Katherine sits with her head in her hands.

Two months passed like it was nothing. Most of it was filled with demon torture...the more they found, the harder it was to get information out of them. They needed more...everything. Everything she had to offer.

These days, it didn't feel like she had much. Running off of what? A hope?

They've been here...they've been there...and Lilith has been no where.

Two months and she hasn't stopped thinking about that cabin she dreamt about in Wyoming. Two months, and they're all panicking. Two months...and she still doesn't have any answers about the life growing inside of her. She's been too afraid to do anything...so she ignored it. That, amongst other things.

She submitted a blood test yesterday under the pretense of a badge. One vial of her blood, one vial of Dean's. Her excuse for collecting it was in the event they ever lost each other, they could always go to Bobby and use one of his little tracking spells, which Katherine had mastered at this point...and it's the only magical thing she had mastered.

Any day now she'll have an answer.

Charlie is irritated a lot these days. She doesn't know what to tell him, what to say to him anymore. She's just so numb...and he just wants to see her. And she knows he has that right, because the last five months of their lives has been nothing but short weekends and her on the road. How the hell is that for the start of a marriage?

"You okay?"

Katherine looks up at Sam as he leans against the front door of the farm house they've tracked this demon to.

"I just needed a break," she sighs. "This is stunt demon number fifty-two, it feels like."

"No stunt demon," Sam grunts, sitting down beside her. "This one's a bad sum bitch. He'd killed four women here, KD."

"I know," she murmurs. "I just...I know it's hurting Jeffrey. Doesn't really spark inspiration, you know?"

Sam drapes his arm around her shoulder and rests his head against hers. "I think you're doing a good job."

Katherine chuckles, shaking her head. "Thanks, Sam," she sighs.

If 'good job' meant being a cold, distant bitch...yeah. She'd get a gold star for that one. Part of her thought it would make it hurt less when Dean died. She isn't so sure that was the best way to do anything the past couple of months. Now they're down to the wire, and what've they got to show for it?

Nada.

The sound of a car brings Katherine out of her wallowing, only to put her on high alert. That's all she went from anymore. Well...nausea, too. Wallowing, nausea, anxiety. Repeat.

Sam frowns. "Is that..."

"Ms. Havelock?" Katherine pushes herself to her feet.

Nora Havelock appears to be in her forties. She has shoulder-length brown hair and thin eyebrows and a generally-worried expression. She's a Wiccan who asked Bobby for help regarding the murders in Couer d'Alene.

"You shouldn't have come," Sam says. Katherine just sighs and opens the front door of the farmhouse for her.

"I needed to see it for myself," Nora says. "After all those hours, tracking...? I mean, it's one thing to study them in books..."

"Yeah," Katherine sighs. She nods Ms. Havelock to the back of the house. "Only if you're sure." Nora nods, and follows after the two hunters.

"Do I smell menopause?"

Katherine steps into the room with Dean, sparing the demon only a glance as she looks over the hunter. He isn't looking at her. He's sharpening a knife, and the demon they're torturing, Gomer, is bloody and bruised...mostly by her hand. Dean turns around, and his already-sober expression grows darker when he sees the witch in the doorway. Dean's eyes flit to Katherine questioningly.

"Well," the demon hums, staring at Ms. Havelock. "If it isn't the Wiccan bitch of the west."

Katherine would've laughed.

"Ms. Havelock," the demon says. "I know you're the one who helped them find me. Not in time to save our big girl here, but...you still a merit badge."

"Oh my god," Nora whispers. Katherine rolls her tongue over her teeth and looks over to the kitchen table, to the body they covered with a table cloth. The body Nora must be seeing. She moves closer to Gomer. "They caught you, you son of a bitch," she snarls. "No more murders...and you're going back to Hell."

"Oh, Nora...Nora..." The demon smiles. "I'm gonna scoop you out like a pumpkin." His eyes flick to black, and he snarls as he lunges for her. Of course, he doesn't go very far. He's tied to the chair. Yet Nora leaps back and yelps in surprise. Katherine tilts her chin to Sam, and he escorts Nora out of the room.

Gomer starts to snicker.

"Your, uh...scooping days are over, Gomer," Dean sighs.

"Whatever the hell that means," Katherine mutters, moving to their tray of tools.

"All you got to worry about now is us. You're not the first demon we've tracked down on this little safari, you know?"

"Looking for Lilith in all the wrong places," the demon sighs. "Bet your daddy would be real proud of your tracking skills going to shit, Katherine Louise."

Katherine picks up another knife and touches the top of her finger to it. "Oh, that's kinda sharp." She wipes the pinprick of blood onto her jeans and turns to Gomer with a furrowed brow.

Gomer's dark eyes settle on the shiny blade in her palm. "If things are about to get messy...maybe you should meet the owner of this fleshy temple."

"Ew, Gomer."

"He's a real puppy of a man...I think you're gonna like him."

He starts to convulse, chin dropping to his chest before his head jerks a little...like he's waking up. Then he winces.

Katherine sinks into a crouch in front of the man. "Hey, Jeffrey?" He squints at her. "That you, pal?"

"Oh, God..." He turns his head, casting his eyes low. "No!" He starts to wail.

"Jesus. Hey, Jeffrey." Katherine pats his shoulder.

"He made me do that, he made me do that, he made me do that!" Jeffrey sobs.

"Jeff. Buddy." She grabs his chin, tilting it towards her.

"You've got to stop him," he whispers. Tearful dark eyes scour her face.

"We're going to." She nods. "We're gonna get rid of him."

"Okay."

"But before we do that, we need him to tell us some things," Katherine quietly continues. Jeffrey catches sight of the knife in her hand, moonlight glinting off of the blade. He whimpers.

"Please don't hurt me."

Katherine's mouth opens and closes a few times before she tosses the knife behind her. "This demon knows where we can find more of him," she explains. "We're hunting them. All of them, but..."

"He's not gonna give up his Rolodex easily," Dean says. "Jeffrey, we're gonna have to cut into him." Jeffrey stares at Dean, not quite understanding. Until... "That means you."

Jeffrey's dark gaze shifts back to Katherine. Gomer was right. He is like a puppy. And she does like him. He cries for a few moments, or dry heaves, but collects himself. His face is turned into a grimace.

"He made me do...so many bad things to them," he whimpers. "Whatever you have to do." He looks to Katherine and nods. "You have to do it. You have to do it. Just stop this evil—" He seems to start choking. His face turns red, and he heaves...but then his eyes turn black. "And on...and on...and on!" He laughs right in Katherine's face. "Frankly, he can get tedious with this whole 'good and evil' thing." Katherine rolls to her feet in time with Sam and Dean. "Oh, you guys seem to do that a lot. On the same cycle, too?"

"You were right," Katherine murmurs. "I do like Jeffrey." She turns on the heel of her shoe and moves to their bag. Gomer watches in silence.

"Gonna hydrate me before you bleed me?" He asks.

"Eh. Something like that." Katherine sets the bag on a shelf on the wall and gently untangles the tubing. She hands it to Sam before crouching beside Gomer, ties a tourniquet, presses a ball into his hand. "Be a good boy and squeeze that for me a few times." Gomer doesn't do it. "You're not getting any participation points, Gomer," Katherine sighs. She pokes around his hand for a few moments, finding a good vein, and sticks him with the needle, twists the tubing in. "Last chance before we turn the heat up on you."

"Try me, Barbie."

She frowns. "So not original."

"Would you prefer 'bitch'?"

"Maybe," Katherine chirps, turning the lock, and watches the water flow down the tubing.

Three seconds later, Gomez starts shrieking.

It always went like that.

"Why didn't I think of this sooner?" Katherine grumbles. Dean sits down beside her.

"Kind of ingenious."

She'd be lying if she said she didn't hear their screams when she went to sleep, when she woke up...in the middle of the day doing nothing...all of the victims crying for help, begging for her to stop. A lot of them are confused. Some of them know what the demon inside them did. They think they deserve it.

Maybe she isn't so numb to everything after all.

"All right!" Gomer roars.

"We know she has other lieutenants," Katherine says. "Give us some names, Gomer."

"All right! Just—just stop!" She flips the lock, freezing the tubing. A few moments pass of him writhing. He looks like he's sweating. Steaming in the middle of a cold field. "Merrick," he pants. "You'll find him in New Orleans."

And Katherine sends him back to hell.

"All right, let's get him to the hospital," Katherine says, pulling the tubing from his hand. Sam and Dean are on clean up duty while she takes care of Jeffrey.

"No more," Jeffrey whimpers.

"We're done, Jeff," Katherine says. "He's gone."

"He's in Hell?"

"He's in Hell."

Sam helps her get him in the car. "I'll stay behind," he says. "Clean us out of this thing."

Katherine nods and looks to Dean, holding her hand out...half expecting him to give her the keys.

Dean takes one look at Jeffrey and shakes his head. "I'm not leaving you alone with him."

"Dean, he's—" She sighs, curls her fingers, and sits in the passenger seat.

As they drive, Katherine keeps talking to Jeffrey, and he mumbles responses...until he goes limp.

"Jeffrey." Katherine leans over the seat and taps his shoulder. His head lolls back onto the seat. "Jeffrey, hey!" She shakes him a little before clamping her fingers around his wrist.

"What's going on back there?" Dean asks.

"He's got a pulse...I think he's going into shock."

"Shock?"

"Well he took a beating, Dean, look at the guy." She sighs. "Wish I could clean him up a little."

Jeffrey mumbles something.

"Hey bud?" Katherine asks. "Jeffrey?" He lifts his head. "Hey, you're okay." She watches his eyes move around the Impala.

"Where's..." He swallows and blinks hard. Then he groans. "Where's the other one?"

"Sam stayed behind," Katherine answers. Dean sighs at her, and she shrugs. "Try not to move, Jeffrey. We're taking you to the hospital. You gotta listen to me on this, bud. No demon talk in the ER, all right? You got mugged." Jeffrey nods, closing his eyes.

They leave him in the ER parking lot, and Katherine insists on seeing him inside before they drive off.

"Whole back seat is all bloody," Dean grumbles.

"I'll clean it, Dean."

He sighs, glancing her way. "You okay?"

Katherine looks down at her bloody knuckles. "One more nightmare never hurt anyone, right?"

Dean presses his lips together. "I told you to let me handle it. It won't matter in a couple of weeks anyway."

She hated when he said stuff like that. It was true...but she still hated it.

She got a call the next morning from the diagnostic facility. "Agent Dylan, this is Stephanie with Polk County Sheriff's Office. I'm calling in regards to the blood samples you wanted examined. It...looks like there is a 99.8% match."

Well.

They spent weeks looking for Merrick. By the time they found him, it was two weeks before the big day...and it yielded nothing.

Dean's watched her get up in the middle of every night this week to wash her face. Her side of the bed is always too warm, and sometimes she's covered in sweat.

Her birthday was the worst. She cried in her sleep, fell out of bed fighting something only she could see. It took both of the Winchesters to calm her down, to orient her. When she finally calmed down enough, she and Dean laid on their stomachs and stared at each other until his eyes felt grainy and dry and irons weights were pulling his eyelids closed. He stayed like that for a little while, just feeling her light breaths wash over his forearm. He didn't even flinch as her fingertip began to trace over the contours of his face. He must've fallen asleep pretty quickly...When he opened his eyes, she was fast asleep.

The past few days, Dean thought it genuinely was all the demonic shit they've been stowing these past couple of months finally getting to her. It's not like they just sit around, have a drink and conduct a therapy session. All the shit they've done...it's all zipped up and tucked away for later. Dead later.

That rug keeps getting taller, though, with all of the nightmares getting swept underneath it. Then it hit him.

It's passing over the time she was possessed.

There was no use in saying anything. What was there to say, anyway? Hey, I just realized you got possessed a year ago today. I know there's probably literally nothing that can make you feel better right now and you probably want to rip your own skin off, because you never talk about what happened when Yellow Eyes was possessing you, but I just want you to know that I know. Thoughts and prayers.

The next day, Dean had a nightmare. Well, bad dream. He fell asleep in the middle of research in broad daylight. Out on Bobby's porch, the sun shining and everything.

Got ripped apart by a Hellhound...didn't feel very well.

Dean rubs his eyes and sits up in the swinging chair with a sigh. When he opens his eyes, Katherine is leant against the doorway in a white t-shirt and a pair of cutoff shorts. Her arms are crossed, and inquisitive blue-gray eyes rake over him.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Dean grunts. A ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of her mouth.

"You okay?" She asks.

After a moment, Dean nods, and looks down at the book in his lap. One of Bobby's. He doesn't even know what he was reading about when he dozed off. "Find anything good?"

"I didn't. Did you?"

"Nope."

Katherine pushes herself off of the doorframe and crosses over the back patio, barefoot, and plops down beside him. The swing gets moving again.

"You look funny," Dean accuses. Katherine's eyebrows knit together as she turns to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You look tired," he says. "But in a funny way. You've got somethin' on your mind."

"I've got a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, but somethin' 'ticular is buggin ya."

Katherine chews on her lower lip, eyes flitting all over his face. "How are you so good at that?"

"Good at what?" Dean murmurs, kicking his legs up in her lap. Katherine chuckles, pushing his legs off of her.

"Bobby may have found something," she says.

Dean angles his shoulders towards her, resting his temple on his knuckles. "Yeah?"

"A way to find Lilith," Katherine murmurs. Her eyes are focused across the yard, breeze picking up her blonde hair.

"You need to touch up your roots." There it is. The Death Glare from Hell. He smiles a little and lifts his head up. "Well, we've got just about thirty hours to go, yeah? Why don't we just make a TJ run? Beers on the beach and all that. Hey, what's the word for 'donkey show'?"

Katherine smiles, snorting, and shakes her head. "If we do save you, let's never do that." She pops an eyebrow at him, and he smiles.

"Yeah, all right."

She doesn't offer any empty promises or sympathies. She puts a hand on his cheek, thumb brushing across the day-old stubble, and smiles at him. Dean knows her enough to know it's so sad.

Dean is alarmed as her face contorts into something ominous and ugly, old and warped. But then it's her normal, beautiful face, gray eyes and all. He knows enough about people reaching the end of their deals that this is what they see when their time is coming—visions. "What's going on with you?" Dean quietly asks.

Katherine pulls her hand away, rests her head in her palm. Her stomach turns, as those green eyes pinpoint on her. Is it even worth telling him?

"You know me," Katherine sighs, pushing herself to her feet. "Always stressed out. C'mon, Sam and Bobby wanted me to get you so they could show us something." Dean gives her a doubtful look. "C'mon!" Dean groans as he gets to his feet. Stiff knees, aching back. He follows after Katherine, watching her arms swing as they walk through the kitchen and into the living room. Sam and Bobby look up from their setup on the table. Sam has a huge grin.

Dean circles around the table, studying the map of the contiguous United States and the ancient-looking apparatus set up above it.

"What's this do?" He asks.

"It can pinpoint the exact street Lilith is on," Sam tells him. Dean looks to Bobby, and he nods.

"With the right name and the right ritual, there's nothing you can't find." Dean's gaze follows Bobby's hand as he moves the top of the pendulum, and it starts swinging. Bobby starts speaking Latin over the thing. Sam's gaze anxiously flits between Bobby and the map. Katherine's laser-focused on the map, arms crossed. Dean's heart hammers in his chest, swells up his throat, as the arrow stops in mid-air.

"New Harmony, Indiana," Bobby says. "We have a winner."

"Let's move, then," Sam says, a triumphant smile beginning to take shape.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dean cautions. "Just...holster it up there, Tex."

Sam frowns, looking to Katherine, who looks to Dean in the same vein of concern Sam has. Sam looks to his older brother. "What's the problem?"

"'What's the problem'?" Dean echoes. "Where do I begin? I mean, first of all, we don't know if Lilith actually holds my deal. We're going off of Bela's intel? When that bitch breathes, the air comes out crooked. Second, even if we could get to Lilith, we have no way to gank her. And third, isn't this the same Lilith that wants your giant head on a pike?" He gestures to Sam. "Should I continue?"

"Ain't you just bringin' down the room," Bobby tuts.

"It's a gift," Dean quips.

"What are we supposed to do, then, Dean?" Katherine asks, resting her weight through her palm on the table. "Wait it out?"

"Look, just 'cause I gotta die doesn't mean y'all have to." Silence hangs for a moment. "Either we go in smart, or we don't go in at all."

"Fine," Sam snaps. "I have the answer."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. A way to confirm it's Lilith and a way of getting us a bonafide, demon-killing ginsu."

Dean looks to Katherine. Her lack of eye contact is alarming. "Goddammit, you two, no!" He starts pacing.

"Dean, I am summoning Ruby," Sam insists.

"The hell you are!" Dean cries, turning around to look at him. "We've got enough problems as it is!"

"Exactly!" Sam agrees, rushing Dean. "And we have no time and no choice!"

"Oh come on," Dean groans. "She's the Miss Universe of Lying Skanks! She told you that you could save me, yeah? Lie. She seems to know everything about Lilith but forgot to mention—oh, right, Lilith owns my soul!"

Sam's breath heaves from flared nostrils. Katherine taps her fingertips on the table, glancing to Bobby, waiting for someone else to explode.

One part of pregnancy she's noticed: she's not so quick to rile. Weird, right?

"Dean," she finally says, calm and baiting. Everyone turns to look at her. "We all know Ruby's a liar. Whatever." Katherine shrugs. "But she has a knife that kills demons. We all saw it for ourselves with Isaac and Tamara and the Sins. We just need her for the stupid knife."

Dean shakes his head. "For all we know, she works for Lilith."

The thought crossed Katherine's mind. Briefly. It would be a very fucked up thing, which is definitely up Demon Alley.

"Then give us another option, Dean," Sam scoffs.

"They're right, you know," Bobby says.

Dean grimaces and runs a hand over his head. "No, dammit! It's too risky! Just...no. We are not gonna make the same mistakes all over again." He looks over the other three hunters in the room. His family. "You guys want to save me, find somethin' else." With that, Dean turns out of the doorway and starts away.

Katherine lets out a heavy sigh, combing her fingers through her dirty blonde hair as she sweeps it up into a ponytail.

"Well," Bobby huffs, shrugging his jacket on. "Guess I'm gonna go...find somethin' else. Like we got the damn time for that." He stalks out of the house, screen door dropping against the frame behind him.

Katherine's eyes lift from the floor to find Sam's already glued to her. He looks lost. Beaten. So empty of the hope he had just ten minutes ago. And angry.

She gives him a single nod and pushes away from the table. Sam's face relaxes, and he nods back at her.

Katherine looks around the house for Dean. Not in the cellar, not in one of the rooms upstairs. She was a little surprised to find him on the swinging bench again, sans book, just staring out on the sunny property.

Dean scratches his head and looks away from her. "I told myself I was gonna be calm," he murmurs. "Then I wasn't."

"Ruby's obviously a touchy subject...for all of us." Katherine sits down beside him and sighs herself. "Ruby's kinda like your Bela."

Dean hums as he considers this. "Yeah...Yeah, I guess so." He looks at her, green eyes trailing over ever feature he can see, and sighs. "Just scares me is all," he quietly admits. "Thinkin' of you guys gettin' hurt because of me...I don't like it."

"Ah, well, we get hurt all the time because of everyone." Katherine lamely shrugs.

"You doin' okay?" Dean gruffly asks. "Starting off your twenty-second year of life with a bang."

Katherine snorts, crossing her arms. "Yeah. Guess so."

Dean grins. "I went to Mexico City when I was 22."

She holds a hand up. "Please...I don't want to know."

Dean wags his eyebrows at her. "Good stories."

"I'll pass," she chuckles. "Thanks." Dean grunts, leaning back onto the swing's arm rest.

"I know things haven't always been easy with us," he says. "But I wanted to say—"

"Hmm-mm." Katherine quickly shakes her head. "We're not doing that shit. That's cheesy and how fucking embarrassed are you gonna be when you don't actually die?" Dean smiles a little. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She looks down at her fingernails, swallowing the rising anxiety. Tell him? Don't tell him? She's blurting it before she can even have a proper think about it. It just comes out. Like vomit. "I'm pregnant."

Dean's tanned face goes a little pale. His breathing gets heavy, but he doesn't know how. It doesn't feel like he's breathing at all. He feels too hot, his toes are cold, his legs are numb. "That's great," he finally chokes out. Then he forces a smile on his face and looks away from her. With his elbows on his knees, he feels like he's really going to throw up. Of course she and Charlie had sex, they're fucking married, but I didn't wanna think about it—

"She's yours."

Dean's tongue goes heavy in his mouth, and the anxiety forces its way from his stomach and into his throat. He makes a kind of groaning sound. "Oh my God."

"Yeah..." Katherine clears her throat. "This is so fucking awkward. Why did I even say anything? Fucking idiot." She shakes her head, looking down at her hands.

"How do you know?" Dean croaks.

"Uh...remember that vial of blood I took from you and Sam?" She asks, squinting an eye as she looks out onto the property. "For a tracking spell?" He finally looks at her, but she isn't looking at him. Her hands are fidgety. "It was actually for a paternity test. If I...eliminated you, then...I didn't really have anything to worry about and I would just have this big invisible 'A' on my chest, ya know?" Then she looks at him. Her lips roll into her mouth, big blue eyes rake over his pale face. His shocked, pale face. "Are you breathing?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well, anyway...I'm fucked." She smiles and shakes her head. "I haven't...told anyone. And when it's time to tell people, I just...I don't know. And when she's born..."

"She?" Dean croaks.

Katherine shrugs, resting her hands over her belly. She doesn't even look— "Just a feeling. it's gonna be a while before I find out."

Dean rubs his face and sits up straight. I'm gonna be a dad. I'm gonna be a dead dad. "Fuck."

"Yeah," Katherine sighs, pressing her lips into a thin line. "So, uh...I don't know how the whole 'prayer' thing works, but when she slides outta there, I'll send you a little prayer...hopefully you can still hear them in Hell, I don't know."

Despite everything, Dean starts to laugh. Maybe it's the shock of it all, the absurdity. It was one time! Double prot—

"I didn't wear a condom," he reflects.

Katherine sucks on her teeth. "Nooo," she agrees.

"Were you taking...anything?"

"Yeah." Katherine nods. "Fuckin'...sucky ass birth control." Dean laughs again, and she chuckles. "How angry do you think he's gonna be?" Katherine whispers.

Dean, staring down at the toes of his boots, shakes his head. His heart hammers in his chest, and it feels a little cold. "I don't know," he murmurs.

She nods a little. "Well. If you think of any, let me know." Dean watches her get up, and he laughs. "What?"

"You just...drop a bomb like that and you leave." He laughs again, putting his head in his hands.

Katherine blinks at him. "I was gonna give you a second to throw up."

Dean tilts his head back and sighs. "Do I really look that sick?"

"Yeah," she chuckles, sitting down again.

Dean rubs his face. "Fuck. Fuck!" He stares up at the sky and shakes his head. "We gotta find something."

"I know," Katherine murmurs.

"How come you didn't tell me when you found out?" Dean asks. "When did you find out?"

"Almost immediately," she answers. He frowns at her, and she squints. "Uh...remember that hunt that went sideways in Wyoming? The demon that got out?"

"Oh, yeah." Dean nods. "You went...to the hospital..."

Katherine nods. "They do routine blood tests to see what's what, and they saw elevated levels of the pregnancy hormone. I thought she was joking." Katherine shakes her head. "What a great joke, though."

"What a great joke," Dean hollowly agrees.

Part of him wishes she never told him. One less thing to think about when the Hellhounds are approaching...because let's be honest, there's no getting out of this thing. So Charlie is probably going to leave her ass, unless he is literally the nicest guy known to humanity and for some reason stays with her. But if he doesn't, then who's helping Katherine with the kid? Sam? Sam would be a good dad...

It's all he thought about into the night, even after Katherine fell asleep with a book in her lap. He stared at her, gnawing on his lip and thinking about the kid he's never going to meet.

He spray painted a devil's trap out in the workshop, because Ruby is absolutely going to show her ugly face tonight, and thought about some goodbyes he'd like to make. He found a tape recorder and thought it would be easier to say them, but then he didn't really know what to say, or he felt embarrassed. So he had a couple of drinks and went at it again, and the next thing he knew, he was talking to his future kid. And then he started talking about how Uncle Sammy and Mom's husband Charlie are gonna do all the things Dean won't be able to do, and then he started wondering if Katherine would even let the kid listen to this, and then he started thinking about when Sam was a kid, and then Dean realized Sam's been suspiciously quiet and he hasn't seen him for an hour, and then his mind flitted to how was he going to trap Ruby—

Fuck.

It's like sibling intuition. Dean knows Sam is up to something. Probably blowing up his whole Ruby plan.

So he shrugs his jacket on and marches his ass to the workshop, where sure enough, Sam is summoning Ruby. So he waits, and he listens to their conversation to make sure he doesn't miss anything.

"You weren't ready to know about Lilith," Ruby says. "And if I told you way back when, you three hillbillies would've just charged up to her half-cocked, and she would've peeled your pretty, pretty faces off."

"Well we're ready now," Sam snarls. "I want your knife."

Ruby looks over him, seemingly giving it thought. "You're right about one thing," she purrs. "You are ready. And Lilith's guard is down."

"Is that so?"

"She's on shore leave," Ruby chirps. "A little R&R."

Sam's face wrinkles. "The hell does that mean?"

"You don't want to know. Trust me." Ruby sighs. "You still have those hex bags I gave you?" Sam nods. "Good. She won't smell you coming."

That damned hope in Sam's chest is stoked. "So you'll give us the knife?"

"No."

He frowns at her, cold and angry. "But you just said—"

"You want to charge in with a little pigsticker?" Ruby scoffs. "It's a waste of a true-blue window! Like hitting Hitler with that exploding briefcase! Forget it."

"Okay, then how?!" Sam clenches his jaw, glancing back to the barn door to make sure it's still closed.

Ruby crosses her arms. "I know how to save your brother, Sam."

"No, you don't!" Sam erupts. "You even told Katherine you didn't know how! You've been lying to me the whole time, so just give me your damn knife!"

"You're not the one that I've been lying to," Ruby insists.

Rage flares behind Sam's eyes, and he sees red. "Oh, so you can save him."

"No." His fingers curl into fists. "But you can."

Sam frowns and shakes his head. Is his anger clouding his common sense? Did he miss something? "What?"

"Sam," Ruby scoffs. "You've got some God-given talent. Well...not God-given, but...probably even more than your precious little attack kitten."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam asks. "Katherine isn't a psychic."

"No," Ruby agrees. "But if she pulled her head out of her ass—" Dean doesn't hear the rest. He's leaning forward as much as he can without leaning on something, without making noise. Blood rushes through his ears.

Maybe she's just talking about Katherine's magic. She said herself the Donovans were an old, powerful bloodline.

"Why do you think Lilith is so scared of you?" Ruby asks.

"Right," Sam scoffs. "She's scared of me."

"If you wanted to, you could wipe her off the map without moving a muscle," Ruby snaps.

"I don't believe you."

"It's the truth."

A hand brushes Dean's shoulder, and he jumps. Katherine is staring into the depths of the dimly-lit barn-converted-workshop, filled with various benches and car parts and lumber, oddly enough.

"The fuck are you doing?" She whispers.

"The fuck does it look like?" Dean mutters. "Ruby's peddling some shit about Sam using his powers." Then he looks at her with a frown. "You're not a psychic, are you?"

She makes a face. "What? No."

"Yeah." Dean clears his throat and steps out from behind their cover. Katherine's eyes blow wide.

"Dean—" she hisses.

"Yeah, you're just a lying, slutty little Yoda," Dean says, turning to look at Ruby. Alarm shoots up Sam's spine like a nerve pain, and he whirls around to watch Dean stalk up to the two of them.

Ruby runs her tongue over her teeth, gaze locked on Sam's shoulder. "Dean," she chirps, and turns on her toes to look at him. "Charming as ever."

"I knew you'd show up," he hums, approaching the two. "'Cause I knew Sam wouldn't listen." Sam's gaze darts behind Dean, and Katherine emerges from the shadows. Her face says it all. Sorry, man. "But you're not gonna teach him anything, you understand me? Over my dead body."

"Oh," Ruby chuckles. "Well you're right about that."

"What you are gonna do is give me that knife. Then you're gonna go crawl back into whatever slop you came from and never bother my family again, are we clear?"

"Your brother is carrying a bomb inside of him," Ruby says. "We'd be stupid not to use it!"

"Dean—"

Dean's temper flares. All he sees is rage, rage, rage. "Sam, don't! Come on man, what are you, blind? Can't you see that this is a trick? Using your psychic abilities only fits with a demonic agenda! She wants you to give into all that! I mean Hell, she probably wants to turn you into her little antichrist superstar."

"That's not true," Ruby protests. "I want Lilith dead. That's all."

"Why?"

Ruby looks at Katherine. "I've told you why," she says. Katherine rolls her eyes.

"Oh, right, 'cause you were human once," she mutters. "Look, personally, I don't give a shit. Give us the knife, and we'll give it right back once Lilith is all dusty or whatever the hell your little pigpoker does to demons."

"At this point, I don't even want the damn thing," Dean booms, looking pointedly to Sam.

"I am so sick of proving myself to you!" Ruby snaps. "You want to save yourself, this is how, you dumb, spineless dick!"

"Hey!" Katherine barks. "Sam and I are the only ones—" Dean winds back and punches Ruby right in the mouth. She's stunned motionless. They all are.

Katherine had never seen Dean hit a girl before—a girl's body, rather. He always shoved the female demons at Katherine to deal with.

Ruby gives it right back to him.

Katherine grabs onto the back of Dean's jacket, propelling herself forward, and Sam goes for Ruby. The demon sends Sam flying a short distance, and she goes for Katherine next. With wide eyes and adrenaline-fueled muscles, she reaches out to deflect a blow from her face, then a leg coming for her abdomen. With the next blow, Katherine grabs her wrist and twists her arm behind her back, pulling her hair at the same time.

"Low blow, sister," Ruby says through gritted teeth.

"Immotus," Katherine mutters, and after feeling Ruby relax, slowly releases her tense grip. Dean grits his teeth and wipes the blood from his lip.

This isn't what he wanted. He had a trap set up and everything to get her knife. But he watches Katherine quickly tuck Ruby's shiny serrated knife into the back of her jeans.

"What'd you do to her?" Sam quietly wonders. Ruby's remained still and silent, just watching them through gritted teeth.

"I learned a thing or two about a thing or two," Katherine murmurs. "And you two idiots—let's go."

Sam's brows raise. "I'm an idiot?"

"This is going to wear off in about ten seconds, so do you want to be in here when she blows up or not?" She yanks Sam by the jacket sleeve.

"Blows up?" Sam asks.

Katherine rolls her eyes. "Figuratively," she says, towing Dean too, and doesn't speak until they're outside the barn. "I, uh..." She swallows and gestures to the workshop.

"That was witchcraft," Dean realizes. Katherine nods.

Sam lets out a surprised laugh. "You really did learn something."

"Lots of translating for that one," Katherine sighs.

"You said you only found a soup recipe," Dean accuses. Katherine presses her lips into a thin line and lightly shrugs.

"Surprise," she croaks.

"That's great, but what are we gonna go when that spell of yours wears off?" Dean asks.

"The whole workshop's a devil's trap," Katherine says. Ruby starts shrieking. "Aaand the spell wore off."

"The whole workshop?" Sam asks.

"Yeah...I was bored one summer and I painted a Devil's Trap over the ceiling with some blacklight stuff. Took me about a week to do it all by myself. Bobby got me milkshakes every day that summer for it." She pulls the knife from the back of her pants and holds it out to Dean. "Because you two don't seem competent enough to not get your ass kicked."

"You were gonna get your ass kicked too, if you didn't cheat," Dean accuses, taking the knife from Katherine's palm.

"If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin," she hums. "C'mon—we've got a couple hours til the sun comes up, and we've gotta get goin'." She pats Sam on the back as Dean starts for the house. "Thanks for playin' Sammy."

"Always happy to be the scapegoat, I guess," he grumbles.