"She's always been so skinny, I'm glad you girls got a little more weight on her. I see that little booty!" Miss Bolton said as she placed some fresh baked cookies on the table, earning laughter from the two women and an embarrassed chuckle from Charlotte.

"It's not easy, she works out obsessively. She already has abs, what more does she want?!" Tatiana responded as she took one of the cookies.

"Hey! The gym and my squats are the reason why I have this booty!" Charlotte defended herself and laughed a little. They all sat at the round table in her kitchen and it felt so nice to be back there. She kept in contact with her mom over the years, making FaceTime calls and constant texts, but it was nothing like seeing her in person and being back in her old home. At a glance or without looking closely, many people would think that Diana Bolton hadn't aged at all over the years but just like she knew her daughter, Charlotte knew her mother. She could see the faint wrinkles on her forehead and the laugh lines around her mouth. She still looked amazing though with her natural black hair tied back into a bun and very natural and minimal makeup on her face. She wore jeans and a simple blue shirt, different from the scrubs she usually always saw her in. Her mother was a nurse who worked long hours. It gave her the perfect excuse to spend late hours in the Man Cave without her mother noticing, and had her often spending time after school at the Hart resistance because the silence in the large house made her anxious as a teenager.

The Hart residence. She bit down on the corner of her bottom lip as she glanced out of the kitchen window. It was a second home to her when she was younger but now it filled her with anxiety and questions. Did they want to see her too? How have they been? Was he there? It was just down the street and always in such easy access to her, but she wondered if she should even step foot there during her time in Swellview. She turned her attention back to her mother and her friends, who were now looking at old pictures of her and enjoying the memories that her mother shared with each of them. Birthdays, spelling bees, after school events, even her short stint as a model which was just incredibly embarrassing for her.

"This is when they straightened her hair. Look at how cute and older she looks!" her mother exclaimed as she showed them a picture of her in a jean jacket with a plaid top underneath, her hair straight and to her shoulders as she gave the camera a slight smirk. It was a picture she absolutely hated.

"Oh my God, you look like a tough little babysitter!" Jasmine cooed while Tatiana laughed loudly.

"Yeah, I totally would've bullied you when I was younger. You were so scrawny! Thank God, you grew into that face and those big bug eyes!" Tati added and Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Okay, the trip down memory lane is over! Don't y'all have to unpack your things?" she asked with a glare. Jasmine chuckled and nodded as she stood up from the table.

"We get the hint. Thank you for the cookies, Miss Bolton. We'll be upstairs."

"But I want to laugh at more pictures!" Tati whined as Jasmine grabbed her arm and pulled her up then led her upstairs. They were already shown their rooms and had their bags in there so they knew where to go. Charlotte shook her head and stood up, taking the empty cups and plates over to the sink to wash them.

"So," her mother began as she joined her by the sink, "you have a gorgeous ring on your finger and you told me a little about this guy that you're going to be marrying. Why isn't he here with you? I was looking forward to meeting him in person." The young woman quickly grew tense and she glanced down at her left hand. She completely forgot she still had that ring on. She should've taken it off and thrown it at him when she caught him. She never liked the ring anyway, it was so big and flashy, which is something she never was. Her mother noticed how tense her daughter became and quickly put two and two together. Charlotte got her smarts from her after all.

"What did he do?" she asked with narrowed eyes. Charlotte turned off the faucet and grabbed a kitchen towel to dry her hands quickly.

"N-nothing! He actually went to visit extended family in Colombia so he couldn't come with me. But he sends his love!" she said with a forced smile but Diana wasn't buying it.

"Charlotte, you came here crying and without a fiancé on your arm. You two got engaged in May, you should be inseparable. What happened?" she inquired with a voice that was stern yet somehow still soft. The younger woman sighed heavily. She hated lying to her mom, even after years of doing so. She gestured for her to follow and she made her way over to the couch. They had so many serious talks on this couch. Charlotte could still remember when she was twelve and her mother told her that she was divorcing her dad. Most children would be devastated by that news but Charlotte was much different, she knew this was actually good news. Michael Page was a large and daunting man with a drinking problem that made him violent, especially towards her mother. She could hear the screams, the yelling, the begging, and she could see the scars and the bruises. She hated that she had that man's last name so badly that she often refused to tell anyone what her last name was for a few years. That resulted in people thinking she shared her mother's maiden name Bolton or had no last name like Cher (as well as Ray thinking her last name was Sweb). It took a lot of self-reflection and talks with the school counselor until she became a little more comfortable with her family and her name. As they sat on the couch, she sighed and rubbed her knees anxiously.

"So, uh…when we were on the way here, I stopped by Eddy's place to say goodbye and…I caught him with another woman," she confessed and refused to look at her mother.

"Oh, baby…" she said sympathetically and rubbed her daughter's arm. "I'm so sorry, you must be devastated!" She pulled her into a tight and comforting hug as the young woman remained silent. She was angry and humiliated and she was a little hurt. But devastated? She wasn't so sure about that. And she found it so weird that after being with Eduardo for four years, she wasn't devastated by him cheating. But that would be a long talk that she just wasn't ready to have yet.

"It sucked," she said honestly. "Four years and it's over because he was angry that I wouldn't go to Colombia with him." She sighed and pulled away from the hug, playing with the hem of her shirt as she refused to meet her mother's eyes.

"Men can be selfish bastards sometimes," she sighed and rubbed her daughter's knee. "Will you return the ring when you go back?"

"I don't know," the younger said with a sigh, "I'm still processing everything and thinking it all over, but most likely. I know the relationship is done because I don't tolerate being cheated on. My mom taught me better than that." She grinned as she finally looked at her mother who sported the same grin, but it was more prideful.

"You're damn right I did!" she boasted with a laugh. The two of them laughed and held hands, Diana squeezing her daughter's hand gently. She missed this. She missed having her daughter with her and having talks like this. A part of her wished that she'd return to Swellview after she graduated from college but she seemed to enjoy being in California more so she forgot about that hope.

"So, how are Henry and Jasper?" The question made Charlotte's eyes double in size slightly before she quickly looked away and tried to calm her suddenly rapid heartbeat down.

"Um…huh?"

"Henry and Jasper," she repeated, "I haven't seen or heard from them since you started school. They used to join in on our video chats and such, but when you went to school they didn't even contact me at all. Sometimes I ask Kris about Henry and she says she doesn't hear from him either. She hasn't heard from him since you started Stanford funnily enough…"

"Wait, what?" Charlotte squinted her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at that. In the four years that she was away at school, Henry hadn't even contacted his family? She couldn't believe it. Henry loved his family, they were always so important to him so to hear that had her completely dumbfounded. It almost made her feel guilty as well. Was he avoiding everyone because of their breakup? Because of her? She sighed softly and felt even more guilty despite her brain telling her it wasn't her fault. Henry was in charge of himself and he was supposed to make his own decisions, she wasn't responsible for him anymore. And yet, she really wanted to go and see Ray and ask if he heard from him.

"Sorry mom, I haven't heard from him either," she finally said. "He's probably just gotten caught up with life in Dystopia and kinda forgot to keep up with everyone. Maybe he'll be back for Thanksgiving or Christmas." A part of her really wished that he wouldn't because she wasn't ready to confront him and deal with him. She stood up from the couch and stretched her arms with a soft sigh.

"I'm gonna head upstairs and check on those girls, make sure they're not breaking our stuff," she teased and her mother laughed softly with a nod.

"Okay, I'll start working on dinner." Charlotte nodded and made her way upstairs, her mind still on Henry. She wondered if he was okay or whether something went wrong and maybe he was hurt. Maybe he was in trouble again and panicking but didn't have someone to run to. She remembered when he fucked around and got caught up with Blackout, and rather than deal with it, he ran away to Swellview without telling anyone. He did a little better before she left but a part of her started to wonder whether it was just because of her and if he gave up when she left. She sighed and ran her fingers through her curls and pushed them back. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about him, she wasn't supposed to care about what he did or how he was. She gave up on that four years ago.

She walked to one of the bedrooms that the girls were in and knocked before entering. Almost instantly, a familiar smell hit her and she gasped, quickly closing the door behind her. On the bed was Tatiana with a blunt between her lips as Jasmine casually continued to unpack some of her clothes. Charlotte quickly rushed over to the window and opened it.

"Are you seriously smoking in here?! My mom is gonna kill you then kill me!" she said in a sharp whisper as Tati rolled her eyes.

"I didn't smoke the entire time we were on the road! I needed this!" she complained and playfully blew out the smoke towards her friend. She quickly waved the smoke away and huffed as she walked away from her.

"Just don't let my mom know you were smoking in her house and don't get the smell on me."

"Forget about this pothead," Jasmine said as she tossed a top into one of the drawers and walked over to sit on the corner of the bed, "I want to know what you're going to do about Eddy."

"Isn't it obvious?" Tati interjected. "That dick cheated on her and she's home now. She's gonna find that Henry guy and try with him again." Charlotte closed her eyes as she took a moment to process what the brunette just said so matter of factly. She shook her head a little in disbelief and opened her eyes again to look at her.

"Sorry, I'm gonna do what?"

"Oh! Henry! Is he back in Swellview too?" Jasmine asked and before Charlotte could answer, Tati spoke again.

"Probably! She kept looking at some house down the street. Probably Henry's." The woman grinned and the youngest gasped and squealed in excitement.

"How cute! I love a good distant lovers reunion story," she said as she held her hands up and pretended to read her words in the air. The two shared giddy giggles as Charlotte rubbed her temples with her fingers and shook her head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" She scoffed a little and shook her head once more, "I'm not getting back together with Henry! I don't even know if he's here! My mom was just saying that no one's heard from him since I left Dystopia."

"Oh. Shit," Jasmine said, clearly disappointed that she couldn't witness a great love story.

"Damn, four years and he hasn't talked to his family or anything? How badly did you fuck him up, Char?" Tati questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, you never really told us what happened. Just that you two dated and it went south," the youngest added. Charlotte resisted the urge to sigh again. The two of them became her best friends over the past four years, but she still hadn't shared some parts of her life with them. They didn't even know that she knew Captain Man and the "deceased" Kid Danger, they also didn't know much about her relationship with Henry. At first, it was because it was just too hard to talk about. Then, she just didn't talk about it because she didn't want to think about him. Now, it was just a short relationship from her past and there was no need to bring it up, and she still found no need to. Henry wasn't in Swellview, and he likely wasn't going to be coming back. There was no use in rehashing that messy breakup.

"Look, the breakup was a little messy and that's all I'm gonna say about it, okay? Can we please stop talking about him now?" Charlotte pleaded and her friends shrugged and nodded. She smiled a little and thanked them. "Great. My mom's working on dinner. How about we eat and then I show you two around Swellview?"

"Sure! I wanna see what this boring little town has to offer," Tati said as she put out her blunt and saved the other half of it for later.

"There's so much cool stuff to do, even at night! You two will love it!" Charlotte explained as she went to open her bedroom door then turned to look at Tati. "But spray yourself with some perfume to mask that smell!"

"Girls! Dinner's almost ready, come downstairs and help me set the table!" Charlotte's mother called from downstairs.

"Alright, mom!"

"And Charlotte Ruth Page, I can smell that wacky tobacky from down here! We have a lot to talk about young lady!" Charlotte groaned and shot a glare at her pothead best friend. The brunette put her hands up in defense and shook her head.

"Don't get mad at me! I didn't know your mom had the nose of a bloodhound!" she defended herself and laughed when the other nudged her. She and Jasmine quickly left the room and made their way downstairs, Charlotte grinning a little and following them with an eye roll. It was nice to be home, though she couldn't help but wonder whether Henry was okay.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to share your thoughts! I've written out more of this story and I've realized that it's moving rather slowly, especially compared to my other story, but I like it. You'll get to learn a little more about everyone and their changes and history (not fully canon of course). I hope you all enjoy it too.