Title: Hell in a Handbasket
Author: Jmaria
Rating: FR-15
Disclaimer: Whedon owns his peeps, Kripke owns his, I own nothing except for DVD copies of their collective works and an unhealthy imagination.
SPOILERS: Abandon All Hope (so season five)
Summary: She was just another pawn to be sacrificed for the mission.
A/N: I just watched 'Abandon All Hope' and felt like sobbing hysterically after yelling at my phone (I watch it on my phone because my converter box sucks on occasions, and the VCR tapes the eps half-assed, not that anyone really cares about that at all, just needed mentioning). Anyway, I thought of this. Emotionally driven crack fic to be sure.

Hell in a Handbasket

There were only two things that kept her out of making a full-time commitment to him. One was her Mama's genuine dislike for the distance from her, and another was that tiny nugget of stupid hope she held in her heart for a damn hunter. You think she'd know better? After everything her Mama had gone through after Daddy had died, she should know better than to pin her heart on a hunter. So she'd settled down for college boy, who wanted nothing to do with monster hunting.

Connor Reilly was everything a girl could want. He was funny, cute, and wasn't intimidated by her angry stance and general dislike for boys just like him. Not that he'd let that stop him from wooing her - his words. They'd been dating off and on for months when he'd finally asked her to move in with him. She'd been psyched for finally living the life her mother wanted for her.

And then the stupid hunter who held her heart and his stupid brother let the Devil out of Hell, and it was every man for himself. Her Mama had called, telling them all to gather arms. Every able-bodied hunter or person associated with hunting needed to be put on the front lines to protect the thousands of ignorant innocents from the worst parts of the Bible quadrupled. She emptied out her drawer in his dresser that night to go meet up with her Mama.

"Jo? What's going on?" Connor's sudden appearance shocked her.

"I'm - I'm just cleaning up my stuff," the lie spilled easily from her lips.

"Where are you going?" His too knowing eyes locked on the over-stuffed bag on his bed.

"Home," Jo crossed her arms over her chest, not wanting to have this argument with him and have it be her very last conversation with him.

"You are home, or I thought you were. So what's changed?"

"My mom needs me, and -"

"Is it him?"

"Him who, Connor?" Jo snapped, not wanting to deal with stupid male insecurities when this was hard enough to do already. "My mom is all I've got left, you know that - I told you that when we first met! And she needs me so, no, it's not about some dumb ass guy."

She snatched her bag off the bed and stalked around him. She was not gonna cry because he had trust issues. It was the fucking end of days, and she was handling it like one of those stupid girls she'd always mocked. So what if she had to leave her boyfriend in order to help save the world? She was doing it so she had a boyfriend to come back to after this was all said and done.

"Jo!" Connor's hand stopped her before she could get out the door. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. His hand cupped her face, and she felt those damn traitorous girl-tears slipping down her cheek. "You know I love you. Just be safe. Come back to me, okay?"

"Connor..."

"I'm - just be safe, okay?" His shoulders slumped at the knowledge that she couldn't even promise him that.

"Always."

She didn't know if she'd live to see Sunday, much less come back to California and Connor Reilly. She just hoped that she would, cause they wouldn't have nothing if they didn't have hope.