Title: Nothing and Everything

Chapter 31

~~~~~~~~~~

High heels tapped on the linoleum floor. Gina appeared in the doorway.

Bobby laid his suitcase on the bed.

“How’s the investigation coming?”

Opening his case, he laid a few shirts inside it. “It’s being wrapped up.”

“Good. Good.” She nodded. “So, your team has Charlie?”

“Interrogating him now. They should be coming in to give me a report any second.” He finished packing and picked up the holy water that had been in the bottom of his suitcase just in case he’d needed it. Bobby curled his hand tight around the bottle, thumb against the clasp holding it closed. It’d take just a second to pop it open. Gina took a few steps into the room and made a strangled gasp. He looked at her. She was halfway across the floor towards him, standing still, anger in her eyes. Her hands were clenched into tight fists at her sides. Bobby let a tiny, satisfied smile slip free for a bare second. “Something wrong…Gina?”

“You hunter bastard,” she replied in a sweet tone.

Sauntering to the light, he flipped it off to reveal the devil’s trap he’d been working on surreptitiously during the week. “You mean this?” His own tone was innocent. “Don’t you like my work anymore? You liked it ten years ago. Then again, you’re not really Gina, are you? I think this is the best trap I’ve drawn in a long time. Maybe even since Crowley.” He turned the light back on. “Thoughts on the matter? A colorful metaphor or two perhaps?”

Ellen had been right. A possessed Gina had almost had him before he’d realized what was going on. It had taken him a distressingly long time to figure it out, too, and yet Ellen had suspected from the beginning of that initial meeting.

Helluva gut instinct on those Harvelle women, he reflected. Ellen was going to be gloating for days. He might just have to foot the bill for a real spa trip to make it up to her for not believing her. Right now, he was rather glad she’d sat outside with Jo spying on the place. It had been convenient that Dean hadn’t had to go far to get them.

“Nice story you gave me. Even had me running in circles for awhile trying to put it all together.”

Her chin lifted a fraction. “Correction. It had your team running around. Did you think we all don’t know what Dean Winchester looks like? And the convenient applicant. I remember hearing through the grapevine that Dean got himself hitched and then Sam followed suit. Where’s Sam and his bride right now? I mean, we’ve got Dean and his accounted for. Not to mention your pretty toy. What’s her name again? Ellen?” She put her hands on her hips. “And who’s baby did I spy Dean carrying all over my facility? Was that….” She drew in a breath, all excited glee. “Was that a future generation of Winchesters? I’ll have to spread that news around. Wonder how that tidbit stayed a secret?”

“Touch that baby and any one of about twenty hunters will track you down, not to mention the angels that can obliterate your ugly ass with a single touch.”

“It’s news, Bobby. I can’t not share it.” Her eyes blinked to red and Bobby uncapped the holy water. That was news to him. He’d been expecting the standard black. Interesting. Crossroads demons generally didn’t travel far from their roads, yet she’d traveled to meet him that day and lure him here. Had it been her idea to bring him here or Crowley’s -- trying to tie up a loose end?

“Can’t share it if you’re completely dead.” He closed the case and zipped it up. “So tell me: how’s your big boss these days?” Crowley was still claiming to be king of hell from what he’d heard and no one had been arguing the case. At least not that he’d heard. He supposed some of Lucifer’s disgruntled followers might be contesting it.

She licked her lips, a quick flick of her tongue. “He’s handing out new assignments.”

“Ain’t any crossroads close enough to this building for you to be working them.”

“Not today, no.” She smiled. “But there used to be. All buried down beneath that lawn out back. They never tore up the original road, just built over it. The progress of the modern age…or modern when this place was built. It may have been more dirt than anything, but it was still a road.”

Curious. “Why put you here?”

Her eyes switched back to blue and she shrugged. “It’s become prudent to make use of the old roads, the forgotten ones that do still exist. It’s the latest in assignments.” Gina paced the boundaries of the symbol, keeping her attention on him. “Desirable even.”

There couldn’t be many people who’d remember where the old roads were, so what had Crowley reassigning his crossroad demons to crossroads Siberia? “You must’ve pissed him off good to get this detail, sister. Can’t be a lot of action going on here. Not a ton of deals going down.”

“You’d be surprised at just how many deals do go down in places like this.” She laughed. “And I never pissed him off. I’m one of his best. This, as irksome as the location is, is for my protection.”

“Why is Crowley reassigning his demons to forgotten crossroads? What is he protecting you from?” A demon protecting other demons just seemed out of place. Was there a very real threat to Crowley’s little kingdom of hell? A threat so great that he was pulling his demons out of established assignments and hiding them away?

“He has his reasons and they’re none of your concern.”

“Answer me.”

“No.”

He sent an arc of holy water towards her and though she backed up, against the boundary of the symbol, it still splashed her. Her flesh sizzled, an angry scream leaving her. “Care to try that again?”

April appeared in the doorway, not stepping into the room. She grasped the doorframe with her hands. Her eyes went black. “Because he has been picking us off, if you must know. That’s why he’s busily reassigning all those who’ll take his orders.” She snorted, her attention going to Gina. “For a high and mighty crossroads demon, you’re dumb as spit. I told you he was working on a trap, but oh no, you could handle him.” She shook her head, eyes going back to normal, scorn in them. “Should have listened to me.”

“Let me out.”

“Only if you take care of him this time, then do the Winchester brother. The nosy blond bitch is all mine. I have a score to settle with Jo from way back.” Crouching, she pulled a knife and scratched away the edge of the trap.

The lights in the building went out. Bobby heard the crash of glass breaking and an alarm began to screech. Strong hands grabbed him and he went flying, hitting the wall with such force that he forgot how to breath.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dean winced as he tried to stand up straight. His lower back wasn’t cooperating and he pressed a hand to it. He was going to need a hot shower, pain pills, and Jo working for at least an hour on his back before standing up straight was possible. Why couldn’t things be simple and easy just once?

The facility was a mess and he’d realized somewhere in the middle of the fight that many of the residents were dead. They had to be. No way at least one of them wouldn’t have woken up and come to see what was going on. They hadn’t exactly been silent. Exorcising demons never was. They tended to try to kill you if you couldn’t get them contained in a trap first. Even then, some of them had enough power to reach out of a trap.

He and Bobby stood over Gina’s body and Jo was across the cafeteria beside April’s body. Both women had been dead before being possessed. The exorcism hadn’t freed their souls because they’d already been gone. He wondered if they’d died in the middle of the attack Charlie had told them about or if that had happened on the way to the hospital. Charlie, jerk he was, had gotten lucky. He was both alive and unable to be possessed by a demon. The fact that the two demons in the women had been upset over his tattoo indicated that there’d been a third demon present. Where had that demon gone?

He gestured towards Gina’s body. “You got any more demonic ex-girlfriends running around?”

Bobby knelt and closed her eyes with two fingers. “She was a normal civilian when I met her.”

“They don’t stay normal for long around any of us, do they?”

“Never.”

A fresh spasm hit him and Dean forced himself to stand tall despite the pain. It took a good chunk of his willpower to do that. “Damn it,” he muttered.

“Dean?” Jo picked up her container of holy water. There was maybe an inch left. Capping it, she approached him. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” She was one to ask. She had scratches on her forehead that were oozing blood and a swelling lump on her jaw from her fight with April. She was going to be a mess in the morning.

She gave him a quick once over. “Liar. It’s your back again, isn’t it? You can’t keep getting thrown against walls, sweetheart. I keep telling you that.”

“It wasn’t a wall, it was a desk.” The front desk in the office to be exact and it was pretty well destroyed.

Bobby staggered against a table as he got to his feet and grabbed onto the edge of it to steady himself.

“Same difference. We’ll have to swing by CVS, pick up some icy hot.”

He cleared his throat and jerked a thumb towards the doors to the outside. A good breeze was coming in where Dean had tossed April through them for the punch she’d landed on Jo. “We’d best get moving before the cops show.” He moved towards those doors.

“Can you drive with your back hurting?” She fell into step beside him.

“Let me grab my case,” Bobby said, heading towards the hallway in a gait that looked more like he was lurching than walking. “I’ll meet you at the car.”

“Of course I can drive.” Dean grimaced as another spasm attacked his back. “No sweat, Jo.”

“Bull.” She grabbed his arm to stop him and held out her hand. “Gimme the keys.”

“No.”

“Dean.”

“I can drive, Jo. Geez.”

“I drive to the motel or Bobby does.”

“He’s crouched over like the hunchback of Notre Dame. He’s not driving my car.”

“Check your own posture. You’re twins right now.”

He heard faint sirens in the distance and dug the keys from his pocket. If he kept arguing with her they’d all still be here when the cops showed up. “Fine, but if you scratch her --”

“When have I ever scratched her? I know what she means to you.”

Jo rarely drove the Impala, but he had to admit that the few times she had, she’d not done one thing that made Dean regret letting her drive.

As Jo pulled out of the parking lot a moment later, Bobby spoke up from the backseat. “What happened to that Charlie guy you took out back?”

Jo turned right into an alley, then made a left onto the next street, taking a circuitous route to the motel. She glanced at Dean. “He’s contemplating the sad direction his life has taken.”

“You left him tied up in the shed,” Bobby translated.

“Maybe next time he’ll think twice about propositioning the hot married coworker.” Her smile was barely visible. “Why don’t you call mom, Dean. Have her pack us all up and be ready to go when we get there?”

“Already on it,” he told her, holding the phone up to his ear.

~~~~~~~~~~

They were ready for disembarkation. Gwen had done a triple check on the room and their suitcases had already been picked up.

“I’m going to miss the beard,” she told him, watching him swipe a warm cloth along his jaw.

“Miss it all you like, it’s not returning if I have any say in it.”

Chuckling, she went to the balcony and carefully opened the door, stepping outside and holding the door so Sam could join her. He eased the door shut for her. It didn’t make a sound.

She smiled. Finally, a moment on their balcony without the smoker next door outside too. The rising sun against the water was beautiful, the air fresh and clean. She almost didn’t want to go home. Almost.

Sam put an arm around her. He didn’t make a sound, fingers touching her chin, tipping it up to kiss her. His lips touched hers…and the door slammed next door, followed quickly by the click of a lighter and the sound of a two (or more) pack a day smoker getting his early morning fix. No way that guy didn’t smoke two or more packs a day. As often as he was out there?

“Wow,” she whispered and leaned back. “Not once this entire cruise did we get to sit or even stand out here without a cloud of smoke.”

“It is tragic,” Sam replied, reaching for the door and holding it open so she could go inside. “Maybe we should just get breakfast and wait on the upper deck.”

“Sounds good to me.”

With a last look around their room, and check of the small safe, they headed for the breakfast buffet. While she’d had fun these past days, she was ready to go home and go back to work. Not finding anything resembling a job on this trip had been a disappointment.

They ate, then went onto the deck. She set her carry-on bag down at her feet and crossed her arms, resting them on the railing. Sam copied her pose.

“Long way down,” he said.

Gwen stared down at the water, her gaze drawn there. It was a long way down. “What do you think it’s like to drown? To sink into the water and feel your lungs filling up….” Where had that come from? She couldn’t stop thinking it however. The water slapping up against the ship was almost hypnotic. It’d be so easy to climb over the railing and let herself fall. The water would be cool, soaking her clothes, making them weights about her. Would the current drag her under? “Would it be cold?” She leaned over, raising on her tiptoes.

Sam drew in a sharp breath. From the corner of her eye she saw him shake his head like he was shaking off water. “It’d be terrible.”

His voice sounded like it was coming from far away. She couldn’t seem to pull herself from watching the water, blinking, lips parting. Her heart beat a bit faster.

“I’d rather go out fighting some monster and saving the world than to drown. Talk about bad ways to go.” A snort of laughter left him. “Shot down,” he warbled softly in a far better voice than Dean had for singing, “in a --”

“ -- blaze of glory,” she finished with him, the words kicking that weird malaise from her. She was only tired, Gwen decided, lowering back onto flat feet. It’d been a long week and she needed a vacation from their honeymoon. She tore her gaze from the water, smiling. “Bob Jovi.”

“It’s a decent song. Sort of fits, you know? Except the glory part. Dean sings it sometimes when he thinks no one’s listening. Usually in the shower.”

She turned from the railing and found Kathy, Katie, and Kerry behind them staring at them, their arms linked. No, that wasn’t creepy in the slightest. “Hi girls. Did you have fun this week?”

Kathy’s smile was almost rueful. “It was educational.” Right then, she seemed far older than her years.

Kerry tilted her head a little to one side. “We enjoyed meeting you.”

Katie glanced at her friends. Maybe they were sisters. They’d never said. “We’ve known a lot of people, but you’re both…unique. Different.”

“We respect different.” Kathy unlinked her arm from Kerry’s.

All three seemed older right then.

Sam lifted the camera. “Last picture before we disembark?”

They sighed, smiled, and nodded.

“Why not?” Katie put her arms around Kerry and Kathy’s shoulders. The three looked innocent and angelic in their light green dresses and long hair.

“We’ll remember you.” The way Kerry said it gave Gwen the sudden idea that they’d be on the lookout for them in the future. It made her uncomfortable, though she wasn’t sure exactly why. She just knew that she didn’t really want to see these three girls again.

“I doubt we’ll forget any of you,” she replied.

A number was called over the PA system and Sam bent, picking up their carry-on bags. “That’s us.” He handed Gwen’s to her.

“Have a good trip back to South Dakota.” Kathy stepped to one side. Kerry stepped to the other, parting their line, and Katie backed up, then followed Kerry, giving Sam and Gwen a straight line towards the stairs.

“Thanks. Have a good trip home yourselves.” They’d never said where exactly they were from, only vague references to the area and islands.

“We always do.” Kathy joined Katie and Kerry.

Smiling wider, the three said something together in a language that Gwen didn’t recall having heard before. It was lyrical and pretty.

“What’s that mean,” Sam asked, shouldering his bag.

Katie shrugged. “May the gods and goddesses shine their favor upon you on your journey.”

Kathy, Katie, and Kerry put their hands in prayer position.

“Okay.” Gwen nodded, fully ready to get away from the three and finally be on dry land again. “We’d better go or we won’t make our flight.”

At a last glance, the three were still standing on the deck, watching them.

Gwen reached for Sam’s hand, linking her fingers with his, and was relieved when they were lost in the crowd of people leaving the ship.

~~~~~~~~~~

The three girls stayed on the deck until it was deserted, the passengers gone and the crew occupied elsewhere.

“Well, that was a waste of a weeks hunt,” Kerry said, braiding her hair into a long thick plait. “That’s the last time we let you pick the marks, Katie.”

“I had fun anyway,” Katie replied, also braiding her hair. “They were a nice couple and it’s not often we’re beaten in our own territory.”

“They certainly were a challenge.” Kathy walked beside the railing, one hand trailing along it. “I’d been looking forward to drowning them. I really wanted to carry them down with us and thought we had them there at the end, too. I must be losing my touch.”

“Win some, lose some,” Kerry sighed.

“It’s been a long time since we went up against anyone strong-willed like that.” Katie smiled. Sam’s strength of will had been the most she’d felt from a human in a very long time, but Gwen hadn’t exactly been without strength of will. Several times during the days she’d resisted them. The closest they’d come to taking over her will had been during that dance tutorial, but she’d combated it with alcohol. Mild alcoholic intake dulled receptivity to their touch in a small percentage of humans. Gwen, and apparently Sam as well, had been that small percentage. “His strength became her strength. As it should be.” A husband should be there for his wife, giving her strength and support when her own strength flagged.

“You admire them for that,” Kathy asked, as though admiring a human, two humans, was unthinkable.

“Don’t you?” Katie couldn’t not admire them.

Kerry snorted. “It’s bad for business. Let’s go. We’ll try one of the islands this time.”

They climbed over the railing and dove into the water.

Katie let her sisters swim ahead a ways, then surfaced. She spoke a few words in her native tongue, then repeated them in English. “Sam and Gwen, my blessing upon you both.” It wasn’t often mortals resisted them, perhaps three or four in a century. Few had the ability and those who did received a very rare and special gift: a mermaid’s blessing. Her sisters may have forgotten that old custom, but Katie hadn’t. She blessed the two who’d met them and hadn’t succumbed to a watery death, the magic of her blessing flowing forth towards the shore in a shimmering light only she could see.

Something good would come to Sam and Gwen. What that good was, Katie didn’t know. It was up to the gods and goddesses to decide.

She joined her sisters and with a flick of their tails, the mermaids left the harbor for the open sea.

~~~~~~~~~~

While Jo had been ready for the questions about what had happened to her face, she hadn’t been ready for Gwen’s demand to check over each scratch before they’d left the airport. Gwen dragged her into the restroom.

“Gwen, I’m fine. It was an accident. I fell off the training ropes trying to beat my time through the course.”

“Of course you did.” She poked at one still very raw, aching cut with a finger. “Did you put antibiotic cream on this?”

“Yes.”

“I still think this bruise on your jaw looks like someone slugged you.”

“I fell hard, okay? Can we go home already?”

Lips pursed, Gwen studied each cut until she finally nodded. “I guess they’re not bad, they just look bad.”

“What I said.”

Back at the house, Jo held Jack while Dean, Sam, and Gwen unpacked the car and when they were all inside, she said, “I assume you have pictures.”

Gwen and Sam looked at each other. “A few,” Sam replied in a cautious tone.

Dean slapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Whip them out. I’ll make popcorn.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Loose picture #1:

“Ahh, the happy newlyweds,” Jo cooed, though they weren’t exactly newly wed.

The picture was of them on formal night, the only picture they said they’d bought. Gwen was in her tiny black dress and Sam in his suit, facing each other with goofy grins.

“The drunk newlyweds,” Dean corrected, pointing a finger at the image, “because that is so Sam’s shit-faced look.”

Jo peered closer at the picture. He was right. That was Gwen’s totally soused grin. “Oh. Yeah. I see it now.”

“We hadn’t had that much,” Sam protested.

Gwen reached up from her place on the floor and patted his knee. “Yeah, we had. We were totally blitzed.” She continued to unpack gifts and purchases in bags and boxes. “I have no excuse for the excess drinking except I was on a freakin’ vacation. Honeymoon at that. Not to mention the cocktails were like candy.”

Dean perked up at that. He had the sort of sweet tooth that meant Jo didn’t keep much candy in the house or he ate it all. “Like candy?”

“There were all kinds of beer, too. Any kind of drink you could possibly want. They even had some of the ale Gwen drinks on board, though she usually got the mixed drinks.” Sam reached for one of the bags and tossed it at Dean. “Got you something.”

Opening the bag, Dean pulled out a t-shirt in colors so bright that Jo squinted. “You go color blind, dude? This thing is hideous.”

“It is, isn’t it? Remember the pink flowered shirt, Dean,” he said with a devious little smirk. “I said I’d find you something just as bad some day.”

“I’m not wearing this.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Can’t make me.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Ten.”

“You want to give me that ten now or later?”

Dean tossed the shirt over his shoulder. It sailed over the couch and landed in the middle of the floor. “I’m not giving you ten bucks because I’m not wearing it. Where’re the rest of the pictures?”

Sam laid the iPad on the table. “Right here.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Pictures #24, 25, 26, 27, 28:

“Explain,” Dean demanded, taking Jack from Jo and bouncing him lightly on his knee. Jack laughed in delight.

Jo decided she must’ve done a decent job on his back since he wasn’t wincing in the slightest at the action.

Sam was splayed out in a deck chair asleep, his chest bare and a magazine open on it. His shirt was more off than on. On the deck chair beside him were three teenage girls, mouths open and eyes wide with what Jo realized was adoration.

“Sam’s fan club.” Gwen was the one who explained. “Those three girls had absolutely no parental supervision whatsoever. They followed us around, figured out our schedule --”

“What we had of one,” Sam added. “It was freaky how they did that. They’d just appear out of nowhere, like Cas does. Followed us to breakfast, showed up in line behind us at lunch, sat by the pool when we swam….”

“Tried to get Sam to go up for the best pecs contest. Yeah…they were totally crushing on Sam.”

He snorted. “I think the little one, Katie, had a crush on you, not me. You’re the one she kept touching all the time.”

“You had some girl touching you?” Dean stopped bouncing Jack. “And you didn’t slug her?”

“She was only a teenager and it was just my arm and hand.” Gwen’s answer was distracted as she opened one box, looked into it and frowned. “I don’t remember buying this.”

On the deck beside Sam was a row of empty glasses with tiny umbrellas in them.

Jo turned a speculative glance his way.

“What,” he asked.

“Oh, nothing.”

Gwen held out a package. “Here, Jo. I saw this in Jamaica and thought you’d like it.”

Inside the bag was a pretty light cotton blouse with embroidery all over it.

Reaching out, Dean put a hand under the fabric. “It’s sheer. I like it. I’ll like it more if you wear it with nothing underneath.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” Sam snagged another bag and took out a small shirt, holding it up to Jack. “This is for Jack. We’ve got one from each port.”

The shirt was too big, but he’d grow into it. Jo was pleased that they’d bought Jack gifts, too. Sam had embraced being an uncle.

~~~~~~~~~~

Pictures #115-390:

The scenery was beautiful, the sky and water blue, the ruins even pretty. Jo was starting to want to go on a cruise now. She’d never wanted to before, but after looking at Bobby and Jodie’s pictures and these, it looked like fun.

Dean scrolled to the next picture.

In it, Gwen and Sam flanked a very short man. They were holding beer bottles. Gwen was dressed very un-Gwen-like in a short loose sundress, the straps of her bikini top visible on her shoulders and Sam…. Not Sam’s usual look. He had on baggy shorts, had neglected to button his shirt most of the way, and what was buttoned was done up wrong.

The second of those shots made it clear why. Both he and Gwen had that tipsy look on their faces again.

“That was our bus driver,” Gwen explained. “All he had in his cooler was Mexican beer, but after being in the heat for a couple hours, it was pretty good.”

“She sucked down three in a row on an empty stomach.”

“I was thirsty and it was all there was. Besides, you’re one to talk. You had two and sang dirty Mexican drinking songs with the guide at the back of the bus all the way back.”

“You started it.”

“Sam sang drinking songs?” Dean cast an amused glance at Sam, then at Gwen. “Tell me you got video.” He began to bounce Jack again, who let out a screeching giggle.

“Didn’t think to, no.”

“Man, you must have been completely tanked.” Dean’s expression indicated he wished he could have seen it. “I don’t think you’ve ever sung drinking songs.”

“I know a few.”

“Prove it. Jo, go get a bottle of whiskey.”

She rolled her eyes and ignored the request. “So, this was the ruins at Tulum?” Jo went back a few pictures. The view from the cliff down onto the beach was beautiful.

“Yeah.” Gwen abandoned the case of souvenirs and moved closer, leaning against Sam’s leg. “I was surprised that not a lot of people went on the tour. Out of the entire ship there were only two buses.”

“Those girls showed up there, too,” Sam said, shaking his head. “They didn’t swim and I think they were talking about us when we walked up to get dressed.”

“What was that name they said?” Gwen frowned. “Began with a ‘t’? I know it from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it then.”

“I don’t know. It sounded made up.”

“No, I’ve heard it before…. Wish I could remember from where. I think I wrote it down somewhere to look up later.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Picture #392:

Gwen was in a deck chair, a drink in either hand. One drink had fruit on a stick in it, the other had a tiny umbrella. She had on a big straw had, her large round sunglasses were askew, and a tipsy grin was on her lips.

“I couldn’t decide which drink I wanted --”

“So I got her both.”

“They were mighty tasty.”

“How many times did you get her both drinks?” Dean stared at him.

“Why,” Sam asked with a frown.

“Just curious.”

His brows rose. “Maybe a few….”

Gwen nodded. “Yeah, I’ll admit, I might have been soused in that picture, too.”

“Might?” Dean gestured at the screen. “That look like a sober woman to you?”

Amusement grew in her eyes, but she didn’t reply.

~~~~~~~~~~

Pictures #415-555:

They scrolled through pictures of the open seas, of the ship, and finally found more scenery.

“This was the long stop.” Several pictures were from the ship, focusing on the dock.

“What’s with the pictures of a line?” Jo looked at Sam.

He laughed gesturing with his hands as he spoke. “It was so funny, Jo. We were supposed to be on the ship at seven, no exceptions. This is the line of people who waited until then to start back. And this….” he skipped ahead several pictures to one of a very soaked man being helped by two uniformed people. “This is the drunk who fell off the pier and caused us to leave port an hour late. He had this wild story about how he had to jump in, but it was obvious he fell. He staggered over and was down.”

“How many drinks had you two had by then?” Dean sat back, setting Jack on his lap.

Gwen’s features scrunched up in a frown as she thought. “I’d had a couple of the passion fruit slushie thingies….”

Jo was starting to see a pattern here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Pictures #570-575:

Jo and Dean both squinted, trying to make out the picture. The lighting hadn’t been that great.

“That’s Gwen learning the ‘Thriller’ dance,” Sam supplied.

“Want to see it?” She got up onto her knees. “I think I remember the whole thing.”

“Is that a glass in your hand.” Jo leaned closer.

“Hell yeah. Strawberry mango slushie. I think it might’ve had vodka in it, but I never could taste any alcohol.”

The next two pictures were a bit clearer. Definitely a drink in her hand.

~~~~~~~~~~

Loose picture #2:

“What’s this?” Jo pulled a picture from underneath the pile of daily ship bulletins. It was a picture of Sam and Gwen with a man in a white uniform.

“That’s our souvenir picture from the Captain’s tour of the ship.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “It was godawful expensive, more than any of our other excursions, boring as hell, and took our lunchtime, too. They didn’t even have the decency to feed us and we got out at the single hour of the day when the only food available was ice cream. Do you have any idea how many cones it takes to stop your stomach from grumbling?”

“Ten to fifteen,” Dean answered. “Maybe twenty to twenty-five if you’re really hungry.”

Somehow, it made sense that Dean would know that.

“It was an interesting tour.” Sam took the picture and laid it aside.

Gwen snorted. “The only reason we took it was because we could get away from those girls for three hours. I should’ve stayed in the room and taken a nap. Or gone to tea at the fancy dining room at the other end of the ship. Or, I should have booked a massage.”

“But you didn’t, did you?” Sam’s reply was more than a little testy and Jo concluded that tour was a sore spot between them.

Hastily, she scrolled ahead on the iPad. “So, where were these pictures taken?”

~~~~~~~~~

Pictures #598-783:

Sam touched the screen, backing up a couple pictures. “These were Jamaica. We zip lined, which was pretty fun. Didn’t get out to see Rufus’s buddy though. Not enough time. I wish there’d been time. We’ll just have to get back down there.”

There was a progression in the pictures. Sam started out clean shaven and by the end, he had a good growth of beard on his jaw and his hair barely looked combed.

“Forget about personal hygiene, Grizzly Adams?” Dean raised a brow.

Gwen cleared her throat. “We were on vacation. I told him not to shave all week. I kind of liked the beard. It was sexy.” Stretching up a hand, she slid her fingers along Sam’s jaw.

“I couldn’t wait to shave,” Sam admitted.

“I still shaved my legs,” she told them. “Not gonna not do that.”

Dean nodded. “Jo always shaves her legs. Every two days in the winter and every day in the summer.”

“Good to know,” Sam replied. “Don’t know why we need to know that, but…thanks.”

“Gwen said it first.” Dean shifted Jack, leaning back to toss him up in the air and catch him several times. Jack kicked his feet out and screamed, a big smile on his face.

“One of these days, he’s going to puke when you do that,” Jo warned. It hadn’t happened yet, but in her opinion, it was only a matter of time, especially since Dean liked to do that right after Jack ate.

~~~~~~~~~~

Picture #826:

“That’s weird.” Sam shook his head. “There wasn’t any sun behind them.”

The picture was of the three girls, the ones they’d said had followed them around, a hazy golden glow around their bodies. The pictures leading up to it and the few after it were all okay.

“They were weird,” Gwen said, studying the picture. “Like really weird. Touchy-feely, giggly, plus that whole appearing out of nowhere thing. They creeped me out sometimes.”

Jo made the picture bigger and scrolled up and down. The haze made it look like their legs were a single leg each, blurred together. If it had been an old camera, Jo would have attributed it to the film being damaged, but it was digital. “I have no explanation.”

“It’s just a picture.” Sam shut down the iPad.

“You get seasick?” Dean hastily laid Jack against the burp cloth on his chest as Jo’s prediction came sort of true. Jack spit up all over the cloth. “Do not say ‘you told me so’,” he told her as he handed Jack to her and cleaned it up.

She didn’t say it, though she thought it rather strongly.

“The first couple of days we were okay, but then we were both living on Dramamine.” Gwen pressed a hand to her stomach. “Rough seas at night, just missed a hurricane --”

“Sure it wasn’t the alcohol made you queasy?” Jo tightened her grip on her squirming child and picked up one of the daily schedules, perusing it. It had things like the hairiest chest contest and bingo on it, along with a cigar bar, karaoke party, teeth whitening clinic, sports trivia, and wine tasting. She noticed the daily specialty cocktail listed in one corner. “Hangovers do that.”

“We weren’t hungover and we weren’t tipsy the entire cruise.” Sam crossed his arms.

“Just part of it.” Gwen’s grin was irreverent.

“Which part?” Dean smirked. “All of the waking hours?”

“Did you guys do something besides drink the entire cruise?” Jo finished with the pictures and shifted position to get a better grip on Jack.

“We saw the sights.”

“We stayed in the room awhile.”

Gwen’s cheeks reddened a bit at that, her eyes sparkling. Jo wondered if they’d liked the gift Dean had given them. “Sunbathed. Have you not noticed my enviable tan?”

“Swam and zip lined.”

“Ate.”

Sam nodded. “And ate some more.”

“And kept on eating. Lot of food. You would’ve loved it, Dean.” Gwen made a tall and wide gesture with her hands. “A tower of pies one night at the buffet area. I mean every kind of pie you can think of.”

“In each one of these pictures, you’re either drunk, or holding a frou-frou drink.” Dean backed up a few pictures to one of the both of them, saluting whoever was taking the picture with their drinks. Sam had the tiny umbrella sticking out of his mouth. Once more, he had that tipsy expression.

“They didn’t taste alcoholic, okay,” Sam snapped. “And we were on vacation.”

“The passion fruit something something sunset was yummy. Jo, you could totally make that drink here.”

“She had six of them at the out door movie and was shouting the lines with the characters. She got a whole group doing that.”

“I was a little blitzed.”

“In fact, I think I still might be,” Sam admitted. “The room feels like it’s swaying.”

“I thought that was just me.”

“You had a good time, then.” Dean smiled. “No busman’s holiday this time?”

“Unfortunately, the ship was a dead zone.” Gwen began gathering up the papers they’d laid out. “Nothing remotely supernatural anywhere. We looked. We even hoped for some kind of sea monster at one point, but nothing. I am so ready to get back to work it’s not even funny.”

“Awesome. We’re ready for you to be ready.”

Gwen finished clearing the table off, dumping the papers in the bag they’d come from and setting it aside. “So what happened here while we were gone?”

Jo exchanged a long glance with Dean and tried to shrug casually. “Nothing.”

“You like the spa?”

“Sure.”

They stared at her. Sam quirked a brow. “There was no spa, was there, Jo?”

“Course there was.” Eventually. A day spa. A few hours of beauty treatments instead of a relaxing week. Bobby had paid for it. He’d taken both her and Ellen in and let them choose whatever they’d wanted. Funnily enough, the woman who’d worked on Jo’s feet apparently knew Bobby. Jo found it amusing that he went for pedicures occasionally.

“What was the job,” Gwen coaxed. “Come on, Jo. You didn’t really get hurt on the course out back. You can do it in your sleep.”

“No job,” Dean got up from the table. “It was quiet around here without you two troublemakers.”

“You’re lying.” Sam also got up.

“Prove it.”

Sam stared at him, then grinned and laughed. “Okay. We’ll let this go. What time’s the party, Jo?”

She hadn’t meant to have Jack’s birthday party the day Sam and Gwen got back, but it was the only time everyone could come. “About an hour.”

“I’m unpacking and doing laundry,” Gwen announced.

“Dean, why don’t you fill Sam in on the latest while I get things set up?” She got up, put Jack in the exersaucer in one corner and headed for the kitchen.