Upon arriving back at the car, her clothes packed in a duffel bag and her other things collected back into her beige canvas bag, Charlotte Cast saw the brothers discussing. One was arguing that they should go to the location given by John and the other argued they should hunt the thing that killed Jess by themselves.
"Dean, the sooner we find Dad, the more he can tell us, and the sooner we can avenge Jess and mom." Sam argued.
They must have been arguing for a long time because Dean sighed and nodded, "Fine."
Charlotte cleared her throat to make her presence known and pecked both their cheeks as per usual and slipped her hand into Dean's that was holding the car keys and swiftly took the keys, giving him a discreet wink to which he replied with a bewildered look, though partly humored. Charlotte smirked cleverly and went to the trunk, opening it. They'd talk about last night later.
"Where to?" Charlotte asked Sam after closing the trunk and putting all their things away. The boys had checked them out earlier.
"Uh…Blackwater Ridge…Colorado." Sam said as he looked on to the map where he had located the coordinates.
"Lovely." Charlotte replied sarcastically, looking at Dean accusingly. He drove them to the wrong state.
"Don't look at me, Princess, I'm just a body without a head." He spoke innocently and when Sam wasn't looking, gave her a stuck out tongue as they got in the car.
Sam and Charlotte both eyed the shotgun seat but Sam was closer, so when they bolted towards the seat and Sam stopped when he got their first, Charlotte collided into Sam's back face first. "Ugh." She groaned, absolutely done with this crap. She was going to get her seat back whether Sam liked it or not. When Sam opened the door, she tricked stepped him by kicking back at the ankle that stayed on the pavement. But Sam thought quickly and caught himself with the other foot and gave her a jackass grin.
"Bastard." She grumbled and he gave a soft laugh.
"Better luck next time, Charlie." He teased as he slid in shotgun and Charlotte sulked to the passenger seats in the back. When Charlie slid in, Dean turned back to look at her, making sure she was well and whatnot, silently scouring her body with his eyes. Did he hurt her last night? Surely he hadn't, if anything, he had gone easy on her. Dean decided he'd ask her later.
Charlotte looked out the window, listening to the Metallica played as background music. They didn't really have much to talk about, at least not communally. Charlotte wondered whether Sam should know about what happened last night or if he already knew. What Sam knew influenced him much more than what he could do, whereas Dean, if he could do something rather than know about it, he would do it without any forethought. Though in times of trouble and panic, both were capable of acting impulsively. Charlotte, in the ordeal, was not excluded. Though she much rather keep a level head and be one step ahead, she was most of the time stumbling through her plans rather than executing them with a steady head. At the moment, what with her lacking need of sustenance and rest, she was worried if not petrified at what was going on inside her. In truth, Charlotte cared about the brothers and wanted them to have revenge, God knew she needed it too, but she wanted to find John for another matter entirely. She believed that whatever was happening to her, John knew about. The only condition was whether or not he would tell her.
It all started the morning after Sam left for California.
Charlotte woke up in a hospital bed alone save for John and he told her not to move. If she were to move, she might know what is going on with her now. But she foolishly listened and asked, "What happened?" and "Where's Sam and Dean?" but also "Are they alright?" The last she remembered, she was going after Sam on her Harley and saw a flash of a red light over her head, the cool night air whipping through her hair as she realized she wasn't wearing a helmet, as per usual. Then, to her right, she saw a great flash of yellow, a loud honkering noise, and then nothing. Flashes of white light appeared before her eyes like strobe lights, flickering. She heard voices she couldn't recognize say things about a patient being unstable and about loosing the patient, the patient slipping quickly. She didn't know what they were talking about. She saw a few darkly dressed humanoid figures running alongside the doctors, Dean's voice at first in a whisper "What do you mean?" to the doctors about the patient. Then he began yelling the same phrase.
She heard John after she couldn't see, or lack thereof, say to Dean "Let them do their job. They know what their doing."
She could barely make out what Dean was said "My ass, they do." his voice breaking. And then Charlotte had woken up in the hospital bed, her memory fuzzy and barely recollecting what happened.
As Charlotte thought back to what happened, Sam had fallen asleep, a burden on his shoulders he couldn't quite lift. Charlotte knew the look as she stepped from her reverie and made a mental note to ask him about it later.
Sam dreamt of him, with lilies in a bouquet, walking up to Jessica's grave in a suit. Sam felt like he was really there, living it. It would be the only time he got to mourn Jessica properly, and it was all in his head. In the outside world, he wasn't aloud to mourn. He had work to do. Now, now was his break. His mind allowing him recuperate. He spoke to the small grave marker with a picture of her on it, smiling. His heart longed for him to see her smile like that again, knowing she never would. "You always said roses were lame." Sam gave a pained smile and set the lilies down, and all at once, a hand from the grave reached out and pulled her down by the wrist. Since Sam Winchester could remember, his dreams always turned into what other people considered nightmares.
In the meantime, Charlotte and Dean attempted a conversation. "So…" Dean spoke.
"So?" Charlotte asked, tapping her fingers along her knees.
"Last night was-" Dean started, his voice seeming to lead up to something Charlotte didn't want to hear from him, so she made it easier for him. Or so she thought.
"A one time thing." She cut him off, looking out the window. Even if that's not what Dean meant to say, he was going to sugarcoat it if not to her then to himself. They both knew Dean wasn't the one to be in a relationship. The longest he'd been in one was with her maybe for 5 weeks before it became casual hookups.
Whatever the case, Dean wasn't ready for what she said and to clear up his heartbreak, he cleared his throat and looked anywhere but the mirror to see her face and said "Yeah." As if it had been his plan to say that all along. But, it wasn't.
"So we're good?" Dean asked, finally getting the courage to look her in the eye through the mirror.
Charlotte looked back with a small smile, hiding her heartbreak with a nod as well. "We're good." She smiled softly to him, looking away and pretending to cough so she could have the excuse to wipe her tears away with the inside of her elbow.
Sam started to breath quickly and in a panic in his sleep and Dean looked over in concern, shaking his brother awake. Charlotte saw on Dean's hand a black band that Sam had too. Charlotte didn't have it for the matter of fact that she's the one that gave it to the boys. It was her way of knowing if they were alright when they were a-apart. She had given it to Sam and Dean before Sam left, both Dean and Charlotte knowing it wouldn't be long until Sam left. Charlotte had installed a chip with the help of Uncle Bobby into these black bands that measured everything from their exact coordinates to their BPM. Charlotte logged in the Winchesters typical BPM ranges, for example, and if it went anywhere from the normal range, she'd get an alert. If either were in a hospital or a morgue, she'd get an alert on her specialized pager she and Bobby helped make. It was how she got so good at keeping track of the brothers when they were apart. She'd get a lot of alerts from Sam every few weeks, since she clocked his BPM to a smaller, more natural range, and she almost always found that it was before taking a test or an exam that his heart rate shot up. She wished she could tell him good luck and encourage him, but he could never know she was there. She lived in the shadows for two years.
Now, Charlotte's pager buzzed. Sam was close to having a panic attack and Dean manage to wake him up.
"You alright?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."
He cleared his throat before Dean asked, "You want to drive for awhile?" Trying to cheer his baby brother up, he'd really do just about anything; even let him borrow his most prized possession.
"Dean, you're whole life you've never once asked me that." Sam replied, a bit taken aback and trying to read Dean's face that remained on the road, looking for a better place to stop off the side of the road to hand the wheel over to Sam.
"Just thought you might want to, never mind." Dean said as he looked in the mirror that showed on to Charlotte who sat silently in the back, her thoughts mixing with the passing landscape. God, she was beautiful, Dean thought before he looked away, back at the rushing pavement in front of him.
Sam looked from his brother with a deadpan look he could only assume seemed like rejection and to his lap where he contemplated his words. "Look, man, I know you're worried about me. Thank you, but, I'm perfectly okay." Sam lied for the sake of his brother. A day ago he sure as hell wasn't okay.
"Mhm." Dean replied, knowing that was utter bullshit and looked back at Charlotte, biting back his bottom lip unnoticeably then managing to snap out of it.
Sam looked back at the map "It's weird, man." He changed the subject.
"What do you mean?" Charlotte murmured, pulling back from her thoughts.
"This Blackwater Ridge we're driving to…" Sam murmured as he looked inquisitively at the map "there's nothing there." He sighed. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" Sam asked, confused as he put the map down. Charlotte shrugged. Dean looked back at his brother and looked back at the road. He wasn't sure himself but he hoped it was worth it. Sam was expecting revenge, Charlotte was expecting answers, and Dean wasn't sure what he wanted just yet.
Driving up to Colorado, Sam managed in a few more hours of sleep, considering they had nothing else to do. Charlotte took that time to interrogate Dean. "Dean?" She murmured as he was driving.
"Yeah?" He asked in the same tone, tuning down the Zeppelin.
"What happened? The night Sam left, I mean." She spoke, trying to put her words carefully as to not be suspicious.
When she asked 'What happened?' Dean secretly hoped she was asking about what had happened between them all those years ago. When she referred to that night, a shiver ran down his spine. He had been so scared that night. He had been more scared than he'd let on or admit, "To be honest, I can't remember. First, Sam walked out to go to Stanford and we both know that. Dad intercepted before Sam was about to take off and he told him that if he leaves, he better not come back. Then I don't know. You rode off on your Harley after Dad told you to follow him and I guess that's when it happened."
"What happened?" She asked quietly.
"Eight wheeler hit you right on." Dean said, looking off. "I don't know how we found you, but we did, and we rushed you to the ER. Doctors said you were dead. I didn't see you after you took off following Dad's orders." He muttered, his voice cracking. Except maybe that one time in the hospital he had seen her.
A seriously pissed off spirit had sent him to the hospital. John had continued the hunt and let his son to heal in a hospital in the middle of nowhere. Dean didn't have any cards or any other sort of identification and Charlotte had been beeped about it on her pager. She took off instantly and the next day, walked up to the desk. Charlie walked up to the concierge and asked, "Hi, I was told my brother was in here. He was admitted yesterday." She tried to see if Dean had dropped a name because her pager didn't give her one.
The man at the concierge asked, "You mean Jack Reacher in room 106?"
"That's the one." She noted. "Did he forget his papers again?" She asked with a sigh. "Just run my card through for his insurance, he should be fine." She smiled painfully almost. She hadn't gotten in time to save him from that spirit.
"Oh, so you're Charlotte?" The man at the concierge asked as he ran the card "Mr. Whitaker has been calling for you since he went under." He informed her about Dean, the insurance policy under the name Whitaker, Charlotte.
"Yeah, it's been awhile since we've properly seen each other." She smiled painfully.
"How did you know he was here?" The man asked.
"Our father, John, told me." She half-lied. She had gotten the buzz on her phone first and then a call from John two hours later while she was on her way there. Charlotte was lead to go see him but was only pointed down towards the hall. "106." A nurse guided her to the hallway before dodging towards the hallway across the one they were in, the psychiatric ward. Charlotte walked toward the window of the door and looked in. Dean was battered and bruised. She slowly put her hand on the metal doorknob and her hand burned slightly. She heard someone drop a clipboard from across the hall and murmur some divine mumbo-jumbo. Charlotte opened the door after accommodating to the door handle, Dean under for now. She heard the murmur of her name over the oxygen mask put over Dean's mouth. Charlotte sat next to him and cooed to him, "Shhh, Dean, I'm right here. I'm right here." as one hand was on the side of his face. Dean got goose bumps from what she thought was the cold of the hospital. He seemed to come to and she made off quickly with a peck to his cheek.
Dean remembered things much differently but he had been on high doses of morphine and other tranquilizers, for all he knew, he could have mistaken porn for reality again.
For the rest of the ride, Dean stayed with that stupid, dreamy smile on his face, humming to himself Metallica. When they finally arrived, they went to check out the visitor center, which featured a diorama of the sort of the forest, a valley with mountains it. On the seeming valley with fake trees that look like crippled artificial broccoli, black ink printed across it in all capitals: BLACK WATER RIDGE.
Charlotte leaned over the diagram as well as Sam, and Charlotte asked, "So you think that's where we're headed?"
"Basically positive. It's a major part of the forest here; I wouldn't be surprise if we'd be in Black Water Ridge. If my research is right, and it usually is, this place is crawling with wildlife, not to mention one of the most impressive forests in Colorado. And that's just Colorado, for you." He spoke, looking over at Charlotte. Charlotte looked back after feeling his stare and nodded, her grey eyes shimmering with what seemed to be a form of being flattered as a blush crept over her cheeks. This was Sam, and the scraps of attention she got from him were enough to make her go crazy, usually.
Sure, she was with Dean- sort of, kind of…not really. Hadn't she played it off as just a mistake and a one-night thing between friends? That was all there was to it, in any case. Provided she hadn't played it off, Dean would have drifted from her anyway. That's what he was. A drifter.
As Sam was about to talk about the wildlife, Dean's voice cut in from the other corner of the room and said, "Dude, check out the size of this friggin' bear."
"And huge grizzlies." Sam explained, walking up to where Dean was facing the wall, looking at a portrait. What she saw practically sickened her. There was this man with a rifle, one foot on top of the head of a dead grizzly. The man wore hunting clothes and a wide smile. The bear was huge, but she'd bet anyone anything the bear hadn't done a thing wrong. It wasn't created to be a trophy on somebody's wall. She thought to herself 'Now what if I shoot that man and mount his head up on the wall.' And turned away quickly, mentally scolding herself.
"You okay?" Sam asked, a hand on her upper arm.
She looked down then nodded slowly.
Sam read her easily and replied back quietly "I know." He admitted about knowing her hatred for those who hunt the innocent, human or not.
Behind them, they heard someone clear their throat. The three looked back at the man that had cleared his throat. He wore a uniform of the wilderness center and spoke "Who are you?"
Dean replied "We're college students here to do a research paper-"
"Bull." The man interrupted and for a moment, Charlotte's heart dropped. "You're here because of that Haley girl."
Charlotte let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and nodded "Yes sir."
"Quite a pistol, ain't she?" Dean added on, trying to squeeze out any information from the older man as possible.
"You tell me. She's been bothering me about her brother going missing for the past three days."
"What'd you tell her?" Charlotte asked quietly.
"I told her that her brother signed a Back-Country permit saying he would be back until the 24th. He's only been away a week, that's not exactly missing person, is it?" The man answered Charlotte, sizing her up.
"You know what would help? If Hailey could actually see the permit signed, maybe we can see about getting her off your back." Dean spoke easily. As this scene went on, Dean managed to squeeze himself between his brother and his Charlie.
The man nodded and handed them the permit. As they walked out, Dean was smiling to himself, looking over the address.
Sam caught Charlotte's expression, thinking Dean was off to chase more tail, Sam said "Are you seriously this desperate, man?"
Dean gave his brother a look that meant to mentally take back what he said, and shook his head "No, this girl…" he checked the last name "Haley Collins, she may need our help."
"And finding Dad?" Sam asked, eyebrow rose as he leaned over the top of the Impala to talk to Dean, Charlotte standing beside the Impala as Sam and Dean spoke.
"If Dad's here, then he'll be here. Right now, we got to do what Dad taught us to, and that's helping others, okay?" The older brother replied.
Sam nodded and Charlotte sighed. Typically, when it came to helping others of the female gender, Dean helped a little too much. What was up with her? First she decides maybe they shouldn't, and then she gets all sentimental when Dean wants a piece of ass that isn't hers. Things were only just starting for Charlotte Cast.
