A/N: There's still a couple more chapters today to upload! I hope you're enjoying them so far.
Charlie had never been afraid of Dean. When they had first met she had been wary of him, sure; the guy was like freaking Captain America. But he had never given her cause to be scared of him.
This version of Dean, though, this scared her. He put on a front when he was around them, smiled and laughed and talked, but there was something dark flickering in his eyes that let on that things weren't as fine as he pretended. Sometimes he'd stare off into space and scratch at the spot on his arm where the Mark was. She could have sworn she saw it glow orange under his shirt. Then someone would speak to him and the mask would go back up and 'Dean' would be back.
She'd heard things, too. When Sam had first enlisted her help she had expressed doubt that Dean really needed this, because he seemed okay. Sam had quietly taken her aside and told her of the men he had murdered without provocation on the case with Claire and the hunter he had caused to die. That had been bad enough, but she'd noticed the way Sam flinched slightly when Dean got too close. She didn't want to pry, but she had to know so she'd asked and, after a lot of hesitation on his part and prompting on hers, he'd relented and told her how Dean had almost caved his head in with a hammer a few months back.
(But it's okay, he'd hurriedly said, that was when he was a demon. He's… better now. We can't let him get to that stage again though, Charlie. That's why I need your help)
She knew Dean was a killer. She'd seen him lop the heads off Leviathan and gun down zombie-vamps in her Red Scare dreamscape. This Mark - this disease - was twisting those instincts and warping them into something she no longer recognised. She loved Dean, she really did, but this new version of him terrified her and she had only seen the surface. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Sam to see his brother turn into something he wasn't. Not only that - to see him return to his normal self only to slowly change back again and be helpless to stop it.
She knew how desperate the situation had gotten when she saw Sam had enlisted the help of Rowena. She didn't know the witch, but she could tell that she wasn't someone you trusted lightly, especially not with something so big or important. She didn't like working with her, but she was willing to do anything to save Dean. The Winchesters were the brothers she had never wanted until she had them and she would give her life to rescue Dean if she had to.
She just hoped it wouldn't come to that.
A/N: I couldn't resist adding that last line. I love Charlie, but I love being angsty and horrible in my writing more so... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review if you have a moment! Bye!