fandomtownies | Somewhere in the preserve, late evening

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Somewhere in the preserve, late evening

Charlie stopped running when she finally knocked into a tree, and almost fell on her face. After a minute, she slumped down to sit at the base, face buried in her knees.

She'd never even thought that was possible, that someone could copy her fire-starting, and it could get out of control, and Peter could have gotten hurt, and that was just a tiny fire, what if it had gotten worse, what if there'd been anyone else there, people were going to want to know why she hadn't said anything before this and god she just couldn't deal....

[for

saltandammo]

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Dean had seen the whole thing happen and had immediately followed when Charlie had run off. He'd lost sight of her, but was sure he was still on her trail.

"Charlie?"

Charlie was crying too hard to answer him for a minute, then just hiccuped out, "Here."

And great, now Dean knew too, and could this get worse? Without anyone being burned, and she didn't want to remember that, that's why she never said anything to anyone about any of it.

That was enough for Dean to spot her. "Hey," he said quietly, kneeling beside her. "You okay?"

"Didn't get hurt." Charlie put her hands over her head, feeling more tears escape. "Lucky."

"Good," Dean said, moving to sit beside her and slipping an arm around her shoulder. "But I'm thinking the answer to the 'okay' question is hell no, huh?"

Charlie shook her head, and couldn't catch her breath enough to say anything else. She leaned into Dean, eyes clenched shut as she cried.

Dean didn't say anything, just rubbed her back like he had Sammy's when he was little and upset.

Charlie finally slowed down until her breath was just hitching, and hugged her legs close to herself, miserable. "Sssorry. I just." She swallowed. "Had a meltdown." And wow, wasn't that the right word. "I haven't. Thought about it. For a while."

"The fire was you," Dean said slowly, just confirming before going any further.

She nodded, feeling sick. Breathless and too warm and nauseous. "Uh-hunh." Charlie gulped for another breath, and fought back more tears. "I hate it. I used to be able to, I could do it, but it's been too long. It's too big, I can't..." She shook her head, and let out a ragged sigh. "Peter could have gotten hurt. Or dead."

"But he didn't," Dean reminded her.

Charlie nodded slowly. Then turned her head to look at him, and whispered, "People got hurt before." She bit her lower lip. "Lots of them."

"But they didn't this time," Dean said. He paused, then asked gently, "What happened before?"

Charlie couldn't manage to be happy that Dean was there, exactly. Grateful, though, definitely.

She blurted it out so she wouldn't have to think too much. "My dad got killed. John killed him, and they were going to kill me," she gulped. "And he told me to, to burn it all down. Everything." Her face screwed up again. "The house and the barn and the people." She took another breath, whispering, "So I did."

It was all too easy for Dean to picture it, and to put himself in her place. If someone killed his father -- or worse, Sammy.... "So would I," he told her.

Which had her crying again, mostly with relief, but some grief too, remembering it again after so long. "And I wasn't going to do it again, I wasn't, because it almost got away from me, and I almost drained the pond, putting it out, and," she wiped her eyes, leaned against Dean again. "It scares me, I was a kid then, and it was so strong, and I don't know-- I don't know what I can do now."

Dean was quiet for a minute then said, "It's like a gun."

Charlie wiped her eyes, and took a shaky breath. "It is?" She blinked, trying to see it. "How?"

"Well it's just another weapon when you get down to it. Or tool really, but you're worried about hurting people with it so let's stick with the weapon thing for now. It's like a gun. Dangerous but if you know what you're doing and practice..."

Charlie bit her lip, thinking, and rubbed her nose. "But I seriously, seriously don't know how strong it is now, Dean. I don't know h-how to make it safe, so I can practice." She closed her eyes. "Coolers and ice chips and bathtubs full of water were barely enough back then. And I can feel it, it's worse now."

"So..." Dean said slowly, "you need lots of water to practice?"

"Lots of water. Lots and lots of..." She blinked. Then dropped her head back down onto her knees, feeling very, very silly. "Oh."

"There are advantages to going to school on an island in the ocean," Dean said with a slight smile.

Charlie actually started to giggle there, even if it was a little hysterically. "Yeah, I guess so, hunh?" She gradually slowed down, got her breath back, thinking about what he'd said. "Still scary, though."

"The unknown always is," Dean said. "So we work on making it known, put our heads down and just deal with it."

Right then, forget the crush, or hero-worship, or whatever; Charlie just loved Dean for being so damn cool. "You'll help?" She swallowed. "Even with, with all I told you?"

"You haven't told me anything that isn't completely understandable," Dean told her. He paused. "You're not summoning demons or eating babies in your spare time or anything are you?"

"Whaaa? No," Charlie said hastily, shaking her head hard. Not that she was a little calmer, she was feeling embarrassed that she'd run out of the barbeque so fast. She was going to have some explaining to do. Sleeping forever sounded like a good idea first, though.

"Well then. Nothing I can have a beef with you about then," Dean teased gently then got serious. "Anything I can do to help, Charlie, just let me know."

"Thanks." Charlie managed a smile, then leaned her head on his shoulder. "And thanks for coming after me when I lost it." She shook her head. "I'm going to have some explaining to do, the next day or so."

"Probably," Dean agreed. "But it won't be as hard as you think. This is Fandom after all; people are used to all kinds of weird."

"Yeahhhh." Charlie sighed, and nodded. "Can't think about it now. Too wiped out." She smiled at Dean. "I totally owe you." Slowly, she got to her feet, leaning against the tree for support.

Dean quickly got to his feet and slid an arm around her waist to help hold her up. "How 'bout I help you back to the dorms and you can owe me two?"

"Sounds like a good deal to me." Ice cream forever for Dean. Maybe that would start to pay him back.

Charlie put her arm around his waist, and let Dean get her out of the forest, willing to let the rest of her problems wait until tomorrow.

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Somewhere in the preserve, late evening

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