A/N: Who's shocked that this is out so soon? I know I am! This episode just came really easily to me once I started writing it. I've had a few ideas for Skin for a while, so hopefully I can get that out quickly, too! I'm really looking forward to season two and onwards because, let's be honest, season one is mostly focused on legends and hunts. I love it, but the character focus will be so much easier to write (and enjoyable to read)! Thanks for the support, everyone. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC, Katherine.

Kat soon found herself in Sam and Dean's motel room, sitting on one of the beds next to Charlie and gently patting her back to comfort her. The girl had her knees pulled up to her chest with her face hidden in them and the collar of her cardigan pulled around her head for extra measure, too terrified to catch a glimpse of any mirror, glass object, or anything that might be shiny enough to have a reflection. If Kat had to be honest, she felt a little jumpy herself, especially now that Mary was technically so near. It hadn't felt as real when she knew the ghost hadn't manifested without having her vengeance fatally sated.

Some monsters were just creepier than others.

Thankfully, Sam and Dean were making quick work of covering and removing anything that might be reflective. Curtains were drawn, cloths were thrown over mirrors, framed pictures were taken down, and Dean even covered the room's television.

After a quick look to make sure everything was safe, Kat gave Charlie's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "It's okay, you can open your eyes. She can't get to you now." She flashed the most reassuring smile she was sure she had ever mustered when Charlie slowly lifted her head.

"Listen," Sam said softly and sat down on the opposite side of her, "you're gonna stay right here on this bed, and you're not gonna look at glass, or anything else that has a reflection, okay? Now, as long as you do that, she cannot get you."

Charlie took a shaky breath, still nervously keeping her collar up around her face. "But I can't keep that up forever. I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

"No." Sam shook his head, patting her on the back. "No. Not anytime soon."

"We're gonna figure this out before that even comes close to happening." Kat frowned as she took in Charlie's fearful, teary eyes, looking over her head at Sam to see that he looked just as concerned. He offered her a weak smile, which she returned.

"Alright, Charlie." Dean sat at the foot of the bed in front of Kat. "We need to know what happened."

"We were in the bathroom." She was rocking back and forth a bit as she spoke. "Donna said it."

"That's not what we're talking about." That had Charlie looking at him. "Something happened, didn't it? In your life. A secret, where someone got hurt." There was a moment's pause as tears fell from the girl's eyes, and he glanced at Sam and Kat. "Can you tell us about it?"

Charlie hesitated for a moment, her chin trembling. "—I had this boyfriend. I loved him, but he kinda scared me, too, y'know? And...one night, at his house, we got in this fight...and I broke up with him. And he...got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me...and he said, 'Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself'. And you know what I said? I said, 'Go ahead'. And I left. How could I say that?" She looked up at Dean, as if he were the one who could condemn or redeem her. "How could I leave him like that? I just...I didn't believe him, you know?" She looked to her left at Sam, then to her right at Kat, before lowering her gaze. "I should have." She started to cry, pressing her face to her knees again.

Kat wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but knew that wouldn't help. It really wasn't her fault. Everyone said stupid things when they were upset and it was clear by her heavy remorse that she hadn't truly meant any malicious intent.

Sometimes people did malicious things without meaning to and lived with the guilt for the rest of their lives. And just because they kept it hidden, it didn't mean that they didn't care, but rather that they were afraid. Afraid of those they love being disgusted by them, perhaps.

"—and head over to Estate Antiques. Kat? Are you listening?"

She looked at Sam, who was now standing, as was Dean. "No. But I know we're going to the antique shop." She turned to face the girl next to her again, her tone going from normal to as gentle as she could make it. "Charlie, do you need me to stay with you?"

"No." She lifted her head, tear tracks on her cheeks. "You need to help stop her."

Kat reached out to swipe away the remaining tears. "If you get freaked out, just call Sam's phone and you can talk to one of us, okay?" She got off the bed and followed the boys out of the room. It was raining, which was a little inconvenient, but they could hardly wait for another day. Charlie needed help now.

At first, the ride to the store was silent, aside from the consistent beat of rain against the Impala. It wasn't long, though, before Dean said, "You know, her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault."

Kat was glad he saw that, too.

"You know as well as I do, spirits don't exactly see shades of grey, Dean." Sam sounded rather empty as he spoke, which was concerning. "Charlie had a secret, someone died. That's good enough for Mary."

"—I guess."

"You know, I've been thinking. It might not be enough to just smash that mirror."

"I still think it's a terrible idea." Kat sighed. "What if that just releases her?"

"Not only that, but Mary's hard to pin down, right? I mean, she moves around from mirror to mirror, so who's to say that she's not just gonna keep hiding in 'em forever?" He paused, letting his point sink in. "So maybe...we should try to pin her down. You know, summon her to her mirror...and then smash it."

Dean stared at the road ahead, brow furrowed. "Well, how do you know that's gonna work?"

"I don't. Not for sure."

"Who's gonna summon her?"

"I will. She'll come after me."

Sam sounded so sure of himself, and that's when the flat tone he'd adopted suddenly made Kat realize something else was up. As she looked at him from the backseat, it was almost like she could feel everything that was coming off him. Guilt, secrets...she could see it, hear it, feel it like it was her own. "What's wrong?" Her question had him looking back at her with confusion.

"Alright, you know what? That's it." With a clenched jaw, Dean took a more firm approach, his worry for his brother turning into frustration as he pulled over to the side of the road.

"Dean." Kat's voice held warning, but her eyes remained worried and on Sam.

Dean paid no mind, however, turning to face Sam. "This is about Jessica, isn't it?" His frustration seemed to wane some when his brother stared ahead silently. "You think that's your dirty, little secret, that you killed her somehow? Sam, this has gotta stop, man." He was smiling, but it was hardly from amusement. "I mean, the nightmares and—and calling her name out in the middle of the night; it's gonna kill you. Now, listen to me. It wasn't your fault! If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her! Or, hell, why don't you take a swing at me? Or Kat?" He gestured to the backseat. "I mean, we're the ones that dragged you away from her in the first place."

Despite his bluntness, Dean was right. But Kat wasn't sure that even being blunt was going to help with someone who already decided on what they thought to be true.

"I don't blame you." Sam gave Dean a meaningful look before he turned to Kat. "And I definitely don't blame you."

She knew that. She could see Dean briefly filing that away, though, to bring up later about how he wasn't told that he definitely wasn't blamed.

"Well, you shouldn't blame yourself, 'cause there's nothing you could have done."

"I could've warned her." The honesty in his voice made Kat's feelings even stronger, and now she was really worrying.

"About what?" Dean's exasperation was back thanks to Sam's stubborness. "You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean, I know all about it! If that's not enough, Kat knows all about it. It's not gonna work for Mary."

Sam stared ahead again, mood darkening further. "No, you don't."

"—I don't what?"

"You don't...know all about it. I haven't told you everything."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?"

Dean gave him a surprised look, then considered it for a moment, only to say, "No. I don't like it. It's not gonna happen, forget it."

Kat longed to know what Sam meant. Not only was she feeling a little overwhelmed by all the emotions coming off of him, but he had been her best friend once. Had told her everything so she never had to wonder. She'd cried in his arms over her father, yet he couldn't open up to her now.

"Dean, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what, who knows how many more people are gonna die after that? Now, we're doing this. You've got to let me do this."

Dean stared hard at him for a long moment, before muttering under his breath and starting the car again, pulling it back onto the road. The rest of the trip was silent and thankfully short, and the rain had stopped by the time they reached the store.

Sam, ever the locksmith, used his talent on the door, having it open in less than a minute. He turned on a flashlight as they stepped inside, shining it around the room to reveal that this particular antique shop seemed to have a surplus of mirrors.

"Well, that's just great." Dean put his hands on his hips, before reaching into his pocket to pull out a picture of Mary's body in front of the mirror, letting Sam aim the flashlight at it so they could check the details of the mirror. "Alright, let's start looking."

They walked ahead, Sam going in one direction while Dean and Kat headed in another. She couldn't help but think of Sam's feelings, Sam's secret. Most of all, she couldn't stop thinking of the possible sacrifice he was about to make. He already had to harbor some horrible, painful secret that helped keep him up at night, and now it was going to kill him? It was going to take him away, permanently, if trying to stop Mary didn't work.

"You know, I wish I'd secretly killed someone."

Even in the dark, with only a little moonlight streaming through a window here and there, she could see Dean's bemused and slightly alarmed look out of the corner of her eye. "What? Why?"

"Because then it could be me instead of Sam."

"Yeah. Because having you get your eyes clawed out is so much better."

"Yeah." She looked at him fully and could see his expression had changed. He hadn't meant that it wouldn't be better for her if she were the dead one, but rather meant that having her dead instead of Sam wasn't the alternative he was looking for. "—I try so hard to protect you boys and you keep fucking it up." Tears she hadn't anticipated sprung to her eyes. For Sam and Dean. For the thought of Sam's plan failing and Dean's pain if it did. His pain when his brother left for Stanford was difficult enough, even if it did end up giving her a friendship she hadn't expected.

"How do you think I feel?" It was his brother, after all. They came to another part of the store and had yet to find the mirror, so he called out loud enough for Sam to hear, "Maybe they've already sold it!"

There was silence and then, "I don't think so!"

Kat and Dean looked at each other and headed over to where Sam was, his flashlight pointed at a large mirror. Another look at the picture confirmed it.

"That's it." Dean sighed. "You sure about this?"

Instead of answering, Sam handed him the flashlight and let a crowbar he'd brought in take its place, moving closer to the mirror with Kat and Dean on either side. "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary."

He was hesitant and shaky, and Kat grabbed his hand instinctively. He looked at her in surprise, but squeezed back as he tried to calm his nerves and then looked over at Dean, who offered him no reassurance whatsoever. He set his jaw and slipped out of Kat's grip so he could hold the crowbar up with both hands.

"Bloody Mary."

Nothing. Then Dean was suddenly whipping around and Kat followed his line of sight to see that there was a bright light coming from outside. Sam, too, took his gaze off the mirror after a moment.

Dean looked at the mirror, then back at the light. "I'll go check that out. Stay here, be careful." He started to walk away, but turned to grab Kat when she started to follow. "Stay here with Sam." His gaze was almost desperate.

He may not have been open with his emotions very often, if ever, but Kat had always been able to read those eyes. At least, as far back as she could remember. There was always something lingering beneath the mask he put on, even if there were times where she couldn't pinpoint exactly what. Now, he needed her to keep Sam safe, and damn it if she wasn't going to try her best for all three of them.

"Smash anything that moves." He walked off to deal with a problem far different than Mary.

Kat watched the mirror, waiting for something to pop up. She jumped slightly when Sam suddenly turned. "What is it?" She wasn't stupid. It had to be Mary, but she wanted to know the details. Needed to know what she was up against. She needed to know a lot of things. "What do you know, Sam?"

"If I tell you, we can't stop Mary."

"You wouldn't have told me anyway, would you?"

He smashed a mirror he was looking into with his crowbar, before spinning around and smashing another. He turned to face Mary's mirror. "Come on. Come into this one."

Kat stared into the mirror with him, seeing nothing but their reflections. She looked over her shoulder as she heard Sam gasp, eyes widening as he grasped at his chest and blood started to trickle from his eyes.

"It's your fault. You killed her. You killed Jessica."

"Sam!" She grabbed onto his arms, looking into his face. He stared over her, into the mirror, dropping his crowbar. "Sam. Sam, no, close your eyes. Look away!" He fell to his knees and she fell with him, reaching up to wipe away the blood as if that would help. More just streamed down his cheeks.

"You never told her the truth—who you really were. But it's more than that, isn't it? Those nightmares you've been having of Jessica dying, screaming, burning—you had them for days before she died. Didn't you? You were so desperate to ignore them, to believe they were just dreams. How could you ignore them like that? How could you leave her alone to die? You dreamt it would happen!"

She noticed the crowbar out of the corner of her eye and knew she had to do the one thing she didn't think was the best idea; so without a second thought, she grabbed the crowbar, hurriedly stumbled to her feet, swung around, and slammed it into the glass.

It shattered instantly, some of it flying and the rest just falling, and she didn't care much that a few pieces might have nicked her. Sam's gasp of relief was enough for her to allow a few meager cuts.

"Sammy! Sammy?"

She turned to see that Dean had run back in from whatever he'd done and was now kneeling in front of Sam, taking hold of his face.

"It's Sam."

"God." He scowled, wiping away some of the blood. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah." His weak voice wasn't too convincing, but it was better than his pained grunts.

Dean looked at the ruined mirror, helping Sam to his feet. "Come on, come on." He pulled an arm around his neck, while Kat hurried to support Sam's other side. Victory seemed to be theirs, yet they only made it ten or so feet before the room filled with the sound of heavy breathing and crunching glass. They slowly turned to see Mary crawling out of the mirror's frame and staggering to her feet.

"I told you smashing the mirror was a bad ide—" Kat's words ended in a gasp as pain bloomed behind her eyes. It was sharp and overwhelming, and seemed to take over her whole body just as it did to Sam and Dean. She fell to the floor next to Sam, grabbing onto his sleeve tightly without really meaning to, just wanting a distraction from the pain. It was impossible.

It was then that she remembered that mirrors were considered a reflection of the soul, or so some believed. That was what Mary did. She used reflections to make people see how horrible they were for the things they'd done. Yet, Mary was a kind of a hypocrite.

"Let her see. Let her..." She couldn't finish, crying out as the pain intensified. She could feel copious amounts of blood pouring down her face.

She heard Dean grunting and managed to force her gaze to him, seeing him struggle to lift up a mirror and turning it to Mary. She stopped walking towards them, tilting her head as she stared at her reflection.

"You killed them. All those people. You killed them!"

With blood dripping from her eyes, Mary began to seem to choke, before melting down and falling apart into nothing but a pile of broken glass.

Just like that, the pain was gone. Kat wished she could say it was like it was never even there, but she could still feel the after effects of it and she felt exhausted from it. She saw Dean tossing the mirror he'd been holding and it broke just like the others.

"Hey."

Sam grunted and Kat looked at Dean as she pushed herself into a seated position. "What?"

"This has gotta be, like, what? Six hundred years of bad luck?"

Maybe they would have laughed, had they not felt half-dead. For what it was worth, Sam rolled his eyes and Kat gave a smile that was only mostly forced.

The three managed to get to their feet, Sam grabbing onto Kat's arms to pull her up. "Hey, I should be helping you."

"Pretty sure we're in the same boat, Kat."

They each wrapped an arm around the other to support both each other and themselves. Dean was quick to do the same on the opposite side of Sam, his motives both selfish and considerate like theirs. At a slow pace, with their efforts combined, they managed to make it outside, where there was a police car and two unconscious cops.

"—Dean?" The alarm in Kat's voice was weak and even just that was using up far too much energy. "You know what? Forget it. We'll talk about it tomorrow." She only pulled away from Sam once they reached the car, only to hold onto that next as she opened the back door. She practically fell into the seat, which wasn't far off from what Sam and Dean did when they got into their respective seats.

The ride was silent, but not tense like before. The only thing that hung in the air was the weight of sheer exhaustion. They managed to make it back to the motel in one piece, though the stare Charlie gave them didn't exactly make them feel like they arrived put together.

"—what happened to you guys?"

"What does it look like? We took care of Mary." Dean dropped into a chair at the table, groaning.

Kat shuffled into the bathroom, taking down some cloth from the mirror that had been put up in case Charlie went in there. "Oh my God." She understood perfectly well why she, Sam, and Dean had received the look they did when they walked in. There were streaks of blood going down her cheeks, trailing over her jaw and chin, and even a few drops that had made it to her shirt. It was starting to dry, so she had to scrub a bit as she wet a washcloth to clean herself up.

She didn't look much better, just less bloody. The lingering pain and exhaustion from enduring it was evident in her face and her posture.

Either way, she made her way back to the room, where Dean was recounting all the events to Charlie. Sam saw her and gave her a small smile — and it was kind of terrifying with the blood on his face — as he moved past her into the bathroom.

"—can I stay with you guys? You know...just in case. My parents think I'm at Donna's anyway..."

"My room has an extra bed." Kat walked to the door. "And I'm about to take some pain meds and pass out, so feel free to take it."

They took Charlie home early the next morning, Dean parking outside her house as she told them her parents would already be at work. He turned to look back at Charlie, who hesitated before getting out.

"So this is really over?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's over."

"—thank you." Her voice was full of sincerity, and she shook the hand that Dean extended to her, before turning and giving Kat a hug.

"Oh! Okay." Kat smiled, wrapping an arm around Charlie in return. "Take care of yourself, okay? And don't let anyone play games that involve ghosts."

She nodded, opening the door and getting out.

Sam, who had been silent most of the drive, called out, "Charlie!" He made the girl pause and turn back around. "Your boyfriend's death...you really should try to forgive yourself. No matter what you did, you probably couldn't have stopped it. Sometimes bad things just happen."

Charlie smiled slightly and, eyes brimming with tears, turned and walked into her house.

Dean hit Sam on the arm and gave him a meaningful stare when he turned to look at him. "That's good advice." They shared a smirk, before he started the car and pulled it back onto the road, driving out of the little neighborhood.

"Really good advice." Kat reached out to ruffle Sam's hair, earning a look that tried to be stern, but ended up showing amusement.

They drove through the city's street in silence, which Dean broke with, "Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that this is all over...I want you to tell me what that secret was."

"—look. You're my brother...and I'd die for you." Sam paused. "But there are some things I need to keep to myself."

Dean looked at him almost sadly, but said nothing and just returned his eyes to the road ahead. Both he and Kat noticed the way Sam suddenly paused and stared out the window in disbelief.

They let it go.

They'd made it a little ways out of Ohio by nightfall and stopped at a motel when they were all starting to get tired. They decided to have a full night's rest before getting right back on finding more hunts.

Kat, as per usual, headed to the vending machine before settling down. She was pretty sure that if any motel had one, she ended up there. But, hey, it was convenient and cheap, and there was something kind of addicting about little bags of chips.

When she got there, she found Sam, but he wasn't staring listlessly like he was just trying to distract himself. In fact, he already had a bottle of water and a pack of crackers. While he was staring at the machine's contents, he seemed to be considering them. She moved to stand by his side, arms crossed against the slight chill in the air.

"Did your room not come with a TV?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, smirking. "This is way more riveting." He looked at the snacks again. "What do you think Dean would want?"

"Whatever's the most unhealthy."

"—I'm gonna need more quarters."

She grinned and bumped her shoulder into— well, not his. Kat was above average height for a woman, but Sam was still a hell of a lot taller, so her shoulder ended up playfully bumping into his bicep. She watched him for a moment, as he put some money in and entered the code for some candy bar. "You wanna tell me what your secret was?"

"I didn't even tell Dean."

"I'm not Dean." She didn't receive a response to that. A part of her felt like he wanted to tell her, but couldn't bring himself to. She was probably wrong and didn't want to push him to the point of pissing him off or making him shut her out like he had when he first joined her and Dean. "You did tell him that you'd die for him. Would you die for me, Sam?"

"Kat."

"I'd die for you." Her singsong tone had Sam giving a genuine laugh.

"Yes. Okay? I'd die for you." He'd gotten a soda and some chips for Dean too, grabbing them from the dispensing department before straightening up and looking at her. "How are you? With your dad and everything?" It seemed like he asked both out of concern and as a way to steer the conversation further away from his secret, but Kat felt...okay.

"Sometimes bad things just happen." She smiled as he did. "Sometimes...good people do bad things. I want to believe that's how it was with my dad, because otherwise what that demon said was true." She sighed, staring at a worn spot on the vending machine like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "It hurts a little, knowing he did that and kept it hidden. And I think I'm always going to wonder..." If he felt remorse. If he would have told her someday. If he went to a good place or a bad one. If he could see her from wherever he was and felt betrayed by her pain.

She looked at Sam, who stared back with a sympathetic gaze and a soft smile of encouragement. "But I'm never gonna know. And I think it's probably better to hope for the best and forgive him than it is to hold a grudge that might be baseless."

He didn't say anything for a moment. Didn't really need to. "Hey. He's not gonna say anything, but Dean's gonna be relieved."

"Oh, I'm sure." She really was. It wasn't hard to see that Dean wasn't all that into his two constant companions being so desolate. "Now, if only we could get you back to normal." Her comment received an uncomfortable smile. "Hey, can you get me some chips?" She handed him a few quarters she had brought with her. "I'm gonna go see Dean."

He nodded, so she turned and walked back to the rooms, opening the door to the room right next to hers. Dean was just stepping out of the bathroom, already in a T-shirt and boxer briefs, ready for bed.

"Did you get my—" He paused when he looked at the doorway. "Well, you're not Sammy."

She looked at him for a moment, then walked into the room and straight over to him, wrapping her arms around him. He tensed a little, brow furrowed and eyes slightly wide.

"—what is this?" They'd hugged before, sure, but most of their intimate moments were in desperation or just something they didn't realize they were doing. This was sudden and took him by surprise. "Wait. Is Sam okay?"

"As okay as he usually is." She pulled back, looking up at him. "Everyone's okay." She wanted to take the stress from worrying about her away from him; she wished she could help with Sam, but knew that his problems were a lot deeper than hers.

"You're fucking weird, you know that?"

"Yeah."

Sam came in and gave Kat a bag of chips, as well as the quarters she'd given him. The sweet son of a bitch. She bid them goodnight and returned to her room feeling rather light.

Everything wasn't buckets of fun, but rather buckets of okay, and that felt just as good right now.

A/N: Woo. How was that? Was it good? Was everyone in character? Was it enjoyable? I hope so lol. Any mistakes are from writing late at night and not noticing them while editing. Please follow, favorite, and review!