Hi all! So, I need to start by letting you all know I do not own a single detail associated with Supernatural, I do however own all the details about Kate anywho, I have been wracking my brain trying to write this chapter all while trying to keep John around, but I also know how that would drastically change all the things to come, so this is the result of what I could come up with. My apologies for the length, I originally wanted to keep this chapter all as one, but this ended up being so long that I needed to break it up into two. So I know it's a long one, but worth the read, anyways I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 9: In my time of Lying prt: 1

Kate lay there on the floor her breathing still as ragged as it was in the minutes before Bobby's intervention. Everything had frozen the second Bobby fired that shot into John's knee. It was as though someone hit pause on a movie.

"Dad!" The first voice Kate heard was Sam's. The voice yanked her from her stupor. She was still experiencing shock from what little taste of hell Azazel had given her. Kate had to fight against her body's response to shut out the world. She'd wanted to remain on the floor and pray that she'd wake up back in her bed any moment now. She wanted to go home, but she knew she was steadily losing the memories of where that home was exactly. It was like a feeling of deja vu, she could recall the faces of the people from her life, but she could no longer place names on them. She could remember the faces of her brother and mother, but their names weren't there. It was the feeling of a word being on the tip of her tongue yet just out of her mental reach.

Kate opened her eyes when she felt someone step up to her. She was still on her side across the carpeted floor of Bobby's study. She groaned as a hand came into her line of vision and offered to her. Glancing up she was surprised to see Bobby there. "Up you get, kid." He told her gruffly. Reaching up, she took his offered hand and, he hefted her to her feet. Her body protested against standing, her muscles ached to the bone, and her abdomen throbbed from her previous injury. Her bullet wound was still hot and inflamed and, it protested her movement. She knew physically she was gonna be alright, but that experience mentally wasn't something she'd be able to forget any time soon. "Dad, come on." She heard Sam's voice again and turned to look in that direction. She could see him with the colt in his hand, kneeling over his father on the floor.

"Sammy!" John's voice broke the heavy silence. His voice was strained as he gasped for air. "Sammy! It's still inside me! I can feel it!" Sam stood suddenly, cocking the gun, and aiming down at his father. It seemed almost too natural for Sam.

"Sam. No." Kate turned to see Dean laying at the base of the wall, he was covered in blood. Kate could see his entire shirt front had soaked it up. She could see the dried blood over his chin. She knew then that whatever the demon had done to her, he'd done worse to those around her. Dean's gaze remained focused on Sam. Kate followed his gaze to find Sam relatively unscathed. He was still beaten up from when they'd returned with John, but for the most part, Azazel had left him alone.

"Sam! I can't hold on to him for much longer. You shoot me-."

"Sam! Don't!" Dean cut off their dad.

Kate looked up at Bobby, unsure what to do. He just watched the scene before him in awe. "Sammy! You shoot me in the heart, son!"

"Sam, don't you do it." Kate could hear Dean's soft voice, she could hear how exhausted he was.

The moment was tense, she could hardly breathe for fear of causing any of the men to jump and have the gun go off. Finally, Sam pulled back from the gun. His body now relaxed, and slowly pushed the hammer back into place before tucking it into his waistband. John suddenly screamed as an all too familiar thick, black smoke came shooting out of his mouth and sank into the floorboards before dissipating entirely. Kate let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and John's body relaxed against the floor. She was unsure if he'd passed out or not, but he remained unmoving except for a steady rise and falling of his chest.

Sam looked up in her and Bobby's direction, his eyes focusing on Kate's figure. His relieved facial expression changed into one of seriousness, "I need to get these guys to a hospital. You should come and get checked out too. You don't look any better, Kate." With that she watched him move to lift Dean off the floor. "Bobby, can you grab Dad and help me get 'em to the car?" Bobby glanced at Kate and they both quickly moved to help John's unconscious body up off the floor. Kate gulped knowing that she'd have to answer questions once all the injuries are taken care of, but she quite frankly didn't know what she was going to say. The reality was that with her memories beginning to fade she couldn't talk much of her old life, she'd been in this world for at least a couple of months now, and she had made no progress on returning to the home she knew.

What if they do believe me though? She asked herself as she helped carry John outside across the drive, and she made quick work of buckling him in the passenger seat. Sam meanwhile, left Dean behind the driver.

"Are you gettin' in or what?" Sam asked her, gruffly as he quickly slid into the driver's seat. Flashes of their dreaded car accident hit her brain as Kate quickly slipped in behind John. She wanted to stop it from happening as it nearly kills Dean and forces John to trade his own life for his son's.

"Good luck!" She heard Bobby's gruff voice call out as the Impala began to glide over the gravel.

A beat of silence passed before Kate opened her mouth, "S-Sam?" She asked her voice soft in comparison to the deep silence of the darkened car, the backroads didn't have many lights. The night was only illuminated by the lights attached to the front of the Impala. Kate's words were only met with stone-cold silence.

She knew that the boys were probably going on the defensive with her again. Truthfully, Kate couldn't blame them, she'd been lying to them about a lot since she'd been found by them her first night in whatever universe this was.

"Sam." She tried again, her voice louder now. She knew he heard her. He huffed angrily as the car began to speed up, she knew his concern for his family was far outweighing anything else in his brain.

"Sam!" She yelled over the sound of the Impala's engine roaring down the back road.

"What?" He snapped at her. She could hear the emotions running through him. Worry for his family; Frustration, probably at Kate; and exhaustion.

"You need to get off the backroads. Right now." She told Sam firmly. She turned and noticed Dean's lack of a safety belt and made a quick move to grab the lap belt and pull it over Dean's hips. She didn't have time to think about any fangirling over where her hands had brushed over. Not when she knew what was to come barreling into them at such high speeds. She'd never seen her arms and hands move so fast.

"What're you talking about? I'm getting to the hospital. Dad, and Dean. They need help-."

Kate answered him as she returned to the middle seat, and made quick work to buckle herself up. "They do, but you're going to set off a chain of events you don't want to if you keep taking these backroads." As Kate told him this, she could see the scene in which the car was side swiped by the massive tractor-trailer. "Trust me." She finished grimly.

"Trust you?!" He asked incredulously. "Trust you?!" He let out a bark of sarcastic laughter. "That's pretty ironic, isn't it?" Kate cringed at his question, but she knew it was warranted. Kate could still hear the sound of steel on steel as the crash replayed in her mind, especially, given that she was in the car. Mentally noting she was on the side of the impact.

"Sam. Please." She told him, her voice sounded more desperate than she'd intended, but she saw his eyes glance her way from the rearview mirror.

"So, it's true then?" He asked her, his voice deep and serious. He didn't have to explain, Kate knew he was referring to what Azazel had told them, "This little lady here. She knows everything. Everything that's set to happen to you boys from now until… well until you die.", John's voice still echoed in her brain.

Kate didn't know what to say, so she settled for a nod while telling him, "You should really buckle up."

Sam scoffed in response as he shook his head.

"Listen Sam. You can think whatever you want, but right now, if you don't get us off this road, we're all in danger." She stated flatly. She was on high alert now. Always looking out her window and the front side.

"Is it the demon? Are we being followed?" He asked her as his wary eyes shifted to stare out the rear window. The air in the car changed as quickly as it took for Kate to inhale.

She saw the headlights before anything, "Go! Sam!" She screamed from the backseat. Fear shot through her body. Kate felt her hands trembling as she gripped the seats in front of her trying to move over as far as her seatbelt would allow. She heard the engine roar as Sam floored it. The impact wasn't something she could prepare for, the crunch of metal alone frightened her let alone the pain that followed, her head slammed into Dean's body with such force her vision blurred. Her eyes shut tight upon impact and she could feel the car spinning out across the gravel. She could feel the heat from the invading truck, She could practically reach out and touch the grill of the tractor-trailer if she wanted to but, at this moment she was scared stiff.

Kate had let out a shrieking scream shortly before impact, but it had been swallowed up when her body had been slammed around in the backseat, like a pinball in an arcade machine. The window glass rained down over her cutting and nicking the right side of her face. She'd half expected to lose consciousness, but she noted the impact of the truck was contained mostly in the trunk area. Sam had sped up enough so that the front end wasn't collided with. Kate had achieved that extra split-second warning she'd intended. A heavy silence fell over the night. She wasn't sure who in the car was unconscious or just faking it. Her breath came in short gasps. Kate's heart was hammering in her chest as the semi-truck door creaked open and heavy footfalls walked around the back. She continued to lay there, her eyes unopened. She'd hoped to all hell and heaven that the demon wasn't looking to drag her half-alive out of the car. Before Kate knew it she heard Sam's door get pulled off of the car. She peered out half-closed lids staring at the older man with questionable facial hair. The man stared down at Sam with pitch-black eyes, "Back up, or I'll kill you; I swear to god," Sam said in greeting as he aimed the Colt at the man.

He smirked wider now, "No, you won't. You're saving that bullet for someone else." He pointed out in a level tone, threatening all the same. He seemed to take a slight step closer, that's when Sam pulled the hammer back muttering, "You wanna bet?"

The demon truck driver smirked again, and before Sam or Kate could say or do anything he was screaming out the thick black smoke of a demon. When he finally came to Kate heard his voice filled with shock and fear. "Oh, my god! D-Did I do this?!" Kate wanted to roll her eyes at the asinine question, but her head hurt too much to move her eyes right now. Her injuries were throbbing before with her tango with Azazel, but now she could hardly move. She figured she'd at the least have a concussion, with that last thought she saw the world begin to tilt and twist before succumbing to the blackness.

Her eyelids were heavy, but Kate fought to pry them open. She could hear a continuous, annoying beeping. She quickly placed it as the sound of a heart monitor. A heart monitor? She asked herself. Her head still felt groggy, and slow to think. However, she was able to pry open her eyes to take in her surroundings. She was in a hospital bed, in her own room. Her room door opened as a lady dressed all in black scrubs came in carrying a tray.

"Oh!" She said, "My apologies, I didn't figure you'd be awake just yet." She paused and all Kate could do was stare at her, confused. "I've brought up your lunch. It's just a sandwich. I- I work in the kitchen, how 'bout I send in your doctor?" She asked as the woman placed the tray down.

Kate didn't say anything. Seems she didn't have to as the woman was gone before she even realized it. Kate was wracking her brain trying to remember getting to the hospital, but she couldn't. Flashes of the car accident hit her, she could feel the jerking motions, the heat from the impact. Her scream echoed in her head. Suddenly the door opened again, and a man in white entered quickly.

"Good to see you awake," The doctor greeted. He made quick work moving closer to Kate's bedside and clicking on a penlight and shining it at her pupils. "Look right here for me?" He asked as Kate's eyes automatically moved to his index finger he held up just off to the side. He dragged his finger through the air, first, horizontal, and then vertical. She laid there as he repeated the test in her other eye just biting her tongue to stop from asking question after question.

"Well, you surely have a concussion. Your pupils are contracting and dilating, but not as fast as they're supposed to." He said as he clicked off the light. Kate's eyes moved over his face now. He looked older, his dark skin seemed worn in with laugh lines, and worry lines. His eyes held a heaviness that Kate assumed came with his stressful profession. "How're you feeling?" His voice was deep and rumbly. His closely-cropped cut hair appeared to be growing out in natural curls. It was clear to her that this man had been doing his job for some years.

Kate swallowed hard, she hadn't spoken a word since waking and her throat was dry with thirst. Her eyes moved behind the man, towards the lunch tray. He was quick to note the movement. "Oh, yes. Here ya go." He walked over and brought the tray of food to her bedside table. With that, Kate was quick to grab the cup filled with water. She swallowed greedily, as though she'd been lost in a desert the last few days.

Kate took in a breath as she placed the nearly empty cup back on the tray. She made a quick move to sit up and found her right arm heavier than the other. Looking down she found it encased in a white plaster cast. "Wha-?" She began, her voice still hoarse from lack of use.

"Your forearm was broken in the car accident." He told her as an explanation. Kate nodded slowly, staring down at the cast. "Mrs. Mcgillicuddy, I need to know how your head is feeling," He added as Kate moved herself to sit up comfortably. She was surprised by the comfortable clothes the hospital had put her in. N=She was used to wearing a johnny gown, but this one had supplied loose-legged pants and a plain white tee. Almost like a pajama-style.

"I-I'm not sure," She began quickly. "It's hard for me to focus on anything in particular."

"Yes, that would be due to the concussion." He assured her. Mcgillicuddy? She asked herself, then remembered that the boys used different names in the hospitals. She sighed and ran her left hand through her hair. In her confusion, she'd nearly forgotten that she was stuck in the Supernatural world.

"Can I-? Am I allowed to stand up?" She asked, her voice was soft in comparison to the doctors'.

"You're welcome to try." He told her as he moved the table away and offered his hand. She took it grateful to have something steady to hang onto. It was hard to pull herself up as her midsection had been wrapped up, undoubtedly from the bullet wound she'd received however long ago now. She'd quickly realized she didn't know how long she'd been here.

"How long have I been here?" Kate moved to stand up and found transferring her weight to her feet to be a challenge.

"You arrived in the very early hours of this morning. You and three others. Your father-in-law and brother-in-law are in good condition, they're both awake. If you can stand and walk; you're welcome to see them." He told her. As they exchanged words, she began to redirect her weight from one foot to the other while her feet slid slowly across the hospital room. She nodded, focusing even more on her slow yet steady movements.

"I'm afraid your spouse is in critical condition." She idly wondered why there was an ongoing ploy to keep her in Dean in a fake relationship within the hospitals. Maybe it was because that's what was done last time. Kate moved on quickly as a call came from the intercoms, "Paging Doctor Bender. Code blue in room 3751,"

The doctor reacted immediately, his eyes widened as he released his grip on Kate's hands. "You alright, ma'am?" He asked. She nodded as her balance adjusted.

"Alright, I'll check on you a bit later. If you're up to it you should eat. A nurse will be by with your discharge papers." With that, he was gone. Kate sighed as she glanced around. Her door remained open and she watched as the hospital employees hurriedly pushed a crash cart with a defib machine atop it down the hall past her. She knew instantly, that it was for Dean. Things around her seemed to be all happening so fast. Kate was having trouble mentally keeping up. She spared a glance at the lunch tray before steadily moving out of her room. It didn't take her long to find the room. Sam was standing in the doorway, a worrying expression over his features. Kate could hear the commotion from inside the room. Doctors and nurses working to revive Dean's heartbeat. She walked up behind Sam causing him to glance back at her. She didn't want to say anything as they were both focused on the situation before them.

The beeping on the machine began again and one of the nurses spoke up, "We have a pulse. We're back into sinus rhythm." Kate sighed out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, Sam's shoulder visibly relaxed.

A moment of silence passed before Sam turned to face her, "I'm glad to see you up and walking," He told her in a way of greeting. Kate nodded, she didn't know what to say to him. She remembered how much he fought to find a way to save Dean this episode, the worrying and anger he felt. She wanted to say something comforting but wasn't sure what given the last time she'd been around him. He was still angry about her lying.

Kate felt the air chill around her. She slowly stepped back a pace from Sam, her eyes widened at the eerie feeling. She wasn't surprised for long though, as the weirdness seemed almost familiar. She could vaguely smell leather and almost a woodsy scent around her. "Did you feel him?" Sam asked suddenly as Kate spoke out the words, "He's here." Kate knew Dean's spirit was around the hospital. She remembered the reaper hunting him throughout the hospital. She also knew that unless John made that deal; Dean had no chance of waking on his own.

"Sam." Kate's voice rang out before she could think twice. "Dean is around." Sam stared at her, his face not giving away any emotions.

"Yeah, I-I can feel him," Sam told her as his arms crossed over his chest. Kate made a mental note that if Sam was this distrustful that Dean would undoubtedly be even worse when he was back in his body.

"No, you're not listening to me." She began frustrated. "His spirit has left his body." She told him her voice lowering as the hospital employees filed out pushing the equipment with him.

"What're you saying?" Sam asked her, his eyes changing as they looked her over sharply. Kate opened her mouth to respond but Sam cut her off, "He's still breathing. He- He still has a fighting chan-." Sam was instantly on the defensive.

"I'm not saying, let's give up on him. I'm telling you that the chances of him waking up on his own is slim to none." Kate cut him off trying to reach her point soon. She knew that he would have no patience for her with everything else he was dealing with, but she need him to hear her out. "He needs some help to come back. into his body." She stated simply.

"Well, instead of pointing out the obvious; do you have any ideas?" Sam said, his tone a little too sharp for her liking. Her eyes stared up at Sam, her blue eyes boring into his hazel ones. She was trying to think of anything from that episode that would help her brain process.

Kate's brain fought to lift the fog from the concussion. "I- I'm trying." She told him feeling defeated. Sam scoffed at her with a quick head shake, he opened his mouth undoubtedly to form a witty retort, but Kate cut him off.

"Where's your father?" Her voice was rushed, and quiet. "Is he still here?"

"Dad's here," Sam answered absently.

"I have to talk to him." Kate muttered, "Where is he?"

Sam cast one last look at Dean through the open doorway before moving forwards. Kate followed close behind, only stopping when Sam turned into a room back closer to her own. She was greeted by the sight of John Winchester in a hospital bed, his arm in a sling and a lost look on his face. He had a cut along through his left eyebrow and one on his lower lip. He looked to be in much worse shape than she and Sam.

"Kate," She heard his gruff voice greeting her. "You're awake."

"She found me outside of Dean's room. Dad. He was there. She and I, we- we both felt his presence." Sam told him. Kate was mildly surprised at the lack of concern with how open they spoke of these things as she looked around to make sure no one was in hearing distance. "I- I mean it felt like- like Dean. As if he was there, but out of eyeshot." Sam clarified.

John's eyes moved over to Kate.

"Do you think that's possible?" Sam asked, still a little unsure. "Maybe his spirit could be around?"

"Anythings possible." John agreed quickly. Too quickly.

"Well, there's one way to find out," Sam muttered as he turned to walk past Kate towards the door.

"Where're you going?" John asked. Kate knew Sam was convinced enough to try out an ouija board to try and contact Dean's spirit. He left her standing there with John, who was staring at her from across the room. Hard.

"So..." Kate began unsure what to say. She knew very little about John Winchester's character, it didn't always portray him well. He was a shoddy caregiver at best, but he was a good father. He kept his boys out of the line of fire whenever possible. Even if it meant not telling them the whole truth. Kate could still feel the same presence that she felt out in the hall with Sam.

"I was awake for what happened at Bobby's, you know?" His gruff voice broke the awkward silence that permeated the room. She knew he was referring to the Demon outing her knowledge of the future.

"Well, then you should know that we both have a similar amount of knowledge in what's coming at your boys, don't we?" She shot back. John's eyebrows rose in response to her calling him out for also knowing more than he let on. "You know about the yellow-eyed demon, and Sam, and the other kids. Yet, you haven't said anything." She said crossing her arms over herself.

"What's the use in telling them? So, they can worry about problems they don't need to?" He reasoned. He was being the protective father again. Her ire increased at his statement, she watched the boys in the show from her world, on top of hunting alongside them within the last couple of months herself. She knew they were capable.

Fuck it. She thought to herself. "I thought they already told you back in Colorado. Your need-to-know-deal is bullshit. You can't send them out on hunts for monsters and vampires and god knows what, and then sideline them when the real fights happen." She stared hard at the older man before her; her eyes focusing on him alone. "You may not be aware of this, but they are grown. They don't need your protection. They need your support."

"Don't presume to tell me what they need!" His gruff voice boomed through the hospital room, "They're my sons. You know nothing about them. You are a stranger to us."

Kate closed her mouth quickly. She regretted talking out of turn to him, but she couldn't take back her words. Her brain focused back on the task at hand, Dean. "I just want to help."

"Why is that exactly, Kate? How is it that you've come to know so much about my boys? Who the hell are you?" She opened her mouth, but no words would come out. She was left standing there looking like a dead fish with her mouth hanging open.

"Well?" He asked her.

Kate sighed as she moved to sit in the chair by the side of John's bed. "I'm not sure if you'll believe what I have to say." She told him softly, her head lowering.

"Why don't you let me decide for myself," John told her. Kate heaved a sigh before launching into an explanation of how she came to be here. How she'd awaken amidst a hunt in Richardson, Texas. How she had spent weeks looking for a psychic to help explain anything they could. She talked about knowing what was coming from her knowledge of this being a show in her universe. She talked about Gina, and her third-eye chakra block, she said she was steadily losing the memory of her old life the more time she spent here. She began to tear up at that last part.

"I'm so scared that I'm going to forget my family." She finished her voice breaking. She looked up at John Winchester's face to see his hard exterior softening. I must look pathetic. She thought to herself as she wiped a tear that spilled over her cheek. John didn't say anything when she finished, but suddenly she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not here to cause any trouble. I swear, I just want to get back home. Along the way, I just sort of realized I could try and change things."

"I believe you," John said as he took his hand back. A comfortable silence passed between the pair.

"So, if you know everything... You must know-."

"You cannot make that deal, John." She told him softly. She didn't let him finish his sentence. "You end up dying,"

"What choice have I got?" He asked her tiredly. She could see his exhaustion all over his face. The weight of the knowledge he had was heavy. She was familiar with that kind of weight. He might've made the deal to save Dean, but Kate felt it was also because he was just tired of fighting.

"I may have an idea, but I don't think you're going to like it." She told him simply. John's eyes darted towards her.

"When Sam and Dean had found that faith healer before; he wasn't really a faith healer." She began, "The preacher that had been healing people so to speak, simply transferred whatever illness, or disease, or injury to another person. He did this by essentially binding a reaper." A beat passed when she added, "Well, it was his wife, but that's beside the point. My whole point is there's a reaper here, in this hospital, and it's tailing Dean as we speak."

"So...?" John trailed off slowly as his eyebrows turned down. "You want to transfer Dean's injuries onto an innocent person?"

Kate opened her mouth. She hadn't thought of that part yet. "I-." She began. "I'm still thinking this plan through," She finished lamely.

"Well, I suppose taking on his injuries would be better than making a deal," John said suddenly. Kate's neck nearly snapped with how fast she stared up at him. A silence passed as the two of them stared at one another.

Kate spoke first, "No. I can't ask you to-. I'm not even supposed to be here. I should be the one-."

"You are still here, which tells me you aren't finished with what it is you're supposed to do." Kate stared at him, her face betraying her wanting to keep her emotions in check. It appeared that no matter what, John was set on trading his life for his sons. It was the ultimate sacrifice, "Even if you weren't here, Kate. I would make that deal. I still wouldn't be here. I am in my time of dying, at least this way I get to be with Mary." Kate stared at the elder man who was staring out the windows now. She saw the slight smile spread over his features at his last thought.

"What do we need to do?" He asked her.

"I need to get a book from Sam." She answered automatically. She knew that the last time this was done, Dean was upset. He didn't agree with swapping one's life for another's and she knew the death of his dad would crush him. Kate just didn't know what else to do in this situation, and John did make a fair point; regardless of her presence here, he would have died. If this worked, he would at least avoid the century-long torture of being in hell.

Kate had finished up chatting with John and, had left him to contemplate his fate. She was unsure if it would even need to come to that. If she had Tessa bound to her then maybe she could just get her to heal Dean. She couldn't remember whether or not they could simply heal the sick and dying. She knew they were powerful beings, but her reaper lore was rusty. Before she knew it, she found her way by Dean's room.

She walked up to the doorway and stopped. She was unsure about entering, but steadily she made her way in. She took a seat by the hospital bed. She was on the edge of her seat with her fingers intertwining and releasing themselves. Her head thinking of a thousand things she wished she could say to him at this moment. She knew he must've felt betrayed when the demon had spilled her secret.

"I'm sorry Dean," she began, her eyes glued to her lap. She didn't want to look over at his unconscious form. That's when she felt the chill again, it layered over her like a blanket. The same scent of leather and pine wafted around her. She knew that he was here. "I should've been more forthcoming about myself. I should have just told you guys the truth. Maybe- maybe then, I could've stopped this; if only I hadn't been so focused on myself." As Kate spoke she could feel the chill growing colder around her, it was as if he was moving in closer to her.

After a long silence, she finally looked over at his body, and said "I'm going to bring you back if it's the last thing that I do, alright?"

So, what do you guys think? Will John sacrifice himself? Or do you think Kate has another trick up her sleeve? Thank you all for reading! Your views are greatly appreciated.