Italics indicate character thought.
Author Note: I'm back! I'm so sorry but I've had all this stuff in my life lately and writing has sadly been put on the back burner. A special thank you to Chasity for caring enough to email. It meant the world. I promise though, come hell or high water or both, that I will finish this one way or another!
"Well what does Beau say?" Rachel was in Raleigh for the weekend and she thought hard before answering Fulton's question. She snuggled against him on the couch and yawned. He covered her mouth playfully as he yawned too. "Stop it. It's contagious."
Pushing his hand away she thought about her friend. "Beau says that she's written her last letter and that she doesn't have any more to give and she doesn't know what to do." She rolled her eyes. "I wish she would just call him."
Fulton laughed, flipping through the channels absently. "Beau? Yeah right. She's the most stubborn person I know." He seemed to think about the statement. "Well, except for Charlie."
Rachel grabbed the remote and went back two channels to what Fulton would later call 'some stupid reality piece of crap.' "Those two are so meant to be together."
Fulton's voice was filled with ironic mocking. "It's a good thing we get that."
Beau let out a big sigh when the phone rang. For the past week it had shrilled at approximately the same time every night and every time she answered, nothing. No talking, no prank call, no heavy breathing. Just nothing. She was getting tired of it. It kind of freaked her out. You always heard those urban legends of the guy who called the house to see if anyone was home and then when there wasn't, he robbed the house or snuck in to wait. Not that Beau was really worried. Who was going to hide out in the black hole that was Cole's room? Or the sewer that was their kitchen when her or Guy didn't clean it?
She was just growing very tired of the distraction to her work and her life. Why don't you just stop answering it, Beau? She laughed at her own question. She knew the answer. Because the ringing is more of a distraction than just answering the damn thing. Shaking her head she cleared her annoyed thoughts and answered the phone, expecting to hear silence.
"Hello?" Nothing. She sighed again. "Alright look, Mystery Man." She paced her room, imaging what the person on the other end must look like. As she talked her hands flailed wildly. "I appreciate that you are lonely or desperate or whatever. Here's the thing though." She picked up dirty clothes from around her floor, tossing them absently at the hamper. "I work this time of night. Every night. And every night you bother me. Please quit bothering me." She said it matter-of-factly, wiping some dust from the top of a picture frame. "So, my friend, without further ado, I say good-bye." She put a touch of British in her voice. "Good by forever, dahling." Just as she was about to slam the receiver down on the base a sound emitted from the earpiece. A cough – a single noise that was so generic, so without a personality attached. And yet she recognized it. It was a voice she had heard so many times – in person, in her head, in her dreams. She couldn't believe it. Her stomach lurched and she had to sit down, breathing hard, her hand fisted in the quilt that covered her bed. She spoke tentatively, afraid to believe what she knew to be the truth. That she knew the person on the other end of the phone. "Charlie?"
Oh shit. Charlie looked around his hotel suite, frantically trying to figure out what to do. One cough and it threatened to change everything. He wasn't ready to talk to her yet. He had no idea what he wanted to say. Can you tell someone you loved them when you had ignored them for so long? No. It would sound trite. It wouldn't be believable.
He had been calling for a week, always as he was alone in his room, letting her voice be the solace at the end of his day. No one knew. Not Adam, not Guy, and certainly not Beau – until now. Her voice had been enough. Now that she guessed…Did she really know him well enough to tell from one little cough? Who are you kidding, Conway? Of course she does. She knew everything there was to know about you. What do I do?
Her voice again, "Charlie?" stirred him out of his panic but still he said nothing. He knew what he wanted to say, to scream, but he couldn't get it out. Not yet. He heard her sniff on the other end of the line, apparently believing that it really was him. The soft sound of her voice, filled with disbelief, almost undid him. But he dared not speak. He moved to the window, looking out into the dark night, imaging her doing the exact same thing.
Beau felt a tentative tear of excitement slide down her cheek and sniffed as she moved to look out her dark window, her forehead pressed against the cool glass. She needed the contact to bring her back down to earth. Could it really be him? She wanted to believe it – so desperately - but was afraid. When she spoke his name again it was filled with hope and fear wrapped into one confusing emotion.
"Charlie?" Her idealistic mind, which had hoped for this for months, chose to believe that because he didn't hang up it was an affirmation of his identity. It was Charlie. She was finally talking to him after all this time. She didn't know where to start.
"Charlie…has it been you? All these nights?" She didn't get a response and part of her was glad that no one spoke up to say that no, he wasn't Charlie, he was just some maniac calling her. She continued. "I should probably hang up but…" she hesitated, afraid to lay herself on the line. If it was Charlie she would seem desperate, pathetic. So what? You want him back, do what you have to do. She nodded at her own resolve, repeating her last statement. "I should probably hang up but I've been hoping it was you every time that I picked up the phone since I sent you my last letter. Did you get it? I hope that you did. I was so stupid. So stupid to think that…" She stopped, unsure about saying it all out loud.
"It's so hard to put yourself out there, I think you know that, Conway. I…" She thought about how to phrase it. "I said what I wanted to say to you in my letter and I'm assuming that if you're calling me, something in that letter struck a cord with you and that…" She smiled, sniffing again. "Charlie, if this is really you than I am so happy right now."
Hearing her talk, Charlie couldn't help but smile. After deciding not to reiterate her feelings from the letter, Beau had launched into filling him in on what was going on in her life. She talked as if he was engaging her, asking her questions and responding like a normal person. But no, he continued to sit in silence, like some kind of perverse peeping tom, just listening. She had been talking for nearly an hour and he took in every single word like it was the last that he might hear.
"You wouldn't believe the books. I don't know if you've seen them but," back in her room, Beau picked up a copy with the Charlie character on the cover. "Cooper looks just like you. It's eerie. In a good way though. I'm so proud of how they've all turned out. Have you seen them? I hope so. I've always hoped you've been getting the copies that have been sent to everyone on the team." She looked down at her watch and sighed. It was late, very late, and even with the excitement of thinking, no knowing, that Charlie was somewhere listening to her, her eyes were starting to droop. "Okay, Conway. I know I might regret this later but…I need to go. It's late and I need sleep. Please call back." She realized she said it with a hint of desperation, but she didn't care. "I would really love it if you called back. I…"
Beau had been going to say 'I love you' and both she and Charlie knew it. Charlie wanted her to, more than anything he had wanted in a long time. He had heard those words so many times in his daydreams that he couldn't stand hearing her stop just on the cusp.
She couldn't do it. Couldn't say she loved him. How clichéd after all this time. There was so much else to be said first. She smiled despondently and touched the phone, wishing it was his face. "I miss you, Charlie." She paused, hoping so hard it hurt that he would respond. When he didn't after a long beat she whispered, "Good night."
antiIrony: Any suggestions for the Guy/Connie fic? I'm struggling a little, but I know I want to continue on the theme of Guy teaching, etc.
BellaLou: I have no new ways to say how much I appreciate your reviews! Looks like you guess right on the phone! And I lived with a few guys before and they drove me nuts, but I loved every minute. I liked that aspect of Beau as well!
Duckfluff: Thrilled to know I've superceded your email. Sorry I've been so long in updating!
Flyinghawk: Thanks for the Casey shout out. I really liked writing her and think we might revisit her again if I can find a way.
Bankiesbaybee: thanks! Hey, I've been reading your recent story. AWESOME. Stripped of My Innocence. Everyone should read it!
Sinbin05: Oh, don't challenge me to make you not love something. I'll try! I love a challenge! Hahah j/k BUT – Thanks for the compliments. I love Cole too. I want a Cole and a Guy in my life!
sween: Never fear, here it is. Sorry for the delay!
Joank: That is the most flattering thing every. Would you really waste the paper? WOW. All I can say is thank you thank you thank you!