AN: Hello guys! Hope you all had a great weekend! I want to thank decadenceofmysoul (I noticed in last chapter, I made a typing mistake in your name; sorry about that), Stark-ingMad, emmalock93, Mrs. Marie Woods-Winchester and Markay81 for their sweet reviews. Enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 7.

We were going to leave at noon, then make the two hour drive to Charlie's hometown unhurriedly, where we – even in the small chance that we would get stuck in traffic – would arrive before three o'clock in the afternoon. That was the plan.

I was ready at twelve o'clock sharp, knowing how Charlie hated it if I was late. I had a small suitcase neatly packed – filled with dresses and other clothing that he had approved for this trip – standing next to me, my wallet and phone put into the black lacquer clutch I'd bought to complement my black and white striped pencil skirt dress. I was wearing sensible black shoes, the two inch heels doing more for my ass than for my short length – or so I was told.

Five past twelve soon came and went by and I considered going to wait back inside where it was warm and I could sit. Charlie had, however, told me to wait outside for him and I didn't want him to come and find me not here. We were late as it was.

I tapped the tip of my left shoe on the pavement as I watched another car take off of the curb. Most of the students were leaving for the holidays and for a moment I imagined how wonderful it must be to have some time for yourself. I hadn't asked my roommate if she had any plans for the holidays, but I expected she did not. The girl appeared to be as alone as I felt sometimes.

At last, when I was just about to put the suitcase down and drop myself on top of it )something which I should have done 15 minutes ago), a familiar grey car pulled up the curb.

Charlie stepped out without saying a word, took my suitcase from me and loaded it into the trunk. It was only then that he looked at me. And frowned. 'Why are you not wearing the purple dress?'

Because you packed it into my suitcase to wear on Christmas Eve, a voice in my head answered smartly. Instead, I shrugged my shoulders. 'Do you not like this one?'

'Oh it's nice.. it's just, you know, it's a little gaudy don't you think? Don't you have something else to wear?'


Thirty-five minutes later and we were finally pulling off of the campus parking lot. We'd gone back up to my room and he'd ransacked what was left of my clothing. Eventually Charlie had settled on a knit, burgundy sweater dress which I had not worn for at least three years because it made me look, well.. 15 years-old. I'd put it on without a complaint, though, knowing he was already on edge because of the time wasted.

We spoke little during the car ride and I entertained myself by mentally singing along with the Christmas carols that were played non-stop on the radio. We were about an hour on our way when the car broke down.

At first, I thought we'd simply run out of gas – which was no big deal, as we'd just passed a sign announcing a gas station only one and a half mile ahead. 'Well there goes our tight schedule,' I laughed, hoping to relieve the tension that had been building ever since we'd left campus.

'This is no laughing matter! First we can't leave because you dressed like a fucking prostitute, now this. I told my parents we'd be there at three!' He pulled at his hair in agitation.

I bit my lip at the insult, looking away so he would not see the hurt look on my face. He had not meant it, I tried to soothe myself, he was just upset with being late. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. 'I can take a look under the hood, see what the problem is?'

'I'll call roadside assistance, let them take care of it.'

'Charlie, honestly, I've been hanging out in a car and motorcycle repair shop for 3 years. I can just look and..-'

'I said no, Eliza!'

Later that afternoon, as we were waiting for his older brother to pick us up at the repair shop, Charlie had apologized to me. He had been stressed and annoyed at being late and of course, I forgave him. He had not meant to hurt me, after all.


When we finally arrived at the house, it was well past six and night had already fallen. I was hungry and cold, my feet ached from wearing heels for so long and I felt an overwhelming urge to just curl up in a ball and bawl my eyes out. Nevertheless, when it finally came to meeting Charlie's parents, I put up a good front.

I smiled politely as I shook the hand of Mary Hall, who was the epitome of the perfect housewife. She had her hair pulled into a neat bun and wore an apron over her classic blue dress. The man standing stiffly next to her, who I correctly assumed was William Hall, simply gave me a tight nod. I soon also met the remainder of the family: two girls, the older of which (who was about my age) had a rounding belly, who introduced themselves as Charlie's sisters. We had dinner together and afterwards retreated to the living area, where Charlie spent the remainder of the evening catching up. I merely sat and listened, grateful when he finally decided to retreat for the night.


The following days were spent in a fashion that soon became a routine and, within days, I knew what was expected of me. In the morning, I would go downstairs – dressed and perfectly presentable – where I would help Mary with setting the table and making breakfast. Then, I would go back upstairs to fetch Charlie and we'd sit down at the table together. I would sit quietly and nibble on my piece of toast, ignoring the constant buzz of talking around me. Afterwards, I'd help clear the table and then I could go and brush my teeth.

The hours following that would be a bit less predictable, for my activities mainly dependent on what needed to be done in or around the house. On one day, I accompanied the other females to the small Christmas market in town, were we bought a tree and some decorations. On another, we went shopping for Christmas dinner. No matter what I ended up doing, however, it was always with the women of the house. And so come that by the time Christmas came around, Charlie and I had hardly talked to each other for four days. Surely, we saw each other at breakfast, then again at dinner and later in the living room and in bed, but we never really talked.

I'd quickly learned that although I was supposed to be there and look presentable and proper, I was not really required to talk. In fact, it was an unspoken rule that, as a female, I did not. Dinner was therefore a silent affair for me, at which I would try to pay attention to the conversation around me – and not embarrass Charlie by not knowing how to respond in the unlikely case that someone would ask me something – but I found it increasingly hard to do so.

Later, in the sitting room, I would listen half-heartedly to the conversation the women were having, nodding and humming when proper etiquette required me to, but otherwise remained silent. One thing that struck me was that the obvious pregnancy of Penny was never mentioned and it occurred to me that, under its perfect façade, this family must have its problems, too.

After several endless hours spent in the sitting room, Charlie would deem it an appropriate time to go upstairs where we'd have passionless sex and then he'd fall asleep, leaving me to ponder my life.

Despite everything that had happened – my Mom dying, then having to move in with Piney, going to a new school – I had somehow always managed to keep a positive outlook on life. I had been sad, alone and maybe a little frightened, but somehow I'd always managed to soldier on. Whatever life had thrown at me, my teenage self had never allowed it to bring me down completely.

So why was it that I was suddenly feeling so empty? I'd been alone, truly alone with not a soul in the world really caring about what happened to me, yet I'd never felt more alone than I did at that moment. Being at Charlie's house made me feel like my life was already over before I had even had the chance to live it. I wanted to do good by him, wanted to be what he wanted me to be, but increasingly found that perhaps it was not what I wanted to be. I did not want to become the next Mrs. Hall, I did not want to stuck in the house for the rest of my life, bearing children for a man that did not care for me apart from my cooking skills.

But that begged the question, what did I want?


Christmas day passed by quite like the previous days had; quietly, with very much manual and very little mental effort put in going about my day. It was therefore that I was taken off guard when Ben, Charlie's older brother, asked me a question.

'Excuse me?' I asked, trying to sound as I had not correctly heard him, instead of as if I had not been paying attention.

'I said that my brother told me you are from Charming?'

I swallowed a piece of chicken. 'I actually grew up in Lodi, but I moved to Charming when I was 15 when… well, due to circumstances.'

He nodded 'I don't know if Charlie told you, but I have a company dealing in hardware electronics. We've been thinking of putting up a shop in Charming but well, I suppose coming from Charming you know that the Sons of Anarchy can be a bit of a off-putting factor for any company wanting to set up business there. Tell me, are they really as bad as my sources say?'

'Sons of Anarchy?' Charlie asked, before I even had the chance to respond to the original question.

'It's a motor club,' I explained shortly.

'More like a gang,' Ben put in. 'I've heard several of its members have been caught in gun trafficking and most have served jail time for one thing or another.'

'I see,' Charlie said softly, though the looks he was sending me told me that I was far from off the hook.

Later that night, we retired to Charlie's bedroom a little earlier than normal. For a few moments, he said nothing and I grabbed a pajama and my toiletries, pretending I did not feel the pressure that had been building in the room. Eventually, when I had almost made it to the door to the private bathroom, he exploded.

'A motor gang?!'

I turned around, carefully schooling my features into an expression of innocence, hoping that it would somehow calm him down. 'What about it, Charlie?'

'Your family is part of a motor gang and you did not think it was important to tell me?'

I shrugged and repressed the urge to take a step back as he started shouting. 'I did not think it mattered.'

'Not think it..' He huffed 'You did not think it was important that you're involved with gun traffickers and the like?'

'I'm not involved with anything,' I attempted to reason calmly, but I noticed that I was quickly losing my patience as well. 'Look, I really don't see how this changes anything, Charlie. Now, if you don't mind, I've had a long day and I really just want to take a shower.' I turned to leave, but he grabbed me by my arm and pulled me back.

The force of his pull, combined with my surprise of being physically handled caused me to lose my balance and before I well knew it, I was crashing down.

Into the heavy wooden night stand that sat at the side of the door.

A second passed in which everything wentblack, then the world came back into view just in time to see Charlie rushing to my side. Before he could say anything – much less put another hand on me – I snatched up my fallen toiletries and rushed into the bathroom, carefully locking the door behind me. I turned on the shower, balling my fists at his pleas to come out, later having to choke back the sobs as his pleas turned into sincere sounding apologies.

I remained under the shower until it had become silent on the other side of the bathroom door, then dressed back into my clothes. I brushed my hair leisurely, each stroke deliberate as I tried to look anywhere but at the welt that was forming against my hairline. I left my hair down for once, allowing it to obscure the ugly mark from view as I finally returned the brush to my toiletry bag. Then, after listening at the door once more, I took a deep breath and went back into the bedroom.

In a way, I was not surprised to not find Charlie there. I knew how he hated to sit by and do nothing, so surely he was out somewhere venting his displeasure with me.

However, not having him in my line of sight put me on edge. After scanning the room – and concluding that he really was not here – I pulled my suitcase from underneath the bed and quickly repacked my things. When everything was put away, I made my way down the stairs.

'What are you doing?'

I was not prepared for him to suddenly stand before me, but for once I did not back down and looked him squarely in the eye. 'Leaving.'

'You're not seriously leaving in the middle of the night because of some stupid accident, are you?'

'No. I am because I should have left much sooner.'

'Come on, Eliza, listen, I..-'

'I have listened. In fact, I've done enough listening to last me a lifetime. And you know what, I find that I don't really care for what you have to say.' I turned to leave, then turned back to the rest of the family that watched the spectacle with morbid curiosity. 'I thank you all for your hospitality; I will see myself out. Good night.' And with those words, I stepped out the front door.

I prepared myself for the long walk to a local bus station, my feet already dreading the long walk, when I heard the front door close behind me. I turned around, fully expecting it to be Charlie – fully preparing myself to fight another battle – but I was surprised to find that it was just Penny. Small, pregnant Penny that had come outside against her family's wishes.

'He deserved what you said, you know.' She pulled out a key chain, then unlocked the baby blue hatchback that was parked out front. 'Come on, I'll give you a lift to the bus station.'