Hey, guys thanks so much for your patience with my radio silence. I'm working on a super-secret side project that I think you'll all enjoy. ;) to try and make up for it this chapter is a big one. lol, lots of content that I think you'll all enjoy.
Song Suggestion: Everything Black by Unlike Pluto Ft. Mike Taylor
Disclaimer: I own nothing even if I'm going off the rails on a crazy train and writing my own plot at this point. Capcom please don't sue x'D I tried to make up a charity for the holiday section since most charity locations tend to have a bit of a seedy underbelly these days (unfortunately) but chances are there actually is some charity with that name. I don't know them. it's not an endorsement. please don't sue.
"Alright, see you then," Charlotte says and nod. "Bye."
Charlotte hung up the call before walking over to the kitchen where a less than thrilled Karl was digging through shelves of expired and molding food. there was dry cereal. aaand that's about it.
"The exterminators will be here on Monday," Charlotte says with a slight frown. "until then it's probably going to be a bit more comfortable to stay in a hotel." she admits which causes the metal lord to shake his head.
"It's a few bugs and rodents. nothing we aren't used to already," Heisenberg replies before getting a hand full of cereal to munch on.
"Fair," she agrees with a shrug before chuckling. "almost makes me miss the cell though."
"Seriously?" he says amused.
"I said almost," Charlotte replies with a playful smile. "It was kinda like a vacation. 3 meals a day in a clean space. no work. No one trying to kill us. It was nice."
Heisenberg rolled his eyes at that. "it was boring."
"That too," she agrees before taking a few pieces of cereal from the box before drumming her hands on the table, "Alright well. You enjoy hunting rats I have to go talk to my father."
"you're going on your own?" He asks raising an eyebrow.
"it's probably for the best, he's already upset," She replies with a slight frown before walking away.
Heisenberg shrugs at that. "alright. Just try and pick up some groceries while you're at it."
"Can do," she calls from the stairs to her loft. With the conversation at a standstill, for the time being, the woman makes her way over to her closest and starts digging through it for something to wear. She wasn't exactly looking forward to this but meeting expectations would likely help lesson the lecture she was about to receive. She flipped through hangers to look at options as their last spat came to mind.
YOU are the only child I have and for better or worse. If this company is going to stay in our family's control with a founder at the helm and not some council of morons that think they know what they're doing, YOU need to be ready to lead it.
She frowned as the words came to mind and she pulled out a soft gray pencil cut cotton dress. only to find a spider on it. the surprise caused her to jolt slightly but her frown remained as the lecture continued to play in her mind.
YOU have pedigree, you were trained for this.
Her frown turned to a sneer. Pedigree. he says. Trained. he says. She didn't want any of this. she thought as she gentle scooped the spider off her dress and into her hand.
YOU have a responsibility, to your family, to this company and the hundreds of people whose lives it affects, hell, the thousands of lives it affects.
Crunch.
The spider was crushed in her hand before she gave a flick of her wrist to toss it aside and continue getting ready. before long she made her way downstairs once more while working on pinning back her hair. "Well, I'm off to try and keep my job and throw my father off our scent." She says as she walks past the kitchen to look for her car keys.
Heisenberg watched with some level of curiosity. As much as she was set on tearing the place down, it was hard to ignore what he noticed over the last eight months, "Are you sure this whole espionage bullshit is what you want to do?"
Charlotte paused upon hearing the question. "I'm the one that suggested it." she points out in return.
"Yeah, and seems to me, the only real problem is the old man," he points out before munching on a few pieces of cereal. "there are easier solutions."
"Such as?" She asks in return while shifting to a more comfortable standing position since it seemed they'd be talking for a bit longer.
"I have my powers back, just let me put a spike in him," he offers with a shrug. "you get the company and do what you want with it."
Charlotte rolls her eyes at that. they never did agree on how to deal with a problem. it was a more direct solution but. "Not an option. besides death is too good for him and watching the company fall would be a fate worse in my father's eyes."
"spoken like a true psychopath," Heisenberg replies with a slight smirk. "I always knew we weren't that different." Something was up. come on. correct him.
"Sociopath. I was pushed to be this way, it's not genetic," Charlotte replies as she returns to her search for her car keys that she hadn't seen in over a month.
Not the response he was expecting... "well, arguments could be made considering pops is an ass," he says trying once more to get the expected response.
"hm, fair," she says while opening a drawer.
Okay, something's wrong. With that, he moves to close the drawer she just opened to get her attention. "I know you're smarter than that and you didn't just mistakenly call yourself an ass. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," she replies shaking her head as she moved to try and open the drawer again, and once more it was forced shut.
"I'm just a bit stress okay?" She replies with a frustrated frown. "I do want to destroy the company. It's always been a source of stress for me but," she paused for a second, "it does bother me that there will be other people that hurt if I do this." She admits as the frustration in her expression was replaced with guilt. "And I'm mad that my father managed to get me to second guess myself. It's a cheap move to put the happiness and well-being of that many people on my shoulders when it's never been my choice."
"Didn't seem to mind with the village," Heisenberg points out though it's more so to get her to talk than to genuinely argue. this didn't really affect him either way aside from the fact that she was acting weird.
"The village was different. I chose for myself for once. I could have left and ran away and not experienced most of the garbage that I did. I decided to put myself through that so I didn't care that I was putting so much on my own shoulders..." She explained while the guilt remained. "but I didn't choose any of this so why do I have to be the one that cares when he doesn't, why do I have to feel guilty?" She asks though she didn't expect an answer to her frustrated tirade of questions. "It's frustrating because this is the only way I can think of to get back at him. It's not like I'm a kid and I can just start failing classes or break a few glasses around the house. and it's not like just leaving will affect him considering I was missing for so long and he didn't even bother to call once to see if I was okay. I still had the same phone. he knew my number he couldn't even be bothered to send a text."
The metal lord listened to the rambling he caused. She wasn't like him. he knew that at this point. "Then make a change of plans. we move forward with getting the evidence and getting the guy in trouble like you planned but just stick with you being in charge of the place and sell it off piece by piece instead of just jumping ship and letting the government shutting it all down," He points out. less damage that way in his mind.
"Do you know how long that would take?" Charlotte says in return and he shrugs. He genuinely didn't know.
"isn't that the point? draw it out. make it hurt longer. and you get to do the work you like while making him unhappy," Heisenberg rebuttals, though with no real interest in pushing much more than this. it was her plan and her fight he was just here for the ride.
"I'd have to own the company to be able to sell any part of it without getting permission from the investors. and even then I'd probably still need permission," She replied with a sigh. "but. I appreciate the gesture of looking at other options. I'll keep thinking about it and see if I can figure something else out. maybe I can just build something else from the ashes..."
That sounded more like Charlotte. He nods and goes back to munching on his food. "Well, if you change your mind I'm here."
Charlotte rolled her eyes at that as the beginning of a smile returned and she tried once more to get her keys this time there wasn't a fight to open the drawer and she was able to get what she needed. "Alright, well. I'll be back in a few hours."
Heisenberg nods and waits for her to leave. once he was sure he heard the car leave the area he put the box of cereal away and hurried up to his loft to get his old trenchcoat and hat with a smile on his face. He made his way out of the house and down the driveway a little way down the road and sweet praises it was still there. a short laugh billowed forward in his excitement as he hurried over to a day-old deer carcass that was still intact. he'd spotted it on their way home the night before and figured he'd wait to go and get it until charlotte was out of the house.
The mini-factory was nice and all. so were the scraps but he didn't have anything to experiment on. He knew what she'd say if he asked for test subjects like what he had in the village. 'ohmygawd we'll get arrested' blah blah blah. so boring. All the same, he figured this would be a solid middle ground and what she doesn't know won't hurt her. he picked up the Deer and put that over his shoulders, and started heading back to the mini-factory. once inside he walked over to a rug that was initially put into the place to make it look 'cozy' by Charlotte. he kicked it over to reveal a decent size, haphazardly added, trap door. Thanks to the return of his powers he was able to open the metal door without an issue and he simply dropped the deer into the hole. not like broken bones were an issue if he was going to be taking it apart and stitching it back together.
He climbed his way down the metal rungs into the extra space he'd dug out for himself while charlotte was away during the day. Again. The mini-factory was nice. but a bit too mini. so he simply went with his previous blueprint and dug down for more space. The area wasn't particularly impressive. dirt walls, dirt floor, dirt ceiling but after a while he was able to figure out where the electrical lines were and hook into that to get some lighting down in his literal man cave. let see. she was driving to the city, that would take an hour. give 16 minutes for a shouting match. another hour for grocery shopping where she was going to forget at least half of the things that they needed and an hour of driving back. to be safe he had 2 hours before he had to go and wash up. that should be plenty of time.
'*'*'*'*'
Charlotte was able to appease the rage of her father once more. It wasn't any different from any other fight between the two. Rather than focus on the unpleasant exchange, the woman turned her attention to the holiday season that was quickly approaching as time continued to pass. on this particular weekend a smile was present on her face as she went to the spare room under Heisenberg's loft and started digging around in various storage boxes to find one that held the parts of a fake tree.
"There you are," She says as she pulls on the box to drag it out of the room and into the main living space.
the sound of plastic scraping against the hardwood floor caught Karl's attention as he looked over from the couch. "what's with the box?"
"Figured I could decorate for the holidays, those are coming up in a few days," Charlotte explained in return.
"Ah. True. So you're going to get a tree then?" He asks as he figured the box held ornaments and such.
"This is the tree," She replies amused while enjoying his confused expression.
"did you chop up the last one for firewood?" he asks while looking at the box with a perplexed expression. she didn't exactly have a fireplace so. what the heck.
Charlotte shakes her head and opens the box to start taking out the parts and put together the fake plastic tree.
"Now that's just not right..." he says with squinting disapproval. a plastic tree. is nothing scared..."Modern time just sucked the joy out of everything didn't it."
"you still get to hang stuff up," She says with a laugh.
"it's not a tree it's a repurposed water bottle," He says in return. if it was going to be a fake tree couldn't it at least be made of metal...
It was made of recycled materials so. yeah kinda. "Do you want to help decorate or not?" Charlotte asks as she continued setting up the tree.
Heisenberg thinks it over before nodding a bit and moving to get up. he heads to his room to get his coat and heads outside.
Charlotte frowns as she watches this before looking at the pearl on the TV stand. "... he's getting a tree isn't it?" Charlotte shakes her head but waits all the same. before long the grumpy metal lord returned carrying a tree dusted with snow over his shoulder. He walked over and plopped it down next to the plastic one so it would lean against the wall.
"That is a tree. In which case I will help," he replies as stubborn as ever.
There were plenty of things worth arguing with him about, and this was not one of them. "Fine, but we need to go to the store. I don't have a stand for an actual tree."
"Fine," he agrees with a nod. As long as that plastic shit was getting put away. Didn't even look like a tree.
With that, the two packed up and made their way out to the local department store in search of a tree stand.
it took 40 minutes to get there and find a parking spot but they managed to do so. "This should be a quick in and out okay?" She says as she gets out of the car, closing the door behind her, and starts digging through her purse.
Heisenberg nods though his brows knit together as the sound of a rather persistent and annoying bell filled the air. "the hell is that?" he asks annoyed. he'd been here before and the ringing was new.
"probably a bell ringer, they stand outside with a bucket looking for donations this time of year," Charlotte explains. "the sign usually tells you what charity it's for so it looks like," she squinted a bit as they approached the store to check what the hand made sign sad. "Veteran's association. So usually something to do with retired military folk I think." Charlotte explained as she looked at the elderly gentleman that was bundled up and sitting on a metal chair in the cold while ringing a small bell.
"huh," Heisenberg replied staring as well. military huh?
The quiet staring was not noticed as they walked and charlotte fished out a bit of money to offer to Heisenberg. "here, why don't you drop this off and meet me inside. or wait outside it should only take a few minutes." she says which catches his attention.
he looked at the folded paper and accepted it. 40 bucks. it was a decent amount considering he had nothing. and the holidays were coming up... he wouldnt be able to get her anything without asking her to buy it for herself... unless. "Sure. I'll wait out here."
"Kay, I'll be right back," She says and gives him a peck on the cheek before walking ahead.
Heisenberg was admirably still a bit curious though so he walked over to the man by the bucket who appeared to be around 80 years old. "so. you served?" he asked in English with an admittedly still thick accent.
"yessir," the man replies with a shivering tone as the cold was clearly bothering him.
"One or two?" Heisenberg asked.
"Ye're a hoot, Nah my paps was in two bless his soul but," he bobs his head, "I was towards the end of 'nam," the man replied. "Awful stuff. Nearly lost my leg. You?"
"Yeah..." he replied instead.
"kinda figured with the scars on yer face," the man replied as he motions to his own face. "what gotcha."
"shrapnel," he says simply leaving out the psycho witch and immortality part.
"awful stuff," the man says with some reverence in his tone.
"Yeah," he agrees once more. he couldn't exactly ignore that the man was staring at the money in his hands.
"Ye out doing some holiday shopping with yer lady friend?" the man asks with a laugh, he didn't seem to mind talking since it gave him something to do but he went back to ringing his bell to get people's attention.
Heisenberg looked between the forty dollars in his hand, the store, and the bucket. Dammit, all. He frowned and let go of the money over the bucket. "Was. Not any more. I'm flat broke."
"Well then you need this here more than I do," the man says as he was about to fish the money right back out and hand it to him.
"It's not mine anyways," Heisenberg says which caused the elderly man to pause and stare at him confused. a pickpocket donating to charity? "She's clever she would have figured out I didn't give it to you anyways." the metal lord reluctantly admits.
Ah. that made more sense. The old man nods and leans back in his chair, leaving the money be. "Well. Let me tell you a lil secret then. kept me married for 50 years bless Darla's soul for putting up with me for so long." he says and he goes back to ringing the blasted bell. "see women are sentimental creatures. spend a hundred bucks all ye want but they tenda prefer effort more than the price." "So if you're broke. Make somethin' outta nothin'."
Make something... huh. "Might be crazy enough to work."
"Now you see she'd say that too," the old man replied with a laugh.
Snow began to collect on Heisenberg's hat and shoulders as he stood outside and talked with the old man who was ringing a bell. it took longer than Charlotte said it would. a few minutes his ass. but she eventually came out of the store with a few bags.
She was a bit surprised to see him smiling and laughing while talking with the stranger but, it was good for him to get out and just interact with other people like this so it made her happy. "Well you seem like you're having a good time," Charlotte says as she makes her way over.
"Yeah, See now this guy makes sense," Karl says with a laughing smile.
"Yessir, now ma'am you feel free to drop him off any time ye're shoppin' I haven't had a good conversation like this in years," the elderly man says with a wide grin.
Oh gosh... And I did not need that visual reminder of how old you actually are... you're on the couch tonight. Charlotte looked between the two with a smile though her thoughts did not match. "Great, glad you made a friend, We should head out," she replied instead.
'*'*'*'*'
Oh there's no place like, working from hooome, for the holidays.
Cause no matter how far away you roam.
There always will be Wifi in some random place.
And your boss will hound you till you get back on.
Charlotte mentally modified the lyrics of the carol that she was listening to as she worked on another project from home. As much as she did enjoy her work. She also enjoyed being able to PUT IT DOWN for 5 minutes. "God damn year-end bull shit," she grumbles under her breath before reaching for the mug of hot chocolate that was sitting next to her computer.
She leaned back in her computer chair causing it to roll back enough for her to look out the window. the lights were still on in Heisenberg's mini-factory. "He's been spending a lot of time in there lately... more than usual... I wonder what he's up to..." she quietly whispered to herself as she sipped at her cup of hot chocolate.
Meanwhile, in the workshop, Heisenberg was listening to his newly acquired taste in music thanks to searching around on the internet for similar music to what the cleaning crew introduced him to before. It wasn't what he usually thought of when it came to music but. it was pretty good. He had a little less than two weeks to make a gift and he spent that whole time hard at work.
It didn't help that he spent the first few days stumped regarding what to make for her. He'd even tried looking up 'metal gifts' on google and as much as the 4th image result of a Penis keychain and the 5th result of a bucket amused him, he figured he should try a little harder than that. It took a while but he did eventually come up with an admittedly better idea than the surprising prolific number of phallic key chains that showed up with that search request.
While it was a better idea, it was a much more involved one that was eating away his time from doing testing. That was annoying to some degree but once he set his mind on an idea, there wasn't much that could detur him. he looked over the piece he was working on before blowing on it to get it to cool off and set. A bit of polish and it would be a finished gift. he smile at that thought and got to work.
Charlotte took another sip of her drink before looking back at the clock. it was getting late. she frowned at this as she remembered his request to not go to the factory until further notice. it was a bit concerning but. if he needed space, then he needed space. She finished up her drink and went down to the kitchen to put the mug in the dishwasher. hmm. she still wasn't great at cooking but. Tomorrow was Christmas... maybe she could try and make something for breakfast. She nods at that thought and starts turning out the lights so she could head to bed.
By the time Heisenberg finished working the house was dark. again. he frowned at that but made his way through the snow back into the home. He went back to his loft. changed into his nightclothes and looked over at his empty bed for a moment before heading back down the stairs. over to the other set of stairs that lead to charlottes loft. While they'd been together for the last 8, almost 9 months now, they'd both generally kept to their own space. She never really pushed for him to stay with her or anything like that, which he appreciated. The other loft was still his to use when he saw fit but the longer they were here the less he felt that he needed the space. It was weird to consider but this wasn't just about intimacy. he genuinely wanted to be around her just for the sake of being close to her. He didn't want to be separated. he wanted her to stick around. forever.
You'll have to watch her die. Slowly. Over the course of many decades. Knowing that no matter what you do, you can't stop it.
He rubbed at his tired eyes with his thumb and index finger for a moment as the words of Duke came to mind. Hopefully, he made the right choice... all the same, he crawled into bed and shifted to lay next to Charlotte so he could hold her close while he fell asleep.
He tried to sleep that is. morning arrived and rather than being woken up by the sound of an alarm clock he was greeted by the sound of the fire alarm and the smell of something burning. Karl jolted to sit up and look around Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. "Where in the hell," the question was cut short as his tired brain put two and two together when he heard a terrified yelp from downstairs.
He quickly got out of bed and hurried down the stairs to find Charlotte in the kitchen switching between trying to salvage something in a pan and waving a baking sheet at the fire alarm to try and get it to turn off. "What on earth are you doing you crazy dumbass?" he asks as he gives a wave of his hand to move the pan off the active burner then take the baking sheet and makes that wave in front of the fire alarm to get that to turn off.
Karl walks over and clicks a button on the hood of the stove to turn on the vent to try and clear some of the smoke.
"Good morning?" She says sheepishly with a nervous smile. "Happy holidays?"
a tired sigh escapes him as the fire alarm finally turned off. Now that the panicking had subsided he was able to get a better picture of what happened. Sitting in a hotbed of grease were a few very charred pieces of bacon and over on the table were a few dishes that held scorched scrambled eggs, some slightly burnt pancakes, and bacon that was absolutely burnt.
Now that he was sure there wasn't any imminent danger, aside from the threat of a future stomachache, the metal lord started to laugh. "Goddamn it," he says while pinching the bridge of his nose. Despite this, he was clearly amused. He did say she should try cooking more. Guess that meant he'd be stuck with the mess until she got decent at it.
"Well you don't have to be rude," Charlotte says with a frowning pout. She was at least trying.
He rolled his eyes at that before he moved to give her a kiss on the forehead, "Morning," he says before walking over to sit at the table. "Alright, let's see how you did."
Charlotte nods at that and brings over two mugs of coffee to set at each of the two-place settings and he cautiously moved food over to his plate to try it. It wasn't great, but, it wasn't awful either. a bit dry but the coffee helped it go down a bit easier. "It's not bad."
"Really?" she asked surprised as she didn't even want to eat it.
"Yeah, I mean you're still learning but it's not bad," he affirmed. he wasn't going to lie to her and say it was good. but. it wasn't bad.
She smiled a bit at that. she knew he was being nice, or at least trying so she accepted the gesture that he was at least eating the meal. He continued to munch on the meal while thinking things over. he wanted to give her the gift he made. now how to get her over to the couch...
"Do you want to watch a movie?" He asks after finishing another bite of the crunchy bacon.
the question was a bit surprising but not unusual. "sure, I was just going to get some work done after this." she admits. "I can put that off a bit though."
Heisenberg nods in return and finishes the last of the food on his plate before getting up. he helped clear the table before walking with her over to the living room area. she picked out a movie and got that started before snuggling up next to him on the couch.
"I got you something," he admits which caused her to look at him confused.
"you did?" she asks to voice her confusion. how did he get her anything? he didn't have money...
"yep," he says and gives a wave of his hand. He'd hidden the gift under the couch before heading to bed. out came a slab of metal and 32 unique little pieces. the metal sheet was placed on the coffee table and the pieces rested on top assembling a set and ready-to-use chessboard.
See, if there was one thing that was more prolific than the keychains on that search result, it was the number and variety of different flowers made of metal. While the one side had pieces with various flowers on top to differentiate them, the other was plainly Heisenberg themed with gears and horse imagery making up the ranks of various pieces.
"Where did you, how did," She picked up one of the pieces to look it over before looking to Heisenberg. "Did you make this?" she asks stunned.
"Yep," he said proudly as he relaxed into the couch with a content smile. "You like it?"
This was the sweetest thing. "I love it," She says with a happy smile as she moved to kiss him and the movie was wholeheartedly ignored by the two of them.
'*'*'*'*'
Things continued to go well for them as the new year began. January started and moved along quickly. They'd continue their usual routine. Charlotte would go to work and keep up appearances while they waited for news on the green card and Heisenberg would sneak around in his little layer working on odd and end experiments. ones that he wouldn't have been able to get away with if charlotte knew. It was probably for the better she didn't know. she never really did understand the full extent of his work back in the village and it should probably stay that way.
For now, they were happy and content. It was a late Sunday evening and the two were cuddled together on the couch. Charlotte was looking over the floating chessboard to think of her next move while Heisenberg was practicing reading in English. Which meant he was struggling to read a book that most 5th graders could handle easily but he was far too proud to admit that. This Lemoney Snicket guy was a real messed up shit though if he was reading this right.
"Your move," Charlotte says which causes the man to look up from his reading. He studied the board before having a piece move on its own. Charlotte smiled contently at the board. "we should probably call it a night soon. we need to go into the office tomorrow."
"We?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes you have to come with," Charlotte confirmed. "The lawyer apparently has good news."
"Well, that's a relief," he says though he clearly wasn't overly interested.
"Good news means we're almost done," she points out in return.
"Fine. I'll behave but if he asks me for my birthday for the hundredth time I will be throwing the nearest piece of metal at him," Heisenberg reluctantly agrees with the included caveat.
"Karl," making the silent request for him not to do that.
He rolled his eyes at that and closed the book. "Fine."
"Thank you," she replied and gives him a peck on the check. "Let's get some rest."
"Alright," he agrees and moves to put the chessboard and book down so the two could head up to her... their? room and get some sleep.
The next morning arrives and the routines continued. Wake up. eat breakfast. cereal usually unless he wanted to eat something burnt. Get dressed and make the hour-long commute into the city. The only benefit he really saw to these drives was the chance to scope out any potential test subjects along the roads near the house.
"Madam Director, Mister Heisenberg, good to see you," the lawyer says with an oddly please smile. why did he seem smug?
Charlotte hesitantly closed the door to the office and took a seat. maybe she shouldn't have told Karl that he wasn't allowed to throw things...
"I understand you have good news?" Charlotte asks curiously as Heisenberg takes his seat as well.
"I do, our long journey is just about done," he says with a nod. "I've gotten everything set up and they're willing to start the approval process to provide the green card. we just need one last piece of information."
"Which is?" Charlotte asks curiously while Heisenberg debates going against what charlotte asked if the man says, 'his birthday'.
"The wedding date," the lawyer replied as his smile remained, as he knew he'd likely caught the two in a lie given how convenient their engagement announcement in his office was before and given how that lovely important detail had not shown up since.
"Huh," Charlotte asks as her brain flat-lined.
"The wedding date. You do have one picked correct?" the lawyer asks with mock curiosity. "Naturally with this happy occasion there is some stipulation for giving out the green card that you'll need to provide the marriage certificate within a certain time period after the specified date and then the approval will start."
And cue the internal screaming and panicking. How the hell did she overlook that detail... of course they'd want a marriage certificate to confirm there actually was a wedding and or an engagement.
"It's a lovely ring by the way," the lawyer said while smiling though it just sounded like the loudest 'Fuck you'.
"Thanks," Charlotte says while still internally panicking. "Um, so we haven't really picked on yet. We're still looking over our options."
"Well you're going to have to or I can't finish this process." the lawyer says in return. "It will take about 2 months to receive the green card once I have the marriage certificate."
Oh gosh. she was either going to have to bite the bullet or take a major hit on this one. acknowledging there was never an engagement would lose major ground in her rebellion of sorts. It was probably the only thing keeping her dad from pushing for an arranged marriage at this point. "Right... we'll get back to you on that."
"Of course, take your time. Though just know that they'll likely reject the request if they don't hear back in the next few weeks and we'll have to start all over again." The lawyer points out still as relaxed as ever.
"Definitely not necessary. we'll get back to you on that," Charlotte says with a now very nervous smile.
"Alright, well, have a good day then you two," the lawyer replies, "There's nothing further for us to discuss at this point."
Charlotte left with Heisenberg who stayed in her office with her the rest of the day watching with curious silence as she pace around fidget while trying to think of a plan. Had she not been panicking so badly his unusual silence on the subject would have struck her as odd much quicker. then it actually did.
It wasn't until the two were home and had just finished dinner that the two acknowledged the elephant in a wedding veil that had been following them all day.
"What the hell are we going to do..." Charlotte said while staring at her empty plate as she finally verbalized her panicking now that they were safely alone.
once more Heisenberg was quiet as he thought over his words for once before speaking. "Why are you panicking?"
"Why are you not?" Charlotte asks surprised as she moved to get up pick up her plate. "This is not what we talked about. Hell, we didn't really even talk about it much," she says as she starts to head to the sink to clean up.
"What's there to talk about?" Karl asks in return as he remains at his seat with a half-eaten plate of food that he'd been slowly picking at while Charlotte had devoured her meal quickly thanks to stress eating.
"Exactly," she replies which just confused the poor man further. "What was there to talk about? Weddings and marriage, all that garbage require a conversation. It's a big deal." she points out as she puts the dish into the dishwasher.
Is it though? the man thought as he listened to her speak what was on her mind.
Charlotte moves to lean against the counter so she was facing Heisenberg now that the plate was taken care of. "You said, 'Let's pretend to get hitched' it's what we were both thinking and it's what we both agreed to. That was all the conversation needed because It was supposed to be an act," Charlotte adds which causes the man to wince a bit. she kinda had a point. they never really talked about it aside from joking about how it was ridiculous... "We are going to get into a lot of trouble if they suspect fraud..." she adds as she moves to hold her face.
He sipped at his drink before hesitantly speaking. "Okay... solution. What if it isn't," he says before sipping at the drink again. he could pretend she was just hearing things that way.
That quickly got her attention once more. "What if it isn't what..." she asks confused while looking at him. what was he suggesting here exactly?
Shakes his head as his expression turns grumpier, "never mind." He says while looking away to avoid eye contact. Clearly he was being an idiot.
"No, not never mind," She counters while still watching him for any sort of break that would show that he was pulling her leg. "Are you serious?"
"Well," he takes a breath before speaking his own peace. "What exactly would be different?" He asks in return before continuing to ramble. "It's not like either of us are waiting for marriage or anything. We already live together. I'm not planning on going anywhere so long as you're not planning on throwing me out and you're already wearing a ring as if we were going to anyways so." he shrugs, "I don't see the problem."
That explanation certainly got her to shut up. she thought it over for an agonizing minute before speaking.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" She asks confused. Granted he made a valid point but, this whole journey they've been through was about freedom. The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel trapped.
"Of course I'm sure." He replies as he shifts to get up. "Where else am I going to find another... god, what was that word you used before? Back at the village, it had a good ring to it." He says as he walks over. "started with an M... Megalomaniac. that the one." he remembers which caused her to chuckle as he moves to put his arms around her waist and loosely hold her. "Where else am I going to find another megalomaniac that can put up with me."
"Seriously?" she askes in return with a hesitant but amused smile as she returned the loose hold by putting her arms around his neck. Leave it to him to find a way to propose while being vaguely insulting at the same time. and she was still going to say yes. God damn it.
"What? I can barely put up with me," He jokingly says as the two gently sway while holding each other.
"Well I guess we're doing this then," she says sheepishly. Oh gosh, they were actually doing this... "Um. Well, we have a couple of options. Either plan something out take another year doing that or just get this over with and move on with our lives."
"Why in the hell would that take a year to plan?" He asks stunned as he was more used to the village where people just kinda said they were going to get married and did a week later. "I'm liking the second option."
"Honestly same," Charlotte admits with a laugh. another pause in the conversation ensued though it was much more comfortable than before. "Do you want to take a road trip?" she asks with a smile.
"I thought you'd never ask," he says while smirking before giving her a kiss.
'*'*'*'*'
Plans were made and a date was set. They finished up the week before packing up Charlotte's car and spent the next 7 days driving across the country. Well. Charlotte drove them across the country with Heisenberg repeating instructions the GPS already said. It was a little bit like their old supply runs. They could have stayed anywhere but once they got tired they'd find the first cheap motel that popped up to rest. After driving for those 7 days with plenty of stops for tourist traps along the way, they found themselves in the middle of a city in the Nevada desert, known as Los Vegas.
If you're gonna get hitched quick, without any questions asked. That was the place to go.
"Did you have to bring that with you?" Heisenberg asks unamused as he gestures to the glass container containing Moreau's pearl which Charlotte was contently carrying as they made their way down the vegas strip.
"Yep," She says in return without any further room for him to argue. "What about that one?" she says as she gestures to a building labeled 'wedding and walk'.
"Oh god, it's pink," he says while trying not to look as disgusted by the building as he inevitably did.
"Most of them are going to be," she replies with a laugh.
"Can we find one that's not?" he requests with a pleading wince. He had one request in all this that was going to stand if the pearl had to come with. Not. PINK.
"Fine," She agreed, it's not like that was anything she really cared about. They were all going to be cheap and cheesy as hell.
They eventually found a building that wasn't too over the top that the metal lord was willing to agree to set foot in.
"Hi welcome, how can I help you guys," asks a woman in a flower crown and a light blue lace dress that stopped at her knees, showing lovely decorated flip flops.
"Awesome. congrats, you look great. Um, will you be needing just an officiator? Did you want to do rentals or are you guys fine how you are?"
"Fine how we are," Heisenberg says rather quickly. Nope, no nope, he was not wearing some sweaty suit that 20 other guys wore just today. nope.
"and do you already have rings?" the woman asks while poking at the screen of a register.
"Um," Charlotte frowned.
"yep," Heisenberg replies which causes her to look at him surprised. he shrugs "I had a few days,"
She chuckles at that and shakes her head. "Were fine then. Just the officiator."
"Okay, then your total comes to $125," the woman says and gestures to the pin pad. Charlotte pays and the woman nods. "okay I'll just need you to come with me then you'll be in chapel 3."
The process was simple and painless. The room was cheesy and cheaply decorated but, in the end, that wasn't really the part that was important. Vows were exchanged, documents signed and in the place of the false engagement ring she wore before was a ring made of neatly woven metal. No gems, no crystals. just a sentiment made by hand.
"I now pronounce you man and wife," the officiator says and the two kissed and finished up the nuptials before hurrying out of the building. They had work to do.
So yeah X'D charlotte is not doing okay. she needs a nap and a fluffy blanket and a cookie but even that is probably not going to be enough to repair the moral decay that's already occurred. like Heisenberg said she did not escape the village sparking clean and pure of heart. Is she gonna recover, is she gonna get worse, or is she going to stay in her little gray area between the two? let me know what you guys want to see cause I can see this going a lot of different ways and I'm fine with exploring the popular option. x'D until then who's ready for a heist?
For those that prefer anonymity, I have created a link just take out the spaces and add the com. I'd use the FF poll system but it doesn't seem to work that well tbh.
straw poll. /2u9e3c9ou
Fun little aside. the only other time that the phrase 'I thought you'd never ask' was used was when Charlotte was answering Heisenberg's request regarding if she wanted to pretend to get married. I can already sense some may be less than thrilled people with the idea of a vegas wedding but let me ask you. who would they invite to a regular one? and do you really want me to pad this out for 7 chapters of picking table cloth colors?
Review Responses:
nadillaandlaprasthefireandice - Yep Duke is a shady dude. doesn't like to stick around unless he has to be there or theirs a deal to be made. I'm so glad to hear that you liked the trial stuff ovq I was super worried that it would just be well. boring. so that makes me happy u and yuhs~ daddy dearest will be meeting hobo magneto soon I assure you. Maybe not for the best of reasons too.
Charadrius - yeah the last few chapters were definitely a ride. hopefully, the light-heartedness of this chapter was a decent break while making some okay plot progress at the same time lol. looking forward to hearing your thoughts because I am very nervous about this one not going to lie.
Scary Berry - it's true she's got her eyes locked on him as a useful tool. can't say what she will and won't do. as always thanks so much for pointing those out. I'm working on going back and doing a full scrub of the chapters to try and fix as much as possible and it helps a ton.
Black Moons Daughter - yeah lol I had to give charlotte at least one win after losing the war with trying to save the village. Charlotte is definitely up to some sneaky planning. assuming I'm not rewriting the wedding we'll be seeing that plan unfold soon. cause we need the green card X'D