Kate 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. "Dean, what are you doing?" Dean ignored him completely and carried on packing. Sam looked towards Kate who was leaning against the door, staring at the floor with tears in her eyes. He looked back towards Dean. "What, are you leaving?"
Dean stopped for a second and looked towards him. "You don't need us. You and Ruby go fight demons." He muttered as he picked up both of their bags and made his way to the door.
Sam stepped in front of him and grabbed his arm, pulling him around to face him. "Hold on. Dean, come on man." Dean punched him hard in the face. Sam took a breath and looked back to his brother. "You satisfied?" Dean punched him again, harder, and threw the bags to the floor with a loud thud. When he faced his brother, his lip was bleeding. "Guess not." He muttered.
"Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone? How far from normal? From human?!"
"I'm just exorcising demons." He said defensively.
"With your mind!" He shouted, taking a breath and calming his voice. "What else can you do?"
"I can send them back to hell. It only works with demons, and that's it."
Dean grabbed a hold of his shirt and pushed him backwards. "What else can you do?!" He demanded.
"I told you!" Sam pushed his brother in the chest.
"And I have every reason in the world to believe that." The pain was clear in Dean's words.
"Look, I should have said something. I'm sorry Dean, I am. But try and see the other side?"
"The other side?"
"I'm pulling demons out of innocent people."
"Use the knife!"
"The knife kills the victim, what I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year!"
Dean scoffed. "That what Ruby wants you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers?" Sam didn't answer him. "Slippery slope brother, just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and god knows where it ends."
"I'm not gonna let it go too far."
Dean smiled at that and turned his back on him, hitting a lamp across the table. He turned to face him again, looking angrier than ever. "It's already gone too far Sam.. If I didn't know you, I would wanna hunt you." She looked up with tears glistening in his eyes. Even Kate thought that was especially harsh. "And so would other hunters." He finished quietly.
"You were gone, I was here. I had to keep on fighting without you. And what I'm doing.. It works."
''Well, tell me. If it's so terrific... then why'd you lie about it to us?'' Sam didn't answer him. ''Why did an angel tell me to stop you?''
"What?"
''Cas said that if we don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't want you doing this. So, are you just gonna stand there and tell me everything is all good?''
The two of them stared at each other for a couple of minutes, tears in their eyes. They both jumped as the motel door slammed closed, realising that their sister had waked out. They ran to the door, watching as the Impala pulled out of the motel parking lot. Dean looked up at Sam and shook his head at him.
Kate drove angrily. She didn't know where she was headed but she knew she was pissed. She pulled up outside the warehouse they'd been at the night before, ignoring the constant phone calls from Dean and climbing out of the car. She grabbed some things out of the trunk and made her way inside. It was empty, the devils trap still in the middle of the room but no sign of Ruby. Kate got down to her knees and drew a symbol on the floor before setting a fire and reading a summoning ritual in latin. Sure enough, when she had finished Ruby appeared behind her. "Kate Winchester, two visits in twenty-four hours, I'm touched."
"Shut up." She said flatly, turning to face her. "What do you want with him?"
"Who? Sam?"
"Yeah. What are you trying to do huh? Brainwash him into leading your demonic army or whatever?"
"No, nothing like that.. I'm just helping him put his talents to good use." Kate rolled her eyes. "You see I listen to him, unlike you and your pig-headed brother."
"Yeah right, you're up to something, I know it."
"Oh you do huh?" Ruby took a step forwards and glared at her. "And what exactly are you going to do about it?"
Kate looked at her carefully before taking a step back and swinging her fist around to Ruby's jaw, sending her to the ground. She stood up and kicked Kate in the stomach, before punching her in the face. Kate composed herself and pulled the knife from the back of her jeans, stepping towards Ruby who backed away slowly. "You little slut. You wouldn't dare."
Kate smirked at her. "Try me."
She was about to lunge for Ruby when she heard a bang behind her. They both turned around quickly to see Sam and Dean running towards them. "Kate, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing Sam?" She asked him sarcastically. "Really?"
"Alright, let's just calm down. Kate, give me the knife."
"What?" She asked defensively. "No."
"I'm not asking you."
Kate raised her eyebrows at him. "You've got to be kidding me, you're actually going to stand there and protect the demon.." She shook her head and breathed out a small laugh. "You know, I thought maybe I'd be able to understand what you were doing, that maybe you hadn't completely lost your mind. But the fact that you're actually standing there defending a demon. What happened to you Sam?" He looked down, not giving her an answer. Kate pointed the knife at Ruby and glared at her. "This isn't over Ruby." She dropped the knife at Sam's feet and turned to walk away. "Bye Sam." She said as she walked away, not looking back.
As the door slammed closed, Dean turned to Sam. "You see what you're doing Sammy, nothing good can come out of this. So I'm asking you, please, just stop it." He gave him one last look before also turning to leave.
He walked outside and joined his sister who was leaning against the front of his car. "Are you pissed at me?" She asked as he stood beside her.
"No, I'm irritated you went off and tried to kill her without me, but no. I'm not."
"What are we gonna do Dean? I don't want to lose him. You two are all I've got.."
"Hey, we are not going to lose him Kate." He sighed and put an arm around her, letting her lean her head against his shoulder. "He may have gone off the rails a bit but he will get better. I promise. Everything's gonna be fine."
The next morning, Kate woke to the sound of the motel door closing. She could clearly hear her brother's voices through the thin wall. "So what do you wanna talk about?" She heard Sam ask.
"Alright, there's some stuff that I didn't wanna have to say to you in front of Kate, so listen up.. I don't really care what you do with Ruby to be honest, it's your life, do whatever."
"Dean-"
Dean ignored him and continued. "But when it comes to her, I do care what you do.. She needed you Sam. And you were too busy banging your hell bitch to notice."
"Dean what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Kate. The drinking, the hunting.. She's hardly been sleeping and you only have to look at her to see she hasn't been eating." They were both silent for a minute. "Did you know she was cutting herself?"
"What?" The shock was clear in his voice. Kate looked down at her arms and sighed. She hated that Dean knew about it, she hated that he put it on himself.
"And she's.." Dean trailed off.
"She's what?" Sam asked, concern growing in his voice.
"She's been taking drugs, Sam."
"Oh god.."
"Yeah, she needed you. Where the hell were you?" He asked him harshly. "Fix it Sam. Or I swear, you won't see her again."
Kate was still listening from where she sat in bed. It was bad enough that Dean knew about the cutting and the drugs, but now Sam knew too. She knew Dean didn't mean what he was saying, he was just upset about Ruby, but either way she didn't like where this conversation was going at all. She knew she needed to step in before one of them, most likely Dean, said something they would seriously regret later on. She walked towards the door and stepped outside.
"Mornin' guys." She smiled.
"Hey." They both greeted her.
"So.. Who wants breakfast?" She asked lightly.
"I'll go." Sam offered.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I won't be long." He patted her on the arm before turning and walking off down the street.
Kate turned to her brother. "Slightly harsh don't you think?"
"Whatever. He needed to hear it."
"Dean, he was in a dark place. We both did stuff in those four months that we regret."
"A bit of pot's not the same as screwing with demons, Kate."
"I know."
He looked at her and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I told him okay. And about the cutting. I was just pissed at him for not being around."
"It's not your fault Dean." She said softly.
"You've stopped right?"
"Yeah, I promise you." He nodded in slight relief and gave her a smile before he sat down at the small table, waiting for Sam to get back.
Sam walked into the room and looked between his brother and sister. "Guys listen, I know what I've done upset you and I know that I can't make you understand why I thought I needed to do it but.." He sighed. "I need you to know, that none of it was anything to do with you. And I'm sorry that I've been a pretty crappy brother lately." He said, tears in his eyes.
Kate walked towards him and wrapped her arms around him. "Love you Sammy." She whispered. He smiled and looked towards Dean.
"It's okay Sammy." He walked over and placed a hand of his brother's shoulder. "We're all gonna be alright."