"May, your phone! It's an unknown number," Jo yelled through the slightly opened bathroom door. She waved the phone through the door then slid into the bathroom, picking up her toothbrush.
Maysen stuck her head out of the shower, blinking in confusion at her. "It's seven in the morning. Who could be calling me this early?" Jo shrugged at May, holding the phone out. She had already started brushing her teeth. "Nah, just let it go to voicemail." She waved at the sink, gesturing to Jo to put the phone there. She stepped back into the shower, letting the warm water run over her. It had been a few days since she and Jo had stayed in a motel with decent water pressure, so they splurged and stayed at a place called Toppers Motel. The motel wasn't the best, but it was better than the roach motels they had grown used to. It felt nice, not having to worry about how long she could stand in the shower before the hot water ran out, as well as not having to twist the shower head a few times to get the water flow more than a trickle. She heard Jo spit and turn on the sink, then shut the bathroom door again. It was almost time to go get breakfast, so May finished showering and washing her hair.
As she reached for her towel, she heard Jo calling for her through the bathroom door again. She climbed out of the tub, wrapping the towel around her body, and reached to open the door fully. "Whaaaaat?" she asked, exaggeratedly, grinning at Jo. The two had been traveling together steadily for over a year now, hunting primarily on the West Coast, though occasionally venturing into the Mid-west. They had known each other, kind of, through the years as both of their dads had been hunters and died on the job. Maysen had stayed with Bobby and his daughter Sarah on occasion, and Ellen would drop by with Jo as well. Especially if Bobby had the boys too - sometimes he and Ellen were responsible for an entire houseful. But these moments were rare, and prior to eighteen months ago, she hadn't seen Jo in nearly twenty years.
She was a few years older than Jo, and was starting to feel the big sisterly vibe towards her. Not that May could offer her any advice, and, Maysen thought, not that she WOULD offer any advice either, but she felt protective of her partner in crime. They had become best friends in the least, watching each other's back while on a case and trusting the other to keep them alive. Not for the first time, she was glad Sam had recommended they hunt together.
She shook her head, feeling her red wet curls slap her face. Jo was holding out her own phone for May to see. "The same number is calling me now. Maybe a hunter's got a new cell number?"
May shrugged. "It can't be a coincidence. Answer it while I get dressed?" She grabbed her clothes off the bed and slipped back into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly opened.
"Hello?" She heard Jo answer, her voice questioning but confident. "Oh, hey, Dean. Did you get a new cell number?" Jo was silent for a moment and then laughed. "Jesus, I'm glad you don't buy expensive phones." May chuckled to herself, assuming Dean had broken his cell phone yet again. Her heart sped up a little as she heard Jo respond, "Oh yeah, she's here. Let me see if she's dressed yet." She shook her head as she pulled on her jeans. She didn't deny her lingering feelings for Dean, but she, like everyone else, had buried Dean when his contract ran out. Everything had been thrown into a whirlwind of crazy since Lilith started breaking seals, and the two hadn't even tried to see each other much less discuss emotions in the past few months. They had an unspoken bond of staying in separate states, more than a day's drive apart it seemed. But, he had tried to call her first, so that had to mean something.
She zipped up her jeans and stuck out her head out of the bathroom. "I'm good – what's up?" Jo put the phone on speaker phone, sat it on the table, and started putting on her shoes while May towel dried her hair.
"We have a bit of a situation and need your help. It's a drop whatever case you are on emergency," Dean started in instantly.
May rolled her eyes. Winchester boys — it was always an emergency. "Hello, Dean. We are doing fine yes. No, no of course you didn't wake us up!" she replied sarcastically. "We just finished a case a few nights ago and haven't picked up a new one yet. Still enjoying southern California." She threw the towel back onto the sink and reached for the coffee pot Jo had turned on before her shower. She mouthed "thank you" to Jo as she poured a cup.
"Where are you guys in California again?" Dean asked, ignoring May's response.
May looked at Jo and shrugged. Jo picked up the binder from the night stand that contained all the city information. "Taft, California."
"Any idea how far away that is from Burbank?"
May pulled out her phone and typed it into her GPS as Jo grabbed her phone and came to peer over her shoulder. "Uh - just under two hours. Not terribly far. Did you find a case in Burbank or something? It must be good if it's so urgent," Jo told Dean into the phone, unable to mask her excitement.
"Awesome. That's great. We've got a bit of a situation involving a seal and we're going to need your help." Dean proceeded to explain the situation to Jo and Maysen. The girls sat down on one of the beds as Jo pulled out a notebook, taking notes as Dean talked. They let him give as many details as he could, explaining Noah and the descendants. (He left out the information about Cain's descendants — he didn't see the relevance, nor did he want to think about it.)
May noticed how he couldn't contain his anger as he talked about someone named Rory Gilmore that was to be in Stars Hallow, CT this weekend. She looked at Jo quizzically to see if she understood, and Jo shrugged, then mouthed "well…" as she looked like she was trying to remember something vaguely familiar. But she shook her head a moment later, not able to remember whatever the reason why it was familiar. She wrote down the information anyways, even though Dean said that he and Sam were going to handle that descendant.
"Anyways. Cass said the second descendant is in California and that'll he'll be a Best Buy— no sorry, a Buy More— in Burbank. His name is Bruce —Bryce, yeah Sam— Bryce Larkin? Right Larkin. Who the hell is named Bryce these days?—Sam is working on finding a picture of the guy, but having some trouble. Apparently he doesn't have any kind of social media accounts or something. Sam found a few articles about a Bryce in some Stanford articles back from 2001-2002. We're working on a picture. I'll have Sam send you what we've got soon."
"Thanks, Dean. Have Sam send whatever he finds to my phone— sounds like we're driving down to Burbank," Jo said. May usually did all the driving. Jo had a tendency to have ideas in the car, and it was kind of hard for her to dictate them while driving. Sometimes she just couldn't articulate the right words. Plus, May enjoyed driving. It was calming. She watched as Jo added some more notes to her journal, jotting down topics to look up, questions to be answered. She looked so lost in thought already; May picked up the phone and took it off speaker.
"Dean." She walked outside and leaned against the wall of the motel.
"May, hi." His tone was a little softer. She heard him shifting around, hopefully moving away from Sam from a moment of privacy.
"I just, um, wanted to check up on you. I talked to Sam a few days ago, but it's been awhile, Dean." She played with the hem of her shirt, knowing how ridiculously awkward and teenager-ish she sounded. Sam had told her how difficult that it had been for Dean recently, how little he was sleeping and how exhausted he looked. But she couldn't tell Dean that. He'd be furious at both of them for just being concerned.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine. Swell, even. Was kind of looking forward to spending a few days in Philly. Maybe…maybe we could take a trip out here one day." May smiled at that comment, but she knew it would probably never happen. Dean and she both had a job to do, and that was always priority one.
"Yeah, maybe one day. Once we have saved the world from this current mess. We'll take a month off together or something. Make Jo and Sam do the hunting while we vacation." He chuckled at her idea without any humor. "Anyways, just wanted to say hi. We'll call you when we make it to Burbank."
"Yeah. Talk soon. Oh, and if you see anything nice for Baby while you're at this Buy More place, let me know," he responded. May laughed and rolled her eyes, then flipped the phone shut. Jo preferred her burner phones to be older models, mostly because she enjoyed slamming them shut when she was angry. She shoved Jo's phone in her pocket and headed back into the motel room.
"Jo, you packed up? We should probably hit the road. Scope out this Buy More, maybe see if we can find any more information on this guy." May grabbed her coffee cup and drained it.
"Sounds good. How's Dean doing?" Jo kept her tone steady, but May instinctively checked out her face. She knew Jo had a crush on Dean at one point in life, but she swore that it was old news. Dating hunters was useless in her eyes, she had claimed, and it was easier to just keep sex casual. Besides, according to her, why would Jo want to deal with the heartache of a relationship like May and Dean's, or another unknown loss like Rick?
Still, May worried that Jo was hiding feelings, and chose not to discuss her odd relationship with Jo. Not that she had much to discuss. But like always, Jo looked back at May with no hint of jealousy.
"He's Dean, you know. Doesn't sound like he's sleeping, But still cracking bad jokes, so alive. Hey, what was up with his tone about Stars Hollow?"
"Right? I'm not sure what's up there. The town's name sounds familiar, but I I know I've never been. It's nagging at me. I'll ask Mom tonight. Should we have her and Bobby join up with us for this?" Jo stopped packing up her bag and looked at May. May was piling up her hair on the top of her head.
"I think we've got it for now. Let them have a night in or something. We'll let them know what's going on of course, but," she shrugged, "let them have a little bit of a normal relationship." Jo smiled at that. Ellen and Bobby had gotten together about six months ago, ending in an impromptu elopement, and they both had found it adorable.
"Okay," Jo said, throwing her bag over her shoulder, then grabbing May's, as May grabbed their bathroom stuff. "Since we're up so damn early, let's find some breakfast on the way out of town."
"We won't have to stay in a motel in Stars Hollow," Sam sighed, shutting the computer and looking at Dean as he hung up on Jo and May. "There's a guy – sort of an ex, retired hunter — who lives there. He can find us a cheap room. Trust me — we want to keep as low of a profile as possible in this town. Which will be nearly impossible for me."
He held up a finger as he pulled out a cell phone to stop Dean's anger. "Let me make the call first, then I'll explain what I can."
"Fine," Dean retorted, taking a swig of beer. His eyes watched his brother with a dangerous look in them.
Sam rolled his eyes and looked through his contacts, selecting "Luke's Diner." He hit call, praying the owner would pick up and not another employee, or worse, Lorelai Gilmore.
"Luke's Diner," said a gruff, familiar voice. Sam cracked a small smile at the familiarity of it, but couldn't quite seem to form any words. "Hello?" the voice asked again, a little louder and gruffer.
"Luke," Same finally pushed out," hey. It's, uh, Sam Winchester. I mean," he glanced at his brother before continuing in an awkward quiet tone," Dean Forrester."
Several states away, the diner owner's eyes grew to the size of small saucers as his grip on the phone tightened. "De-" he started and caught himself as he glanced at his fiancée. "Sam. Winchester. I take it this isn't a social call?" He tried to keep his tone light as he turned towards his supply closet to get away from the noisy diner. He covered the mouth piece and whispered "fishing buddy" to Lorelai before walking away.
"Yeah. This isn't a social call," Sam replied. "We've gotten wind of a case out your way. We're the closest hun-"
"Dean, you can't come now," Luke interrupted, trying to keep his voice down. "There haven't been any strange murders, no ghosts, nothing of that nature. And," he said taking a deep breath, "my wedding's this weekend. To Lorelai. Which means Rory will be here." Luke heard Sam shifting at Rory's name through the phone.
"How much has Bobby kept you in the loop about the apocalypse?"
"Enough to know you and your brother are responsible," he replied hotly, "but also that you're working to stop it."
"Look, there are these seals. I don't have time to explain, but one of the seals has been traced to these coordinates, coordinates that happen to be under the town gazebo. And there are some people that might be in trouble, but we'll keep them safe too. We just need a place to stay and hide out from everyone."
Luke could feel his blood pressure rising. This was not the time for this, for a good deed he helped do years ago to pop up. But he also knew Dean… Sam….wouldn't be coming back to Stars Hollow if it wasn't necessary.
"You can stay in my place over the diner," he finally said. "I'm living with Lorelai, so it'll be free. And most of our guest are staying at the Dragonfly this weekend. But Dean…Sam, you won't be able to hide in this town, you know that. So you better come up with a good story, and quick. And it's not involving my wedding. Got it?"
Sam nodded, running his hands through his hair, turning back towards Dean. "Got it. We'll be heading up that way this evening. Should be hitting Stars Hollow around 9 PM. We've got a bit of research to do first. Leave the key in the same place as you used to. And Luke? Thanks again."