Two nights later, Kate woke to someone shaking her violently. "Get in the car." A stern voice told her.
"What..?"
"Kate, get in the car."
She came round slightly as a pair of jeans hit her. "Dean? What's going on?"
"We're going to get Sam. I'll explain everything on the way."
Kate sensed the urgency in Dean's voice, she jumped from the bed and quickly changed into some clothes. They were out of the motel and on the road within three minutes. "What's going on Dean?" Kate asked, doing her best to stay calm.
"Okay, so Castiel showed up again. He sent me back in time, back to when mom was a teenager."
"Why?"
"I don't know, to teach me some lesson about destiny or whatever.. She was the hunter Kate, not dad. She made a deal with the yellow eyed demon to save dad. He came back ten years later and he-" Dean stopped.
"He what?"
"He.. bled in Sam's mouth."
Kate's eyes went wide as she stared at him. "He did what?" She asked, sounding horrified. "Why?"
"I don't know.. Something to do with his demonic army or whatever he had planned."
"Huh.. So how do you know where Sam is?"
"Cas told me. He said we had to stop him, or he would."
"Stop him?" She raised her eyebrows. "Stop him from what?"
"I guess we're about to find out.." He said as he pulled up outside an old warehouse.
The two of them walked up towards the door silently. "You ready." He asked. She nodded at him. Dean took a breath as he pushed open the door, attempting to brace himself for what he might see. The room was dark, there was a man, most likely a demon he thought, tied to a chair in the center of the room. There was a woman with dark hair standing beside their brother. "Tell me about those months without your brother Sam." The guy spat out at him. "About all the things you and this demon bitch do in the dark." Sam looked angry as he raised a hand towards the demon and closed his eyes. Black smoke began to pour out of the demon's mouth until there was none left and it disappeared through the floor in flames.
Kate noticed Dean turn away, unable to watch anymore of what his brother was doing. He looked at his sister, neither knowing what to say. Sam was in the process of pulling the man from the chair when Dean decided that it was time to show his face. He walked into sight, Kate right behind him. "Anything you wanna tell us Sam?" Dean asked him, sounding like he was working on keeping his emotions in check.
Sam looked up at them, the colour draining from his face as a look of horror washed over him. "Dean.. Look, just let me-"
"You're gonna say let me explain?" Dean cut him off. "You're gonna explain this? How about you start with who she is, and what the hell is she doing here?" Dean said, glancing at the woman standing beside Sam.
Sam shifted uncomfortably and looked over at her. She smiled at Dean. "It's good to see you again Dean, Kate."
"Ruby? Is that Ruby?"
Sam didn't answer him. He looked over towards her and sighed. Dean watched her for a few seconds before running at her, pinning her to the wall and pulling out the knife. Sam jumped in and grabbed Dean's arm as he brought the knife down. "Don't!" He yelled at him. The two of them struggled for the knife. Sam managed to pull it from Dean's hand before Dean shoved him hard in the chest. Ruby grabbed Dean and pushed him hard into the wall. "Ruby! Stop it!" Sam warned her.
Ruby glared into Dean's face, refusing to back down. Eventually she pushed off him and backed away. "Well, aren't you an obidient little bitch?" He snarled at her. She shot him a threatening look and turned to Sam.
"Ruby, he's hurt." Sam nodded towards the man still sitting in the devil's trap. She walked over to him and placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling him up and leading him towards the door.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Dean called after her.
"The ER. Unless you wanna go another round first?"
Dean didn't answer her as she turned and walked the man out of the door, leaving the three of them alone. Sam could see the pure anger in Dean's face. "Dean.." Again, he didn't answer him. He turned to walk towards the door, grabbing Kate around the arm in a tight grip and pulling her out with him.
Dean and Kate got into the car in silence. He pulled up in front of the nearest bar and climbed out. Kate followed him into the bar and moved to sit at a table towards the back of the room while Dean went to the bar. She sat down heavily and sighed, her head in her hands. Dean sat down opposite her, placing two drinks on the table between them. "Did you know?" He asked her blankly.
Kate shook her head. "No.. I knew he was doing something but not this." She said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
"How long has he been doing it? The sneaking out?"
"Few months I guess. It started just once or twice every couple of weeks, but then it got more and more often.. I should have talked to him about it or done something but I couldn't.. I let it go too far."
"Hey, this isn't your fault. It's that Ruby bitch. She's poisoned his mind."
"What are we going to do Dean?" She asked him, her voice cracking.
"I don't know." He sighed, feeling lost and defeated. His kid brother, the one he'd always done his best to look after, was messing around with demons. Using powers to exorcise them. It scared the hell out of him. He looked over at Kate, tonight was the night he was getting the answers, he might as well go for it. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about.." He started.
"What?"
"Look before you say anything, I wasn't going through your bag, I was looking for some painkillers." She raised her eyebrows, obviously not having a clue what he was talking about. "I found some stuff."
"What kind of stuff?" She asked curiously.
"Drugs."
Kate nodded and looked down. "Oh."
"Oh? That's all you have to say for yourself? You're on drugs Kate." He shook his head at her. It was as though she didn't even care that he knew. "What the hell's happened to you?"
"What do you want me to say? Yeah, I took some stuff.. End of."
Dean sighed. "You could at least tell me what is was. The pills."
She sat back in her seat, refusing to look at him. "They kept me awake." She told him simply. "Every time I slept all I saw was you, dying. I couldn't take it anymore Dean. So I stopped sleeping. Seemed like the easiest solution at the time.. Back then I didn't really care anymore, I just wanted it to stop. The nightmares, all of it."
"Jesus Kate, no wonder you have no freaking appetite anymore. And the pot? What's that about huh?" He studied her face, she did look genuinely ashamed of herself now.
She finally looked up at him, seeing the pain and concern written all over his face. "It helped calm me down. When I got worked up over a job or frustrated trying to find Lilith or worried about Sam.. It just helped me not to care anymore. Felt good for a while."
"Well listen to me, it stops now. All of it. You hear me? You're going to end up killing yourself. Are you listening to me?"
"Yeah.."
"Promise me Kate." He said sternly.
"I promise."
"Good."
They sat in silence for a few minutes until Kate looked up at him. "Hey Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"You said you saw mom.. What was she like?"
Dean looked up at her and thought back. "She was awesome." He smiled. "You look just like her." She smiled and nodded before Dean went on to explain everything that had happened to him.
They didn't really talk much for the rest of the night, neither having much to say to the other. By the time morning came, they were still sitting in the bar. "We're gonna have to face him sooner or later Dean. You can't hide out here forever." Kate said to him softly.
"Yeah, I know.. I'm just not sure I want to know what he's gonna say."
Kate nodded and stood up with a sigh. The drive to the motel was quick, quicker than either of them liked. Dean now looked angry again, he stormed from the car, slamming the door behind himself and marching towards the motel. He stopped outside the door and looked down at Kate. "Listen to me, you get your stuff and we're leaving."
"Dean, we can't just bail on him. We need to at least talk about this."
"No." He said flatly. "If he wants to screw around with all that demonic shit that's fine, but we're not having anything to do with it."
She opened her mouth to argue with him but he'd already banged through the door and began shoving clothes into both of their bags. Sam stood up and walked towards him..