When they get to the motel, Dean opens the door then walks her in, never taking his eye off her.
Jo stands, "Dean?"
Harper doesn't look at Jo. She isn't going to risk Jo's happiness. If she goes down, she goes alone.
"Our friend's a werewolf." Jo stays silent. Dean looks at Harper, "Spill."
She takes a deep breath and opens her mouth to start when the motel door swings open and slams into the wall. Sam freezes when he sees Harper. He looks at his brother, "What the hell is she doing here?"
"Sammy, she hasn't actually done anything wrong."
"She's a monster, Dean!"
"So you want me to just kill her?!"
"That's what we do!"
"Sam, when have we seen her do anything but help us?!"
"Monsters kill people, Dean!"
"Not all of them!"
"Oh so we make exceptions now?"
"We've always made exceptions, Sam! I mean Dad told me I'd have to kill you! Do you not remember the demon blood?! We let Lucifer out! We've both been to Hell, Sam! You were soulless! Not to mention, we work with Meg now!"
Sam stays silent, still angry, but silent.
Dean takes a deep breath then turns to Harper. "Tell your story."
She nods and looks at the floor. "Well, first you'll need to know that my parents were both hunters but did mostly research for other hunters when I was born. They started training me when I turned ten. I'd grown up hearing the lore and I'd been able to recite an exorcism since I was five. Anyway, when I was eleven, a fifth generation werewolf found where we lived. It was the child of some other werewolf they'd killed years ago. It managed to get in the house and killed my mother before she could even reach for a weapon." At this point Sam is paying even more attention than he had been. She'd told him part of this story. He still won't look up at her though. "My dad got one of the guns with silver bullets, but it already had me. It was using me as a shield, so my dad couldn't fire. It's arm was wrapped around my neck and I could barely breathe." Sam risks a glance at her, and she's shaking, still looking at the ground. He can hear the tears in her voice. "I- I was so sure I was going to die. I was looking my dad right in the eyes and I tried to smile at him. I- I didn't want him to think I was too scared or that I blamed him because I didn't. All I wanted to do was tell him it wasn't his fault and that I loved him." She takes a shaky breath and continues, "I was absolutely terrified. It let go of my neck but it had my arm." Sam's head and heart are fighting about whether or not to go to her.
She's a monster and she lied.
But I think I love her.
Monsters can't love you back, dumbass.
He stays seated and she composes herself enough to keep talking.
"I screamed when it sunk its fangs into me. I can still hear the way my dad yelled just before he shot it. I guess the werewolf figured turning me would be better revenge than just killing everyone." Harper wipes her face before looking up at Dean. "I actually asked my dad to kill me. I thought that I'd lose control and kill him. We waited for the next full moon, and I changed, but I had complete control. I got lucky." She laughed dryly. "I've never killed anyone to eat, never eaten a human heart. Only things I've ever killed are monsters or the occasional murdering whacko every hunter runs into. Well, I've killed small game when the hunger gets to bad. And the occasional deer. Only animal hearts, and that's not always very often." She takes a deep breath. "So? You gonna put me out of my misery or what?"
"I'll give you a chance, Harp. Please, don't prove me wrong."
"I- I won't." She's looking at him, completely shocked. It's as if she was certain they'd kill her. No, she was certain they'd kill her. She didn't expect mercy.
This realization breaks Sam's heart.
"So Jo," Dean's voice breaks Sam out of his thoughts, "how long have you known?"
"What?!"
"How long have you known she wasn't human?"
Jo looks down, "She told me before you two woke up, but not the whole story. I was giving her a chance before telling you. I'm sorry, Dean. I jus-"
"-Hey, it's okay. It's fine." He stands and walks over to where she's sitting on the edge of the bed and sits next to her. He wraps his arms around her and kisses her head. "I love you," he whispers into her hair.
"I'm just gonna… uh… go to a uh… a bar…" Harper says trying to give them some privacy.
Sam looks around before slowly saying, "Uh… me too…"
Neither Dean nor Jo respond.
"Right," Harper says, and then darts out of the room.
Nothing eventful really happens at the bar for the first part of the night. They ride there in silence, sit away from each other, and basically try to drown their emotions in alcohol.
And it works pretty well for a while. Harper doesn't notice (or maybe just ignores) Sam keeping an eye on her.
Then, after their being there for an hour or so, some asshole starts hitting on Harper. She's been drinking a good bit, and despite her higher tolerance, Sam could tell she was bordering full on drunk. Then again the guy didn't seem to be sober either.
Despite it making his blood boil, Sam stays still.
He watches her try to turn him down, but this guy is persistent. He keeps flirting and trying to touch her, and when she tries to walk away, the guy grabs her arm.
Sam's there in a second. Harper's facing away from him, so he comes up behind her. She's trying to get out of this guy's grip when Sam practically growls, "I think she said 'no', buddy."
"What do you care?" the man slurs. Harper tries to pull her arm away again and almost falls over until Sam steadies her with a hand on her side. Electricity runs through her at his touch.
"Let her go," Sam says slowly, possessively.
"Fine, whatever, man. You can have the bitch."
Sam starts to go at the guy, but a small hand on his chest stills him. "I'm fine, Sam. Thanks."
He just looks at her, and suddenly he desperately wants to kiss her.
So he does.
It's short and sweet, and when he looks at her again, her eyes are wide.
He laughs.
She sucks in a deep breath when he whispers, "Let's get out of here," in her ear.
Out in the parking lot they make it to the impala in a couple minutes. Harper is definitely drunk, seeing as she stumbles across the parking lot grinning ear to ear.
He shakes his head when she starts to sing "Sammy has a crush on meeeeeee".
"Don't let Dean hear you say that."
"You shouldn't be so grumpy. You just defended my honor! You should be happy!" She giggles at him and starts to twirl around in the dark. "Sammy has a crush on meeeeeee! Sammy has crush on meeeeeeeee!" she sings.
"Alright, alright! Get in the car!" he laughs.
"No."
"Why not?"
"'Cause I wanna do something first!"
"What?"
He smiles down at her, and she giggles, "This!" She goes up on her tip toes and manages not to fall over. Her arms wrap around his neck and she pulls him the rest of the way down. Her lips taste like whiskey and she's smiling as she kisses him sweetly.
She pulls away laughing, "I haven't been this drunk in a long time." She swings herself into the car still giggling. He gets in the driver seat, smiling a little. She gasps, "Is that a smile?! Are you smiling at me, Sam Winchester?" He laughs and opens his mouth to respond when she continues, "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm just really drunk. No filter. You just look really good when you smile and-" she covers her mouth, then says a muffled 'sorry'. She looks out the window, hand still over her mouth.
They ride back to the motel in silence.