[singer salvage] In which Dean has some questions for Jo.

[hasperkynipples]

For about two minutes after his brother stopped the end of the world, Dean was completely alone.

The ground closed, the world stopped shaking, and Dean was alone. It was never a good thing for Dean to be alone, because when Dean was alone he did stupid things. Sam was supposed to be there, to keep him from doing stupid things, just like he did the same for Sam, and now Sam was gone. Bobby was supposed to keep them both in line, and he was gone too. And Cas … God, Cas was in pieces. Dean had no one.

Then Cas came back. The world started to revert to normal again, normal save for no Sam, and as Dean drove back to Bobby’s the pieces started to settle into place. A huge one was missing—it would always be missing—but there was no reason that Dean couldn’t find other things to cling to. He had a lot in his life right now. Maybe not everything he wanted, maybe not all the pieces—but the puzzle was almost whole, and that should have been good enough.

It wasn’t. But it should have been.

But he wasn’t just mourning. He was thinking. About what he was supposed to do with the promise that Sam made him make, about how he was supposed to handle being here, what he was supposed to do with himself. He wasn’t supposed to hunt. Normal, apple pie was what he was told. And he didn’t know how to get that from here quite yet. He just had ideas of things that he could do and all he had to know was whether or not Jo would do it with him.

Dean made his way through the front door, wandering through the rooms until he found the one she was sitting in. He didn’t say anything at first, just stood there watching her, trying to figure out the right way to ask. But in order to ask—he had to speak first.

“Hey.”

Comments

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

The world didn't end, but part of Jo felt like it did. Never seeing Sam again, that was pretty hard to take. She had always liked him and he was her friend. Now he was gone and the world was moving forward as if Sam had never existed. She wasn't sure how to take that.

She looked up when he heard Dean. He had to be taking it harder. "Hey."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He stayed there, watching her for a minute, and he could tell from the way she was looking at him, that she knew. He pushed off the door frame and moved into the room, mostly looking around as he tried to make the jumbled thoughts in his head make sense.

"Bobby called?"

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "I made him promise to call so I would know he was okay."

Bobby was her family now. She didn't want to lose him like she'd lost her mother.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean nodded as well, before pulling up one of the chairs and sitting down next to her. He knew better than to tell her that Bobby almost hadn't. He slipped his hand into hers and tried to figure out what to say next.

"I don't know what to do."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

She squeezed his hand, understanding how he felt. When she lost her mom, it felt like there was just nothing left for her.

"Keep going," she said with a slight shrug. "Eventually you figure it out."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"He made me promise to be normal," he said softly, before letting out a huff of a laugh. "I don't know how to do that."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

"We're not exactly normal people." She squeezed his hand again. "We could go hunt. Or not. There are always bars somewhere hiring."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He paused, considering for a moment, before turning back to her. "I think I want to move to Montana."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

"Montana?" She couldn't remember anything significant about Montana but really how much did she know about Dean's life? "Okay. When are you going?"

She figured he'd want to be alone, deal with Sam's death. She'd just hang around Bobby's. She'd be okay. It wasn't the first time he'd walked out on her.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He glanced over at her, before brushing his thumb against the back of her hand. "I want you to go with me."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

"You do?" She blinked, a little surprised.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," he said softly. "If I'm alone right now, I'm gonna do something stupid and after everything I've been through that's the last thing I want to do, and if I'm gonna be normal with anyone ... " He gave her a small smile. " ... It'd be you."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

Living with Bobby had shown her she could be somewhat normal. She didn't have hunt, she didn't have to be weird.

She nodded. "I can go with."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He grinned a bit more at that, before squeezing her hand. "Thank you."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

She smiled a little. "Welcome, Dean."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He dropped back against the chair again, closing his eyes. "Still can't believe he's really gone."

[ironknifehunter.livejournal.com]

There was a small sting of pain and Jo nodded. "Me too."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

He shook his head a bit, his eyes starting to feel heavy as he rubbed at them. "I should probably get some sleep. It's been a few days."