Chapter 14: All's Well

Sometimes when I'm typing Beatrice my phone corrects it to "bees rice".

Charlie told Beatrice the good news about Harleigh agreeing to help, but the information didn't seem to ease any of the woman's worries. Her face was still drawn up in a hard frown, her lips pursed like she had been sucking on a lemon.

"It's okay. We can trust Harleigh. I swear!" Charlie tried to reassure her.

"I just feel weird about it." Beatrice muttered, plopping down dramatically on the couch and crossing her arms.

"What are you going to do when you get the—" Charlie stopped herself short of revealing that she knew what Beatrice was after. "When you get this thing you're after? Are you going to destroy it? Since, you know, you say it's dangerous and all."

Beatrice sighed and ran her hands over her face.

"I don't know, really," She said. "It—it would probably be best for everyone if I did but—"

She cut herself off and grimaced.

"But what?" Charlie pressed.

"But part of me wants to keep it." Beatrice said. "Now, it's really the only thing I have left of him."

"Of... Shadow Witch?" Charlie asked quietly.

Beatrice didn't reply, but the way she stared down at the ground with a pained expression told Charlie the answer was yes.

Charlie knew she might be testing her luck, but she decided to press the issue nonetheless.

"Were the two of you close?"

Beatrice actually answered this time.

"Yes. Very."

Charlie nodded quietly, not sure what else to say. She wanted to know more. She wanted more pieces of the puzzle, so that she could finally see the full picture. There was more to Beatrice for her to find out that she was sure of.

"Was he the one who was your boyfriend?" Charlie asked experimentally.

Beatrice looked up at her tiredly, but not angrily. "First of all, ew. Second of all, not every man I know is my boyfriend."

"I guess I am being a little bit over the top with that." Charlie said. "You're just  always so weird and avoidant about how you know Copper Knight and Shadow Witch that I assume it was a bad breakup or something."

Beatrice laid back on the couch and covered her eyes with her arm.

"Shadow Witch was my brother."

It was silent. Charlie was taken off guard. To say the least, it wasn't what she had been expecting to hear. She had always just assumed Beatrice was just some kind of super fangirl who happened to have similar powers.

"Oh, uh—" Charlie's thoughts raced as she tried to figure out what to say. "That's. I didn't know he had sister."

Damn Charlie. Can you ever get it together around her?

"Of course not." Was all Beatrice said.

"I'm, uh sorry." Charlie tried.

"Why are you apologizing?" Beatrice scoffed.

"I dunno." Charlie said, sitting down beside her. "I'm just trying to empathize. I lost my mother, so, you know. I know the pain doesn't really go away."

"Thank you." Beatrice said.

Charlie reached over and squeezed her hand. Her palms were calloused and rough, probably from years of working with her hands and not using moisturizers, but her fingers were quite chilly and smooth.

"Is that why this means so much to you?" Charlie asked.

"Yes." Beatrice said.

Charlie chewed on her check as she watched Beatrice sadly pick at the scabs in her palm. Sure, Shadow Witch has been a villain, but it was clear Beatrice had been very affected by his death.

Someone didn't have to be perfect for you to love them. They didn't even have to be decent, really. Love was like that.

The thought made Charlie uncomfortable, but she also considered that, while Shadow Witch clearly had no regard for the law, he very well may have been loving and kind to his family.

Charlie had always seen morality in a very black and white way, something she was aware wasn't exactly right, but she had never bothered to internally examine.

Good people and bad people. Heroes and villains. Criminals and law abiding citizens. Those were the kind of categories she had put people in. But now, she was starting to think that she had been willfully ignorant.

"I don't like being sad." Beatrice said. She pulled away from Charlie as she sat upright. "It's stupid and pointless."

Charlie disagreed internally, but externally only frowned.

"Well, do you want to do something to distract yourself?" Charlie suggested. "Like eat some snacks? Or watch a movie? We can even read my diary from when I was eleven, if it'll make you feel better."

Beatrice cracked the smallest of small smiles.

"Sure. I guess we can watch a movie or something."

They moved upstairs into Charlie's old bedroom. It was small and embarrassing, but the thought of going into her mother's old room still made Charlie feel like vomiting.

Of course there was no cable, but Charlie had a treasure trove of old dvds in her closet. She picked one out at random, and made some popcorn in the somehow still working microwave.

Beatrice was very quiet, but didn't complain about watching a movie being a waste of time like Charlie expected. It seemed sometimes like all she knew how to do was work.

Beatrice was well invested in the cheesy old action movie, but Charlie was distracted. It felt the only thing she could do was watch as the television screen lit up her profile in a menagerie of different colors.

Beatrice shifted, and their shoulders brushed. Charlie flushed at the contact, and at the flood of thoughts sped through her mind.

The movie ended too soon, and they were left alone in the darkness, with only the dvd loading screen illuminating the room.

"It's starting to get dark. I'm going to go turn the generator off." Beatrice said.

Charlie said nothing, and sat in flustered silence as Beatrice left. She was still there, staring at the blank screen when Beatrice came back.

The bed dipped in as Beatrice crawled back in it, and covered herself up. Charlie blinked at her in the darkness, slightly confused, but did the same.

She rolled over on her side, and could see Beatrice's pale skin glowing in the dark.

Charlie cleared her throat.

"Beatrice, I—"

Beatrice cut her off.

"I want you to kiss me again."

Though the words sent a shiver of surprise through her, Charlie found herself unshaken.

The sound of their breathing seemed so loud in the thick silence of the night.

Charlie nodded.

Then, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she leaned in. Their lips made contact, just a gentle brush at first. Beatrice's lips were soft, and her breath intoxicating as she let out a shuddering sigh.

Charlie couldn't take it anymore, and leaned in to kiss her harder, reaching around and grabbing the back of her head as their lips moved.

Beatrice let out gentle gasps each time their lips parted. Her mouth moved with the clumsiness and quivering uncertainty of someone who didn't have much experience, a sensation which Charlie didn't mind.

It's probably not a good thing, but I want her. God, I want her so bad.

Their tongues came into contact, and Charlie shifted, quickly crawling on top of her and straddling her hips. She grasped her wrists in an effort to pin them above her head and, surprisingly, Beatrice let her.

Charlie knew, reasonably, that Beatrice could overpower her if she wanted to, but she was letting Charlie take the lead. She was letting Charlie have the illusion of power.

With her other hand Charlie took Beatrice's chin in her hand and pushed her face to the side, and started to roughly kiss her neck. Beatrice huffed and squirmed beneath her. Charlie moved her leg, slipping her knee between Beatrice's thighs and feeling the heat that came off of her.

Charlie moved back to kissing her mouth and began to let her hand moved down. Her fingers trailed over her shoulders, down her collar bones, before finally falling on her right breast. It was well more than a handful, and Charlie squeezed it with delight.

Charlie was so wrapped up in the moment, that when a sudden force hit her, it knocked the wind straight out of her. It was a little harder than a shove, like an invisible wall pushing against her, and it sent her back into the bed, coughing.

"S-Sorry." Beatrice said breathlessly as she sat up. "I didn't mean to do that. I, I just—I got nervous and it just kind of... happened."

Charlie sat upward and smoothed out her hair.

"It's okay. I'm fine." Charlie said, reaching over to rub her back. "I'm sorry if I was pushing things too far."

"No, no. It's just—" Beatrice ran her hand over her face and sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't normally lose control of my powers like that. It's embarrassing."

"Come on." Charlie said. "Why don't we try and get some sleep?"

Beatrice seemed disappointed that Charlie didn't ask her to try again, but also too mortified to say anything about it.

"Okay. Sure." Beatrice said quietly.

Charlie crawled back into the covers and laid on her back. Beatrice tentatively did the same, staying a little bit away from Charlie. Of course Charlie took notice and grabbed a hold of her shoulders, rolling her over and onto Charlie's chest.

Beatrice squirmed for a moment, burying her face further into the side of Charlie's chest. Charlie smiled in the darkness and wrapped her arms around her, giving her a tight squeeze.

Just as she was falling asleep, she heard Beatrice whisper;

"I'm glad you decided to come with me."