A/N: Here's the next chap! And don't worry Jo will get her chance to be a bada$$! If you guys have any suggestions of specific events you might like to see Cas/Jo deal with like a certain horseman etc. plz say so in reviews!

CHAPTER THREE

She noticed Castiel edging closer, positioning himself slightly in front of her smaller figure, putting himself between her and the devil.

"You do not need to do this brother. You can stop this."

Castiel reasoned, knowing he was probably going to get no where with the stubborn fallen angel. Lucifer actually laughed, the strange sound echoed off the damp walls.

"Really? You think I haven't heard that before? By the way it's really quite adorable that you're even attempting to protect that piece of human scum behind you. How can you willingly befriend such vile creatures?" Lucifer asked, looking like he really was curious.

"How can you exterminate the world without a second thought?"

Jo spat back at him, a new defiance shining in her dark eyes. She remained behind Castiel but no way in hell was she going to just roll over and die, not without a good fight. She didn't care that it was the devil himself anymore. Jo was a hunter and hunters did not give up, her father had taught her that.

"Don't you get it?"

Lucifer questioned, staring at her as if she was a blubbering idiot.

"I don't give a damn about the human race. I'm more worry about killing the global ant population than you filthy beings. Getting all of you of my damn planet is just priority one on my bucket list. It'll teach my father a good lesson."

Then Castiel jumped into the conversation.

"How is killing billions going to teach our father anything when we do not even know where he is! You are free now, why do you not go seek him out? Bring al of your issues to him rather than needlessly killing."

He demanded, now standing dangerously close to the edge of the ring of fire. Lucifer stared at him with contempt.

"Because Castiel, they were the start of it all! I tried back then to reason with him, with our brothers, but no one listened to me! Instead they cast me down into a fiery pit for millennia! So Excuse me if I am beyond reasonable discussion, I am ending this, and I am ending it now. You could join me Castiel, I know you don't agree with the entire garrison any longer. Join me, brother, and you'll have more power than you ever dreamed of."

Jo watched Castiel's expression but as usual she had no idea what he was thinking. She was pretty confident he was not going to agree but there was the wavering thought that Cas was actually a fallen angel now too. His angelic powers were fading already, would he take the devil's offer?

"No brother, I may have fallen, but I am still defending what I believe in."

Castiel replied and Lucifer actually looked truly disappointed for a second or two. Then Castiel was on the ground, groaning in pain and clutching his stomach. Lucifer stood with his hand outstretched, his livid gaze on the other angel. Jo yelled for him to stop but he continued. She knelt beside Castiel, pulling him onto her lap best she could. She could feel tears running down her face, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop whatever pain Lucifer was inflicting on him.

"Just stop! Please! You're not going to get anything from hurting him, so stop!"

She demanded desperately as she noticed blood starting to drip out of Castiel's mouth.

Finally he stopped writhing in her arms and gasped for air. Jo gently swiped the blood from his chin, meanwhile trying to control her sniffling. She looked back at Lucifer who seemed to be thinking about something else, or even communicating with someone else in his head. Then he was on the move towards the door.

"Watch them, do not let either of them escape."

He ordered to Meg who was still standing guard. She nodded and then Lucifer teleported off to somewhere. Jo remained kneeling on the floor, Castiel's head still resting in her lap. She ran her fingers slowly through his hair and his eyes closed for a second or two. The tiny gesture of comfort seemed to help.

"You gonna be okay? What the hell did that dick do to you?"

Jo asked, checking him over for anymore injuries. She knew his healing abilities had faded significantly, Sam and Dean had told her. Castiel nodded stiffly and slowly sat up.

"I will be fine."

He answered, the look in his eyes indicating he had a plan. Jo helped him stand up within the circle they were being held hostage in. Meg strode over to them with an arrogant expression.

"How does it feel to know you're going to lose?"

She remarked with a disgusting grin. Jo noticed Castiel's focus was elsewhere and decided to keep Meg busy with a conversation.

"We haven't lost yet you black-eyed bitch"

Jo declared with seething anger. She was never the best actress in the few elementary school plays she had done, but hopefully her skills had improved since then.

Meg took the bait and remained focused on arguing with Jo.

"Ha! Like you ever stood a chance with that feeble, tired excuse of an angel. And those Winchester boys, man have they had it coming for years. I find it quite interesting that the angel chose to bring you along instead of his pal Dean…."

Jo had been wondering the same thing herself. Sure she had been friendly with Castiel last night but he had known Dean for much longer. Had their brief encounter really had that much of an affect on him? She scrambled to reply since Cas was still staring hard at a particular spot on the ceiling.

"Well we're friends and I'm a hunter. Dean's busy taking care of your boss right now."

Jo jabbed back at the demon, knowing she would start interrogating them on how exactly the Winchesters might be doing that.

"Cute, really that's cute. An angel and a human are friends. You know Castiel is only friends with Dean because Heaven has plans for him. He's probably just using you for some Heavenly mission as well, then the second he gets his wings back you'll never see him again."

Meg stepped forward, ready to yell at Jo more when a water pipe from the ceiling came crashing down on her head. She fell to the floor and water spilled onto the ground, putting out half of the fire encircling them. The demon started to roll over and Jo sent a swift kick to her face. This resulted in Meg's head snapping to one side all to quickly, and it took the demon time to recover. In that time Jo turned to Castiel speaking in a rush.

"Can you bless water, you know turn it into holy water?"

She assumed if a human priest could do it then an angel could. Castiel nodded but seemed confused.

"Ok, do it then, now!"

Jo demanded and Castiel seemed to get the point of it. Water had flooded the room up to their ankles by now. He knelt down, holding his hand palm down an inch or so over the water, and mumbled quick prayer. Meg started screaming in a blood curdling way as she rolled around in three inches of holy water, burning at her skin. Smoke rose in wispy clouds around her.

Jo stomped over furiously, wanting to get a little revenge on the demon who had almost killed her. She grabbed the other woman by the back of her head, and held her down face first in the water. She struggled and screamed, smoke spewing out of the splashing water. Then Jo dropped the demon and kicked her to the side as best she could.

"Take that you demonic scum."

She spat through her clenched teeth.

Before Meg had a chance to get up Castiel wrapped his arms around Jo and teleported them away.

They were back at Bobby's, standing alone in the junkyard behind his home. Castiel's arms released her and Jo wished he had stayed close for a few seconds longer. She felt safe in his arms for some reason, truly safe for the first time since her father passed on. Jo just silently watched him, wondering if everything Meg said was true. Sure demons lied but how could she even think Castiel was going to be around forever? Of course he would end up back in Heaven one way or another. She had a hard enough time keeping human friends never mind an angel.

He surprised her by speaking first.

"It is not true, what Meg said. I did meet Dean due to orders, but I only rebelled because I trust him and Sam. I can not promise to always be around but I befriended you simply because I…like you…."

Castiel sputtered out the last few words rather awkwardly, as if he was not sure if he was saying it in correct human terms. This of course made it only ten times more adorable to Jo. She wondered just how much he liked her, but was more than content to settle with the angel's friendship for now. It seemed like Castiel did not let too many humans get inside his brain. Bobby had known him much longer than Jo, they had been through more, but Jo doubted Castiel had talked about his disconnected family with him.

Jo smiled up at him and he even made a weird attempt at matching it with his own grin.

"Thanks Cas, and just so you know I'm not trying to be your friend just because it's the end of the world and all that. I like you, you seem like a good guy who could use a few more real friends."

She said, reaching over and grabbing his hand. Castiel was surprised by the gesture and stared down at their linked fingers. Jo laughed while pulling him along with her towards the house.

"C'mon, lets find out if the guys are back or if we're going to have to go out and save their asses."

They headed up to Bobby's back door with Castiel tagging along a pace or two behind Jo, still turning to look at their hands every so often. He decided he liked holding Jo's hand and planned to do it more often. For some reason she did not seem to have the same rules about personal space as Dean.