CHAPTER TITLE: An Ode to Sonia

CHARACTERS: Charlie Francis, The Shapeshifter, Sonia Francis

GENRE: Tragedy, Supernatural

RATING: M

SUMMARY: Charlie didn't leave after he died...

REQUESTED BY: slgorman, good friend and fellow Charlie Francis obsessor (she can be found on livejournal)

WORD COUNT: 1,701

WARNINGS:

SPOILERS: Season Two

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

DISCLAIMER: Obvious this isn't mine.


Sonia…whom Charlie often believed was a real life princess, spent every morning in the shower the same way. She sang out exquisite hymns and as he hovered in the wafts of steam next to her, he recalled the days they'd been in university and he'd first heard her singing with the campus choir. Like an angel, her voice had managed to call to him, her sweet mouth speaking the words of the Father in Latin and French and German…

But those days were long since gone. Her hymns had still called to him, though this time they'd acted as a beacon home where that sonofabitch Shapeshifter was waiting, taking his place. He couldn't feel time, like it didn't exist around him anymore, but he did understand that he'd been down in that hospital basement for a quite a few hours, that it was now the next day. He'd been there in a matter of minutes, slipping through the glass of the shower door to be beside his wife.

His fingers caressed over her face, wishing to feel her warmth, but there was nothing there, just a sense of the molecules being different because she was living and he was not. Sonia was the best way to wake up in the morning, curled up soft and warm in his arms, smelling like shampoo and lotion. He'd never taken that for granted but it didn't make it any easier to part with.

Her wet, soapy hands touched her belly, her eyes closing in a moment of bliss and he moved closer to her, the feeling of despair overwhelming him. They'd found out she was pregnant the day after he'd had all that larvae growing in him, the day after he'd told his partner that their was a certain irony to the fact he and Sonia had been talking about having kids. When his beloved wife told him she was going t be having their child, he hadn't been able to stop laughing from the relief that she would be the one receiving sonograms now instead of him.

They'd remained quiet with the news, waiting the first three months because Sonia was superstitious, even though he was so excited he wanted to rent billboards to broadcast their good fortune. Actually he'd planned on telling Olivia, but the day he picked turned out being the same one that she ended up in that bizarre car accident and it didn't seem appropriate to announce his good news with her lying in a hospital bed. So he'd decided to wait a few days, not realising he didn't have that kind of time…


Charlie could pinpoint the moment he knew Sonia was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. During their time in university together he'd had her trim his hair in her flat's tiny kitchen; when he found out that she'd worked at her uncle's barbershop all through high school, he'd convinced her that he had a phobia of noise electric trimmers made and asked if she would trim his hair for him with scissors. She'd agreed, but only if he was willing to take her with him to the gun range and teach her how to shoot. He'd only been too happy to say yes.

Of course it took forever for her cut his hair by hand and he did feel guilty about it; for almost a year and a half she'd devote the last Saturday of every month carefully trimming his black hair with her beautician shears. Finally one day as she had him leaning backwards at the kitchen sink so she could rinse the shampoo out of his hair, the compunction overwhelmed him and the moment her fingers started massaging his scalp, he blurted out,

"Sonia? I'm not really scared of the sound the trimmers makes. I just wanted to be close to you."

She hadn't paused and for the briefest of moments he thought that perhaps she hadn't heard or maybe he hadn't really said it out loud, but then she replied softly,

"I know."

He'd nervously looked up into her eyes. "You do?"

She smiled slightly. "I've always known, Charlie."

He spent the rest of the time in her kitchen feeling incredibly warm and happy, in love with the way her hands took care of him. As he left her flat, she called out.

"Charlie?"

He turned back to her. "Yes?"

Her shy smile became a Cheshire grin. "I was the captain of the high school sharp shooting team. I just wanted to be close to you. "

He'd bought her engagement ring that afternoon.


Charlie loved the way Sonia's hands smelt of garlic on the days she cooked pot roasts. He loved the way she would call him up as he drove home to tell him she wasn't wearing anything beneath her dress. He loved the way she muttered in her sleep about dry cleaning. He loved the way she got excited about turning over the calendar on the first day of each month. He loved the way she'd rub her excess lotion on his elbows to 'soften him up'. He loved the way she bit her bottom lip as she worked on the crossword puzzle at breakfast.

He loved the way Sonia was Sonia.

As he watched his wife step out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her waist as she hummed and dried her hair with a hand towel, the Shapeshifter entered their bedroom from the hallway. Sonia paused as her eyes locked on the man that wasn't really him and he paused as well, as though they were two strangers who had happened across one another, but then she smiled and they continued their movement around the bedroom.

Charlie's form felt like a million different points of light and angrily they buzzed and swarmed like hornets around the room, desperate to get rid of this disgusting imposter and wanting to protect the love of his life.

"Babe, you're up pretty early," Sonia commented. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's perfect, angel," the Shapeshifter purred, possessively running his hands over her bare shoulders.

Sonia made a noise of discomfort and both Charlies looked at her.

"Morning sickness," she mumbled before running back to the bathroom.

The Shapeshifter watched coolly as the sounds of his wife retching into the toilet reached them. Charlie felt absolute relief as he watched the creature turn and leave the bedroom, though he was torn between following it or staying with his wife. He ended up staying with Sonia.

By the time she'd rinsed her mouth out and put a bathrobe on, the Shapeshifter was hanging out in the kitchen, looking antsy to go. Charlie was more than happy to see that thing leave his home.

"Well, I should probably get going," the Shapeshifter said, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.

"Of course." Sonia grinned at him as she handed him his travel mug, already filled with coffee. "Go save the world babe."

The Shapeshifter smiled at her and began to walk out the door before Sonia's suddenly cool voice stopped him.

"Honey?"

The Shapeshifter froze and looked back at her. "Yes?"

His wife was no longer smiling. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

The Shapeshifter returned to her and kissed her passionately on the lips before hurrying back out the door. Charlie surrounded the area Sonia stood, watching her face and body language, feeling triumphant. She knew. She suspected.

The Shapeshifter had been right to assume they always gave each other one last kiss before they parted, but what he hadn't known was that Charlie always linked his pinkie with hers, their private way of saying 'I love you'. And he hadn't done it.

Sonia watched his car pull away, her lips pressed tight as the gears in her head turned quickly. His wife wasn't stupid, she knew something was wrong. But she also knew better than to ask questions, which unfortunately wasn't helping him at the moment.

The night he'd had the larvae growing in him, she'd seen the way the his skin moved and undulated on his abdomen, the horrified look on her face making his heart nearly stop. But she hadn't said anything—she'd just adverted her eyes and started talking to him about renewing their Netflix subscription. It was something about her that he admired, but now her loyalty and trust was putting her in danger.

But Sonia didn't have all the facts and Charlie ended up watching helplessly as she ran from the kitchen towards their downstairs bathroom—Sonia would suffer the rest of her pregnancy with terrible morning sickness.