Thank you C1B12 and Danae for always being so awesome with your feedback! Blondie 20000 and Franki3Winchester thank you so for reading and for all your feedback over the past 12 chapters!
Oh Franki3Winchester this is the hard part about writing for a show with so much history...I completely forgot about The Empty! So I'm sticking with Purgatory because I can't even begin to figure out how to fix that...sorry *blush*.
I do try to go back and look stuff up on the Supernatural Wiki site because I really only watched the first 3 seasons a second time when they first went into syndication but from Season 4 and on I've only seen those episodes when they originally aired and that's a ton of history to try and remember.
Anywho, thank you again for all your feedback and I hope people enjoy this next part.
Thanks
Val
Chapter 13
Jo's mouth dropped open at Castiel's declaration. "No...no...no!" She cried as she pulled her hand away from the angel and staggered to her feet.
Dean and Sam stared at Castiel in shock as Jo turned and ran out of the room. It took Dean several seconds to realize Jo had run out of the room and he got up to follow her with Sam and Cas hot on his heels.
"Shit," Dean said when he realized she was heading towards the room that Gabriel is in.
He made the turn down the last hallway just in time to see Jo rushed through the door and he cursed the one-way door handles that the Men of Letters had put on the cells so that they didn't need actual locks.
The three opened the door to see Jo standing in front of Gabriel. "What did you and Michael do?! Did he need a vessel so bad that he pulled me from heaven!" She shouted.
Gabriel look distraught at Jo's accusations and shook his head. "No...I may have agreed to alter your memories, but I didn't pull you out of heaven."
"Fine...then it was Michael," Dean said as he and Sam went to stand by Jo. Castiel came into the room but made sure he stood outside of the angel trap painted on the floor.
Gabriel rolled his eyes towards the two hunters. "Actually, this is all on you two."
"What the Hell are you talking about we never did anything to try and raise Jo!" Dean argued.
"No, you just piss off Osiris who brought her forth to testify against you." He shouted before he continued. "What neither of you realized is that when Osiris pulled a spirit to testify that those spirits were tethered to the him so when Sam stab Osiris with the ram horn it severed the connection and Jo was trapped on this plain. It was then up to Death on whether to have her soul reaped again and return to heaven or to leave her here. Considering how much Death is such a fan of yours and Sam I think even you can figure out Death's decision."
"No if that was true then we would have known." Dean said as his stomach churned at the thought that Jo wasn't allow back into heaven because of him.
Gabriel snorted. "Please you two couldn't put it together but the old man did."
"You're lying," Sam said as Jo sank down onto the bed in the center of the room. "If what you're saying is true then Bobby would have told us!"
"Maybe if she was still the Jo you knew. Not the catatonic woman they found wandering naked around the construction site where she died." Gabriel spate.
"You're lying," Sam insisted. He couldn't believe Bobby would keep something like that from them.
"Am I? Don't believe me then ask your brother." He said as he turned to Dean. "You felt her touch you before she disappeared. You even told the old man after one too many belts of whiskey that you could have sworn that you felt her touch, smelled her perfume."
Dean swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked over at Jo. His heart broke when he saw the sadness in her eyes and he quickly went and knelt in front of her and took her hands in his.
"Jo, Baby," he murmured as he rubbed her hands.
Cas watched the couple for a few seconds before he turned on his brother. "What are you playing at Gabriel. Working with Michael...altering Joanna memories...hiding her in another dimension...bringing her here...placing me in that damn box so that I could not help her."
The archangel finally looked at his brother. "Me! I didn't have a choice! Michael resurrected me and forced me to help him and if you think that box was bad, you should try being tortured by one of your brothers!"
Jo looked up at the two angels. "Stop it! If you have any feelings for me Gabriel tell me the truth," she begged.
"The truth is that humans aren't meant to come back the way you did. Your mind couldn't cope. I will give the old man credit...once he figured out the truth and found you, he had the decency to have you moved from that state-run Hell hole they had placed you into a private hospital after setting up a trust fund for his 'niece'.
"But how? Her body…?" Sam asked.
"You would have to ask Billy about that. That's her department now." He told them because honestly since Death's powers were comparable to their father.
"And Bobby just left me with nobody knowing I was here?" She asked, horrified.
"Not exactly, he trusted one person to ensure his estate was in order so that your hospital bills would be taken care of." He admitted.
"Who?" Dean asked, hurt that Bobby made the solo decision to keep Jo being brought back to them to himself.
"Your sheriff friend," Gabriel told them.
"Jody...why would he tell Jody but not us?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Because it was the only way he could truly protect Jo, wasn't it? He couldn't chance us…me going to her, making her presents known." Dean said as he realized that Bobby was trying to protect the young woman.
Considering they were dealing with the Leviathan during that time and that when they took a person's form that they also had access to that person's memories it made sense, especially since they had taken both his and his brother's form at one point.
"It appears that way." Gabriel admitted.
"Wait, if Jody was in charge of making sure Jo was taken care of why wasn't she alarmed when she disappeared from the hospital?" Sam asked.
"Michael had me wipe her memories so that he could go through with his plan." Gabriel admitted.
"His plan?" Cas asked.
Gabriel sighed. "He knew he was running on borrowed time and that Dean and Sam weren't going to let him continue to walk around in Dean's meat suit forever and figure Dean's child would be the next best thing."
"And me?" Jo asked in a horse whisper as Dean and Sam sat down on the bed and Dean wrapped his arm around her waist as Sam placed a reassuring hand on Jo's shoulder.
Gabriel looked over at her sadly. "He knew the only way he could trick Dean into giving into the fantasy long enough for him to slip out of his body while having sex with a woman would be a woman that he actually had feelings for."
Dean took a shaky breath. "Then I really am Amelia's father."
Gabriel nodded his head as he grabbed the chair Jo had sat in early and placed it in front of the three humans before sitting down and continuing.
"At first he saw a few memories of Dean and Lisa but then he saw you Jo. When he started digging deeper into Dean's memories, he saw that you were the one who Dean always wanted, even if he never could admit it to himself. Michael saw what Dean went through when you died. Then when he saw that Osiris had pulled you forward to testify against Dean. That you were with Dean at the time Sam drove the rams horn through Osiris and that suddenly your touch felt real to Dean before you disappeared in front of his eyes is when Michael realized you had been abandoned on earth instead of being reap by Death and allowed back into Heaven."
He stopped as he took a deep breath as be prepared to tell his part of the story. "Once he knew the truth it was nothing for him to find you and bring you to him. Then when he looked into your mind and saw that you had created a fantasy world around a life that you imaged sharing with Dean, he knew he would be able to trick you into believing that he was 'your Dean' and seduce you."
He shook his head sadly. "Who knew that the both of you would share such similar fantasies...it truly was like taking candy from a baby. Michael barely had to do anything to bring you both together once he snapped Jo out of her catatonic state."
"And how did you fit into his plan?" Cas asked.
"Our brother pulled me out of Purgatory and made me his slave. I never thought anything could be worse than Asmodeus, but I was wrong. He needed Jo to believe her fantasies were real and I created that world for her. As I got to know Jo, I put myself into her fantasies so that she would trust me. Once you finally got a bun in her oven, Michael went back to his hybrid project. It was up to me to keep Jo in believing in the world she had created in her mind."
"That explains the flash of memory where I told Dean I was pregnant that he smiled and said perfect. It was because I had conceived Michael's next vessel." Jo said.
"I don't understand, if you were supposed to keep Jo's fantasy world running smoothly how did you end up in the other dimension?" Sam asked.
"There was one thing that Michael didn't account for...that I would come to care about Jo. When I realized what he was planning I began organizing our escape because I would never let him do it."
"Do what?" Cas said, urging Gabriel to continue his story.
Gabriel nodded his head. "He had abandoned Dean's body by that time and he had begun having success for his hybrid monsters and he decided that he would turn Jo so that the child she carried would be a true super hybrid and would be an even better vessel for him."
Dean sucked in a deep breath at what Gabriel was telling them and felt Jo's hand on his knee. He had told Jo about Michael's super monster plan one night when they had a hard time getting Ami down, so she understood what the implications of what Michael was intending to do to her and Ami.
"And you decided to take her to another dimension to protect her," Dean said
"Once I began to alter her fantasies."
"Alter?" She asked.
"Oh Darling, you had created a whole life with Dean, including a daughter you both adored. It was too intricate to try and carry it over to another dimension and I started by altering your fantasy beginning with you and Dean 'losing' Siobhan."
"No." Jo said. "She was real... I gave birth to her...my phone...my pictures."
"They aren't real, I alter some photos and placed them on your phone." Gabriel explained as Jo reached into her pocket and took out her phone.
She quickly pulled up the photos and scrolled through them. She gasped when she got to the photos of her 'late daughter' and saw just random photos of different little girls. Not the blonde hair, green eyes pixie she would spend hours gazing at. The phone slipped from her shaking hands.
"Oh Jesus," Sam said as he looked over at Jo and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks as Dean pulled her onto his lap and consoled her.
Gabriel watched the woman as she grieved a child that she had created in her mind and sigh sadly before he continued.
Dean ran his hand along Jo's back as he looked over at Gabriel. "So, what, you just brought her to some dimension and found that Dean and convinced him to pretend to be her husband."
"Not exactly. I needed a dimension that that Jo was dead since it would be too easy for Michael to find her if he sensed two Jo's. I also needed it to be one where that Dean didn't know her and have any feelings for her."
"Didn't know her? You mean the other us never met Ellen and their John didn't work with Bill?" Sam asked.
"No, John hunted with Bill and they both knew Ellen." He told them.
"But John would have known her then. I was around five when he started coming to The Roadhouse." Jo argued as she wiped at her tears.
Gabriel gave Jo a sad smile. "You were in car accident when you were three...in that dimension that Jo didn't survive."
Dean sucked in a deep breath. "Ellen told me about that accident. Said it happened when one of your neighbors picked you up from preschool with their daughter. She said you had unhooked your seatbelt a few seconds before the impact to pick up something that you had dropped. She said that saved your life because the car that slammed into you had lead pipes that came through the car and if you were still in your seat you would have been impaled."
"So, when the other John met Bill and Ellen their Jo was gone and everything from that point forward changed for them didn't it." Sam reasoned.
"Exactly." Gabriel said.
"Why did you make me believe those horrible memories?" She cried, "Why did you make me believe that I was married to a controlling man...that my mother would encourage me to just take it and accept my role as nothing more than a caregiver for everyone else?"
Gabriel sighed. "Because that Dean kept you at arm's length, he agreed to take care of you but there was nothing romantic between you. I could see the walls were starting to crumble but I needed you to stay with him and the only way I could was to manipulate the planted memories so that you would accept the 'marriage' as it was and not the loving marriage you created."
"But when you first got here…Jo was devoted to him." Dean said.
"All I can tell you is that I've never planted false memories with somebody before and then moved that person through portals between different dimensions. False memories I thought were purged from Jo's mind were back again."
"Why did he even agree to do it? To basically be a player in her fantasy?" Dean asked.
Gabriel shrugged his shoulders. "I would like to say it was because he was noble and he just wanted to help Jo, but it was because I agreed to save somebody he loved."
"Of course, no matter what dimension we would make deals to save each other." Dean said with a shake of his head.
"Actually, this deal wasn't for Sam or for his father. It was for the boy...for Ben."
"Ben?" Dean asked questioningly.
"Stage 4 leukemia." He told the other man. "He said he would take Jo in, pretend to be her husband and take care of her until the baby was born if I would heal the boy."
Dean reached down and grabbed Jo's hand. He knew he would do anything for Ben too and the way Jo squeezed his hand he knew she understood this.
"So basically, that Dean, Sam and John just went along with this as long as you heal Ben?" Sam asked.
"No matter what, they did see Jo and the baby as innocents that needed their protection. You and Dean may not have bonded romantically but the three did come to care about you in their own way, especially John." Gabriel admitted.
Jo frowned as some actual memories began to click into place. "Dean and Sam were hunting quite a bit and John took me for all my doctor appointments. He seemed excited about the baby. He was the one to suggest the name Amelia after we found out it was a girl. He said that him and Mary had talked about that name if they ever had a little girl."
Gabriel sucked in a deep breath. "I believe your mind is starting to be able to distinguish between your actually memories and the ones I gave you."
Dean looked over at Castiel. "What about her memories from before... her real memories of her life with her parents...with Ellen...us? Can you help restore those memories?"
"I could remove the veil and her memories would come back. Unfortunately, that would include her time after Death abandon Joanna here after being pulled from Heaven."
"Would I remember my time in Heaven?" She asked tentatively.
The angels exchanged a look before Castiel nodded his head. "You will but you will also remember what you felt as you were ripped out of Heaven by Osiris."
Dean turned and look at Jo. "It's your decision Sweetheart. Whatever you decide I'm right here." He said as he lifted their joined hands to his lips and kissed her hand before lowering them to rest on her lap.
"We're right here." Sam said as he reached out and placed his hand on top of Jo's and Dean's joined hands.
Jo looked between the two brothers and felt overwhelmed with love for this family they have formed. Slowly she turned her attention back to Castiel. "I need my real memories back, the good and the bad."
Gabriel looked at Jo hesitantly. "Darling, this means you would also remember the past eight years too, the time in the mental hospitals. The one Bobby put you in was fine but the state one...your fantasy world was truly formed there and with good reason. You were protecting yourself Jo."
Jo swallowed as she considered what Gabriel said. "I need my memories."
Dean nodded his head in agreement. "Then we do this, but I say we take this party upstairs." He said, suddenly finding the angel trap room stiflingly.
Sam looked over at his brother. "Agree...what about..." he shot a look towards Gabriel.
"He stays in his time out for now," Jo announced as she stood up.
"Darling, you don't mean that. Besides you may need my help." He argued.
Dean looked over at Cas, "can you do this, or will we really need him?"
"I do not need Gabriel's assistance." Castiel told Dean.
Dean grinned at the archangel. "Guess you're staying here. This will give you plenty of time to think about what you did and why it was wrong young man."
Gabriel watched as the four left the and closed the door, leaving him in the angel proof room.
TBC
Author's Note: Don't worry Gabriel isn't a baddie, he did what he thought was right. He protect Jo the only way he knew how.
Thanks
Val