Hello! I'm super excited for this chapter. It's been a story stuck in my head for a few years, and here it is! It's like a continuation of Chapters 50 & 51, but you don't have to read them to understand. However, I also did edit and improve Chapters 50 & 51 earlier this week, so I'd recommend checking them out if you'd like - they are one of my favorite chapters now.

I can't wait to hear what you think of this one! As always, reach out with any ideas or feedback. Hearing from you all is the juice that keeps me going.

Read, Review, but most importantly, ENJOY!

Dean - 32

Kate - 24

It had been five months since their bar parking lot confessional - the one where Kate opened up that she felt the need to get out of this town after Sam's one way trip to the cage, the one where Dean lost his shit at the idea, the one where they finally found some common ground amongst the mountain of grief they were battling on their own. That bar parking lot confessional.

After that, Kate had decided to stay in town, even though there was still a part of her that said to run as far away as she could. She stayed for Dean, and although she'd never admit it, she stayed out of fear - fear of what it would be like out on her own. Deep down she had known that she wasn't in a good mental place to embark on a solo journey at the time.

However, after living with Lisa and Ben for six months now (the longest she'd ever been in a single place), she felt like she was overstaying her welcome, like she was encroaching on their newly formed family. The grief fog had slowly started to lift and as the smoke cleared, she was suddenly more aware that she was the oddball aunt who was allowed to stay in the house out of what seemed to be pity. And that then allowed her fear to slowly start to morph into curiosity of what it would be like to be in a new environment.

Currently, she was wrapping up her first semester at the community college in town, which was an interesting change of pace to say the least. She wasn't used to group project meetings at the library instead of sorting through century-old lore books on her own. She'd been trying to find what her new "normal" was, and focusing on that had left her less time to suffer through her misery of missing Sam. School had turned into a great distraction, but it couldn't distract her from the nagging feeling that she was ready for something more. Something new..

She'd been sitting on an idea for a few weeks now, not sure how or if she wanted to act on it. But after returning home from a late night study group and walking in on Lisa and Dean getting frisky in the living room, she'd made up her mind.

She needed a place of her own.

"Absolutely not," Dean interjected immediately after Kate broached the idea, but she knew this was far from the end, so she pressed on. They were both well aware that she didn't truly need his permission to do this, but they also both knew that she wouldn't do it if Dean didn't eventually relent.

Painfully aware how things ended the first time she brought a similar topic up, she treaded lightly to not reopen any wounds. "I'm not leaving leaving," she explained, wanting to make that abundantly clear. "I'll be exactly 3.4 miles from here, so practically next door." Dean folded his arms, clearly still not pleased. "It's a studio apartment up the main road."

"I don't like it."

Kate's eyes softened, knowing all the things that were going through his mind. The two of them had never lived apart. Sure they'd been separated when Dean would hunt and Kate would stay behind - but they never purposefully lived in two different places for more than a few weeks. The only time they'd truly been apart was when Dean was in hell. She was well aware that Dean was a control freak, and she tried to respect that but also find a way to get what she wanted. What she needed.

"You can visit any time. I'll even give you the extra key," she bargained.

Dean scoffed, "Like I need a key to visit."

They both knew he had a point - if Dean Winchester wanted into that apartment, a key or not wouldn't stop him. Having a brother who was an expert lockpick had its downfalls.

Kate rolled her eyes, but immediately reset her face. "Dean, nothing will change, I promise." Before he could interject that everything, in fact, would change, she continued, "I just want to try it out, okay? I'm 24 now and never had a place to call my own. Never been on my own. If we're doing this apple pie life for real, then let me truly do it. Please?"

Her words made Dean pause, just as she knew they would. Dean ran his tongue along his upper teeth as he mulled over the idea. He wasn't thrilled about it in the slightest - far from it - but he was running out of ground to stand on. The kid was 24 after all. Even though he'd always see her as his baby sister, the little girl he fucking raised, the one that he had to care and watch out for because that was his job, his pain in the ass sister…the sheer thought of her not being within arm's reach was enough to send him into a spiral, but her mention of "apple pie life" struck a chord. He knew very well that Sam would have approved of her getting her own apartment. He probably would have encouraged it, giving her the chance to see what it was like being on her own.

Dean's eyes softened ever so slightly when he replied, "I'll think about it."

And at that moment, Kate knew it was going to be a yes.

As Dean carried the last box into her new second floor apartment, the sudden realization that this was becoming so real hit him. However, as quickly as it hit him, he shoved it down in true Dean fashion. He refused to acknowledge whatever stupid feelings were trying to attack him.

Kate had found some basic furniture - bed, dresser, couch, TV stand, TV, and dinner table - at garage sales and Goodwill over the past two weeks. She was used to having only the bare necessities and never needed anything fancy or furniture that matched. She rested her hands on her hips as she did a quick pan of the room. There were only a couple of boxes scattered around as there wasn't much to unpack, but her eyes landed on the bed in the far left corner of the studio apartment. Just one bed - she'd be sleeping in this place alone from now on. As her anxiety slowly crept up on her, begging to take over, she cleared her throat to push it down and force her thoughts away.

They'd mostly unpacked in silence as they worked their way through a six pack, neither wanting to admit that the inevitable was ahead and risking a chick flick moment, so Dean did the only thing he could think of - he avoided it. He was dead set on prolonging a goodbye so he didn't have to acknowledge what was happening. In his quest of avoidance, he put away the pots, cups, and plates as slowly as humanly possible. Once he'd put the dishes away, he decided that the cups needed to be closer to the sink, so he rearranged everything. After that, he determined that now the plates were too far from the fridge, so that led to another round or reorganization.

Kate had been putting her clothes on hangers and noticed the sloth-like pace and constant rearranging things, but she chose not to comment on it and let him go through whatever it was that he was going through. Just like Dean, she wasn't ready to acknowledge the emotion of the moment.

After Dean realized he couldn't do anything else with the damn kitchenware without looking suspicious, he put his hands on his hips and looked around the room, desperately searching for something else to do so that he didn't have to leave. He walked up to the kitchen table and pressed down on it. Yahtzee. It was clearly uneven, so he set out to fix it, which took a whole thirty seconds. Once that was done, he scanned for his next project.

"Want me to go ahead and salt the windows?" he asked.

The question took Kate off guard for a moment. Sure, his question made sense given that there hadn't been a hotel they'd stayed at where they didn't salt the windows. But the fact that they hadn't done it at Lisa's house for the last six months made her momentarily forget how much that had been part of their lives for so long..

"I guess," Kate replied nonchalantly as she continued to hang up her clothes.

Dean's eyebrows rose as his head jerked to the side. "You guess!?" His overprotective side jumped at an opportunity to try and put an end to this whole moving out thing once and for all. "If you're not planning to take safety seriously, then there's no way in hell I'm letting you –"

Kate held up her hand to cut him off, knowing exactly what he was going to try to do - find a way to make her go back with him. "Yes, Dean, I get it. That's not what I meant. This place is as secure as Fort Knox. Doorbell camera, knife taped under the coffee table, my .45 under the pillow, and now salted windows."

His jaw ran back and forth, knowing she'd caught on to his plan and already shut him down. "Yeah, well, if I find out you're slacking on any of that, I won't hesitate to come here and drag your ass back home."

Home. The word hung thickly in the air and Dean regretted it the minute it fell off his tongue. This town wasn't their home - the house with Lisa wasn't their home. But yet at the same time that was what it was expected to be - or at least become with time. Neither of them let the moment dwell on that, and they quickly brushed it aside.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, old man."

Refusing to process what he'd said, he saw a welcomed distraction. He waltzed over and in one swift movement, put Kate in a headlock and gave her a noogie. "Take it back."

Kate fought against him despite years of experience knowing that she couldn't outdo him. "Never," she replied confidently.

"Well, okay then," Dean replied with his classic smirk. He quickly locked both her legs between his, ensuring there was no escape. With his free arm, he then began to tickle her without mercy. She squirmed and giggled incessantly, trying to catch a break. Knowing he had the upper hand, he replied cocky, "Take it back."

The laughter continued to escape her lips as she tried to hold on for as long as humanly possible, but when his onslaught of tickles refused to let up, she had no other choice. "Fine! Fine! You're not old!"

As if on cue, the tickling stopped, but he didn't release her just yet. "And…?"

Kate racked her brain for anything else, and when she didn't say anything immediately, Dean raised his hand again to attack, which she saw out of the corner of her eye. "Aaannnndddd," she began loudly to make sure he heard. "Aaannnddd you're the most awesomest and bad ass brother ever. Long live AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. Amen."

Dean chuckled and released her grip. As she stood up, he quickly pulled her in for a hug, kissing her temple. "Damn straight."

She embraced the affection, knowing this was what they'd both needed and that it spoke a lot of silent words between them. After a short-lived tender moment, they let go, and Kate flattened out her messy hair. Without another word or chance to dwell on the emotion tightening in his chest, Dean got busy and salted the few windows in the apartment. Unfortunately, it was another quick task that was over sooner than he would have liked.

"Well, you need me to do anything else?" Dean asked as casually as he could so he didn't sound like he was begging.

Honestly, she was ready to get on with this next chapter of her life. She had been so focused on preparing for this move that she hadn't let herself really take what it would mean to be officially on her own. And there was a childlike joy burning inside her now - she was damn ready to experience it.

"I think that's everything, Dean. I appreciate your help with it all," she replied genuinely. She wouldn't have been able to do all this without him. His pick-up truck had come in handy for a change, so she might mock it a little bit less now that it had proven useful.

"Yeah, well you still owe me a few more six packs," he replied as he shrugged on his jacket, hating that he couldn't come up with a reason to stay longer. He took a step toward the door and stopped. He turned around and his face showed that concerned brotherly look she'd grown accustomed to seeing, especially since Sam went on his one way trip. "You sure about this?" He wouldn't be Dean Winchester if he didn't give it one last shot to convince her to change her mind.

Lucky for Kate, she'd fully mastered slapping on a brave face that could fool anyone. "I'm positive." She wasn't sure this was the right move, but she was damn ready to find out what it was like to have true privacy and a type of responsibility that didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Dean stared at her like an FBI agent interrogating a criminal, trying to find a crack that he could pounce on. However, his sister knew what he was trying to do - he wasn't very subtle about it after all. Refusing to give in to his death stare, she instead walked up to him, kissed him on the cheek, and then shoved him toward the door. "I'll be fine."

As he stumbled toward the door from the shove, he spat out, "Make sure you look at the salt lines every night and check that the demon traps aren't broken."

She continued to push him. "Yeah, yeah. And there's only one demon trap, and it isn't broken." She pointed toward the trap he'd painted on the hardwood floor at the apartment's entrance. Kate made a mental note to get a welcome rug sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, she was too busy making that note to see the quick smirk that passed across Dean's face before it quickly disappeared.

"Fine, fine. I'm leaving." He opened the door, but turned back to look at her one last time. "You call me - day or night - if you need anything. You got it?"

"You're coming over tomorrow for breakfast, so quit acting like it's forever." The moment the words left her mouth, her lips snapped shut. The memory of their brother filled the air as her throat tightened up. They'd spoken about Sam a few times since it happened but the wound was still so fresh and had only started to heal.

Sensing another wave of emotions coming, Dean quickly shoved them down and got a grip on the situation. He took a deep breath to steady himself and replied genuinely, "Sam would be proud of you, Katie. College, a place of your own, the whole nine yards. He'd be fucking proud."

The unexpected words caused a few tears she'd been holding back to spill over, but she quickly brushed them away not wanting to feel more vulnerable than she already did. She was supposed to be a true grown up adult now and here she was crying like a baby. After letting out a quiet breath, she smiled for a moment and replied, "Us. He'd be proud of us."

Kate spent the rest of the night putting away odds and ends as well as re-arranging the plates and cups in her kitchen. She'd occasionally pass by the main window near her dining table that overlooked the street in front of the building. Each time she passed by, she took a stealth glance outside and continued to see the familiar pick-up truck still parked in the same place with her brother inside. Her youthful and playful side wanted to screw with him from her window as he continued to creep outside - oh she had so many ideas - fake a fight, flip him off, try to climb out the window, throw an egg at him, the list went on. She even went as far as getting ketchup out of the fridge to squirt on the window for her epic fight scene. But when the sane part of her snapped into place, she realized what a stupid idea that would be and would surely end in getting her ass dragged back to Lisa's.

Instead, she chose to not do anything about it - not mess with him, not even acknowledge that she knew he was still there. Dean was dealing with this change in his own way, and that way just happened to be staying outside her apartment until he was ready to leave. And they both knew he'd deny to his dying breath that he did it, so neither would ever bring it up.

After settling in as much as she could, she finally felt like she was done and the toll of the day was weighing on her. She was damn tired. Not ten minutes later, she was under the covers in her new bed. The first night in her very own apartment. It was something she'd dreamed about from time to time, but she'd never actually expected to make it a reality. The events that led up to it were far from ideal and nothing she'd ever wished for, but here she was - trying something new.

For the first time, she realized just how quiet the apartment was - the silence was almost deafening. She'd been used to noisy motels her whole life, used to her brother stumbling back in during the early hours after a night out, used to hearing Sam snore - she wasn't used to silence at night. With a quick shake of the head, she quickly blocked out those thoughts, not wanting to dwell on them more as they were sure to lead down a road of sadness. With a deep breath, she turned to the side and shut off her lamp before settling back in.

As darkness filled the room, there was also a sudden illumination that took her by surprise. Her green eyes were drawn to the ceiling and a laugh escaped as she felt her heart fill with love. A glow in the dark demon's trap was staring back at her like a strange but comforting nightlight. She grabbed her phone with a grin and sent him a quick text.

Night, jerk.

Dean had been sitting in his truck into the night, watching her every move - at least what he could see through the two windows. He'd just finished off his second Snickers bar when his phone buzzed. He immediately grinned with childish excitement, already knowing who it was. She must have finally figured out where the second demon's trap was. At the same time, his heart tightened, missing that kid so much already, even though he'd never tell her that. Without a second thought, he replied back.

Night, brat.

Kate smiled warmly at the familiar nickname that went way back to their childhood. Suddenly, she heard an engine roar to life and drive away with two quick beeps of the horn. She didn't need to get up to see that it was her brother heading back to his version of the apple pie life. The horn was him saying goodbye and good luck in his own crazy big brother way.

Her eyes started to droop from exhaustion of the day, but she couldn't overlook the longing that ached inside. She closed her eyes and said out loud into the silence of her room, "I did it, Sam." She paused, but knew there would be no reply - there never was. Before she could give in to the drowsiness, she knew the conversation was missing just one piece. "Night, bitch," she said with a smirk before drifting off into a peaceful night of sleep.