'No Exit' missing scene.
Warning: As I've stated before, I do not like Jo. If you do, you will most likely not like this, although I have tried to keep as much to character as possible - as I see her. This is set after the hunt and just before Ellen gets there.
Once again, thank you Red Hardy for your awesome beta. This story is dedictated to you - and to Ridley C. James. As her tag 'Of Saints and Martyrs' inspired this. Phoenix
Any Way Out
The Story
Sam Winchester stood in the doorway of the apartment and sighed. Damn.
In front of him with her back to the door Jo Harvelle was holding Dean's brown leather jacket in her arms and, from where Sam was standing, it looked like she was smelling it – inhaling it really. He closed his eyes and shook his head as he could easily imagine the dreamy look on her face as she cuddled the jacket.
Man. She had it bad. The girl was about as subtle as a – well a cement truck.
"Ahem," clearing his throat, Sam was amused to see the sheepish look on the girl's face as she dropped the jacket and jumped back.
"Ah - Sam," she tried to cover up, "I was just getting your brother's coat for him." Jo glanced a bit nervously past Sam and through the doorway. "Where is Dean?"
"Returning the truck," Sam said slowly moving into the room. He didn't fail to notice how uneasy she seemed to be around him and wondered if she had overheard his little confession about his abilities to Ellen only a few days earlier. "He wants us to meet him downstairs -" He glanced significantly at the jacket, "And to bring his coat."
"I'm not afraid of you," Jo stated as Sam leaned down to toss some things into his duffle bag. He looked up at her, surprised. "Just so you know."
"Why would you be afraid of me?" the young hunter crouched down to make sure nothing had gotten under the bed, sneezing when dust tickled his nose.
"No reason," she lied. "Just thought you'd like to know."
"Good." Sam stated as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his knees. He picked up his duffle bag. "That's nice."
"And I did just fine on this hunt, too," she continued, her tone challenging; a petulant child in the face of a stranger.
The youngest Winchester gave her an odd look. "I never said you didn't…"
"No. But you were thinking it," Jo accused, crossing her arms in a textbook defiant position. "And you're wrong."
"Jo," Sam fought to keep his patience. "I didn't think any such thing -" he paused and then added. "I do think you – and Dean – shouldn't have lied to your mom."
"You know nothing about me or my mom," the twenty-one year old snapped. "She doesn't understand me or care about what I want!"
If you leave now – don't ever come back…
Half the time I don't even know what we're fighting about…
Sam swallowed hard. He turned away and spoke softly. "Don't be so sure about that, Jo." When he looked back, his hazel eyes were bright. "Your Mom cares, very much. That's why she fights with you -" he paused shocked by his sudden clarity, "she's fighting for you."
Dad…
I'm so sorry.
"Whatever," Jo snorted. "Doesn't matter anyways. I proved myself out here today. I'm one of you now."
The young man laughed out loud. But it was not a humorous sound. He tossed down his duffle bag and advanced towards her, stopping when he saw her draw back. "Are you nuts? Jo. Don't you get it? You don't want to be one of us!"
"You're right," she spat back arrogantly. "I don't want to be like you – the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothes, aren't you? I want to be like Dean or Gordon. Real hunters."
The words stung but Sam was determined not to rise to the bait. "Jo, you have a chance at a real life. One that doesn't involve all -" he indicated the duffle bags and empty room, "this. Don't go throwing it away for a glamorized cause, because there is nothing romantic about this." His jaw tightened. "Trust me when I say that. Go home. Go back to school. Take any way out you can, before it kills you. Because it will… In the end, it kills everyone. Hunters don't retire, they're buried!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Jo retorted.
"Yes, I do," Sam sighed wearily, "I got away for two years. I went to school, had a girlfriend… a normal life."
"And?" the girl demanded, her lips twisted in a snarky smile. "What happened? Girlfriend leave you for someone with a pulse?"
A brief flash of pain crossed Sam's face but he was saved from answering when Dean strode into the room. "Hey kids, what's the hold up?"
He glanced from a smug looking Jo to a tight faced Sam. "Did I miss something?" he asked, addressing the girl but watching his brother.
Jo smiled and grabbed his jacket, she held it out, her voice dripping with sweetness. "Here's your coat, Dean."
Dean took the offered article but was more interested in the tension between the two younger people than in the jacket. "Sam?" he addressed his brother directly, this time.
Sam reached for his bag again and moved past Dean. "I'll be in the car," he said and was out of the room before the older man could ask anything else.
That left Jo.
"What's got his knickers in a knot?" he demanded, shrugging on his coat.
Jo shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he's menstrual or something." She snagged her own coat, surprised when Dean suddenly grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"Jo?" his voice held a note of warning. "What's going on?"
The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "Nothing okay. Your little brother just decided to get self-righteous on my ass and then wigged out when I turned it back on him."
Dean continued to stare at her, so she elaborated. "He just gave me the 'stay in school' speech that I've heard a million times from my mother. Even went as far as to tell me about his stint in an 'apple pie' life."
The older man frowned and released her arm. "Sam's never had an apple pie life."
"When he went to school," she huffed, rubbing her arm.
"Stanford?" Dean's frown intensified. "Sam told you about Jessica?"
"Jessica?" Jo smirked. "That was her name."
"Yeah. Jessica," the hunter's face darkened, not liking the dismissing tone in her voice. "And she's dead. So try and show a little respect here, okay?"
Chagrined Jo suddenly found the floor very interesting. "I didn't know."
Dean shrugged but didn't say anything else on the matter, swinging his own duffle bag over his shoulder and moving towards the door. "C'mon – we need to go. I just got a call from your mother." He grimaced. "Apparently she will be driving back with us."
"My Mom?" Jo actually paled.
"Yup. She's at the airport." The young man exhaled loudly as he rubbed his phone ear. "And she is very pissed."
"She's always pissed," the girl grumbled, grabbing her bag to follow Dean. She paused. "You'll back me up though, right?"
Stunned, Dean turned around to look at her. "Excuse me? Back you up on what?"
"On this. The hunt. I did good, right?" bright blue eyes pleaded with him. "Everything worked out fine. We got the bad guy. Piece of cake."
For one long moment the young man just stared at her, and then he started to speak. His voice sounding eerily calm. "Is that what you think? That this was a 'piece of cake'? Jo, you just don't get it do you?" He snorted. "We made mistakes – mistakes that we are damn lucky to be walking away from."
Jo opened up her mouth ready to argue but Dean spoke over her. "You got caught, Jo. That is about the worst thing that could possibly happen on a hunt! The only reason I didn't physically put you on a plane myself when you first showed up, is that I figured if you were here with me, I could at least keep an eye on you, instead of worrying if you were going to try and sneak in again.
"The only reason we found you was because Sam figured out about that hidden basement. And that is just not good enough…
"Look, Jo. The biggest part of a hunt is being able to trust yourself and your partner – if you have one. And right now I don't know you well enough to trust you. And if I can't trust you, that makes you dangerous.
"Dangerous to yourself and dangerous to anyone working with you…" He exhaled wearily. "We were lucky today, Jo. Very lucky." Dean paused as he saw her start to tap her foot impatiently. "I'm sorry -" he stated, in irritation. "Am I boring you?"
"It's not that," she quickly denied. "It's just that I know all this, okay? And it won't happen again. Now can we go?"
"See," the young man pointed a finger at her, "it's an attitude like that, that'll get you killed!"
"What?" Jo was confused.
"You aren't taking any of this seriously. Do you even know where we fucked up?" Dean challenged. "Just because things worked out in the end, doesn't change the fact that we made mistakes."
"I. Get. It. Okay?" Jo repeated with emphasis. "Now can we just drop this? My Mom is waiting."
Dean stared at her a moment longer and then huffed loudly, walking out of the room in front of her. She didn't get it and he knew it.
He just prayed she would before she got killed. Or worse, she got someone else killed.
"Oh, Jo," Dean stopped and didn't bother to turn around to look at her. His voice was deceptively friendly. "Just so you know. If you ever put me in this kind of position again, you won't have to worry about some supernatural nasty – we clear?"
For a moment, he didn't hear anything.
"Jo?"
"Yeah," she finally answered, "we're clear."
"Good," Dean nodded, satisfied, and then added, "oh, and just so you also know… I'm the dangerous brother, darlin'. Not Sam."
This time he didn't wait for a response.
The End
I will admit, I originally wanted Dean to overheard Jo and Sam's earlier conversation in the story becuase Dean's protective streak is just so much fun to play with... however I was needed to keep them in line to the atmosphere that were coming up in the next scene with the four of them in the Impala. No matter how I tried to write it, I figured Dean would have still been too angry at Jo to pull that off... So, alas, I will just need to take care of that at a later point :P