Fury turned over the last letter to reveal a longer one. Everyone around the table looked at each other a bit confused because they could clearly see on this paper large blots of ink and smears from writing too fast. The paper itself was pretty rumpled, as if it had been crumpled and uncrumpled several times. Sherlock even noted to the group that in some places Charlie had pressed his pen so hard into the paper that he had torn it a little. So it was with a bit of apprehension that Fury started to recite the letter to them.

September 29, 1991

Dear Friend,

There is a lot to tell you about the last two weeks. A lot of it is good, but a lot of it is bad. Again, I don't know why this always happens.

The doctor smiles at that because he knows exactly what Charlie means.

First of all, Bill gave me a C on my To Kill a Mockingbird essay because he said that I run my sentences together. I am trying now to practice not to do that. He also said that I should use the vocabulary words that I learn in class like "corpulent" and "jaundice." I would use them here, but I really don't think they are appropriate in this format.

To tell you the truth, I don't know where they are appropriate to use. I'm not saying that you shouldn't know them. You should absolutely. But I just have never heard anyone use the words "corpulent" and "jaundice" ever in my life. That includes teachers. So, what's the point of using words nobody else knows or can say comfortably? I just don't understand that.

"No one does Charlie, it's all ridiculous." Sam elbowed his brother in retort of that statement. Sherlock rolled his eyes and and told Dean,

"You're talking to an inanimate object."

"You don't know that!" He replied, "For all we know about these letters they could be magic and feeding our reactions directly to Charlie Kelmeckis himself."

"Ridiculous! Magic is just the word people use to describe a kind of science we haven't figured out yet." There several nods around the room at this but Dean just rolled his eyes and said.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, man." He waved a hand for Fury to continue.

I feel the same way about movie stars who are terrible to watch. Some of these people must have a million dollars at least, and yet, they keep doing these movies. They blow up bad guys. They yell at their detectives. They do interviews for magazines. Every time I see this one particular movie star on a magazine, I can't help but feel terribly sorry for her because nobody respects her at all, and yet they keep interviewing her.

"Ok, is this kid for real?" Natasha said laughingly. Looking around at everyone she continues,

"I mean I don't know any guys, let alone a fourteen-year-old guy who really thinks about or feels bad for women who are victims of double standards. I don't even pay attention to it most of the time. If I thought about this movies star at all I would probably just think it was typical and move on. How can he be so… so…?" She hits clint in the arm, hard. Rubbing it he thinks for the word and then finishes her sentence,

"Empathetic?" She nods enthusiastically, "Exactly, I mean have any of you ever thought this way about women who are on magazines?" All of the guys just looked at each other. Some of them simply shook their heads no, like Sherlock and the Doctor. John and Sam and Bruce all seemed slightly worried that they never noticed this.

Steve couldn't help but be disappointed in both himself and his entire gender. This disappointment was doubled when Tony turned to Natasha with a big smile and said,

"I'm mainly thinking about how hot they are whenever I see these magazines." Dean and Thor both nodded. Natasha just rolled her eyes while Steve hit him upside the head.

And the interviews are all the same thing.

They start with what food they are eating in some resturant. "As _ gingerly munched her Chinese Chicken Salad, she spoke of love." And all the covers say the same thing: "_ gets to the bottom of stardom, love, and his/her hit new movie/television show/album."

I think it's nice for stars to do interviews to make us think they are just like us, but to tell you the truth, I get the feeling that it's all a big lie. The problem is I don't know who's lying. And I don't know why these magazines sell as much as they do. And I don't know why the ladies in the dentist's office like them as much as they do.

"Jeez, he's thinking awfully deeply about something so ordinary. I mean it's just magazines!" Bruce exclaimed shaking his head. The feeling was shared around the room, even by Sherlock.

A Saturday ago, I was in the dentist's office, and I heard this conversation.

"Did you see that movie?" as she points to the cover.

"I did. I saw it with Harold."

"What do you think?"

"She is just lovely."

"Yeah. She is."

"Oh, I have this new recipe."

"Low-fat?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you have some time tomorrow?"

"No. Why don't you have Mike fax it to Harold?"

"Okay."

Then, these two ladies started talking about the one star I mentioned before, and they both had very strong opinions.

"I think it's disgraceful."

"Did you read the interview in Good Housekeeping?"

"A few months back?"

"Uh-huh."

"Disgraceful."

"Did you read the one in Cosmopolitan?"

"No."

"God, it was practically the same interview."

"I don't know why they give her the time of day."

"Okay these ladies need to calm down. I mean, what did this woman ever do to them?" Sam said confused. Dean replied,

"Nothing Sam that's the point. Older people love to gossip and judge that's just what they do. Don't you remember all those busybodies when we were kids that were always trying to get on Dad for how he raised us? Or me for how I dressed?" Sam shrugged because he did remember them and he also remember agreeing with them.

The fact that one of these ladies was my mom made me feel particularly sad because my mom is beautiful. And she's always on a diet. Sometimes, my dad calls her beautiful, but she cannot hear him. Incidentally, my dad is a very good husband. He's just pragmatic.

"What's that even mean?" Tony said to Steve. Steve just shrugged looking bewildered but amused.

After the dentist's office, my mom drove me to the cemetery where a lot of her relatives are buried. My dad does not like to go to the cemetery because it gives him the creeps. But I don't mind going at all because my Aunt Helen is buried there. My mom was always the pretty one, as they say, and my Aunt Helen was always the other one. The nice thing was my Aunt Helen was "corpulent." Hey, I did it!

Dean snorts, "Yeah good job kid."

Everyone else was smiling so fondly at the letters that Sherlock didn't even bother to point out that Dean was talking to an inanimate object.

My Aunt Helen would always let us stay up and watch Saturday Night Live when she was babysitting or when she was living with us and my parents went to another couple's house to get drunk and play board games.

"Yeah I'm sure that's all they did. ha ha, up top!" Tony said laughing going in for a high five with Dean. Sam and Steve rolled their eyes at the childish behavior.

"He's very observant isn't he." Clint muttered thoughtfully to Natalie. She nodded a bit somber, her instincts alerting her to something not quite right. Though she had no idea what it could be.

"And very mature for his age. He was seven when his aunt died so he knew about drinking and parties before that." A loud cough interrupted their pensive chat and they swiveled to face Fury, who had stopped in the middle of a paragraph for this entire exchange. Cowed by his stare everyone refocused.

When I was very little, I remember going to sleep, while my brother and sister and Aunt Helen watched Love Boat and Fantasy Island. I could never stay awake when I was little, and I wish I could, because my brother and sister talk about those moments sometimes.

Fury paused for a second or two having seen what was written next and then continued with a small smile and an understanding tone of voice.

Maybe it's sad that these are now memories. And maybe it's not sad. And maybe it's just the fact that we loved Aunt Helen, especially me, and this was the time we could spend with her.

For once the Doctor wasn't smiling. This philosophical reasoning had a strong effect on everyone as they all started to remember the people they have loved and lost. But the Doctor had lost so many...he was at a loss for words. Charlie's simple summarization of his feelings had affected everyone and they were silent as they grew pensive. Though Tony and Sherlock were restless to move on from their own memories.

I won't start listing television episode memories, except one because I guess we're on the subject, Tony snorted at that.. and it seems like something everyone can relate to in some small way. And since I don't know you , I figure I can write something that you can relate to.

The family was sitting around watching the final episode of M*A*S*H. And I'll never forget it even though I was very young. My mom was crying. My sister was crying. My brother was using every ounce of strength he had not to cry. And my dad left during one of the final moments to make a sandwich. Now, I don't remember much about the program itself because I was too young, but my dad never left to make a sandwich except during commercial breaks, and then he usually just sent my mom. I walked to the kitchen, and I saw my dad making a sandwich… and crying. He was crying harder than even mom. And I couldn't believe it.

"That was unexpected." Steve said with wide eyes. He turned to look at everyone else who was just as bewildered.

"Yeah, and to think he reminded me of our dad." Dean said to Sam with a roll of his eyes. Sam looked thoughtful when he replied,

"The way he was described earlier did give that impression. After he hit Charlie I thought he seemed like a hard man who never compromised. We even thought he might be abusive. Now here he is, crying over a TV show."

"That doesn't mean he isn't abusive. We still don't know what he did when he found out Charlie saw him crying." Tony said, looking slightly worried. Fury nodded at that and kept reading.

When he finished making his sandwich, he put away the things in the refrigerator and stopped crying and wiped his eyes and saw me.

Then, he walked up, patted my shoulder, and said, "This is our little secret, okay, champ?"

"Okay," I said.

Everyone looked at each other, confused at Mr. Kelmeckis's reaction to being caught.

And Dad picked me up with the arm that wasn't holding the sandwich, and carried me to the room that had the television, and put me on his lap for the rest of the episode. At the end of the episode, he picked me up, turned off the TV, and turned around.

And my dad declared, "That was a great series."

And my mom said, "The best."

And my sister asked, "How long was it on the air?"

And my brother replied, "Nine years, stupid."

And my sister responded, "You...Stupid."

Tony snorted, amused. "Good Come-back."

And my dad said, "Stop it, right now."

And my mom said, "Listen to your father."

And my brother said nothing.

And my sister said nothing.

And years later I found out my brother was wrong.

"Ooooh, really how exciting!" Tony said sarcastically. Steve jabbed his elbow at him but Sherlock smirked because he agreed with the sentiment.

I went to the library to look up the figures, and I found out that the episode we watched is the highest watched anything of television history, which I find amazing because it felt like just the five of us.

Dean and Sam smiled at each other, remembering similar feelings about television growing up.

You know… a lot of kids at school hate their parents. Some of them got hit. And some of them got caught in the middle of wrong lives. Some of them were trophies for their parents to show the neighbors like ribbons or gold stars. And some of them just wanted to drink in peace.

The smiles around the room were all gone at this observation of Charlie's. This was something everyone in the room, no matter how alien or odd, could relate to.

For me personally, as much as I don't understand my mom and dad and as much as I feel sorry for both of them sometimes, I can't help but love them very much. My mom drives to visit the cemetery of people she loves. My dad cried during M*A*S*H, and trusted me to keep his secret, and let me sit on his lap, and called me "champ."

Incidentally, I only have one cavity, and as much as my dentist asks me to, I just can't bring myself to floss.

Love Always,

Charlie

Surprised laughter rang through the room after that last line. Some people, like the Doctor and Bruce and John still had tears in their eyes from the sad, but sweet, last paragraph. But even still everyone was hit by relieved laughter after the somewhat tense melancholy of the letter. Even Sherlock was chuckling fondly. Natalie was the first to stop though, eager as she was to talk about something odd she noticed and kept track of throughout the letter.

Once everyone had calmed down The Black Widow spoke,

"It's kind of weird isn't it? He didn't talk about what he said he would."

"What do you mean?" John asked, confused and still a little giddy from the cathartic laughter.

"She's talking about the disclaimer at the beginning of the letter. Charlie didn't follow through on his promise to tell us about the last two weeks between letters. I'm surprised you caught that." Sherlock said, looking at Natalie with more respect. She looked back at him with an unimpressed expression that said You shouldn't be surprised it's what I do.

Sherlock smirked at this but continued with the explanation after seeing more confused looks from the rest that was gathered.

"At the beginning of the letter he said that a lot had happened in the last two weeks. That some of it was good and a lot of it was bad. We even noticed in the beginning that the last was written very forcefully so I think all of us were prepared for something important to be revealed." He looked piercingly at the room for confirmation. When everyone seemed to realize what he was talking about and he received a few nods he continued,

"I know I was expecting a long series of unfortunate events that would reveal some grand scheme he ended up stumbling into, thus the reason we would need to read about him. But, alas, the only thing he talked about from the two previous weeks was his grade on a paper and going to the dentist. Nothing else, which begs the question…"

"What did he originally sit down to write about? What was so bad that he felt frenzied enough to write the letter like that. An why did he not talk about it, whatever it is?" Natalie finished for him. The questions pouring out as though anxious to be answered. They would be disappointed, for nobody knew the answer. But they wanted to know. Fury flipped to another letter.