Chapter 10: Jo and Ellen
Less than fifteen minutes after John hung up the phone with Ellen, there was a sharp rap on the door. John looked at Dean briefly before answering it. The second he opened the door, Jo rushed in. Her long blond hair flew behind her as she ran across the room to hug Dean.
"Ellen," John said, "Please come in."
Ellen walked into the room and leaned on the door.
"Dean?" Jo said, "You might want to stay out of her reach. She's not in a good mood right now."
Dean glanced at Ellen and smiled, "Hey, Ellen. How's everything going?"
"Don't you 'Hey, Ellen' me, boy. Do you know how worried your daddy is about you? Boy, you try to do that again and you won't see the next hour. You hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am," Dean said, honestly worried.
"Dean, what I don't get," Jo said, sitting down beside Dean, "Is why you'd try to kill yourself? Are you that desperate to be with her that you'd leave everyone? Me, John, Mom, Sammy, Bobby, Caleb? All of us? Her friends, her family? What about them? Dean, we all need you. Why can't you just think of what else, or whom else you'd be leaving?"
"Jo, you don't know how much I'm going through right now. I don't want to be here. I don't want to see her family's face everyday till we leave, knowing that I killed her."
"How can you be so naive?!" she yelled, standing up, "How can you think that this is your fault when there was no way for you to prevent what happened?! Why do you blame everything on yourself?!"
Dean cautiously stood up and faced her, even though he was considerably taller, "It's always my fault, Jo! I don't care if there was any way to prevent it or not, I should have tried to protect her! Now she's dead and I can't do anything about it!"
"EXACTLY!!! There is nothing you can do about it, but remember her! And you're going to have to face that, Dean! As hard as it may be, you're gonna have to!"
"Don't stand there and tell me what I do and do not have to do, Harvelle, you don't get any of this!"
"NO?!" Jo pulled up her sleeve and showed Dean six diagonal scars just under the area where her elbow bends, "The Hell I don't, Dean! This is from when my boyfriend broke up with me." She pulled the shoulder of her shirt down and showed him a scar over her collarbone, "This is from when my cousin hit his girlfriend." She lifted her shirt up just enough to show him a scar from recent stitches, "This is where I stabbed myself when they said you were in a car crash and in the hospital. Dean, you're one of my best friends. If I stabbed myself when you got into a crash, think of what I would have done if you'd died. I'd probably be splattered on the concrete under a bridge by now. It's a chain reaction, Dean. You die, I die, Mom dies, John dies, Sam dies, and then everyone else follows. You're what holds us together, even though you don't realize it. Think about it. Everytime something happens in my family, who do I talk to? You. Everytime your father goes on a bad hunt and comes home hurt, who's always there to help him without fail? You. When Sam's hurt or needs help, who does he ask? You. You're everyone's hope now, Dean. I've lost my father, you and Sam lost your mother, John lost his wife, and you're always the strongest out of all of us."
Dean sat back down and put his head in his hands. This time it was Ellen's turn.
"Dean Winchester, if I ever hear you're in the hospital because of something you've done to yourself, don't expect me to come running. Especially after what Jo just told you, because if you try to kill yourself after her little speech, there's something seriously wrong with your brain."
"Thanks, Jo," Dean said, "Dad, I'm sorry. I really am, I just miss her, that's all."
John hugged Dean tightly, "I know. I know, just please don't scare me like that again."
"Ellen threatened me, Dad. I'm pretty sure I won't try anything that stupid again. Honestly, I think she'd really kill me."
"You better believe it, Dean," Ellen said, "And we're renting a room here, just in case you need to talk to either Jo or myself."
"Thanks."
"Don't sweat it," Jo said. Her voice was hoarse from yelling. She reached over and hugged him again, and her sweater brushed against the bruise and Dean hissed.
"Jo," he said, "Bruise. You hit it. Please stop."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she said.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just gonna do some research for a little bit.
"Okay."
"We're just a few rooms down, okay?" Ellen said.
"Yeah."
Jo and Ellen walked out of John and Dean's room and John sat on the other bed.
"I hate you, Dad," Dean said, "You had to bring Ellen and Jo into this."
"Did it work?"
"Yeah. I think I trust Ellen's threats."
"Good, then I don't care."
John flipped throught the TV channels and Dean read a book (shocker).
A/N I was going to make this chapter longer, but I ran out of ideas for more of the talk. Please review.