AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, dear readers. I hope this finds all of you doing well. I apologize for taking so long to post this chapter. I wanted to get what may or may not be the final chapter for my Ironman/Spiderman story written and posted. Then I had a hard time find time to write this one. It's a little bit short, but it serves as a transition into the next hunt. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Please post a review when you're done. I welcome constructive criticism, too.

CHAPTER 16

Krissy stifled a groan as she shifted on the back seat of the Impala, trying to find a comfortable position. She hadn't been able to sneak ice into her room the day before like she had after her encounter with Dean's belt. As a result, while the skin of her backside was no longer red or tender, the underlying muscles were still sore and were protesting their prolonged contact with the car's hard back seat. "I don't see why we couldn't have waited another day before leaving on this hunt," she complained as she finally gave up and kicked off her sandals. She brought her feet up onto the seat and shifted down so that her butt was off the seat and her weight was on her lower back.

Dean didn't bother to hide his smirk as he watched her shift her position through the rear view mirror. "We wait another day and more people die." He knew from experience exactly what it was like to ride on the Impala's hard leather seats with a sore backside, and he didn't envy her one bit.

"Then why didn't we leave yesterday. How many people died because we waited a day?"

Dean gave a short bark of laughter. He couldn't fault her logic. He glanced over at his brother's expression. He was expecting to see guilt and wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or not at the neutral look on Sam's face. He bit back a heavy sigh of frustration at his brother's ability to mask his emotions when it suited him.

Turning his attention back to the road, Dean continued, "because you and Sammy had unfinished business to take care of." He paused to consider his next words. "You'd best keep the current state of your ass in mind during this hunt," he said mildly. "There are going to be times when we can't take you with us. You'll be expected to stay at the motel, or wherever we leave you, and do as you're told. This is your last chance to prove to us that you can be trusted to join us on a hunt."

Krissy chose not to respond to Dean's warning. Oh, there was plenty she wanted to say in response, but the ache in her backside convinced her that voicing her opinion on the matter wasn't the best idea. She reached for her backpack and pulled out her book, signaling an end to the conversation.

Sam had been watching the interaction between the other two occupants in the car and decided it was probably a good time for him to speak up. "Krissy, it's not that we don't want you with us during the hunt or that we take pleasure in stopping you from hunting. It's just that there are times during the investigation part that it wouldn't be practical or make sense for you to be with us." He shifted in his seat so he could turn and look at her. "Dean, Jodie, and I will likely go to the morgue to see the victims' remains. We can get a lot of information about what kind of creature might be behind the killings that way. Chances are, Dean and I will be posting as FBI or other law enforcement agents. It would look really suspicious if we have a teenager tagging along with us."

Krissy shrugged, but didn't look up from her book or respond to Sam's comments.

"Besides," Sam continued, "the research you'll be asked to do will not only educate you on what we might be facing, but, more importantly, will give us a better understanding of what might be happening. That's a crucial part of any hunt."

"Whatever," she understood the logic behind what Sam had said, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. She had just turned the page in her book, not really paying attention to what she was reading, when a thought occurred to her. Maybe if she was nice and warmed up to Jodie, the sheriff would be willing to override the Winchester brothers' decisions and let her go with them. After all, Sam and Dean seemed to defer to Jodie, despite the fact that they had trained her.

"Look," Sam continued, "we aren't going to totally deprive you of participating in this hunt. Research is an important part of the investigation. We have to know what we're heading into. Your research can be a valuable contribution to that knowledge. With you along to do it while we're out in the field, we will save precious time since we won't have to wait until we're finished in the field for me to do it. "

Krissy shrugged in response to Sam's words. What he'd said made some sense to her. Still, though, she wasn't happy with the idea of being left out of the action. She gave a sigh as her thoughts settled into a final decision.

Dean heard her sigh and took his eyes off the road to study her in the rear view mirror. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as her closed expression didn't give any hints as to what was going through her mind.

XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX

It was close to two o'clock when they arrived at Jodie's. She'd heard the distinctive sound of the Impala's engine coming up the street and had stepped outside to greet them. Sam was the first to make his way onto the porch, and she immediately pulled him into a hug before doing the same with Dean. After she released him, Jodie spotted Krissy standing at the bottom of the porch steps, looking lost and uncertain.

"Come here," she directed as she held her arms open. "I need a hug from you, too." Although Jodie had only met the teenager once, and that meeting hadn't been under the best of circumstances, she could tell Krissy needed the interaction and the same warmth and affection she shared with the Winchester brothers. Jodie knew without a doubt that Sam and Dean were probably a good choice to keep Krissy safe and teach her what she needed to know about hunting. But, she also knew, without a doubt, that they probably weren't the best at seeing to the teenager's emotional needs. She made up her mind at that moment to become more involved in Krissy's life.

Krissy slowly approached the older woman and allowed Jodie to envelope her in her arms. She stood stiffly for several seconds until, sensing the genuine warmth and welcome, she returned the hug.

After a moment or two Jodie broke the embrace and rewarded Krissy with a smile. "It's good to see all of you." She draped her arm around the teenager's shoulders. "Come on, lunch is almost ready. I just have to put the pasta on to boil and fix the garlic bread."

Dean had opened the door and had started through it, but he stopped in his tracks. "Spaghetti and your homemade meatballs?" he asked hopefully as he turned back to look at Jodie.

"Yes," Jodie responded with a smile, "and salad. I figured the three of you could use a good meal -- especially the kid, here," she teased as she gave Krissy's shoulders another squeeze.

"Hey," Dean said, feigning insult. "We feed her. In fact, we see to it that she gets bread and water at least once a day." He winked at Krissy to let her know he was teasing.

"Yeah, and sometimes, if I'm really, really good, they let me have a cup of thin gruel as a treat." Krissy couldn't help but pick up the line of teasing.

Jodie laughed. "It's a good thing I know you're both joking." She forced her facial features into a stern expression. "Or we'd be having a serious discussion of our own."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean replied. He didn't try to hide the grin that lit up his features.

Jodie just shook her head as if to say she didn't know what she was going to do with him. "You all get freshened up, and I'll put the water onto boil and get the bread started."

"Sounds good to me," Sam commented. He gave Jodie a smile that caused his dimples to show in his cheeks. "Dean's cooking is getting better, but he still has a long way to go before I'd call it good," he said as he quickly stepped through the open door and out of his brother's reach.

A few minutes later Krissy entered the kitchen. She paused just inside the doorway and thought about how drastically her life had changed the last time she'd been in that room. She still hadn't decided if the change had been for the better or for the worse. She shoved those thoughts aside just as Jodie noticed her presence. The older woman had turned from putting a large pot of water onto the stove to bring to a boil.

"What can I do to help?"

Jodie smiled at her and pointed toward a nearby cabinet. "Grab some plates and set the table," she said as she moved to the refrigerator and grabbed a bowl of salad. "Silverware is in the drawer next to the sink." She watched Krissy out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed salad dressings and butter out of the refrigerator as well.

When Krissy had finished that task, Jody reached over and pulled a bread knife from the butcher block. She placed a long loaf of crusty bread onto a breadboard. "Come cut this into inch and a half to two inch thick slices," she instructed. She watched until she was sure the teenager was doing as instructed, then began mixing the garlic butter. Together, they spread the aromatic topping onto the sliced bread.

Dean entered the kitchen, followed closely by Sam, just as the two ladies finished with the bread. He immediately went to the stove and lifted the lid on a simmering pot. The scent of tomatoes and herbs filled the room. "Smells great, Jodie," he said as he put the lid back on the pot.

"While you're over there, add some olive oil to the water then put the pasta in," Jodie instructed as she slid the pan of bread into a wall oven.

"Yes, ma'am," Dean responded with a cheeky grin as he reached for the bottle of oil. His mouth was already watering at the thought of the homemade feast they were about to eat.

Later, as they sat at the table enjoying their meal, Krissy began shifting in her seat. The ache in her backside had abated during the time she'd been on her feet helping Jodie finish preparing the meal, but it was returning as she sat on the hard wooden seat.

Jodie watched the teenager shifting in her seat. It suddenly dawned on her what the source of Krissy's discomfort could be. She raised an eyebrow in Dean's direction, silenting asking him to confirm her suspicions.

Dean gave a subtle shake of his head and then tilted it slightly in Sam's direction, signaling to the sheriff that it was the younger Winchester, not him, who was responsible for the teenager's discomfort. Jodie raised an eyebrow and turned her gaze to Sam, who just shrugged in response to her unspoken question.

A short while later, when everyone had finished their meals, Sam rose and began clearing the table.

"Dean, you and Krissy take care of the dishes," Jody directed as she, too, rose to her feet. "Sam, I'd like to speak with you in the other room." It clearly wasn't a request, and she didn't pause to see if he was following her as she left the room. Sam gave Dean a slightly panicked look before sitting the plates he was holding back on the table and following her from the room.

"What was that about?" Krissy asked curiously as she stood and picked up her own place setting, along with the one Sam had just left behind.

"I don't know," Dean said with a hint of amusement in his voice. He had a good idea of what it was about, but he didn't see the need to embarrass the teenager. "You'd have thought he was being called to the principal's office, the way he looked."

"Did he get called to the principal's office often?" She was genuinely curious. She'd have pegged Sam Winchester as a stickler for the rules, even as a kid.

"Nah," Dean replied with a grin. "That was more my area."

In the living room Jodie waited until Sam had taken a seat on the couch before sitting down in the adjacent armchair. "You want to tell me why Krissy was unable to sit comfortably at my kitchen table?"

"I don't know what you mean," he said smoothly.

"You know exactly what I mean, Sam." Jodie sighed. "Look, it's obvious she's been spanked recently. I want to know if it's something I need to be concerned about." Her mother's instincts had gone on high alert when she realized the source of Krissy's discomfort.

Sam studied Jodie for a moment and realized that she was acting out of concern for Krissy. He probably would have been, too, were he in her shoes. He ran a hand over his face and sighed. He resisted the urge to squirm in his own seat under Jodie's pointed gaze.

"She made some pretty serious errors in judgment during our last hunt, and I disciplined her for part of them yesterday." Sam gave into the urge and shifted in his seat. He still felt a little guilty over the paddling he'd dished out the day before, and he definitely felt uncomfortable speaking about it to Jodie. "She probably would have been over it by now if she hadn't had to spend all day today sitting in the back seat of the Impala. I know from experience that it tends to make a sore backside linger a bit longer than it would otherwise."

Jodie considered his words for a minute before sitting back in her chair. "I would have expected that from Dean. After all, I saw him handling her that way the last time you all were here. But, somehow I would have never expected that of you," she commented.

Sam shifted in his seat again, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn their conversation had taken. "Why?" He couldn't help asking the question.

It was Jodie's turn to shrug. "I don't know. You just don't seem the type to do that."

"It's not my first choice when it comes to disciplining Krissy, but her actions were serious and required a serious response." His voice had taken on a sterner edge that clearly told Jodie that he was not happy with the current topic of conversation. "And before you ask," he said after a moment's pause, "what she did to earn getting her backside tanned is between her and me. If she wants you to know, she can tell you herself. "

Sam slapped both hands on the tops of his thighs and stood. "If that's all, we have a hunt to plan." He rose to his feet and held a hand out to Jodie, clearly signaling an end to the conversation.

Jodie, knowing full well that she'd just been put in her place, accepted the proffered hand and allowed Sam to draw her to her feet. She didn't say anything as she followed him back to the kitchen.

XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX

Krissy glanced up as Jodie and Sam walked back into the kitchen. She suspected that they had been talking about her, and she had wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation. Dean had stopped her, though, when she'd headed toward the hallway door. She'd told him she was going to the powder room down the hall, but he'd just ordered her to get back to washing dishes.

"What's up?" Dean asked casually, as if he hadn't suspected what their conversation had been about.

Sam gave a noncommittal shrug and took a seat at the table, while Jodie headed to the counter where the coffee pot sat. "Anyone want coffee while we plan?" When everyone said yes, she began brewing a pot.

"It's a 5 or 6 hour drive to Devil's Lake from here," Jodie said once they were all settled around the kitchen table again. "We won't make it there before the morgue closes. But, if I remember correctly, there's at least one dinner in town where the locals like to hang out. If nothing else, we might be able to pick up some information there."

"You've been there before?" Sam asked as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Yes, my husband and I went camping there about ten or eleven years ago. It was before Owen was born," Jodie paused and took a sip of coffee to settle herself. Sam reached across the table and covered Jodie's free hand with his. She looked up to meet his gaze. After a moment or two, she nodded to indicate that she was okay. Sam gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it.

Krissy watched the interaction curiously. She didn't know what that was all about, but she hadn't missed how the other woman's voice had hitched when she mentioned Owen being born. She had to wonder if he had been Jodie's kid and what had happened to him. Whatever it was, Krissy reasoned, it was tragic, and Sam and Dean knew about it. But, it kind of explained why Jodie acted so maternal towards them sometimes, she mused.

"Hey, Krissy," Dean said as he snapped his fingers in front of her face to get her attention. "I don't know where your mind was, but were you even paying attention to what was being said?"

Krissy bristled at what she perceived as a mocking tone in his voice. She looked around to see Sam and Jodie looking at her expectantly. "Yeah," she responded shortly.

"Really?" Dean's voice was skeptical. "So why don't you enlighten us on your thoughts about what we were discussing."

Krissy knew it wasn't a request. She also realized that she had no idea what they had been talking about. "Um, yeah, I think it sounds fine," she said, hoping her vague answer would satisfy him.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Pay attention to the discussion. Otherwise, you might miss something important," he said as he rose to his feet and picked up his now empty coffee mug. He had just passed by Krissy's chair on his way to refill it when he heard her mutter "asshole" under her breath.

Dean stopped in his tracks. He was growing tired of Krissy's habit of calling him that whenever he said or did something she didn't like. He moved to stand directly behind her chair. Crowding into her personal space, he reached around her to place the mug on the table. Then, bracing one hand on the table and resting the other heavily on her shoulder, he leaned in so that his mouth was next to her ear.

"I'm done hearing that from you," he said in a hard whisper. "Call me an asshole one more time, and find out what happens." He felt a shiver course through her body before he gave her shoulder a final warning squeeze and straightened.

As he grabbed his mug from the table, he realized that both his brother and Jodie were watching him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow as if daring them to ask what that was about. When neither said anything, Dean continued on to the waiting coffee pot.

"As I was saying," Sam said, picking up the thread of conversation as if the last few minutes hadn't happened, "from the limited information I've seen in the news reports, these killings could be either werewolf or wendigo. We won't know more until we get up there and look at the bodies."

Jodie nodded. "I tried to see what I could dig up using my resources, but there isn't much available. North Dakota apparently uses a different law enforcement database for tracking and storing records of investigations. My credentials won't let me into it."

"Okay, we have to do this the hard way then," Dean said as he resumed his seat.

"I do have to wonder, though, realistically what the chances are that this thing is a wendigo," Sam commented.

"What do you mean?" Krissy asked. She hadn't heard of wendigos before and was curious.

"Well," Sam said as he settled into lecture mode. "Wendigo usually aren't found outside of Minnesota. That's not to say it couldn't happen, but they're pretty localized. Plus, they don't often leave anything behind. They've found bodies, although the media isn't publishing any information about their conditions."

Jodie nodded. "Yeah, we really need to get into the morgue to view the victims." She shared a look with the two brothers. "So, how are we going to play this?"

"I figured Sam and I would go in as park rangers, and you could go in your official capacity as sheriff. We could be working on a joint investigation into similar crimes in this area. The news articles caught your attention, and you thought we should check into it to see if there are any connections between the two cases."

Jodie stared at Dean for a moment, slightly stunned at the ease in which he discussed posing as a law enforcement officer and her lying about an investigation. It wasn't the first time she'd been involved with either of those scenarios while on a hunt with the Winchester brothers, but it still surprised her. "Sounds good to me, but what about Krissy? Where is she going to be during all of this?"

"She'll be at the motel doing research into werewolves and wendigos and digging for any similar stories in the area," Sam said, leveling a look in the teenager's direction. "If she finishes that, she can work on the essay she's writing for me."

Krissy started to say something, but a quick "ahem" from Dean reminded her of his earlier threat. She wasn't sure if Sam was included in it, but she preferred not to take a chance. "Yes,sir," she responded instead, earning a nod of approval from Sam.

"Now that that's settled," Jodie said as she came to her feet. "Let's get this place cleaned up so we can hit the road."