Twenty-Two – "That was Rather Dramatic."

Not Claire's screams were blaringly loud in Charlie's ears as Bela Talbot shorted out in her body, falling at Crowley's feet. Not Dean looked two seconds away from snapping Jo's neck, but Cas got to him just in time. With two fingers to the demon's head, Not Dean fell into a heap at the angel's feet.

"Whoa, whoa!" Charlie exclaimed, as Not Claire broke free from Jody's grip. Just like with Jo, Cas tamed Not Claire with two fingers to her forehead. The demon collapsed midstride, landing feet in front of Charlie. "Guess I owe you two favors now. First you brought me back, and now you saved me from being demon chow."

"That was rather dramatic," Crowley muttered, kicking Bela's corpse.

"Could you be a little more respectful of the dead?" Jessica protested.

Crowley scoffed. "How can you have empathy for this bitch?"

"I wasn't saying to be respectful to her, but to the others who are buried here."

The king rolled his eyes.

"Can't believe you stole my kill," Meg snarled to him. "She abducted me. I had every right to make her a trophy!" She looked about ready to try and make Crowley one in the cemetery.

"Be thankful she was stopped at all," he retorted. "She was in over her head. Her mind was already at the finish line, her plan failed to catch up. Pity, for a moment, she convinced me she was a force to be reckoned with."

"Come on, let's get these two back to the bunker before they wake up," Cas ordered, gesturing to Not Dean and Not Claire. "We can get the demons out, and then they'll be back to their old selves."

"Maybe," Meg said. "Betcha Blondie Jr. has never been possessed before. Dean-o will be fine. He may survive, but will she?"

The angel gave her a severe look. "She's much stronger than she looks."

"A pipsqueak like her?"

"I know what I'm talking about."

The group slowly banded together. Jody scooped up Claire while Cas and Sam lugged Dean's body. Meg handled an unconscious Alex since nobody else seemed to want to carry the girl.

"Um, you're leaving without saying 'thank you'?" Crowley growled.

"Oh, sorry. Thank you, Your Highness, for lending your brave services," Meg drawled, mocking bowing to the King of Hell, nearly dropping Alex while doing so.

"If you weren't surrounded by your merry band of misfits, I would kill you again."

"Keep dreaming. Maybe someday in the future we'll battle again, but for now, farewell."

"Are demons always this dramatic?" Jessica asked.

"I'll take dramatic over killing machine any day," Charlie breathed.

Crowley did his disappearing act from before, leaving the group with one less to take back to the bunker. Between Jody's truck and the Impala, the group got all settled in.

"If Cas is with the others, how are we gonna restrain Claire if she wakes up before we get back?" Charlie asked. Claire remained in the backseat with Meg. Meg wasn't fond of Alex leaning against her, she could only move so much. Jody was the driver in her truck.

"I'll coldcock her," Meg said firmly. "Kind of wish I'd had the honor of killing the bitch myself."

"Did she try and sway you to her cause?"

"She did. Not much got through to me, mostly because I couldn't stand her freaking accent. I couldn't stand her arrogance either. I'm glad she got what was coming to her."

"I'm just glad we didn't lose anybody." The redhead chewed on her tiny thumbnail. "We had some close calls."

"Yeah, well, we seem to have a knack for avoiding fatal situations."

And it probably won't be the last. Though Charlie knew she had Heaven waiting for her, and ScarJo, she wasn't sure that's what she wanted anymore. She felt more herself in the time she'd been back on Earth. How could she give that up for something that wasn't really real in her mind?

She had been part of a kickass group of hunter women, even if one was a demon. We could keep the dream team together. Maybe we could even form a school for hunters! Though, Charlie knew Sam and Dean would hate that idea. Though the job meant saving lives (almost always), it didn't seem to get big payoffs.

* * *

"How can you not have this down by now, Sam? Seriously."

Since the group's return to the bunker, Charlie and Sam were in charge of freeing Dean and Claire. Jody spoke on her behalf and Alex's, saying they couldn't watch (the girl had been woken up once the gang got back). Jessica seemed a little spooked after the cemetery, so she had opted out. Cas, despite all his years with the Winchesters, didn't know the exorcism, but Charlie believed the angel was too exhausted to focus on such a task. He didn't want to harm either Dean or Claire with smiting the demon inside of them, either. And Meg, well, she didn't want to be around in case the exorcism snatched her from her meatsuit.

"You've been at this for years," Charlie continued to rant.

"Why aren't we using the recordings?"

"It's practice. Besides, nothing can stop us from taking our sweet time with the chant, so there's no pressure. Now, come on."

Not Dean and Not Claire hadn't spoken a word, not even uttered a threat, since they'd woken up in the bunker dungeon, in a devil's trap. All their expression laid in their eyes. Prior to the exorcising, Sam had located the brand on Dean that kept the demon in him. The demon did not appreciate being burned, and Charlie was sure Dean wouldn't appreciate the sensation either when he'd come back.

As Sam and Charlie began the exorcism, the two demons wriggled in the chairs they were strapped in. Not Claire began to bellow in pain, and Not Dean began to hiss. Despite feeling weirded out, it didn't deter Charlie from letting the Latin flow out from her mouth.

Not Claire was out of the blonde girl first. Not Dean followed soon after. It became a waiting game as to who would wake first.

Dean slowly stirred, Claire remained slumped over in her chair. Charlie went to untie Dean first.

"C-Charlie?"

The redhead missed that raspy tone that wasn't tainted by demonic undertones. "What up, dude? You took quite a trip there."

"Am I still on it?" Dean's apple-green eyes found his little brother. "Sam, do you see Charlie too?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Dean, I do."

Charlie scuttled back as Dean rose from the chair. His lips parted in disbelief, and then he lifted her off her feet and hugged her. She hadn't felt a Winchester hug in so long that she'd forgotten what they were like.

"You're...H-how...?"

Charlie rubbed the back of her scalp. "Yeah, it's a long story, which isn't just mine to tell."

"What do you mean?"

"Um, I'll tell you in a second, but, uh, we need to see if we can wake Claire up."

"I got her," Sam offered.

Charlie led Dean out of the dungeon, hearing Sam's gentle tone to bring Claire back to reality. She noticed how often Dean kept looking at her as they walked the halls.

"I missed you guys too," she said quietly. She knew he was having a hard time processing her return.

"Charlie...what happened...I'm..."

The redhead cut the elder Winchester off by stopping his path. "I forgive you."

"But we—I—I bit Sam's head off for dragging you into the Mark of Cain mess. We...we gave you a Hunter's Funeral. By that, you—you shouldn't be back."

Okay, that I didn't know. "What's the point in being a hunter if you can't die and be reborn?"

"How are you taking this so...well?"

"I know you're sorry, Dean. I don't want to hear the waterfall of guilt, you need to hear how I made my epic return to Earth." Charlie began to walk backwards, readjusting herself as she led him out to the library room of the bunker. The only two currently present were Cas and Meg.

"What's she doing here?" Dean threw a thumb a Meg.

"Well, hello to you too, asshole," Meg greeted him. "Long time, no hate."

"She came back for the rebirth journey too," Charlie explained. "Cas pulled her out of Purgatory. Um, I don't know where Jess and Jo are..."

"Jo? Jo Harvelle?"

"Yeah. She might be in her room, resting. Jessica, too."

"Jessica Moore? How in the hell...?" Dean's eyes fell upon the man in the trenchcoat. "You brought them back? Their bodies...That's a tough order to fill, Cas."

"What do you remember last, Dean?" the angel asked him.

"I remember an ambush. I thought I saw Bela freaking Talbot. I saw...Charlie, and Jo, and Meg, and...and I wasn't sure who I thought I saw with them."

"That was all real, Dean," Charlie quipped. "You were possessed."

"Yeah, that I remember. They removed the tattoo I got, giving them an all-access pass." Dean frowned. "Sam and I have to get those again."

"Cas banded us together to find you guys."

Instead of him looking grateful like Charlie had anticipated, he in fact looked the opposite. "You yanked them out of Heaven?"

"He pulled me from Purgatory," Meg corrected him.

"I had no other options, Dean," Cas said curtly. "You were too heavily cloaked, Heaven wasn't keen on lending me a hand. I wasn't about to ask Crowley for help."

"Even though you did in the end."

"You mean we did."

"What plan were they, Cas? Plan Z?" Dean snapped.

"Um, hey!" Charlie protested, smacking Dean's arm. "Plan Z kicked demon ass and saved yours and Sam's!"

"Yeah, with putting your bacon on the line!"

"Instead of fuming like a volcano, why don't you be gracious you're not a demon puppet anymore?" Meg taunted Dean.

"Cas didn't need to pull you guys out of whatever paradise you were in!"

"I wouldn't call Purgatory paradise."

"After all we've been through together, and you think we wouldn't drop everything to come bail you out," came Jo's tsking tone. Charlie and Dean turned to find the blonde hunter, weary, in the hall.

Everyone was waiting for a retort from Dean, but it never came. Jo's presence seemed to mollify him, something that Charlie had rarely seen. There's history here. Chemistry? The way Dean looked at Jo...

Charlie recognized that look. It was the one of unimaginable relief. Of realizing someone who was once gone wasn't gone anymore. But beyond that, Charlie saw one other fleeting emotion. It echoed in her memory a look she had given ScarJo the first day they had met in Heaven.

"What, did I get your tongue?" Jo continued to taunt Dean.

"You might've gotten more than that," Meg coughed. "Hint, hint."

Charlie rolled her eyes.

"We can leave you guys to yourselves, all you gotta do is ask," the demon drawled. "Besides, we need to make a food run."

"We have plenty—" Cas began to say.

"—to get, yeah, I know. Come on, fireball, you too!"

Though Charlie wanted to see Jo and Dean interact and understand their history (and decide whether or not they were truly shippable to her), she reluctantly left the two hunters alone in exchange for a food run with Meg and Cas.