A Little Help From A Friend - xover Joan of Arcadia, Supernatural, Criminal Minds - Part 03
Title: A Little Help From A Friend
Rating: R/FRA
Summary: Everyone needs a little help from time to time. In this case the Winchester boys find help in their search for God the Winchesters find him in the most unusually normal place, Arcadia Maryland.
Crossover: Supernatural, Joan of Arcadia, Criminal Minds
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds belongs to Jeff Davis and The Mark Gordon Company. Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke and Wonderland Sound and Vision. Joan of Arcadia belongs to Barbara Hall. This is a work of fiction, done for fun, no money gained.
Word Count: 18,860
Spoilers: Both seasons of Joan of Arcadia. Up to the end of season 4 of Criminal Minds. All of Supernatural just to be safe.
Authors Notes: AU from Common Thread (2x21) with some information from Something Wicked This Way Comes (2x22) of Joan of Arcadia. Ryan Hunter still makes his appearance and still saves Adam but I’m regressing his age a bit so he’s closer in age everyone else making him 24 instead of however old he was in the show. AU from To Hell…And Back (4x25/26) for Criminal Minds, if you know what happens in the end of 26 basically for this story that never happen. AU from Lucifer Rising (4x22) for Supernatural but with Dark Side of the Moon (5x16) being thrown in because it works for this fic. These are in all honestly mostly arbitrary decisions on my part so don’t look to closely into them.
A side note any facts Reid sprouts are probably horribly incorrect as I made them up for the point of this story so don’t take any of them as value.
A special thanks to ficfinishing for prompting me through this because without them I totally would have dropped out. To Rebecca who doesn’t watch any of these shows but still beta’d for me anyway.
"Bye Mom, Bye Kevin," Joan called as she left the house.
She gave the street a quick once over to see if Ryan or God where waiting for her but found neither. Trudging down the drive she thought about her nightmare and Gods message wondering if they were connected and making a mental note to ask the next time she saw him.
Three blocks into her walk to the bus stop the hairs on the back of Joan's neck froze causing her to pause in her walk and look around. Seeing nothing out of place she continued still looking around as the feeling hasn't gone away. Noting two guys having an argument a few feet in front of with a third more serious man in a trench coat simply watching them. As if he felt her watching them he turned to her eyeing her more critically than anyone had before. Raising an eyebrow at the serious look she hitched her bag up and moved to walk around them. They were all kind of cute but way too old for her she noted. She had never seen them around and while Arcadia was a big town it wasn't that big.
As she walked by them she heard the one in the trench coat say, "I think she may be the one we are looking for."
The two who were arguing looked up at him then over at her.
"It can't be that easy," the shorter one said.
"It could be if we had a little help," the taller one replied, Joan could see the air quotes around the last word.
Joan blinked in confusion and gave them a dubious look before walking slightly fast away from them. Glancing back over her shoulder she saw that they'd stopped standing and began to follow her. Picking up the pace so she was in a slight jog Joan cursed herself for slacking off in gym class.
"Look, Joan, Joan please wait up," the taller one called after her.
"Look I don't know who the hell you are but my dad is the chief of police you better stop harassing me before I tell him," Joan yelled back not slowing down.
"Look we don't want any trouble or anything, we just want to talk," said the shorter one catching up with her blocking her from going forward.
Joan clutched her bag to her chest looking between the three of them.
"Please," the taller one said.
Up close he was even taller towering over Joan more than even her father or brothers did.
"Fine what do you want?" Joan asked backing away slightly so she could see all three of them at the same time.
"I'm Sam," the taller one said, "That's my brother Dean," motioning to the shorter, "And that's Cas."
"Castiel," the one in the trench coat said glaring at the taller one Sam.
"I'm Joan but ask you already called my name I take it you know that already," she said still eyeing them warily.
"Yeah, kinda," Sam said looking abashed even under Joan's look.
"Well what do you want?" Joan said, "I'm going to be late to school because of you."
Joan's dad always said when being hassled by someone always let them think that there was someone waiting for you to show up soon.
"We need your help finding someone," Sam explained, "Its really important that we find."
"Who?" Joan said cutting him off.
Sam makes a face sharing a look with Dean, "God."
"God?" Joan repeated, "Like all powerful ruler of the universe, master of the universe, guy who created everything, that God?"
"Yeah that God," Sam fidgeted and Dean shrugged when Joan looked at him.
"I don't know who told you I could help you but you've got the wrong girl," Joan said shouldering her bag again and turned to walk away.
"Look, we know you talk to God, his marks all clear on you, it is very obvious," Castiel said calling after her.
"Cas," Sam hissed glaring at him.
"Marks?" Joan stopped and turned around.
"We do not have time for this, every second we waist is another second that we are closer to the Apocalypse," Castiel said glaring at both Sam and Dean.
"Apocalypse," Joan repeated.
"We need your assistance in finding God," Castiel said.
"Look, follow me," Joan said briskly striding into an alley similar to the one she'd had to conversation with Ryan in.
"Look is this about the whole Lucifer thing?" Joan asked once they were a ways down the alley.
"How do you know about that," Sam asked stepping into Joan's personal space.
"Whoa there buddy back up," Joan said placing her hands on his chest and pushing him away.
"Well?" Dean said his hand inching towards the gun he had tucked in his waistband.
"Someone just told me about the other day," Joan confessed.
"Who?" Dean demanded.
Joan glared at him, "Look he's not a demon, God sent him he told me himself, sorta."
"So you do talk to God then," Sam said giving Dean a smug look that Joan didn't understand. It was similar to the look Luke would sometimes give Friedmen when he'd proven Friedmen wrong.
"Yeah, look that's not something I advertise around," Joan said, "How did you find out?"
"Let's just say it's something we do for a living," Sam replied cryptically.
Joan gave them a skeptical look but mentally shrugged and sighed.
"So what do you want?" Joan asked.
"We need to get in contact with God," Castiel said.
"Yeah, it doesn't really work like that," Joan said.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"Its not like I go 'Hey God' and he shows up, he just kinda does," Joan explained.
"Well what does he look like? We can find him ourselves," Dean said.
Again Joan shook her head, "It depends, he shows up like you need him to appear, sometimes he's a he, sometimes he's a she, sometimes she a little girl, it depends."
"Crap," Dean said.
"Look, I'm sorry," Joan said.
Sam shook his head pressing his palm to his head thinking.
"Look," Joan said, "If you are who he said then I have a message from God to you."
"Great, more messages," Dean mumbled.
"What is it?" Castiel asked ignoring Dean.
"He said to tell you he's got it and he knows," Joan said.
"That's it?" Dean asked.
Joan nodded, "That's it."
Dean through his hands up in frustration then turned and kicked a garbage can. Flinching at the loud noise Joan jumped back.
"I'm sorry," Sam apologized, "Its just there was a lot riding on this."
Joan nodded understanding vaguely given her limited knowledge based on what Ryan had told her. In the distance Joan heard the bus that she needed to take coming closer. Looking between the three disheartened men and the alley entrance Joan hitched her bag up onto her shoulder.
"Look, I mean I know you all need help and stuff," she said, "But I kinda have school."
Dean looked up from the trash can he'd been kicking to Joan and made a vague jester that she took as a dismissal.
"Sorry," she said as she scooted past Castiel and Sam and hurried out of the alley. Just as she left she gave them one last look before leaving.
~*~*~*~
"So Joan how was your day?" Helen asked her daughter noticing her daughters’ lack of interest in the meal before her.
"It was fine," Joan mumbled shrugging, "Its high school I doesn't change day to day."
"Well I noticed you weren't late today," her mother said.
Joan shrugged, she'd managed to catch her bus on time and made it too school before even the first bell had rung something she rarely did.
"Joan?" her mother repeated.
Joan didn't reply simply returned to playing with her food too caught up in her thoughts to hold up a conversation.
"Well since Joan seems to busy thinking to talk how was everyone else's day?" Helen asked look at her sons and her husband.
Luke mumbled something that Helen didn't understand about the upcoming science fair and his project with Grace Polk. Kevin too mumbled something about it being a slow news day. Sighing in aggravation at her families inability to carry on a dinner conversation she gave her husband an expectant look.
"I got called in on a pretty boring case today," Will said looking at his wife giving her a confused look when she looked pointly at their children.
"A pretty standard identity fraud case," he continued.
"So why'd you get called in?" Kevin asked.
"Turns out, the guys used the cards are on the FBI's most wanted list for a laundry list of crimes," he explained.
"Really? Are they dangerous?" Luke asked, "Why would they come to Arcadia?"
"I don't know, but then no one really knows how Sam and Dean Winchester think," Will said.
"Sam and Dean?" Joan asked looking up surprised.
"Yes?" Will said confused at his daughters sudden interest.
"Is one of them really tall? Messy hair? The other one short with a buzz cut?" Joan asked.
"Yes? How do you know what they look like?" Will asked pushing his chair back from the table.
Joan looked down unsure of what to say.
"Joan?" Her mother asked.
"I saw them, Sam and Dean Winchester, today," Joan said finally.
"What?" Her dad yelled standing up, "And you didn't say anything?"
"I didn't think it was a big deal," Joan said with a shrug.
"They're on the FBI's most wanted list Joan, yes it's a big deal."
Joan glared at the table for a moment before responding, "Its not like they told me that."
"What did they want from you Joan?" Her mother asked moving around the table to place a calming hand on her husbands shoulder.
Knowing that she couldn't tell her parents the truth Joan shrug trying to buy time to come up with a lie.
"Joan?" Her mother repeated.
"Nothing, I mean they just wanted directions to a place to eat," she lied.
"That's it?" Her father asked.
"They wanted to know if I knew someone, but they didn't tell me who and then the bus came and I left, that's it," Joan continued.
"I need to call the station, before all we had was a vague memory from a tired desk clerk, but this," Will trailed off striding out of the room, "We'll talk about this later, Joan."
In the living room Joan could hear her father calling in to the station talking to someone. Sighing in annoyance at her father Joan pushed her chair back and moved to go up to her room when her moms hand on her should stopped her.
"He only yells because he's worried," Helen told her daughter.
Joan shrugged not replying before going up to her room closing the door behind her.
~*~*~*~
"We have a new case," JJ said as she walked though the bull pen, "Gather the team in the conference room."
Morgan nodded pushing back in his chair as he stood up.
"What is it?" he asked following her.
"Flagged for a cold case actually,” JJ said.
"A cold case?"
"Its complicated I'll explain it when we get everyone together," JJ said as she poked her head into Hotchner's office.
After the whole team including Garcia had gathered in the conference room and had skimmed the file JJ had provided for them she spoke.
"Earlier today I got a call from the Arcadia Maryland Police Lieutenant explaining to me that she thought that Sam and Dean Winchester were in Arcadia," she began, "Now at first she wasn't too sure as the only description of them originally came from a half sleep night manger of a hotel, however later in a conversation the Chief of Police found out his daughter apparently seen and spoke to the Winchester brother and was able to describe them in detail to a sketch artist."
JJ click the pointer in her hand and two sketches popped up on the screen as well as mug shots of both Sam and Dean. The sketches were pretty well matched to the actual photos.
"He apparently made some calls and figured that the Winchesters where out of his league and called us," JJ continued.
"Now this isn't the first run in the Winchesters have had with local PD or with the FBI but this is the first one they've had in over a year, we need to figure out why they popped back up onto our radar and why they did it in Arcadia," Hotch said picking up from where JJ left off.
"Who is exactly that called us in on this?" Rossi asked flipping through the file looking for a name.
"The police chief, Will Girardi," JJ said holding up the request form.
Rossi laughed suddenly shaking his head.
"Rossi?"
"Of course he wouldn't just call me like a normal person," Rossi muttered.
The team looked at him in varying degrees of confusion.
"Will Girardi is my brother," he explained.
"Brother?" Hotch said, "I didn't know you had a brother."
"Twin actually, we don't talk much so it never comes up," he explained.
The team raised their collective eyebrows.
"My parents got divorced when I was a kid, my mom took Will, my dad got me. Will changed his last name to our mother's maiden name so people would stop asking why they had different names," Rossi explained.
"Why didn't you mention this before?" Hotch asked.
Rossi shrugged, "Wasn't important, we don't speak much."
The rest of the team gave him speculative looks waiting for him to say more.
"Look can we focus on the actual case and not my brother," Rossi said looking down at the file in front of him.
"You're the one who brought it up man," Morgan said looking at Rossi.
"And now I'm dropping it," Rossi replied.
Morgan shrugged and went back to looking at the file in front of him.
"Well as far as we know the Winchesters showed up in Arcadia Maryland about three weeks ago. They rented a room paid with fake cards under the names Dean Valmont & Sam Merteuil," Hotch read from the file.
Reid looked up suddenly, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses,"
"What?" Hotch said looking at Reid.
Reid opened his mouth to explain but Rossi cut him off.
"Keep it in small words genius boy."
"It was a book about two rivals who play these," Reid paused to think, "Games with one another using sex and trying to one up each the other, Valmont and Merteuil were the two main characters.
"Not their usual style," Morgan said looking down at the list of pervious aliases the brothers had used.
"Well they um, remade it into a movie in the 90's, Cruel Intentions," Reid said.
"Oh the one with Ryan Philippe’s, um um" Garcia said licking her lips.
"Getting back on track here," Hotch said cutting off the retort Morgan was about to make.
"Wait a second didn't the Winchester brothers get killed a few years back in the same explosion that killed Hendrickson?" Rossi asked looking at a note in the file.
"What was what was first believed but since then we occasionally get a call in about them, nothing that really pans out though," JJ said.
"Why not?" Rossi asked.
"Usually they've either unreliable or the witness changes their statement when someone comes to talk to them about it," JJ explained.
"So why are we suddenly taken this serious?" Rossi asked looking around the room at the rest of the team.
"Because we have a reliable witness," JJ replied confused at Rossi's line of questioning.
"A teenage girl?" Rossi said sounding skeptical.
"Who's the daughter of the chief of police," JJ said getting slightly frustrated.
"Who also happens to be my brother though."
"Well I didn't know that when I took this case," JJ said.
"What the heck Rossi, you act like you don't want to look into this," Morgan snapped glaring faintly at Rossi.
"Its not that I don't think we should take this case, but don't you think this is a little odd?" Rossi asked looking around the room at the rest of the team.
Hotch looked back at Rossi, "Everything involving the Winchester brothers is strange, that's why we were called in."
Rossi nodded, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"It doesn't matter," Hotchner said, "Wheels up in 20 guys, we'll finish the rest of this on the plane. The Winchesters have a talent at vanishing and I don't want to lose them by sitting around here."
The team all nodded pushing their chairs back and grabbing their folders off the table. They filed out of the room talking softly to one another.
As Rossi left Hotchner put his hand on the man’s shoulder, "Are you going to be able to do this?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just," he trailed off, "I've got a bad feeling about this Aaron."
Hotchner nodded, "We won’t know what caused it if we don't got look."
Rossi just shook his head and left the conference room with Hotch looking after him.