Disclaimer: Nope nope. I don't own anything.
Jack grabbed the handle of the shovel and hefted it over shoulder. She followed carefully behind Dean so he couldn't get a good view of her pronounced limp. About halfway to the plot they needed Dean looked to his side to say something to Jack but found an empty space. He looked behind him at her trailing behind. She never walked behind him.
"What's going on Jack?" Dean demanded stopping between a row of graves.
"What do you mean?" She squeaked lamely.
"Are you tired or something?" Dean asked narrowing his eyes at her. Now that he thought about she'd been lagging behind him and Sam all day.
"Maybe I was just enjoying t he view." Jack said with a leering grin.
"Jack." Dean said with that warning tone that meant he was going to throttle her if she didn't cut it out and give it to him straight.
"Its on big deal. My legs being a bitch." Jack shrugged.
"Why the hell didn't you say something? How long has it been hurting you?" Dean demanded putting down his tools. He approached her but unlike Sam who gave her time to protest Dean just grabbed her by the hand and forced her to sit down on a headstone.
"I said it was no big deal. Geez, you're as bad as Sam." Jack said squirming out of Dean's grasp and sliding over the other side of the stone.
"Sam knew." Dean said annoyed.
"Yeah." Jack said edging away to put another headstone between her and him.
"Do you really think you can get away like that?" Dean said in a bored tone. He smirked arrogantly.
"I'm sure I can outrun when you're a hundred percent but with a bum leg." He said.
"Hey Golden Boy don't even When I'm in tip top shape I can beat you're ass and still have time for a victory dance before you catch up." Jack said.
"Let me see your leg Jack." Dean said with a deceptive calm. He was stalking around the area, circling her. He was smiling in triumph like he'd caught her already.
"Don't you think we should get to work." Jack said tensing. She'd dropped her shovel and was balancing on the balls of her feet for when Dean decided to make his move.
"Plenty of time." Dean said. He stilled and so did she. Dean broke out in a predatory smile and darted forward. Jack tried to slide to the right but he caught her arm in a grip like a vice.
"Lemmego." She said struggling against him.
"That'll work. Now say pretty please." Dean said sarcastically. "Stop movin' or I'll get the tranq gun from the trunk."
Jack stilled reluctantly but he wasn't taking any chances. He kept his arms around her waist walking her back to her gravestone seat. She let her legs give under her dropping like dead weight and throwing Dean off balance. E fell forward with her and she rolled over so she was sitting on his chest.
"What the hell!" Dean exclaimed in bewilderment. One minute he was in charge and the next he was sitting ass end down in the dirt.
"Yeah I rule!" Jack sang standing up. She put too much weight on her bad leg though and stumbled.
"Pain in the ass." Dean ground out jumping to his feet catching her before she fell down.
"Ow." Jack winced sitting down.
"Look," Dean ran his hand over his face and considered her. "Lets get this shit done and get back. Then I'll look at your damn leg whether you like it or not."
"Does this mean I don't have to dig?" Jack asked smiling innocently. Dean glared at her and tossed her the shovel she dropped.
"Its fine remember?" He said parroting her previous words. He turned away grinning.
"Hey didn't anyone ever tell you to be nice to the handicapped." Jack called after him as she limped to catch up.
"Your not handicapped just stupid." Dean said.
"That's a handicap too. You should know that better than anyone." Jack retorted.
"Whatever Limpy." Dean said.
"Isn't that what your last date called you? I don't recall." Jack ducked the hand that swatted at her, laughingly dancing away from Dean.
They got to the grave of Donna Mills, a twenty five year old girl who'd gone camping in the state park a few miles from Pigeon Point, wandered away from the sight and ended up having an accident. It was the only death in t he past year that close and it fit the timeline of when the haunting started.
"Yoink." Dean plucked the shovel out of Jack's hands and gestured for her to sit down.
"I thought I had to help." Jack reminded him. He flashed a smiled and plunged the shovel into the dirt.
"I can be a gentleman." Dean said. Jack snorted and he threw a handful of dirt at her.
"Real gentlemanly." Jack grumbled brushing the dirt out of her hair.
Since he was working solo it took Dean longer to dig to the grave in question.
"Crow bar." He said holding out his hand to Jack. Unlike in Buffy real graves consisted of six feet of dirt and then a giant concrete vault that housed the coffin itself. Instead if handing Dean the tool she pulled off her jacket, brought out two crowbars and lowered herself into the hole beside him.
"I'm not made if glass." She said when he opened his mouth to protest. Dean held out his hand and Jack gave him his bar grinning triumphantly.
"On three." Dean said as they positioned the crowbars. "Three."
They pushed down hard wrenching it off and worked to slide the stone slab over. It fell over the side with a heavy thud. The gleaming mahogany coffin shone in the moonlight.
"So do we open it or…?" Jack asked trailing off.
"Yup, we open it up, salt her up and burn the remains." Dean said reaching for the latch on the coffin. "You should probably cover your mouth up." Dean advised putting his own t-shirt over his mouth. Jack nodded and put her nose to her long sleeve. Dean opened the coffin up and her eyes watered from the stench that made its way past the flimsy cloth barrier.
"Dude." She said looking down at the body. It was mostly still in tact, rotting from the inside out first.
"Yeah, get the salt woulda?" Dean asked.
"What did she die of anyway?" Jack asked tossing the salt to him from the lip of the hole. Dean spread a generous helping of salt over the corpse and climbed out before answering.
"Asthma attack, the paper said. She got lost wandering away from the campsite and had an attack. She didn't have her meds so she died." Dean told her. He brought out his shotgun pumping it in case the ghost decided it didn't want to be gotten rid of and made a surprise appearance.
"Matches." He said to jack. She snorted at him and turned to the hole with a look of concentration on her face. He watched as her lips pursed together and her pupils dilated a little. Fire blazed through coffin instantly.
"Cool trick." Dean said nodding with approval. He'd gotten used to Jack's pyrokinesis by then, it was another weapon in the arsenal as far as he was concerned.
"Wonder if Sammy will be able to use his shining that easily one d ay." Dean said to himself.
"Its like a muscle. Its hurts to work it hard and when you're starting out but after awhile you get used to it." Jack said.
"You get used to it? The pain doesn't go away?" Dean asked frowning, his voice laced with subtle concern.
"Not so much. But its easier if you just ride it." Jack said thinking about how hard it was in the beginning for her. She was five when her ability showed itself.
"So it hurts when you use it?" Dean inquired.
"Its just uncomfortable sometimes. Unless I use a lot of fire then it hurts like a son of a bitch. For small stuff its more dizziness and gnawing hunger afterward." Jack explained.
"Sometimes?" Dean asked.
"Damn you got a lot of questions." Jack said with a smile to take the edge off her words. She knew what he wanted to know was for Sam's sake.
"Other times it feels natural like breathing." Jack said. "Its hard to predict like anything else. Its like a gun you aren't really sure will kick like a mule or work smoothly."
Dean nodded absorbing this.
"Do you hate it." Dean asked.
"Nope." Jack said without a second thought. "Can't hate your arm or leg can you."
Sam paced back and forth slowly as he waited for Jack and Dean to get back. He was eager to get gone before succumbing to grim curiosity about how close he could get to That Place before snapping again. He looked out the window of the room glancing at the lighthouse. After they left his migraine got worse and he had to dose himself. He'd woken up ten minutes ago.
His phone rang startling him and he jumped for it rubbing the last bits of sleep from his eyes.
"Sammy, how ya feelin?" Dean asked.
"Fine. Are you on your way?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Took awhile cause Jack couldn't dig." Dean told him casually.
"What? Why?" Sam asked.
"Leg. Why didn't you tell me it was bugging her?" Dean asked, his tone turning serious.
"She wouldn't let me check it out. Then we weren't talking…" Sam trailed off with his excuses. Neither were sufficient.
"The silent treatment is your excuse? You're such a girl." Dean said but with a teasing edge to his voice.
"Alright, well we're coming now." Dean said. "After we chain Jack down-"
"I always knew you wanted me." He heard Jack's voice cut in.
"Shut up." Dean said.
"After we check that leg I wanna go over the lighthouse again just in case." Dean said.
"Sure." Sam said.
"Then we can get the hell outa dodge" Dean said and Sam exhaled with relief. With any luck and the breaking of several speed limits they could be out of California by morning.
"Dean." Sam said.
"Yeah."
"About what I said. I was mad and I-" Sam tried.
"Hey its fine." Dean interrupted him.
"No its not." Sam stated.
"No chick flick moments Sammy." Dean said.
"Jerk."
"Bitch."
They disconnected and twenty minutes later the car pulled up in front of the house. Sam was waiting outside for them.
"You guys suck." Jack accused when Sam opened her door and pulled her out of the car.
"Don't be such a wimp, we're not gonna bite." Sam said rolling his eyes as he and Dean hustled her inside.
"How'd you know I was into that?" Jack asked pretending to be shocked. "Have you been popping into my fantasies again Sam? You don't catch the one with you and the cattle prod did you? Cause that could make things awkward between us."
"Do you ever shut up?" Sam asked.
"Depends on my motivation. Right now? No " Jack said trying to worm her way away from him. But Dean was right there to push her back in front of them.
"Hey is everything alright?" Rodney asked from the front desk seeing their odd formation.
"Just your average run of the mill three-way." Jack said. Sam turned bright red and was about to stop and protest but Dean, rolling his eyes at Jack's antics, pushed him along ignoring the other guy.
"Sit." Dean commanded.
"Stay. Roll over. Those come next right?" Jack said sitting on her bed crossing her arms over her chest. Dean got out the kit and pulled an Ace bandage and some salve out.
"Roll up your pant leg." Sam said sitting on the edge of the bed. Jack opened her mouth to make a smartass comment but Sam cut her off with a look.
"Just do it." Sam said.
Jack mumbled under her breath as she reached for t he pant leg of her cargo pants. They were loose and rolled up to her knee easily. She looked at a fixed point on the wall with her jaw set tight. She didn't to look down, she had the scars memorized. Two inches below her knee in a gruesome half circle the jagged scar tissue puckered and knotted where her bone had ripped through tender flesh. Neater surgical scars ran vertical on either side of the first scar.
Sam frowned at the sight of the scars. He didn't remember seeing it before, he never thought about it. Scars were an everyday occurrences for the Winchesters.
"You didn't anyone to see them?" Sam asked gently.
"I have scars all over my body Sam. I'm not self conscious." Jack said mechanically.
"Where does it hurt?" Dean asked sitting down on the other side of the bed. He glanced at the scars briefly and opened the small bottle of salve.
"Here and here" Jack answered in the same way she answered Sam still without breaking eye contact with the wall. She ran her hands along her sides of her shin.
"Probably tore some more muscle." Dean said glad the pain wasn't close to the pins.
"Why do you hate this one?" Sam asked.
"What?" Jack asked through her teeth.
"You don't care about t he others but you care about this one. Why?" Sam pressed on.
Jack didn't answer and flinched away when Dean tried to rub the salve into her shin.
"Its this herbal stuff Missouri gave me. She said it'll help with pain and for once her stiff doesn't smell like fungus." Dean placated. Jack looked away from the wall to him. She cleared her throat and extended her leg for him. She still stiffened when t he cold cream touched her skin but she didn't pull away this time.
"I almost killed you." It was barely a whisper. Sam thought he'd imagined it but he knew it was real when Dean froze and looked at Jack. She was studying the bedspread, her face completely impassive.
"Come again?" Dean said.
Jack tried to collect her thoughts, her feelings associated with those particular scars, the ones form her collision with the asphalt. Sam was right, she didn't care very much about the rest of her scars, they just were. Even the gunshot wound to her shoulder didn't carry much sense memory for her. But her leg and that tough stretch of skin at the base of her skull were a reminder of her own stupidity. She still thought she was right to try and leave but the after; getting caught up in a trap of her own making was unforgivable.
"If Dean hadn't taken you from the room and broken the link I could've died and taken you with me." Jack said. She bit the inside of her mouth.
"Jack-" Sam didn't know what to say. He was shocked to say the least. They didn't talk about that episode, it was an unspoken rule. He had no idea she felt responsible for what happened when he entered her mind.
"I chose to go in and get you out." Sam said.
"You wouldn't have had to if I hadn't let it happen." Jack argued stubbornly. Sam looked at Dean who shrugged at a loss for what to say. Sam looked up and ran a tired hand over his face.
"I think you have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility." Sam told her forcing her to meet his eyes. Dean snorted and Sam glanced at him. Dean was smirking at him. You should talk, his expression said.
"You really think Dean would have let me do that if he thought I would die?" Sam asked. Jack looked doubtful
"The man wouldn't let me cross the street alone till I was 14. 14 Jack." Sam said.
"Seriously?" Jack raised an eyebrow at Dean.
"It was dangerous and he was a clumsy bastard back then." Dean said defensively.
"You have issues." Jack said nodding slowly. She noticed then that her pain had started to abate.
"Hmm. That's good stuff." Jack said. Dean made an obvious sound in his throat and started to wrap her leg
"Is that necessary?" Jack asked.
"Shut up. You c an say you pulled something during your little 'three-way'" Dean scoffed. Sam glanced at his watch and saw that it was getting late.
"Are we going to check the lighthouse again?" Sam asked hopping to his feet.
"You stay. We check." Dean told Jack as she pulled her pant leg down.
"No way." Jack said making to stand. She heard a click and felt cold metal against her hand.
"You better not have done what I think you just did Sam?" Jack said before looking down at her hand. Sure enough when she wasn't looking Sam had cuffed her hand to a slat on the headboard.
"I was joking about the cuffs Sam." Jack said ignoring Dean ask he fought not to laugh at her.
"Oops." Sam said backing away as Jack tried to swing at him.
"Hold one I gotta get a picture of this." Dean laughed taking his cell phone out.
"Don't you dare." Jack ground out. Dean position the phone to take the picture.
"You are so going to pay for that." Jack called after them as they walked out of the room laughing at her. She looked around her in resignation.
"I've really gotta start carrying paper clips with me."
TBC……….
AN: I gave Jack-Jack one of Dean's lines from the show :D. Needed a slight break from the SamAngstathon that this story has become. Story is still a ways from being finished. Reviews are like candy, except I can take them from strangers, or something like that.