Title: Lost and Found

Chapter: 27

~~~~~~~~~~~

After confirming with Sam that he and Gwen hadn’t spilled the beans to Ellen, Jo and Dean sat down with her at the kitchen table.

“How was the vacation?” Ellen smiled.

Dean had whispered to Jo that Sam and Gwen had only told her about the Trickster. Jo swallowed hard and clasped Dean’s hand in hers on top of the table. It was best to plow ahead and get the news out. “Mom, Dean and I eloped.”

Ellen nodded slowly. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

“No, Ellen, no, Jo’s not…pregnant.” It sounded like Dean gulped. Hard. “She’s not.”

“Mom, no, God! I announce I got married and you think I’m knocked up?” She’d predicted that back in Vegas.

She pursed her lips a moment. “Damn. Are you sure you’re not? I wouldn’t be averse to a couple of grandbabies. I’m not getting any younger, you know. You’d better get on that.”

Jo blinked, then rolled her eyes, smacked Dean lightly on the arm and crossed her legs. “She’s joking. She thinks this is funny.”

Dean cleared his throat, his fingers tightening around hers. “Let me guess. You already knew?”

Ellen smiled and sat back. Was that a picture of Castiel on her shirt? “Sweetie, you two are practically glowing with newlywed bliss. Besides, I do recognize a wedding band-engagement ring set when I see it.” She held out her hand. “Let me see, Jo.”

She released Dean's hand and slid her hand across the table.

"That's a beautiful ring. You pick it out, Dean?"

Dean sat back. "I did pick it out. Sam called Bobby?"

"I doubt he did." Ellen shifted position, releasing Jo's hand. "So, was it a completely impulsive decision or did you think about the afterward at all?"

Jo glanced at Dean. “We’re taking it a day at a time.”

“You taking his name? Traveling with them? Or something else?”

She and Dean had only begun talking about how to work out a good arrangement, so of course her mother went right to the hard questions. While they’d decided on a beginning, Jo knew it was far from really decided. They were going to pick at it and rearrange until they finally had something to suit them.

“I want her to take my name,” Dean said, “but we’re still discussing the pros and cons of it.”

“Like, no reason to give the big bads another Winchester to go after. Still, I like tradition on that. I don’t know if I’ll really feel married unless I do take Winchester.”

“And all the name is,” he added.

Jo nodded. “And all it is. As for hunting, we thought we’d try out keeping two teams, meeting up every couple weeks, like we were doing.”

Ellen’s nod was slow, thoughtful. “I see. Well, I might as well tell you while we’re on the subject. I’m semi-retiring from hunting and field work.”

“Mom?” She frowned. The idea of Ellen semi-retiring any time soon hadn’t occurred to Jo. She’d known her mother was slowing down physically, but to semi-retire already?

“I’m thinking I’d like to go back to being a spotter, maybe get a place close so I can help Bobby and, of course, see all of you troublemakers when you’re in town. You and Gwen do fine on your own, Jo, and I find I’m actually not as worried about you as I used to be. I’m still anxious for you of course, but not desperate like I was. You and Gwen make a team, like Sam and Dean, and I’m a creaky, cranky third wheel.”

“You’re not,” Jo protested.

Beside her, Dean leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “Is something wrong, Ellen?”

“No. I’d say something is pretty right. Don’t worry about me. I’ll keep busy. Thought I’d start looking for a place to live, maybe see if our storage unit is still there and drag out everything. It was set on automatic payments so unless the account ran out of cash, it should be there. This isn’t a quick decision. I’ve been thinking about it for four or five months now. Don’t look so surprised, either of you. Jo, you know the reason I found you to begin with was because I thought I could protect you if I was with you. Carthage blew that idea right out of the water. I couldn’t stop you from dying and I won’t be able to stop it if it happens again. Besides, I’m holding the two of you back.”

“No, you’re not. You’re an essential part of our team, like…like Bobby is to Sam and Dean.”

Her mother’s smile was gentle and a bit wry. “And how often does Bobby actually go out on the job with them?”

It was a good point.

“He has his own life and it’s time I got back to mine. I need to be me again, Jo, and let’s face it, I was only hunting to try to keep you safe and be near you. If you’re coming here all the time, I’ll see you plenty and we already covered the safety bit.”

Dean placed a hand on Jo’s leg, giving it a light squeeze. “Sounds like you’ve made up your mind, Ellen.”

“I have, but if something particularly juicy catches my eye, I’m willing to head out to the field. Anyway, those boxes of Gwen’s…. There’s a lot there to go through and there’s more information than I’ve seen in one place aside from Bobby’s collection of books. Dean, that side of your family really does go way back. As meticulous as some of those records are, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were able to trace them throughout Europe.”

“Seriously?” He sounded surprised. “I always thought Samuel was talking out his ass on that one.”

“Point is, I can put my skills to use making those papers into a database of information. Sam thinks digitizing it all is the way to go, putting it all in a computer so we can cross-reference easier, maybe even put some of it online for other hunters to find -- an encyclopedia of the weird and cold cases up for grabs kind of thing.”

Jo pondered the idea. If anyone could whip that information into something usable, her mother could.

“That’s actually a great idea, Ellen. No one’s tried before?”

“There’ve been attempts to organize over the years, but nothing like what we’re considering. I think we’ll start by just getting it all in a computer first, then make sense of it and decide what to do with it for sure. Even if we don’t put it online, you can have it on a file on your laptops.”

Jo covered Dean’s hand with hers. “It’ll be a lot of computer work, mom. Are you sure you want to wrestle with one for the sort of hours it’ll take to set it up?”

“Sam says he can get me going, that it’s not really as hard as I think.”

“He always says that,” Dean pointed out.

Ellen laughed. “That he does, but I trust him.” She looked at Dean. “I guess I can call you ‘son’ and really mean it now.”

“Just don’t call me ‘late for dinner’.”

“Smartass.”

“Better than being a dumbass.”

“Speaking of…. Want to hear all about Garth’s latest fiasco?”

“You had me at ‘Garth’,” Jo replied. “Do tell.”

Dean put an arm around her, drawing her closer and Jo pressed against him as her mother went into a long, drawn out story of Garth’s latest case. The telling of their news had been easier than she’d thought. Now, there was only Bobby left to tell.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sam and Gwen were acting funny around each other. At first, Dean had chalked it up to the information Castiel had shared, but as one day of strange turned into four of them, he asked Sam to help him with Ellen’s car and made sure the car was far enough from the house that no one would overhear them.

Popping the hood, he inquired, “Dude, what happened between you and Gwen? You’re acting all weird.”

Sam scuffed a foot on the ground, hands in his pockets. “Yeah…. I sort of kissed her.”

“Someplace interesting I hope.”

“Dean.”

He peered at the engine. “When did you kiss her?”

“About twelve hours or so after Cas told us the truth.”

Dean whistled and glanced at him. “Thought I was a fast worker, Sammy, but that? Wow. Twelve hours between cousin and kissing cousin. That’s impressive.”

“I didn’t mean to,” he said, turning and leaning against the car. “It was an accident.”

“An accident? You accidentally kissed her?” He stood up straight. “How do you accidentally kiss someone? Not like you can trip and your lips lock.”

“We’d disagreed about something, it got heated, we fought, I was holding her down and I just…did it. I kissed her. She was threatening to scream and I thought ‘I have to shut her up’.”

“And you thought kissing her was the way to go.”

Sam sighed, a faraway expression in his eyes. “She looked so…freakin’ hot right then, her hair coming out of the braid, shooting daggers at me with her eyes, body all heaving --”

“Okay, I don’t need a play-by-play, just an overview.”

“I wanted to do it so badly, so I did.”

Dean leaned beside him and crossed his arms. “She kiss you back?”

“Did she ever. I think if I hadn’t moved off of her she would have kissed me.”

He whistled low again. “You are hooked, man. Take her out, do the date thing, do the, uh, bedroom thing.”

Sam shook his head, staring down at the ground. “I can’t. I told you before, it’s complicated.”

“You need to learn the difference between good complicated and bad complicated. This here, you and her?” He gestured with one hand. “That’s the good kind. Ruby was the bad kind. This is a good thing, Sam. She’s a hunter, raised to know about it all. She knows the life, the risks, everything. You want a woman who’ll get your issues? She’s right there. What are you waiting for?”

He blinked, frowned, and half smiled. “Are you giving me a re-run of the speeches I gave you about Jo?”

That stopped him for a second because actually, he was. “Maybe.”

“Dean,” Sam laughed a little, “I don’t need the speech, okay? Maybe she does understand and all of that. I still…. It’s complicated.”

“You’re making it complicated. Take my advice. Swallow the fear, take her out, and start getting personal.”

Sam didn’t reply to that, directing a pointed look at the car engine instead. “You really want help with that?”

“Nah. You can go back to getting Ellen set up on the computer.”

When Sam had gone, Dean sighed. He was going to have to be a bit more subtle in his speech next time. Recycling Sam’s own words wasn’t going to cut it. Sam was going to need prodding towards Gwen, though it sounded like she wouldn’t need much towards him. Maybe he should suggest Gwen take Sam out? Or have Jo do it?

~~~~~~~~~~

Sam and Dean knew where Gwen was, Samuel could feel it. Gwen had liked Sam right from the beginning and it had been obvious she’d liked Dean, too. Since he already knew she hadn’t run to any of the Campbells when she’d left, it had to have been those two she’d gone after.

He opened Neal’s journal on his desk and stared at the contents. Neal’s notes on that particular case were extensive and he’d devoted many pages of his journal to it and the aftermath. Samuel had read over this section a million times already and knew it all by heart. The picture that was supposed to be there was missing (he suspected nosy Arlene of taking it), but he didn’t need it. He’d never forget how Mia Carys was the spitting image of her daughter Gwen. Vaguely, he wondered if her genes were just that strong or if she’d used some sort of spell to achieve that.

There was still time before 2013, a few months in which to find Gwen or one of the other lost sacrifices listed there.

Samuel perused the pages and made a vow to himself. If he didn’t find Gwen by May, he’d look to the first on the list of sacrifices the Campbells had saved over the years. With Gwen no longer his insurance -- a contingency plan in case the deal with Crowley had gone south, which it had -- he’d look for that first sacrifice. When he found her, he’d hand her over to Mia for the price of having that first request once the ancient god was raised. Mia would agree. She needed him and the information he had. And if the first on that list was out of reach, he’d move through the rest of that list.

Soon he’d have Mary back and everything would be…perfect.

Samuel smiled and closed the journal.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bobby’s flight got in at 9:50 in the morning. By 11:30, Jodie was dropping him off. Ellen looked out the window. Jodie had one helluva tan and Bobby looked like he’d spent the weeks under a rock instead of in sun. They hugged before Jodie got back in her car and left.

Hmm, no kiss, Ellen mused. Because they know someone’s probably watching? Or because it really was a friend vacation?

Ellen held out a fifty before Bobby was even through the door all the way. “Here.” Despite Sam and Gwen’s help and then Uzziel’s, she’d pretty much failed the bet during the hours on her own.

“You’re conceding defeat?” He set his bags down and came to the table. “I thought we’d have to argue.”

“Just take it and don’t rub it in, okay old man?”

Taking the bill, he slipped it into the pocket on his shirt. “Make it look easy, do I?”

“I bow to your expertise.” Ellen made a half-hearted bowing gesture.

“No bowing necessary. Just a few ‘your majesty’s’ now and then. Anything particularly strange happen while I was gone?”

“First things first. You and Jodie?”

“Friends, like I told all of you trash minds. Dean’s present was unnecessary. We kept two rooms and had a great time. I’ll torture you with pictures and video later, but I didn’t bring back presents so don’t ask.”

Reaching onto the chair beside her, she picked up the t-shirt she’d saved for him and handed it to him. “Well, we got you a present. Or Uzziel did, rather.”

“Uzziel?” Bobby held up the shirt. “Just what I need, Castiel’s mug on my chest. Juicy story behind this?”

Dean had thoroughly enjoyed the full story behind Uzziel’s gift. Ellen had seen the wheels spinning in his mind as he thought up ways to tease Castiel about it.

“Fairly, but not as good as the next part.” She pointed at the chair across from her. “Sit.”

He sat. “Spill.”

“Gwen was adopted.”

“That’s not sit worthy.”

“Last part is.”

“And? Drop my jaw, Ellen.” It was a challenge.

She raised a brow. “Dean and Jo got hitched.”

Bobby’s eyes narrowed. “Am I on candid camera?”

“Nope. Spur of the moment thing, but they’re going to redo the ceremony here with all of us to see it.”

“I go away for three weeks and you all go wild. What trouble did you get into?”

Ellen shrugged. “An angel hit on me and gave me the best kiss I’ve had in years.”

“Cas?”

She laughed. “No, Uzziel.”

“Huh. Sam behave himself?”

“Oh…. He kissed Gwen.”

“Hopefully after they learned she’s not a cousin.” His lips twisted in disgust. “Damn. I go away and then all the interesting things happen.”

Reaching out, she patted his hand. “Good to have you home.”

“Yeah, good to be home.”

“I’m officially passing the reigns back to you, but I, uh…. I figured out that cycle you were smirking about. The way I figure it, you’ve got about an hour to get unpacked and settled in before the phones start going off again.” She got up. “Sorry I can’t stay to help. I’ve got a date tonight.”

“Angel boyfriend?”

“No. Sam. He says I need a relaxing afternoon out, so he’s taking me to lunch and a movie.”

“Pity date.”

“Hey, at least I know he won’t hit on me like the last guy I saw a movie with.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Their second wedding wasn’t any fancier than the first.

A friend of Bobby’s was officiating and it was held in Bobby’s living room.

Jo came down the stairs. Bobby was waiting at the bottom. He’d agreed to give her away, since he sometimes acted like a father to her. Jo thought she detected a bit of moistness at his eyes, but didn’t say anything. She was a little teary herself. Gwen smiled, squeezed her hand, and walked into the room to take her place across from Sam and Dean. Sam was Dean’s best man, though had there ever been any doubt? Dean was wearing his good jeans and newest t-shirt and Jo wore a dress.

She didn’t wear dresses often, though a part of her really enjoyed the girly-ness of them. Even adult women weren’t immune to twirly skirts, she decided. Her dress was a simple sundress in baby pink. Jo left her hair down, loose and slightly curled, the way Dean liked it.

As she approached him on Bobby’s arm, she realized that this moment was perfect. It had everyone they loved present, there to help them celebrate the beginning of a new chapter of life.

~~~~~~~~~~

She was gorgeous. That was all Dean could think of as Jo walked towards him. She was beautiful and she was all his. The choice he’d made to pursue her had been the right one.

“You hurt her, I hurt you,” Bobby told him in a low, gruff voice as he placed Jo’s hand on Dean’s.

“What if she hurts me?”

“Then hurting her would be Ellen’s job.”

Dean grinned and glanced at Ellen, who wasn’t even trying to pretend she wasn’t bawling like a baby. She had a box of tissues on her lap and was steadily working her way through it. Even Jodie was a little misty eyed. Behind them, he saw Castiel appear, bringing with him Uzziel, Abigael, and a startled Chuck Shirley. Chuck met his eyes and suddenly grinned wide, as though very pleased by this ceremony. Dean wondered if Chuck was still having visions or if those had ended with Sam taking that dive into the cage. It was something to ask him later. He nodded once and returned his attention to Jo.

They’d written their own vows and it hadn’t been the agonizing experience he’d always imagined it would be. He’d had a ton of things he’d wanted to say. Editing had been the problem. Dean thought he easily could have talked for hours.

Jo was first, her voice trembling and husky as she spoke, her vow shorter than his, but no less emotional.

“I was lost in a terrible place and you found me and brought me home. You gave me back myself and made me feel whole. I love you, Dean Winchester, and I’ll go anywhere you ask as long as we’re together. You’re my husband until death.”

He grasped her hands in his, feeling them shake, and gave them a light squeeze. She hadn’t looked nervous in Las Vegas, yet did now. “When we first met, I was at a low point and it only got lower from there. I’d reached the bottom and was looking to fight my way back up when an angel brought you back in my life. The impossible became possible. I’ve never felt the way I do when I’m with you. I love you Jo, and I’ve said it in front of everyone. Progress, right? I want you to be my wife until death ends us. Sickness, health, richer, poorer, better or worse, I’ll take whatever comes with you by my side.”

With a kiss, their vows were sealed before friends and family and Dean felt a lightness settle inside him. His life was finally right and it felt good. He was married to the woman he loved and his relationship with Sam had never been better. The future was bright and he couldn’t wait to see what happened next.

~~~~~~~~~~

At the back of the room, God -- disguised as mild-mannered, nervous writer and prophet Chuck, surveyed the gathering with a knowing gaze and pleased grin.

Dean and Jo, he thought, wait until you see what’s in store for you next. One fear down, one to go.

It was time to step things up -- for them, for Gwen and Sam, and even for Castiel and his merry band of angels. The future was indeed bright, but not necessarily easy, for any of them. The next few months were going to challenge all of them in ways they’d not anticipated.