A/N: Thanks for the follows and reviews. I don't own any of the characters. Team Charles always.
"What do I mean by what?"
"You said you understand because you have been there."
"I've experienced heartbreak."
"I don't think that's it. I mentioned about the girls being my entire life since they were born and that's what you seemed to agree with."
"Charles, there is a lot you don't know about me."
"Then I'd like to know. I want to know everything there is to know about you."
"Ok. Here it goes."
Just as Liza was about to tell Charles, there was a knock at the door. Liza went to answer it.
"Kelsey, what brings you here?"
"I wanted to see if you were ok after what happened today."
"Not really. Come on in."
Kelsey came in and saw Charles.
"Hey, Charles."
"Kelsey."
"Liza, can I have a moment with you."
"Uh, ok."
Kelsey dragged Liza into her bedroom.
"What the hell is Charles doing here?"
"Checking on me from earlier."
"I can't believe you invited him here."
"I didn't. He just showed up."
"Have you slept with him?"
"No."
"I already told you it wasn't a good idea."
"I know what you told me, Kelsey but I actually do have very strong feelings for him and I am sick of this lie I'm living. I'm going to tell him. Tonight."
"No, you're not. That is going to ruin everything. What about your job? What about our friendship?"
"I really don't care about my job any more. I care about you, I really do but this isn't about you. This is about me. Jay Malick offered me a job at his company, so if I have to, I will quit my job at Empirical and go there. Jay knows everything and still said his offer still stands."
"What about Millennial?"
"You'll be fine without me."
"What about Pauline's book?"
"I'm sure Charles will understand if I can't work on the book. Kelsey, I need you to understand why I'm doing this. I'm not doing this to hurt you. The only people I'm hurting are the ones I care about. I care about Charles probably more than I'm willing to admit. I'm telling him."
"Liza, you can't!"
"Why, Kelsey? Tell me why I can't tell him."
"We're a team with this Millennial thing. I can't do it alone."
Liza left the room but Kelsey followed her.
"Liza, don't do this!"
"Charles, here's what I need to tell you. I'm 41 and not 27. I'm divorced and I have a college age daughter named Caitlin."
"Wow! I can't say I'm surprised. Like I told you I keep telling myself you're older."
"I'm sorry I've been lying to you. That was the only way I could get a job anywhere in Publishing. If you want to fire me, I'll understand. I have had another job offer and he knows my real age."
"Jay Malick?"
"Yes."
"Kelsey, could you excuse us please?"
"Of course."
Kelsey left, so Liza and Charles could talk.
"Are you mad?"
"No, not at all. It still doesn't change how I feel about you. I'm actually relieved. Honestly, I saw your DOB on your hospital bracelet when you were hit by the car. I wanted to bring it up but I wanted to hear it from you. Thank you."
"You're welcome. If you want me to quit, I'll quit. I care about you more than I'm willing to admit. There is something you can do for me though."
"Anything."
"If you want to be with me as much as you say you do, then I want you to officially divorce Pauline. Once you are officially divorced, then we can see where this goes."
"Ok. I'll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I am serious about us. Kelsey knows?"
"Yeah. I told her. Josh was the only one besides Maggie that knew. This whole charade was Maggie's idea. Jay found out by accident when he saw me with Caitlin. She called me Mom in front of him. I never told her what was going on but I did all this for her. I needed money for her schooling. She tracked me down at Times Square when I was playing Princess Pam Pam and thought that I was just doing a character thing for money to help her out. My ex spent all of the money we had saved for college for her on a boat. I gave up my career to be a mom, which is why I can totally relate to Pauline's book. If I had known it was about you, I never would have gotten so excited about it."
"I'm still not happy about this book. I am a very private person and I feel that it invades my privacy especially since people at Empirical know it's about me."
"What do we do now? Diana is going to have a fit."
"More than likely."
Charles laced his fingers through Liza's and then he kissed her.
"Let me think about this and then I will call you sometime tomorrow with my plan. I do know one thing."
"What?"
"This book was a mistake."
"Again, I'm sorry."
"I'm not upset with you at all over any of this. You had no idea who she was. I should be going."
"Ok. Goodnight, Charles."
"Goodnight, Liza."
Charles kissed Liza again and then he headed home. Maggie had heard him leave, so she came out of her room.
"Did you tell him?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He's fine with it. Before I told him, he told me that he keeps telling himself that I'm older than I say I am. He said he understands why I did what I did and he actually found out when I was in the hospital. He saw my DOB on my hospital bracelet but was waiting for me to say something. I told him if he really is serious about us, he needs to officially divorce Pauline."
"What did he say to that?"
"He said he will do anything to prove how serious he is about us."
There was another knock at the door, so Liza went to answer it.
"Kelsey. I though you went home."
"I couldn't. Charles is really ok with this?"
"Yeah. I told him that if he's serious about us, then he has to officially divorce Pauline. Once he's officially divorced, then we can see where this goes. He said he will do anything to prove he is serious. He's coming up with a plan and said he will call me about it tomorrow. He knows I need to tell Diana. He also said he thinks us doing Pauline's book is a mistake."
"Liza, I'm just really worried for you. What if he says all this and then changes his mind? Then what?"
"He said he's over Pauline. The thing is, I am crazy about Bianca and Nicole."
"Do they want them get back together?"
"He said no. According to him, they want me around more. Charles said he saw my DOB on my hospital bracelet when I got hit by the car. He was waiting for me to say something. The thing about my age was what Thad and I were arguing about just before was killed."
"After you told me the truth, I kind of figured that. He actually found out about it?"
"Yeah. I was trying to get him to tell you about him and his assistant and he then was blackmailing me. At that point, I really didn't care if you knew. I was just getting so tired of living the lie. I never intended to hurt you."
"I know that now. I just needed to let it sink in. There is actually something I needed to tell you. Remember after the thing with Edward LL Moore and then I had gone for the few days with Lauren when you went to Pitch Fest?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Josh was there too."
"Kelsey, I'm over him and we agreed to be friends."
"That's not all. I was so worried about losing my job and Josh and I had a long talk. Liza, he kissed me."
"Ok."
"Just ok?"
"Yeah."
"I have been feeling so guilty about it ever since."
"Don't feel guilty. I trust you and I am over him. I know you two are roomies and I am fine with that."
"Ok. Thanks for understanding."
"Josh really gets around, doesn't he?"
"Yeah."
"Charles is smokin' hot. I'm telling you, if I wasn't only interested in women, I'd make a move but only to make you jealous."
"I met Locklin's wife at the picnic. Boy, was she a bitch. She doesn't want me working closely with him."
"There was some woman Charles was talking to and Pauline was getting jealous about it. She thinks he's seeing someone else but I told her I didn't know anything."
"Yeah, I think that's best. You can't tell her that you're the one he's interested in."
"Charles told me he only dated Rahda to make me jealous. The girls never liked her."
"I'm still not sure about you and Charles, Liza."
"He knows Jay Malick offered me a job and I told him I'd take it. The last time I quit my job with Empirical after Thad died, Charles tracked me down at the Paramus Mall and kissed me. That was our first kiss and I went back to Empirical. We have so much in common. I'm glad he knows the truth but now there is so much more at stake. I don't want to hurt Diana though. I just need to know that if I do take this job with Jay, you and I can still be friends."
"Yeah, we will. I care about you and I want you to be happy. After seeing what Josh did today, I saw how immature he really is and maybe you are better off without him."
"It's not that I didn't care for Josh because I did and probably always will but we just wanted different things in our lives. If I pursue this with Charles, will we still be friends? You're the one that advised me against this?"
"We will. Just be careful."
"If I'm not working at Empirical, then it won't matter because he will no longer be my Boss."
"It will matter to me because we won't be working together anymore."
"We can still hang out."
"You will eventually have to tell Lauren."
"I want to come clean with everyone."
"Can the 4 of us hang out tomorrow?"
"It's fine with me."
"Yeah, me too."
"Good. I'll set something up with Lauren and then I'll call or text you in the morning."
"Ok."
"I should go."
"Have a good night, Kelsey."
"You too. Both of you."
Kelsey hugged Liza and then she left. Liza and Maggie went into their respective bedrooms and got into bed. Liza received a text from Charles telling her he got home ok and he would talk to her tomorrow. After she texted him back saying goodnight to him, she went to sleep.