The City of Angels

Charlie was foraging around the kitchen, trying to find something that would quench her sugar craving, when she heard voices outside. She waited, expecting to hear Rachel's footsteps bounding up the stairs, but none came. After several minutes, she walked carefully across the room and opened the door. Rachel was standing on the path, her arms wrapped around herself. It looked like she was just staring up at the night sky. Charlie walked back and grabbed the blanket off the couch and then gingerly worked her way down the steps. Her back wasn't feeling too bad, but it wasn't really great yet either. She'd probably pay for the steps later.

Surely Rachel must have heard her footsteps crunching on the gravel, but she didn't respond. Not even when Charlie draped the blanket around her shoulders.

"Hey," Charlie said, concerned now, laying a hand on her shoulder. "What's going on, Rachel?"

Charlie heard her sniffling and saw her brush her hands quickly across her face. She spun and butted her head into Charlie's chest, sending the blanket fluttering to the ground.

"Oh, sweet girl," Charlie said gently, wrapping her arms around her. Rachel instinctively collapsed against her, her face wet with new tears. "Tell me what's wrong. Did I do something?"

"No," she mumbled, finally. "You didn't do anything."

"Then tell me what's wrong," Charlie, completely at a loss and feeling helpless. She was starting to imagine all kinds of wild scenarios.

"Were they mean to you today?" she asked, kissing her on the head.

She nodded.

"Tell me how," Charlie urged, trying to keep her temper in check. "Mean" could have any number of definitions in Rachel's vocabulary. Simply asking her to do something she didn't want to do qualified as much as being mean as name-calling and a whole host of actions really deserving of the term.

"Did they yell?" she asked

Rachel nodded. Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Was is it Will?" Charlie asked, her voice gone cold.

Rachel nodded again.

"Fucker," Charlie hissed under breath. She felt Rachel seized up and she stroked a hand up and down her back. She forced herself to calm down so she could keep Rachel calm.

It wasn't the first time Will Schuester had gone off on Rachel about something. Beneath his jovial "everybody's best friend" routine, he had a petty, mean streak, especially when he got frustrated. Sometimes Rachel provoked it and sometimes she didn't, but Charlie really didn't care whether she did or not. It didn't make Will any less of a bully for doing it. Tina usually told her whenever it happened.

"I didn't do anything," Rachel said pitifully. "He was mad at someone else and I just...I was trying to..." she said and started sobbing again. "He told me to 'shut up and read my lines' and said that was my job and I needed to quit thinking I was the 'center of the universe' all the time.'"

That sounded about like a typical Will comment. He took some perverse pleasure in putting his actors in their place it seemed. Right now she'd like to put him somewhere.

"Oh Rachel," Charlie said, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry. Please, please don't cry."

"I...can't...help...it," she stuttered, her breath coming in hitching staccato gulps now.

"Oh baby, I know," Charlie told her, rocking her her. This was just one of those times. Rachel needed to work through it, tears and all. "I know, it's okay."

"I wanna go home," she said, wailing now.

Oh my god. Charlie's heart felt like it actually twisted in her chest and she was now envisioning herself repeatedly kicking good ole Will in the good ole 'nads for this fiasco.

"Please, Charlie," she said pleading, both her hands fisted in the front of Charlie's shirt. "I just want to go home."

What else could she do?

"Okay, baby," Charlie said, with a deep, pained sigh. "I'll take you home."

Rachel stopped crying almost instantly. Charlie could feel her sniffling against her chest, her fingers clenching and unclenching.

"You will?" she asked quietly as though she wasn't sure what she'd heard correctly. She tucked her lower lip behind her teeth, chewing anxiously.

"Yes," Charlie said, nodding. "If you want to go home, I'll take you home."

"But..." Rachel said, trying to find the words. "Puck's coming."

Charlie laughed.

"So," she said. "I'll call and tell him not to come. It'll be okay, he'll understand."

"But I want to see him," Rachel whined.

Charlie smirked.

"So he'll come later. Rachel," Charlie said, pushing her to arms length and staring her in the face. "Are you playing? Do you want to go home or not?"

Rachel bit her lip and looked undecided.

"Well, yes. I mean, I don't know," she hemmed. "Santana always either says 'no' or talks me out of it."

Charlie rolled her eyes.

"No one ever said 'yes' before," she said, the corners of the mouth turning up. "Except you."

"Apparently everyone else knew enough not to fall for it," Charlie said, slightly aggravated. "So am I supposed to talk you out of it, too?"

"I do want to go home, Charlie," she said. "I'm tired of this, I want this project to be finished. I want to just do what I want to do for a change instead of what everyone wants me to do."

"And what do you want to do?" Charlie asked.

Rachel smiled and batted her eyes.

"Just be with you," she said.

"You're with me right now, Rachel," Charlie told her. "I kiss you good morning and good night and sometimes in between, if I'm lucky."

"I know," she said. "But it's like pretend."

"I'm not pretending," Charlie said, teasing her.

She pulled her closed and almost kissed her, but stopped herself and just hugged her instead.

"I know, but it's not the same," she said, "You know what I mean."

"The only thing I know is that you're not crying anymore, I'm cold and I'm going inside," Charlie said. She held out her hand and Rachel closed her fingers around it.

"Oh wait," she said and bent to retrieve the blanket. She threw it over her shoulder and grabbed Charlie's hand again.

"Careful," she told Charlie, walking behind her as she climbed up the steps. At the top of the steps Rachel shook out the blanket and folded it, then went inside, closing the door behind her. She immediately tossed the blanket on the couch and hurried down the hall after Charlie.

"Are you okay?" she asked, coming up behind Charlie and wrapping her arms around her waist.

"God please don't squeeze me," she said, already wincing.

"I'm not going to," Rachel said, laying her face on Charlie's back.

"Yeah, I've done pretty well today," Charlie said, patting Rachel's hands that were clasped over her bellybutton. "Especially considering I couldn't get my leg on the bed yesterday."

"Oh, you remember that," Rachel said, giggling as she listened to Charlie's chuckle rumble through her chest.

"That's right," Charlie told her. "Laugh at my pain."

"It was cute," Rachel said. "In a helpless, pathetic sort-of way."

"Yeah," Charlie said flatly. "Well, that's what I was going for."

"Were you in bed?" Rachel asked, turning her loose, and began pulling off her shirt. "When I came home?"

"No," Charlie said, easing down on the bed. "I was in the kitchen. Why?"

"I just wondered," she said, pulling off her jeans. She dropped them in the floor and kicked them out of the way. She was just wearing a bra and panties. "I wasn't expecting you to, you know, come outside."

"Hmmm," Charlie said, suspiciously. "Do you do that a lot?"

"What?" Rachel asked, disappearing into the bathroom.

"Stand in the yard and cry about something one of these idiots has done or said to you?" Charlie asked, frowning.

"No," Rachel said with a mouthful of toothpaste. "Not a lot."

"But you've done it before?" Charlie asked, wincing. "Is that what you're saying?"

Rachel spit the toothpaste out and rinsed her mouth and spit again. She turned the light out and crawled across the bed, sitting next to Charlie.

"Sometimes," she said. "Maybe a couple of times. I mean, it's not always there."

Rachel's voice trailed off and she looked away from her and down into her lap. She clearly didn't want to answer Charlie's question.

"Oh Rachel," Charlie said, her voice anguished. "Don't tell me that. Why would you do that."

"I'm so... sometimes I can be...," she stammered. "I know I can be melodramatic. I just don't want... when I get upset sometimes it just seems like it's over stuff that's so trivial and silly."

"Oh my god," Charlie said, looking genuinely stricken. "No, come here, Rachel."

Charlie gathered her up and pulled her down against her chest.

"I was serious, Rachel. This is not pretend," Charlie told her. "I don't ever want you to not come to me if you're upset. I don't care what the reason is, do you understand me? God, sweetheart, that just kills me. Please promise me you won't do that anymore."

"Okay," she said easily, almost relieved. "I promise."

"Do you want to go home, Rachel?" Charlie asked her seriously.

"No. I mean, not to quit," she said, looking up at Charlie. "But I would it would be nice for a couple of days."

"We can do that," Charlie said immediately. "I'm serious, Rach. We can do that. Fuck them all, let's go right now."

Rachel laughed and kissed her.

Charlie pulled away, frowning.

"What did you mean when you said no one ever said 'yes' except me?" she asked, her eyes already narrowing.

Rachel sighed.

"Santana talks me out of it or just says 'suck it up' or something like that," Rachel said, hesitantly. "But that's her job, I guess."

"Depends," Charlie said in a menacing tone. "Depends on why you're asking to go home."

Rachel blanched. She didn't want to get anywhere near the Finn incident and that was the last time she'd begged Santana to let her go home.

"Who else told you that you couldn't go home when you asked?" Charlie pressed.

"It doesn't matter," Rachel said, nuzzling against her face. "Not anymore."

Ah, it was the complication. What was it Santana had called him? The giant Berry-sucking leech. This latest revelation didn't surprise her in the least.

Rachel could see Charlie's jaw tightening and heard her exhale sharply. She was thinking about things whether they mattered or not, because that was what Charlie did. Rachel stroked her fingers down the side of Charlie's neck. She followed with soft kisses.

Charlie growled, but it was a good kind of growl.

Soft kisses turned to softly sucking and licking.

"Rachel," she said, groaning. "Normally this is where I'd get all monkey hot and flip you over and do sweet naughty things to you. But you know I can't do that right now, so why are you teasing me like this?"

"Because I can,"Rachel giggled, kissing along her jawline. "And because I can't help it."

She ran her tongue up under Charlie's chin.

"Rachel," Charlie hissed, her fingers flexing into the soft, tawny, golden skin she felt everywhere underneath them.

"We can make this work," Rachel said, putting Charlie's hand on her breast.

Charlie whined and gritted her teeth.

Rachel smiled wickedly at her.

"I'll do all the work," she told her. "You just lay there and smile. I can make this happen."

She brought their lips together in a wet, hard kiss. She didn't waste any time before she was slipping her tongue inside Charlie's mouth, teasing and claiming hers.

Less than an hour ago this girl was breaking her heart over the fact that she was hiding in the front yard and crying because her bully of an AD had yelled at her. Now she was thiscloseto naked and crawling all over her, making her eyes roll back in her head and causing her to forget every third letter of the alphabet. In another thirty minutes time she'd have her naked, trembling and panting out her name while her tongue teased her to a mind-blowing, breathless first orgasm.

Welcome to the Zipper ride that was loving Rachel Berry.

·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·

"You're sure Noah was okay with changing his plans?" Rachel asked for the tenth time. She was gripping Charlie's arm and looking over at her, eyes wide and anxious.

"He was fine," Charlie said emphatically. "Don't worry so much. This is supposed to be a relaxing, soothing thing remember?"

"Okay," she said, nodding. "I was worried he might be upset with me."

"Nope," Charlie replied brightly, flipping the pages of her in-flight magazine. "It's all good."

Rachel smiled and turned to watch out the window as the plane made a wide banking turn.

In reality, Noah had pitched something of sputtering swearing fit over having to change plane tickets, rental cars and work schedules, but Charlie knew he would never mention anything to Rachel about it. The truth was that Noah pitched swearing fits if they got his lunch menu wrong so Charlie was used to them.

"I'm so excited," Rachel squeaked, squeezing Charlie's arm and bouncing in her seat. "Aren't you excited?"

Charlie sighed.

"Thrill beyond belief," she said apathetically. This was also the tenth time for this conversation. "Over the moon."

If Rachel was happy, Charlie was happy, but that didn't mean she was going to do handsprings over the thought of spending the next 72 hours in Los Angeles. Rachel had an itinerary that was about fifty items long and there was no way they were going to be able to cover that much ground. Not to mention Rachel waited until just after they had taken off to tell her that they were also going to have dinner with Brittany and Santana that evening – at their house. Any enthusiasm Charlie had mustered instantly fizzled upon hearing that and she hadn't bothered trying to rekindle the spark. Charlie needed loud music, hard liquor and lots of distraction to even think of getting through an entire evening with Santana Lopez.

Rachel simply ignored her lack of enthusiasm. She knew Charlie was doing this just to make her happy and that was more than enough to make up for her lackluster attitude.

"How long has it been since you've been in LA?" Rachel asked.

"Years," Charlie said, shrugging.

If she thought about it she could probably put a date to it, but those memories were part of a time that she pushed down and left undisturbed. She could clearly remember she and Noah loading their meager belongs in his rusty truck early one rainy L.A. morning. Even now she could recall sitting in the cab, holding tightly to Noah's hand, each lost in their own thoughts about what they were doing and where they were going as they made their way away from the city and into the rising sun of the new day. In her heart she knew it was the start of a new and better life for them both and Charlie had never looked back as they drove away.

She felt Rachel's hand slip into hers.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "For doing this."

Charlie smiled and nodded and squeezed her fingers.

The flight was uneventful. Charlie slept fitfully and Rachel entertained herself with her ubiquitous iPod and a stack of fashion magazines. Once they landed, they filed off the crowded flight and threaded their way into the constantly milling crowd that was LAX on a typical busy Saturday.

"Stay close," Charlie told Rachel as she started to wander off to look at the terminal guide. "This place is a madhouse and I have no idea where I'm going in here." Their day had started, quite literally, in the middle of the night, so they could make the three hour drive to Portland to catch an 8 a.m flight and she was already exhausted. The last thing she wanted to do was waste time trying to track down a wayward Rachel in a crowded airport.

"Santana said she got us a car," Rachel told her, walking back over to where she was standing with their luggage. "The driver will meet us by baggage claim. I didn't know if we'd check luggage or not."

"Okay," Charlie said, anxious to get into fresh air after being cooped up on a plane. "I'll follow you."

The metaphor wasn't lost on either of them and they grinned at each other as Charlie gathered up their things. She set off after the little brunette, who was talking animatedly about things they could do for the rest of the afternoon. After walking for what seemed like twenty minutes, Charlie could see the end of the secured entry point and the sign funneling everyone down to baggage claim. Rachel was still talking, but Charlie had long since lost track of the topic and was wondering if she should ask her to backtrack when she heard it.

"Rachel, " a voice called off to her left. "Hey, Rachel, how's it going today?"

Charlie looked up and turned to see an unshaven, rather unkempt, burly man in a hooded sweatshirt shuffling along at a quick pace doing an odd sidestep with a camera up to his face. He was not more than five or six feet away from Rachel.

Where the hell had he come from?

"Hi," she heard Rachel answer brightly. She didn't break her stride or glance in his direction.

Charlie, however, glared. Her first instinct was to quicken her stride and get in between them, but she kept moving at the same pace, a few feet behind Rachel, just watching. He wasn't paying Charlie the slightest bit of attention and probably didn't even realize that the two of them were traveling together.

Rachel didn't seem particularly uncomfortable or threatened, so she'd take her cues from her. She for damned sure didn't like it though.

"Are you finished filming yet, Rachel?" he asked loudly.

Eyes and heads quickly started to swivel in their general direction.

"Not quite," she said pleasantly. "Almost."

"How's Finn?" he asked, getting surprisingly winded.

"I'm hope that he's fine, wherever he is today," she said casually.

"Are you guys a couple, Rachel?" he asked.

Charlie's eyebrow tweaked automatically at the rude question.

Rachel laughed.

"No, we're just friends," she said, reaching the top of the escalator.

"Thanks, Rachel," he called after her as she started to descend.

"Bye now," she said, not looking up at him.

Out of the corner of her eye, Charlie saw him glance at his camera and then start back toward what she assumed was his original position. She stepped carefully onto the escalator.

At this point, Rachel looked back and smiled at her reassuringly.

"He probably won't be the only one," she said. "Just go with it and we'll walk right though them."

Charlie nodded. She tugged at the brim of the ball cap she was wearing and pushed up her sunglasses.

"You don't have to walk behind me, " she said gently. "You know that, right?"

Charlie smiled.

"I'm fine," she said.

Rachel frowned. She stepped off the escalator and waited for Charlie. She brushed her hand lightly.

"I'm serious," she said, pulling her sunglasses down lower on the bridge of her nose so Charlie could see her smiling brown eyes. "I'm not having you walk five yards behind me whenever we go anywhere."

"Rachel," Charlie said tiredly, "Just get through the airport today and then we'll worry about this. I'm fine. I'm tired and don't want to deal with them anyway. It's probably better they don't even know I'm traveling with you."

Rachel huffed unhappily.

"Look, I wasn't expecting to deal with this," Charlie said truthfully. She'd reached the limit of her patience today. "I don't know why, but I just wasn't. Just let me trail along behind. I really don't mind. Besides, if you keep this up, I'll kiss you on the mouth next time we see one and then we'll stop fucking worry about this issue once and for all. I'm about to that point."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at her.

"You're making me all hot with your little mad eyes thing," Charlie said with a smirk. "Get away from me before I drag you into a bathroom stall."

Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed. She pushed her sunglasses up and turned then resumed her cocky little strut toward the exit. Charlie trudged after and watched her hips sway, smiling. She noticed heads turn every so often and sometimes saw people point and murmur.

Stare all you want, boys and girls, Charlie thought to herself. But that's mine. Just sayin'.

Charlie saw the driver holding a sign that said Berry and groaned. Of all the times for Santana not to use something out of her grab-bag of rude nicknames. Even Brokeback would have sufficed. As soon as Rachel approached, two more photographers sprang up from nowhere. The guy upstairs wasn't so bad, but two vying for her attention and talking at her was a bit much for Charlie and she twitched visibly. Her fists tightened around the straps of the bags she was carrying and her jaw clenched.

Once again, Rachel was pleasant and answered the occasional softball question, but she kept moving, following closely behind the driver the whole time. Charlie kept closing the distance between them until she was walking directly behind Rachel. At that point, the driver turned and put his arm out to stop her.

"Excuse me, Miss," he said, but Rachel put her hand on his arm.

"She's with me," she said quietly.

"Sorry, Miss," he said and moved away his hand away.

"Hey, who are you," the photographer closest to her asked. "Are you anybody?"

Charlie rolled her eyes and ignored him.

They moved through the automatic doors to the concourse and Charlie was thankful to see that the photographs didn't follow them. They followed their driver to a sleek Town Car and he immediately moved to take the luggage from Charlie.

"I'm sorry, Miss," he apologized again. "I didn't realize you all were together. I would have taken all this for you sooner."

"Not a problem," she said graciously, handing him the pieces one at a time. "Thank you very much. What's your name?"

"Raymond," he told her, clearly somewhat taken aback by the inquiry.

"Thank you, Raymond." she said

He nodded at her and waited until she stepped clear to close the trunk.

The photographers were gone, but now Rachel was surrounded by a group of what Charlie took to be fans. She was signing autographs, posing for cheesy, smiling cellphone pictures and chatting. Charlie hung back by the car and watched patiently. Raymond stood a few feet away, his arms folded across his chest.

Charlie heard his phone go off and he stepped to the rear of the car to answered it. Charlie wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help it.

"Yes, ma'am, " he said, nodding. "No ma'am, no trouble to speak of. Yes, ma'am, she does have a plus one. Angry? I really couldn't say, ma'am. Miss Berry is signing autographs at the moment. Yes, ma'am, I understand. I'll make sure of it. Thank you , ma'am."

Charlie could guess who that was and she rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Rachel sing-songed after about ten minutes. "Sorry everyone, gotta go. We're late already. Thank you."

Charlie let Rachel get in first and then followed her and Raymond closed the door after .

Rachel settled in the seat and fastened her seat belt. Charlie did the same. Raymond got behind the wheel and moved the car smoothly away from the curb. Rachel took the opportunity to lean across Charlie's lap and roll down the window as she smiled broadly at the group of excited fans. She waved at them with one hand while her other hand braced high against Charlie's thigh, squeezing. They squealed happily and waved back. Rachel chuckled and then rolled the window up and brushed heavily against Charlie as she sat back again.

So far, that was the brightest spot in Charlie's return to the City of Angels.

·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·

"Hey bitches," Santana yelled into the phone after telling Rachel to put the call on speaker. "Welcome to LA LA land."

"Hello Santana," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Welcome home, Lucky Charms," she said. "Does it feel good to be back in the real world again?"

"To be honest," Rachel said. "It feels very surreal. Was it always this noisy and... gray?"

"Ah, you'll get used to it," Santana told her, "We'll get all that clean air out of your lungs and rub you up against a few random weirdos and stray, mumbling homeless people and you'll be wondering why you ever left."

Rachel laughed.

"I don't know about that," she said.

"Tell Fabray to get that goddamned scowl off her face," Santana said. "Didn't anyone ever tell her that it would stay that way if she did it long enough? Oh wait, too late. Never mind. "

Charlie rolled her eyes and muttered "Bitch" under breath. Rachel didn't know if she'd ever heard Charlie even say that word before.

"I heard that. Be nice, Brokeback, or should I call you "AchingBack?" Santana purred. "Besides, I sent you a present."

"What's that?" Rachel asked, immediately excited and looking around in the car.

"Have they been good, Raymond?" she asked.

"Yes, Miss Santana," he said, smiling into the rear view mirror.

"Really good?" she said. "No sneaky stuff even?"

"No Miss S., " he said. "I watched like you said and they've been very good."

Charlie scoffed and Rachel looked confused.

"Ladies, this is Raymond," she said. "My driver."

"Uh, yeah," Charlie muttered.

"No, not 'your' driver," Santana said, chuckling. "I'll try again and speak more slowly for you, Chuckles. This is Raymond, my driver. As in, my personal driver. As in, he drives me and Brittany everywhere. As in, do you really need me to keep explaining this to you?"

"No," Rachel said, smiling broadly. A personal driver – this was a new addition to Santana's bag of tricks. She immediately reached over to take Charlie's hand. "No, we've got it. Thank you, Santana."

Charlie was considerably less impressed.

"Anything to keep my 43rd and 72nd most important clients happy," she said.

Charlie rolled her eyes and looked out the window. She could have driven them herself and she didn't need Santana Lopez's permission to tell her when it was and wasn't okay to touch Rachel.

"Alrighty, sounds like somebody needs a fucking nap," Santana said. "Don't be dragging her cranky ass over to dinner if she's still like that later, Berry. Brit will be just as happy with just your little hyper-annoying solo self. "

"We'll be there." Rachel said, frowning at Charlie. "We're looking forward to it."

"Of course you are," Santana said. "You'll love it. I've made barbeque just for you, Rachel."

"Whatever you made will be fine," Rachel said, not rising to the bait.

Santana sighed. These two were clearly going to be no fun today.

"Seriously Berry, burp her or bathe her or feed her or fuck her, whatever it takes, " she said.

"Shut up, Santana," Charlie snapped. She took the phone out of Rachel's hand and disconnected the call. She literally had to stop herself from throwing it out the window. Instead, she turned it off and placed in gently back in Rachel's hand.

"Sorry," she muttered. "She goes too far sometimes. It gets old."

Rachel put the phone in her purse, trying not to think of the multitude of angry messages she would have from Santana.

"Raymond, how much longer?" she asked quietly.

"At least 45 minutes with mid-day traffic like this, Miss," he told her, meeting her gaze in the rear view mirror.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him.

She reached over and ran her hand up the back of Charlie's neck, ruffling her fingers into her hair. Charlie sighed. Rachel dropped her hand and rubbed it back and forth across her back.

"Are you trying to burp me?" she asked.

Rachel smiled.

"Just working my way down the list," she told her. "Whatever it takes."

She felt Charlie relax and she tugged on her, pulling her over against her shoulder, putting her arm around her.

"I know you're doing this for me," she said. "I know this is hard for you and that you don't want to be here."

"If you're here," She told her. "This is where I have to be. If you were here without me, I'd be miserable."

"So instead you're going to be miserable with me?" she asked, somewhat teasing.

"Baby, I'm just tired," she said. "I don't do Santana very well tired, that's all."

This wasn't about Santana and Rachel knew it.

"The photographers upset you, " she said, kissing her cheek softly. "I know they did. It's okay to say that."

"They surprised me," she told her, truthfully. "I don't know if they upset me. I haven't really processed it yet I guess."

"Okay," Rachel said, "It's a weird experience. You can get unnerved by it. Sometimes I still do. I should have thought to say something about that. Weekends usually find them hanging around."

Rachel stroked her hair.

"They didn't bother you. You weren't scared or angry and I could tell, so I think I'm probably okay with what happened."

"You don't feel okay with it to me," she said softly "Why is that?"

"I shouldn't have been walking behind you," she told her, honestly. " My first instinct is always to protect you. It was hard when people rushed up at you like that and I didn't see it coming. It feels like when you almost have an accident. Your whole body sort of tenses up and hurts for awhile after. It's like that."

She kissed her forehead.

"Part of me feels...I guess.. guilty," she admitted reluctantly. "Because I let them get that close to you without realizing. That scares me."

"You don't have to feel like that." she told her. "Nothing happened. I'm fine."

"This time," she said very quietly. "I'm not going to walk behind you like that anymore. I thought it was okay, but it's not. That's all."

Rachel hugged her.

"Good," she said. "I don't want you to either. Now, why don't you put your head in my lap and go to sleep for bit? "

Charlie shook her head.

"Come on," Rachel teased. "You know you want to." She let Rachel loosen her lap belt and tipped over into her lap. She was sure she wouldn't fall asleep but she closed her eyes anyway. She didn't open them again until she felt Rachel shaking her shoulder gently.

"Come on, sweetie," she said, eagerly. "Wake up. We're here. Home sweet home."

Raymond pulled their luggage out of the trunk for them as Rachel fished her garage door opener out her purse and pushed the button. The door nearest to them rose slowly. He set their bags inside the garage for them. Rachel tried to tip him, but he wouldn't accept it. Charlie followed Rachel into the garage and watched the door close again.

"Let me show you," she said, tugging on Charlie's hand.

"Let's take this stuff," Charlie suggested. "I'm too tired to come back down and get it."

Rachel nodded and picked up her rolling case.

"No, here, take these," Charlie suggested, handing her the smaller carry on bags.

Rachel shook her head.

"Your back is better," she said, "Let's not tempt fate. In fact, just leave it. I'll come back and get it."

Charlie opened her mouth to protest, but Rachel grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs. She paced anxiously in the foyer while Rachel retrieved their bags.

Rachel had a beautiful town home in a fourplex unit on a residential street in Studio City. Despite the fact that it was suspiciously neat, the spacious interior was very decidedly Rachel Berry. She pulled Charlie by the hand from room to room and finally out onto her rooftop patio, which had a stunning view of the city.

"See," she said, excitedly, wrapping her arms around Charlie. "I can lay out here at night and see stars, too. Granted, they're not right on top of you and they don't go on forever, but still."

Charlie smiled at her.

"It's beautiful, Rachel," she told her, truthfully. "It's very... you."

Rachel grinned happily.

"But it's so freaking huge," Charlie continued.

Rachel sighed.

"It wasn't just me when I bought it," she said. "Everything happened so fast with the movie and all, I haven't really had time to think about looking for something smaller."

"Oh yeah," Charlie said. "I like to forget about that part."

"Yeah," Rachel said, biting her lip. "Me, too."

Rachel turned Charlie loose and tugged on her shirt, pulling her back inside the house.

"Let's take these bags upstairs, " Charlie suggested.

"Alright," Rachel agreed.

They wrangled their luggage up another flight of stairs and stowed them in Rachel's bedroom.

"I thought it would be pink." Charlie said, looking around. "I really did." Rachel's bedroom was done in hues of lavender and silver-blue.

"Can I?" Charlie asked, pointing at the bed.

Rachel laughed.

"Of course," she said.

Charlie pulled off her ball cap. She toed off her shoes and stripped off her long-sleeved shirt and fell back on the bed. It was as comfortable as it look. It also smelled liked Rachel. She rolled into the closest pillow and breathed in deeply. Rachel watched her and smiled. She pulled off her shoes and crawled up the mattress and over Charlie, staring down at her.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," Charlie said, frowning up at her. Impulsively, she rose up and kissed her. She wrapped her arm around her waist and pulled Rachel down on top of her, never losing contact with her mouth. She pulled her lips away slowly.

"That's the first time I've ever kissed you in your house. In your bed." she said with an easy smile.

"Believe me, that's something that's not lost on me, " Rachel said, swallowing thickly. "When I first came home, I couldn't think of anything else except you being here with me like this."

"Hmmm," Charlie said, smirking at her.

"I wanted this so badly," Rachel told her.

Charlie watched her eyes as she spoke. She felt badly that she hadn't come sooner.

"Every night I'd just be here thinking about it. Oh, and this isn't the same room where..." Rachel said, her eyes flitting around nervously. "Where, you know... I've never, here..."

"Never?" Charlie teased.

Rachel shook her head.

"Well not with anyone... I mean, you know." she said bashfully. "I mean when we talked on the phone.. and I... sometimes we'd..."

"Ohh," Charlie said, pursing her lips. "That's all very good to know."

"I mean, I had moved out into my own room a long time...ago," she said, her eyes darted away again. "I'm just going to stop talking now."

Charlie laughed.

"I seriously doubt that," she said.

Charlie reached up and ran her fingers through Rachel's thick chestnut hair. She had left it curly because it was so early when they left that she didn't want to bother straightening it. Charlie loved it. It was one of her things. Whenever Rachel wore it like this Charlie stared and touched it constantly.

Rachel laughed self-consciously.

"What are you doing?" she said scolding.

"I'm sorry, " Charlie said, shaking her head. "I was just thinking. I got lost for a little bit."

"Where?" Rachel asked. "Where did you get lost?"

"In you, sweetheart." Charlie said. "Just thinking about you and me and us being here. What time do we have to be at Casa de Dracula?"

"Eight-ish," she said. "Why?"

"Just wondering," she said. "Trying to weigh all my options."

"Which are?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," she told her. "You tell me. You're the one with the itinerary as tall as you are. What do you want to do this afternoon?"

"It doesn't seem very important at the moment," she remarked.

"Rachel," Charlie said, frowning at her. "Don't do that. If you let me sleep for two hours, I promise we can do whatever you want and then go have a charming dinner with Brittney and Santana. I'll even make an effort to rise above cordial and be pleasant."

"I'll take that deal," she said quickly. "But only if I can nap with you."

"Of course," Charlie told her.

"Naked?" Rachel asked, tweaking her brow.

"Is there any other way?" Charlie said laughing, holding up her arms so Rachel could pull off her shirt.

~oOo~