Disclaimer: I do not own rights to these characters (except Ryan). Supernatural belongs to the wonderful Eric Kripke.
Bang, Bang, Bang! Dean rolls over onto his back and grunts as he grabs the knife from under his pillow. Sam doesn't budge, still asleep after a long night of research.
"What the hell? It's 2 in the morning."
Bang, Bang, Bang!
"Who is it?" No answer "Who is it?" Dean yells louder.
"Dean, why are you yelling?" Sam said, barely audible, as he turns his head toward dean, his eyes still shut.
"What do you mean, why am I yelling?" Dean says as he sits up on the bed and rubs his face. "Don't you hear the banging on the door?" Dean gestures toward the door already annoyed that his sleep was interrupted.
"I don't hear anything. No one is banging on the door. Go back to sleep."
"You know what Sam? I'd love to go back to sleep but I can't. You want to know why I can't go back to sleep? Because someone is banging on the damn door!"
Sam sighs and opens his eyes to look at dean. "Then see who's at the door but shut up, I'm tired." Sam closes his eyes and turns his head back around.
"Yea, sure thing." Dean says, rolling his eyes. Mumbling under his breath, he gets up and walks toward the door. "Like it takes so much energy to move a mouse and click on web pages for three hours."
"I heard that," Sam says. "Don't care," Dean mockingly replies.
Dean grips his knife tight and slows down as he gets closer to the door. Slowly, he turns the door knob and swings the door open ready for whom or whatever's on the other side.
"Hi Dean-O, it's about time you opened the door. It's freezing out here." Jo stated sourly as she stood there with her arms crossed and tapping her foot toting a small suitcase.
Dean lowers his knife and lets out a deep sigh of relief he didn't have to fight any monsters or deal with any demons. He leans out the door and looks to the left and right. Making sure nothing was out there spying on them, Dean steps to the side allowing Jo to walk in.
He watches Jo as she strides past him throwing her suitcase on the floor and sitting in the chair. He can't help but admire her cockiness and confidence. He knows they would make a great pair if it were another place and time in his life.
"Well, what brings you here? A phone call would've been nice you know."
"And ruin the element of surprise?" Jo smirks at Dean.
"Sure. We both know you missed my adorable face." Dean gives Jo his irresistible smile as he walks over to his bed and sits down.
"Why does he do that? He has to know what his smile does to me. He has to feel the tension between us since the first time we met." Jo thought to herself but then brushed those feelings aside to tell him the reason she showed up at his door.
"I need a place to crash. Mom and I had a fight." Jo said as she picked up the knife dean put on the table and started twirling it between her fingers.
"That's nothing new. Ya'll are always fighting, arguing over something … too much estrogen." Dean chuckles at his joke but his grin soon fades as he sees the look on Jo's face still twirling the knife like a pro.
"I'm sorry Jo. You know I have to joke to lighten a situation. I love estrogen! So, what's going on? Trying to go off on another hunt by yourself?"
"I've come to expect those kinds of remarks from you Dean but this is serious. I need some advice."
"What's going on?" Dean asked as he leaned towards Jo. Any kind of humor Dean had left was completely gone as concern grew on his face at the thought of anything bad happening to her or Ellen.
Jo looked over to Sam sleeping soundly. "Don't worry about Sam. He sleeps like a dead man when he's really tired." Dean assured Jo.
Jo bit the side of her lower lip and looked down contemplating how to tell him.
"Mom and I had a big fight not because I want to go on a hunt. We had a fight because I told her I was proposed to and I'm thinking about saying yes." Jo continued to look down, avoiding eye contact with Dean.
"Oh." Dean simply stated. "That's all? That's great!" The look of defeat swept over his face and he was glad Jo was not looking at him. "Damn. Lucky bastard." Dean thought to himself before putting on his best fake smile.
Jo looks at Dean, shocked at his response. "Is he serious? He has absolutely nothing else to say?"
"So, who's the lucky guy? I didn't know you were seeing anyone." Dean questioned, trying hard to sound and be happy for Jo.
"I'm not . . . It's complicated; His name is Ryan. We dated a little over a year. He left to go on a hunt and we kept in touch for a while, but then I didn't hear from him anymore which was almost a year ago. I thought he was killed . . . then I met you and Sam."
"Then you met me and Sam." Dean repeated, his smile starting to fade. "So, I take it Ellen doesn't want you to marry a hunter?"
"No, that's not it. She thinks he's moving too fast and she doesn't like the fact that all of a sudden he's back and wants to pick up where we left off."
"You know Jo, that doesn't seem like you. Not giving him a hard time being gone so long. What's his excuse?"
"What makes you think I didn't?" Jo replied inquisitively. "He was hurt pretty bad and had temporary amnesia. Pieces of his memory started to come back until he realized what happened and how long he was away. He's been back a little over a month now and I didn't say yes. A lot has changed since then." Jo gives Dean an expectant look hoping he catches the hint—he doesn't.
"Well, you're a big girl. I'm sure you'll make the right decision." Dean gives Jo a slight smile saying more with his eyes than he spoke. Jo, picking up on this, gets up from her chair and sits next to Dean on the bed.
"Dean." Jo said, as she inched a little closer to Dean. "I am a big girl." Dean, looking down, turned his head to face Jo. "What do you think I should do? Is there any reason I should say no?"
Still looking into Jo's eyes, "I think it's almost 3 a.m. and I'm sure you're exhausted. Why don't you get some rest?" With that, Dean gets up and walks towards the bathroom.
As soon as he closes the door, Jo lets out an exasperated sigh and falls back on the bed in defeat. "I just can't get a straight answer out of that man!"
In the restroom, Dean leans onto the sink and looks at himself in the mirror. He attempts to shake his feelings off.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Dean reasons with himself. "Why can't I just tell her how I really feel? Marriage? Hell no! That's it! I'm going to tell her how I feel." Dean, confidently, turns around and goes into the room determined to profess his feelings to Jo, but that determination soon fades when he finds Jo sound asleep.
"Figures." Dean says as he walks toward the bed. Carefully, he picks her up and repositions her on the bed. He then takes off her shoes and puts the blanket over her. Dean moves to the other side of the bed and gets in. He looks at her for a few minutes before sleep overtakes him.