According to the doctor, a week was the best amount of time to be given for Alastor to recover and Solomon assumed that the same would go for Charlie in matters of her "virus." So for a whole week they stayed in their rooms and were separated from each other. Which neither one of them liked.

For one thing it was terribly boring having to stay in one room for hours. Yes they had TV, radio, and books but they missed being active. They missed going outside and playing up in their sanctuary. They missed doing things with Angel and Vaggie who would visit them but only to talk for awhile. But most of all Alastor and Charlie missed each other. This was the longest that they had ever been apart from one another and it didn't feel right.

"How much longer do I have to stay in my room?" Charlie asked Millie one evening.

"Just two more days." She had just given Charlie a bubble bath, dried her off, dressed her into a warm nightgown, and was now brushing her hair before she would go to sleep. "Two more days you'll be able to go out and play again."

"I miss Alastor."

"I know you do but you wouldn't want him getting sick would you?"

"No but for this whole week I haven't felt sick at all."

"Maybe so but Solomon knows best. He's never steered us wrong before and I doubt he ever will."

"Do you think he misses me?"

"Who?"

"Alastor."

"Honey I know he misses you. He's always asking us about you whenever we check on him. If I didn't know any better I'd swear that you two were sweethearts."

"What's a sweetheart?"

"Well it's...It's...It's hard to explain to you right now. You'll understand it when you get older."

She gave Charlie's blonde locks another stroke of the brush and then started laughing to herself.

"Oh if my mother could see me now."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

"Oh nothing. It's just that when I was a girl my mother would always brush my hair before going out with my father because she wanted me to be just as pretty as she was. I was a tomboy so naturally I hated it and I would complain the whole time. But then she would tell me that when I grow up I would probably being do the same thing with my little girl. She was partially right."

"Do all mothers brush their little girls's hair?"

"A lot of them do."

"Do you think my mother would have brushed my hair like this if she had kept me?"

"Well I can't exactly give you an answer for that but I can tell you this. You have such beautiful hair that I can't imagine any woman not wanting to brush it."

"Hey Millie."

"Yes Charlie."

"How come you're not a mom?"

Millie suddenly stopped brushing and went stiff.

"You act like a mom a lot and I know you like kids. How come you don't have any?"

"I...I can't have children. Not with this job. Fighting paranormal creatures is very dangerous and it takes up so much time. If I had kids I wouldn't be able to really be a mother to them. Or worse they could end up getting hurt because of me."

"That makes sense. But did you ever want to be a mom?"

She hesitated before speaking again.

"Yes I did. But I learned a long time ago that you can't be a parent if you can't put your children first. And I don't believe I'll ever be able to do that."

For a moment it looked like Millie was about to cry. Charlie could sense her sadness so she hugged her. Millie returned the hug and smiled.

"Don't you worry about me Charlie." She assured her. "I'm perfectly happy with how things are. I love taking care of you and your friends and I'm married to a wonderful man. In fact today marks the tenth anniversary of when I married that wonderful man so we're going to celebrate that tonight."

"Are you going to have a big party?"

"No. Nothing like that. Just something simple and romantic. I don't know what it is yet, Moxxie says it's a surprise."

"I like surprises."

"Me too."

Millie put down the hair brush and held up a mirror for Charlie to see the results of her efforts.

"Like what you see?" Millie asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Good. Now I'm going to go make myself look pretty for my husband and I will see you tomorrow morning."

"Millie."

"Yes sweetie?"

"Do you and Moxxie..." She blushed a little before continuing with the question. "Do you two kiss a lot?"

"Well of course we do. We love each other and when two people love each other they kiss."

"Do you think that I'll ever kiss someone someday?"

"I don't have a single doubt. Wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you have sweetheart lips and those lips give the best kisses. But a first kiss is very special Charlie. Be sure that you give yours to the right boy at the right time."

"How will I know when it is the right boy and the right time?"

"Oh you'll know." Millie giggled. "We ladies always know."

She dimmed the lights in Charlie's bedroom and put on a movie for her.

"Goodnight Charlie." Millie said slowly going out the door.

"Goodnight Millie." Charlie said getting comfortable in her bed.

The door to her bedroom was slowly closed and Charlie turned her attention to the movie on the screen. But even after getting an hour in to the film, she still couldn't get sleepy. She was just so bored and so ready for this week to be over. She wanted to get out of this room and do something fun.

"I wish Al was here." She said out loud. "He always made even staying one room all day fun."

"Wish granted sweetheart."

At the sound of his voice, Charlie was startled into falling right out of her bed. She stood up and looked around for the voice's owner, but he was no where in sight.

"Alastor?" She said. "Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Where are you?"

"Up here."

She looked up to the ceiling, directing her gaze to the air vent.

"Alastor are you in there?"

"Uh-huh." He answered from the vent.

"What in the world are you doing in there?"

"It was the only way I could sneak out of my room. Solomon has an agent at my door twenty-four seven and my room has no windows. They were so sure that I wouldn't be able to get out unnoticed, pity they forgot about the air vent."

"And you can actually fit in there?"

"You wouldn't think so at first, but there's actually a lot of space in here. I bet even Husk could fit inside."

"Maybe you should get out of there." She suggested.

"I will." He assured her. "When I reach our sanctuary."

"But Alastor you're not supposed to go up there. At least not for two more days."

"I feel fine Charlie. My head doesn't hurt any more, the scar is almost completely gone, and the only ailment I have is cabin fever. If I don't get some exposure from my room I'll go completely mad."

"I suppose I can't blame you for sneaking out then. I just hope you don't get caught."

"Wanna come with me?"

"I can't. You know I have a virus."

"You look perfectly fine to me. How do you feel?"

"I feel normal but everyone says it's best I wait for the week to be over."

"Oh come on Charlie, you were probably never sick to begin with. This was most likely just a false alarm or something. Besides I know you have been praying for an opportunity to get out."

"Yes but I don't want to get into trouble."

"How about this? We'll leave our rooms for one hour and then come straight back. Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie have the night off, Solomon is in his office which is on the other side of the building, the agent at my door never comes into my room, and no one will check on you because they think you're asleep. No one will ever know we were gone."

Charlie was still a little hesitant to accept the offer. Normally she was the most well behaved of the children and she really didn't like to disobey Solomon. But on the other hand she was still a child and even the most obedient of children aren't immune to rebelling at least once in awhile.

"You promise that it'll just be for one hour?" She asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Okay then. But how do I get up there?"

"Well you have a chair in your room, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Push it directly underneath the vent, climb on to it, and leave the rest to me."

Charlie did as he instructed and once she stood on the chair, he open the vent door and reached down to her. He took hold of her arms and pulled her right on up into the ventilation. With that done they proceeded to crawl around.

"I don't like it in here." She said. "It's too cold and dark. You know I don't like the cold or the dark."

"Don't worry we won't be in here long. We just have to work our way to the sanctuary."

"You sure you know where you're going?"

"I know almost exactly what I'm doing."

"That's not very assuring. Especially considering neither one of us can see a thing in here."

"Wait I see a light up ahead."

The light was coming from another air vent. They crawled toward it and looked to see if they were any closer to the attic. They weren't but they did see something interesting.

"Well hello gorgeous." Blitzo was in his bathroom, wearing just his underwear and posing in front of the mirror. "Yes this chin is real, you think plastic surgery could pull off such a masterpiece. Am I an actor? No but I did have dreams of starring in musical. Dreams which were crushed by my dad."

Charlie and Alastor had to hold their mouths shut to keep themselves from laughing.

"But I had real talent." Blitzo continued. "Real talent and real looks. I could have made it to Broadway. Broadway Dad! But you never supported my dreams! You wanted me to be a plumber like you!"

"We shouldn't be watching this." Charlie whispered to Alastor, biting back her laughter. "It's wrong."

"Maybe." He whispered. "But it's the best entertainment I've seen in a week. I wish we had brought a camera."

"Let's go. He's going to catch us."

"Wait one more minute."

"And you know what Dad!" Blitzo ranted. "I didn't become a plumber like you but it didn't make me a failure like you said it would! I now work for an agency and you're still sticking your head in toilets! So who's the failure now Dad?!"

"I'd say it's still you." Alastor accidentally slipped out. "At least he's not talking to a mirror in his drawers."

"What?!" Blitzo looking around. "Who said that?"

Alastor and Charlie quickly scurried away from the vent before they were discovered.

"Alastor that was so mean." Charlie told him.

"Mean but true."

"You better not tell anyone what we've seen."

"Oh Charlie I would never do that." He said. "Although I may use it as leverage on him someday."

Charlie gave him a disapproving look.

"Alastor you're my best friend but sometimes you're just devious."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

They had gone through several more tunnels until they reached another vent door. It led to an occupied room saw they thought it was the attic and climbed on out of the vent. Alastor came out first and then he helped Charlie down. However once they had officially exited the ventilation they discovered that they had not entered the attic. For one thing the room was smaller when compared to the attic and the only things inside were a table, a bible and a wooden box that was placed on the table, and mosaic of Christ.

"I've never been in this room before." Alastor said. "Have you?"

"No." Charlie answered.

She approached the small wooden box and opened it up. Inside were various slips of paper with messages written on them, all starting with; "Forgive me Father..."

"Oh wait I think I know what this is." Charlie said closing the box. "This Solomon's confession room."

"His what?"

"He told me about it once. There's a secret room in the building where he confesses his sins and writes them down. He says they serve as reminders not to commit the same sin again."

"And they're all in that box?"

"Yes but don't read any of them."

"I won't. I'm sneaky but I have some standards."

"Let's just go back to our rooms Alastor. We're never going to find the attic this way. We're better off just waiting til the week is over."

"You're probably right."

But their intention of that was halted when they heard voices coming from behind the room's left wall. The wall which had a peep hole window.