*8 Hours Later*

Warrens & Winchesters

The physical pain and emotional exhaustion from the night before had kep the four Hunters nearly comatose, the insistent ringing of someone's cell being what finally woke them up.

"I'm gonna kill whoever that belongs to," Dean groaned, pressing his face further into his pillow.

Courtney shifted in the other bed, her hand appearing from beneath the covers to grope at the nightstand. Her fingers closed around her phone and flipped it open, dropping it back down when the ringing continued. "Not mine," she grumbled before grabbed the other phone. "Not Dean's," she added when flipping it open yielded the same results.

"Not mine," Sam spoke up from his spot on the couch.

"Charlie," Dean started, shifting his foot to prod at her leg, "where's your phone?"

The lump next to him moved. "Don' know."

"Well find it."

A distraught whine left her as she moved away from him and towards the edge of the bed. "This better be important," she snarled, reaching down to rummage through her bag, rolling back up onto the mattress once she'd found it. She squinted at the caller ID and flipped it open. "Why the fuck are you awake right now?"

"Awe, you sound just like your mother when you use that tone," Nathan's amused baritone greeeted. "Brought back fond memories."

"That's great, Dad," she groaned, rubbing a hand across her face. "How's Sourpuss?"

Nathan chuckled. "He's his usual pleasant self," he answered before letting out a frustrated sigh. "I'm serious, John, you touch those damn stitches again and I'm going to tie you to the bed."

"I'd like to see you fucking try," John's distant voice responded.

A snort of laughter left her. "Glad to hear you two are getting along."

"Oh yeah, it's great," he grumbled. "How are you guys, sweetheart? Make it there in one piece?"

Charlie shot a glance over to Dean, silently taking stock of his wounds again. "Yeah, we're just a little banged up, nothing too serious."

"Are you sure?"

She sighed and held the phone out towards her sister. "Court, tell Dad you're not currently dying."

Courtney's head appeared from under the covers. "I'm okay, Dad!" she called. "I was only momentarily dying!"

Nathan's laughter could be heard by the entire room.

"See? We're fine," Charlie said, bringing the phone back to her ear.

"Your grandmother had me a little worried, honestly," he admitted. "She called me last night about a vision she'd had. Apparently, we were all supposed to die."

"Dad, we always die in her visions," she reminded him. "At this point it'd be more upsetting if she didn't see us die."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," he allowed with a sigh. "Listen, sweetheart, you wanna put one of the boys on? John's injured just enough that he can't fight off a conversation."

"Fuck you!"

She couldn't help the snort of laughter that left her at that. "Yeah, hang on," she said before rolling over to offer the phone to Dean. "Wanna talk to your dad?"

Dean perked up at that and all but snatched the phone from her. "Dad, hey," he greeted, untangling himself from the covers and pacing over to Sam. "Yes, sir, we're alright."

Charlie smiled after him before rolling over to look at her sister. "Do you think we look too fucked up to go to breakfast?" she asked, well aware of what her face probably looked like.

"We can always just tell them we got in a fight," Courtney suggested.

"Oh yeah, that's a great reassurance," she muttered, kicking the covers off her legs and sitting up. "We'll freak the drive-thru people out too."

Courtney let out a hum of agreement. "They don't get paid enough for that shit."

"I'm not eating from the vending machine again," she stated, running her fingers through her hair, scratching at her scalp.

"There's more of those protein bars from yesterday in my bag."

"Those things taste like ass, Court," Charlie argued. "I'm not eating another one."

"Then I guess you're not eating."

She let out a frustrated groan and climbed out of bed, shuffling towards the bathroom with a sour disposition. "Nearly died last night and I can't even get a decent breakfast. What the fuck is this world coming to?" she grumbled, kicking the door closed with her foot.

Courtney laughed from her spot and snuggled back down under the covers.

"I'll get breakfast."

She peeked up and found Sam standing at the foot of her bed, fully dressed and smiling.

"I'm the least fucked up looked," he stated with a laugh. "So I'll go."

She watched him for a moment before letting out a huff and pushing herself up. "I'll go with you then," she told him. "I'm not too bad either. We can tell 'em we got in a car accident or something."

Sam cocked an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yep!" she chirped, popping up out of bed. "Just let me throw on some clothes and we can go, okay?"

He smiled down at her and nodded. "Yeah, alright," he agreed, shooting a glance towards his brother. "I'll, uh, I'll wait out in the car, okay?"

She gave him a thumbs up and started digging through her bag.

Sam snagged the keys from the nightstand and headed out of the door, shooting one last look to Dean before stepping out.

Courtney, never being the shy one, kicked off her sleep-shorts and tugged on a pair of jeans. She stared at her bra for a few moments before shrugging and grabbing her pullover hoodie. She slipped on her sneakers, grabbed her purse, and walked over to knock on the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" Charlie's muffled voice called.

"Sam and I are going to go traumatize some diner folk," she answered. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Pancakes and a strawberry smoothie."

"Charlie, you're allergic to strawberries."

"I'm not allergic, they just make my tongue go numb."

"That's an allergic reaction."

"Fine then, I'm allergic. I still want one though."

"Ugh, fine! But if you swell up I'm not taking you to the hospital."

"Fine by me."

She rolled her eyes and stepped away from the door, shooting Dean a pointed look.

He turned his attention away from his dad to give her a wink.

Courtney huffed and turned to follow after Sam, closing the door behind her with a definite 'thud'.

"Yes, sir, we'll be careful," Dean said, eyeing the hotel door as if expecting Courtney to burst back in. "Don't worry aobut us."

"You're my boys, I'm going to worry about you," John admitted, that vulnerable edge to his voice. "Just…..look after Sammy, okay?"

A tense smile crossed Dean's face and he gave a nod. "Yes. sir."

"I'll see you, Dean," he said and the line went dead.

Dean kept the phone pressed to his ear a moment too long before snapping it closed and tossing it to the bed. He scrubbed his hands over his as he let out a tired sigh.

"Everything okay?"

His head jerked up and he found Charlie standing in the doorway of the bathroom. He cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's good."

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him slightly but didn't argue with the statement. Instead she closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around his waist, her lips finding his cheek. "Bullshit," she muttered against his skin, her arms giving him a squeeze.

His usual response would have been to laugh and tell her 'no chick flick moments' but he found that he couldn't bring himself to tell her that. So instead, he hugged her back and pressed a kiss of his own to her temple. "Wanna go back to bed?"

She huffed out a laugh and pulled away from him, a tired smile on her face. "Seeing as there's still a witch-bitch on your tail you and Samwise are going to need protection," she told him, turning her attention to where she'd dropped her stuff the night before. "I probably should have made them last night, actually."

Dean sighed and continued his path to their bed, flopping down on his side to watch her. "The bitch got thrown out a window, Charlie, it's gonna take her a while to get back up."

"Contingency plan, remember?" she mused, hefting one of her bags up onto the table. "Just cause she's down doesn't mean her magic isn't working. She could have a tracker spell on you or something."

"Really?"

"I've seen it happen."

He sighed again and dragged one of the pillows closer to him. "Is it too much to just have one day?" he grumbled. "I'm fucking tired of this shit."

"I'm sorry," she cooed as she pulled open the zipper and rummaged through the contents of the bag. "Go back to sleep, honeybuns. I'll wake you when they're back with breakfast."

Dean let out a content hum at that and let his eyes slip closed, his head burying a little further into the pillow he had hugged to his chest.

Charlie smiled slightly as she watched him before turning her attention back to the bag in front of her, searching through the unorganized chaos for the things she needed.

The various sounds of the glass bottles and boxes shifting against each other pulled Dean from the doze he'd fallen into, his green eyes fluttering open to watch her. He contemplated trying to go back to sleep but ultimately decided against it, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"So," he started, clearing his throat as he raised his head, "what exactly are you doing? You're not going to ta have to kill a rabbit or something are you?"

The laugh that left her was both sarcastic and insulted. "No, Dean, I don't have to kill anything," she reassured him. "Where the fuck would I have gotten a rabbit from anyway?"

"Well I don't know what you've got in that bag," he defended, nodding to the offending object. "Sounds like you've got a whole kitchen in there."

She rolled her eyes and began setting out various jars. "You never know what you're going to need. And I'm making protection bottles."

Dean's brow furrowed as he watched her, looking from jar to jar trying to figure out what was in them. "What is all that shit?"

"Do you really want to know?"

He nodded. "I have to carry it around with me, don't I?"

She nodded.

"Then yeah, I wanna know what's in it."

She considered that for a moment before nodding again. "Alright, well, we've got Bayleaf to promote psychic awareness. Black Pepper for mental alertness, protection, physical energy, courage and exorcism. Juniper Berries for purification, protection and healing. Tea Tree for strength, cleansing and the warding of unwanted spiritual attention, negativity, hexes and curses. Clear Quartz boosts other crystals and herbs, spiritual protection, healing, and psychic ability. Jet is for protection, anti-nightmare, luck, and divination health. Elderberry is exorcism, protection, healing, prosperity, sleep and protection against Witchcraft. And finally the black candle is to seal the top of the bottle," she explained, gesturing to the respective jars as she went. "Technically I could put all of it in a bag too but I've always been fonder of bottles. Less likely to lose or break them."

Now more awake Dean pushed himself up, scooting to the edge of the bed to get a closer look. "Huh. So you just mix it all together?"

"More or less," she allowed with a shrug. "The order sometimes matters but all in all it's usually what your intention is while you're making it. Though to make it more specific I might add some of your guys' hair."

"I'm sorry, some of our what?" he demanded.

"Oh calm down, honeybuns, I'm not going to shave you," she teased. "I just need a few strands. It helps connect the bottle to you. I mean, I could add your name instead but I'd have to use your blood to write it."

He paled at that slightly and shook his head. "Yeah, no, hairs fine."

"That's what I thought," she mused, setting out two empty bottles before moving the bag out of the way.

Dean's eyes narrowed. "Are those mini JD bottles?"

Charlie paused and looked down at them as well, a small smile tugging at her lips. "The fact that you knew that without the label on them is telling."

"Hey, it's a distinctive shape," he defended. "But seriously, mini bottles? Doesn't seem very magicey."

"That's the beauty of magic, it can be whatever you want it to be," she told him, grabbing the matchbook and striking it, lighting the black candle sitting off to the side. "Intentions matter, remember?"

He nodded absently and watched as she worked, eyeing how much of everything she put in. "So what's the price for this?"

Charlie gave him a soft smile and shook her head. "Just the time it takes to make it."

"No blood?"

"No blood," she reassured. "Things like this have simple prices."

He grunted in understanding. "How do you keep track of it all?" he asked. "I mean, I know you have your mom's Grimoire but…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "How can you know for sure what you're walking into? That you know every price?"

She paused long enough to consider that. "If you manage to stumble into something that doesn't kill you, then you learn your lesson. After something like that you don't jump in feet first anymore. You do your research, you put in the time, and you pay the price with full consent. Blind magic will just get you killed."

A knowing look crossed his face. "You've done it before. Jumped in feet first."

Charlie hummed. "It almost killed me but I got lucky," she admitted. "I learned my lesson."

"What about Courtney?"

"She's the reason it didn't kill me. It kind of traumatized her."

Dean nodded as he accepted that. "Alright, but…." he trailed of with a sigh. "Just be careful."

"Awe, are you worried about me?" she teased, her smile growing as she stepped around the table towards him.

He scoffed out a laugh. "Me? Worried? Please."

Her smile was all but splitting her face. "Alright, you're not worried," she agreed, stopping in front of him and raising her hands to run them through his hair.

He did his best to resist but ultimately gave in, his eyes fluttering closed as he leaned into her hands. A soft moan leaving him when her nails scratched across his scalp.

She continued her ministrations for a few indulgent moments before leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead. "You're adorable," she told him. "Now hold still."

His brow furrowed but he did as he was asked, staying as steady as he could as her fingers plucked absently at his shirt. "Whatdya doing?"

"I told you I only needed a few strands," she reminded him before once again returning to the table, a few of his hairs pinched between her fingers.

A pleased hum left him as he reveled in the after tingles of her attention, mildly amused by what his hair must look like now.

Charlie hummed to herself as she dropped his hair into the bottle, careful to make sure that it went down past the rim. She added in the last few ingredients before grabbing the still lit candle, tilting it just far enough for the melted wax to pour out steadily. She managed to keep it from overfilling and blew out the flame, setting it back off to the side. Gathering up the no longer needed jars she deposited them back into the bag before zipping it back up. The wax now dry she grabbed the mini bottle cap and screwed it back on.

"There," she said, holding it up for him to see, "your very own Warren Protection Bottle. You know, I'd charge normal people 60 bucks for this. You should feel special."

The smile he gave her was heart melting. "Oh I feel very special, sweetheart," he told her.

She rolled her eyes and tossed the bottle to him, a small giggle leaving her when he fumbled to catch it. "Keep that with you wherever you go. Coat, jeans, whatever. Just make sure it's near you."

He nodded as he ran his thumb over the glass. "Thanks, Charlie."

"You're most welcome. I'll have Courtney make Sam's when they get back. She'll get a kick out of teasing him about his hair."

"He'd rather face off with the shadow assholes than cut his hair," he agreed, scooting back on the bed so he could set the bottle on the nightstand. "Starting to look like a fuking hippi."

"Oh leave him alone," she scolded, abandoning the table in favor of joining him on the bed, flopping back down onto her side of it. "He's trying to be his own person."

Dean sighed and stretched across the mattress, cramming the pillow back under his head. "I'm gonna go at him with a pair of scissors while he sleeps," he threatened. "Or maybe put Nair in his shampoo."

"Please do it when Court and I aren't here," she told him, rolling over to press her forehead to his shoulder. "I don't want to get caught in a war between you two."

He craned his head down to look at her, a soft smile pulling at his lips. "Sure, sweetheart, sure," he said before kissing the top of her head.

Mama's Cafe

Courtney Warren & Sam Winchester

Over the years Courtney had gotten used to feeling like a child. Growing up she had always been glaringly aware of how much taller Charlie was than her, even when they were kids. She remembered praying to Zadkiel for just a few more inches, just enough to allow her to reach the top shelf of the pantry. Obviously he'd never answered those particular prayers and she remained small. While she'd adjusted to Charlie's 5'9 it was a complete culture shock to be around Sam. His 6'5 frame was a literal pain in the neck.

"We should cut your damn legs off," Courtney grumbled as she followed behind Sam, glaring up at the back of his head.

Sam couldn't fight his smile as he looked down at her over his shoulder. "What was that, pipsqueak? I couldn't hear you."

The thought of tripping him came to mind but she refrained herself and simply smiled up at him. "I want you to know that every comment about my height is counting against you in the grand scheme of things, Samuel," she told him. "I've started a 'grievance' list and everything."

His eyebrows shot up and he came to a stop. "Wait, seriously?"

"Oh hell yeah," she answered, stepping past him with her head held high. "When you bill comes due you're gonna hate life."

"Wait, Courtney, seriously?" he pressed, taking a few steps to catch up to her.

"What are you thinking of getting, Jolly Green?" she asked, changing subjects with surprising ease, grabbing the diner door and pulling it open for him. "I'm feeling pancakes but if they have a cinnamon roll I'mma be all over that."

Sam reached out to take the door from her, ushering her in before following, trying to decide if he should make a witty remark or continue the line of questioning. Upon seeing just how crowded the diner actually was he opted for neither. "Holy shit."

Courtney gave a small nod, her eyes sweeping the building for any open tables or aimless waitress. "This might take awhile," she mused. "D'you think we should try to grab a table?"

Sam grimaced at that thought. "I don't know, they're already kind of looking at us weird," he muttered, eyeing the various people around them that were glancing over.

"Yeah, well, I'd stare too if I saw a moose this early in the morning."

"Ha. Ha."

Just then a red headed waitress no taller than Courtney wove her way through the tables towards them, a bright smile on her face. "Hi, welcome to Mama's! How're y'all doin' this mornin'?"

The cheerfulness was almost unnerving but the two Hunters couldn't help but smile back.

"We're doing just fine, how are you?" Courtney responded, making sure to match the woman's enthusiasm.

"Well, I'm doin' alright, thanks for askin'. You folks lookin' for a table or booth?"

Sam gave her his best winning smile. "Actually, we were wondering if we go do to-go?" he asked. "We've got a couple of friends laid up with hangovers and we promised to bring them food."

The waitress, Debbie according to her name tag, craned her neck up to look at him. "Yeah, we can do that," she told him with a nod. "You'll have to wait a little while though, we're half way through the breakfast rush. Maybe half hour?"

"That's fine!" Courtney reassured as she waved her off. "We're happy to wait."

Debbie seemed relieved about that and offered a kind smile. "Thank you. Here, I'll leave y'all with some menus and come check on you in a few minutes, okay?" she asked, twisting around to grab two of the laminated menus from the hostess station.

"Sounds great," Sam said, taking the menus with a smile.

"Debbie?! Can I get some more coffee?!" an elderly man called from the counter, waving an empty coffee mug above his head.

Debbie's smile dipped slightly but was soon back full force. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she repeated before spinning on her heel and dashing away.

"I don't envy her," Courtney muttered, taking a menu from him and flipping it open. "I couldn't imagine this being my day job."

Sam barked out a laugh and shook his head. "Yeah, because our actual day job is completely natural. Though I do agree with you," he said, a slight frown pulling at his lips. "Jess worked a couple of waitressing jobs. They were hell on her."

Courtney startled at the sound of Jessica's name and glanced up at him, trying to gage if she needed to calm him down or not. "She was working her way through college?"

"Yeah, she got a few scholarships but they weren't a full ride. She had to work to even it out," he explained, his eyes glued to the menu.

She took his steady voice as a good sign. "What was she majoring in?"

"Pediatric Psychology."

Courtney's head snapped up to stare at him. "No shit?"

The corner of his lips twitched into a smile. "No shit. She wanted to work with the police, help kids in domestic violence cases, things like that."

"Jesus Christ, that's impressive," she praised, unable to help the smile that spread across her face. "She must have been working her ass off."

"She did," he agreed. "She worked harder than anyone else."

Courtney winced at the wave of guilt that rolled off Sam and reached out instinctively to grab his arm, her grace rising up to soothe the potential downward spiral of emotions. "Thanks for telling me about her, Sam."

The tension he had accumulated within the last few minutes dissolved and he found himself smiling down at her. "I haven't talked about her in a while," he admitted. "Everytime I bring her up around Dean he gets this look on his face and…."

"I get it," she assured him. "Godfrey was the same way at first. Dean will get to a point where he'll stop worrying about your reaction and just listen. You guys haven't been around each other for a few years, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, since I left for school."

"He doesn't know how to act around you; not yet anyway. I might not know Dean that well but from what I've seen he really loves you, and he's going to make sure you make it through this, even if he doesn't know what he's doing."

Sam snorted and ducked his head. "Thanks, pipsqueak."

She smiled and bumped her shoulder against his. "You're welcome, Jolly Green."

Comfort Inn & Suites

Warrens & Winchesters

When they finally made it back to the hotel they found their older siblings huddled on their shared beds, their attention stuck to whatever soap opera was playing on the TV. Neither Sam or Courtney commented on how close they were sitting or how Dean had an arm wrapped around Charlie's waist. They'd agreed not to say anything about whatever relationship their siblings had till they said something themselves, a decision that was proving harder to keep the longer they were around each other.

"Gram's saw us dying again?" Courtney asked around the forkful of pancake she had shoved in her mouth.

Charlie hummed and nodded. "Yep. Apparently we were all supposed to die last night. You know, at the rate she's having visions about us I'm going to start assuming we're supposed to die on every hunt. She's gonna have a heart attack one of these times, how worked up she gets about them."

Courtney scoffed out a laugh. "After what happened the last time she was right can you blame her?" she demanded. "We'd probably be dead if she hadn't of warned us."

Concern pulled at the boys' faces.

"What happened last time?" Dean asked.

"She had a vision about us choking on our blood in the car. The witch we'd been hunting managed to get a hex bag into one of our seats."

"We had to cut into the upholstery," Charlie added, a crestfallen look on her face. "Ugh, I hadn't cried that hard in years."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "She was hysterical. Once we got the hex bag burned she was on the phone with her restoration guy, just bawling her eyes out. It took him a solid five minutes to calm her down enough to understand what she was saying. We had to get a rental car cause she had the Camaro towed off that night."

"The car looked like a fucking bear had been trapped inside," Charlie defended, glaring over at her sister. "I had to completely replace the interior, seats and all. Do you know how much that cost?"

She just rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. The point is that if she hadn't of warned us we probably would have died. So I'm gonna welcome as many of her visions as she has."

"Then we should probably give her our new phone numbers, huh?" she mused as she cut off another bite of the strawberry french toast. "It ain't gonna make a difference if she has to call Dad so he can warn us we're going to die."

Courtney scrunched up her face but didn't argue.

"I, uh," Sam cut off to clear his throat, "I read up on your family, after we first met, and your grandmother's been psychic her whole life, right?"

"She's been seeing things since she was a kid, right, Charlie?"

"Right," she agreed. "She told me that her earliest memory is of a vision of seeing her grandfather falling down the stairs. He died when she was two, halfway across the country."

Sam nodded slowly, a far off look on his face. "Are her visions always about death or does she see other things too?"

The sisters shared a look but didn't question him on it.

"Mostly death," Courtney said, "and worst possible outcomes."

"Which is what she always sees for us," Charlie muttered as she shoved another bite into her mouth. "I'm honestly surprised we've made it this far, all the shit she's seen. Like, being eaten by a Werewolf or a Yendaldooshi."

"Or the Kelpies," Courtney added. "She freaked me out so bad I couldn't even go near a duck pond without having a panic attack. Whoever started that rumor about drowning being peaceful is full of bullshit."

"Amen to that, sister," Dean said with a grimace.

"Fun fact," Charlie started, a chipper tone to her voice, "when you inhale saltwater it draws the blood out of your veins and into the lungs. So you actually end up drowning on your own blood instead of the water itself. Freshwater, on the other hand, leeches into the veins, swells the blood cells and causes them to burst. That along with the lack of air leads to a heart attack. So it's either pulmonary edema or cardiac arrest."

"Charlie, none of that was even remotely close to a 'fun fact'," Courtney stated, staring at her like she'd grown three heads.

Dean nodded in agreement.

"I thought it was cool," Sam spoke up, giving Charlie an encouraging smile.

An appreciative smile spread across her face. "Thanks, Samwise."

He nodded back. "Jess used to do that too," he explained. "She'd be studying for a test and just start spouting off all these medical facts. After a while you kind of start expecting them."

Charlie's smile had blown wide, the mere comparison seeming to brighten her day. "Yeah? Was she gonna be a doctor?"

"Pediatric Psychologist," he answered with a prideful tone.

"My kind of woman," she praised before shooting a pointed look towards Courtney. "See? Samwise has good taste."

The smile on Sam's face kept Courtney from being snide, instead sticking her tongue out at her sister before taking another bite of pancake.

"By the way, I left all the stuff for the protection bottles on the table," Charlie told her, gesturing over with her fork. "I did hair instead of blood bond."

Courtney perked up at that and looked up to Sam. "I get to cut his hair?!"

In panic Sam choked on his mouthful of fruit. "W-what?!" he struggled out, scrambling off the bed to put distance between him and her. "You're not touching my hair!"

A shit eating grin spread across Dean's face. "Come on, Sammy, it's not that bad. Charlie cut mine."

Sam gave him a skeptical look before backing even further away from Courtney. "What do you even need it for?" he demanded.

"Protection bottle," the Warren sisters answered.

"You've got a witch on your ass, Jolly Green, and we gotta protect it," Courtney continued with a wink. "We have to have your DNA for it to work. I mean, I could do a blood bond instead but-"

"We'll do that," Sam interrupted, nodding rapidly. "The blood thing."

Dean and Charlie snickered as they shared a knowing look.

Courtney scoffed out a laugh. "You'd rather give me your blood than your hair?"

He nodded again. "Yep. What do I have to do?"

That was all it took for the three of them to bust up laughing.

I know it's been a while but I'm in between projects right now so I could put some effort towards this again. Let me know what you guys think!

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