Chapter 36

"Do or Die."

THEN:

What do you have... like...superpowers now?" Dean asked flabbergasted.

"Superpowers would be cool." Charlie replied trying to iterject some humor into an already deteriorating situation, rather unsuccessfully. Sam and Dean stood motionless and slackjawed.

"Look, I know its alot to take in." Charlie previced. "But ..um..its not the worst thing that could have happened. I'm back and I'm me again. Righttt? That's good."

NOW:

Dean immediately looked to Gilda for an answer. But she did not have the answers he wanted.

"We do not know. This has never happened before. But ...I do not believe any good can come of this new transformation. With the Key's tainted magic, the consequences of such a coupling could prove to be disastrous." Gilda moved towards Charlie and reached out her hand. "That is why the Ceremony must take place." Gilda eyed Charlie. "We must not wait any longer."

"Ceremony?" Sam asked.

Sam eyed Gilda and it made her rather uncomfortable.

"It would be unwise for us to allow the magic to remain within her." Gilda said.

"The Ceremony..." Sam said with dawning realization. "You're going to try to remove the magic."

Dean raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Try? Try? That doesn't sound promising. Like at all.." He motioned with his hands.

"We will make sure..." Gilda began.

"Make sure ? Did you know The Key was gonna get destroyed when Charlie broke the spell? Did you know it would use Charlie as its new bachelor pad?" Dean pushed.

"No, the dark magic has made it unstable." Gilda responded.

"Unstable." Dean pointed at her. "Exactly. How do you know it won't destroy Charlie the way it did that damn key when..IF.. you can get it out of her?"

"And what do you think it will to do her if it remains within her?" Gilda shot back.

"Why take the risk?" Dean retorted angerily. "We just got her back!"

"It is too dangerous to allow such magic to continue to reside within her." Gilda voice had risen considerably in response.

"Stop! Just stop, please." Charlie suddenly yelled out. "Debate all you want, but in the end, none of it matters, because the only person who has the right to that decision is me."

"I don't want anything happening to you." Dean told her still sounding upset.

"I know. But it's not your choice Dean." Charlie said.

Dean's heart sank. "Charlie you can't possibly want to try removing it? We have absolutely no idea what would happen."

"Well that seems to be how things always work out, don't they? After having to deal with DarkCharlie being apart of me for so long..." She sighed. "Then I managed to free myself from that nightmare only to have one of the most powerful magics ever to be created in Oz to.. to do the same thing!" Charlie looked back to Sam and Dean achingly. "I can't live with it. Tainted or not."

Dean drew close to Charlie and whispered to her. "We need to talk."

"Dean, I won't change my mind." She rebuttaled.

"Please, just for a second." He pleaded with her.

They stared at eachother for a few moments, before she sighed and then acquiesed with a subtle nod. With that Dean looked back to Sam, and nodded indicating he needed him to run interference with Gilda while he spoke to Charlie. Sam responded with a firm nod.

Dean grabbed Charlie's hand.

"Charlie, we are running out of time." Gilda called after her. "Please.."

Sam stepped in front of her. "Please Gilda. They just need a moment together, ok?" Sam gave her his best puppy dog eyes without even realizing he was doing it. She took a small step back.

"Charlie, please do remember our discussion." Gilda reminded her as she walked in tow behind Dean and out the front door.

Dean stopped and turned to Charlie when he was sure they were out of earshot. He looked at her with deeply concerned eyes and worry creases in his forehead.

"I got a really bad feeling about this. You saw what happened to that key. It's barely recognizable." Dean told her. "I don't know what Gilda has planned in this ceremony of hers but we'll find another way. A safer way." Dean told her emphatically.

"Dean..." Charlie protested softly.

"Come on, its US. Sam and I have figured out our way through things much worse." He reminded her. "You know that. You know all of it." Dean said in reference to her reading the gospels Chuck/ God had written about them. "You know that we can and you know that we will."

"Dean...I understand what you're saying but.." Charlie began to argue again her point.

"Damn it Charlie! Did any of it mean anything back there?" He asked her in a rather frustrated tone.

Charlie was taken back by his question but she knew immediately what he was referencing.

"That kiss. The look you gave me? Did it mean anything to you?" He asked point blank.

Charlie's thoughts flew back to that kiss. That Kiss. She remembered how chaotic that moment was, and how little time she had to do what she had to do. Everything was rushed and filled with great uncertainty and anticipation, but when she kissed him... that chaos had derailed into a sense of calm and certainty for her. She had felt a spark between them and it had thrown her into the grand loops of loops. Somewhere along the way she had developed feelings for Dean. But she was still unsure as to what that meant for her. Or for them.

"Yes. I think it did." She admitted to him.

Dean didn't know what to expect when he had asked the question, but he clearly wasn't prepared for her straight forward response. He just kind of gawked at her a little dumbfounded.

"You-you think it did?" He found himself stuttering. She nodded. "You're not sure?"

"Are you?" She retorted.

Dean didn't know what to say. He wasn't ready to admit how he already felt about her. They were at a crossroads just having this conversation. And Charlie wasn't ready to admit to Dean she already knew the answer to that question.

"That moment...was um...crazy. I mean it was riddled with heavy duty.. do or die emotions, you know? I was scared and...and..."

"And what?" Dean asked. He looked drained and frustrated and miserable. He wanted answers. And she couldn't blame him for that. If they were going to get through any of it, they needed answers. And this was definitely an elephant in the room.

"I guess ..maybe...we should ..well..maybe we should um.." Charlie looked up to him suddenly very nervous.

For her, at that moment staring into his eyes, there was only one way to be certain if there had been something to that kiss.

And with no warning she quickly stood up on her tippy toes and stretched herself up towards him and pressed her lips against his. He tensed at first from the sudden act but then relaxed into the kiss with ease. She felt an immediate reaction in her body when he did. Her stomach suddenly felt like it was fluttering and the palms of her hands were sweaty as she found herself pressing her body against his. And it surprised her as to how good it actually felt.

After a long breathless moment, she slowly released her kiss from his. They both exhaled slowly with their lips still hovering close.

She did a soft clear of her throat. "Yeah..yeah..definately something.." Charlie whispered. She had never ever been down this road before and it was kind of terrifying.

"I guess now we know..." Dean whispered back.