Chapter 55

When Jo and Dean arrived at the Impala, they found Sam and Sarah in a heated discussion with Meg.

'Scorch, is that really them?,' Dean asked Scorch.

'Yes,' Scorch replied.

Sam turned and saw Dean.

"DEAN! JO!" Sam exclaimed as he ran to them and grabbed them both in a giant bear hug.

Sarah joined in. Coal ran to Lava, nuzzling her.

"Clarence! We found them," Meg called into the sky.

Instantly Cas, Balthazar and Gabriel were there as well.

"Ok, Sam. I'm glad to see you too. Do you mind telling us why you are crushing us to death?" Dean said, puzzled.

Sam let go.

"We thought we had lost you. Coal kept insisting you were still alive and with Lava right around the museum, but we couldn't find you. We have been looking for weeks," Sam said, his voice shaking.

"We were only gone an hour, maybe an hour and a half," Dean said.

"Look at the date on your phone, Einstein," Meg said.

Dean checked and the date was January 23.

"That can't be right," Jo said looking up at their friends.

Sarah grabbed Jo's hand and said, "Really. We have been looking for you since January 4. We thought at first you might just be laying low to hide from Crowley and you are newlyweds, but you never showed up where you were supposed to and weren't answering any of your phones. Cas brought us up here and we found Dean's car. Sam knew he would never just leave her on the street and take off. Coal could still hear Lava, but he said it sounded like she was in a tunnel. Meg wanted to move the car today because she though it was starting to draw attention, but Sam thought this is where you would come if you escaped whatever had you."

Sam put an arm around Sarah and pulled her close.

"Seriously, Dean, where were you?" he asked.

Dean was even more confused.

"We were in the museum then the alley right behind it. It has been less than two hours for us. Two fun filled, mess with your head, fight demons and a mummy hours," Dean answered.

"Hold on. Did you touch," Balthazar looked around then lowered his voice, "the thing I told you not to?"

Jo stepped in front of Dean defensively.

"Not on purpose," she said raising her chin to glare at Balthazar.

"Oh, what a feisty one you have Dean," he said in approval. "Well in that case you got off very easy only losing 21 and a half days. How did you break the curse so fast?" he asked.

"Scorch reminded me of the curse. Once I realized that was what it was it couldn't have any influence on me," Jo said.

"And then she pulled me out from under the curse," Dean answered, leaving out the details of how exactly Jo had accomplished that.

Cas looked around warily.

"Now that you are both free and appear to be safe, you really should get on your way to delivering what you came here to retrieve, " he said to Dean.

"I thought you would never give us permission," Dean smiled as he opened Jo's door for her. He walked around the car and climbed in the driver's side. Not until the doors were locked did he hand the backpack to Jo.

"We are definitely not celebrating any anniversaries here," he said as he pulled out of his parking spot into the horrible traffic.

Jo slid into the middle of the front seat and rested her head on Dean's shoulder.

"Fine by me."