A/N:this one is a LONG one, but I really wanted to wrap up the custody drama and spend some time in Paris with Charles and Liza. Josh and Charles' POV's only.

Thanks to anyone reading this crazy thing!

Josh POV

ping*

The sound of Josh's phone pulls him out of his train of thought and he searches for the phantom phone as it pings a second time. He's almost frantic, afraid the sounds might wake Claire and her mom. It was 6am and they were sleeping soundly in his bedroom while he was camped out on the couch. Finally he secures his phone and checks to see who's texting him at this ungodly hour, not that he'd been able to sleep anyway.

He had two new text messages from Liza. She and Charles had landed in Paris, and they were worried about Charli. Apparently she called Charles twice while his phone was on airplane mode and now she won't return anyones calls. 'Well she's probably asleep' he thought to himself. The next message was Liza asking him to take her key (located on her dresser in her room at Maggie's-he'd have to borrow Kelsey's key to get into her place) and then go check on Charli at the brownstone in Manhattan. 'Seriously?' he thought bitterly. But the message urged him to do it, she would have asked Maggie but Maggie had departed on a weekend getaway with Lauren upstate. He was almost hurt that Lauren or Maggie hadn't invited him. Whatever those guys were doing had to be more fun than catering to a pregnant Claire and his pseudo mother in law. Then he was extra salty that Lauren's bed was empty right now and he was sleeping on this lumpy ass couch.

Another text came through from Liza explaining that it wasn't like Charli to call Charles and then not answer when he called her. It seemed strange to Josh too, Charli was never more than a few feet from at least one of the two phones she owned. So he replied back that he'd go over and make sure she was alive and he'd call her then. She replied back almost instantly that she and Charles were very appreciative of him. Well he wasn't doing it for Charles or Liza even. Charlotte Brooks had snaked her way into his inner circle, she'd been a solid sounding board for all his issues involving Claire. Yes the other women in his life; Liza, Maggs, Kels, and Lauren had all been there too, but Charli was the only one who didn't have an opinion of Claire. The two and yet to officially meet despite the fact that Charli was spending 2-3 nights a week downstairs "apprenticing" at Inkburg. In reality she was just there killing time and watching him work. On slow nights she'd help him clean the place and do inventory, and she was super quick at balancing his books then they'd just hang out and talk. It was his least demanding friendship and he'd grown to really treasure their time together.

He rallied and headed to the bathroom to wash his face and brushed his teeth. He pulled on yesterday's jeans and knocked gently on Kelsey's door, he saw her light was on and entered.

"Hey, what're you doing up so early?"

"Haven't been to bed yet, proofreading a couple of manuscripts. We hired a new jr editor and I don't think he has the chops to cut it." She sighs exhaustion oozing from her body. "Why're you up?"

"Uh I need to borrow your key to Liza and Maggie's place." She nods and points to her purse on the chair in the corner.

"Front pocket, pink power ranger key chain." He finds it thanks her and is almost out the door when she asks why he needs it. "You know Maggie's not home right? And Liza's...with Charles this weekend" it was kind of sweet that she was trying to save his feelings by not telling him Liza was in the most romantic city in the world with a guy he kinda sorta detested. He nods letting her know he knows the place is vacant. He feels her in about checking on Charli for Charles and Liza. She's quiet and tells him he's a good dude, she didn't think she'd be so kind if she were in his shoes. He shrugs her compliment off, tells her to go to sleep and slips out of her room. Before he leaves he writes a quick note for Claire letting her know he'll be back soon to call him if she needs anything.

45 minutes later he's walking up to Charles' door. He rings the bell and waits, after a couple of minutes he tries again this time knocking loudly in addition to ringing the bell. Five solid minutes go by and he's worried enough to actually use the key and enter the house. As he puts the key in he realizes the door is actually unlocked and he begins to panic. This was a swanky area but it was still NYC doors should never be unlocked. He enters and yells out to Charli. No answer...he'd only been inside the house once for some dumb work party of Liza's. He'd been so bored he'd spent most of the party scooping out the joint, he vaguely remembered where the library with a bed had been located and he makes a bee line up the stairs to Charli's room.

He's slightly out of breath and his stomach is in knots when he reaches the library. The overhead lights were on, and it looked like a war zone. The bed and floor surrounding the bed was covered in paper and legal pads, but no signs of Charli. Trying desperately not to panic he begins calling out for her again checking all the rooms on the floor. Just when he's was certain she'd been taken in the middle of the night he finds her sleeping in what is clearly a child's room. Had to be one of her nieces. He sighs a loud sigh of relief and loudly calls her name to wake her.

"Charlie Brown! Don't you know you have to lock your doors in the city??" She stirs and yawns, opening one eye then shooting straight up like a possessed demon child.

"What the f*k!!!" She shrieks at him, while freeing herself from the tangled mess of blankets and sheets. "Get out!"

"Hey," Josh holds his hands up to show that he isn't a threat. He wasn't quite sure she realized that it was him not some rando. "It's me Josh, remember me? The guy who pays you in old pizza and cheap beer for helping out at his shop." She stares as her eyes begin to focus (she must not have her contact lenses in). "I'm here to make sure you're alive, did you know your front door was unlocked?" He chided her, while rattling off statistics involving home invasions. She reaches out to the nightstand at her side and puts on a pair of oversized glasses. His mouth went dry as he was struck by just how damn cute she was, like a puppy he wanted to snuggle with on rainy days and he also had this inexplicable want to kiss her till her lips were red and swollen. He wanted to take her right there, he wanted her naked, her breath uneven biting his shoulder calling out his name as her nails dig into his back. Shit...She was staring at him her head cocked in confusion, which only made him want to kiss her more. What was wrong with him?? This was Charli she was his friend, he didn't want to kiss her or screw her, he was just caught off guard and horny. Yep that's all it was, he hadn't been with anyone for awhile, what with Claire living with him and now her mom. Charli broke the silence.

"Why are you here?" He explains about Liza's texts and that Charles was worried about her.

"For good reason too, seriously you've got to take leaving the door unlocked more seriously Charlie Brown. I could have been a murderer."

"I'll call Chucky back, thanks for the lecture I'll be sure to lock it after you leave." He wasn't quite ready to leave so he stalled.

"I think the least you can do is feed me breakfast. I did come all this way to save your life." She snorts and crawls out of bed, she's wearing an oversized hoodie and men's sweat pants. The most unflattering thing he'd ever seen her wear, and yet he felt himself start to grow hard. Damn he needed to get out of here, call up one of his old hook ups and purge himself. Instead he followed her to the kitchen where she servers him cold leftover pizza and orange juice.

"Breakfast of champions." He says as he bites into the chewy crust. She smiles and hops up on the stool next to him and leans in as she holds her phone in front of them to take a selfie.

"Smile, So Chucky knows you found me alive and well." Josh forces a smile on his face and shifts slightly as he ties to hide his erection. She looks at her phone shrugs at the picture deeming it good enough and sends it to Charles. She captions it 'I'm alive, don't worry about a thing enjoy your trip.' She sighs and drops the phone to the table.

"What's going on up there it looked like a tornado hit your room."

"Yeah, I was in full 'take down Pauline' mode before I went to sleep in Nicky's room." He asks her what's going with Charles' ex and she tells him about the custody battle and Pauline writing an unauthorized memoir chronicling her life after her parents death.

"Wow, makes sense that you want a pound of her flesh then. But, and i don't know everything but it seems strange to me that she'd have any chance at winning custody of the daughters she abandoned. Right?"

"If the law was fair, then yes you're right there's no way she'd just get to uproot her kids from a father that never left them. Or take them from the only home they've ever know. But unfortunately a lot of times it comes down to how good your lawyer is, and how well they can manipulate a judge or a jury."

"You do that?"

"I try not too, but sometimes, yeah I get caught up in beating the opponent, the lawyer across from me...that I forget that I'm representing people."

"So this lawyer Pauline has-"

"Will destroy Charles' character. No doubt citing long nights at the office and not being a present father, always putting work before family. He'll paint a pattern of neglect and say that leaving was Pauline's only choice of surviving such a crushing demanding existence. He'll argue that yes she left but it was for the soul purpose of writing her book so she could provide for her and her girls, and now she has a lucrative job writing for television with a second book in the works, while Charles has stepped away from his steady income. Then he'll argue that Charles is unstable and is going through a midlife crisis, that the girls need their mother and structure. Which Pauline can now provide entirely in California."

Charli was talking so fast Josh was sure he'd missed some things. But he got the gist of it, and despite the bad blood between them he knew Charles was a great dad and felt a pang of regret for the old dude.

"Wow that's...intense. And Pauline's lawyer can just say all of that, even if it isn't true?"

"As long as Pauline says that's how she felt, then yeah pretty much."

"And so you're going to do to her what her lawyer is going to do the Charles? Tear her down, lie and say just how awful she is." Charli examines the back of her hand like she's never noticed them before. He asks again what her plan of attack is.

"I'm going to get the show's production moved to NYC. There's no custody issue if Pauline never leaves. They'll just stick to the original agreement. One week with Charles one week with Pauline."

"Thought you were in 'take down mode' or whatever. What happened to change your mind?"

"My first instinct is to destroy her...completely. Like I want her head on a spike in the the front yard." 'Wow someone just binged Game of Thrones' Josh thought. "But then, she is Nicky and B's mom. They love and need her in their life...once upon a time I loved and needed Pauline too. I was lucky enough that she came into my life just as I was hitting puberty, I doubt Charles would have survived having to explain how to use a tampon or be of any use when it came to my first heartbreaking crush and shaving my legs."

"So you think you can just move an entire tv production to New York?" She nods her head in determination.

"Wanna help?" She asks.

Nope, but he didn't want to leave her either. His unwelcome erection had subsided, but his want to just be with her had not. He nods and she drags him up the steps and they spend the next six hours calling studios, producers and executives. She wouldn't let anyone off the phone until she got what she'd wanted, and she did just that on her final call.

"...Mr. Sarandos I can't thank you enough...ok Ted...yes sir I just know New York will be perfect for production and will bring a sense of authenticity to the show...I would be honored seriously, but I feel I'm not quite the right fit...I can reach out to Alvin...I don't work for Millennial but I could have their publisher give you a call...but be warned they already have a content deal with Hello Sunshine...oh Reese is a friend, well ok then I'll give her your contact info and again thank you Ted, Teddy...ok just Ted...bye now"

"Ted Sarandos, as in the Netflix guy Ted Sarandos????" Josh asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, he'll move production as long as Alvin will sit down and be interviewed for some now crime documentary show they're producing. And he wants to strike an 'incubator' deal with Kelsey and Co too." She's devoid of emotion when she says this.

"This is a good thing right?" He asks clearly confused. Why did they spend the entire day harassing most of Hollywood if this isn't what she wanted?

"Yeah, just tired." She turns and rest her legs across his lap as she lays down on the couch in Charles' study. The same couch he'd struck out on with Liza way back when he thought they were happy. Reflecting on that night he realizes she was probably falling for Charles then. He looks down at at Charli's feet she's wearing fuzzy house socks with tiny flying pigs on them. He smiled at her whimsy, most people thought of Charli had as a cantankerous fuddy buddy, but Josh had never understood why. She seemed young and somewhat naive to him, like leaving the door unlocked. Or the way she always ate her dessert first, or her need to be liked by everyone. He knew she didn't particularly care for Kelsey (which was her loss 'cause Kels could be pretty baller) and yet she was still letting her rent her dope ass place on the cheap. Or like today she'd been gung ho on destroying Pauline, but then instead she'd moved a mountain to make everything better for everyone. He saw her, really saw her and was grateful to have met her. He texted Claire while Charli snored softly next to him. Everything was ok back at his place, and she suggested he just take the rest of the day to himself. Saying that soon enough there would be a tiny life demanding both of their attention 24/7, so he should enjoy his freedom while he could. He knew she meant for him to go out and get laid (which he sorta thought he should do to especially after his earlier predicament with Charli) but instead he settled into the couch and napped with Charli. As he was drifting off to sleep he thought of the two times he'd sat on this very couch and how very different each time had been. Once he'd been highly disappointed with getting no action, and now he's was perfectly content sleeping chastely next a hot blooded woman. Maybe he was finally growing up? Charli moved causing him to come alive again. Well at least he was trying to grow up, his body just needed to catch up to his head.

CHARLES POV

He was holding Liza's hand as they walk out of the Louvre. They'd had a splendid day, and he hadn't told her that he'd secured a dinner reservation at The 58 in the Eiffel Tower tonight. He couldn't wait to see her face when she found out. The best part of the day had been watching Liza take in the city. He loved experiencing Paris through her eyes, she brought a sense of wonder and youthful joy to his life. He'd unknowingly grown dependent of it actually, and honestly didn't know how he could survive without her now. He shook the thought from his head they were in Paris to forget their worries. She looked up at him and her smile grew dark, it was hard for her to forget the gloom of their problems too. He stops and brings her to him in a kiss so tender and pure it left them both weak in the knees.

He didn't know how long they stood there but he reluctantly ended their kiss when his phone buzzed in his pocket for a third time. Her lips were swollen and her cheeks flushed as she instructed him to check his phone. 'It could be something with the girls' she'd reasoned. He removes his phone from his jacket pocket and his eyes nearly pop out of his head in disbelief. Liza impatiently grabs his phone when he doesn't answer her questions. She was quiet as she read the three messages two from Charlotte and one from Pauline. Charlotte's read 'I fixed it Chucky, no arbitration needed. Production and the writers room for Marriage Vacation has been moved to New York. Pauline isn't leaving so the original custody agreement still stands.' Her second message was more for Liza and says 'tell Liza, Ted Sarandos from Netflix wants to strike an incubator deal of his own with Millennial. He wants the more mature gritty stuff though, old school Empirical.' He watched as Liza's jaw dropped. She also read Pauline's text which said 'Glad everything worked out ok. Charles, you know I never wanted any of this. Tell Charli thanks from me.' Liza looks up at him and rolls her eyes at Pauline's words.

"Seriously?" He laughs and shakes his head.

"I don't care anymore, I'm just so glad that nightmare is over and I don't have to leave the woman I'm in love with to live across the country with the woman I use to love." Her face lights up and then she's suddenly shy dropping his gaze. What had he said? Wasn't she excited that they didn't have to part ways?

"You...-we've never said that before." She fidgets and then bravely makes eye contact again. "I love you too, Charles Brooks." She smiles from her soul and he's never felt so much warmth and love for anyone aside from his girls and Charlotte. He thinks back not realizing he'd even said it out loud, it didn't matter he'd been putting it off for too long. There was never going to be a more perfect time than now in Paris after finding out he wasn't going to have to relocate his life to Los Angeles. He cups her face and kisses the top of her nose.

"Liza, I've waited too long to say it, but I've loved you for so long that I can't even remember the first time I realized it. I'm so sorry I didn't say it sooner. I'm going to tell you every day just how much I love and adore you. You're a fantastic, strong, intelligent woman who rocks my world and makes me feel ageless. I love you Liza Miller, and I'm so very grateful that you're in my life now and forever." She swoons and he kisses her with everything in him she returns his passion holding nothing back.

"Let's forget about dinner in the Eiffel Tower. You're the only thing I want tonight." He nods in agreement then looks down at her in disbelief.

"You knew I made reservations at The 58 tonight? How, I did it while you were sleeping on the plane?" He pouts disappointed that the surprise was ruined.

"Come on Charles, there is no way we were going to come to Paris without going to the Eiffel Tower and when you avoided the topic entirely it was pretty clear you were trying to surprise me. And it would have been perfect, but now a perfect night is you..." she bounces up on her tiptoes to whisper the incredibly sultrous activies she has planned for their evening. His voice is heavy with lust as he returns her sentiments bending to whisper in her own ear. As he straightens he nibbles her ear gently and feels her shutter next to him. She grabs his hand and they are on the move trying to get back to their hotel as quickly as possible.

The next morning as they are boarding the plane, exhausted from little sleep and copious amounts of love making. Charles silently vows to bring her back here when he proposes to her. They were a long ways away from that milestone, but it was closer now that they'd both finally said those three little words that meant so much. He was happier than he deserved to be. He had his kids, Charlotte, his home and friends, and the woman of his dreams. The only thing he needed was a career and he thinks he's finally decided exactly just what he is going to do now. He wasn't quite ready to tell Liza though, he still had a couple of things to work out, but he was excited about the prospect of work for the first time in a very long time. He brings Liza's hand to his lips and kisses her knuckles gently. He takes great pride in watching her face turn bright red, no doubt thinking of last nights marathon love session. He smiles down at her knowingly and she punches his arm telling him to be cool. He chuckles and she joins in forgetting her embarrassment and they sit hand in hand as the plane takes them back to reality.

End