Let's Go Get Lost Here in the USA (One-Shot)

[theladyscribe]

Title: Let’s Go Get Lost Here in the USA
Characters: Dean, Jo, Sam (implied Dean/Jo)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 439
Summary: She knows it’s only for a couple of months, but she wishes it would last forever.
Notes: Snap-shot of a roadtrip with Dean, Sam, and Jo. Takes place on the same trip as Tampax Was There. Title from “Road Tripping” by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Let’s Go Get Lost Here in the USA

She could get used to this – the hours-long drives along old highways in the Impala with the Winchesters, Metallica or AC/DC blaring from the speakers. Dean and Sam sit in the front, joking back and forth. Dean has finally warmed up to her a little – after the tampon incident, he’s even stopped complaining about her requests for real bathroom stops – and has offered to help her with hand-to-hand combat. They spar (both physically and verbally) in the early evenings on dusty ground, the setting sun casting silhouettes of them both.

She likes bar nights - the nights in between jobs – usually in the next town over after finishing up a hunt. Those nights, the three of them find a motel, dump their stuff and head to the most brightly-lit, busiest bar they can find. Sam grabs a booth, Jo orders the beers, and Dean scouts for either half-drunk frat boys he can hustle or half-drunk sorority girls he can lay, depending on which way their job went.

Sometimes, Dean gets Jo to help him hustle pool. She likes this job—it’s easy enough to do and it certainly has a nice view, though she’d never admit that to Dean. She holds the money and stands nearby, showing just enough skin to distract the frat boys but never enough to get unwanted attention. The one night that happened, Dean set the kid straight before the poor guy could even make it around the table, let alone get close enough to try anything.

Nights are spent in sticky-hot motel rooms with broken air conditioners, arguing with Dean over who’s sleeping on the floor tonight until Sam finally just lies down on the grungy carpet in frustration and starts snoring. Sometimes they keep arguing even after that – more because it comes naturally to them than because they’re actually angry. Eventually, they back down enough to agree that it’s time to sleep, and Jo changes in the bathroom, and when she comes back out, Dean’s under the covers of the bed nearest the door, already half-asleep. “Night, Dean,” she whispers and turns out the light, never expecting – and never receiving – a reply.

The next day, the cycle starts again: they load their things into the trunk of the Impala, Sam takes shotgun, Dean gets in the driver’s seat, and Jo spreads out in the back seat with her back against one door and her feet against the door across the car. Dean puts on Led Zeppelin and they tear out of the parking lot and head for the highway.

She knows it’s only for a couple months, but Jo wishes it would last forever.

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A/N: The lyrics to “Road Tripping,” because it’s too appropriate for these three.

Road trippin’ with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It’s time to leave this town
It’s time to steal away
Let’s go get lost
Anywhere in the U.S.A.

…So much has come before those battles lost and won
This life is shining more forever in the sun
Now let us check our heads
And let us check the surf
Staying high and dry’s
More trouble than its worth
In the sun

…In Big Sur we take some time to linger on
We three hunky-dories got our snakefinger on
Now let us drink the stars
It’s time to steal away
Let’s go get lost
Right here in the U.S.A

Comments

[lissa-bear.livejournal.com]

Very cute. The line about Sam sleeping on the floor, just so he doesn't have to listen to their bitching, is so perfect.

[theladyscribe]

Thank you! I figured that more than likely, it's precisely what Sam would do, because Dean would refuse to let Jo sleep on the floor and she would refuse to make him sleep on the floor every night, so it would end up being Sam on the floor (they don't pay any attention to him when they're arguing).

[tmelange.livejournal.com]

Great slice of life here. Loved it. :)

[theladyscribe]

Thanks!

[brin-bailey.livejournal.com]

Yay! Hehe, very cute. Hope there's more to come from this 'verse :D

[theladyscribe]

Never fear, there is more to come - at least two more fics which will be posted within the next two weeks (on account of I'm pretty sure we're all gonna need goofy!Dean to cheer us up after the finale airs).

[irish-bunnie.livejournal.com]

I definitely want to see more from this series. *nodnod* Maybe Dean/Jo owning up to their feelings, but that's just the Dean/Jo shipper whore in me talking XD.

I DEFINITELY want to see Dean getting protective again and again even if he isn't owning up to it. XD

Awesome work, as always!

[theladyscribe]

Dean and Jo own up to their feelings? NEVER! ;)

And don't worry, the next piece in this mini-series, protective!Dean features fairly prominently (as does freaked!Dean and embarrassed!Dean). Hee.

[quiet-rebel.livejournal.com]

I love fics with the Winchesters/Harvelles and life on the road. This is exactly how I would picture it too. Love the image of them in the bar and hustling people. I also love the image of Dean and Jo sparring into the night.

Great work!

[theladyscribe]

Thank you! The sparring into the night was one of my favorite lines, too. It was one of those where I could see the moment in my mind with such clarity that it would have been stupid *not* to use it.

[nashirah.livejournal.com]

I agree, line about Sam sleeping on the floor is just great. However I love all this fic and I'm glad you continued this verse. :)
I really like the relationship between Dean, Sam and Jo. I easily can imagine that. And playing hustle pool with a little of Jo's help? Yay! So Dean.

Thumbs absolutely up.

Would it be rude to ask for more? ;)

[theladyscribe]

Not rude at all! There's more coming in the next week or so - I have two pieces that I'm finishing up, and I'm sure there will be others if I can think of them. :)

[nashirah.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you can. Besides, Dean/Jo is a never-ending story. :)

[dyinganthem.livejournal.com]

Dude, roadtrip!verse is so much fun. *grins* The image of Dean and Jo hustling pool is awesome. And then Dean getting all protective when anyone tries to hit on Jo? Heeee! Loved it!

Awesomeness, as always. ;)

[theladyscribe]

Thank you. :)

(And Jo later reemed him out for scaring the kid off - "God, Dean, you'd think that you like me or something." "I just didn't want you getting distracted, sweetheart.")

[theladyscribe]

Thank you. :)

[thaigerl.livejournal.com]

I love the pace and easy language. Just enough to leave me wanting more...

[theladyscribe]

Thank you! And yes, there will be more. :)

[lark_ascends]

*giggles*

[theladyscribe]

lol, Thanks!

[iamstealthyone.livejournal.com]

Nicely done. I like the warm, companionable feel here, and how Jo fits into their lives at this point. And I loved this:

Nights are spent in sticky-hot motel rooms with broken air conditioners, arguing with Dean over who’s sleeping on the floor tonight until Sam finally just lies down on the grungy carpet in frustration and starts snoring.

*snickers*

[theladyscribe]

lol, That does seem to be a favorite line. :)

Thank you for the kind comments!

[elanurel.livejournal.com]

Hey, this was really nice! I really enjoyed the normality of it all, and the bittersweet sting at the end -- how Jo knows it's not going to last but wishes it would.

Sorry for not responding to a lot of things you've posted recently. Between getting ready for my trip and fighting the muse, I've not been as diligent in reading fic.

[theladyscribe]

Thank you!

And Jo doesn't know it, but the boys are kind of getting used to her (and there may be a fic about them readjusting to not having her with them).

I totally understand about the not commenting. :) JA has a tendency to render people speechless (or just incoherent).

[elanurel.livejournal.com]

I'm really not certain how I am going to control myself. I suppose the obvious conclusion is that my husband can simply drag me away, saying something like, "She's usually not like this on her meds." ;-P

[rogue-lane.livejournal.com]

I wish it would last forever too!

Loved the pool part. Hilarious.

[theladyscribe]

Thank you!

[ultraviolet9a.livejournal.com]

Roadtripping...the atmosphere...I feel for Jo, who wouldn't want that? As always, love the writing style.

[theladyscribe]

Thank you. :)

In many ways, this story is my love poem to the open road.

[siddyq.livejournal.com]

of all the ones that you have writen I think that this little mini series is my favorite...please write more! I think you are one of the few people who really gets the character and dynamics of all three right.

[theladyscribe]

Except I've conveniently sent Sam to the library in pretty much all of them. ;) I find him so hard to write, I think because we're too similar in some ways and not similar enough in a lot of ways.

[siddyq.livejournal.com]

well yeah but the way you do add him in fits perfectly with the boys.

and I know what you mean about him being like you and not like you...I think that's why I like Sam better...cause I'm in some ways very similar to Dean and other ways not similar at all and I find him hard to keep in character all the time

[belleimani.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of Jo as they're faux!sister and it just might happen next year with Harvelle's up in smoke. Great JoPov.

[theladyscribe]

Thank you.

(And that's kinda what I'm hoping for, too.)

[belleimani.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!
I'd love it if she became a full time character. I know a lot of people don't but I love Jo.