2006 – July

Part 4

South Dakota – Sioux Falls

When Charlotte awoke it was still dark outside of her windows. She frowned, wiped roughly at her face and turned then closed her eyes. Blue orbs snapped open and fixed themselves on the frowning face of a sleeping Dean Winchester. Puffed red eyes stared. She didn't remember inviting him to bed. In fact she remembered punching him. In the face.

And yelling. Crying. Shouting. She sucked the corner of her bottom lip in and just stared. The moon trickled in enough light to throw shadows across his face. But she could swear there was the hint of a bruise around his left eye.

But she was angry at him. Cassie. She glared now. A yawn took over and she screwed her head into her pillow. Or the bare space where her pillow should've been. With a quiet sigh she sat up, shuffled her bedding around and lay back down with her back to Dean.

Seconds passed and then there was something warm wrapping itself around her waist and pulling her back. Then Dean's nose was on the back of her neck. "Dean," she whispered.

She felt him freeze. "Charlotte," he whispered.

The roll of her eyes were the natural response and the words that fell from her mouth couldn't be helped. "Now you remember."

There was a sigh from behind her. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you in my bed?" There was silence and she frowned. "Dean?" More silence. She rolled over and the smell of engine oil and grease infiltrated her senses. Then she realised how close he was and froze herself. Green eyes locked themselves onto hers in a deep frown that held something behind them. After several seconds of silence she managed to push out the word, "Dean?"

More silence and she felt herself grow uncomfortable. His arm still hung over her waist and he was still staring, the other hand tucked underneath his pillow. He still wasn't saying anything but his eyes moved around her face and then they landed back on her eyes. Charlotte frowned at him. There was something going on behind his eyes. The thoughts she wanted to know, she wanted to hear him speak at least. The silence was killing her.

She sighed and turned, ready to kick her feet over the edge of her bed. "Come back," he said, dragging her back.

A sigh escaped her again and she settled down next to him. "What?"

Then silence. She bit her tongue to stop herself from sighing or making some remark. He would speak in his own time. More silence. His arm moved to settled his hand on her waist. It moved to meet her arm, over her shoulder and around her neck. Her breath hitched as he gently ran a thumb over her jaw. She frowned into his touches and parted her mouth in worry. "Dean?"

He had closed the gap and gently placed his mouth against hers. It was gentle, kind and different from any other kiss they'd ever had. She fell into it with no hesitation. Her hand found his arm and she held onto him, as his tongue asked for permission which she gave. The minutes passed as he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms tightly around her as he kept up the gentle pursuit.

When they did pull away there was a flush settling in on her cheeks and she eyed his still frowning features. "I'm sorry," he said in a low voice.

"I shouldn't have hit you," she muttered.

Then a smile tweaked the corner of his mouth. "I deserved that. I called you Cassie."

She let a smile start. "Next time I'll just call you Alex."

And Dean gave a slight chuckle. "Fair enough." Then he was back to staring at her. "Come here," and he was kissing her again. Fingers folded themselves into the front creases of his shirt and he was letting him drag her down into whatever passion this was. It wasn't the normal lust that overtook them. It wasn't a need or desire that had previously ravished each other. It was something more.

This time when he pulled away he remained close enough that their noses brushed and he simply lay there for several minutes. She could feel the flush work down her body and she enjoyed the moment she had. The silence was bearable this time and she waited. "I'm not okay," he said after a moment.

She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded. Then he started again, "How is it that he dies so I get to live?"

"There might've been something wrong with him that the Doctor's missed."

He shook his head. "You don't seriously believe that do you?"

She shrugged one shoulder, "I'd like to pretend alright?"

"I just don't get why he had to something like that."

Charlotte sighed. "Because you're his son. He loves you and he didn't want to lose you."

Dean stared at her for a whole minute and she bit her bottom lip. He finally spoke in a low voice, "Doesn't mean I'm happy with it."

A faint smile started on her face. "Nobody is Dean. I'm not and he wasn't even my Dad." She hesitated before she placed a kiss to his nose. "But unfortunately we can go only move forward."

"How did you manage?" When she frowned at him he sighed. "When you lost your Dad? How did you manage?"

"Well," she started. "For one I cried. Then you know, Bobby was there. You. Sam. John. But I was twelve years old. I hadn't seen or done much in terms of monsters so I cried. Eventually I accepted that he wouldn't be coming back. I'm still not okay with it, I mean, part of me still wants him to walk back in the door." She sighed and took a shaky breath. Damn you Winchester. "I moved on."

The frown on his face was deep and she couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. He was twenty seven. Not the young teen she had been and if she knew Dean then she knew there was anger brewing up inside of him. And he was bottling it up. She placed a hand on his cheek and drew him in for one long kiss on the mouth. When she pulled away this time he was staring at her. "Let's get some sleep."

She rolled over and pushed herself into his body. His arm tightened around her waist once more. Sleep settled itself in with a little discomfort but Dean seemed to settle against her and soon light snores could be heard behind her. Darkness took her and she settled into the comforts of the dark.

Knocking was what woke her. "Charlotte? You up?" It was Sam. She groaned and rolled over to find that Dean was no longer with her. A sudden pang of pain hit her and she shook it away as Sam shouted, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." She sat up and found that there was a cover laid over her. She made a mental note to ask Dean what the hell?

Sam entered and he was frowning. "You don't know where Dean is do you?"

Now she frowned. "No why?"

"We haven't seen him."

She opened her mouth to reply when a thought hit her. With one roll she was facing away from Sam and checking the bedside cabinet for her car keys. "I'm going to kill him," she said as she threw the cover away and grabbed her phone. There was one rule, one rule she had. Nobody touches her car. Even if he was grieving it wasn't hard to follow one rule was it?

"So," Sam started awkwardly.

She frowned up at him. "What?" He shook his head with a tight smile and she folded her arms across her chest and glared up at him. "Sammy?"

"So Dean was in here last night then? I see what you mean by talking to him later."

"Pervert," she muttered as she turned and left him. "If you must know I talked to him outside. Punched him in the face and then he came to apologise."

"Wait a minute?" They were at the top of the stairs by now and Bobby could be heard pottering around downstairs. "He apologised? What for?"

She shrugged, "For being a jerk."

"Well did it have anything to do with why you were shouting at him last night?"

"What did you hear?"

"I couldn't make any of it out but, you were pissed."

She nodded. "Well it's staying like that since he stole my car." And she turned and made her way down the stairs, phone in hand. Dean's number had already been dialled and she was stalking to the back yard passing a "Morning" to Bobby as she passed. Dean picked up. "You took my car!"

"Yeah I know."

"Dean! My car!"

"I'll bring it back."

"Oh you better. If there is even a scratch I will kill you."

"I just," he sighed, "I just needed some space."

"You couldn't ask?"

"You would've said no."

"So?"

"Charlotte!"

"What?"

"Just," his voice was calm as he spoke. "I'll be back with it in one piece. I promise."

She sighed and ducked her head, her free hand to her face. "Just tell me where you're going?"

There was a pause before he answered. "Please Charlotte? All I need is a day or two alone."

She bit her lip and pushed down a growing growl. "Fine," and she hung up. The broken Impala stared back at her and she sighed, shoved her phone into her pocket and moved back into the house for a cup of coffee.

"Well?" Sam asked.

"I dunno but he'll be back in a day or two."

"And you let him have your car?" Bobby asked.

"No. So I'm wringing his neck when he gets back." She grabbed a piece of toast off Sam's plate and moved back outside with both items. The least she could do was move the repairs along. So she set her cup down, finished her toast and picked up an assortment of tools. So last night was…. What? As she worked on putting panels on the car her mind went back to what happened in to garage and to what happened after that to what happened when she had woken up in the middle of the night. It was a muddle of messages and signals and she could not make heads or tails of it all.

With a sigh she forced any and all thoughts of Dean out of her mind and focused on fixing the Impala. She could chew him out later and even punch him if she wanted. For now, she just wanted to pretend it was just her and the broken car in front of her.