Standard disclaimers apply.

Missing scene from 8x20: Pac-Man Fever. Dean and Charlie talk during the drive from the Bunker to the mall.

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After telling Sam once again to stay put and ignoring his brother's eye roll, Dean went out onto the street to where Baby was parked. He always had this slight fear that something would happen to her while him and Sam were down in the bunker. That some freak would come along and try to steal her. He'd even set up a security camera pointed right at where she was always parked, so that if something did happen to her, he'd be able to track down who. Luckily for them, nobody had tried yet.

"So where to first?" Charlie asked, following him out to Baby.

"Well, if you're gonna be FBI, you're gonna have to look the part.

Charlie followed him out. "Do I have to get rid of everything?"

"You don't have to get rid of it," Dean said. "But it'll be different for you. It's boring and plain. Think you can handle that?"

Charlie frowned but nodded.

"Tell you what?" Dean said as he looked at her over the top of the Impala. "I'll bet you can get away with wearing that necklace of yours if you tuck it away."

Charlie smiled. "That's enough," she said.

Dean knew there was a mall about thirty minutes away so as he turned on the radio, one of his presets playing Burnin' For You by Blue Oyster Cult, he pressed on the gas.

He had been looking forward to the nice drive but, not to his great surprise, Charlie started talking just two minutes after being on the road.

"So, um, did –– did Sam really die in Cold Oak? And then you made a deal to bring him back?"

Dean straightened. "Boy, you don't ease into things, do you?" he said, as the images flashed in his head of Sammy falling to the ground, a knife stuck deep into his back.

Dean could feel Charlie staring at him, waiting.

"Yeah, yeah, it happened," he said finally. He kept his eyes fixed on the road.

"And Castiel? He saved you? Or as he said, 'gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.'" Charlie said laughingly, trying to imitate what she thought Cas sounded like.

Dean bit his cheek; his teeth were starting to hurt from the pressure. He hummed 'yes' in response, still not looking at her.

God, when were they gonna get to that damn mall?

Sparing a quick glance over to Charlie, Dean saw her picking at her lip. Her eyes flicked between him and out her window as though she was contemplating whether or not to say something.

After about five minutes of this, Dean rolled his eyes. "What?" he said. His tone was bitter and he instantly regretted it when he saw Charlie's look of embarrassment.

"C'mon, what do you want to say?"

Charlie hesitated only a second longer before speaking. "You know, when –– when you were telling Sam about what it was like being in hell, I cried."

And there it was. Dean slammed on the breaks and got out of the car. Luckily they were still on a back road, and nobody was coming from either direction. He distantly heard the opening creak of the passenger door, meaning Charlie was probably coming over to him.

Sure enough, a second later, the redhead was staring up at him. She was spinning her necklace in her hands, obviously scared that she would be thrown out and stuck on the side of the road.

"Dean? Dean, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. It's just, even though I actually know you and Sam and know that you guys really are real and everything, it's hard not to be a fan because I've read about you. You know? You guys have, like, a fandom. Albeit a small one, but still, it's a fandom."

Dean held up a hand. "Charlie, stop," he said firmly. "Neither Sam nor I really like talking about the past. Not with all the crap that fills it. God, and here I thought that only Sam and I knew what I'd told him." He rubbed his hands over his face.

"Yes, Charlie, okay? Everything that happened in those books is real. I've never read them apart from like one chapter though, so I don't know how detailed they are. Although from what you're saying, it sounds like they're pretty detailed." He laughed and turned away, running a hand through his hair.

Charlie nodded. "I'm sorry, I –– I won't ask about them again."

Dean pressed his lips together. "Look, Charlie. It's not that we don't trust you or anything like that. We just don't like reliving everything. It's damn hard to move on when you keep seeing your little brother fall to the ground with a knife in his back or thinking about forty years in hell."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah," she murmured.

Dean sighed and there was a moment of silence. "C'mon," he finally muttered, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they walked the few feet back to the car.

"You do know how special you are to Sam, don't you?" Charlie said as they walked. "I mean, you're each other's rocks. Haven't you realized that all those times when you fight or get separated, something happens to one of you and then you end up together again, usually saving the other? How about just sticking together for good?"

Dean sighed again. "Charlie, some things just can't be explained with words." And with that, he got in the driver's seat again and him and Charlie continued the drive.