Second chapter! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

"Thanks.. I'm just gonna try and get some sleep now." Charlie said finally after inhaling deeply. Without giving Paige a further look, she crawled under the covers.

"Arkin. Beat it." Charlie added when she felt that Paige hadn't moved.

"Right, sorry." Paige said after which a smile formed on her face. That sounded like the Charlie she knew. She felt a little more at ease at leaving her alone now and figured it would probably be for the best if she'd talk to Charlie tomorrow.

Charlie opened the fridge and grabbed whatever was the easiest to get to. When she put it on the counter to grab a glass, Jakes stared at it. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again and went on with reading some case file he was working on.

"Yo! Woah, she gets to drink your juice?" Johnny said while pointing at Charlie, after he had come in the kitchen and noticed she was pouring herself a glass of Jakes' labeled orange juice.

Charlie picked up the plastic bottle to look at it.

"Oh, sorry, DJ." She said as she turned to him.

Jakes lifted up his hand. "It's not a problem."

"How you doin', mama, sleep well?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah actually, slept the whole night through." Charlie said, her voice still raspy.

"That's good." He gave her a smile.

The front door opened and Paige entered the kitchen, coming back from her morning run. Charlie looked good to her, at least not miserable, and she felt happy seeing her family together in their kitchen again. Yet not everyone was there, she hadn't seen Mike nor Briggs.

"Hey. You alright?" Paige said to Charlie.

"Yep." Charlie replied dryly. She drank up what was left of her drink and then headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Okay." Paige said to herself, taken aback a little by Charlie's curt answer.

"You gotta let her be for a while." Jakes said from the couch without looking up.

Paige sighed and answered absent-minded. "I know."

Charlie paced up and down in her room. She felt so restless. She hadn't closed her eyes for a second last night, but sharing that information with the others hadn't seemed wise nor necessary, they didn't need to know. While at the same time she wanted to go to sleep and just leave this world for a couple of hours, she knew she wouldn't be able to pull it off. When she laid down last night, she unwillingly kept reliving everything that had happened before. His face showed up every time she closed her eyes.

She winced from the pain in her chest. It almost seemed as if all her troubles that weighed down on her were massed together and the cut was the portal through which she physically felt it. She put her hand on it and then out of mere curiosity she slowly took away a bit of the bandage. She frowned at the sight of it and then put the bandage back in place.

She couldn't stay here for now, she grabbed her sunglasses and went down the stairs. After carefully closing the door, she walked towards her car. Driving had always been a good remedy for anything.

On her way out, Paige almost knocked down Mike as he was about to open the door to get in.

"Oh!" Paige said.

"It's okay." Mike laughed. "I think you did bump me in the ribs, though.." He said as he looked down with a frown.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, it wasn't your stab wound I hope?"

"Nah, it's alright, Paige."

A short silence fell between them.

"..I was just heading out to get some groceries, I figured it would be nice if we all stayed here tonight and have dinner together. I was gonna call in the help of Charlie for the cooking part, but I heard her leave and she has been gone now for.. 3 hours. Have you heard of her?" Paige said, beginning to feel a little frustrated.

"I haven't." Mike saw her look. "Paige, I'm sure she's fine. It's Charlie, she won't do any reckless things, she just needs time alone every now and then." He said as he held his hands on her shoulders, trying to reassure her.

"Yeah.. you're probably right. It's just.. I don't like it. I don't like her being like this and I hate that she had to go through all of that. I wish there was something I could do."

"She knows we're here for her, we can't do anything else."

As she looked down, Paige nodded approvingly, and then she looked back up at him.

"Where were you anyway?" She asked.

He let go of her. "I was at the Bureau." He said, but as if he was reluctant to tell.

"What for?" Paige asked, because she felt a strange vibe coming off of him.

"I am leaving Graceland."

Charlie pulled up the driveway and turned off the engine. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She took her phone from her bag; 7 missed calls.

"Oh boy." She sighed again.

Charlie stepped in the house and poked her head around the corner of the kitchen nervously, because she couldn't help but feel guilty over leaving so sudden and without a word.

She saw that the only person there was Paige, who was standing with her back to her by the sink, doing some dishes. On the stove there was pan with a goo inside of it that just outright scared Charlie.

"Hey, what're you making?" She said.

Paige turned around in an instant with a staggered look upon her face.

"You're back. Where-.." She started, but then changed her mind. She walked over to the pan and stirred in it. "I don't know what I'm doing, but it's not good. I think I just created a new form of poison."

Charlie laughed and walked over to her, looking into the pan. "I was gonna say that it wasn't that bad, but.." She frowned. "It just needs a little seasoning, that's all."

"Seriously? Seasoning, that's all you can come up with to save this disaster?" Paige said.

"Yeah, maybe you should grab another pan." Charlie said slowly.

"Let's do that." Paige smiled.

"John, can you hand me the salad?"

"Anything for you." Johnny said as he passed the bowl. "I'm just glad you didn't make us eat whatever it was that you were cookin'.

Everyone laughed. Charlie looked around. This was her family. They were all together after everything that they'd been through and she couldn't be more grateful for it. She looked at all of them. Jakes, Johnny, Briggs. Oh Briggs, what to do with you, she thought. Mikey, Paige.. who, she noticed, were looking at each other with a look she couldn't define.

Yet there was also a part of her that felt that it would never be as before, at least not for her.