Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or their awesome characters.

A/U: I just felt like writing and this is what came out. I have been thinking about Thursday's episode and they all looked so angsty I couldn't resist wondering what the lead up was. I hope that you enjoy!!!!

Into the Ring of Fire

Jo stood over the sink trying to wash the blood off of her flannel shirt. Jo had washed many of her shirts in the last three years. That was the price of hunting things, they bled on you. Jo lifted the shirt from the bathroom sink and ran downstairs to the dishwasher in the back of the kitchen. She put some generic stain lifter on it and put it under the sprayer, blood started to come out of the shirt finally. Jo watched with dead eyes as the diluted blood circled the drain in the sink. Jo thought about how it should bother her but it didn't, she was numb. Her mother had warned her about what would happen to her if she decided to hunt and kill things. It wasn't that Jo didn't love the job, she did, she was just far less optimistic about the world. She had lost a lot of people and seen some truly evil things that kept her up at night. Jo grew a thick skin really quickly when it came to witnessing atrocities on humanity. She understood that if it wasn't for people like her, far more innocent people would die. Jo heard her mother come through the back door and pulled her back into reality.

"That is not very sanitary." Ellen said looking at the blood in the kitchen sink. She paused then continued to the main bar area. Jo just shrugged.

"Whatever works." Jo mumbled. Jo let her mind drift back to their last hunt. Jo and Ellen had caught wind of a patch of demons in the small town of Claytonia, Nebraska. It wasn't too far for them to go and it seemed like a couple of easy exorcisms. When they got there most of the demons had moved on but one family still had demons riding on their asses. She thought about the eighteen year old girl whose blood was staining her shirt. The girl was very pretty and smart from what Jo had researched on her. She was home visiting her family from the University when the demon attack happened. Ellen and Jo had only been able to exorcize and save her fourteen year old brother out of the family of four. It was a shame because Jo knew they had been close to saving her too if they would have had five minutes more. The demon in the poor girl's body put a bullet in her head before Jo could trap it. Jo had been lost in thought and noticed that she had rubbed too hard and the fabric had ripped, the shirt was for sure ruined now. Jo whipped back balling the soaked flannel and throwing it in the trash can with force. Jo sighed and out her head down and tried to regain her composure. Maybe the job was getting to her it was that or the end of the world looming over her head. Jo took one more deep breath and walked out to the bar area.

"Bobby, just tell me where to meet you, we will meet you there." Ellen said motioning Jo for a pen. Jo found a pen and handed it to her mother. "Okay, I got it. See you soon." There was a short pause and her mother looked worried. Jo knew something was very wrong. "Me too, Bobby…. okay, bye." Ellen hung up the phone slowly, bit her lip and looked at Jo. "Looks like this is it Jo, we got to meet Bobby and the boys."

"The boys? The Winchesters?" Jo asked even though she knew it was them. Ellen nodded.

"Looks like we are going down fighting." Ellen said in her whiskey voice. Jo nodded and felt scared out of her mind. She didn't want to die; she didn't want her mom to die. Jo really didn't want to let evil win. Ellen saw her daughter's eyes fill with tears and wrapped her arms around her.

"It's going to be okay, I promise." Ellen whispered. Jo didn't say that she didn't believe her that she was lying she just grabbed her mother tighter and hoped that her knees didn't give out. After what seemed like forever Jo and Ellen finally separated.

"Pack the car, grab everything we got. We got to head out." Ellen said back to normal. Jo nodded and went outside to the truck. Her cell phone rang, she looked at the caller ID and it was Dean. She laughed to herself and debated whether or not to answer him. Oh, who was she kidding?

"Hi Dean." She said.

"Hey Jo." Dean's rugged voice came through. Jo's knees actually gave out this time; she didn't feel the pain when the gravel dug into her knees and shins. The last time she saw him was in Colorado and it wasn't like they had a chance to talk. "Are you there?" Dean asked.

"Yea Dean I am here." Jo said trying to control her voice.

"Bobby said you and your mom are coming. We can use all the back-up we can get." Dean said.

"We will be there." Jo said reassuringly.

"Okay, good. There was something that I wanted to talk to you about." Dean said awkwardly. Jo smiled.

"See you soon." Jo said hanging up. Jo felt a rush of happiness that she was going to see Dean again. Ellen walked out the door and saw Jo staring at her phone smiling.

"I am confused." Ellen said raising her eyebrow at her daughter. She thought that it was odd that she was smiling when they were going to their most certain dome. Jo's cheeks flamed instantly.

"Come on mom, lets get going, we don't have a lot of time!" Jo said shoving her phone back into her pocket. Ellen didn't say anything just looked at her. Jo ran back into the house to pack and get her stuff ready. Ellen watched her daughter disappear and thought that whatever had just happened had cheered Jo up and then she thought of Dean. Ellen shook her head and made a mental not to bring extra ammo for her shot gun.