(Disclaimer: Don't own anything, story is all mine)
Battle Weary.
Chapter Nine.
Dean stared at Sam "What the fuck do you mean it's gone?" he put his hand to his cheek.
"Gone, dude. As in not there. Healed up" said Sam as he stared at his brother's face.
"Just like her" mused Gus. "Interesting"
Dean shook his head "That's not possible…"
"Fuck me, Dean! She just freakin' well rose from the dead! What do you mean it's not possible?" he laughed "Time travelling demons you believe in. But not this"
Dean got up from the chair and went to the bathroom. He looked at his face in the mirror, there was a tiny scar along his cheekbone. No open wound. He stared into the mirror for a long time before washing his hands and then the blood from his face. What had she done to him? He turned from the mirror and went to find her.
Sam and Gus sat at the table, they'd seen Dean walk out and figured he was going to talk to Jay about what had just happened and thought it best to let them sort it out.
Gus looked at Sam and smiled "You know, this could probably work in Dean's favour"
"Yeah, that whole decapitation thing is a real plus" said Sam as he threw back more tequila.
Gus laughed "I think we just found out why she's here, Sam. Listen, when Dean fights tomorrow, if he's injured…cut or stabbed, he will heal. Heal, Sam. That's an advantage. They'll think he's weakened and they'll drop their guard, believing they've got him. They won't know his body will heal itself. He can use that"
"Well from the look on his face when he left, I don't think he's too happy about it" Sam grinned, it was gonna be a hell of a fight.
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Dean found Jay sitting on the trunk of her car reading the journal. She'd switched the Hendrix to AC/DC and even though it was loud, he knew she'd heard him come out of the house but she ignored him. The bitch. She'd infected him and now she was ignoring him.
"HEY!"
Jay looked up from the journal, saw the look on Dean's face and went back to reading. Yeah, like she wanted to deal with that right now. She was looking for something she knew she'd read in the journal, that last conversation had stirred something in her memory, something Zeke had written. Unfortunately for her, most of his scribblings were in some weird bloody 'Zeke-code' that she was still trying to decipher. Eccentric bastard. His IQ was off the bloody scale and…
The journal was ripped out of her hands "HEY!"
"What the hell did you do to me?"
"Give me back my journal!" she jumped off the car and reached for it but Dean held it high above his head "GIVE IT BACK!"
"Not until you tell me what you did to me!"
"What the fuck are you talking about? I accidentally cut you with the glass…you hear the word 'accidentally' I used? I'm sorry okay? Now give me back my journal!"
"No! Look!" he pointed to the scar on his cheek "Look! No cut, a scar! A fucking scar! What the hell did you do to me?"
"What did I do to you? I don't know what…."
"I can't fucking well heal myself!" he laughed "Well not since I got a blood transfusion I'm guessing!"
She glared at him, it was all becoming quite clear "So, you think…"
"You infected me!" he yelled.
"Infected…lovely. Give me my journal back NOW, arsehole!"
"Or what? You'll kick me in the balls?"
"No" she kicked him hard in the shin.
"OWW!!" he grabbed his shin and looked at her "What are you? Six?" she snatched the journal from him and kicked him in his other shin "OWW!! Stop it!"
She glared at him "I infected you?" she kicked him again.
"Stop freakin' well kicking me!"
She slapped him upside the head "Better?"
"Bitch!"
"That's infectious bitch to you!" she turned from him, he grabbed her by the arm and spun her round to face him.
"Oh no you don't! You tell me everything you know about this…this…"
"Disease? Is that the word you're looking for?" she wrenched her arm free and poked him in the chest "Well let me tell you something, Winchester! I didn't ask for this and I sure as shit didn't know I'd infect you, as you so nicely put it! Your brother begged me to help you and I was stupid enough to listen to him!"
"Yeah, you got that right!" he stepped back in case she tried to kick him again.
"Well this has been a wonderful experience for me too! But as much as I've enjoyed it, I'm off!" she turned and marched back into the house.
He caught up with her as she was walking out of the cabin, her duffel bag thrown over her shoulder "And where do you think you're going?"
"Away from you lot. In case you forgot, I have to find my brother and if you say it, Winchester, I'll kick you again"
He grinned "He's…OWW!! Will you stop doing that?!"
Sam had come out to the porch, he was leaning against the railing, laughing at them "Pull her hair!" he shouted. They glared at him which only made him laugh harder.
She pushed past Dean, threw her bag in the back of her car, went and put the hood down after checking the engine and walked to the driver's door. She turned back and looked at Dean "I know you think I'm a bitch…and you're probably right on that score…but I hope you win tomorrow…for both yours and Sam's sake"
Sam jogged down the stairs "Jay, wait" he went over to her and smiled "Please don't kick me but…stay"
She shook her head "I've wasted too much time already"
"And where exactly are you gonna go?" he asked.
Dean laughed "Yeah, it's not like you can just knock on Hell's door and say 'Excuse me, you haven't seen my brother have you?'"
Sam turned to Dean "Stop helping" he turned back to Jay and didn't notice the face Dean pulled behind his back.
Jay did "What are you? Six?" Dean gave her the finger.
Gus had had enough. He walked down the stairs and slapped Dean upside the head, then walked over and did the same to Jay, ignoring their protests "If you're gonna act like children, I'll treat you like children. Both of you, inside the house" Jay and Dean started to protest "NOW!"
"And what if I don't want to?" she asked defiantly.
Gus kicked her in the shin.
"OWW!!"
Dean laughed and Jay threw her journal at him, smacking him in the face and breaking his nose. He grabbed his face and yelled.
She walked over, picked up her journal and smiled at him "Don't worry, it'll heal" and she walked into the cabin.
Sam walked over to Dean and smiled "Oh, I like her" he patted his brother on the shoulder and followed Jay into the house.
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They sat around the kitchen table again, Dean and Jay sitting opposite each other, glaring. She'd been right though, his nose had healed. Perfectly.
Gus looked at them "Don't make me slap you both again. Dean, you've got a fight to organise and Jay, you're going to help him"
"No I'm not" she said.
"She's helped enough" Jay gave him the finger and he gave it back.
Sam laughed "You're a match made in…" he stopped when he saw the looks on their faces "Oookaaay then"
"You two are gonna stop acting like children and you're going to help him Jay" said Gus.
"What's in it for me?" she asked.
"Dean and Sam will help you find your brother once this is over" he'd stated.
"Bullshit" said Dean.
Jay got up "You really are an arsehole"
"What the hell is wrong with you, dude? This healing stuff is a good thing. If you get hurt tomorrow, you'll heal! It'll work for you"
"Well how fast am I gonna heal after being stabbed, dude?" asked Dean "Stabbed in the middle of a sword fight!"
Jay grinned "Let's test it"
Dean grinned back "I'd be happy to stab you"
Sam laughed "You mean with a sword right, dude?"
"No, Sammy. With my di..…" Jay reached over and slapped him….. and he slapped her back.
Sam looked at Gus "Yeah, this is gonna work out real well" they both sighed, got up and separated Jay and Dean.
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After Gus gave them both a talking to while Sam watched on, laughing his ass off and threatening to send them to the 'time-out' chair, they'd all gone outside so Dean could get in some practice. Gus handed Jay a sword.
She grinned at him "Can I stab Dean? Pleeeease?"
"I heard that!" he said.
"Wasn't whispering!" she retorted.
"No, you can't stab him" Gus turned to Dean "And you can't stab her either" he had to laugh at the looks of disappointment on both their faces.
"You used a sword before?" Dean asked derisively.
She rolled her eyes "I know you're used to having your dick in your hand but that's a sword..." she turned to Sam's laughter at the same time Dean struck out at her. She screamed when the sword pierced her stomach.
"Jesus Christ! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Dean dropped the tip of the sword and took a step towards her.
"You bastard" and she struck quickly, returning the favour before she felt a blackness overwhelm her.
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She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Dean was sitting in a chair next to her bed, watching her.
"Hey" he said.
"Hey" she sat up slowly and groaned. She lifted her t-shirt and looked at the scar "Lovely" She lifted up the sheets "Where are my pants?"
He grinned "Had to throw 'em out…blood and such"
"Where's my bag?"
He grinned and pointed "Over there"
"Pass it to me"
He grinned again "Nope"
She stared and he just grinned.
"Perve" she got up, went to her bag, grabbed some jeans and put them on. She turned round and he was still smiling "Stop smiling. I don't like you, remember?"
He grinned "Yeah you do"
"No I don't. You stabbed me"
"You stabbed me" he laughed "Look…shit, never mind" he sighed "Truce?"
She paused, sighed "Okay…and why does my head hurt?"
He smiled "Sam knocked you out for the stabbing thing"
"Of course" she slipped her boots on and sat back down on the bed and looked at him "Dean, I didn't know that would happen. If I had, I wouldn't have done it."
He nodded "Yeah, I know but if you hadn't…well Sam reckons I'd be dead. It'd have been a catch-22 anyway" he shrugged "Can't do anything about it, can I?" she shook her head "Didn't think so.
She looked at him seriously "There's something I need to tell you about it" she took his hand "The guy Zeke spoke to…he said….shit."
Dean's stomach flipped "What? What'd he say?"
She shook her head "He told Zeke that I was lucky I was a girl cause if I was a guy…" she looked into his eyes "I'm sorry…but you'll never get a hard-on again…it's a side-effect apparently" she watched as the colour slowly drained from his face. He looked at her and she grinned "Gotchya!"
She jumped off the bed and ran out the door, his laughter and trail of obscenities following her.
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She sat on the porch steps reading the journal as Sam and Dean practiced in the yard. Gus came out of the cabin and sat next to her, passing her a coffee "Thanks"
He nodded "You find what you're looking for?"
She shook her head "Not yet, but it's in here" he nodded "So it's five minutes for a cut to heal, and fifteen minutes for a stab wound"
Gus nodded "But that stab wound was bad, I'd guess one to the shoulder, say, would take less time"
"It's still a bloody long time during a sword fight and if it hit an artery, he'd be screwed"
"You seem to heal more quickly than him…"
"Makes sense. I'm like the …motherboard. Dean's only got…..ohhh no" she shook her head "No way. We've only just made a scary kind of peace…and who's to say it would work?"
"It's worth a shot, Jay. He's gonna need all the help he can get, he's good, much better than I thought he'd be but he has to fight and kill eight of them. You understand how tired he'll be and…."
"Have you spoken to him about it?" she looked at Gus "Yeah, didn't think so"
"Jay…"
"I'm not a freakin' cow, Gus. You can't just milk me and hope it works"
He laughed "Jay, you're here for a reason. I think it's to make sure that the demons don't get the last of this type of hunter. If they do, then everything will change. We lose the upper hand we have and slowly, slowly they will take a greater hold here" he paused and looked at her "Why do you think they want Dean and Sam? Why they wanted your brother? Because they're a danger to them. They're a new warrior. The hunters are evolving and the demons don't like that. We've never had an insight into their world…and now we do and we'll use it against them. How determined do you think they are?"
"But according to you, no matter what happens tomorrow…Sam is safe. The pact Dean made ensures that, right?"
Gus nodded "You're living proof of that" he smiled "pardon the pun"
She nodded and turned her attention back to the journal. Gus watched her for a bit before getting up and heading towards Dean and Sam with two more swords.
Jay looked up and watched Gus as he walked towards the Winchesters. He was wrong. Sam wasn't safe. And if Sam wasn't safe, then neither was she. She couldn't understand how they didn't see it. Why would the demons accept a trade like that? Dean's soul for Sam's life? Zeke's soul for hers? No. If they wanted these 'new warriors' as Gus called them, out of the way, and if what Gus said was right, that they were the last of their kind, then leaving she and Sam alive went against that whole argument. Something was wrong with this whole scenario. If even a little of what she knew about demons was right, then something else was at play here. She knew it and she was sure Zeke knew it as well.
She went back to reading, the answer would be in here…and she needed to know why Dean had chosen the exact same pact as her brother.
To be continued...
