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avandell2006-11-30 06:38 pm
New Fic: Empty (Tennessee, 3/4)
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Dean, Jo, OFC; Dean/OFC, implied Dean/Jo
Word Count: 1259
Warnings: Implied Character Death, AU, futurefic
Disclaimer: Dean Winchester, Jo Harvelle, and everything else affiliated with Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke and CW. Not mine.
Notes: Written for the
4purposes challenge. This is the fic for fall; the prompt is “dreamers with empty hands.” This takes place several years after the first two parts of this series, Promise and Forget-Me-Not. Also, if the formatting is off, I do apologize. The thing was being a bugger.Summary: When he arrives at the Roadhouse, he knows immediately that something is not right. The place looks like it’s closed – it always looks that way – but there’s something off about it, like something (or someone) is missing.
Empty
It is November, and Dean really doesn’t want to be anywhere, least of all around people he knows and who know him. He finds himself on the road to Iowa anyway.
He’s not sure what sends him that way. It’s a lie, and he knows it, but he likes to pretend that he’s driving without a destination.
When he arrives at the Roadhouse, he knows immediately that something is not right. The place looks like it’s closed – it always looks that way – but there’s something off about it, like something (or someone) is missing. Dean goes to the door and finds it locked. He goes around back, thinking maybe they’re just not open for the day yet, but the back door, the one that leads into the living quarters, is locked too. A knot twists itself in Dean’s stomach as he picks the lock, a gun with rocksalt at his side.
The door swings open and a gun is cocked. Dean looks up, and staring back at him is Jo. She pulls the trigger and Dean wakes up.
“Dean? Are you all right?” A soft voice beckons him back to bed from where he stares out the window. He doesn’t move, but he hears Kate climb out of bed and come to stand beside him. “What is it?”
“Just a nightmare,” he mutters.
She puts her arms around him and whispers, “Wanna tell me about it?”
He shakes his head. “Not really.”
“Alright,” she says after a moment. “Are you coming back to bed?” He shrugs, and she kisses his shoulder. “I won’t wait up for you then.”
“Kate – ” his voice sounds pained, even to his own ears. “Don’t be surprised if I’m not here in the morning.”
She blinks. “Where are you going, Dean?”
“Iowa. I’ll be back in a few days… a week at most.”
A frown creases her brow. “Dean, what’s going on? What’s wrong? Why Iowa?”
“I can’t explain it, Kate. I – It doesn’t make – I mean, I just need to do this, alright?”
She nods. “Be careful, Dean.”
“I will be,” he says, but there is a wild look in his eyes just the same.
When he finally reaches the Roadhouse two days later, chills run down his back and he can’t help but think that the premonitions are – were – Sam’s department, not his. It looks just like it did in his dream, the grass too overgrown and the windows too dusty and a general feeling of empty. Dean shakes his head and tries the front door. It’s locked, and he has a distinct feeling of déja vu as he goes around to the back. Unsurprisingly, the back door is locked, too. Dean picks the lock with ease, and the door swings open silently. He walks in and a gun clicks behind him.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Dean Winchester,” Jo says, and he turns toward her voice, his hands in the air. “What brings you here after all this time?” Her face is hard, her eyes narrowed as if she expects a lie.
Dean swallows, his eyes on the gun pointed at his chest. He answers her question quietly. “I had a dream.”
“You had a dream,” she repeats. Jo laughs mirthlessly. “A dream?”
“Yeah, Jo, a dream. It freaked me out. I dreamed – I dreamed that I came here and you shot me. I haven’t dreamed of dying in a long time, not since…” He trails off into silence, unable to finish.
“Not since what, Dean?”
He shakes his head and says, “Not since I left it behind.” He doesn’t bother to clarify “it;” they both know perfectly well he means hunting.
Jo lowers the gun, and Dean lets out a breath he hadn’t noticed he’d been holding. “But if you dreamed that I shot you, why did you come?” she asks, curious.
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I needed to. I just… I wanted to see – I don’t know,” he finishes lamely. He’s silent for a moment. “Where is everyone, anyway?”
She cracks her neck and nods at the small kitchen table. “Have a seat?” He sits and watches as she disappears into the barroom. She returns in a few moments with a tray with whiskey and two glasses. “The good thing about running a bar,” she says, “is you don’t have to worry too much about the drinks going bad.”
He laughs even though it isn’t very funny, but the sound is swallowed up by the emptiness of the room. Dean takes a drink and says, “So how long have you been gone?”
“After… after mom died,” Jo starts, “well, I needed some time away from here. I left Ash in charge – big mistake, I know – and headed out west. I traveled around for a while, worked in bars when I needed money, and just kind of drifted. I did that for a couple years, and when I came back, Ash was gone, along with all the usuals. I’ve been here on my own for a while now; I thought about selling the place, but I just couldn’t do it. Too many memories, I guess.” She’s left something out, Dean can tell, but he doesn’t call her on it. He won’t tell her everything, either. She looks up at him. “What about you?”
He takes a deep breath. “After the incident, I did like you did; I wandered around, no real destination, until I finally came to a stop in Tennessee. I was out of money and out of options, so I just stopped. I got a job in an auto shop, and I’ve been working there ever since. I have a nice little apartment over an antiques shop. Very quaint.”
Jo smiles. “An antiques shop, Dean?”
He glares. “What? It’s low-cost.”
She nods once and then asks, “You didn’t choose it because you could collect women out of the shop, did you?”
Dean chokes on his drink and coughs, “No.”
“So no harem of women for Dean Winchester, once a ladies’ man extraordinaire?” Her eyes glitter in amusement at the look he gives her.
He runs his hand through his hair and finally admits, “There is one. Her name’s Kate. She – I – ” He stops short and then continues again. “I think I might love her.” He looks down at his drink and misses the way that Jo’s face falls.
“Does she know?” she asks quietly.
He shakes his head. “I… The last time I told someone about my past, all I got was a slap in the face and a very cold bed.” He smiles wryly. “I think Kate could handle it, but I’m not sure I have the guts to tell her that I’m a wanted fugitive, a former ghost-hunter, and oh yeah, that salt on the window sill’s not to keep out the slugs.”
Jo laughs at that. “I see what you mean.”
“What about you?”
Jo shrugs. “I made a few…acquaintances while I was traveling, but nothing serious. Hasn’t been any company recently. Haven’t really been in the mood for company, anyway.” She looks at him. “I missed you, you know, when I was traveling. Sometimes, I’d be in some dive that wasn’t fit for a pack of dogs, and I’d think to myself, ‘If Dean were here, he’d be chewing me out for being where I shouldn’t.’ Then I’d take another shot of tequila, play some poker, and make off with another man’s well-earned fortune.” She goes silent again, waiting for his reaction.
“I missed you, too,” is all he says.
Good? Bad? Ugly?
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Dean living in Tennessee makes me all kinds of fangirl-y 'cause I live in Memphis. XD
I loved how you made it several years after. I want to know what happened in-between, though!
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lol, He's actually living in East Tennessee - the unnamed town is based on my hometown.
I want to know what happened in-between
Me too! Dean will not tell me... which kinda scares me, because if you'll notice, Sam Is Not Here. And that's worrisome.
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I am so bad! I wanna know what happens!
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Really liked it.
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You may not be imagining it, but it wasn't totally intentional. After I wrote this one, I went back and grimaced at how short the other two were (the second one was only 300-odd words!). I added more description and stuff to both of them to help them match this one in length.
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Excellent job! ;-P
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