Dean awoke with a groan at the crack of dawn in his clothes from last night on the floor by the end of the motel bed. "Charlie?" He called out, sitting up. "Sammy?"
"What." Charlie replied, snapping as she rolled off his messed up motel bed.
"What year is it?" He called back loudly and then yawned.
"2005."
"Oh thank God." Dean let a breath out and laid back down, "I had the trippiest dream."
"Man, are you holding back acid from me?" Charlotte replied in a cranky way.
"Naw, I just think it's the line of coke we did last night plus the Back to The Future marathon."
"Oh I love those movies so much." She sighed, lying down. It was weird after having snorted pretty good quality cocaine that she felt not all that affected, like the slight buzz she got from it was a placebo. And she knew what a placebo felt like: She and Dean had accidentally mistaken flour for coke at some point.
Sam woke up to the 'Odd Couple's loud talk and groaned "I hate you guys so much."
"We told you the first time has a bad crash." Charlie spoke, getting on top of Sam on his bed. "Now wake up." She held his head in her hands and jiggled his head slightly for comedic effect and to also be a little bitch about Sam's first time taking coke. She was honestly surprised it was his first time; having gone to college she expected more life experiences from him.
"Get off me, you rugrat." Sam groaned and Charlie messed up his hair before getting off of him and sighing. "Where are we?" She asked, as she looked herself over in the mirror.
"Grand Junction, Colorado." Both brothers sounded off tiredly before they got up and Charlotte laughed at seeing Dean's shirt powdered with the drug as if he had spilled it.
"Aw shit." Dean groaned, taking his shirt off and Sam wolf whistled teasingly. "Shut up." Dean rolled his eyes.
"Your turn, Sam." Charlotte teased and Sam shrugged, taking his shirt off that smelled like an old bar and sweat.
"Now you." Sam replied.
"Hell no. I have a package." Charlie grinned mischievously.
"That's the fun part." Sam wiggled his eyebrows
Charlotte laughed, "Perv."
"Alright, we've got work to do." Dean pinched Charlotte's thigh on his way to the bathroom to change and shower, not in that order.
"Hey Charlie!" Dean called out glumly after a while. Charlotte walked in and bumped into Dean considering the close parameters of the motel bathroom. His hands rested on her hips and he looked up at her with glazed over eyes. "I don't think we're gonna find dad, Charlie." He spoke sadly.
"Dean, you know that's the crash that's talking. He'll be here. You just have to relax."
Dean nodded and rested his chin on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her. "Dean, what are you doing?" She asked slowly.
"Don't worry about it, it's the crash talking." Dean sighed, his lips against the crevice her neck made with her shoulder and he closed his eyes, taking her all in.
"Dean, we need to keep working. Besides, Sammy needs your help. He probably feels like chewed out shit right now." Charlotte spoke soothingly.
"I took too much." Dean groaned. "I feel sick."
"Take a cold shower, puke if you have to. I'll go get you something for the munchies." She pecked his cheek and slid out of his hold easily enough before walking out and facing Sam. Sam was looking himself over in the mirror like a teenage boy on his first day of school.
"Come on, Sam, you look adorable." She smiled, pecking his cheek.
He turned around and hugged her "I hate my life." He whined, holding her in a bone-crushing hug.
"Sam, you know that's not true. Our lives may not be the best but we make do, right? I mean, we've saved people from horrible deaths, hundreds of people. How many babies do you think have been born because of us? We're heroes without the mutation." She smiled, managing to rock him back and forth.
Sam sniffled "I miss mom. I miss Jess." He shook with sobs as he held on to her.
Charlotte's eyes watered and she nodded, feeling his grip on her tighten if at all possible, she rested her hand on the back of his head and let his hide his face in her neck a he cried. "It's okay, Sam. Let it out. It's gonna be okay. I promise. You trust me, right? It's okay to grieve a bit." She didn't tell him it was all part of the crash and she helped him look up and said, "The only reason yesterday is so dark is so tomorrow can look bright."
Sam nodded and Charlotte asked, "So, while Dean's getting the coke off his shirt, you wanna go get breakfast? I bet you're starving right now."
Sam nodded again and Charlotte got her jacket and went to the CVS across the street and told Sam to get what he wanted. Charlie bought a party size bag of M&Ms with Peanuts and Sam took two breakfast bagel while Charlie didn't get anything but Sam was too down to notice.
While in line, Charlotte asked Sam to distract him, "What'd you get of the video?"
"Not much. Just a fast moving figure in the background. What was interesting came from a news article I scanned for. So we're in November 13th, 2005. Around this same time 23 years ago, in 1982, a couple hikers went into Black Water Ridge and never came back. Then again, in 1959, a small family went camping in a wooden house, all disappeared except the youngest boy. Reports say it was a grizzly. But, -"
"But we know better. So whatever this is is killing people every…23 years?"
"Yeah, but I don't think it's killing them on the spot. Which brings up the question-"
"What's it doing with those people?" She replied, paying.
"Exactly. I told Haley-"
"Who?"
"Haley, the missing brother girl."
"Right."
"Yeah, I told her we were gonna go look for her brother today and she said she would meet us up. I'm thinking we interview the boy that survived back in 1959 and meet her back at the edge of Black Water Ridge by 3:30."
"Sounds good. Think you'll be out and about by then?"
"Yeah. Thankfully I didn't take as much as Dean." Sam sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, he's pretty heavy weight on it." Charlie nodded.
"You seem fine." Sam spoke conversationally as they started walking back to the motel, sipping his coffee little by little.
"I tend to bounce back quickly." She shrugged, looking up at Sam and asked, "You're alright?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded "Coffee's helping."
"No, I mean, are you okay?" Charlotte put a hand on his shoulder to make him face her.
Sam sighed, "I guess. I mean," He sat down on the bench near the side of the road and Charlotte sat beside him. "I don't think I'll ever be alright. Revenge or not, it's not gonna help. Doesn't stop me from wanting to kill that son of a bitch, but I guess it kind of helps to know that I'm just gonna adapt to that feeling of having let Jessica die." Sam bit his lip before taking another sip of coffee.
Charlotte nodded and said "I'm gonna go change when we get to the motel. You look up the survivor's address?" She rested her hand on his bicep and gave him a hopeful smile. She hoped the work would help him smooth over his self-loathing.
Sam nodded and they walked back.
They found Dean sitting at the foot of the bed and looking down at the floor in a super focused way, gritting his nails against his forearm.
"Dean." She called out with a smile.
He looked up hopefully "Got the Scooby Snacks?"
"Sure did, Shaggy." Charlotte pulled up the Party bag of Peanut M&Ms and Dean rushed over in front of her, kissing her in one swoop before pulling back and hugging her, quietly, he spoke in a broken whisper, "You got me Munchies Snacks. I love you so much. Don't you die one me again."
"Okay, Dean." She laughed uneasily before handing him the M&Ms and by the time Charlie was ready and Sam got an address, Dean had finished almost 2/3 of the bag.
"Feel better?" Charlotte smiled, and Dean nodded avidly before they slid into the car and headed for an apartment complex on the other side of town.
