Chapter 4
Sam and Dean rolled through the doors of The Roadhouse later that afternoon. And again, Dean was left with another peculiar sight from the far corner of the room. The same mess of books and various pieces of paper remained mostly unchanged. What had changed was the group around the table. Jo was on one side, and Ash was on the other. In the center, facing the doorway this time, was J. Her dark chocolate brown hair was down today. Down to her elbows. Dean noticed. His mouth went dry.
'Son of a bitch.' Dean thought to himself, as he and Sam walked over to the group.
"Hey, guys!" Sam greeted.
"What are you working on?"
Ash looked up and fist-bumped Sam and said "Man, we are tracing one serious witch. Some serious power on this one. He has managed to draw attention to himself among psychics because his literal presence is a disturbance in their Force."
"Yeah, this one likes bowling allies, was born under a Sagittarius New Moon and was the bastard son of a handmaiden." J sniggered to herself before she looked up at Sam and Dean.
"Hey, guys. And, yeah, that's basically the layman's terms for what we're doing. I know he's going to be here, at the bar, tonight; I've made sure of it. That's all I know. They are helping me find other facts that can help me paint a bigger picture if you know what I mean."
She winked at Dean.
"I will just need to follow him from here and take him out. Clean and simple." She looked back down at the chart she was looking at in her hand, inside a book filled with hand-drawn diagrams. That same book that looked a lot like Dad's Journal. That must be her version.
Sam immediately jumped into questions. His eyes lighting up at the prospect of learning something new. Things like how astrology and stuff like that had to do with hard evidence and facts. Dean had to stop listening after a few minutes. All this psychic mumbo jumbo wasn't his speed. At least not at the moment.
He let Sam continue talking adamantly with J and Ash about the case and the details.
Meanwhile, Dean meandered to the bar, grabbed himself a beer, popped it, then took a long sip. Jo was almost right behind, but she grabbed a bottle of water, taking the barstool next to Dean, facing the other group.
"She is something, isn't she?" Jo remarked after a few minutes.
Dean choked on his beer. "What do you mean, Jo?" he managed to cough out.
"J, dude. She's a great hunter. Smart as a whip. And she's got the best ass." Jo sighed, tilting her head to the side slightly like she was remembering and reminiscing, rather than fantasizing, as she looked back at J.
Dean looked at her. Completely shocked.
"Are you two a thing? And since WHEN?" Suddenly Dean felt like a Big Brother and very protective of Jo from this J person. She was still a stranger, after all. And this was his family.
Jo took a deep breath and sighed. "On and off for a few years now. If you want to put a label on it, she's my best friend with benefits."
Dean cocked his head to the side, eyebrows raised. Jo looked at him and said, with a tinge of sadness in her voice, "We both travel too much. You know how that goes. How this life is. It is what it is, Dean."
"Oh." Was the only thing Dean was able to say without any kind of reaction or emotion. He looked away, back at the group still deep in discussion.
Looks like Sammy did get his nerdy study session after all. He was now elbows deep in all the books J had spread around. That made Dean smirk a little bit. Nerds.
"You like her, too. Don't ya Deano? I can tell. You have the same look I had. Sam is enamored, too. We can both see that. Although, in a totally different way it seems, so there is no worrying about that. Less competition." Jo smiled at him.
"So, did you dream about her last night?" Jo asked.
Dean turned to her and openly scoffed. How could she know about that?
"You totally did, didn't you!" Jo suddenly was a little more serious than Dean thought was necessary for the conversation they were in the middle of having.
"What if I did?" he said unevenly, coolly. Keeping his expression as plain and unreadable as he could without giving away his obvious shock.
"It's part of the psychic thing. It happened in your head. Right? Why does that make it any less real?" Jo said in such a way that made it sound like the only logical explanation, but also the most entirely insane explanation at the same time.
"What are you smoking, and can I have some?" He looked her dead in the eye and asked.
There was NO WAY what she was even implying could be true. No way in hell, even though he did have a dream. There is no way Jo was not playing some kind of joke on him.
"Dude! I wish someone would have told me what was going on with me! I thought I was going out of my mind. I thought she was some kind of monster. I made her pass every test in the book, Dean. That was before I saw her tattoo." Jo said in hushed, but very serious tones.
Dean suddenly knew this was completely serious and was nowhere near being a joke. There was no other way for Jo to mention the very distinct tattoo J had in Dean's dream unless she really did have it. He took a moment to gather himself before he continued.
"I did dream about her last night, Jo. What's going on?" Dean said in a serious tone. Considering he was admitting that he, in fact, did have a dream about J the night before.
"Means she likes you." Was all Jo said. A smirk on her face now.
"It means she what? Likes me? How does her liking me have anything to do with my dreams and her being in them?" Dean said, feeling suddenly extremely frustrated with Jo.
Jo's eyes flashed knowingly and she pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I'm not going to say anything else. You will see for yourself. At least you know you are not crazy. That's more than what I had to go off of. So, you can thank me for that, Dean Winchester."
Jo slid off the barstool and went to rejoin the group. Leaving Dean alone with his thoughts. A few things we certain. Jo was not lying and his dream did have something to do with J. Other than it being about her.
Whatever the reasons were, he did not know. He knew his thoughts were most likely safe. Especially right now since J was in the middle of a group of conversing people. He knew he wanted to know more about this woman named J.
Since he knew his thoughts were safe. He went through his dream a few more times to think about it in an analytical sense, as well as just letting the images wash through his mind again. He thought about what Jo had said. What she had told him, exactly. What that could possibly mean, and which of those possibilities was most likely right.
It was a good five minutes before Dean joined the group to help pin-point this witch before he made his appearance tonight at The Roadhouse.
He kept the conversation with Jo and his dream from his mind for the rest of the afternoon. It turns out that this psychic mumbo jumbo was actually pretty interesting.
Dean was impressed. And it was hard to do that, just ask Sam. J was very knowledgeable in her crafts, and of hunting in general. Dean threw in some random questions, when he could, to test her knowledge a little bit without being obvious about it.
She was very nice and he didn't want to seem rude. Also, because he thought it was hot, but that was secondary of course.
Her plan was solid. Catch him here and lead him away from everyone else.
Very simple, very easy.
Being the gentleman that he was, Sam offered to help in any way. A hunt was a hunt and going alone was dangerous. J sighed and looked at the big Moose.
"I appreciate your willingness and want to help, but you cannot help me. I hunt alone for a reason. Please respect that." She said sweetly up to him.
"Of course, J." Sam said while looking slightly put off. Not because of the rejection of his offer of help, but because he honestly thought J needed back up. Dean saw the concern on his brother's face. He was thinking that Sam was right. But this wasn't their hunt.
Everyone went their separate way in the late afternoon. They would all converge back at The Roadhouse later that night. J agreed it was better having extra eyes; As long as no one interfered.
Jo needed to get the bar ready.
Ellen had come back from town with supplies.
Ash was still passed out on the pool table. Having woken up and passed back out a few times during their little study session.
J needed to prepare for her hunt. Which meant she needed to be alone for a few hours at least beforehand. Get that psychic mojo flowing. At least that's what Dean guessed.
He and Sam went back to the diner down the road for some dinner before returning to the motel for a few hours.
Sam went to take a nap, and Dean went to cleaning his guns.
Dean grabbed his favorite gun. His dad had given it to him as a 21st birthday present. 50 cal. Revolver. Longnose.
Every inch of exposed metal had the finest filigree work you had ever seen. It was a work of art. Dean only took it out for special occasions. Special hunts. The ones that mean something. Not just any other job.
The craftsmanship was nothing like Dean has ever seen before. It was the best present he had ever received. Besides the charm he wore around his neck that Sammy gave him years ago.
He was reminded of J's tattoo and Dean wondered if it was real. If J really did have the tattoo he saw in his dream. The one Jo mentioned earlier. The filigree work on her made her even more of a work of art.
He thought back to earlier.
Since he rejoined the group that afternoon, he learned that J was quiet, yet commanded the attention when she spoke. She was very warm despite her initial impression on him. And honestly, who was Dean to say. He was staring at her ass. Jo was definitely right about one thing. That ass, though.
J was funny. In the most sarcastic way. She had so many wisecracks and snarky comebacks ready to sling.
She had Sam gasping for air over one thing or another.
Dean was able to keep his mind clear of anything that would be embarrassing to be caught thinking about. For that, he was grateful.
This "one that likes bowling allies, was born under a Sagittarius New Moon, and was the bastard son of a handmaiden." Was actually a very old, and very powerful, male witch. He fed off the life force of young and gullible humans to stay young. Using one black magic spell or another.
J didn't go too much into that part. She was using the old Bait 'Em and Gank 'Em technique. Which Dean found very interesting in conversation at the bar earlier.
This particular witch has survived hundreds of years. Meaning that's hundreds of years' worth of experiences. Sam had brought this last point up a few times since they left The Roadhouse.
"I just think it would be better if someone had her back." Sam said as they got dressed to head back to The Roadhouse a few hours later.
"Just let her do her thing, Sammy. You really don't know this chick. And she made it plain she didn't want any help. Remember Gordon?"
"Yes, I remember Gordon. But J isn't Gordon. Ash and Jo were not helping Gordon, were they? Besides, it seems Jo and J are close. I trust Jo's judgment. I'm just saying, logically speaking, back up is never a bad thing." Sam said, rather forcibly.
He saw another Bitchface creep into Sam's expression. Seems his little bro was feeling protective of J. Already. Dean dropped the subject as they left the motel.