Chapter 9
The next morning Dean woke up before Sam. For a change, he was the one who went and got breakfast and coffee. Waking Sam up upon his return.
"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty! We got some shit to talk about. You're gonna need this." Dean handed the bleary-eyed Sam a cup of coffee as he sat up.
"How are you up before me?" Sam asked as he sipped at his coffee.
"Because J came to visit, again, last night. And we need to talk about mental flexing and what the hell that even means."
"And you didn't wake me up WHY!?" Asked Sam pointedly.
"Wait. Again? How was she here and I never noticed? Twice? Mental flexing?"
Sam looked so lost so confused at everything Dean had just said. Dean sighed and gestured to the coffee in his hand. "I told you, you were going to need that."
It took Dean over an hour and a half to fill Sam in on everything he had missed out on in the last few days. The questions alone lasted for over 20 minutes.
Everything from J showing up in his dreams and apologizing to him, with absolutely none of the gory details, to what Jo had said about them being 'best friends with benefits'. Also, J's ability to Dream Walk.
"No wonder you've been so distracted. I was thinking it was because you knew there was something between Jo and J. And you obviously like both of them. I was under the impression that you did not know how to handle it." Dean scoffed that the last comment before Sam continued, almost without pause.
"This is a whole new level of something I had never even thought of before. Oh, man. I really need to talk to J about this. If she can do this, maybe others can do it, too. She said something about you 'mental flexing'? I agree the to need to know more about that. Maybe it's an avenue we need to study, in case we come across someone with ill intentions with the same ability. There has to be some kind of protection against it. And we already know there are people like that out there. So, why not learn from one of them?" Sam said, more and more to himself than to Dean.
"You've been policing your thoughts that much?" Sam chuckled, looking up from his coffee. "So, go get her, dude. Why are you still here telling me all this? Go on down to The Roadhouse and talk to her."
Dean paused. He wasn't sure if he could face her.
Dean walked into The Roadhouse. He scanned the room and was surprised and relieved to see the J was not there. It was just Jo behind the bar.
"Hey, Dean. Where's Sam?" Jo asked reflexively.
"He decided to stay back at the motel and chase a couple of leads while I take care of some unfinished business."
"Unfinished business? What are you talking about, Winchester?"
"J."
"What about J?"
"She is my unfinished business. I don't like unfinished business."
Jo's eyes grew wide with understanding. "Oh."
Dean looked away from the now analytical look he was receiving from the blonde behind the bar.
"Since you're being so open now for some reason, may I ask what this unfinished business is, exactly?"
Dean chuckled. He wasn't that easy to crack.
"You already know she can Dream Walk. Like I'm going to start going around talking about my dreams. That's actually more information than you need to know about my business." He teased, but still completely serious.
Jo acted affronted.
"Well, I hope you know, good sir. That I have information of my own that YOU might be interested in. I wouldn't go walling up so quickly if I were you." Jo looked smug at the expression on Dean's face.
'What did she know that I would want to know?' He thought to himself, as his heart dropped down to the pit of his stomach.
"What kind of information?" Dean shot at her, as nonchalantly as he could. He crossed his arms.
"Information about a certain someone who has the ability to walk into your dreams," Jo said in high-pitched, sing-song voice. "I'm sure you wouldn't be interested though. It is none of your business after all…" She continued with an air of mischievousness.
Dean had no other choice. "What do you want to know."
"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you?" Jo feigned deafness, cupping her hand to her ear.
"What do you want to know about my business. In exchange for this information you think I want." Dean said flatly. Looking straight ahead.
He knew how Jo could get about this stuff. To say Chick Flick didn't cover it was an understatement when it came to Dean and his "business". Or anyone's business when it came to this kind of thing, really. She couldn't contain herself usually.
"I don't need to know about your gory details, but I do need to know what she said to you." Jo's expression was a little bit more serious than usual when it came to this kind of 'business.'
"Well…" Dean began. Stuttering and wondering where to begin. What to say. What to leave out. What he was going to say in response.
Jo crossed her arms, leaned back, and just stared at Dean. Waiting.
Dean looked away. Gathering his thoughts. It was a moment before he spoke.
"She came to me, here actually. Must be neutral ground." Dean's throat was suddenly dry. He took a quick sip of his water and continued.
"She came to apologize about how she treated and talked to me. About the job. Last night when I went chasing after her and that Pretty Boy Witch. She was concerned that I thought she was something to be hunted. Asked if she was a distraction. And she left me an open invitation." Dean said flatly. Trying not to bring too much attention to that last part. The most important part.
That was the best he could do when it came to summing up what had happened. Without giving away any gory, or personal, details. He had to have some privacy around here with his own thoughts.
"Good. I was afraid she was going to chicken out. What did you tell her?"
Dean looked over at Jo with an annoyed and utterly surprised expression on his face, already feeling violated. "This is not a freeway and a bike path, Joanna Beth. Fess up."
"Please, answer first and I will tell you everything. Almost, everything." Jo pleaded. Pulling her best pouty face.
"Fine! Like I have privacy around here, to begin with anyway! I told her my dad had chewed me up and spat me out for far less. That it was no big deal. I told her I was distracted by her. That she was not something that needed to be hunted. She left right after the 'open invitation' part." Dean concluded. The tone of his voice apparent that he was done elaborating on the subject.
"She has been asking about you, you know." Jo said. Dead stared at her. She was looking down and away. Like she was telling someone else's secrets. Which she technically was.
"She asked me about your story. Your past. She asked about Sam and how close you guys are. How good of hunters you guys are. How good of a hunter YOU are, in particular." Jo paused.
"The first night she wanted to know everything I knew about you. The big things, the rumors, the truth. She even asked what your favorite color was. I don't even know, so I couldn't tell her."
She sighed. Pausing again for a moment, deciding what to say next.
"I guess you could say she got a little carried away with the Dream Walking. I know what she can do when she does that." That was definitely a blush spreading across Jo's face.
"I can only imagine. She had her way with me. And we are leaving that and that, Dean Winchester." Jo said finitely at the eager expression that crossed Dean's face.
"Not to sound weird. This is the biggest compliment she can give a person, really. She traced your birth chart and has done quite a few readings on you. She told me your mind is stronger to her than so many of the others. Even mine, and we have known each other for a very long time. She knows my mind… intimately." The blush returned to Jo's face and she looked away again.
"I think it is safe to assume you both are as enamored with each other as the other is. Now the questions that remain are: What now and what are you going to do about it?" Jo finally said.
Since when was Dean letting Jo play matchmaker? She did pose some very serious questions that needed to be answered, though. Dean lost himself in thought for a moment. Still silent.
Behind Dean, the door opened, blinding Jo for a moment until Sam's large frame blocked out most of the light and the door closed again behind him. He made a beeline for Jo and Dean.
"So…?" He asked expectantly.
"So what?" Dean replied. "Did you find us a new case?" Dean congratulated himself on the nice timing of this swift diversion.
"Actually, yeah I did," Sam said, his brows knitting together.
"A few states over, there have been some disappearances, and one person was found wandering the local woods. They had escaped an abandoned mine and wandered until they were found by local authorities. The mine was never found. Their story is way up our ally. So, get this, they were trapped in their dream world. Their own personal 'Fantasyland'." Sam said. Another look of triumph on his face.
"Sounds like a Djinn to me," Dean said with a smile on his face. Finally, a hunt where they were going in knowing, more than likely, exactly what they were up against. And how to kill it. Not many times out of 10 did that actually happen.
"I'll go get the lamb's blood!" Dean got up, exclaiming excitedly.
This was exactly what he needed right now. A job to focus on. He needed mental and physical focus right now. He needed that in order to decide what he was going to do about J. What he was going to do to J… Yeah, Dean needed a job right now. A job far away from The Roadhouse, but still close enough.
The place was only an all-night drive east. Dean could make it in before sunrise, he smirked to himself.
"But what about your unfinished business?" Jo interjected.
"What about it?" Sam asked, semi-puzzled. Looking between Dean and Jo.
Dean was giving Jo a pleading and serious look Sam didn't see.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything." Jo said as she headed into the back room of the bar.
"What was that all about?" Sam asked, turning on his brother with an amused expression on his face.
"Not much." Dean replied. Which was actually true. She didn't have much to say about his dream. He wasn't lying. Just leaving a lot of things out.
"Oh." Sam's face fell slightly. "So, when did you want to get started on this case?"