Chapter 4

Topper's Pub, Pontiac Illinois March 2008

It had been more than a year and a month since Jane had been put on leave and she was getting restless. Much to her displeasure she had taken Sergeant McDonough up on his offer to stay at his place, and had even followed his instructions to apply to school. She had put off applying to Illinois State till the last minute hoping that the FBI had finally caught up with her supposed brothers and she could return for duty. But a week before the fall semester deadline she still hadn't heard anything, so she applied. Cashing in her GI bill meant that even if they did catch her brothers she had to wait until she graduated till she was able to go back.

So here she was March of 2008, freshly 27 years old and about to start college in the fall. She had started working as a bartender at Topper's Pub three days after arriving at Danny's cabin thinking that perhaps she should try to save up some money. With her military stipend that she had been saving up since she was 18 she bought a black 1948 Jeep Willys, off of an old military collector, who was disappointed it wasn't camouflaged. She had needed a way to get back and forth from the hole in the wall bar and the cabin, and if she ever did get called back for duty, she didn't think Danny would mind the addition. In her spare time she had buffed and shined the Jeep, bringing it into stellar condition and had even had the son of the owner at Topper's fix it up under the hood.

Jane gazed out the window at her rag top covered Jeep and smiled slightly, proud of the vehicle. Her boss had given her shit about the car, telling her how impractical it was especially in the winter. He had been eating his words three weeks later when a massive snow storm hit and her jeep was the only thing that was able to get him home that night, even if it was freezing. She turned back to the three costumers sitting. It was a slow night for a Thursday, "Another round boys?" Jane asked,

"Sure thing sweetie." Al, a regular to Toppers said. She glared at him,

"I'm far from sweet, Al." She said taking his pint glass and filling it at the tap,

"I'm sure under all them muscles you got something girly in you." He said as she put the glass down in front of him. She wiped her hands on her jeans and leaned against the bar. They had this conversation all the time. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry that walked into the bar had taken a look at her intimidating frame and tried to break her hard exterior, but she never folded. She had often gotten herself in trouble with the owner over how impolite she was to the costumers, but his son had always said that's exactly what some of these town folks needed. A strong kick to the ego from a no questions chick.

"Listen Al, we've got a great thing going here. You come in bitch about your problems, how your wife isn't doing it for you anymore, how your boss is a dick, and I listen and fill you glass. Don't ruin it by asking me questions, and making me kick you out of here...again." Jane said causing Al to grin and shake his head looking down at his beer. Al was more than aware of Jane's capabilities, seeing first-hand how she broke up a fight between two hunters a few months ago before the bouncer could even stand up. The owner had then fired the bouncer simply entrusting Jane to do the job herself. With one last look at Al, Jane turned towards the other two men sitting around the bar,

"Anyone else got any questions?" She asked them, always quick to take up the defensive, and perhaps sometimes blowing things out of proportion. She didn't really care though, considering she always had to look out for herself in life. Offending people wasn't something that she lost sleep over. The other men shook their heads and with a small, "Good," under her breath she grabbed their glasses and filled them up. As soon as she placed them down on the bar her back pocket began to ring. Without glancing at the caller ID she flipped it open, "Hello?"

"Jane Winchester?" The voice asked, and Jane could tell who it was, with one last look at the three men she hopped over the bar and walked into the back room,

"Agent Henricksen you better be calling to tell me you caught them." She replied,

"Ha...yeah interesting story..." He said fading as if in thought. Jane didn't have time for this shit,

"Agent?" She pressed,

"Oh, yeah sorry. Look, I don't really know how to say this but when we apprehended your brothers a chopper came to pick them up-" Jane did not like where this was going so she interrupted him,

"Are you telling me they got the drop on you again, Henricksen? I'm about tired of your half ass attempts here ruining my life-"

"Stop it Jane." He interrupted right back, "There was an explosion from the chopper and your brothers were inside. They're dead, Jane." He said almost regretfully. She couldn't understand his tone,

"Isn't that a good thing?" She asked peaking around the back door to see if the men were still on their stools.

"Uh..." He paused and she thought she heard him mutter, "Son of a bitch is going to kill me," before he spoke up, "Is there any way I could meet up with you once I've taken care of all this?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing,

"Are you hitting on me Agent Henricksen?" She asked slightly annoyed. She heard him chuckle through the phone,

"No, Winchester. Relax. There are just some things I'd like to explain and perhaps apologize for if you wouldn't mind." Henricksen rambled,

"Well I assume you know where to find me, whenever you're ready to stop being weird." She said shaking the thought of her and Henricksen out of her head.

"Great I'll be in touch." He said and right before she was about to hang up he said, "Oh, and Jane?"

"What?" She said a bit harshly hearing an "Excuse me, I'm looking for two boys, they're brothers," in the background on his end,

"Be careful." She pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at the screen as if Henricksen could see her,

"I've got my own back, don't worry." She snapped before hanging up. Little did she know that her brothers were alive and well... at least for the moment, and Henricksen would never get the chance to explain whatever it was that he needed too.

Topper's Pub September 18, 2008

"You wouldn't believe it." Al was telling the gawking patrons that sat around him. Jane listened intently from the other end of the bar, "I was out in the woods trying to find that damn cougar that keeps scaring my woman, when I come across this site." He ran a hand through his thinning hair. "I'm telling you it looked like a bomb landed. Every single tree was leveled in a circle all facing outwards." Jane put a beer down in front of Al shaking her head, "And in the middle," he continued after taking a big gulp from his drink, "A goddamn hole in the ground like something climbed out and blew all the trees down." People were starting to laugh at Al,

"Come on buddy, I think it's time we got you home." Another regular said,

"I'm tellin' you Randy, it's there go check it out." Al responded slightly miffed that his own friend wasn't believing him.

"So where is this 'bomb site'?" A young petite dark haired woman said on the other side of the bar. Jane turned; this woman had been coming in frequently for the past few months, but had never said a word except when asking for a beer,

"Like 15 miles down route 53, right past Steve's place." Al said hopefully, "I can take you there, and you all can see." The dark haired woman stood up throwing bills down on the counter,

"I'm sure it's nothing." She said taking one last look at Jane before heading out of the bar. Jane shook her head and went to go fill up another costumer.

Later that night once Al had been taken home by Randy, Steve, the owner's son and owner of his own gas and mechanic station came in looking worse for wear. Jane always got along great with Steve; he never got too personal with her and was always willing to help with her Jeep. She had imagined he probably had a past that he didn't want to answer for, so neither of them ever got too deep. On occasion Steve had hit on her every now and then, but Jane always brushed it off. Saying he was old enough to be her dad. Probably not true, he might have only had five or ten years on her, but she wasn't interested. "Everything okay Steve?" Jane said putting a full mug in front of him,

"Nah, not so much, Winchester." He said plopping into a stool, "My shop's been robbed, and you know that car I was working on restoring for my dad?" She nodded bracing her hands against the bar, "That's gone too. I mean it's one thing for whoever to take the cash and whatever merchandise, but it's another to have broken all the damn windows."

"That's weird." She offered not really knowing what to say in this situation.

"Eh...I mean when I showed up the damn stereo was on a country station, the register was empty, water bottles gone, and a skin mag was missing. Like who steals those?" He said shaking his head. She gave him a lopsided grin,

"A horny dehydrated red neck." She joked. He shook his head and looked back up at her with a small smile, "Maybe it was the same guy that dropped Al's bomb." She continued to joke thinking of what Al had said earlier,

"Yeah, yeah, I've got insurance though so I should be okay. How was your first day of classes?" He asked raising his mug in her direction. She groaned and poured herself a shot offering him one,

"According to my advisor I'm too experienced to major in military studies so I have to pick another path." She said downing the shot of whiskey, he followed suit and grimaced at her choice of liquor. "Can you believe the bitch suggested I major in social work?" She poured them another shot, "Said I could give back." She muttered before tipping the glass back into her mouth,

"Give back?" Steve asked above his shot,

"Yeah I was a system kid, grew up in foster homes." She said nonchalantly.

"Explains the independence." He said eyeing her as she poured another. It was near closing time, and usually around this time on Friday nights he would come in and help her kick everyone out. Occasionally they would share a drink or two before parting ways, but they still had an hour till close and she was downing shots. Not that he minded this was the most he ever heard her talk at once.

"Yeah, whatever." She snorted abandoning the shot classes and taking a swig out of the bottle. She was definitely an interesting character. He was just about to ask her what she was doing after they closed when the door opened and in walked that cute brunette who had started hanging out here. "We close in an hour." Jane said turning. She stopped, recognizing the woman, who had asked Al where the site was earlier,

"That's fine. I'm just looking for a night cap." She said sitting next to Steve.

"Steve." He said throwing his hand out for the woman,

"Ruby." She replied shaking his hand, "Can I have some of what you're having?" She asked looking at the bottle in Jane's hands,

"Yeah, uh sure." Jane said awkwardly placing a glass down in front of Ruby.

"So Jane was just telling us about her first day back at school." Steve said trying to get the cute new addition to join their conversation. Ruby studied Jane who was busy shooting Steve a dirty look. Jane was wearing the same thing she always wore when it was warm out, jeans and a black wife beater. She was definitely not afraid to show off her scars especially the long deep one that went from her collar bone down her arm and cut off at her elbow. There were dots surrounding it meaning someone had stitched her back together rather quickly, and she never bothered to get it professionally looked at. Ruby could tell Jane had seen some shit, just like her brothers.

"School?" Ruby laughed, "Aren't you a little old to be going to school?" She said downing her shot and tapping the glass for another.

"I'm 27." Jane said defensively glaring at the girl. The girl looked right back at her, causing the hair to rise on the back of Jane's neck. Jane poured Ruby another shot and went over to the hook on the other end of the bar and shrugged her green flannel on over her tank. Ruby's eyes never left Jane and she smirked as Jane put the shirt on. Just like her damn brothers, Ruby thought,

"Excuse me." Ruby said holding up her hands defensively. She turned to Steve, "So tell me Steve what's a guy like you slumming it at a bar like this." She said flirting a little. Ever since Dean had been dragged to hell and Ruby had climbed her way back up she had been keeping an eye on the middle Winchester. When she had mentioned her to Sam, he told her to back off, which only peaked Ruby's curiosity even more. Sam was intent on letting his sister believe they were dead psychotic killers. She had already managed to convince him to come to Pontiac, telling him some demons they had been tracking had come up this way. She had been hoping for some sort of awkward meeting would take place. If she could manage to somehow befriend Jane, she could use the situation to her advantage if she ever needed too. Perhaps be able to get Sam to fully trust her somehow, and to be fair she wasn't really lying about the demons, there were some in town.

Jane left the two to talk as she downed the whiskey bottle still in her hands. She busied herself for the next hour or so cleaning up the bar and closing it down for the night. By the time she was ready to leave she turned to Steve who was considerably drunk, "You guys moving along?" She asked watching Ruby who seemed relatively composed considering the amount she had also drank,

"Yeah, I'll make sure he gets home." Ruby said putting her arm around a stumbling Steve to steady him,

"Now Ladies," Steve slurred looking at the two of them, "Don't go fightin' over me, ya hear." He said moving towards the door. Ruby rolled her eyes at Jane and watched Jane easily jump over the bar to turn out the lights.

"You got it Steve." Jane said following them both out to the parking lot. She buttoned her flannel up against the cool fall air. Crazy how it had been so hot when she got to work today that she could visibly see the heat rising off the asphalt. Ruby directed him over to her car, "Wow is that a 1970 Mustang?" Jane said walking over and running a hand down the hood. Ruby smirked at her,

"Yeah, picked it up recently." She said shoving Steve into the passenger seat. Jane gave a little huh clearly impressed, "Not really in love with the color, but you know."

"No, no this is a classic color." Jane said taking in the orange car with the black racing stripes, "I wish mine was in its original colors." Jane said motioning with her head towards her own Jeep. Ruby smiled and opened her car door,

"Well anytime you want to chat about cars you let me know." Ruby said stepping a leg inside. Steve gave a groan and a burp from the passenger side, "I better get this guy home before he pukes." She said.

"Oh...yeah right, he lives right down Maple third house on the left. You know where that is?" Jane said ripping her eyes away from the car and onto Ruby's face.

"Yeah, right next to that cheap ass motel." Ruby said closing the door and rolling down the window, "Uh...good luck at the school thing. I'm sure I'll see you around." She finished, turning her car on.

"Oh uh thanks... see you." Jane said with a half wave and watched Ruby pull out of the parking lot clearly impressed. She had never met another girl who liked classic cars.

A/N:

Please let me know what you think and thanks for everything!