Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.
A few days later.
After reappearing out of nowhere in Matthew's motel room, Kaitlin Anderson had found it really hard to explain to him the whole situation without telling him too much. Of course, the hunter had freaked out for an hour when he woke up and found her in the middle of his room while he had spent days looking for her. When he calmed down, he told her that Bobby had called him to say that the Winchesters had gone MIA for days too, which made Kate understand that Zachariah had really put off this whole scenery for only the three of them. The blue-eyed hunter had sounded surprised when he had said that Bobby told him about the angels and that Dean Winchester was the chosen one to save the world too. However, Matt's real concern and confusion laid on her and the reason of her being taken away by the angels too. This had reminded her that he was still unaware of her real reason at Bobby's place in the first hand. But here is the thing: she was certain that he knew she wasn't telling him the entire truth about herself; she could see it in the ways he looked at her and acted around her sometimes. And, she hated that. Especially since he had been so nice, helpful and patient with her and her training.
As much as it was hard to keep pretending to just be Bobby's niece with Matt, it was even harder to not being able to tell anyone else about her meetings with the angels and what Heaven seemed to want so much from her. As a matter of fact, Bobby and the Winchesters had expressed their confusion about it on several times. Above all else, the fact that Heaven had claimed she was to be protected more than once, and then let her be in dangerous and life-threatening situations without helping her in any way, had gotten them entirely puzzled and suspicious of Heaven's wishes.
There was so much things Kate wished she could tell everyone around her. All of those secrets were starting to eat her from the inside, and she couldn't help but wonder what she had done wrong to deserve any of those things. Truth be told, none of those people she had met in this universe seemed to deserve any of this pain and tough life. They deserved to be safe and happy. And the fact that back in December, she had played a role in preventing Dean from feeling any of those ways, made her feel so shameful of herself that she had no idea how to complete the mission Zachariah had given her. Nonetheless, now that he had threatened to torture the ones she cared about if she ever disobeyed him, she had no other choice but to do what she was told. She couldn't run away anymore now.
And that was the actual reason of her walking down the snow covered tiny alley in between those smashed old cars in Bobby Singer' salvage yard now.
Somehow, she had succeeded on convincing Matt to drop her off just outside Bobby' salvage yard. She really needed to be on her own before seeing Bobby again. Especially after spending a month avoiding the Winchesters completely and not getting back at Bobby's house while the old man kept on telling her to do this on the phone. This whole time before getting kidnapped by Zachariah to get her entire memory erased so she could be some employee named Kate Andrew at the Sandover Company, she had been going literally crazy. Trying so hard to avoid facing the consequences of her actions – or in other words: to avoid facing the man she had broken because she was being completely selfish – and trying so desperately to keep herself busy in between hunting with Matt and praying for God to keep Zachariah away from her, had been the main occupations that drove her crazy. What kept her going was adrenaline and caffeine. But, when Matt had decided that almost a whole week without sleeping was too much, he had started taking the matters in hands. At first, he had made her pass out with some technique of his fingers, and aside from being very mad at him for doing this to her once she woke up, an entire pleasing shock had risen in her. There hadn't been any nightmares that time at all; just some weird dreams but nothing too big of a deal. And more importantly, there hadn't been any angel at all. The following nights she had been hesitant on sleeping though, fearing that Zachariah would appear then. But Matt had slipped a few sleeping pills in her soda a couple of times before she came to the conclusion that Zachariah wasn't coming back.
During that whole time before this angel actually reappeared in her life, she had been feeling so shameful and afraid that she hadn't had the slightest strength to face either Bobby either the Winchester brothers. However, she had told Bobby before leaving his house; she hadn't been very precise but still, she had told him. She had confessed to him that she wouldn't be able to face them after what had happened with Alastair, and she needed to get away from them. But, now that Zachariah had reappeared and had made everything perfectly clear, she had no other choice but to face them all again. She had to suck it all up and be strong.
Pulling her hands out of her parka coat, she took off the strap of her duffle bag from around one shoulder and put it down with one hand while the other clung onto one strap of her back bag. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, very slightly after pulling open the screen door. She pressed her lips together, very tightly before knocking louder. She opened her mouth and took another deep breath as she looked down at her feet. There wasn't much time in between the door opening and the familiar rough voice of Bobby Singer speaking up.
"You're in so much troubles young lady."
"I wasn't expecting any less," she replied in a little voice as she lifted her head and looked at the bearded man with a trucker's hat like always. His eyes scanned her face and there was no denying in what Matt had told him on the phone: she didn't look good at all. There were slight dark shadows under her brown eyes, a faded scar above her left eyebrow, and a heartbreaking expression was written all over her facial features.
"God, Katie, what happened to you?" Bobby asked in a gentle voice, his eyebrows frowning softly in concern.
"I-" She started when she got a lump in her throat. Seeing this old man and the genuine concern in his blue eyes made her realize even more how truly she cared about him. She's known him for just three months or so, and still she knew she could give her own life to save this old man who had been so good to her. She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes as she continued in almost a whisper. "Can I come back here?"
"That's what I've been trying to make you do for weeks, kiddo," he replied trying to buck her up a little bit.
"I'm so sorry," she said looking away as she felt ashamed to have behaved childishly and almost ungratefully when she went away with Matt.
"Hey," he said tilting his head so it could be right in her eye line. She looked at him and he gave her a gentle smile. "There's nothing to be sorry of, Katie. Come here," he said as he opened his arms and she slowly took the step separating them, letting him wrap his arms around her in a fatherly like comfort. "It's okay, kiddo, everything's okay," he whispered to her as he hugged her tighter when he felt her fingers clenching on his plaid shirt.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.
Four days later.
There wasn't any better way for Kate to get her colour back than spending a couple of days at Bobby Singer's house. After the second day, she already looked better and felt a lot better as well. Bobby had been so careful to make sure she'd get better very soon, that the first day he had neglected his personal work connected to the breaking seals and other hunters' cases. Kate had found it absolutely sweet of him, but on the second day she had insisted he would stop mothering her that much. It's not that she didn't like having her food brought to her while she was in bed, or that she didn't like having Bobby telling her stories of his old life before his whole life changed; but she didn't want to feel guilty of preventing Bobby from helping saving the world.
As a matter of fact, that was something she thought about a lot since her return at his house. The mess in his living room was completely back, as maps, books, parchments, newspapers and other papers were all scattered all around the room. And with what Kate had glimpsed a bit at, there was no doubt that Bobby was very determined in finding how to stop all those seals from breaking. Besides, he had told her that he had sent hunters to every single coordinate she had given him and that all those seals had been stopped. He had sounded very happy and proud to know there were some victories in this endless chaos after all. He had also told her that he had found a couple of seals on his own too, but one of them had already been broken. However, he had emphasised the fact that it had been a very hard task to discover those seals and had no idea how she had found so many so easily. Of course, Kate hadn't said a word at this. She couldn't say Zachariah had sort of engraved those seals in her brain, and when and where exactly they were going to break, right? But, seeing how strong-minded Bobby Singer was, she couldn't help wonder if he could be the one to save the world. Heaven seemed to focus on Dean Winchester for some reason, and Zachariah wanted to keep her as a joker in case something didn't go the way they planned with Dean, but at the end of the day, Bobby seemed to be the only human being to truly and entirely rack his brains over the whole thing.
She knew she was supposed to help with those breaking seals, but she needed to figure out a couple of things first. And the only person she knew that could help her without asking too much questions, was someone she was sure Bobby wouldn't agree for her to see. Thus, after taking the last thing she needed, Kate went upstairs announcing she was going to take a nap which the old man was very happy to hear.
She closed the door of her bedroom and locked it before walking towards her bed. She knelt down and pulled out a shawl covering a few items from under the bed. She unfolded the shawl on the top revealing a large bowl containing dried herbs, three candles and a piece of chalk and a sharp knife. She pulled out a matchsticks box from her jeans' pocket and put it down before she reached for one of the two notebooks she had been writing on. She flipped over a few pages and stopped when she got the one she needed. She put it down, grabbed the piece of chalk and started drawing on the wooden floor the pattern that she had copied on the notebook. When she finished, she placed the bowl in the middle and arranged the three candles around the pattern. She took a matchstick and lit up one candle after candle, before blowing on the stick and putting it away. She grabbed the knife and let out a long sigh as she brought up it to her left hand. A light chuckle escaped her lips as she looked down at the settlement. She glanced up at the old wooden chair in the corner on which she had put down a hoodie jacket of hers, Dean's military jacket and Pamela's leather jacket. Her brown eyes lingered on the leather jacket.
"I don't know if you can see me from wherever you are Pam, but I'm pretty sure you'd slap the back of my head for what I'm doing," Kate said as she looked down at the knife, held her hand up above the bowl before pressing the tip of the knife on her fingertip. She winced and pulled the knife away when a large bubble of blood formed there. She shook her finger a little bit and drops of blood dropped onto the bowl. "Alright," she told herself as she put the knife away and glanced down at the Latin incantation holding her bleeding finger still above the bowl. She shook it vigorously before taking another matchstick. She lit it up, cleared her throat and said the incantation. "Ad constringendum, ad ligandum eos pariter et solvendum: Et ad congregandum eos coram me." She threw the matchstick onto the bowl setting its containing aflame. She bit on her bottom lip very hard as she threw a glance at her left and at her right.
"Demon summoning, really Kate? You know I've got a cell phone, right?" Kate turned her head before standing up. The ritual really worked and that slightly surprised the young woman.
"I don't have your number," Kate said as she looked at the short brown-haired woman in front of her. Funny how Kate realized all of sudden how impossible it really was to tell if a person was possessed by a demon or not. After all, appearances could really be deceiving.
"Well, you're lucky you didn't mess up your summoning and didn't get another demon here," the brunette in a black leather jacket replied as she folded her arms over her chest. Kate swallowed as she realized how right Ruby's words were. Meanwhile the demon's eyes raked up and down Kate's body, a smirk forming on her lips as she looked up into Kate's eyes. "You look different."
"I know," Kate nodded as she brought her hand up showing off the bracelet around her wrist. "A special little bracelet to make my soul look ordinary."
"It works," Ruby nodded. "I mean that's a shame, but better be safe than sorry, right?" The demon said as she glanced at the locked door. "But I wasn't just talking about your soul actually. You look, I don't know, much less innocent than last time," she continued before walking towards the window and taking in the amount of destroyed cars almost surrounding the house. "Anyways, I don't think you've summoned me to talk about any of that… Wait, are we at that old drunk's house? Bobby Singer's?"
"Yeah, so if you could please be as quiet as possible," Kate replied as Ruby spun around and narrowed her eyes. "I told him I was taking a nap. He has no idea I summoned you. I'm sure he wouldn't let me summon a demon, not even you."
"Especially not me would be a better way to put things," Ruby told her and Kate frowned.
"Why?"
"What? You don't know? Apart from Sam, they all despise me," Ruby replied as she unfolded her arms threw them at her sides, a little smile appearing on her lips. "I'm a demon, remember?" She said blinking her eyes pitch black. Kate brought her hands up.
"Could you not- it's kinda creepy," she told her and the demon sighed before turning her eyes to their human colour. "I know you're a demon, Ruby. But, you're a nice demon." Kate said, making two steps towards her. "You've helped them many times. You've helped me too."
"Back when we had Heaven and Hell on our tails, you mean?"
"That, and later," Kate replied making the demon tilt her head, silently urging her to continue. "Hum, I had some troubles with an angel and hum I used the pattern you showed me. The one you told me Anna had used against Castiel and Uriel… But this gotta stay between us, please don't tell Sam or anyone else."
"Come on, Katie, of course it'll stay between us girls," Ruby smirked as she approached her. "Now, tell me why did you summon me up?"
"I need your help," Kate replied as she looked into Ruby's eyes with determination.
"What for?"
"You said you were a powerful witch back when you were human, right?" Kate said, her voice sounded as strong as the expression in her eyes. "Teach me."
Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
One day later.
"What took you so long?" Ruby asked as she pulled open the hotel room's door, letting the other brunette walk in.
"Sorry, but convincing Bobby on going shopping on my own was a bit harder than I thought," Kate replied as she pulled down her back bag on the king size bed, and started shrugging off her parka coat.
"Don't worry about that," Ruby told her as she closed the door and walked towards three bags. She brought them up and Kate's brown eyes fell on them. "A few shirts and other things to make your lie convincing once you get back home."
"Good thinking," Kate said as she threw her coat on the bed along with her scarf. Her eyes travelled around the room as Ruby walked to the kitchenette side. "Couldn't you take a room with two beds? The receptionist gave me a funny look when I told him the number of my room."
Ruby smirked as she made her way towards a corner chair on which her leather jacket and a bag rested. "We won't be using any bed, so no worries. The only fun business that will take place in this room is in the kitchenette. Come on, I've settled it all." Ruby said as she pulled out a hexbag from her jacket's pocket. "You got yours?"
"Yeah," Kate said pulling it slightly out of her pants pocket to show it.
"Good," Ruby said as they both walked towards the kitchenette. Kate stopped when she saw the multiple patterns drawn all over the walls. "I don't know if you've noticed but I've drawn a couple ones on the windows near the bed too. But I got most of them here because that's where we're really gonna work."
"What are those sigils for?" Kate asked as she approached one wall and studied the forms and symbols written with what seemed to be a marker.
"Basically, they'll do the same thing than this," Ruby replied as she shook her hexbag in her hand. "But, they are protecting us from Angels only. Sure, the hexbag is keeping you away from being located by angels and demons, but since you're not from that universe, I think a little trick from any of those sides will be enough to locate you. I mean you're literally one of a kind here, with or without that shinny rock around your wrist. But these sigils," the demon said as she walked towards the tall brown-head, her hand pointing at the walls. "They can't do anything against these. You can plan to kill them, they won't even know and they won't even know where you are because those sigils create a so powerful shield that the angels can't see through it and they can't even get through it." Kate couldn't help the impressed smile that grew on her lips as she looked at the demon in her simple black tee-shirt while she was wearing a long-sleeved winter sweater. "So, what do you wanna start with?"
"Um," Kate frowned as she looked away, licking her lips before raking her teeth over her bottom lip. "I don't you to make me a complete witch, you know? I just… I want to learn some useful spells to defend, those kind of things. Nothing too Harry Potter-ish and especially not too, um, the Witches of Salem-ish."
"Alright," Ruby smirked before walking towards the counter near the sink. "I wasn't gonna teach you any dark magic, if that's what you're scared of." Kate approached her and looked at the many ingredients scattered all over the counter. Transparent plastic bags containing ingredients of all kind, from some dried herbs to some glittering grey powder, there even was a bag with what seemed to look like dead insects.
"What are those for?" Kate asked pointing at the dead insects' bag.
"Oh. Um, you'll find out later," Ruby replied as she looked up at her. "Do you remember how to make the hexbag you've kept since last time?"
"Barely."
"Alright, then we'll start with that."
Three hours later, Kate already knew quite a handful of useful things. She knew how to make two kind of powerful hexbags, the first one was the usual one permitting protection from being seen and located by angels and demons while the second one gave off the same kind energy than the precious rock in the bracelet Bobby had given her. Thus, if someday, she lost her bracelet she still had a hexbag to make a perception filter around her soul. However, unlike the bracelet it wasn't protecting her from demon possession. Ruby had also taught her a spell to locate people on a map, a spell to protect a house from getting a dark spell casted over and also a potion to drink when someone's cursed. Kate had written it all down in a new notebook that she wasn't going to let anyone see, knowing far well that if she did, it would just get her in troubles. When Kate had asked if there wasn't any other defensive spells that could be useful when fighting against a specific creature, the demon had told her that there was but learning them would just make Kate get too close to dark magic which of course the young woman didn't want to.
When Bobby called Kate on her cell phone to know when she was going to be back home, the young woman had pretended to be trying on a few clothes in a dressing room. This had shortened the conversation with the old man who just asked her to bring some fast food with her for diner. Hanging up, Kate had felt the demon's eyes glued on her.
"What?" She asked turning around to look at the demon leaning against the wall near the kitchenette.
"You should call Sam. He's been worried about you," she told her.
"Damn it, Ruby, you didn't tell him we-"
"Hold your horses, okay? I haven't told him anything about you and I meeting," Ruby cut her off, taking a few steps towards the other woman. "All I'm saying is that the poor guy is feeling completely guilty ever since you've run away weeks ago. I mean, you gotta understand that he wouldn't be that powerful without drinking demon blood and that-"
"What?" Kate interrupted the demon, her eyebrows frowning in confusion as she stared right into the dark brown eyes looking at her. "Drin-drinking demon blood? What the hell are you talking about?"
"You didn't know?" Ruby asked as Kate lightly shook her head, still confused by Ruby's words. "How did you think Sammy had his mojo from?"
"I-I don't know," Kate whispered as she looked away. Her thoughts and questions seemed to spin around, tangling and intertwining in a sort of ball of wool of absolute confusion and re-assessment. Sam was drinking demon blood? How could sweet Sam drink demon blood? Just putting his name and the action in the same sentence made it all sound unreal and impossible. How could that even be possible?
"Hey, don't overthink this. Sam hates it, but he knows that's the only thing that can make him strong enough to kill Lilith and stop the end of the world," Ruby told her as she approached her.
"But- I don't get it. Does that mean that anyone who drinks demon blood can get this kind of power?"
"No, it's… It's much more complicated," the demon replied before Kate cut her off.
"How can Sam do it? I'm sorry but I don't get it… It's wrong, it's just wrong and Sam would never do something like that, I-"
"Kate, stop, okay?" Ruby cut her off this time. "You gotta take a deep breath and calm down. Like I told you, Sam knows it's what he's gotta do to be strong enough to kill Lilith. I mean you've seen him killing Alastair, last time, and believe me when I tell you that Alastair was one of the strongest demon ever. It was nearly impossible to kill him, but Sam did it. He saved you, he saved you all that day and you have no idea how many innocents he saves by using his power." Kate just stared at her, the words were making their ways to Kate's brain, but she had a hard time grasping them completely. The news had taken her off guard like no other for quite some time now.
"I don't get it…" She just let out in a whisper as Ruby gently grabbed her arm and made her sit down on the bed with her. Kate went through the motions, without saying a word. Sure, she was new to this whole supernatural world, but still she knew how wrong the simple action of drinking blood was, let alone drinking demon blood.
"Did Sam tell you about Azazel and his chosen kids?" Kate simply nodded at the question as the demon studied her face. "They told you about this but they didn't tell you how Azazel chose those kids?" Kate frowned as she shook her head slightly. "Oh boy, this is gonna be a long story."
Four days later.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Bobby Singer's.
It was almost three in the morning when Kate and Bobby went upstairs to their respective rooms. At midnight, she had tried to convince the old man to take a break with his research and to go to sleep, but it was in vain. He wanted to finish studying the last pages of the first part of that old testimony from some priest of the Middle Age that his friend, the professor Eleanor Visyak had sent to him that morning. It was written in Latin but some paragraphs were written in another language that Bobby found out later, was old French. Therefore, the young woman had spent a few hours with him then, trying to translate as much as she could. Old French was very different from modern French, but some words still held some resemblances as they were the roots of modern French. It wasn't an easy task and she found herself looking onto the internet more than once, and when Bobby had decided to call it a night, she had already translated two long paragraphs.
Closing the door behind her, the brunette took off the clipper holding her hair up in a messy bun as she walked towards the little wardrobe in which she had ordered her clothes the day before. She pulled out a tee-shirt and reached for a pair of sweatpants when she abruptly stopped. Her eyes focused on the shorts she used to put on almost every night while her thoughts wandered around the owner of those shorts. Dean. Bobby had told her that he had called today in order to ask something about a creature while Kate was out for shopping. Bobby had suggested to call them back so she could catch up with them, but she had refused not feeling truly ready. However, Bobby had noticed how those past couple of days she wanted to get as much news about them as possible while trying to remain casual and nonchalant. The old hunter wasn't a dupe, he knew that she wanted to contact them but was still stopping herself from doing so, and Kate was aware that he knew that. She was really touched that he never pushed her, though. She still felt like she needed some time, and it upset her a bit.
Kate took the clothes in one hand and slammed the drawer shut with the other, a light thud echoed in the quiet room. She threw the clothes she was going to sleep in on her bed as she started to undress, slowly taking the few steps between the wardrobe and the bed. Grabbing the sweatpants and smoothly slipping her legs into it, her brown gaze fell on the military jacket that Dean had given her back at Pamela's funeral. She shook her head as she grabbed the tee-shirt and put it on, her movements quick and almost abrupt. She grabbed the clothes she had taken off, before looking at his military jacket again.
"You're gonna catch a cold if you stay like this," he told her as he pulled his arms out of the sleeves. She watched him, pretty taken aback. He made one step towards her and put his jacket over her shoulders.
"What about you?" She asked in a little voice.
"I got another one in the car," he replied as he started doing the pockets of his jacket.
Kate closed her eyes tightly and lowered her head as she tried to make disappear that flashback which only made her realize even more how sweet and caring he truly was with her. How could she have let him go through that with Alastair? And, now Zachariah had made it clear that if she ever disobeyed, he'd go through the same thing again. She couldn't let this happen. Not again.
Looking down at her hands fisting around the clothes, she threw them on top of the drawer and quickly grabbed her cell phone on the nightstand. She pressed two buttons and the few contacts she had, appeared on the same screen.
Bobby S.
Dean W.
Matthew D.
Pamela B.
Rufus T.
Sam W.
Scrolling down with her thumb, she passed Dean's name and stopped at Pamela's name. Was she supposed to delete her number? She had never deleted her father's number from her cell phone back in her world, then again she had had a hard time accepting his death. It took her a whole trip to another universe to finally grieve completely and accept her father's death. For sure, it wasn't truly the same thing and she had accepted Pamela's death quicker than her father's, but somehow she felt as if it was disrespectful. Kate decided to let it there, not finding the courage yet to delete it.
Her eyes glanced down at the last name of the list. Sam. Looking at it after everything Ruby had told her a few days ago, made her feel a bit uncomfortable and sad. He was so determined to kill Lilith that he was willing to make himself keep on drinking demon blood while just the thought of it sounded wrong. How terribly demanding that must have been to him, to sacrifice the purity of himself in order of getting more chances to save the world. According to Ruby, Dean wasn't a fan of that at all and this was why Sam was doing it on his back. Those past few days, Kate had tried putting herself in Sam's shoes just as much as she had tried putting herself in Dean's shoes. And, she had come to the conclusion that this whole situation was hard and sensitive for her to understand it completely, but all she cared about was what she had seen from them. She had witnessed so much good attentions coming from those two brothers, and she was the least person who would ever judge someone over doing something wrong to achieve the rightest goal possible.
With that last thought, Kate felt herself calm down as her eyes glanced up at Dean's jacket. She licked her lips, and looked down at her cell phone reading the time on it, before shaking her head slightly. She put the little item on the nightstand and climbed under the blanket, eventually deciding that calling them at such a late time with nothing prepared to say to them wasn't that good of an idea.
The next day.
It was almost noon when Kate walked downstairs, showered and ready to start a new day. She was in a rather good mood today, even though she had a nightmare last night. It was about that vampire hunt she had done with Matt weeks ago and it was somehow mixed with her finally finding a way back to her universe. When she thought about it, it wasn't really a nightmare at the end. After all, that's what she wanted the most, right? To return to her universe where everything was just safe and sound. Then why was she feeling weirdly bad about it all of sudden? She stopped in Bobby's hallway, trying to find an answer to her own question when the old man's voice brought her attention to him.
"Morning kiddo. Give me a hand, will ya?"
She looked at him in his old green flannel and the usual hat on the top of his head, before nodding with a gentle smile. She walked in the living room, avoiding stepping on the giant map covering the floor as she made her way towards the coffee table where he was standing right next to. There were ten giant piles of books on it, maybe even more.
"Let's move it to the kitchen," Bobby told her as she gave a nod and bent down. "At three. One, two and three." They both carried up the heavy coffee table and made slow steps towards the kitchen, making sure to not drop any of the books.
"Why are we moving it away?" She asked as Bobby was looking over his shoulders, taking his steps back slowly.
"I need more room," he replied. "Here, put it down." Kate obliged before straightening up and pushing her hands on her lower back. "I've finished translating the first part of the testimony, this morning. Gotta say old French and modern French, it was all a big challenge."
"What? Why did you let me oversleep, I would have helped you, Bobby."
"Nah, it's fine. You needed this sleep," the old man smiled as he circled the coffee table and gave a friendly slap on her arm.
"You need it more than I do," she replied as she turned around, her brown eyes following him as he grabbed a few papers on his desk.
"What I need is for you to get your batteries recharged so you can start digging onto the box Pamela left you," he replied as he glanced up at her.
"Yeah, you're right," she nodded her head.
"By the way, I found the last tape when you were away with Matt," he told her as he bent down and started scattering a few papers along the map. "I put it in the box with the others."
"Cool, I'm gonna get started with that-"
"No, you have breakfast or lunch or whatever, first," he cut her off.
"That'd be brunch then," she said, an amused smile playing on her lips.
"Whatever. You eat something and then you can get started."
"You're the boss," she gave a firm nod before spinning around and walking onto the kitchen.
Bobby couldn't help but throw a few glances now and then at the young woman reading on the couch. She had been sitting legs criss-crossed, her messy curls falling around her face like a brown curtain, and her hand reaching for the mug of coffee every once in a while, for a couple of hours now. She had a notebook resting on each side, and he had noticed her taking a few notes on one of them, every now and then, before returning to her quiet and focused reading. The old man was happy to see her looking and feeling so well. He had missed having her around, but above all he had missed seeing her acting the way she used to on her first days around here; simply studying books and taking notes while looking completely innocent and unaware of what was lurking in the dark. However, from his desk, he could still see the many pages full of scribbles and paragraphs of her handwriting as she flipped through the pages of her notebooks in order to find the blank pages, and this was enough to make him understand that even though she looked innocent and unaware of what was lurking in the dark, it was all just an appearance.
And truth be told, the old man felt a bit torn by her development and her involvement in this world. There was no doubt that she had been very useful, but deep down he didn't feel like it was right to let her get too involved in this kind of life. He had already witnessed how it had infected her in some ways, and even though he knew she was a strong girl, he understood how difficult this kind of life could be to someone, let alone someone straight from another universe. This was the main reason why he wanted her to start digging on the last two books Pamela had left in that box. He had already read two others, but there wasn't much more information than what he had already found on his own books. He couldn't wait for Kate to finish reading those books and start listening to Pamela's tapes. He could feel it in his guts that his deceased friend had found something to help Kate with her problem.
Suddenly, the familiar roaring sound of motor echoed from outside, making Kate's head lift up and turn towards Bobby. Their eyes met and Bobby rested his hands flat on his desk as he stood up from his chair.
"It's the Impala, right?" She asked him.
"You gonna be alright?" He asked her, studying her face and trying to read the expression on her face. She nodded at him as the roaring sound stopped, followed by slamming doors. Bobby circled his desk and walked around the map and papers scattered on the floor, towards the doorway. He stopped at the doorway and turned his head to the brown-head on the couch. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, kiddo." She gave him a small smile, her fingers nervously playing with the corner of a page of the book on her legs.
"Yeah, I know," she replied trying to convince him and herself. He nodded, and made his way to the front door. As he walked away, she looked down at the book and mumbled to herself. "Just gonna be very awkward."
Stepping out of his house, Bobby was straightaway hit by the cold breeze of this February day, which made his jaw tremble as he let out a 'brrr' sound. He looked over at the two tall brothers standing over the trunk of their beloved classic car. He walked a few steps towards them as the elder brother slammed the trunk close, and turned around along with his brother.
"Hey Bobby," Sam said smiling to the old man who just raised one hand up and waved it right to left, indicating them to stop.
"What's wrong?" Dean asked, confused as the old man shook his head vigorously.
"Not a word," Bobby snapped as his eyes looked back and forth at the two brothers staring at him with surprise. "I don't wanna hear any smart comment said to her, okay? This girl in there has had enough shit she didn't deserve, and she's just started getting past it, so if one of you make-"
"Hey stop," Sam cut him off, his brows knit together. "C'mon Bobby, we're not stupid. We're not gonna do anything to make her feel uncomfortable or anything."
"You better not," the old man replied nodding his head slowly, and let out a long sigh.
"How is she feeling now?" Sam asked as Dean glanced at him to see real concern on his face.
"Better," Bobby replied shrugging slightly. "So please don't screw it all up." He fixed his eyes intensively on the elder Winchester.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"'Cause I got that feelin' that if one of you can screw it up, it'd be ya."
"That-" Dean said holding a finger up, before he looked back and forth at his brother and the old hunter facing them. He moved his finger from the old man to the young one. "That's unfair and that shows your favouritism even more, Bobby." Bobby rolled his eyes as Dean started to walk around him, towards the house. Sam looked at the old man, giving him a gentle smile.
Kate was chewing nervously on her bottom lip when she heard the sounds of footsteps getting closer and closer. She tried her best to keep her head down and her eyes glued to the page of the book she was starting to spoil with her fingers folding and unfolding its corner. She frowned when she heard those footsteps fading and understood that whoever that was, they made their way upstairs immediately. Other footsteps appeared before a familiar voice echoed sweetly making Kate look up.
"Look who's there."
"Hey," she replied softly as her brown eyes immediately met his hazel ones, a weak smile appearing on her lips.
"You be careful where you put your feet on, Sam" Bobby warned as he walked around the map towards the kitchen. Sam gave a nod before turning his head back towards the brown-head who watched him as he put down his duffle bag. "Want a beer?" Bobby asked from the kitchen.
"Yeah, sure," Sam replied as he started putting off his coat. He looked at his right where a chair used to stand and he used to throw his jacket on it.
"Um, let me take care of that for you," Kate said in a little voice as she quickly jumped out of the couch and approached him, carefully avoiding stepping on all the things scattered on the floor.
"No, you don't have to-" He said when she shook her head and held her hands out, insisting without saying a word. Her eyes were glued to the floor and Sam frowned. "Sure," he eventually replied, even though he knew where the coat rack was located. He handed her his coat and watched her as she took it and walked away. Bobby walked towards him and handed him his beer, giving him a nod towards the hallway trying to tell him without pronouncing a word to go see Kate. Sam nodded as the old man returned to his desk. Remembering what he had in his jeans pocket, Sam slipped his large hand in it and walked towards Kate who was making her way back to the living room. She stopped abruptly when they came face to face. He pulled his hand out and Kate looked down at the tiny candy in its blue wrapper. Her brown eyes lifted up to meet his own gaze, and he gave her a friendly smile, as she reached for the candy.
"Thanks," she softly said as she unwrapped the sweet.
"Yeah… Um, usually candies are great ice-breakers or even signs of peace," he told her, as a frown appeared on her face along with a light chuckle.
"I'm pretty sure that's fourth grade's rules," she replied as she put the candy in her mouth.
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure it still works-" he told her before stopping himself when a grimace formed on her face. "Wh-what's wrong?"
"Is that licorice?"
"Um, I dunno. I got it at a motel's reception," he replied watching her as she nodded her head, her face still scrunched up in a grimace.
"That-that's licorice… I hate licorice," she declared.
"So do I," he replied as a slight grimace appeared on his face as well. "You can just spit it out," he told her pulling out a tissue from his other pocket before handing it to her. She shook her head frantically.
"Sign of peace you said, right?" She said before forcing herself to swallow down the candy. She stuck her tongue out when she succeeded, and Sam couldn't help the amused smile that curled his lips.
"Sorry," he said in between laughs. She grabbed the beer in his hands and gulped a long sip of it before keeping some in her mouth and shaking it inside in order to wash away the taste of licorice that she hated so much. His eyes never looked away from her face as she handed him back his beer and swallowed everything down. When she looked up at him, their eyes immediately met and within a second they both let out light laughs. "You just saved me from going through this torture," he said making her stop laughing as she stared at him with a sudden serious, the memory of Zachariah's threat rising up again with Sam's words.
Kate didn't say anything as she immediately threw her arms around the tall man, forcing him to lean down as she tightly hugged him against her. She heard him let out a muffled sound of surprise, but he didn't take long to somehow manage sneaking his arms under her grip to hug her back.
Almost two hours later, Kate rolled her eyes for the fifth times in less than two minutes as the exchanged of coughs reappeared in the room. She looked up from behind her wild hair, to see Sam sitting on the floor next to the map, with a book in his hands, shaking his head as his eyes were focused on the old man sitting at his desk. She threw a discrete glance at the old man who coughed again as he made a very emphasised nod of his head towards the doorway. She had no idea what was going on with them, and decided to return on her reading again. She lowered her head and started reading two lines when Bobby coughed loudly and obnoxiously again, followed by Sam's cough.
"Do you guys want me to go to a drugstore and bring you something for whatever's itching your throat that much?" She asked them with a bit of sass.
Sam and Bobby turned their faces to the brunette sitting on the couch, before Sam spoke up "No, we're fine."
"Sure?" She asked scanning his face which looked a bit flustered. "Because that will give you enough privacy to talk about whatever you're trying to, without me sort of eavesdropping."
"It's-" Sam started.
"I'm just tryin' to make this idjit go upstairs to bring his brother down here," Bobby cut Sam off. "That idjit was supposed to be respectful and he hasn't even said hello to you yet."
"And I'm trying to make Bobby understand that Dean won't listen to me, because as much as he wants to apologize to you, he's not really the kind to make the first step," Sam said, looking back and forth at the two people in the room.
Kate was taken off guard and the expression on her facial features made it clear enough for them. Here is the thing: after Sam and Kate had succeeded breaking the sort of ice she had created by avoiding him and his brother, she hadn't stopped thinking about the elder Winchester. She had been wondering why he wouldn't come downstairs yet, and had come to the conclusion that made the more sense for her, namely that he was avoiding her. But, never once did she think he was avoiding her because he wanted to apologize.
"What do you mean by 'he wants to apologize to me'?" She asked, her eyebrows brought together in confusion as she stared at Sam.
"Well, he thinks you didn't wanna talk to us anymore because of what you've seen him doing to Alastair," he replied.
"What?" She let out in a breath as she turned her head towards the old man who slightly rose his eyebrows.
"I mean, I know it's because of what you've seen me doing," Sam continued. Kate's head snapped at him.
"You-" She started before stopping herself, shaking her head, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip. She put the book that was resting on her lap, on the couch and looked up at Sam. "It has absolutely nothing to do with you and what you've done, Sam. And, same goes for your brother, which is why I'm gonna have two words with him right now," she stood up and walked around the map, as the two men watched her quietly. She ruffled Sam's hair as she walked past him, and he tried to brush the top of his head with his hand as he watched her ascend the stairs.
Dean was laying on his bed, his eyes closed as another classical rock 'n' roll song burst in his headphones, his fingers tapping in rhythm against his abdomen. After he had come into this room earlier, he had found himself unable to go back downstairs and face the brunette. It's not that he didn't want to, but ever since what happened with Alastair she had made it clear that she didn't want to talk to any of them Winchesters. She had gone as far as running away from Bobby's before they came in here during his healing time. And, he had thought about it a lot before realizing that it was no need to overthink it all. The woman had been clear and accurate that she didn't want to talk to them anymore, and he knew it was because she knew now what he was capable of doing. He couldn't focus on this thing while the apocalypse was getting closer and closer. Another angel had appeared in his life and had gotten things straight with him.
"Wait. Did I—did I just get touched by—you're an angel, aren't you?"
"I'm Zachariah."
"Oh, great. That's all I need is another one of you guys."
"I'm hardly another one, Dean. I'm Castiel's superior. Believe me, I had no interest in popping down here into one of these smelly things, but it's like those past few months I needed to," the angel had said in an annoyed tone as he had indicated his body. "And after the unfortunate situation with Uriel, I felt it necessary to pay you a visit too. Get my ducks in a row."
"I am not one of your ducks," Dean had shot back at the angel, both of them standing in that office back at Sandover's.
"Starting with your attitude," Zachariah had said before sighing. "You all seem to have a big penchant to talk back."
"Oh, yeah well we humans are like that… And this was all some sort of a lesson? Is that what you're telling me? Wow. Very creative."
"You should see my decoupage."
"Gross. No thank you. So, what? I'm just hallucinating all this? Is that it?"
"Not at all. Real place, real haunting. Just plunked you, your brother and that girl in the middle without the benefit of your memories," Zachariah had explained.
"Do you guys know that she's the same girl you asked us to protect? But, you did all of that to just shake things up? Hm? So you guys can have fun watching us run around like ass clowns in monkey suits while putting her in danger?"
"To prove to you that the path you're on is truly in your blood. You're a hunter. Not because your dad made you, not because God called you back from hell, but because it is what you are. And you love it. You would have never let anything happen to her because that's what you do. You save people, you hunt things, and you just can't live any other way. You'll find your way to it in the dark every single time and you're miserable without it. Dean, let's be real here. You're good at this. You'll be successful. You will stop it."
"Stop what? The apocalypse, huh? Lucifer? What? Be specific, man," Dean had replied frustrated by what the angel was telling him.
"You'll do everything you're destined to do. All of it. But I know, I know. You're not strong enough. You think a girl from another universe is stronger than you and that she can do it at your place, but in the same time you don't want her to go through something like that. You don't want her to be as scared as you are. Because that's it. You're scared. You got daddy issues. You can't do it. Right?"
"Angel or not, I will stab you in your face," Dean had replied angrily, wanting so badly to make that angel shut up.
Dean could remember so well the large smile that had appeared on the angel's face then. A smile that the minute he saw it, he knew was only going to make him even more suspicious of those angels.
"All I'm saying is it's how you look at it. Most folks live and die without moving anything more than the dirt it takes to bury them. You get to change things." Dean had turned around at this. "Save people, maybe even the world. All the while you drive a classic car and fornicate with women. This isn't a curse. It's a gift. So for God's sakes, Dean, quit whining about it," Zachariah had said making Dean turn around again to face the angel. "Look around. There are plenty of fates worse than yours. So are you with me? You wanna go steam yourself another latte? Or are you ready to stand up and be who you really are?
After a few seconds of silence, Dean had asked him the question that was itching him. "What about Sam and Kate? Why did you bring them in here too, if you only need me?"
"Your brother and you are quite inseparable, and we thought that it could boost you a bit more to have your dear little brother here with you. And, that was a success," the angel had said in reply. "So, ready?"
"What about Kate?" Dean had asked and the angel's lips had curled into a little smirk that hadn't gone unnoticed by the hunter's eyes.
"Well, let's say that we needed to check if we could trust her."
"And?"
"And now, I'm one hundred percent sure that we can," Zachariah had replied. "So, are you with me?"
Dean's eyes snapped open when he heard what seemed to be a knock. He frowned and reached up to put off his headphones, his eyes looking at the door when another knock was made. He sighed, throwing on his side the little mp3 player, Sam had given him for his birthday, the day before they had been taken away by the angels to spend a whole week thinking they had been working in a building for weeks. His little brother had filled the mp3 player with his favourite songs, and he had promised that it was in no way a birthday present since Dean always told him not to make a big deal of his birthday. However, the fact that Sam had given it to him on January 24th along with a whole pie, was a pretty good giveaway that his little brother would never listen to him. When Dean had found out all the songs in the tiny item, he had been so happy that he had stayed all night long listening to all the songs he already listened so much in his car.
Dean opened the door wide, his hand frozen around the door's handle when his green eyes landed on a wild mess of brown hair. He had thought it'd be Sam or Bobby, but seeing her here was the least he had expected. And, when she looked up; when her brown eyes looked right into his green ones, he felt it again. This almost indescribable feeling that seemed to irradiate from her all the time, and that he had spent over a month trying to get over with no such luck, embraced his entire self again. And, somehow that saddened him; that saddened him to think that he had frightened her so much that day that she had felt the need to run away from them.
"Hey," she said to him, in a soft tone as her lips curled into a gentle smile.
"Hey," he said back, not able to find anything better to reply.
"I," she started before licking her lips, her eyes lowering down to what she was holding in her hands. He followed her gaze to notice his military jacket folded as she handed it to him. "I thought you'd want this back."
"Yeah, thanks," he simply said, taking the jacket before looking up at her face again. She dropped her hands at her sides once the jacket was in one hand of his.
"It's supposed to be… Er… A sign of peace," she nervously gestured to his jacket.
"Giving me back my jacket?"
"Yeah," she replied. "I mean… I could have kept it forever."
"It would have been a theft," he told her as a thoughtful expression washed over her face for a quick second before her eyes settled back onto looking into his own.
"Can I come in?" She asked him and he stayed speechless as he took a couple of steps aside to let her walk in. He hesitated on closing the door, but decided to let it just slightly open as he turned around and looked at her. Her eyes were traveling around the room filled with a few large cardboard boxes, two old wardrobes, a pretty big wooden box and a bed. His duffle bag was on the top of one of the old wardrobes, opened as a few clothes were piled on the floor right in front of the wardrobe. Kate assumed that the pile of clothes was his laundry, and when she turned around to ask him, she spotted him watching her. It stopped her from asking this stupid and irrelevant question, as she linked her fingers together in front of her and said something else instead. "I've never come in this room. When I was cleaning his house, Bobby made me promise not to touch any of the rooms you guys used."
"Yeah, I suppose it's because those boxes are filled with old things Bobby wanna keep," Dean shrugged as he threw his jacket on the bed, right next to the mp3 player.
"I wanted to say that you're not the reason why I ran away," she blurted out and he couldn't help the confusion that wrote itself on his features. "I mean, you're not the direct reason, Dean. Neither is your brother. I just ran away because of what I did to you."
"What you did to me?"
"Yeah… Um, back at that building, I pushed you onto doing something and I-" She stopped herself once again, wondering if she could even say that she shouldn't have done this. What if Zachariah got mad at her again and did something to them for her poor choice of words. "I believe that you are destined for great things, Dean," she said as Dean watched her. "And back then, I believed that following Uriel's orders was the right thing to do in order to save the world, your world at least-"
"C'mon, Kate, no one knew that Uriel was the traitor back then," he cut her off, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the way she was heading this conversation. Her eyes seemed to hold a whole different opinion than her words if that even were possible.
"I know," she nodded before deciding to just cut this weirdly awkward conversation short. She looked down and continued. "What I meant to say was that, I ran away because of the way I acted towards you. It wasn't fair and I felt very ashamed of myself… And, I'm really sorry if you thought it was your fault in any way, because it really wasn't. I-I just felt too overwhelmed with everything and I-I dunno, I just avoided you," she shrugged as a lump started to form in her throat and she tried to get rid of it before he noticed. But, Dean did notice.
"Hey," he said approaching her. He slightly cupped her chin with one hand to make her rise her head. When, her eyes met his again, he gave her a gentle smile. "No need to feel bad. I avoided you too, you know?" She gave him a weak smile and he pulled his hand away. "And I was a bit overwhelmed too, back then. Oh and also a bit of a pain in the ass according to Sam. So, really it was for the best that we didn't see each other back then." She let out a light huff, as she looked away a soft little smile dancing on her lips. "I'd say we're even, don't you think?"
She slowly nodded before reaching her hands up to tuck her hair behind her ears. She looked at him and saw him staring at her with some sparkles in his eyes along with a smile on his lips. "What?"
"What 'what'?"
"What are you smiling at?"
"Your hair," he started as he pointed at it. "It's a real mess."
"Ugh," she groaned looking away when he said something that took her off guard so much that her eyes shot back at him.
"I missed it."
She studied his face as he cleared his throat, one hand reaching on the back of his neck to scratch nervously. He looked a bit flustered all of sudden, as his green eyes tried to look everywhere but at her intensive gaze. His eyes fell on his bed and he coughed again as he made a few steps towards it, and grabbed the tiny item right next to his jacket.
"You know those things? They're not as bad as they seem," he rambled trying nervously to change the subject. She felt her lips curl in spite of her as she watched him, scrolling his fingers on the object in one of his large hands. "Sammy put like two hundred songs in it… I've got all of Led Zeppelin's albums, even the couple of songs I don't have in my tapes."
"Do you have 'Ramble on' on it?" She asked as she approached him, her eyes looking down at the mp3 player in his hand.
"Sam wouldn't have forgotten this song, it's one of my faves," he replied and she glanced up at his face. Standing so close to him right then, made her notice the few faded scars that had completely vanish when they were back at Sandover's. She glanced down at the item' screen and reached up her hand.
"Oh I love this one," she pointed at 'Fool in the Rain' by Led Zeppelin, and when Dean didn't say anything she looked up at him. "It's one of my favourite," she noticed his gaze looking down at her hand up above the item before his free hand reached it.
"What's that?" He asked, his thumb brushing over the long scar she had had on hunting with Matt.
"Nothing, just hunting scars," she almost whispered as she pulled her hand away. He watched her face, analysing the expression on it as thoughts rushed in his mind but he remained quiet before returning his attention on the mp3 player.
"Fool in the rain?" He said looking back and forth at her and the object in his hand before letting out a light chuckle. "Yeah, it's not a bad one." She nodded as she discreetly closed her fists, trying to hide the scars of her own fingernails.
Author's note:
Alright, people… I'm completely aware of how out of character Dean really is in this chapter but I couldn't think of any better way to make the interaction between those two happen after all the 'qui-pro-quo' I put them in. So yeah, I'm sorry, but the thing is that I had this chapter so wonderfully written and when I lost all of those files weeks ago, I lost it too! And, believe me when I tell you it's a real struggle to remember everything I've had written and to try rewrite it. Thus, I decided to change a couple of things and stop racking my brains over it so much. I hope you enjoyed it anyways :)
On another note, I've heard there was some cyberbullying lately, targeting people from fandoms but mostly the Supernatural fandom… I don't have any twitter, facebook, tumblr or whatever social network where this thing is taking place, but I really hope that not a lot of people have been touched by this terrible and pathetic thing that some people find amusing doing. If you've received some hate, remember that their goal is to hurt you so of course they're gonna say upsetting things, but that doesn't make those things true! Just ignore those things, try to block those people, they're not worth it. You are all very strong, and please be supportive of those who aren't as confident of their inner strength. Remember: 'Family don't end in blood'.
A very happy new year to all of you dear readers, and please try to leave a review ;)
Stay safe and strong,
A.