Title: Into The Woods
Chapter 10

~~~~~~~~~

Castiel had been gone for nearly an hour and Jo wondered how long it was going to take for him to check on everything.

She squinted at the fire. “You are so getting your eyes checked when we get back.” Her pronouncement made Dean snort, but she wasn’t kidding. Since she was literally seeing through his eyes, she could tell just how bad his eyesight was getting. He definitely needed reading glasses. “And for the fiftieth time, stop it.” Jo was having a difficult time getting used to her words coming out with Dean’s voice. The surreal aspect of this was giving her a headache. Giving Dean’s body a headache, rather.

“Stop what?”

She gestured over at her body and what he was doing while in her body. “Stop feeling me up.”

He paused, looking over at her. “Technically, I’m feeling myself up since I’m in here and you’re over there in me.” He smiled. “Man, that sounds dirty. You in me.”

That response was so him, too. She rolled his eyes. “That is so wrong.”

He shrugged her brows at her with a lecherous grin that seemed somewhat off on her face. “And yet so right at the same time.” Holding out the neckline of her shirt, he looked down. “I don’t know how you get anything done with these. I’d spend all day playing with them.”

“Oh, geez, Dean,” came Gwen’s voice with Sam’s inflections. “Will you stop that already? You don’t see me doing that to Gwen’s body.”

“You’re tempted though. Admit it.”

Sam shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “Maybe, but I’m not actually doing it.”

Dean let go of the shirt and smirked as Gwen returned to the camp. He smirked. “So, Jamie Lee, how’d the peeing go? Everything come out okay?”

“Shut up, Dean.” Gwen eased Sam’s tall frame into a chair. “I always thought peeing in the woods would be easier as a guy and you know what? It is. So much easier. Cas back yet?”

“Nope.” He stretched Jo’s legs out. “I think being a chick for a few hours could be totally awesome. We should enjoy this.” He shot another lecherous glance Jo’s way. “Come here often, sailor?” He made a clicking noise with her mouth.

Jo scowled. “There’s weird and then there’s weird on a level I don’t want to mess with. This is the latter weird.”

“Oh come on. It’s an adventure. We haven’t done a full body switch yet. Could be fun to, uh, check each other out.” The last words were said in a coaxing tone.

“Yeah, an adventure. And,” she drew the word out, “how well do our adventures usually end? Think about that a minute.”

The grin faded as he was likely remembering the various mishaps that tended to accompany their sexual adventures. Sam and Gwen catching them in costume. Sam and Gwen catching them going at it in the Impala in their own driveway. Sam and Gwen…. “Okay, you have a point. But hey, we don’t have to worry about them walking in since they’re sitting right here. They’ll know to skedaddle for awhile. Why don’t you two go take a nature hike or something for an hour or two? Maybe three.”

Sam stared at him with Gwen’s annoyed stare. “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”

Dean sighed. “I don’t know. I feel all…tingly and frisky. Playful. Sort of how I’ve always imagined the women in those nudie mags are feeling. Is this what it’s like being a girl? It’s sort of fun feeling this way. I could dig feeling like this all the time.”

Jo closed Dean's eyes for a few seconds and reopened them. “Actually, it’s the hormones. The pregnancy ones. That happens every so often.”

Gwen’s snicker came from Sam’s lips. “That figures.”

“Dean, you’ll just to have to imagine what it would be like, because I’m not doing that. I’d like to keep how things are from your side a mystery.” Jo crossed his arms and waited for the inevitable fast talking he was going to do to try to convince her to have some together time in their tent.

~~~~~~~~~~

No way was Sam going to admit that he really did want to feel himself up just to see what it felt like for Gwen. It was one of those things he didn’t think should be talked about, so of course Dean kept bringing the conversation back to the topic. Dean’s words and way of speaking out of Jo’s mouth made him smile a little though. This was a glimpse of sorts to how Dean would be as a woman he supposed.

He watched Gwen return and was a little sorry she’d had to deal with peeing so soon after waking this way. While Dean continued to try to get Jo to go experiment in the tent with him, Sam leaned closer to Gwen. She still seemed uncomfortable in his body, but not as much as she had earlier. “You wrote your name in pee, didn’t you?”

She froze and avoided his gaze, pursing his lips before saying in a nonchalant tone, “Why would you think that?”

“Because every guy does that at least once in his life just because he can.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“How are you holding up?”

“Kind of freaked out to be honest.”

“Yeah, it does that. At least we’re not in the middle of a case and can ride it out.”

“True. Silver lining, I guess. I can’t seem to get used to it. You know, I was waiting for something strange to happen. We can’t ever take vacations without something going wrong.”

He smiled. “That’s our lives. You think Dean’ll convince her?”

“No. I don’t think he can wear her down on that one.”

“He’s already wearing her.”

Gwen chuckled softly. “True. Definitely true.”

Reaching out, he took his hand in hers. It felt different, the slight roughness of his hands against the smoother skin of hers. She usually slathered on lotion a couple times a day and feeling that difference from her view was kind of nice, as was seeing himself out of her eyes. It really was enlightening in a way. The way her body reacted when he made it move was different than the way his own body reacted. There was a grace to her movements that he knew he didn’t have.

Leaning over further, he whispered. “We’ll get through this. Relax. It’s a few more hours.”

“Trying.”

“You could always go to sleep. Sleep it off.”

“Not tired yet, but I think I would if I could.”

He experimented with posture and sitting until he found a comfortable position (leaning slightly towards Gwen with one leg crossed over the other) and watched Dean and Jo. She got up and walked around the camp, looking like she was practicing keeping her balance. Slowly, she seemed to get the hang of Dean’s body, her movements more easy and fluid.

“You guys should get up and walk around,” she said. “It helps.”

“I will.” Sam swung one foot. “In a bit.”

“I got up already, staggered down the path. I’m good.” Gwen released her hands and crossed Sam’s arms.

“I’d get up, but I’m sort of feeling sick again.” Dean bent over, head between Jo’s knees. “I think I need to lie down.”

Jo retrieved a sleeping bag and laid it out. “There you go. Move slowly.” With a grin, she stood and reached up, touching the branch above Dean’s head. “Hey, Gwen, look at this. I can touch the tree.”

“Cool. I could probably touch higher.”

She eyed Sam’s body and pursed Dean’s lips a long moment. “Yeah, Sam’s taller and his arms are longer. You’re probably right. Still, I can’t do this is my body, I’m not tall enough. I wonder what else I can do?”

Sam shook Gwen’s head and laughed. Jo appeared to be getting into being in Dean’s body. He wondered how long that would last.

~~~~~~~~~~

While part of Dean had always been curious what it was like to be a girl, this was becoming more real than he cared for. Pregnancy hormones making him feel revved up was one thing. Watching Jo, in his body, and being turned on by that was another, resulting in him looking away and repeating to himself softly, “I just did not get hot for my own body.” Which he totally had, but maybe it wasn’t that exactly, but rather his attraction to Jo rearing up.

He wanted to ask if she was having that same issue and decided now wasn’t the perfect moment to ask if his body was getting boner when Jo looked at him in her body. An intriguing line of thought however. Did that mean their sexual attraction was no longer a simple physical one, but also on a soul level too? Or did it point to the soul being what really attracted in the end? Maybe it was Jo’s body displaying her attraction to his body. Or maybe….

Thinking about it was going to give him a headache.

Not to mention the baby was making him feel sick again.

He hated that he’d doubted Jo on the strength of her nausea even once. Taking slow breaths, Dean rested Jo’s hands on her stomach. As bad as this was, it reminded him there was a baby in there, her body reacting to it. He almost wished she was further along and he could feel the baby kick from her perspective. It had to be an awesome sensation.

Slowly, he stretched out on the sleeping bag she’d brought out for him, easing into the only position that stopped the nausea: flat on her back. When she’d finished touching all the tree branches in reach, he asked, “How do you deal with this, Jo? Feeling sick?”

“It’s all part of the experience and it wasn’t that bad with Jack. Honestly, it’s the worst when food is cooking.”

“I hate this feeling.”

“Me, too.” She knelt and leaned down, voice lowering to a whisper. “But the payoff is going to be awesome. Another little baby. A brother or sister for Jack. I think about that and it’s okay.” She brushed his fingers across her forehead and sat back. “Rest.”

He tried to take that advice because the sooner the nausea went away, the better.

~~~~~~~~~~

There was a physical strength that Jo could feel in Dean’s body that she herself didn’t have and she kind of wanted to explore that a little. She wasn’t ready for any sexual moves like this, and thought it’d take more than a few hours to get to that point, but she had the urge to run down the path to see how much faster his body could move, or pick up something heavy to see how easier it was. The only thing that stopped her was that everyone else seemed to be hating this switch.

Dean was spending most of the time so far either feeling sick or aroused, Gwen refused to get up unless she had to, and Sam was tolerating the time. No one else wanted to see what a different body could really do. Granted, Sam had been body switched before, but that was into another guy. Women were different. Were they not curious at all? Jo was. She even thought about digging a hole to see how long it took before Dean’s body got winded.

Why were they not more into this experience? Maybe if Dean wasn’t having pregnancy problems he would, but she’d have thought Gwen would be curious about what Sam’s body was capable of. After all, Jo knew he strong enough that just a tiny tug could make her spin around. And that had been years ago before she’d met back up with Ellen. He was even stronger now.

At a loss as to what to do when no one else wanted to do anything, she rubbed a hand across Dean’s stomach. There was some definite growling going on. Hunger in his body felt different, more insistent than what she felt in hers. “Anyone else hungry?”

“I could eat,” Gwen replied, “but don’t ask me to help. I can’t quite get the hang of Sam’s body. I’d probably trip and fall into the fire.”

Sounded like an excuse to Jo. If Gwen got up and moved around it’d become easier and she wouldn’t have that problem. She just didn’t want to.

Sam got up. “I’ll help.”

Dean swallowed hard. “Nausea sucks.” He clutched Jo’s stomach and rolled onto her side. “I actually thought you were exaggerating a couple times. Man, Jo, I’m sorry. This sucks.”

“You shouldn’t have scarfed down all the crackers at once,” she murmured to herself, then raised her voice. “Shallow breaths, Dean. Remember? Think of the payoff.” Going to the cooler, she crouched down and looked through it. Usually, her tolerance for hamburgers was one meal a week at most, but she could do with a burger again already. “We have any hamburgers left? A burger sounds really good right now.”

“No,” was Sam’s distracted reply as he stood beside her. “Why does my back hurt? It didn’t hurt a minute ago. Gwen, did you pull a muscle?”

“Maybe you did when you tripped and slammed her into the tree after you woke.” Dean stretched out again.

“Doesn’t feel like a pulled muscle exactly…. It’s like it’s deeper.”

One hand kneaded Gwen’s lower back and Jo did a quick mental count to the last time Gwen had complained about a backache. Yup, just about a month back. Her glance found Gwen, who made a faint smile with Sam’s lips.

“Take a Pamprin, Sam. In the side pocket of my bag.”

“Pamprin.” He turned her head. The look in Gwen’s eyes indicated Sam was afraid where this was going. “You’re not PMS-ing. You told Dean you weren’t when we were talking about chocolate.”

“PMS was last week while you two were gone. I get backache and cramps during. It’s a special time of the month.”

“How did I not know that?”

“You tend to tune out on the subject.”

“But you weren’t when we got back.”

“There’s about a two day reprieve of symptoms and then…yeah.”

With a snicker, Dean raised up onto Jo’s elbows. “Dude, you’re ragging. Better you than me.” His grin faded. “I really didn’t need to know that, Gwen.”

“Sure you did, Dean.” Her faint smile grew into a grin. “Girls talk about that stuff. You’re a girl now. You get to talk about it.”

“That’s just gross. Chicks talk about it? Seriously?”

Jo nodded. “Yes. It’s a girl thing. Bitching about how your PMS is worse than your friend’s PMS is like a rite of passage. So is bitching about the week itself. Comparing symptoms, discussing how a heavy flow makes you feel tired.”

She watched her lips twist in a disgusted grimace. “Oh, that’s twisted.”

“No worse than things you guys do.”

“Name something,” Dean challenged.

“Farting contests. Trying to light them on fire.”

There was a faintly ill expression on Gwen’s face. “I can’t do this. Not…that.”

“Sure you can, Sam.” Gwen looked amused by Dean and Sam’s reaction, the grin remaining on Sam’s face. “I do it every month. Jo does. Ellen did. Every woman goes through it and, face it, you’re a girl for a few hours so you do it, too.”

“Glad I dodged that bullet,” Dean murmured. “Ohh, thank God. Nausea is going away again. Ahh, relief.”

“It’s a fact of life.” Jo dug deeper in the cooler. “Are hotdogs all we have left?”

“There might be some brats.” Sam went to the tent he and Gwen shared and opened the flap. Jo heard the rattle of a pill bottle.

With a sigh, she reached for the salad fixings. Opening the baggie of pepper strips (her favorite snack lately), she drew out a strip and took a bite. The texture felt strange in Dean’s mouth, not what she was used to. It only took a couple seconds for the yucky metallic taste to hit her. Grabbing for a paper towel, she spit out the pepper. Gross. It was nasty. She held up the baggie and peered at the strips. They didn’t look like they were going bad, yet by the taste, they were definitely starting to turn.

“What’s wrong,” Gwen asked.

“The peppers taste gross. I think they went bad.”

“Can’t have. It’s too fast. Let me see.” Gwen ate one, Sam’s shoulders lifting in a shrug. “Tastes fine to me. Sam?”

He tasted one and affirmed they were fine.

Jo moved to where Dean lay and held out the baggie. “Taste.”

“Nope. Peppers are nasty. I’ve told you before and I’m saying it again. I don’t eat those things for a reason and it’s not because I’m picky.”

“One bite,” she insisted.

Reluctantly, and with a put-upon sigh, Dean took an orange pepper strip and bit into it. A surprised gleam rose in Jo’s eyes as he sat up and finished the strip. “That actually tasted kind of sweet.” He tugged the baggie from her hands and reached for another one. “Not bad.”

A theory beginning to form, Jo returned to the cooler and began testing her theory by tasting all the salad fixings that Dean wouldn’t eat. Carrots were like wood chips, cucumbers had a bitter taste, and the beets Gwen liked made Jo gag from the chalky aftertaste. The lettuce, tomato, and scallions were okay, however. She sat back onto the ground. Her glance found Dean.

He was finishing off the last of the strips, obviously surprised he could get them down. “These are surprisingly tasty. I had no idea.”

“It’s not that you don’t want to eat vegetables at all. You physically can’t.” She couldn’t help the tiny bit of wonder that tinged the words. It had never occurred to her that there could be a physical reason as to why Dean avoided eating most vegetables and was adamant they were mostly disgusting. It was because, to him, they were disgusting. He couldn’t taste them the way Jo, Sam, and Gwen did.

“I’ve tried to tell you. Asparagus and brussel sprouts make me gag, squash is like this sandy texture, peas and lima beans are rocks, and broccoli can be choked down by drowning it in butter and salt, cheese sauce, or any kind of sauce really. Lettuce is okay. Pickles, tomato, any kind of onion I can eat. Corn, potato, green beans. Spinach is tolerable as long as it’s canned and cooked in vinegar. The fresh stuff is gross. Cauliflower is like broccoli. Okay in sauces. Carrots have to be cooked.”

Gwen’s mouth opened and Sam shook her head. “You never actually said why you refuse to eat most vegetables. I always assumed dad never made you eat them.”

“Dad never liked many vegetables either. You were the anomaly, Sam. You like all those things and you always ate them. Maybe mom did, too. I don’t remember, but I do remember dad never had to tell you to eat your veggies. You ate them voluntarily.”

Jo thought back to whenever they’d had Chinese food. Dean did tend to go with dishes that were meat heavy and for anything heavily fried, though he ate water chestnuts and snow peas without behaving like he was being tortured. “I never realized.”

“I know.” He finished the last pepper strip. “You’ve been trying so hard to get Jack to eat right, the least I can do is make myself eat some of it so he’ll try it.”

Usually mixed with something else. Peas mashed into the potatoes and gravy and that sort of thing. “I thought you were just being picky and dramatic.”

He shrugged like it was no big deal. “Now you know.”

“Dean, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Jo. Not like I’m starving. I get plenty to eat.” He pointed at the cooler. “If we’re out, call Abby or Cas. They had burgers. They’ll probably let us take their food seeing as how they don’t normally eat.”

Jo slowly put the vegetables away and, in perfect timing, Castiel returned.