Title: We Met Once Before
Author: BlazeorFade
Rating: K+
Summary: John travels to New Orleans and meets Amara Fontenot. Pre-series
Disclaimer: Only Amara and Jack are mine everyone else is just borrowed.
John cut the engine to his boat as he neared the dock. Tying the rented boat securely he took a moment to catch his breath, the heavy Louisiana summer heat offered no respite for the man during his short stay. He approached the house carefully well aware of the shrewd eyed old woman watching him. He looked up from the muddy ground to meet her unflinching gaze. She sat on a rocking chair unsurprised to see him, her white hair braided over her shoulder had a shock of red running through it, creased skin showed a ghost of beauty long gone. Her thin mouth lifted in a knowing smirk, with a sparkle of youth in those all seeing eyes.
"Hello John." She said though he'd never told her his name. John shook his head, it was still hard for him to be completely comfortable around psychics.
"Amara, right? I heard you make charms if the price is right." John said cutting to the chase. She nodded and said nothing. The creak from her chair rocking back and forth and the buzzing of insects were the only sounds. Even the wind was silent, leaving the water placid and still.
"I need one for my son, Dean. Something small, something he can keep close, a ring or something." John continued.
"Come inside." She said rising easily despite her age. He walked up the creaking steps and followed her through the porch door and further in till they came to a spacious sitting room. A table was laid out with a deck of cards on a blue length of fabric and a chair on each side. Amara walked to this table and took a seat with her back to him, she beckoned him towards the chair opposite her.
"I don't need my fortune told." He said as he sat down. She gave him a look and sighed.
"What does your son need protecting from?" She asked him picking up the cards and shuffling them a few times before placing them in front of him. He knew the drill from Missouri, he cut t hem into three piles and sat back.
"You're a hunter." It was a statement not a question.
"My son is coming with me on his first hunt, I want him protected." John said with a hint of pride in his voice.
"And your other son? Will he be needing one too?" She asked him as she laid out her cards.
"Sammy? No he's only eleven, to young for a real hunt just yet." John explained. He didn't want to think about when little Sammy would start to hunt, the thought scared him too much.
"Better safe then sorry." Amara said eyeing him.
"I'll be back when he needs one. If your mojo works." He added on flippantly. She shot him a dirty look and looked into the spread laid out between them. Her brow furrowed as she looked into them and a flash of sadness came into her eyes.
"Funny how lives converge without us knowing it." She said to herself.
"What does that mean?" John asked looking at the spread. He saw the familiar characters but could make nothing of them. He wished he'd paid more attention when Missouri was trying to t each him some of t heir meanings.
"No never mind just yet. This future is far away for now." She said regaining her composure, she shuffled the cards and placed them back in a neat pile.
"I'll need three days to make the pendant, He can wear it round his neck and it will give him a measure of safety." Amara told him.
"Wait, what did you see?" John demanded.
"A hard path, for you and your boys." Amara answered. John clenched his teeth in frustration, he knew that much already, he wanted to know what put the look of resigned sadness on the woman's face.
"What else?" John asked refusing to let him self be waved off.
"The rest doesn't involve you just yet. It can still be changed." She said forcefully with a far away look in her eyes and he knew she wasn't speaking only to him.
"Three days?" He asked.
"Three days." Amara confirmed.
"How much?" John asked.
"Free." Amara said John stared for a long moment trying to read what had her spooked. She didn't bat an eye or show any emotion to him.
"Alright then," He said slowly, he rose from his chair, letting her lead him back out the way he came. "I guess I'll be back in three days then." He told her.
John left looking back once to see that same sad look as she watched him walk away. He forced the nagging questions away stepping into the boat and starting the engine. Soon all his thoughts were about the gig he was taking Dean on, a skin walker disemboweling its victims twenty miles outside the city.
Amara watched John disappear from view turning back into her home just in time to hear small fast footsteps coming down the back stairs into the kitchen.
"Momma Fonty, who was here?" The small girl asked cocking her head to the side in curiosity.
"Never you mind Jack." Amara smiled picking up the child. A twitch of pain ran through her old tired body but she ignored it bringing the little girl with her into the next room, the same room John had occupied minutes before.
"Why?" Jack demanded stubbornly.
"I know I gave you chores to do young lady." Amara said warningly to the six year old.
"All done." Jack replied grinning, her two front teeth missing.
"I'll bet, who'd you talk into doing em for you?" Momma Fonty asked.
"Charlie, from down the road. All I had to give him was one kiss. And he didn't get the payment up front, so he's outa luck." Jack replied proudly.
"I'll cut a branch from outside if you keep doing that." Momma Fonty warned sternly. Jack started and nodded knowing the old woman meant business.
"Jacqueline.." Amara started but stopped. She kept seeing what she saw in the cards and it frightened her to no end.
"Yeah?" Jack asked innocently. She gave her grandmother a small smile.
"Be careful." Amara told her knowing it explained nothing.
"Charlie won't do nothing to me." Jack said waving the misconstrued concern off. Amara looked into her grand daughter's eyes and saw a flash of fir there. She saw a pair of green eyes reflected there too, eyes that belonged to a hunter.
She kissed Jack's forehead and lowered her to the ground watching her run off to torment the neighborhood boys some more.
"Be careful, little one." She whispered.
Three days later John Winchester returned to claim the charm he'd ordered. A silver pendant on a simple black string to be worn as a medallion by his eldest son. She gave it telling him to tell his son not to take it off and sent him on his way.
12years later
John watched Dean finger his pendant as he sat by Jack's bedside, after listening to her friend tell a little bit about her past. The name Amara startled the memory of where he got the necklace all those years ago. He remembered too, returning a few years later to get one for Sam and finding that the old woman had died shortly after making it for him.
He remembered her cryptic words about lives and wondered if this was what she saw and wanted to change so badly. John felt a pang of pity for the old woman, for Sam, for Missouri and for anyone who had to look into a future they couldn't change.
Dean looked up at him and gave a half a smile, still rubbing the worn silver charm that hung around his neck.
The End
AN: I had this scene in my head while I was still writing Hunters and couldn't wait to get it out. I thought it would be cool to have the Winchester's and Jack's lives brush with each other more closely than just the Deva. I start work on the Sequel soon, this should be sufficient till then. Thanks for reading.