"I dreamt that I saved a Grim Reaper named Tessa from demons," Sam confessed, his tone almost reluctant. Ian burst out laughing as Kate stood frozen, with her plate in her hand. Sam sighed looking away.

"Classic! How much D&D did you play when you were a kid? Oh, my-okay, so you-rescuing the Grim Reaper. That's-you're a hero. I mean, thank God we got Harry Potter here to save us all from the apocalypse!"

"Dick," Sam shot at him.

"Wizard!" Ian shot back at him. Sam shook his head before glancing at Kate who was watching him in a very bizarre way.

"You're alright?" He asked her and she nodded slowly.

"She's just shocked by your dreams! Oh please, you gotta tell her about that dream where you had to kill that-" Ian started to say laughing when Kate's phone buzzed in one hand and she interrupted him.

"Hum I gotta go," she said as she glanced down at her phone before quickly walking away. Sam frowned his eyebrows as he watched her leave.

"Forget Mimi," Ian said as he pointed with his thumb at the direction Kate left to. "I wanna hit that." Sam looked down at him, his brow furrowed a little bit at what he had just said. "Don't you?"

"Not really… She reminds me of a sister," Sam said more to himself than to Ian.

"Wait, you got a sister like that and you never introduced me to her?" Ian exclaimed.

"I don't-I don't have any siblings, I'm an only child. She just gives me that feeling of sister-like, you know what I mean?" He replied before Ian's eyebrows knit together in confusion obviously not knowing what he meant. "By the way, if I had a sister, let alone one like her, I would never introduce you to her."

Sam yawned as he waited for the elevator. The end of the day was always a real bliss for him, he couldn't wait to get back to his little apartment and chill out without any of those phones ringing non-stop around him. What he longed for the most right then, was to get a good cold beer and a large pizza in his warm apartment while watching some television show. He didn't like this town very much, and always wanted to go back to his little place as quick as possible even though deep down he didn't like his apartment that much either.

When the elevator arrived, the doors slid open to a crowd of people in suits and coats, ready to return to their homes too. Noticing Dean in there, Sam tensed a little bit remembering those sort of flashbacks he had earlier about him and this man fighting together against creatures straight from movies and nightmares. Trying his best not to stare at him, Sam couldn't help but wonder how he could have had such a flow of images about a man he didn't know at all. But what bugged him the most, was the fact that those images and the atmosphere of them, didn't seem nor feel wrong at all. In fact, they felt quite natural. The elevator whirred and a ding sound appeared, the doors opening. Everyone but Sam and Dean, walked out. When the elevator doors closed, Sam couldn't stop himself. He had to ask that man a few questions.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Look, man, I told you, I'm not into the, uh-" Dean started only to be cut off by an exasperated Sam.

"Oh dude, come on, I'm not either. I just wanna ask you one question."

"Sure," Dean replied after looking around and understanding there was no escape.

"What do you think about ghosts?" Sam asked taking the man in the grey suit by surprise. He was expecting everything but this kind of questions.

"Ghosts?"

"Do you believe in them?" Sam asked as he watched Dean's face. Dean let out a laugh that was a bit nervous.

"Uh, tell you the truth, I've never given it much thought," he replied.

"Vampires?" Sam asked as he remembered those creatures and images that had crossed his mind earlier.

"What? Why?"

"Because I've been having some weird dreams lately. You know what I mean?" Sam told him as Dean frowned his eyebrows.

"No. Not really."

"So you've never had any...weird dreams?"

"All right, look, man, I don't know you, okay? But I'm gonna do a public service and, uh, let you know that-that you overshare," Dean told him as he pulled the shoulder strap of his bag up before pressing a floor button and getting out of the elevator.

The next day.

Walking quickly down the little hallway near the cubicle farm, her brown eyes scanned the people's heads, with a slightly panicked appearance on her face, while on the inside she was completely freaking out. She was trying to find the only person she thought could save her before her mistake got caught on. She had been working on Dean's documents when suddenly she deleted all of them. Dean had mentioned to her the previous day on a mail that he had given her the only versions existed of those documents in that USB flash, and God knows why she had decided to copy them to her computer and then completely deleted them from his USB flash. She had thought it wasn't big deal, but the minute she wanted to put them back on his USB flash she had realized that they were gone. All of the unique copies of his documents were deleted from her computer. And, if Dean came back from his meeting to find out what she had done, she wasn't going to last long in this company, left alone in this trial period.

She almost stumbled back when she collided with someone.

"Sorry," she said before she met the blue eyes of that man she had met the day before.

"Hello," he said smiling. "You're the girl who uses our microwave because there ain't any working back on the land of the suited up lords… Mmh Kate, right?"

"And you're the boy who does his shopping here because it's easier than going to an actual shop, mmh Ian, right?" She said making him chuckle before he abruptly stopped and snapped his finger up at her face.

"You didn't tell on me, did you?" He asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"What? No, why would I? Actually, I went there to take a few pencils myself last night before going home," she replied making him chuckle as she looked down at his casual tee-shirt. "I was wondering, hum, do you know where Sam is?"

"Yep, keep straight, it's the fourth row on your left," he told her. "I gotta go and see the HR. Wish me luck," he said walking away.

Kate walked a few steps until a man at her left started to panic out loud making her look at him.

"No no no no no no. Come on. Don't do this to me! Please," he begged his computer, she looked up when she noticed the tall man she was looking for, leaning over Paul's cubicle.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Sam asked with concern as he looked at the old man with glasses.

"It froze," the old man just replied as Kate noticed Sam's eyes landing on her with an expression of slight surprise on his face. It was only her second time on this floor, but it hadn't been hard for her to notice the lack of people in a suit around. They were all wearing those yellow shirts, well except Ian, but she had figured he wasn't the kind to love and devote his whole self for the company. Thus, Kate understood why many gazes had followed her when she stepped out of the elevator. She didn't belong on this floor and they weren't very glad to see someone from the upper parts of the hierarchy walk around here.

"They're crap, Paul. They freeze all the time," he told the man as he walked around and went to where the brunette was standing.

"You don't understand. When I, when I rebooted, everything was gone. A whole day's work deleted," he replied and Kate grimaced knowing far well the situation, and the frustration and panic it created.

"Well, did you back up?" Sam asked him.

"No, I didn't back up. I wish to God I backed up but I didn't! I'll get it back. I'll find it. It's somewhere. I'll find it," Paul said more to himself than to Sam.

"Paul, it's okay, man. These things happen… Come on in two weeks, you'll be retired from all of this," Sam told him before looking down at the young woman by his side. "What are you doin' here, Kate? You're okay?"

"Actually, no," she told him with a grimace. "Can you come to my office for a few minutes?"

"What's wrong?" He asked her and she nodded her head towards the old man typing on his keyboard frenetically.

"Kinda the same problem. But I think there's a backup somewhere in the computer, I just can't find it."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do."

Kate watched Sam as his fingers moved quickly and swiftly on her computer's keyboard. His face looked very intensive as he was deeply focused on what he was doing, his brows lightly brought together as his hazel eyes scanned the things popping in and out of the screen. She was standing right next to him, one arm over her stomach and the other brought up as her hand was rubbing her chin. She was biting on her bottom lip the whole time, while her hand rubbed and pinched her own chin now and then, depending on Sam's facial expressions. Her eyes travelled a few times over his not-so-short brownish chestnut hair, it made him look so young and she wondered how old he was all of sudden. He couldn't be that much older than her, but he was surely around 25 years old. Maybe, he was even younger than she was.

"Got it!" He exclaimed as he pushed himself back on the quite long leather wheelchair of her desk. He looked up at her and she rose her eyebrows.

"It's done?"

"Yep!" He nodded as he wheeled around in the chair so he could face her. "It was just in some subfolder deep down in the system," he told her and she nodded. "I changed a couple of things so next time you'll work, you'll have an automatic back up every ten minutes."

"Oh great!" She exclaimed before walking right next to him. "But could you do this automatic back up for like every three minutes? I'm a big disaster with computers and I wouldn't want to have to call you back again next time."

"Sure," he replied as he wheeled the chair to face the computer. He stopped, his head rising to look at her. "On a second thought, I think it'd be better for you to do it. So you learn how, you know?"

"Yeah, not a bad idea," she smiled and he smiled back. She took a step back to let him stand up and then she sat down on her chair. She wheeled it closer to the keyboard and glanced up at him. "Alright, what am I supposed to do now?"

"You click on this," he said pointing at one logo on the screen. She obliged, her eyes focused on the screen as he kept on giving her some directions. As he kept talking, he kept leaning closer and closer over her shoulder. Deciding to make small talk so nothing would turn too awkward in spite of the closeness, she cleared her throat and said the first thing that crossed her mind.

"So, you've been working here for long now?"

"Hum, no. Actually, it's been three weeks now," he replied as he glanced at her before he pointed another logo to click on. "And, you're done here."

"Wasn't that hard," she said and he chuckled. She turned around in her chair, her hands on the armchair and studied his face. "So how do you like it so far?"

"Honestly?" He replied.

"No, I want you to lie to me," she replied and he gave her a little smile.

"I hate it here. This whole company, the town… Everything I just, I dunno, I don't like it," he shrugged.

"Should have let you lie," she mumbled looking away.

"Why?" He chuckled.

"I just came in this city like not even a week ago. And I've been feeling kinda out of place, I thought if someone just told me I was homesick and it will pass, that the city and this company is worth it… I don't know, I thought I'd would just be happy to stick around," she explained shrugging.

"Oh," he said nodding his head as he watched her face. "Where do you come from?"

"Um, Paris, on and off. I've been back to Topeka where I grew up a few months ago and then I got a few jobs," she told him as he listened carefully. "I was… I was working in Paris actually and when I came here, I got some little problems to get back to Paris, and then I…" She frowned her eyebrows as if she had a hard time telling why she was here. It felt as if she was recounting someone else's life story and this was completely weird. "I got a few jobs here and there… Well, long story short, I got in contact with Mr. Adler, who got me here. He told me there was some new promising director in sales and marketing with who I could work on a project…"

"You don't sound so sure," he told her as she looked up at him, and shook her head.

"It's just… When I say it, I feel like… I don't know…"

"Like it's not your life?" He asked her. And it was exactly this. He had figured it out precisely. Suddenly her beeper buzzed around her waist. She looked down at it, and groaned.

"I've gotta go to a meeting," she announced standing up.

"I gotta go too, anyways," he replied nodding. "The cubicles of tech support won't survive that much without me."

"I bet they're lost without you and it's a big chaos down there," she laughed as she gathered a few files in her arms.

"Hey, don't mock me."

"I'm not mocking you," she replied shaking her head as she grabbed her cell phone and put it in her pocket. She looked up at him as he was standing in the doorway. "Thank you again for helping me, by the way," she told him as she finished taking everything she needed. She walked towards him as he pulled her door open and stood aside to let her step out first.

"No problem," he said as he walked out and pulled the door close. "By the way," he said making her look up at him. "It goes away; that homesickness it goes away eventually. And your life in this city and this company will just feel better than anything else." She couldn't help the light scoff that left her nostrils as a soft smile danced on her lips.

"Thanks for lying to me."

"You're welcome," he grinned without showing his teeth. She turned around and walked towards the rooms where meetings were held as he watched her go. He couldn't help but frown a little bit as the feeling of familiarity radiating from her, seemed to grow more and more intense.

The next day.

The brunette in a bright blue shirt and a grey pencil skirt watched as a few people in coroner outfits rolled the body of that old man who was completely burned past. She sighed, her hands folded over her chest as she held her arms, trying to comfort herself over this tragedy. Many people from other floors had come to the cubicle farm floor when they had heard the bad news. A man had killed himself by putting his head inside the microwave. It was even more terrible when she heard Ian talking with one of his colleagues and say that the person who committed suicide was the old man who was panicking in front of his computer the day before. His name was Paul, and when Sam and she were in the elevator making their way to her office, she had learned that he was usually a very chilled out and sweet man. She felt a hand gently and comfortingly tapping on her shoulder blade, making her turn around to see Dean. He gave her a gentle smile that she returned before he turned his head and crossed Sam's eyes.

"Something about this seem not right to you?" Dean said to another man, as he kept his hand on Kate's blade, gently rubbing up and down there without even noticing it himself.

"Uh, yeah, try the whole thing. I'm telling you, man, I'll never eat popcorn again," the man replied making Kate frown as she looked up at him with an almost glare.

"Yeah, right," Dean just said as he never looked away from the tall man in the yellow tech shirt a few feet away.

"He was supposed to have a retirement party in two weeks," Kate just said in a soft voice. Dean looked down at her.

"You knew him?" Dean asked her and she shook her head.

"No… Sam told me," she replied and Dean frowned his eyebrows as he slowly nodded his head, before looking towards Sam. Their eye contact never broke as a feeling of weirdness and suspicion grew inside both of them.

At one o'clock that afternoon, Kate had grabbed her lunch box ready to go to Sam's floor to get her food warmed, when she stopped abruptly remembering the incident that happened in that room. She put her lunch box down and sighed before grabbing her coat and her purse, to go get some sandwich somewhere around the building. She didn't know the area very well, but she had located a few fast-food stores around the block.

As she walked down the hallway, she passed by Dean's office. His door was wide open like always, and she wondered how he could focus on his work with so many people passing by his office all day long. Besides, he had to stop working once in a while, right? He wasn't working 24/7, right? She stopped and glanced around her if anyone was there, before taking a few light steps back to throw a glance inside his office. She wanted to see if he was one of those hard workers that never stopped working. When she leaned her head, she noticed him putting down a few papers before reaching for an uncovered plastic plate with some salad.

"Hey Kate," someone said as they passed her by. She turned her head to see who it was before turning her attention back to Dean. He was staring right at her. Yep, that's what we call getting busted.

"Need something?" He asked her as he noticed the way she was leaning, her hands gripping at the edge of his doorway as only her head and her upper body were showing to him. She tried to straighten up but somehow she only managed to fall straight on the floor. "Shit!" Dean exclaimed as he dropped his plate on his desk and quickly made his way towards her. "You're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied as he helped her up. "I'm good, thanks," she said as she was now standing. He put his hands away and looked at her as she fixed her high ponytail.

"Alright," he said as he watched her face. She had very soft features and her voice held the same kind of softness. Her voice wasn't too high pitch or too low. It was just a nice in-between and he liked that. And there again, he felt that thing he couldn't describe about her. Some sort of soothing feeling seemed to release from her, and without even knowing why, he knew he liked it.

"Oh no," she said her gaze looking over his shoulder. He frowned as he followed her gaze that was steered to his desk. Half of his lunch was spread all over the papers he was working on before his attention got caught by her.

"Oh man," he sighed as he walked to his desk. She walked with him and pulled out a package of tissues from her pocket.

"I'm so sorry, Dean," she told him as she helped him get the salad away from the documents on his desk.

"It's alright," he replied as he grabbed the garbage can. He took the tissue from her and gathered all the mess towards the edge of his desk before throwing it all in the garbage can. He glanced up and noticed that her features were genuinely sorry. "Hey, Kate. It's alright, I'll print it again. It's not your fault. I mean I shouldn't even have lunch and work at the same time," he glanced down at her long black coat and before returning his gaze up to her sparkling brown eyes. "You're heading somewhere?"

"Hum I was gonna grab some lunch," she replied before something clicked in her brain. "You want me to bring you something?"

"No," he shook his head, a corner smile forming on his lips. "What about we go together, huh?"

"So you're on a diet?" Kate said as she glanced up at Dean. They were walking back to the office after buying some sandwiches and sodas at a little shop just five minutes away from their building.

"Well, it's more like a detox thing, you know," he replied as she eyed him up and down quickly.

"You don't look like the kind to need a diet," she told him as they turned left towards the front of their building.

"I told you it's not really a diet," he told her as he glanced down at her. Her lips curled into a tiny amused smile. "I'm serious. It's really to detox my whole body."

"For sure, that's the reason why you bought this off the menu," she remarked as she held up the bag with their food. He had insisted on carrying it and she had refused saying that being a woman didn't make her unable to carry a bag of food. "I mean salad and water, really? Don't you ever eat something else?"

"I eat sushi sometimes," he replied thoughtfully, she rose her eyebrows as she looked up at him. "But mainly, I try to stick on my diet."

"Ha!" She exclaimed pointing one digit finger at him. "You admitted it. It's a diet," he shook his head. "It's a diet, don't you deny it."

"It's not-not really a diet," he stuttered as they walked in the building. She let out a laugh, turning around to face him while still walking towards the elevator. "Hey you keep on laughing at me and I'll make you work hard," he replied chuckling as she pushed the elevator's button, stopping right in front of the doors. She pressed her lips together and fixed her eyes at him, an eyebrow arched. "It's a joke you know… Hum it wasn't meant to sound too strict or hum-"

"Or flirtatious?" She finished for him and he gulped. He knew he was going to have troubles because those kind of things that could be misinterpreted, always brought troubles to directors. Especially, when it was said to his female assistant who was also a sort of colleague on a trial period and who had very long and sexy legs. He mentally slapped away that inappropriate thought before it went too far. All of sudden, she laughed throwing her head back. His eyes fell on her neck and he felt as if he was supposed to feel guilty and sorry about something that had happened to her neck. "I'm only joking, Dean. Come on, let's go." She said as she stepped into the elevator and he followed. He couldn't help but frown at that weird feeling that had irrupted in him ever since he looked at her neck.

Dean had convinced Kate to have lunch in his office, and she accepted as long as he didn't put his head set on. They were sitting across each other around his desk, and Kate couldn't help but laugh at him whenever he glanced at her soda with envy. She had offered him some but he had refused the three times. Kate had been genuinely surprised to find out that he was even sweeter than what he had let on those past couple of days. Mainly, their conversations had turned around what their lives were like before they joined the Sandover Company. Kate had found it once again very hard to talk about her life without feeling as if it wasn't her life. This feeling of chanting something that was fixed in her mind whenever she talked about herself and her past, was hard to shake off, and she was quite sure that Dean had noticed that in her. However, he hadn't lingered on it and had just deduced that she wasn't very at ease. Thus, he had taken the lead and had decided to talk about himself a little bit.

It wasn't very long until their lunch break was over, and the Kate stood up to return to her little office. However, Dean suggested to her to just bring all she needed to work at his office so they could work on that project 3B. So here they were at almost five pm, working on his computer. Kate had moved one of his many chairs around his desk, so she could be sitting right next to him behind his desk. It made it easier for them to work on the same computer. Nonetheless, Dean had put his head set back at almost three in the afternoon, which Kate had told him more than once was completely useless and ridiculous. He had explained to her that it was easier and she had asked him to tell her in which ways it was. Of course he had told her all good arguments but Kate had found arguments to come back with, and he had just given up on telling her how life changing this kind of thing was.

"If you put this one, it'd be better," she said as she pointed at his computer screen with the pen she had been chewing on the whole afternoon. Dean looked at her face before looking at what she was showing.

"You think so?" He asked her from his seat, right next to hers. He looked down at the left side of her neck and noticed three moles there just below her jaw.

"Well," she said before turning on her seat to find him looking at her neck. She cleared her throat making him look up at her face. "You should really put it off," she told him, tapping his head set slightly with her pen.

"You think so?" He asked in an almost whisper as he never looked away from her eyes.

"You're repeating yourself," she whispered.

"You think so?" He repeated making her chuckle lightly, her eyes drifting away for a moment. When she turned her gaze back to him, she noticed that his eyes were staring at her lips. She was frozen, not knowing what to do nor what to say.

Her eyes looked over his face and she couldn't deny that he had very well-drawn features for a man. As a matter of fact, he was just beautiful. A sudden image of him standing under the pouring rain, near a porch, crossed her mind. A soft expression on his face as his eyebrows were slightly frowned, while raindrops were streaming down his face. His eyes looking down at her. And in that image that didn't last long, she had noticed something different in his eyes. However, the image faded away too soon for her to even figure out what that was. She blinked a couple of times when a light knock was heard. She looked at the door and noticed Ian standing there.

"Ian!" She exclaimed with a smile, as Dean turned his head towards the man in a second.

"Ian, oh hi. Yeah, so you're Ian," Dean said as he coughed, certainly as embarrassed about what had just happened between them as her. However, thinking about it, nothing had happened so there was no reason to feel embarrassed, right? Kate looked at Dean as he turned around in his seat so he could face the man. Then, she turned her head towards Ian and frowned at his yellow shirt. According to Sam, he never ever wore his work shirt except from his very first day here. "Come on in. Yesterday you filled out a 445-T and no problem, just a few errors when we did your switch over to Vista. So I'm sure you're used to filling out the dash-R's, am I right?"

"Oh, no," Ian said looking and sounding completely lost which confused Kate. The few times she talked to him, she had noticed how careless he was about the company. So, to see him react this way surprised her.

"No no no. It's fine. It's fine. I just need you to redo one today so I can get the show on the road with the invoicing," Dean told him before pushing a paper over the desk, with a gentle smile on his lips. Kate's brow furrowed at the expression of terror that grew on Ian's face as he looked at the paper Dean was giving him.

"Oh my god," Ian said and Kate felt the need to step in.

"Hey, it's fine, Ian. Just some re-filing to do," she told him softly.

"Yeah, re-file it and we're square," Dean said nodding his head.

"I can't believe I did this," Ian panicked which made both Dean and Kate starting to understand something really wrong was happening with the man. "I can't believe I-I can't believe I did this."

"Hey, Ian, come on," Kate said as she stood up from her seat, making Dean glance up at her.

"No, no. It affected profits. It-I screwed up. I-I can't-I can't-I am so sorry. I-how could I do that? I failed Sandover. I failed the company," Ian said as Kate stood at one side of the desk, a bit confused by what was happening right now. She didn't know that man very much, but from what she knew about him, she knew that failing the company was the least of his problems.

"Alright, why don't you sit down, Ian?" Dean said in a calming voice as he stood up, and motioned his hands gently down.

"No," Ian said before running out of the room. Kate and Dean glanced at each other before going after Ian.

"Ian? Ian. Hey!" Dean said as they walked down the hallway towards the bathroom where they saw him go. Dean turned to look at Kate when he saw the sign saying it was the men's bathroom. She looked at him as he tilted his head towards the sign.

"Oh come on, he may be having a panic attack in there," she told him before pushing past him to walk into the bathroom. He quickly followed her as he heard her talk to the tech man. "Ian, hey, it's me, Kate. Just chill out, man. Okay?"

Turning around, Dean saw Ian staring into the long mirror on the wall just above the faucets. The poor man looked completely stressed out, and all Dean kept thinking about was how this kind of things happens to someone? Do working in a cubicle really turn people nuts or depressed? Was there that much of a pressure in this kind of job? Was that the same kind of pressure that pushed the old man to commit suicide while he was going to leave this company very soon? He had no answer for all of this, but he could feel that every inch of his body wanted to help… No, every inch of his body needed to help. He felt like helping this man, saving him was the only thing he was supposed to do.

All of sudden, all of the faucets switched on, on their own. So did all of the soap dispensers. Kate watched the faucets and soap dispensers with confusion, as they were pouring their liquids very forcefully, until the soap made its way on the floor. She looked at Dean when she felt the room getting colder and noticed Dean's breath briefly visible as his whole face was frowned in concern of what was happening right then.

"Ian, hey, maybe we should get out of here, huh? Come on. Ian. Look at me," Dean said as he made one step towards the man. Ian turned around towards Dean and Kate. He pulled a pencil out of his pocket as he stared at them almost absently before he suddenly stabbed himself in the neck with the pencil. Kate took a sharp intake of breath as she stared with wide eyes at the spout of blood coming from his neck.

She was frozen in spot as a flow of images crossed her mind quickly. Dean straddling her and cutting on her arm under some pouring rain, Dean pushing her against a wall before cutting her neck a little bit, Dean being thrown in a sort of basement and herself running towards him while being barefoot on shattered pieces of broken glass, waking up curled to him in a bed, hugging him in some bathroom, hugging him in some graveyard. All of sudden, she was pulled away from those images by the sound of Dean's voice calling for her.

"Kate, go find some help!" He screamed and she looked down at his face before looking at the man who was collapsed in his arms. She turned around and stopped when she saw an old man in the mirror. She shook her head and ran out of the bathroom, thinking she had just hallucinated once again. Little did she know that Dean had noticed this old man in the mirror too, and he had seen her seeing him as well.

Kate was chewing on her bottom lip as she was sitting a little bit curled up in her office. She felt as though she was going crazy. Not only was she having more and more weird dreams and visions for at least a week, but now she had to be surrounded by nightmare material. Two dead people ready to haunt her nights and scare her until she decided to go on sleepless night and try to stay awake through coffee only. Somehow, she felt like she could do that, as if she had already done that in some other life. Her eyes turned round and big as she stared at a wall.

"I'm getting crazy… Completely crazy," she said to herself when her desk phone rang startling her. She looked at it for a moment before reaching for it. "Yeah?" She answered in a little voice, forgetting the little introduction things she was supposed to say whenever she answered this phone.

"Can you come to my office?"

"Dean?"

"Yeah, please… It's, um… I think we need to talk about what happened in the bathroom," he replied on the other line. Kate nodded, before she cleared her throat and told him she'd be there in a couple of minutes.

When she arrived at his door, she had the bizarre impression that she hadn't waken up from the nightmare that happened earlier that day. Two nightmares actually. This morning they had found Paul dead in the break room, and an hour ago she had witnessed the suicide of a man she had been starting to get along with. What a long and eventful day…

Seeing Dean's door opened, she didn't even knocked on the door as she walked in. She stopped in the middle of his office as she saw him just finishing taking off his shirt, his hand reaching for another one. She noticed his fairly strong arms stop along with the rest of his body. She frowned before her eyes travelled up his rather tanned chest to meet his green orbs staring back at her. He had caught her watching him again. And sure she should already be apologizing to him or even blush and look away. But she didn't. If he didn't want to be seen, he should have closed his door. Besides she wasn't really checking him out so it didn't count, did it?

Trying not to let his intense gaze pierce through her or make her feel uncomfortable somehow, she walked to one of the chairs facing his desk and sat down, her gaze lost on the top of his desk and not anymore on his body as long as he wasn't wearing a shirt. He coughed lightly as he put his shirt on.

"I thought you'd come later," he said as she played with a bracelet around her wrist that she remembered having for a long time now. However, somehow she couldn't really point out why she always wore it while it was completely not in synch with her other outfits. She just always wore it for as far as she could remember.

"I was going nuts on my own," she replied and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, well don't worry, we're gonna solve all of that… You know that friend of yours from the tech department? Sam Wesson?" He told her as he buttoned up his shirt. "He knows some things and he's gonna help us solve it all." She frowned completely confused by his words.

"What?" She asked him as a knock on the door was heard. She turned her head to see Sam standing in the doorway. Dean finished buttoning up his shirt as he glanced at him.

"Come on in. Shut the door," Dean told him which Sam obliged without saying a word. He glanced at Kate sitting on a chair and looking completely worn out. He knew what had happened in the bathroom must have shocked her a lot. But he hadn't seen her since then, and had planned to check on her before going home. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm not sure I know," Sam replied making both Kate and Dean frown in complete puzzlement.

"What?" Kate said as she looked up at Sam who was standing just a foot away from her.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked a bit more frustrated than her as he was leaning his hands on the back of his chair.

"Sam Wesson. I started here three weeks ago," Sam replied.

"Alright. You cornered me in the elevator talking about ghosts," Dean said as Kate looked up at him, her sparkling brown eyes almost burning on him. He sighed as he turned his attention back to the tall tech man. "And now..."

"Now what?" Sam asked, trying to make Dean finish his thought. There was a little pause and Kate wondered if Dean had seen that old man in the mirror. He looked like a ghost, but it couldn't be one, could it? And, she couldn't say this, could she? If she told them this, they would certainly call her crazy and Dean would fire her before the end of her trial period.

"Now nothing. I, uh...so you started working here three weeks ago, huh?" Dean said going over his shelf where he had put the bottle of his cleanse. Sam nodded at him. "Yeah, me too." Kate looked up, taken aback.

"I thought you got promoted three weeks ago?" She asked him.

"I started working here three weeks ago and got promoted on my fourth day here," he replied as Sam and Kate both looked surprised.

"Is this how it happens around here?" She asked as she drew a circle in the air with her pointer finger.

"I've worked really hard, and Mr. Adler had apparently heard a lot of good stuff 'bout me. He wanted me to have this job immediately, but he needed to give me a sort of trial period beforehand," he explained and Sam couldn't help but scoff a little bit. "Anyways," he looked up at Sam who watched him as he unscrewed the top of the bottle. "It's the Master Cleanse. You tried it? Phenomenal. Detoxes you like nobody's business." Dean started to drink and Kate made a grimace of disgust as she turned to Sam whose features looked very serious.

"When you were in that bathroom with Ian, both of you, did you see something?" He asked and Dean pulled the bottle away from his lips. He didn't say a word though, and Kate realized that his silence plus the expression on his face equaled a positive answer. He had seen something back there. He had more than possibly seen the same old man than she.

"I don't know," she started bringing the two men's attention towards her. "I don't know what I saw… Not really, but I know I saw something…"

"Wait. Are you saying that - did you see a ghost?" Sam asked her as he finally sat down on the chair next to her.

"I was freaking out… I'm not sure of what I saw," she replied shaking her head. Sam swallowed, nodding his head before turning his head to Dean.

"Did you see something?" He asked him.

"What? Come on, I was freaking out too! I mean the guy penciled his damn neck!" Dean exclaimed, but the tone he used and the expression written all over his face was a giveaway once again.

"You did, didn't you?" Sam said as Kate looked at him while Dean lowered his head. He turned his head towards her. "Okay, listen. What if these suicides aren't suicides?" He said before looking back at Dean who was standing behind his desk, with a thoughtful frown on his freckled face. "I mean, what if they're something… not natural?"

"So, what, ghosts are real?" Kate exclaimed as Dean sat down.

"Yeah, and they're responsible for all the dead bodies around here? Is that what you're telling us?" Dean finished.

"I know it sounds crazy. But yes. That's what I'm telling you," Sam replied, looking back and forth between the young woman at his left and the man sitting across from him.

"Uh-huh. Based on what?" Dean asked and Sam's brow furrowed as he looked for something to say.

"Instinct," Sam suggested as Kate watched his face.

"This has to be the worst thing to base on whatever is happening around here," she stated as Sam looked at her. "But… I think I've got the same instinct." Dean's green eyes shot up at her, then at Sam who rested a hand on her arm, gently. He shook his head and backed up.

"Damn… I've got the same instinct, too."

"Seriously?" Sam was taken aback just as much as Kate. Dean didn't look like the kind to believe those kind of things. He looked very rational, and somehow he felt as though it would be harder to convince him than to convince Kate. Then again, maybe it was because he knew Kate a little bit better than he did Dean. "You know those dreams I was telling you about? I was dreaming about ghosts."

"Yeah," Dean said and Kate frowned as she looked down, remembering her own weird dreams.

"And then it turns out that there's a real ghost," Sam continued as Kate opened her mouth to say that she had weird dreams involving some kind of ghost and other creatures too.

"So you're telling me that your dreams are special visions and you're some kind of psychic?" Dean asked him.

"No. I mean, that would be nuts," Sam replied and Kate shut her mouth, thinking it'd be wiser not to overshare now. "I'm just saying something weird is definitely going on around here, right? So I've been digging around a little." Sam pulled a few papers out of his bag which surprised Dean and Kate a little bit. "I think I found a connection between the two guys." He passed the papers to Dean who looked down at them before handing them to Kate.

"You broke into their email accounts?" Dean asked as he watched Sam's face.

"I used some skills that I happen to have to satisfy my curiosity."

"Isn't it like breaking people's privacy without them knowing it in some kind of stalker-ish way?" Kate asked as she looked up at Sam who seemed to be out of words. "It's nice, though," she added as she looked down at the papers.

"Very nice," Dean nodded.

"Yeah. Okay. So it turns out Ian and Paul both got this same email telling them to report to HR," Sam started.

"In room fourteen forty-four," Kate finished as she read the information on the paper.

"HR's on seven," Dean said frowning his eyebrows.

"Exactly," Sam replied, his eyes glued to Dean who sighed before rubbing his lips and jaw.

"Should we go check this out?" She asked making the men look at her, a bit surprised.

"Like right now?" Sam asked her.

"No, I just…" She shrugged.

"It's getting late. We shouldn't…" Dean said as he looked down at his desk. Sam looked at him then back at Kate before returning his head to Dean who looked up at him.

"I am dying to check this out right now," Sam admitted.

"Right?" Dean said as they looked into each other's eyes.

Dean glanced down at Kate, walking in between him and Sam. The three of them were walking down the hallway leading them to room 1444. Even though she was rather tall for a woman and looked very strong and confident, there was something about her that made him feel as though he shouldn't let her come along, as though he should protect her from getting hurt. Deep down, he had the impression to know she's been through a lot and he didn't want her to go through anything anymore. All he wanted was to send her back home where she'd be safe. And at the same time, he felt as if he wanted to keep her at his sides, not to protect her but to have her with him. He wanted her to be there for him and he had not a single idea why. He had met her just a few days ago, and here he was having those weird thoughts about her, and let's not talk about those sort of feelings he was going through whenever he was around her.

Kate's head lifted towards him and he was almost astonished by the way her brown eyes sparkled when they met his gaze. The brown in her eyes was the most ordinary colour he had ever seen, and yet there was so much more to tell when he looked at her eyes. There seemed to be a lot of untold stories in there, a lot of pain and a lot of tender. And, somehow he had the feeling that even she had no idea of what her eyes were holding. Out of the blue, something crossed his mind, creating his brows to wrinkle.

"What?" She asked him as Sam glanced at them.

"Nothing," Dean replied shaking his head. "I just… I kinda realized I had a favourite colour," he sounded confused by himself and Sam couldn't help but let out a light chuckle.

"I suppose going to meet a potential ghost kinda messes with our thoughts now," Sam said as Kate turned her head to look at Dean who was quiet now.

"What is it?"

"Hmm?"

"Your favourite colour, what is it?" She asked him, her intense gaze staring at his whole face.

"Brown. It's brown," he replied as he looked away when a scream came down from room 1444, and the three of them hurried towards it without even thinking.

Once they were standing in front of the door, Sam tried opening it but it was locked. He looked at Kate and Dean.

"Just… I don't know… Kick it open!" Kate said when he looked at her. He turned around and kicked the door with so much force that it opened widely.

"Woah!" Dean exclaimed.

"Guys!" Kate shouted as she pointed at a shelf that was crashing a man on the floor. They all hurried over to lift the shelf off the man.

Suddenly, the old man that had appeared in the bathroom's mirror earlier, appeared behind Dean and flung him into the wall. Then, he shoved Kate over and did the same with Sam. Kate was surprised when her eyes landed on the spirit's hands as they started sparking a sort of lightning. Dean got up and grabbed a wrench that lied around, and walked quickly towards the old man. His instinct was telling him to do this. His instinct was making him walk, making him take this wrench. And it was his instinct too that made him swing the wrench at the old man. The old man dissipated before he could even touch the man they had found in here. The monitors on the shelves that were weirdly on ever since they got there, shut off abruptly around them. Kate stood up and started lifting the shelves so the man could scoot out from underneath. Dean and Sam quickly went to help her. Sam glanced up at Dean.

"How'd you know how to do that?" He asked him as he watched his face.

"I have no idea," Dean just said as he looked a bit shocked by himself as well.

After the incident in room 1444, there was no way anyone of the trio was going to sleep tight and have sweet dreams that night. They were pretty much stuck in between a state of shock and a state of excitement, and all they knew was that the three of them had just experienced something that no one else would ever believe. They couldn't share that with anyone else; not that they wanted to share it with anyone else and be named crazy anyways. But, each of them felt sort of linked by what they had lived. This was the main reason why after leaving room 1444, Dean had suggested to go back to his place and talk about it. Sam and Kate had agreed, knowing far well that if not, they would simply spend the whole night at their own place trying to figure out what had happened until the sunrise.

So here they were, that night, inside Dean Smith's apartment. Both Kate and Sam had realized after just a glimpse of the living room and the kitchen that Dean surely was a pretty wealthy man. The room where Sam and Kate were with Dean, looked exactly like his business suits: it was all very upper-class expensive looking and very unlikely both of them. Sure Kate was always wearing clothes that looked classy but half of them was a legacy of one of her deceased aunt and the other half wouldn't reach 200 dollars altogether. There was no doubt, she was a very relieved that they hadn't gone to her little studio down the not-so-rich neighbourhood.

"Holy crap, dude!" Dean exclaimed as he finished drinking his Master cleanse that seemed to taste horribly disgusting.

"Yeah," Sam shook his head, as he was standing next to the brunette whose arms were crossed over her chest while watching the fire place. "I could use a beer."

"I second that," Kate said raising her hand slowly, never looking away from the flames twisting around in the fireplace.

"Oh, sorry, guys. I'm on the Cleanse. I got rid of all the carbs in the house."

"And here I was hoping to get drunk so I could forget all that happened," Kate mumbled to herself. Sam looked down at her as he heard her, and made a little nod of the head to himself. After all, he was hoping the same.

"Hey. How the hell did you know that ghosts are scared of wrenches?" Sam asked as he looked up at Dean who came back from the fridge with two water bottles. He handed one to Sam and one to Kate who turned around to look at the two men.

"Crazy, right?" Dean said as he glanced at Kate while she drank a long sip of water before he turned to look at the man sitting on the back of the couch. "And nice job kicking that door too. That was very Jet Li. What are you, like a black belt or something?"

"No. I have no clue how I did that," Sam replied as Kate bent down to unclasp her high heels.

"It's okay with you if I put those off?" She asked looking up at Dean who looked down at her feet and nodded. She took them off and stood there barefoot, making Dean look a bit pensive. He felt as if he had already seen her barefoot, which was of course impossible. Once again, he shook away that stupid, irrational and strange feeling.

"It's like... You and I we've done this before, Dean" Sam said as Kate grabbed her heels and walked to a wall next to the kitchen area, and put them down, right against it.

"What do you mean, before?" Kate asked as she looked at the tall young man.

"Like Shirley MacLaine before?" Dean asked, confused.

"No. I-I just can't shake this feeling like I-like I don't belong here. You know? Like I should do something more than sit in a cubicle," Sam admitted as he stood up and walked towards a white wall column and stood against the wall. Kate stood in the middle, her arms folded over her chest as she watched him with full attention.

"I think most people who work in a cubicle feel that same way," Dean said as he walked towards his couch and sat down on the edge of it.

"No. Well, look, it's more than that. Like, I don't like my job. I don't like this town. I don't like my clothes. I don't like my own last name," Sam explained before he waved his hand towards Kate. "Even Kate doesn't like any of these things!"

"What do you mean?" Dean asked as he turned his head towards the brunette.

"He's right… I don't like this town, this company, and gosh even those heels they seem higher than anything I'd ever put on!"

"You've been here for what? A week? You're just homesick-" Dean started.

"She's not homesick," Sam cut him off and Dean glanced at him before laying his green eyes on Kate who moved towards his round table, just two feet away from the back of his couch. She leaned on the table and looked up at him.

"He's right, I'm not homesick… I just feel kinda out of place. As if I'm not supposed to be here… As if I don't belong here," she confessed and Dean eyed her up and down quickly, trying to analyse her and to understand her.

"I feel the same…" Sam said as he turned his gaze towards Dean. "I don't know how else to explain it, except that...it feels like I should be doing something else. There's just something in my blood. Like I was destined for something different. What about you? You ever feel that way?" Dean looked down at the floor before lifting his head to look at Kate, and then settled his gaze on the tall man.

"I don't believe in destiny," he replied with a light smirk. "I do believe in dealing with what's right in front of us, though."

"Alright, so, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"We do what I do best, Sammy," Dean replied as he stood up and walked towards him. "Research."

"Okay," Sam replied as Kate nodded. "Did you just call me Sammy?"

"Did I?"

"I think you did… Yeah," Sam said before he scrunched his whole face, and almost sternly continued. "Don't."

"Sorry," Dean replied before walking away. Kate watched Sam's face.

"What?" He asked her.

"Is that weird that it sounded kinda right when he said it?" Kate asked him in almost a whisper.

"You want me to call you with a nickname and see if that weirdly sounds right?" He told her as he walked towards his bag. "I don't like when people call me Sammy. I'm not a 12 year old chubby boy anymore." Kate couldn't help the little giggle as she followed him to grab her bag, laying right next to his.

"Why are you giggling, Katie?" He said emphasizing the nickname. She looked up at him and suddenly a wave of images crossed her mind at the speed of light. Him calling her Katie as he put off some grocery stuff, an old man with a cap and a beard calling her Katie, him calling her Katie as he bent down to hug her while wearing a sort of khaki janitor uniform.

"Hey, Kate! You're alright?" He asked her as he noticed the deep expression on her face. She looked up at him and nodded her head slowly.

"Sorry, I-I kinda zoned out," she replied before reaching for her bag, and once again choosing to not share those weird flashes of images to anyone.

Sam, Dean and Kate had been researching for almost an hour now. The problem when you're looking for something on the internet, that is about ghosts and creatures which are not supposed to exist, it is that you can end up on many hoax websites. Sometimes, it's easy to distinct the hoax ones from the real ones, other times it's much harder. By now, Kate was going crazy as she kept on reading some supposedly true testimonies. Sitting next to Sam at the round table near the couch, she often threw glances towards Dean who was sitting on his own at a corner desk. He looked deeply focused on his laptop and she realized that not only was he certainly good at researching as he said so himself, but he must really like it too. However, she had the deep impression that he wasn't the kind of guy to be so happy and willing to research.

"Oh, jackpot!" He exclaimed and Kate watched as his face seemed to light up. His green eyes were glued to whatever was on his laptop' screen.

"What you got?" Sam asked as they both stared at Dean.

"I just found the best site ever. Real, actual ghost hunters," Dean told them as he glanced at them. Kate rose her eyebrows before Sam and she went over to see.

"These guys are genius. Check it out," Dean said while Kate and Sam leaned down at each side of his chair.

"Instructional videos?" Kate read in a confused tone as her eyes browsed at the 'Ghostfacers' website. "It doesn't really look serious-"

"Just check this out," Dean interrupted her as he clicked a couple of times, and pulled up a video with two men wearing white lab coats. The three of them stayed silent as they watched with intention.

When the introduction video was over, Dean looked over at Sam and Kate, trying to see if they were as impressed and convinced as he was. However the slight frown on Sam's face and the way Kate brought one hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose, told him that the video had quite a different impact on them than on him.

"You seriously think this is real? I mean they look like guys fooling around, to me," the brunette said as she glanced down at Dean.

"You haven't seen it all," Dean replied as Sam walked to get his laptop.

"Most of all, you haven't seen this, any of you," Sam said as he put down his laptop, next to Dean's, and Kate moved a bit to see what he was showing them. Her fingers trailed over Dean's shoulders, barely touching him but enough to send a shiver down his spin. He didn't move nor say anything since he knew she wasn't doing it on purpose; she was only trying to lean her hands on the back of his chair.

"That's him," Kate exclaimed as her eyes landed on the picture of an article about the death of the founder of the Sandover Company. "That's the ghost."

"P. T. Sandover. Died 1916. Devoted his life to his work. No wife, no kids," Sam said as Kate skimmed the article text visible next to the picture.

"Used to say he was the company, and his very blood pumped through the building," Sam told them as he looked up at Kate and then down at Dean still sitting down on his chair.

"Wow, okay. So a slight workaholic," Kate said nodding.

"Maybe he's still here, you know, watching over the company, even killing for it," Dean suggested as Kate looked down at his gelled hair while he threw a glance at Sam.

"Plus, turns out this isn't the first time people started killing themselves in the building. 1929," Sam explained.

"Yeah, but lots of guys jumped off lots of high rises that year," she said as she took a few steps back and walked towards the table where she left her water bottle.

"How many companies had seventeen suicides?" Sam said as he looked over at her.

"Phew. Okay, so P. T. Sandover, protector of the company. His ghost wakes up and becomes active during times of grave economic distress," Dean said as Kate drank a sip of water and put it back down on the table.

"Well, I mean, the worst times we've seen since the Great Depression-" Sam started as Kate pulled at the hair tie keeping her hair tightly up in this ponytail.

"Are now," she finished his sentence. Dean and Sam watched her as she pulled her hand away and her straightened brown hair fell all around her face, reaching at the mid-section of her arms, above her elbows. She ran her fingers through it and looked up at them. Dean cleared his throat as he looked down at Sam's laptop.

"Yeah, now sucks. My portfolio's in the sewer. I don't even wanna talk about it," he said while Kate walked towards them.

"So Sandover's helping the bottom line-" Kate said as she was now standing at Sam's side.

"By zapping some model employees," Dean finished before looking up at her. She looked much younger and less severe and professional with her brown hair casually untied around her creamy white face. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but frown. Something felt wrong about her hair though, but he couldn't point a finger at it.

"Yeah. I mean, Ian and Paul. It was like he turned them into different people," Sam said and Kate rested her hand gently on Sam's arm as she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even tell you how sorry I am… About Ian especially," she told him softly. He looked at her with a gentle smile of appreciation.

"Yeah," Dean just said before coughing lightly. "They were turned into perfect worker bees. So devoted to the company that they would commit hara-kara if they failed it."

"Hara-kiri," Kate corrected him making his gaze look up into hers.

"Anyways, there's one more interesting fact," Sam said as Kate pulled her hand away from him and leaned against the table. "The building wasn't always that high. Used to be fourteen floors. And the room where the ghost attacked, fourteen forty-four? Once upon a time, that was the old man's office."

"We gotta learn how to kill it before it does even more damage," Dean said as Kate glanced at him.

"How?" Sam asked and Dean sighed as he nodded his head to his laptop. Kate glanced at Sam who looked down at her, and gave a slight shrug of agreement. She rolled her eyes, agreeing to watch those videos too.

Once Sam and Kate settled a chair at each side of Dean, they started watching a video quietly. She tried her best to not judge the website Dean had found and hoped that it wasn't going to be a stupid waste of time.

"Using special ghost-hunting weapons," the guy called Harry said after Ed said you had to kill it.

"First, salt. It's like acid to ghosts," that Ed guy continued.

"Burny acid."

"Not LSD." Kate glanced at the two men on her right, trying to make some eye contact with one of them to ask them if they actually heard what was being said. But they were completely focused on the video.

"No. It's a bad trip for ghosts. Next up, iron." That caught her attention back.

"That's why the wrench worked," Sam said as he pointed at the screen. Dean nodded his head and Kate decided to focus more on that video that turned out to be not that much of a stupid waste of time.

"Pure power in your hand," Ed explained.

"Dissipates ghosts instantly." That reminded Kate of the way the ghost had disappeared after Dean had hit him.

"Next little trick. We learned this from those useless douchebags-"

"That we hate," Harry continued.

"The Winchesters," Ed finished. Kate frowned at the name, it sounded very familiar and when she glanced at Dean and Sam, she felt as if this was connected to them. However, just like those sort of flashbacks, she was unable to know why or how it crossed her mind.

"Gun."

"Shotgun shell. Pack it up with fresh rock salt."

"Very effective."

"Very effective," Ed repeated his partner's words.

"Winchesters still suck ass, though," Harry claimed.

"Affirmative. Suckage major." Kate glanced at Sam and Dean, this feeling of a link between this name and those men, still expanding in her guts. Dean Smith and Sam Wesson… Dean had told her that he felt as if his last name was too weird, and Sam had confessed that he didn't like his own last name earlier. And she's always felt like her last name didn't fit either. Something was really wrong…

After getting ready to find the rest of the DNA left from P.T. Sandover in the building, and bringing everything possible to defend themselves according to those Ghostfacers guys, Sam, Dean and Kate walked to their work building late that night. The young woman had put on her flat boots before they left Dean's apartment, and she had tied her up in a messy bun, ready to do what was taught to them in those videos. She wasn't sure it would work, but staying confident and determined, was the best way for her to not freak out. If she did, Sam and Dean would certainly just tell her to go back home. And that was something she didn't want to do. Strangely enough, deep down she felt as though what they were going to do was what they were supposed to do. Walking with them towards a supernatural creature, in order to save lives, gave her a better feeling than anything else she's done her whole life. All of those office jobs, as a temp or an assistant, they all seemed so worthless comparing to what she was going to do with them right then.

As they walked into the elevator, Dean turned to Kate and Sam.

"Set your cell phones to walkie-talkie in case we get separated," Dean told them as the three of them got their phones out and pressed a few buttons to get the settling done.

"How the hell are we gonna find some ancient speck of DNA in a skyscraper?" Kate asked as she looked up at Dean's intense green eyes.

"Well, that creepy storeroom used to be Sandover's office, right?" He said as he pressed button 14.

"We'll start there," Sam said nodding his head.

Dean and Kate were looking through the things stored in 1444 on one side while Sam was riffling through the desk on the other side of the office. Kate went behind some shelves and started searching there. When she looked up, her brown eyes met Dean's green wasn't trying to pretend as if their gazes met by chance as he never broke the eye contact. He looked right into her eyes, as though he was trying to see through them.

"What?" She asked him and he glanced at Sam behind before walking around the shelves to stand right next to her. Completely puzzled by him, she turned her head towards him, and looked up at him questioning him with her eyes.

"Your hair…" He whispered. She was even more puzzled by that answer.

"What-" She started to ask when Dean swiftly reached Kate's forearm and pulled her towards him against the wall, in order to be out of sight. One hand on her lips and the other holding her forearm. She was going to push him away when she heard the unknown voice speaking.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nothing. I just-I," Sam stuttered. Kate's face was buried against Dean's chest. She couldn't see what was happening, but she kept still against Dean. She wasn't stupid and had quickly grasped the situation. One of the guards had caught them, or at least Sam. She put her hand on the one he was holding against her lips and he understood that she wanted to pull it away so he simply slid it away. One of his hands was still holding on her forearm while the other landed on her lower back.

"Come with me," the guard told Sam as Kate inhaled Dean's perfume. Some mix between mint and wood, it wasn't a bad scent at all, but somehow Kate thought he had to smell something else. Something more like a musk of leather, oil motor and whisky; this made Kate even more confused by herself and her thoughts. When they heard the door slamming close, Kate looked up at Dean, pulling her head slightly away from his chest.

"Let's wait just a couple of seconds, just in case," Dean whispered to her and she looked down at his hand around her forearm before looking up at him as an image of him reaching for her hand crossed her mind. His fingers wrapped around her hand as he said to her those few words… "Physical contact…I think that as long as we keep touching each other, we'll travel together."

"Alright," Dean said as he let go of her hand. "I think they're gone," he told her as she looked up at him, with an almost dumbfound expression on her face. This time the image that crossed her mind seemed too real to be a result of her imagination. "Hey? You're okay?" She nodded slowly and chased away this disturbing thought she just had. She felt the need to ask him something pretty irrelevant all of sudden.

"What were you gonna say about my hair?"

"We'll talk about this later, okay?" He told her before he walked towards a few drawers near the desk Sam was looking through. She shook her head and forced herself to focus on the task in their hands before a disaster happened.

Half an hour later, Kate and Dean were looking at the Sandover history display model right next to the elevator, waiting for Sam to meet them there after he washed his face a bit from all the blood he claimed to be covered in. The Sandover history display they were looking at, was the one they had been passing by everyday without having a single clue that something in there caused deaths around in the building. When Sam walked to them, they both grimaced at the stains of blood on his yellow shirt. Kate was quiet as she looked at the man's face while Dean just said what was on his mind right then.

"Whoa. That's a lot of blood."

"Yeah, I know," Sam replied and Kate felt bad for Sam to have witnessed such a terrible death.

"Right," Dean said before swallowing. He pointed to the glass case in the history display. "So, uh, in there."

"P.T Sandover's gloves," Kate said as Sam looked at the pair of gloves exposed in there.

"It was just here," Sam whispered for himself. Kate nodded.

"And how much you wanna bet there's a little smidge of DNA in there? You know, like a fingernail clipping or a hair or two? Something," Dean told him.

"So you're ready?" Sam said as he looked back and forth at Dean and Kate.

"I have no idea," Kate replied as Dean shook his head, saying without speaking a word that he felt the same way.

"Me neither," Sam admitted.

"But, we gotta do what we gotta do," Kate told them as she walked towards the big sport bag and put it down in between the three of them. Sam and Dean looked at her and sighed in sync as they all crouched down around the bag. Each of them took an iron poker, and Sam took a container of salt.

"Go for it," Sam said to Dean who glanced at Kate.

"Ladies first," he told her and she rose her eyebrows.

"Right, that's this moment guys always choose to be such gentlemen" she mumbled before smashing the glass with the iron poker. She tried to shove the broken pieces of glass away when suddenly the room seemed to get colder. She looked up and the ghost of Sandover was here. She didn't have the time to react an inch of her body when he flung her into a wall and did the same to Sam and Dean.

"Oh. Nice!" She heard Dean say to Sam as she looked up and noticed the ghost wasn't there anymore. She reached for her right cheek as it was bleeding from hitting the edge of the wall. Her eyes looked over at Dean when she noticed the ghost reappearing behind him.

"Dean!" She shouted as she threw the poker at him. He grabbed it easily and turned around before swinging it through the ghost who, once again dissipated in the air.

"Nice catch," she remarked to him.

"Right?" He replied with a smile as he looked down at the poker in his hand, feeling very impressed by himself. Sam quickly got up and went over to pick up the other poker. The ghost appeared right between Sam and Dean who simultaneously hit him with the pokers. The ghost disappeared again as Kate stood up looking at them.

"Wow, that was-" She started when the ghost appeared in front of her but quickly dissipated as Dean swung the poker at him. The ghost started to appear a few times after getting dissipated by the pokers' swings as Kate quickly went over the poker Dean had dropped when the ghost had flung him against another wall. The ghost threw Sam over a wall, his back colliding with a lamp hard before he threw Dean into the opposite wall. Kate gripped her poker tighter ready to hit him with it but he abruptly disappeared. She frowned when she saw him appearing right in front of Dean. His hand started to spark as he reached for Dean. Kate instinctively grabbed the gloves and threw them at Sam since she knew he had a lighter on him, unlike her. He grabbed them easily and pulled out his lighter. The gloves quickly caught fire, Kate turned her head and looked over at Sandover; he was burning too. The sight was in the same time, beautiful and terrible. The spirit burned into nothing as Sam dropped the burning gloves.

Kate's eyes landed on Dean's almost scared, but completely puzzled face as he looked around, trying without doubt to see if the ghost was going to reappear out of nowhere.

"That was amazing," Sam exclaimed making Kate look up at him.

"Right? Right?" Dean said, his voice sounding as excited as Sam's. She couldn't help but let out a light chuckle at their reactions.

Once it was all done, they were all in Dean's office. Kate sitting on the edge of the man's desk, Sam sitting at her left as Dean walked towards her with a first-aid kit.

"Guys, I gotta tell you, I've never had so much fun in my life," Dean said as he opened the kit, standing right in front of the brunette.

"Me neither," Sam replied as Dean handed Kate a gauze pad and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

"Maybe you want me to-" He started to say pointing at her cheek.

"No, I'm fine," she interrupted him, but seeing as he was still holding the two items towards, she sighed and took them.

"Was a hell of a workout too, wasn't it?" Dean chuckled as he took out two other gauze pad.

"We should keep doing this," Sam said making Kate look at him as she finished pouring some of hydrogen peroxide on the gauze pad.

"I know," Dean replied as he handed Sam a gauze pad and kept one for him. Sam grabbed it as Dean glanced at Kate who put the bottle down behind her before pressing the pad on the slight cheek cut.

"I mean it. There gotta be other ghosts out there," Sam said as he stared at Dean, standing right in front of them. "We could help a lot of people."

"Right, we'd be like the Ghostfacers," Dean scoffed.

"No, really. I mean, for real," Sam explained in a serious tone. Kate turned her head to look at him.

"What? Like, quit our jobs and hit the road?" She asked him and he shifted slightly to look at her.

"Exactly," he told her, his blue-ish hazel eyes looking right into her brown eyes.

"How would we live?" Dean asked as Sam turned his head towards him.

"Uh..."

"You gotta be kidding me. How would we get by?" Dean said as he pulled the gauze pad away from his face. "With stolen credit cards? Huh? Eating diner food drenched in saturated fats? Sharing a crap motel room every night?"

"That's all just details," Sam told him as Kate frowned her eyebrows looking back and forth at the interaction.

"Details are everything. You don't wanna go fighting ghosts without any health insurance," Dean said to Sam who looked down.

"Alright. Um. Confession," Sam said, his eyes locked to the floor.

"What?" Dean asked, watching Sam who lifted his head while Kate looked down at her feet.

"Remember those dreams I told you about with the ghosts?"

"Yeah?"

"I was fighting them."

"Okay," Dean just said before Sam continued.

"With you, Dean," Sam said making the man in the blue shirt furrow his brow slightly. "We were these, like, hunters, and we were friends. More like brothers, really… And I had a few dreams about you too, Kate." The brunette turned her head towards Sam. "I mean, what if that's who we really are? I mean, you saw us back there, working together. The ghost was scrambling people's brains. What if it scrambled ours?"

"That's insane," Dean replied as he circled his desk and went to lean down against a table right in front of his large window.

"Is it? Think about it for just one second. What if we think this is our life, but it's not?" Sam told him as he turned around to look at him.

"Hey, man, the ghost is dead and we're still standing. I mean, I'm sorry, but-"

"Look," Sam cut Dean off as he stood up and spun around to face the other man. Kate glanced up at him and felt a bit intimated by his height as he continued with frustration. "All I know is this isn't who we're supposed to be."

"No. I'm Dean Smith, okay? Director of Sales and Marketing. I went to Stanford. My father's name is Bob, my mother's name is Ellen, and my sister's name is Jo."

"When was the last time you talked to them?" Sam asked and Kate's eyes looked away as she tried to remember when the last time she talked to her own family was. "To any of them?"

"Okay, you're upset." Dean replied as Kate realized that she couldn't remember talking to any of her relatives for as long as she could remember. And this was not normal at all. "You're upset and confused-"

"Yeah, 'cause I only moved here 'cause I just broke up with my fiancée, Madison. But I called her number and I got a damn animal hospital," Sam interrupted him.

"Okay. What are you saying?" Dean asked and Kate decided to speak now.

"I've had weird dreams too."

"What?" Sam asked as Dean looked down at the woman who was giving him her back.

"I've had weird dreams about you two, and two other men with blue eyes and…" She sighed as she stood up and turned around so that she could face both men. "And there were weird creatures in a few of them…"

"Oh no, not you too," Dean sighed as he watched her face.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," she said as she glanced at Sam who was only staring at her. "I mean I got this feeling too, you know? As if everything around us isn't what it's supposed to be. As if we're not supposed to do any of that… I mean, I always feel like my life isn't my life and I don't remember the last time I talked to any members of my family," she confessed. "And so do you, Dean."

"No… Look, I've been busy with my new promotion but I talk to my family at least once a month. Actually, tomorrow is the day I'll call them to check on them," Dean replied.

"Is it?" Sam said. Dean frowned his eyebrows making soft wrinkle appear at the corners of his eyes. He looked back and forth at Sam and at Kate.

"Are you-are you trying to say that my family isn't real? Huh? That we've been injected with fake memories? Come on."

"All I know is, I got this feeling in my gut," Sam replied. "And I know—I know that deep down, you gotta be feeling it too, Dean. We're supposed to be something else. You're not just some corporate douchebag. This isn't you. I know you."

"Know me?" Dean told him as he fixed at him. "You don't know me, pal," he turned his head slightly towards Kate. "Neither do you... You should go. Both of you."

Kate and Sam silently grabbed their bags and coats resting on a chair and walked out.

When they reached the elevator, Kate gently pressed the button before Sam let out a long sigh, remembering why the elevator wouldn't come up.

"It's stuck… With the guard's body," he said in a little voice. She looked up at him and felt her chest tighten at the sad and pained expression all over his face.

"Do you think we should call someone for the, um, you know… The body?" She asked in a very little and hesitant voice. He shook his head, without looking at her as he pulled up the strap of his bag and threw his jacket over his shoulder.

"I've already programmed a deletion of everything that the security cameras have filmed ever since we got in here, so let's leave the body for everyone to find out tomorrow morning," he replied in a an unenthusiastic tone before he turned around to walk towards the staircase.

"Sam-"

"Kate," he cut her off as he stopped and turned around. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? Why did you keep quiet about it until now?"

"I-I was afraid you'd say I'm making everything up," she replied.

"Yeah, well what you just did back there, surely made it all sound true," he told her before shaking his head. "Goodnight," he said as he spun around and walked away.

She watched him leave before she pulled out her phone and decided to call her father. She put the phone against her ear and waited as it rang three times before the phone was picked up.

"Dad?" She said.

"My sweet little Katie, don't tell me you forgot that your dear daddy is dead?" A voice said and she frowned as she recognized this voice.

"Mr. Adler?" She asked as a rather manic laugh appeared on the other end of the line confusing her.

All of sudden, she wasn't standing in front of the elevator anymore. She was standing in room full of fancy decoration, paintings and golden chairs. She spun on herself as her eyes travelled all around the familiar room. Her hands started to shake as memories of that room resurfaced. The phone in her hand dropped on the floor, quickly followed by the coat and bag she was carrying on her forearm. She looked down at her hands and a scar on the back of her left hand appeared along with a memory. This scar was born on her second hunt with Matthew… She turned her hands over and looked at her palms. Four thin faded scars appeared on each palm. Those were the ones made by her own fingernails when she was trying to be strong enough to stop Dean from torturing Alastair... She realized slowly why these scars had magically disappeared along with her memories. It was all a setup…

"God." This was the only word that escaped her lips in a shaky whisper as she understood what could have made this whole setup.

"Practically," a too familiar voice said making her look up. Here was standing the angel she hated the most. "Long time no see, huh?" He grinned at her but she stood still and speechless. "Cat got your tongue? It's alright, though, it will make you listen carefully to me," he said as he eyed her up and down before chuckling. "You know, I've been waiting to see you again ever since that little trip you offered me so nicely."

"You must have liked it since you took so long to come back," she replied sarcastically. He pushed his tongue against the inside of one of his cheeks before he shook his head.

"I'd rather you keep quiet," he said bringing his hand up and spinning his fingers in the air. A weird itchy feeling appeared in her throat. She coughed and rubbed her neck with one hand, her eyebrows frowned at the unpleasant sensation inside her throat. "Yeah, I just kinda froze your vocal cords, so they can't really work now. And if you really wanna talk you'll have to force so much that it might break those cords of yours. And well, you'll certainly get a lot of blood in there. From what I've already seen it's a very ugly thing." She looked at him, horrified as he spoke casually.

"Now, that I have your full attention. I'll let you know that I've been back from that trip of yours quicker than you need to know. But the reason why I didn't want to invite you over wasn't because you tried for days to deprive yourself to sleep, naah. I mean come on, I could have just popped up wherever you were and taken you with me," he walked towards her and snapped his fingers making the items scattered on the floor around her, disappear. "I could have found you and taken you with me to go through all of Dean's sweet memories of Hell. Or I could have thrown you into Heaven's prison in which I would have guaranteed you the best tortures ever created." He finished his sentence by whispering into her ear. She bit on her tongue as she took a deep breath through her nostrils. Her eyes glued on the wall across from her.

"But you know what, Kate? I figured you out," he exclaimed as he took a few steps back and stared at her face. "I figured you out!" She frowned slightly, as she wondered what he was talking about. "You are just like them. It may be the reason why you've been brought in our universe actually. I mean, alright it's true that having a human with a soul and a vessel as powerful as yours, can really be to our advantage in this upcoming war. And this is the first reason why I asked your help if you remember well." Zachariah sighed as he gave her a little smile. "Those Winchester boys are just as stubborn as you are, but we need them. Well, actually we specifically need Dean to be motivated." Kate clenched her fists and opened her lips. She tried to speak but stopped when a terrible pain irrupted in her throat. "Yeah, better no try speaking for now," he told her shaking his head.

"But, I know what you were gonna say. 'Leave Dean alone… I won't push him onto doing anything anymore… You can torture me, I don't care… My daddy's dead anyways, so you can't blackmail me' blahblahblah," he said impersonating a ridiculous female voice as he held his hands up and shook them in the air. She glared at him as he laughed, and then cleared his throat, looking over at her with a smile. "But that's what I was gonna say. I figured you out. You won't do anything if we torture you. You won't do anything if we give you back what you've lost. And I could just erase all of your memories and have a new start with you. Play nice with you, convince you that you're the chosen one, or that your father can be saved, on and on and on. I could erase your memory until you finally do what I tell you. But, you won't do anything. And you know why? Because you are just like Sam and Dean. You can bear it all, as long as the ones you care about are alright." Kate's eyes slightly widened as she understood what he was gonna do.

"Oh yeah, you got it now, don't you?" He told her with a smirk. "As long as the ones you care about are alright, you will never do anything you're told. Even if it's to save this world from Lucifer himself." He exhaled a long sigh and sat down on the long couch right behind him, his eyes never leaving her. "So, here is how it's going to happen. The only motivation you'll get from us is this simple knowledge that if you do one thing wrong, someone you care about will suffer. It can be anyone… Dean, Sam, Matt, or even that old drunk Bobby. Anyone can live what you've lived when you showed disobedience, or relive in Dean's case," he couldn't help but chuckle at his own sick joke. "What do you think about that?" He asked her before he rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He spun one finger in the air and the sensation in her throat vanished. "So, now you can come back with a snarky comment you've been dying to say, I'm sure."

"Don't," she begged in a whisper as she stared at him. "Please don't do that."

"But, I have to. You didn't give me any choice, Kate."

"I promise to do what I'm told now, I-I promise," she told him as tears formed in her eyes.

"I would like to believe that," he told her as he stood up. "But, Kate, I know you now. You betrayed Heaven, you betrayed God himself by rebelling against me last time. And, I don't know about your universe, but here you don't get to do any of that without facing the consequences."

"Why?" She let out in a breath. "Why are you doing this? You don't need me… I'm not in any of your outlines, you said it yourself."

"And I also said that you were a joker in our game, and we need a joker or this whole planet will just burst into flames as Lucifer will walk on it. And, you may have not thought about it that much and that well, but if we lose that war because we don't have any good cards and we don't even have a joker, then this world counting Dean, his brother, Bobby, Rufus and that Matt, and all the people you've met here, they'll all burn as well," he replied and she licked her lips before pressing them together as she nodded. A tear left each of her eyes as she looked away. "Don't cry, come on! It's for the greater good."

"Yeah."

"I'm happy you understand, because it would really sadden me to have to see any of those good people go through what you've been through those terrible memories of Hell," he sighed shaking his head. He continued with a much sterner voice. "But you have to keep in mind that if you tell one word about our meetings, one single word and those people you care about and yourself will get the worst." Kate gulped as she watched his face which relaxed after a couple of seconds. "So, just do your job, after all you like to be useful, huh?" He grinned at her.

Author's note:

Hello dear readers! I truly hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, Pancha Ganapati, Hanukkah or whatever else you celebrate:)

So what did you guys think of that new chapter? I'm still very unsure of it… I feel like it's a filer and needs so much improvement, and I just hate this feeling!

I'm aware that there wasn't too much of progression in it, and the slightest progresses I tried to make, I did it so horribly… I know that apart from my take on the episode, the beginning of this chapter and its ending are both very rushed. I gotta say that for the first part I wanted it to seem rushed so that you can have the impression of time moving on and Kate changing a bit as she is driven by her fear of facing Dean after what happened with Alastair and of facing Zachariah after casting him away. I wanted you to have just a glimpse of her getting into her first hunts with Matt, without giving you too much information to increase the feeling of time passing by, you know? But, I guess I didn't do it very well and that's why I plan to make it up later. As for the second part, I didn't want Zachariah's return to be this rushed, but my muse has been away for quite some time now and she doesn't seem to wanna come back… So yeah, I'm truly sorry if you didn't enjoy this chapter very much and if there wasn't too much progression.

I promise that next chapter will be updated in two days upmost, and it will contain much more interesting things going on ;)

Thank you very much for taking time to read my story, it keeps me very happy and touched:)

Much love to everyone out there,

A.