Chapter 29:
"So are you going to tell me?"
"I already told you no." Charlie gave him a look from her seat at the kitchen table. They had gotten home a couple days ago from the cabin. It was nice being away but Charlie was glad they were home.
"Please Dean?" Dean looked up from Ava's face. He was holding her while feeding her.
"No, the less you know the better. All you need to know is I definitely will not be serving time for it."
"And why is that?" Dean just smirked at her, making Charlie close her eyes in exasperation.
"Can I at least know when you are going to do it?"
"Hopefully sometime this month."
Dean walked over and knelt in front of her, their daughter still in his arms, happier now that she was fed. Dean grabbed Charlie's hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
"Everything will be fine angel, I promise. Stop worrying so much."
"Its kind of hard to stop worrying when I'm pretty much an accessory to a crime."
"Trust me angel, I have double and triple checked with Seth and Roman. They won't be able to trace anything back to us." Charlie took a deep breath and softly muttered and okay. Dean smiled and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Leave everything to me angel. Soon he will no longer be a threat to us or our daughter."
She just nodded and Dean kissed her again. The doorbell rang and Dean handed Ava over to Charlie.
"Stay here I will get it." Charlie didn't even nod, already playing with Ava who now always seemed to get a little smile on her face, no matter what you said to her.
Dean opened the door and saw Roman standing there in uniform, looking remorseful.
"Hey Dean, is uh Charlie here?"
"Yeah she is in the kitchen with Ava. What's wrong?" Roman leaned forward and told him, Dean's face paling. He led him to the kitchen.
Charlie looked up and smiled at seeing Roman but it immediately turned to a frown when she noticed both their expressions.
"What's wrong?" Dean went over and took Ava from Charlie, in case she was so shocked she dropped her. Roman cleared his throat and sat in the chair that was next to her's.
"Your uh, your mom was in a car accident Charlie." Charlie felt her breath hitch.
"I-is she okay?" The tears were starting to form.
"We don't know. She was taken to the hospital." Charlie suddenly felt like she couldn't breath. She had just talked to her mom that morning before she left for work. Dean, noticing Charlie was having a hard time breathing, walked over to her and knelt in front of her again.
"You have to breathe baby. Breathe for me angel." Charlie closed her eyes and took a deep breath but she immediately started crying. Dean brought her to his chest and kissed her head, allowing her to cry on him. He turned to look at Roman, who was hating this part of his job right now.
"Do they know what happened?"
"She was at an intersection, her light turned green so she went but some bastard sped threw his light and hit her."
"What about her injuries." Just that sentence made Charlie cry harder, Dean kissing her head repeatedly as he rubbed her back.
"She was trapped in the car, they had to cut her out. From what I saw, her leg was shattered, her right arm was messed up, and she might have some head trauma. The only good thing was that she didn't go flying into another car, so injury was only on one side of her body."
That did nothing to calm Charlie. Her mom was in the hospital and she couldn't help but think who could have done it. She pulled away from Dean's chest and looked to Roman.
"Do you know who did it?" Roman shook his head.
"No, they hit her and left. Eye witnesses said that the car was stopped at the red and went as soon as your mom's light turned green. Like-"
"Like they intentionally wanted to hit her." Roman looked at his best friend's wife and nodded.
"I-I need to go to the hospital." She shot out of her chair, but was still light headed from not being able to breath so she started falling. Luckily Roman was right there and caught her.
"We will go but you need to relax first." Roman sat Charlie back down, silently agreeing with Dean.
"I have to go and investigate more. I hope your mom is okay Charlie."
"Thank you Roman." He gave a small smile before walking out of the house. Dean sat in his empty chair with the baby, who was looking around the room not knowing what in the hell was going on.
"Baby you gotta breathe." He watched as Charlie closed her eyes and took deep breaths.
"It was Randy" she whispered, tears threatening to spill again.
"Why do you think it was him?"
"He said he would do whatever it takes to get me back. Its my fault she is in the hospital" fresh tears starting to run down her cheeks. Dean leaned forward and pulled her face to his, so they were only inches apart.
"No Charlie this wasn't your fault. This dick just took things to far. I will make him pay for this Charlie, I promise. But first we have to make sure it was him." Charlie nodded and clutched on to his shirt as well as place a hand on Ava's stomach, her breathing finally getting under control.
"Why don't we change and go to the hospital." Charlie nodded and allowed Dean to guide her to their room. She changed into light jean shorts, a black off the shoulder shirt, and a pair of sandals. She quickly threw her hair up into a pony tail and skipped make up. She slipped her rings on before they left.
The whole way to the hospital, Dean kept a reassuring hand on her thigh, rubbing it soothingly. When they made it to the hospital, Dean grabbed the car seat while Charlie all but ran inside.
"Hi can you tell where Stacey Bronson is?" The nurse nodded and typed in the computer, while Dean finally caught up to Charlie, keeping an arm around her waist.
"She is in surgery right now, I can show you the waiting room." Charlie nodded and they followed the nurse. As soon as they stepped in, they saw Kevin sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.
"Kevin." He looked up at his name, giving Charlie and Dean the chance to see he had been crying. He got up and pulled Charlie into a bone crushing hug.
"I can't lose her Charlie." Charlie wrapped her arms around him.
"I know and we won't. Have they said anything?" Kevin sighed and pulled away from her, nodding hello to Dean before speaking.
"No they brought her here and took her right into surgery. All we can do is wait."
And that is what they did. They sat and waited for what seemed like days. Charlie tried taking her mind off things by playing with Ava but that didn't seem to work, so she settled for just holding the infant close to her. Dean wrapped an arm around his girls.
Being in a hospital for this reason made him flashback to when his grandma died. He remembered the day perfectly. He was home, and out in the living room. His grandpa was in his room and his grandma had went to work.
Flashback:
The phone ringing brought a young Dean's attention away from the tv. He walked over and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi is Joseph Ambrose there?" Dean furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why this person was looking for his grandfather, and why they sounded so distressed.
"Yea hold on a minute." He placed the phone down and ran to get his grandpa. Joseph was up and getting dressed when his grandson ran into his room.
"Grandpa there is someone on the phone for you." Joseph smiled and ruffled the young boys hair as he made his way out to the living room.
"Hello?" Dean couldn't hear what was being said but when he noticed his grandfather's face take a horrifying look, he knew something was wrong. He hung up the phone and ran into the kitchen, grabbing his coat and keys.
"Grandpa?" Joseph looked over at his grandson.
"I'll be right back" was all he said before rushing out of the house. Dean sat alone for hours, having a bad feeling in his gut. When his grandfather finally came home, he found out the bad feeling was right. His grandmother had a massive heart attack at work and died.
End of Flashback
Dean was never the same after that. He found himself constantly wanting to know where everyone was at any time. He hated when his grandfather would leave and not tell him where he was going, immediately thinking something was wrong.
Charlie looked over and saw Dean had this far off expression on his face. She placed a gentle hand on his arm and squeezed.
"Dean, you okay?" Her voice seemed to snap him out of his little trance. He looked over at her and gave a small smile.
"Yea angel, I'm fine." Charlie just nodded and leaned into his side, feeling exhausted from crying. They sat around for a few hours until someone came out.
"Family of Stacey Bronson." Charlie handed Ava to Dean before standing up with Kevin.
"I'm her fiancee, this is her daughter. How is she."
"She had a lot of damage. Her right leg was broken, along with some ribs. She had some bleeding in the brain but we managed to reduce the swelling and the pressure. She will be in the I.C.U for a couple of days before we can check again, but she will be fine." Both sighed in relief.
"When can we see her?"
"In a few hours, she is still in recovery. I will have a nurse get you when she is moved. She may experience some memory loss, we won't know until we check her after recovery. Have a good night guys." Both Charlie and Kevin thanked the doctor before he left.
/*/
Charlie was in the I.C.U waiting room with Dean and the baby, waiting for Kevin to leave the room so they could go in. She was pacing back and forth, biting her thumb nail.
"Baby your going to burn a hole in the floor, sit down." She did as told, although she started bouncing her leg until Dean clamped his hand over it, keeping it still.
"Angel relax, why are you so nervous?"
"I-I've never seen my mom like this." Dean sighed and released her leg and pulled her to his side.
"It'll be okay Charlie. Me and Ava will be with you." Charlie nodded and relaxed into his side, letting his embrace comfort her. Ten minutes later, Kevin came out.
"How is she?" Kevin gave a sad smile.
"She is as good as you can be right now I guess. She is in a lot of pain so they gave her medicine, she is asleep now. They expect her to sleep the rest of the night."
"Oh." Charlie looked down to the ground. She wanted to see her mom and talk to her but if she was in a lot of pain, she wasn't going to bother her.
"We can come back tomorrow angel." Charlie nodded and wiped her eyes. Now all she wanted to do was go home, hold Ava, and go to sleep. She hugged Kevin and they left. They stopped for some food, although Charlie insisted she wasn't hungry.
"Charlie you need to eat." She sighed and Dean ordered. They payed and made their way home. When they made it home, they sat in the living room to eat. Ava was in her bouncy seat watching the little mobile attached while Dean was watching Charlie to make sure she ate everything.
Dean noticed how quiet Charlie was being.
"Baby, do you wanna talk about it?"
"What's there to talk about. My mom is in the I.C.U because of some lunatic. She is in there because of me."
"No Charlie she isn't. None of this is your fault. As for Randy being a lunatic, we are just both lucky that I am an even bigger one than him. He won't get away with this Charlie I promise. I'm going to have him begging for death by the time I am done with him." Charlie let out a sob before launching herself into Dean's arms, hugging him. Dean wrapped an arm around her waist as he rubbed her back.
Ava started squealing in her bouncy seat, making her parents look over at her with smiles on their faces.
"I think she knows mommy is upset" Dean said as he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Charlie gave him a small smile before going to pick Ava up.
"Hi pretty girl." Ava started grunting, making Charlie smile. Dean came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Its gonna be okay, angel I promise."
They spent the rest of the night laying in bed. Dean had to practically pry Ava out of Charlie's arms to put her in her crib.
"She could have slept in here." Dean chuckled as he got in the bed.
"No she couldn't have. I move a lot during the night to cuddle with you, and she would get squashed. I don't want to squash our daughter." For the first time that day, Charlie giggled.
"Cuddle?"
"What is so funny?" Charlie started laughing again, which was music to Dean's ears.
"I-I just have never heard a man use the term cuddle." Dean growled and lunged at her and started tickling her sides.
"Dean!"
"Do you give up?"
"Y-yes!" Dean laughed and stopped, letting Charlie up so she could run to the bathroom since he tickled her into tomorrow. When she came out, she crawled into bed and Dean pulled her to his chest. Both falling asleep in minutes.
/*/
It was around 10 o'clock the next morning, and Charlie was sitting on the bed playing with Ava while they waited for Dean to get out of the shower so they could go see her mom.
"Where's Ava, where's Ava? Peek a boo." Every time Charlie would take her hands away from her eyes, Ava would grunt making Charlie laugh softly.
Dean walked out of the bathroom. He smiled when he saw his girls waiting for him. He watched as Charlie took Ava's tiny hands and covered the baby's eyes before pulling them away so she could see Charlie.
"Ready baby?" Charlie nodded and got off the bed before picking Ava up. She was wearing a pink onesie that said 'Grandma's Favorite' along with a pink bow headband. She placed her in her car seat, which Dean then picked up. They walked out to the car and left. Charlie's leg was bouncing again, causing Dean to place his hand on it like he did yesterday.
"Angel, relax."
"I'm sorry." Dean just squeezed her thigh. They made it to the hospital and made their way inside. Charlie kept taking deep breaths, not sure how she was going to handle seeing her mom like this. Dean placed a hand on her back, leading them to Stacey's room. He may not like her, but she was Charlie's mother and he was going to make Randy wish he was dead.
When they got to the door, Dean felt Charlie tense up and stop walking.
"Baby its okay. Go ahead." Charlie looked up at him to see him nod his head towards the door. Charlie, with a shaky hand, reached for the door knob and opened the door. The sight of her mom laying in the hospital bed with bandages and casts on her body, made the young mother cry.
She wiped her eyes and walked over to the bed and grabbed her mom's hand.
"Mommy?" Stacey eyes opened slightly and smiled.
"Hi honey." Charlie let out a sob and leaned down to hug her mother, reassurance she was still there with her.
"Are you okay mom" she asked as she pulled back.
"I will be. They told me what happened. I should have seen that car coming." Charlie shook her head.
"No mom, the police think they ran the light on purpose." Stacey was going to respond but Ava started cooing. For the first time, Stacey noticed the man behind Charlie.
"Charlie who is that?" Charlie furrowed her eyebrows.
"Dean and Ava."
"Who?" Charlie felt like someone punched her in her gut.
"M-my husband and daughter. You don't remember them?" At this point Dean came over and was standing right behind Charlie while he put the car seat in the chair so Stacey could see Ava.
Stacey shook her head.
"Mom do you remember how old I am?"
"Of course I do your 21." Charlie swallowed the lump in her throat and felt tears stinging her eyes.
"Do you know what month it is?" Stacey was quiet for a minute while she thought.
"Its August. Charlie is going to start her first semester of college at the end of the month." Charlie felt like she couldn't breathe. Her mom was forgetting almost a year of stuff. She doesn't remember her meeting Dean, or her having Ava. She remembers none of it.
The door opened and the doctor walked in.
"Morning guys. Morning Stacey, how are you feeling?"
"My head hurts really bad but other than that I'm feeling eh."
"Well I'm afraid until these headaches go away you can't go home. I have ordered an MRI for you to see if anymore of the swelling has gone down."
"Okay, thank you doctor."
"Uh mom, we are going to get going. I'll come see you sometime later today okay." Stacey smiled and hugged her daughter. They all walked out and Charlie turned to the doctor.
"She doesn't remember my husband or daughter." The doctor sighed.
"I was worried, did she say what year she thinks it is?"
"No but she thinks I am still 21. I turned 22 in October." The doctor nodded.
"We will run some more tests. It may just be short term or she may never recover them, we will have to wait to see." Charlie nodded and watched as he walked away. She turned around and sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"You okay angel?"
"My mom can't remember the last year of her life." Dean grabbed her hand and pulled her over to sit down.
"You heard what the doctor said, it could just be short term."
"And if it isn't. She doesn't even know her own granddaughter." She was starting to feel another panic attack coming on.
"Charlie breathe."
"C-can we just go home please."
"Of course. Come on baby." He led them back out to the car and took them home. HE watched as Charlie went upstairs and changed into an over sized shirt and threw her hair up in a messy bun before grabbing the baby and settling on the bed.
"I guess its a lazy day" he said to himself as he changed into a pair of shirts and took his shirt off. He layed next to Charlie who was flipping through Netflix for something to watch. She settled on Cupcake Wars, which Dean knew she would.
"I think you could be a baker with how much you watch this show."
"I already know how to bake."
"Then how come you've never baked for me?" Charlie looked over at Dean and saw he was glaring playfully.
"You've never asked." She sat up and bent her knees, resting Ava there so she could play with her.
"So come and bake me something. Know how to make cupcakes from scratch?" Charlie nodded her head.
"Yea, my mom taught me." Dean noticed how strained her voice was.
"Well then come on then." He took Ava from her and grabbed her hand, not giving her a chance to protest. He took her down to the kitchen and nudged her towards the stove while he sat in the chair with Ava.
"Get to work Betty Crocker." Charlie glared at him, making him laugh. Things between them were like she never found the pictures and he never gave her rules at all. Dean had to admit, he liked it. He knew that even if he wasn't possessive, Charlie wouldn't leave him. He knew that she was really in love with him, even if she did have to realize that after Randy came back into the picture.
"Ava tell mommy, get baking." He made her little hand move like she was telling Charlie something, making her laugh and Ava smile. Dean watched as Charlie pulled out bananas and peanut butter.
"What are you making angel?"
"Banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting." Ava started cooing again, making Dean and Charlie laugh.
Charlie made the batter and tasted it to make sure it was good. She dipped another spoon and took it to Dean to taste.
"Good?"
"If I didn't marry you already, I definitely would after tasting that." Charlie laughed and went back to her cupcakes. Once they were in the oven, she started on the frosting.
"Do you not have a mixer?" Dean looked up from rocking Ava to sleep.
"Why would I need one? I don't know how to bake." Charlie just shook her head and made the frosting in a bowl. The door bell rang and Dean handed Ava to Charlie so he could go get it. Dean opened it and saw a man standing there.
"Hey." The man turned and smiled.
"Hi are you Dean?"
"Yea. Who are you?" The man chuckled softly.
"I figured you wouldn't remember me, you haven't seen me since you were a baby."
"Who are you" Dean repeated.
"Jeff Ambrose. I'm your father."
