maybe, we might just color the sky tonight
a/n: Okay, so in this, Jo did not die in "Abandon All Hope". She is now living in South Dakota to be near Bobby and her mother and is still hunting on the side. After Dean finally decides to give in to Michael and leaves Sam for a little while to say goodbye to someone.
Now don't get me wrong, I liked Lisa a lot. But I loved Jo and I was sorely disappointed that they killed her off. Then again, the writers did kind of give us Dean/Jo fans a little bit of peace because in 7x04, it was shown that it was Jo that Dean had loved for so long.
Please, please, please, listen to the amazing song "Color the Sky" by Two Steps from Hell while you read.
Sam heard the roar of the engine.
"Dean!"
Then again, it was pointless to follow.
Taking a deep breath, Sam stepped back, watching the dust fly as Dean disappeared into the darkness.
. . .
He inwardly wondered if she would even see him.
It had been almost four months since that near fatal afternoon. He could still remember how red her blood was on his hands, the feel of the consistency on his fingers.
The life ebbing out of her.
He carefully pulled the Impala into the driveway, killing the engine. He glanced out the window at the tiny little house, inwardly wondering how the hell she had managed to find a place like this.
He saw a face appear in the front window and quickly disappear. That was when the front door slowly opened to reveal the girl that had unknowingly stolen his heart.
He remained at the bottom of the steps, his hands buried deep in his jacket pockets.
"Hey, Jo," he whispered numbly.
"Hi," she murmured. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rested her shoulder against the doorframe. "What are you doing here, Dean?"
"What am I doing here?" he repeated. "I-" his voice broke. "I wanted to see you."
"Why?" Her voice was gentle. She loosened her arms and pulled her sweater more securely around her. He couldn't ignore the way that she still held herself awkwardly, even after all these months.
He took a cautious step towards the bottom stair and stopped, finally looking up into her face. Her face that was still filled with so many things that he wanted to read so badly. Her eyes that where filled with so much peace that he desperately craved.
Her body language was screaming at him. Everything about her hollered toughness and bravery. But there were other things too, things that he hadn't seen in so many years and had thought he would never see again.
Joanna Beth Harvelle was a woman of composure, of joy. Despite being a hunter, she knew how to be happy and being a hunter made her happy. In the three years that he had known her (loved her), he could see that about her.
And he envied it.
It had been that one moment, that one single moment, when he winked at her over a hole that was rapidly filling with cement, when she hit the play button the jukebox and he found himself singing that stupid song all the way to the next hunt, when Sam couldn't stop rolling his eyes, that it finally made sense.
Yeah, there had been other women along the way. He had happily leapt into the sack with angels, demons, hookers, and whatnot (God, he really was a manwhore) but in the back of his mind, there was that little bug that was holding on.
She would probably clock him right in the jaw for calling her a bug.
"It's happening, Jo," he found himself murmuring. "It's all going down."
She didn't look that surprised. But she did let out a breath that rattled her whole body.
"It was always going too," she whispered, taking the first step down.
He took another step closer, his toes meeting the hard mahogany of the first stair. He didn't say anything but found himself searching her pretty face, looking for something in her eyes, anything for him to hold onto.
"You're going to say yes, aren't you?"
There was a weak incline of the head and Jo let out an angry huff.
"How could you, Dean? How could you?"
"It's the only way, Jo," said Dean. "It's the only way."
"There are other ways, Dean," she replied. "There are other ways to make it through this without serving yourself up on a platter."
"Jo, believe me. We've looked for other ways. Searched so hard."
"Does Sam know that you're doing this?" she suddenly burst out.
"What?"
She rolled her eyes. "Does Sam know that you're doing this? That you're going to say yes."
He felt a little sigh escape him and he hurriedly swallowed the small lump that was forming in his throat.
"Yes, he does."
Jo glanced around, looking anywhere but at Dean. "Dean, please don't do this."
"I have to, Jo. I have too," he murmured, taking another step up the small case.
"You can't. You just-" Her voice broke.
"I am making arrangements for you and your mom. You will be safe and you won't have to worry about anything. Just do everything that Bobby tells you to do and-"
She looked like she was either going to cry or punch him.
"Do you remember the first time that we met?" He said suddenly, startling her into silence.
She let out a tiny laugh. "Yeah, that was a fun time," she giggled, unable to help herself.
"My face was swollen and puffy for a week!" he chuckled, absentmindedly rubbing his hand over that spot between his eyes.
Jo felt her feet go down one more step. She stood about a foot above Dean but with just a bit of moving, they were eye level.
"Please don't do this," she murmured, a hand finally reaching up and resting against his chest. "Please."
Dean could feel that sob already rising his throat. He swallowed noisily and felt his own hand reach up to cover hers.
"I want you to know something," he whispered. "Something that I have been meaning to tell you for ages but I have just been too stupid."
She didn't answer, just continued looking at him with those giant eyes.
He stared into her beautiful, wide brown eyes before letting his own tears finally fall. "It's when I do picture myself experiencing real joy..." He let a deep shaky breath break free from him. "It's with you."
Tears slowly filled her brown orbs but she refused to let them fall. She didn't say anything, swallowing back the sea of emotions that was raging inside of her. She gently reached up and felt her arms circle his shoulders, pulling him against her in the tightest of embraces.
Dean tensed up for a second before relaxing, his shaking arms immediately wrapping around her tiny waist. He buried his face in her shoulder, trying to cover up the quiet sobs that escaping him, to no avail.
And for the longest of time, they stood there like that, pulled against each other, trying to meld into one person.
Finally, he gently pulled away, pressing his lips to her temple one last time. "Goodbye, Jo."
"Dean, please don't go," Jo found the strength to protest, having gone weak at the knees. "Please don't leave. Not yet."
"I have to, Jo. Sam's waiting for me."
Jo knew deep down that she never held a candle to Sam. She adored Sam, he was one of the best people that she had ever known. He was a young man that held a heart that so pure and he could just love love love until it tore him down into a million pieces.
But this man that was standing in front of her, this man that she had known for years without even realizing it, this man that was so in tuned with humanity and was too stupid to understand it, he was the one. One simple look from him could bring her to her knees and he was fully aware of that. All that Jo knew is that Dean John Winchester was something that Heaven created personally.
"I think Sam can survive for just an hour without you," she whispered, wanting so desperately to feel his arms around her for just a little longer.
Their eyes met once again, emerald green on coffee brown and the Winchester caved. He wanted to feel her body pressed up against his for just a little longer.
And he did.
. . .
"And what am I supposed to do?" he felt himself barking at his brother. "What the hell am I supposed to do without you?!"
Sam gave him a heartbroken look. "You go find Jo and you go back to hunting wendigo and ghosts. And you keep fighting."
And he did.
. . .
She wasn't surprised to find him knocking on her door.
She slowly opened the wood paned cover, glancing up into his devastated face.
"Hi, Jo," he murmured.
"Hey," she whispered back. Man, neither of them were ever really good with words.
"Is it all right if I stick around for a while?" he asked.
She sighed before opening the door wider. "Do you even have to ask?"
And then she was holding him so tightly that they both thought she was going to break his ribs. But of course, neither gave a damn.
.
. . .
Blood doesn't just make a person family.
It's passion, it's love, and it's loyalty.
Those things can bond two totally different people together and make it last a lifetime.
Dean Winchester had been lucky, finding that with his baby brother. Most siblings only saw each other at Christmas but in this end, it was for the long haul. And he knew that he couldn't ignore his brother's last requests. And he had always known deep down even if Sam hadn't asked him to do it, he still would have done it anyway.
Less than a year later, he finds himself holding a rifle filled with rock salt and it's aimed at the back of a very ugly-ass ghost while his beautiful girlfriend is hurriedly reciting the Latin words of exorcism. They both leap back in time as the demon comes rushing out of the poor man's mouth and she hurriedly catches the guy as he begins to fall.
"Not a bad one, eh?" he asks her as she gently shifts the now unconscious guy into a chair.
She chuckles and rolls her eyes. "Fine, I owe you ten dollars."
"Just don't steal it next time," he grins.
"Oh, bite me."
"Later, honey-pie."
She laughs again. "Shut up."
And that's when he laughs too, helping her carry the guy out to the car for the trip to the emergency room. Even in this dire situation, the laughing feels pretty damn good.
And somewhere, somewhere in a place that he hopes is not Hell, Dean can see his brother smiling.
I liked writing this. Being an avid Dean/Jo shipper, this idea popped into mind after rewatching "99 Problems" and seeing that heartbreaking end scene with Dean and Lisa. Seriously, don't get me wrong. I like Lisa a lot but Jo had lit this fire in Dean that was diminished so easily after her death. So, I thought that if Jo hadn't been stupidly killed in 5x10, Dean would have gone to her, not Lisa at the end of that episode.
Reviews are much loved and appreciated. Any Hunger Games fans out there, I would love for you to check out my SPN story that is THG themed where Dean and Jo take the places of Katniss and Peeta respectively.