Uncomfortable Questions (Jo/Mary log)
The first few days on the island were a blur. They'd found a place that was as out of sight as they could manage. With any luck, no one would notice that Johnny hadn't woken up yet. The less questions asked, the better. They'd gotten supplies out of the first aid kit in the cave, though Mary didn't dare trust sleeping in the cave. The wolf would know to find them there and there was only one entrance and exit. At least out in the open, they had more chances of hiding and getting away. She did her best to brush off the unsettling knowledge that Evan had told her he could track just about anything or anyone, even before he'd changed into a werewolf. That was a problem that she couldn't do much about so it was better to focus on everything else that needed her attention.
Nobody would allow Mary to take watches through the night on her own, which frustrated her to no end. Maybe she could understand it, since her injuries were still healing. But that didn't mean that she liked it. Not to mention that she wasn't sleeping all that well at night anyway. She was sure that they all heard her nightmares, but so far nobody had mentioned the fact that she sometimes woke up screaming. Jo had simply been there most times, comforting without question and without judgment.
It made Mary miss her mom-the one from her time-all that much more.
Johnny still wasn't awake, but he was breathing and his heart was beating. That was something. With the dragon, it had taken a week. She didn't know if the timeline would be similar with this type of injury of if he'd be out for longer. She still held on to her hope that he would wake eventually. He had to.
There hadn't been much time for Jo to ask questions and Mary knew she'd earned a bit of a grace period due to her recovery, but she knew that it was coming. Unfortunately, that chance came sooner than she would have hoped.
----
Mary had been keeping secrets. That was about the only thing Jo was certain of. She didn't know how Mary had known that Johnny was still alive, but she'd insisted that they bring his body back after the rescue. Even though he was clearly dead. For some reason, Castiel seemed to follow the request without question and for that first day, Jo didn't have the heart to point out to Mary that she was sharing her bed with a dead body. She knew that it was a conversation that she needed to have soon. And yet, about a day into it, she'd gone to check on Mary and Johnny was breathing. He'd started breathing again. Who did that after being dead for 24 hours?
The fact that Mary had seemed to expect that didn't set her mind at ease one bit. She waited for the right time to bring this up, but then they'd all been dumped on yet another planet.
No, not all. That wasn't correct. Half of the group was missing, by her estimation. Dean was missing. So was Cas, for that matter. Anna didn't say much about it, but she knew that the redhead was missing her boyfriend. Or fiance, judging by the diamond ring that Jo had caught sight of. It was still weird to think about Cas getting married, but she supposed this was a different Cas. It took some getting used to, but she could only imagine how much harder it was for Dean, considering how much Cas was a part of his life. She just hoped that he was on that other island. That wherever he was, he was safe.
The pirate, Sympathy, wasn't on this island either. Jo did her best to put that out of her mind because there was nothing she could do about it from here. She and Dean would have to talk eventually about the whole honesty thing, but obviously that wasn't going to happen any time soon. For now, her focus was on keeping Mary safe. And on the questions that had to be asked about Johnny. It took a few days before she had the chance. It was her turn on watch and Mary seemed reluctant to go to sleep. Judging from the last few nights, Jo couldn't blame her. She could only imagine the types of nightmares that would come after that experience. She wanted to say something, wanted to offer some comfort, but she struggled with the words. It was hard to believe that she would ever be a decent mom. She felt like she'd failed Mary by not finding her sooner, by not having the perfect thing to say or do to make this all better.
Jo looked up as Mary moved around the little makeshift camp. She nodded to the spot next to her and thankfully Mary took a seat. Once that was done, Jo threw a meaningful look at Johnny's unconscious body and then looked back to Mary.
"I think you know what I'm going to ask you," she said. She would let Mary ease into it and choose where to start, because clearly there was a lot to be said.
----
Even knowing it was coming, the fact that Jo had jumped into the very topic she'd hoped to avoid a little longer gave Mary pause. Ideally, Johnny would have had the chance to wake up before they had this talk. That way, he could protect himself if Jo decided he was something to hunt. Mary didn't think-or at least she hoped-that Jo wouldn't decide that, but she couldn't trust it. Couldn't depend on it.
She nodded slowly and shifted her attention to the view of the ocean through the treeline. It was easier to concentrate on the sound of the waves rolling in and out, as if that would somehow give her the right thing to say here. She didn't look at her mom as she started her explanation. She had to get through it and was afraid she might not be able to if she saw the facial expressions throughout.
"Johnny died a little while back. Someone brought him back with some sort of witchcraft. Not like anything I've ever heard of, but it wasn't a demon deal. I checked." She held up a hand, as if to stay any questions until the end.
"He didn't know what he'd signed up for at the time. He had unfinished business that he felt he needed to come back for. He didn't realize that he would gain the ability to heal from anything, or that he won't age. Not ever."
She chanced a glance at Jo after that, waiting for the moment of realization to set in on her expression.
----
Once Mary started talking, Jo had several questions. She also had an inability to voice those questions. Her mouth dropped open ever so slightly at the opening line. Mentally, she ran through what creatures she knew about and where Johnny fit. Zombie? Except... not like any zombie she'd ever seen or head about. Not yet, anyway. She threw a glance at the sleeping man, as if she expected him to suddenly rise, ready to attack them all.
It was only with the next reveal that Jo's heart dropped into her stomach. Certain pieces started to become clear, though she almost wished they hadn't.
She waited for Mary to continue, to confirm what she was starting to suspect.
----
"I met Johnny about two years before I ended up back in the past in York. For what it's worth, I don't think he realized then that I was your daughter. I never brought him home to meet you and dad and you two had lost touch by that point. I don't think he would have connected your married name..."
She was over-explaining, trying very hard to make it sound less... wrong that Jo's friend had ended up dating her daughter.
"We were..." she chewed her lip, trying to think of the best word. "Involved back in my time. Let's just say that getting dropped in the past with a version of Johnny that hadn't yet met me was... awkward."
She sighed and turned to meet Jo's eyes. Her expression was hard, unwilling to compromise.
"He's not something to be hunted. In all those years, he never turned. He was still hunting things that deserved to be ended. If you or Dean disagree with me on that, we're going to have issues."
----
Jo had forgotten to breathe by the time Mary finished her explanations. She wasn't even sure what to react to first. It was one thing, knowing that the Johnny of this time had kissed Mary. it was quite another knowing that he'd been around for decades and had still dated someone that much younger than him. And really, he hadn't know that Mary was her daughter? Really? She couldn't help but wonder about that. Her expression was angry, but there was also hurt and confusion mixed in there.
"And neither of you thought to tell me about this? About any of it?" Her tone was dangerously quiet.
All that she knew was that she was getting really damn sick of the people she cared about lying to her about things.
----
Anger was one of the reactions Mary had been expecting. She didn't shy away from it. If anything, her own temper rose to match her mothers. They were cut from the same cloth, after all.
"We didn't want you deciding he was something to hunt. And if you haven't noticed, we've all been pretty damn busy with other things."
----
Jo stood then, on the verge of saying quite a few things that she was pretty sure she'd regret later.
"I need to take a walk and think this over. Keep watch and just wake Anna if anything comes up?"
Never mind that Mary probably shouldn't be keeping watch right now. Jo knew that, but Jo also knew that staying wasn't an option just now. She needed time to process all of this and that wasn't going to happen if she and Mary got into a shouting match just now. She didn't bother to wait for confirmation that Mary could take the watch. She just turned and left.
----
Mary watched her mom go and then looked over at Johnny, as if expecting that something would have changed. That he'd be awake and have some word of comfort to offer right now. Or at the very least, that he'd be awake so they could plan what to do if Jo came back and decided to try to hurt him. Tears of frustration stung at her eyes as she turned her attention outside of the camp to keep an eye out for any sign of trouble of any kind. She didn't know what was coming next, but for once she was glad that she had the chance to only deal with one parent at a time.