Chapter 10

Dean stared down the dark, two-lane highway. Somewhere in eastern Iowa. Sam was asleep, riding shotgun. The boys were heading to Madison, Wisconsin. It was sometime after 1 AM. They had gotten a late start since they did most of the hard research and preparing back at the motel.

The police reports and witness testimonies were enough to go off of. They knew what, when, why, and how. They only needed to figure out a plan, and WHO exactly they were looking for. The witness never saw the person. So, all they would need to do was flash a badge and ask a few questions. As per their usual routine.

A routine Dean was glad to drop back into.

They would be there by morning if Dean drove all night. And he liked it that way. Just him, the Impala, and a long stretch of open road. Even with Sammy asleep in the passenger seat, and all. This was part of Dean's personal heaven.

A thought came to Dean's mind at something Jo had said the night before at The Roadhouse. Something about being glad she hadn't picked another song off of that album that J had sung from. The look on J's face was enough to elicit the memory and some curiosity out of him. Now, if only he could remember the song…

"Son of a Bitch," Dean whispered to himself several minutes later.

He knew it was a Lady Gaga song. That he could remember. But since he never heard it, or heard of it, he couldn't remember the name of the track.

Goddamnit.

He sat there, staring at the road concentrating on that conversation. On the bits he could remember. Trying to jog his memory. It wasrightthere. It was one word! He just kept seeing Jo's smug expression and the look of horror on J's face.

But what was that word!?

"Oh, shut up. I could have picked…."

'Could have pickedWHAT?' Dean said to himself, starting to get frustrated.

He was going to have to either suck it up, or wake up Sam and ask him if he remembered.

He was going to have to suck it up.

Dean glared out the windshield for what felt like an hour. Concentrating on that night's events. Still trying to remember the name of the song.

He pulled into a 24-hour gas station to stretch his legs and to fill up some time later.

While waiting at the pump, he thought of another option that he had not initially thought of.

He grabbed his phone from the dash and opened a new text to Jo. She was always up really late so Dean was expecting a reply. It still wasn't even 3 AM yet.

"What was that song you were going to play at karaoke? The other one by Lady Gaga?"

SEND

'What have I done.' Dean thought to himself. He could not believe he just asked Jo about a Lady Gaga song.

Curiosity did kill the cat.

A few minutes later his screen lit up with the response: "Swine. Why are you asking? Aren't you supposed to be driving?"

"I'm stopped for gas. Calm down. I couldn't remember. But I remember J's face. The look of horror made me think to look it up. Why did you almost pick it?"

SEND

Dean put the nozzle back into its cradle before getting back into the Impala. He quickly looked up a YouTube video of the song, and then one of the one she had actually sung, letting them fully buffer before gearing up and getting back on the road.

He borrowed Sam's headphones since he was obviously asleep, and not listening to whatever he had been playing. It paused, whatever it was when he unplugged them. If anything, Dean was doing him a favor.

He deftly put the earphone in one ear and plugged it into his own phone. Just as he hit play and the opening of the song started, a text popped up on his screen.

"Just listen to it. You'll understand why. And I think you might actually like the song, too. Listen carefully!"

Dean continued down the road, listening to the song. He then continued to replay it, over and over until he knew he had the lyrics down.

*Author's Note: Please listen to Swine by Lady Gaga, before continuing with this chapter*

Over and over. Dean played that song. He couldn't just look up the lyrics right now, he was driving down some two-lane high way in the middle of nowhere; and in the middle of the night. He was reckless, but never in the text-and-drive kind of way. That was just stupid. And he could imagine what Sam would have to say about it if he did, and was caught.

After that song, he listened to the one J had sung, and proceeded to analyze that for an unknown extended period of time. Deciphering more lyrics. Dean was amazed at how different the songs were. This was all Lady Gaga? Dean might be a fan. These songs were no Poker Face. They were better.

He finally pulled out his earbuds, having put the second one in to help him better hear and understand the lyrics. He must have been listening for an hour, an hour and a half. Maybe 45 minutes total, before he was certain he knew exactly what the songs said and were about. Then his mind just wandered. That part wasn't hard at all.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Swine was a song purely about sex. The one she had sung, MANiCURE, was a bit more fluff when it came to the lyrics; but still, all about sex. Dean was intrigued by the lyrics and their possible meanings. He mused for quite a while on the one Jhadsung. It was not as in your face apparent as Swine was.

Dean thought of J singing this new song, instead of the one she had sung back at the bar. How exactly would she have 'performed' this one? Why didn't Jo pick it? What made Jo pick that other song instead? What was the song she had picked been about, really? And how, exactly, had J sung that one? Why did she have that horrified expression when Jo teased it? Or was that just a reaction to her name being said?

Juliet…

He knew one thing. He most certainly did not know why Jo almost picked it.

A flood of questions and memories now almost drowned Dean. It was not at all unpleasant. Now that he was not concentrating so hard on the music, he still had a lot to think about. He let his mind wander through his thoughts while he jammed out to the two alternating songs that were now stuck in his head.

He remained lost in his thoughts until Sam woke up, sometime around 5 AM. The sun was just barely breaking the horizon. And they were very near their destination.

So much for keeping his head in the game.