but oh what a year

[patrols]

Comments

[cholesterol]

( Dean's sitting with a plate on his lap and a beer by his feet. He's not caught, he's just taking a breather. It's one thing to hold a holiday at the bunker, it's another to be in the middle of forty people. In Elena's hometown. As Elena's boyfriend. With a son and his family running around and the weird tension between him and his best friend.

Kind of like old times there, though. He wishes more of his people were here. That Claire weren't on a hunt and Jody and Donna not full-time sheriffs. But everything in time.

He slides over, picking his glass up. There is indeed room on this step. there. )

Just wanted some quiet. Only so many times you can answer how you and your girlfriend met, and then explain the thirty year gap between then and now. How you holding up? Shaking a lot of hands? Matt's pretty cute, huh?

[decoys]

[Jo takes the seat next to him, taking a sip from her beer before looking back at him with a smirk.]

Matt is pretty cute. But is that really what you want to talk about?

[Because she doesn't think it is.]

I'm fine. I'll feel better when I can get back on the road again. That may be when it'll actually feel real.

[cholesterol]

( His muppet face accompanies a shrug, smiling to himself as he gives her a look. )

You are real. Real as me. Real as my kid. Sam. This house. You're real, Jo.

[decoys]

I know. It still feels a little ... surreal.

[Like eventually she's going to wake up as a ghost again and find that this was all a dream, even if this feels too real to be that.]

I did meet Ben. He's a good kid. How are you doing with all of that?

[cholesterol]

Feel like I'm letting him down every day, like I have a lot to make up for. Like it's impossible. But, this is the first time that maybe, maybe there's a gap to bridge. He confided in me. We're the same, Jo. It's crazy.

( He looks at her. )

Between you and me? I'm maddest at Lisa. His mom. She lied to my face. And, I can't blame her, especially how everything ended up. But I wasn't given the choice. I'm playing from behind.

[decoys]

Not saying you don't have the right to be mad, because it sounds like you do.

[Jo, more than other kids who grew up in the game, straddled the normal and hunter worlds more than most. She went to college, at least for a little while. She mostly grew up in one place.

But when someone's spent their entire life under the gun, it could make it easy to forget that there's still time on the clock.]

And I'm not saying that you shouldn't be upset about the time you missed. But even if you're playing from behind, you're still in the game. And if the questions he was asking me were anything to go by, he's still real curious about you.

[cholesterol]

Yeah, I know. And, it doesn't feel over, or like a longshot. It feels doable. It's just a lot to surmount. Mount? Overcome.

( Words, ugh. )

He knows what it means that he's here. And, it feels pretty damn good.

[decoys]

Good. He's a good kid. Which feels weird to say because I think we're technically around the same age.

[It's what happens when you die in your twenties.]

I like Elena too. Though you do know she is running around descending on people with gifts like some kind of Christmas Fairy.

[cholesterol]

You're a good kid, too. Not that you asked, but I'm 41 now.

( He smirks, taking another sip from his beer. )

I left her alone for a few weeks and she's giving like that. Let her have this. She just got back like, her whole dead friend group, parents, aunt... She knows Sam and I suck at gifts.

( But he did get some gas station gifts for ... Elena, Sam, Allison, Ben, Lisa, Rudy, and, not to be left out, Dickerson. )

[decoys]

So should I be calling you an old man?

[Because that feels like that's what you're saying, Dean.]

Hey, I'm not judging her. I'm just giving you a warning in case you didn't already know.

[cholesterol]

Feel like one. Call me whatever you goddamn please.

( Seriously. Oh my god and Jo and Ellen! Ugh. )

There's very few things Elena and I don't know about one another. She's a talker.

[decoys]

Seems like she's good for you, though.

[Jo tips to the side, giving him a gentle nudge with her shoulder.]

Seems like you're happy for a change.

[cholesterol]

Really.

( He knows. But people seeing it from the outside, he isn't used to. )

Shit, Jo. That's a tall, tall order. Really. Well, maybe I'm doing something right, then.

[decoys]

Maybe it's the last time I saw you.

[When he was ready to commit suicide by Jo.]

But you seem like you're in a way better place. And it's really good to see.

[cholesterol]

I remember that. Osiris, right?

( Things weren't good. Even a little. )

[decoys]

[She nods, because yep. She doesn't remember much of her time as a ghost in between - that's the last clear memory she has.]

I know it was a long time ago for you. But when you're a ghost you hold on to the things that stick.

[cholesterol]

A good time was not had by all.

( But, he is no longer there. )

Had a close call with Sam a year or so back. Vampire nest almost got the better of me. Took a few months to recover.

[decoys]

Glad you did.

[Jo takes a breath, before offering him a softer smile.]

I know I make it my job to give you shit, but it really is good to see you.

[cholesterol]

You too. You're a sight.

( For tired, tired eyes. )

[decoys]

[Jo smiles, before leaning into his shoulder again.]

If I go back to hunting, how long do you think it'll take before Sam stops giving me sad puppy eyes every time?

[Also a tentative ask of how Dean would react to that, to her putting herself in the line of fire again.]

[cholesterol]

That's just his default look. You're thinking of taking it back up? Maybe with a certain partner?

( He indicates Matt, who's in a neighboring room, laughing with Tyler. )

[decoys]

Gotta have someone watch my back.

[So yes, she is thinking about doing it with a certain partner. But that being said:]

It's all I've ever wanted to do. I'm not going to give it up just because I died.

[cholesterol]

Not saying you should. It's in your blood. Just - what's your mom gonna say. You're back, you're alive, and you're going back on the road.

( he's guessing there isn't a third chance. )

[decoys]

I'm not sure she'll be doing much different.

[She has no Roadhouse to go back to. Hunting might be the thing to get her started.]

I don't know. I was also thinking about trying to get a Roadhouse going again, but that's going to take time. And money.

[cholesterol]

Money's not always an issue, we could find a channel somewhere. Not a bad idea, though. Bunker was pretty central for a while because we had this influx of hunters from another world.

( That was a tense time. )