Jo Harvelle (jo_beth) wrote in lost_world, @ 2013-07-21 17:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !status: complete, jo harvelle, johnny outlaw, mary winchester |
Generations (Jo, Mary, with a Johnny cameo)
A few days after she’d gotten the information about Mary’s whereabouts from Cas, Jo finally realized that she’d put it off all she could. She needed to see her daughter. She also needed to track down Dean, but that would come next. She knew Mary’s location and maybe it would be better to see Mary first anyway.
Once inside the bar, she didn’t go straight up to the counter. She spotted Johnny behind it and Mary was weaving in and out of tables, delivering orders and chatting with customers. They both looked at home here. If one didn’t know better, it would be easy to believe that they’d always lived in this time period, and that they belonged here.
Jo took a seat at a table and simply watched and waited quietly for Mary to notice and approach her. She would want to talk to Johnny too but she needed to work up to it all. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about the fact that he’d practically whisked Mary away from that diner and now they were still together. She was glad that he was watching out for her kid, but she was also... well, she couldn’t help but wonder what his intentions were and what Mary’s intentions were. She didn’t want to see either of them hurt and there was a bit of an ‘ew’ factor about a friend of hers dating her daughter. Especially when you figured in how old he’d be in Mary’s time.
----
Mary spotted Jo pretty quickly. She took her time making it over to the table though. It was only about a half an hour until closing time so she took a moment to take final drink orders from all of her customers and then ducked over behind the bar to help Johnny fill the orders. Everyone was too drunk at this time to care if she was behind the bar briefly.
“Jo’s here,” she said, just in case Johnny hadn’t noticed it yet.
Things were still uncomfortable with them and she really didn’t want this sudden appearance from her mom to increase that. He’d been quiet and a little bit broody since the movie. Unfortunately, Mary remembered enough of the night to know exactly why. It was almost enough for her to swear off drinking entirely as she thought of some of the things that she’d said and the overly touchy way she’d been with him.
Almost. Not quite. The aliens would see to it that she had an awful lot of reasons to drink.
----
“I saw her.” Johnny said, smiling at a customer while he passed over two glasses that held the ordered drinks. “Why is she just sitting over there?”
He’d watched her come in, and expected her to wander up to the bar. Like Dean had done. It wasn’t like she was a stranger. Instead, she’d gone to one of the tables and hadn’t even signaled for anybody to come take her order.
Johnny wasn’t at all sure what was going on, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it, either.
“She’s been watching both of us.” It seemed stupid to be so dodgy of Jo, to be intimidated by her when he’d faced things that were actually threatening in his life. His statement was also a question; what are we supposed to do.
---
Mary shrugged and waved at her mother to indicate that she’d be over in a few minutes.
“Maybe she’s just waiting for us-or for me-to get a free moment to talk to her. She’s worked in bars before, so she knows how it can be when it’s busy and someone stops in to talk.”
She studied Johnny for a minute, noting the uncertainty and even discomfort in his expression.
“You know, I could finish things up here if you wanted to take off early. That would give me the chance to talk to her. I should probably do that after ducking out of the diner and not seeking her out since.”
He’d been withdrawn since the movie that wasn’t supposed to be a date and she thought that might only be compounded if he had to endure the parade of the people in her life all jumping to conclusions and feeling the need to talk to him about those conclusions.
----
Johnny hadn’t thought about the busy angle, this being his first bar job ever. But he’d have thought that anybody in their group would forgo any such niceties and just come have a chat. It was likely what he would do. Considering how much people had been looking for one another here, he figured that the relief would be greater than the desire to let people work.
“Yeah. Sure.” Johnny nodded. “Don’t forget to tell her that Dean was in here.”
It might be easier for Mary and Jo to talk without him around. There would be more freedom in the conversation.
He finished cleaning the glass that he was drying, and sent a small wave to Jo.
“I’ll see you in a bit.”
Because a few of their regulars were still there, Johnny leaned and kissed Mary on the cheek before he left. He didn’t even think about what Jo might be seeing.
----
Mary definitely thought about what her mother might have seen and what she might be thinking. She also couldn't help resenting the fact that they were continuing with the charade in public when Johnny had been so distant in private. She supposed that she should have realized this would be difficult when the lie had first been told. Maybe there would have been time to backpedal. Maybe not.
Maybe even knowing what she knew, she still wouldn't have wanted out of this. She sighed and fixed a whiskey sour for her mom and headed over to the table where Jo sat with eyebrows raised in question.
She set the drink down and shot her mother a glare that she hoped would silence any questions until later.
"We're closing up soon. Can we talk then?" Mary asked, desperately hoping that Jo would let it sit until then.
----
Jo nodded her consent to table the discussion for now. She knew well enough to understand a look like that. And the questions that she'd want to ask were probably best saved for when they wouldn't be overheard. Mary was gone before she could say any more. She sat and sipped her drink, trying not to think about how weird it was that her daughter knew what she would have ordered without having to ask.
She had a little bit of time to quell the urge to hunt Johnny down-literally-for kissing Mary as she sat and waited for closing time. Instead, she watched the grown woman who was somehow, miraculously, her daughter. Mary handled the customers expertly. She managed to fend off any unwanted advances without flat out hitting them. And she was good with drink orders. Jo wondered how much of that Mary might have learned from her. Now there was a strange and somewhat appealing thought-having someone to pass things onto. Having someone who was their own person, yet who had so many familiar qualities.
Maybe that was why she was so opposed to Mary falling for Johnny. Because Jo had gotten nothing but heartache for putting herself out there and she hated seeing the same happen for her daughter. Especially knowing how it had to end.
----
It took about half an hour before the bar cleared out. After that, Mary fixed herself a drink and fixed another drink for her mom and then went to sit at the table. She didn't wait for the questions that she was sure would come.
"There are only two explanations for a man and a woman traveling together and living together in this time period, so we told the bar owner that we're married." she held up her hand to forestall the obvious conclusion. "And no, it doesn't mean anything besides the fact that we're there to watch out for each other. I figured that it was better than being a third wheel with you and dad. Though I suppose I assumed. Johnny said he stopped by and was looking for you."
There was a bit of a question in that last statement. They'd all been at the diner so Mary couldn't help but wonder why Jo wouldn't have left with Dean. She still hadn't forgotten Rob's warnings that she shouldn't depend on them to get together. His assessment that things weren't clicking somehow.
What did he know?
All the same, the way Jo looked away and didn't quite meet her eyes made her heart sink.
----
Jo didn't know what to say to Mary about Dean, so she just averted her eyes. She felt almost selfish for not trying harder right now. Then again, Mary wasn't supposed to be born for a few years still. A lot could change in a few years, no matter how she felt right now.
Finally, she managed to push that all aside and met Mary's eyes, taking the time to gauge what she saw there.
"You do know that we're still working on finding a way home and finding a way to get you home, right? I'm all for living in the moment, but it's going to suck when you have to go back. Do you know how old he'd be in your time?"
Never mind that Mary had said that pretending to be married didn't mean anything. Jo wasn't stupid. She knew the look on her daughter's face. She knew exactly what 'smitten' looked like. And she knew what it was like to get stupid over a guy. To think that things would just somehow work out, even if the odds were stacked against you."
----
"I know how old he'll be," Mary said, her eyes narrowing. She resisted the urge to point out that she knew better than Jo what Johnny would be like in the future. Maybe they had talked about sharing the truth with everyone, but now wasn't the time for that.
"Jo, can you just drop this? Please. I'm a grown woman and I need you to trust that I know what I'm getting myself into."
----
That struck a nerve. How many times had Jo pushed back at her mom and insisted that she was an adult. Why was she doing the same thing now?
She could argue that it was because she hadn't gotten the chance to watch Mary grow up. That one day Ellen had just shown up with the 'surprise, you're a mom!' news and suddenly she had two grown women that she was deeply worried about. She had these emotional connections that she couldn't quite understand or explain to anyone.
She pursed her lips and finally nodded.
"Okay. I'm sorry. It's just that there's not really a guidebook for this sort of situation. I just..."
----
"You want me safe and happy?" Mary couldn't help but smile. "It's okay. I think every mom wants that. And I haven't given up on getting home, but I just don't see how right now. So I'm making do. Besides, Winchesters never really did have much in the way of safety or happiness. It's not your fault, and I'm not sorry for it. It just is what it is."
Mary managed a strained smile and took a drink from her glass.
"Why don't you tell me what you've been up to and what you've seen since we woke up in that diner? And then I'll do the same?"
She was taking charge at the moment because she didn't think either of them wanted the conversation to linger on certain topics and it was easier to just focus on what they could talk about and move on from there. Jo eventually returned the uneasy smile and agreed and from there, the conversation got a whole lot easier as Jo told a few stories about her time as a backup singer. Which, admittedly, was fodder for endless mocking if Mary ever did get back to her time. In return, Mary told Jo about Harry and some of the regulars and her time at the bar. They talked over news about the serial killer and even the 'wild animal' attacks at that farm. It might be worth checking out, and they even agreed to look into it the next day.
Finally, Mary sent Jo on her way and headed downstairs.