Mick closed the door behind him as he left, leaving everyone standing fairly awkwardly. Sam was watching Dean closely; his brother was stood with his arms folded over his chest, his gaze not leaving Chuck for a second. Charlie was stood close to Sam nervously and Castiel watched everyone silently, his confusion still apparent.

"Well?" Dean said finally, the tension in the room amping up as they waited for the explanation.

"It wasn't her time," the deity shrugged with a smile to Charlie, who blushed.

"'It wasn't her time?'" Dean roared, making Sam and Charlie jump. "How is that an explanation?! That's a statement, Chuck, not an explanation!"

The oldest Winchester began pacing so hard Sam thought he might ground the carpet into the floor. Sam sighed and stepped toward Chuck slowly.

"What Dean means.."

"I said exactly what I meant, Sam," Dean growled, stopping to glare at his brother.

"What he meant was," Sam said, ignoring Dean entirely. "What does it not being her time have to do with it? It wasn't Kevin's time. Or Jo's. Or Ellen's. Or Bobby's.." His voice trailed off as his heart began to ache painfully. It was time's like this he realised how tragic and dangerous it was to be involved in this kind of life.

Dean had looked down at the mention of Jo, though Sam pretended not to notice. Losing Lisa and Ben had hurt Dean in a way Sam could only begin to comprehend. But when he lost Jo, Sam knew that was the kind of pain that never healed. He still felt the pain of losing Jessica every day, even after all this time.

Chuck sighed and nodded in understanding.

"It WAS their time, Sam," He spoke quietly, gently. "They fulfilled whatever they had to and most of them died heroes but.."

"Heroes?!" Dean turned on Chuck again, Cas finally coming to life as he grabbed Dean around the waist this time. "Bobby didn't deserve to die the way he did. Neither did Kevin, Ellen or Jo! You.." His voice broke and he looked at the floor, his eyes squeezed shut against the emotion that was threatening to spill over.

Breaking free of Cas' grip, Dean stormed to the back of the room, his hands running through his hair as he took as many deep breaths as possible to calm down.

"Then why me..?" Charlie's voice was barely audible as she spoke, looking down at the floor. It was the most timid Sam had ever seen her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. Chuck smiled softly.

"Because you still have to fulfil your mission, Charlie."

"My mission?" She looked between the men, frowning as she looked at Dean's back. When her eyes found Cas, he smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, you're mission isn't too strenuous," the angel explained before shutting up; the look Chuck gave him sent chills through Sam.

"What your mission is will be revealed to you soon," Chuck explained, his eyes focused on Charlie as she nodded slowly. "Obviously we CAN'T tell you," he stressed, glaring at Castiel, who appeared unfazed by the reprimanding from his father. "But it's going to be important, Charlie. Soon you're going to be the most important woman in the world."

Chuck smiled brightly at her as she processed this, her eyes huge.

"Wow, no pressure then, huh?" She laughed, looking up at Sam with terrified eyes. He couldn't help but chuckle and squeezed her once more before letting go.

"We'll help whatever way we can. And I promise you this time, we will protect you from anything," He'd never felt so strongly about keeping someone safe before, except maybe Dean, and he wasn't going to let her down twice.

"Well, you should all get back to your briefing," Chuck announced, gathering their attention.

They nodded and began to file out.

"Chuck," Dean's voice called gruffly, causing Sam and Chuck to stop. "Wait a second, I wanna talk to you."

Sam gave him a questioning look but Dean reassured him that he wasn't going to do anything stupid. Sam closed the door behind him and sighed anxiously.

Dean stood, staring at the floor for a long time before he said anything, Chuck waiting patiently as ever.

"When this mission of hers is done," he asked, speaking slowly. "She's going to die, isn't she?"

Chuck said nothing for a moment before sighing.

"Yes, Dean, she will die," he replied, a hint of sadness in his voice. "But she'll go down in a blaze of glory. She's important, Dean, and I need you take care of her."

Dean's jaw tensed and he couldn't find the words. It wasn't fair; Charlie didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve any of this. And it was all their fault. They had pulled her into this life when she wasn't apart of it and now she was going to die because of it again.

All he could do was nod, his eyes never meeting Chuck once.

"Dean," Chuck said quietly. "I know this is hard for you and you probably won't understand why it has to be this way. I can't give you all of the answers right now, but one day I'm hoping you'll understand."

Looking up, Dean saw Chuck had vanished and he sniffed, wiping a hand over his face to rid it of the tears that had spilled. He didn't know where to go from here but he knew for sure that Charlie living had just become his number one priority.