Disclaimer: I don't own, Mr. Kripke and friends don't sue... Deal?
Wulfgirl347: I'm so glad you like it so far! And that you like Joie! Many people don't like stories with OC's involved (myself included, as hypocritical as that is), so to know that she is your favorite character is a huge honor to me! It took three days, but here's not one, not two, but THREE updates for you my dear. Lol.
Amaya479: I hope it only gets better for you. I've liked Meg as a good foil for Dean ever since I saw her in season 7. She's a demon, yeah, but at least she's honest about who she is, what she wants and why she's doing it. Right now I'm just hoping I don't get too out of character with her.
Author's Note: I lied about how I set up part four. I'm sorry. I really meant to write it out the way I said I would, but then I actually started writing and something completely different popped out. Read on to find out. Hope I don't disappoint y'all too much.
8 Days Earlier: Part 2
Joie stood back and surveyed her work with proud eyes. It was ready. It had taken three hours and numerous check overs, going back to correct some of Castiel's work (not that it was really wrong. She was just a perfectionist.) but they were ready to track Meg. Briefly, she surveyed the men in the room.
Dean sat on the couch, beer in hand, catching up to what he's missed in Dr. Sexy M.D. since he'd been in purgatory. She smiled at the sight. Her brother's obsession with the soap opera had always been a mystery to her, but it made him happy. He was more relaxed than she'd seen him since he'd returned, and had even given into her request to eat a semi-healthy meal with broccoli. The fact that there had also been a steak and loaded mashed potatoes with the promise of apple pie for dessert if he cleaned his plate was in no way a bribe on her part in order to make him eat his vegetables. Not at all. She laughed lightly.
She wanted to go over a sit next to him on the couch. Maybe grab one of her books from her pack and read while he watched the god-awful TV show. It was a ritual from when they were younger after particularly bad hunts. Dean on one end of the couch with a beer, watching the TV, Sammy on the other end with his computer and music, and Joie in the middle with her book, head tucked under Dean's arm, feet resting comfortably in Sam's lap. In the end, it was only the thought of Sam that stopped her. It wouldn't be right without the third part to their sibling trio there with them. Just like it hadn't been right after Sam left for college.
Sighing, she turned her eyes to Castiel. The angel was sitting cross-legged on the desk in the corner, pouring over an old book of Bobby's about plants and their supernatural uses. He looked… cute, dammit. He looked cute like that, bright blue eyes devouring the page while dark brown, almost black hair threatened to fall in his eyes. He reminded her of a lost puppy. One that she wanted to take in her arms and hold. Except she didn't want to make-out with lost puppies, and she definitely wanted to make out with the angel. You are a sick child Joie. Her inner voice told her. He's an angel. Of the Lord. He probably doesn't even know what sex and attraction are, much less be able to feel them. You'd probably scar the poor thing for life if he knew what you were thinking.
Joie couldn't help it though. He was hot. The eyes, the hair, the innocence and naiveté that surrounded him like a shield. And the wings! She really wanted to touch them. To run her fingers through them and see if they were as soft as they looked. Groaning silently, she shook herself out of her thoughts. Really, she ought to write a paranormal romance next. Just get all her dirty thoughts about a certain sexy angel out on paper and hopefully forget about them.
"Oi! Cas! You ready to find your girlfriend?" She shouted, reminding herself forcefully that, even if Castiel was up for a few rounds of hot and heavy, there was another woman out there that he definitely wanted back.
Castiel pulled himself out of his book and looked toward the female hunter. Shaking his head, he was tempted to dive straight back into his book. Dean would kill him if he knew about even half the fantasies Castiel had created involving the young woman while he was "reading". The last thing he needed was to slip up and alert Joie to his feelings. He did not wish to make her uncomfortable, and, considering he and Dean had filled her in on his past actions while she cooked supper and prepared the spell, there was no way the girl would be comfortable around him if she knew he wished biblical knowledge of her. Unfolding his legs from the desk, he dropped to the floor. "She is not my girlfriend, at least not in the manner you mean. She is a friend. And a girl. But we have no romantic feeling for each other. I believe I remind her of the little brother she sold her soul to save."
Dean whipped his head around. "What?"
Castiel cocked his head in Dean's direction. "Did she never tell you how she became a demon?" Dean shook his head. "She sold her soul during the reign of the Black Plague in England. Her brother contracted the disease, and she sold her soul to Crowley personally in order to save him. Her younger brother was the only family she had. She even turned to prostitution in order to care for him after her parents perished from the disease. When he contracted it, she spoke to a woman whose husband had miraculously recovered. The woman told her how to perform a crossroads deal, and Meg did it without hesitation. Like you Dean, she would have done anything for her brother. She just didn't have an angel to pull her out before she went completely dark." Castiel finished with what was obviously a slight bit of censure.
Joie giggled as her big brother gaped. Apparently Dean wasn't expecting to have something in common with the demon. She was also strangely impressed with Castiel. He had effectively chastised her brother for his judgment of Meg without ever raising his voice. Maybe she should take lessons from him.
"How do you know all this?" Dean finally asked.
Castiel shrugged. "I could hear and see while in my catatonic state. I just could not will my body to respond. Meg spoke to me quite a bit during that time. Actually, she was a chatterbox. That was one of the many things she told me during our time together."
Joie smiled, shaking her head. "Ok Dean." She said, stepping in before her brother could pepper Castiel with more questions. "Save them for the demon herself please."
Dean nodded dully, still obvious reeling from the new information. "Yeah. Sure. It's just… I thought demons couldn't remember anything from when they were human."
"Wasn't that something Ruby told you?" Joie asked harshly. Dean nodded. "So we should believe that because…"
Her brother winced. "Good point."
She rolled her eyes. "Alright. Now that the Meg Q&A is over with for the moment, Cas, come here."
Castiel moved next to her. "Yes Joie?"
"I need your hands." Joie replied, giving him a mischievous smile. She was not, however, repaired for the response.
"Should I cut above or below the wrist?" Castiel asked, holding his hands out. The question was said in such a dead-pan monotone that she actually thought he was serious. Only Dean could see the impish glint in the angel's eyes.
The hunter rolled back on the couch, getting the reference that Cas was making. "Dude! I'm so proud of you! You actually watched a movie! And remembered it!"
Castiel smiled widely. "It was during my stay with Meg. She insisted it was an excellent movie. While slightly disturbing, the doctor was incredibly brilliant and actually capable of feeling, unlike true sociopaths."
Joie blinked. "Hannibal?! Seriously! So… what? You're Dr. Lector and I'm Clarice now?" She exclaimed, the reference finally sinking in. She cringed. She should've seen it from the get-go. She was the horror movie junkie in her family after all.
Castiel laughed. "Just trying to diffuse the situation Joie." He replied nonchalantly. "I was told that these rituals work better when feeding off calm emotions."
"Yeah, well, last I checked, shocking the hell out of someone doesn't exactly promote tranquility."Joie replied, the smile on her face softening the word's blow. "Come here. I need you to hold the bowl and pour a little angel mojo into it."
"How come Jo-Jo?" Dean asked, coming to stand near the bowl. "We've done demon tracking spells before, all we needed was a few drops of the caster's blood."
Joie nodded while setting up the matches and pure powdered sulfur (as in collected straight from a demon), along with salt and iron. "For our normal tracking spells, that's all it takes. But I found this a few years ago in Bobby's library. It's supposed to be more powerful than the typical one we use, and I never thought I'd get the chance to use it since it needed the grace of a fallen angel. However, we've got Cassie here, so I figured Hey! Let's give it a shot!"
Castiel shook his head. "Always a tool for the Winchesters."
She scowled at him, popping his hand lightly. "You're not a tool. You're an asset. And my brother's guardian. And part of the friggin' family. So stop with the self-depreciation."
"Yes ma'am"
Joie rolled her eyes. "Great. I've got an eons old angel calling me 'ma'am'. I don't feel old at all."
Dean and Cas chuckled at her put-out expression. "Maybe it's just because you're so freaking scary Jo-Jo." Dean quipped.
"Oh yes. Positively frightening. I'm a death threat to bunnies." Joie replied drolly, baring her teeth in a playful manner.
"And to shifters." Castiel piped. "Dean tells me you specialize in hunting them."
She shrugged uncomfortably. "They killed my family. I kill them. A kind of pointless revenge cycle. But it means the bad ones can't keep on hurting others."
"The bad ones? Is there any such thing as a good one Joie?" Dean asked, only half joking.
Joie pierced him with a steely glare. "Yeah. There is Dean. I met one three months ago in Lubbock. She took the form of a girl who had been killed in a car accident. Lived her life like the girl. Gave the girl's family their daughter back, went to college like a normal human, and didn't do anything but try to live her life. Maybe you think it's bad because she's impersonating someone, but when she told me about the girl's family and how she had been their only child after trying for years, I just couldn't kill her. She was trying to do good, trying to live with what she was even while trying to make life a little easier for someone else. She wasn't evil, just different. Kind of like that vamp you and Sammy let go."
"That was different! She wasn't hurting anyone!"
"And who was my shifter hurting?!"
"How about that family? If they ever found out-"
"But they won't!" Joie cried, stomping her foot in frustration. "Shifter's absorb everything! Looks! Habits! Memories! Everything! This way they at least get to have their daughter when otherwise they'd have nothing! After John and Bobby, how can you deny them that?"
Dean stiffened at the mention of his biological and foster fathers. "That was low Joie."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "That was relevant Dean. You're just mad because I put it in perspective for you."
He rolled his eyes and looped an arm around Joie's neck. "Yeah," He murmured, kissing her hair, "Like I said, low."
"As much as I'm enjoying this ethical debate, the longer we go without Meg finding us, the more worried I become." Castiel interjected, silently wondering at the burning feeling in his gut when he saw Dean kiss the top of Joie's head. "May we please continue?"
Joie pulled out from under Dean's arm. "Sure. No problem. Set your hands on the bowl Cas."
Dean stepped back and the angel complied, placing his hands on either side of the bowl. Joie laid her hands over Castiel's. "Ok, now Cas I just need you to pour some of your grace into the bowl. Focus on the yarrow flowers. They're the important bit."
He obeyed and made the petals of the small yellow flowers open and close. Joie saw nodded approvingly. "Ok. Dean, as soon as I finish the chant. Toss in the salt and a lit match." Dean nodded. "Here we go.
"Duc nos ad daemon qui se dicit Meg Masters. Ostende nobis eam physica locus. Mali et aperiant viam illam."Joie chanted three times, her voice weak at first and growing stronger with each passing repetition. As soon as she finished third rotation, Dean tossed in the salt and a match. The entire table, not just the bowl of ingredients, went up in green flames. Joie and Cas resolutely kept their hands in the fire, letting the flames lick at their skin. As quickly as it had lit up, the table extinguished, leaving on its surface a charred location and a string of numbers.
"Red Mesa, Arizona." Joie read out dispassionately.
"What are the numbers?" Castiel asked.
Joie glanced at the string. "I'm not sure. That's never happened with a tracking spell before."
"Well you said this one was supposed to be more powerful, right?" Dean asked. "Maybe it's a more exact location."
"Like GPS coordinates?" Joie asked, excitement growing in her gaze. Normally, after a tracking spell, they would go to the town and have to spend days, sometimes weeks, searching for the person. If this gave an exact location, maybe down to the house of warehouse they were hiding in, then they would be able to find Meg and get her home in no time!
"Only one way to find out. Type it into the computer. See if it pops up even anywhere near Red Mesa." Dean suggested logically, and Joie hastened to do just that. Sure enough, several keyboard clicks and a few mumbled curse words later and Joie was jumping excitedly.
Running across the room, she threw herself at Castiel, enveloping him in a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I swear, if you weren't an angel I'd kiss you right now!"
She let go as abruptly as she'd latched on and ran over to Dean. "Come look Bubba! It's amazing! Down to the lot she's in! Street view even shows what the house looks like!"
"How long before we can leave to go get her?" Castiel asked, watching Joie give Dean a rapid fire explanation of what he was seeing on the computer screen. His body felt uncomfortably tight from where she had been pressed against him. It was akin to the odd stirring he'd felt in his body when he'd watched that movie with the pizza boy and the housewife in it.
Joie tensed at this and looked at Dean questioningly. They seemed to have a silent conversation with their eyes, leaving Castiel feeling very out of place. He'd seen similar actions between Dean and Sam, though the brothers could converse for hours without ever saying a word. The bond was weaker between Joie and Dean, and they stopped after a few minutes.
"I don't think I can do this Dean." Joie whispered quietly. "I'm the brains. You and Sammy are the brawn."
Dean scoffed. "Jo-Jo, you've hunted alone for years and survived. That right there proves you've got the brawn."
"I never took the dangerous shit that you and Sam did! I stuck to salt-and-burns and shifters. The occasional vampire's nest if I met up with a group of hunters. Anything else I took on was when you called me!"
"But you still survived. And you hunt shifters! Do you think shifters are easy to take out? Those things are fucking vicious!"
"No shit Sherlock! But John taught me about shifters! Everything about them! He even talked Bobby into giving me a shit ton of books on them! Plus, you and he specialized my training specifically for shifters after Sammy left! I would've died by now if it wasn't for that!"
"You're going to be with an angel Jo-Jo! If you run into trouble, all he has to do is touch the monster and it dies!" Dean yelled, fed up with Joie's excuses.
"Is he even at full power?" Joie asked gesturing towards Castiel wildly.
Castiel narrowed his eyes. "He is standing right here and yes, his grace is fully charged. Why will only one of you be going with me?"
"One of us needs to stay behind in case Sammy shows up." Joie explained, still glaring at her brother. "Dean wants to stay behind because he hasn't seen Sammy in a year. I want to stay behind because I'm more of a hindrance than help on this kind of hunt. But Dean here," She pointed accusingly at the green-eyed hunter, "seems to believe that just because I know how to kill shifters means I'll stand a chance against demons!"
"You held your own against Meg the first time around!" Dean exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"You and Sam captured her! I just read the exorcism!"
"You still held your own! And you'll have Cas! He'll be the brawn this time!"
"Dammit Dean! You need two strong hunters to go in there! We have no idea what we'll be walking into! All we know is it's probably not good because, let's face it, IT NEVER IS!"
"ENOUGH!" Cas yelled, appearing between the two hunters that had gotten progressively closer as the yelling got louder. "You!" He poked Dean in the chest. "Stop pushing your sister! And you!" He whirled around, poking Joie. "You're coming with me. All of Crowley's demons will know and recognize your brother. They'll have Meg out of there before we can get near her. We need someone unknown who can get close without registering as a threat."
Dean's mouth was gaping open in shock before he burst into laughter. "Damn Cas!" He said, clapping the angel on the shoulder. "I didn't think you had it in you!"
Cas sent a withering glare over his shoulder. "After everything else I've done, you didn't think I'd be able to stand between a petty sibling squabble?"
Joie smirked. "He's always been a little dense."
"Do not start Joie. Are you ready to go?" Castiel asked the little huntress grumpily.
"Give me fifteen minutes. If I have to go to be slaughtered then I'm going to at least put up a fight." She replied, grabbing her pack and pulling out a squirt bottle and box of bullets. "Hey Dean, can I borrow the Berretta?"
"Where's yours?"
"Long story. Suffice to say, Florida swamps and pissed off ghosties don't mix well." Joie said distractedly, catching the gun Dean tossed to her and loading it with iron rounds. "Hey, dig in that small bag under the windowsill and toss me the amber rosary."
"Still have about ten thousand rosaries then?"
"Still complaining when they've saved your ass on more than one occasion?" Joie returned, catching the necklace as it flew at her and dropping it in the squirt bottle.
"Why do you have so many?" Castiel asked, irritation gone now that Joie and Dean had stopped yelling at each other."
She carefully poured leftover holy water into the squirt bottle and finished filling the bottle. "Different rosaries made of different stones for different uses. Amber is a strong protective stone and the holy water I just added to this bottle was made with a rosary of bloodstone and an old gravestone."
"Victory and death?" He was seeking confirmation.
"Yep." Joie assured him. "Most think holy water is holy water, but the type of blessing you use on it and the type of rosary you use affects its potency and uses. For example, holy water made with amethyst is more likely to just make your demons a little cuddlier while holy water made with a rosary of peridot will make them a sleepy."
"And the one you're making will…?"
"Hopefully, gravely injure any rogue demons, help us achieve our goal, and keep us from getting injured." She finished blessing the bottle. Standing, she tucked it into a pouch and slid the strap up her leg, firmly attaching it to her thigh. Joie grabbed two large drawstring purses filled with salt and goofer dust and hooked them to her belt loops before sliding the gun into the back of her jeans and doing a double check to make sure the knives in her boot and on her wrist were still in place. "Ok. Ready to go bird-boy."
"Joie. If you insist on calling me that I will be forced to leave you to your own devices against any demons we come across." Castiel warned.
"If she comes back with even one hair on her head injured, you'll pay for it Castiel." Dean growled, pulling his sister into a possessive hug. "Be nice to him Jo-Jo." He whispered quietly in her ear. "He just wants his friend back. Sam and I weren't the greatest to him."
"I'll be good to your angel Dean-O." Joie promised. "That's not to say I won't be clinging to the back of that trench coat and using him as a shield, but I'll bring him back alive. With or without the demon."
"Thanks Jo-Jo."
Joie smiled sadly at her brother. She could tell something was bothering him. Something about the way he had treated Castiel. From what she'd heard, the angel had done a lot of fucked up shit the past couple years, but he had had good intentions. Unfortunately, Joie knew better than anyone that good intentions wouldn't mean a hill of beans to Dean in a temper. No doubt things were said and done that he now wished he could take back. Determined to help her brother make things right, for his peace of mind if nothing else, she pulled away and walked over to the angel.
Without a word, Castiel wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Joie mentally told herself to breathe and calm her nerves. She needed to be focused for what they were about to do. Unconsciously, she gripped the base of Castiel's wings as he prepared to take them to Meg. Castiel smiled at the touch, holding her a little closer as they transported, heart light with the knowledge that there was still one Winchester that trusted him.
