“Duet for Three”
Supernatural
Dean POV, Dean/Jo, but it’s mostly a Dean/Jo/Sam hunting and having fun kind of story
Rating: PG-13
Setting: Early season two
Summary: When you’re dying, the craziest things can pop up in your mind.
When you’re dying, the craziest things can pop up in your mind.
Like eating chicken noodle soup with Sam when it was snowing outside and Dad was out back sharpening wooden stakes. The soup was too hot. Burned Sam’s tongue. He cried and there was no one around to tell him it was okay. So, I had to do it. And I did, and he stopped crying.
Funny how some things don’t change much.
**
So, yeah, I’m dying.
But, maybe I should start at the beginning if I want this to make sense.
**
Sam and I are at the Roadhouse. Ellen’s got two beers for us. Jo’s got Bob Seger on the jukebox singing about some old time rock and roll. I tell her she finally picked a song we both liked.
“Who said I liked it?” she says with a smirk.
I recognize that smirk. It’s the same one I give her.
“So, this demon…” Ellen returns and I lose the smirk before she catches me checking out her daughter.
“We think it’s a half-witch,” Sam says. “We’ve been
following it since it tore through a town in
“Then why haven’t you killed it?” Jo asks, her hand on her hip.
I let out a long sigh. “Because it can make itself disappear.”
Jo’s questions continue. “Why would it come here?”
“We never said it would,” I say. “We’re just here for information.” I ignore Jo’s hard stare--or at least I try to, and turn to Ellen. “So, any news? Anything about a half-witch?”
Ellen shakes her head. “Not that I know of, but you two have been the only hunters we’ve seen in here in a few days.”
“Why’s that?” I ask.
“You don’t know?” Jo says.
I raise a brow. “Know what?”
And she gives me a smug smile like she’s happy that for once that I don’t know what’s going on.
“There’s a wedding in
“You might have heard of Jesse,” Ellen says. “He had that
job up in
That was the one. Happened three years ago
when I was in
“You’ll be that good soon, Dean, I know it,” he had told me.
Look at how wrong he had been.
“Laurie’s a hunter too,” Jo adds.
And she looks at me. I mean, she really looks at me.
“When two hunters get married, it’s a pretty big deal,” she says.
“Then, why aren’t you two there celebrating?” I ask.
Ellen waves her hand. “I got a business to run.”
“But, we can go.” Jo flashes her mother a smile. “I mean, I can show Dean and Sam where the wedding is at and maybe they can ask around about the half-witch.”
I glance at Sam with a weary look. The last road trip we had with the Harvelles hadn’t been that great.
“Jo,” Ellen says sternly.
And for a moment I think Jo won’t be a problem at all.
“You know, Ellen, maybe it would help us out if we went to
“We’ll be back by morning,” Jo says to Ellen.
Ellen tosses the rag in her hand on the counter top like a sign of defeat. “I want you back here by noon, and call me when you get there.”
Jo grins. “I’ll go pack some things.”
Ellen sighs. “You boys--”
“I know,” I say, watching Jo bounce out of the bar. “We’ll take care of her.”
**
We’re an hour away from
“So, why’d you do that?” I ask Sam as we’re taking a leak.
“Do what?” he says.
“You know. Ask Ellen if we can take Jo.”
“I never asked if Jo could come along. I just said going to
I zip up too and follow Sam to the sinks. “My problem is that we got a girl sitting in our backseat.”
Sam washes his hands and smirks at me through the mirror. “Is it because Jo’s that girl?”
“Watch it.” I narrow my eyes. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
But, the smirk doesn’t leave his face.
We walk out of the bathroom and find Jo sitting on the hood of the Impala. She has a pack of green car air fresheners shaped like pine trees in her hand.
“What’s that for?” I ask.
“We’re going to a wedding,” she says. “It’d be impolite to show up without a gift.”
I look at my brother. That’s what I’m talking about, Sammy.
“Whatever,” I say. “Get in. We better hurry if we want to get to the wedding before everyone’s all drunk off their asses.”
Jo hops off the hood, brushes past my shoulder, and slips something into my hands. It’s another pack of car air fresheners. These ones are navy and shaped like a five-pointed star. Starry nights, the label says.
How touching.
Jo gets in the backseat and I toss the plastic pack of stars onto the dashboard.
**
The dead bodies are the first indication something is wrong.
The second?
The blazing demon in the middle of the reception room.
“Stand back,” I tell Sam and Jo.
Neither of them do. Should have known better.
On the floor are at least a dozen bodies of maimed hunters. They’re dressed in their best outfits made up of suits and ties. I see the dark-haired woman and her white dress. Her eyes are missing.
“Dean.” Jo’s voice’s so soft I don’t know how I heard her.
“Run,” I say, my gaze still on the demon. “Go the car, get the weapons, and run back here as fast as you can.”
She doesn’t move.
“Go!”
This time, she runs.
“What do we do in the meantime?” Sam asks.
“We got a room full of dead hunters,” I say. “They must have been packing something.”
I race to a hunter. His legs are charred stumps.
“Sorry, man,” I say to the corpse. I search his pockets and pull out a revolver. It would do for now.
Sam had managed to find a gun on another body too. He looks at me. I look at him. Then, we look at the demon. Just as I’m about to blast this son of a bitch, I hear a loud bang.
The demon lurches forward. Another loud bang. I turn around and see Jo with the long rifle pointing at the demon. She fires another shot. Damn, I wasn’t going to let her have all the fun. I shoot at the demon.
The demon screams. It sends a wall of fire at us. The three of us duck behind some tables. I breathe in, choke on smoke, and spot the bag of weapons I had made Jo go get. I crawl towards it and rummage through the contents as Sam and Jo continue their gunfire.
My hands shove the bullets, the stakes, and the bottles of holy water aside. Fuck. Where is it?
I hear Sam cry out. I turn, my eyes wide. Sam’s on his back, clutching his arm. The sleeve of his jacket is singed with black ash. Then, I see Jo stand up from her hiding spot behind a table to confront the demon. She raises her rifle, not afraid to look the creature in the eye.
I don’t see her fire the gun, but I hear the blast of the
shotgun as my hands wrap around the bottle I’m looking for. It’s filled with a
white powder Sam and I had picked up from a shop outside
“It’s good for vanquishing those pesky demons that won’t go down,” the cranky old shopowner had told us.
He better be right.
I pour the powder in my hand and charge towards the fiery demon.
I recite the words the shopowner had told taught me and Sam: “I cast this demon back to hell with the power of this dust and this spell.” And I throw the magic powder at the demon.
At first it doesn’t look like it did anything. The demon just stands there for a moment, its eyes red with anger. Then, the flames start to extinguish. It looks down at its body as the fire goes away.
Soon, it’s not a fiery demon standing in the room, but a tall woman with long red hair in a white dress that touches the floor.
It’s the half-witch.
“Nice disguise,” I mumble.
The half-witch gives me a small smile like she’s impressed with my magic show. She should be.
I hear Jo cock the rifle behind me, ready to shoot again.
“If you want to save your brother, you’ll keep me safe,” the half-witch says.
I turn to Sam. He’s sitting up, but he still has his hand around his burned arm.
I motion to Jo to lower the weapon and she does, her shoulders sagging.
“What do you want?” I ask the half-witch.
She holds out her hand and an image projects itself into the center of the room. It’s a young man dressed in a black suit. His eyes are blue, his hair blond. It looks like a moment captured in time. The man’s eyes dart back and forth, searching, waiting for someone.
Then, everything connects for me.
The man in the suit, the half-witch in the white dress.
The wedding that never happened.
“They burned me on my wedding day,” the half-witch says. “They made me watch as they put a bullet into his head, his punishment for loving me, a half-human, half-witch. After that, I had nothing else to live for and I let them take me to the stake. I let them light the fire and I let myself die.” Her gaze lowers. “Except I’m still here, and he’s not with me.” She looks up at the image of the blond-haired man. “I can never be happy again.”
“Is that why you killed everyone today?” Jo asks. “If you’re not happy, no one else can be either.”
For a second, the half-witch’s eyes flicker red again.
“I killed these people of what they did to me, to Joseph,” she says. “They hunted me down, executed him in front of my eyes, and burned me alive. I call it justice.”
“They had nothing to do with what happened to you a hundred years ago,” I say.
“A hunter is a hunter.” She sneers. “No matter what generation.”
That’s her cue. She sends a bolt of white light at me. I duck, roll on my back, and land on my stomach. I reach for the revolver, but through an invisible force, it slides across the floor until it comes to a rest at the half-witch’s dress.
Jo fires the rifle.
And fuck it, the damn half-witch makes the bullet turn back around. It hurdles back towards Jo. She jumps out of the way--barely.
Then, the half-witch disappears right in front of our eyes.
Enough is enough.
I look for the bottle of white powder again. It’s time to vanquish this demon once and for all.
“Dean.” Jo’s urgent voice stops me.
The half-witch has Sam in her grasp. His head drops forward like he’s losing consciousness.
“Let him go,” I say, and I hate how my voice shakes.
The half-witch doesn’t listen to me. She sinks her hands into Sam’s chest and he cries out. I cringe at the sound. The image of the dead groom starts to float towards Sam.
“No!” My protest echoes. “Take me!” I inhale. “Take me instead.”
The half-witch smiles, looks me in the eye, and likes what she sees. She removes her hands from Sam, lets him fall to the ground. I’m grateful to hear the thud of his body as it meets the floor. I’m even more grateful to hear him gasp for air. She turns to me.
“You remind me of him,” she says. “You’d die to save the ones you love.”
I give her a slow nod of my head. “Do whatever you want, but leave my brother out of this.”
The half-witch points at Jo. “And her?”
Jo’s eyes meet mine. Her gaze is a mixture of terror and wonder. She’s not sure of what I’m going to say. I don’t blame her. I don’t know want to say myself.
“I know you have feelings for him,” the half-witch says to Jo. “You try so hard to deny them, but they’re there. They’re real, solid. There’s no use in trying to hide.”
Jo glances at me like she’s been caught in a lie.
The half-witch grabs Jo. She wraps her arms around Jo’s much smaller frame. Red hair swarms around both bodies. Before I can stop it, the half-witch merges her spirit into Jo’s body. Jo’s eyes sparkle red, then turn back to its normal hazel color. She drops the rifle and saunters over to me.
“Don’t worry,” she says in Jo’s voice. “She’s getting exactly what she wants.”
I look at Sam. He’s on the floor, his face twisted with
pain. Stay down, Sammy. Don’t try
anything.
The half-witch in Jo’s body puts her hands on my chest. She stands on her tip-toes and brushes her lips against mine.
“Now, where was I?” Her hands glow bright white. My chest tightens. My heart feels like it’s being squeezed. The blond-haired groom comes towards me this time. His apparition moves into me and it feels like a gust of wind knocking me out.
I can still see, still smell, still hear--but it isn’t me.
I look down at my hands. My fingers clench, then unclench. When I look up, I remember the person standing in front of me. I don’t see the petite blonde. I see a beautiful woman with flowing red hair. My future wife.
“Catherine,” I whisper.
She smiles. “Joseph.”
We embrace. It has been so long since I’ve held her, and I want her to know. I want her to know before it’s too late.
“I love you,” I say.
“I know,” she says. “I know you do.”
“They’re coming, Catherine,” I say. “I hear the horses, I see their torches, I smell their gun powder. They’re nearby.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s just the two of us. No one can hurt us.”
But, it does hurt. I fall to my knees as I recall the memory of fists and boots slamming against my body. I swallow and I taste blood.
I whimper Catherine’s name.
“Look at her one last time.” A deep voice speaks to me from the past. “Look at her and remember she did this to you.”
They want me to resent her. They want me to hate her.
But, I can’t.
“I love--”
My body falls forward as the bullet strikes the back of my head.
You.
**
Like I was saying, I’m dying. And my mind’s a mess. I’m thinking about chicken noodle soup and Sam crying and making love to a woman with red hair. My heart starts to slow and I know. I know it’s happening.
I’m dying.
At least Sam will be all right.
That’s all that matters.
And for a split-second, I’m ready to go, ready to die.
Then: “Dean!”
It’s Sam. He’s hunched over me, shaking me.
“Come on,” he says. “Dean, say something.”
He has the bottle of magic powder in his hand. It’s empty. Looks like the half-witch lost this battle.
“Jo?” I ask, my voice raspy.
Sam turns his head to Jo, who’s laying on her side near me. She rolls over to face me and grimaces. That better be the real Jo staring back at me.
“Son of a bitch,” she says, rubbing her head.
Yup, that’s her.
I let my body relax and chuckle. I’m alive. Jo’s alive. And Sam--he’s alive too.
On second thought, maybe I’m not ready to go. I still got a lot of living to do.
**
We have a moment of silence for the hunters who hadn’t been as lucky as the three of us and then torch the reception hall. We’re gone before the fire trucks arrive.
“So, what did you think about your first demonic
possession?” I ask Jo as we head out of
She shrugs in the backseat. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
I sneak a look at Sam. He’s got his eyebrows raised too.
“Just don’t tell my mom,” Jo says. “She will freak out.”
Ellen Harvelle--now that’s something no one in this car can handle.
We stop at the same gas station from earlier. I’m filling up the Impala. Jo’s inside the store. Sam’s leaning against the car with his arms crossed. He’s just standing there, so, I say, “What is it?”
“Thanks,” he says.
“For what?” I watch the numbers fly by on the pump as the gas tank fills. “You’re the one who saved my ass today.”
“But, now I know.” He pauses. “You know, what it’s like, for you.”
And I get it.
“No worries, man.” I put the gas handle back on the pump and give Sam the money to pay for the gas. I clean the car windows and by the time I finish and open the driver’s door, Sam and Jo are walking out of the store together. I don’t know what’s so funny, but they’re laughing.
And I think, Yeah, this isn’t so bad.
“You want shotgun?” Sam asks Jo.
“You don’t?” she says.
And Sam gives me a look. It’s that same smirk he gave me the last time we were here.
“Nah,” he says. “I think I want to take a nap. You know, rest up before we have to face your mom again.”
She smiles. “Good point.”
Sam climbs into back, Jo into the front.
Before we take off, Jo slips something else in my hand. It’s a candy bar. Three Musketeers.
“Cute,” I say.
“I know.” She smiles again.
“She bought me one too,” Sam says from the back.
Jo raises her own Three Musketeers bar.
So, maybe this is why they were laughing on their way out of the store. I guess it is kind of funny--if you have Jo’s sense of humor, which thankfully I do not.
“Okay, one was cute,” I say. “But, three--that’s just overdoing it.”
I put the Impala into drive and get back on the highway.
“What do you think, Dean?” Jo holds up the car air fresheners. The green pine trees she never got to give to the bride and groom and the blue stars I don’t ever want to see hanging in this car.
“What’s wrong with how things are now?” I say.
I look at Sam in the back, Jo next to me, and I slide my hands around the steering wheel.
Jo nods her head like she gets what I’m saying.
“You’re right.” She opens the window and throws the two packages out. “Everything’s fine just the way it is.”
“Except for one thing,” Sam says. He reaches from behind us
and turns on the radio. Its Hetfield on vocals
and Lars on drums.
“I like this song,” Jo and I say
at the same time.
I give her a look like I don’t
believe her.
“What?” she says. “I do.”
“Uh-huh.”
And I swear she blushes.
Cute.
“Well, I like this song.” Sam cranks up the volume and before the chorus
kicks in again, the three of us are singing along at the top of our lungs.
THE END