Chapter 2

They stopped as soon as they hit Juliete and John crashed at the first motel they could find. It was still hard for Katie to believe that she was actually alone with the old man and not trying to beat the crap out of him every second. She still had a lot of hard feelings toward John and still couldn't bring herself to call him dad, but she was finally warming up to him. Caleb had always said that's how it would happen. Sometimes she hated it when her surrogate father was right.

Katie sat at the small table going over her father's research for the millionth time and searching the internet for any new signs of the demon's presence. She was trying hard not to think about her brothers and not succeeding. It kinda bothered her that Sam still wasn't talking to her, but she didn't blame him. She'd spent 2 years at Stanford with him and never told him the truth about herself.

Then there was Dean. He'd been her lifeline through everything and, in a way, she had been his. They helped each other keep their sanity. As far as she was concerned, the whole family owed him everything and she hated the fact that John and Sam acted like nothing he did for them mattered. She hated it more that they treated him that way most of the time too.

After 2 hours of searching for demonic signs, and getting a slight headache in the process, she decided it was time for a quick shower and some breakfast. John would sleep for at least four more hours anyway. She climbed into the shower and let the hot water relax her muscles. It was the only time she could ever completely relax and not let herself worry about what was going to happen to her dad and brothers next.

After Katie finished her shower, she snaked the truck keys from John's pocket without waking him. She stopped to double check the salt lines in the room and that she had her cellphone incase John woke up while she was gone. She thought about giving him a light sedative to make sure that wouldn't happen, but she had the feeling he was starting to catch on to that little trick so she just left.

She didn't really need to take the truck cause the diner was a block away, but she wanted to check things out. She had noticed a different pitch to the engine when she had gotten off the phone with Dean earlier. The change was pretty subtle, so John may not have noticed it. Katie had spend so much time rebuilding cars the 4 years that she lived at Caleb's that it was second nature to her.

The diner down the street was exactly the same has every other one she'd been in during her hunting career. Small, greasy, and kinda cozy in her opinion. She liked being in all those little family run businesses even though it reminded her of the family she never really had, or maybe that's why she liked them so much. Seeing a family working together made her think of what things may have been like for the Winchesters if her mom hadn't died that night, only her family would have been working at the garage instead of a diner.

She ordered her breakfast and coffee when the waitress came and then sat staring out the window at John's truck. She still remembered vividly the night that truck was completely mangled with her dad and brother inside. John had come out with a few minor injuries, but Dean was in a coma for 3 months. She immediately grabbed her cellphone from her pocket and called Dean.

"He-wo" a sleepy voiced answered.

"Awe, was you seeping big brother." she teased.

"I was about to be. What do you want brat?"

"Hey, you better be nice to me peanut brain or I won't give you a birthday present."

Dean laughed and she heard Sam in the background ask him what was so funny. Dean didn't answer him and went back to talking to his sister.

"Everything ok with you Katie?" Dean asked her.

"We're all good, I was just thinking of something and decided to call you." Katie replied.

"We? Who's we?"

"Oh, just me and the voices in my head. They seem to like you for some reason."

"That's right. I forgot the head doctors said you were crazy. And your voices love me. They think I'm funny."

"Yeah, funny looking maybe."

Dean laughed again. Katie never got tired of that sound. It was funny how he always seemed to laugh more around her.

"How's Sam doing?" she asked, "Is he still feeling guilty bout shooting you?"

"Probably. Oh look, he fell asleep finally" Dean said.

"Well, I let you do the same. My breakfast just arrived. I'll call you in a couple days big brother. Sweet dreams."

"Night Katie girl, you stay out of trouble. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Katie hung up the phone just as the waitress was refilling her coffee cup. She placed another order to take back to the room with her for John and then ate her breakfast. She was glad Dean never asked her what she had been thinking about that made her call him. She thought about it for a second more and then realized he probably knew already and therefore didn't have to ask. It was scary sometimes that he could read her mind without actually doing it, but she could do the same with him so that made it ok.