10 - Paper Highways

It would have been nice to say things went back to normal, and everybody lived happily ever after, but this was real life, and it didn't work that way.

There was no way to actually explain how Sam had burn marks in the shape of hands on his throat, so they took him by Rosa's, and luckily she was willing to patch him up. Dean ever flirted with her for a bit, which she played along with, until Rosa's wife came in the room and he realized he really hadn't a shot in hell. He took it well enough that Jody suspected he had hit on non-hetero women before. Of course, Dean hit on anything with a pulse, right? And some things without them. If he didn't, you'd know he'd been replaced by an impostor.

Otherwise, Sam seemed to be doing a bit better with Dean there, and it was kind of sweet. For all their bullshit, Dean seemed to function as a mental health anchor for Sam, and maybe vice versa. Again, co-dependent as hell, but still kind of sweet.

Jody's rib was going to take a while to heal, and she was trying her best not to be irritable about it, but she knew she was. She tried not to let it bleed into the condolence calls with the families. It was probable they'd never know all the names of the people who died in the Red Rooster explosion, and the street fire. It just burned too hot and too hard. There weren't remains more than ashes that were slightly different from other ashes. No one could find a rational explanation for the heat of the flames or their rapid spread, so collectively everyone gave up on trying to find a rational explanation for it. It was kind of amazing, but Jody didn't complain, because it made her job slightly easier. Not by much.

Claire, for her part, was trying to listen a bit more, which was great. But she still caught her sneaking out of the house to take care of a "ghost issue", which wasn't great. Still, baby steps, right? Establishing trust with kids was the hardest thing, especially if all their lives, that trust had been abused.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Unity was a near constant visitor to the house, which Jody didn't mind - in fact, she was glad. Apparently Unity needed an outlet to tell people about dreams she had about someone's grandmother dying or something, as she could no longer actually tell people involved since they had a tendency to react badly to it. Who would have thought? She and Claire seemed more like friends now, which was good. She was a little worried about Claire pretty much having nothing but adult friends. Alex was still on the fence about Unity, but at least she was warming up to her.

Sam and Dean swung by to say goodbye on their way out of town, and Jody was able to catch Dean alone in - where else? - the kitchen. He seemed to know he was in for something, as he had that nervous/guilty look in his eye. "So," she said.

Yep, that nervous look going into overdrive. For such a macho guy, it was hilarious how so much emotion seemed to bleed out of his eyes."Uh .. good job on killing Adramelech -"

"Dean. Did you really think we weren't going to talk about this?"

"About what?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, and gave him the same look she gave Claire when she tried one of her evasive answers on her. "Almost killing yourself to kill Renfield?"

He shrugged, and she got the sense that he was going to try and brush this off as nothing. Typical Dean. "It worked, didn't it? And I'm not dead. I mean, I figured the odds were low -"

"No you didn't. You didn't care if you pulled through or not."

He shook his head. "No, I knew I was gonna pull through, simply because I don't think Amara's letting go of me that easy."

Amara was that whole Darkness thing, wasn't it? Jody still didn't quite understand it, but she had this pocket in her mind labeled "Winchester shit" that she just shoved all the confusing stuff into. Her life was much easier this way. "How many times are we gonna do this? You're not expendable, Dean."

"I don't think I am."

"Do you really think I'm so bad at my job that I can't tell when someone's lying to me?"

He sagged against the counter with the smallest of sighs. "Some days are better than others."

For a moment, that seemed like a non-sequitur, but as she pulled the sentence apart, she realized it wasn't. He wasn't making a comment about her or her job - he was talking about himself. And truth was such a rarity to pull out of Dean, it was kind of shocking. Was he saying he was depressed? Or fought with depression and self-worth? Jesus. With their lives, she didn't see how both Sam and Dean didn't constantly fight with it. "Sometimes the weight just feels crushing."He pasted on a weak smile. "But then I remember, nobody's gonna beat me. The one thing I'm good at is kicking ass, so I just have to get out there and do it, and stop being in my head."

"Full of yourself much?" She gave him a hug, and he seemed to lean into her for a moment, like he really needed it. He probably did. "And it's not the only thing you're good at. You're gonna hafta teach me how to sew one of these days."

That startled a laugh out of him, and when she let him go, he was still smiling. "Okay, yeah, I'm good at that too."

"I have this jacket that would be perfect if I could just get it taken in a bit. Maybe next time you drop by ..."

"Don't press your luck. And also, I ain't cheap."

"What, I don't get the family discount?"

"I actually add a surtax for family." He gave her a smile that was a little stronger, and a lot more convincing. "Thanks, Jody."

"Don't be a stranger," she told him. As he was half way out the door, she added, "Although a little warning next time would be nice."

He nodded. "We'll do our best."

Yeah, the Winchesters were messed up, but so was she, and Claire, and most everybody even tangentially related to monster hunting. You didn't do this job without having had something bad happen to you. But on the plus side? You got to work out a lot of stuff by punching it. And Jody was very good with that.

The End