The Third Wheel
by Destiny's Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Ain't it sad?

Author's Note: The beginning of this chapter is mainly from Charlie's perspective (which I'm planning to not make a habit of) because I thought it would be more appropriate to get inside her head when she's making such a life-changing move. I know a lot of people dislike it when an original character takes the spotlight (I'm one of them), but this story deals with how both parties would react to the situation. Hope you can find a way to forgive.

Also, I'm not really leaning toward any sort of romance right now, certainly not in the beginning, even if it might seem that way. I just find the boys to be really protective of the people they help and wanted to avoid making them out of character. Plus I think it's cute.

Chapter Two : Taking to the Road

"So what's the verdict?" She asked as she curled back up in her chair.

Dean grimaced. "How tied down are you to this place?" He cast a semi-apologetic glance at his brother, who shrugged in acknowledgement that they didn't really have any other choice.

"Tied down? Why?"

"How do you feel about a road trip?"

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Charlie Palmer looked over each brother again, for what felt like the millionth time since she'd met them, trying to get a bead on what exactly they weren't telling her. "I'm fairly neutral on the idea of a road trip. Maybe you could explain exactly what this would entail?"

It seemed to be Sam's turn to take lead on the conversation, she suspected because he was better than his in-your-face brother at convincing people to do something they didn't want to do. "The reason we're here, Charlie, is because this is kind of our job."

Dean interrupted. "Not that we don't care about what happens to you; this is just the kind of thing that we deal with on a regular basis."

"Right," Sam continued. "The thing is, we don't know exactly when this thing is going to come after you again. Judging from what we've read, there's no real pattern to the amount of time between visits. We can't leave you here, knowing that we haven't done anything to help you and that it could come back and do more serious damage."

"But there's other people out there who need your help. You can't just hang out here waiting for something to happen while other people could be in trouble." She figured that was what they were trying to say, even if Sam was going to take another twenty or thirty minutes getting to the point, and judged that she was right on the money from Dean's expression. "So what, you want me to just travel around for a while, until you get more information or it starts up again, then meet back up?"

Sam looked stunned at that conclusion, probably mostly because of how matter of fact she stated it. "No. We want you to come with us."

"Well, want.." Dean started jokingly, silenced by his brother's elbow sinking into his ribcage. "The truth is that it's probably safest for you if you're around people who have some sort of experience with the paranormal."

She froze, stunned by the sort-of invitation. Now that she was finally getting a chance to focus on something other than a nasty something targeting her and the explanation she was going to have to give her landlord to get that wall fixed, she was becoming acutely aware of just how attractive the men in front of her really were. To have them offering to take her with them, these men that probably belonged in underwear ads instead of dealing with ghosts, offering to protect her from the thing that threatened her was difficult to absorb. Questions bounced around in her head, and she voiced them, hoping to give herself a minute to recover.

"Where would we being going?"

They both shrugged, emphasizing their blood relation, and Sam answered. "We were looking at heading southeast, through Texas. We don't have any sort of home base to speak of; we mostly keep on the road. Staying in hotels and the like."

"How can you afford to do that? Do you get paid for this or something?"

His brother winced. "We have some moneymaking methods of the more... not legal variety. This job actually doesn't pay well at all."

"But, would you be okay with me tagging along? I sold my car when I lived in Albuquerque, so I don't have any sort of-"

"You'd drive with us in my Impala. The back seat's nice and spacious," judging from his expression he knew this from personal experience and had fond memories, "and we can handle your stuff as long as you don't bring five suitcases."

Sam took over. "Look, Charlie, this is going to be a sacrifice for you, we get it, and you'd be dealing with a lot of strange and probably dangerous things--"

"Or I can stay here by myself and wait for whatever this is to get bored with playing with me," she interrupted, longing to agree but not quite comfortable with the idea. She took a breath. "I really don't want to get in your way or make you feel obligated to invite me. You don't have to take me with you."

"Sure we do," was Dean's response, his hand clapping solidly on her shoulder. "Sammy here's been going nuts without someone less manly than him around." The comment was rewarded with a glare from the offended party.

Charlie bit her bottom lip, struggling with the decision, not that there was much of one, not for anyone sane. "If you're sure, sure that you don't mind, I'd like to tag along."

The younger Winchester's voice was complete comfort. "We want you to come."

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"I don't have much stuff, really, but there's some things I'd like to put in storage. You know, for some later date."

Sam shrugged, standing next to her in her bedroom doorway as together they looked over her meager possessions. "You probably won't have to. You're renting this place furnished, right?"

"Yeah, well, I've got a lot of books and the like that I don't need to take with me." She showed him her pride and joy, the walk-in closet she'd converted into a small library. "This is actually only about half of them; the rest are already in a storage unit downtown. We can just drop them off and I'll pay the rental fee for a few months in advance."

He smiled--god, what a smile-- at her enthusiasm. "Sounds like a plan. Let's get started, shall we?"

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It took a surprisingly short time to get all of Charlie's belongings sorted between what was staying and what was going and packed into boxes retrieved from the liquor store down the street. She limited her clothes and toiletries, anything that could stay in the trunk while on the move, to one midsized duffel bag and one smaller one. She was surprised, however, when they admitted that they didn't keep much with them up front for during those long drives. Still she loaded another bag with her laptop, a few books, and a few other things to keep her occupied while she was trying her best to stay out of their way, plus a surprise she believed both brothers would appreciate.

Even less time had passed before she given an apologetic goodbye to her landlord, along with a check to cover the expense of fixing her wall and breaking her lease early, before they'd dropped off her remaining things at the storage unit, before they'd left Chicago behind.

Sam felt a little impressed at how well she was handling the three hours they'd been driving so far, even having heard her claims of long trips with her family before they died. She'd stretched out in the back, a pillow behind her back and a blanket on her lap, listening to music on her MP3 player and reading some book that had Dean shaking his head and muttering about chic books when he originally saw the cover. She just smiled, maybe blushed a little bit, and told him not to judge them until he'd read one for himself. The mental image of Dean engrossed in a book that pictured a man and woman passionately embracing on the front cover kept Sam chuckling for nearly forty-five minutes until Dean hit him on the back of the head and promised to give him something really funny to laugh at.

Charlie seemed sort of shy, in his opinion, watching them from the back seat when she thought they wouldn't noticed as if she was trying to figure them out. Learn what made them tick. He was relieved to find that having her in the car wasn't as awkward or uncomfortable as it could have been, maybe a little bit strange but nothing that wouldn't go away after they all got used to each other. Still they all were on their best behavior with each other, which made conversation a little bit difficult.

When Dean caught himself avoiding his usual sex jokes and mildly crude language, he couldn't help but ask, "Hey, Charlie, just how old are you?"

She looked amused, as though she'd been waiting for that question or it was one she heard often, but she answered with no hesitation. "Twenty-two." She couldn't stop the giggle from escaping when she say the embarrassed surprise in both of their faces.

Dean didn't quite believe her at first, not deep in his gut. There was something about her appearance and behavior that just made her seem younger, more around her mid-teens, something that urged him to keep her safe the same way that he kept Sammy safe. His lips quirked at the thought, vaguely wondering if he was going to end up the big brother that threatened away all the little boyfriends. Not a role he ever imagined himself in before this arrangement. In fact, he used to be one of those boyfriends a smart brother would threaten away. The change in roles amused him for a good while as they continued down the road.

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A few hours later, Dean turned the Impala into the parking lot of a motel that looked like it could have been rundown during the seventies. He waggled his eyebrows in a manner that he knew was sexy at Charlie's dubious expression and let out a full on laugh when she rolled her eyes. "You coming?"

The blonde leaned over to take a good look at the manager's office before meeting his eyes again. "I think I'm going to stay here." She took another look. "With the doors locked."

"Sure," he responded nonchalantly, "if you want to stay here alone."

He grinned when he heard her mutter something under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like cursing. But she opened the door and slipped out of the Impala nonetheless, almost sticking close to Sam's back as they moved as a group across the pavement and into the building. "Are you sure that this place is up to code?" she whispered.

Sam considered the question, casting a quick look around the place. "I'm almost certain that it's not."

"Come on, you pussies. You've gotta take a little risk in life."

Dean ignored Charlie's pointed glance and rang the bell. They waited for a few moments, expecting some sort of response, before Dean rang it again. Somewhat impatiently, judging from the way he hit it over and over again. When the desk clerk finally appeared in the doorway, he looked pretty pissed.

"We need two rooms, a single and a double." Sam waved off her protests, as the man entered them into the system and created a keycard for each of them. Dean gave him a hard time about the amenities, just making him more and more aggravated.

"I could at least pay for my own room," Charlie insisted, tugging at his sleeve somewhat playfully. "I'm trying not to be a nuisance, remember?"

"Don't worry about it," he told her clearly, making sure to time it to speak just as the clerk was telling 'Mr. Dojinsky' what his final total would be. He didn't, however, manage to keep her from overhearing his brother ask if that price included the happy ending.

She cocked an eyebrow and slipped between the desk and the moron just as the exasperated clerk opened his mouth, obviously having reached the end of his rope. Dean grabbed her by the elbow to pull her back behind him -- this man looked moderately violent and extremely short-tempered, a fact that he'd ignored deliberately while needling him. But the short blonde resisted the tugs and smiled apologetically at the thug in front of her.

"I'm sorry to be a bother, but is there any way we could get an extra key for each of the rooms?" Just like she planned, all three males looked confused at the question and distracted from the earlier aggression. The clerk, Adam according to his name tag, looked at the three keycards in his hand blankly. She explained, "My brother's are giving me a night away from them," she put a hand on Dean's wrist to indicate that he was one of those brothers, "but I kind of have a knack for getting myself into stupid little situations." Adam grinned back in response to her bashful smile. "I'd just sleep better if I knew we weren't separated by locked doors, you know?"

Adam chuckled, nodding good-naturedly. "I think I can do that for you." He reached out as if to chuff her under her chin, but Dean must have made some sort of threatening notion causing him to halt. Then instead of getting angry like the brothers anticipated, his expression softened even more.

Quickly making the two extra keys, he handed them over with a quiet comment to Dean. They walked out together, Charlie chattering as if nothing unusual had occurred while Dean tried to figure out why Adam told him he would be knocking fifty dollars off their bill. The trio made it back to the Impala before Sam's curiosity finally got the better of him.

"Okay, what just happened?"

She shrugged, going to the back seat to grab her bag. "I just distracted him enough that he didn't mess up Dean's face."

Sam grinned while Dean tried to defend himself. "He would have gotten one shot in, two tops."

"Yeah, well, we're the ones who have to look at you." She hoisted her other duffel onto her shoulder and admitted, "There was a picture of him with a younger sister on the desk. I figured he might show a little leniency toward another big brother."

Sam thought for a moment. "Someone who can keep Dean out of trouble. You know, I'm kind of glad you're stuck with us."

Destiny's Darkness
1/28/2009