𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐍

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐄

"The liver was surgically removed."

Katherine looks up from her computer as the brothers stroll into their Pennsylvania motel room. Sam is grinning as he closes the door. It lifts her spirits a little, seeing him so light and hopeful. She can only hope this doesn't blow up in their faces, as it undoubtely will.

Dean, however, looks absolutely pissed. "Kind of punches a hole in the zombie theory," Katherine hums, leaning back in her chair. He grunts and begins to remove his suit jacket. "Zombie with a scalpel? Dr. Quinn, Medicine Zombie." She flashes her fingers at Dean, who offers her a small chuckle.

"I told her all of this already," Sam says to Dean. "That's how we gound that other guy so fast."

"Oh, yeah," Dean grumbles, sitting on the edge of the bed, and starts to untie his shoes. "Kidney guy, room 344. Real jerk."

"He just had his kidney excised, Dean," Katherine lightly points out. Dean hums. "No painkillers, jumped while feeding the meter...you'd be pissed, too."

The dark part of her mind starts to wander. If this actually worked...if she could find some spell in her grimoire to mimic Benton...could they even go through with it? Dean's an asshole, but he still has a conscience. He wouldn't let Katherine or Sam cut into people to take things from them for him. He wouldn't let them stalk the transplant list and ambush the poor son of a bitch with the cooler.

Could she even do it?

"He was stitched up with silk," Sam says, dropping his notebook in front of Katherine. She closes her tab—baby stuff, too early to be Googling baby stuff—and turns her attention the notebook.

"He what?" Katherine glances to Sam and picks the notebook up.

"Why don't we keep silk in our kit?" Dean asks, undoing his tie, and rolls to his feet to stand near Katherine and Sam.

"Be...cause patients would literally always get massive infections." He raises an eyebrow at her. "Well, back in the early 19th century, silk was the material of choice, but they stopped using it because of all of the infections. Really problematic for the profession, ya know? The death rate was astronimical. So then they had to start using maggots to keep the infection from spreading." Dean, towering over her, slowly blinks. "Be...cause they eat the bad tissue, leave the good? It's actually not a horrible idea."

"Mister No-Liver was full of maggots," Sam chimes in.

Dean looks at his brother. "She's so goddamn smart. That was all off the dome, Sammy."

Katherine smiles a little. "Doctoring 101," she chirps, and looks to Sam.

Definitely on the right track.

"So let me get this straight," Dean sighs. He hangs his tie up on the hanger and undoes his belt. One hand. Katherine looks at his face. "People are getting ganked, right? A little Antiques Roadshow surgery, some organ theft...does this all sound familiar to anyone else?"

Sam sits back on his heels and looks at Katherine. She told him Dean would catch on quick!

"Did your dad write about something like it?" Katherine asks. "I remember reading it in someone's journal a long time ago." Dean chews on it for a second.

"Hmm, yeah, good thinkin' KD."

Dean forgets sometimes. KD is so habitual, natural. KD the smartass hunter. KD the doctor. KD the realist.

KT the paranoid, devoted wife. KT the dreamer.

"Did you change your last name, legally?" Sam asks as Dean moves for his duffle.