Author's Note: Hello, dear readers. I hope you are all safe and healthy. I've finally managed to find some time to get more than a paragraph or two of this chapter written. Life is crazy. Anyway, I hope you like it. Please comment or send me a message. I love hearing from my readers.

CHAPTER 31

Jody felt the tension leave her body as Dean enveloped her in a hug. She finally felt safe for the first time since a demon had shown up at her house roughly ten hours before. She could handle vampires, werewolves, and any number of other supernatural creatures. But demons scared her, and this time she and Alex had been their targets.

Dean didn't miss Jody relaxing against him. He knew something serious had to have happened for this strong woman, who was more than capable of taking care of herself and Alex on her own, to seek shelter at the bunker. He tightened his embrace, offering her what comfort he could for a moment, until he felt her start to pull away.

"What happened?" Sam asked before Dean could give voice to the same question. He had a hand resting on Alex's shoulder, and the teenager was leaning against his side. That, too, was telling, and only increased Dean's concern.

Jody stepped away from Dean. "Could we talk about it in the morning?" Her exhaustion was clearly evident in her voice. "I need at least five hours of sleep to be able to discuss it coherently."

"Yeah, sorry," Sam apologized sheepishly.

Dean glanced over at his brother before turning back to Jody. He wanted answers as badly if not more so than his brother, but he knew Jody was right. She and Alex needed to rest. They were safe, and answers could wait until morning. "We set you up in your usual room, and Alex is in the room next to you. Krissy changed the sheets and dusted before she went to bed."

"I have a 'usual room'?" Jody commented as she grinned. "I didn't know I'd been here often enough for that. This is what, my third time here?"

This time it was Sam who grinned. "And you slept in the same room the other two times, so that makes it your usual room."

Jody shrugged. "Whatever you say." She started down the stairs, wanting nothing more than to be horizontal and oblivious to the world around her for a few hours.

Dean followed them down the stairs and watched as she and Alex, followed by Sam, crossed the main room to the corridor that led to the bedrooms. "You're safe now. Nothing can get to you here," he called after them. He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince them or convince himself of that.

It was after ten o'clock the next morning before Jody wandered into the kitchen. She was still tired from the stress of the previous date and her late-night travel, but her internal clock wouldn't let her sleep any later. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she gave a huge yawn just as she stepped through the kitchen doorway and headed straight for the coffee pot. She sat down across the table from Sam just as he laid his cellphone down. There was an open book laid face down beside a mug of coffee.

"Dean asked me to let him know when you got up," Sam said in explanation. He picked up his own coffee and took a deep drink of the now only slightly warm beverage. "Did you sleep okay?"

"It took me a while to wind down," Jody responded as she yawned again and took a tentative sip of her own coffee.

"Yeah, I bet. You sure you're ready to be up and about. Maybe you ought to go back to bed and get a few more hours of rest."

"No, I wouldn't be able to sleep." Jody shook her head regretfully. "It's not the first time I've operated on only a few hours' sleep. I'll probably crash early tonight." She rubbed her hands over her face and stretched. "Is Krissy up and about? I walked by her room, and the door was closed."

Sam glanced at his watch to check the time. "She should be in class right now." He rose to his feet and took his coffee mug to the sink. "You want some breakfast? I could make you some eggs and toast, or we have cereal."

"I'll take eggs and toast if you're offering, but you really don't have to do that. I can feed myself."

"I know you can, but you've had a rough day or two. Let someone take care of you for once."

Jody nodded her appreciation. "Thanks, Sam, for everything." She took another drink of her coffee to steady her thoughts. There would be time enough to dwell on the events of the day before, so she decided to keep things light for the moment. "How are Krissy's classes going?"

Sam sat the carton of eggs he'd just retrieved from the refrigerator onto the counter. "They seem to be going well. Her grades are good, and there are a group of her classmates who are local. She's developed a friendship with them and has been getting into what I would consider some typical teenage mischief. How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled," Jody responded. She smiled at Sam's statement about Krissy. "And that's good to hear, although I'm learning the hard way that from the parenting side of things typical teenage mischief is a lot more frustrating than I ever thought it would be."

"Is Alex causing problems?" he asked as movement in the doorway caught his attention.

Jody shrugged. "She acting out some, trying to find her place."

"Is that all she's doing?" Dean asked as he entered the kitchen and headed toward the coffee pot. He refilled the mug he'd carried into the room and joined Jody at the table. He'd had experience with two teenagers dealing with emotional trauma from the supernatural. Somehow he doubted "acting out" was all Alex was doing.

Again, Jody shrugged as she took a sip of her coffee. "I had to deal with her setting off firecrackers under the bleachers at a football game."

Dean snorted. "I guess doing illegal things under bleachers is the in thing for teenagers these days."

"Oh?" Jody questioned. She gave Sam a quick smile when he placed a plate of scrambled eggs and toast on the table in front of her before taking a seat at the table. She picked up her fork and took a bit of egg before continuing. "I'm assuming Krissy did something."

Dean leaned back in his chair. "She and her pals decided it would be a good idea to smoke weed under the visitors' bleachers at the football game Friday night."

"We were still dealing with some of the consequences for that when Cas showed up to tell us about Eisheth."

"The demon?" Jody asked.

"Yeah. We learned that a demon may have possessed one of Krissy's friends."

"Oh, God," Jody exclaimed as she dropped the piece of toast she was about to eat back onto her plate. Her appetite was suddenly gone.

"Yeah," Dean commented. "We're trying to figure out a way to investigate without drawing too much attention to ourselves."

"Turns out the principal at Krissy's high school is the daughter of a hunter. She recognized our last name and asked her dad about us," Sam said. "Anyway, she's helping us come up with a plan to, hopefully, reduce some of the risk to the kid and those around her. If she's possessed, and the demon hasn't already killed her, we want to exorcise it with as little harm to her as possible."

"What do you mean if 'the demon hasn't already killed her'? You're talking about Zoe aren't you?" Krissy demanded from the kitchen doorway.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class or something?" Dean countered as he turned in his seat to look at her.

"Class is over," Krissy said as she walked to the refrigerator. There was a hard note to her voice. "Nobody was in a chatting mood. Mrs. Stockton sent an email to all of their parents saying there was an incident at the football game on Friday night, and she wants to meet with them to discuss it. She's making arrangements to go to everyone's house. They all think I'm the reason she found out about it."

"Sonuvabitch!" Dean exclaimed as he slapped his hand down on the table. "I knew it was a bad idea to get Marissa Stockton involved."

"What?" Jody asked. Her confusion was obvious as her gaze traveled back and forth between Dean and Krissy.

"She's using what happened on Friday to get close to Zoe's parents," Sam stated as he rose to his feet. He grabbed his phone from where it lay face down on the table. "She's probably meeting with the other parents, too, to make it look like legitimate school business."

"She's going to get herself killed." Dean started to rise to his feet as well, but he settled back in his chair when Sam shook his head. The younger Winchester gave a nearly imperceptible nod in Jody's direction, silently communicating to his brother that he should find out what had happened in Sioux Falls, while Sam dealt with this new development. Dean nodded his understanding. "Let me know what you find out," he ordered as Sam left the room.

Krissy slammed the refrigerator door closed and turned to Dean. "That's it? That's all you two are going to do?"

Dean pointed to a chair at the table. "What do you expect us to do at this point? Sam is going to find out what Marissa has planned, and we will act accordingly. You throwing a fit about it isn't going to change it. The only thing that's going to accomplish is getting yourself into more trouble than you want. Capiche?"

Krissy plopped down in the chair. Only then did she realize that Jody was in the room, and her face flamed red with embarrassment that the woman had just witnessed that scene. "Um, hi, Jody."

"Good morning, Krissy. Rough day?"

Krissy gave a quick smile before taking a drink from the bottle of water she'd taken from the refrigerator. "It's been a rough week."

"So I've heard," Jody said. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I guess," Krissy said with a shrug. "I mean, I don't know how I'm supposed to about one of my friends possibly being possessed by a demon who is out to get my guardians." She took another drink to steady herself. "There isn't exactly a manual for this kind of thing, is there?"

Jody rose to her feet and drew Krissy into a hug. They stayed that way until Dean cleared his throat.

"If you're done with the Brady Bunch moment, we have things we need to discuss."

Jody gave Krissy a tighter squeeze and whispered in her ear, "you can always talk to me if you need to, no matter what it is. You know that,

right?" She stepped back out of the embrace when she felt the teenager nod her agreement.

Sam walked back into the kitchen. The expression on his face clearly showed that he was not happy.

"What did Marissa say?" Dean asked when Sam's entrance caught his attention.

"I wasn't able to speak with her. I had to leave a message on her voice mail and send her a text not to do anything until she talks to one of us." He sighed heavily. He would never understand why people thought they could handle the supernatural with little or no training. Granted, Marissa Stockton was the daughter of a hunter, but that didn't mean she really knew what she was doing.

Dean shared a look with his younger brother before turning back to Jody, who had reclaimed her seat at the table. "When you texted me yesterday, you said you were on your way because a demon had showed up at your house. What happened, and why did it take so long for you to get here?"

Jody rose from the table and moved to refill her coffee mug. She could feel Dean's eyes boring into her back. She returned to the table and took a sip of the hot liquid as she reclaimed her seat. "A young woman showed up at my backdoor yesterday, claiming to want to talk to me about a missing person's case," she said. "I keep my home address off the public records for a reason. Someone would really have to dig to find it."

Sam nodded his understanding. "Go on," he directed.

"She wouldn't take no for an answer when I told her she needed to leave. She forced her way into the house. I was about to call dispatch to have someone sent out to arrest her for trespassing when she was caught in the devil's trap I have under the rug at the door. I have one at each door and in a couple of other places around the house. I didn't suspect her of being a demon until then."

"Sonuvabitch!" Dean exclaimed. He was far from happy about what he was hearing. Eisheth and her minions were getting way too close to those he cared about, and he didn't like it at all.

Jody ignored his outburst and continued. "I'm glad you sent me that exorcism to memorize, Sam. I didn't have my demon blade with me, and I didn't want to leave her alone while I went to get it. I recited it, and the demon fled. Apparently, the young woman whose body the demon had possessed was already dead." She paused to gather her thoughts. "I didn't exactly have a good explanation for why I suddenly had a dead body in my kitchen, so I couldn't call my people in."

"So, what did you do?" Krissy asked curiously, earning glares from Dean and Sam for her interruption.

"I called a hunter I know in the area. We wrapped her in a rug and carried her out to his truck. We talked about him picking the rug up for his daughter's new apartment for the benefit of my nosy neighbors." She paused once again to take a drink of her coffee and winced slightly at the now tepid temperature. "Just about everyone in the neighborhood works during the day, but my neighbor across the street is retired and tends to watch everything that goes on in the area. I don't know how the demon approached the house, but she came to the back door. I doubt Mrs. Carter would have seen her."

Dean saw her reaction and rose to his feet. He grabbed her coffee mug, tossed the contents into the sink, and refilled it before setting it back in front of her.

Jody nodded her thanks. "Anyway, I waited about half an hour after he left to follow him. He texted me GPS coordinates to where he'd taken the body. It was a clearing in the woods in the middle of nowhere. We cremated her and scattered the ashes along the forest floor. I texted you when I got back home. I went to pull Alex out of school early, only to arrive just as the secretary was getting ready to call me. Alex hadn't shown up for her first class after lunch."

Sam shook his head at Alex's lack of judgment. "Is that the reason you were so late in getting here?" he asked.

Jody nodded. "It took me a few hours to track her down and to deal with this latest episode after we got home."

Dean sighed heavily in frustration. "I'm sorry she's causing so much trouble for you. Had I known, I would have made different arrangements for her."

Jody pinned Dean with a hard look that had him visibly squirming in his seat. "I willingly took her in knowing what she had been through. She's a teenager who has endured significant trauma of a kind most people wouldn't understand. She's got to figure out that she's safe and I'm not going to send her away because she's inconvenient." She glanced meaningfully at Krissy before turning her gaze back to Dean. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've dealt with it, and I will continue to deal with it."

Dean's eyes met Jody's and he held her gaze for a moment before giving a slight nod, signaling his understanding. He then turned to Krissy. "Go get Alex. There are things we need to discuss."

Krissy started to protest, but a hard look from Dean convinced her otherwise. She reluctantly rose to her feet, grabbed her bottle of water from the table, and left the kitchen. The adults sat in companionable silence, each contemplating current events. However, they all rose to their feet and ran from the room within seconds after shouting began in the dormitory corridor.

"What the hell is going on?" Dean demanded as he reached the door to Alex's room. She was on her feet beside the bed, her hair and the t-shirt she'd slept in were wet. Her expression was angry, and her hands were balled into fists. A quick glance around the room showed him Krissy standing on the other side of the bed, an empty water bottle in her hand.

"That bitch poured water on me!"

"You refused to get out of bed," Krissy responded with a shrug as if her actions had been the most logical response to the situation. "Dean told me to get you to the kitchen. I just did what I had to do." The smirk on Krissy's face told everyone that she had taken quite a bit of pleasure in pouring the water on Alex's sleeping form. When there had been no answer to her knock on Alex's bedroom door, she'd entered uninvited and spotted the other teenager curled up under the blankets, still sound asleep. She approached the bed as quietly as possible and upended the contents of her water bottle onto the head and shoulders peaking out from under the blanket. She hadn't brought the water bottle with her intending to do that, but the thought of it was too much to resist.

"Fuck you!" Alex exclaimed as she launched herself in Krissy's direction. She didn't make it two feet before Dean caught her with a strong arm around her waist that lifted her, still struggling, off the floor.

Krissy's smirk never wavered as she wanted the other teenager being manhandled by Dean. It did disappear when Dean pointed at the floor in front of him and ordered "now" in a way that left no doubt as to his meaning.

"I don't know what the problem is between the two of you, but it ends now," he stated in a hard voice the moment Krissy stood in the indicated spot. "If I have to break up another fight between you, I'm going to bust both of your asses."

Alex let out a snort of laughter.

"You think I'm joking?" he demanded.

"Jody would never let you do that," Alex responded. She was sure she would be exempt from any retribution by the hunter.

"You wanna bet on that?" he asked as he grasped her by the arm and turned her to the side. His free hand landed a half dozen hard swats to her backside before he let her go and stepped back.

"I fully support whatever actions Dean takes," Jody said from the doorway.

Alex looked toward the older woman for the first time since the adults had entered her bedroom. "But," she started to say.

"The only butt you need to be worried about is your own," Dean stated. "Now, what happened here?"

Both girls started to speak at the same time. Dean gave a sharp whistle, causing them to both stop talking. "One at a time. Alex," he directed, earning a glower from Krissy.

"I was sleeping, and this bitch poured a bottle of water over my head," she stated.

Dean grabbed her again and delivered another couple of swats to her backside. "Watch your language. I'm not going to warn you again," he warned. "Krissy," he said, turning to her and indicating that she needed to explain herself.

"I was doing what you told me. I knocked on her door, but she didn't answer. I opened it to see if she was inside, so I could look for her elsewhere if she wasn't. I saw her asleep, and I called to her. She didn't respond, and I knew you wanted her in the kitchen. I even shook her shoulder, and she didn't wake up. So, I poured some water out of my bottle onto her head to wake her up."

"Uh huh," Dean responded drily. He stepped in her direction and gave her the same treatment he'd given to Alex only a few minutes before. Before he let her go, he leaned down so he could whisper in her ear. "You lie to me again, and I'll wear you out on the spot regardless of who might be around to witness it." He released her arm and took a step back.

"This matter is finished. I meant it when I said you'd better start getting along. I'm not going to put up with you two fighting. You don't have to like each other, but you can't be fighting each other with demons on the loose. It could be a matter of life or death. You got me?"

"Yes, sir," Krissy said quickly as she rubbed at the sting in her ass.

"Alex?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Try that again," Dean commanded. His patience was growing thin, and he was holding onto his temper by a hair.

"Yes, sir," she responded. Her voice held a note of resentment.

"Everyone out," Dean ordered. His eyes met Jody's before he turned back to Alex. "Except for you. We've got something to discuss."

"Dean?" Jody questioned, seeing the uncertain look on Alex's face. She wasn't certain about Dean's intentions herself.

He turned his gaze to the older woman. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with Alex," he repeated.

After a moment, Jody nodded. She trusted Dean. While she didn't necessarily agree with some of his methods, she had seen what he had accomplished with Krissy. She also had gleaned from their interactions that Dean was the person who had mainly raised Sam. So, if he could get through to Alex using his brand of tough love, she was willing to let him give it a try. She nodded in response to Dean's unspoken question.

"Listen to what Dean has to say to you, Alex," she stated. "He only has your best interests at heart."

Alex watched, open mouthed, as Jody turned and followed Sam and Krissy from the room, closing the door behind her.

"Take a seat," Dean ordered, gesturing toward the foot of the bed. He waited until Alex sat down before moving to lean his hips against the nearby dresser. He crossed his arms over his chest and studied the teenager for a moment.

"Jody said you took off from school yesterday. Why'd you do it?"

Alex shrugged. She had her reasons, but she didn't know Dean well enough or trust him enough to tell him.

Dean was all that happy with her lack of response, not that he had really expected her to talk to him. Since he hadn't intended this conversation to be confrontational, he decided to push on rather than demand an answer to his question. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised that Jody even sent you to school, since that meant you'd be away from protective wards." He shrugged one shoulder. "Anyway, I don't want to talk you skipping school. At the risk of sounding like Sammy, here, I wanted to talk to you about Jody."

"Okay," Alex said nervously. The fear that Jody would get tired of dealing with her and send her away always dwelt at the back of her mind. Dean's words brought it to the surface, and she fought hard to keep it from showing in her demeanor.

While he wasn't as good as Sam when it came to reading people, he did see the subtle shift in her body language at his statement and knew he'd hit a sore spot. "Jody isn't going to send you away, you know. She didn't take you in out of a sense of duty or because she felt she owed me a favor. She did it because she cares about you and wanted to give you the chance to have as much of a normal life as possible." A sense of déjà vu swept over him as he remembered having a very similar conversation with Krissy about him and Sam. "I get that you have to figure that out for yourself, but running off and acting out isn't the way to go about it. Not only do you know what's out there and how dangerous it can be, you owe Jody some respect and gratitude, and you'd better start showing it. Otherwise, you and I are going to start having a problem. You understand what I'm saying to you?"

Alex wanted to tell him to fuck off and storm out of the room, but the lingering sting in her backside from the swats he'd delivered earlier was a reminder of what a bad idea that would be. "Yeah, I got it," she responded. She really was thankful that Jody had taken her in. It was just hard for her to accept the changes in her life after living in that vampire nest for so long. She was willing to try, though. Not because Dean had essentially ordered her to, but because she truly was grateful for what Jody had done for her.

"Wanna try that again?" Dean's demand broke through her thoughts.

"Yes, sir."

Dean nodded. "Okay, let's go get you something to eat. We've got planning to do."