We have lost all communication when words fall on deaf ears
I'm starting to feel a transformation.
How did I get here?
I don't recognize my own reflection it's a ghost of what once was
Gone from relative to stranger, separating body from mind

I just don't know
How to win with you
And I can't let go, part of me is you.

You stay the same
Allowing me to change

I just don't know
How to win with you
I can't let go, part of me is you.

I just don't know, just don't know.
I can't let go, can't let go.

-"Just Can't Win" by 10 Years

"Clearly the girl has a fierce spirit inherited from a fierce father. She does not know how to yield to misfortune." – Sophocles, Antigone

Chapter Ten:

Don't Know How To Win

Then:

The blonde immediately raised an eyebrow curiously. "What books?"

Well crap. Great, now she was really screwed.

"Ah… umm, well, you'll just have to ask them then," Jesse muttered as she looked away, not wanting to look Jo in the eyes. "In fact, better yet, talk to that angel guy, Castiel. Just ask him about a book series written by some jackass named Chuck, or Carver Edlund. He'll probably be able to explain it better than I can."

"What do books have to do with anything though?" Jo queried as she stared at the other woman strangely, not quite getting where she was coming from. "Are they some kind of research?"

Jesse flinched slightly as she realized that she had somehow managed to dig herself into yet another hole, and it was up to her to get herself out now. Dammit, why couldn't any of this junk be easy? She reached up and scrubbed at her face, wishing that she could learn to either not put her foot in her mouth, or just manage to avoid situations as insane as the one she was currently in so she wouldn't have to go through this kind of stuff.

"If I tell you, will you promise not to kill me?" she asked warily with a pained grimace. Jo seemed surprised by the comment before she let out a soft laugh.

"Well, so far you haven't proven yourself to be a demon, or a harpy, or anything dangerous," she said with a smile. "You seem harmless enough."

Jesse blanched at the insinuation that she might not be human. Now that thought right there was enough to make her feel physically ill, as well as have a shudder of pure terror crawl through her entire body without her consent. She'd already gone through the holy water test, the silver test – which had sucked ass, thank you very much, an iron test, and the wonderful sensation of having an evergreen splinter shoved into her arm to check and see if she was a pagan god. Fortunately, she'd mercifully passed every single one of them. But the mere concept of someone believing that she was some kind of evil thing that needed to be hunted down and killed? Well, that scared the holy crap out of her a whole hell of a lot more than she'd ever care to admit.

"Okay, first of all, please don't get pissed off, because I swear that I never thought any of this was real…" she said shakily, her tone reluctant even as she stared pleadingly at Jo, silently begging some deity out there that this one person who had actually bothered to look at her as a scared shitless fellow human being instead of some kind of creeping nasty didn't hate her immediately for telling her this. "Anyways, this guy under the penname of Carver Edlund wrote a book series around 2005 or so called Supernatural. It featured these two brothers who ran around the country hunting things that went bump in the night, things that most people didn't believe actually existed." Jesse paused for a second before she swallowed awkwardly and grimaced. "I used to read those books, and I thought that the series was really cool."

If the bland, confused expression on Jo's face was anything to go by, she didn't see why Jesse was having such a hard time talking about the afore-mentioned series. "So?"

"So…" Jesse sighed as she reached up and agitatedly dragged her bangs out her face, struggling to keep back the feeling of almost raw terror that wanted to swamp her. "It turned out that the guy who wrote them was actually a prophet, and that he was following the exploits of Messer's Winchester when he wrote all of those books."

At that statement, Jo froze. She stared at the younger woman incredulously, as though she could hardly believe that Jesse actually existed, much less made the statement that had just escaped from her mouth. For several long moments, she just sat there on the edge of the bed, gaping at the college student, who became increasingly more nervous over the intense scrutiny she was under before she began to scramble backwards, trying place to some distance in between her and Jo.

Jesse silently cursed her idiocy as she backed up, getting ready to leap off the bed and run if she needed to. Why, why couldn't she just bloody learn to keep her damn mouth shut?

Now:

Jo Harvelle stared at Jesse intently for several seconds before she blinked, and then, much to the other woman's shock, burst out laughing. This carried on for well over a minute, causing Jesse no little amount of concern as she stared warily at the hunter. Last time she'd checked, her story wasn't exactly all that funny. Especially not if she added in the parts detailing how she was currently stuck in some kind of perverse alternate reality where everything in a very much fictional TV show was real. After a round of gut-busting laughter, Jo finally seemed to calm down a bit.

"Are you saying that there are actually books out there about the two idiots downstairs?" she asked, a wide grin crossing her face before she threw her head back and laughed. Jesse merely sat there and stared at her, completely dumbfounded. Out of all the possible reactions that she had expected, this was definitely not among them. "And you've actually read them? Who ever thought that anyone would ever want to read about their sorry-ass life?" The blonde woman dissolved into snickers before she looked over at Jesse curiously. "And why in the world would you think that I'd be mad at you?"

As she realized that she was not going to have to avoid yet another pissed-off hunter, Jesse slowly sat back down on the bed in a kind of numb shock. Someone wasn't about to hate her guts just because she had some information that wasn't readily available? Holy crap, the end of the world really was happening.

"Oh, let's see, maybe 'cause Dean nearly burst a blood vessel when he found out that I'd read the books?" she asked sarcastically, although the way her voice shook slightly indicated that she wasn't feeling nearly as cynical as she tried to sound. "I literally had to jump back to keep him from taking a swipe at me."

Jo looked at her questioningly for a moment before she burst into giggles, not even bothering to cover them up as she stared at the younger woman. "So, what did you learn about him that he doesn't want you to know?"

With a frown, the college student wrinkled her nose slightly at the thought. Now that was a question that she'd really love to have the answers to. She knew good and well that her personal opinion of Dean being a bigoted jerk wouldn't be acceptable here.

"I think that it's more the fact that I knew he existed, and that he felt I had private knowledge of his personal life," Jesse explained wryly before she jerked her shoulders upwards in an awkward shrug. "I mean, in a couple of books they talk about some of his exes… stuff like that. Only reason I've ever read any of the books is because was because I liked the folkloric elements in there. Scary movies aren't my thing… but I liked this stuff, although that's probably because there's a lot of humor and sarcasm in it too."

Apparently Jo found the idea of a hunter's life being less scary than a horror movie amusing, because she bit down on her lip to keep from laughing out loud. The hunter was silent for a while, still chuckling over the concept of Dean Winchester as a book character for impressionable individuals to read about for enjoyment, before she shook her head and glanced over at Jesse, an impish spark in her eyes.

"Do you have any of the books on you?" she asked suddenly, and Jesse blinked in surprise as she gaped at the older woman in shock before she shook her head and grinned ruefully.

"No, I don't," she said with a quiet laugh. "They're all at home."

Jo let out a disappointed sigh, most likely at the loss of all the possible blackmail to be had against Dean, before she wiggled backwards a bit so that she was more comfortably seated on the mattress. Fiddling with the leather bracelet around her right wrist, Jesse frowned as she tried to recall more of The Monster at the End of the Book, before she thought of another good reason why Dean would hate the books. Actually, it was a good reason why both Winchesters would hate the books… especially if you looked at someone like Becky.

Slash fans… and the resulting, vomit-worthy stories that they wrote.

"Um, I think another reason might be because of some of the fans that like the books," Jesse muttered, causing Jo to look up and tilt her head to the side in confusion. "I guess that a lot of them think that… he and Sam… um, you know…"

"What?"

Jesse sucked in a deep breath and hissed out the words as quickly and bluntly as possible, as though they could burn her tongue or sear the desperately unwanted images into her brain without her consent. This wasn't exactly on the list of things that she had ever wanted to explain to somebody. "They're slash fans. They have somehow gotten it into their minds that Sam and Dean have wild, kinky sex."

She was rewarded with the dubious pleasure of seeing the other female turn white before she made a suitably disgusted face at the concept. Jesse honesty couldn't blame her either. She found the concept of siblings doing that kind of… thing… well, it was pretty nasty.

"Ewwww… they're brothers for God's sake!" Jo finally managed to spit out, and the younger woman winced sympathetically.

"Um, yeaaaah… that was kind of my thought on the subject," she admitted with a weary sigh before she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I mean, I know that if I was in his shoes and someone wrote that kind of crap about my brother and I? Well… I'd be starting my day off with a mass book-burning. And my brother would definitely find a way to nail some of those websites with one nasty-ass virus, just to make sure that the all of the stories died a horrible, screaming death, just to be safe."

"But still… why?"

"Because they have a genetic condition that makes it impossible for them to haul their minds out of the gutter."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's a terminal case of sick-mind-itis."

The two of them fell into a slightly disturbed silence as they contemplated the depravity of fans for a while, broken only by Jo's occasional chuckles over the younger woman's rather sardonic remark. Jesse let out a quiet sigh as she leaned back against a pillow that she had shoved up against the wall behind the bed. Honestly, she couldn't blame Jo's reaction to the world that some of the fans tended to create. At least her initial introduction to it was a bit less traumatizing than Jesse's had been. And at least now she knew what to avoid if she ever accidentally stumbled across something online.

After a little while, Jo finally spoke up.

"So you're not going to dish out any dirt on Dean?" she asked before she flashed Jesse a somewhat teasing grin. "'Cause he sure as hell likes to tease me, and I'd love to have some ammo on him."

The other woman was surprised by the request before she began to laugh quietly, thinking over any potential blackmail material carefully. She was pretty sure that she had some good stuff, but she had to be careful about what she said, because Chuck's books did only cover up until the third season of the show here. "Um… he got his ass kicked by a little girl called Missy Bender once?"

Jo started laughing at that in spite of herself, clearly amused.

"Okay… that will definitely come in handy the next time he tries to get overprotective with me," she chuckled before she looked at the other woman, clearly expecting more. "Got anything else?"

"Well…" Jesse thought for a moment before she allowed a small laugh to escape. "Sam did kick Dean's ass when he broke into his apartment at Stanford." The hopeful look that Jo gave her made her grin; it was almost like being back in Mesa with Carol, snickering over little things. Maybe, if she edited the source of information a little, she could use a highly embarrassing, more recent event. "And… I heard rumors about this, so I don't know if it's actually true… but he… got some kind of weird sickness… and screamed like a little girl when he saw a cat?"

The blonde hunter started almost literally howling with laughter at that as she rocked back in her seat, hysterical giggles bubbling out of her throat.

"Oh, so the macho man can scream like a girl then?" she snickered once she had gotten her mirth under control. Jesse shrugged, something that she seemed to be doing quite a bit lately, before she looked over at Jo curiously, a small smile spreading across her face as she stared at the older woman intently.

"I don't really know," she said almost sheepishly as she rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to think of a way to phrase everything without slipping up and mentioning the show. As far as explanations went Jesse, really did not want to cover the whole 'I'm from another reality where you guys are nothing more than some screen-writer's brainchild' concept. "I only heard about it from some weird girl that was there when I met the author on accident."

Jo cocked an eyebrow as she stared at her in surprise, a curious expression flashing across her face. "You met the author? What was he like?"

A little taken aback, Jesse frowned faintly before she shook her head and shrugged. "Umm… a little twitchy, to be honest. I mean, he looks really normal, but he drinks a lot, although if I had angels screaming prophecies in my ear all the time, I'd probably start drinking too."

They both fell silent after that, each of them thinking things over. After a moment, Jo let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back against the wall that the bed was shoved up against, and Jesse stretched out a little until her back popped faintly before she pulled a pillow into her lap and held it close to her chest. It was kind if a depressing concept to be thinking about, to be honest, and the younger woman wrinkled her nose slightly before she decided that a change in the subject was needed.

"Speaking of macho guys…" she drawled before she grinned faintly at the hunter, "how do you feel about playing pranks?"

Jo blinked in surprise as she stared at Jesse curiously; a slight frown on her face before she straightened up and cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't get to very often, but I would love the chance to…" the hunter finally admitted slowly even as a knowing light crept into her eyes, and Jesse grinned. Apparently she wasn't the only one who enjoyed the idea of getting Dean back a little for some of the stunts that he'd pulled with them, although the ones that Jo had experienced were significantly more friendly than Jesse's had been. The teasing glint in the older woman's eyes indicated that she was definitely interested in whatever idea was brewing in the artist's mind.

"Dean's really into his classic rock, right?" Jesse asked after a moment, and Jo nodded slowly as she titled her head slightly to the side in confusion before the other woman began to expound on her scheme. "So… think that he'd have a coronary if his beloved stereo suddenly started spouting, oh I don't know… Lady Gaga?"

The hunter's face split into a broad grin at the idea before she began to laugh softly. Jesse could already tell that she approved of the concept.

"Oh yeah, and he would totally blame Sam," Jo said eagerly even as she giggled. "He'd call it Sam's girly crap or something like that."

Both women grinned at the thought of a prank, and although Jesse only knew Dean from what she'd seen on the show back in her world, and she barely knew Jo at all, it was… nice… to have someone who actually didn't hate her. To be honest, it actually gave her a little hope that she'd make it through this whole fiasco alive.

Whether or not she'd still be sane by the end of it though… well, that was another question entirely.

"Well… I have the music. All we need now is something to tape it on and to put it in his car," Jesse mused thoughtfully as she held her MP3 player up in the air for emphasis. "Maybe even have it on full-blast and positioned in a very embarrassing spot." She paused for a moment and wrinkled her nose before she glanced over at the hunter. "Or we could use Kesha or something. Whatever you think will make Dean start howling."

Surprisingly, the older woman merely flashed her a conspiratorial smile before she steepled her fingers together in a manner that was strongly reminiscent of Mr. Burns. Yes, much to the shock and disbelief of anyone who she may have worked with, Jesse did indeed know what The Simpsons and South Park were, she just didn't care. She was more of an original Loony Toons and Mickey Mouse cartoon girl anyways. But to be honest, she half-expected Jo to cackle something along the lines of a diabolical-sounding 'excellent' before she rubbed her hands together. Thankfully, for the sake of both of their respective sanities, she didn't, and the younger woman was very happy of said fact.

"Either one would make him howl," Jo stated confidently with a small smirk before her expression turned pensive. "And if my mom would let us use the car, there's a place in town where we could go make the tape."

For a moment Jesse merely stared at the older woman, slightly stunned, before she gave a soft laugh as she brushed some of her hair out of her face. Even if it was for a brief moment, she felt a little better about the whole situation. For now, she wasn't alone here. For now, she had someone who didn't automatically hate her on sight. It was a nice feeling, one that gave her a little bit of hope that she would be able to get through this reasonably intact.

"Oh you're bad," she accused softly, a small grin on her face as she looked at the other woman, who was sporting a similar conspiratorial smirk. "Jo Harvelle, I think that this may just be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Once the two had hammered out the final details for their nefarious scheme, Jo had left Jesse in the room to get ready to go while she went downstairs to convince her mother and Bobby that they could be trusted to go on a supply run by themselves. And while the younger woman viewed this as chance to get to know the younger Harvelle woman better, she also relished the opportunity to leave Bobby's house without feeling like someone would try to light her on fire with their eyes. She'd honestly never truly known how free she'd been back home, not until she'd ended up in this warped excuse of a reality, where people gave her the stink-eye if she so much as breathed wrong, or went to use the bathroom without alerting the proper 'authorities'.

The nagging sensation of being trapped chafed against Jesse far more than she would ever care to admit, and it never went away, no matter how far she got from the Winchesters.

In the time that it took Jesse to retrieve her shoes out from under the bed and pull on her jacket over the flannel long-sleeve and t-shirt that she wore before she headed downstairs, Jo had somehow managed to convince Ellen that no, they were not going to get into trouble if she let them use the car. However, things took a downturn as soon as Dean, who hadn't really been paying attention to Jo's efforts to procure the use of the car, spotted Jesse coming down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" the eldest Winchester suddenly said gruffly, and Jesse froze in her tracks as she looked up at the hunter with wide eyes.

"Um… with Jo on a supply run?" she ventured hesitantly as she indicated to the blonde woman, who sported an expression that was a mixture of exasperation and annoyance as she gave Dean a look that indicated she was not pleased with his response. Dean merely glared at her intently, making Jesse feel like she was six again, and in the principal's office after throwing a rock up in the air before it hit someone else on the head. Granted, she was older now and not as easily intimidated, but Dean still made her nervous.

Then again, it was most likely due to the fact that he'd been a flaming asshole to her for the better part of the past week.

"No."

Jesse's eyes widened at the flat-out refusal, and she unintentionally did a very good impression of David Tennant as she gaped in shock at the hunter. "What?"

"I said no," Dean stated as he gave Jesse a firm look. "You hard of hearing or something, kiddo? No, you're not leaving here. You think that we're stupid? We all know that you'll just try to cut and run the first chance you get."

Jesse looked like she had just been slapped as she just stared at the older man for quite some time, her mouth popping open slightly in shock. The accusation stung more than a little. She'd been at Bobby's for almost a week. She hadn't done anything that indicated towards her trying to escape, much less given anyone else in the house problems. Granted, part of that had come from the fact that she'd been in shock, but still… it wasn't like she was going to try and run away again. Not unless she actually knew that she had a clear shot at a way to get back home, and for the time being it didn't look like that was exactly an option.

The woman finally regained her composure after a few moments as she drew in a shaky breath, although the wearily annoyed look that she shot the eldest Winchester spoke volumes.

"Look, I'm not going to try and run away, okay?" she said quietly, and Dean snorted derisively.

"Bullshit."

For a moment, Jesse winced slightly at the harsh remark before her expression hardened, a defiant light flaring in her eyes as her hands balled into fists and held her arms stiffly by her sides. She'd tried; she had tried so hard to be reasonable, to not lose her temper. And she just hated it whenever Dean looked at her with the kind of disgust she'd only actually seen on screen when they had been dealing with Bela Talbot, or even worse, Ruby. It made her want to just run away until she collapsed, and punch his face in, all at the same time. She wanted to scream "It's not fair; I never wanted this, any of this!" at the top of her lungs, but she couldn't. No matter what she'd do, she'd still be standing there with a purportedly fictional character glaring at her like she was something less than human.

"So what, you're just gonna lock me away here forever, all because you think that I'm some kind of freak of nature?" Jesse demanded, her throat tightening as panic flooded through her at the thought of being permanently enclosed in Singer Salvage, never to be able to see her family again. Dean actually opened his mouth to respond, the look on his face indicating that the answer was 'yes', before the younger woman hut him off. "You can't do that! I'm a human being! I have a family, friends, a… a life! I'm not going to let you lock me up in an auto scrap yard a thousand miles from home all because you have a stick up your ass!"

If there was an edge of panic and hysteria to her voice, it wasn't because she was upset over a couple of friggin' hunters deciding to plan out what was going to happen to her. Nope. Not at all.

And if the way that Dean had begun to turn a very fascinating shade of deep red previously unknown to the color spectrum was any indication, he apparently didn't appreciate her protests. What Jesse didn't realize was that their little argument had caught the attention of some of the other occupants in the house until Bobby wheeled his way out of the study and into the hallway, and Sam poked his head out of the kitchen to stare at them. She looked around her at all of the familiar, yet unfamiliar, faces staring at her before she lapsed into a shamed and frustrated silence as she bit down on her lip. Bobby looked deeply annoyed as he glanced in between the brothers, his expression leaning towards an outburst of 'idjits', and if the way Ellen had pursed her lips was any indication, she wasn't too pleased with what had just occurred either. However, Jo was the one to step forward as she broke away from her mother and took a determined stance right next to Jesse, who looked over at the older woman with wide eyes.

"After the hell she's been through with you two, who could blame her if she ran?" she demanded as she propped a hand on her hip, glaring at Dean intently. "She might have read the signs of what's coming, but she isn't prepared for this like a hunter!"

Sam winced slightly at the very pointed accusation, but Dean purpled as the corner of his right eye twitched. Jesse swallowed nervously as she fought the urge to take a step back so as to better get out of blasting range, and instead forced herself to stand her ground. She owed absolutely nothing to this man who treated her like she was something barely worth respect and common consideration, barely tolerating her all because he believed that she wasn't 'normal'. That realization ignited a slow burn of well-placed indignation, giving her the necessary courage to stand her ground in a defiant manner that she would have never used in her own family.

But she wasn't with her family, no matter how strongly Dean reminded her of Andy, no matter how much she wished that she could just wake up and be at home. She was on her own here, and she needed to take matters into her own hands.

"Yeah, we kind of figured that out when she started talking about crap that she had no right knowing!" the hunter snapped, and for one single moment Jesse's entire line of vision went red as a loud rushing noise filled her ears. The woman sucked in a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself down, trembling visibly as she rigidly stared straight ahead. Once she no longer felt like tackling the eldest Winchester and introducing his face to the closest solid object, she spoke.

"Are you seriously pissed off at me just because I read a couple of books written by a prophet who is frequently drunk off his ass?" Jesse asked quietly, her tone strangely level as she stared at the hunter intently, her head canted to the side at a slight angle, almost as though she was attempting to peer into Dean's head just to see how his mind worked. The expression on his face told her all that she needed to know, and the younger woman let out a low growl as she made as though to go for the front door. "Okay, screw this. I think I got treated better when a pissed-off archangel had me stuck in Groundhog Day."

A large hand wrapped around her elbow before she could take more than a step, and Jesse jerked around to glare at Sam, who had a mixture of concern and unease on his face as he looked at her. Fortunately for both of them, the younger Winchester broke off the glaring contest as he gently released Jesse, and instead moved out into the hallway so that he blocked her path to the door.

"Dean, stop being an ass. You're really not helping here," he muttered quietly to his brother as he shot him a warning glance before he returned his attention to the thoroughly-miffed young woman currently attempting to glare a hole through his skull. Bobby and Ellen, wisely enough, decided to stay out of the conversation until they deemed their intervention necessary. "Look… I know that you don't like this, but we're trying to save your life here. We have no idea what kind of attention you may have attracted, and until then you're gonna have to stick around."

For a moment, Jesse looked like she wanted to take his head off before she let out a soft exhalation, wet her lips, and shook her head as she gave Sam a world-weary look that was more than a little bit annoyed.

"Yeah, you may save my sorry ass," she began slowly before her expression hardened, and she held her arms stiffly at her sides as she glared defiantly at the Winchesters, "but who the hell is going to help my family, huh? The Apocalypse is going on full-throttle, and I'm the only one in my entire family who knows what in the hell is going on!" A furious light entered the woman's eyes as parts of her bangs fell into her face, and she glared through her hair up at the two men, her teeth clenched tightly. "My grandmother may believe that God and the angels will help out, but unfortunately, I know better. I'll be damned if I just sit back and let all of this crap reach them, any of them!" Jesse fell silent for a moment before she sighed, apparently trying to calm down a bit. "Look, just… think of it this way. How would you guys like it if you were in my shoes?"

Sam gave her one of his patented bitch-faces as he stared seriously at the younger woman before he briefly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, clearly trying to remain the calm and collected party.

"Look… I know that this is hard for you, and some of what you're saying does ring true," he said slowly, and Jesse heard Dean snort dismissively behind her even as the younger male rolled his eyes and gave her a kicked-puppy-esque expression, one that said 'we're really doing this for your own good'. On most people, that specific expression would have made them listen to whatever Sam had to say, but all Jesse did was quirk an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her feet slightly. "But even if you want to go home, you're still safer here with us than on your own."

For a few seconds, Jesse's brain backfired upon being faced with the circular logic, as well as the Winchesters' stupidly stubborn refusal to even consider the fact that she did not belong there. However, the young woman quickly recovered her stride as she gave the brothers a flatly disgusted look, and then began to laugh. It wasn't a happy laugh, but more of a bitterly sarcastic one as she glanced in between the two men.

"Ohhh… let me call my dad first, and see how well that one goes over," she drawled sarcastically as she titled her head slightly to the side, a terse, mocking smile on her face, and then mimed talking on a cell phone. "'Yeah, Dad, I have two strange men forcing me to stay with them in an auto salvage yard about 1500 miles from home'." Jesse paused for a moment as she glanced over at the brothers, who both gaped at her in wide-eyed disbelief before she asked a very pointed question. "So, care to take any guesses on how fast he'll get here with a shotgun?"

Apparently the Winchesters hadn't really given all too much thought to the fact that, yes, she had a family, and yes, they would be looking for her. Then again, the odds of her family actually existing here in this craphole reality were pretty much slim to none, but she didn't really want to think about that too much right now. What really mattered was for her to stay out of whatever special brand of trouble the brothers Winchester had found themselves in this time, and then find a way home. She had absolutely no desire to get tangled up in everything involving the Apocalypse any more than she already had, and living long enough to reach her twenty-third birthday, even though it was almost an entire year away, was a really attractive concept. Jesse appeared to look thoughtful for a moment before she amended her previous statement.

"Wait… no, I forgot that Andy and I gave him a Glock for his birthday a couple months ago," she said in the manner of someone who had just remembered an important fact as she made a vague gesture in midair. Besides her, Jo made a noise that sounded like a barely-muffled snort of amusement. "He'll probably use that first. It's smaller than the shotgun."

Surprisingly, Dean was the one to react first as he stepped in front of Jesse and stared at her in shock for a moment, a slight pallor to his face as he finally recognized the truth of the younger woman's statement.

"Shit… I never thought…" he croaked before he gave her an uncertain look. "You have a dad and a brother?"

Jesse stared at him flatly for a moment before she rolled her eyes.

"What, you thought that I just suddenly popped into existence or something?" she retorted dryly as she crossed her arms over her chest, a single eyebrow quirking upwards. "No, I have a mom who is scary in her own way, a dad who likes to put his guns out on the kitchen table and clean them whenever I bring a boy home, and a very protective brother in the Air Force who is roughly around the same size as you." Jesse paused for a moment, deliberately allowing the information to sink in before she smiled tightly at the brothers. "And I've been missing for… how long now?"

The two men shared a long look at that, one with slight hints of panic coupled with the realization that they may have done something incredibly stupid. Off to her left, Jesse heard Bobby give an exasperated snort as he wheeled out a little farther into the room so he could give Sam and Dean the stink eye.

"Idjits," the grizzled hunter muttered gruffly under his breath, and Jesse bit down on her lower lip so no one would see how her lips tried to twitch up into a small smile.

Ellen seemed to be merely watching the whole thing, gathering as much information as she could before she made a decision. Personally, Jesse didn't exactly blame her there. This whole mess was way too complicated for any sane person to figure out, and that was without her being involved. Toss in her issues, and well, things became downright impossible. With a quiet sigh, the art student decided that she should at least attempt to be a little more polite, and preferably not piss off the people who had control over whether or not she could leave.

"Look, I don't care if you give me a ride home, or boot me out the door while saying 'screw you'," Jesse said quietly, trying to sound reasonable as she looked in between Sam and Dean. "All I want to do is go home, where the weirdest thing that ever happens is my family occasionally forgetting to clean out the fridge, and then we have to kill the mutated life forms in the containers by dumping them down the disposal." She paused for a moment, and then flashed the two men a small smile. "Sometimes Andy even adds little wails of despair as sound effects."

Besides her, Jo was forced to cover her mouth in an attempt to not laugh as she snorted at the mildly off-color remark. Dean looked mildly torn between snickering at the thought, and disapproving, and Sam merely stared at her. When the younger woman glanced over in the direction that Ellen and Bobby were in, she thought that she saw the gruff hunter's mouth twitch up a bit. It seemed like everyone was waiting to see what the end result of this little battle of wills would be. Granted, it was nothing truly spectacular, but it was probably unusual nonetheless. Finally, the eldest Winchester let out a long sigh as he realized that this entire exchange was most likely making him look like nothing more than a gigantic ass.

"Fine, you can go," he said, and Jesse sighed quietly in relief. Dean immediately jabbed a finger at her as he stared at her sternly. "But if you run…"

The younger woman rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, favoring the older man with a wry look.

"Yeah, yeah, my ass is grass and you're the flamethrower," she said flatly as she uncrossed her arms and shoved them into her jacket pockets. "I get the picture."

Ellen chuckled quietly from where she was stationed against the frame of the kitchen door, and shot Dean a knowing look from where she stood, although Jesse couldn't help but wonder if there was a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

"Careful where you're pointing that finger, boy," she warned as her mouth twitched up into a small smile. "If she bites you, you're on your own."

For a moment, there was dumbfounded silence as everyone all stared at the woman in surprise, although Bobby looked deeply amused by the remark. Then Jesse burst out laughing for several seconds, took a deep breath to calm down, and then deliberately deepened the laughter into a maniacal cackle as she grinned widely at Dean. It was more than a bit satisfying to watch the hunter look slightly startled by her action.

"No worries, I already got my rabies shot," Jesse chirped as she grinned cheerfully at the eldest Winchester before her expression suddenly became thoughtful and sharply tilted her head to the side momentarily as she indicated to Dean. "Now distemper on the other hand… that might be some cause for concern."

Dean made a choking noise in the back of his throat as he stared at her in the manner that was typically reserved for crazy people. For some reason, Sam seemed to have no such reservations as he turned his head slightly and gave an amused snort, a small smile crossing his face. Apparently he got the fact that, yes, Jesse was indeed deliberately being a little smartass and milking the situation for all that it was worth. The really funny part was that she really already had gotten a rabies shot. It was one of the vaccinations she'd needed when she had worked for the vet she interned under the summer after her freshman year of college.

When no reply seemed to be soon in coming, the art student used that to her advantage as she smirked cheekily at Dean.

"Then again, if I were you, I'd be worried more about Mad Cow disease," she said before she eyed the man thoughtfully. "Especially with all the burgers you eat."

That seemed to do it as he seemed to snap out of it and began to all but shove her towards the front door.

"O-kay, cute, real cute," Dean drawled as he pushed Jesse towards the front door. "Yeah, go on your little supply run. Get out of our hair, and stay with Jo. If you disappear on her, so help me, I'll send Cas to hunt you down again, and make sure that he drags you back here flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes." The older male flashed her a brief grin that had more than a hint of a threat to it, but it was a bit more mocking and not nearly as serious as it had been a little while ago. "Bye now."

And with that lovely parting remark, Jesse found herself standing out on the front porch to Bobby's house in the chilly November afternoon air. Seconds later Jo joined her on the porch, and the younger woman turned around to stare at her in a kind of stunned silence as the door was shut behind them. For a moment the two women merely stared at each other, and then glanced back at the house before they were forced to stifle giggles. Without saying anything, Jo seized Jesse by the arm and dragged her over towards what the younger woman assumed to be the Harvelle's car.

It was only once they were safely ensconced inside the vehicle, with Jesse sitting in the passenger seat, that they both burst out laughing. Jesse, who probably hadn't really laughed since before she had accidentally wandered into the warehouse in Ohio, ended up laughing so hard that she cried as she leaned against the passenger side door. Once the two women had finally calmed down, Jo started up the car as she glanced over at her supply run 'buddy'.

"Did you see his face when you implied that you might have distemper?" she chuckled as she gave a broad grin, easily shifting gears as they pulled out of the front driveway to the salvage yard. Jesse immediately burst out into quiet laughter once again as she covered her mouth with one hand, trying futilely to quell the rising amusement. Once she had a calmed down a bit, but still not trusting herself to speak, the young woman nodded once in agreement.

Jo smirked again as she headed off down the road to town, already plotting further mayhem.

The supply run had been fairly average, with perhaps the exception of the stop at the music store before the supplies were purchased to make the gag tape for the Impala. Jesse and Jo finally agreed on Lady Gaga's Paparazzi as the tune of choice, and positioned the tape at a prime spot for Dean to have an aneurism. Somehow, neither woman thought that he'd be too happy to be greeted with the lyrics of 'I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me' the second he turned on the radio, especially considering his and Sam's history with the fans of the books. All they had to do was stay out of strangling range once their little prank went off.

As for the actual supplies, the two stocked up on road salt, ammunition, and various other necessities required for battling the end of the world. Food was also purchased, although Jo almost died from shock when she found that Jesse was twenty-two, and very rarely drank when the other woman requested that they get a four-pack of root beer for her. The college student had merely shrugged almost sheepishly in response before she explained her logic behind it.

"I just don't like the taste of alcohol all that much," she'd admitted with a small laugh that showed she had gotten over the initial embarrassment of the incident enough to joke about it. "The only time I really drink is when my dad makes margaritas, and that doesn't happen all that often." She then winced slightly as she glanced over at the hunter, a tinge of embarrassment to her expression. "Well, that, and I'm a lightweight. Just this summer, we were in San Diego, and my dad made margaritas before we went out to dinner while we were at the hotel, and he accidentally put a full shot in mine instead of half a shot. I was really loopy for a bit until we ate some real food."

Jo had ended up staring at her in shock for almost a full minute before she started laughing so hard that she cried.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day wasn't as lighthearted as that afternoon. That evening, Jo, Sam, and Dean – with Castiel's help – found the location of a demon named Crowley who was supposed to have the Colt, and Jesse was left behind at the salvage yard with Ellen and Bobby to help out with piddly preparations for whatever insane stunt the Winchesters were planning. Jesse, upon hearing said demon's name, had immediately burst into almost uncontrollable sniggers for several seconds before she had been forced to explain to the two older hunters just what she thought was so funny. Surprisingly, Ellen had heard of Good Omens before since she'd once read it out of curiosity not too long after the initial publish date.

However, Jesse also knew all too well that this world's version of Crowley wouldn't be anything like his literary counterpart. First of all, she had absolutely no intention of trusting a demon – after all, Sam trusting Ruby was what had helped lead to this whole fiasco in the first place – and she'd heard rumors from various sources all over the Internet back in her world on just what Crowley was like. And, of course, everything in this reality was a darker, infinitely more dangerous version of what it was back where she was from. Part of Jesse wished that she could have the comfort of knowing that everything out there was merely regulated to the pages of books, instead of a real, tangible threat that could either kill her in some horrible, gruesome way or turn her into something like it.

So if she ran into a demon here, she'd do her damndest to stall it – an exorcism, holy water, salt, anything – before she took off like the hounds of Hell were hot on her heels.

Even as she sat on the couch, watching Ellen prep shotgun shells to be packed with salt, Jesse shuddered faintly. To be honest, she really wanted to go home before she ran into anything else that would most likely want to kill her. She'd already met two angels – and the really sad part was that they were probably the nicer ones out there – and ghosts. That right there was enough for her. Running into Hellhounds, Lucifer, any more angels, or demons… well, the thought alone scared the ever-loving crap out of her.

As the woman sat there and watched the two hunters make salt rounds, part of her silently wondered if she would even survive long enough to make it home.

On Wednesday night, Jesse sat perched next to Jo, nursing a bottle of root beer as the two of them watched Ellen and Castiel engage in a drinking contest. So far, the angel had managed to put away an insane amount of alcohol by drinking all five shots of whiskey in his row, whereas Ellen had only drank three. It was mind blowing in so many ways, and slightly disconcerting. With the exception of maybe Gabriel, who had most likely invented hedonism, she'd never once imagined that she'd see an angel doing shots.

Then again, if the story that Dean had regaled to Jo previously was any indication, that wasn't the only thing Castiel had done recently. Although it didn't surprise her in the least that Cas had gotten both himself and Dean thrown out of a brothel. Although it did beg the question of why exactly Dean had dragged an angel of the Lord into a house of ill-repute.

Oh, wait, never mind, it was Dean. Question answered.

Even as the woman sat there, swinging her legs slightly in an aimless manner as she watched the proceedings distractedly, Jo leaned over towards her with a small grin.

"By the way, Mom just wanted me to let you know that when we get to Carthage tomorrow, we'll be putting you on a bus to Phoenix," the blonde hunter stated quietly, and Jesse immediately spun around to face her with wide-eyed shock. For several seconds, nothing coherent could come out of her mouth before she gave a small, relieved smile even as a quiet huff of laughter escaped from her.

"Really?" she asked quietly, and Jo smirked faintly in response.

"Really, really."

The younger woman let out a dramatic groan as she gently shoved Jo, delivering a half-hearted punch to the shoulder even as she raised her eyebrows. Trust a hunter to make a Shrek reference, even if it was a groan-worthy one. Then again, she really had left herself wide open for it. Jesse didn't really mind though – it was a welcome change to have someone to laugh and joke around with rather than just be ignored.

"That was a bad joke," Jesse muttered, although there was no heat in her voice as she shook her head and smiled. However, she perked up a bit as she looked at Jo curiously. "So… I'll get to go home tomorrow?"

Jo shrugged slightly in return. "Well, I don't know about home, but you'll definitely be on your way."

With a quiet cheer, the woman made a fist-pumping motion, and promptly yelped as she almost lost her grip on the root beer bottle as the condensation on the glass made it slip right out of her hand. Fortunately, Jesse immediately clapped her legs together in reflex, and managed to catch the glass bottle between her legs before it fell any further and spilled, or shattered. She let out a shaky laugh as she reached down and retrieved her drink, briefly flashing Jo a mildly sheepish smile.

"Smooth," the older woman drawled, and Jesse shrugged as she offered her friend a crooked grin.

"Have I mentioned that I'm a klutz?"

Jo only laughed and shook her head before she hopped off of her chair and headed for the kitchen, presumably to find a replacement for the empty beer bottle in her hand. With a quiet sigh, Jesse sat back and watched the ongoing battle between Ellen and Castiel for dominance over the coveted title of Shot Glass Champion, or whatever they had decided to call it to justify getting absolutely plastered. So far, Cas was winning. The young woman smirked inwardly as she tried her best not to burst out laughing. Holy alcohol tolerance, you gotta love it. However, the admittedly amusing scene was disrupted by a loud grumble from the other side of the cramped living room.

"Everybody get in here!" Bobby called out as he continued to fiddle away with a camera of some kind set up on a tripod. "It's time for the lineup. Usual suspects in the corner."

With a quiet groan and a roll of her eyes, Ellen got up from her spot at the table and reluctantly wandered over into the living room, where Sam was already standing in the pre-determined corner, a look of resigned amusement on his face.

"Oh come on, Bobby," she grumped good-naturedly. "Nobody wants their picture taken."

"Hear, hear," Sam piped up, and both were rewarded with a truly spectacular stink-eye from Bobby as the older man raised his eyebrows pointedly.

"Shut up. You're drinking my beer."

Jesse ducked her head slightly so no one could see the smile on her face as she laughed softly at the older man's logic. To be honest, it was pretty sound logic. After all, Dresden and his role-playing buddies had the 'He who kills the cheer buys the beer' rule. It was only logical that Bobby would have a similar rule in place. It was roughly around that moment that the woman realized that she was comparing Supernatural to the Dresden Files, and she was currently stuck in a TV show about a certain pair of hunters. Jesse immediately forced her mind away from the subject, wincing mentally. She knew far too well what kind of crap a certain wizard/private detective got into, and did not want to be in any more trouble than she already was. In the time that she'd been musing, Castiel, Jo and Dean had joined the small group in the corner even while Bobby continued to fiddle with the camera.

"Anyways, I'm gonna need something to remember your sorry asses by," he continued. By that point, everyone with the exception of Castiel was smiling in preparation for the picture.

"Ha! Always good to have an optimist around," Ellen snorted before she gave the man an exasperated look. "Bobby, quit foolin' around with the damn camera and let the kid take the picture." She glanced over at Jesse, her expression indicating that she was the 'kid' in question. "C'mon, get over here and take the picture before we all die of old age."

The artist immediately set down her drink and hopped out of her seat before she trotted over towards the tripod. Just when she had reached the camera and was about to snap the photo, Castiel spoke up.

"Bobby's right," he intoned gravely, his expression serious. "Tomorrow we hunt the devil. This is our last night on earth."

Everyone's smiles disappeared at that oh-so reassuring remark, and Jesse felt her gut begin to churn anxiously at the mere mention of Lucifer, a steady sinking feeling developing deep in the pit of her stomach even as the camera flashed.

Hello there everyone, and um… sorry for the wait?

Look, I'm sorry for how long this chapter took to come out, I really am, but I hit a nasty writer's block on this one. I didn't know how to word what I wanted to happen, real life decided to be a bitch when it came to work and responsibilities, and I had a wonderful summer this year. I had more trips to the vet this summer than I ever wanted to endure, thanks to a few choice incidents with accidents involving my dogs, and one of my other pets died. So, this summer was kind of a crappy one in some aspects, and just outright busy in others. But, I do want to thank everyone who reviewed and helped cheer me on through the entire thing.

First of all, a huge shout-out to Aunt Mo, for allowing me to probably bore her to tears with all of the scene planning that she helped me do, and letting me bounce questions off of her when it came to scenarios, and how certain people should act. Seriously, she is absolutely brilliant, and is one of the main reasons for this story continuing the way it has.

Second, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter… which was posted all of three months ago. Yeah, I know, I took a long time.

Anyways… thank you to Maddy Love Castiel, NjoyingNsanity, xEllekex, scorpiustar, BK-201-D11, Shinaria, PutDownYourGuns, xBlossom, Smiling Loki, Yodes, Sonny, C'est La Vie Mon Amour, TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel, Mithya Aviana Cailin, I Lost A Bet To Madra, Anonymous, and AuntMo! Thank you everyone, and I hope to see you all soon.

And yes, I do really hope that I get the next chapter done a whole hell of a lot faster.