A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites! It inspires me to keep writing. A special shout out to ColorM who has reviewed every chapter . Also, battleangel87 had a question about how much Mac seems to care about what Dee is up to with Charlie so I figured I'd address it here in case anyone else was wondering the same thing. I see Mac as a very insecure person who needs to know everything that everyone is up to at all times. So when two of his friends are sneaking around and not telling him what they're doing I figured he'd demand to know what's happening. So it's less that he actually cares about what Dee's doing, and more about him wanting to be included. Hope that clears it up! Also, this chapter will be in Charlie's POV and it will be much more serious than any other chapter to date. But it does end happily! Jesus this author's note is long. Ok, on to the update!

Friday

6:12am

Philadelphia, PA

Charlie was awoken by a combination of three things: the early morning sun crashing through the window into his face, his cell phone ringing, and almost falling off of the bed because Frank was occupying most of it. Groaning, Charlie swung his feet off of the bed and sat up as he reached for his phone.

"Who is it?" he asked groggily.

He was met with a series of loud crashes which were then followed by snippets of equally loud yells.

"Hello?" Charlie tried again, sitting up straighter in alarm.

"Charlie, please come over here. I don't know what's happening but my parents are fighting and it's getting really bad," the small and scared voice of Calvin came over the receiver.

Charlie was instantly on his feet and was attempting to pull on clothes as fast as possible as a wave of fear came over him. "I'm coming Calvin. Hang in there ok? I'll be there soon."

He wasn't sure exactly what was going on at Calvin's but he could hazard a guess. His father had probably come home after a night of drinking and was doing who knew what to Calvin and his mother. Over the weeks that Charlie had gotten to know him, Calvin had continued to open up to Charlie up his home life situation and it had become clear to him that Calvin's dad was very unstable.

It was strange, but Charlie had never felt such a strong sense of fear for someone else before. He realized then just how much he really did care about Calvin as horrible scenes of what could be happening at the boy's house flashed through his mind

Pausing in his frantic attempt to get ready, he picked up his phone again. Please, please answer, Charlie silently begged as he bounced on the balls of his feet in his anticipation to get to Calvin.

"Charlie?" Dee's voice answered. "What the hell is wrong with you? You do know how to tell time right?"

"Listen Dee there's no time to explain but I'm running over to your place right now and then we're going to Calvin's, ok? Please just trust me. I'll explain when I get there." With that he slammed his phone shut and had just about finished getting ready when he turned back to Frank to see one of the older man's eyes open and staring at him. This startled him so much that Charlie took an automatic step backwards and tripped over a pile of who knew what which sent him tumbling to the floor of the apartment.

"Why didn't you ask me to come with you Charlie?" Frank asked as Charlie let out a stream of profanities and clambered to his feet once more.

"Oh come on, you don't give a shit about that kid," Charlie said as he wrung his hands impatiently.

"And you think that Dee does?" Frank asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion at Charlie.

"Yeah. I think so," Charlie said with a conviction that surprised even him. Without another thought or a glance back at Frank, he was out the door and sprinting as fast as he could to Dee's.

0.0.0

Charlie tumbled on to the floor of the apartment complex that Dee lived on and painfully dragged himself to his feet. He had never run that far or that fast in his life. Perhaps if he had actually gone for a jog the other day like he had told Frank, this would've been a bit easier.

Right as he was about to knock on her door, Dee opened it and worriedly took in his appearance and frantic attitude. "What's going on?"

Charlie took an uncomfortable breath and grabbed at a stitch in his side. "Calvin just called me. He sounded really scared and I could hear yelling and crashes in the background."

Dee understood immediately and simply nodded. "Let's go," she said as she slammed her door behind her and took off after Charlie.

0.0.0

They arrived at the door of Calvin's apartment building and Charlie pressed the button quickly. However, right as he was about to speak, Dee pulled him back. "No you idiot! What if his dad hears you and gets even angrier that someone else is here? Hopefully Calvin heard the buzzer and can sneak down here."

Charlie nodded quickly and contemplated just how lucky he was to have Dee there with him. A mere month ago he never would have believed that thought possible. But now, he suddenly realized, he wouldn't want to go through this situation with anyone but her. He then realized that Dee's hand was still on his shoulder and was gripping him quite tightly. She's afraid. Some part of Charlie's brain realized this and he draped his arm around her shoulders to try and comfort her. He could feel her relax slightly against him and he smiled. This reminded him vaguely of three nights before and a blush lit his cheeks. Not the right time! He thought to himself angrily.

Dee suddenly spoke up next to him. "Calvin isn't answering," her voice sounded small and scared, much like Calvin's had when he had called Charlie.

Without a second thought, Charlie pulled out his phone and dialed 911. He wasn't sure if that was entirely necessary but it was better to be safe than sorry. He knew that if he didn't call and something happened to Calvin, he would never forgive himself.

After telling the kind woman on the other line all of the information including their location, he hung up and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't believe this was happening. Why had he involved himself in this kid's life? Because he needed you, that pesky voice in the back of his mind spoke up once more. You knew that you could make a difference. A difference that no one made for you when you were young.

He sighed and hung his head, his hands shoved in his pockets. All of these feelings were so strange to him. Why couldn't he just go back to getting drunk with his friends in their bar and not caring about anyone else? Suddenly, Dee put an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. She didn't even speak. She didn't have to. Similar to the effect that he had on her, he felt himself relaxing. He really couldn't deny it anymore. He cared for Dee.

Before he could think much more about that revelation, two police cars pulled up on the side of the curb and four officers got out. "Are you Charlie?" one of them, the most senior looking officer, asked.

Pulling himself together, Charlie held out his hand for the officer to shake. He sensed that this was what he was supposed to do and for once, he was right. "Yes officer that's me."

After running through a very abbreviated explanation of how he knew Calvin and what was going on, the police officer nodded and told them to walk down the block several hundred feet just in case anything happened. During that time, the other three officers had tried to garner a response from Calvin's apartment and when they received none, they quickly and systematically kicked the door to the apartment complex in and filed up the stairs, their hands on their holsters.

"Holy shit!" Dee squeaked from beside him, clinging to his arm tightly. "This is serious isn't it?"

"Yeah. I think it is," Charlie said. "Now Dee, stop squeezing my arm so hard. I think your nails are going to slice right through me," he added, attempting to lighten the mood.

She didn't even react to his voice. She simply stared straight ahead at the door hanging ajar on the building and gripped his arm even harder, if that was possible. Another new moment in Charlie's life: something so serious that even they couldn't joke about it.

After an agonizingly long time, the same officer came out of the building and walked over towards them. "I wanted to extend my gratitude on the behalf of the police department for calling us when you did. When we got into the apartment, the young boy – Calvin – was cowering behind the overturned dining room table. The father was beating his mother in the living room. We were able to apprehend the father who is currently very intoxicated. A clear threat to himself and others. I wanted to let you know that you quite possibly saved the lives of two people today," the officer finished while giving them both a strange look.

Slowly it dawned on Charlie that this look was one of pride. He wasn't sure if he had ever had someone look at him that way before. He stuttered over his words a bit before finally speaking. "Is Calvin okay?"

"Yes he's fine. A few cuts and bruises but nothing too bad. His mother wasn't so lucky. Upon first inspection it appears that she has a broken arm along with a nasty cut on her cheek. But they will both be okay thanks to you."

Charlie swallowed convulsively. Calvin was hurt. His own father had hurt him. But he was okay. He was okay. He repeated this over and over in his head like a mantra. "What is going to happen to Calvin now?"

The officer sighed. "His father is going to be arrested on multiple charges. Calvin and his mother will be taken to the hospital to analyze their conditions. After that, depending on how financially and emotionally independent the mother is, they will either stay at a shelter for a while, move in with other family, or they will be on their own. I'm also going to need you two to come down to the police station. We need statements from both of you on how you knew the boy as well as what lead us to being here today."

"Of course officer. Could I see Calvin before we go?" Charlie asked, his throat feeling oddly constricted.

"Of course, son," the officer said kindly. "He's being lead out of the house right now."

At that moment, Calvin looked over and saw Charlie and Dee standing there. Breaking free of the officer who had a protective hand on his back, he ran over and threw his arms around Charlie and buried his face into his chest. "Thank you," Calvin choked out as tears streamed down his face and soaked through Charlie's shirt.

"Don't mention it," Charlie murmured, feeling tears of his own slip out down his cheeks as he wrapped his arms around Calvin's tiny frame.

0.0.0

Friday

10:32 am

Philadelphia, PA

Charlie and Dee sat quietly in a small café near the police station. After three grueling hours where they painstakingly described every important detail involving themselves and Calvin, they were allowed to go with a promise of any update on how Calvin was doing.

Both of them had not spoken a word in maybe ten minutes, each of them mulling over what had happened. Charlie gripped his cup of hot chocolate tightly and stared down into its contents while trying to come to terms with everything. He wasn't even sure if he'd ever see Calvin again as it had been mentioned that he and his mother might move to Ohio to stay with his Aunt once they were healed.

A warm hand encased his forearm and squeezed reassuringly. He looked up to see Dee's concerned eyes staring back at him. She looked just as tired and shook up as he felt. "Charlie I just wanted to say that what you did today… it was amazing," she said while giving him a small smile.

A warm feeling spread through Charlie as he realized that Dee was looking at him with the same expression that the officer had. He put one of his hands on top of hers. "Thank you for coming with me," he said.

"Are you kidding? The kid had grown on me since the day we first met him," Dee said jokingly as she took a sip of her coffee. "He's a little weird but overall a really good person who deserves a chance at life. Kind of reminds me of someone else I know."

"Yeah? Who's that?" Charlie asked.

Dee stared at him incredulously and for a second Charlie thought she was going to insult him which would be standard practice for them. But instead she just shook her head and laughed a bit. "You, Charlie."

Charlie smiled even wider and squeezed her hand with his own. "Thanks, Dee," he said.

A/N: Ok so I know this chapter was pretty serious but I felt like it needed to be done. Calvin's life was clearly falling apart and it served as a further means to bring Charlie and Dee closer together. I also realize that both of them are rather OOC here but it is so hard to write these characters in serious scenes! Please let me know how I did and I hope you enjoyed.