And another one... hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 8

After her abrupt departure from the kitchen table, Jo had seemingly seconded herself in the guest room and had not said a word. Dean texted her, despite her presence in the same house as himself, and received no response. Millie remained in Ellen's charge. The older woman's entire demeanour had been startled by the revelations, and she now seemed determined to dole out whatever grandmotherly advice she might be able to in the girl's short time in an alternate dimension. Sam had been suitably shellshocked - pissed too at having been kept out of the loop for as long as he had been initially - but equally as startled by the happiness that he felt. If Sam thought there was anyone that deserved the happiness he'd found, it was Dean. Whether it be in this universe or another one. The thought that Dean was capable of allowing himself to love another person as much as his own brother brought a renewed sense of hope to Sam. Bobby hadn't known what to do. Mostly he stared at Ellen, probably awaiting the moment that Ellen decided that she was going to take Dean Winchester out into the yard and pummel him with buckshot.

When those scenarios did not eventuate, and Dean had decided that Jo had had enough time to come to terms with the information he had now carried around for over a month - thoughts which he decided were best left unsaid to the woman in question - he ventured upstairs. He walked the hallway to the farthest room at Bobby's house that Jo had occupied since she and Ellen had become regular stays at Bobby's house after the ordeal with the town of demons in River Pass. He took a steadying breath. He was slightly concerned that, much like the time he first met her, Jo might decide to pull a shotgun on him. This time, however, he thought that she might actually pull the trigger. When he tested the door and found that it wasn't locked, he tentatively pushed it open, "Jo?"

There was no response so he pushed further, expecting to find her asleep. She wasn't. The room was empty. A shiver went up his spine. Then he spotted the open window on the far side of the room. There was one way to get onto the roof at Bobby's house. The unsettled feeling in Dean's stomach seemed to filter away as he now realised exactly where she was. As he made his way to the window, he glanced at the bedside table seeing her phone there. That explained the unanswered texts, which he pretended hadn't bothered him.

Dean pulled himself through the window to the slanted roof. Pulling himself up, he grasped the gutter and hauled himself to his feet. As he came further to the apex of the roof, he spotted Jo sitting on the far side of the house that faced away from the road, over the fields behind Bobby's house. It was deathly quiet, streetlights failing to obscure the stars and moonlight that highlighted her features. He could hear the soft and garbled sounds of the television downstairs. Aside from that, the world seemed oddly quiet in a way that it hadn't for months.

"You practicing your ninja skills or somethin'?" Jo asked suddenly.

Surprised that he had been caught, Dean struggled for something to say in response. He stepped closer to Jo, crouching down beside her and sitting. He pulled his knees up, resting his arms there. Jo sat quietly beside him, not looking at him as he joined her. He peeked at her then, taking stock of her appearance which was so different to the Jo that he was used to seeing. She had on pink plaid pajama pants and a white tank top, an ugly beige and brown cardigan - which he suspected was secretly Bobby's - hung around her shoulders, and a beer in hand. Having stared at her too long, he finally was caught in her deep brown gaze when she finally turned them on him. Her brow furrowed, "What?"

Dean stuttered, turning back to look out over the field with her, "Nothing just- … nothing."

They sat in silence. Whatever speech Dean had rehearsed was long gone. And he thought that seeing Jo would make it easier to talk to her. But she was real. This version of her was no illusion crafted by an angel. This was the Jo that he knew. The person that this lifetime had brought to him. His Jo. He apparently was unable to simply appease her with a couple of random lines thought up in the moment.

"That was, without a doubt, the weirdest conversation I've ever had," Jo mused.

Dean smirked, glancing at her as he felt her shoulder nudge his and noticed the beer that was being held out in front of him. He took it gratefully, taking a long drink before passing it back to her. She gave Dean a shy smile and he suddenly felt as though he had gained a mile in a marathon-like conversation.

"Really? Seemed totally part of the apocalypse to me," Dean quipped.

Jo did smile at that. It fell slowly, until she then did turn to look at him. Then he couldn't look away, "That why you didn't talk to me when you came back after Gabriel zapped you? The first time? You knew about…all that?"

Dean looked down at his feet. It wasn't that he'd avoided Jo, consciously at least, or so he wanted to believe. But, being around her having freshly discovered a life that was equally hers as it was his, at least in another universe, made it incredibly difficult not to tell her everything the moment he saw her. So he'd settled for being in every room she wasn't in, going on grocery runs with Ellen and Bobby, but being asleep when Jo would go, and dragging Sam on pointless hunts with no leads to prevent himself from telling her everything. Because part of him had wanted to share it with her, the part that had been secretly elated with the life that they had had together. However unreal.

"Yeah, I, ugh-" he stammered. "I mean, you kinda reacted exactly the way I thought you were goin' to so I just-"

"Hightailed your ass in any direction that didn't point to any sort of emotional vulnerability?" Jo interrupted, causing him look at her where he saw an eyebrow raised pointedly in his direction, a teasing smile on her face.

He swallowed, "Something like that."

She appeared to give him a moment of grace, bobbing her head in agreement. An understanding passed between them that whatever had happened in those weeks after Gabriel had first decided to mess with him, namely Dean's odd avoidant behaviour, had been forgiven, by Jo at least.

"I knew the second you hugged me like that-" Jo began, immediately cutting herself off, recalling how Dean had looked at her when he woke up from the first time leap like he had seen a ghost, and how tightly he held her when she was finally in his arms. She looked at Dean quickly and then appeared to glare into the field like she was trying to set it ablaze.

"Knew what?" Dean prodded.

"That whatever you'd seen…scared the bejesus out of you. And for whatever reason, you were happy to see me."

"That's an understatement," he admitted.

Jo tried to ignore the panic in her stomach. Sure, she was woman enough to admit that once upon a time, she had daydreamed about Dean freakin'-commitment-phobe Winchester swinging into the Roadhouse and sweeping her off her feet in that damn car of his. She had also been incredibly naive. Now, having spent years on the road with her mother since the Roadhouse had burned down, she'd seen things that had sobered her to the reality of what this life meant. She'd grown up. She didn't need to be swept off her feet. And the idea of such a notion made her nauseous now. She was a cynic at heart. And she was more than capable on her own.

But now Dean was looking at her like his heart had cracked open, allowing himself to contemplate a different type of future, and he wasn't quite sure how to put that heart back together, or at least the wall that had surrounded it for such a long time. A protective shield that he had neatly constructed for himself, unwittingly or not. Jo had somehow been dragged into the mix. And that was what made her nervous. Who was to say that any of this was what he actually wanted?

As if he'd listened to her thoughts, he asked her, "What do you think about it? What Gabriel…showed me?"

Jo shrugged, shyly looking anywhere but at him, "It was nice… I guess. Weird though, don't you think? I mean- you know- the whole…us…thing… it's weird, right?"

Dean opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it. He thought about it. Sure, it had been a shock and a half when he had walked into that library trying to find Millie Winchester for the first time in Gabriel's timeline. And then when she had revealed exactly who she was to him, his first thought was that Ellen Harvelle was probably going to put him at the top of her hit list. And that he'd probably never be allowed to step foot within a few yards of Jo in his lifetime. Then, he'd very quickly gotten over that. And the thought of a life with her and what he had seen… had been something he realised he'd never dared to allow himself to think about. With anyone. But moreso because it was Jo, his friend…and he had to take care of Sam, and the threat of Hell breaking open was real, and the end of the world, and-

"Yep, definitely weird," Jo decided, having seemed to have this confirmed for her by Dean's lack of response to her question. He smirked, reaching for the beer she held. Jo chuckled, "Sorry cowboy, all gone."

"You didn't think to bring more beer up here?"

Jo leant backwards, reclining on her elbows, allowing Dean to view the empty six pack that was lying, rather precariously, beside her.

"That was number six," she commented, bobbing her head at the empty bottle in his hand.

"Ahh."

Dean matched her position, leaning back on his own elbows and stretching his legs out in front of him. Both looked up at the stars in silence.

"It's nice to think about it, you know," Dean admitted. He didn't dare look at Jo. He worried that she might see the seed of hope that had been planted inside of him. That if that alternative reality could exist simultaneously beside this one, that maybe it meant that there was a life for them beyond the end of the world.

Jo smiled shyly, "I guess so. I mean she's pretty cool."

Dean glanced at her, noting that the television downstairs had been turned up louder, and imagined that Ellen, Bobby, Sam and Millie were all down there together watching it.

"Of course she is," Dean said. "She's exactly like me."

Jo looked at him incredulously, "You're kidding right? She's basically my doppelganger. How I didn't notice that-"

"Yeah, look, I did think that was going to give it away-" Dean chuckled.

They both started laughing, thinking about how really, in any other situation, Jo would have picked up on such a lookalike. The pit in her stomach that hadn't seemed to have faded reminded her of exactly the reason why. She knew that what they were going up against, there was every chance she wouldn't walk away from it. It had all but been confirmed for her, a thought that she was desperately trying not to think about. Why contemplate a happy future, where she had a family of her own, when she couldn't even think about a life for herself? That seemed like her own idea of Hell.

"It's cruel," she sighed. Dean looked at her, having heard her laughter die and noting the sadness in her eyes. His chest felt like it was being cleaved open, looking at how vulnerable she looked in that moment. "Why show us that when there's every chance-"

"Maybe because it's meant to give us something to fight for. And we're going to stop it Jo, it's not going to happen. I promise you," Dean implored her. He didn't want to think about what Jo had implied. The images that Gabriel had shown him were far too fresh in his mind.

Jo sighed, "But we have that. Something to fight for, I mean. We have Sam, and Bobby and Mom. And each other. That has always been enough for us before."

She wasn't wrong. But this had to mean something. Gabriel always had a plan. Whether or not he chose to share those plans was something else entirely, and Dean hoped that now they were all aware of exactly what the archangel had been concocting, they might be closer to finding a solution as to how to change it.

"I think he just likes to mess with me," Dean said.

Jo nodded, groaning and letting her head fall back. She felt the tension in her muscles leave her neck as she allowed her head to hang heavily. The six beers that she had consumed were fast beginning to catch up with her. Together with the couple of shots that she had had around the kitchen table whilst her future - or one of the possible ones, at least - was mapped out for her, were also contributing to the fuzzy feeling in her head.

"I'm going to bed," she announced, turning to look at Dean, noting that he was already watching her.

He nodded, cataloguing her every movement as she shimmied to her feet. She struggled to maintain her composure as a rush of dizziness came over her as she got to her feet.

"Woah there blondie," she heard Dean chuckle as he stood up behind her. "Can't have you go abseiling off the roof now, can we."

She smiled coyly, feeling him following her back through the bedroom window. Really weird turn of events, Jo thought, having Dean Winchester sneaking her back into a bedroom. Yep, the six beers were definitely about to start talking for her it seemed.

Jo shrugged off her cardigan, aware that Dean's eyes were on her as she did so. She ignored him mostly, as he stood leaning against the window, apparently unsure about what he was supposed to do. She stepped into the adjoining bathroom, pulling her hair into a ponytail at the back of her head. She brushed her teeth, splashing water into her face. The spinning in her head was slowing down. Her heartrate, however, was an entirely different matter. Jo switched off the light and crossed the room to her bed. She sat in the middle of the mattress, crossing her legs and her arms, watching the man across the room like a hawk. He hadn't moved, just watched her like he was waiting for… a switch to flick? Jo really didn't know.

"Spit it out, Dean," Jo insisted. "I really want to go to bed."

The truth was caught in his gut. He swallowed the acid in his throat as he contemplated telling her what else Gabriel had shown him on his most recent escapade. That gutwrenching goodbye. He couldn't say it. Because it would mean admitting that it had scared him, that it had felt all too real. And even if it was the last thing that he did, Jo Harvelle would not die saving him, wasting whatever chance she might have at a happy future.

"Dean?" Jo prompted.

"I just-" he began. "I want you to know that…"

Jo swallowed, unsure of what was about to come out of Dean's mouth. Whatever it was, she could tell that it wasn't what he was truly thinking. She saw the moment that the truth had slipped out of his eyes, and the carefully constructed walls that surrounding his heart had been superficially resurrected to protect the cracked-open heart inside him.

"Jo," he said, about to test waters he hadn't dared tempt before, "When this is all over, maybe you and I, we could-"

"Dean," Jo stopped him, shaking her head and looking sadly down at her crossed legs. "No, 'when this is all over speech', okay? Just because of what Gabriel showed you now, it doesn't change anything…between us."

Dean moved away from the window, standing at the foot of her bed. He hadn't imagined what she was going to say, but surely this wasn't it. What Gabriel had showed him had changed everything as far as he was concerned.

"Dean," Jo continued gently, surprised to come to the relisation that a part of him had completely accepted the life that Gabriel had laid out for him. While he'd had time to adjust to it she supposed, this was all brand new information to her. And she wasn't about to barter her heart for a fantasy. "Don't get me wrong, I want my happily ever after as much as everyone does-"

He stood almost defiantly at the end of her bed, crossing his arms over his chest, defensively, "I'm sensing a massive 'but' here. Gotta be honest, sweetheart, kinda hurtin' my feelin's. Didn't know I was such a turn off for ya."

Jo tried not to smile, she really did. But she couldn't help herself.

"It's not that," she admitted, secretly thrilled that he seemed disappointed by her dismissal. A part of her that she tried to extinguish as quickly as it had been ignited, blushed at his implication. "I swear it's not. I just like to think that…even in this crazy world…we have free will, Dean. It can't all just be some pre-determined angel-generated God-given plan that they made up for every single one of us."

He surveyed her curiously, wondering when the hell Jo and Sammy had had a heart-to-heart when it came to making sense about things.

"I want to believe that when someone chooses another person to spend their life with, Dean-" she continued, "-it's because they love them. Really love them. Not because it's been pre-ordained by a damn angel. And that's what I want. If I survive all of this."

Dean looked down at his feet. There wasn't a reassurance he could think of that would make Jo believe that whatever happened, he acted upon his own free will. At least, that's what he thought he did. It couldn't all just be a master plan. Their lives had been too screwed up for that. No plan could have started the way that his and Sam's had, and he truly couldn't fathom that any of the paths of the people currently residing in Bobby's house had been crafted by God.

"I understand," he said simply.

Sensing that he was toeing the line with overstaying his welcome, Dean uncrossed his arms swinging them in front of him and clapping his hands together, as he headed towards Jo's bedroom door.

"Dean."

He turned to look back at her, finding her pretty brown eyes, fixed on him. Vulnerable.

"If we make it out of this… and when we all survive this," she began, "-and if you decide you want to…and I mean you want to because you really want to…then maybe we could…"

She trailed off, suddenly too nervous to speak what now seemed and entirely too telling remark.

"What's that?" he prompted, praying he didn't sound as hopeful as he felt.

"Who knows. Pizza, six pack, side one of Zeppelin IV," Jo smirked, shyly.

Dean smiled, hoping like hell he survived the end of the world, "It's a date."