Painted Ivy and Wax Hearts

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Alright so it's another late chapter, but it's not as bad as before. In this chapter we have a bit of a trigger scene happening. I have put a note up before it happens, explaining what kinda trigger it might be so you'll know what to skip and when. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too! As always don't forget to leave a review or drop a fav or follow and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 8

Lester called four hours later and Bo listened patiently to what he had to say before turning to Vincent to relay what was going on.

"So I was right. She had onset Tetanus, and mild gangrene. They're working to save her foot, we'll know about that in a few hours. They're thinking she'll pull through, but she's gonna be out of it for a while."

Vincent took that in silently.

A lot had happened since Lester had taken Charlie out of the town.

Bo had gone and chopped down a Christmas tree. They went looking for their ornaments but everything was old and musty.

When Vincent wasn't looking Bo had made a list of Christmas things to buy that he thought Charlie would want, and when Bo wasn't looking Vincent had added things he thought she'd like to it. He was clearly going to do Christmas for her after all, and though Vincent had tried to ignore it, it was clear that Bo had cultivated softer feelings for her. Now would be the time to tell Vincent what he wanted.

"I want to keep her, Bo," Vincent suddenly said. "She likes being here. And I like having her here, and you like it too I can tell."

Bo nodded, but he didn't like the idea. He didn't like what she did to him, or how she made him feel. He already knew if asked, she'd stay because she told him so. This place had some how become home to her. They had become home to her, and this old house wasn't home without her in it, but that didn't mean she could stay.

"And she can't stay on the couch either. She needs her own room."

"Vincent… you're not being reasonable. If she stays she finds out about the town."

"So we tell her."

"And what do you expect her to say?"

"Well… she's a criminal too…"

"She fucking steals things, Vincent, that's nothing compared to what we do."

"Then a room, can we at least give her a room?"

"What?"

"She doesn't like sleeping on the couch, the house makes her nervous, it creeks at night. She keeps staying with me but my room scares her too."

Bo tried to shrug away the jealous anger that bubbled up in him. Charlie never curled up into his bed when she was scared. Why didn't she come to him?

Bo stared at his brother, who had an ulterior motive to wanting this room done up. Then he thought about what it really meant to do this and how it felt when she called this place home and decided there were worse things then painting a room. Who knows, maybe if she lost her foot they'd be able to keep her inside and away from the town.

-HOW-

When Charlie woke up, she was alone. Alone in a quiet white room filled with sunshine and light. She knew immediately she was no longer in the town of Ambrose. Everything hurt, but her foot was no longer an agony… oh god her foot… please let her still have her foot.

Forcing herself to sit up she ripped the blankets away from her. Two feet. Thank fucking Christ. But that opened her up to another problem. Where the hell was she? And who took her here? Not Vincent, he wouldn't go anywhere with new people, he never even went into town. So probably Bo. But where was he now?

Wow, had that really just happened? She must still be suffering from blood loss cause she just asked herself where Bo was. Obviously not there at the hospital with he. Like he'd stay by her bedside waiting for her to wake up.

But what did they tell everyone? They couldn't tell them her real name. They'd know she was one of the missing bank robbers. She'd get arrested… they'd also know that someone had faked her death and then what? She also couldn't say who she had been hiding with because then they'd ask about Max and he was dead and buried somewhere around Ambrose. She wasn't going to give her boys up like that. So Ambrose could not come up at all.

"Well good-morning sleeping beauty!"

Charlie looked up and a nice looking male nurse was coming towards us. "And how are you feeling Christine? Were you too hot?"

Charlie looked at him confused for a second. Mostly because he thought her name was Christine, but then she figured someone had given her a fake name so that must have been where that had come from.

She pointed to her injured foot. "I have two feet."

"Yes you do, but it was almost one there for a second. You're lucky Lester found you when he did."

Okay, now who the fuck was Lester? Was that Bo with a fake name? Or did Bo just dump her on the side of the road to die and she was found by someone else? If that was the case, he was going to be surprised when she showed up on his doorstep alive and pissed off.

She just needed to go with whatever this was and then somehow hitch a ride back to Ambrose. Without alerting the towns folk. God why didn't she ever ask the boys their fucking phone number? To be fair she never thought she'd be in this exact situation.

"Yep. Lucky… so… uh… where am I?"

"Natchez Louisiana," he said proudly. Wow, okay, great, she had no idea where that was or how far away was that from Ambrose? Too bad she couldn't ask that without raising some major flags.

"So, let me walk you through a little orientation," he said coming to her side. "You got a bunch of buttons, this remote over here controls your bed and what kind of set up you want with the back rest. The button on the other side is your bitch button, that's what I like to call it but if you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it. If you hadn't guessed, it calls a nurse to you. Anyway, lunch is at noon, we'll be bringing you something regardless cause you've just woken up and I'm sure you'll need something to eat. Though, for a hitch hiker you're not that skinny or tanned. And uh… someone will be in to change your bandage real soon."

He walked back to the door before pausing and turning back to her. "Oh yeah, and the sheriff had some questions for you too. Now that you're awake I'm sure he'll be in to come see you soon."

And then he was gone for good and while he had been nice, Charlie was not happy. A sheriff? How long would it be until that asshole figured out who she really was? She needed to get out of that hospital… STAT.

The problem was… once she was out… where would she go? How was she going to get back home when she didn't know where home was?

-HOW-

Lester was, by no means, an idiot. It was just his cover.

It worked with his brothers and it worked with the town folks. They all assumed that he was just some stupid redneck who collected road kill and dropped it in pits.

But he really just listened.

So he knew what meds that the girl was on.

He knew that the sheriff thought there were holes in the story Lester had told him, holes he thought Lester hadn't noticed because he was simple.

He knew that the sheriff thought the girl was hiding something because she was too well taken care of to be a drifter, to be a hitch hiker. He wanted to question her as soon as she was conscious to figure out what was off about her.

But worst of it… was he knew that this girl, this girl was the reason his two brothers had so much tension swirling around them.

He kind of got it. She was very pretty. Like… really pretty.

So when the annoying nurse left her room, Lester snuck back in. He had her personal effects which he had stolen out of the office in his hands and his pockets lined with a three months' supply of her meds.

The girl stared at him with those big blue eyes not sure what to make of him. Or maybe because he startled her as she was out of bed but using the bed as a crutch as she clearly couldn't stand on her own. He had clearly caught her red-handed, mid escape attempt.

"I figured we'd need to make a hasty getaway so I have your stuff," he said dropping it on the bed.

Her eyes found the clear plastic bag with her stuff and then turned back to him.

"And you are?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm Lester."

"Ah… the Lester who found me…" she said softly.

"Yup that's me, can you get changed please?"

"Only if you can turn around and give me privacy," she shot back.

Oh feisty, well that explained why Bo liked her.

Vincent probably just liked her because she was pretty, he always did like the prettier things in life. Said it was cause he was an artist, Lester just figured he was gay.

Still he obliged her by turning around and in less than three minutes she was fully dressed. He tossed her a baseball cap he pulled from his truck.

"You gotta hide your hair," he said.

He watched her put go about knotting it up and putting the cap overtop. Then he watched her carefully move around the bed. She had already turned her EKG machine off, already had herself detached from the IV, blood was slowly leaking down her arm. Well that was something else he had to deal with.

"Can you walk?"

"I mean… not really…"

Great, just another issue in a long line of problems he already had. He couldn't steal her a wheelchair, but he needed to get her to his truck. His apprehension must have been on his face because she simply smiled at him in this bright but nervous way.

"Look… uh… if you don't mind… I have somewhere I need to be… so I kinda need to go… like now… so uh. Thank you for rescuing me and all that but uh… I need to…"

"Get back to Ambrose?" he asked drily and the girl froze.

"Oh… you uh… you know…"

"Course I do. Bo personally put you in my truck," he snapped. "Now, do you wanna get back before the sheriff comes up here and figures out who you are? Or do you wanna stay and get caught?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, I can get myself out of here, if you're seen with me on the cameras…"

"I cut the feed like five minutes ago but that's only going to last for…"

"Wow and here I had pegged you as a stupid redneck," she said. Wow. But he couldn't be too mad about it, at least she was up front.

He shook his head, pretended to be angry and then urged her forward. As soon as she was next to him he put an arm around her waist and tugged her to his side to help her along. She limped with him out into the hall where they struggled to move quickly to the elevator.

Once they were inside and heading down to the lobby where he had parked badly for a quick getaway she let him go and leant against the wall.

"You're going to have to let me carry you," he whispered to her and she shook her head.

"Wouldn't that look suspicious?" she shot back.

It interested him that she was subconscious about him touching her but she had been practically melded into Bo, and was probably up to something with Vincent considering how often she had said his name in her drugged-out sleep.

"About as suspicious as us limping out of here together without crutches."

She eyed him carefully, it was clear as day that she didn't trust him, but she had no other options.

By the time the door opened he had her up in his arms again. Just like when he had taken her into the hospital in the first place. He got her out of the lobby and into the truck without anyone spotting them or stopping them and then the two of them were flying down the backroads.

Just being out of the hospital was enough to put a light and breezy smile on her face and as the dappled sunlight hit her face, Lester finally understood why his brothers were so obsessed with this girl.

-HOW-

*Trigger warning! Sexual Assault is described in this part, skip it if that triggers you*

She dozed when she hadn't wanted to. But she was in pain and highly medicated and the truck, while air conditioned, was hot, and she always fell asleep on long car rides. When she fell asleep the sun was high and on her face, when she awoke it was setting and they were not on the road but driving through the trees.

Charlie hadn't wanted to sleep because now she had no idea where they were and she still didn't trust Lester. Charlie looked out the window noting that he was coming to a stop in a field which was surrounded by dense trees.

"What are you doing? Why are you stopping?" she asked trying to not sound afraid but she couldn't help it.

She was afraid. She was in a strange truck, with a strange man, who may or may know Bo and Vincent, who may or may not take her home. Except they were in the middle of a field and she didn't know if she was close to home or not.

"This is the drop spot," he said to her as he put the truck in park. Once it was still and the engine was off he turned to her, his eyes a familiar blazing blue trailing hot lines up and down her body. "We just need to wait for Bo… is there something you'd like to do to pass the time?"

There was uh… an insinuation there that she was very certainly going to ignore. "Listening to music?" she offered. "I'm down for some sing alongs."

But his hand dropped to her knee, gripping tightly, and then slowly moving up her thigh. Charlie brushed his hand off. "Please don't do that…"

But his hand came back full force, his body shifting in his seat leaning forward and towards her. "Why?" he asked with a dangerous sort of smile on his face. "You saving yourself for the Sinclair brothers? Only they get to touch you? That's not fair, I just went through a lot of trouble for you, the least you could do is let me have a little fun."

Charlie turned immediately and tried to jerk the door open but he reached across her, slammed it shut and then locked it. Charlie struggled to turn but he was already on top of her. She brought her hands up to block his, but he was stronger and his hands were already deflecting hers. Both were up her shirt and though she was crying out and struggling to push him off her all he did was laugh at her and push a little harder into her, gripping her bra and forcibly pulling it down.

She heard fabric ripping, she didn't know if it was her bra or just her shirt, and she decided that it was time to fight back. She brought her hands up and raked her nails down his face as hard as she could. And though that got him off her for a few seconds, it wasn't enough for her to get up and get out of the truck.

He grabbed her by the back of the head and slammed her into the window and stars burst in front of her eyes. After that his hands went to her shorts quickly going about unbuttoning them and tugging them down as far as he could get them to go. She struggled weakly, tears streaming down her face but there was nothing she could do, she knew what was going to come next.

Glass shattering was not what she expected.

Lester being ripped off and away from her was not expected either.

But even though she was dizzy, she knew enough to take the chance now that she had it. She roughly pulled her pants up, buttoned them and then groped at the door until her shaking fingers got it unlocked and then open. She fell out of the truck, hit the ground hard but that didn't stop her either.

She struggled to get to her feet and headed straight for the truck she did recognize. For the first time since she woke up in that hospital a sense of relief, calm and safety descended onto her.

She got into Bo's truck and then finally turned. Bo was straddling Lester to the ground, he had one hand on his chest holding him down and the other pummeling him over and over. He must have been at this for a while because Lester wasn't even trying to block the blows anymore. She had a feeling he wasn't even conscious by that point. Kay, he proved his point she wanted to go. NOW.

She leant over to the steering wheel and blared on the horn until Bo stopped hitting the man and turned back to her.

"I want to go home!" she half sobbed and half screamed at him. "Bo. I want to go home… now!"

Bo turned back to Lester who was limply lying there, hands to his face as if trying to shield himself from more hits, which proved that he was at least still conscious. He didn't have to say anything, she knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to keep wailing on that man.

"No! Stop hitting him. I want to go home!" her voice so shrill it actually cracked.

She watched Bo sigh, but he finally got off Lester and turned back to the truck, storming towards her. He slid into the driver's seat slammed the door shut and then started the engine. But he didn't drive away.

After a moment of heavily charge silence he turned to her and asked: "Are… are you… okay?"

Charlie turned to him, tears falling down her cheek. "Just drive."

Bo watched her for a moment but did as she asked. They were on that dirt road, driving away from Lester and his nasty rusted light blue truck for two seconds before she started sobbing. Bo, who couldn't handle it pulled over the truck and then turned to look at her.

"I don't know what to do," he whispered. "I don't know… how do I comfort you?"

Charlie turned to him, her sobs marred with strange hiccups as she found it hard to breathe.

"Do you want a hug? Would that help?" he asked.

Bo never offered to touch her. Bo hated being near her. But sitting there, she saw concern on his face, the same kind of concern he wore the night he found her out in the woods. It was clear that he didn't know what to do, but for the first time he was willing to try.

So she nodded and then let him envelop her in a tight hug. He held her to him, a hand around her lower back, the other to the back of her head, lightly petting her.

"It's okay," he whispered to her. "He's not going to hurt you… ever again… I promise. I won't let him ever touch you again."

And she believed him.

-HOW-

Vincent was on pins and needles waiting for Charlie to come back.

He and Bo had worked tirelessly the last four days on her room. Painting the room itself took two days and then the rest was spent decorating, putting the bed, the desk and the book shelf together. Vincent had spent hours on the mural, taking breaks to help Bo put the Ikea items together for her. They moved a TV into the room for her, put books onto her bookshelf, moved her clothes out of Vincent's room and into her own closet.

And when they weren't working on the room they had decorated everything but the tree. They were going to do that together, with Charlie.

But once the truck pulled up and he saw that stricken face in the window all excitement drained way. Vincent pounded down the steps to meet her. She had the truck door open before he got there and once he was close enough she sobbed out his name and threw herself into his arms, suddenly crying.

"What happened?" he asked her, but when she didn't answer he turned to Bo who just shook his head. He knew what that meant. Don't ask, Bo would fill him in later.

Charlie sobbed into his shoulder, just letting her hold him tightly. He only had to straighten to get her feet off the ground and then he was carrying her easily into the house. When Bo came in they were on the couch, Charlie cuddled into Vincent's side still crying but not letting him go.

She sniffed a few times, ignored Vincent's questions and then she went quiet.

"Is that a Christmas tree?"

Vincent turned to Bo a smile on his face. "It is. We thought you might like to decorate it with us…"

Charlie straightened, wiping her eyes dry. "Really? You guys got me a Christmas tree?"

"Bo went and chopped one down himself, I thought it might be too small," Vincent whispered, usually Charlie would agree, but today she turned to Bo with a big smile while he avoided her eyes, a tinge of pink on his cheeks.

"It's perfect… I love it," she whispered to him and when he looked up the two of them just sort of smiled at one another in an odd way that made Vincent's stomach twist up into knots.

"When you feel up to it, we'll decorate," Bo said to her. "Did you want to… maybe rest?"

Charlie looked from Bo to Vincent. "I'd uhm… I know this is going to sound weird but uh… if I'm going into Vincent's room… can you guys… uh…"

"Yeah, we'll stay with you," Vincent said as he stood up.

He and Bo shared a bit of a moment before Bo swooped in to pick Charlie up because taking her up and down the stairs had always been his thing for her. But once they got to the top of the stairs Bo and Vincent both turned down the other side of the hallway.

"Wait. Hey. Vincent's room… not Bo's," she said because as much as she didn't like Vincent's room she really didn't like Bo's.

But that was mostly because she didn't like Bo… but that seemed to be what it was like before… maybe now that she and Bo seemed to have an understand she had changed her mind? Cause she wasn't really putting up that big of a fight. That could have been the pain, the meds, and whatever had happened to her to make her cry.

"Just wait a second," Bo said, stepping past his room to the room at the end of the hall that was now hers.

"Close your eyes," Vincent added.

"Aw… boys… I'm not… I'm not in the mood."

"Trust me," Bo whispered coming to a stop outside the door. Vincent paused, only because Charlie had never trusted Bo before, she trusted Vincent. Vincent who took care of her, who had saved her from Bo, who was always saving her from Bo. But she surprised him because she merely sighed and closed her eyes as asked and while he was surprised Vincent still moved forward to open the door so Bo could take her into the room.

Once they were inside he set Charlie down carefully in front of the mural wall Vincent had painted for her and together both of them said: "Open them."

Charlie's eyes opened and then she just blinked them looking at the wall. She took in the cursive letters that spelled out her name, and the ivy that decorated them. She took in the flowers and fairy's he had painted as the ivy climbed up the wall. She put a hand to the bed with the pastel purple spread and the fluffy matching pillows. She turned to look at the rest of the room, the bookshelves, the TV stand and the DVDs they had carefully picked out and argued over.

And when she turned back to the boys she had tears in her eyes again. "You're giving me a room?"

"Well… we figured… since you seemed keen on staying that we'd… uh… we'd give you a room…" Bo told her.

She turned her eyes to Vincent who said: "Bo painted the walls and I did the mural. Do you like it?"

"Like it… this… this is amazing! I can't believe… I can't believe you guys… this is just… wow…"

She sat down on the bed smiling to herself as the boys hovered over her. Vincent kept glancing to Bo because Bo had not taken his eyes off of Charlie and there was a weird look on his face that he didn't recognize.

"Would you like us to uh…" Vincent started because Charlie was already slipping in under the covers.

"Is there enough room for all three of us?" she asked.

She had a double bed, which was a lot smaller than Vincent's queen. So that was a hard no. Vincent turned to Bo to see if they were going to argue over who was going to stay with her, but Bo just shook his head, throwing in the towel before the argument could even start.

"I've got things to do," Bo said, "Vincent will stay with you."

Charlie winced but Bo was already walking away from them. Vincent stepped away from Charlie to follow him into the hall. Once they were out he slightly closed her door to whisper: "But what happened though, why was she so upset when she got here?"

Bo glanced to Charlie who had turned her attention to the stuffed foxes and unicorns they had bought for her.

"When I got there… Lester was attacking her," he whispered. Vincent blinked his eyes did he mean… "And yes, I mean exactly what you're thinking. I got him off of her… obviously… and I beat the shit out of him but she's obviously… a little… uh…"

Vincent nodded. Alright, so he wouldn't be making any moves on her tonight, not when that had just happened to her. He let Bo leave before returning to Charlie's side and letting her tug him down to the bed.

"Thank you," she whispered against his chest. "Thank you so much."

Vincent wrapped his arms around his Charlie. He hadn't realized how much he had missed her until she had her arms around him again. He couldn't lose this feeling again. Not to Bo, not to Lester, and not to the side hobby he and his brother had going on in that town. He needed her to stay. He needed her to love him. That wasn't much to ask for… was it?