'4 Days Out'

Hey guys, I'm still in Italy but it seems as though I'm going to be able to crank these chapters out pretty fast, so here's another one! Feel free to leave constructive criticism – I'm always open to it! :)

"Oh fuck," Charlie mumbled as she woke up, realizing that there was something immediately off. She hadn't woken naturally, for starters, and there was also the big factor that there was something moving in between her legs. It didn't take long for her to recognize Jesse's mouth in between her lower lips, and the gentle flick of his tongue sent her back arching and mind reeling. A soft sigh escaped her lips as more pleasure forced its way into her still waking system, and she wondered briefly how long Jesse had been at it for until the thought was chased out of her brain by another flick of her partner's tongue. She slowly managed to sit up onto her elbows, mouth falling open into an 'O' as her eyes met his over her tiny hips. Using one hand to grab her thighs and the other to slip two calloused fingers into her, his advances grew stronger and more confident by the second now that he had her full attention and consent. As tantalizingly as he good, he drew the alphabet onto her clit, finishing each letter with a flick and taking the time to stop halfway and suck as hard as he could. Charlie remembered the early, awkward days of them losing their virginities to each other and having to stop midway to give each other tips on what they were doing wrong. It took a fair bit of time before each of them knew each other's body like a blueprint, but the time came, and now their lovemaking was more like a dance instead of an awkward, hot, messy fumble. Charlie was thoroughly impressed at how much Jesse had improved from his younger days, and knew that he was impressed with her changes as well. It had taken him forever to realize that her tongue ring had been the main irritating factor in her blowjobs, besides the fact that her gag reflex could be unpredictable at times thanks to her bulimia, and the fact that she generated spit at four times the normal rate (which was more of a wet nuisance rather than a pleasure), but after some practice had made perfect, Jesse swore he was the happiest man alive when Charlie went down on him.

All these thoughts had him distracted from the girl in question, and upon concentrating his efforts once again he received a moan of encouragement. More followed as teasing ensued, eventually causing her to groan in frustration and grip his hair with one of her hands. She could feel herself nearing an edge, but every time that Jesse pulled his tongue away the feeling disappeared and then reappeared when he applied it again. After a bit, Jesse's pace grew more serious, and a certain urgency took over his pace. His fingers seemed to move more swiftly and his eyes locked onto her facial expressions, registering each and every one as if to keep them in his brain forever. After several more minutes the signs he was so familiar with became clear. Her thighs began to shake and her hips began to rock as her body sensed the build up, and then her head tilted back with a soft groan. At this time, she would usually emit a curse, but for this time her mouth seemed to settled for a soft cry of his name as her eyebrows furrowed into a frown and her mouth curved into another 'O'. Then, supporting herself with one elbow and grabbing his hair with her free hand, she proceeded to bite her lip and lightly grind herself against his mouth – as to not disturb his hard work – until she inevitably hit her climax and shuddered uncontrollably. This lasted for a good thirty seconds before the clenching wore off and she collapsed back into the pillows with a soft sigh.

"Sorry," Jesse allowed a grin to creep over his face as he pulled Charlie towards him.

"For what?" Charlie scrunched her nose and smiled, still reveling in the aftershocks of her orgasm.

"For waking you up," Jesse waited another second before releasing his pun. "I was hungry for breakfast."

The two collapsed into gentle giggles as Jesse pulled his love towards him, burying his nose in her hair and breathing in the scent of strawberry shampoo. The nostalgic smell of the age-old shampoo that she had used since high school brought back vivid memories, and Jesse found himself living in the past for a good five minutes.

"We should do something today!" Charlie grinned, tracing Jesse's tattoo on his chest with one of her soft fingers.

"Yeah," He agreed. "We should."

"Would you wanna go to a museum or something?" Charlie remembered the times where they were trying to fill big empty slots of hours; now it seemed that there would never be any left. "Pass some time in Santa Fe? We haven't been out for awhile."

"I'd like that – but Santa Fe is so far…" He whined, pulling the covers further over himself as if to shield him from the world.

"We'll decide later," Charlie conceded. "Want some breakfast?"

"Yes please – is there still cereal?"

"Uh – yeah, I think so!" The small girl rose, tiny bare ass jiggling as she walked into the kitchen and looked into the cupboards, giving Jesse a shout of victory when she spotted the Froot Loops in their usual spot.

"Pour me a bowl, would ya?" Her partner-in-crime tossed back.

Charlie obeyed without a word, grabbing the dish from the sink and filling it up with the tasty treats. She was tempted to eat some herself, and managed to grab a handful before the phone rang. She quickly grabbed the milk and filled the bowl before dropping a spoon in the mix and picking up the ringing landline.

"Hello?"

"Charlie?" Mr. White's thought process froze for a moment, realizing that he heard a distant crunching in the girl's mouth. Was Charlie eating? He didn't think he'd seen her eat since the time that Jesse had begged her to take a bite of granola at his home.

"Hi Mr. White!" She recognized her old teacher's voice and chirped, unbeknownst to the urgency of his call. "What can I do for ya?"

"I uh…" The chemistry teacher was once again a bit thrown off by her cheeriness and struggling to remember his words. "Could you put Jesse on, please? It's a bit urgent."

"Sure," Charlie smiled. "Here he is."

Mr. White. She mouthed to her counterpart, generating an unsure expression from him.

"What?" Jesse's tone was completely void of any understanding or niceties, as he had been hoping NOT to hear from the cancer-ridden man who was more or less (although Jesse would have never admitted it in a million years) his boss.

"I've been trying to reach you," Mr. White sounded worn out, like a favorite shirt that had been ironed too many times, thinning itself out and splitting apart at the seams. "Where's your drop phone?"

"Oh," Jesse picked up his cell, which had been discarded by the side of the newly bought mattress, and flipped the screen up only to find ten missed calls from 'Walt'. "Uh, I've been busy."

"Well," Mr. White, who didn't want to hear any kind of 'fun' that Jesse had been up to, didn't press the issue and instead decided to remind the twenty-something year old of his urgency to attend to their business. "Clear your social calendar. We have to cook."

"What?" Jesse regarded Charlie, who had waltzed into the room still butt naked, and was bending over to pick up new clothes from their ever-growing pile. "Today?"

"No, you'll need today at least to gather supplies. Now, we're going to need all new glassware, heating mantles, about a hundred pounds of ice. Do you have a paper and pencil? You should be writing this down."

At the mention of 'supplies', Charlie straightened up a bit and frowned. After the issue with Badger, she was surprised to hear Mr. White so urgent to cook so soon – she figured that the D.E.A would have stricken a little fear in him, but it was clear that either something must have happened or Walter White was a man with very few fears. She was inclined to believe the former of the two. She watched Jesse pull on a shirt before venturing into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"You wanna go shopping, do it yourself, alright?" Jesse hurriedly refused to concede to Mr. White's plans. "I got plans."

"Smoking marijuana, eating Cheetos and having sex," Charlie heard Mr. White claim, causing her to hide a giggle whilst Jesse . "Do not constitute plans in my book."

"Well screw your book, man, all right?" Jesse spat. "I'm going to a museum with Charlie, not like you need to know."

Charlie quickly intervened, assuring him that if it was business he had to attend to, he needed to put that first – especially considering that it paid the rent of the house and if she had extra days to work at Los Pollos to help pay it, all the better. They would have the rest of their lives together, and they could always dedicate a day to activities another time. Jesse seemed unsure of it at first, worried that he wasn't spending enough time with her, but Charlie shot down that idea and reminded him of their past years together.

"Do I look like I'm frustrated?" Charlie spread her arms with a sarcastic grin before shooting him a large honest grin. "I'm not going anywhere, baby – I know you need to cook – deal with that first."

Jesse sighed long and hard before reconnecting with a frustrated Mr. White on the phone, and rapidly agreeing that he would try to get the damn supplies as soon as possible. Charlie handed him a slip of paper as he grabbed a pen from a stack of belongings, and waiting for him to hang up the phone (after having established a meeting time with his ex-professor) before once more reassuring him.

"It's okay – I know what you're going to say, and it's okay."

"I don't think it is, Charlie," Jesse sighed, sitting on the mattress and regarded the list before dropping his head into his hand. "This business isn't something that I retire from. People don't stop being drug lords. People don't get out of this industry without police help. This could kill us."

Charlie froze for a moment, realizing that he was voicing aloud something that they had both been thinking for years but fought hard not to admit, and that maybe he was actually thinking of how trapped he was instead of burying himself deeper and deeper into his own grave without a thought. Mr. White was working with the sole purpose to die – he already had a death sentence written out for him. But Jesse? Jesse had his whole life to life; a life that was supposed to be filled with learning and joy and new wonders, when instead it had been filled with overdoses and mental disorders and destroyed by bad choices. They had both suffered deep emotional scars from the things that had happened to them, even if some of them were due to personal choices, and others were due to circumstances beyond either of their control.

"Yes," She agreed after a long, silent pause, placing her hand on his back. "Yes it can."

She refused to say the word 'will', as even though her previous situations and experiences had all gone down the drain and had amounted to nothing, she still strived to see the good in the world, and fought to stay positive each and every day. After one of her suicide attempts, she had come to terms that there was always something worth living for, no matter how small or large it was. It was just a matter of finding it every day. She regarded the long scar running down her inner forearm, now covered mostly by the grey elephant in her jungle tattoo sleeve, which had brought her to believe her inner logic. She opened her mouth to share it with Jesse, but reminded herself that it was painful for him to hear about the time she had tried to commit, so she kept her mouth shut until he sighed and removed himself from her hand.

"Eat your cereal," She gave him a kiss and finished getting dressed, sliding her socks on and proceeding to locate her shoes. "I'll help you shop today."


After the supplies had been bought and goodbyes had been made, Jesse drove off in the large brown RV with a final wave to go pick up Mr. White at the airport. Walter had managed to convince his wife that he would fly to go visit his ailing mother in hopes to tell her the truth about his cancer and the last test that he had undergone, and that it would take an entire 4 days spent with her to 'bond' with her and deliver the bad news. Jesse had scoffed at this plan, basing the probably of Mr. White's return on time from their crappy RV, but Mr. White retained the belief that he would make it back by Tuesday. Skylar, as per usual, was still oblivious to everything.

As it turned out, Charlie was soon to be in the same boat. It was the fourth night, and she still hadn't heard a word from Jesse since Saturday night, telling her that they had gotten to the location safely and that they were starting their cook session. She had indulged herself in her drug use out of habit and worry for her partner, and was therefore oblivious and currently unable to answer to the hurried knocking on the door. The knocking belonged to Combo, who had answered Skinny Pete's orders to tell Charlie that Jesse and Mr. White were stuck in the desert because of dead battery, and that Pete had already been dispatched to try and salvage them. Jane, having heard the knocking and opened the door, used the spare complex master key to let Combo in once confirmed that Charlie was, in fact, inside the house and that her 'friend' only wanted to deliver a message.

"Charlie?" Combo tried to shake the girl awake, but only got silence as a response. He quickly spotted the needle, spoon and pack of cotton balls next to the mattress near the candle set, and quickly drew the conclusion. He sighed, trying to find a pen and paper and quickly wrote down what Pete had told him, leaving the note visible in front of Charlie and turning her on her side in case she vomited. After placing the med kit located in the bathroom next to the mattress, he exited, remembering to thank Jane for letting him in and telling her to knock on the door the next day to make sure that Charlie had received the message.

Unbeknownst to him, Jesse and Mr. White were already on their way back by the fifth day and – whilst Charlie was still passed out and unresponsive – had forged a makeshift battery from sponges, nuts and bolts, and copper. Since her dosage had been higher this time, and Jesse hadn't talked to her in five days, he had reason to stop the RV in front of his house and leave Walt inside to check on her before dropping him off at the airport.

"Charlie?!" His voice rang throughout the house, and upon the lack of reply he dashed into the back room where he almost knew for sure she would be laying. Sure enough, her almost lifeless form was huddling into the blankets showing very little movement at all, except for, once again, some sluggish breathing. He quickly took her wrist into his hand, groaning in frustration when it slipped out of his grasp. Checking both pulse points, he made sure to get her bucket and that Po was nearby in case she woke up when he was still gone. He saw the note from Combo, untouched (she usually balled things up as a message that she had received/read them) and threw it in the trash, writing a new one in its place.

"Charlie?" He tried to wake her again, to no avail. "Damn it, Charlie!"

He gave up after five minutes, not wanting to disturb her any further and remembering his time limit for delivering his cooking partner to the airport on time. He quickly jogged back out of the house, locking the door behind him and shaking his head all the way back to the RV.

"Is she alright?" Walt questioned, a frown marring his face as Jesse restarted the engine and floored it towards the nearest highway.

"Yeah, she'll be okay." Jesse was clearly upset to leave her, and the older man kept the frown firm on his face as he rethought different routes to the airport.

"You know, I could take the bus," He suggested, seeing Jesse's tightened jaw and extremely worried expression. "If you want to go back."

"Nah man," Jesse shook his head and looked at the time. "Skylar's gonna be at the airport in half an hour – we got twenty minutes to go. I'll getcha there in time."

Mr. White nodded briefly, and then thanked the younger boy. He didn't want to push about Charlie further, but he was concerned about the girl and her usage. It seemed that she used most frequently when Jesse was away from home, or when she was particularly concerned about a situation. Her usage had turned from casual to coping, which was a dangerous leap that the chemistry teacher had seen before.

20 minutes passed by quickly on the highway, and with a final sigh Jesse pulled up in front of the airport and stopped the car. Mr. White hesitated, not getting out for several seconds until the coughing fit stopped.

"How's the uh," Jesse questioned, trailing off. "Uh…"

"It's fine," Walter held a hand up, not wanting to concern his partner with any more of his health complications. He hadn't told him about the tests, and he wasn't planning on telling him if it meant more bad news. He had decided to simply wait and see for the moment, which meant Jesse was kept in the dark about his partner's current condition.

"I know I can trust you to, uh…" Mr. White began, trailing off as well and refusing to even utter the words of his possible death. He didn't like to think about it, but wanted to make sure that his counterpart could handle whatever was left of him responsibly in case of his inevitable demise.

"Yeah," The younger boy responded without a thought. "Hey, whatever happens, your family will get your share."

"Thank you." Mr. White nodded again with a stone cold expression, getting out of the car and retrieving his bag.

"So uh," Jesse began as his back door slammed shut. "I'll be hearing from you, yeah?"

"Yeah."


She hadn't woken up since he had been gone. There was no sign of movement, except that her bear had been dragged a little bit closer to her chest. He held her for what seemed like days, fingers combing through her hair and watching stupid television shows on the Internet, until after a couple hours or so she woke up. His heart almost skipped a beat when he felt her stir on his chest, and he quickly leaned down to see if her eyes had opened yet. They hadn't, so instead of bothering her any further he reached for the medical kit sitting beside the bed (dutifully placed there by Combo) and bandaged her most recent track marks, as well as wrapped up her bloody knuckles.

"Why do you still bite, Charlie?" He muttered, frowning as he tried to figure out the motive behind her child-like habits.

He was forced to abandon his post beside the girl he loved when there was a swift knocking on the door, and he quickly rose to answer it with what seemed to be the hundredth sigh that day. The door swung open to reveal Jane, with an extremely concerned expression on her face and her fingers wrung together.

"Did Charlie get your message?" Jane frowned, peeking inside her tenant's complex. "The guy who came here seemed really wired up."

"Yes," Jesse nodded tiredly, assuring her that everything was well and back in it's place after the short scare. "It's all good – don't worry about it. Thank you, Jane."

"No problem – give Charlie my best, yeah?" Jane bid her farewell with one final doubtful look, and disappeared back into her duplex.

"Will do." Jesse shut his own door, and went back to tending to Charlie, who had opened her eyes a smidge and was trying to gaze around the room with her bloodshot orbs. With her tangled hair and heavy bags under her eyes, it was truly one of the only times that Jesse could look at her and call her a drug addict; she fit the exact profile, and he was horrified to admit that.

"Charlie," He came to her side, turning off the laptop and brushing some hair out of her face. "You scared me."

"Jesse, I'm sorry," She softly slurred, using all the strength she could muster – strength that the heroin had zapped – to meet his eyes. "You scared me too."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Charlie let out a weak cough and closed her eyes again, not having the strength to fight back against the fatigue. Jesse murmured a sincere apology, and she merely pressed her lips against the spot above where his heart lay in response. He figured that he would explain to her exactly what had happened in detail tomorrow when she was 100% awake, as right now, after hours of flying high despite living like a rock, all her body wanted to do was rest naturally. So Jesse joined her in her sleep, momentarily forgetting about all the horrible, terrible things that had occured in the past week and gaining peace within his mind for the next twelve hours.