22 years later
Sam was arguing with Dean as he followed his older brother up the stairs. She could hear them from where she leaned against the rear fender of the Impala, waiting with arms crossed. "Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors," Sam insisted, and she sighed.
"Soldiers, Sam, not warriors," she corrected, straightening as they approached. Sam did a double take as he realized his older sister was standing right in front of him, but made no move to greet her.
"So what are you going to do?" Dean challenged, stopping at his little sister's side. "You just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" She stood behind him, unwilling to step in because she knew this argument needed to happen.
"No, not normal. Safe," Sam insisted.
"And that's why you ran away," Dean nodded, the bitterness at his little brother walking away from him evident to the girl who'd stayed with him.
"I was just going to college," Sam reminded him, pleading with his eyes to make his big brother understand. "Dad was the one who said if I was gonna leave I should stay gone. That's what I'm doing."
Kim looked away as Dean tried to appeal to Sam's conscious. "Look, I can't do this alone."
"Sure you can," Sam retorted, as they were all fully aware that he was right. What Sam didn't understand was why Dean was leaving Kim out like she wasn't going with him.
"Yeah, well, I don't want to," Dean admitted, and Kim sighed.
"Look, Sam, I can't watch his back right now," she told him, pushing off the car to stand on her own feet. Then Sam realized she was favoring her left side, as if her left leg couldn't support her. "Spirit threw me down the stairs," she explained, seeing his eyes travel down her leg for signs of a wound. "I need a couple of days, that's it."
Sam sighed, but he knew it was useless. Dean had never bothered him while he'd been in school, and even though Kim had kept in spontaneous contact, she'd kept her distance. They'd let him have his normal. With Dad missing, well that changed up the game too. So he turned towards the car and asked, "What was he hunting?"