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Chapter Fifteen
Dean dubbed Sam's idea for getting rid of Charlie once and for all, the Yippee-Ki-Yay, Motherfucker plan as it really did seem as crazy as something John McClane would do in the die Hard movies. If – and it was a huge if – it worked, he swore to himself that he'd yell the catchphrase at the top of his lungs. Bobby didn't like the plan and expounded on all the ways in which it could go wrong, and secretly Dean agreed with him. Nonetheless, that didn't stop the older hunter from getting in touch with several hunters to procure holy oil to burn the Spanish Tickler to ash. If there was anything left of the bunker that would have to be burned as well along with anything else that belonged to Charlie.
The three hunters argued back and forth for several hours on whether or not Charlie was in fact a vengeful spirit, and if so, would it be enough to just burn the object his spirit was bound to? Somewhere around three in the morning, Sam came to the conclusion that if he was indeed a vengeful spirit, they would find his remains somewhere on the property where he once lived with his son and Dean couldn't find fault in his logic. As the first rays of morning light filtered into the cottage, Bobby made a call to his friend Rufus Turner, and explained the situation to him, calling on the seasoned hunter as backup to hunt for Charlie's remains while Sam and Dean kept Charlie and the Yellow-Eyed demon's eyes on them.
Dean didn't trust Rowena, not one bit, and kept an eye on her the entire night as they worked and planned. Unlike Sam, he didn't like idea of being healed by a witch. As a hunter it felt wrong to use magic to take away the pain and sometimes debilitating weakness in his hand and leg from the torture Charlie had inflicted on him the first time they'd encountered the serial killer. He never let on how it was just as hard for him to hold a weapon as it was for his little brother, or how he made a conscious effort not to limp on the foot Charlie drove a poker through. He hadn't fooled Sam though, and those puppy-dog eyes of his filled with hope at the thought of Dean being made whole again.
"Dean…." Sam nudged his head toward the backdoor and headed in that direction knowing Dean would follow. They walked together in silence down to the lake and took a seat on the wooden boat dock, legs dangling over the side. "I need to show you something, and I don't want you to freak out," he said, and whenever someone said something like that, more times than not it caused someone to do exactly that.
"Alright, Sammy. I promise I'm not gonna –" Sam lifted his shirt, and instead of seeing horrible scars from where he was burned and sliced open by Charlie, there was smooth skin only interrupted by a fading red hand print. "What the holy mother of – where the hell…."
"I was so used to feeling pain that I didn't even realize it was there until I changed my shirt and saw it," Sam explained, and instead of looking terrified by the handprint, there was only hope shining in his hazel eyes. "I know you're not going to want to hear this, but it felt like I was touched by an angel, and it healed me."
"You're right, I don't wanna hear that." Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Dean stared out over the ripples in the water. "Angels aren't real, Sam. And even if they were, they certainly wouldn't be wasting their time looking out for us."
"I think they are, Dean." Sam blew out a heavy breath. "I should've died when – after everything Charlie did to me, I shouldn't be here, but I am. My heart stopped beating in the hospital, and I don't think it was the doctors who brought me back." He shifted to face Dean, resting his thigh on the dock. "Mom was there in the bunker. She shouldn't have been, she wasn't a part of the spell Rowena cast, and yet she was there. What if an angel used her to save me and Jake?"
"Are you saying we have a guardian angel?" Dean said skeptically, wanting to believe in angels if only for Sam's sake, but he didn't buy into the whole angels saving people from monsters and hell the way some people did. "If that was true, why isn't this angel helping us beat the Yellow-Eyed demon? No, Sammy, we're on our own." He almost added that it was more likely that the demon healed him as it didn't want its prize as damaged as Sam was after Charlie had gotten done with him. He kept his mouth shut. Sam needed a reason to have hope, and if the thought of an angel looking out for them made him feel better than Dean wasn't going to completely squash his faith in a high power. "But if you want to believe in angels that's fine with me."
"I made the wager with the demon in the hope that we would both be healed," he said, brushing away the dark hair that breezed across his face. "I don't want you healed by a demon, Dean. So I'm asking you to let Rowena use whatever power she has to heal your hand and the damage to your foot. If we're ever gonna hunt again, we need to be at our full strength, and time hasn't changed the fact that we are not strong enough to get back out there."
"Alright," he reluctantly conceded, what other choice did he have? With a cast on his arm and his ankle still swollen from the motorcycle accident and subsequent misuse of it while it was still healing, it would only serve to make him a liability in the fight against Charlie and the demon. "Are you worried?"
"Of course I am," Sam said as he got to his feet and held out a hand to help Dean up. "This is my plan which means that if anything happens to you, Bobby or Rufus it'll be my fault."
"It's gonna work," Dean said even though he had his doubts and concerns, both of which were well warranted. "By this time tomorrow we'll be free of Charlie for good, and our lives will get back to normal." It was definitely a sunshine and lollipops kind of promise that neither Winchester believed, but as always they both kept their doubts and fears to themselves. "We should get back inside and finish going over the final preparations for the hunt."
XxXxXxX
Sam waited until after Dean had fallen asleep to go through his wallet and take the piece of paper with the names of Charlie's victims written on it. While it wasn't right to forget all the people who had helped them and then had died by the serial killer's hand for their effort, it was the one thing he could do for his brother. Dean had suffered enough over the past year, and for all the times he'd hidden his own pain to help Sam through his recovery, taking on the burden of being the only one to remember the names of those who had died was the very least he could do.
Thankfully Dean was out cold after Rowena healed him, and with Bobby gone to pick up the supplies they needed along with the holy oil to burn the Spanish Tickler, it gave Sam the chance to speak to the witch alone. He studied the petite redhead for a long moment as she sat at the table working her magic on the Spanish Tickler. From where he stood behind her, she appeared harmless, and he knew from experience that when it came to the supernatural that looks were often deceiving, and with the sharp tang of magic filling the air, he realized to the depths of his marrow that she could be every bit as deadly as Charlie or any other monster they'd hunted.
"You wanted to ask me something, Samuel?" she said without looking up from the symbols she was magically carving into the base of the Spanish Tickler.
"I don't want Dean to remember anything that has happened with Charlie once this is over," he blurted out, moving to take a seat beside her. "One of us needs to remember and I need that to be me. He's taken on all the guilt and blame for everything Charlie did to us and everyone else, and for all he's ever done for me, I want him to be freed from the pain of remembering this whole terrible mess. I know you can do that, Rowena. You did that for my father and us when we were kids. You can erase yourself from my memory, but I need to keep these memories so their deaths won't be forgotten."
"That's a heavy burden to carry alone," she said, pausing in her work to hold Sam's gaze. "Are you certain you want to have those memories eating away at you for the rest of your days?"
For a long moment Sam considered what it would feel like to carry the heavy weight of every death Charlie caused on his own, and it felt light in comparison to the pain he saw clearly etched into his brother's eyes every time he thought about any of the people Charlie murdered. "Yeah, I'm sure. If you knew Dean at all, you would know that he cares so damn much about everyone, and if there was ever a person who deserved to be truly happy it's him. With our lives as they are, that's not possible, but this I can do for him and maybe afterwards when he smiles I'll be able to once again see the light in his eyes that Charlie stole from him."
"Okay, Samuel," she said, surprising him that she would agree to his request without terms or conditions. "If it means that much to you, I'll let you keep the memories that will haunt your dreams for the rest of your life."
"That's it?" He lifted a brow. "You're just going to let me have what I want without asking for anything in return?"
"Oh, it'll be enough to know you're suffering for your choices, dear," she said, picking up the Tickler to studying the strange markings she'd etched into it. "Your weapon is complete and ready for use."
"What if I'm wrong about this and it gets Dean or someone else killed?" he said, voicing his concerns to the one person he knew wouldn't run to Dean. Rowena's only interest was the spell book, and as she already said, she couldn't have cared less if anything happened to them. "I keep making mistakes that end up costing people their lives, and I'm afraid this time will be no different."
"It's a good plan," she rested her hand atop his, "impressive, I would say, but I don't want you to get too cocky."
"Thank you, Rowena," he said, and she scrunched her nose as if the thought of being thanked for anything she did was distasteful.
XxXxXxX
"How's your hand?" Sam asked the moment Dean's eyes fluttered open, and making a tight fist, Dean then flexed his fingers and wiggled them. No pain. He sat up in bed and hung his legs over the side then rolled his ankles, scrunching his toes, and again he felt no lingering pain.
"It's good," he said with a faint smile. The aches and pain that had been a constant in his life over the past year, the ones that helped him remember every bad thing that had happened to them in stark clarity, had vanished. It still didn't feel right to him. A necessity, yes, he would be of no use in the fight with Charlie and Yellow-Eyes with a cast and a bad sprained ankle along with other disabilities he'd struggled with over the year, but it still felt wrong to be whole again. "M'good, Sammy. Where's Bobby?"
"He and Rufus left an hour ago," he supplied, staring down at his open palms for a moment before he glanced up at Dean. "Is this gonna work, Dean?"
"I dunno." Dean scratched his fingers through his hair, and blew out a heavy breath. "But I gotta believe we're due for a win." He looked to his little brother, and held his gaze a long moment. "Whatever happens – if it all goes to hell on us, I don't want you to tap into whatever gifts the demon thinks you have. I'd rather we both die as hunters than for you to become some demon's bitch. Got me, Sammy?"
"Yeah, I got ya."
"Promise me, Sam," he said, not about to let it go with a simple, yeah, I got ya. "Promise me you won't use your gifts."
"I promise, Dean," Sam said, swallowing hard as he pushed to his feet, and hitched a thumb over his shoulder. "We should get going." He paused as he reached the door, Dean almost bumping into him, and pulling off the amulet Dean had given him to wear Sam pressed it into Dean's hand. "You need this more than I do. If Charlie's whole plan revolves around getting me to use my – powers, he's going to go after you not me. So I need you to gather together every single bit of faith that you have and believe the amulet will protect you."
Vision blurring, Dean stared down at the amulet. "Sammy, I –"
"No, Dean. I'm not gonna argue with you about this. If anything happened to you, Charlie would win and he knows that, he's counting on it. I need you to be protected from him…you're the most important person in my life, and I won't let him harm you to get me to do what he wants. Understood?"
"Yeah…." Tugging the amulet over his neck, he pulled Sam into his embrace, and after a moment Sam's arms hugged him tight. He pulled back and looked up at Sam, a ghost of a smile pulling at his lips. "Now let's go kick some demon ass."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Sam said, clapping his brother on the back as they headed out into the living room to gather the hex bags Rowena had made for them to use.
"These will work?" Dean said, lifting the leather pouch up to eye level and shaking the contents inside.
"I invented the spell myself." Rowena smiled in a way that set Dean on edge. "It'll work, Dean," she added when his brows furrowed. "I've given you everything you need to destroy your enemies," she held out her hand, "and now it's your turn to give me back my spell book."
"No," lips pursed, Sam shook his head, "we're keeping it until Charlie is gone for good."
"Yeah, it's not as if we don't trust you…oh, wait, that's exactly the reason," Dean chuckled, snatching the spell book off the table. "If you have it in your possession, you could easily double-cross us. So you'll get it back once Charlie is gone for good and not a moment sooner."
"Then you should take these," she said with a dramatic sigh, handing each of them a chain with a silver pentagram dangling from it. "Added protection to make certain I get my book back." Then, a knife appearing in her hand, she smiled again. "I need some of each of your hair to add to the putsi bag – an added blessing from a witch never harmed anyone."
"Sam?" Dean said, not liking the idea of a witch having any of his hair, but Sam just shrugged, and let her cut off a lock of his hair. She dropped the wispy tendrils into a small white leather bag, and said a blessing of protection over it before she handed it to him. Dean reluctantly followed suit, letting her cut off some of his hair to add to a similar bag. "How will we know when you've cast the spell?" he added, tucking the putsi bag into the pocket of his leather jacket.
"You'll know," she stated confidently, bobbing her head toward the door. "We have a drive ahead of us, and you'll have to drop me off as close to the bunker as possible, but still far enough away that your demon won't sense my presence until it's too late."
"I never thought I'd hear myself thanking a witch, but thank you, Rowena," Dean said, the words tasting bitter on his tongue.
"I'm not doing it for you boys," she said as she sauntered to the door, and called back over her shoulder, "I just like the idea of being the only witch to ever beat a powerful demon."
Author's note - I really kind of liked the idea of Castiel looking out for the boys even before he made his first appearance on the show, and so I gave a small nod to him in this chapter with Dean not believing that an angel would intervene on their behalf. I also really kind of like the addition of Rowena as I love her on the show, so hopefully I am doing her character justice. Thanks again for reading...