AN: Once again, thank you to everyone that's reading and reviewing. Y'all honestly make my day. My inspiration comes and goes with this story so it takes me longer to update sometimes, it's weird, but I still hope y'all will stick with it either way. Haha. Here's chapter 7.

Chapter 7

Addison's POV:

Today was a rather exciting day...busy...but exciting! I had two patients to see at the Practice. My first patient only came in for an ultrasound. Everything looked good and she found out that she is having a little girl. If by some miracle I was able to have kids, I would want a baby girl first. I even picked out some names already. I really love Faith, Nadia, or Hope for a girl, but there are a bunch more that I really like. Sometimes, I just sit around at home and look through those books with the 20,000+ baby names in it. I don't know why, but I just do. It's kind of tortuous if you think about it. Jake told me that I only have a few eggs left and I'm getting older with each passing day. I'm 44 so I'm running out of time. I want a baby of my own more than anything in the entire world, but I think that I waited too long. I might still have a chance. I try to remain hopeful nevertheless, even if the odds are slim or close to none. That's just how I am. I wonder if it would be easier just to give up hope sometimes. I don't mean to sound depressing or melodramatic but, it's true. Some people go through their lives having so much hope and in the end, their hearts end up getting crushed to pieces. I don't know if I can have any more hope to have a baby. I had so many chances to have a baby before and I never took those chances so if I lose the ability to have a child, it's my fault, isn't it? Maybe I just wasn't meant to have any kids...maybe I'm meant to help bring them into the world for other women instead. I can't really complain. If I can't have a baby, it'll be okay, because at the end of the day, I help other women bring babies into the world, and that's all that matters! My second patient delivered twin girls in one of the private birthing suites; Lily and Layla were their names. Those are really beautiful names and they were such gorgeous babies. I really do love my job. I don't know where I would be without it. Actually, if I wasn't a surgeon, I would probably be some kind of crazy cat lady living with 50 cats and reading romance novels all day. I don't think I'd ever be able to deal with that so I'm glad that I'm a surgeon.

It is about 3 in the afternoon when I have to head over to St. Ambrose for my 3rd patient. A mother had a C-section scheduled at 3:45. Even if I wasn't scheduled to operate I still would have gone to St. Ambrose anyway because I wanted to see Charlotte.

We haven't been together longer than a day yet, I still can't stop thinking about her for one second. That's crazy, isn't it? You can go your whole life not thinking about someone and then something happens to make you think about them all of the time. Life is definitely mysterious.

I got an idea a few hours ago and I am a bit reluctant to share it with Charlotte. We all know how she is. She's a private woman, she can be pretty testy at times and she's definitely stubborn. Need I say more? I am still surprised that she let me tell Violet about us but what I'm about to ask her to do can be pretty risky.

I want to ask Charlotte to go on a date with me. Not a date-date. By that, I mean that it's not one of those dates where it's at some high-end, fancy 5 star restaurant. No, I definitely couldn't suggest that yet, because one, it's too early, and two, Charlotte would never say yes to something like that, at least not in this point of time. Besides, I wanted our first date to be more...simple, or intimate. This is the first time I ever thought about planning a date on my own. I usually let the guys that I have been with do that but I'm stepping up this time.

Once I get to St. Ambrose, I head directly to the scrub room to get dressed and ready for surgery. I am about to head into OR 1 when I hear a familiar voice in the distance; the Southern accent that used to annoy the crap out of me but now, was surprisingly soothing. Well, not at the moment anyway.

"I asked you to do one simple thing, yet you can't do it! Why did I even hire you?" I turn around to see the Chief of Staff letting an intern have it. I have been operating on patients in St. Ambrose for years but this is the first time that I have had the honor of seeing Charlotte lash out on someone. I mean, really lash out. I should feel bad for that intern but at the same time, I don't, because there must be something that he did wrong that would cause Charlotte to yell. Come to think of it, Charlotte is always yelling so, never mind then. The intern starts to get emotional. If we all know something, we know that Charlotte doesn't like tears. "Hey, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just...I need those records, okay? Just get 'em to me, ASAP." She tells the frightened intern and he scurries off.

I watch Charlotte take a deep breath like she was trying to calm herself down and then, she begins to walk again. Even in her stride, you can tell that she was trying to look strong and superior. She truly wanted to look invincible and bulletproof to everyone around her. In the past few days, I saw a side of Charlotte that many have never seen...or to put it more accurately, I side that many people will never see. I saw the vulnerable side of the Chief of Staff and it only made me like her even more. I was almost certain that she was some kind of cyborg or demon from the way that she acted around others but the truth is that she's only trying to protect herself from others. She's been hurt before and I know she doesn't want to be hurt again. Seeing the emotional side of Charlotte really showed me what kind of a person she really is. The woman does have a heart, even though some people would try to test my theory on that. How can the rough, tough as nails Chief of St. Ambrose even have a heart when she's seen crushing people daily? I really don't know but her heart is definitely there and I can see why she tries to hide it. I don't blame her though. When you're hurt numerous times, you don't want to be hurt again so you have to keep yourself heavily guarded. The more I think about the blonde, the more I begin to understand her. Sure, there are about a billion other things that I have yet to discover about Charlotte but I couldn't wait to find them out. That was the point of this date. I wanted to get to know more about Charlotte. I could already hear her voice and all of the answers that she would dish out to me already. I thought I would ask her about this now but she turns a corner and heads down a hallway. She didn't even notice me gawking at her, which surprised me. I'm sure she just had something on her mind.

On that note, I smile to myself as I head into OR 1. About an hour later, I have helped deliver a beautiful baby boy. He had trouble breathing at first, which isn't rare in a C-section but I got the little guy breathing again. Now, he's breathing strong and both he and his mother are happy.

It's such a rush delivery babies. That may sound weird but it gets my endorphins flowing. Nothing feels better than bringing another human life into the world. Words can't even begin to describe it. It's something that you have to experience yourself to even begin to understand it. I scrub out, making sure to wash my hands thoroughly. I don't even bother to get out of my scrubs as I head to Charlotte's office. I didn't see her anywhere on my way to her office so I assumed that she was in there. Once I get there, I knock on the door three times and wait.

"Whoever you are, you better have a pretty damn good reason of interruptin' me while I'm busy." I hear Charlotte call out loudly.

"It's your favorite world-class double board-certified neonatal surgeon!" I say happily and wait for an answer.

"Oh! Come in!" Charlotte seems a bit surprised of my presence when I open her office door and come inside. I shut the door behind me and grin at her. "What's the grin for?"

"Are you always this mean to people?" I tease her as I walk toward her desk and stand in front of it.

"Yes...no..." Charlotte answers me in a flat voice and I chuckle softly. "Why does it matter anyway?"

"It doesn't...I just wanted to see what your answer was." I look at her with a smirk.

"Mhm...sure..." Charlotte stands up and she walks over to me. She pushes me down into a chair and she sits down on top of me. "I missed you." She tells me with a smile as she looks into my eyes.

This surprised me. I have heard Charlotte say many things in the past but I never thought I would hear those words out of her mouth. "Really? You do?" She nods in a certain manner. It felt really good to know that she missed me because I couldn't stop thinking about her ever since she left the Practice a few hours earlier. "Well...I missed you too." I tell her truthfully as she kisses me deeply. She begins to run her hands up and down between my legs sensually and I let out a moan. "Wait...wait a second..." I say as I pull back from the kiss.

She raises an eyebrow. "Are you insane, woman? You really must be insane."

"Why don't we save this for later?" I push Charlotte back with an index finger.

"Seriously? What the hell?" Charlotte lets out a huff. "I need to release some...sexual frustration...and I don't know why you'd deny me sex because we all know how hot I am."

"And pushy...and narcissistic." I tell her with a grin.

Charlotte makes a pouty face. "Please...just a quickie. I'll lock the door..." She licks her lips and begins to caress my thighs again. She kisses me passionately. This woman makes it so hard to concentrate when she's kissing me like this. I cup her face and kiss her deeper. When she runs her hands beneath my scrub shirt, I gasp at her touch. Her hands are pretty cold but that still doesn't do anything to affect the pleasure that I can feel building up between my legs.

When Charlotte drags a finger across the thin fabric of my scrub bottoms, I can't take it anymore. I moan softly and push her back again. Okay...okay..."

"Addison." Charlotte pouts at me again. I wanted to continue with this, don't get me wrong, but I had to ask her about the date.

"I'm sorry, Charlotte." I sigh as I look into her eyes. "I came here to ask you about something."

"Really? Well...what is it?" She asks me and when I don't speak right away, she gets mad. "Come on, speak up."

I nod. "Okay...well...I was wondering..." I pause and she raises her eyebrows. "Uh, I wanted to know if you would maybe...like to go on a date with me?" I close my eyes and wait for her to either yell or laugh in my face.

"Uh...why?" Charlotte questions me. "I already told you, Addison...I don't want to go public yet. If someone saw us out together..."

I look at her and shake my head. "No, not a date-date, just...a date."

"There's a difference?" Charlotte asks me.

"I don't want to go on a date to a restaurant with you. I mean, yeah, I do, but maybe we're not ready for that." I take a pause. "I was thinking of something simple...a date at my house. It'll just be us, obviously."

Charlotte bites her lip and looks like she's thinking it over. "I don't know..."

"Please, Charlotte? It'll be fine." I smile at her encouragingly. "I want to get to know you better."

Charlotte sighs loudly. "Oh, fine. I know you won't let me say no anyway so I might as well say yes and save you the trouble." She winks at me playfully.

"Well, thank you for doing me the favor." I return a wink and look into her eyes. "Who knew you could be so helpful?"

"Hey I can be helpful...when I want to be." She grins cheekily. "As a matter of fact, I can be many things!" She winks again.

I nod at her. "I know. You can very implying at times."

"Why do you say that?" Charlotte asks coyly.

"You're suggesting something sexual...because you winked at me." I point it out with a smirk. "You also had a suggestive tone to your voice."

"Okay...rude! I did not! I didn't know winkin' always pointed out somethin' sexual...sorrrrry!" Charlotte sticks her tongue out at me.

"Well, what else do you think it stands for?" I ask her with a grin. "I sometimes wonder about you, Charlotte."

"I betcha you do...just like everyone else at this hospital...and the practice too! It wouldn't surprise me if they're all runnin' top-secret undercover operations on me or wiretappin' my phone or somethin' fishy like that." Charlotte retorts sharply and sighs.

"Do you have something to hide, Charlotte?" I ask curiously and lean back in the chair.

"No, I don't got nothin' to hide!" Charlotte spits out and lets out an exhale. "Okay...so I was hintin' at somethin' sexual...so what? That's not a crime. Besides, would you rather me give you a death glare when I'm flirtin'?" She gives me her best death glare and even adds a little growl onto it.

"Hmm...actually...when you're angry, it kind of...turns me on..." I tell her honestly.

"Really now? Ooh, Addison Forbes Montgomery, you're a dirty girl!" Charlotte giggles as she cups my face and kisses me deeply with tongue. At that moment, the intern that Charlotte cracked the whip on earlier walks into her office...without knocking. The Chief of Staff must have a better sense of hearing than me since I didn't hear him come in. Thankfully, he didn't see us engaging in our make out session because Charlotte jumps off of me quick enough so there would be nothing to question. Although, by my shocked expression and by my spread eagle like pose, I'm sure the kid would've suspected something...that is, if he wasn't too busy quivering because of his boss. "Didn't your Momma ever teach you how to knock or don't you have any kind of manners whatsoever?"

The male intern froze in place. "I...uh, yes...my mother taught me manners, ma'am." I could tell that he was trying to remain composed.

"Ma'am?" Charlotte questions him angrily. "Ma'am is used to describe some kind of old lady...do I look old to you?"

"No, ma'am! I mean, s-sir...no, Dr. King!" He starts to stutter now and his hands start to shake.

Charlotte doesn't say anything in return and this doesn't help to calm his nerves. It just makes him worse. "Can I ask why you are botherin' me? I was in a very important...meetin' with Dr. Montgomery here...or at least you would've known that if you knocked first." He looks over at me with a face that has "Save me" written all over it. I smile at him. He continues to look at me and Charlotte snaps her fingers so loud that it almost makes me jump and makes the poor intern gasp. "Well, I'm waitin'!"

"I...I found you the records that you wanted, Dr. King! I found them as fast as I could." He hands her the folder with shaky hands.

"Okay...thank you!" Charlotte takes the folder from him and he's about to run out when she stops him. "Dr. Anthony, isn't it?" She says without looking at his name tag. He nods nervously. "I know that you're new here and all but I'll give you a little fair warnin'...the Wicked Witch doesn't play around, alright? So you can tell your little friends out there that think this is funny to cut it out 'cause I control the cash flow and their jobs...got it?" She questions him forcefully. He nods even faster this time. "Good! I'm glad that we're clear now!" She holds open her door for him and smiles widely. "Have a nice day, Dr. Anthony!"

"You...you too, Dr. King!" He scrambles out of her office and doesn't look back.

Charlotte laughs proudly to herself as she closes the door and locks it. She sets down that file on her desk and comes back over to me. I have a straight look on my face. "What?"

"What? Charlotte...you just scared that kid half to death." I look up at her.

"He's not a kid. He's an adult." Charlotte retorts.

"You know what I mean." I sigh and cross my arms softly.

"I don't see your point here, Addison." She leans back against her desk and stares at me.

"You don't think that was a little harsh at all?" I question her.

Charlotte shakes her head. "No, I really don't. I have to be harsh on these new doctors because you know what? If I don't do it, who else will? I'm just tryin' to make 'em tougher and believe me...there are harsher people than me roamin' around in this world so I'm the least of their worries!" She explains to me. I guess it made sense but still, she probably scarred that young man for life.

"Okay...fair enough..." I reply back to her.

"Alright then, if you're done questionin' me, I'd like to get back to where we left off!" She's about to hop on me again and I stop her. "Grr, Addison!"

I grin at her as I stand up from the chair. "Later, okay? And I'll definitely be interrogating you later on." I wink softly. "In the meantime, I need to go home and wash up. I believe that you have some business to attend to, because you made that intern go all out looking for those records so they must be pretty important."

Charlotte sighs. "Yes, you're right...well, when is this date?"

I think for a moment. I look to the clock and see that it's about 4 now. "Let's say...8 o'clock, my place."

Charlotte smiles. "Okay! Well, I will definitely be there!"

I smile back happily. "You better!" I was glad that Charlotte agreed to this because I was very excited to learn more about the woman that was captivating me so much lately. I pull Charlotte against me and wrap my arms around her as I give her a goodbye kiss. Once I started, I didn't want to stop but unfortunately, I had to if we were going to have any chance to finish what we needed to in time. I pull back from her and back up slowly. "I'll see you later!"

"Yes, you shall!" Charlotte grins at me as I give her a wave and I head out of her office.

7:50 PM

It was about 10 minutes until Charlotte was going to be here. I don't know why but I was pretty nervous. This was actually the first time where I was excited to learn more about a person. I've known Charlotte for years but I can't say that I know much about her personally. Under that tough exterior of hers, I'm sure that there are so many more things for me to learn about her and I just hope she'll let me in so I can find them all out.

I prepare dinner for our little date; chicken parmesan, spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. I didn't know if Charlotte liked Italian food or not but I took the risk anyway.

I am dressed up in an emerald green cocktail dress with silver heels. I have my hair curled and put on my favorite perfume. I come downstairs a few minutes early to set up the dinner table. I place a candle in the middle of the table and light it.

I didn't realize it at first but I guess I was kind of making this date romantic. It wasn't my intention but it just happened. I would say that I'm a romantic person but I never really let it show until that night. I guess Charlotte really was changing me. I don't know how romantic I could really make it anyway. People usually have their first date before they do anything and Charlotte and I obviously went in the wrong order. We had sex before we even had a date but you know what? Most people have sex on the first dare anyway so it doesn't matter. Nevertheless, I still felt like this should happen. I think that it will bring Charlotte and I closer together...or at least that's what I'm hoping will happen.

I am about to go upstairs to make sure I look okay when I hear a knock on my door. Charlotte is early. I think to myself as I begin to walk to the door, my heart beating rapidly inside my chest. I wasn't a negative person but I started to think of everything that could go wrong. I shake my head. Stop it, Addison. Just stop it. You'll make it worse. I look into the mirror and check myself. You look fine. I sigh as I approach the door. I smooth out a wrinkle in my dress and take a deep breath before opening the door.

I open the door to see Charlotte in a purple V neck dress. To say that she looked gorgeous would be an understatement. She looked absolutely breathtaking. A simple "Hey." is all that I can get out of my mouth.

She grins widely at me. "You alright? You look like you're 'bout to drool all over me."

I realize my jaw is open slightly and I close it embarrassedly. "Yes, I'm fine. You just...you look..."

"Hmm...what do I look like?" She raises an eyebrow as she inquires me.

I look at her up and down and then, I look into her eyes. "You look beautiful."

Charlotte smiles. "Really? I didn't think I looked that good...but thank you! You look pretty smokin' as well! Green looks great on you!" She chuckles softly as she winks and I smile at her. "I hope you don't mind that I came a few minutes early."

"No, not at all." I tell her with a smile as I step out of the doorway to let her in. "I don't mind."

"Good, 'cause I was gettin' you back for comin' to my house early the other night. You gotta love payback, huh?" Charlotte grins and I shake my head. "Ooh...what do I smell in here?"

"Food." I reply back plainly with a smirk.

Charlotte turns back to me as she begins to walk inside. "No...I never would've guessed that."

I walk ahead of her and walk into the dining room first. I turn back to see Charlotte looking at the setup with wide eyes. Oh no...she hates it already. I think to myself and bite my bottom lip. "Is everything okay? I hope this isn't too much."

I knew Charlotte as many things but I was almost positive that she wasn't a romantic person. At least she never seemed that way. "You did all of this...for me?" She walks toward me and shakes her head. I nod happily. She looks really touched. "You shouldn't have gone through all of this trouble, Addison."

"No, I wanted to." I reassure her with a wide smile. I slide out a chair for her. "Come on, sit down." She hesitates a bit before walking over and sitting down. The food was already out on the table and I was getting out a bottle of wine. "Do you want a glass of wine?"

"Yes, please." Charlotte holds out her glass as I pour the wine. "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" I smile as I pour a glass for myself and take a seat next to her. "Help yourself to whatever you want."

Charlotte smiles brightly. "How did you know that I loved Italian food?" She takes a little of everything and I do the same.

"Actually...I didn't...I just hoped that you would." I laugh softly and watch her.

"Well, you were right. I love Italian food! More than I should. I'm not even Italian." She tells me with a grin.

"Well, neither am I." I smile amiably and take a sip of the red wine in my cup. "Go on...try some."

"You probably poisoned it on me, didn'tcha?" Charlotte asks with a grin.

"No...if I was going to do that, I wouldn't be urging you to eat it. I would have to remain inconspicuous or you'd know something was up." I smirk and begin to eat.

Charlotte takes a bite of the chicken first. "Oh...that's so good..." She smiles satisfyingly. "I had no idea you were such a good cook."

I look at her and nod. "Well, I wouldn't say that I'm that good of a cook but yeah...I like to cook. Not that I have much time to do it though."

Charlotte grins. "I wish I had the talent to cook. I have to live on take out and the simple things that I can actually cook. I usually eat out though." She takes another bite and drinks some wine. "If I tried to cook somethin' like this, there would be a high risk of me burnin' the house down."

I get the image of that and I chuckle. "Is it sad that I can imagine that happening?" Charlotte shakes her head. "Well, I like my house a lot so I'm not going to let you cook here...no offense."

"None taken!" She winks and looks at me. "Really though...this is very...sweet." She smiles elatedly. "No one has ever went to this much trouble for me."

I return the smile. "It's really no trouble at all, Charlotte." I sip my wine slowly. "Cooper never did anything like this for you?"

She shakes her head. "Nope...that man didn't do much of anything..." She sighs and I end up feeling bad for asking about him. "It's okay...I'm glad that you're at least semi-romantic. It's a good change." She smiles now. "I like romantic people. I like the settin' you have here...with the dimmed lights and the candlelight dinner."

I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. For a while there, I thought you were going to think it was too much and that you were going to hate it."

"No...of course not." Charlotte smiles then shrugs. "Although, I don't think I'm worthy of all of this."

I reach over and squeeze her hand. "You are...you are definitely worth it."

She looks into my eyes with a smile and I think she even starts to blush. She gives my hand a squeeze before sipping more wine. "Well...you said that you wanna know more 'bout me...so what do you wanna know?"

"Whatever you wanna tell me, Charlotte." I tell her with a kind smile.

"Well...there's a lot to find out about me and I can probably go on about certain things for years so...how 'bout you interrogate me like you said you would?" Charlotte suggests to me.

I nod. "Okay...hmm..." I wrap some spaghetti around my fork and chew it slowly as I ponder about what to ask Charlotte. There was so much that I wanted to learn. So many questions, so little time. "Why did you choose to pursue sexology as your specialty?"

"Well...you and I both know that I like...love sex." We both grin. "It's a great thing and it also fascinated me. I think everyone has the right to be able to have sex and feel pleasure, and some people can't, for whatever reason. I help to discover the reason and help them improve their problems. I know if I wasn't able to have sex for whatever reason, I might just die." She giggles softly. "I know it's not the most popular specialty but it really helps other's. Thinkin' back now though...I remember that I almost picked neonatal as my specialty."

I listen to her intently and I perk up instantly when she says that. "Neonatal...really?" She nods in agreement. "Well...why didn't you?"

Charlotte carefully dips her garlic bread into sauce and chews it before speaking. "It's not a surprise that I can be mean sometimes...and cold..." I am about to tell her she's wrong when she continues on. "But I just...I don't do well with kids. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that they don't like me. It's like they know that I'm the Wicked Witch."

I frown slightly. "Aww, come on. They do not."

"They do...but it's not like I'm the motherly type anyway...maybe that's why they don't like me." Charlotte finishes her glass of wine and asks for more.

I pour some more into her glass. "Do you want kids?" I ask her curiously.

She shrugs. "I don't know...I guess so...I don't know who would want to have kids with me anyway...no kids could ever love me."

"Hey now..." I frown again as I squeeze her hand. "Don't say that...do you wanna know something?" She just looks at me. "I think that you would make a great mother someday...I really do...and I'm not just saying that to flatter you. You really will be a wonderful mother."

"I don't think so...but I'm glad that someone does." Charlotte smiles softly.

I smile back at her. "I remember you mentioning that you had brothers back home...you should tell me about them and all the crazy things you probably did. You look like the kid that was a prankster."

"You're right again...I was a prankster. Are you sure you don't already know me?" Charlotte smirks at me. "'Cause you're gettin' me right so far."

I shake my head and smile. "It's just a lucky guess."

Charlotte grins. "Right. Anyway...I have 2 brothers...Duke and Landry. Landry's 3 years older than me, Duke's 3 years younger and I'm the one stuck in the middle. They used to pick on me all the time. I was a shy girl...if you can believe that." I nod. I could see it. "Well, I finally snapped on them one day...and that made me into the person I am today." She chuckles. "They deserved it anyway. Now they wouldn't even dare messin' with me."

I laugh and smile widely. "So...you beat up your older brother?" She nods. "And your younger one?" She nods again. "That's mean."

She grins proudly. "Come on! You really think beatin' them up was bad? Landry pushed me once and broke my arm. Then, Duke stepped on my foot...purposely, and broke my toe!"

I sip my wine before looking down at her feet. "Ooh yeah, you're right. Your one toe does look pretty funky."

Charlotte glares at me and shoves me playfully. "Mhm."

After a while, we both end up finishing our food. I ask Charlotte many questions and she asks some to me in return. I definitely learn a lot about her. I give us both a refill of wine and then, I stand up. "Do you want to go sit outside?"

"Sure!" Charlotte replies back excitedly as we grab our glasses of wine and head outside. We each take a seat on a lounging chair. It was perfect outside. It was warm out and there was a brilliant full moon shining down above us. We sit in silence for a few moments as we look out at the waves rolling in and back out again. "Charlotte..." She turns her head to look at me. I don't know why I wanted to ask her this question but it was in my mind all night. "Would you ever get married again?" It was risky territory that I was heading into, since Charlotte and Cooper haven't been broken up for too long yet. This whole night was getting me thinking about things I wouldn't think about usually. Charlotte doesn't say anything as she stands up. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that she was getting up to leave. I sit up nervously and watch her. In fact, she wasn't leaving...she was coming over to me. She squeezes onto the chair next to me. She laces her hand with mine and lays her head on my chest. Instinctively, I wrap my arms around her.

Charlotte looks up at me. "I don't know, Addison. I've been married two times already...people shouldn't have to get married that many times. The first guy I married was supposed to be my dream guy and Cooper...I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with him. Do you know what it feels like to have your heart broken...twice?" I nod my head. I did. I have experienced it more than twice. No matter how many times it happens to a person, it still isn't fun. "I don't know if I could deal with that pain again." I hold her close to me and rub her back soothingly. "You don't think a person is goin' to leave you...hell, they'll tell you that they'll never leave and then, you get attached to them thinkin' they were tellin' the truth, then bang! They drop you and crush you like a ton of steel...then, they never talk to you again." Charlotte squeezes her eyes shut as if she was trying to hold back tears. I didn't want her to cry. I felt bad for asking this now because I brought up bad memories for her. She looks up into my eyes as a tear rolls down her cheek and she quickly looks away.

My heart was breaking for her. I had to make this right. I have to reassure her somehow. "Charlotte...Charlotte, look at me..." She looks ashamed and keeps looking away to hide her tears from me. I put my hand under her chin and tip her head up towards me. "I want you to listen to me right now, okay?" She nods slowly. "I know we've been together for a day now but believe me when I say this...I'm one of the good guys...well, good girls. I know you've been hurt in the past. I get it. It happened to me too. It's agonizing, paralyzingly and it just hurts." I caress her cheek. "I don't know how long we'll be together, or how serious we'll get, but I promise you that I will never hurt you...ever. I wouldn't even think about it because I...I care about you, and I can't hurt someone that I care about." Charlotte continues to stare into my eyes. "I want you to believe that...I need you to believe it. I don't make promises that I can't keep and I wouldn't ever break a promise like this. You don't have to be afraid with me. You don't have to be afraid that I'm going to get up and leave you like nothing happened. I can't. I can't walk out on someone that...that means the world to me." I never thought I'd be saying this to Charlotte this early in our relationship but it was true. I honestly cared about her more than anyone in quite a long time. I had to tell her so she would know. "I won't ever hurt you, Charlotte...and that's a promise. So, don't be scared to lean on me or rely on me...or even fall in love with me...because I'll be here for you...there's no doubt about that. I'll be the best partner...girlfriend...you've ever had...and if I can't be your best, I'm going to try my hardest anyway...because you're worth fighting for, Charlotte."

Maybe it was just that I've poured my heart out to Charlotte or maybe it was just the atmosphere, but I was about to say something else to her. Something huge and important, but I was afraid. Our relationship had barely even started but I was already falling hard for Charlotte. I think that I've fallen so deep that there's no way I could get out, even if I wanted to. Frankly, I don't want to get out. I've seen the real Charlotte over the past few days and I wanted to see more of her. It was hard to believe but it was the truth. At the moment, I finally realized that I was falling in love with Charlotte King. Maybe I have been in love with her for years and I never realized it. Love is strange like that. It's one of those things where you never know. I have cared about Charlotte for years, and I have seen her go through many bad things, so I could've fallen in love with her a long time ago. No matter if I fell in love with her years ago or just a few minutes prior, there was no denying this feeling now. I am about to mutter those three words then, I stop. I was taking a huge risk saying this to her. I know how Charlotte is with commitments. I can tell her this and she might run away without turning back. I didn't want to lose her. At the same time, I think she had a right to know for far in I was already. I didn't think Charlotte was in love with me but who knows? Maybe she is, and I wouldn't know the answer until I said it.

I look down at Charlotte and she is still looking up at me. "I need to tell you something, Charlotte...I don't want you to freak out or run away or do anything drastic but I need to tell you this..." I take a deep breath and I am about to tell her how I really feel when she speaks.

"I love you, Addison." Charlotte tells me in a confident voice. There was no hesitation and after she said it, she smiles at me blissfully. She really meant it. I could tell by the way she was looking at me.

I smile at her and hold her closer to me. I push a few strands of her blonde hair out of her face as I look deeply into her eyes. "I love you too, Charlotte. There's no doubt in my mind about it."

"I have no doubt either." Charlotte replies to me. "What you said...you really touched me. It means so much to me. Thank you."

I smile gratefully. "You're welcome. I meant every single word."

Charlotte smiles widely and leans up to kiss me passionately on the lips. She pulls me up from the chair and leads me back into the house, her lips not leaving mine for a second, but the things that left us were our clothes as we made it to my bedroom. We end up making love so tender that it seemed too good to be real.

Everything felt right at that moment. I felt closer to Charlotte than ever before. I had no idea what the next few days, weeks or even months held for us but I knew I would be fine, just as long as I had Charlotte by my side through it all!

AN: Okay! That's Chapter 7! I'm thinking about adding some drama now. I don't want to 'cause I love AddiChar to death but it can't be all happily ever after...yet. And yes, I had them say I love you to each other. Some of you may think it was too quick but I thought it was just right, but that's my mind. Nevertheless, give me a review, and let me know what you thought. Thank you all once again. You're amazeballs!