Series Title: Angel Baiting and Other Contact Sports
Title: Worry Spots
Author: Jmaria
Rating: FR-15
Disclaimer: I own nothing… Joss owns the Buffy, Kripke owns the SPN.
Series Summary: Tales from the Resurrected 'verse. Bits and insights to other characters mentioned in previous installments.
Summary: The Harvelles and Dawn conspire - er, protect the Gumby Girl.
A/N: I wanted to have Ellen and Jo come into play (as they did reappear in season 5) and get their take on Lisa (yeah, they had me like her for a few seconds in season 6, damn them) and Ben. Plus? I have a fun nifty idea for Jo. (^_^)

Angel Baiting and Other Contact Sports
Worry Spots

"I don't like this," Ellen Harvelle shifted until she was leaning back against her car. Her daughter Jo mirrored her mother's posture.

"Meeting up with Dawn or Sam is never good," Jo muttered darkly. Of course, Dawn had broken her heart with the news of Dean's death nearly a month ago. "She say what she wanted?"

"No, and Bobby's being tight-lipped about it - whatever the hell it is," Ellen sighed.

Before Jo could reply to that, the Impala made a wide turn into the lot that Dawn had asked them to meet up with her and Sam. Sam looked uncomfortable, and Dawn looked pissed as she got out of the car.

"Hey Ellen, Jo," Sam gave them a tight smile, but looked like he was gonna be sick.

"Sam," Ellen pulled him into a quick hug. Jo just half-smiled at him. "Dawnie, what the hell is going on with you two that you have to call us outta the blue?"

"Long story short?" Dawn sighed, her eyes locking on the younger woman's. "There's a kid in the town a half mile up the road, 6179 Contesti street."

"It's the 'burbs. I'm sure there's a lot of kids there," Jo rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, not like this kid. He's family," Sam winced a bit at that.

"Family as in 'hunters' or as in -" Ellen's eyes ticked between the two of them.

"Flesh and blood," Dawn answered.

"Damn John Winchester," Ellen shook her head. "Man kept more secrets than God himself."

"Not this time," Sam frowned.

"Then -"

"It's Dean's 'flesh and blood', Mama," Jo said quietly, shifting her eyes away from Sam's pained expression.

"We're trying to keep it quiet. And if Sam and I hang out around here long enough -" Dawn took a breath. "That demon hag Ruby will show her corpse-girl face and then all hell might have to break loose."

"Who is it?" Jo asked. "The kid, not the demon-hag."

"He's nine, name's Ben Braeden. Lisa, his mom, kept his real paternity from Dean when he went to reconnect during the Changeling case the guys handled last year," Dawn watched as Jo's face tightened, much as it had when they'd had to break the news about Dean's death. "Only Bobby, Sam, myself, and Willow know about him. We're trying to keep it that way, and short of an Unbreakable Vow -"

"A what?" Ellen frowned at her.

"Sorry, HP reference," Dawn shook her head, lightening the gloomy expression on Sam's face for half a second. "Anyway. Short of a magic spell to keep it hush-hush, we knew you two could keep it close to the chest. And you're both fairly far off the radar where demons are concerned. Dean's gone, so they won't try and get at him through Jo. And you've never done serious, consistent hunting so you're safe -"

"Except for running the Roadhouse, which was targeted by demons and got every hunter in there killed," Ellen said thickly.

"You know enough to make you capable, not enough to make you dangerous," Dawn countered. "It's asking a lot, I know -"

"We'll do it," Jo said quietly, shocking them all.

"Jo, baby -"

"He'd do it for us," she cut her mother off. "Least we can do for all the times he saved me."

"Thanks, Jo," Sam smiled.

"I hate this place," Jo sighed three weeks later.

"You volunteered us for this job, little girl," Ellen chuckled as she dried her hands on the dish towel.

Dawn had insisted that since she'd been the one to ask the favor that the Harvelles' let her supply the house they'd be living in. Ellen hadn't cared for that idea at first, but it kept them close to the boy and his mama. And Dawn had looked awfully gleeful at the idea of spending money that apparently belonged to her good-for-nothing biological father.

"That woman has to have the most boring life in the world," Jo groaned. "Get up at five a.m., get the kid to school, teach yoga, plant damn flowers. My God, I wanna claw my eyes out!"

"Not everybody lives and breathes workin' in a bar," Ellen shook her head.

"Mama, you cannot make me believe that you and Daddy ever lived like that," Jo lifted her head from the kitchen island.

"Not exactly like Lisa's, no," Ellen gave her daughter a small smile. "But for a while, before you were born and your Daddy and I lost friends to demons, we had a bit of normal. Damn near regular routine and everything."

"Just go on shatterin' my world," Jo frowned.

"Nobody's twistin' your arm and making you tail her constantly, Jo."

"I'm not tailing her," Jo narrowed her eyes. "And it's a protective detail on the kid, not tailin'."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Ellen shrugged.

"Shit, the little imp's on the move," Jo sighed, her watch beeping. She wasn't asking Summers where the hell she got the tech to track the kid, but she was damn grateful for it. Especially when he tended to go off his routine at the drop of a hat. Just like his daddy.

Ben had just slipped through the hedges in order to sneak off the park. His mom normally tracked him down before he could slip away, but she was busy with a phone call and thought he was in the living room playing one of his games. Ever since that girl had come to tell them that Dean had died, his mom had been acting weird. Even weirder than when they'd been attacked by the Changelings.

The park was only five blocks away, and a bunch of kids were meeting up there today. He already had a freak status because he was the new kid in town. And if he didn't show, nobody would want to hang out with the Mama's Boy. Ben's jaw clenched as he ran farther up the block. He didn't even notice the dark haired teenager he plowed into until it was too late to stop himself.

"Hey, you okay, buddy?" a small chuckle came from the teenage boy who steadied him by his shoulders.

"Uh, yeah."

"You in a rush?"

"Yeah, friends are waiting for me," Ben tensed as he stared up at the older boy.

"Does your sister know where you were going?" he asked, nodding at someone over Ben's shoulder.

Ben frowned, glancing out over his shoulder and half-expecting to see his mother. Instead, he saw the blonde woman who lived down the street with Miss Ellen. He liked Miss Ellen. She always snuck him a soda and a candy bar when she spotted him sneaking through her backyard. Which was pretty weird. Nice, but weird.

"Ben Braeden, aren't you supposed to be home by now?" she frowned at him, a lot like Miss Ellen did at her back when she wasn't looking.

"Uh-oh, first and last name. But you must not be in too much trouble, or else the middle name would have come out too," the teenager chuckled. "I'm Blaine Anderson. It's my fault he's so late getting back."

"She's just my neighbor," Ben frowned at her.

"I'm Jo Harvelle," Jo crossed her arms. "And do you want your mom worrying about you?"

"She's right, you wouldn't want her worried," Blaine nodded.

"Fine, ruin my life!" Ben muttered. "Nosy grown-ups."