OK, so this idea came to me after "No Exit," and it hasn't left me alone since. I just HAD to write it. Basically, it's the truth of what happened to Jo's dad, and why. I guess spoilers for "No Exit."

Disclaimer: Sam, Dean, John, and other characters are not mine, no matter how much I want them. Kripke can keep Jo, though :)

The Whole Truth

Wisconsin, 1988

John Winchester was to a man who worked well with others, not since Mary had died, at least. It was a damn good thing his current partner, something-or-other Harvelle, was usually a loner, too. If nothing else, he knew why John was being so cold.

It wasn't just the teamwork thing that had John going inside his head and scrounging around every so often, though. It was the whole hunt. He was worried about his boys. The shtriga was in the area, and there was always that possibility, that small chance that it could get into the motel room…

But he tried not to think about that as he sat in the car with Harvelle, on a stake-out of sorts, just waiting for the ugly witch to show up. It was starting to get boring.

"You mind if I stretch my legs a bit?' John asked, opening the car door without waiting for a reply, "wanna check on my boys."

"Fine by me," the other hunter nodded, "long as I can call my girls when you're done."

"Deal," John said, slamming the door and stalking off to a pay phone that sat on the corner. He dropped in his dimes and dialed the number of the motel room. He listened as the phone rang. When no one answered after fifteen rings, the seasoned hunter began to get nervous. After spending a whole minute in the booth, he was downright scared, and John Winchester did not scare easy.

He found himself sprinting across the parking lot, back to his Impala and Harvelle. "Something's wrong," he muttered, climbing back into the car and starting the engine, "Dean's not answering. I have to go check on them."

"What about the hunt?" Harvelle asked. Easy for him to think about the monster, his wife and daughter were safe in Nebraska.

"You stay here if you want," John snapped, starting to pull out of the lot, "but I'm going to the motel."

Grumbling, Harvelle slid out of the passenger seat, grabbing his rifle, and slammed the door. The last time John Winchester saw the other hunter alive, it was in the rearview mirror.

Will Harvelle crouched down behind the bushes, watching the darkened house carefully. Two of the family's children had already been attacked and were hovering close to death, and he wasn't about to let the third and fourth die, too.

He glanced at his watch. What on earth could be keeping Winchester so long at that motel? Will supposed that John was just worried about his kids. It was understandable. William had a daughter of his own and knew the pressures of parenthood well.

Unlike John, though, Will had gotten remarried after his first wife, Joanne's mother, had died in a fire. Other than that small fact, the two hunters were exactly alike. They preferred working alone, had started this insane quest for vengeance after the nursery fires that had taken their wives, and were both trying to find out whatever had made Mary and Sue burn like that.

Suddenly, the hunter was pulled from his thoughts by a sound behind him. He spun, readying his gun. There was nothing in the bushes, nothing but the occasional gust of wind.

Will relaxed, turning back to the house, and found himself face-to-face with the shtriga. With inhuman strength, the witch pushed the hunter onto his back. It was on him before he could adjust his grip on his weapon, forcing his mouth open with long, cold fingers.

The witch's mouth drew open, glowing through the darkness of the night. Will could fell it drawing his strength from him, could feel his mind beginning to fade, and wished more than anything that John would come to his rescue.

Of course, as these events were taking place, John Winchester was in his trusty Impala, refusing to even look at his oldest son as they sped ever-closer to Blue Earth, Minnesota. He would show up the next day to find Will lying unresponsive behind the bushes, would call Ellen, who would rush up from Nebraska. Will wouldn't survive the week, and his young daughter would be forced to grow up without her father.

John would never be able to forgive himself, or, more importantly, his eldest son, whose irresponsibility had taken his father from the hunt, angered a shtriga, and caused the death of a fellow human being.

Jo Harvelle would never be able to forgive him, either, once she discovered the whole truth of the story her mother told after returning from Pennsylvania.

End

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