Hey, I'm back. It's been a while. My computer got disconnected from the net so I have to use the library which makes things kinda hard. On with the story.
This Chapter is rated M for Violence.
Chapter 11… There's No Place Like Home
It had been a rough night for Peter. Charlie and Cristina had now been gone for over 2 days. He had tried to convince the other cliffhangers that they were just joking around and that they'd be back later on that night. But it was the morning after and he was sure the cliffhangers would suspect something was wrong. He already had Roger out in California but so far there was no sign.
Two days and finally Charlie and Cristina had arrived in California. The whole arrival was bitter sweet for Charlie. She was happy they had finally arrived so all she had to do was wait for Peter to find them, and she couldn't wait to be free from Cristina's constant wining. But she was also very disturbed. These streets that she was standing on right now were her home for so many years. She had no good memories of this place. They were ugly, filthy memories that she would rather forget but couldn't.
"So where here", Cristina chimed in her usual chirpy voice. "What do we do now?"
"Um", Charlie was half listening, half taking in her surroundings. "I gotta go to the warehouse".
"The warehouse, the warehouse for what?" Cristina asked.
"I just, um I gotta do something", Charlie was haunted by this place. When she left she swore she'd never be back, but here she was. She knew that Peter would eventually find them.
"Well, where is it?" Cristina was starting to get on Charlie's nerves.
"Uh, just… just around the corner", she remembered.
The Horizon Cafeteria was alive with the usual sounds of morning chit chat. But the Cliffhangers weren't in the mood for anything. None of them could figure out why the two had run away. Just when they were all sitting down, ready to drown there sorrows by eating; Ryder came in with a smile that just made Damien want to punch him.
"I have some news", he raved in a sing-song voice.
"Oh, are you going back to the mother ship?" Shane commented.
"Cute", Ryder smirked. "Actually it's about Cristina and Charlie".
"What? What's the news?" Damien was suddenly interested in what Ryder had to say.
"There in California", Ryder said simply.
"Why would they be in California?" Kat asked.
"Well that's where Charlie used to live; they think she might have gone back because she thinks that that's the first place they would look".
"What? You're saying she wants to be found, that doesn't make sense", Damien was confused.
"Well, you see in a screwed up way it actually does. Here's my theory, Cristina was pissed at her mother, yeah, so she decided to pack her bags, but she got caught. Charlie just happened to be walking by at the exact same time as Cristina was sneaking out, now Cristina of course wouldn't be able to lie to a dogs arse so she ended up telling Charlie exactly what her plan was. Charlie thought this could be my way outta here for a couple of days, she made Cristina go to California with her, knowing that Peter would be there in a few", Ryder said as if he had obviously thought about this.
"You have a very wild imagination", Binna told him.
In California, Charlie and Cristina were standing outside of the warehouse.
"Um, are you going to go in or not?" Cristina asked cautiously.
"Yeah, yeah, come on, follow me". They walked through the hole in the roller doors. "Anybody here?" Charlie spoke loud enough for anyone to here.
"It can't be", Charlie heard a smug voice behind her. "It is, Its Charlie Christensen, what are you doing here?"
"Hey Greg, uh, I'm in the neighborhood", she said.
"Last I heard you were up in Canada, doing time", Greg said.
"I wasn't doing time, I was in a teenage retreat thing", Charlie mumbled.
"So, what brings you by", Greg asked.
"Uh, well, me and my friend Cristina here need a place to stay". Cristina's face fell. She pulled Charlie back so she could have a private conversation.
"What, what is it?" Charlie asked.
"I can't stay here", Cristina told her.
"Why not?"
"Um, its, it's a warehouse", Cristina said in a snobby voice.
Charlie turned to Greg and smiled, then whispered to Cristina. "It's a warehouse with a bed, what did you want with 5 bucks".
"They are not beds, they're rat infested playgrounds", Cristina struggled to find the words.
"Hey, do you want a bed or not", Greg asked impatiently.
"Absolutely", Charlie smiled.
"Why did you do that", Cristina asked later when they were walking down the street.
"Why'd I do what", Charlie played dumb.
"Why did you say we'll stay there when I clearly told you I wouldn't", Cristina asked.
"Look, we needed a bed, I got a bed. Where not gonna be here long anyway", Charlie told her.
"What do you mean where not gonna be here long? Why not?"
"Because princess, you weren't cut out to be and alley cat alright. I know you think that this is easy, you think when you run away, people feel sorry for you and they fall at your feet. But that's not how it is. It's hard. People don't have any sympathy for people like us. They blame us for all the corruption on the streets, which is ok. Cos sure, we do whatever we can to survive and let me tell you something, none of it goes along with the law. We're out for ourselves, we have to be, and that's it".
"You didn't have to come", Cristina said quietly.
"Yeah, you know what, I did. Because I knew that you couldn't do this on your own. I spent six years out here ok. I know what its like. And to tell you the truth, both of us are damn lucky to be in Horizon. I know it isn't much, but it's better than being out here".
Cristina pondered what Charlie had just said for a few minutes as they continued to walk. They didn't realize that right in front of them was one of many, of Charlie's worst nightmares.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Charlotte Christensen", a young man standing against a telephone booth said. Charlie looked up in horror.
"Adam", she said simply.
"What'd you do, escape from the can?" Adam said.
"None of your business", Charlie grabbed Cristina's arm and walked passed him. He grabbed Charlie's arm and flung her back to him, pinning her up against the booth.
"You got my money?" he asked.
"Let go of me", Charlie tried not to let him know she was hurting.
"Still the same old Charlotte huh?" Adam said. "Slut".
Cristina was scared. She had no idea what to do. Should she try fighting him or would that make thing worse? She could never take on a guy like that. She could barely take on her little sister. She felt a shot of pain as she thought of her sister, Jacqui.
"I don't have your money", she said it slowly as if he was deaf and trying to lip read. Suddenly his hand swept across her face, hitting her forcefully on her cheek. Cristina gasped.
"Give me my money", he repeated.
"She doesn't have it ok, look I don't know how much she owes you but all we have between us is 5 dollars", Cristina jumped in. He looked at her. For a second Cristina thought he was about to let Charlie go and aim for her. But just as the thought was gone from her mind, Adam through another punch at Charlie. And then another and another. It was over as quick as it began or at least it felt like it, Charlie was in a bad way. She had blood all over her face. She was on the ground. What amazed Cristina the most is that there were 2 people watching. They looked pretty messy, they were probably homeless so she figured they probably were scared and didn't want to get involved. Cristina rushed to Charlie as soon as Adam left.
"Help me up", Charlie said weekly.
"Are you ok, should we go to a doctor", Cristina was worried.
"No, no, I'm fine, I just, let's just go to the warehouse."
It was night time at the warehouse and Cristina and Charlie were in there beds. Charlie had been cleaned up although she still looked pretty banged up.
"Does it hurt?" Cristina whispered.
"Of course it hurts", Charlie said straight out.
"I've never seen a guy do that to a female before", Cristina said.
"Adam's not a guy, he's an animal", Charlie pointed out.
Cristina and Charlie sat in silence for a minute.
"My sister died the other day. She was 10", Cristina said out of the blue.
"I'm sorry", Charlie turned around to face Cristina.
"My brother called the other day and he told me that I couldn't go to the funeral", Cristina continued.
"Shouldn't that be your choice?" Charlie asked.
"You'd think so huh?" Cristina smiled sadly. "Mom thinks that I'll do something terrible and screw it all up".
"Is that why you ran away", Charlie asked.
Cristina nodded. "I just couldn't be there anymore, I wanted to make my mother hurt and I thought if I went missing she'd be so worried…"
"That she'd let you go", Charlie finished for her. Cristina smiles uncomfortably. "You should go. It shouldn't be up to your mom if you want to go to your sister's funeral. I mean she was your sister, it's not fair".
"I don't wanna cause any trouble. If I go there my mom will freak out and the whole ceremony will be ruined", Cristina told her.
"Well then you should give her time to prepare", Charlie suggested.
"Prepare?"
"Yeah, call her, tell her your going and there's nothing she can do about it, do it before the funeral, give her some time to be pissed and then hopefully if she's so hell bent on not causing a scene she wont", Charlie explained.
"You think that could work?" Cristina asked.
"Well, yeah, why shouldn't it. Cristina you have your rights and this should be one of them". Cristina went silent for a few minutes while she thought about this.
"You think we can start heading back tomorrow?" Cristina said.
"To Horizon?" Charlie said. "Jeez, I thought you'd never ask".
"Hey, Charlie there's someone here looking for you", Greg came in. Behind him was a very familiar face. Roger.
"Roger? God, I thought you'd never get here," Charlie got up showing Roger her face.
"God, what happened, are you ok", he panicked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just a little incident before", Charlie told him. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" She asked Cristina.
"You knew about this?" Cristina asked.
"Not exactly", she answered secretively.
After catching a plane back to Horizon the girls were pulling up the drive way. Peter and Sophie ran out. As Charlie got out of the car she saw the Cliffhangers in the corner of her eye surrounded by some other students. There a police car there. As the crowd cleared she saw Brian being driven away in the car.
"Charlie, you look terrible", Peter said.
"Your honesty kills me Peter", Charlie said. She shifted her attention back to the Cliffhangers.
"Hey, look guys, they're back", Ezra yelled out to the other cliffhangers as he ran over to Charlie and Cristina. "Look at that huh? I wonder what he did". The others came running over except for Damien who stayed back. "Jeez, what happened to you", Shane asked.
"She got in a little trouble", Roger told the group.
"Alright Charlie, come on we'll get you into the infirmary", Sophie walked her off. As she went passed Damien the two looked at each other. Charlie started to feel uncomfortable about how her face must have looked and tried her best to cover the bruises up with her hair.
After about half an hour in the infirmary the Cliffhangers came to see Charlie. She had band-aid strips all around her face and she knew she must have looked like an alien.
"Wow, don't you look beautiful", Patrick said sarcastically. She smiled as she kept her eyes on Damien. She was anxious to know what he was thinking. She looked for any signs of hate or regret, anything, but all she got was blankness.
"So, how are you feeling?" Kat asked in her usual mothering tone.
"I feel fine, it's just a couple of bruises", Charlie reassured them. "So, what have I missed? Anything interesting happen?"
"Mmm no", Shane thought for a minute. "Well there was that guy before".
"Oh yeah, did you see that, that was pretty entertaining", Binna said.
"Yeah I saw it, when I was coming up", Charlie told them. "Does anyone know what he did to get taken away?" She played along. She wasn't ready for people to find out about her and Brian.
"Nope, we know as much as you do", Ryder told her.
"Well we should get going, I gotta pack for tomorrow and we got group in 5 so…"Mac trailed off.
"Ok, see you all in group", Charlie said blandly. As the group left, Charlie realized there was one left over.
"Hey", Damien said. He had no idea what he was going to say next but for some reason he couldn't pull himself away.
"Hey", Charlie replied cautiously.
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"Its getting better", she answered. There was silence between them. She could see he wanted to speak his mind. "Say it".
"What?"
"Say it. Whatever you wanna say", Charlie said.
"You don't wanna here what I wanna say", he backed away as if to ward off the direction the conversation was going.
"Yeah I do", she said simply.
"Ok", he gave in. "Um… what, what you did, it wasn't right. I mean I get that it was going on before the thing with us but you should have told me".
"I know", she said.
"There's just one thing I don't get though. I mean, I know, you are a major pain in the ass but the one thing I didn't think you would do, you did. I just don't get it after all the stuff you said about Cristina and you go do the same thing", he said.
"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Damien, I can't explain it, I screwed up", Charlie told him. "Nothing ever makes sense".
"I thought we did", Damien said.
She looked up at him trying hard not to cry. "I never knew that I could come here and just break", he looked at her studying her face. He could see that tears were forming in her eyes. "What this place does to people, it's… When I first came here, I was such a brat, yelling at everyone, trying to show everybody how tough I am. It's just funny how fast this place takes all that away from you just leaves you so vulnerable. For the first time in my life, I feel like I need someone. And I like that feeling," She stopped with nothing more to say. Damien didn't know how to take this.
"I should go", he said not moving, still looking at her.
"Ok", she said softly. He stepped away and walked to the door, opening it. "Hey", she said getting his attention before he walked out the door.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry", she whispered. "I don't know if I ever told you that".
"You did", he said then left shutting the door behind him.
Its time for group as Ryder walks in the mess hall cheerfully.
"Hello Boys and girls. Bit of drama going on this afternoon eh. The terrible twosome coming back, and then that lad being pulled away in a pig van." He stops as Charlie walks in. "Wasn't expecting you here so soon, I was just talking about you, your big adventures, its all quite exciting really isn't it". Charlie doesn't reply. She too exhausted to even focus but peter made her come. "What? No insults? I must say I'm a little disappointed. I haven't seen you in a few days; I thought you'd be throwing them out like popcorn."
"My blood sugars low", she says tiredly, "Give me a burger and I'll get back to you".
Time went by and Charlie wasn't even listening to anyone. When it got to her turn to say how she felt, she had no idea.
"Charlie", Damien said for the second time after he'd taken his turn.
"Oh, um…uh alone", she said. People looked at her. "Uh, Ryder?"
"I am feeling stupendous and at the same time very anxious", Ryder said before calling out for Binna to go next. Charlie had already switched her attention off but when it got around to Damien's turn to say "why", she suddenly felt compelled to listen.
"Uh, I'm confused because", he paused for a second, "I don't know because something's just bugging me and I don't know what to do about it". Charlie knew he was talking about her. "Charlie".
"Uh…um, I'm sorry can I change my word?" she asked.
"Charlie, come on", Peter encourages her.
"Ok, um, I'm, I'm alone because…because I am. Because I always have been, and just when I start to feel like there's a reason for me being alive, I go and screw it all up again".
"Do you wanna talk about it, Charlie" Peter asked.
"No", she said straight out, "Ryder?"
"I'm feeling stupendous because my favorite entertainment just came back and anxious because I'm anxiously waiting vigorously for another day as exciting as this one".
Finally the day was over and Charlie and Cristina could get a good night sleep. As Charlie was getting ready for bed, Kat came over and sat on her bed. She didn't say anything so Charlie felt like she should say something.
"Hey Kat".
"Hey, listen about the whole Damien thing, I just want you to know that nobody thinks any less of you", Kat said.
"Nice try", Charlie laughed weekly.
"Ok, well I don't. I'm serious, I mean you know what you did was wrong and it's not up to me or anyone else to judge what happened between you and someone else", Kat finished.
"Kat, have you been preparing that all day", Charlie smiled suspiciously.
"No, I just thought you should know", Kat said.
Charlie smiled. "Well, thanks. It means a lot".
Ok that's it for this chapter. Hopefully it'll make up for all the time you waited. Next up, the Cliffhangers go on a hike and as any soap opera would have it, Charlie and Damien get into a huge fight and she ends up blurting out too much. Also Mac says goodbye to Horizon.
Signing off
ME