"You just had to ruin my fun, didn't you? You just had to play the hero," the demon sneered at the eldest Winchester as he walked closer to him. Dean tried to fight, but the demon tightened his invisible grip to the point of hurting the hunter. "You'll never be a hero, Dean." It made a fist. "You'll never be like your father." Dean felt a hot pain spread through his body. "You'll never be able to protect your brother." Dean cried out in pain. "And you'll never, never be good enough for her," he gestured to Jo's body. "It's your fault she's here. If you had just stayed away from her, if you had just stopped yourself from kissing her, if you had just tried a little harder, she'd still be alive."

A retort was forming on Dean's lips when the demon spun around, turning to Meg who was walking in the room.

"Crowley is going to love this," the demon grinned, pinning Meg against a wall before she could attack.

"Coward in life and as a demon, I see," she smirked.

"Shut up," it growled. "You don't know what I saw."

"Right, yeah, that's why you went to heaven, right?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

The demon clenched his fists and Meg and Dean cried out simultaneously. The demon laughed, knowing that Crowley would be pleased that he had the infamous Dean Winchester and the traitor, Meg.

His victory was short-lived, though.

Castiel walked into the room calmly, and the demon turned and was afraid. He tried to back away, but the angel matched his steps until there was no escape. Castiel smote the demon before it could smoke out of the meat suit, which fell to the floor, dead.

The angel looked at Dean and then to Meg, both of whom were on the ground, gasping. To both of their surprise, Cas went to the demon's aid.

"Meg?" he asked, helping her up.

"Yeah, Clarence?" she answered breathing heavily.

"You tried to help him?"

"Yeah, I did. And you helped me."

"Why did I help you first, Meg?" the angel asked softly, in his usual serious and slightly confused voice.

"I don't know, Clarence," she said laughing at the angel.

Dean managed to pick himself up, and then stumbled over to where Jo was still strapped down. "Cas!" his voice broke. "Cas, please." The angel looked over at the broken man, walking to Jo's body. "Can you save her?"

Cas looked at Dean like he was an idiot, before returning his steely gaze to the broken body of Jo Harvelle. "I raised you from hell, of course I can bring a girl not meant to die yet back to life." Meg laughed, which made the corners of Cas's mouth twitch involuntarily. He placed two fingers on Jo's forehead, and a small glow emitted from them. She gasped for air and tried to sit up before realizing where she was.

Her eyes flew to Dean's.

"Okay, Dean, Clarence, over there. You two watch the door," Meg ordered. Dean complied, while Cas stood there confused, making Dean have to pull him over to the door. Meg rolled her eyes affectionately, "Angels…"

She then untied Jo, and helped her up and into her clothes which were in a pile in the corner where they were carelessly thrown by some demon.

"Thanks," Jo said softly to Meg after she was dressed. She steeled her nerves, and started walking to the boys. Dean was still trying to explain to the utterly clueless angel why he had to stand over here.

"Hey, boys," Jo said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

The four of them started down the hall and when they turned down another hall they slammed into Ruby and Lucy.

"Who's—" Jo started when she saw Ruby.

"—Long story," Dean answered.

"Right. Hold on, where's Sam?"

Dean looked at Ruby for an answer. "Don't look at me. You were all together when I went to find Lucy."

"Shit," Dean mutters.

"Did you let him go off on his own?!" Ruby almost shouted.

"Let who go off on his own?" Sam asked from behind her.

"Sam!" she shouted as she spun around, her voice full of relief. She had to stop herself from touching him to make sure he was alright. Everything in her wanted to check him over, but she knew that it would only serve to piss Dean off. "You didn't get killed, good job," all true care forced out of her voice so that her words flowed easily and cold off her tongue.

"So we all managed to stay alive?" Sam asked as Team Free Will made for the exit.

"Well," Jo started sheepishly.

"We're all alive now, and that's what counts." Dean said, his voice short.

Lucy and Sam looked Jo over, immediately picking up on what had happened. Ruby's eyes scanned Jo before turning to Dean and taking in the way his eyes kept flicking to Jo, as if she would disappear any second. She noticed the guilt in his eyes. She could see the fear in them too.

"Right," Sam said slowly. He looked over at Ruby and she met his gaze. They stayed like that for a second before they got to the exit. They got out of the abandoned building with more ease than any of them were comfortable with.

When they got to the Impala there was an uncomfortable pause as they realized the lack of seats. They had to have Lucy up front squishing the boys in on the way there, but that was the maximum possible seating.

Then Meg, with a smirk, offered a solution shamelessly. "I can sit on Clarence's lap."

The angel in question stopped short and looked at her with something resembling surprise. Ruby laughed at him. Dean just chuckled and said, "Have fun."

The angel was fairly uncomfortable for the most of the drive and Meg was having a field day with her dirty jokes until the angel pulled her face closer to his and kissed her softly and quickly.

It was silent for the rest of the drive.

They pulled up to the Roadhouse four days after they left it. It was a clear night and they could see the stars. The air was cool and sharp and it refreshed everyone who had been in the impala. Dean glanced down at Jo as she got out of the car, and she was beautiful, almost as if the cold strengthened her. She looked up at the night sky and took a deep breath. It was like time froze for just a moment, letting her breath before entering her mother's smothering world.

It was an interesting sight in that one moment. An angel and a demon standing closer than normal to each other without noticing the change, a tall hunter glancing at another demon while she tried desperately to fight against emotions she hadn't felt since she died, a small blonde hunter turning her whiskey colored gaze to the stars, a green eyed hunter watching her while his mind churned with how to protect her, and a lonely blue eyed hunter who doesn't think she'll be here in the morning.

Just as quickly as the moment came, it ended. Jo looked back at the Roadhouse and started to the door. She walked in the door to her home expecting her mother's over-protective gaze, but was met with Bobby's tired eyes.

"Bobby? Where's my mom?"

"Sleeping and it's about damn time too. I had to fight to keep her from coming after you, ya idjit…" Bobby grumbled. "Where are the rest of ya?"

Jo glanced behind her at the door to the Roadhouse for a moment before answering, "I think they're trying to give me a few minutes alone with my mom." Jo paused and looked over at the door again then turned back to Bobby with a puzzled look on her face. "The hell did they get out of here without my mom?"

Bobby chuckled. "Called me, and I had to deal with her while they ran for the car. She cursed so loud, I was blushin'." Jo laughed at that, knowing that this was entirely true.

Lucy stood still watching Jo disappear into the Roadhouse almost expecting Dean to follow. When he didn't, she frowned a little, but knew that he was just as scared of Ellen Harvelle as his moose of a baby brother was. Lucy glanced over at Sam who was standing closer to Ruby than necessary. She smiled, remembering how love felt and then she knew that she had to go. They wouldn't let her, though. Bobby might very well tie her down. She knew that he meant well, but she wasn't the six year old little girl that was dumped onto his front porch all those years ago. She was twenty four years old. She didn't need to be babysat by the Winchesters.

Dean's gaze lingered on the door to the Roadhouse. He could leave, he could just get the hell out of there to try and protect her. No, he did that back in Duluth and that only served to piss her off and make him think about her even more. He was definitely not going in there for a few minutes. He wanted to give Jo a few minutes with her mom and let Ellen cool off. Then again, the last time he'd left Ellen and Jo in private had not gone over well for him. He'd wanted to hang around Jo for a little while longer, but she had asked him to leave. He loved her, so he did as he was told and moved on secretly holding on to the hope that she would call and tell him he could come back again. When he'd seen her in Duluth, he'd abandoned all hope of being close to Jo. He couldn't lose her. He wasn't going to get her blood on his hands.

When Sam glanced down at Ruby for what had to be the tenth time, she once again pretended like she didn't notice. It took everything she had not to look up at him, not to meet his gaze. She couldn't do that to him. She was a demon, and he was a human, it didn't work like that. Dean wouldn't let it happen, but he didn't know that she wouldn't either. Sam could find someone else, someone human, someone that deserved him. She planned on sticking around until then, though. She wasn't going to let Sam fall in love with out approving it first. She was still a demon.

Jo glanced at the door again before going around the bar to get the beer she really needed. She sat down with Bobby an handed him one wordlessly. They sat there in silence for a few more minutes before Jo took a deep breath and stood. Bobby knew where she was going without having to ask her. She found that she was actually slightly nervous as she walked to the door to tell them that they could come in. The brief thought that maybe the Winchesters were gone crossed her mind and filled her with fear. She swung the screen door open and told them all that her mom was sleeping and that it was just Bobby. No one asked why she had waited around five minutes to tell them this.

Her brown eyes met Dean's piercing green gaze for only a second before she looked away. She didn't want him to get hurt, and that had almost happened. He almost died to protect her. That couldn't happen again. That wouldn't happen again.

"Hey, Jo," Dean said, being the last one in the door she was holding open. "Can I talk to you in, uh, in private later?"

She hesitated for a moment, then answered, "Yeah, I guess." He grinned, which was what reminded her of a teenage boy asking a girl out on a first date. He followed her into the now fairly crowded bar.

Jo walked back around the bar asking who wanted a beer, and, unsurprisingly, everyone wanted one. She passed out the beers to each hunter, demon, and angel on the premises minus her mother, of course.

Most of them finished their bottle fast, but Dean didn't because for the first time in a long time, there was something more important than dulling his senses with alcohol. He found that he was actually nervous about talking to her alone. This he found crazy considering the fact that he was Dean Winchester. He could do this.

Then he met Jo's eyes from across the room for a moment.

He couldn't do this.

"You're gonna break that bottle if you hold it any tighter," Lucy said, her slight southern drawl apparent in her voice. Dean just loosened his grip in response. "What are you so freaked about, anyway?"

"Nothin'," he said softly, not looking her in the eye.

She raised an eyebrow, her ice blue stare meeting his eyes when she sat down. "Yeah, right."

"What are you gonna do now?" Dean asks the young hunter. She rolled her eyes, but went along with his obvious subject change.

"Get outta here, hunt some more, you?" she said nonchalantly.

"You're actually going to leave? Alone? You think bobby will be okay with that?"

"Yes, yes, and he won't know until I'm gone. At least, he better not know," she warned.

"You can stick around here, you know?"

"No, I can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I have a job to do, Dean."

"You can do the job, but just come back here when you don't have a hunt," he suggested.

"I don't belong here," Lucy admitted softly. "This is a tight knit family you have here and I'm not getting in the way of that."

"You won't be," he insisted.

She smiled and shook her head at him. "Yeah, I will be, and you know it."