Title: Lessons Lacking and Learned

Act IV:

Ellen was a lot stronger than she looked. Dean didn’t protest when she dragged him into Jo’s room, he merely went and wasn’t surprised to see Jo sitting on the a chair looking just as annoyed as he felt. With a stern glance, Ellen left them by themselves.

He looked about the room, checking the trash can as casually as possible, noting the absence of condom wrappers and used condoms. His attention turned to the broken bed frame. Dean gestured at it. “That’s what broke?”

“What did you think broke,” Jo snapped, tapping one foot on the floor.

“You have to ask that after Cas came and asked me for six condoms? Six, Jo? That some kind of magic number?”

She rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t have asked you for them if you hadn’t been such a dick all day.”

“I was being a dick? I don’t think so. I was --”

“What do you call telling him to ask me for sex?” Jo stood, coming towards him. “Or telling him I’d be a fun time? What kind of woman do you think I am, Dean?”

Hands on his hips, he attempted to tell her what had happened. “He was attracted to you and I gave him a talk, but that’s all it was: talk. He asked me about his physical symptoms, I told him they meant he was attracted to you and wanted to have sex with you, because it’s true. He’d be stupid not to want to. Then he asked if he should and again I said he should, but only if you said yes. He’d have a fun time, because…sex is fun. I didn’t mean for him to actually ask you for sex.” He crossed his arms. “I thought you’d flirt with him a little, let him down easy. I didn’t think you’d bring him back here for a long night of --”

She shook her head. “You jackass. I didn’t have sex with him. I’m not some bar slut who spreads her legs for every cute guy who gives her an awkward pick-up line, you know. I’m a mature woman --”

“If you two weren’t….” He made a gesture with his hands. “What were all those noises? The ‘yes, yes, yes ride me hard my --’”

“’Well hung stallion’,” she finished for him. “It’s called ‘Hot and Heavenly Bodies’. Runs on one of the adult channels pretty much twenty-four-seven. You’re not familiar with that one? Sam knew it. He figured out what was really going on. He agreed you were being an ass.”

He blinked. Dean sat down, pointed at the tv. “You had that on.”

“Sure did.” Jo crossed her arms. “Nice and loud to be heard through the wall.”

Then he jerked his thumb towards the bed, starting to understand what had happened. “What happened to that?”

“I tried to get Cas to jump on the bed and when he did it broke.”

The idea of Castiel jumping on a bed made him pause for a minute to consider that absurdity before continuing. “And how did he handle the, uh, porn -- since he was so attracted to you?” He made another gesture with his hand.

“Sweating and nervous, fleeting eye contact, but still pointing out the inconsistencies in the movie. He learned to take nice deep breaths and think about something else. In short, he was a perfect gentleman, of which you are not.”

“Thanks,” he replied with an edge of sarcasm.

“You’re welcome. So…” She sighed. “What you told Cas wasn’t in the context I thought it was in? You weren’t giving him your permission….”

“No. You seriously think I’d give some other guy a blessing to go after you?”

Jo leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling a moment. “Why is my mom always right about these things? It’s so annoying how she does that.”

The words were soft, but directed to the air, almost like she was saying it to herself. After a moment, Jo shook her head and looked at him again.

“Now if you can kindly explain why you were being such a dick yesterday I’d really appreciate it.”

Dean crossed his arms on the table. He had no idea what he’d done to give her that impression. “What was I doing that made you think that?”

“No girl likes to be ignored, Dean. Or obviously avoided and pushed at another guy. You weren’t subtle. You kept trying to get me to talk to Castiel, you flirted with this chick with big tits all night, and when Cas told me what you’d told him,” she joined him at the table, copying his pose, “it pissed me off. I mean, you were the one to call me and arrange for all of us to meet. I thought….” She stopped, licked her lips and shook her head, looking away, but not before he saw the pain in her eyes. “You know what, never mind. I…was stupid and let it get to me. I played a juvenile prank --”

“Damn good prank actually,” he admitted, then slid one hand across the table until he was nearly touching her arm. “Jo…there’s a reason I was avoiding you.”

Jo sat back, out of reach unless he got up. “I got that.”

“Sam told me to talk to you right away. I should have, I know.”

“I jumped to a conclusion I had no facts to support save that phone call.”

“Truth is --”

She squeezed her eyes shut as though anticipating something horrible.

Just say it, he told himself. Forge ahead. “I want to try seeing you regularly and I didn’t know how to ask you.”

Jo gasped in a breath, then held it for several seconds, finally blowing it out in a loud whoosh as her eyes opened, her shoulders slumping. She blinked in a dazed fashion. “I’m sorry, what did you just say? Did you just tell me --”

“I want to spend time with you.” There. That wasn’t so hard. He shifted in the chair.

“Like…dating?” There was a wary glint in her eyes.

“Yeah. Dating.”

“As in more than one? Going places together alone? No Sam, no mom, no anyone?”

“That’s what I mean,” he confirmed, studying her features for some clue as to how she was going to answer.

Jo leaned forward again, a tiny little smile growing on her lips. “You want to date me, Dean Winchester? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Actually, I want to do a lot more to you, much more, but…dating would be a nice normal start I think. Something conventional that I don’t usually do and haven’t in a really long time.”

“Normal is good and…conventional? Wow. Good to stretch yourself.”

He nodded. “I’d like to try it out for size, maybe see if normal dating leads to more normality. Who knows? Could be….”

“Normal,” she supplied, then touched his hand with hers and nodded. “Okay. I accept the proposition. Let’s see where we go.”

Not quite as nerve-wracking as he’d thought it’d be. Relief eased the tension in his shoulders.

The tip of her tongue slipped out and touched the side of her mouth for a brief second. “You are so not getting in my pants for at least three dates.”

Dean cocked his head to one side. “That a challenge?”

Jo shrugged. “Fact. Might even be longer and when it does? I demand a bed. None of that backseat of the car stuff.”

“That’s what Cas told you about Anna. Great.”

“To be fair, he let it slip before he really understood what he was saying. So…yeah. I want a bed.”

“I have no problem with that.” He took her hand in his and squeezed. “Three dates, huh? We’ll see about that.”

Her smile widened, then disappeared. “I’m still pissed with you by the way.”

“Yeah, I thought you might be.”

“You were being a dick.”

He decided to let the argument go. He didn’t think it was one he was going to win anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~

How did he let himself be coerced into going to the store with Ellen alone? While the ride over had been slow, it had hardly been the awkward trip he’d thought it would be. Ellen hadn’t expected conversation. It’d been nice to look at her out of the corner of his eye as she drove. She was confident and while her glances back at him still made him uncomfortable, he was less so than he’d been the day before.

Cas stood in the men’s section while Ellen held ties up to him. She’d told him he needed a new tie and so they’d ended up here.

Dean and Jo were at the motel talking out their differences, hopefully to some good conclusion, while Sam was on his phone with a woman named Sarah. Cas had overheard him saying something about a well-deserved vacation.

“What do you think of this one, sweetie?” The tie Ellen held up looked very much like all the rest of the ties she’d shown him. Colored background and some pattern on it.

Cas looked at it. “The blue is nice,” he said. He didn’t know what she wanted him to say. A quick listen in on her thoughts would clear that up, but due to Gabriel that skill wasn’t working so he was stuck with guessing.

“The blue is nice,” she repeated. “Sure is, but do you like it?”

“I like my old tie. It’s --”

“Serviceable,” Ellen finished for him. “I know. How about I just pick one?”

“Okay.” He agreed quickly, if only to have the ordeal done with. Her pleased smile made his stomach lurch. Cas followed her through the department, watching her stop and look at clothes, then him. She seemed to be speculating mentally how items would look on him, which made him feel warm and flushed when they stopped for long minutes in the men’s underwear section.

All she took to the checkout was the tie.

He kept wondering if Gabriel was right about her.

All morning, from store to store, he wondered. She bought ammunition in the gun store, a birthday card in another store, and chocolates in a third one. As a whole, the shopping experience with her was vastly different than doing so with Dean and Sam. For them, the goal was apparently to get in and out as fast as humanly possible. Ellen, however, took her time in each store, perusing the shelves and racks before taking her purchases to the clerk at the counter.

They mailed the chocolates and card, Ellen saying something about Bobby and payback being a bitch that Cas didn’t quite understand.

It was lunchtime before he realized much time had passed at all. Since he had nothing else pressing, Castiel joined her.

Once seated and with a drink in front of her, she said, “You don’t talk much, do you?”

“Neither do you,” he pointed out.

“No sense in talking unless I’ve got something to say.” She sipped her iced tea and continued to peruse the menu.

“Sensible.”

“Comes with age. I wasn’t always that way. There was a time when I was something of a wild child.”

Gabriel was right, wasn’t he? Cas loosened his tie a bit. Still, there were many things that word could mean. In what sense did Ellen mean it?

She tapped his unopened menu with a finger. “Not hungry?”

“I don’t eat.”

“But you drink. I’ve seen you. The beers Dean got you last night?” Ellen closed her menu. “You’re in a human body, Cas. Doesn’t it get hungry?”

Turning his attention from his speculation as to what she meant by ‘wild’, he considered the question. Hunger wasn’t something he’d paid attention to before. He knew he could eat, just like he could drink. After all, Gabriel liked food, especially sweets, and admitted it freely. But did Gabriel feel hunger? Did he himself? “I’m uncertain what hunger feels like. Dean says it’s a gnawing sensation in the stomach sometimes accompanied by growling noises. I’ve not experienced anything similar to that description, so I suppose I’ve not been hungry.”

“Huh.” She nodded. “When you drink, do you do it because you’re thirsty?”

“I drink liquids at certain times because….” He paused, mouth open as a realization occurred to him. “There at the end, when I was nearly powerless, I did feel thirst. There was an insistent need I had at regular intervals to ingest liquids. That’s thirst, correct? Perhaps hunger would have been the next step?”

“Could be. Why do you drink now -- since you have your powers back?”

“Habit,” he concluded with a blink. “It’s become a habit to consume liquids.” Was eating and drinking a habit to Gabriel though? Cas didn’t think so. Gabriel claimed to like food.

Ellen tapped the menu again. “Sure you don’t want to try something? I’m buying.”

“I wouldn’t know what to try.”

She smiled. “Let me pick something for you.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Honey, in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t mind takin’ charge.”

~~~~~~~~~~

How was Sam going to break it to Dean that he was taking a two week vacation? It wasn’t like he was suggesting they go their separate ways completely. He was only wanting to spend some time with Sarah, since she was free. Two weeks was a good number. It’d be enough time to get to know who she was these days and for her to know him.

He still couldn’t believe she was single. Well…divorced after a marriage that had lasted only a few months before she’d discovered her new husband skimming off the books in her father’s business. She’d taken her maiden name back and said she was pleased to meet up with him.

Sam set his phone aside as the motel room door opened, Dean walking in. He was by himself, but in a surprisingly good mood considering how Ellen had man-handled him earlier. He gave Sam a thumbs-up.

“Dude, I am in so much trouble with Jo. Seems I’ve been a bad boy.” He began tossing items into a bag. “I might even get a spanking later if she’s still feeling sassy.”

“That’s more information than I needed. I take it she forgave you?”

“I’m buying her dinner tonight. Thought I’d also take her to a movie and maybe for drinks. You think if I brought her back here for a few minutes after each of those, all that could technically count as three separate dates?”

“Why three?”

“Because she said it’ll be at least three dates before I can get in her pants.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Uh…Dean, I don’t think --”

“Yeah, I don’t either. It’s gonna be a long week.” Hoisting the bag he’d just filled, he headed for the door. “Doing laundry with Jo.”

“So soon? That’s a pretty big step there.” Had that been Dean’s idea or Jo’s?

“If I hurry, she’ll let me put my stuff in with hers. Her quarters, Sammy, not mine.”

“That’s a nice romantic view of it.”

“And I’ll know ahead of time if she wears t-backs, bikinis or both. None maybe?” He paused, expression indicating he was hoping beyond hope for the last option. “Please, God, let it be none! Later.”

As the door closed behind him, Sam opened his laptop and booted it up. Sarah had suggested a few places they could meet and he wanted to know a little about each one before she called back later in the day.

~~~~~~~~~~

Castiel liked being around Ellen. Once the stomach churning, the nervous sweating, and the awkward sensation had eased with extended proximity to her, he found he enjoyed her company as much as he liked being near Dean and Sam.

The difference was that he now knew he was sexually attracted to her. Full-on sexual attraction.

And he liked it.

He went to a movie with her, remembering to stay still and not talk during the show, his attention more on her than on the movie. She liked the movie, if the expressions crossing her face during it were any indication. Cas decided he enjoyed sitting there with her and when she took his hand in hers through the last half of the movie, he didn’t pull away.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jo was slightly familiar with that look on her mother’s face; the one that indicated she had some guy in her sights. After Bill Harvelle died, Ellen had always been careful to keep that part of her life private, but Jo knew very well there’d been a man here and there over the years, though Jo hadn’t ever met any of them.

The man this time? Jo about laughed.

Castiel. Virgin angel boy himself.

He wouldn’t know what hit him. She thought it’d be good for him.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Cas. Come here.” Dean beckoned with one hand.

Castiel approached him warily. “Yes, Dean?”

“That whole sex with Jo thing? Forget I said any of it.”

“You’ve reconciled with her then?”

Jo was at the soda machines down the sidewalk, slipping money into one.

“Definitely.” Dean gestured at her. “She’s kind of cute, isn’t she?”

Jo bent to retrieve her purchase from the low slot.

Cas admired the curve of her rear in the tight denim, hurrying to stand straight and tall once more when he noticed he was leaning over the same way Dean was to look at her.

Dean glanced askance at him with a curious expression. “Did you just check out her ass?”

With a hard swallow, told him the same thing he’d said the night before. “Jo Harvelle is quite attractive.”

He laughed. “You’re learning. That’s good, Cas, but, uh, she’s not attractive to you. You don’t think about her.” He held up one finger. “Not even a single stray naked thought. As far as you’re concerned she’s never naked.”

“But she is naked to bathe and when changing clothes fully.”

“Not for you.” He tapped his temple with the finger. “Not up here.”

Cas glanced at Jo, then looked at Dean. “She’s…never naked. Ever. Not for me.”

Dean squeezed his shoulder. “Good observation.”

“Who should I think of?” He didn’t expect an answer, but Dean considered the question.

“Good question. Ellen maybe?”

“Ellen?”

He nodded. “That’s all I got, Cas. Jo or Ellen, and Jo’s out of the question. Remind me to give you some magazines to look through later.” He sighed. “We’ve got to get you to meet some women. But not tonight. Tonight, I’ve got a hot date. Don’t wait up.” Slapping Cas on the back, he walked down the sidewalk in Jo’s direction.

Cas watched Jo turn and greet Dean with a smile, then turned and materialized at the park. He had some things to think about before meeting them all back at the bar.

~~~~~~~~~~

With Jo and Dean out to dinner alone and Castiel MIA, dinner was just Sam and Ellen. Not that he minded. It was nice to have a leisured meal with her and catch up without several different conversations going at once. They’d reached the coffee and dessert part of the meal when Ellen glanced up and smiled wide.

“Gabe? Sweetie, what are you doing here?”

Sam looked up at the man approaching their table. To his surprise, the ‘Gabe’ Ellen greeted so warmly was Gabriel, angel and Trickster.

“Hey Sam. Hi Ellen. Good to see you again.”

He watched as Gabriel leaned down, gave her a hug, then slid in next to her on that side of the booth. Gabriel’s expression held more than a little amusement.

“Wait, you know each other?” Sam looked from Ellen to Gabriel in surprise.

“Sure do,” Ellen replied, stirring her coffee.

“We’ve been acquainted for years.” Gabriel smirked. “Longer than I’ve known you and Dean, actually.”

“Is that so?” Sam was willing to bet Ellen and Jo had no idea who and what Gabriel really was. He shifted in his chair, carefully watching both of them.

“Gabe was a trucker by trade who came into the Roadhouse a few times before it blew, but it wasn’t until I started looking for Jo that he kept turning up regularly.”

“Like a bad penny,” Sam muttered.

Ellen either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore his words. “We became acquainted. He helped me find her, called us now and then with some leads.”

“Always happy to help.” Their server brought him coffee. “I’m here on some personal business. Family matter.”

Sam tried hard not to roll his eyes at Gabriel’s mention of helping. Gabriel? Help? Happy to do so? Who here was smoking something? Wasn’t him, but it sure felt like it. As for the latter…. Was the family matter something to do with Castiel? Must be. Sam had been thinking it strange that Cas was still with them. How much longer would he be if Gabriel was here?

Ellen took a sip of her coffee and opened another sugar packet. “In fact, the last time we met, he gave us the heads-up about a possible Trickster out in Washington state. Even met us there to help.”

“A Trickster,” Sam repeated. “Imagine that. Don’t see too many of those.” He poured himself more coffee. “When was that?”

She shrugged. “Last fall, when we were supposed to be on our way to Bobby’s to meet you and Dean. Gabe called, said it was urgent, so we went.”

“I remember that.” He remembered Ellen calling; saying that she and Jo would be a few days late meeting them and to start planning whatever they were cooking up without them; that they’d be there to help within the week. They’d never shown up. Sam and Dean had had to go without them, barely surviving the ‘mission’ they’d assigned themselves. One crisis had led to the next and they’d played months of phone tag until finally getting through once Lucifer had been returned to hell.

“It turned out it was a Trickster, and one slippery son-of-a-bitch at that.”

Gabriel nodded. “He kept us trapped for three months. It was horrible, Sam. You can’t imagine what that’s like.”

“Did he?”

“He did.”

“I can imagine quite a lot…Gabe.”

“But we took care of him, didn’t we, Ellen?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I’m just sorry Jo and I couldn’t help you boys when you needed us. I feel real bad about that Sam.”

Gabriel covered her hand with his. “None of that, Ellen. It wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could to break free from the Trickster and get to the front lines.”

“Well, it wasn’t enough. Jo and I should’ve been there.”

There was an odd glint in Gabriel’s eyes, one that had Sam itching to pull information from him. “But you weren’t, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Sometimes things like that happen.”

She snorted. “They happened over and over. If it wasn’t the Trickster, it was other things. Mudslides, earthquakes, flashfloods…an avalanche. It was like an act of God or something.” Holding up her hands, she began counting off events. “Engine trouble that turned into a week long stay in some little nowhere town in North Dakota. Jo’s appendicitis. Three weeks of giving each other the flu back and forth, I sprained an ankle going after a shapeshifter --”

“You’re here now though,” Gabriel pointed out. “I’m sure both Sam and his brother know how much you both wanted to be there to help them.”

The conversation turned to other things and when Gabriel left the restaurant, Sam followed him, waiting for the opportune moment to grab the troublemaking angel.

“What did you do to them,” he demanded, pushing Gabriel against the brick alley wall.

“Aside from downgrade Castiel’s powers and mess up his hormone levels for several hours, I’ve done nothing of consequence.” He held his hands straight out at his side in a surrender gesture.

“What did you do?”

Gabriel sighed. “Let it go, Sam. Just let it go. I know you don’t like me or trust me, but this curiosity? Not focused on the important thing. You should be wondering what to do with your life from here on out and enjoying your time with them, not speculating on something I may or may not have done to Ellen and Jo Harvelle. Isn’t it enough that they’re here; that they survived the end-all-be-all of supernatural smack-downs?”

Slowly, Sam released him. “What did you do,” he repeated.

“Let’s just say things would have been different without my presence in their lives prior to that trip towards Bobby Singer’s house.”

“How different?”

His stare was cold and hard. “Enjoy your time with them, Sam. Treasure it because I won’t step in again. Not for any of you. From here on out to all your dying days, your lives play out without my assistance. This is the very last time I help you all. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, boy. You two wanted allies. Don’t complain about the results.” The angel disappeared, leaving Sam wondering about those things he’d said and that involvement he claimed. Between Ellen’s narrative and Gabriel’s end of the conversation, Sam had a suspicion Gabriel had actually done a very good thing for Ellen and Jo.

What would have happened to them that he’d stepped in to prevent? That was exactly what Sam knew he’d done. The evidence pointed to it. Gabriel had manipulated Ellen and Jo’s choices so that whatever had been supposed to happen to them hadn’t. He’d used that gift of free will in the same manner Dean had. Changing future events.

Leaning against the wall, he watched Dean with Jo in the park across from the motel. They’d taken a blanket and were lying upon it looking at the clouds in the sky. He saw a large fast food bag to one side. Sam suspected their conversation was not the sort one would expect from the chick-flick scene.

But…Dean looked happy.

It had been a long time since Sam had seen him genuinely happy and he couldn’t ever recall seeing him this relaxed. His attention shifted to Jo. She was happy and relaxed as well.

After long moments pondering what he’d discovered, Sam decided to take Gabriel’s advice and let it go. He wouldn’t pursue this. He didn’t think he’d like the outcome if he did.

Besides, wasn’t it about time they all had happiness in their lives?