A/N: I hadn't planned to do an entire chapter of just Charles, but it got to long to include with Diana and Charli's wild adventure.

All comments, prompts, and suggestions welcomed!

**Charles' POV

Charles was learning that he did not like to be alone. Or rather he did not like being alone when there was no work to be done. He set about cleaning the already clean home, then he'd lugged Charlotte's luggage up to her room. It had been their fathers old library, after their parents death she'd moved in and made it her own. His books still on tucked into the floor to ceiling selves, and his overstuffed leather chair was still in the corner of the room. He hadn't let Pauline change a thing when she moved in, that was Charlotte's domain and she was always welcome to stay there. She hadn't stayed in over 7 months, not since the weekend she'd flown in for Nicole's birthday. So he'd changed the bed sheets, vacuumed the rug and dusted the shelves of books. Later he sat in his fathers chair and shed a tear at the memory of their father sitting in this very chair and proofing a manuscript. Charles felt like he'd let him down, he knew that was a frivolous thought, he'd done exactly what he'd had to do to ensure the company survived. Besides the dead can't be ashamed or angry, but the living could Charlotte had been surprisingly okay with everything. He wished she had been angry, that she had kicked and fussed, had called him out on his failures. He wanted her to hate him, he could accept her anger and hatred. It'd be easier for him because he felt that anger at himself, he did not like being alone in his anger. Liza pitied him, she'd tried hiding it but he had seen it earlier that morning and then later when he'd stopped by the office just before he'd spotted Charlotte. He collected himself and left Charlotte's makeshift library/bedroom combo.

He puttered around for awhile and decided he would be productive and clean out the girls clothes. An hour later when he was elbow deep in Elsa and Moana tee shirts-he'd forgotten about Bianca's Frozen obsession from two years back. She was no longer into fair haired Ice Queens, instead she'd been asking him about gang colors. He suspected that she had found her way around the parental controls and was using information from a google search just to egg him on. When he'd caught her trying to wear an unapproved blue hair band to school, he'd gone directly to the school to express his concerns. After speaking with the teacher and the principal he was satisfied that his youngest wasn't being initiated into a street gang. He and Pauline had agreed she was just looking for attention, so they'd decided to put up a united front and ignore her behavior but use more positive reinforcement. Pauline had emailed him earlier that Bianca had tried sporting a red scarf to school that morning. She was too damn stubborn for her own good, just like a young Charlotte. He'd already resolved to have lunch with the girls, before knowing she was home. Seeing their excitement at seeing their aunt had warmed him to his soul.

Charles wondered where she was now. She'd left him at her firm after her meeting, when Bob had enter his office he'd been unusually tight lipped. Charles had tried to probe info from his friend but he'd declined to comment, citing that it wasn't his news to give.

Charles sighed and wished for companionship yet again, he picked up his phone and called Charlotte just to see where she was. When she answered after the fifth ring the noise on the other end of the phone startled him. He couldn't be sure but he thought he heard Diana singing a rendition of "When you're good to mama" from Chicago accompanied by no less than 100 jovial phantom voices. He struggled to hear Charlotte as she yelled into the phone.

"Chucky? Are you dead, dying, or bleeding?" She yells over the gleeful noise.

"No." he responds loudly so she can hear him and before he can ask where she was she speaks again impatiently.

"Are you or the girls in danger, or in need of my legal council?" Again he replies no. "Okay, I'll see you later bye." She hangs up before he can say good bye. And he was alone again...he looked down at his phone and contemplated calling Liza. He had decided to play it cool and give them a night away since she'd stayed over last night and he'd uncooly showed up at the office that morning. Suddenly he wished she were there with him, helping him sort through Disney Princess' of the past. Just as he was about to dial, her face jumped out from his phone. He smiled at their synchronicity and eagerly answered.

"Hey you, how was the rest of your day?"

"It was good, strange not having you there. I missed you."

"I missed you, too." He was tired of missing her, and it didn't matter whether they'd been apart for minutes, hours or even days. She was fresh air and sunshine, he needed her as surly as he needed his kids and Charlotte. She had become his family and he could not wait to express his love to her. It just wasn't the right time, if he told her now amongst the all the recent turmoil, he worried she would think he was saying it under duress. Which would not be further from the truth. He couldn't pinpoint the moment he'd fallen in love with her, sometime between Look Homeward, Angel and the Hamptons. Maybe it was losing her when he'd been angry, or perhaps when he'd witnessed her yodeling with her daughter at Christmas it didn't matter when just that he did love her down to his very marrow. He heard her sighed softly and she filled him in on the rest of her day.

"At least Diana has a new assistant that she likes, and that will stick around." They were interrupted by his doorbell ringing followed by a procession of loud quick knocks at his front door.

"Hey Liza, I think Charlotte just got home and she forgot her keys. Can I call you right back?" She agreed and he headed down the steps to the front door. When he opens the door it's Liza not his sister standing there before him. His heart swells as he reaches out and pulls her inside. He takes her in his embrace, but she's playing coy with him. When he probes her, she reply's sheepishly that she's waiting for her boyfriend to call her back as he'd promised her he would. She teases him as he pulls his phone out to call her, when she doesn't answer but instead sends him to voicemail instead and he questions her she says that it'd "be rude to to answer her phone while she was in his company". He laughs and pulls her in for a needy possessive kiss. They break for air and he doesn't know if it's his suggestion they go upstairs or hers, he just knows they are stumbling their way blindly up the stairway when they trip and she lands on him. An "ummph" sound escapes him and she looks terrified that she's hurt him. He puts her worry at ease by effortlessly shifting her so that she now sits on his lap straddling him. He's everywhere at once, lifting her skirt to her waste, one hand cradling the back of her head the other between them under her skirt pushing her panties to the side prepping her for all of him. His lips are trailing her upper body as she liberates herself of her shirt and bra, she then sets about freeing him from his designer jeans. Liza gasps as he circles and stimulates her, and she's too impatient and aims to rush him into her. Charles removes his hand from her to slow her down. At her audible protest he rewards her with slowly taking his time allowing her to adjust to him, when they are completed joined their eagerness resumes and their need for each other is savage as they match each other's thrust's hungrily. They climax simultaneously, their breath is uneven and their eyes are wild with passion. He kisses her long and slow as they reluctantly separate. This morning he'd made slow methodical love to her, tonight they were like passionate animals in heat. He couldn't say which had been more enjoyable because honestly every time with Liza was the best time. She was like coming home. They collected themselves and an audible groan escaped his lips as he stood from his sitting position. Damn his back gave him away, she fretted over him as they climbed the steps.

At the top, her face still flushed from their recent sex-capade, she asks him where Charli was. He chuckles and says that he wasn't sure, but wherever she was she sounded like she was having a good time. He filled her in on the their phone conversation just before she'd called. Charles guided her to the kitchen and heated up left over Boston Market chicken and veggies. She offered that Charlotte must still at Marie's Crisis with Diana.

"Who's Marie and why is she in crisis?" He asks, as he places a plate before her.

"Marie's Crisis it's a piano bar that features sing-a-long Broadway musical numbers. Diana goes there when ever she's having a crisis."

"Really? I thought she was doing okay at work? Did she and Kelsey have an argument? I thought she'd found the perfect assistant." His brow furrows with genuine concern for his former employee and friend. She stood up on her toes and planted a kiss where his eyebrows met in worry on his forehead.

"Not Diana's crisis."

"If not Diana, who?" He holds her gaze and asks "Charlotte?" Liza nods in agreement.

"She came in this afternoon, and demanded we hire her as Diana's part time assistant. What happened with you two today?" His confusion only intensified.

"Nothing happened, we had a good lunch with the girls. Then we stopped by her firm, and she had a meeting with the partners. What do you know that I don't? What did she say when she came to see Diana?" Liza swallows a bite of chicken and thinks about how to answer.

"I'll say this, her hours have changed at the firm and she wanted to balance her new time off by working for Diana. You'll need to follow up for details with her." She looks up at him pleading that he not prod her further.

"She's not in trouble or hurt, right?"

"No."

"Okay, I'll talk to her to her later, if she wants."

"Sorry." She says quietly.

"Never apologize for keeping Charlotte's trust. Trust is important to her, and I want her to like you."

"Really?"

"Of course." He smiles down at her. After she eats he enlists her help in clearing out the girls wardrobes. The task goes by much faster with her help, as she's an old time pro from cleaning out Caitlin's clothes. They talk effortlessly as they work. He fills her in on his lunch with the girls and Charlotte. She tells him stories about Caitlin growing up, and it makes him sad that his kids won't be kids forever. She eases his mind when he tells her about Bianca's impending gang association. Later as they are crawling into bed Liza asks him to join her tomorrow night for Maggie's birthday dinner at their place in Brooklyn.

"Caitlin will be there, I can introduce you as my fella. My main squeeze."

"Maggie and Caitlin both in one night? No pressure, huh? I want nothing more, but I also don't want to intrude on a family dinner." She shook her head in disagreement.

"No not at all. In fact you'd be the perfect gift for Maggie!" Charles shoots her a side glance.

"Uh, I think you're all the woman I can handle, you almost broke me earlier." He replies referring their staircase tryst from earlier. "But if it's that important to you, and if Maggie's down for a three-" She cuts him off by punching him in his shoulder. Why were the women in his life so insistent on punching him today?

"Stop that! I'm not sharing you; and besides Maggie'd eat you alive."

"There are worse ways to die." He wags a suggestive eyebrow at her which warrants another punch to his shoulder.

"I meant that she's been dying to shamelessly interrogate you. With Caitlin there she may take it a wee bit easier on you. Doubtful, but maybe. You could bring Charli with you too."

"I really don't want to take away from Maggie's birthday celebration."

"Trust me, she's going to love all the drama." He's kisses her and agrees that he would love nothing more than to meet Maggie and be introduced to Caitlin as Liza's "fella". He promises to invite Charlotte too. They settle into bed, Liza reads a new manuscript and Charles is planning his new workout regimen. It's a moment so unimportant and mundane, Charles knows he wouldn't trade it for anything It wasn't all rainbows and butterflies, but it was all theirs.

End