Author's note:
Well, an update was long overdue! I'm sorry for taking so long, but life happened, and well anyways I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)
4x18: The Monster at the End of This Book.
Saint Joseph, Missouri.
A few days later.
"Today is November 15th 2008, and this is the second recording on the impossible girl case… So, as I was saying on my previous recording, after meeting the sweet Kaitlin Anderson and getting stuck with her in the in-between world, I tried to gather as much information as possible on this whole situation. And well, I've realized there are more questions than just 'how and why Kate landed in our world' and 'how to send her back to her own universe'. There are other questions we should answer first, like 'how the Cleaner seemed to know Kate', 'what did she supposedly borrow from him' and 'what happened exactly back on October 31st 1983'… I thought about it, and there's a lot of reasons why all of the Cleaner's sayings still make no sense; especially about October 31st 1983 which is supposed to be the date when Kate borrowed something from the creature. But, this is impossible! How can someone who was born in 1982 in another universe have any encounter with a creature like the Cleaner in 1983?"
"This pushed me onto doing a few researches on what possible events happened back then… And I found a few things. My friend Beth K. from North Dakota, printed me a bunch of articles and she was nice enough to read them for me… Mmh I'll have to give them to Kate and Bobby S. to check them out again just in case she missed something… Anyways, I focused on that precise day and the few weeks before. And so, um, between the few ordinary burglaries, murders and those two women dying in a nursery fire and other stuff that happened back then, one thing caught my attention the most. Apparently, that night of Halloween 1983, something quite interesting happened in the Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Kansas. Fifteen people in a deep coma woke up that night, even the ones who were supposed to die! Gosh, fifteen people woke up from a deep coma and this only hit the Kansas' headlines! How damn crazy the 80's were! Anyways, the only possible conclusion that comes into my mind is that for some reason the Cleaner didn't take the souls wandering in the in-between world that night… But why did this only happen in Lawrence? And is it connected to someone borrowing something from the Cleaner? And if that someone really was Kate, how to explain her presence back then?-"
The young brown-haired woman pressed her pointer finger on the stop button of the old tiny tape-player that Bobby had given her a few days ago as she was sitting at the table near the window in the motel's room she was sharing with the Winchesters. Indeed, she was back by their sides for a case because for some reason that she wasn't sure of, they thought it was better for her to be with them than to stay at Bobby's. Although, she was pretty curious about the reason, she hadn't really let it bother her and decided that going with them would be a good way for her to accomplish what Zachariah had ordered her to do. Nevertheless, she had found out rather quickly that she hadn't hit the road with Sam and Dean, in order to hunt with them like she had done with Matt. Indeed, unlike Matt who had been completely okay with bringing her along on his dangerous hunts, Sam and Dean had made it crystal clear that she'd stay back at the motel and research on her way back to her universe, and absolutely nothing else. Sam had explained to her that even though she had been very helpful on the previous hunts they had done together or even on all the other things she had done on her own at Bobby's, they didn't want to endanger her more this time. Besides, he had reminded her that on the first hand, he had accepted on her to help them with their Apocalypse problem only if she agreed to not give up on researching her way back to her universe.
So here she was, sitting with a notebook laying on the table in front of her and a pen in her right hand, while her other hand was resting on the tape-player. Her face was scrunched with a deep thoughtful expression as her eyes stared down at all the things she had written down from Pamela' second tape. On the first tape, Pamela had only settled down Kate's whole situation. The psychic had recounted what Kate had told them, and she had also recounted their adventure in the in-between world. But, on this second recording, Pamela had obviously been asking herself a lot of more relevant questions that Kate hadn't really taken time to think about. Deeply pensive, she bit on her bottom lip as she circled down 'Lawrence 1983's Halloween' a few times with her pen. She knew that she'd have to focus on it in order to figure out why the Cleaner seemed to know her that much.
All of sudden her cell phone rang, she looked at it before reaching out for it. Taking it in one hand, she read the name flashing on the screen before answering.
"Hey Matt!"
"Hey you, how are you doing?"
"Good, pretty good. What about you?" She replied as she played with the pen in her other hand.
"I'm good too. How's your uncle Bobby doing?"
"Um, he's fine, as far as I know," she said as she put down the pen and passed her hand over her hair.
"As far as you know? What's that supposed to mean?" He asked on the other line in a tone of slightly amused confusion.
"Well, um, I'm kinda not with him right now," she told him as she put a lock of her wild hair behind one ear. "It's been a couple of days actually… I'm with the Winchesters."
"What?" Matt let out rather loudly making her wince a bit as she pulled the phone away from her ear. "The last time you were with them, you came back as a wreck-"
"Oh now you're exaggerating!" She cut him off putting the phone back against her ear.
"No, I'm not, Kate! If I weren't there to force you to sleep, you could have gotten us killed on one of our hunts or you would have died crashed by that car that other night!"
"Matt, I already told you, it was not their fault! They're not to blame… I am."
"What do you mean you are?" He asked her, and she could imagine the expression of puzzlement all over his face.
"I-I just… Ugh, never mind," she sighed as she rubbed her fingers over her forehead before sliding her hand down her cheek. She didn't want to talk about it; besides if she did Zachariah might just do what he said. "Did you receive my text?"
"Kate, don't change-"
"Matt, there's nothing to talk about. I-I'm just new to all of this, and I guess that was just me truly realizing what was happening and freaking out, that's it," she told him and she could hear him sigh heavily on the other end. "So, you received my text?"
"Yeah, yeah, I did," he replied in an almost reluctantly tone. Kate was sure that he was very concerned about her and if he could, he would just insist with his questions, but knowing how stubborn she was, he knew she wouldn't answer any of his questions. "I've just checked in a motel before I called you. I'm fifteen minutes away from Carson City-"
"On your own?"
"No, I'm meeting another hunter later, don't worry."
"Good," she replied nodding her head. "I mean, it sounds like a pretty big case so… You know."
"Yeah, better be safe than sorry," he said chuckling very lightly. "So, is that one of those cases you know absolutely nothing about except from the coordinates or is it something else?"
"Well, I just…" She stammered, trying to come up with some kind of lie.
"Alright, just the coordinates one, huh?" He replied and she sighed nodding her head. "You're never gonna tell me how you find those cases, are you?"
"I'm sorry," she replied softly as her fingers grabbed the corner of her notebook and started to curl it. "That's just the results of a lot of deep and boring research."
"Got ya," he laughed making her smile. Suddenly, her eyes fell on what she had just circled. She stared at it for a moment as Matt started to tell her something that was supposed to be some funny anecdote.
"Matt," she interrupted him. "Look, I'm sorry, I gotta go, but can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Um, can you research for what happened exactly on October 31st 1983 in Lawrence Memorial Hospital back in Kansas?" She asked him.
"I thought you were good with research?"
"Yeah, but I got a lot of other stuff to look for, so if you could maybe try to find me if something not natural happened back that day?"
"Mmh, sure. I'll see what I can do," he replied and she nodded.
"Thanks, you're the best," she smiled.
"I know," he replied making her roll her eyes. "You be careful with those Winchesters, okay?"
"Yeah, be safe too. And tell me when you're done in Nevada," she told him before hanging up, her eyes glued to her notebook.
Stepping out of the Impala, Sam looked over at his brother slamming his door. "Look man, all I'm saying is that if we wanna protect her, we gotta keep her under our watch."
"I know, but apart from her running away episode with that Matt, I'm pretty sure she's safer at Bobby's than she'll ever be with us," Dean replied as he walked around his car, brushing one hand over his long black coat.
"I'm not so sure," Sam told him, as he put one hand in his coat's pocket to check if he didn't forget his fake FBI badge.
"What makes you say that?"
"C'mon Dean, she spends her whole time reading things that she shouldn't know about. I mean she's supposed to focus on finding her way back to her universe-"
"Isn't it what she was doing at Bobby's?" Dean cut him off. Sam let out a rather long sigh as his eyebrows shot up on his forehead.
"Not really," Sam replied. "Bobby told me that she doesn't focus that much on that, she's always trying to help him with our problem."
"Well, we can't really complain about this," Dean tilted his head slightly. "I mean, how many seals have been saved thanks to her?"
"Yeah, but she's not here for that," Sam pointed out.
"And what is she here for, huh? You think bringing her with us on this case was a better idea than leaving her back at Bobby's just 'cause we don't have all of Bobby's books? 'Cause I bet you all you want, that she ain't studying Pamela's books or recordings right now," Dean told his brother who swallowed as he looked away.
"Maybe I should call her to check this out," the taller Winchester said in a thoughtful tone.
"We'll see that later. First, we've got a case to take care of," Dean replied before walking towards the comic book shop, his little brother watching him before catching him.
Sam and Dean entered the comic book shop, their eyes scanning the place briefly before they made their way towards a man with glasses behind the counter who immediately looked up as they approached him.
"Uh... can I help you?"
"Sure hope so," Dean replied as Sam and he held out their badges. "Agents DeYoung and Shaw. Just need to ask you a few questions."
"Notice anything strange in the building, last couple of days?" Sam asked and the man frowned in confusion.
"Like what?"
"Well, some other tenants reported flickering lights," Dean told him.
"Uh, I don't think so. Why?" The man with glasses said as he looked back and forth at the two of them.
"What about noises? Any skittering in the walls? Kind of like rats?" Sam asked putting his hands in his coat's pockets.
"And the FBI is investigating a rodent problem?" The man asked skeptically making Dean smile as he held back a scoff.
"What about cold spots? Feel any sudden drops in temperature?" Sam insisted and the man's lips turned into a large grin.
"I knew it!" He said pointing his finger up at them. "You guys are LARPing, aren't you?"
"Excuse me?" Dean asked puzzled.
"You're fans."
"Fans of what?" Sam asked.
"What is "LARPing?" Dean quickly asked after, his face showing his full confusion.
"Like you don't know," the man replied, still grinning. Seeing their confused looks, he continued. "Live-Action Role-Play! And pretty hardcore, too."
"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about," Dean replied after the two brothers looked down at their clothes.
"You're asking questions like the building's haunted. Like those guys from the books. What are they called? Uh... 'Supernatural'!" The man explained as Sam and Dean listened very carefully at everything the man was telling them. "Two guys, use fake IDs with rock aliases, hunt down ghosts, demons, vampires. What are their names? Uh... Steve and Dirk? Uh, Sal and Dane?"
"Sam and Dean?" Sam suggested slowly as he started to realize what was going on.
"That's it!" The man exclaimed, pointing at him with his digit again as Sam swallowed.
"You're saying this is a book?" Dean asked, his face scrunched with doubt and confusion.
"Books. It was a series. Didn't sell a lot of copies, though. Kind of had more of an underground cult following," the man explained as the two brothers stared at him before he stood up and went over a table labeled 'Bargain Bin'. Sam and Dean looked at each other before following the man over the table. "Let's see. Um... Ah. Yeah," he said as he handed a book to Dean. "That's the first one, I think."
Dean looked down at the book in his hands, Sam looking over his brother's shoulder. Both of them read the cover of the book. 'Supernatural' by Carver Eldund. Dean flipped the book over to read the back cover. "Along a lonely California highway, a mysterious woman in white lures men to their deaths."
Sam's eyes got big and round as he grabbed the book from his Dean's hands. "Give me that," he said as Dean looked over at the man with glasses, still not believing what was happening. "We're gonna need all the copies of 'Supernatural' you've got."
The brunette walked out of the bathroom, her cell phone in one hand as she used the other to put a lock of her wild hair behind one ear. "Alright. I just got Bobby, he's sending a couple of hunters down here to take this case while this book thing is sorted out. He's not sure he understood everything about this situation… but I gotta say I'm still kinda confused myself."
"You tell me," Sam replied from the table by the window, where he was doing some research on his laptop while Dean was completely reclining on one of the two beds, flipping through a book with a frown drawn on his freckled face.
Glancing at the elder brother reading with a deep concentration, she let her eyes fall on the many books he had scattered on his bed and shook her head. "This has to be the weirdest thing I've heard ever since my arrival." She grabbed one book and walked towards the younger brother. Sitting down at Sam's left, she opened the first volume in her hands and then glanced up at Sam. "Is it weird?"
"Mmh?" He asked looking at her with a questioning look.
"Is it weird if I read your story? I mean isn't it like stalking you in some kind of level?" She whispered, her tone showing the uncertainty of her way of putting the things.
"It's not like a thousand of other people haven't done it yet," he replied before turning his attention back to his laptop.
"Yeah, but they don't know you," she replied as she threw a glance at Dean who seemed completely focused on his reading. She continued in a whisper, "I mean, I know that I don't know you that much, but still I kinda do and now I'm gonna know some personal stuff that you might not have wanted to share-"
"Katie, it's alright," Sam cut her off with a gentle smile. "You don't have to read it if you think it's gonna get awkward. I mean you could help me research about it or better, you could focus on your personal research, you know?" She looked at him a bit thoughtfully before looking down at the book in her hands.
"Yeah, research would be less awkward I think," she sighed, pushing the book away on the table.
He nodded, but stopped and frowned in confusion when he saw her pull her seat closer to his and lean her head towards his laptop' screen. "What are you doing?"
"I was hoping to help you with researching about the books on the web," she replied looking up at him.
"Um, it's not a really hard research, you know? You should focus on researching how to get back home. You know, you still got three books to study and a bunch of recordings to listen to."
"Two books," she corrected him. His eyebrows shot up in surprise as she continued, her eyes staring at his laptop. "I finished one this morning when you were investigating on the case. So there's just two books left."
"Good, that's good. You found anything?" He asked her enthusiastically. She looked up at him with a very significant expression. "Nothing, huh?"
"Apart from repeating and stressing the fact that dimensional traveling isn't possible because of an endless list of reasons," she told him before shaking her head. "Nothing."
"What about Pamela's recordings?"
She shrugged lightly. "I've only listened to a couple of those and well, she settled a few things I should focus on, but it's not really helpful to find my way back to my universe."
"I'm sure, you're heading on the right way. A little bit more of digging, and you'll find the solution. You gotta keep in mind that you made it here, there's no reason you won't make it back," he told her and she gave a little nod of her head as she looked away. Sam could see the exasperation and desperation of the situation painted all over her face. And he realized that soon enough, she was going to get short-tempered about all of it and just give up. "You know," he told her as he put one hand over the book she had pushed away. "Maybe some reading could help you take your mind off things for a while?" He pushed the book back towards her. She glanced down at it before returning her brown eyes towards his face. His lips were curled in his usual kind smile.
"Still, wouldn't it be weird and awkward?" She told him in a lower whisper.
"As long as you don't judge me from that book," he whispered back with a smile that she returned.
Dean was still completely reclining on one of the two beds, flipping through a book with a frown drawn on his freckled face while on the other bed Kate was laying on her stomach reading with a deep fervor the first volume. Sam hadn't moved from his seat by the window with his laptop as he was focused on whatever he was finding ever since he started researching over those books and their author.
"This is freakin' insane. How's this guy know all this stuff?" Dean said all of sudden, still giving his back to Kate and his brother.
"You got me," Sam replied, his eyes glued on his laptop.
"Everything is in here. I mean everything. From the racist truck to me having sex. I'm full-frontal in here, dude – What are you doing?" Dean said as he was now standing up and facing Sam and Kate. Sam looked up at him and noticed Dean staring at Kate who had obviously not noticed that Dean was talking to her. "Hey Kate!"
Kate's head shot up as she looked at Dean a bit surprised and startled. "What? What's wrong?"
"What are you doing?"
"Um, reading?" She replied unsure.
"Yeah," he nodded before waving his hand over the book she was hovering. "Reading this book. And you-you're not supposed to," he told her almost stuttering.
"Well," she started throwing a glance at Sam, asking him to help her with her eyes.
"I told her she could," Sam said to his brother.
"You didn't hear what I just said? This book doesn't just recount our hunts; everything is in there!" Dean told him before looking down at Kate.
"I'm just at the fourth chapter, and there wasn't anything embarrassing, and really I promise not to mention it if there's something embarrassing," she said, sitting up. "But, really, I can't help wondering how come you guys haven't heard of them before. I mean, there are books about you that talk about supernatural creatures and you've never ended up on a website talking about it while researching or something?"
"She's right, how come we haven't heard of them before?" Dean said as he grabbed the book laying open in front of Kate and crossed the room towards Sam.
"C'mon, Dean," she sighed and he glanced at her shaking his head. He sat down next to his brother, putting the book down on the table.
"Well," Sam started as he looked at his laptop. "They're pretty obscure. I mean, almost zero circulation. Uh, started in '05. The publisher put out a couple dozen before going bankrupt. And, uh, the last one – 'No Rest For The Wicked'," Sam said before turning the laptop towards Dean, displaying a web site listing all of the books. "Ends with you going to hell."
"I reiterate. Fuckin' insane," Dean said as Kate stood up and joined them at the table. Sam looked up at her, as she sat down on the chair at his left, while Dean browsed the website. "Check it out. There's actually fans. There's not many of them, but still. Did you read this?"
"Yeah," Sam just said before scratching the back of his head. Kate's eyes moved from him to Dean whose eyes were glued to the screen. She glanced at the book she had started reading before glancing up at Dean.
"Although for fans, they sure do complain a lot. Listen to this – Simpatico says 'the demon story line is trite, clichéd, and overall craptastic.' Yeah, well, screw you, Simpatico. We lived it," Dean said and Kate couldn't help the little amused smile that appeared on her lips in spite of her being a bit upset at Dean for confiscating the book from her. Nonetheless, she understood how weird and awkward all of this had to be to both of them.
"Yeah. Well, keep on reading. It gets better," Sam told his brother as he leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He turned his head to Kate who looked at him questioningly. "It gets interesting."
"There are 'Sam girls'," Dean said and Kate's lips turned into a round 'o' as she nodded her head slowly.
"That's why it gets interesting," she said and the younger man tilted his head.
"Not really."
"And 'Dean girls' too," Dean said glancing up at them with a grin.
"Of course, there are," Kate told him and he playfully winked at her before returning his attention back to the web site.
"And – what's a 'slash-fan'?"
"As in... Sam-slash-Dean. Together," Sam replied and Kate's eyebrows frowned in pure puzzlement.
"Like, together together?" Dean asked and Kate stared at him as he looked at his brother.
"Yeah," Sam just said and Kate's eyes slightly widened.
"They do know we're brothers, right?"
"Doesn't seem to matter," Sam replied and Kate pressed her lips together as she felt a laughter rising in her.
"Oh, come on. That... That's just sick," Dean said before shutting the laptop and pushing it away in disgust. Kate made a snorting noise pulling their attention to her. She tried to keep a serious face, but she couldn't when she looked back and forth at the two of them. A loud laugh irrupted from her and Dean glared at her as Sam looked down, clenching his jaw slightly.
"I'm so sorry… That's just too funny," she said in between laughs as Dean's glare intensified. "I'm sorry, just… How – how did they even come up with this one?" She kept laughing.
"Some fans tend to interpret things differently-" Sam started and she laughed even louder, her curls bouncing in the air as her whole body shook in laughter.
"That Carver Eldund must have put other things," she said as she calmed her laughter down. "Maybe, he gave so much innuendos that readers have no other choice but to assume you as a couple," she snorted a laugh back.
"Could he have done that?" Dean asked his brother as he looked at him in panic.
"I dunno, you're the one who spent over an hour reading those books, you should know," Sam replied. Dean tilted his head on the side, a slight pout on his full lips.
"I kinda focused on reading just my parts," he admitted as he glanced at Sam who stared at him with a disbelief look. "I mean, how could I know if your parts were accurate?" He shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure we've got some parts together, Dean. Wasn't there at least one dialogue between you and me?"
"Well yeah there were lots, but your lines were kinda boring," he replied and Sam gave him a complete bitch face.
"What kind of creature can do this? Do they need to form a telepathic bond with you to be able to know all of those stuff and write about them?" Kate asked and Dean's eyes turned to her. "I mean, is it even a creature? What if it's just someone who stalked you?"
"To answer your questions, we gotta find this Carver Edlund," the elder hunter said.
"Yeah, that might not be so easy," Sam interjected.
"Why not?" Kate asked looking at him.
"No tax records, no known address," he replied. "Looks like 'Carver Edlund' is a pen name."
"Somebody's gotta know who he is," Dean said and Kate's face lighted up.
"Publisher!" She exclaimed with a smile when Sam and Dean looked at her with narrowed eyes.
On the road to the publisher, Kate was sitting quietly on the backseat with earphones plugged in her ears as she listened to another recording of Pamela's, her eyes focused on the notebook laying on her lap. According to Dean, the trip car wasn't going to last more than a couple of hours so he had decided they'd have lunch once they were in the publisher's town. However, after an hour on the road, Sam made Dean stop so he could buy some snacks at a gas station. It was only when Sam came back in the car and handed Kate a sandwich and a bottle of soda that the woman realized they had stopped on the road. She paused the recording and took off the earphones as she looked up at Sam while Dean re-started his car.
"Thanks," she said as she took the sandwich and the soda.
"Anytime," he replied with a smile. "I got you a tuna sandwich, I hope it's alright, there was only one ham sandwich left, and Dean doesn't really like tuna."
Kate gave him a smile as she nodded. "It's alright, I like tuna," she said as Sam turned as he shifted to a comfortable position on his seat. "But next time, we stop at a gas station, it'd be great if you tell me guys, so I can stretch my legs too."
"I'm the only one who got out," Sam replied. "Dean gave me like fifteen minutes to bring us all some lunch." She hadn't even realized that the man had left for this long, leaving her and his big brother on their own in the car.
"And pie," Dean spoke up.
"And pie," Sam confirmed with a roll of his eyes making Kate's lips curl in an amused smile, before he turned around.
She looked at Dean who had one hand on the steering wheel driving, while his other hand was trying to open the sandwich wrapper on his lap. "I just don't want us to get there too late. 'Cause if we do, we'll have to wait 'till tomorrow for the publisher to tell us where we can find that Carver Eldund and right now I really-damn!" Dean exclaimed as he looked down at his lap before bringing up his sandwich still in its wrapper. "Sam, some help?"
"Mmh?" Sam turned his head towards his brother, his mouth full as he held his already started on sandwich.
"Let me do it," Kate said as she leaned towards them from the backseat, and reached out for the sandwich. Dean glanced at her as he handed it to her. She unwrapped it quickly before grabbing a tissue from the package laying around on the backseat next to her back bag. She wrapped the tissue around the base of the sandwich and handed it back to Dean. "Here you go."
He glanced at her as he wrapped his hand around the base of the sandwich. "Thanks," he just said as Sam looked at the exchange between them.
Kate sat back down comfortably, putting the earphones back on, before grabbing her own sandwich and unwrapping it as Sam kept looking back and forth at her and his brother who took a large bite of his food. Dean's eyes were glued to the road as a comfortable silence settled in the car, only the chewing sounds echoing. Sam focused his hazel eyes on the road as a peculiar memory popped into his mind. A memory dating from last December when he and his brother were in a graveyard in Greybull, Wyoming.
"Dean, she's off limits because she's Kate. Period. I don't even know how you can think of her that way, after seeing so much hard memories of hers," Sam had told his brother.
"I know I didn't use the right words… But I didn't mean just sex, you know…" Dean had simply replied.
This had been an answer Sam would have never thought possible coming out of his big brother's mouth. The way he had put his words, the tone he had used and the obvious sort of discomfort in his body that night as; they all created a sudden confusion in Sam at the moment but on the following days, all they did was provoke a flow of questions. The younger Winchester couldn't help but wonder what was going on his Dean's mind. There was absolutely no way that his big brother was developing some romantic feelings for Kate; this was against his own rules. However, his behaviour was still very odd and out of character when it came down to her. And, Sam wondered if his brother wasn't developing some kind of deep responsibility and guilt over the young brunette and what was happening to her ever since she crashed into their lives. But I didn't mean just sex, you know… He was pretty sure of what his brother meant to say by this, but a deep feeling of responsibility or guilt wouldn't make Dean want to share an intimate moment with a woman, quite the opposite in fact. Dean wouldn't want to get close in any intimate way with someone he felt responsible of. So, what was going on with him? What did he mean that night?
Turning his head slightly to his left, Sam caught Dean's eyes gazing at the brown-eyed woman through the rearview mirror. This made him glance at her to see her eating her sandwich, while looking down at her notes. Turning his hazel eyes at his brother again, they were immediately met by his brother's green eyes. But, Dean didn't say a word as he reached for the stereo and pushed one button, his attention returning towards the road as music blasted out, crashing down the silence, but not stopping Sam's thoughts and questions to run in his mind.
Sam, Dean and Kate arrived at the publisher's house around two in the afternoon. The publisher didn't look the way either of them thought they would. Instead of the rather old person they imagined, they were met by a young pretty woman. She seemed pretty nervous and looked as if she was afraid to give out what she knew about the 'Supernatural' books, as if it was her baby that she wanted to protect dearly and closely from the world. She looked very skeptical of their intentions when they walked in her house, so Sam decided to start slowly with his questions.
"So you published the 'Supernatural' books?" Sam asked as he looked at the woman, sliding his hands in his pockets.
"Yep. Yeah. Gosh. These books... You know, they never really got the attention they deserved. All anybody wants to read anymore is that romance crap. You know – 'Doctor Sexy, M.D.'? Please." She scoffed at that and Kate's eyebrows frown as she tried to remember what that show was, or even better if it existed in her universe. The name didn't ring any bell, so she was pretty sure that it didn't exist back in her universe.
"Right. Well, we're hoping that our article can... shine a light on an underappreciated series," Sam told her as Kate's eyes wandered around the many posters in the room. She bit her lips trying to hold back a laughter as she looked at one of the posters hung on the wall. The brothers were drawn as two sexy men near their Impala, the one character drawn that she assumed was supposed to be Dean was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt while the other, certainly Sam, was shirtless showing off his six pack as his very long hair was blowing in the air. There was no denying that those two were sexy; she had noticed on her first days there. However, she had never seen them wearing so few clothes while standing next to their car.
"Yeah, yeah, because, you know, if we got a little bit of good press then m-maybe we could start publishing again."
"No," Dean exclaimed pulling Kate's attention towards him. Standing at his right, she looked up at him a bit taken aback by his reaction. "No, no, no. God, no. I mean, why – why would you want to do that? You know, it's, uh, such a complete series, what with Dean going to hell and all."
The publisher's face showed the deep wave of emotion that washed over her at Dean's words. "Oh, my god! That was one of my favorite ones, because Dean was so... strong... and sad and brave. And Sam... I mean, the best parts are when they'd cry. You know, like in – In 'Heart' when Sam had to kill Madison, the first woman since Jessica he really loved." Kate couldn't help but glance up at Sam. He had told her about Jessica but he had never mentioned a Madison. "And in 'Home' when Dean had to call John and ask him for help," the publisher continued before turning around. Kate looked up at Dean who looked at his brother muttering a 'what the fuck?'. "Gosh... if only real men were so open and in touch with their feelings."
"Real men?" Dean asked as the publisher turned around again to face the three of them.
"I mean, no offense. How often do you cry like that, hmm?"
"Well, right now, I'm crying on the inside," Dean replied and Kate kicked his side with her elbow. He looked down at her with a slightly surprised expression. . If they wanted to get the author's real name out of the publisher, it really wasn't the good tactic
"Is that supposed to be funny?" The publisher asked, obviously offended by Dean's words.
"Lady, this whole thing is funny," Dean told her and Kate glared up at him.
"How do I know you three are legit, hmm?" The publisher asked as she walked behind her desk.
"Oh, trust me. We, uh... we're legit," Dean replied as he walked a few steps towards the publisher's desk. Kate looked up at Sam, making big round eyes at him but he only gave her one of his slight shrug. If she could, she would defend those books but since she hadn't read it, she wasn't really sure of what to say to make the publisher less sceptical. Sam and Dean approached the desk as the publisher sat down on her big red chair.
"Well, I don't want any smart-ass article making fun of my boys," the publisher started when Sam, standing on Dean's right, cut her off.
"No! No, no, no. Never."
"No, that's..." Dean stammered.
"We – We are actually, um... big fans," Kate said trying to save the day. The woman studied her face for a moment before looking at the two men.
"Hmm. You've read the books?"
"Cover to cover," Dean replied as Sam and Kate hummed nodding their heads to confirm Dean's words.
'What's the year and model of the car?" The publisher asked and Dean quickly answered.
"It's a 1967 Chevy Impala."
"What's May 2nd?"
"That's my – Uh... that's Sam's birthday," Sam spoke up.
"January 24th is Dean's," Dean said with a slight smirk. Kate glanced up at him as she realized that it was a few weeks ago and that she hadn't come to see him as Sam had asked her on the phone. She bit her bottom lip and told herself she'd have to make it up.
"Sam's score on the LSAT?"
"One..." Sam started before he looked over at Dean. "Seventy-four?"
"Dean's favorite song?"
"Oh I know! Ramble on by Led Zeppelin!" Kate said enthusiastically. Dean looked down at her, a bit surprised that she remembered that.
"Yeah, true. But it's actually tie. Between Zep's 'Ramble On' and 'Traveling Riverside Blues'," he said as he glanced down at Kate before turning his head towards the publisher who smiled as a light giggle escaped her lips.
"Okay. Okay. What do you want to know?"
"What's Carver Edlund's real name?" Sam asked and the lightened and happy face of the publisher dropped all of sudden.
"Oh no, no. I – No. Sorry, I can't do that."
"We just want to talk to him," Kate said to the woman.
"Yeah, you know, get the 'Supernatural' story in his own words," Sam continued.
"He's very private. It's like Salinger," the publisher explained to them.
"Please. Like I said – we are, um," Sam started as he unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt surprising Kate so much that her eyes widened as she wondered if he was going to convince the publisher by doing some flirtation. However the cringing expression on his face told her that it was something else and when she glanced down at his hand pulling his shirt a bit away, she felt her brows frown as he revealed his demon-protection tattoo he had told her about ages ago. "Big... big fans." Sam turned his eyes towards Dean and fixed at him with a pointed look which made Kate turn her head to look at Dean. The elder brother rolled his eyes before staring up at something on the wall and reluctantly pulled at his shirt revealing his own tattoo too.
The woman licked her lips as her eyes reflected some sudden excitation before she turned her attention towards Kate who didn't notice until the publisher coughed. Kate's head shot at her and she stared at her as she was given a pointed look. "Oh um mine is actually kinda somewhere private, you know?" Kate lied.
"Mine too," the publisher grinned as she stood up, turned around quickly and hiked up her skirt. Kate's eyes widened as the woman's ass was now on total display. She looked away, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Whoa. You are a fan," Dean said making Kate look up at him to see him checking the woman's ass out. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Okay, your turn," the publisher said to Kate as she pulled her skirt back in place.
"Say what?" Kate asked shocked.
"It's your turn to show us your demon-protection tattoo."
"Oh no, mine is um in a... um... a much more private place that I really can't show," Kate lied horribly, but the publisher was still convinced as her eyes fell down to Kate's crotch before looking up at her brown eyes.
"Oh!" The publisher exclaimed, and Kate could see from the corner of her eye Dean's head tilting towards her as he looked her up and down, certainly thinking about the other tattoo he knew she had somewhere. "Okay, well I guess I can understand it to be out of limits. Anyways," the publisher said with a smile as she leaned down on her desk. She scribbled something on a pad of paper as Kate turned her head towards Dean who smirked at her and she just rolled her eyes. As the woman finished what she was writing down, she looked up at them and warned them about the author. "His name's Chuck Shurley. And he's a genius, so don't piss him off."
Saint Paul, Minnesota.
A few hours later.
"You stay here," Dean said when Kate opened the passenger door ready to step out of the Impala.
"What? Why?" She asked surprised.
"It could be dangerous," he replied and she opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off. "We're not sure what creature this Chuck is gonna turn out to be so you stay here."
"Dean's right," Sam told her as he met her gaze through the rear-view mirror. "We won't be long, I promise."
"Yeah," she mumbled as she pulled the door closed and Dean winced at the slamming sound.
"Hey, don't take it out on Baby," Dean said from his driver seat. Kate's eyes snapped up at him right then. He sighed and opened his door to get outside. She turned her brown head towards Sam who gave her gentle smile.
"We'll be right back," he assured her and she nodded, grabbing her bag to put it on her lap as Sam walked out of the car, following his brother towards the house which the garden and the path looked very neglected.
Stopping in front of the door, they shared a look before Sam shrugged and Dean decided to push the doorbell with some kind of determination. As they waited almost impatiently, Sam looked over at the car; an action that didn't get unnoticed by his brother. Suddenly the door cracked open to reveal a bearded man looking almost miserable in a robe over his white tank top and his boxer shorts.
"You Chuck Shurley?" Dean asked the man who frowned as he stared at them completely confused as to what was happening and who they were.
"The Chuck Shurley who wrote the 'Supernatural' books?" Sam added making Chuck suspicious.
"Maybe. Why?"
"I'm Dean. This is Sam. The Dean and Sam you've been writing about," Dean told and Chuck nodded before simply closing the door in their faces. Dean rang the bell again and Chuck opened the door.
"Look, uh... I appreciate your enthusiasm. Really, I do. It's, uh, it's always nice to hear from the fans. But, uh, for your own good, I strongly suggest you get a life," he told them as he tried to shut the door, but Dean put out a hand to stop it.
"See, here's the thing. We have a life. You've been using it to write your books," he replied as he shoved the door open and entered, forcing Chuck to back up into the house.
"Now, wait a minute. Now, this isn't funny," the author told them as Sam followed Dean.
"Damn straight, it's not funny," Dean told him.
"Look, we just want to know how you're doing it," Sam said more calmly than Dean.
"I'm not doing anything!"
"Are you a hunter?" Dean asked him.
"What? No. I'm a writer," Chuck replied, terrified and confused.
"Then how do you know so much about demons?" Dean told him as he advanced on the author who fell down onto the couch. "And Tulpas, and changelings?"
"Is this some kind of 'Misery' thing? Ah, it is, isn't it? It's a 'Misery' thing!"
"No, it's not a 'Misery' thing. Believe me, we are not fans!" Dean shot at him.
"Well, then, what do you want?!"
"I'm Sam. And that's Dean," Sam said to Chuck who just looked even more frustrated with the whoel situation.
"Sam and Dean are fictional characters. I made them up! They're not real!"
Meanwhile, Kate was sitting on the Impala's backseat, reading over the notes she had taken from the two recordings she had already listened to. Pamela had done a great job keeping track of how she got the books about the existence of other worlds and such other things, and also how she came to all those questions. But in the end Kate wasn't learning that much more. As a matter of fact, she was starting to ask herself more and more questions. She tried to reason with herself and to understand that those questions were leading her to some answers that will lead her to the final answer of the main question she was supposed to resolve: how to get back to her universe?
Still, she wasn't feeling as determined as she used to. Although many things had happened lately that just made her want to go back to her safe, ordinary, demonless and angel-less universe, those things also had made her want to stay in here. Even for herself, this thought seemed strange and odd; but she felt as if she couldn't leave this place as long as the major problem here wasn't solved out. She couldn't go back to her universe and leave them all to stop the apocalypse on their own. She felt as if going back to her universe was running away from here in a very coward and ungrateful way. After everything that Matt, Rufus, Sam, Dean, Pamela and especially Bobby had done for her, there was no way she could just leave them to deal on their own with this huge problem that they had in hands.
Anyways, if she wanted to leave, Zachariah would just stop her from going back to her universe. After all, the mission this angel had given her was to help the Winchesters saving the world from the apocalypse, so there was no way she'd get back to her universe before this. Even though, Ruby had taught her enough to give her the possibility to do her things without the angels knowing anything about it or interrupting her. So, if she found her way back to her universe, she just had to follow Ruby' sort of sleights of hand, right? Draw all those sigils and then do whatever she had to do to go back there… It sounded all so simple, and yet the feeling of not wanting to do this, the feeling of not wanting to act cowardly again and the need to stay by their sides to face it all and to stop the Apocalypse, was dominating it all.
Suddenly, what sounded like a slamming door along with an unfamiliar voice rambling on appeared from outside, pulling the young woman out of her troubling thoughts. She peeked out through the passenger window. A rather short bearded man wearing a robe over a tank top and his underwear, was walking towards the car, slightly pushed by Dean's hand. She frowned as she saw the younger Winchester brother stop at their trunk, as Dean went past the bearded man to open the trunk. She hesitated on getting out of the car, knowing far well that Dean would just tell her to get back in, but after weighing the pros and the cons quickly in her head she decided to get out.
"Chuck, stop," she heard Dean say to the man who was walking back towards his house.
"Please. Wait. Please, don't hurt me," he said holding his hands out as Kate approached the brothers facing him. She was now standing next to Sam, making the author look at her. "Who-who are you?"
Dean and Sam both turned their heads to their left as they noticed Kate standing there casually. "I told you to stay in the car," Dean told her, a slight annoyance tangled in his voice.
"That was when you thought he was dangerous," Kate replied as she looked up at Dean who was giving her a serious gaze. "He doesn't look dangerous at all."
"I-I just don't want any of you to hurt me," the terrified man said as he looked at the three of them.
"No one's gonna hurt you," Kate told him gently, trying to reassure him as Dean rolled his eyes.
"How much do you know? Do you know about the angels?" Sam said making Chuck look up at him in an intrigued way. "Or Lilith breaking the seals?"
"Wait a minute. How do you know about that?"
"The question is how do you?" Dean told him a bit harshly.
"Because I wrote it?" Chuck replied as Kate glanced down at his sockets and shoes before her eyes traveled up to the rest of his clothing. He didn't look like an author at all, and Kate suddenly wondered if any of the authors she liked resembled this one.
"You kept writing?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, even after the publisher went bankrupt, but those books never came out," he replied before a light chuckle left his mouth as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Kate. "Okay, wait a minute. This is some kind of joke, right? Did that – Did Phil put you up to this?"
"No, look. As hard as it is to believe it, they are Dean and Sam Winchester. They really are the characters of your books," Kate told him as a flash of realization washed over Chuck's face as he turned his eyes towards the two tall men. His arms unfolding as they dropped to his sides.
"The last names were never in the books. I never told anybody about that. I never even wrote that down," he revealed completely dumbfounded.
Sam's hands were tightly wrapped around the back of one of the chairs around the messy table in Chuck's kitchen area as he was leaning on it, his eyes following the author with attention. Kate was leaning against a windowed wall, her arms folded over her chest as her eyes were scanning the messy kitchen area that the author obviously made it his 'work place'. His living room had looked a bit less messy than his kitchen, but it was still a bit messy in the hallway and she wondered if it was cleaner or messier upstairs. Not that she was a cleaning freak, but it intrigued her and it made her realize how much she actually liked Bobby Singer's mess. Indeed, the house of Chuck Shurley was filled of empty alcohol bottles everywhere among other things she was sure he didn't need at all while Bobby's was just filled of books and documents among other things; he always collected his empty bottles of alcohol in a corner before tossing it all away.
Feeling a slight bump on her shoulder, she turned her head to her right to see Dean leaning against the same windowed wall, right next to her. He threw a quick glance at her before returning his full attention to the author who was pulling out a large glass out of his dishes and poured himself some whisky. When Dean shifted a bit closer to her, Kate looked away as her heartbeats strangely increased behind her ribcage when Dean's whole left side was completely leaned against her right side. Her eyebrows frowned slightly as she looked at the room and wondered why Dean had to lean right next to her, instead of just standing anywhere else. But, mostly she wondered why this closeness seemed to fluster a bit. Her questioning was ceased when she heard Chuck set the large glass on the kitchen sink. She looked up at him as he spun around and groaned.
"Oh! Oh, you're still there."
"Yup," Dean replied.
"You're not a hallucination," Chuck said.
"Nope," Dean replied again.
"You are Sam, Dean and Kaitlin," Chuck said, his blue eyes staring at the brunette. She nodded at him and he gave a slight nod before approaching the table on which he had settled his computer and a printer as a good amount of papers were scattered all over.
"Well, there's only one explanation," he told them. "Obviously I'm a god," Chuck stated as Dean rolled his eyes turning his head towards Kate who couldn't help but have an amused smile on her lips as she stared at the author.
"You're not a god," Sam told him, doing his best not to roll his own eyes as well.
"How else do you explain it? I write things and then they come to life," he said. "Yeah, no, I'm definitely a god. A cruel, cruel, capricious god. The things I put you through – The physical beatings alone."
"Yeah, we're still in one piece," Dean replied with a bit of sass.
"I killed your father. I burned your mother alive. And then you had to go through the whole horrific deal again with Jessica," Chuck said making Kate glance at Sam who tried to stop him.
"Chuck..."
"All for what? All for the sake of literary symmetry. I toyed with your lives, your emotions, for... entertainment," Chuck continued.
"You didn't toy with us, Chuck, okay? You didn't create us," the elder hunter stated as Kate looked up at him.
"Did you really have to live through the bugs?" Chuck asked them ignoring Dean's comment. The brunette looked back and forth at Sam and Dean wondering what exactly that was about.
"Yeah."
"What about the ghost ship?"
"Yes, that too."
"I am so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing... if I would have known it was real, I would have done another pass-" Chuck said when Dean cut him off.
"Chuck, you're not a god!"
"We think you're probably just psychic," Sam explained to him.
"They actually thought you were some kind of non-human creature firstly," Kate said as Chuck looked over at her, swallowing hard.
"And you really are Kaitlin Anderson who appeared out of nowhere in Bobby Singer's auto yard?" He told her. She nodded confirming once again what he had already asked her a few minutes ago. His face seemed to drop with even more shame and sorrow than earlier. "I wish I could just send you back to your safe universe... You don't deserve anything that's happening to you, Gosh, I wish I-"
"No, stop, it's okay," she cut him off with a large fake grin as she made big eyes to him, trying to make him understand that he needed to stop right away.
"What? What's happening to her?" Dean asked Chuck, shifting a bit away from her to be able to take a good look on her.
"Nothing is happening to me," Kate replied before Chuck could say anything more. She approached the table trying to ignore the brothers' eyes watching her. "So back to the most coherent theory, which is that you are some kind if psychic."
"No. If I were psychic, you think I'd be writing? Writing is hard," Chuck replied as he sat down on the chair facing his computer.
"It seems that somehow, you're just... focused on our lives," Sam told him.
"Yeah, like laser-focused," Dean said taking a few steps to stand right in front of the table in between Kate and Sam. "Are you working on anything right now?"
Chuck threw his head back as he realized something all of sudden. "Holy crap."
"What?" Sam and Kate asked in sync.
Chuck looked at the three of them before looking down at some papers on the table. He picked up the few pages he was actually reading before they arrived. "The, uh, latest book? It's, uh, it's kind of weird."
"Weird how?" Sam asked.
"It's very Vonnegut," Chuck explained to him as he rubbed his beard.
Dean looked at him intently as he leaned down on the table. "Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut or Cat's Cradle Vonnegut?" Sam looked at his brother with surprise as Kate just looked at Chuck waiting for his answer. "What?" Dean told him and Kate turned her head towards the brothers.
"It's, uh, 'Kilgore Trout' Vonnegut," Chuck said making the young woman snap her brown head back at him with raised eyebrows as she immediately understood what he meant by that.
"You didn't..." she whispered.
"I did... I wrote myself into it. I wrote myself, at my house... confronted by my characters," Chuck replied.
It was almost the end of the afternoon when the trio walked in a laundromat, Kate telling them how stupid it was for them not to do their entire laundry back at Bobby's, while Sam assured her they didn't have a lot to wash. When she saw all of the laundry that was, Kate had realized that his 'not a lot to wash' was one big euphemism. She had tried to give him an hand as he appeared to be the one forced to that chore, but he had declined all of her offers and told her to just sit down by Dean and go over her notes, read one of the books about her problematic situation or listen to another recording of Pamela's.
The young brunette had agreed almost reluctantly as she had dragged her feet to the table surrounded by white plastic chairs, across from Dean, sitting on a table in the middle of the room. The actual situation with that man knowing everything about Sam and Dean, had distracted her a bit too much from what she knew she was supposed to do. Besides, she had thought that he knew only things about the brothers but he seemed to know a few things about her as well. He had affirmed that he didn't know that much, but still it had disturbed her a bit to know that he had seen a few things about her too.
Nonetheless, the couple of hours they had spent with that Chuck Shurley, weren't as promising as she thought they would. The man spent his whole time panicking over the fact that his characters were standing in front of him and actually talking to him. He had no idea how he could have dreams about them, and he had no answer to give about how and why Kate was here nor did he know anything about how to send her back. All he had been able to do was hand them a few pages before claiming that he was gonna pass out if they stayed at his house. Eventually, he had started to freak out so much out of the blue, that Sam decided to leave him alone and to come back in the next day.
As Kate was sitting on a chair facing both of the brothers, she bit her lips together trying to keep herself from telling them again for the tenth time that they shouldn't have left the man on his own. The minute they left the author's house, she thought it wasn't a good idea to leave him on his own, but Sam had claimed how sure he was that the man wasn't going to run away or to do anything else during their absence. Sitting on that chair, her brown eyes kept on stealing glances at Sam and then at Dean sitting nearby him, reading Chuck's latest manuscript. When Dean looked up, she turned her gaze away and pretended to be focused on the recording she was listening to through the earphones plugged in her ears. She pretended to play with a lock of her brown hair. Dean stared at her before he let out a chuckle mixed with a scoff and looked down at the pages in his hands again.
"I'm sitting in a laundromat, reading about myself sitting in a laundromat reading about myself. My head hurts," he said after a moment.
"There's got to be something this guy's not telling us," Sam replied turning around to toss an armful of clothes into the machine as Kate pressed her lips even harder together, wanting so bad to tell them they shouldn't have left the man on his own because indeed there had to be something he wasn't telling any of them!
Dean glanced at her before looking down and started to read out loud. "Sam tossed his gigantic darks into the machine while Kate was listening to Pamela's recording, thinking how sexy and handsome Dean was," he said making Kate's eyes shot at him in surprise. This wasn't what she was doing at all. "Oh no, sorry I misread this sentence... While Kate was pretending to listen to Pamela's recordings as she tried not to tell Sam and Dean how reckless it was to have left this author on his own." Dean said before glancing up at her in the same time than his younger brother. She took off her earphones and stood up from her chair as she gave up the act.
"Well, yeah it was reckless," she said as she walked towards Dean who turned his head to Sam before continuing to read.
"Sam was starting to have doubts about Chuck, about whether he was telling the whole truth."
"Stop it," Sam said as Kate leaned over Dean's shoulder to read the pages.
"Stop it, Sam said," Dean continued quite amused by the whole thing. "Guess what you do next," Dean said as Sam spun around and scowled. "Sam turned his back on Dean, his face brooding and pensive. I mean, I don't know how he's doing it, but this guy is doing it. I can't see your face, but those are definitely your 'brooding and pensive' shoulders," Dean said as Kate's eyes moved from the manuscript to Sam who was pulling out the washed white laundry. Sam sighed exasperated and Dean looked down at the next line. "You just thought I was a dick."
Sam turned around, an impressed expression written all over his features. "The guy's good," he said making Kate giggle softly as Dean glared at his brother before glaring up at her as well.
Kate was finishing tracing a salt line along the last window of that motel room she was sharing with the brothers, when Sam walked out of the bathroom. He was already wearing his simple white t-shirt and grey sweatpants to sleep. She turned her head towards him as he walked towards one of the beds, ruffling his wet hair with a towel to dry it. He grabbed the pages of the manuscript on the bed and sat down, his hazel eyes looking up at her as she quietly walked towards the little round table and put the salt container on it, next to her duffle bag. She zipped it open and started going through its containing.
"You still don't wanna read any of those?" He asked her motioning to the pages in his hand as he tossed the towel down next to him. She looked up at him, bit on her bottom lip, thinking for a moment. She shook her head before returning her attention to her duffle bag. "Is that because of Dean? 'Cause really, I think he won't mind if you read this one at least. I mean, you're in those pages too."
"Yeah, well, I still think it'd be awkward," she replied as she gathered all of the clothes she needed to bring with her to the bathroom. "Besides, I hate not starting a story with its first volume."
"Oh really? That's what's bothering you?" He asked her in an amused tone.
"Mmh mmh," she nodded her head before she continued in a playful teasing tone. "I mean, what if I don't really connect or relate with any of the characters because they've already been introduced on all of those books before…"
"I'm pretty sure you'd connect and relate with them. Actually, I'm sure you'll especially relate with the brown-haired girl from another world even though she wasn't here from the start," he told her with a smile, playing along.
"You think?" She asked, mocking suspicion.
"Yeah," he replied. "I mean from what I know, she's a very good character. Caring, sweet, easy to talk to and very helpful. Oh and you've got something in common, same name!"
"Ooh," she pretended to sound very interested. "Then, I might give those pages a shot when I'm out of my shower," she told him as she walked towards the bathroom.
"Not a bad idea," he replied with a smile, right when their motel room's frontdoor opened almost abruptly.
"Hey," Dean said as he walked in with a two bags in one arm as he slammed the door closed.
"Hey," Sam replied as his brother put the bags on one of the beds.
"You still haven't showered? Your cheeseburger is gonna be cold by when you're done," Dean told the brunette as he looked at her and the clothes in her arms.
"It's okay, I won't take long," she said before walking to the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Dean started to shrug his jacket off as his eyes travelled from the bathroom's door to the manuscript in Sam's hands.
"Hey! Is it still as headaching accurate as earlier?" Dean asked nodding his head towards the pages, as he threw his jacket over the back of a chair.
"So far, yeah," Sam replied putting the manuscript down and going over the bags of food. He started to take out the sodas, as his brother narrowed his eyes staring at the bathroom's door intently as the sound of the shower running echoed from there.
Dean licked his lips, his brows knit together as he took the two large steps towards the bed on which the manuscript was. Very curious, he grabbed it and ruffling through the manuscript, before stopping and reading a few lines of one page quietly. 'So far, yeah' Sam replied to his brother before walking over the other bed to settle the food out of the bags. Meanwhile, Kate was relaxing under the hot water as it ran down her brown curls, her eyes softly closed as she brought her hands almost sensually over her hair, before sliding them over her smooth skin, slowly lowering down-
"Dean!" Sam exclaimed as he snatched the pages out of his brother's hands.
"What?" Dean asked sounding almost offended.
"You think I'm stupid, I saw your face when you were reading," Sam told him and Dean pretended to not understand him at all. Sam looked down and read one line to confirm his suspicion. Without even finishing the line, he slapped the pages against his lap, his head lifting to stare at his brother with his signature bitchface.
"What? I was just- just curious," Dean stammered holding his hand out to take the manuscript back, and Sam shook his head as he held them behind his back.
The next day, Sam and Dean had woken up pretty early to gather their stuff in the car and buy breakfast before waking Kate up. They had decided to let her sleep a bit more than them since the previous night, she had had a rather troubled night. She had woken up once at three in the morning because of some nightmare she hadn't wanted to talk about, and an hour later she had woken up when she fell on the floor from the very tiny couch. Sam had offered her his bed, but she had refused and had insisted to keep on sleeping on the very tiny and uncomfortable couch while his giant self would just stay in his bed.
Even though she hadn't slept that well, Kate's face looked well-rested unlike Sam's. He looked as if he could use some more shut-eye and Kate knew it was her fault for waking him up twice that night. Kate had felt very energetic that morning as she had decided on pulling her hair up in a high ponytail, not having the strength to brush through all of the hair knots she knew appeared during the night. She had almost forgotten the light touch of make-up she liked so much when she had put her hair this up. It had reminded her of that time back in the Sandover Company although her hair wasn't straightened now like it was back then. A couple of minutes later, Dean had knocked on the bathroom door to tell her to hurry up, so she had quickly traced the tiny black lines over her eyelids. Stepping out, she had noticed the expression of remembrance appear on Dean's face as his eyes had fallen on her high ponytail. Pretending not to notice it, she had walked by him, grabbing her bag and Pamela's leather jacket. Even though, it was still pretty chill outside, she had decided on putting it over her simple brown long-sleeve t-shirt.
She sneezed for the third time and cursed at herself for not wearing more clothes like the Winchesters as she blew in a tissue before putting back in her jean pocket. Dean's eyes were glued to her and when her brown eyes met them, she couldn't help but ask him almost bitterly. "What?"
"Nothing," he replied as he sat down on the stool a few feet away from the armchair she was leaning on. "Just wasn't glamorous... Your way of," he trailed off as he gestured with his fingers over his nose a wiping his nose action. She gave him an annoyed look.
"You know one glamorous way to do this?" Her tone was almost as annoyed as her gaze. He raised his hands up in defence as Kate sighed turning her head towards Sam who was standing on her right, leaning an arm over the shelf above the fireplace.
Dean looked at her again, his eyes falling on the left side of her neck where three moles caught his attention. His mind remembering the first time he noticed them back in Sandover Company. He felt his entire body and soul remembering all the sensations that ran through him back then whenever he looked at her or was close to her.
Suddenly, Chuck reappeared in the room pulling him out of his thoughts. He frowned almost trying to scowl at himself for letting his mind go over things that were unimportant at the moment.
The author had almost never stopped pacing nervously all around his house ever since they arrived over an hour ago. He looked as if he was building up the courage to speak ever since they got there. He was holding pages in his hands and it was obvious he wanted to talk to them about these pages, but was panicking.
Kate decided to ask the question that she had been holding back. "So... You wrote another chapter?"
Chuck stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at her before looking away, shaking his head. "This was all so much easier before you were real."
"We can take it; just spit it out," Dean told him and Chuck looked at him with a slightly wincing expression.
"You especially are not gonna like this," he told Dean.
"I didn't like hell," Dean replied and Kate immediately looked at him as Chuck sighed. Dean looked at her, and the moment their eyes met he felt as if he shouldn't have joked with this one thing.
"It's Lilith," Chuck said making Dean and Kate break their eye contact as they looked at the author. "She's coming for Sam," he continued staring at Sam.
"Coming to kill him?" Dean asked, a sudden panic developing in him.
"When?" Sam asked as he took a few steps closer to the author and Kate stood up from the armchair she was leaning on.
"Tonight," Chuck simply said but he seemed to hold back much more information.
"She's just gonna show up? Here?" Kate asked confused as Chuck walked around his coffee table and sat down on his couch. "I mean why would she come here and risk her own life and that dear goal of hers which is launch the apocalypse, to kill Sam? That doesn't make any sense…"
Chuck coughed lightly as he put his glasses on. "Uh it's not really that... let's see, uh," he said before reading out loud what he had written down. "Lilith patted the bed seductively. Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion."
Sam laughed at that and Kate frowned as she never looked away from the author. From what Ruby had told her, Lilith was possessing a little girl not older than 10 years old, so what Chuck was telling them seemed a bit unbelievable.
"You're kidding me, right?" Sam asked.
"You think this is funny?" Dean almost scowled at him.
"You don't? I mean, come on. 'Fiery demonic passion' ?" Sam said, not hiding his mocking over what Chuck had just read to them.
"It's just a first draft," the author said, a bit offended by Sam's comment on his writing.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Lilith is a little girl," Dean interrupted him, as Kate's head turned towards him before she looked at Chuck.
"No, uh, this time she's a 'comely dental hygienist from Bloomington, Indiana'."
"Great. Perfect. So what happens after the... 'fiery demonic' whatever?" Dean asked Chuck who took off his glasses.
"I don't know, it hasn't come to me yet."
"Dean, look, there's nothing to worry about. Lilith and me? In bed?" Sam said to his brother who stared at him lengthily with an almost glare. Kate looked back and forth at the two brothers. Sam looked away, avoiding everyone's eyes on him.
"How does this whole psychic thing of yours work?" Dean asked Chuck.
"You mean my process?"
"Yes, your 'process'," Dean replied with impatience and sarcasm as he briefly rolled his eyes.
"Well, it usually starts with a headache. A really bad headache. Aspirin is useless, so... I drink. Until I fall asleep," Chuck said and Kate looked at him with raised eyebrows, her arms folded over her chest to keep herself a bit warm.
"That's not healthy," she remarked.
"Still the better way I found to deal with those headaches," he replied before continuing. "Um, the first time it happened, I thought it was just a crazy dream, that's it."
"The first time you dreamt about us?" Dean asked.
"It flowed. It just, it kept flowing. It still does. I-I can't stop it, really."
"But how is it that you dream about them, but didn't recognize them at all when they came here yesterday?" Kate asked as Dean tilted his head, agreeing with her good question.
"It's complicated… Sometimes, I, er, I don't remember their faces exactly when I wake up," Chuck replied.
"Still, you remembered enough to write them in private moments," Kate noted and Dean looked at her. "What? You said it yourself, that you were full-frontal or whatever."
"Yeah," he just muttered as Chuck groaned bringing his hands up to rub them over his face.
"Like I said it's complicated… I mean even though I could remember all details of my dreams and the way you look in those dreams, I would have never accepted that you were my characters, it-it's just impossible and insane."
"You can't seriously believe-" Sam started all of sudden before Dean cut him off.
"Humor me," he said. He then stood up while Chuck held the manuscript out for him, Kate watching the author's movement with confusion. "Look, why don't we, we just..." Dean said to Sam and Kate before stopping and following Kate's gaze. Seeing the pages Chuck was holding out for him, he took them and turned his head to his little brother. "Take a look at these and see what's what... You..."
"Knew you were gonna ask for that. Yeah," Chuck finished for him, nodding his head. Dean looked down at the pages in his hands, when Chuck looked up at Kate. "You didn't read the pages I gave you yesterday, right?" He asked her.
"What? No, why?" Kate replied completely confused. When the three men stayed completely quiet and they all avoided her eyes, she started to freak out a little bit. "Why?!"
Dean was driving his car down a road with just one determined idea in mind. However, this didn't keep him from throwing glances at Kate sitting on the backseat. Her arms were folded over her chest, a slight pout was formed on her naturally red lips, and her gaze glued to the outside as her eyebrows were slightly brought together. She tried to remain an upset expression on her face. She had been acting this way ever since she learned that Chuck had written almost a whole page of descriptions of her naked body as she took a shower, and that Dean had almost read it. When he had told her that Sam had snatched the manuscript out of his hands, she had replied that it only meant that without Sam, he would have read it all shamelessly. She had told him that it was unfair that she had agreed on not reading the 'Supernatural' books because he wasn't thrilled by the idea of her reading his life and his 'full-frontal' scenes, while he had done it with no shame. He had apologized to her and had said that he wouldn't have read more than a couple of lines, but the woman hadn't wanted to hear any of it. And when he had desperately asked Sam to help him explain to Kate, his young brother hadn't wanted to step in for some reason along the lines of 'your mess, not mine'.
Thinking about his brother now, made the concern he had for him grow even more. He glanced at Sam reading the pages Chuck had given them half an hour ago. Looking at his brother, he realized it was never going to stop. He was never going to stop worrying about him and all of the choices he was always doing, thinking there were no better and more right choices. It was his job to protect him, to keep him safe and this all seemed like an impossible thing to do since his return from Hell. Some things had changed in his brother, but there was something peculiar that was making his brother so different nowadays. It wasn't the fact that he had slept with a demon, nor was it the fact that he had some kind of new psychic power. Something peculiar was preventing his brother from being really himself. He knew it, he could see it. He could feel it. And that was the thing keeping his mind busy when he wasn't stuck in a memory of Hell. Or when he wasn't trying to figure out a plan to stop the Apocalypse, or resolve a case. Or even when he wasn't asking himself a thousand questions about this pretty brunette currently pouting on the backseat of his Baby. By now, Dean was pretty sure that if he didn't die while hunting a creature down, the explosion of his brain for overthinking was going to be the death of him.
"Dean, come on. The minivan accident wasn't that bad, but Dean was still seeing stars. He scratched absently at the pink flower Band-Aids on his face," Sam said pulling Dean away from his worrying and not joyful thoughts.
"So?"
"So, I've seen you gushing blood. You'd use duct tape and bar rags before you'd put on a pink flower Band-Aid," Sam replied.
"What's your point?" Dean asked his brother, his eyes focusing on the road ahead of them.
"My point is this – all of this – is totally implausible, it's nuts."
"He's been right about everything so far. You think he's just gonna ground out at first now?"
Sam scoffed and continued reading. "Huh. 'Dean slid behind the wheel of his beloved Impala and drove off, the plastic tarp on the rear window flapping like the wings of a crow'."
"A tarp?" Kate and Dean asked in sync making Dean's eyes fly to the reflection of hers in the rearview mirror.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to focus in your case?" Dean asked her and she rolled her eyes.
"How can I do that when there's a man out there who seems to know everything that happened, is happening and will happen in your lives? I mean except from that weird and non-logical parts, his books are completely accurate, right?"
"This is why we're leaving this town," Dean told her. "Because of how accurate they are."
"Except from the trap," she said and Dean sighed.
"You're not supposed to focus on any of this," he told her. "This has nothing to do with you."
"He wrote an entire page describing me naked, Dean," she told him and the two brothers glanced at each other. "There's a man out there who knows how I look under my clothes because of a dream… I'm sorry, but knowing that, I can't focus on Pamela's recordings or books or anything else. Just like you guys couldn't focus on your case when you found out there were books about you."
"She's right Dean," Sam said and Dean sighed before glancing at her through the rearview mirror again.
"Does that mean you're not pouting anymore?" He asked her and she fixed at his gaze through the mirror before turning her eyes to the road.
"Okay, um, the thing is that no matter how accurate he was on anything he wrote before… This, this is impossible," Sam motioned to the pages in his hand. "A trap on the rear window. And you drive it like that, that's not something you'll ever do, Dean."
"Well, he might be wrong about the details, but doesn't mean he's wrong about the end result."
"So we're just gonna run?"
"Dude, we are a long way from ready for a face-to-face death match with Lilith," Dean told Sam as Kate threw a glance at the younger brother as she recalled what Ruby had told her. Was Sam ready now? Or did he still need to drink demon blood? He didn't look like someone who would drink such a thing; but he definitely was someone who was willing to give it all, to do everything possible if he thought it was going to give the rightest results, and what righter results than saving their whole world?
Kate's thoughts were disturbed when Dean stopped the car at a road block. "What seems to be the problem?" Dean asked the deputy who leaned over to speak with him.
"Bridge is out ahead."
"We're just trying to get out of town," Dean explained.
"Yeah, afraid not."
"Is there a detour?"
"Nope."
"There's not a side road that takes us to the highway?" Dean asked and the deputy shook his head.
"To get to the highway, you have to cross that river. To cross the river, you have to take that bridge."
"How deep's the river?" Dean asked making Kate's head snap at him, knowing far well that he was serious with his question.
"Sorry. Afraid you boys and the lady are gonna have to spend the night in town."
Author's note:
So... What did you guys think of that chapter? Did you enjoy it? If you did, please leave me a review to tell me what you liked the most or what intrigued you the most. If you didn't, please leave me a review to tell me what disappointed you in this chapter. And, please don't forget to criticize constructively.
About this chapter, I wanted to say that since the show never said in which state and town, Chuck lived (or maybe I forgot, and you should totally tell me so I can fix all the upcoming chapters soon!), I decided to make him live in Saint Paul, Minnesota for one reason: it's neither too far, nor to close to Sioux Falls, South Dakota... Well, it's still hours away but it's not like it's in California, you know?
Alright, now I'm gonna answer the four reviews I received on the last chapter:
Alibird1: Thanks for your lovely review! If you wanna know, when I was writing this final scene my fingers kept on typing and I almost got Kate and Dean kiss but I quickly earased all of that, thinking 'nah it's too soon :p' haha. I'm glad you like my version of Dean, 'cause I'm always worried if you guys are gonna like him or you're gonna think he's too OOC... Anyways, thanks and keep on keeping on you too ;)
wolfenergy17: Thank you for reviewing :) And I'm really happy you like my story as much as you want me to keep on writing for all the seasons ! Well yeah I hope to write for as long as I can! What you can be sure of is that as long as I get support from you guys, I won't let you down. And when this story will end, I'll just give you a sequel, and when the sequel is done, I'll give you another one,... ;)
strawberryfieldsroad: Glad to hear you think it's getting better and better! I struggled with coming up with the last chapters, so I'm relieved when I read your review! Thank you for taking time to leave a review, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter too :)
Deangirlforlife: Well, I'm sorry you hated this story. But, no problem, there's a bunch of other stories on this site, and I'm sure you'll find one you'll like! However, how about you stay a bit polite here, huh? I can talk about Cyberbully or anything else, if I want to, can't I? If the subject of Cyberbully offended you, I'm sorry, but there's no need to be so weirdly agressive on your review... Thanks for reviewing anyways, and bye.
To all the readers who reviewed on the previous chapters, all the readers who favourited/followed this story, or even just pass by and read it without doing anything else, I just wanna thank you again for taking time to give my story a chance. :)
I hope to update this week.
Have a nice and safe weekend,
A.