Author's Note: I try to update weekly, which I've achieved in a round-about sense... but it's a good thing I didn't assign a day to update, because that would've failed epically. This week has been so horrible.

Anyway, I love playing with Jo and Dean as characters. They were both pretty richly developed in the show, and it gave me a lot to work with. I don't own Supernatural.

***Jo POV***

July 20, Very Late Night

Dean was back.

It had been weeks.

Jo knew she had been reckless the past few months, but she hadn't been able to help it.

Somehow, despite all of her best efforts, she had fallen for Dean. She had replayed in her head a million times what she would do if Dean left, if he moved on to another woman, because that's who Dean was. It was who he had been before Ember and after Ember – a player, untamed and wild, and that's what she loved most about him. She'd still half expected that someday when she came back to the bunker from a hunting trip she'd find him with some other woman, and then she'd leave and never see him again.

Jo was also realistic about a hunter's chances in the world, and so had always been even more afraid (though they never discussed it) of Dean's death at the hands of any number of creatures.

What all of this amounted to was that somehow, in preparing her heart for the inevitable death or betrayal that was dating Dean Winchester, it had never really occurred to Jo that someday he would randomly make a decision to become an archangel.

Therefore, there was no closure. There was not the sadness or tears that she associated with death, nor was there the anger that Jo associated with betrayal. There was a more generalized anger and fear, at a nameless, faceless monster, which built and built until it exploded on whatever monster happened to be nearest.

She hadn't brought Dean up in nearly a month, and had discussed the loss of him only when she was forced to do so. She knew Sam had sent Eileen to watch out for her and Claire after the incident with the vampires, and she didn't like it, but she refused to talk about that, too.

But now none of that mattered, because Dean was suddenly back in her life, and she could tell he wasn't any more ready to talk about it than she was. He told them that he didn't remember anything after Michael had taken possession, but a brief look at Sam confirmed that Dean's brother didn't believe Dean any more than she did.

Jo's only cue that Dean wanted her to ride back from Duluth with him in the Impala rather than with Eileen was a rough, "Comin?" as he ran his hands in reverence over his precious Baby. He was quiet on the way back to Kansas, but he held her close to him just a little too tight, and didn't sing along with his usual favorite songs. Once again, a brief look at Sam informed Jo that he had not missed the change in his brother either.'

Upon arriving back at the bunker, Dean said a few cursory words to his Sam, Castiel, and Ember before excusing himself to take a shower. Jo followed Dean to the largest of the bunker's four bathrooms and knocked on the door. "Dean?"

The door opened a crack, and Jo disappeared inside it. She had barely gotten her bearings when his arms surrounded her and she was pressed roughly into Michael's white button-down-shirt. It felt unfamiliar and too crisp, but smelled just enough like Dean that she tightened her hold around him, biting her lip so that she wouldn't cry.

"Missed you," he said gruffly into her hair as he cradled her head with one large hand.

She began pawing at Michael's clothing, partially to reaffirm that Dean was real, and partially because it felt and smelled somehow wrong, and she wanted only the man beneath.

He was holding her so tightly that he didn't seem realize what she was doing at first, but he eventually caught on and devested himself of the shirt. It went unceremoniously into the trash can. Jo's navy blue blouse came off next, and went somewhere on the floor around her feet.

When he kissed her, it was as though he was drawing breath for the first time – there was a hunger, but there was another feeling as well, Jo thought, that was far more exciting but also more dangerous. They had never had sex with this intensity before. Even when he moved to take off her jeans and underwear, and vice versa, he never allowed his hands to leave her body. He pressed his hands deeply into her skin, holding on more firmly than he needed, though never hurting her. Jo understood that he was in pain, and that this grounded him back in reality.

He clasped her wrist wordlessly and pulled her into the shower. For a few moments, they simply held each other under the hot water. She felt the moment when the strength left his muscles, as though he had finally willed them to relax, and he made a noise that sounded halfway between a sob and a sigh.

She stepped backward from him just for a second to get her bearings, and he moved to follow her as though he didn't want to step away. She took a washcloth from the handrail and moved to gather soap from one of the bottles on a tall shelf, spinning in his arms. He took advantage of the angle to lean over and bury his face in her neck, nipping at it just slightly.

When she looked back, she saw, for the first time, a new, raised scar on his left arm. "Dean," she whispered, and touched the scar gingerly with the wash cloth.

Dean looked down at the scar and and did a double-take. When he looked back at her, she saw fear in his eyes, and then, yet again, pain. She made to kiss the scar to reassure him, but he stopped her, and suddenly she felt him withdraw. The muscles that had finally relaxed a second ago became tense again, and he took a small step backward from her, fear still in her eyes.

Jo understood – the wound was too mysterious, and Dean wanted Jo away from anything that represented Michael to him. She changed tact - she met his gaze, stepped back toward him, and began running the washcloth down his torso, biting her lip. He didn't smile at her like he should've, but he tightened his grip on her once again and the fear left his eyes. He was like a wounded animal, she thought.

The shower was familiar, and they'd had sex before here (Jo thought perhaps twice) enough to know that the handrail was sturdy and would hold her weight. Jo backed herself into the handrail, dropping the washcloth and circling Dean's erection with her hands. A second later he had hoisted her up onto the handrail and found her entrance, sucking a bruise onto a spot just above her breast.

She moaned, and he thrust deeper, finally back in a situation in which he had control, in which he understood. They came together, quickly after so long apart.

Jo knew that Dean would attempt to get her back into bed sometime in the next day or so (if not that night), during which he would spend a long time making her orgasm with his mouth and hands before ultimately having more sex. She also knew that for now, he had needed something quicker, and somehow more intense. Most importantly, Jo knew that none of this would ever be communicated, and she preferred it this way. But he when held her against him afterward and whispered, "Jo," she thought that it was perhaps the closest thing to "I love you" that she had ever heard him say.

-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-

With the help of Castiel's angel powers, Dean was able to remember that the scar was from the spear belonging to the cloaked ninja from the other world.

"How did she get into this world?" Ember asked, curious.

"No idea," said Castiel. "But the rift is unpredictable at best. We have no idea what kind of magic Kaia and Jack together created down at that ferry. There hasn't been any rift activity since I walled off Kaia's mind, but there was a small window before that where she could've slipped through."

Therefore, Jo, Dean, Eileen, and Sam headed out to Sioux Falls to meet up with Jody Mills and look for signs of the cloaked ninja. "Let us know when you get there," Castiel said, gesturing to himself and Ember. "We can join you and help."

Jo noted that ever since Castiel had regained his wings, he always offered to use angel transport to help the hunters get from place to place. With the exception of Ember, however, and very occasionally Sam if there was an emergency, most of the hunters declined the offer.

This time, in the wake of the Michael fiasco, he didn't even bother to ask.

***Jack POV***

July 22, Early Morning

Jack should probably have been happy. He'd hated the idea of possibly having to kill Dean to kill Michael, and he was relieved that his family was out of danger. He'd barely gotten to say hello to Dean, however, before Dean, Sam, Jo, and Eileen had left again, this time in pursuit of whatever had created the scar they had found on Dean's arm.

He'd wanted to join them, but he wasn't strong enough. Bobby, Ember, and Castiel had been tiptoeing around his lack of powers for weeks now, but Dean had said what they all must have been thinking: "C'mon, kid, look at you. You're barely 100 pounds soaking wet."

And so he had gone to his room, upset.

It was time to set out again, he decided.

Truthfully, he had been thinking it for awhile. What good was he here? He wasn't any better than an average human at firearms, or fighting – at best, he was average for someone who had had a little over a month of practice. He was fairly decent at research, but Sam and Krissy definitely had that under control.

Perhaps he should find a "human" job like Ember's that could make him proud. Not a Therapist, certainly, but perhaps a doctor. Something where he could heal people in a more normal way.

He packed quickly and wrote a short note, which he left on the bed. It was odd, he thought, that neither Castiel nor Ember had come to look for him after Dean's insult.

As he walked past the stairs toward the garage, he saw why. There was a girl on the bed in the infirmary, and Krissy, Ember, and Castiel were all talking in soft voices. Krissy must've returned from her recent hunt, then. She'd been taking advantage of her summer break from school to go on as many hunting trips as the Winchesters, Castiel, and Ember would allow; he'd only seen her a handful of times since the summer had begun.

Apparently, something on her hunt had gone wrong.

"Who is that?" asked Jack, his curiousity peaked.

"It's a girl," said Castiel. "She's been enchanted."

"Like Sleeping Beauty."

"No, not like…this aging spell, it's killing her," answered Castiel.

"Can't you just heal her?" asked Jack.

"No, I tried, but for some reason this magic is too knotty, so we contacted Rowena and she suggested a reversal spell. We're reading up on it now."

"Are you going somewhere?" Krissy asked. "I've barely seen you since summer began."

Krissy's hair was flying at a number of odd angles, and she had a pencil sticking out from behind her ear. There were mud stains on her jeans, and her plaid jacket was torn at the bottom. Jack thought she looked beautiful. "No," he said.

***Dean POV***

July 22, Early Morning

It had been like Hell, only different.

There had been things he had tried to hide from Michael, secrets, like how much he cared about Jo, and the location of Castiel and Ember's home (since Michael apparently had already found the bunker). He had tried to push these things to the dark recesses of his mind where only he could access them, but he wasn't sure if it had done any good.

Michael had known that Dean was fighting him, and for that, he had kept him awake for much of the possession, though he had only occasionally been privy to Michael's dealings. He remembered flashes and various events, but not clearly and not in a way that made linear sense. Dean remembered Sam giving a similar description of being possessed by Lucifer so long ago.

Most of the time, Dean had simply felt like he was drowning.

Sam attempted to discuss Dean's time as Michael's vessel on their way to Sioux Falls, which was not unexpected if highly unwelcome. Dean had a feeling Sam knew he had been lying about not remembering anything in between when he was initially possessed and when Michael had released him, but for now Sam was letting him pretend he could remember none of it.

Dean wasn't ready to discuss it yet, and perhaps he never would be. Discussing it would put words to the fact that there was was still so much that they didn't know. Why had Michael released him? Where was Michael now?

It was these questions that concerned Dean most, because they meant that Michael could reappear at any time, possibly even without permission. What if he was hunting with Jo someday and Michael decided to reappear?

Dean had always known that his days of happiness with Jo were numbered, though it had never occurred to him that he would be the one to end… whatever they had. For now… for now, though, for just a little longer, he could forget.

Maybe if he was really lucky, their group would be able to track down the cloaked ninja, obtain the spear, summon Michael, and kill him. Unfortunately, Dean reflected, his life barely allowed him small strokes of luck, much less the amount of sheer good fortune that that outcome would require.

***Jack POV***

July 22, Early Morning

Jack had spent quite awhile talking to the girl in the bed, Lora, while Castiel, Krissy, and Ember attempted to mix an appropriate potion. "The witch took me in, me and two other girls," said Lora. "At first we didn't wanna leave. She fed us, gave us all nice things. She was kind. She said having us there kept her young, but then she caught me, and she locked us up. Rachel started getting sick, just like this." Lora held her hand up, which was withered and frail.

"Then Tally the same thing," she continued, crying slightly. "They withered away to nothing. When Krissy showed up I thought I was saved, but then it started taking me too, even faster than the others."
Jack looked at her helplessly. He felt useless. Ember was on the phone with Rowena going over different options for treatment, Krissy was busy haltingly translating a potion that Rowena had recommended which appeared to be written in Ancient Greek, and Castiel was mixing various items together while answer Krissy's questions distractedly.

"My family is gonna fix this, I promise," he assured Lora.

Krissy's face was red, and her hair was falling out of the clip attempting to hold it to the back of her head. Jack resisted the urge to point this out to her, or to walk across the room and correct her hair himself.

"I think it's ready," Castiel said, and his voice startled Jack out of his trance.

Ember took Castiel's hand, and Krissy held the Potions book up so that Castiel could see it. He waved it away, nodding to her that he had memorized the necessary words. "Tamin sa rawta, cantarmin rivatartaw, so valtor tarmin rivatartor, cantarmin sovartor, cantarmin rivatartor!"

The cauldron exploded, and Castiel and Krissy both jumped back.

"How are you feeling?" Castiel asked.

"I don't know," Lora said.

Jack began to feel infinitesimally better, when suddenly Lora began choking. It seemed to Jack that she fell backward in slow motion. In reality, before he could shout her name, she was dead.

In his head, Jack saw the burned and charred remains of his army, the army that Michael had killed in the other world. He saw the face of the security guard at the bank that had died accidentally when Jack had sent him flying into a pole, blood gushing from the back of his head.

Failures, all of them.

"Jack," Castiel whispered.

"We let her die," Jack whispered, and he realized that he was crying. "I'm sorry, if I still had my powers I could have saved you."

Powers. An idea hit Jack with the force of lightning.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Castiel exclaimed as Jack jumped out of his seat.

"The witch!" he said frantically. "Where's her body?"

"Downstairs," said Ember. "Why-…"

But Jack was already speeding downstairs, Castiel, Ember, and Krissy in his wake. He found the witch's body fairly easily on a tray in the tiny bunker morgue. It was protocol to bring back the body of the monster in situations where a survivor was still suffering from some sort of supernatural ailment, as well as in where the body in question would for whatever reason be difficult for the hunter to leave behind without drawing unwanted attention. Jack knew from speaking with Krissy earlier that this case had been both.

"The witch killing bullet," Jack said. "It's still in her!"
"Guess so," said Krissy matter-of-factly, but Jack could tell that she was attempting to be modest about what had probably been a relatively difficult battle and a good shot.
"Jack, what is this about?" asked Castiel curiously.

"The witch told Lora that she and the others kept her young," said Jack. "I thought it was a metaphor, like the witch was stealing her youth. But when you killed her, maybe the magic kept working, sucking Lora's life force, trying to keep the witch young, to keep her alive! But it couldn't work because the bullet was still inside her. So the magic worked harder and harder and consumed more and more of Lora. That's why the reversal spell didn't work. She wasn't cursed!"

Jack spied a pendant around the witch's neck similar to one he had seen around Lora's.

"Lora's life force is in here," he said, taking the pendant.

"Jack, are you sure?" asked Ember.

"No," he said. He smashed the pendant. Green smoke twirled out of it and appeared to filter upstairs in the direction of Lora's room. Castiel grabbed hold of Jack and flew directly upstairs, leaving Krissy and Ember to run behind him.

Lora was gasping for breath on the bed. A second later she was completely back to normal, no longer covered in old, rough skin. "What happened?" she asked, looking shaken.

-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-

A few hours later, Jack relaxed on the living room sofa at their Conway Springs home. He couldn't help feeling proud of himself for his actions earlier. Actually, it was the first time since he'd lost his powers that he'd felt anything other than sadness or anger.

"Whatcha playin'?" a voice asked cheerily.

"Krissy!" he said happily. He very rarely saw her these days between hunts. Truthfully he'd wanted to talk to her for a bit after Lora had been brought back from the dead, but she had fairly quickly excused herself to take a nap. He couldn't begrudge her, either – she'd driven through the night to bring Lora back to the bunker.

"Tetris," he said proudly, pausing the XBOX game. "Dad and I play it at night sometimes when neither of us can sleep. Mom says it's outdated, but it's oddly satisfying."

Krissy rolled her eyes. "Ember's right, it is horribly outdated," she said, sitting next to him on the love seat.

The love seat was more than big enough for the two of them, but it wasn't exactly large. Alarmed by her proximity, Jack moved an inch or so closer to the arm rest, looking around wildly for Castiel or Ember.

Krissy began to laugh. "Jack, calm down. Ember's shut up in her room working, and Cas is still at the bunker." To his horror, she swung her legs up until they were sitting on his lap. "There. Better?"

"Um… ngh… yes?" asked Jack, not sure how to react to this turn of events. She was practically in his lap…

Krissy rolled her eyes. "Jack. C'mon. We've been good for a year, staying away from each other like good little siblings and hardly even talking. With all of the hunting trips I've been on lately, I've seen you even less than usual. And we've just worked together to save a girl from a nasty witch. Who, by the way, I killed with probably the best bit of shooting I've done in my life."

Jack smiled at the pride she exuded.

"Anyway, bottom line, your Mom and Dad aren't gonna mind if I put my feet in your lap on the damn couch."

"Oh-oh-oh-kay," Jack said. He was reassured, and also caught off guard at her nearness. He felt as though it was making him think more slowly than usual.

"So tell me about the, uh, the witch," Jack said, searching around for something to talk about.

He thought he had sounded stupid, but Krissy smiled at him and began a long story about her most recent hunt.

***Dean POV***

July 23, Evening

The trip had been an epic disaster. It played on repeat in Dean's head as he drove the Impala back to the bunker.

The four of them (Dean, Sam, Jo, and Eileen) had managed to hook up with Jody Mills. Then they'd followed a trail of beheaded vampires and werewolves to ultimately capture the cloaked ninja from the other world. She'd looked exactly like Kaia – another universe's version of Kaia, Dean had realized. She'd been connected to this universe's Kaia in her mind, until Castiel had taken the dreamwalking ability away from her.

"How did you cross over?" Sam asked her once they had captured her in a small cabin in the woods. "How did you open a rift? Why are you here?"

"You mean right here?" Kaia asked. "'Cause of him." She nodded to Dean.

Dean flinched. "Yeah: not him, not Michael, not any more."

"I know," Kaia said, smirking. "You're much weaker."

"Maybe, but you're still scared," he challenged, moving closer.

"Not of you," she said. "Of them." She gestured outside, and Dean knew she was referring to the monsters that Michael had created using his angel grace. He had created vampires and werewolves that were immune to dead man's blood and silver.

"The monsters he sends after me," Kaia explained. "Every time I slow down there's more. There's always more."

"Guys, we should move," Jody said. "Let's take her to the station just to be safe."

"No," snapped Dean. His chance was getting away. "We need to break her, right here, right now."

"Break her?" asked Sam in confusion. "What do you mean break her? For what?"

Even Jo shot him a quick frown of alarm.

"He wants to know where I hid my weapon, that's all he wants," snapped Kaia. "That's what this is all about."

Dean felt an unnatural anger rise up within him as Jody asked, "Dean, what...you're gonna hurt her, torture her?"

"That pig sticker she's hiding, it is the only thing that we know that hurts Michael," Dean snapped, impatient. "I'm gonna do whatever it takes."

He turned back to Kaia. "Where is it, where's the spear?! Where IS IT!?" But she only smiled at him.

Around that time, the monsters had come crashing in on them. They'd been outnumbered, and Dean had ended up freeing Kaia, or "Dark Kaia" as he'd come to call her, so that she could help them fight.

"Dean?" asked Sam from the seat next to him in the Impala. Sam's voice brought him back to the present moment, and his grip tightened on the steering wheel. He looked in the rearview mirror, where both Jo and Eileen slept soundly.

"You were right," Dean told his brother gruffly. "I just didn't want to look at it, what Michael used me for. I just wanted to race ahead. You know, skip to the end of the story. The part where I get the weapon and I take out the bad guy. The part where I kill Michael."

"Yeah, I know," Sam said, nodding.

"You know I said yes to him because I thought… it was stupid," Dean finished. "I was stupid."

"Dean, you did what you had to do," said Sam.

"And it wasn't a blink, being possessed," Dean finished, determined to get everything out. "I made it sound like that, but it wasn't. I don't remember most of what Michael did with me because I was under water. Drowning. And that I remember. I felt every second of it - clawing, fighting for air. I thought I could make it out but I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. And now he's gone. He's out there putting an army of monsters together. He's hurting people. None of us are safe. That's all on me, man. I said yes. It's my fault."

Sam didn't say anything for a very long time. They both knew Dean wouldn't believe his reassurances anyway.

-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-

Dean waited until Sam and Eileen had headed into the bunker, then stopped Jo before she filed in behind them. "Look, Jo… I can't…"

Dean paused, gathering strength. He couldn't believe he was doing this. This was so fucking stupid.

"These past few months…" Nope. He needed to just do this the quick way.

"I can't do this anymore."

Like ripping off a band-aid.

Jo's face, far from being angry as he had expected, was confused. "Wait… you're breaking up with me? Now? Why?"

Before Dean could respond, Jo said, "Hold on. Wait. This is… this is for my safety or something stupid like that, isn't it?"

"Jo… Michael might repossess me at any moment. We don't know. We don't know why he left, or when he might come back. I didn't mean to drag you into this…"

"You didn't drag me into anything!" Jo exclaimed. Apparently now the anger had kicked in. Jo moved closer to him, backing him slowly into the Impala. "I came of my own free will because, God forbid, I thought you had finally started seeing me as an adult!"

"I do see you as an adult, Jo!" Dean exclaimed, surprised and suddenly indignant. "I just don't want you to get hurt, and I can't justify-…"

"God damn you stupid Winchesters!" she exclaimed, poking her index finger into his chest and taking another step forward. "If it isn't your brother or Cas you're sacrificing yourself for, it's someone else! Did it ever occur to you that it's my damn decision whether or not I want to be put in harm's way, if it's for someone that I care about?!"

Dean got the impression that she'd been about to say "for someone that I love", but had changed her wording at the last second. Either way, it certainly hadn't slowed her down. She had backed him up against the side of his own Impala in her fury, and proceeded to snarl angrily at him.

"Well, I-…" he tried.

"When you stop treating me like a child and start treating me like a grown woman – oh, and when you decide that maybe it's okay if you have something for yourself for a change - you give me a call, Dean Winchester!" she yelled.

"I…"

But she had already stalked off toward the yellow death trap she called a car.

Dean stood still for a second, not quite sure what had happened. He had expected more tears and less... whiplash. To be honest, he wasn't even sure whether he had actually managed to break up with Jo, or whether she'd somehow managed to break up with him instead.

Dean decided to get drunk.