Author's Note; Okay, I did a LOT of research for this, but there were so many different dates, I just went with what I could find. I have tried to follow the timeline as closely as possible, but forgive me if I get this wrong. I a new to supernatural, so not sure how I'm doing! Thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter! Enjoy:

2: Dealing with the Deal

She didn't see them for about three months or so after that, and each day she often found herself constantly keeping an ear out, listening out for the unmistakable engine come into the yard. When it finally did come, she didn't actually hear it as it was three in the morning and she was tucked up in bed, fast asleep. No, it was the new dog Jackson that woke her. Jackson was a Siberian husky, and Dean bought him for Kerry as a belated birthday present just before they left again. She nearly named the dog Dean, but realised that not only would it get confusing when the pair were together but Dean would have probably killed her if he knew that she had deliberately had a dog of all things named after him.

Anyway, she woke to Jackson's barks, but just as she was about to pull herself out of bed and ready herself to shout at him, she heard voices coming up from downstairs. She could tell that whoever was talking was angry, but trying to keep quiet, probably for her sake. In her tired fuzziness, her brain registered that she knew the voice, and within seconds, she flew out of bed to look out of her window. Yep, there it was as beautiful as ever: the Impala. Grinning widely, she threw on her hooded jacket before running downstairs. Just as she reached the base of the steps, she stopped to look at the pair of them.

It was obvious that something had happened. Dean for once in his life, actually looked like a scolded child, whereas Sam looked about ready to burst. Just before he could, she decided to step in and make her entrance. As she cleared her throat to let them know she was there, they both turned to face her, and immediately, the anger left Sam's face to be replaced with happiness as he stepped forward and wrapped her into a firm hug, one she gladly returned. She then moved over to Dean, who just took a step back and raised his arms.

"Hey, I don't do chick flick moments" he said, but the twinkle in his eyes told her he was happy to see her.

She smiled and stepped back, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the anger had returned on Sam's face.

"What happened?" she asked.

Immediately, she was filled in about everything from Sam dying to Dean trading his soul for his brother to live. As soon as she heard that Sam had died, she looked to the man she considered her older brother in shock, fawning over him and asking him if he was ok now. He laughed slightly and shook her off, but she didn't fail to notice how quiet Dean had gone. Then they told her about the deal, and her eyes immediately widened and her hands flew to her mouth. Tears filled her eyes and she turned a questioning gaze onto Dean.

"Dean, please tell me you didn't…"

"I had no other choice. I couldn't lose him. Y'understand?"

She understood completely, and nodded to confirm this, and immediately, Dean relaxed, ever so slightly. Sam however, bristled even further and finally blew, slamming out of the house and marching down the yard path, towards the direction of Jackson. Kerry watched him go with sad eyes and as she glanced to Dean, she involuntarily gasped. His green eyes had dimmed slightly, and looked haunted. It was then that she really took in how ragged and exhausted he truly looked.

Without saying a word, she exited the room and came back a few minutes later complete with a towel, which she threw at Dean. He gave her a puzzled look.

"No offence, but you look like crap and don't smell too great either."

He forced a smile and as he moved towards the bathroom, she quickly rustled up some food as no doubt the pair of them were hungry. As she was just putting the food on the plate, she heard her bedroom door crash open, so with a sigh, she headed up there to close it again, but the sight that met her at the top of the stairs froze her solidly in place. Dean had forgotten to shut the door, and was currently standing in front of the mirror wearing nothing but a towel. As she looked at him, Kerry could clearly see the droplets of water from his shower slide down his defined muscles, his hair plastered to his head, and his eyes, GOD those eyes, that were right now staring…straight at…her.

"Like what you see?" Dean asked with a cocky smirk.

Kerry did nothing except swallow, point downstairs and squeak that food was down there, before running into her room, her face red with embarrassment. No, not embarrassment, more jealousy. She wished she could've just walked up to him there and then and hold him, but knew that was reserved for blonde bimbos with huge breasts only.

As soon as her room door was shut, she moved over to the window and sat down on the window seat she had, looking over at the Impala. The more she looked, the more she found herself fighting back her emotions. She could see Sam in the distance, his shoulders heaving as she could see he was crying, but she physically couldn't comfort him. All she could think was that in a year's time, Dean was going to die. Dean was going to hell, and he wasn't coming back.

She broke and burst out crying, leaning her head on the windowsill as she gazed at the now blurry Impala. She didn't hear the knock on the door, or the soft call that followed it, she just sat there crying. She didn't notice the door open and close, and only realised someone was in the room with her when she felt herself being turned round and pulled into a strong, comforting embrace. She wrapped her arms round him and as she inhaled his usual smell of cologne, the car and himself, she buried her head into his chest.

"Hey, now, come on. Calm down."

She hugged him one last time before pulling away and looking into his eyes again, once more being unable to tear her gaze away. Dean gave her a warm smile and reached a hand up to cup her face. He wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"That's better. Look, I know it was a stupid thing to do, but you've gotta understand. Sam has a great life in front of him; he can make something of himself. I only have hunting. Sam isn't ready to die, not yet."

"But you are." Kerry whispered.

Dean sighed and patted her softly on the head like he used to do when she was a child.

"I'm afraid so. Now, enough of the chick flick moment. I need booze, and I need a good time!"

He winked and Kerry smiled, but as soon as he left the room, the smile faded. As she made her way downstairs, she heard the Impala drive off, and for a moment she thought the guys had gone again, but then she saw their bags dumped in the hallway and realised they were staying, for now at least. She moved into the kitchen and saw that Sam was sitting at the kitchen table eating, his eyes still slightly red from crying earlier.

"Hey Sam."

"Hey Kerry. Any idea where Dean is?"

"He said something about a bar and good time, so chances are he'll be back tomorrow sometime."

Sam frowned and turned back to his food. Kerry sat down next to him and put a hand on top of his, giving him a gentle squeeze, and as he looked up at her, she gave him a warm smile.

"We're gonna find a way out of this Sammy. We always do."

Sam nodded, his eyes taking on a look of determination. Once he finished eating, he stood up and told her he was going to bed. She nodded, and as he left the room, she sank down in one of the chairs, letting her head fall forward onto the table.

She heard a chuckle from behind her as her dad walked into the room.

"You ok, sweetheart?"

She looked up at him, and managed a small smile, but Bobby saw through it straight away, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do is there dad?"

She kept her eyes on him, and noticed that even though he gave her an encouraging smile, his eyes didn't quite match.

"I honestly don't know, but I'm sure as hell gonna try."

Kerry smiled properly then, before deciding to head back to bed. It had been a long night, and to be honest, she didn't think she could deal with it anymore. It was bad enough knowing that Dean was going to die. It was worse seeing how it was tearing Sam up inside. Even though it seemed hopeless, a part of her refused to believe that Dean would really die. Somehow, they were going to save him, even if it killed her in the process.

She found herself unable to sleep, and so gave up the battle and sat up, grabbing her book off the side and propping it open on her legs. It wasn't really a book; it was one of her dad's various journals that he had written over the years. It was nowhere near as detailed as John's was, but it was good enough. As she read, she held on to the necklace round her neck silently drawing strength from it. It was another present from Dean, this time for her thirteenth birthday. He'd seen it when they were hunting a witch. The witch had given it to him as she could sense that Dean knew someone who needed it. Basically, Dean had to say this incantation and a tiny part of him fused to the necklace, meaning that whoever wore it would be able to feel him even when he wasn't around. Dean immediately had given the necklace to Kerry, telling her that if she ever found herself missing the brothers, she only had to hold it to feel him.

She had never taken it off since that day, not even for prom at the end of her senior year. She had received many comments about it, but all she did was touch it, to feel Dean's presence, and somehow she found she could deal with it. It was a medallion shape, with Celtic knots intricately and delicately weaved into each other, to form a large knot in the middle. Even though Dean had only done it in an act of friendship, Kerry felt closer to him for it.

Even now, she found herself relaxing as she continued to hold the necklace, but soon the book fell out of her lap as she started to remember past times with the two brothers, from Christmases to birthdays, to hospital visits when one of them was ill or injured. She remembered them all, and smiled softly, even though tears were once again siding down her face. She looked out of the window, and noticed in shock that the sun was up, and when she checked the time she saw that it was eight in the morning, meaning that the guys had been back for five hours now. Deciding that sleep wasn't coming any time soon, Kerry got up and had a quick shower before dressing and moving downstairs to take Jackson for a walk. They went across the field at the back of the house, and at one point, she thought she heard the Impala, but decided she was hearing things. When they got back to the house though, there it was parked in front of the house, Dean under the hood fiddling about.

"Need some help?"

Dean jumped, and a loud bang echoed across the yard as his head hit the hood. Kerry winced slightly in sympathy, but as she saw the look on his face, she burst out laughing.

She was laughing so much, she didn't notice Dean creeping up until he had her pinned down and started tickling her. She laughed and squealed as he tickled her, and when he stopped, his head was hovering just above hers and their eyes met once again. She wasn't sure if it was her mind playing games, but Kerry swore his head was moving closer to her. No, it wasn't a joke, it was real. She moved up to meet him, but caught the scent of female perfume on his shirt as well as alcohol on his breath, and so she moved herself away. Dean looked confused and she shook her head.

"Try that one more time while your drunk and just after you've had a quick shag, I'll rip your balls off" she warned.

Dean raised an eyebrow, and moved forward, opening his mouth to say something, but Kerry had already moved back into the house, carefully closing the door behind her so that she didn't wake the others up.

Why did he always do this to her?