A/N: Hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm so sorry about last week. Literally on the Tuesday I had a panic attack at work and got sent home (literally my boss was like "You're not you right now.") so I cried it out with my dad, pulled my crap together to go to my practicum the next day and was planning on updating when I got a surprise email from my supervisor being like "Lol, guess what? I'm gonna come and visit you on the final day of practicum. Don't stress tho" which sent me into a total panic. Not a great week, but I'm on break now until the first Monday in January and my only plans are to write, clean, binge Disney Plus and celebrate Christmas.

Thanks to Crystal, BrokenKestral, Colby's girl, hectatess, shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod, and waitingforAslan for the awesome reviews. You guys really kept me going last week.

This chapter is tagged to episode 10x11, There's No Place Like Home. Now, while I am definitely not a fan of the Wizard of Oz storyline that they put Charlie in, I did like how what she was going through mirrored what Dean was going through, and I hope I was able to show that through my writing. I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a review so I know what you thought of the chapter. And thanks to Sasha Snape for giving me the chapter title without even reading the chapter. She's awesome like that.

Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable belongs to me.

Change of Heart

When Sam got back from the hospital, he couldn't say he was surprised to find a good portion of the Bunker ripped apart.

After leaving Junction City, Sam wanted to take Charlie to the hospital. Her arm needed to be looked at, and Sam was hoping they could spin enough of a story for Charlie to need a head scan as well, just to make sure everything looked okay up there. Dean, on the other hand, decided to head right back to the Bunker.

Sam had tried to argue with him. Their friend was hurt, because of HIM, and Dean couldn't even be bothered to take her to the hospital and make sure she was okay? Charlie had always been closer to Dean than she was to Sam, yet Sam was the one taking her to check out her broken arm? Charlie had just gotten back from a strange, terrifying, war-torn place and would need support from someone who knew what that was like. Hmm, if only they knew anyone like that, DEAN!

Charlie was the one who talked him down. Apparently, some of the things Dark Charlie had done were now memories of Whole Charlie, and Dark Charlie had said some crap to Dean that was enough for Charlie to not only forgive him for breaking her arm but to hug him and tell him to go and get some rest before she got into the passenger side of her yellow VW bug. Sam fixed his brother with a look that read "We'll talk about this when I get back" and got into the driver's side, which Dean would have found hysterical if it hadn't been for the events that had just gone down.

So, when Sam got back to the Bunker, he had a plan in mind. He hustled Charlie through the garage and into the back hallway, taking the roundabout way to the bedrooms. He got her settled into one of the empty rooms, made sure she took her pain meds, then entered the War Room, where he was prepared to get into an all-out screaming match with Dean, who no doubt would claim that he was fine and that Sam was overreacting, and Sam would have to point out that people who are fine usually don't break their friend's arms even after being warned not to use too much force.

Instead, he found Dean amid the wreck and ruin of the room. Papers were strewn everywhere, chairs had been knocked over, and the table was knocked off centre. Dean was crouched beside one of the overstuffed arm chairs in the corner of the room, hand clamped against his forearm like he was keeping himself from bleeding out.

"Dean!" he shouted, running through the maze of overturned furniture and books that littered the floor to reach his brother's side. "Dean, what happened?"

Dean groaned, hand clamping down harder on his forearm as he tried to use his elbow to shove Sam away. Luckily for them both, that trick hadn't worked on Sam in years. After so much training as a kid, Sam had gotten really good at dodging Dean's flying limbs. However, Sam wasn't counting on Dean still being mobile. When Sam attempted to reach out to his brother again, Dean leapt to his feet with a grace that his pain-filled groaning belied, and dodged around the table to lean against one of the pillars.

"Dean…" Sam sighed as he stood from his crouched position and followed him, hands held out like he was approaching a scared dog or a wild animal. "Dean, you gotta stop, man. Just let me see. What happened?"

"Nothin', Sam," Dean groaned. "'m fine."

"Then why are you holding your arm like it's gonna fall off?" Sam watched his brother for a moment before it clicked. He wasn't just holding his arm. He was holding the Mark. The Mark that had all but destroyed Sam and Dean and everything they held dear. "Ah, Jesus, Dean…" he groaned.

He knew Dean would take that as disappointment, but Sam meant it as anything but. He was disappointed, yes, but not in Dean. He was disappointed at the whole situation. Dean had obviously thrown himself wholeheartedly into this case because it was Charlie. Charlie was like the little sister that Dean had never had, Charlie was geeky and cool enough for Dean to let his geek side shine, Charlie wasn't one to judge Dean for anything. They just got each other. So, when Dean had found out that Charlie was in danger, Dean had obviously gone after the perpetrator like a bloodhound on a scent. Dean's first instinct was to protect. Protect Sam, protect Jody, protect Donna, protect Charlie. Except this time, protecting Charlie had also meant injuring her, because the person hurting Charlie was Charlie. Something Dean knew too much about.

Based on the state of the room, Sam could tell that Dean had actually been holding back with Dark Charlie. Breaking her arm probably had been a last resort, something done in self-defence. If he had truly been out of control, like Sam had originally thought, Dark Charlie would look something like the War Room – torn apart, battered, and broken.

"'m fine, Sam," Dean ground out between his teeth. "Let it go."

Sam feinted right and broke left, catching Dean off-guard when he tried to evade Sam again. Lowering Dean back down to the ground, Sam did what he could. He wrapped his arms around Dean, one hand coming to rest on top of Dean's hand, which was still clenching down on the Mark hard enough to leave a bruise.

"Sam, please…" Sam wasn't sure what Dean was pleading for, but he sure as hell wasn't about to let go. Any and all anger Sam had been holding towards Dean had long since melted away, leaving only empathy and worry in its place.

"What happened? Is he okay?"

Sam looked up and saw Charlie standing in the doorway leading from the bedrooms. She placed her empty water glass on the askew table and hurried over to crouch next to them.

"I said I'm fine!" Dean growled, looking anywhere but at Charlie.

"Dean…Dean!" she called, uninjured hand coming out to smooth over his shoulder. At her touch, Dean winced but, after a moment, he finally raised his eyes and met her gaze. "It's not your fault." Dean opened his mouth to argue, but Charlie fixed him with a glare that would make Hermione Granger jealous. "It is NOT your fault. Okay?"

It took a few long moments before Dean nodded, but when he did, a collective sigh of relief went out of all three of them. Dean settled back, head landing against Sam's shoulder as he released the Mark. Sam kept one hand on the Mark, with the other hand straying to Dean's chest, resting over the steady thump-thump of his brother's heartbeat. Charlie kept her hand on Dean's shoulder and moved to sit cross-legged, leaning back against one of Sam's bent legs. Sam himself settled against the pillar, content for the first time in a long time. Because he had his family close.

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you have an awesome week. I will update next Wednesday as a Christmas/holiday/normal day of the week present to all of you! So I will see you all then!