SPN Fic: When You Let Her Go Pt 1
For the SPN Rare Pair Big Bang on Tumblr.
Art post here.
Ao3 here
Title: When You Let Her Go
Artist: @redrackham87
Pairing: Dean Winchester/Jo Harvelle
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 6273
Warnings: (temporary) major character death mentioned
Summary: The world in which Jo wakes up after she’s been in a coma is scarred and has only nearly averted the Apocalypse. When she returns from college and decides to go back hunting, the world isn’t the same. Neither is Dean when she sees him again after five years.
A case leads Jo to Dean when she thinks he’s dead, but he is alive and a demon. Fortunately, Sam has a cure.
Now Dean and Jo have to battle the demons of the past. It’s a mess of emotions and in the end the encounter with the demon helps Jo figure out at least some of it or maybe just the most important one.
Clean white is the first thing she sees when she wakes up from her coma. There is still a ringing from the explosion in her ears and she can still smell and taste burning flesh. Jo knows it must have been some time since then, once she recognises that she is lying in a hospital bed. She coughs, struggles to breathe for a bit and then removes the breathing mask that is on her nose and mouth and the IV in her arm. The doctors must have done amazing work or she has to be so full of medication that she doesn’t feel any pain at all. She clumsily removes the bandages around her left hand and arm. Not one scratch is on her pale skin underneath. With a frown, she looks around for the button to call a nurse but her eyes find a note lying on the night stand.
You’ve been in a coma. Cas healed you.
I’m sorry what happened. It‘s over now.
You won’t see me again. Don’t try.
- Dean
Jo stares at the ripped off piece of paper in her hand for a long time. Then, after a moment has passed, she blinks and looks around to find a duffel bag lying on the floor beside her bed. She picks it up and opens it. Inside, she finds clothes, a wallet with money, fake ids and a cell. She turns on the cell to check the date. In the contact list are two numbers. Castiel’s and Bobby's. Not Sam’s. Not Dean’s.
She huffs and puts the cell back down to get some clothes out. Slowly, with the bundle of a T-shirt, a plaid over shirt and a pair of jeans she walks into the bathroom to put them on.
In the mirror above sink, she sees her face. She looks a bit pale but not like she has been in a coma for months. There’s no smile and her hair is a mess. She tries to smooth it down and wishes for a hair tie. Dressed, she goes back and looks around the room. Jo takes the bag and leaves the room. In the hall she runs into a nurse who wants to put her back into the bed and run some tests to check if she’s alright. After Jo firmly makes her understand that she is fine and doesn’t need any tests, the nurse lets her go and Jo leaves the hospital.
Outside, she stands still for a moment, takes a deep breath of air in a brand new world and squints against the warm sun that shines in Springfield. Determined, she makes a decision. But first she makes two calls and goes to the nearest restaurant where she eats so much as if she had been starving. Apparently, sleeping for months has made a girl hungry.
~*~
Five years later the blonde woman is wiping tables in a roadhouse in South Dakota after she quit college again when the angels fell. Demons and angels battling on earth called her back into the hunting life. Going back to college is a decision she made after she woke up from her coma, finding a world that had avoided the apocalypse, leaving Sam Winchester in Hell with Lucifer and Dean, broken with some woman and her kid. Obviously, the older Winchester brother wants her to stay away because he feels guilty about what happened to Jo and her mother. Of course, she grieves her mother and sometimes blames both brothers for everything. But the Winchesters did beat the Devil, sacrificing themselves to save the world. That’s what her mum did, too.
Now, Jo isn’t angry any more. She still grieves her mother, of course, but she has forgiven the Winchesters. She’s forgiven Dean. Maybe she hasn’t completely forgiven him that he left her just like this, without saying goodbye, only leaving a note. It’s not that she doesn’t understand why he doesn’t want her to see him again because she knows him and his guilt trips well enough. Nevertheless, it hurts when she hears that Dean was living a normal life with this other woman that Jo doesn’t even know anything about. That is another motivation for her to move on, too. So, she does what her mother would have wanted and went back to college. She tries hard anyway. Still, she has her eyes and ears open for anything supernatural. She misses hunting, the adventure and a little bit she even misses the Winchesters. Though she has thought about trying to contact them, she knows it wouldn’t be a good idea to just bask in wherever they are at the moment.
A lot has changed. There’s a new king of Hell. Sam is back but soulless. Castiel works with Crowley. Purgatory exists and Jo has to fight against Leviathans between college courses.
The death of Bobby leaves a deep hole in her heart and the hunter network. Jo tries her best to help to fill the gap. She still has a lot of connections to other hunters, even more since she is now in contact with new people in the business, such as Garth or Charlie.
Then, she hears of the angel and demon tablets and that the gates of heaven and hell can be shut and the Winchesters have found a way to cure demons.
But when the angels fall and everything goes crazy again, she can’t just sit there in her room on campus. She gets a job and goes back to hunting the things that go bump in the night.
Jo doesn’t exactly know why and what went wrong but demons are still on Earth and angels are scattered all over the world.
Then, Crowley’s battling for the throne of Hell with Abaddon while angels kill each other. Pretty bad news but not the worst. Sometimes Jo wishes herself back to when she had to beg her mum or Dean to help kill a ghost or a wendigo.
Dean killed Abaddon. Good news, actually.
Metatron killed Dean. That’s the last thing Jo heard and that’s definitely the worst.
Dean Winchester is dead.
~*~
The Roadhouse she is working at isn’t like the one her mother owned, a place for hunters to crash and collect information, to get help and advice and something to drink.
This one isn’t like a home to her. It’s just her workplace in the meantime. She just realised that it’s been almost two years that she’s coming back here to work between hunting jobs. A lot of hunters come here nowadays and she likes to catch up on what is going on while she has to work for her room above the bar and the ammo for the hunts.
Today is quiet, though. The usual guy, Tony, he sits on his table in the back, and three hunters at the front of the bar, drinking beer and sharing stories. Jo listens, draws another beer for Stewart and gives away a story of her own.
So far, nothing supernatural is happening in the area but when it’s getting late and the only ones left are Joe and Steward, retired hunters who come to share stories and knowledge, Jo turns on the police radio until the elderly men are gone too and Jo cleans up and closes the roadhouse for the night and tugs herself into bed.
It’s in the morning, when she hears about a murder in North Dakota. When she looks deeper into it, some research and some calls to her connections in the North later, she finds that this murder somehow could be connected to a bar fight that happened earlier. The victim has been seen at the bar right before the fight.
She finds a picture and the name. Some more research on him and she knows something must have happened to him about six months ago. He’s been missing since then. Could be a case.
Jo waits to get the police report from her new hacker friend Simon, who replaced Ash and now Charlie since she’s in Oz. Jo wants to be sure that it’s a case before she drives up there.
Meanwhile, she reads about the bar fight, a guy going nuclear, beating up another one over a girl. Could be nothing, could be possessed or something. Could be the killer. Simon sends the report. Stab wound, not your average knife. There is more information, not in the police report. Traces of sulphur were found.
Ding, ding, ding. A case.
Either the guy was killed by a demon or someone killed a demon. However, something is going on.
There aren’t actually many weapons that can kill demons so that narrows it down. Jo calls Sam. He called her to give her his number after Dean came back from Purgatory and Sam was hunting again.
When Jo can’t reach the younger Winchester, she gets the feeling that something is going on and it’s nothing good. After she’s heard that Dean died, which hurt enough already and she couldn’t even properly say goodbye, she was worried about Sam, mostly because she thinks he could do something stupid and now she thinks that maybe he already has done so.
Jo tries to concentrate on finding out who killed that guy who probably was possessed by a demon and it was most likely that he was killed by another demon. Or an angel. Jo knows she has to be prepared for everything and anything.
Equipped with a salt loaded shotgun, knives, bottles with holy water and the exorcism in her mind and on her cell, the blonde hunter makes her way to said bar.
The focus of her investigation is of course on the murder and the victim and anything suspicious that could be demon or angel activity.
She knows she is in the right place when she enters the Black Spur. It’s just a feeling. A blonde waitress asks Jo if she can get her something and Jo is about to ask her questions when she freezes.
A short man in a black suit and with a British accent raises her suspicion. She watches him for a moment before she recognises him. She hasn’t met him personally, yet thank God, or whoever. But she has heard enough about him.
Nervous and with a pounding heart, she clutches the gun in her pocket, forgetting that it’s useless against the king of Hell.
He sees her too now and from the look he gives her he somehow recognises her. Or at least he knows she’s a hunter. A sly smile is on his face. Jo braces herself as he walks over to her.
“Hello, dear,” he says and it sounds a bit amused. “What can I do for you?” Jo pouts a little. “What makes you think that I want anything from you?” The demon laughs. Jo freezes when her brain suddenly gets the information that this could most likely be her end. How could she have known that she would run into the arms of the king of hell of all nasty things out there? Not even the Winchesters and Castiel have been able to kill him yet. He could kill Jo with a snap of his finger right now. Jo swallows.
“Cocky and brave. I like that.” Crowley says and Jo glares, trying to keep her calm and act like a professional hunter. She is a professional hunter now after all.
“Get away from her, Crowley.”
Jo’s heart skips a beat. The voice is darker, almost a growl, but still familiar to her. Eyes wide and lips parted, she stares at the man who has just shown up behind Crowley. Jo hasn’t seen him in years. She will ever forget his face and even though she would never admit it but she is so damn happy to see him. Also, she couldn’t be happier about his timing to save her from Crowley.
“Is this your new fling or something? I see you have a type.”
“It’s none of your business,” Dean snarls. He looks at Jo. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Nice to see you again too, Deano.”
“Crowley would you give us a private moment.” Crowley doesn’t look very pleased. Jo is confused.
“Can’t that wait? I have a Hell to rule and I still don’t know if I can count on you.”
Dean huffs. “We talk about it later. She can’t wait. Capiche?”
He grabs Jo and takes her to his car.
“Dean, what’s going on? What was that with Crowley?”
“We kinda work together. Or rather he wants me to rule hell with him but I don’t really wanna go back there y’know. How’s college been?”
Jo ignores the question with a frown. “Mind filling me in what happened? How are you alive? I was working a case and the lead I was following brought me here. To Crowley. To you. What’s going on? What are you doing here?” Dean smirks, walking closer, and pushes a hand gently through her hair as his eyes flash black. Jo gasps and steps back against the Impala, the smooth cool black metal pressed against her back. “What?”
“Sorry that I’m not what you expected to see. Things have changed.”
“Who are you, what happened to Dean?” The demon laughs.
“It’s me. I’m Dean. Just without that whole self-loathing and guilt soaked crap of a soul.”
“But how?”
“Ask Crowley.” Jo shakes her head in disbelieve. That can’t be true. Not Dean. Not a demon. What is she supposed to do? What is he going to do with her?
“So, what you’re gonna do with me now? Killing me? You could have left me with Crowley.”
“Oh no, I won’t kill you. Not now. If you are a nice girl.”
Jo shudders in disgust.
He grabs her arm and touches her face. “We have a lot to catch up.”
Jo tries to escape but his grip is too strong. With his other hand he reaches for her knife.
“Don’t try.” Dean says and sounds amused.
Jo starts panicking because she doesn’t know what he's up to; what he would do to her. She struggles and kicks his shin, it doesn’t do anything to him, she tries to hit his groin but he has her other arm too, and spins her around and holds her arms together on her back as he pushes her forward into the side of the car.
“Dean, please. Let me go.” The glare she sends him over her shoulder is supposed to hide her fear. It’s useless; he knows that she is scared anyway.
“I rather keep you,” the demon says near to her ear and a shudder runs down her spine. Jo wants the old Dean back.
“Please, I won’t be in our way,” she begs with a small voice.
“I don’t believe you. You’re a hunter, I’m a demon. I’m sure you’re gonna tell my brother and that’s something I can’t let happen, darling. I broke up with Sam and he better stays away.” Jo is wondering if Sam knows what has happened to Dean.
The strain on her arms starts to pain her and Jo is sure there’ll be bruises on her wrists later. However, she doesn’t stop fighting against the hard grip the demonic version of Dean has her in. She gasps as he pulls her up and holds her own knife against her throat.
“Okay. Okay. I do anything you want. I won’t run and tell Sam, okay? Just don’t hurt me please.” Jo hopes that if he lets her live she’ll get the chance to get away and contact Sam or anyone who might be able to bring Dean back. She’s heard of the possibility to cure demons.
“Anythin’ I want? You sure?” Jo closes her eyes and bites her lip. “Thought so,” Dean chuckles. “You don’t wanna do this,” she whimpers. “Dean, that’s not you.”
“It’s all me. And I like it.”
“Then, why don‘t you just kill me?”
“What would be the fun in that?” Jo lets out a suppressed hiss because the knife is still pressed against her throat and already starts cutting through the surface of the skin.
“What do you want?” She gets out between her teeth.
“You.” A frown shows that she doesn’t really understand what he means. “You know that I wanted you back then when we were together.” A lump forms in Jo’s throat. She doesn’t trust to swallow and just inhales deeply. She feels Dean right behind her and hates that she can’t see him to read his face or his eyes.
Everything she can do to escape would risk that her throat is getting cut. “I said I wouldn't run so do you mind putting that picker away. I’m sure you have a bigger one anyway.”
“I sure have.” Jo can hear the grin. To her surprise, he lowers the knife and immediately she turns her head and tries to pull out of his hold once again. Promptly, her hand goes to her throat when she realises she’s free and she squints at the man before her with suspicion. Why would he let her go? She thinks about running but that would only prompt him to kill her sooner so she stays in her place, heart racing. Dean puts the knife away in his jacket and makes a gesture to Jo to get in the car. With her stomach in a knot she does.
Dean gets a call while they drive. Jo doesn’t know who it was but it’s about Sam. Shortly after that, they stop at another bar. Dean doesn’t want to drink Jo figures when he drags her down to the basement. Between boxes of liquor he ties her up.
“Just have to make sure you keep your promise.” Then, he gags her. “I have a meet up with my brother. But when I’m done with him I’ll be all yours.” Jo whimpers as Dean leaves and locks her in. It’s dark now; the tiny window barely lets some light in. She tries to scream but the gag does its job and muffles every sound. Her only hope is that eventually someone needs some supplies and comes down here to find her. But she is hidden in the dark and she can hardly move in her restrains. Slowly, she moves, looking around to find something to cut the cords on her wrists and ankles. Suddenly, she feels weird, her limbs go numb and then she passes out.
When she comes around, her head hurts where she hit the hard ground and it’s still dark around her. Jo has no clue how long she was out. Dean must have done something to her. She tries to see through the window but she has to crane her neck painfully to get a little glimpse from her position behind the stack of boxes. There’s more light coming through now so it must have been about twelve hours since she came here. She listens closely. There’s no sounds or movement from above or outside that she can hear. She wonders if there even is still someone there or if Dean has everyone -
At that moment, Jo hears something. Footsteps. Someone is coming. Maybe Dean comes back. If it’s not Dean though, that means someone has found her. She starts shouting. “Here. I’m here. Help me! Help!”
She coughs and spits around the gag and thrashes around to make as much noise as she possibly can.
The next sixty seconds feel like hours of eternity until she hears the footsteps coming nearer and when a familiar voice yells her name, tears of joy escape her tired eyes. Then, the door bursts open and it’s Sam.
The younger Winchester rushes to her side and frees her from her restrains. “Oh, thank god,” she cries out.
“You alright?” he asks and Jo can only nod and hugs Sam once she’s free.
“Come on,” he picks her up, she holds onto him and together they walk out.
It’s the first time she’s been in the bunker. Jo had heard of it, but to see it herself is much more impressive. That is the Winchester’s headquarter now. Wow. She is a little bit jealous.
Sam takes her to one of the rooms and orders her to get some food and rest but the blonde woman protests and demands to have a shower first. “Sure,” Sam smiles and shows her the bathroom.
“And then,” Jo orders with a firm voice, “I want to know what the hell happened and how you’ve found me. I wanna know everything. You owe me that much.” Sam nods. “Yeah, okay.”
The shower feels amazing, the hot water soothes her sore bones and the water pressure is better than in any shower she had in a long time.
Afterwards, she feels more relaxed but also how hungry she is. Apparently, she’s been locked up for almost two days. Thankfully, she finishes off the meal Sam made her and then she is ready to talk about the recent events. She is dying to know what happened to Dean. She thinks Sam must have found him and found out what he has done.
“So,” she starts as she walks into the library with a steaming cup of tea and joins Sam and Cas at the table.
The hunter and the angel fill her in about what happened after Dean died; how he was gone and how Sam found him and found out that he has become a demon. Sam got kidnapped by Cole. That’s why he couldn’t answer her call and then he caught Dean. Sam and Cas tried to cure Dean and succeeded in the end.
Then, it’s Jo’s turn to tell them what happened to her. She explains how she was working and heard of the demon that was killed and how she accidentally found Dean and that he had locked her up all the time.
“How is he? Can I see him? Please, I need to talk to him,” she asks with pleading eyes.
“Yes, sure. He is in his room,” Sam says.
“He is awake. I’ve just checked on him while you were in the shower,” Cas adds.
Jo nods with a smile and goes to Dean’s room. A bit nervous she hesitates when she stands at the door.
Art post here.
Ao3 here
Title: When You Let Her Go
Artist: @redrackham87
Pairing: Dean Winchester/Jo Harvelle
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 6273
Warnings: (temporary) major character death mentioned
Summary: The world in which Jo wakes up after she’s been in a coma is scarred and has only nearly averted the Apocalypse. When she returns from college and decides to go back hunting, the world isn’t the same. Neither is Dean when she sees him again after five years.
A case leads Jo to Dean when she thinks he’s dead, but he is alive and a demon. Fortunately, Sam has a cure.
Now Dean and Jo have to battle the demons of the past. It’s a mess of emotions and in the end the encounter with the demon helps Jo figure out at least some of it or maybe just the most important one.
Clean white is the first thing she sees when she wakes up from her coma. There is still a ringing from the explosion in her ears and she can still smell and taste burning flesh. Jo knows it must have been some time since then, once she recognises that she is lying in a hospital bed. She coughs, struggles to breathe for a bit and then removes the breathing mask that is on her nose and mouth and the IV in her arm. The doctors must have done amazing work or she has to be so full of medication that she doesn’t feel any pain at all. She clumsily removes the bandages around her left hand and arm. Not one scratch is on her pale skin underneath. With a frown, she looks around for the button to call a nurse but her eyes find a note lying on the night stand.
You’ve been in a coma. Cas healed you.
I’m sorry what happened. It‘s over now.
You won’t see me again. Don’t try.
- Dean
Jo stares at the ripped off piece of paper in her hand for a long time. Then, after a moment has passed, she blinks and looks around to find a duffel bag lying on the floor beside her bed. She picks it up and opens it. Inside, she finds clothes, a wallet with money, fake ids and a cell. She turns on the cell to check the date. In the contact list are two numbers. Castiel’s and Bobby's. Not Sam’s. Not Dean’s.
She huffs and puts the cell back down to get some clothes out. Slowly, with the bundle of a T-shirt, a plaid over shirt and a pair of jeans she walks into the bathroom to put them on.
In the mirror above sink, she sees her face. She looks a bit pale but not like she has been in a coma for months. There’s no smile and her hair is a mess. She tries to smooth it down and wishes for a hair tie. Dressed, she goes back and looks around the room. Jo takes the bag and leaves the room. In the hall she runs into a nurse who wants to put her back into the bed and run some tests to check if she’s alright. After Jo firmly makes her understand that she is fine and doesn’t need any tests, the nurse lets her go and Jo leaves the hospital.
Outside, she stands still for a moment, takes a deep breath of air in a brand new world and squints against the warm sun that shines in Springfield. Determined, she makes a decision. But first she makes two calls and goes to the nearest restaurant where she eats so much as if she had been starving. Apparently, sleeping for months has made a girl hungry.
~*~
Five years later the blonde woman is wiping tables in a roadhouse in South Dakota after she quit college again when the angels fell. Demons and angels battling on earth called her back into the hunting life. Going back to college is a decision she made after she woke up from her coma, finding a world that had avoided the apocalypse, leaving Sam Winchester in Hell with Lucifer and Dean, broken with some woman and her kid. Obviously, the older Winchester brother wants her to stay away because he feels guilty about what happened to Jo and her mother. Of course, she grieves her mother and sometimes blames both brothers for everything. But the Winchesters did beat the Devil, sacrificing themselves to save the world. That’s what her mum did, too.
Now, Jo isn’t angry any more. She still grieves her mother, of course, but she has forgiven the Winchesters. She’s forgiven Dean. Maybe she hasn’t completely forgiven him that he left her just like this, without saying goodbye, only leaving a note. It’s not that she doesn’t understand why he doesn’t want her to see him again because she knows him and his guilt trips well enough. Nevertheless, it hurts when she hears that Dean was living a normal life with this other woman that Jo doesn’t even know anything about. That is another motivation for her to move on, too. So, she does what her mother would have wanted and went back to college. She tries hard anyway. Still, she has her eyes and ears open for anything supernatural. She misses hunting, the adventure and a little bit she even misses the Winchesters. Though she has thought about trying to contact them, she knows it wouldn’t be a good idea to just bask in wherever they are at the moment.
A lot has changed. There’s a new king of Hell. Sam is back but soulless. Castiel works with Crowley. Purgatory exists and Jo has to fight against Leviathans between college courses.
The death of Bobby leaves a deep hole in her heart and the hunter network. Jo tries her best to help to fill the gap. She still has a lot of connections to other hunters, even more since she is now in contact with new people in the business, such as Garth or Charlie.
Then, she hears of the angel and demon tablets and that the gates of heaven and hell can be shut and the Winchesters have found a way to cure demons.
But when the angels fall and everything goes crazy again, she can’t just sit there in her room on campus. She gets a job and goes back to hunting the things that go bump in the night.
Jo doesn’t exactly know why and what went wrong but demons are still on Earth and angels are scattered all over the world.
Then, Crowley’s battling for the throne of Hell with Abaddon while angels kill each other. Pretty bad news but not the worst. Sometimes Jo wishes herself back to when she had to beg her mum or Dean to help kill a ghost or a wendigo.
Dean killed Abaddon. Good news, actually.
Metatron killed Dean. That’s the last thing Jo heard and that’s definitely the worst.
Dean Winchester is dead.
~*~
The Roadhouse she is working at isn’t like the one her mother owned, a place for hunters to crash and collect information, to get help and advice and something to drink.
This one isn’t like a home to her. It’s just her workplace in the meantime. She just realised that it’s been almost two years that she’s coming back here to work between hunting jobs. A lot of hunters come here nowadays and she likes to catch up on what is going on while she has to work for her room above the bar and the ammo for the hunts.
Today is quiet, though. The usual guy, Tony, he sits on his table in the back, and three hunters at the front of the bar, drinking beer and sharing stories. Jo listens, draws another beer for Stewart and gives away a story of her own.
So far, nothing supernatural is happening in the area but when it’s getting late and the only ones left are Joe and Steward, retired hunters who come to share stories and knowledge, Jo turns on the police radio until the elderly men are gone too and Jo cleans up and closes the roadhouse for the night and tugs herself into bed.
It’s in the morning, when she hears about a murder in North Dakota. When she looks deeper into it, some research and some calls to her connections in the North later, she finds that this murder somehow could be connected to a bar fight that happened earlier. The victim has been seen at the bar right before the fight.
She finds a picture and the name. Some more research on him and she knows something must have happened to him about six months ago. He’s been missing since then. Could be a case.
Jo waits to get the police report from her new hacker friend Simon, who replaced Ash and now Charlie since she’s in Oz. Jo wants to be sure that it’s a case before she drives up there.
Meanwhile, she reads about the bar fight, a guy going nuclear, beating up another one over a girl. Could be nothing, could be possessed or something. Could be the killer. Simon sends the report. Stab wound, not your average knife. There is more information, not in the police report. Traces of sulphur were found.
Ding, ding, ding. A case.
Either the guy was killed by a demon or someone killed a demon. However, something is going on.
There aren’t actually many weapons that can kill demons so that narrows it down. Jo calls Sam. He called her to give her his number after Dean came back from Purgatory and Sam was hunting again.
When Jo can’t reach the younger Winchester, she gets the feeling that something is going on and it’s nothing good. After she’s heard that Dean died, which hurt enough already and she couldn’t even properly say goodbye, she was worried about Sam, mostly because she thinks he could do something stupid and now she thinks that maybe he already has done so.
Jo tries to concentrate on finding out who killed that guy who probably was possessed by a demon and it was most likely that he was killed by another demon. Or an angel. Jo knows she has to be prepared for everything and anything.
Equipped with a salt loaded shotgun, knives, bottles with holy water and the exorcism in her mind and on her cell, the blonde hunter makes her way to said bar.
The focus of her investigation is of course on the murder and the victim and anything suspicious that could be demon or angel activity.
She knows she is in the right place when she enters the Black Spur. It’s just a feeling. A blonde waitress asks Jo if she can get her something and Jo is about to ask her questions when she freezes.
A short man in a black suit and with a British accent raises her suspicion. She watches him for a moment before she recognises him. She hasn’t met him personally, yet thank God, or whoever. But she has heard enough about him.
Nervous and with a pounding heart, she clutches the gun in her pocket, forgetting that it’s useless against the king of Hell.
He sees her too now and from the look he gives her he somehow recognises her. Or at least he knows she’s a hunter. A sly smile is on his face. Jo braces herself as he walks over to her.
“Hello, dear,” he says and it sounds a bit amused. “What can I do for you?” Jo pouts a little. “What makes you think that I want anything from you?” The demon laughs. Jo freezes when her brain suddenly gets the information that this could most likely be her end. How could she have known that she would run into the arms of the king of hell of all nasty things out there? Not even the Winchesters and Castiel have been able to kill him yet. He could kill Jo with a snap of his finger right now. Jo swallows.
“Cocky and brave. I like that.” Crowley says and Jo glares, trying to keep her calm and act like a professional hunter. She is a professional hunter now after all.
“Get away from her, Crowley.”
Jo’s heart skips a beat. The voice is darker, almost a growl, but still familiar to her. Eyes wide and lips parted, she stares at the man who has just shown up behind Crowley. Jo hasn’t seen him in years. She will ever forget his face and even though she would never admit it but she is so damn happy to see him. Also, she couldn’t be happier about his timing to save her from Crowley.
“Is this your new fling or something? I see you have a type.”
“It’s none of your business,” Dean snarls. He looks at Jo. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Nice to see you again too, Deano.”
“Crowley would you give us a private moment.” Crowley doesn’t look very pleased. Jo is confused.
“Can’t that wait? I have a Hell to rule and I still don’t know if I can count on you.”
Dean huffs. “We talk about it later. She can’t wait. Capiche?”
He grabs Jo and takes her to his car.
“Dean, what’s going on? What was that with Crowley?”
“We kinda work together. Or rather he wants me to rule hell with him but I don’t really wanna go back there y’know. How’s college been?”
Jo ignores the question with a frown. “Mind filling me in what happened? How are you alive? I was working a case and the lead I was following brought me here. To Crowley. To you. What’s going on? What are you doing here?” Dean smirks, walking closer, and pushes a hand gently through her hair as his eyes flash black. Jo gasps and steps back against the Impala, the smooth cool black metal pressed against her back. “What?”
“Sorry that I’m not what you expected to see. Things have changed.”
“Who are you, what happened to Dean?” The demon laughs.
“It’s me. I’m Dean. Just without that whole self-loathing and guilt soaked crap of a soul.”
“But how?”
“Ask Crowley.” Jo shakes her head in disbelieve. That can’t be true. Not Dean. Not a demon. What is she supposed to do? What is he going to do with her?
“So, what you’re gonna do with me now? Killing me? You could have left me with Crowley.”
“Oh no, I won’t kill you. Not now. If you are a nice girl.”
Jo shudders in disgust.
He grabs her arm and touches her face. “We have a lot to catch up.”
Jo tries to escape but his grip is too strong. With his other hand he reaches for her knife.
“Don’t try.” Dean says and sounds amused.
Jo starts panicking because she doesn’t know what he's up to; what he would do to her. She struggles and kicks his shin, it doesn’t do anything to him, she tries to hit his groin but he has her other arm too, and spins her around and holds her arms together on her back as he pushes her forward into the side of the car.
“Dean, please. Let me go.” The glare she sends him over her shoulder is supposed to hide her fear. It’s useless; he knows that she is scared anyway.
“I rather keep you,” the demon says near to her ear and a shudder runs down her spine. Jo wants the old Dean back.
“Please, I won’t be in our way,” she begs with a small voice.
“I don’t believe you. You’re a hunter, I’m a demon. I’m sure you’re gonna tell my brother and that’s something I can’t let happen, darling. I broke up with Sam and he better stays away.” Jo is wondering if Sam knows what has happened to Dean.
The strain on her arms starts to pain her and Jo is sure there’ll be bruises on her wrists later. However, she doesn’t stop fighting against the hard grip the demonic version of Dean has her in. She gasps as he pulls her up and holds her own knife against her throat.
“Okay. Okay. I do anything you want. I won’t run and tell Sam, okay? Just don’t hurt me please.” Jo hopes that if he lets her live she’ll get the chance to get away and contact Sam or anyone who might be able to bring Dean back. She’s heard of the possibility to cure demons.
“Anythin’ I want? You sure?” Jo closes her eyes and bites her lip. “Thought so,” Dean chuckles. “You don’t wanna do this,” she whimpers. “Dean, that’s not you.”
“It’s all me. And I like it.”
“Then, why don‘t you just kill me?”
“What would be the fun in that?” Jo lets out a suppressed hiss because the knife is still pressed against her throat and already starts cutting through the surface of the skin.
“What do you want?” She gets out between her teeth.
“You.” A frown shows that she doesn’t really understand what he means. “You know that I wanted you back then when we were together.” A lump forms in Jo’s throat. She doesn’t trust to swallow and just inhales deeply. She feels Dean right behind her and hates that she can’t see him to read his face or his eyes.
Everything she can do to escape would risk that her throat is getting cut. “I said I wouldn't run so do you mind putting that picker away. I’m sure you have a bigger one anyway.”
“I sure have.” Jo can hear the grin. To her surprise, he lowers the knife and immediately she turns her head and tries to pull out of his hold once again. Promptly, her hand goes to her throat when she realises she’s free and she squints at the man before her with suspicion. Why would he let her go? She thinks about running but that would only prompt him to kill her sooner so she stays in her place, heart racing. Dean puts the knife away in his jacket and makes a gesture to Jo to get in the car. With her stomach in a knot she does.
Dean gets a call while they drive. Jo doesn’t know who it was but it’s about Sam. Shortly after that, they stop at another bar. Dean doesn’t want to drink Jo figures when he drags her down to the basement. Between boxes of liquor he ties her up.
“Just have to make sure you keep your promise.” Then, he gags her. “I have a meet up with my brother. But when I’m done with him I’ll be all yours.” Jo whimpers as Dean leaves and locks her in. It’s dark now; the tiny window barely lets some light in. She tries to scream but the gag does its job and muffles every sound. Her only hope is that eventually someone needs some supplies and comes down here to find her. But she is hidden in the dark and she can hardly move in her restrains. Slowly, she moves, looking around to find something to cut the cords on her wrists and ankles. Suddenly, she feels weird, her limbs go numb and then she passes out.
When she comes around, her head hurts where she hit the hard ground and it’s still dark around her. Jo has no clue how long she was out. Dean must have done something to her. She tries to see through the window but she has to crane her neck painfully to get a little glimpse from her position behind the stack of boxes. There’s more light coming through now so it must have been about twelve hours since she came here. She listens closely. There’s no sounds or movement from above or outside that she can hear. She wonders if there even is still someone there or if Dean has everyone -
At that moment, Jo hears something. Footsteps. Someone is coming. Maybe Dean comes back. If it’s not Dean though, that means someone has found her. She starts shouting. “Here. I’m here. Help me! Help!”
She coughs and spits around the gag and thrashes around to make as much noise as she possibly can.
The next sixty seconds feel like hours of eternity until she hears the footsteps coming nearer and when a familiar voice yells her name, tears of joy escape her tired eyes. Then, the door bursts open and it’s Sam.
The younger Winchester rushes to her side and frees her from her restrains. “Oh, thank god,” she cries out.
“You alright?” he asks and Jo can only nod and hugs Sam once she’s free.
“Come on,” he picks her up, she holds onto him and together they walk out.
It’s the first time she’s been in the bunker. Jo had heard of it, but to see it herself is much more impressive. That is the Winchester’s headquarter now. Wow. She is a little bit jealous.
Sam takes her to one of the rooms and orders her to get some food and rest but the blonde woman protests and demands to have a shower first. “Sure,” Sam smiles and shows her the bathroom.
“And then,” Jo orders with a firm voice, “I want to know what the hell happened and how you’ve found me. I wanna know everything. You owe me that much.” Sam nods. “Yeah, okay.”
The shower feels amazing, the hot water soothes her sore bones and the water pressure is better than in any shower she had in a long time.
Afterwards, she feels more relaxed but also how hungry she is. Apparently, she’s been locked up for almost two days. Thankfully, she finishes off the meal Sam made her and then she is ready to talk about the recent events. She is dying to know what happened to Dean. She thinks Sam must have found him and found out what he has done.
“So,” she starts as she walks into the library with a steaming cup of tea and joins Sam and Cas at the table.
The hunter and the angel fill her in about what happened after Dean died; how he was gone and how Sam found him and found out that he has become a demon. Sam got kidnapped by Cole. That’s why he couldn’t answer her call and then he caught Dean. Sam and Cas tried to cure Dean and succeeded in the end.
Then, it’s Jo’s turn to tell them what happened to her. She explains how she was working and heard of the demon that was killed and how she accidentally found Dean and that he had locked her up all the time.
“How is he? Can I see him? Please, I need to talk to him,” she asks with pleading eyes.
“Yes, sure. He is in his room,” Sam says.
“He is awake. I’ve just checked on him while you were in the shower,” Cas adds.
Jo nods with a smile and goes to Dean’s room. A bit nervous she hesitates when she stands at the door.