18. Jody Mills' Home for Wayward Girls

"Oh, good, the mother hen brought home the bacon," I tease Dean as he enters the bunker library with a plastic bag in hand. I'm sitting at the table with Sam, peeking on his laptop.

"You know, you've gotten your attitude back since you've been better," Dean notes. "Not sure that I like that."

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't rag on you." I smile.

"Did you catch us a case?"

"Uh, no," says Sam. "Get this. Some dude took a picture of a weasel riding a flying woodpecker. Midair. It's kinda nuts."

"So, I'm guessing there's nothing on the Amara meter either."

"Uh, no. I'm starting to think that God's psycho sister has gone to ground. What about you, you hear from Cas?"

"No."

"He told me he was checking into something to draw her out," I admit. "But it's been radio silence since then."

"Yeah. All this quiet's starting to wake me up," says Sam.

Dean pulls out the food from the bag, sitting it on the table. My eyes bug. That's a crap ton of food. I lick my lips, tempted to reach and snag it for myself.

"What the hell is that?" asks Sam.

"That? That's the Elvis."

"Elvis?" I ask curiously.

"Mhm."

I get out of my seat, moving closer to the food. I reach out to touch it. "Is that a—?"

"That's a glazed donut. Two, actually. One topside, one on the bottom. Now, your inferior versions, they'll just take one donut, split it right down the middle. Mm-mm." Dean clicks his tongue. "Boom!" He blows the sandwich a kiss.

"Someone's in love," I tease, pulling the sandwich closer. "God, people can die from just staring at it."

"All right, well uh, I hope you enjoy it," says Sam, looking amused at me. "Wow."

I notice Dean looks offended by our little brother's refusal. "You know there are starving children out there," he says.

"Dude, I'm not gonna survive hundreds of monster attacks to get flatlined by some double donut monstrosity."

"The Elvis!"

"Whatever! How many calories are in that thing?"

"Screw it, I'm trying it," I say, figuring out the best way to hold this monster. In the meantime, Dean's phone rings. I take a bite, and stuff spills out. "Sammy, you're missing out. The perfect mixture of salty and sweet."

"Okay, what's gotten into you?"

I wipe my face of crumbs. "What? It's food. It's not gonna go to waste if you want to be a rabbit, Dean and I will wolf it down."

"I didn't think you were on his eating habits."

I shrug. "We can't really be too choosy about what we take in." I take another bite. "Dear lord, this is awesome."

"Hey, if you want me to, I can leave so you can get busy with it. I promise I won't tell Cas of this affair."

I stick my tongue out at Sam, who recoils from seeing the food on my tongue. I giggle. "Don't knock it 'til you try it, Sammy."

"I'll still pass, thanks."

"Your loss, man."

"Hey, guys," Dean says, pulling Sam and I from our banter. "How do you feel about South Dakota?"

I swallow another bite of my food. "Can we at least finish off the food first?"

Dean smiles. "See, Sammy? Jo knows good food when it's right in front of her."

Sam rolls his eyes. "What's in South Dakota?"

"Claire called. Thinks she's got something in Sioux Falls."

Claire Novak. That's a name I haven't heard in some time. I feel my stomach drop, remembering the last time we'd seen each other. Her mother, Amelia Novak, had died. Claire had lost her mother. She was a troubled teen as it was, taken in by a man who delved in shady business. Since then, she'd been relocated with Jody Mills.

The last time we'd seen each other, I was a demon.

"Is it worth checking out?" I ask through a mouthful of food.

"Might as well be. Besides, we owe them a visit, don't you think?"

"If I can take this with us, I'm in."

"Fine, but no crumbs in Baby, got it?"

Now it's my turn to roll my eyes.

* * *

"Well, look at you, kiddo," I tell Claire when she lets us into the house. "You seem like you've got something going here for you. Where's Jody at?"

"She went to pick up Alex from school, so it's just me."

"She lets you stay here all by yourself? Huh. Not sure that's a good thing." I throw her a teasing smile.

"Funny. What's with your new getup anyway, Jo? Midlife crisis already hitting you hard?"

I chuckle. "Nice try. I needed something different."

"So you chopped your hair and decided to make your body a tattoo canvas? How come you don't have the fancy car to go along with everything else?"

"Good to see you too, Claire."

"You guys can just hang here until they get back, they shouldn't be too much longer. If you need me, I'll be in my room."

"What, don't feel up to spending time with us?" I mock pout. "That hurts, Claire."

"I'm sure you'll live."

"Is that how it felt when you guys talked to me at that age?" I ask my brothers.

"You were way worse," Dean says.

"Only because half of the time you started shit." I nudge him in the ribs.

"I don't remember it like that."

"Whatever you say, chief."

My brothers and I get comfortable in Jody's living room. We don't wait long before Jody and Alex walk in.

"Well, there goes the neighborhood," she greets us, carrying grocery bags. "Hi."

All of us get up to hug her in turn. Sam helps Jody by taking the bags off her hands.

"It's been too long," Dean says as he and the sheriff hug.

"Yeah, clearly it's been too long," Sam notes, "'cause, Alex, that is you, right?"

"I don't look that different!" Alex exclaims. She's a pretty girl, with raven-dark hair that runs at her elbows.

"It's amazing what you can accomplish when you spend two hours in the bathroom every morning," Claire says, making her way into the group.

"Since when are you even up in the morning? I'm surprised you're awake now."

"Hey! I'm pretty sure they didn't come here to watch you two kill each other," Jody scolds them.

"Honestly, I'm okay with watching this, it's good TV," I joke. Jody gives me a scalding look.

"Is everything okay? I didn't accidentally butt dial you or anything, did I?"

"I called," says Claire. "About the monsters. That you refuse to believe are monsters."

"Oh—you gotta be kidding. You know, if you'd checked in with me, I could have saved you a trip." Jody looks at the three of us.

"Well, we figured we owed you a visit," says Dean.

"And you know what, actually—I could use the backup. Let me have that." Jody takes the bag away from Sam. "I'm gonna put another chicken on. You settle in."

I clear my throat. "You might wanna make it two."

"I'm starving," I hear Dean say.

"If you've got three, you might want to be safe than sorry."

So while Jody puts dinner on, I end up spending some time with the girls. Mostly, they're ragging on me about my appearance. Alex is fascinated with my tattoos, and both of them ask what each means. I make up elaborate stories to throw them off the trail. They don't need to know the tattoos' history. They don't need to know that in my downward spiral I decided to go all-out, appearance and everything.

Maybe "mid-life crisis" was more accurate than I could admit.

When Jody calls us in for dinner, I feel as though I'm home at a proper family dinner. There's chicken, mashed potatoes, a bowl of salad. It's a buffet to my brothers and myself. We're not used to this much food, especially homemade.

I'm tame compared to my brothers as they practically gorge themselves. Jody and the girls are watching them in amusement as they scarf down food. I eat like a normal human being, watching them.

"Mm!" Dean hums, "Oh, this bird is fantastic. When you mix it up with the—potatoes, and the, the beans, you guys eat like this every day?"

"It's just chicken," says Jody.

"It's shaped like chicken!" says Sam. "Not a patty, or a nugget!"

"I didn't realize how big of kids they were." Jody looks across the table at me.

"Sometimes they can't help it," I say, shrugging.

"How come you aren't going to town, then?" asks Alex.

"I know my table manners."

"Can we get to the case?" Claire asks a bit impatiently. A silence falls over the table. Sam and Dean are tearing apart their dinner rolls. I feel like a facepalm is appropriate here. Granted, Alex, Claire, and Jody know my brothers, but still. "Three people are missing."

"There's no evidence that they didn't skip town on their own!" says Jody. "Two of them were runaways, one was a homeless guy."

"He was last seen at Braden Point. I've been stalking it out."

"Right," I say slowly, watching as Dean reaches over Sam to help himself to more potatoes.

"Dude!" Sam says.

"There's plenty left," Dean says defensively. "Braden Point?"

"It's where the kids go to make out," Jody explains, "and yes, there's about four pounds left on the stove."

"Guys? There's something out there," Claire insists. "People are reporting animals they've never seen before, things stalking their front yards that disappear..."

"This is according to the—Hey!" Jody catches Alex trying to sneak away a wine glass. "Put it back!" Alex puts the glass back. "...neighborhood crime blogs that Claire has been reading."

"They're eye-witness accounts."

"Well, we've hunted on less," I say neutrally. "What else you got?"

"Uh, I'm working on it."

"Claire did catch a werewolf," says Alex. "Oh right! Turned out to be a German shepherd with rabies."

"And before that was the vampire," says Jody. "Councilwoman into erotic cosplay. I didn't know what cosplay was before that. Super embarrassing for the whole force."

"Wow," says Dean. "You've been busy."

"I've been hunting," Claire says proudly.

"AKA menacing innocent people!" Jody says. "Claire has a whole string of assaults racked up. The only reason she's not sitting in jail right now is that I'm the sheriff!"

"Fine, I've been wrong. But this time, I know there's a monster."

"Can we stop talking about monsters, and hunting?" Alex asks. "What about real life?"

"Real life? Okay. Yeah, sure. Let's get real. You and Henry set on a weekend yet?"

"What?"

"When you sneaking off to Jody's cabin to screw yourselves silly?"

"Ooh. Here we go," I hear Dean say as Alex's eyes grow wide.

"Um, we're not—! You're completely insane!"

"You might wanna clear your g-tracks before you commit to that," Claire says.

"This seems like uh, family business," Sam says awkwardly.

"Yeah, I agree," I say quickly. My brothers and I try to escape, but Jody slams her hand on the table.

"Sit! Stay!" she demands.

Like hurt puppies, the three of us reluctantly plop ourselves back into our seats. This isn't what we signed up for.

"Um." Jody clears her throat. "Alex, anything you want to say?"

"Nope."

"'Kay, uh, well, um I may have—I've...definitely seen birth control pills in your backpack."

"Oh, we're going there," I say, horrified.

Alex looks mortified. Claire seems to be having a good ole time with this; she's laughing.

"Oh my god," Alex moans.

"Hey, if we can't talk about it, we shouldn't be doing it, right?" says Jody. She looks at the three of us for confirmation. Sam's a stuttering mess, and I stare at my plate. "Right?"

"What?" Dean sputters.

"Okay. I'm not gonna tell you that you are too young to be having sex, or you."

"Who's she gonna have sex with?" Alex says. "She doesn't talk to anybody."

"Hey. Um, what I will tell you is that birth control pills are useless against STD's. Whoever you are with needs to suit up! Every time. Always. No pulling up the drawbridge early."

"I know, I get it!"

Claire snickers.

"And don't expect the guy, as much as I love Henry, to always show up packing." Jody again turns to my brothers. "Am I right?"

Sam avoids eye contact, swallowing another bite of food. Dean just gives her a blank stare. I reach for my wine glass and down the rest of its contents, coughing when some of it goes down the wrong pipe. I fan myself.

"Seriously?" Jody says in disbelief.

"Stop!" Alex squeaks. "We haven't done anything yet. I'm just—trying to be prepared."

"Great, um, we need some more mashed potatoes, right? Mashed potatoes, I'm just gonna," Jody drains her glass too, "I'm gonna get some more potatoes. Potatoes." She grabs the bowl, disappearing into the kitchen.

"This is fun," says Dean.

"Totally," I squeak, reaching for the wine bottle. "Nothing says family dinner like the sex talk."

**Ah, nothing says a family dinner like the sex talk. But seriously, I love this episode. I love Jo interacting with Alex and Claire, because they kinda remind me of her.**