"I hate it when you go away, Daddy."
"I know, Jo-bean. But I have to. I gotta save people."
"Why can't somebody else save people? Why's it gotta be you?"
The man sighed. He knelt down to his tiny daughter's level and put a hand on her shoulder. He pointed up to the night sky.
"See those stars?"
She nodded her head vigorously.
"Well there's a really bright one up there. It's called the North Star." He smirked at her. "Wanna know a secret?"
She smiled and nodded her head again.
"No matter where I am, or where you are, if we both look at the sky, we'll see the same North Star. So whenever you get sad, you can look up at the stars and know that I'm watching the same stars too, just like I'm watching over you."
"Really?!"
He smiled at her. "Really really." He ruffled her hair.
"Love you, kiddo."
"DAD WAIT!" Jo screamed as she sat up in the bed she was in. She felt the cold sweat on her forehead and on her palms. She began to take deep breaths. Suddenly a light came on, and she jerked her head up to see a worried Sam standing in the doorframe. "Jo, you ok?" he asked as his eyes darted around the room.
"Yeah," she said, wiping her forehead. "Just a nightmare. Sorry if I woke ya Sam."
Sam made his way to a chair next to the bed. "You didn't wake me. I've been up all night." She noticed the circles under his eyes. "Why?" she queried.
Sam sighed. "I dunno. Worried about Dean, I guess. Hey, that reminds me. I think this belongs to you," he said as he held up Dean's amulet.
Her eyes widened. "If you want it Sam, you can keep it."
"No. Dean gave it to you. It's yours." He smiled. "Besides, I got the keys to a kickass muscle car." She smiled too as she took the necklace from him.
"Thank you, Sam." She put it on and looked down at the strange carved figure that was on the worn leather cord. Brass, she assumed, or maybe copper, and smoothed down on one side from being worn for so long. The metal was cool and heavy in her hand, but comfortable and familiar. The cord was the same one that it had always been, and every once in a while, she noticed if she turned her head she could catch a faint scent of men's cologne trailing off of it.
She began to feel a deep ache growing in her chest. She looked back at Sam, feeling every bit as defeated as he looked. She noticed water forming in his eyes, but no tears fell. Instead, he grabbed her hand and squeezed. She half smiled at him, and felt a tear escape from her eye.
"Is everything alright?"
The two hunters turned their heads to the door, where Jael's head was peeking over the side. Jo brushed the tear off her face and said, "Yeah. Yeah, everything's great." Jael cocked her head in her trademark way, and then entered the room.
"Sam," she said politely, "would you mind if I spoke with Jo privately for a moment?" He opened his mouth to protest, but Jo interrupted him. "Just do it, Sam," she said as she waved him away. He shut his mouth and shrugged.
"If you need anything, I'll be on the couch. Attempting to sleep."
Jael tiptoed over to the door and shut it quietly. She made her way softly over to where Sam had sat moments before and sat.
"I understand you don't care for me all that much."
Jo scoffed.
"But I want you to understand this. Things are going to get better for you. And Sam. And Dean. Your mother and Bobby. But so, so many things are going to get better for you, Jo. Dean cares about you, and that's why he's not here. He cares about you so much. I can see it. He is willing to risk anything for you."
Jo stared at her, confused.
"Remember when I said it is my heavenly duty to protect Dean? I still am by being here with you and Sam. You to are a part of Dean, and I will defend you at all costs. Dean is a caring person who sacrifices way too much with too little reward. What's happening- it's happening for the best."
Jo nodded, feeling tears welling up inside her again. Her throat hurt as she continued trying to suppress her sadness because she refused to cry in front of this angel. She couldn't respond to Jael because she felt if she said anything, she might explode with emotion. She was so damn tired, and sad, and angry. But what rocked her to her core, was that for the first time in her life, she felt lonely. She didn't feel this alone even when her father had died. No matter how close Sam and her were, she knew she couldn't shake the empty loneliness that had made a home in her heart. One tear escaped and slid down her cheek.
"I won't tell anyone if you feel like crying," Jael said softly.
Jo began to weep. Her eyes flooded with all the emotions she had been holding back since the beginning of this whole ordeal. She heaved and screamed and yelled. She wasn't sure how long she was like that, but it felt like forever.
She froze when she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Jael seated timidly on the bed next to her. She reached out to hug the angel.
"If y-you," she hiccupped, "tell ah-anyone ab-bout this, I'll g-gank you," Jo muttered halfheartedly. Jael smirked.
"Your secret is safe with me."
"Jael!" Castiel called from outside the room. Jael got up and walked toward the door, but stopped. She turned looked out the window, and Jo's gaze followed. "Aren't the stars beautiful tonight?" Jael asked. Jo looked back at her and she winked as she left the room. Jo looked back to the night sky and closed her eyes.
She didn't even noticed the hurried woosh of air as the two angels disappeared from the cabin.
"Out of all the damn cars in this place, this is the only one you could find keys for?!" Dean asked Bobby as he put the keys into the ignition of a 1994 Ford Taurus.
"Well I apologize for not finding you a chick magnet in the amount of time you gave me to get the damn keys," Bobby responded.
"We have to get to Montana," Dean said as Ellen loaded bags into the back of the vehicle.
"Montana? Is that where Jo is?" Ellen asked. Dean nodded. "Sam too. Cas, and this other angel, I think. Point is. We have to get there. Now."
"Are you crazy, boy? our best bet right now is to keep you as far as possible from Sam. Now It ain't safe to stay here, but I ain't lettin' you take my car to your brother. You're just gonna make him and Jo targets, considerin' yer back from the other side. I say we head east to Pennsylvania, I know a guy that'll be willin' to help us out."
Dean clenched his jaw. "Look Bobby. I mean this with the utmost respect, but I don't give a damn. Not right now. We have to get to Jo and Sam. There's some stuff-" he paused and shifted his weight "-some stuff that's about to go down. In like seven days. And that means that I gotta straighten some stuff out, okay? I'm not going anywhere but Montana." with that, Dean opened the driver door and sat down.
Ellen's eyes slid over to where Bobby was contemplating what Dean had just said. He sighed defeatedly. "Well I wish you wouldn't do this, but I s'pose I can't stop you, given the circumstances." He motioned to the wheelchair he was confined to. "Just know I think it's a stupid idea."
Ellen smiled slightly. She couldn't wait to see Sam and her daughter.
"So they just left? No note? No long tearful goodbye?" Jo said from the passenger side of the Impala.
"No. I just heard arguing and then felt wind. They were gone."
"Awesome. Well, we can't go back to Bobby's. If there's any of Satan's evil forces following us, I don't wanna risk it. But we do need to get far away from that cabin."
"I couldn't sleep so I looked at some recent police reports that I thought could be potential cases. I found one that was a bit interesting. Here," he said as he handed her his cellphone. She took it and sighed. "Sam, what's your password?"
"5-2-8-3."
She laughed. "Your birthday? Typical."
"Just read the article," Sam said, embarrassed. Her eyes scanned the page.
"So a couple was found dead in an old abandoned house. What makes this our type of thing?"
Sam reached over and grabbed the phone from her. "Well I did my research, and this thing has happened 5 before. Each time April 20th, and each couple found in the main hall, right in front of the door. Each couple was either looking to buy the house, or had bought it and were living in it. And get this," he said as he pulled up a picture from the article, "each couple was found wearing 1850's period clothing."
"Ohkayyyy, so this is kinda sounding like our thing. But where is it?"
"An old plantation in Gadsden, South Carolina."
"Old house in a small town. Couple found dead. Ghost, maybe?"
"Maybe. I couldn't find anything on the history of the house. You wanna do it?"
"Why not? It could take my mind off of-"
Sam's phone began to ring. He answered it. "Bobby! I'm really glad you called."
"No time for formalities, boy. Y'all still up in Montana?"
"No. We're crossing from Iowa into Missouri, why-"
Bobby sighed. "Don't worry about it. Where are y'all headed?"
"Gadsden, South Carolina. Caught wind of a case."
"We'll meet you down there then."
"Wait, we? Aren't you and Ellen on house arrest?"
"I'll explain it all when we git there." With that, the line went dead.
Jo sideglanced at Sam. "He didn't really sound to be in a chatty mood."
"Who knows?" Sam said. "It's Bobby." He reached his hand over to the radio and began to search for a station. Jo leaned back and closed her eyes and let Johnny Cash's voice fill her ears.
"I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything."