A/N: I'd like to thank a few people on the CB board for giving me some feedback on this story. Now if only the rest of you would do so on HERE. -.-
Chapter Four
Charlie woke up the next morning with a start. He looked down to see Asa sleeping peacefully on the floor next to his bed. "So it wasn't a dream. He's here, and I have to help him."
He sighed and got out of bed. "Just my luck, I get to take of the one bloke who is more likely to kill me as soon as look at me."
Asa moved on the mat Charlie had made for him. He turned over onto his stomach and mumbled, still in dream land. "Messy haired…blonde…freak…I want to bite you." He grinned and bit the pillow, slobbering on it as he seemed to be chewing on it.
Charlie made a face at the boy on the floor. He wanted to eat Morgan? He kicked Asa in the ribcage to make him stop chewing on his pillow. Asa gave a halfhearted yelp of pain and curled up on the ground. Panting, he looked up at Charlie blearily. "You… Bone… what…?"
Charlie rolled his eyes and went about getting dressed. "I'm taking you to Fidelio's home. If you so much as tell the Bloors what we're going to do that will HELP you, I'll set Morgan on you. She's been wanting a chance to beat you senseless."
Asa blinked up at Charlie. "Morgan… wants… me?"
Charlie raised an eyebrow at Asa. "Yeah, for breakfast."
"I'd like to have breakfast," said Asa, smiling blearily at Charlie.
Charlie felt like he was in a theatrical comedy. "We'll get breakfast; just get dressed in something other than your school uniform. Your trunk is right there next to mine."
"Your trunk is mine?"
Charlie really felt like tossing Asa at Morgan right then and there. He walked over to Asa's trunk and randomly pulled out a shirt, a pair of jeans, and underwear and socks. Then, he slammed the trunk closed and tossed the things at Asa. "Now, get dressed."
Charlie walked out without another word, having lost his patience quickly. He walked down to the kitchen where Maisie was fixing breakfast. "When are your friends going to be here?" asked his mother.
"Not too long from now," he said as she dove into his eggs and sausage. There was a thump as someone seemed to be attempting to use the stairs. Charlie's mother walked out of the kitchen and gasped. Charlie rubbed his head, knowing exactly who was coming down.
"Are you all right? You took a pretty bad fall," said his mother. Her voice was getting closer to the door. She opened it and Asa walked in wearing a black T-shirt and jeans.
Not long after breakfast, which Asa had wolfed down despite the fact he clearly had little to no brain activity, there was a phone call. Charlie heard Fidelio on the other side and grinned. "We'll be over in a little while. Mum is driving."
Then, there was a knock at the door. Charlie opened the door to see Morgan standing there with her hair in pigtails and wearing a skirt that went just above her knees. Charlie let her in as Asa came walking out of the kitchen. "Friend?" he said in a faraway voice.
Charlie only looked to Asa when there was some sort of flicker in Asa's eyes and a flash of a toothy grin before Asa practically launched himself at Morgan. Charlie was thrown out of the way by Morgan as Asa landed on her, both tumbling to the floor. He had her arms pinned above her head and he was biting her on the neck. "Ah! Get off of me!"
Charlie grabbed Asa's shirt collar and pulled back on him, pulling Asa off of Morgan by default of choking hazard. Morgan scooted as far away from Asa as she could manage, holding her neck as she stared at him, eyes wide in fear. There was no blood, or any damage for that matter, but it had surprised her. He had been almost gentle, in fact!
Asa once again went out of it, sinking against the couch in a sort of stupor as he stared into space. Charlie ran over to Morgan and pulled at her hand. "Here, let me look," he said as Maisie came running in with a frying pan.
"What's he done!" Maisie gasped, looking to the terrified Morgan and the concerned Charlie.
"He tackled her and started biting her neck!" said Charlie.
Morgan went red and pulled away from Charlie. "I'm fine! Leave me alone!"
Maisie let out a grunt of indignation. "How dare he; the wretch! He should be gentler to girls!" She threw her hands up in frustration and walked back into the kitchen.
The doorbell rang not long after that and Fidelio was at the door. They piled into the car, Asa being stuffed, more like, and then were off to the Gunn house. The house wasn't as noisy as it usually was when Fidelio's brothers and sisters were there. Instead, the only people there were Fidelio, Mrs. Gunn, Morgan, Emma and Asa.
"I've made some tea with that special herb you gave me, Charlie. And I also chopped up some of it for a bath, like I did for you Uncle." She smiled brightly at him as she almost sang what she was saying to him. "I hope your friend feels better soon. He looks like he's getting worse."
Charlie frowned and looked to a very pale Asa. She was right. He looked like he was turning white, which meant his powers were going away quickly. Charlie looked to his friends. "We have to get him up to the bath. Anyone want to do it? I've rather had my fill of dealing with him for one day."
Fidelio frowned. "He's too big for me and Emma's a girl, so she couldn't help him."
"What? And I'm not? Thanks a lot, Fido," grunted Morgan.
Fidelio gave her a sheepish smile. "No offense, but you are able to deal with him normally, right?"
Morgan went bright red. "Eeeh."
"He attacked Morgan earlier—"
"I'll do it." Morgan interrupted Charlie, walking over to Asa quickly before there could be any argument. She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled him up the stairs. "Up here, right, Ma'am?" she called from the stairwell.
"Yes!" yelled Mrs. Gunn from the kitchen as she popped her head out.
Charlie ran up behind Morgan. "You forgot these, Morgan." However, she didn't seem to have a hand available, so he walked behind her to the bathroom and set the teacup and bowl of minced vervain. After seeing Morgan was all right putting Asa on the toilet seat, he ran down the stairs where his friends were watching TV.
Morgan, however, got to undress Asa. She decided turning on the bath was a better plan than dwelling on trying to undress her arch nemesis. As she was filling the tub, she spread the vervain in the water, letting it soak into the water, turning it a sort of green color.
She felt a hand touch her hair and looked over to see Asa awake again, though there didn't seem to be much going on in his head. "Asa? Pike, you need to undress yourself and get into the tub. Can you do that on your own? Oh, you need to drink this as well."
Asa gazed at her with those vacant yellow eyes. She bit her lip as she looked around desperately. The bath filled up and the steam from it made her somewhat dizzy. She looked to Asa once again and pulled off his clothes carefully, thankful there wasn't much to pull off, at least. She tried to keep her gaze away from Asa's male body parts as she helped him into the water.
The fact that the water was clear didn't help her peace of mind either. She took the teacup and sat down on the edge of the bath, helping Asa drink the concoction. However, when it was gone, she felt tired; heaviness was spreading through the air. This was true magic.
She didn't care that she was sliding slowly against the wall of the shower. All she saw was fading images as everything went black.
Charlie woke up, yawning and stretching. It had happened again. The vervain had done its work and made everyone fall asleep at the same time. He looked to Emma lying against him with her hair covering part of her face. He blushed faintly and pulled her hair from her face as she stirred. "Mmmm, Charlie? Did it work?" she mumbled as she sat up and yawned.
"I… don't know." He looked to the stairwell and contemplated going up to check for himself. However, the prospect of seeing Asa naked wasn't something he was thrilled to see.
Fidelio gave a snort and sat up from the floor. "Charlie? Em? Is it done?"
"Don't know," said Emma.
Morgan felt cool water all over her arm. In fact, she felt cool water in her hair as well as her arm in it. She felt someone shifting against her side, like someone's head. She frowned as she slowly woke up. Strange smelling water filled her senses as he head went further into the water. She was slipping from her perch, right into the water!
Water was all around her, her clothes were wet and she couldn't breathe much less move on her own. A pair of arms wrapped around her and lifted her up out of the water, air coming back into her lungs as she gasped.
"Are you all right, MacGregor?" said a familiar voice. She coughed as she tried to pull her bangs from her face. A hand helped her, a very warm hand, though wet, and pulled her hair from her mouth and face for her. She saw yellow eyes and wet red hair. Asa Pike was grinning at her oddly.
She felt her cheeks heat as she dumbly tried to move away from him, but found she was still in the tub with him. Then, that realization hit her. She was in the tub… with HIM.
She scrambled to get out of the tub, but only managed to make Asa laugh. "I've got you, MacGregor. I don't think I'll let you go now. I feel very good now and think playing with you would make me feel even better."
She dug her nails into her palm and watched Asa's face screw up in pain. He clenched his teeth and growled. "Stop that, I'm not doing anything indecent to you, brat, so stop!"
She stopped, his arms were still around her own, pinning them to her sides. Her body was pressed against him in a most disconcerting fashion, as well. Thankfully, there was a knock on the door and Asa let go of Morgan. It was either that, or he would be dragged out by her.
"Morgan, is everything all right?" asked Charlie from the other side of the door.
"Yes, everything is all right. I slipped into the tub is all. I'm wet, so you might want to leave. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Charlie raised an eyebrow and looked at the door. She slipped into the tub? With Asa? The thought made him blush, so he dismissed it as anything intentional. Hopefully, Asa wasn't awake yet. The poor girl would never hear the end of it.
Unfortunately, for Morgan, he was awake, very much so, in fact. Moran dried herself off quickly and threw the towel at him. "Get dressed and come down, Pike. And be nice to Mrs. Gunn, or I'll turn you inside out," she grunted. Then, she left hurriedly, blushing madly.
Morgan told the others what had happened, though leaving out the fact that she had somewhat enjoyed it, and sat down in a chair that wouldn't soak up water so much. She looked up the stairs in time to see Asa walking down in that tight black T-shirt and jeans. His hair seemed to be clean, as well. Had he done a bit of scrubbing before coming down?
Mrs. Gunn walked in, smiling brightly as usual. "Oh my, you are rather handsome, aren't you? We're about to have lunch. All of you have a seat, I'll bring it out in a little bit," she said before turning back into the kitchen.
Morgan was blushing so horribly, she could have made the room heat up just from being in it. As they sat down, Charlie noticed how Asa seemed a little more together than usual. In fact, he was positively glowing, much like Uncle Paton had been like when he'd emerged from the bathroom.
"This doesn't mean we're friends," said Charlie as he glared at the boy. "It just means we don't drop to your level when dealing with you."
Asa shrugged. Morgan glared at him. "Are you going to tell the Bloors about all this?"
Asa shot her a look that made electricity go through her. "No."
Morgan's heart was thumping hard in her chest as she looked at him with wide eyes. Fidelio gave a sheepish grin. "You know, I really don't like the smell of that stuff. I'm glad we don't use it more often." Emma patted Fidelio on the shoulder at his attempt to diffuse the situation.
Not long after eating, Asa was on his way, walking instead of letting Mrs. Gunn take him home. He told her that he needed to think and that he didn't live very far away, so walking was fine for him. Then, Charlie said goodbye to Fidelio and Emma and walked home with Morgan.
"Do you think he'll tell?" asked Morgan as she looked to her own house.
"You're asking me?" Charlie raised his eyebrows at her. He shook his head. "I haven't the foggiest idea if he will or not."
Morgan nodded and said goodbye to Charlie before walking into her own home, leaving Charlie to go inside his home to tell Maisie about the entire event.
