“The Written Word”
Supernatural
Dean/Jo
PG
Summary: The fluff continues.
Notes: I still blame snoopoony and her video. Companion fic with “The Thought That Counts”
Jo opens her journal and is greeted with the smell of dead flowers. Not dead, locked in time. Yellow daisy petals and white lilies pressed in between handwritten words.
Her words.
She smiles at the hearts she drew. Dean will get a kick out of that. A few pages back is a collection of smudged fingerprints--prints too big to be hers.
Six weeks have passed since the Winchesters last came by the Roadhouse. Judging by the pages she’s filled up since she last saw Dean, it’s been a long time.
She hopes she’s not the only one who realizes that.
**
An engine rumbles out front. So does Jo’s heart.
The door to the Roadhouse opens and the two brothers walk in. Sam slides in at the bar. Dean lingers at the door with a cell phone to his ear.
Just as Jo moves to him, Sam catches her hand.
“Give him a minute,” he says.
She waits for him to end his call. When he does, he looks up at her and tilts his head to the door. She follows him out.
Outside, she gasps. The sky is black filled with a million silver stars and a full white moon. It’s three in the afternoon.
“How--what--how--” is all she can say.
Dean just shrugs. “I called in a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Me and Sam met a wizard.”
“Where?”
“Helped him get rid of a nasty demon in
Jo stares at the moon, the stars. He remembered.
“All I had to do was give the guy the Roadhouse coordinates. It’s sort of like an optical illusion,” Dean says, looking up to the sky. “Only you and me can see it.”
How romantic.
He pulls out a Mars candy bar. “In case the wizard thing didn’t work out.”
She grins, molding his body to his and nudging her knee in between his legs. “I told you I’d settle for this.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” He pushes the hair from her face. “So, how much did you miss me?”
“A lot.” She kisses his chin.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Her mouth meets his, and they kiss underneath the afternoon moon.
**
They go swimming later under the moonlight. The real moonlight.
The creek is shallow, but still deep enough for them to float side by side.
Dean’s fingers graze hers. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You just did.”
“You’re such a smartass.”
“Thank you.”
He turns upright and starts to dunk her. She fights back, splashing water on him. When he grabs her wrists, she stops thrashing.
“Got you,” he says.
“You already have me.” Jo tries to sound sultry. Instead the words come out too soft, too honest.
Dean lets her go. She waddles across the water to shore with him behind her. They land on a large rock and stretch out on it.
“So, that question,” Jo says.
He’s quiet for a moment. “Why haven’t you asked to come along with me and Sam?”
She turns his head to look at him. His gaze is on the sky over them.
“If I did, would you let me come?” she says.
“No.” Pauses. “Maybe.”
She laughs. “See, that’s why I haven’t asked. You can’t make up your mind.”
He runs a finger down her bare arm. She shivers despite the heat.
“Guess we won’t know until you actually ask,” he says.
They both know she won’t leave. And he won’t stay.
But right now, in this moment, they’re on the same page. No one is leaving. No one is staying. They’re just here.
Jo sits up, straddles Dean in his wet swimming trunks, and reaches behind her to remove her red bikini top.
He smiles up at her. “I missed you too.”
**
In the morning, Jo’s red bikini dries off while hooked onto her bedpost. She grabs her journal and heads downstairs to see Dean and Sam off. She pulls Dean aside and hands him the journal.
“Why are you giving me your diary?” he asks.
She hits him on his arm. “It’s my journal, asshole.”
He looks at the leather bound book and shrugs. “What do you want me to do with it?”
“Use it.” She blinks, and for the first time since the first time, her eyes are wet. “Tell it how much you’re going to miss me.”
He stands there with his mouth open. No words come out. She kisses him, adjusts the crooked collar on his jacket and says, “Sam’s waiting for you.”
Dean runs his thumb over her cheek and wipes away the fallen tear. “You’re going to make me leave you like this?”
She takes his hand and kisses the inside of his palm. “I’m not making you do anything.”
“Dean, time to go.” Sam stands at the open door.
Dean slips the journal into his pocket. “Come on.”
Jo follows him outside and watches again as the brothers get into the Impala. Dean starts the car, but it doesn’t move. A moment later, he hops out, pulling out her journal and a pen. He scribbles something down on a page before tearing it out and thrusting it into her hands. He doesn’t say anything as he gets back into the Impala.
Once they’re gone, Jo opens the note in her hands and reads what Dean wrote.
It’s one word.
A lot.
THE END