There are more important things than unfinished business…
"Hey." he said nonchalantly.
"Hey." she said back, temporarily stunned and fixed to the spot. Something inside her told her to run, so she did. She couldn't leave – she was at work – but she could move away from him, so she darted behind the bar and took Ted's order.
As she poured some hapless slob's beer, Dean watched her, suddenly aware that this wouldn't be that easy and even more aware that at that moment he was completely alone. She said something to the guy she had just served, but Dean couldn't make it out, which made him realise the distance she had put between them, so he began to walk towards her.
"That's last orders Ted, I'm closing up soon." she said. She saw Dean moving nearer from the corner of her eye. She didn't look up – only at the cash register – as he sat down not far from her, but not too close to her either.
After a few moments Dean was feeling a bit uneasy, so spoke. "You got a beer for an old friend?" he asked.
'Tell me if you see one' she thought to herself. She looked up to see Sam come from the toilets and sit down next to Dean, marginally closer to her. 'Where there's one…'
"Sure," she said turning and grabbing two bottles, opening them and sliding them in Sam's direction, "on the house." she added.
A few awkward seconds passed, the old drunk left and now it was just the three of them. Dean drinking his beer caught Sam looking at him. He shrugged and mouthed 'What?' Sam realised he was on his own in this and even though Jo seemed to be busy with the register he couldn't let the silence continue.
"Look Jo," he began, "we meant to come and see you earlier."
"Yeah?" she said only half listening 'this shitty register!' she thought.
"Yeah, but we…"
"We had more important things to do." Dean interrupted gesturing his beer bottle forward.
Sam turned, open-mouthed to face Dean. Was he seriously related to this tactless moron? How did this guy charm so many girls into bed? Then he shook off his questions and quickly tried to do some damage control. "He didn't mean that."
'Yes I did,' Dean thought.
"Yes he did." said Jo not looking up. Dean smiled and stared at her for a while. Then she spoke again, "It's okay, my mom called me, told me what went down the other week."
"Oh." Sam finished. Was she letting him off the hook? Or just trying to end the conversation he was starting.
Jo continued to stare angrily at the cash register and push that goddamn button, the one that always let her down. She was aware that she had been stood staring at it for a long time now and that she probably looked really stupid. Normally she had some finesse with this broken-down piece of crap; a combination of shakes and pushes would cause the draw to 'bing' open every time, but with him less than 5 feet away from her, her nerves were shot. All her cool was being used already. She was losing it and so she just hit the register harshly, once, twice, huffing loudly. "Oh for Christ's sake." she groaned.
"Can I help?" he said with all the calm that she'd lost, and all the charm all the ladies loved.
"No," she protested, but she was aware that it came out a little too harshly and so she added that she was fine to soften her reaction and try to lessen the emotion she showed him. She had to act like it didn't make her mind and body race to see him, even though it did. Right now she was so angry, but she couldn't let him see that he had that, or any other effect on her.
However this was Dean Winchester and Dean Winchester was persistent as hell. "Come on," he said slapping his right hand down and holding onto the top of the bar in front of him. He moved around the opening she had left propped up in her hurry to avoid him earlier, and keeping his right hand where it was for the time being he slid next to her and then closed the bar down behind him. Locking them in almost.
Sam looked at his brother with wary eyes, shaking his head. If Dean had noticed he would have only offered his brother a 'What's the big deal?' kind of wince anyway, but Dean didn't seem to even remember that 'Sammy' was still there. "let me help you." Dean continued, but with him getting closer and closer Jo collected herself – best she could – and made one last ditch effort. The register finally made the sound that she longer for and popped open for the hundredth time that day.
"I got it." she said forcing a smile his way.
Dean stopped smiling and seemed shocked for a minute as she began to move past him, but then when she got slightly stuck his smile returned. Her left hip had knocked into his right thigh and stopped her movement. For a second they stood bodies close, facing each other. The temptation to reach out and lay her palm on his chest – even if it was just to aid her in passing by – was immense and Dean seemed to sense what she was thinking.
Jo untangled her leg from between Dean's and made another attempt to pass him. She left him, lifting the moveable part of the bar and walking through it. It banged shut a second or two later, making Sam jump. He was glad Jo hadn't seen Dean smile, because he didn't know how she'd react. Maybe she would have hit him, or worse smiled back encouraging Dean to make a move on her – and with the way Dean had been acting these past few weeks Sam wouldn't put it past him to do just that – Whatever her reaction, he was sure that whatever happened wouldn't have helped their standing with her in the long run. And that would defeat the point of coming here.
Dean reached over the bar to grab his beer, but after taking a swig he stayed where he was, resting on his elbows, laid out diagonally leant on the bar like he owned the place. 'But then again,' Jo thought, 'didn't Dean Winchester own every room he walked into?' She tried not to look at him, but Dean wasn't so subtle. His eyes had locked onto her, or a certain part of her that he could see as she bent forward to wipe one table after another.
Sam glanced over his shoulder to see what had Dean's attention. As Dean's head tilted – almost turning upside down – Sam rolled his eyes and mentally kicked himself; what else had he expected Dean to be looking at? He turned to Dean with that disapproving glare.
"What?" Dean said standing up and taking another swig of his beer, "I'm only human."
"Do you remember why we're here?"
"Yeah. To make sure Jo doesn't spend her time throwing sharp objects at a picture of you." A little voice inside Dean internally replaced 'you' with 'me'. He could tell Jo was avoiding him, and he did think it was important to find out why and to sort it out, but like he'd said earlier, there were more important things. Time was running out for him. For Sam that meant searching for a way round it all, gaining allies, building networks that could help them, which was why they were here to settle the unfinished business with Jo – in case they needed her help later he guessed – but for Dean it meant something completely different. For Dean it meant that he only had so much ass-kicking time left, and that meant they had their work cut out for them if Dean was going to round up all the demons they had let out of hell and send them back where they belonged.
"Look Sam, I didn't want to come here, it was your idea. We've got a job to do you know."
"I know; believe me Dean, but when I suggested coming to see Jo you freaked. I'm not just here for me, I wouldn't do that when…" Sam paused because he saw Dean was looking down at his bottle – thumbing it up and down, focusing on the corner of it's label as he kept catching it – and avoiding any eye contact with him. He tried to continue in a more delicate way, but failed, "It was just your reaction Dean. It made me think that maybe you needed to come here too. If you and Jo need to talk about something, don't you think you should talk about it now, before…"
"You know you're not really supposed to be behind there." Jo said to Dean as she passed by the bar and entered the storeroom. Dean sleeked back to his seat next to Sam, but he didn't sit down. He grabbed his jacket off the back of the stool and put it on. Neither of them looked at each other; both were silently glad that she had walked by and spoken when she did, but Dean was pretty sure Sam would have stopped himself before he finished that sentence anyway, because they were both pretending. They were pretending that Dean wasn't going to die. Sam by believing there was some way to save him in time and Dean by ignoring it completely.
"Its time to go Sammy. Say your piece to her and then we can hit the road."
"Sure." Sam said dejectedly, watching the bubbles in his beer float upwards.
Next thing Jo came back out of the storeroom and hung up her apron on the hook with her name biroed above it. Dean doubted the other girls – whose names he saw written next to hers – looked half as good in an apron as she did. And with that thought he was out of there.
"Nice to see you again Jo." he said to her politely. Then he turned to Sam, "I'll be in the car."
Dean ran a hand through his hair and left and when he was gone Jo sighed taking the hands that she had placed on her hips and letting them fall to her sides. In doing so she had relaxed her frame to seem less threatening and she began to walk towards Sam. Standing next to him she couldn't help thinking how Sam really did feel like an old friend, one she didn't want to lose. This business was lonely enough as it was.
"Look Sam." she said trying to make it easy on him, "What happened back when I was in Duluth. It scared the crap out of me; and what you said…" Jo paused. She didn't want to speak about her dad, or his dad, just keep it about them, so she continued differently, "Look. Bottom line is it wasn't you. I'm a big girl, and whether my mom – or whoever believes it – I'm a hunter now too, so I understand that, and there's no issue between us."
Sam looked away, put down his beer and smiled. "Thanks." he said finally, huffing with relief.
"You're welcome…Now get your ass out of here." she joked.
"Bye Jo." He said smiling. His eyes apologising, but not only for him, but for whatever Dean had done. It didn't work though; she didn't even know what he'd done. He hadn't called her. Was that it? Couldn't be, she hadn't expected him to.
Sam got up, turned round and headed out. Jo picked up the two beers and threw them in the empties. It was only after she heard the growl of the Impala echo into the distance that she went outside to lock up.
'What the hell?' Jo thought, still asleep – sort of – then there it was again, the sound that had woken her. Suddenly it was as if a light bulb got switched on in her head. Sleep left her and she realised that it was someone at her door.
She threw the covers off herself, realising straight away that she wasn't dressed for visitors – in her thin, cotton tanktop and almost non-existent hotpants – but then who else would be at, "4 in the morning?!" she said out loud, because of the shock of seeing the blaringly clear red numbers on her clock.
The knock came again and she knew she didn't really have time to make herself look decent. She'd just smooth down her hair with her hands – which she did as she walked groggily into her living room – and put the chain on the door so she could hide behind it and wouldn't have to worry about it springing open and revealing her in erm…all her glory.
"Hmm?" she said as she pulled the door open. She didn't bother with coherent speech at this hour and she was so tired that she'd completely forgot all about her plan to hide behind her door. She hadn't even put the chain on.
"Whoa." Dean said, almost whistling in the hallway.
"Hmm?" she said again. Then she looked up to see him leaning against her doorframe with a devilish grin.
