Characters-Charlie Bradbury, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Castiel Novak
Warnings-None
Summary-Dean and Castiel finally track Charlie down.
Lonely Roads Masterlist
A/N-Betaed by @mrssamfuckingwinchester. Queing on January 31 so this is the last thing that will use my old tag list. The list is open so if you’d like on it please send me an ask or DM. I have to admit, I didn’t use rock band names for the guys cover, but a virtual cookie to anyone who can identify where my names came from.
-JediCat
Edits are mine from screen shots. Please do not repost them or my other work on any other website without my written permission. Credit does not count.
Charlie sighed as she got up from the floor where she had been putting the finishing touches on a new layer of warding along the baseboard, when her phone rang. She smiled when she saw Lestat, the name she’d put on Sam’s number, flashing on her screen. They’d become good friends while working on the bullets for the Colt and that friendship had continued to grow over the last couple of months. Without even realizing it she had become his unofficial liaison with the community of white witches that was slowly coming to trust the former hunter. When some of the stories he told her sounded familiar, she talked to a friend who worked at a bookstore, who had pointed her to Carver Edlund’s Supernatural books. Said friend had then given her the whole set as a birthday present. Charlie had read them all, but never mentioned it to Sam. Picking up her phone she thumbed the answer button.
“Hey, Sammy, what’s up,” she asked cheerfully.
Sam sighed, “Nothing much, but I need you to meet with a friend and I.”
His tone of voice made her wonder what was going on. “Sure, where and when?”
“My place, ASAP.” He said.
Sam had gotten an apartment near-by after she had helped him set up a new identity and several backups just in case. “Give me an hour. I just finished that warding and need to clean up.”
“See you then,” Sam replied and hung up the phone. That made Charlie worry, Sam was never that abrupt unless something big was going on. She hurried to get ready to go.
Forty-five minutes later she was sitting in Sam’s living room with a soda sitting on the table next to her. Sam was sprawled on the couch with his laptop finishing up some work on God knew what. Eventually, he shut it down and looked over at her.
“So,” he said. “I’m gonna need to ask you not to freak out again. This friend I want you to meet isn’t exactly human.”
Charlie smiled at him, “Dude, you’ve introduced me to several other vampires, a couple of werewolves and your childhood imaginary friend. I’m not sure anything can freak me out at this point.”
Sam gave her a slightly evil grin and rolled his eyes. “We’re ready Castiel, so if you can get away, now would be good.”
It was only a few minutes before there was a fluttering sound and a dark haired man just appeared in the room. Charlie about jumped out of her skin when she saw the opalescent black, silver flecked wings behind him. When Sam laughed at her she flipped him off, which just made him laugh harder. But his laugh was infectious and eventually she joined in while Castiel just looked confused. Eventually, they calmed down enough to talk but it took a while.
“Charlie, this is Castiel, angel of the Lord,” Sam said still smiling. “Cas, meet Charlie Bradbury, white witch and computer genius.”
Castiel took Charlie’s hand in his as he said, “A pleasure to meet another member of Sam’s team, Miss Bradbury. Especially someone he has spoken so highly of.”
Charlie blushed a little under the angel’s grave, measuring look, “I’m just Charlie, unless I’m at work.”
Cas nodded and turned to address Sam, “We’re close, Sam. Dean has narrowed his search for Charlie down to this city.”
Charlie felt the blood drain from her face, Sam had warned her that his brother was stubborn and wouldn’t give up but she hadn’t believed him. Now the man was practically on her doorstep in spite of everything they had tried to muddle the trail. Aware that she was being watched she took a deep breath.
“OOOkay,” she breathed out. “What do we do next?”
“I suggest that we have a plan in place for when Dean finds you,’ Castiel said. “Because unless he gets distracted by a case he’ll find you within a week.”
“I can’t stop him from finding you,” Sam added. “So we have to come up with a convincing story.”
She took another deep breath, then a third, closing her eyes to center herself. When she opened her eyes, she managed to smile at the two men. “I’m a terrible actress, but let’s do this.”
Sam smiled at her. “You won’t have to act. I can block your actual memories and implant others; Dean has a knack for telling when people are lying so you have to be telling the truth. Before they leave, Cas will find an excuse to touch you and remove the block.”
Charlie stared at the two men and, not for the first time, wondered what she’d gotten into with Sam. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him but she really didn’t want anyone messing with her mind. He’d promised her once that he would never do anything without her permission unless it was an emergency: the problem was that they had never defined what constituted an emergency. She mentally wrestled with the problem until she came to a conclusion. She decided to that Sam would never hurt her intentionally. “Let’s do this then.”
A knock at her door drew Charlie out of the basement, she looked through the peephole in the door to see a tall, green eyed, light brown haired man and a slightly shorter dark haired blue eyed man both wearing dark suits standing there. She opened the door as far as the chain lock would allow.
“What can I do for you, gentlemen,” she asked in a wary tone.
Both men flipped out ID cases and showed her FBI badges as the green eyed one said, “I’m Agent Claremont, this is my partner Agent Wein. We’d like to ask you a few questions about Samuel Winchester.”
Charlie thought for a minute. “Oh, right. Wanted some bullets for an 1835 Colt. Give me a second.”
She closed the door and removed the chain lock, allowing the men to enter and led them to her living room. She sat down in a chair, gesturing for the men to take the couch, eyeing them nervously. “I sent the bullets through a messenger service, not the mail, so I’m not sure what you want from me.”
“It’s not about the bullets, miss,” Agent Wein said taking a seat as Claremont looked at her bookcase. “We’re looking into Mr. Winchester’s associates in connection with his death.”
“When was the last time you saw or spoke to him,” Claremont asked finally taking a seat.
“It’s been well over a year,” Charlie replied looking at him. “I spoke with him to let him know that I’d gotten the letter he wanted sent with the bullets. I emailed him when I sent the package in January but never got a reply. He seemed like a good man.”
There was a flash of pain in Claremont’s face, “And why did it take so long to make the bullets? You’re supposed to be a master gunsmith.”
“There were some very...esoteric things that needed to be done with those bullets,” she replied with a smile.
Agent Wein’s eyebrows shot up as she continued, “Unless you gentlemen are more open minded than you seem that’s all I’m going to say. I do have to consider client confidentially.”
The two men stood, Agent Wein offering her his card. “If you think of anything else or are contacted by another in regards to Mr. Winchester, please contact us.”
He managed to brush her hand with the tips of his fingers as she took it and Charlie felt a shock run across her nerves. The world spun for just a minute, then righted itself and she heard Castiel’s voice in her head, ‘You did well, Charlie. I look forward to working with you again.’
She closed the door behind the two men and looked around the room. Everything seemed in order until she got to the book case. The last book of the Supernatural series was gone from its spot in the book case.
“Shit, shit, shit,” she whispered to herself reaching for her phone. She tapped her foot nervously on the floor while she waited for Sam to answer the phone. When he picked up she didn’t even wait for him to say hello but rushed out the words, “Sam, have you ever heard of a book series called Supernatural?”
