Always Comes Back (3/10)

Banner by: Sani

Chapter Two

Chapter 3


On The Road Again
(18-Weeks)



Jo reached forward turning the dials on the radio as Dean drove down the empty road. He glanced at her eyebrow raised.

“You messin with my radio?”

Jo smirked.

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

“Damn right I do. I was listening to that. Put it back.”

Jo leaned back in the seat, eyes closed smile on her face as she ran a hand over her stomach.

“Nope, baby didn’t like that song.”

Dean snorted.

“Please, you can’t use that excuse every time you don’t agree with my music choices.”

Jo chuckled.

“It’s true. When you have a tiny ball of fury kicking your uterus then you can play whatever music you want until then suck it up princess.”

“Well the ball of fury will have to deal with ACDC cause when this is over I’m poppin it in.”

Jo’s grin widened. She looked out the window, sun shining down. It was beautiful outside. She loved driving with Dean. He was always more relaxed in the car, arm dropped carelessly over the wheel, classic rock in the background as he sped down the road.

He looked at home. He must have felt her eyes on him because he cleared his throat and spoke.

“What?”

“Nothing…I was just thinking…we can’t keep calling her the ball of fury. She’s going to need a real name at some point.”

Dean smirked.

“I kinda like ball of fury. Sounds like she’s badass.”

Jo rolled her eyes.

“She’ll be badass no matter what, she’s our kid and no kid of ours is gonna be a pansy.”

Dean gave her a toothy grin before looking back at the road. It was times like this he could forget about everything else going on around them, at least for a little while. He was always so relaxed in Jo’s presence…the way he used to be in Sammy’s.

He sighed and tried to shake thoughts of Sam out of his head, his tone casual as he spoke.

“So…names? Got any in mind?”

“I was thinking maybe Mary for her first name…I haven’t completely decided on a middle name yet, but I thought…well Mary’s a pretty name.”

Her voice was soft and Dean’s throat tightened at the suggestion. He turned to look at her, but her head was facing forward. He reached down, grasped the hand that was on her stomach, and brought it to his lips brushing a soft kiss against her knuckles before bringing it back down hands still entwined.

He swallowed hard and looked forward.

“I think Mary’s perfect.”

Jo smiled.

“Good, me too.”

He squeezed her hand lightly as he bobbed his head to the music and continued down the road. They didn’t need words. Jo knew how much the suggestion had meant to him. Dean’s mood was better and they had a name for their daughter. It seemed like things were finally looking up.



______

Two hours later Dean slowly pulled the impala up in front of the Roadhouse. He turned the car off, staring at the bar in front of him and sighed. He didn’t want to be here; in fact he’d rather be anywhere but here. He knew it was time to talk to Sam though.

He’d ignored his brother for close to two weeks. They were no closer to finding the yellow eyed demon or Meg and they still didn’t know what part Sam played in all of it. On top of that he now had a family to protect. Shit just never got easier.

He nudged Jo lightly she’d fallen asleep about forty minutes ago. She stirred, scrunching up her nose and sighing.

“Go ‘way…”

“Come on Jo…we’re here. If I gotta go inside so do you.”

With her eyes still closed she turned her back to him and snuggled further into the seat of the impala her voice muffled by the seat.

“Mary decided she doesn’t wanna go inside. Instead we want apple pie with ice cream.”

Dean shook his head. His girlfriend was insane.

“I’m gonna say this one more time. You can’t keep blaming everything on the kid, it’s just not right.”

Jo shrugged.

“She doesn’t care. It’s not like she’s here to say it isn’t her who wants it. I can blame anything I want on her until she’s old enough to say otherwise.”

Dean chuckled and smacked her ass lightly.

“Get up. I’m gonna grab the bags when I come back around I want you outta this car.”

She snorted.

“And what if I’m not? I’m not afraid of you Dean…I eat men like you for breakfast.”

He opened the car door and grunted as he grabbed the bags and walked around to Jo’s door opening it.

“I better be the only man you’re eating for breakfast or we might have an issue on our hands.”

She grinned up at him and pulled herself slowly out of the car placing a light kiss on his cheek and then jaw before moving to his lips. She pulled back mischievous look in her eyes.

“That’s kinda hot…”

He made a face as she moved and headed toward the bar. He followed behind her and took a deep breath before walking through the door. Four sets of eyes looked up at their entrance. It was quiet and Dean could feel the tension in the room.

Ash was the first to break the silence.

“JoJo…damn girl look at that belly! That kids a cookin now.”

Ash chuckled and Jo frowned as she turned toward Dean who shook his head reassuring her before she could say anything.

“Ash is a douche; you’re not that big…besides…I like it.”

She faced Ash and glared at him.

“Nice way to great me bitch…now come over here and give me a hug.”

He walked over pulling her into a hug as he nodded at Dean.

“Dude we missed you around here…”

He pointed to Madison, Sam and Ellen.

“They ain’t got no sense of humor.”

“I can imagine.”

Dean put down the bags and glanced over at Ellen. She could see the nervousness on his face as he approached her Jo in tow. She gave her daughter a once over and Ellen had to admit she looked a lot better than the last time she saw her.

She gained a bit more weight, her cheeks were full and flush, her stance was strong and more important than anything she seemed happy. Dean’s voice broke through her thoughts.

“Hey Ellen.”

She stood up and his body tensed, but when she pulled him into a hug she felt the tension release as he hugged her back slightly tighter than expected. His voice was soft as he spoke while still in the embrace.

“I’m sorry…about everything. I was just doing what I thought was right. No more lies…you have my word.”

When he pulled back she nodded and turned her eyes toward Jo.

“From either of you.”

He nodded.

“Yes ma’am.”

She opened her arms and Jo moved in giving her mother a hug. Madison was standing behind her mom bouncing on the balls of her feet and when Ellen moved out of the way she rushed over and they spoke at the same time.

“I’m so sorry!”

“No, I’m sorry…”

They laughed Madison shaking her head.

“I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. Everything that happened it was before you guys met me and the circumstances…well it was just stupid of me. Forgive me?”

Jo grinned.

“Only if you forgive me for being an ass. I could have called too and I didn’t.”

“Deal.”

They hugged and as Madison pulled away she rubbed Jo’s belly.

“How’s baby girl Winchester doing?”

“She’s a pain in the ass like her father…or should I say pain in the bladder, Oh we came up with a name for her.”

Dean could hear the excitement in Jo’s voice as they spoke animatedly to each other while walking toward the back leaving him, Ellen, Ash and Sam in the front of the bar. He shook his head. Women, he’d never understand them.

Ash’s voice filled the room as he started walking backwards in the direction of his room.

“Well this here reunion was nice, but Dr. Badass has some shit to handle. See you dudes later.”

He disappeared through the door leaving Ellen with Dean and Sam. Ellen glanced between the boys and sighed. They were gonna have to talk to each other sooner or later and since Dean came back for a hunt it would most likely be sooner.

“I should probably get in the back start gettin’ things together we’re opening in a couple a hours. It’s good to have you to back sweetie.”

Dean nodded as Ellen walked through the door to the kitchen. He glanced at Sam, who was sitting there glowering at him. He wasn’t sure where to start or what to say. A part of him wished that they could just ignore everything, but he knew that wouldn’t fix things.

Dean sighed before giving Sam a tight smile.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

The room was quiet and Sam rolled his eyes before standing up, crossing his arms over his shoulders, and leaning against one of the booths.

“Are we really gonna do this? Try and make small talk? I’ve been calling you for two weeks Dean…two weeks. You didn’t answer any of my calls…you didn’t even check in.”

He could hear the hurt in his brother’s voice and that made him feel slightly guilty for not picking up the phone, but he had been too wound up to talk to Sam at the time and he hadn’t wanted to say something he’d regret later so he chose not to talk to him at all.

“I know…I wasn’t ready to talk about it then.”

Sam glared at Dean. He could tell his brother was choosing his words carefully, but he was tired of always having to do things when they were good for Dean.

“What about what I needed Dean? Do you even have any clue what’s been going on around here? You took off with Jo without even giving us a backward glance. I get that you were pissed, but this wasn’t my fault.”

“I know that Sam, but it ain’t that simple okay?”

“No Dean it’s not okay. What are you so afraid to say to me?”

He glared at Sam and shook his head attempting to walk around his brother, but Sam blocked his way. Dean’s jaw clenched and he took a deep breath before looking up at Sam.

“Sammy…”

“No, I want to know Dean. What’s so horrible that you can’t even tell me?”

“You!”

Sam was caught off guard by Dean’s yelled response.

“What?”

“Sam…this whole thing with Meg…the yellow eyed demon…you. I didn’t forget all that. I’ve been goin through Bobby’s books and I still can’t find anything.”

Sam frowned.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

He hesitated before taking a deep breath and coming clean with Sam for the first time in a while.

“What if he’s affecting you somehow? You and Jo were both possessed by Meg and each time…she tried to…get you two together. Why? What’s the point? I think there’s more going on here then we know. I know I took off, I’m sorry, but we both needed time to cool down.”

Sam swallowed hard.

“So what…you think Dad was right? You think I’m gonna go dark side or something?”

“No, ‘course not. I just…until we figure things out I really need you to steer clear of Jo…please. She’d never admit it but after everything with Meg, being near you, it gets to her.”

“So what I’m supposed to walk on egg shells?”

Dean glared and Sam threw his hands up in the air as his shoulders slumped and he plopped down in the booth. He was tired of fighting with Dean. He was tired of not knowing what was going on and why all this bad shit kept happening to them.

“You know what forget it.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated. I don’t know how all of this got out of hand so quick. After Duluth I thought we were all past this. I thought Jo and I were ok…I thought we were okay.”

Dean shrugged.

“You and Jo were okay, I was the one who wasn’t. I lied…”

“Why?”

“What good would throwing some kind of fit have done? It happened. I couldn’t change it and I needed to move past it because you’re my brother and Jo’s…Jo.”

Sam watched Dean’s face closely as he spoke.

“And now? Where do we go from here?”

He sighed and shrugged.

“Now we figure out what the hell is going on with this yellow eyed bastard cause I’m tired of him messing with our family. Truce?”

Sam’s jaw tensed, brows furrowing.

“A truce doesn’t fix everything…I can’t shake the feeling that you just don’t trust me.”

Dean shook his head.

“I trust you with my life Sammy…I just don’t trust you with Jo, not right now.”

It hurt to hear Dean say he didn’t trust him in any capacity, but he understood. If it was Madison in Jo’s place and Dean in his he’d probably feel the same way. A couple minutes passed before Sam nodded, half a smile tugging at his lips.

“I can deal with that…for now. So what brought you and Jo back finally?”

Dean grinned, pulling a rolled up folder from his back pocket, tossing it on the table.

“We got a job…you game?”

Sam glanced at the folder and then back at his brother’s grinning face.

“A hunt sounds good.”

Dean's grin widened and Sam flipped through the folder. Maybe this hunt would help get things back to normal, hell after everything they’d been through recently it sure couldn’t hurt.

Chapter Four