Hola, everyone! I cannot thank you enough for the kind reviews and messages you have sent me, along with adding my story to your alerts and favorites! You guys are amazing! Sadly updates are going to continue to be infrequent. School is getting crazy and I'm finding myself with less and less free time. So please hang with me!
I want to thank demongirl16 for giving me an awesome idea for this chapter! I hope you like it :)
Also, a special shout out to ispiltthemilk for helping me when I got stuck in this chapter. Let's all thank her by checking out her sisfic! You can find it under my 'favorites' tab.
So this is the longest chapter I have written yet! It kind of took on a life of its own, haha. I hope you all enjoy it and as always, please read and REVIEW! I love hearing your feedback. It really does help me!
A/N: This chapter takes place towards the beginning of Season 1.
Dean-26
Sam-22
Kate-18
"Guys, have you seen my phone?" Dean asked. Sam and Kate turned back to look at him as he continued to search through the crap motel room, pulling up sheets and checking under everything in search of his cell phone.
Sam shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat and Kate didn't find the topic interesting enough to respond yet. "GUYS!" Dean shouted, this time annoyance clear in his voice.
"I'm going to buy you one of those waistband clip holders for your phone. I swear you misplace it more times than Sam and I combined," Kate said as she took another bite of her cheeseburger.
"Yeah, I hear they're all the rage with the kids these days," Sam joked.
Dean sighed in frustration as he stormed over to the table where his siblings were sitting. "How about you both shut up and just tell me where my phone is." He slammed his hands down on the table as he looked from one to the other, seeing which one would break first.
"Well which is it Dean? Shut up? Or tell you where the phone is?" Kate asked innocently, not being phased by his death glare.
"Yeah, you kinda have to pick one or the other. We can't do both, for obvious reasons," Sam joined in, not being able to hide his smile. Seeing Dean get flustered was one of his and Kate's favorite pastimes these days. Living life on the road left for very little entertainment, so they had to create their own. Only this time it was extra special, because it was so unexpected. Truth was neither of them actually hid his phone, but where was the fun in telling Dean that?
Dean rubbed his hand along his jaw line, as he took a moment to calm down. He remembered a time when life was more peaceful. When all he had to put up with was a bitchy teenage girl. But now that Sam was back, Dean's frustration had hit a whole new level with those two. "Tell me. Or I'll beat it out of you," Dean threatened as he around to the other side of the table and stood in between their chairs.
Kate let a small laugh escape. "Um, I'm pretty sure Dad made it very clear you can't ever punch me." She smirked as she continued chewing on some fries.
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure he never said anything about this…," Dean trailed off as he quickly turned towards Kate's chair, grabbed the back of it and pulled it out from underneath her, causing her to fall to the ground with a loud thump.
Kate groaned as she sat up. "Why am I always the one who gets thrown on the ground!" Her eyes met Deans, equally as pissed off now.
"Well Sam's kinda super sized, so my options are limited," Dean retorted.
"What? So I get punished because I'm not an overgrown giant!" She pulled herself back up and grabbed the chair out of Dean's hands before sitting back down, careful to keep a watchful eye on his every movement.
"Life's not fair. Get over it. Now give me my phone!" Dean impatiently held out his hand and waited.
"We don't have it," Sam said calmly. Dean's glare told him he wasn't buying it. "Honest truth, man. No idea where it is."
Dean looked at Kate now, expecting her to have some sort of response too. "Look," she said as she help up her phone and dialed Dean's number. "Now listen." They all waited in silence until they heard the muffled sound of a phone vibrating and playing music close by. Kate could hear a guitar blasting and drum banging and instantly realized it had to be an AC/DC ringtone. She rolled her eyes as Dean slowly tried to follow the sound, which lead him to his own duffle. He quickly dug through it, discarding clothes all over the bed in the process. Finally he pulled out his phone and held it up triumphantly as the ringtone continued to blare. Kate listened closely and realized it wasn't just music but there was singing too.
Problem child…
I'm a problem child…
Problem child…
Problem child…
As the words processed in her mind, she looked down at her phone that still said "Calling The Short Brother". Then it finally hit her. That ringtone was meant for her calls. Her face scrunched up in anger. "That's the ringtone you have for ME!"
Sam laughed. "I can't believe you still have that on there." Kate whipped her head around to Sam.
"Still?" She threw her glance back to Dean. "How long?"
"Well, let's see…when did you first get a cell phone?" Dean answered with his infamous, devilish smirk plastered across his face.
Kate felt offended. "I think out of the two of us," she motioned between herself and Sam, "I'm the less problematic one!"
"Well that's still up for debate," Dean said as he took a seat with his siblings at the table.
"Change it!" she demanded.
"Oh sure, I'll get right on that, never," Dean retorted. Kate reached across in the table in an attempt to grab his phone, but with his quick reflexes, he pulled it away. She sat back in her chair with her arms folded, feeling defeated.
"Well in other news, we're broke," Dean stated, looking from his pissed off sister to his brother.
"So? Not like that's earth shattering news or anything," Sam replied, not sure what the point was.
"Oh, my. I'm just unbelievably shocked by this sudden revelation," Kate said sarcastically.
"No, you dumbasses, I mean broke broke. As in I spent the last money on the food you are eating," Dean explained. Sam silently nodded his head, finally understanding where this was going. Kate took another bite of her burger and her taste buds internally declared the last of their money was well spent. "Looks like we're hitting the bars tonight, gang." Dean rubbed his hands together and smiled. He was ready for some action.
After they had finished eating, they took turns getting ready to leave. Dean was sitting on the couch tying his shoes while Sam was shoving some clothes back into his bag over on the bed. Kate walked out of the bathroom and over to her stuff beside Sam. He looked at what she was wearing and his eyebrows raised. She just shrugged her shoulders as she continued to cram her stuff in.
Dean stood up and turned around to face his siblings as he said, "Will you slow pokes hurr-," He stopped himself mid sentence when his eyes landed on Kate. "Um, what are you wearing?" he asked impatiently.
Kate looked down at her outfit. She had on a pair of fitted jeans and black flats, which was nothing new. She pulled her spaghetti strap black tank top away from her stomach, as if to examine in. It wasn't that tight. She then reached up and touched her bare shoulder. "Oh my gosh. I'm letting my shoulders just hang out there, completely in the open. Just what will those bar folk think of me!" her response was laced with sarcasm.
"Yeah, well I don't like it. Go change," Dean said, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Well I don't like being thrown on the floor, but that never seems to change," Kate retorted. She took one last glance down at her shirt. She saw no problem with it. It wasn't even low cut enough to show cleavage, not that she had much to show off anyway. It was just a simple, black tank top. She grabbed her cell phone and fake ID off the bed and shoved past Dean, making sure to knock him in the shoulder, as she made her way to the door.
Dean and Sam shared a glance before Dean groaned and said, "First her shoulders, then next thing she'll have a freaking tramp stamp. It's a downward spiral, Sammy."
Sam let out a small laugh. "Dude, you don't have to worry," he said as he walked by Dean, giving him a hard smack on the back. Dean narrowed his gaze, annoyed that everyone felt the need to hit him. He picked up his keys and wallet and made his way out to the Impala.
They finally arrived at the bar and were making their way towards the entrance. "Time to put this thing to good use again!" Kate said as she turned around held up her fake 21 ID. John had finally relented shortly after her 18th birthday and had given her a new ID. He had been very strict when he explained it was only to be able to help more during cases, but John was never around and Dean had eventually given in to her annoying persistence and had agreed to let her buy a drink or two tonight.
The three Winchesters walked into the bar and took a moment to take in the layout. On the right, there was the bar, complete with 2 bartenders and a bunch of stools. There were various tables spread out across the room. Sam and Dean both spotted the pool tables in the back corner, and Dean took off right away. Sam gave Kate a soft smile before following his brother. Kate didn't mind not being able to help with hustling pool. First, she wasn't that good at it anyway. And second, Dean didn't want her anywhere near those people they normally played against.
Kate made her way over to the bar and hopped up on the seat, leaving her feet to hang off to the side. She watched as her brothers made their way over to the pool tables and started conversing with some 'plaid wearing bearded country folk', as she liked to call them. Suddenly she heard the bartender come up and lay a drink down in front of her. "Here you go," he said as he pushed it towards her.
She gave him a confused look. "But I haven't even ordered anything yet," she said.
The bartender smiled as he pointed towards a nearby table. "They did for you."
She slowly turned around to look at the table. There were four guys sitting there and when she made eye contact with them, the dark haired one waved at her. She shyly waved back and quickly turned around before they could notice how much she was blushing. The guy that had sent her the drink was in his late 20's, had short, dark hair, and was wearing a button up striped shirt with light colored jeans. Kate couldn't believe she hadn't noticed him when she walked in, especially because he wasn't dressed in plaid like 75% of the other people in the bar.
Seeing no harm in the matter, she picked up her drink and took a nice long sip, savoring the taste. She had no idea what it was and she wasn't about to look stupid by asking the bartender, so she just continued on drinking and enjoying it.
She took a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure everything was going okay with Sam and Dean. Things looked to be about right on schedule. They would get the money in no time and they'd be out of this place.
"Hey," came a deep voice beside her that caused her to jump a little. She turned to the other side and saw that the dark haired mystery man was now sitting beside her at the bar.
"Hey yourself," she said softly. She was surprised at how flirtatious she just sounded.
Like an instant blip on Dean's radar, he noticed the guy as he went to sit beside Kate. His eyes zoomed in on what was happening. He nudged Sam in the side and motioned towards them with his head. Sam just gave him a 'knock it off' look and said, "Let them go. It's harmless." Then he got back to the pool game.
Dean did not like Sam's response. Harmless? Obviously that was a lie. This guy only had a one track mind and Dean knew it. It took all his strength to not go over there and pull his sister away from that guy right then; but he knew that this pool game was very important right now. They needed the money. So he settled for just keeping a watchful eye over her from afar.
Meanwhile, Kate and the boy, whose name she found out was Tyler, began talking and joking about anything and everything. Of course she lied about most of things she told him, but it was still a lot of fun and before she knew it he had bought each of them shots. Falling under the pressure of not wanting to look like the 18 year old wimp she really was, she made sure her back was facing Dean and quickly downed the shots along with Tyler.
Normally Dean would have instantly picked up on the fact that Kate was carelessly drinking away, but as life would have it, a group of young, good looking girls had entered the bar not too long ago, and Dean had immediately been drawn to look at…other things.
About 40 minutes and a few drinks later, Kate felt great. She felt like a whole new person; one who was no longer nervous or reserved. She found herself laughing at everything and even reaching out to touch his hand as they talked.
"…and that's why shooting fireworks out of your mouth is a bad idea!" Tyler finished his story. Kate no longer had control over the volume of her voice and her laugh came out way louder than she had planned. Dean and Sam, along with just about everyone else in the bar, paused as they looked over at the source of the excessive noise.
Once Dean got over the shock that a noise that loud had come from his sister, he immediately realized he had not even been paying attention to what she was doing. He inwardly cursed those low cut and too short dresses all those women were wearing. Sam and Dean looked at each other, both knowing what they had to do. In two quick strokes, Dean finished up the current game and Sam grabbed the cash prize that had been sitting on the edge of the table. Amid grumbles and complaints from the other players, Sam quickly left with all the cash and made his way outside, leaving Dean to handle things.
As Dean approached his sister at the bar, his mind kept going over his options. He could drag her tipsy ass out of there as the big overprotective brother he was…or he could…
"I'm gonna need to see some ID," his voice boomed as he stood directly behind the two of them. Kate immediately recognized that voice and turned around as fear ran through her entire body. All of the happiness and easy-going personality she had been feeling instantly fled as she saw the look on her brother's face. Tyler also turned around just in time to see Dean pull a police badge out of his pocket.
"Um, yeah, no problem," Tyler said as he fumbled to reach into his back pocket for his wallet. He wasn't worried about anything because he was legal, so he didn't get why this cop was hounding them.
"Just show him your ID so he can leave," Tyler encouraged as he handed a card over to Dean. As he inspected it, his eyes were instantly drawn to the date of birth. Dean felt his stomach turn inside out when he realized this Tyler guy was 28. The creep was older than he was, and that was so far from okay.
"Seriously?" The word had slipped out of Kate's mouth before she even had a chance to stop it. She couldn't believe any of this was happening. Tyler shot her a frightened look, pleading her to not argue with a cop. He did not want any problems.
Dean's gaze tore into her. "Are you not going to follow my orders, young lady? I believe I asked to see your ID."
Even in her not normal state of mind, she understood the double meaning of everything he said. Kate took a quick look around the room and noticed that almost everyone's eyes were on them right now. She was about ready to blow Dean's cover and fight him about this, but thankfully she realized that making an even bigger scene would not help either of them. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her ID and slammed it into Dean's hands. "Here," she said in a low, angry voice. Apparently a tipsy Kate was either an extremely happy one or an extremely pissed off one. One extreme to the next in no time.
Dean pretended to carefully examine the small card, bending it one way and another to see the hidden reflections. "Nice try, but this is probably the worse fake ID I've ever seen. What, did you do make this at home?" Dean said, even they both knew all of that was a lie. It was a damn good fake ID.
"What can I say, my brother does a piss poor job," Kate said through gritted teeth, realizing how this was all going to end now.
"Well I think it's time we take you down to the station and take care of this matter," Dean said as he grabbed on to her upper arm and pulled her up and off of the stool. Kate kept her eyes on the floor, but she could still feel everyone's stares burn into her as she was dragged to the door by the 'police officer'.
Once they got outside, Kate saw Sam leaning up against the side of the Impala as he waited. He noticed Dean's death grip on her arm and the severely pissed off look on her face. "Guys?" Sam asked, implying he wanted some kind of explanation. He just assumed Dean would tell the guy off and grab Kate and leave, but he could tell that there was something else brewing.
Kate ignored Sam's question. "Let go of me, you ass hole!" she said loudly as she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. When he wouldn't give, she used her free arm to elbow him in the ribs, which instantly caused him to let go as he slightly doubled over in pain.
"What the hell!" he yelled as Kate started walking off in the opposite direction. "What is your deal!"
Sam felt himself cringe as he heard their shouts and he knew there was about to be a Winchester show down in this parking lot. He instinctively looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized there weren't any witnesses in sight.
Kate stopped when she heard Dean's voice. She started to turn around on her heel, but had to stop to balance herself first, feeling the alcohol. Finally, she turned to face him. "What's my deal?! YOU! You never let me just BE! You are always stalking my every move. I'm all fucking grown up, Dean. I don't need you taking care of me," Kate spat out angrily. She didn't mean half of the things she was saying, but the filter between her brain and mouth had apparently disappeared.
Dean took a few steps forward, closing the distance between them. Sam started moving closer to them, just in case this mess got any further out of hand. "Yeah, because you obviously know how to take care of yourself. Look at you! You're well on your way to being drunk! Way to be responsible. Oh, and that guy? He was 28, Kate!"
Sam head turned to the side in confused shock as he heard the last part. "28?" he asked.
"Yes, fucking 28, Sam. The scum bag is older than we are," he spat out.
Kate felt her gaze narrow. "So what! You've slept with prostitutes of all ages. So unless you can now sex with your eyes, he and I weren't doing anything wrong!"
Sam let a small chuckle escape at Kate's last comment, finding it funny for some reason. Dean and Kate hastily shot him death looks and he quickly muffled his laugh.
"Just get in the damn car. I don't feel like discussing any of this with a drunken you," Dean said as he turned to his left and made a few steps towards the driver's door. "You better be thankful Dad isn't here to see this crap you're pulling," he shot back over his shoulder.
"Thankful? THANKFUL?" Kate felt her blood start to boil. In a few short strides, she was beside Dean again, with Sam slowly trailing behind. "You think I'm thankful Dad's not here?! Why? So I can put up with you always being on my case? So I can lie awake at night silently freaking out and wondering why he never picks up? Why he's ignoring us?"
Kate and Dean appeared to be in some sort of staring contest. Neither of them moved a muscle. Sam rubbed his hand over his face and slightly nodded his head. So the real reason had finally come out in the open. All it took was a few drinks and her brother pissing her off for Kate to finally unload what had been bothering her for what appeared to be quite some time now. Sam reached out to grab her shoulder, but he dropped his hand when he heard her start talking again.
"For all we know he could be dead, Dean. DEAD! So there is NOTHING to be thankful for. I'm literally living a nightmare right now and all you seem to care about is how I'm acting." Kate felt a few tears sting her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was just so mad and had no idea where those tears were coming from.
All three of the Winchesters seemed to freeze. No one moved. No one said anything. They were all taking some much needed time to digest everything that was just said. It's not like they had ever sat around and had a deep discussion about how John's disappearance was personally affecting each one of them. They each had just been dealing with their own issues and tonight Kate had reached her breaking point, and Dean just happened to be on the receiving end of it all.
Dean had no idea how to respond to her. He had been completely taken off guard by her comments and didn't know how to make it better. So instead of saying anything, he reached and opened the driver's door, ready to just get inside and hope all of this would disappear on the drive back.
Kate stared at him with wide eyes. She couldn't believe he wasn't going to say anything. Before he had a chance to get inside the car, she grabbed a hold of his arm and he reluctantly turned around to face her. His eyes were filled with guilt and hurt as they met hers, which still had tears in them. "You ass hole," she said as she gave him a hard shove, causing him to crash against the side of the Impala. Sure she was mad at Dean about the whole Tyler thing, but the alcohol had made this deeper truth come out. She would later regret treating him like that because it wasn't really his fault that John was still MIA, but right now she wasn't seeing anything clearly.
Kate took off walking towards the road. She needed some time to cool off and try to process through everything.
Dean let his arms fall to his sides as he watched his sister walk away. "Kate!" he yelled. She didn't even flinch and kept on going, almost reaching the end of the parking lot. Sam and Dean both knew they couldn't let their half drunk and pissed off sister just walk off alone. "Katelyn!"
Sam held up his hand, motioned for Dean to stop. He gave him a half smile before he jogged over to where Kate was. She looked up at him and frowned. "I don't want to talk about it," she said dryly.
"I know. But I'll be here when you're ready to," he replied softly as they both fell into stride together, now walking along the side of the road in the direction of the motel, which was about a mile or so away.
The roar of the Impala's engine filled the night air. A few moments later they heard, very faintly, as Dean yelled, "Damnit, Sam!"
Dean threw the car into gear and took off out of the parking lot, speeding past his brother and sister.
They both watched as the Impala disappeared around a curve up ahead. Kate continued to scrape her feet along the road, walking at snail's pace. She knew walking this slow had to be hard for Sam, with his enormous legs and all, but she didn't feel like going any faster. She kept her eyes glued on the black pavement in front of her as she asked her brother, "What'd you do?" Referring to why Dean had cursed at him.
Sam looked down at her, but she was still staring at the ground. "While you guys were still inside, I took his phone out of the glove box and hid it," Sam replied. Even though she wasn't looking at him, he could tell by the movement of her cheek that she had a small smile and he couldn't help but smile too. And that was all he needed to see in order to know she was going to be okay.