Dying Waves

Nerissa had swam aimlessly through the shimmering water. Question after question floated through her head; why did he tell her to leave? Did she offend him somehow? Was it because she'd tried to attack Dean? Or maybe he just didn't want her around any more?

That was almost a week ago and she had been able to find her way back to the roadhouse without much difficulty. She hesitantly raised her hand and pushed the door open. Everything went silent as she stepped into the bar and she felt her cheeks burn nervously.

"Nerissa?" Ellen questioned in surprise, dropping the towel on the bar top and hurried over to her, "What are you doing here?"

"S-Sam se-sent me a-way," Her teeth chattered as she spoke.

"Son of a bitch." Ellen cursed before turning to her daughter. "Jo, get a blanket."

Jo nodded immediately and returned moments later carrying a large blue blanket and wrapped it tightly around the shaking woman. Ellen glared at the hunters watching and waited until they looked away before ushering the two younger females into the back. Nerissa could tell -just by looking- that Ellen was furious at the Winchester brothers.

Jo went to turn the shower on to help her warm up, only to run a bath after being told that when water hit her legs, her tail made an appearance, and if she was standing up when it happened, she'd end up falling over. They both waited with their backs turned as Nerissa pulled her dress off and climbed into the bath.

"You can turn around now." She stated, folding her arms over her chest as they turned.

"Mom...Am I imagining things or can you see her tail as well?" Jo asked in amazement.

"It's beautiful." Ellen nodded.

"Y-You can touch it if you want." Nerissa offered shyly.

Ellen walked forward and allowed Nerissa to guide her hand forward until her fingers rested on the smooth golden scales. Jo stepped closer as her mom gasped and felt a smile tug at her lips as her hand came to rest on the tail.

"This is incredible." Ellen breathed.

"Thank you." She chirped.

"Where did you get that?" Jo asked curiously, pointing at the water lily tattoo that started at the middle of her ribs and branched down to her hip.

"My whole family had it." She explained softly. "It tells other mermaids what family we're from."

"What family are you from?" Jo looked intrigued as she leaned forward.

"The first family." Nerissa replied. "My parents were the King and Queen."

"We've met an actual princess."

Nerissa couldn't help but giggle as Jo and Ellen smiled at each other in complete amazement. A second past, and Nerissa knew exactly what question was coming next before Ellen even asked.

"So, why did Sam send you away?"

"Gordon caught me and attacked me." She sighed, taking the towel from Jo and drying her body and tail. A moment later it split into legs and she took the large t-shirt and stood up, pulling it on. "I guess Sam didn't want me around because I'm a liability; I can't protect myself because this is the first I've ever come this close to humans. I wouldn't know how to defend myself."

"Oh sweetie." Ellen wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

Ellen gestured for Jo to join the hug and soon, the three of them were smiling as they became tangled in the warm, comforting embrace.
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Nerissa was walking back towards the roadhouse after spending the night swimming at the beach just down the road, when she caught sight of a familiar black car sitting outside. Her thoughts were confirmed when Dean appeared, followed by his brother.

"Dean?" She called before she could stop herself. "Dean!"

"Fish tail?" Dean stared at her in shock, stumbling back slightly as she ran over and threw her arms around his chest.

"I missed you Dean."

"I missed you too, Rissa." He slung one arm around her shoulders as he steadied himself.

She pulled away after a moment and slung her arms around Sam's waist, catching both of them completely by surprise. Sam was even more surprised when she pulled his head down.

"I forgive you." She whispered in his ear. "I know you were trying to keep me safe."

Sam went to reply when the sound of an argument reached them. Dean shared worried glances with both of them as he closed the trunk.

"Sounds like a cat fight." He stated and they headed back to the bar.

"I am your mother, I don't have to be reasonable!" Ellen yelled as Nerissa opened the door.

"You can't keep me here!" Jo shouted back.

"Don't you bet on that sweetie!"

"What are you going to do? Chain me up in the basement?" Jo retorted angrily.

Nerissa paused, glancing -wide eyed- at the brothers, who looked just as shocked as she did. Ellen slammed a chair down as she told Jo that she'd had worse ideas than that and that if she didn't want to stay, then she should go back to school.

"I didn't belong there!" Jo yelled. "I was a freak with a knife collection."

"Yeah, but getting yourself killed on some dusty back road, that's where you belong?"

Jo was the first to notice them and her posture relaxed slightly as she straightened her back. Ellen followed her gaze and frowned slightly at the disruption. Dean did the only thing he could think of and smiled at the older woman, if the situation hadn't been so serious, Nerissa felt like she could've giggled at Dean's uncomfortable expression.

"Guys, bad time."

"Yes ma'am." Sam nodded.

"Yeah, we rarely drink before ten anyway and I don't think Rissa could handle her alcohol." Dean agreed, nudging Nerissa, causing her to nod too.

"Wait, I wanna know what they think of this." Jo walked around the table and approached them quickly.

"I don't care what they think!" Ellen yelled.

"Well, I think Jo is old enough to make her own choices." Nerissa answered, not knowing that she shouldn't get involved. Jo shot her mom a triumphant look until Nerissa continued and it slipped from her face. "But I also think that Ellen knows best because she's your mother and has every right to do what she can to keep you safe."

At that moment, the door opened and a couple walked in carrying two children, all of them wearing matching yellow t-shirts with 'Nebraska is for lover' on the front.

"Are you open?" The man asked.

"No!" Jo yelled.

"Yes!" Ellen shouted at the same time.

"We'll just check out the Arby's down the road." The man stated nervously, jerking his thumb towards the door.

"I'll show you the way." Nerissa chirped, desperate to escape the arguing and remembering the fact that she'd passed a building with Arby's on it on her way back to the Roadhouse.

The couple looked grateful at her kindness as she herded them out the door and into the breezy morning. She started the conversation eagerly as the group walked down the road.
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Nerissa kept one hand securely wrapped around her waist and had her other hand locked around the back of Dean's jacket as they walked down the hallway. Ever since they'd stepped foot inside the apartment block, she'd had a nervous feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"I don't like this place." She whimpered, following them inside the apartment after Sam picked the lock. "It feels wrong."

"I feel kind of bad, snaking Jo's case." Sam stated after reassuring Nerissa that nothing was going to happen to them.

"Well, maybe she put together a good file." Dean offered in response. "But could you see her out here working one of these things? I don't think so."

She finally let go of Dean and sat down on a chair at the table situated in the middle of the room with a loud sigh. Dean smirked at her before asking his brother if he was getting anything.

"No. Not yet." Sam replied.

She watched curiously as Sam pointed something out to Dean, who walked over and stood beside his brother, peering closely at the light switch.

"That's ectoplasm." Dean said in surprise. "Well guys, I think I know what we're dealing with here. It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

Sam rolled his eyes in annoyance at his brothers quick witted statement, whilst Nerissa just looked plain confused at the situation, wondering what the stay puft marshmallow man was.

"I've only seen this stuff like twice. I mean, you have to be one majorly pissed-off spirit to make this stuff." Sam explained.

"Alright, let's find this badass before he snags anymore girls."

"I-Is that Jo?" Nerissa asked as a female voice met her ears.

Dean looked surprised for a moment before he pulled both her and Sam into a gap in the wall. When Jo and a man turned the corner, they waited a few seconds before leaving their hiding place.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dean demanded.

"There you are honey." Jo smiled, a little too sweetly as she went to Dean's side and slipped an arm around his waist. "This is my boyfriend Dean, his buddy Sam and his girlfriend Nerissa."

Nerissa frowned curiously at the term 'girlfriend' seeing as she'd never heard of it before, but seeing the bitter look on Sam's face, she decided it wasn't a good thing and that she didn't like being called it. She waited patiently as Jo asked a few more questions before handing a big wad of money to the man.
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"I'll flip you for the sofa." Jo said to Dean after the four of them had gotten comfortable in the apartment.

"Does your mom know you're here?" He asked.

"No, left a note telling her that Nerissa and I were going to Vegas." Jo replied.

"What, and she bought that?"

"I'm not an idiot, I got Ash to lay a credit card trail straight to the casinos." Jo looked slightly insulted.

"You shouldn't lie to your mom." Dean answered. "You shouldn't be here either."

"She can be here if she wants." Nerissa input from her position on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "She has more knowledge about this than I do."

"Well I am, so untwist your boxers and deal with it." Jo sent a thankful look in Nerissa's direction, though she couldn't see it.

"Where'd you get all that money, anyways?" Sam interrupted.

"At the Roadhouse."

"Hunters don't tip that well." Dean said suspiciously.

"They don't play poker well either." Jo retorted.

Nerissa smiled at the look on Dean's face as Jo walked over and sat on the bed beside her. The blonde haired female reached out and picked up the jewel hanging around her neck as Dean answered his phone.

"This is pretty."

"I got it from my parents." She replied lightly.

Jo shot up when Dean said that it was Ellen on the phone, she hurried over to him and started ordering him not to snitch on her. After a moment, he told Ellen that he hadn't seen Jo or Nerissa and that he would drag them straight back to the Roadhouse if he did. Both females shot him bright smiles as he hung up and put the phone back in his pocket, he rolled his eyes in response and sat down.

"This place was built in 1924." Jo explained, twirling a knife between her fingers as her and Nerissa looked over some blue prints.

Nerissa hadn't understood why they were called blue prints until Sam stopped Jo and Dean from laughing and explained to her what they were.

"It was originally a warehouse, converted into apartments a few months ago."

"What was here before 1924?" Dean asked.

"Nothing, an empty field."

"So, most likely scenario, someone died bloody in the building." Sam added. "Now he's back and raising hell."

"I told you I didn't like this place, that it was wrong." Nerissa looked slightly angry as they glanced at her.

She zoned out once again as they continued their research. She frowned and rolled her eyes and she heard Dean and Jo start to argue again.
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"So, you gonna buy me dinner?" Jo asked, holding her emf transmitter up as they walked.

Sam had gone to the bottom floors of the building, and unfortunately, Nerissa had gotten stuck with Dean and Jo who were constantly at each others throats.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.

"It's just, if you're gonna ride me this close, it's only decent you buy me dinner."

"Oh that's hilarious." He scoffed. "You know, it's bad enough I lied to your mom, but if you think i'm letting you out of my sight. Don't know if you've noticed, but you're the spirit's type."

"Exactly." Jo responded, glancing at him.

"You wanna be bait?"

"Quickest way to draw it out and you know it." Jo scowled as Dean chuckled. "What?"

"I'm so regretting this." He replied.

"You know, if had it up to here with your crap."

Nerissa let out a huff as the pair began to argue once again, they were never going to get anything done with the way those two were acting.

"Would you stop arguing!" She barked, glaring at them as they fell silent.

Nerissa's nose twitched slightly as they continued walking and turned the corner, coming into a hallway with a strange looking hole in the bottom of the wall.

"What's that?" She asked curiously, pointing at it.

"Wall vent." Dean explained.

He continued towards the next hallway as Jo held the emf transmitter in the air and walked backwards towards the vent. Jo was taken off guard as Nerissa suddenly grabbed her arm, pushing her behind her, she stumbled as the mermaid crouched in front of the vent and hissed threateningly at it.

"What are you doing?"

"What's going on?" Dean asked as he reappeared and approached the two.

"I don't know." Jo replied. "One minute I was standing in front of the vent and then she pushed me out of the way and began hissing at it."

"Rissa?" Dean crouched beside her and set a hand on the back of her neck, instantly calming her.

"There was something there." Nerissa replied after a moment, staring intently at the wall vent.

Dean shared a worried look with Jo as she crouched beside them and pointed her transmitter at it. It started beeping like crazy and Dean congratulated her on finding her first spirit as he broke the vent open.

"Be careful." Nerissa ordered as he grabbed the flash light and started looking in the vent.

"There's something in there." He explained, handing the flash light to Jo.

She choked on a breath as he pulled a lock of blonde hair from the vent and held it up for them to see, attached to it was something that she didn't even look twice at.

"Someone's keeping souvenirs."
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The next morning, Nerissa rolled over on her side of the bed and noticed that Jo was now sitting at the table reading something and twirling her knife around, once again.

"Morning princess." Jo greeted, nodding at both her and Dean.

"Where's Sam?"

"Out getting coffee," Jo answered.

"My back." Dean groaned. "How did you sleep in that big soft bed."

"I didn't, i've been going over things." Jo answered.

"Here." Dean handed her a long, sharper looking knife.

"What's this for?" Jo asked.

"It'll work a lot better than that pig sticker you're twirling around."

Jo dropped her gaze to her knife before holding it out for Dean to take. He raised an eyebrow, but took it none the less, seeing the initials W.A.H on it.

"William Anthony Harvelle." Jo explained, swallowing as Nerissa stopped beside her and set a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry, my mistake." Dean stated after a moment and handed it back.

"What do you remember about your dad?" Jo queried. "I mean, what's the first thing that pops into your head?"

"I was six or seven." He started after a moment. "And he took me shooting for the first time. You know, bottles on a fence, that kind of thing. I bull's eyed every one of them. He gave me this smile, like...I don't know."

"He must have been proud of you." Nerissa sat between them and squeezed his hand in a comforting gesture.

"What about your dads?" He asked, glancing between them.

"My dad was kind, he put the welfare of his people before his own and didn't complain once." Nerissa replied quietly, reaching down and taking hold of the jewel around her neck. "He took me to the shore one day, telling me about people and that they were just like us, except they couldn't breath for long in the ocean. That's where he gave me my necklace, it belonged to my grandmother. He also gave me a small purple flower that he had found lying on the sand. I remember him tucking it behind my ear and telling me that I would all ways be his little princess...That was the last I ever saw of him."

"What happened to him?" Jo asked, leaning forward so that her elbows rested on the table.

"He...He was killed. I was two hundred at the time, merely a baby; humans caught him and they savagely murdered him." She answered, surprising them both when she didn't cry, or even look sad. "My mother saw it happen and she went to seek revenge. They killed her too and my sister Melody was left in charge."

"That's terrible." Jo whispered, pulling her into a sidewards hug.

"Why aren't you upset?" Dean wondered, causing Jo to look at him sharply.

"Because I don't remember it." She answered simply. "I just can't find it in me to cry over two people that I can barely remember. I want to...I just don't know how. I don't have what you humans refer to as photos or videos, I only have one memory and that is of my father giving me the jewel and the flower and his voice; I don't remember his face."

"I'm sorry Rissa," Jo interrupted, breaking the intense staring competition between the mermaid and Dean.

"What about you?" She asked.

"I was still in pigtails when my dad died." Jo explained, looking down at the table. "But I remember him coming home from a hunt, he burst through the door like Steve McQueen or something and he'd sweep me up in his arms, and i'd breath in that old leather jacket of his. And my mom was sour and pissed from the minute he left, she started smiling again and we were...we were a family."

Silence filled the room as they all smiled slightly at Jo's memory of her dad before the blonde glanced up and stared at Dean.

"You wanna know why I wanna do the job?" Jo asked. "For him, it's my way of being close to him. Now tell me, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." Dean replied, shaking his head slightly.

At that moment, Sam burst into the room, causing Nerissa to jump and yelp slightly before flushing when Jo smirked at her.

"Where's the coffee?" Dean demanded.

"There are cops outside." Sam explained. "Another girl disappeared."

"Theresa Ellis, apartment 2-F." Dean told them as he opened the door to find the three of them looking at photos, well, Sam and Jo were, whilst Nerissa lay curled up, sleeping peacefully on the large bed. "The boyfriend reported her missing around dawn."

"And her apartment?"

"Cracks all over the plaster, walls and ceiling." Dean replied. "There was ectoplasm too."

"Between that and the hair, i'd say this sucker's coming from the walls." Sam input.

"Yeah, but who is it? Building's history is totally clean."

"Maybe we're looking in the room place." Jo offered, staring down at a picture.

"What do you mean?"

"Check this out." She handed the photo to them.

"An empty field?" Sam questioned.

"It's where this building was built, take a look at the one next door." She answered. "The windows."

"Bars." Sam raised an eyebrow.

"We're next door to a prison?"
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Jo turned to them as she closed her phone, sliding it into her pocket and held up the photo again after hanging up from talking to Ash.

"Okay, Moyamensing prison, built in eighteen thirty five and torn down in nineteen sixty-three." She told them. "And get this, they used to execute people by hanging them in the empty field next door."

"Well, then we need a list of all the people executed there." Sam glanced at Dean.

"Ash is already on it."

"A hundred and fifty seven names?" Sam asked in disbelief as they looked through the list on his laptop.

"We gotta narrow that down." Dean said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah."

"Or else we're gonna be digging up a hell of a lot of stiffs."

"Herman Webster Mudgett?" Sam asked as he clicked on the name.

"Yeah?" Jo asked with a tone that suggested he should carry on speaking.

"Wasn't that H.H. Holmes' real name?"

"You gotta be kidding me." Dean sighed after a moment.

Dean took the laptop from Sam and about five minutes later, he received the information he had been looking for and he kept his eyes on the screen as he spoke.

"Yup, Holmes was executed at Moyamensing, May 7th, 1896."

"H.H. Holmes himself." Sam said in slight amazement.

"Who is this guy?" Jo asked.

"The term 'multi-murderer,' they coined it to describe Holmes." Dean explained. "He was America's first serial killer before anybody knew what that a serial killer was."

"Yeah, he confessed to twenty seven murders. Some think a hundred." Sam continued.

"And his victim flavour of choice: pretty, petite blondes." Dean added, looking over the pictures on the laptop. "He used chloroform to kill them. Which is what I smelled in the hallway last night. At his place, cops found human remains, bone fragments and long locks of bloody blonde hair. Boy, you sure do know how to pick them."

"We just find the bones, salt and burn them, right?" Jo asked.

"Does that mean I'm safe then?" Nerissa asked, causing them to jump in surprise. "Seeing as I'm not a blonde."

"Fortunately you are," Jo answered. "Me? Not so much."

"Well, it's not that easy." Sam replied. "His body is buried in town, but it's encased in a couple tons of concrete."

"What? Why?" Nerissa asked.

"The story goes that he didn't want anybody mutilating his corpse. Because you know, that's what he used to do."

"You know something?" Sam questioned. "We might have an even bigger problem."

"How does this get bigger?" Jo demanded.

"Holmes built an apartment building in Chicago, they called it the Murder Castle. The whole place was a death factory. They had trap doors, acid vats, quicklime pits. He built these secret chambers inside the walls. He'd lock his victims in, keep them alive for days, some he'd suffocate, others he'd let starve to death."

"So Theresa could still be alive, she could be inside these walls?" Jo asked.

"We need sledgehammers, crowbars. We gotta smash these walls, anywhere thick enough to hide a girl." Dean ordered, standing up.

"I think I'll stay here." Nerissa spoke up, looking incredibly pale. "I-I don't know what a sledgehammer or a crowbar is and I don't think I'd be much help."

"You'll be fine, Rissa." Dean promised as Jo and Sam spoke quietly a few feet away. "We'll be back soon."

The trio nodded and grabbed their equipment before watching as she went over and curled up on the bed before leaving the apartment and locking the door behind them.

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When Nerissa opened her eyes, she was no longer on the warm bed, instead she was locked inside some kind of tight space. She let out a whimper as she tried to move. Ever since she was younger, she'd been terrified of tight spaces because she hated to feel to confined, so unable to move or flee.

"Help me!" She yelled banging on the door.

"Hello?" A familiar voice called.

"Is anybody out there?" Another voice joined in.

"Nerissa?" Jo felt a small sense of relief and dread rise up inside of her. "Wait, is your name Theresa?"

"Yes." The other female answered.

"This won't make you fell better, but we're here to rescue you." Jo said as Nerissa made a sound of agreement.

"Oh God. He's out there; he's gonna kill us." Theresa sobbed.

"No, he won't!" Jo shouted. "We're getting out. My friends are looking for us, they'll find us."

"Oh God, he's here!" Theresa yelped in a shrill voice that had Nerissa shaking and trying to muffle a fearful cry.

"Just be quiet!" Jo ordered, trying to calm them both down.

Nerissa let out a scream as a hand reached into her cage and latched onto her hair. She struggled against it, resulting in a strand of her long brown hair to be yanked from the roots. She shrieked in pain, clutching her head as the hand disappeared.

"Nessa!" Jo yelled. "Leave her alone, you son of a bitch!"

When everything went silent, Jo started kicking at the door, trying to find an escape when a mouth appeared in front of the hole in the door.

"You're so pretty; so beautiful." The male stated.

"Go to hell!" She retorted.

Jo held back a noise of pure disgust as he ran a hand down her arm, as soon as he neared her hand, she brought her dad's knife down on his arm with a quick slash of her hand.

"Pure iron, you creepy ass son of a bitch!" Jo shouted as he pulled away with a noise of pain.

"Hey!" Dean yelled and fired at the spirit, blasting him away. "Jo?"

"I'm here!" She called, gasping for breath. "Nerissa's here too!"

"Rissa?" Dean asked, opening the gate and crawling through, followed by his brother.

Dean grabbed a thin bar of metal and got to work on opening the door to Jo's cage. Sam moved to one of the other cages and held his flash light up, only to find a skeleton in it. He quickly moved on to the next one which held Theresa.

"We're gonna get you out of here, alright?"

Theresa nodded as Sam took the bar from Dean and began to open the door to her cage. Dean turned back and held a hand out to Jo, who took it and slid out.

"You alright?" He demanded.

"Been better," She wheezed in response.

"Where's Rissa?"

"D-Dean-o?" A choked voice sounded from behind him.

He turned and darted over to the smallest cage. Nerissa's light amber eyes widened in relief as she met his forest green ones. She placed her fingers through the hole, Dean could see the blood staining them and he started yanking at the handles.

"Thank you." She rasped as he finally got it open and she tumbled out, one look back at her mini prison had her screaming until a hand clapped down on her mouth. A skeleton of a small female, about her size, had been behind her the whole time and she'd never noticed.

"It's okay." Dean reassured her, helping her to her feet and keep his arm securely locked around her shoulders. "You're safe now."

"I-I wanna get out of here, please." She sniffed, trying to hold up the thin strap of her sleeve on the dress that had gotten torn as she fell out of the cage.

"Not just yet princess." Dean shook his head before telling them the plan.

Nerissa wasn't happy with the plan, but she refused to leave Jo alone to face the spirit and so, volunteered to sit with her in the middle of the room.

"It's okay." Jo whispered, failing to reassure the mermaid, who whimpered and clutched her hand tightly.

"He's b-behind us." She whispered back, not having to turn around to know that.

Jo's fingers tightened around hers, but she only noticed the small sense of comfort it brought to know that she wasn't alone and they would protect each other, no matter what.

"Now!" Dean yelled as the spirit stopped behind the two of them.

They both jumped forward out of the way as the two brothers fired their guns and a blanket of salt fell, covering the exits and preventing him from chasing after Jo and Nerissa as they clambered into the hole in the wall where Sam and Dean where. Nerissa covered her ears as he began to scream.

"Scream all you want dick!" Jo yelled at him. "But there's no way you're stepping over that salt."

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Nerissa was the last one to climb out and Sam and Dean both held their hands in her direction to help her from the last step of the ladder.

"So, this job as glamorous as you thought it would be?" Sam asked Jo as Dean comforted a softly crying Nerissa, who was sitting in the ground, mourning the loss of the strand of her hair, the ripped dress and the fact that she'd been confined to such a small space with the skeleton of the poor girl that had suffered because of that monster.

"It's okay, you're safe now." Dean whispered, setting his leather jacket around her shoulders before stroking her hair and standing up, he walked away and disappeared around a corner.

"Well, except for all the pee-your-pants terror, yeah, sure." Jo responded. "But that Theresa girl's gonna live a life because of us. It's worth it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah it is." Sam nodded.

"Hey, what if somebody finds that sewer? Or a storm washes the salt away?"

"Both very fine points, which is why we're waiting here." Sam replied.

"For what?"

"For that." Sam explained, gesturing to the cement truck that was reversing towards where they stood.

Dean stepped out of the drivers seat and made his way towards they stood. He helped Sam pull the extension bit down and pressed a button, watching as the cement poured into the hole.

"You ripped off a cement truck?" Jo asked.

"I'll give it back." Dean smirked.

Nerissa eventually stood and walked over to see what was happening. Her head was still bleeding, but not as much as before and bruises were already starting to form on her arm where she'd hit it against the metal door in an attempt to keep his hand away from her head.

"That should keep him down there until hell freezes over." Dean smirked again, glancing at Jo.

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Nerissa lay curled up in the back seat of the impala with her head on Jo's shoulder as she tried to keep her eyes open. The road trip was silent and uncomfortable as Ellen was in the front seat beside Dean, sitting stiffly as she refused to even look at her or Jo. Sam glanced at her and shared a slight smile -despite the situation- before looking away again as Dean glanced nervously at Ellen from the corner of his eye.

"Boy, you really weren't kidding about flying out here, were you?" Dean asked, in an attempt to break the silence, only to receive no response from Ellen.

Nerissa finally managed to evade sleep and lifted her head as she bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling as Sam and Jo shared an uncomfortable look.

"How about we listen to some music?" Dean suggested and turned the radio on, causing Nerissa to wince at the loud volume of the music.

Jo frowned teasingly at them as her mom reached out and turned it off after a moment. Sam raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement before smiling at Nerissa again.

"This is gonna be a long drive." Dean sighed, turning back to face the road after glancing at Ellen.

They had made it back to the Roadhouse by the next morning and Nerissa felt her bones creak in protest as she eagerly clambered out of the car and hurried towards the bar after receiving a stern look from Ellen. The others followed after her and Ellen refused to release her tight hold on Jo's arm.

"Ellen, this is my fault, okay? " Dean started. "I lied to you and I'm sorry. But Jo did good out there, I think her dad would be proud."

"Don't you dare say that." Ellen ordered furiously. "Not you. I need a moment alone with my daughter and Nerissa."

Dean glanced at her in confusion before nodding and following his brother outside and closing the door behind him, he led the way over to the impala.

"You're angry, I understand." Jo stated.

"Angry? Angry doesn't begin to touch it." Ellen replied, walking towards the bar.

"Everything's okay, we're alive." Jo set her bag down and gestured for Nerissa to follow them.

"Not after I'm through with you both." Her mom answered.

"Is this about us hunting or something?"

"One, Nerissa met them first and they obviously made her trust them, so she probably doesn't think what they did was wrong." Ellen began. "And two, they used you both as bait."

"They were right there, backing us up!" Jo yelled.

"That is why you don't have the sense to do it, you're trusting them!"

Nerissa swallowed nervously, sensing that the argument was going to get a lot worse. She could also tell that this had nothing to do with her or Jo, it was to do with something completely different.

"What are you talking about?" Jo demanded.

"Like father, like sons, that is what I'm talking about." Ellen answered, tears welling in her eyes.

"John?" Jo shared a confused look with Nerissa before turning back to her mom. "I though you and John were friends."

"Yeah, we were. I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Mom." Jo cut her off abruptly. "What aren't you telling me?"

Nerissa's hand flew to her mouth and she felt tears sting her eyes as Ellen finally told them that Jo's dad had been hunting with John when he had died. She told them that her husband had gone hunting with John and had trusted him, which turned out to be a huge mistake. She hurried after Jo as the blonde tore out of the bar with anger written on her face. She stopped as Dean pushed away from his car and went after Jo.

"That bad, huh?" He asked.

"Not right now." Jo replied as she kept walking.

"What happened?" Dean questioned, reaching out and setting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, talk to me."

"Get off me." Jo barked.

"Sorry. See you around." He replied, looking taken aback at her behaviour.

"Dean." Jo called and he turned around. "Turns out my dad had a partner on his last hunt. Funny, he usually worked alone. This guy did too. But guess my father figured he could trust him. Mistake, the guy screwed up, got my dad killed."

"What does this have to do wit-" Dean began.

"It was your father, Dean." Jo interrupted.

"What?"

"Why do you think John never came back? Never told you about us?" She demanded. "Because he couldn't look my mom in the eye after that. That's why."

Nerissa brushed the tears from her eyes as Sam came to stand next to her. The two of them watched as Jo stared at Dean, trying to prevent tears from falling.

"Jo-"

"Just get out of here." She ordered. "Please, just leave."

Nerissa turned to Sam quickly, "I don't think i'll be coming with you yet. I need to stay with Jo."

She then rushed after Jo as she turned and began walking again. She sent an apologetic look over her shoulder at the shock on both of their faces and went back to rushing after her friend.
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