Set during 5.15: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. I own nothing besides Jane, and even then, I'm sure I've lost her to Dean.
89: Karen
"Green is nice, this is an interesting shade."
Karen Singer did not look like a woman who had been burnt to ash after dying. In fact, for a dead woman, she looked great and if Jane had been in a playful, snarky mood, she might have asked the secret as a joke. As it was, Jane did not, and she managed a smile. Karen was nice, very nice, and when she had first come back, Jane had felt like both shooting her and apologizing. Shooting for obvious reasons. Apologizing because while Karen had been gracious and polite, Jane wasn't going to ignore the fact that this was Karen's house, and man, or had been. Karen had… come home, to find another woman had set up housekeeping and was living with Bobby. Granted, the circumstances were a bit more than that, but… to someone who wasn't in the loop, it probably would appear bad.
Karen had taken it all in stride, with a smile, as if this was normal for Bobby.
"Dean… my husband, I mentioned to him that I had bought some new stuff in apple pie green, before… moving in here."
"You didn't bring them with you?" Karen asked curiously, moving to the sink to resume the dishes Jane had been doing.
"No, there hadn't been time." Hesitantly, Jane walked over to stand beside Karen, reaching for the towel to dry. "So… I went to bed that nigh and the next morning, when I came down, the entire kitchen had been outfitted with-"
"Apple green appliances." Karen finished, smiling. "Very romantic. Bobby probably grunted and grumbled over it."
"Oh he did, but…" Jane shrugged. "Bobby is a grump, no doubt about it, but he has a heart of gold."
"He does." Karen sighed wistfully, her own lips curving upwards.
"You need to come home, Dean."
"Jane, I've been trying to get a hold of Bobby and he ain't picking up. What the hell?"
"You need to come home."
Sighing, Dean looked towards the diner he and Sam were about to enter, eyes narrowing. "Why won't Bobby pick up, Jane? And don't just tell me to come home."
"Trust me, come home." She hung up.
"God damn that woman…"
"I'm guessing Jane didn't say anything useful?"
"Come home," Dean stared down at his cell, considering calling his wife back. Just so he could hang up on her. "Let's go do this."
"Dean was here."
Jane did not like the way Bobby said that, frowning as she folded her arms over her chest. "Did you tell him?"
"…no." Bobby shifted uncomfortably, quite pleased for once that he wasn't eye level with her anymore. "Look, I've told you already, this ain't something for them. This is…"
"Bobby, when the dead start rising, I think that's a good time to call them home." Jane said quietly, crouching down until they were face to face. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but you got to admit, the timing is… it's coincidental."
"Jane…"
"Bobby…" She felt bad for him, she really did, and reached out to place her hands on his knees. "Please?"
"Jane," He took her hands in his, squeezing, both affectionately and maybe a little desperately. "You used your… you know, ability, right, girl? You sense anything off?"
Honestly, she didn't, and when Jane had learned about this, she had immediately reached out to mentally touch somebody. There wasn't anything triggering Psychic Handicap, but that didn't stop her gut from twisting. Maybe it was all her time with the Winchesters, and especially Dean's instant mistrust of anything that didn't ring true with what his gut and his daddy had taught him, but when something came back from the dead, Jane was worried. What was dead should stay dead.
It did, on a level she was ignoring, strike her funny that she felt this way now when in fact both her boys had died and come back. Hypocritical, sure. Maybe she was turning into a Winchester via association. Also… there was a serious gross factor. Some of these… people, had been gone a long time, and shouldn't have been nothing but bones and worms. Or dust, for those that had been cremated. Obviously, some greater force was at play.
She'd think about it later.
"No." She admitted finally, reluctantly.
"Then let it be."
"So you, your husband, and his brother all live here?"
"Sort of." Jane brushed a lock of hair off her forehead, frowning down at pies she was helping Karen to bake. It seemed that Karen didn't sleep at all, and Jane wondered if that was a side thing of being undead. If there was a politically correct term for zombie, she had yet to hear it. "It's complicated. Dean and Sam spent a lot of time with Bobby when they were younger, I guess he kind of adopted them after their dad died." She had woken up, at three in the morning, to the aroma of fresh apple pie and coffee. Her nose and stomach had practically dragged her downstairs.
"Adopted them?"
"Sort of. They're his boys. If they mess-up, he calls them on it. If they done good, well… he's Bobby, so the praise isn't in heaps but he lets them know he's proud."
Karen considered that, nodding. "I always thought Bobby would do real well with kids, he… he would have made a great daddy."
Jane didn't really know the story between Bobby and Karen outside of the possession and subsequent death, but she did know they hadn't had any children. It was awkward for a moment.
"Hold on Jane, you're going to make it worse." Karen laughed, looking over the crust Jane was attempting to patch together. "You'll have to roll it out again. Like this."
Dean loved pie, Jane could cook and bake, but… pie was something she struggled with. It was just easier to go out and buy a pie or cheat and buy a premade crust. One thing she had learned from this experience was that Karen was beyond avid pie baker, she was rather obsessive about it. She didn't know if that had anything to do with being resurrected, or the not sleeping thing, she felt it would be rude to ask.
Karen let Jane take over again, nodding her approval and resumed with her own pie. "I just can't seem to stop baking."
"I've noticed. If Dean comes back anytime soon, he'll be in pie heaven."
Karen took a step back and looked around the kitchen, her lips pursing as she took in all the pies. "I might've overdone it."
"We could freeze them." Jane offered, knowing Bobby had a freezer or two around the place. One of them was filled with items that were questionable and probably occult. The other was sitting fairly empty.
"Of course, we'll freeze them." She was smiling again and reached out to squeeze Jane's arm affectionately. "I'm glad you've been taking care of my grump."
"Honestly, Karen, he's been taking care of me."
"You want to tell us what the hell…" Dean trailed off when a woman he didn't recognize set a plate on the table, frowning.
The woman looked at him, smiling bemusedly. "I didn't realize you were bringing home company."
Bobby, ignoring the narrowed eyed look he was getting from the oldest Winchester, smiled at his wife. "It's four A.M., you didn't have to cook."
"Oh please!" She rolled her eyes, turning towards the kitchen. "Jane, could we get a few more plates?"
"Yeah, I'll- Oh crap, help Karen!" Jane sounded both panicked and amused.
Dean watched as the woman, Karen, took off for the kitchen, hearing the women laughing. Jane was up, and apparently cooking with a stranger, at four in the morning. He heard something about pie, hips, and more laughter. "Who is she?"
Bobby cleared his throat.
