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avandell2007-02-14 07:04 pm
theladyscribe) wrote in avandell2007-02-14 07:04 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: I'll Drop a Line
Title: I’ll Drop a Line
Characters: Jo, Sam, Dean (one-sided Dean/Jo)
Rating: Gen, PG
Word Count: 818
Summary: She knew that Dean wouldn’t call back, but he did.
Notes: Coda to Born Under a Bad Sign. SPOILERS. Title from The Doors’ “The Crystal Ship.”
Characters: Jo, Sam, Dean (one-sided Dean/Jo)
Rating: Gen, PG
Word Count: 818
Summary: She knew that Dean wouldn’t call back, but he did.
Notes: Coda to Born Under a Bad Sign. SPOILERS. Title from The Doors’ “The Crystal Ship.”
I'll Drop a Line
When the phone rings, Jo has to force herself not to pounce on it immediately. She lets it go through the ringtone twice before she picks it up, just so she doesn’t seem too eager. “Hello?” she says, and she can’t help it if her voice comes across a little soft, a little breathless; she knew that Dean wouldn’t call, but he did. He did.
“Hey, Jo,” says the voice on the other end, and it takes her a moment to realize that the timbre’s not right, that this voice is too light (too dark) to be Dean.
“Hi, Sam,” she answers, and she can’t help it if her voice gets a little smaller and she almost hangs up. But she knows he’d probably just call back and it still wouldn’t be Dean.
“I just – I wanted to call and make sure you’re alright,” Sam says. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to, and Dean said you were okay, but… I wanted to make sure.”
“Yeah, Sam, I’m fine,” she lies, glad he can’t see how her hands have been shaking for the past two days and how her arms and legs have been scrubbed raw from the hours-long showers she’s taken. “I’m fine,” she repeats.
If her voice quakes, he doesn’t mention it. “Jo, if there’s anything I – we – can do – ” He stops for a moment, and Jo can hear snatches of Dean arguing with Sam about promises that can’t be kept. She refuses to be upset about it, but it still stings that Dean’s there and won’t talk to her. “If there’s anything we can do,” he says, “let us know, okay?”
“Yeah okay,” she answers, though she has no intention of calling them again. Even as she speaks, she can swearing in the background and a door shuts a little harder than necessary.
Sam sighs and then says, “Jo?”
“Yeah?”
“Demons lie about a lot of things, especially if they know it’ll screw with your head. I’ll make Dean call you later this week.” He hangs up before she can say anything in reply.
*******************************************************************
Dean doesn’t say anything when Sam asks for his phone, just tosses it to him and goes back to typing away at the computer. It’s only during the second phone call, when he hears Sam say, “Hey, Jo,” that he starts to pay attention to what his brother is doing.
He twitches when Sam says that he had said Jo was “okay”; he hadn’t given Sam the whole story of how he found the two of them, and he wasn’t sure how much Sam actually remembered. And then Sam starts apologizing, and Dean realizes that his little brother remembers a lot of what happened. And then Sam delivers the kicker: “If there’s anything I – we – can do,” he starts and Dean growls at him, “Don’t, Sammy.”
Sam cradles the phone against his palm and says hurriedly, “Don’t what, Dean? God, I almost raped her, the least we can do is–”
“Don’t, Sam. We can’t make promises we can’t keep, you know that. It’d – I don’t want her calling us for help if we can’t actually help.”
“But what if we can, Dean? What if she runs into trouble, and we could get her out of it, but she won’t call? It’ll all be on us.”
Dean clenches his jaw; he knows Sam is right, but it doesn’t stop him from not wanting to make a potentially empty promise. Besides, the next time they run into Jo, she’ll probably want to go hunting with them again. In fact, if she’d pushed just a little bit more, she’d probably be there with them and they wouldn’t even be having this conversation. “Just don’t do it, Sam,” Dean says finally and walks out of the hotel room, knowing Sam’s already making the promise.
A few minutes later, Sam steps out of the room, running a hand through his hair. “You should call her,” he tells Dean. Dean grunts in return. “It sounded like she was on the road. I think she might start hunting again.” Dean stays silent, knowing his brother is probably not finished. “You know, I was semi-conscious for most of what that thing put her through,” he says, talking softly as he leans against the railing outside the hotel room. “It – it knew how her dad died – told her in detail. Dad made a mistake, Dean, and Bill Harvelle was gutted by the thing they were hunting. Dad put him out of his misery. It didn’t tell Jo that.” He pauses. “I didn’t tell her, either. It also – it mocked her.”
Dean glances at him. “What?”
“It mocked her for – for wanting to be like us, for wanting to be a hunter. And it broke her heart.” He straightens up. “You should call her, Dean,” he says, setting his phone on the railing.
When the phone rings, Jo has to force herself not to pounce on it immediately. She lets it go through the ringtone twice before she picks it up, just so she doesn’t seem too eager. “Hello?” she says, and she can’t help it if her voice comes across a little soft, a little breathless; she knew that Dean wouldn’t call, but he did. He did.
“Hey, Jo,” says the voice on the other end, and it takes her a moment to realize that the timbre’s not right, that this voice is too light (too dark) to be Dean.
“Hi, Sam,” she answers, and she can’t help it if her voice gets a little smaller and she almost hangs up. But she knows he’d probably just call back and it still wouldn’t be Dean.
“I just – I wanted to call and make sure you’re alright,” Sam says. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to, and Dean said you were okay, but… I wanted to make sure.”
“Yeah, Sam, I’m fine,” she lies, glad he can’t see how her hands have been shaking for the past two days and how her arms and legs have been scrubbed raw from the hours-long showers she’s taken. “I’m fine,” she repeats.
If her voice quakes, he doesn’t mention it. “Jo, if there’s anything I – we – can do – ” He stops for a moment, and Jo can hear snatches of Dean arguing with Sam about promises that can’t be kept. She refuses to be upset about it, but it still stings that Dean’s there and won’t talk to her. “If there’s anything we can do,” he says, “let us know, okay?”
“Yeah okay,” she answers, though she has no intention of calling them again. Even as she speaks, she can swearing in the background and a door shuts a little harder than necessary.
Sam sighs and then says, “Jo?”
“Yeah?”
“Demons lie about a lot of things, especially if they know it’ll screw with your head. I’ll make Dean call you later this week.” He hangs up before she can say anything in reply.
*******************************************************************
Dean doesn’t say anything when Sam asks for his phone, just tosses it to him and goes back to typing away at the computer. It’s only during the second phone call, when he hears Sam say, “Hey, Jo,” that he starts to pay attention to what his brother is doing.
He twitches when Sam says that he had said Jo was “okay”; he hadn’t given Sam the whole story of how he found the two of them, and he wasn’t sure how much Sam actually remembered. And then Sam starts apologizing, and Dean realizes that his little brother remembers a lot of what happened. And then Sam delivers the kicker: “If there’s anything I – we – can do,” he starts and Dean growls at him, “Don’t, Sammy.”
Sam cradles the phone against his palm and says hurriedly, “Don’t what, Dean? God, I almost raped her, the least we can do is–”
“Don’t, Sam. We can’t make promises we can’t keep, you know that. It’d – I don’t want her calling us for help if we can’t actually help.”
“But what if we can, Dean? What if she runs into trouble, and we could get her out of it, but she won’t call? It’ll all be on us.”
Dean clenches his jaw; he knows Sam is right, but it doesn’t stop him from not wanting to make a potentially empty promise. Besides, the next time they run into Jo, she’ll probably want to go hunting with them again. In fact, if she’d pushed just a little bit more, she’d probably be there with them and they wouldn’t even be having this conversation. “Just don’t do it, Sam,” Dean says finally and walks out of the hotel room, knowing Sam’s already making the promise.
A few minutes later, Sam steps out of the room, running a hand through his hair. “You should call her,” he tells Dean. Dean grunts in return. “It sounded like she was on the road. I think she might start hunting again.” Dean stays silent, knowing his brother is probably not finished. “You know, I was semi-conscious for most of what that thing put her through,” he says, talking softly as he leans against the railing outside the hotel room. “It – it knew how her dad died – told her in detail. Dad made a mistake, Dean, and Bill Harvelle was gutted by the thing they were hunting. Dad put him out of his misery. It didn’t tell Jo that.” He pauses. “I didn’t tell her, either. It also – it mocked her.”
Dean glances at him. “What?”
“It mocked her for – for wanting to be like us, for wanting to be a hunter. And it broke her heart.” He straightens up. “You should call her, Dean,” he says, setting his phone on the railing.
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and i think you should turn this in for your assignment. i would give it an "A" and one of the magni or whoever probably would too.
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And this fic is done. There's nothing more need be said.
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And your icon is awesome. Tennyson for the win!
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You've got a very clear voice for Sam, I think, and your voice for Jo is just perfect. Dean's good too, though I noticed him less because it seems to me the fic isn't about him as much.
Thank you! *bows* I have much love for Tennyson, Pre-Raphaelite art, and Arthurian mythos. It was a trifecta of icony goodness!
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I'm so glad that you liked my Sam. I rewrote pretty much everything he said. Jo is one of my favorite people to write *ever* because I totally understand everything she's going through (well, except for the whole almost-getting-raped-by-HH-freaking-Holmes thing). And yeah, this is probably the first SPN piece I've ever written that doesn't focus on Dean (mostly the second part is his POV because I cannot write Sam POV for the life of me).
As for Tennyson & Co - you are a person after my own heart. I love all three as well, lol!
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I wrote a fic that dealt with this exact idea, actually. If you're interested, you can find it here: http://rillaotvalley.livejournal.com/10650.html#cutid1
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But I digress...
update?
(Anonymous) 2007-02-20 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)Re: update?
And this is only a one-shot. Sorry.
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It's beautifully written and the characters were written perfectly.
I agree with the above comment, I also wish it was more than a one-shot.
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I'm sorry, but this one was only intended to be a one-shot. If you like it, though, feel free to check out my other fics - there's a link to my master list around here somewhere.
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It was still beautiful though. I've read a few other stories but haven't gotten around to commenting yet, (One Tree Hill was coming on) but I'll be sure to go back and comment soon.