Rating: T

Notes: Thank you to everyone who has given such lovely feedback - I truly appreciate it. :D


'The Anchor'

Dean looked up to see a dishevelled Sam standing at the doorway. His eyes where alight with panic and he held Bobby's shot gun tightly. "Dean…" He glanced down at Jo curled up in Dean's arms and swallowed uneasily. "Can I…ah… talk to you for a minute?"

Dean looked down at Jo before giving his brother a look. "Sam?" Dean asked still fighting the nausea from his mild hallucinations.

"I.. need to talk to you. For just a second." Sam repeated.

Dean went to remove Jo's arm when he realised she was clinging onto his shoulders tightly. Her breathing changed to little pants. He was surprised to feel her heart beating so fast against his chest. "Jo?"

"Don't let me go." She whispered raising her face, her eyes full of tears and her eyes dancing back and forth franticly.

"Dean." Sam insisted striding across the room.

Jo began to squirm. "Don't let him touch me." She hissed and cried out when Sam grabbed her arm tightly and wrenched her away from Dean.

"Sam, what's going on?" Dean asked angrily. He caught his brother's arm just as Sam raised his fist. "What are you doing?"

"She's still possessed." Sam pointed out struggling to hold her as she tried to shake off his arm.

"Let me go Sam. Please let me go." Jo pleaded between sobs.

"What the hell is going on down here?" Bobby asked from the doorway. His eyes widened when he saw Jo struggling to get out of Sam's grip. "Sam?"

"She has a Hanlkora on her." Sam explained. "Dean, help me pin her down."

"What?" Dean asked incredulously.

"She's got a mystical tattoo that's anchoring the demon to her. Any demon has access to her now and can come and go as it pleases." Jo screamed in fright and tried to lash out at Sam. Bobby grabbed her kicking legs immediately and helped Sam lower her to the ground. "Dean lift up her shirt." Sam instructed, throwing his weight into holding down her top half. Jo began to sob under his body.

"This is crazy, Sam." Dean told them but lifted her shirt.

"You saw it too, Dean. In the vision. The demon is trying to lock itself back inside like Meg did to me." Sam tried to persuade him.

Dean didn't look convinced, but did as his brother asked and pushed back Jo's panties slightly to reveal an ugly black tattoo on her tail bone. "Aw fuck." Bobby spat angrily. "Ellen!" He hollered up to the ceiling. Seconds later the sound of stomping feet ran across the ceiling and down the stairs.

"Bobby, wh… oh Christ." Ellen stopped short behind Bobby when she saw Jo's exposed back. She covered her mouth before dropping beside Bobby. "Tell me that's not…"

"You know what to do Ellen. Dean, hold her legs while I grab the gear." Ellen moved aside so that Dean could take Bobby's position and put pressure down on Jo's calves. Bobby sprinted upstairs.

"I'm sorry honey. I'm so sorry." Ellen told her daughter.

"Mom?" Jo asked in a shaky voice. "Mom, what's happening?"

Ellen looked like she was going to be sick but answered her as best she could. "It's ok Jo honey, just relax now ok. It'll all be over soon."

Jo began to struggle against Sam. "Let me go." She shouted and tried to bite his arm. Sam moved his arm out of her reach but kept a firm pressure to her shoulders to keep her on her stomach. "Mom, make them let me go."

"Shhh." Ellen told her. "Just hold on, we'll make it all better in a minute." Bobby returned looking stressed but determined and threw a small bag down next to Dean. Dean peered over his shoulder to watch what Bobby was doing.

"Get off me!" Jo shouted and began to furiously buck against their weight.

"Ellen, keep her still." Bobby warned applying some antiseptic to Jo's skin before pulling out an alarmingly long silver needle with a hook halfway up.

"Come on Jo honey, I promise it'll go away but you need to hold still now." Ellen tried to calm Jo, but her bucking was becoming more insistent and she kept trying to throw Dean's hands off her legs.

"Ellen." Bobby warned and Ellen threw her weight onto Jo's back to keep her spine still. Dean did the same on Jo's legs and he watched with horror as Bobby inserted the needle. The howl that emanated from Jo's mouth was unnatural and the roar echoed through everyone's ears.

The needle began to glow red hot and Bobby used his shirt sleeves to hold the end as he turned the needle anti clockwise. Black ooze began to seep from the wound and Dean wanted to cover his nose from the smell of burning flesh.

He turned away, unable to watch like his brother. Bobby began to yank on the needle. Jo's screaming stopped immediately and Bobby tugged harder. The needle came free, but with it, coiled in the hook was a black slug like object.

Ellen held out a jar of holy water and Bobby scraped it off inside and shut the lid quickly. The glass began to steam and a white mist swirled around angrily in the jar.

"Wait, is that supposed-" Sam started pointing at Jo's back. He watched with fascination as Jo's messy wound instantly began to seal and the blood disappeared. The tattoo faded and within seconds the wound had vanished without a trace of a scar.

"That explains why she didn't wake up before now." Bobby told Ellen as he casually picked up the jar and shook it. The slug lay dead inside at the bottom of the jar "She had too many toxins in her system and she couldn't repair herself."

"What?" Dean asked dumbfounded, still sitting on Jo's legs.

Ellen eased herself off Jo and motioned at Sam and Dean to do the same. Gently Ellen rolled Jo onto her back and began to nudge her awake. Slowly Jo's forehead creased in concentration and her eyes blinked open. "Mom?" She asked confused.

"It's me."

"What…I… Where…?" Jo stuttered looking around the room disturbed. She flushed red when she saw Sam and Dean staring down at her. "I.. Um… I…" She started to sit up when she realised the state of dress she was in. Franticly tugging her shirt back down she sent her mother a desperate look.

"You boys mind?" Ellen asked half amused at Dean's shocked expression and Sam's equally perplexed face.

"You need anything Jo?" Bobby asked standing up with his bag.

"Pants?" Jo asked looking sheepish.

Bobby tried to hide his smile and he dragged Dean by the arm upstairs. When Bobby left to get Jo some clothes Sam pulled Dean into their bedroom. "Did you see that?"

"The big worm thing?" Dean asked looking squeamish. "That thing was gross man."

"No." Sam hissed impatiently. "She healed herself. That whole wound. It was a mess Dean. That should of taken weeks to heal."

"Well it was a mystical lock thingy." Dean debated. "Why shouldn't it heal mystically?"

"Because even mystical locks leave scars." Sam held out his arm as demonstration of the scar on his arm that he'd received a year ago from Meg.

"So?" Dean asked failing to see where his brother was going with it.

"She's a healer Dean." Sam cried exasperated. "Don't you see? She's like me. She's one of the children. I bet her power is to heal."

"Now hold on there, Mulder." Dean waved off his brother. "Don't go driving the bandwagon here."

"Remember what Bobby said to Ellen about making deals?"

Dean frowned in thought. "Yeah that did kind of bother me." He admitted scratching the back of his head absently.

"She must of bargained Jo's life and the demon took Bill as payment."

"Sam, slow down." Dean tried to persuade his brother. "You're making all kinds of accusations here."

"Listen Dean, yesterday when you left to get wood for the banister Bobby said something to me." When he was sure his brother was listening carefully he continued. "He said, 'There is a lot you two don't know about the Harvelle family. Some things even John didn't know'."

Dean rose his eyebrows. "What kind of things?"

"I don't know. He said it wasn't his place to tell us."

"Well then who's is it?"

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