Chapter 27
The miles passed while Dean and J's conversation flowed. After the song, it seemed so much easier to talk. The lump that had formed in his throat all but forgotten. He much preferred to talking to singing, though. At least right now. He was finding it extremely easy to talk to her.
The small-talk questions continued, he wanted to get to know her a little bit better. On a more personal level. However, he was finding it hard to gather the guts to dive into any other questions he was burning to ask. He was thankful for the fact that they were still a way away from The Roadhouse.
He had plenty of time to ask the hard-hitting questions. And what better way than when they were stuck together in a confined space for the next few hours?
Before he could ask another question, distracted by his own train of thought, J beat him to it.
"What is somewhere where you have always wanted to go? A place, a city, a country? I know enough about you and your brother to know you've been crisscrossing this country for years. You probably know these highways and backroads as well, or probably better, than the truckers who have been doing this all of their working lives."
That last comment brought a smile to Dean's face as he continued to look out the windshield. Pondering her question now. All he did was travel. He had never really thought about where he would go if he had the choice and leisure to.
"Is there anywhere outside of the continental US that you want to see?" J asked while running her fingers lazily through her fiery hair. He glanced over as he caught the action in his peripheral vision. They didn't call this The Golden Hour for nothing. Dean caught himself staring and averted his eyes back to the road.
There should be rules about looking that good without even trying. Dean thought to himself before he answered.
"Well, I've always loved the beach. So, I'm going to say Hawai'i. Good luck getting me on a plane ever again. Been there done that."
J looked over at him with a quizzical expression on her face and an eyebrow raised so high she didn't need to ask the question.
"Sam and I exorcised a demon that was hell-bent on causing completely fatal plane crashes."
J's look turned to a look of shock and then to a look of horror.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you two were on the possessed plane that was on a collision course with disaster? And knew it?' A grin started to spread across her face as she started cackling in the passenger seat.
Dean pretended to look offended and affronted, "And that is a laughing matter why?"
"Only a Winchester would create and join a new version of The Mile-High Club. Who else do you know that has successfully exorcised a demon as 30,000 feet above the surface of the Earth?" J asked with so much sass Dean almost missed what she had said.
Dean felt his face pale at the thought of what J had said. Yes, it was in the past. He had done it, lived through it. Went on to fight and kill even more demons. But when you put it like that….
"Don't freak out on me, man!" J exclaimed as she saw the look of terror on Dean's face. "That takes some serious balls. Going up without knowing how you were going to come down. I can understand why you're so attached to driving. I much prefer it, too. But oh, the places we go…"
Dean started chuckling to himself at J's joke.
"A second ago you looked like you saw a ghost, now you're laughing. What did I say?"
Dean now busted out laughing at J's particular cliché idiom.
"My version of the Mile-High Club? And did you seriously just say I looked like I saw a ghost? I've seen too many of those sons of bitches to be afraid of one." Dean said as he continued to chuckle.
"Well, I'm glad you think I'm funny. He who said 'hell-bent' not two minutes ago regarding a demon." J said sarcastically as she reached over and shoved his shoulder gently in mock disgust.
Dean looked down at his shoulder where she had touched him, still feeling the warmth of her hand even though it was long gone by now. It was just a small, fleeting shove. Nothing more.
It still made his brain stutter for a slit second.
Before he could fumble his words, Dean said, "You make me laugh. You are very funny. You have a good sense of humor. Give yourself some credit. We're hunters. That was funny as fuck."
Dean did not miss how J's face fell when he said 'we're hunters.' How she looked down and away from him. He did not think it would be wise to press on that or even acknowledge that he had noticed. Instead, he asked another question.
"Where would you go? Anywhere in the world?"
"Italy and Greece." J said, almost before Dean had finished speaking.
"Damn! You didn't need to think about that one. Why?"
J smiled her crooked smile at him. "I have been to many places, already. I have been around this world multiple times and have been fortunate enough to see many things. The one place I know about most, I have yet to visit. Consider me something of an art history nerd. So, my geeky little heart lays within the crumbling ruins of Ancient Rome and Greece."
J trailed off as her smiled faded.
"I'm just boring you now. History is sometimes best left in books. Or so I have been told. Right now, it is one of those times. So, I will save you and stop myself. I tend to get over-excited."
J did not notice how the smile that had been growing on Dean's face had vanished just as quickly as hers had. He had been silently observing her face as she looked out ahead of them, unseeing.
Instead, he could tell her mind was far off in the places she was describing. He could see the joy the subject brought her. He also watched it fade away as she caught and stopped herself from continuing. Probably not the first time she had had to do this. A taught reaction.
The thought irked Dean more than anything. That someone would be able to interrupt and be the reason why that smile and that look in her eyes flared and then died out just as quickly. He promised himself he was going to do a little bit of research of his own, and then ask her about it again.
He wanted to be able to fully enjoy being able to sit down and observe her merely just talking about this subject. Watch that look in her eyes grow. See the passion for which he heard her speak. He was slightly grateful for the fact that she had stopped herself, he was driving and unable to give her and this conversation his full attention.
That and he knew absolutely nothing about Rome or Greece.
Dean made a mental note to ask more about Ancient Rome sometime in the near future, and to Google a few things first. He cleared his throat.
"Where have you been then? Where are these places you have been to?" Dean asked.
J paused for a second before she answered. She bit the inside of her cheek in thought. Eyes going distant again.
"The better question there is where haven't I been? I have not been to either poles. I have not been to South America, Asia, Africa, or Australia. Nor have I been to the Mediterranean."
"Well okay then, Miss Trendsetter over here." Dean said with a wave of his wrist, a tut of his tongue, and a smile on his face.
J looked back over at Dean, that smirk returning as she countered.
"Your job has you all over this country. My job has me all over the world. Monsters don't just exist here. And the ones that exist here are not always the same as in other places. Could you imagine a Yeti in Arizona?"
The smile on J's face grew wider as the thought of foreign monsters hit Dean with full force. Which must have been apparent on his face.
Of course, it made perfect sense that the world would be full of monsters of some kind. Monsters that he would know nothing about. Dean had just never really thought about exactly how small his world was compared to the entirety of it.
"What is the craziest monster you have ever gone up against, then?" Dean asked. Intrigued at this world full of monsters.
"An illegally-trafficked Sphinx that some asshole let loose in Tallinn, Estonia. That was a hard hunt. Not only are Sphinxes hyper-intelligent creatures, that city is nothing but high walls with long, narrow walkways where we had it trapped. But still, talk about a maze."
"A what!?" Dean exclaimed. He attempted to look over at J to be sure she was serious. The sun was making its last appearance as Dean glanced over. He was momentarily blinded before abandoning that attempt at looking at her during her brief pause. Her voice conveyed what he would have guessed to be a more serious face at her tone. She was talking business now.
"A Sphinx. You know, body of a lion, head of a human? That giant statue in Egypt? They are very few and far between. They have been hunted to near-extinction by our kind. Your kind and mine. Like dragons. I heard the last one was killed some 800 years ago in some Eastern European country." J ignored Dean's look of utter shock and continued.
"This hunt lasted a whole 4 days. It was the longest job I have ever worked. So many witnesses. Of course, we had to alter all of their memories. And that's only after we figured out who had seen what. Then again, I make it easier than truth serum, but I am only one person. There was some major cleanup that lasted weeks. On-site and at the office after that one."
Dean looked back over at J as she trailed off. She looked out the window. Her lips pressed firmly together in the universal sign of I Have Said Too Much. He quickly came to the conclusion that he would not push the subject any further. He had already heard enough to process for the night. At the very least.
"Seriously? Dragons?" Dean thought to himself as he looked out the window in the now silent car. He pushed the thoughts from his mind as he came back to old questions he had wanted to ask before all of these new ones arose.
Dean took the plunge and one of the questions he had be so resolute on asking. The easiest one he could think of.
"So, J, how did you get into the whole hunting business?" Dean asked as conversationally as he could. He couldn't think of a better place to start. It was a question and an answer everyone in this business asked and told over and over and over again until they could speak their story backward.
Dean was not expecting the reaction he was getting from J.