Disclaimer - I do not own, or presume to own, any of the characters and/or plot of Supernatural. I only own the character of Kim Harris.

CHAPTER FIVE

Dean Winchester: stubborn, sarcastic, protective, goofy, short-tempered. There are many words to describe Dean, but stupid is not one of them. Yes, he may seem rash and ignorant to his enemies, but none of them take the time to consider that it's all an act, an appearance. After all, there was no way John Winchester would raise his son to be an idiot. People often forget that, doing what he does on a daily basis, Dean has a lot of training – he spent years learning how to kill from one of the best damn hunters America has ever seen. But killing monsters becomes easy over time, the hard part is learning to anticipate their every move and idea. That is what makes Dean so good at what he does – he can flawlessly strategise on the fly, finding the weakness of his enemies easier than locating a bull in a china shop.

That being said, of course he knew that there was something up with the angels; Zachariah, to be more specific. And when Kim jetted off god knows where with that spineless prick, the cogs had started spinning wildly in Dean's head. What did Zachariah want with Kim, a complete newbie to their world who had just barely gotten her first hunt under the belt? The only thing that she could possibly be useful for, in regards to the angels, was getting Dean fully on their side. Of course, he knows that there is far more to Kim than meets the eye – just look at the way she effortlessly managed to knock him and Sam on their asses – but in their world, her new world, she was still as fresh-faced as a newborn baby. That's why Dean wasn't too surprised when she returned with words of Zachariah's planned manipulation; he had been angry, yes, but not surprised. Well, he was a little bit stunned when Kim had revealed that she wasn't going to help the bald pork-chop. Kim had only known him and Sam for a few weeks, so he hadn't expected her to so willingly jump on their side. Yeah, she was their 'soulmate', but Castiel had said that the bond didn't force any feelings on either party.

This entire soulmate bond was the source of a lot of headaches for Dean recently. He just didn't know what to make of it; here's Kim, this amazing woman who is literally perfect for him and Sam, and she's just dumped right at their feet. No 'ifs' or 'buts', no fighting – just as simple as, 'Dean, here's your soulmate. Have fun.' He wasn't use to having things handed to him without a fight, and it made the whole situation a little surreal and too good to be true. Now, instead of getting to know Kim and letting her get to know him, Dean was too busy looking around every corner for the inevitable blow, for Castiel to come back and say that it had all been a big joke. Not that the angel knew much in the way of humour. Still, weeks had passed without any signs that this was anything but real, and maybe, just maybe, Dean could begin to relax. At least, that's what he hoped because if he continued the way that he was, he would just push Kim away like every other good thing that came into his life.

When Kim woke up the next morning, it was to find Dean staring at her from his seat at the table. His eyes were unreadable, but he seemed to be deep in thought about something.

More than a little discerned, she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Good morning to you, too, goldilocks," he avoided the question. However, Kim noticed that his words lacked their usual bite; they seemed softer, somehow, like they were intended to be friendly rather than harsh.

"Have I woken up in an alternate dimension, or something?" she questioned with continued suspicion. Dean was never nice to her; he wasn't particularly horrible, but he was never friendly.

"What? Can a guy not be nice to his soulmate?" he joked with a small grin.

Kim snorted in spite of herself. Still, this is the first time that Dean had verbally acknowledged her as his soulmate; not that she went about calling him and Sam her other halves at every opportunity, but it was still strange for him to say that.

"Anyway," he coughed slightly to get her attention. "Sammy's out tying up loose ends with the case, so I thought that you and I could go out and pick up some supplies before we hit the road?"

"Yes," Kim answered quickly, much to the amusement of Dean. "I mean, sure, I guess I could fit that into my schedule."

As much as she enjoyed the banter between her and Dean, Kim found herself wanting to have a conversation with him – a real conversation that didn't include the words 'brat', or 'jackass'. This was the perfect opportunity for that, so of course she jumped on it.

"I'll be ready in an hour," she continued, slightly more suave and subdued.

It was almost comical how high Dean's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "An hour? What could you possibly do that would take a whole freaking hour?"

"Ha! Be thankful that I'm only going for a quick shower and throwing my hair up," Kim snorted. "It'll take me like twenty minutes to shower and then I'll spend the rest of the time doing my makeup."

She could see Dean scrutinising her face, probably trying to figure out why she would need so long to do her makeup. Men, she thought with a fond sigh, they have no idea how much time is put in to simply look 'natural'.

After a moment, he gave up on his quest of understanding the female species and threw his hands up before walking to the door. "I'm going to get breakfast while you're doing…whatever it is that you do."

Her laughter floated out of the door behind him, bringing a grudging smile to his face.

True to her word, Kim was ready in the promised hour and she gratefully accepted the wrapped breakfast burrito that Dean offered her on the way out of the motel room. She had nearly devoured it by the time he got in the car – hunting and late-night angel meetings really take it out of a gal, you know.

"Okay, boss, what's the plan?" she asked with a bright smile in hopes that her positive energy would rub off on Dean. Just thinking about the stoic man prancing about with a big smile was enough to make her chuckle.

Surprisingly, Dean looked over at her with something other than a scowl – it definitely wasn't a smile, but Kim would take what she could get.

"Sam spilled most of our rock salt last night when we got back, so we need to pick more up," he drove out of the parking lot. "Other than that, just a few odds and ends."

Nodding along, she turned to stare out of the window. A few minutes passed in awkward silence with neither Dean nor Kim knowing what to say.

"Uh, how's your head?" he coughed eventually.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and was surprised to find traces of guilt on his face. He hadn't really known how to bring up the subject while they were on the case.

"Oh, it's fine! Sam said it healed up nicely," she reassured. "Besides, I probably made it seem a bit worse than it was since I'm such a crybaby."

Now it was Dean's turn to give her a sideways glance, he didn't look entirely convinced by her words.

"Honestly, I'm fine," Kim continued. "This old noggin' can take quite the beating when it comes to it."

Rolling to a stop at a set of traffic lights, Dean turned around to fully face her. "When you say things like that, you make it seem like you're some sort of secret ninja assassin."

"But I am a secret ninja assassin," she replied blankly before bursting out laughing at the look on his face. "I'm just kidding; I'm an ex-secret ninja assassin."

As the traffic lights turned green, her laughter could be heard by the cars close-by as they drove away.

After a couple of hours milling around the stores, Kim and Dean were taking a quick lunch break before making their last stop. So far, they had managed to restock all of the weird and wonderful items that the Winchesters liked to keep on hand – what they needed dried chicken scrotums for, Kim would hopefully never know. They also stopped by a few clothing stores to pick up some basics that the boys were running low on, although she had to prevent Dean from buying another plaid shirt to add to his already impressive collection. Honestly, it was like they thought plaid shirts were the key to long lives and prosperity with the way that they hoarded them. Yet, when she wanted to pick up an extra pair of fuzzy socks since the ones she had were a little thread-bare, Dean acted as though she was some deranged sock monster. Kim then pointed out, somewhat snippily, that it was a well-known fact that women have a natural predisposition towards poor blood circulation so, yes, the fuzzy socks were damn well necessary.

The waitress placed down their orders, interrupting her train of thought and bringing the brightest smile to Dean's face that she had ever seen; the man loved pie with an almost sickening reverence. Kim had opted for a simple salad since she was planning to binge on snacks later during the long car ride to their next destination.

"So, this whole soulmate thing is pretty crazy, huh?" Kim asked between bites. It was a fairly blunt way to bring up the topic, but she had grown tired of tip-toeing around it.

Dean choked slightly on his pie before nodding. "Yeah, s'not so bad though. Could have had worse."

Snorting, she flung a crouton at him which he skilfully caught with his mouth. "Such a charmer," she flashed a teasing grin. "Is that all you have to say though: 'not so bad'?"

"What, you want me to profess my undying love or something?" he asked gruffly while avoiding eye contact. Ah, so he was feeling a bit shy about it, well, as close to shy as Dean Winchester could get.

"I get it, no chick-flick moments," Kim teased. "But, come on, your killing me with this whole closed book thing you have going on."

Dean swallowed his last bite before humming thoughtfully. He wasn't really sure how to go about conveying his feelings without seeming like a boneless sap. Yes, he had come to the conclusion that he didn't want to push Kim away, but it was easier said than done. Winchester men were not typically known for their emotional side.

"It's a bit weird, I guess, to just be thrown at someone and told, 'Hey, here's your soulmate'," he spoke slowly. "But I'm not…mad about it."

Kim nodded with an understanding twinkle in her eyes. "I get that, it was pretty crazy to wake up surrounded by three guys; one of them claiming to be an angel of the lord, and the other two my soulmates."

Dean snorted to himself at her words. Yeah, she had definitely showed them her thoughts on that situation – his head still felt tender from how hard he had dropped to the ground. When he had woken up a minute later, there was a battle between feeling pissed and impressed at her actions before running after her.

"How do you feel about, uh, me and Sammy both being your soulmates," he asked carefully. It was something that had been nagging at him; how did she feel about being with two guys at the same time.

Her hands fiddled with a napkin as she thought about the best way to word this. She didn't want it to come out the wrong way and risk sounding like a complete freak, and she didn't want the humiliation of Dean verbalising just how weird she is.

"Well, I'm a very emotionally needy person, I suppose," she began nervously. "In past relationships, I've always felt that I need more than just one person can give me, if that makes sense?"

That had piqued Dean's interest. "Wait, have you been with two people before?"

The way his eyes were burning into her with curiosity made Kim sweat a little bit. "I've had, like, a small fling with two guys before, but it never really had time to grow into anything else."

Well, Dean's eyes were definitely drilling into her now if they hadn't been before. God, does he think she's some kind of whore now?

"Here's your bill," the peppy voice of the waitress startled them both. Kim sighed in relief while Dean frowned in disappointment at the interruption. Needless to say, there was a slightly tense silence permeating the air between them as they walked out to the car.

Both Dean and Kim were squirming with awkwardness by the time they reached the nearest convenience store and it took Dean face-planting on the floor to break the silence.

Kim was laughing uproariously, tears falling out of her eyes. "Holy shit!" she cried. "That was brilliant, ten out of ten for style."

Still laughing, she helped him to his feet as he grumbled incoherently. As embarrassed as he was, Dean couldn't help but feel a little bit proud to have made her laugh so much. Her smile was infectious, smoothing away any residual awkwardness between the pair.

After that, it was smooth sailing once again; they both laughed and joked as they made their way through the aisles. Through talking about simple things like what snacks were their favourites, they began to learn more and more about each other. It was amazing how easily conversation flowed between them, they could transition from talking about hot Cheetos to childhood dreams and ambitions without so much as a blink. Kim had found it absolutely adorable that, at one point, Dean had dreamt of being a firefighter.

By the time they made it back to the motel, they were both smiling so much that it made their cheeks hurt. Of course, as soon as Sam saw him, Dean went back to his usual grumpy face, but Kim still caught him hiding a smile every now and then as they packed away their things. If things continued as they were, she could honestly see herself catching feelings for the surly Winchester.

This was finished much later than I anticipated, so you have my apologies for that. I wanted to use this filler chapter as a way to slowly begin Kim and Dean's transition into a relationship. Don't worry, Sam will have his chapter with Kim soon as well, I'm going to do that after their next case.

As always, feel free to review and tell me any thoughts/ideas you have. I appreciate every single one of you that favourites/reviews, or even just reads, this story!

See you all in the next chapter!