I sat with bags next to me as I watched Sam Winchester talk to a ticket clerk "Sorry, the Sacramento bus doesn't run again til tomorrow." She checked the schedule "Uh, 5:05 PM,"
"Tomorrow? There's got to be another way,"
"Well, there is. Buy a car." Annoyed, Sam left the ticket window and took out his PalmPilot.
"Hey," I greeted as he walked by me, he turned off his PalmPilot.
"Hey," he greeted
I tilted my head "What's the matter?"
"Just trying to get to California,"
"No way," I said with mock surprise
"Yeah,"
"Me too." I stood up and walked towards Sam. "You know, the next bus isn't until tomorrow,"
"Yeah. Yeah, that's the problem,"
"Why? What's in Cali that's so important?"
"Just something I've been looking for. For a long time,"
"Well, then I'm sure it can wait one more day, right?" I extended my hand and Sam shook it "I'm Katerina,"
"Sam,"
***
Sam and I sat at a table with beers and different foods around them "So," Sam started "are you on some kind of vacation or something?"
I laughed "Yeah, right. It's all sipping Cristal poolside for me," he laughed "No." I admitted "I had to get away from my family,"
"Why?"
"I love my dad. And he wanted what's best for me. But I guess he didn't want me to follow in his footsteps," I sighed "He wants me to sit there and do what I was told. He wanted me to be the little girl who played with Barbie dolls rather than know how to rearm and disarm a Glock 17." I realized what I had said and looked to see Sam staring at me "I'm sorry. The things you say to people you hardly know,"
"No, no, it's okay. I know how you feel. Remember that brother I mentioned before, that I was road-tripping with?" I nodded "It's, uh, it's kind of the same deal,"
"And that's why you're not riding with him anymore?" Sam shook his head. I raised my beer bottle "Here's to us. The food might be bad, and the beds might be hard. But at least we're living our own live. And nobody else's," Sam tapped his bottle against mine and we both drank.
***
I woke up as I heard Sam say "OK. Bye, Dean," I moved next to Sam.
"Who was that?" I asked
"My brother,"
"What'd he say?"
"Goodbye," we exchanged a look.
***
I was gathering my things. "Hey. Our bus came in," I told Sam as he hung up the phone, shaking his head.
"You better catch it. I gotta go," he told me
"Go where?"
"Burkitskville,"
"Sam, wait,"
'I've been trying to call my brother for the last three hours. I'm just getting his voicemail,"
"Well, maybe his phone's turned off,"
"No, it's not like him. Katerina, I think he might be in trouble,"
"What kind of trouble?"
"I can't really explain right now. I'm sorry, look, I don't want you to miss your bus,"
"But I don't understand. You're running back to your brother? The guy you ran away from? Why, because he won't pick up his phone? Sam—come with me to California,"
"I can't. I'm sorry."
"Why not?"
"He's my family," Sam started to leave and I knew I was losing him...so I risked it.
"He's on a hunt, isn't he?" Sam looked over at me with both rage and confusion "I know who you are Sam Winchester,"
"You were leading me on?!" he stalked towards me and I found myself against the wall.
"No. I promise, I saw you and...I wanted to get to know you. All I ever hear from hunters are about the great Winchesters. But I figured if I started off with 'Hi Sam Winchester. My name is Katerina and I'm a hunter' you would have hightailed it out of here." I looked into his eyes "I just wanted to meet someone with a blank slate rather than hear my name and automatically compare me to my father," Sam's gaze softened and I held up a pair of keys "So, let's say you and me, snag a car and hightail it out of here,"
"What about California?"
I shrugged "California will still be there. Besides I wasn't going to go on a bus with complete strangers if you weren't," once Sam smiled at me I let out a sigh of relief.
"One down, just one more to go,"