Chapter Sixteen: Rescuing Charles

Charles seemed so small and fragile in his arms and was nothing like the confident person, who had first walked into the hotel as if nothing could intimidate him. But as with everything else in Charles' life, is was possible that even that confidence had been an illusion. As Erik was begging to understand, Charles' real emotions and fears were always ghosting beneath the surface of his pretence.

His hand ran up the side of Erik's chest, fingers digging into his shirt and clinging as if Erik might disappear. Erik pulled him closer, trying to show him in a simple touch, that Shaw hadn't scared him away. He was still here. He didn't care how much Charles' mother had scowled at him, or how many of Shaw's smirks he had to endure, it would take a whole lot more than that to scare him off.

Erik was beginning to wonder whether he would ever have the ability to leave Charles. Or whether, he would ever want to? It seemed as if they were tied together by something much more powerful than just … well, Erik didn't know. But he had the feeling that he was the only person Charles had ever really trusted. Even above and beyond his own sister, who was kept in the dark about most things, unfortunately to both Charles and Raven's detriment.

Erik wasn't sure what had made Charles believe in him, and trust him with so much. Maybe Charles could see something in him that no one else had dared to look for before. All Erik could hope to do, to repay that trust, was not to judge what Charles had planned for them now. He hoped that would be enough. Because his own heart was screaming at him to leave the mess behind and start again, but he knew this wouldn't sit well with Charles. Charles was determined to fix things, even if they couldn't be fixed.

"Raven knows," Charles said quietly. "Shaw told her the truth."

Erik frowned.

"Why would he do that? It would make more sense if he'd kept quiet," Erik replied. Sometimes nothing in Charles' world made any logical sense, it seemed to be time to just give up expecting it now.

Charles was shaking now. The kind of shakes that came from complete exhaustion, and his grip tightened on Erik even further.

"We need to get you to our room," Erik stated, pulling Charles closer to him, and taking most of his weight.

Charles had had to face a lot of stress in a short amount of time, and perhaps having his mother present hadn't been the best of audiences. Not only had Charles had to be on alert towards Shaw, he had had to deal with his mother's disapproval and her obvious misplaced appreciated for Shaw's interest in Raven. When Charles might have sough comfort in Erik, he had been forced to ignore him, in order to protect him from both his mother, and more importantly, from Shaw.

Raven's reaction must have been the last straw, and Charles' frayed nerves hadn't been able to cope with it anymore. Raven must have furious. But still nothing was adding up right in Erik's mind. Why would Shaw tell Raven? It made no sense at all. Making Charles seem like a crazy liar would have made more sense.

It was surprising that Shaw had let Charles leave the room without getting in one last hurtful comment or a threat. But now Shaw had the mother and Raven in the palm of his hand, and Erik didn't like to think what he was telling them. Shaw could spin whatever tales he wanted; paint Charles as unhinged, or worse. He could lie until he was blue in the face to Raven, and persuade her into doing anything he wanted. He had obviously made her think that he was serious about her, since Raven had decided to bring him along today. All Erik could hope for was that Charles had sowed a seed of doubt in her mind.

"I made him tell her," Charles said quietly.

The lift came to a careful stop, and the uniformed man who had been respectfully looking the other way and attending to his job of pressing buttons, opened the door for them and pointed them in the right direction.

"I gave him the idea. He wanted to see her hate me. It was too much to resist. It would destroy all his plans to tell her, but I made him do it."

"Why?" Erik asked. Surely Charles could have told Raven the truth another time, or used his powers to tell her? Or…

Charles smiled as he opened the door to the room and walked inside.

"She wouldn't have believed me. She wanted the truth from Shaw, she was only going to hear what he told her. She's lost trust in me… I don't blame her…"

Erik shook his head. This was crazy.

"So she knows… Then why is she still with Shaw right now? Why hasn't she kicked him out?" Erik asked. He helped Charles to a sofa, and set him down. His face was pale, and he looked weary. Using his powers in such a stressful environment must had wiped him out.

"Because Raven wont remember that she knows the truth until she leaves that room, and Shaw has already forgotten anything happened at all. He doesn't know what he said to her, he thinks his little plan is going ahead," Charles explained. He pressed his fingers to his temple slightly, and grimaced as if in pain.

"What plan?" Erik asked.

"It doesn't matter," Charles said leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Would you get me some water?"

Erik didn't answer, just went to do what Charles had asked of him. He had no idea where he might begin looking for a glass of water, so he stared exploring. The room wasn't as grand as the Royal Suite, but it was still the biggest set of hotel rooms Erik had ever stayed in.

The suite had two double bedrooms, two huge marble bathrooms, a small kitchen and a dining room. It was almost like Erik's flat. If his flat had just undergone a massive upgrade, and Erik wondered whether living in these surroundings could be considered a good enough payoff for having an uncaring mother. Maybe not. By the time he had inspected everything and had returned to the lounge with the water, Charles had switched the TV on and was staring at it unseeingly.

Erik handed him the glass, then took a seat in an armchair facing Charles. Charles blinked at him slowly, and Erik realised that Charles had been far away with his own thoughts.

"Erik, will you tell me about you… when you were younger… where did you live? Where did you go to school?" Charles asked as if he had been thinking about this for a while. Erik glanced at the TV for a moment; the sound was so low that he could barely hear it. He wondered why Charles had switched it on at all.

Erik settled back into his chair, and observed Charles. He wondered what Charles would be most interested in knowing; maybe just hearing about someone who was comfortable with their lot in life was enough? Erik wasn't trying to pretend to be anything that he wasn't, nor did he have intense relatives who were passing judgement upon him. But mostly he didn't have a revengeful ex intent on destroying his life and everyone in it. He had ex's as did everyone, but they had happily moved on and forgotten him.

"I grew up in Germany," Erik said. He saw a spark of interest cross Charles' face. "My mother and father sent me to a local school, before we moved into the city and I realised what I wanted to do with my life. Father worked in construction, so I was brought up around blueprints. When they saw I was serious about being an architect, they helped me come to England to study."

He paused not knowing what else to say. He'd kept it brief, because although Charles looked as if he was hanging onto everything he was saying, he also looked tired. But for a while, Charles appeared to have forgotten his own problems, and Erik realised that as long as he could keep Charles' attention, then Charles would be all his, and not trapped with his worries.

"When I graduated it was very difficult to find work. People were either making it with big contracts or went into small projects. I didn't know what I wanted, and suddenly my part time job at a nightclub started to become full time. I found I liked running a business as much as I liked creating things. I liked making the books balance and I liked seeing the money coming in. Soon I started making my way up the ladder, and I was running multiple clubs around London. I started to offer my skills for design and remodelling of club spaces. I took all of my experiences in making money, to do just that, and made a lot of money for the people who employed me," Erik paused, because no matter what he said, in the end everything would come back to one point, and that something was Shaw. Charles seemed to be thinking the same, because a shadow had crossed his expression.

"You were the best at what you did. That's why Shaw wanted you," Charles observed. He sat in silence for a moment.

"I'm thirty-three," Erik continued, searching wildly for something else to say. "My parents live in Germany still, I can speak a few languages, I was raised in the Jewish faith…" Erik said, reeling off whatever he could think of to tell Charles about himself. He then went on to tell Charles about his younger years in Germany, and what his parents had done for a living. Then without warning, Charles suddenly sat up and stared at him with an alarmed expression.

"Jewish!" Charles exclaimed looking completely traumatised. He slumped back against the pillows looking defeated.

"I wasn't really expecting that to be so much of a big deal to be honest," Erik replied, he wasn't sure if he should be smiling, or be offended by Charles' reaction.

"No, no, I just meant, oh my God I fed you bacon! You should have told me," Charles explained, looking as if this was the most awful thing that would have happened.

Erik stared at him for a moment, then laughed.

"Well now that we're being honest, as much as the breakfast bacon rolls are appreciated, you know why you never actually saw me eating one…"

Charles still looked mildly traumatised.

"You should have said," Charles said shaking his head.

"Well, like I said… I appreciated the thought anyhow. I liked you cooking for me, even if I never got to enjoy it. Was the only time the kitchen got used."

Charles smiled slightly, but it looked to Erik that it would be a long time before Charles was feeling comfortable again. Erik took hold of Charles' hand and squeezed it tight. He was taking this rather to heart.

"I'm going to explore the hotel. Have a look at the architecture, get some ideas maybe. Why don't you stay here and just relax?" Erik said. In his head he added, perhaps explore the bar, then wondered if Charles had heard that.

"Oh, I could come with you, if you'd like?" Charles offered.

"Although I never tire of your company Charles, you don't really look like you're in the mood to be around people at the moment. No, I will be fine alone. When I come back, we'll have dinner, OK?" Erik said, he stood and let go of Charles' hand. Halfway to the door, he paused. "Don't answer the door to Shaw… or Raven, should they come round. I don't want you alone with them."

"But Raven…"

"Charles you'll say something you don't mean," Erik said gently. "I want to be here with you… If they turn up, you call me OK? Promise?"

Charles nodded, then returned to staring at the TV. Erik knew they were going to have to come up with some sort of impossible plan, to get all of them out of this mess Charles had created. But of course, this was old news. He was willing to bet that Charles already had a plan up his sleeve, and clearly it would be as convoluted as everything else.