Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OCs.
A/N: Well, I'm sorry this update is so late in the day. But I spent the entire day at the American Idols Live! Tour 2008 yesterday, got to meet 9/10 of the idols, and see an amazing show, so I was exhausted and slept to 2:30 my time, lmfao. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, it means the world. :) Enjoy!

-Charity's POV still-

"Miss? Excuse me, miss?" Someone says into my ear, nearly sending me out of my seat. Where the hell am I? I think, and then remember. I'm going to North Carolina. Right. And I'm on a plane, and okay, there is a lady with a little too much make-up standing in front of me. EW…oh, wait, she's talking to me, right.

"Yes?" I ask, with a flush of my cheeks.

"The plane will be landing in a few minutes. You need to put your seatbelt on, miss," she says with a fake smile. I don't think she was pleased that I had to disturb her from not having to do her job. Whatever.

Oh my God, we were almost there. Almost instantly, I snap my seatbelt in and can feel the beat of my heart accelerate to nearly twice its normal pounding. Good God, this is really happening, isn't it? Oh my God…I think I'm going to faint.

Slowly, (and shakily) the plane lands, and I find myself safely and happily on the ground. But more importantly, in North Carolina. I make my way out of the terminal and glance around, taking my mental picture of Beth in my head and scanning the crowd. Where is that Hardy Girl?

Then, I see her. She's sitting on a bench, texting by the looks of it on her cell phone, a Dunkin Donuts bag in hand. She looks a little bored, in a pair of light wash jeans in a pale green tank top, and white flip flops. I don't think she's seen me yet. Wait…does she even know what I look like? Oh God.

I have to go over there. What if I sound like I need serious help? Why did I enter this contest again? Suddenly, images of smiling Matt and Jeff fill my brain and remind me, and I can hear both Rina and Penn saying, "Get your ass over there!"

Deep Breath Charity. Deep Breath. "Hi?" I ask when I walk over. Beth looks up at me with a confused smile. "Hi…I'm Charity Burns." I hold out my driver's license to her, which I never use, as I hate driving with a passion.

"Charity," she repeats and for a moment, I wonder if she has a twin and this woman thinks I'm insane. "Charity," she repeats again, and a wider smile appears on her face. "Nice to meet you. Do you need to get your bags?" She asks me, as she studies my driver's license and then hands it back to me.

"Yeah…I only have one…other than my purse, though," I manage to stammer, feeling as if I'm still sleeping and dreaming.

"Well, let's go get it then," she says with another smile. I think she notices I'm more nervous then hell and that I don't know what to say to her, as she's talking softly and sweetly. It's sort of strange, actually.

"Kay," I murmur and smile, too. Beth…Beth…interesting.

We don't say much as we enter her car…I'm sort of still stunned that this is really happening and I'm not dreaming. I'm quickly learning though, Beth drives like Matt, which probably means Jeff drives like Matt too. And Matt according to people drives like a maniac, so this could be a long drive home. "S-so…h-how far…are we from…the house?" I wasn't sure what to call the house. I wasn't sure if saying 'your house' would trigger any fire memories, and I didn't want to speak Matt's name for some reason.

Then, she laughs. She sounds so full of joy and her shoulders shake. Er…what? "Hunny, please take a breath. I'm not a monster…you look like you're ready to pass out. We're normal people." She gives me a wide smile. God, I'm sure a fan-girl. "But to answer your question…We're not too far from the house. Probably a half hour's ride."

I give her a weak smile. "Sorry, I'm just…shell-shocked I guess. This seems so surreal to me right now. I feel as if I'm dreaming." I can feel my cheeks turn a crimson color.

She laughs. "I don't blame you. But honestly, calm the hell down. You're gonna see a lot more…exciting," she says, carefully choosing her words, "things than me in the car with you. Matt and Jeff—"

"Can be crazy," I finish with a smile.

Beth laughs again. "You're catching on quickly."

"Wow," I murmur, as we pull up in front of Matt's house. It looks even bigger than in the pictures that are on his myspace. The red bricks seem to rise to the sky almost. Okay, so I'm lying. But hell, you could fit my house into his at least twice. "It's huge."

Beth continues in her pattern of laughing at my comments. "Wait until you see inside. Oh, and look out, Lucas is a little rowdy to strangers. He won't hurt you though."

"Lucas," I repeat, wondering who Lucas was…oh, right, Matt's dog. "Right." We walk across the grass (it is so green, my mother would have kill me if she would see) and to the front door. Beth began to unlock it and I could hear little Lucas come running and barking in tiny yip yaps.

When the door opens, the tiny dog took one glance at Beth and then immediately runs over to sniff me, the fresh meat. Lucas studies me in his shaggy, white-ish hair glory, probably wondering who the hell I am.

I bend down to pet him as he dances around me in circles, Beth watches on, a tiny, amused smile on her face. "He's so excited," I say finally with a laugh. "And more adorable then in the pictures. My dog is old and never barks…this is quite strange."

"You have a dog?" she asks, as I follow her and Lucas into Matt's blue kitchen. "What kind?" Then she offers me a can of Coca-Cola. Mm, I accept. My throat is drier than the desert.

"He's a mutt. Some kind of terrier and miniature poodle mix. Baxter is the laziest thing to ever grace this Earth. Then again, he's my brother's dog, so I don't really count him as mine." I give a tentative smile.

"Oh, I see. Oh and I'm sorry about your brother being sick," she says, taking a sip of her own drink. "Must be horrible as hell to see someone you love go through that." A sympathic glance is shot in my direction.

"It's tough," I agree, nodding my head. I'm starting to warm up to Beth. She really does sound pretty cool. "But sometimes, I just try to forget. Honestly, I can't remember the last time he was home, it's been so long. But, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be in this house right now," I remind her.

"Right, he got you to enter. Why didn't you want to?" Normally, I would have shot up my extra security barrier and found a way around the question, but Beth seems genuinely concerned and curious and I don't imagine that my brother's health would be all over the internet tomorrow morning.

I can feel my cheeks turning that red color again. "I didn't want to leave him, you know? It's like…this wasn't only my dream, it is Penn's too. I would have loved for both of us to be here right now, and for him to be well. I guess I'm just so scared to lose him that I was willing to put aside something I wanted to make sure I was there. It's sort of silly when you think of it, because it only made Penn mad at me, and I—" I stop because I realize I'm rambling. Bad habit. "Sorry, I tend to ramble a lot. It's just, even though he's older; I'm so protective of him."

Beth smiles at me. "Don't worry, you don't have to apologize. I understand. I probably would do the same thing in your situation, but your brother is right. Putting your life on hold just so you can be with him isn't far to either of you."

I cock my head to the side. How wasn't it fair to him? "What? What do you mean? Why isn't it fair to Penn?" Now I'm pretty confused. She's still standing in front of me, her eyes on my face, looking pretty. I think Beth is one of those girls that isn't drop dead gorgeous, but, just pretty. She's the girl you'd see in school but look over, but wasn't some nerd either. Her look interests me.

"Well, if he sees you upset because of him, he's going to be upset that you're spending time wasting time. At least, that's how I see it. I would be upset at least. And by the looks of it, so would your brother. You seem very close to one another," she finishes.

"We are," I agree. "I sometimes think we were twins but I stayed in my parents tummy another year."

She laughs. "If only that were possible, eh?"

"Right," I agree. "So, when are the Hardy Boyz getting here?" I grin at her, completely comfortable now.

"Should be here in a half hour or so. The radio show shouldn't take too long. Plus, it gives me time to show you the room you'll be staying in." She turns toward a staircase. "C'mon, I'll show you now."

"Hey, Beth, wait." She turns to face me. "Thanks."

"No problem hunny." And with that, we're off to a guest room.

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Read and review! :) I'll try to get another update up tomorrow, but I can't make any promises. I'll try if not tomorrow, to get one up by Thursday though. I fear writing right now as I'm still practically hopping off the walls from my concert, haha. Thanks everyone. :)