Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis
Charlie groaned as her phone went off on the night stand, ringing through the motel room. With little to none regard she clumsily reached over Dean to grab the offending object. "Bobby, it's three in the morning," she grouched out.
"I know, I know, but I've got a small situation that I need you and Courtney to take care of."
"What is it?"
"Do you remember that dybbuk box you two took care of last year?"
"The one that nearly got both of us thrown in prison? Yes."
"It's popped back up."
"Shit," Charlie hissed as she pulled herself out of bed and over to table where a notepad was laying. "Where is it?"
"Springfield, Missouri ."
"What are their names?"
"Clyde and Stephanie Brenek. Their daughter Em is the one who found the box. The things already inside her, you just gotta get it out."
"Do they know that we're coming?" she asked as she wrote that down.
"Yeah, he managed to get a hold of me through the grape vine," he answered. "Told him I was sending some of the best."
She chuckled humorlessly. "No pressure there."
"He's going to meet you in the hospital lobby. Any chance of you flying Angel Air?"
"I'll get Courtney to pray," she answered. "Call you when we get there?"
"You better," he stated before hanging up.
Charlie tore the page off the notepad and walked over to the Courtney, shaking her shoulder roughly, knowing that was the only way she would wake up.
"What?" she asked, attempting to push her sister's hands away.
"Dybbuk," Charlie said.
"Oh shit," Courtney said before springing out of bed and heading over to her bag, already pulling on street clothes. "Where?"
"Springfield, Missouri ," she answered, following her sister's lead and pulling on clothes. "Any chance you get Tiel to give us a ride?"
"On it."
"What's going on?"
Both girls paused to look at the now awake brothers, taking in their disheveled looks and concerned expressions.
Charlie glanced between them. "Me and Courtney are going to Missouri to take care of an ancient Jewish demon," she answered, zipping up her hoodie.
"Wait, what do you mean you and Courtney?" Sam asked, sitting up in bed with a confused look on his face. "Shouldn't me and Dean go with you?"
Charlie shook her head. "You two would just get in the way," she stated.
"No offense," Courtney added. "We've just fought this thing before, we know what we're doing so it would just be easy to do it ourselves," she explained.
"I've never even heard of a Jewish demon," Dean stated, squinting when Charlie turned to light in the bathroom on.
"They're not common," Courtney said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Now shh," she said before pressing her hands together and bowing her head.
There was a moment of silence before the sound of fluttering and Castiel appeared next to her.
"Why have you summoned me?" he asked, looking to her with an expression that was awfully close to concern.
Charlie marched out of the bathroom, her own bag over her shoulder. "Would you mind taking us to the dybbuk in Missouri?" she asked.
He nodded. "I was hoping someone would dispose of it," he stated before grabbing both of their shoulders, disappearing with them in a flutter.
~Magical Supernatural Time Skip~
Courtney shouldered open the motel door and stumbled in, her eyes heavy lidded. She dropped her bag and fell face forward on the queen sized bed.
Charlie followed behind her, kicking the door closed behind her and lying next to her sister with a groan. "Next time Bobby calls we're telling him to fuck off," she stated, her voice muffled by the pillow.
"Agreed," Courtney grounded out.
"You think it'll stay in the box this time?"
"No, but we're not going to be the ones who put it back when it gets out again," she answered. "Now shut up and sleep."
"Okkie dokkie Loki," Charlie agreed before letting herself slip into darkness.
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis
"He'll go away if we ignore him," Courtney stated, her voice groggy despite the time of day.
"What if it's something important?" Charlie asked back, her voice equally groggy.
"Then he can get Sam and Dean on it."
"What if it's about Sam and Dean?"
"Then fucking answer the phone."
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Charlie muttered before pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Yeah, Bobby?"
"Do you have a bronze dagger?" he asked, skipping all forms of greeting.
Charlie furrowed her brows and nodded. "Why do we need a bronze dagger?" she questioned.
"Do you have one?!" Bobby all but yelled into the phone.
"Yes, we have one," Courtney answered.
Charlie furrowed her brow and looked to her. "We do?"
She nodded. "I've kept one in my bag ever since that Rakshasa we hunted," she answered.
Charlie watched her for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, Bobby, we have one," she answered back.
"Can you get back to Dean and Sam?"
"Uh, yeah, we should be able to," she answered. "Bobby, what's going on?" she demanded.
"The boys were hunting a siren and I know for a fact that those ijits are going to get infected," he answered.
Charlie rolled her eyes, fully believing him. "What do we have to do?"
"You're going to have to get either Sam or Dean's blood on the knife before stabbing the siren."
Charlie nodded as she watched her sister pull the dagger out of her duffle bag. "Okay, so we're just going to go up to them and ask politely to cut them?"
"Congratulations, your dream of finally fighting with a Winchester is about to come true."
Charlie's eyebrows shot up. "Why would I have to fight them?"
"Because more than likely they're going to be fighting each other, so, break them up, stab one of them and then kill the siren, got it?"
"Got it."
"Call me when the thing is dead, okay?"
"Okay," she answered before hanging up. "So, you need to get Cas here so we get to the boys, get either of their blood on the blade and then stab the siren."
Courtney nodded. "Sounds simple enough," she stated before pressing her hands together again and bowing her head.
"What's wrong?" Castiel asked, appearing beside the girls.
"Dean and Sam are in trouble, can you take us to them?" Courtney asked.
Castiel seemed to think for a moment before giving a firm nod. "I can take you to them."
Charlie dashed off the bed, grabbed their bags and then latching onto Castiel's arm.
With a flutter the motel room was gone and they found themselves standing alone in a hallway. Their heads snapped over when they heard breaking glass coming from around the corner. They walked over and peeked in, finding Sam laying on a collapsed door and Dean stepping towards him with an axe in his hands.
"I'm going to let you take care of the axe wielding Winchester," Courtney said, passing her sister the dagger.
"And what are you going to do?" Charlie demanded.
Courtney gave a smirk. "I'm going to hold Sam down," she answered.
Charlie rolled her eyes and looked back to the scene. "I'm going to assume that the other guy is the siren."
"Do it," the other guy spoke. "Do it for me, Dean."
Charlie's eyebrows shot up. "That's not creepy," she muttered, keeping her eyes on the axe that was now clenched tightly in Dean's hands.
"Tell me again how weak I am, Sam, huh?" Dean asked, standing over his brother. "How I hold you back!" he barked, his shoulder muscles tensing.
Charlie tapped her sister's shoulder before rushing forward, dagger at the ready as she grabbed the handle of the now raised axe and pulled it back, causing Dean to jerk back into her, allowing her to dig the dagger into his shoulder.
Dean yelled and allowed the axe to fall, his hand coming up to cover his new wound.
Charlie's attention turned to the now running siren and lined up to throw the dagger.
"No, no," Sam protested, trying to fight against the hold Courtney had on him, his hands pushing against her thighs that were squeezed around his chest, restricting his breathing as well as keeping him still, as her hands were pressed against his shoulder, most of her weight thrown forward.
Charlie took in a deep breath and threw her arm forward, the dagger embedded between the siren's shoulder blades.
It stumbled forward and caught itself on the frame of a mirror, its true form in plain view for all of them to see. With one finale groan it dropped to the ground, blood dripping from its mouth.
Charlie let out a relief filled sigh before pulling her phone out and pressing 3 on her speed dial.
"Is it dead?" he asked, once again skipping the usual greetings.
"Very," she answered.
"They alive?" he asked.
"Very," she answered.
"Smack 'em once for me will ya?"
"Right to the back of the head," she agreed before hanging up. She turned and looked over to the brothers, a small smile playing on her lips when she found that he sister was still on top of Sam. "I think you can let him up now," she stated.
Courtney seemed to think about it for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh and climbing off the still stunned Winchester. "We should probably make a break for it," she stated, looking to her sister. "I doubt their fight was quiet."
Charlie nodded. "You get them down the car, I'll clean the room," she told her before walking passed the three and into the hotel room that was now destroyed.
"All right, Winchester, up you get," she said, holding her hands out to Sam who watched her for a moment before taking the offer and getting to his feet, wincing as he did. "What about you, Winchester? You doing okay?" she asked, looking to Dean.
Dean watched her for a moment before nodding, his hand still pressed to his shoulder.
~Magical Supernatural Time Skip~
"Dean, if you don't stop fidgeting I'm going to knock you out," Charlie threatened as she paused in her stitching, Dean's exposed shoulder in her hands as she sat on the side of the trunk with him leaning between her legs.
Dean threw a glare back at her. "You wouldn't be stitching me up if you hadn't of stabbed me," he shot back at her.
"If I hadn't stabbed you, you would be still be a sirens bitch," she reminded him, lightly hitting the side of his head.
He turned his attention back to the beer in his hands.
Sam cleared his throat, catching the attention of the entire group. "Thanks, by the way," he said, his tone slightly ashamed. "If you two hadn't of shown up when you did-"
"You should be thanking Bobby," Courtney stated from her seat on top of the railing that ran around the rest stop with the view of the river. "He's the one who called us."
"Speaking of Bobby," Charlie started, her eyes focused on Dean's stiches, "he wanted me to give you two a lecture."
Sam let out a huff. "On what? On how to not get poisoned by a siren?" he asked.
Charlie shook her head. "No, on how a simple phone call would tell you that Agent Nick Monroe wasn't a real person," she answered.
A tense silence swept through the small group before Charlie tied off the stitches and placed the bandage over it.
"Done," she said, patting his unwounded shoulder.
He grunted and pulled his shirt back up his shoulder. "Thanks," he said with the Winchester gruff tone.
Charlie chewed on her bottom lip, looking between the two brothers, seeing how they avoided looking at each other and how their bodies were tense whenever one of them moved. "You two going to be okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, fine."
"Yeah, good."
Both sisters looked to each other, each knowing that they were lying.
Dean cleared his throat and glanced over at his brother. "You going to say goodbye to Cara?" he asked.
Courtney's head snapped up to look at Sam, a slightly panicked look on her face that their brother noticed.
"Nah," Sam sighed. "Not interested."
"Really? Why not?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "What' the point?" he asked back.
"Well look at you," he said with a humorless smile. "Love them and leave them."
Sam glanced over at him before taking in a deep breath. "Dean, look, you know I didn't mean the things I said, right?" he asked. "That it was just the siren's spell talking?"
Dean nodded quickly. "Of course. Me too," he agreed.
"Okay," Sam said before hesitantly looking up at him. "So….so we're good?"
Dean took in a deliberating breath. "Yeah, we're good."
The sisters made eye contact and silently agreed that they were going to get them alone.
"I can't believe you just left him there," Courtney complained, glaring at Dean as she leaned over the front seat to glare at him
Dean clenched his jaw. "What did you want me to do, Courtney? You took the keys with you!"
"You could have hotwired him," she told him.
"Yeah, I could have, and then you would bitching at me about that," he barked back, shooting her a glare.
Courtney watched him for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm just tired."
Dean glanced back at her before casting a look to Charlie who was asleep leaning against the window. "That bad, huh?" he asked.
"What do you know about dybbuks?"
"I know that they're rare," Sam answered.
Courtney nodded. "They are," she agreed. "Most of them are locked in these curse boxes that are like puzzles to open and a lot of time its children that find them," she explained. "It grows inside the kid, pushes their organs aside and just grows. When it's big enough it forces its way up their throats and into the real world. It takes a while so that's usually when the parents start to notice something isn't right. Clyde managed to get a hold of Bobby after some research and Bobby told them that me and Charlie would go down to take care of it, seeing as we were the last hunters who put the damn thing back in the box."
"You didn't send it back to hell?" Dean asked.
"You can't," Courtney stated.
"What do you mean you can't?" both brothers asked.
She looked between the two. "You can't use two religions together," she told them, shaking her head. "Judaism doesn't have a place called Hell in their teachings so you can't send their demons there."
The brothers look bewildered.
"Didn't you know that?" she asked.
Dean cleared his throat. "So, uh, what happened with the hunt?"
Courtney chuckled lightly but didn't comment on the subject change. "Demon took control of the little girl and took off, we went off with the dad to look for her, he found her in the morgue, gave the whole 'take me not her' speech, the thing crawled into him and he was strong enough to hold it back so we could get it out of him and back into the box," she told them. "Little girl's fine and Mom and Dad are getting back together."
"Getting back together?" Sam asked
"They were divorced and this little near death experience made them realize how much they really loved each other," she said before chuckling lightly. "There was a boyfriend but the demon made all of his teeth fall out, he took off and they haven't heard from him since."
"Poor guy," Sam said with a laugh.
"He's a dentist too," Courtney said, biting her lip to keep from laughing.
They all struggled with their laughter before a groan from Charlie shut them up.
Dean pulled into the parking lot of their previous motel, parking next to Roy. "Happy now?" he asked, looking back at Courtney.
"Ecstatic," she said before looking over at her sleeping sister. "She isn't going to move," she stated. "Hey, Sam, wanna ride with me for a while?" she asked, looking over to the somber giant next to her.
Sam glanced over the seat at the sleeping woman and nodded. "Yeah, sure," he answered before opening the door and climbing out.
"Wait, wait, wait," Dean said, leaning over the back seat to look at them. "Where are we going?" he asked.
A sudden spark erupted in Courtney's eyes. "Chicago," she answered. "We gotta go to Portillo's. They make the best beef sandwiches I've ever had," she stated.
Dean's mood lightened at the mention of food. "Lead the way."
Courtney tossed him a smile and followed after Sam.
C+S
~ten minutes later~
Courtney shifted in the driver's seat as Sam sat staring out the window.
"Okay, you look like you need a good rain storm to finish your mood. Your awful teenage angst is gonna rub off on me if you stay that way," Courtney said as she smacked him hard enough to get his attention.
"What? Why would I need rain?" Sam asked obviously confused by her statement.
Courtney could only shake her head at him. "Never mind….Um…Sam….do you….do you wanna-"
"No." Sam quickly cut her off knowing exactly what she was going to ask.
Courtney shot him the glare a mother would use for a disobedient child but Sam saw nothing of this as he turned his attention back out the window. "If you keep up this mood you won't have a-"
"It was nothing, just a minor hick-up in the hunt," Sam interrupted, his tone clearly stating that he didn't want to talk.
Courtney glared over at him before looking back to the road. "I'm not enjoying you interrupting me," she stated, her tone just as hard as his. "And I know for damn sure that that wasn't nothing, Sam."
Sam looked over to her only to find her frowning; something he hadn't seen her do too often. "So, what happened with Clara?" she suddenly asked.
It was a simple question, but it caught him off guard. "What?" he asked, his eyebrows pulling together.
She swallowed hard before mentally pushing herself forward. "Uh, Clara. The woman Dean mention. What happened?"
He looked away quickly and scratched the back of his neck; something he always seemed to do whenever presenting with something a little too uncomfortable.
If their siblings had been in the car they would had teased them endlessly about the blushes touching both of their faces.
"Not to sound rude at all, but um….I really don't feel it's any of your business, Courtney," Sam said, wincing slightly when he realized that he had, in fact, been rude.
Of course Courtney realized this too and decided to act. She let out a scoff and gave him a wide eyes look. "Well, I'm sorry for caring enough about your grumpy ass to ask about what was bothering you," she said, slumping further down into her seat, glaring hard at the road. "Serves me right for having feelings for a Winchester."
"You…..have feelings for me?" he finally blinked.
Courtney froze, her glare disappearing with shock. "I said that out loud?" she whispered, horror filling her.
"Uh, yeah, you said it out loud," Sam answered, turning in his seat to face her. "You-You have feelings for me?" he asked, clearly struggling to wrap his head around it.
Courtney chuckled nervously. "Oh course I do, Sammy, I mean, it's like asking someone not to have feelings for a lost puppy," she stated, glancing over at him with an uneasy smile. "A look you're pulling off especially well today, by the way," she informed him. "I'm going to assume that something happened with Dean?"
Sam knew she was attempting to change the subject and honestly he welcomed it. He was so far from in the mood to open whatever flood gate that conversation would have led to. However, he was also not in the mood to talk about what had happened with his brother. "You assume correct," he said, returning his attention back out the side window, his jaw ticking as memories of the fight filled his head.
Courtney let out the breath she had been holding, relief taking over the panic that had pressed against her chest. "Well, whatever happened I'm sure you two will work it out."
"Courtney, me and Dean aren't like you and Charlie," Sam stated, tossing her an unamused look. "We don't have a skin tight relationship. It hasn't been the same since he came back."
"What do you expect, Sam? The man was in Hell. You don't just snap back after something like that," she stated. "He probably has the most severer case of PTSD in history."
"I know but-"
"But he's your brother and he just needs time to adjust to the fact that he's not going to wake up one day and find that he's still in hell and that all of this was a dream," she stated.
Sam seemed shocked by that thought.
Courtney let out a sigh. "Sam, believe it or not, he cares, he just has a hard time showing that," she told him. "Just be patient, okay?"
Sam remained silent.
C+D
Charlie jerked awake when the Impala hit another bump, once again smacking the side of her head against the window. She sat up straight while rubbed the sore spot, a grimace twisted on her face, looking that and more like an angry grizzly bear.
"You okay there, sweetheart?" he asked, glancing over at her with a cautious look.
She ran her fingers through her hair and squinted out the windshield, her frown lightening slightly when she noticed that it was raining. "Can't complain," she muttered before looking over t him. "How about you?"
He shot her the Winchester smirk. "I'm just fine."
Charlie gasped. "Holy shit, your pants are on fire!" she yelled with an over exaggerated shocked face.
Dean shot her an unamused look that would have been killed a normal person on a good day.
Charlie chuckled lightly before scooting closer to him. "So, are you doing to do this the easy way or the hard way?" she asked.
Dean's jaw clenched at that. "I'd rather not talk about it," he stated.
"Yeah, well, I'd rather not bleed for a week straight but we all don't get we want," she told him. "Spill or I'll talk to Sam."
He glared at the road, his hand tightening on the wheel to the point of his knuckles turning white. He seemed to stage an epic mental battle with himself before the smaller army won and he let his guard down. "He said I'm holding him back."
She nodded slowly. "That's not all," she stated, letting her head drop down to rest on his shoulder.
Dean shot her a glance before going back to glare at the road. "He told me that he was a better hunter than me. He said that I was too weak to go after Lilith and that's why he's been sneaking around behind my back. He also told me that I've been too busy whining about the souls I tortured in hell," he explained, his voice cracking at the end.
Charlie raised her head to watching him for a moment before pulling her phone out of her pocket.
"What can I help you with, sister dear?" Courtney asked once she answered.
"Me and Dean are gonna hang back for a little while, okay?" she asked although there was no room for argument in her tone.
"Yeah, okay. Uh, we're heading to Portillo's," she told me.
"Alright, we'll see you there," Charlie told her before tossing her phone onto the cushion. "Pull off on that farm road," she said, pointing to the unpatched road that split off.
Dean was more than happy to comply. He pulled his baby onto the road and followed it down, putting her into park under a line of oak trees.
Charlie reached into the back and opened the cooler that was wedged between the front and back seat, grabbing a beer and handing it to Dean.
He took it from her but didn't open it, just sat here staring at it.
Charlie took in a deep breath before she slid her arm around his shoulders, her fingers coming up to run through the hair at the nape of his neck. "I'm sorry he said that to you," she said, her voice as soft as the patter of rain on the windshield.
He let out a humorless chuckle. "There's nothing to be sorry for," he stated.
"He didn't mean it, Dean."
"I know he did," he argued.
She shook her head. "No he didn't," she said back. "He said things he knew would hurt you," she told him. "That's what the whole fight was about, getting you two so angry and hurt that you ended up killing each other."
"I know he meant it because I meant what I said to him."
"And what did you tell him?" she asked.
He let out a shaky breath. "That I didn't know who he was anymore. That he wasn't my brother."
"What's different about him?" Charlie asked.
"He's all shoot first and ask questions later," he stated. "He used to be hesitant and judgy when I wanted to dive head first into something," he explained, ripping a good part of the label off and balling it up. "Now he's acting like-"
"You," she finished. "He's acting like you."
Dean let out another humorless laugh. "Yeah, he's acting like me."
"You were gone for four months, Dean," she reminded him. "He had to cope somehow."
He nodded slowly and let out a sigh. "I know, I know," he gruffed out.
"Did you really mean what you told him or are you just worried about him?" she asked softly.
"Can't it be both?" he questioned, a smile pulling at his lips.
She nodded. "So don't you think that it's both for Sam?"
Dean looked up at her, a calculating look in his eyes before he nodded slowly. With a small sigh he twisted the cap off his beer and took a rather large gulp. "Hey, uh, you wanna drive?"
Charlie's eyes lit up. "Really?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I'm tired," he answered before reaching out, his arm snaking around her waist and pulling her over while he slid over, effectively managing to pull her onto his lap and then into the driver's seat.
Charlie shot him a raised eyebrow but smiled none the less. "How about some Zep's?" she asked, pulling the box out from under the seat and ruffling through the cassettes till she found the one she wanted.
"I like the way you think, sweetheart," he said as he reclined back into the seat, his head tipped back with his beer cradled in his lap.
She put Baby into drive and flipped around, getting back on the dirt road just as Rambling On started to play.
I apologize if anything I stated about the Jewish religion was incorrect. If you would like to PM me with the correct information than I would be more than happy with fixing it. Thank you.
See you in the dark,
Alya Kihaku + Shiri Mizuki O.o