𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐍

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

"You were...really quiet."

It was Dean's attempt at a compliment, really...maybe something rooted in a little bit of very deep thoughts...of recent behaviors...no, no, just...just tonight.

Dean promised himself he wouldn't spiral.

Katherine wipes the spray of blood from her face on her jacket sleeve, runs her knife blade against the dead vampire's jacket, and tucks the machete into its holster at her hip. "We, uh...were hunting creatures with super hearing," she says to Dean, moving towards one of the other beheaded vampires at the foot of the stairs.

She and the Winchesters just slaughtered a nest of twelve vampires. It took a week to get intel on them after one of her contacts gave her a heads up about a nest acting up in Fayetteville, preying on college kids. Naturally, she went.

Anything to get her mind off of what the djinn gave to her. What it took...what it didn't.

And here Dean is. Spiraling.

"Kind of essential to keep quiet," Katherine continues, grabbing the vampire's body by the ankles, and drags it to the center of the basement with the other one.

"No, I know," Dean says, nodding. "I just meant, like, in general."

Katherine throws the legs down with a sigh. "Are you going to help me get rid of these bloodsuckers, or should we Dr. Phil it right here?" She asks, planting her hands on her hips. Dean presses his lips together and moves for the nearest corpse.

Upstairs, Sam is making quick work of the three dead vampires.  

 Dean grabs the next body and drags it towards the center of the basement. "You sure you're okay?" He asks her.

"Yeah," she grunts, picking the last corpse up. 

Before this, she had been completely aware of her surroundings. Now, she steps in a trail of blood and she lets out a heavy defeated sigh. "Friggin' peachy."

When it's all said and done, Katherine drenches the bodies with accelerant and tosses a strip of matches onto the pile. Immediately, flame engulfs the corpses, and she and Dean move upstairs to help Sam finish the job.

Halfway through the drive back to their motel in another county, Katherine is struggling to keep her thoughts on anything but the djinn. It's all she's been able to think about lately...even when she tries to think of Charlie.

Even as he's on his way to see her. He's coming to her, and she can't even give him the time of day.

It hasn't even been two weeks since what the djinn did to them. The effect of the djinn on her has yet to be seen by the brothers. She was quiet for those days, seemed to avoid conversation if it wasn't light. She smiled sometimes, joked seldom. But she hasn't been the same. The Winchesters have the same question itching at their minds, but they don't ask. If they know Katherine, she'll talk about it when she's ready. Perhaps she's still processing everything.

Dean didn't further discuss his dream world with either of them. So Sam really has no way of gauging how much of an impact something like that would leave.

Dean's hand hesitates over the radio, warring thoughts bloodying his mind. It's a battlefield in that skull of his. Persistent thoughts of leaving the young woman to her own, cordial and safe... And then there are those completely opposite. Demanding and fierce, honest, prying. To insist she say something to him.

Before he can change his mind again, Dean picks the radio up and presses down on the side button. "You okay?" He asks, glancing in his rearview mirror. Her headlights glow warmly, and the cab of the car is nothing more than darkness. But from that darkness and silence comes her voice, low and dulcet, and most of all, tired.