After a long and sweet kiss, Mackenzie exited the car. She looked back at Dean and smiled one last time, then gave him a small wave before walking toward the motel room as she dug the room key from her bag.

She used the key to unlock the door and walked into the room. Once she was safe inside, Dean put the car in reverse and drove away.

With Dean heavily on her mind, she never saw Michael behind her when she pushed the door closed with her foot and began to walk toward one of the twin beds to lay her bag down without turning around.

"Where the hell were you?"

She gasped in surprise and quickly spun around to face him, then laid a hand on her heart. "God, Michael, you scared me!"

"Good, now I'll ask again, where the hell were you?" he shouted.

"I-I was at the library...looking for new cases," she lied.

"Really, 'cause it looked like you were sucking face with a Winchester," he spat as the angry look on his face deepened.

"Are you spying on me?" she angrily asked.

"It's not spying when you're acting like a whore in front of everyone." He took a step toward her.

"You're acting like I was screwing him in the backseat. It was only a kiss," she yelled, defending herself.

"Well whatever it was...it ends now," he demanded. "We do not get involved with Winchesters, they can not be trusted."

"You don't even know Dean."

"No, but I know his father, John, and Dean is exactly like him. He will turn on you and leave you when you need help," he explained. "Trust me I know."

"Dean is not like that," she stated confidently as she stood her ground.

"Like I said, it ends now!" He pointed a finger at her. "You are not to see or talk to him again. Do you understand me?"

"You can't tell me what to do, Michael." She scoffed.

"The hell I can, you're my daughter."

A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "Oh, now, you're going to act like a father."

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" he angrily asked.

"It means you haven't been a father to me since I turned two." She held up two fingers to get her point across.

"That's bullshit! I'm the one who's been taking care of you all these years."

"No, I've been taking care of myself while you've been consumed with revenge and drinking all day," she pointed out. "When was the last time you asked me how I was feeling or gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be okay?"

"I don't have to take this from you. Everything I have done was for you and now you throw all of this in my face? You're nothing but a spoiled brat." He grabbed a bottle of liquor off the table and turned the bottle up to take a big swallow.

"And you're nothing but a drunken asshole." She crossed her arms over her chest, an angry look on her face.

Michael didn't know what came over him, he took a step toward her and slapped her hard across the face with the back of his hand, knocking her to the floor.

A gasp escaped her lips as she brushed her hair out of her face and looked up at him. She laid a hand on her cheek, her skin felt warm and the mark stung. She felt like she was looking at a stranger- it was hard to see the man she used to call father because the man she knew would have never laid a hand on her.

Dropping the bottle, Michael instantly felt guilty when he saw tears fill her eyes. He honestly didn't know who was more surprised at the moment- her or himself. He couldn't believe he had hit his daughter- his little girl. He couldn't help but wonder who he had become.

"Mac, I'm-" He took a step toward her- his hands up in surrender.

"No!" She shakily stood from the floor. "Don't you dare apologize or come any closer to me."

Seeing her walk toward the beds and throw clothes in a duffel bag, he questioned, "What are you doing?"

Mackenzie ignored him and tossed the last piece of clothing she owned into the bag then zipped it up, before walking toward the front door.

"Hey! Where the hell are you going?" He grabbed her arm when she walked past him.

She continued to ignore him and tried to pull her arm away, which only made him hold on that much harder.

"Let go! You're hurting me!" She fought to pull her arm from his hold again.

"You can't leave me, Mac, we're family. Family sticks together, remember?" he questioned, his tone desperate.

"Screw family and screw you." She jerked her arm one more time, finally freeing it and opening the door.

"If you walk out that door, don't even think about coming back!" he called out to her, hoping his threat would make her stay.

Mackenzie froze for a second and took a deep breath. Without a word, she began to walk out of the room into the dark night alone. She ignored Michael as he called out her name from the doorway. She blocked out everything as she walked across the parking lot, then down the sidewalk, never once looking back.

•••

After dropping Mackenzie off at her motel, Dean drove a few blocks down the road to his motel. After parking the car, he made his way into the room and was surprised to see John sitting in the chair waiting for him.

"Hello, son," John said.

"Hey, Dad. What are you doing here?" Dean asked confused. "I thought we were meeting up later tomorrow."

"I heard a rumor and wanted to see for myself if it was true," John stated.

"What was the rumor?" Dean lowered his eyebrows. He couldn't think of anything that was bad enough to cause his dad to check up on him.

"I heard you've gotten involved with the Cole girl." John shot him a look.

"Yeah, so?" Dean asked, not understanding the big deal. His dad had never cared about a girl he hooked up with.

"You need to stay away from her, son. The Cole's are nothing but trouble." John leaned forward- hoping to get through to him. The last thing he wanted was for what happened to him, happening to his son. In the middle of a life and death situation, a Cole could get you killed, the way Michael almost did him.

"Look, Dad, I don't know what you've heard, but Kenzie is a good person. She's not trouble," Dean said, feeling himself getting angry at his father's accusations about the woman he was slowly starting to fall for.

"It's not about what I heard, It's about what I've seen," John said vaguely.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked confused.

"I worked with her father, Michael, once," John began to say. "When it came time to do the job, he froze and almost got me killed."

"Are you serious? Why didn't you ever tell me?" Dean folded his arms across his chest.

"I didn't see any reason to tell you until now, but as you see, it's best to stay away from them," John explained.

"I get what you're saying, Dad, but Kenzie is nothing like Michael," Dean said. "Why don't you meet her and you'll see what I mean."

"I don't want to meet her and I don't want you talking to her ever again," John demanded.

"But, Dad-"

"That's an order, son," John cut him off with a look that told him not to argue with him on this.

Dean looked away from his father and slowly shook his head as he blew out an annoyed breath. The last thing he wanted to do was walk away from her, but he knew better than to disobey his father.

"Fine, whatever." He scoffed and turned back to look at his father.

Not wanting to be in the same room with him anymore, Dean began to walk toward the door. He needed to be alone and he needed a very strong drink.

"You better not be going after her." John stood up from the chair.

"I'm going out for a drink, is that okay?" Dean asked sarcastically.

"Maybe I should go with you, just in case," John suggested as he went to take a step.

"Dad, come on, I don't need a chaperone to drink." As much as it killed him to say, he added, "I promise I won't go see Kenzie...happy?"

"Alright. I'll take a nap, then when you get back we'll leave," John explained. "I found a new case and it'll take us about a day to get there, so we should leave soon."

"Okay," Dean quietly said, turning to leave. He ran a hand through his hair, a sigh escaping his lips as he reached the car.

Sliding behind the wheel, he gripped the steering wheel, a part of him wanted to go to her so badly, but he knew the fallout would be disastrous. Instead, he cranked the car, then flew out of the parking lot, heading for the nearest bar.

Dean had only been gone a few minutes when John heard a light knock at the motel door. He walked across the floor, opening it to see a brunette standing on the other side with a duffel bag over her shoulder. If he had to bet he would say this was the infamous Mackenzie Cole.

"Oh, sorry, I must have the wrong room," she apologized and turned to walk away.

"Dean's not here," John stated, his voice gruff as he folded his arms across his chest. The look on his face let her know exactly what he thought of her- like she was some nuisance or a bug he wanted to squish.

"Oh, okay," she mumbled. She knew her father had a beef with the older Winchester, but she couldn't figure out what his problem with her was.

Glancing around a moment uncomfortably, she questioned, "When will he be back?"

"Who knows." He shrugged, then lied, "He's at the bar picking up chicks, it could take a while."

"Oh," she breathed out with a frown. She hoped John was lying, but maybe Dean was as bad as boys she had read about online. Maybe he was fooling her before when he told her what they had was more than a one night stand.

"You need to stay away from my son," he threatened, pulling her out of her thoughts.

She scoffed at his words. She was really tired of being told what to do.

"Don't you think that's his choice to make?" she questioned angrily. If Dean didn't want to be with her- that was fine, but in her opinion, he needed to tell her this, not his father.

John raised his eyebrows in surprise, he couldn't believe this young girl had the guts to stand up to him. He had to admit he admired her a little for it, but that didn't mean he liked her. He couldn't trust her or her father.

"I know what is best for my son and you are not it," he answered.

"Why? Because you had a run-in with my dad years ago and it didn't end well?" she questioned. "What the hell does that have to do with me or the feelings I have for your son?"

"You have feelings for Dean?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, I do and I'll be damned if I'm going to let any assholes keep me away from him," she said angrily. "I have lost enough in my life, but I will not lose Dean."

With the way his father was acting, she was starting to realize none of this was coming from Dean- it was all John. When the older man didn't say anything, she continued, "If you really loved your son, you need to let him make his own choices."

"I think you should run back home to daddy and leave my family alone," he stated.

She sighed in frustration when she realized he wasn't listening to her. She turned around to leave then thought of something, causing her to turn back around to face him.

"How about I make you a deal?"

"What?"

"Tell Dean I'll be waiting for him where it all started."

When she saw the confused look on his face, she added, "He'll know what that means and if he doesn't want me in his life then he can just not show up and I'll leave him alone."

"Sounds good so far." He nodded. "But I'm sensing a but."

"But...if he wants to meet me, if he wants to be with me, then you have to let him go and stay out of our business."

"Fine, I'll tell him," he said, finally giving in to her. "Anything else?"

"No, that's it. Thank you so much for your help," she said sarcastically, then turned to walk away from him.

A smile appeared on her face as she realized this was the second time that night she stood up to someone and took her life back. She was not going to sit on the sidelines anymore and be silent- this was her life damn it!

Her smile grew when her thoughts went to Dean. She felt confident that he would show up, she knew she was not wrong about the way they feel for each other. Her father was the one who was wrong, Dean could be trusted and she could count on him- he would not let her down.

All she had to do now was wait for him- which she knew she could do, she had already waited ten years so a few hours would be a breeze. Then the two would leave together and she would finally be happy and free, for possibly the first time ever in her life.

•••

A/N; Thank you to everyone for reading! 

Happy reading!
xx