Epilogue

The room was almost in complete darkness. Charlie looked at the tiny creature who was fast asleep right in front of her. Was it possible that, in the perfect little creature she was looking at, there was a part of her?
She tried to remember how it had happened. Some five years before, the day after her graduation, she had stolen all the money her mother had (she knew where her mother kept them, and she even knew how to access her bank account and her credit cards' passwords), so that the only money left in the house were her little brother's. She had put in her suitcase just a few things she absolutely needed (clothes, documents, money and her mobile phone) and she had headed to the airport, ready to jump on the first flight departing towards any destination. She didn't have a clear destination: she just wanted to go away, as far as possible from her family, although she felt sorry for leaving her brother alone with their mother.
After four years spent travelling around the world, she was back to the United States. She had seen almost every bit of the country, since she used to change city very often, but, for once in her life, she wanted to see her own country as a tourist. Her trip, though, ended because of something that changed her life forever.
She was scared, she had the feeling that she had done something so wrong that she decided to backtrack. She desperately needed someone. How could she have done something like that? She was afraid she had hurt someone, with her almost desperate action. She had decided not to tell anyone where she was, but she was so in need of help that she wanted to be found by someone. She wrote on Facebook that she was in Lima, Ohio, waiting for someone to come and find her.
Less than twenty-four hours later, the girl received an unexpected call from Blaine. They hadn't talked very often, during the last months, so Charlie didn't expect the boy to call her. During that call, however, the boy didn't seem to notice that they almost hadn't heard from each other for months: he just told her to go to New York, where he was living.
Charlie left immediately. She needed friends, wherever they were.
When she reached the address her friend had told her, she rather expected to see his surname on the label on the intercom, next to Kurt's. She rang, and, when the door opened, she climbed the stairs, heading to her friends' apartment.
"You called?" she told Blaine, as he opened the door.
"Charlie, how are you?" Blaine asked her, happy to see her.
"I've had worse moments..." the girl answered, entering. "What about you? What are you doing here?"
As he heard the girl's voice, Kurt ran to say hello to her.
"Charlie!" he shouted, running to hug her. "How was your trip?"
"Better than expected!" Charlie answered. "However, speaking of more serious issues, why am I here? When you called me, you didn't tell me almost anything..."
The two boys looked at each other, and then asked Charlie to sit on the big white 'L' shaped couch, in the living room. They sat on the same couch, next to each other, so that they could look at the girl in the eyes while talking to her.
"Where do we start...?" Blaine began. "You are definitely not coming back home, are you?"
"No, not even to see whether my little brother has survived or not!" said Charlie. "Poor boy..."
"So, where are you going to stay?" the boy continued.
"I have no idea..." answered Charlie.
"What if you move here?" Kurt told her. "You could stay in our guest bedroom!"
"Really?" said the girl, incredulously.
"And there's more!" said Blaine, handing the girl some paper sheets.
"Job announcements?" said Charlie, reading fast the sheets she had just been given. "But... why? Why are you doing all this? Do you want to bribe me to get something?"
The two boys glanced at each other. It seemed that Charlie had discovered their actual intentions.
"We want a baby, Charlie..." Blaine told her, holding Kurt's hands. "And... we need your help!"
The girl didn't know how to answer.
"Are you… nuts?" she said. "I mean... I respect your decision, but... why me?"
"Because you are perfect for us!" Kurt told her.
"Oh, come on!" Charlie replied. "I can name you at least a billion people who are far more perfect than me: Taylor Swift, Dianna Agron, Ashley Tisdale, Heather Morris, Luisana Lopilato..."
"...Nyaga Roxas..." Kurt added.
"I don't know if you noticed, but to us you seemed much more available than the 'Barbies' you just mentioned," said Blaine.
"But you live in New York, for God's sake!" said Charlie. "At every corner of the street you can find at least one girl who would agree to do anything for you, and in a far better way than me!"
"But we don't want a random girl," said Kurt. "We want you!"
"You must be really desperate, then..." Charlie replied. "You could have chosen anyone, and you've chosen to entrust such an important task to the most horrible person in the whole universe, instead..."
"I thought you had turned over a new leaf, that you had forgotten that story!" said Blaine.
"I'm not referring to the fact that I have been madly in love with both of you," Charlie explained. "Nor to the obsession I've finally managed to get rid of... I'm talking about the reason why you found me!"
The two boys wondered what she was saying. Why didn't she ever give clear answers?
"It happened a couple of months ago," Charlie began. "I had almost finished my USA trip as a tourist, when something I'll never forget happened. I don't know what I was thinking, or why I did it, exactly, but it felt like I knew I was doing something wrong. There was a boy, an idiot who had added me on Facebook, who had asked me if we could meet one day. We have actually met, but right from the first moment I saw him, I had a bad feeling. It ended up in the way you can easily imagine, but I don't think that was the worst thing..."
"Why? What else did he do?" asked Kurt, almost scared.
Charlie could barely tolerate those memories.
"He called me 'Blaine Anderson'!" said the girl, lapidary.
Blaine winced.
"It's already a horrible thing to do, to call someone with a different name," Charlie continued. "But being called with the name of a person I know, by a moron like that, it's really terrible!"
"That's why you wanted to be found by someone, then..." said Blaine.
"Hearing your name from a guy like that, has, like, brought me back to reality, and made me realize that I was making a really huge mistake... But, by that time, it was too late..." said Charlie. "Now that I think of it, however, why did that moron know you? You didn't cheat on Kurt with that guy, did you?"
"Don't you remember, by chance, what did his profile picture look like?" Blaine asked.
"Definitely it wasn't his face," the girl answered. "I've been looking at his profile pictures album, and there weren't any photos of him! There were just pictures of very tall buildings, like the Empire State Building, the Chrysler skyscraper, the Eiffel Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, a lighthouse..."
"Wow! I didn't think he was still on the loose..." said Blaine.
"He may be an idiot, but you must have made a really good impression to him," said Charlie. "And I confirm what I told you years ago: if you had the courage to cheat on Kurt with such a person, that would make you a big..."
"Let's go back to the reason why we called you, Charlie," Kurt interrupted her. "Are you in or not?"
"We don't want to force you to do something you don't' want to do, but we would be very pleased if you accepted!" Blaine added.
"Haven't you heard a single word of what I said?" asked Charlie. "I'm a horrible person, I've been so weak that I was able to do such a thing, and... I've betrayed you, and you shouldn't even look at my face anymore!"
Charlie just wanted to go back in time, and change her past, although she knew it was impossible. She looked down, trying not to think of her insane act.
"You haven't betrayed anyone, Charlie," Blaine reassured her. "You were alone, maybe you didn't think of what you were doing, but now it's past, you have repented of what you've done, and it doesn't matter anymore!"
"Everyone makes mistakes, Charlie," Kurt added. "But you have to stop blaming yourself, you have to go on, and think that it was just a simple mistake! Although it wasn't just a small innocent mistake, and you can never pretend it never happened..."
"We are giving you the occasion of starting again, of being part of our family..." said Blaine. "Are you in, then?"
"You don't realize what would happen, if I accepted..." said Charlie. "I've been brought up by an incapable person, I've never tolerated my family, I've been haunted for years by the idea that my life would have become satisfying from the moment that I would have met the perfect boy, and I think I really bring bad luck around me! Do you really want to entrust such an important task to a person like me? Not to mention that I could even go crazy, or worse…"
"Who told you it will happen?" Blaine told her, to reassure her. "And then, in the case you suddenly go crazy, Kurt and I will be there for you... You see, you won't be alone..."
Charlie was almost convinced.
"Maybe this is your occasion to do something really good for someone else!" Kurt told her. "You would prove to yourself that you can do also good things, and that you don't just bring bad luck, and you're not worthless as you think!"
Charlie smiled.
"Ok, fine! I'm in!" she said. "I will do it: you have convinced me!"
The two boys were overjoyed.
"We'll never know how to say thank you, Charlie!" Kurt told her.
"Letting me stay here, not making me pay any rent and finding me dozens of job announcements is enough!" the girl answered.
"Nothing will ever be enough to pay you back, Charlie!" Blaine told her. "What if tomorrow you and I go to meet the doctor?"
"Oh my God, tell me it's not your friend, the crazy girl who calls everyone by their middle names…" said Kurt.
"Why? Don't you like Tori?" Blaine asked. "She's a bit weird, but she's cool!"

Charlie kept looking at the baby girl. It was incredible how in such a perfect creature there was a part of her too. The boys had been right: that little creature truly was something perfect, something who had made someone else happy.
The previous months had passed so quickly. She had found a job, a new family, and, for the first time in her life, she could consider herself happy.
She was deep in thought, when Kurt arrived.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" he told her, referring to the baby, still fast asleep.
"Yeah, she's wonderful..." the girl answered. "I just don't understand why you have called her May Charlotte!"
"Maybe you still don't realize that, but you did something really beautiful for us, Charlie... We needed to say thank you, in some way!"
"Wasn't it enough to find me a job and to let me stay here with you? Without mentioning the fact that now you have practically 'adopted' me..."
"Well, Charlie Anderson, we did better than that..." said Kurt, explicitly referring to the fact that Charlie had actually changed her surname, because she felt she didn't belong to her family, and that now they always introduced her as Blaine's sister.
Kurt pulled out of his pocket a ring of keys. Charlie had already sensed what they were.
"Don't tell me you gave me a home!" Charlie said, incredulously, careful not to wake the baby up.
"We gave you the apartment in front of ours!" Kurt told her, giving her the keys. "And don't worry, because you won't stay there all alone for much longer..."
"What do you mean?"
"Your brother is already on a plane heading towards here. I'm going to pick him up in a few minutes: are you coming?"
Charlie couldn't believe his words. It seemed like a dream to her, and she was afraid she could wake up any minute. She was certain she had never had such a beautiful dream: maybe she wasn't dreaming at all! She couldn't imagine having her beloved younger brother right there, with her, in a dream that had just come true. Maybe, in a near future, he would even manage to walk with his own legs!
Charlie followed Kurt out of the room. Before crossing the threshold, she took one last look to the sleeping child: she was smiling, so she was probably dreaming of something really beautiful. In the little girl's smile, Charlie couldn't help recognizing Kurt's.

Hi readers!
With this chapter, our story ends. Although it was written before the actual Glee finale, it pretty much tells the same story (with the exception of Charlie, of course!). I hope you liked it!
I think this is a bittersweet ending for Charlie, because she appears to be getting what she wanted (new friends, a new home, a job, her little brother), but it seems that she still misses something. It seemed to me the most appropriate ending for the story, since I don't like Charlie very much. I know, I created her, but that doesn't mean she couldn't turn into a pain in the you-know-what!
Anyway, I hope you liked this story. Even if you didn't, I would really appreciate it if you left me a coment, or a message: you have no idea how much it can help a writer! :)