One month had passed since Vanessa had become their second guest at the Hotel, and Charlie had to say that she loved the succubus.

Vanessa was often more than eager to participate in the sessions, supplying an excitement and surprising innocence that everyone else seemed to lack.

An added bonus was that Angel found himself participating more avidly as well, simply to keep an eye on the succubus.

Charlie wasn't sure how close they were, but it was clear the two coworkers cared for each other more than they really showed.

The only real drawback was… Alastor.

Charlie wasn't sure what it was, but Alastor held an odd interest in the succubus. Not so much as an obsessed stalker, though he certainly did nothing to help that rumor.

Anytime the two were in the same room together, Alastor would stare at Vanessa with unnervingly wide eyes, as if he were trying to open his eyes further than possible. And anytime he was caught, he'd simply do that weird neck thing and his smile and eyes would widen even still.

It was clear that the Radio Demon unsettled Vanessa, which wasn't something Charlie wanted. It defeated the whole purpose of the Hotel if anyone felt unsafe or judged for anything.

Granted, maybe some judgment was required, as John had told her on his second day, but Charlie wanted to wait a while longer and see if Alastor would finally cool it.

Outside of that, a system of sorts had been established with John and Vanessa's presence in the Hotel. More often than not, if Charlie wasn't having a rehab session, John was occupied with the lobby TV. Usually, Vanessa accompanied him, occasionally so would Angel. On other days, John and Alastor would be showing each other some of their favorite films.

Considering that Alastor was the Radio Demon, Charlie was surprised he even had movies he liked.

Husk was always at the bar, never shirking on his job. Even if he was drunk half the time.

He'd also been an ear to many of Charlie's… stressed ramblings.

Niffty wasn't often seen anywhere, because she was usually hunting down bugs like the parasites they were.

And Vaggie…

Charlie wouldn't lie, Vaggie had concerned her.

The moth demon hadn't really changed, per say… but her ever present hostility towards John was beginning to become a problem.

"Mierda! Can't you do anything but sit on your ass?!"

"Me and Al are the reason this place didn't go sky high, and Angel and Vanessa know they can come to me if they need help!"

"I'm not Angel or Vanessa!"

"You never ask for anything, you just- Y'know what? Fuck it."

"What are you- DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!"

…case in point.

Vaggie was about to be Walled.

Upon hearing the sounds of arguing between what was possibly the two worst people in the Hotel who could argue, Charlie's feet began to move faster. Moving from a walk to a running pace, the Princess honestly hoped that she'd be able to prevent John from Walling Vaggie.

Otherwise… well, they'd all be hearing a rant about John.

Charlie came running into the lobby, only to realize she was too late as she watched John hang Vaggie on the wall by the collar of her shirt, leaving the squirming and infuriated demon shouting obscenities at him in Spanish as she struggled to free herself.

John was about to turn away and more than likely return to the couch, but as funny as it may be to watch Vaggie face the famous Wall treatment, it was not worth the headache that would arrive later for everyone.

"John, can you please take Vaggie off the wall?"

John stopped in his tracks as his eyes met Charlie's, staring blankly at her for a moment, before turning to face Vaggie.

"You gonna keep bitching?"

"¡Que te jodan, maldito imbécil!" Vaggie cursed at him in response.

John turned back to face Charlie. "No, not till she can shut up."

Vaggie pretty much tried to lunge at John at that point, murder in her eyes as she flailed at the behemoth with utter contempt.

"Please, John." Charlie begged once more, causing John to face Vaggie, lips tightening as he turned to the moth demon, contemplating his choices.

Finally, the behemoth let a sigh escape him as he approached Vaggie once more, his hand coming up and gripping her shirt once again as he removed her from the wall.

However, rather than set her down gently, he unceremoniously dropped her as he turned away and made his way back to the couch, leaving Charlie to rush towards the moth demon.

"What happened?" The Princess asked as she helped Vaggie to her feet. The moth demon was glaring daggers at John's back as Charlie helped her up.

"He's supposed to be the security for this place, but he's always sitting on his ass." Vaggie growled out as she continued to stare at John with hatred. She turned her gaze towards Charlie as John retook his seat on the couch. "He never does anything."

Charlie frowned at that, and she found herself crossing her arms as she stared at Vaggie. "That's not true, and you know it."

"Outside of breakfast, what does he do then?" Vaggie asked, crossing her own arms as she gave her girlfriend an unimpressed stare. "And no, Vanessa doesn't count. And he needed Alastor's help to figure out what was wrong with the stove."

"Actually, Vanessa does count." Charlie shot back, raising an eyebrow. She too was unimpressed, though less with John and more with Vaggie's attitude. "And let's be honest, he makes breakfast an easy affair, and if it weren't for him deciding to figure out what was going on with the stove, we would have lost half the Hotel."

"But none of that has anything to do with security, Charlie." Vaggie replied as she turned her gaze to John once more.

Charlie let out a frustrated sigh. She loved Vaggie, truly, but the moth could be downright stupid over some things.

Though she'd never say that out loud.

"What's he supposed to do, patrol a bunch of empty halls and report back to us?" Charlie asked as she rubbed her head. Yep, a headache was definitely approaching.

Vaggie turned her gaze back to Charlie, opening her mouth to respond, before closing it. After a few seconds, she turned her gaze away from Charlie. She knew the Princess was right, but she was too proud to admit it.

Charlie really wished she knew why Vaggie didn't like John. She'd thought it was out of mere distrust, but it seemed almost like the moth had some kind of grudge against John.

And as much as she hated to admit it, it was starting to get more than childish. Vaggie had always believed in her dream, but ever since they'd hired John last month, it seemed as if every day was another tirade about the behemoth.

And it felt like there was nothing Charlie could-

'If you don't put your foot down, you just have a free for all and no progress.'

John's words shot through her skull like lightning, and as much as she didn't want to be a bitch, as much as she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings…

"Alright, this ends today." Charlie announced as she grabbed Vaggie's wrist, surprising the moth as she began marching towards the behemoth upon the lobby's couch with her girlfriend in tow.

"Wait, Charlie, what are you-"

"I don't know what your problem is with him, Vaggie, but I've had enough." Charlie's words silenced Vaggie as they continued approaching John. As they came around the couch, John seemed surprised to see them as he watched Charlie turn and gently push Vaggie into the spot next to him.

"Charlie-"

"No." Charlie interrupted Vaggie once more with a firm tone, making it clear that this wasn't a debate as John continued to watch the exchange with wide-eyes. "So this is what's gonna happen. You two are gonna spend the whole day together. Get to know each other, or at least come to some kind of agreement."

At that, Vaggie and John both turned to stare at each other in surprise, before turning back to Charlie.

"Hold on-"

"Wait a damn minute-"

"NO!" Charlie honestly didn't have the patience for it anymore as her eyes turned red, her hair beginning to flow as her horns manifested into view. For once, she was putting her foot down, because the Hotel would never work otherwise. If Vaggie didn't learn to at least tolerate or be civil with John, then how was she supposed to help in running the Hotel? And in the same vein, John needed to learn to stop responding by antagonizing, because all that did was anger her even more. "If you can't do this, you're both FIRED!"

John's eyes widened at that, his jaw dropping in genuine surprise at the declaration. Vaggie…

Vaggie looked as if she'd been struck, looking utterly hurt by Charlie's words as she stared at the Princess in disbelief, unable to believe that she'd actually been threatened with job termination from the very Hotel she'd helped establish.

Charlie felt her heart tear, but she knew that she needed to hold her ground on this. She closed her eyes and took in a deep, calming breath, before fixing her gaze on them once more.

After making sure her message had come through loud and clear, Charlie chose that moment to take her leave.

Fired.

Fired.

By… Charlie.

Vaggie couldn't help but to be hurt by the declaration. Charlie had basically told her that if she didn't spend the day with the one person in the Hotel she was wary of, then she'd no longer be welcome.

They'd been together for three years, and while there'd been times where they argued… Charlie had never gotten so angry. She'd never treated her as a child. She'd never… she'd never threatened to cut her out.

Vaggie wasn't stupid. If she was fired, that was effectively the end of their relationship. If she didn't spend the day with the gigantic idiot next to her… she'd lose everything she had.

Everything.

"You alright?" That familiar rumble she so hated spoke up, causing Vaggie's gaze to snap towards John, gritted teeth on full display as she gave him the fiercest glare she could muster.

"This is your fault!"

"Me?!" John sounded absolutely incredulous at the declaration, because of course he would, before sitting up straight and looking at her in disbelief. "If you'd have left me alone, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"If you'd have just done something other than sit on your lazy ass, I wouldn't have had to say something!" Vaggie replied with even more anger. "Instead, you tried to hang me on the fucking wall!"

"I have nothing to do!" John retorted, his own gritted teeth now on display as he found himself leaning closer to the moth demon. "You wanna bitch at me because I play games all day, but what do you want me to do?! Walk around a near empty building?!"

Vaggie refused to comment on the fact that Charlie had said the same thing to her.

"You sit on your ass all day and expect to get paid?!"

"YOU THINK I DO THIS SHIT FOR MONEY?!"

Just like that, John was no longer sitting. Vaggie couldn't stop her instincts from kicking in as she pulled out her spear, recoiling into the couch as she aimed the angelic weapon at the sinner.

Gone were the piercing blue eyes, fading away to black sockets that seemed to stare into her soul, pinprick red dots fading into view as the skin around his eyes seemed to pull back and expose the bone. His gashes tore open, blood beginning to pour down his skin as his entire body seemed to grow by about five feet.

No longer did John Gallagher stand in front of Vaggie. In his place stood a monster of unholy suffering and rage.

"I AGREED TO COME HERE BECAUSE YOU ASKED, BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO DO SOME GOOD IN THIS SHITSHOW!" The sheer volume of John's voice seemed to rock the entire Hotel, the chandelier rattling above and the walls shaking with every word he spoke, and Vaggie could only stare at the behemoth in shock.

And fear.

"I CAME HERE BECAUSE I CAN DO MORE GOOD HERE THAN-" John suddenly paused, the red pupils disappearing as if he'd closed his eyes, his mouth tightening as if he'd just come to a sudden realization as his fists slowly closed.

John began to slowly shrink, his gashes closing and stopping the blood flowing from them, which literally retreated back into his body. His skin creeped back over his eye sockets, his eyelids reappearing as he once again took a seat on the couch.

He took in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"I came here because I wanted to do some good." John spoke, his voice level and calm, but it carried a sense of purpose that Vaggie couldn't recall ever hearing from the behemoth before. "When I got my powers, I would swear up and down that I wanted to use them only for myself. And yet, the first thing I did with them is start helping people." He leaned against the back of the couch, his eyes staring at nothing in particular as Vaggie continued to hold her defensive position. "I'm not stupid, I'm an engine for destruction. But… I want to do some good. Do something that… my family can be proud of." Finally, his head turned, and his expression was much softer as he looked at Vaggie. "That's all I've ever wanted. To make sure my family knows I'm not some monster."

Vaggie continued to stare at him for a moment, still struggling with his sudden switch in attitude. But every second she looked at his expression, saw how… tired he looked… she found herself lowering her spear.

"What was your family like?" Vaggie finally asked. She still held her spear, knowing it would likely be useless anyway, but she was no longer as ready to use it as she had been. And… well, it was a start. Better than arguing all day, that's for sure.

John's lips tightened for a moment, before he leaned over and reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. Flipping it open, he reached into the flap and pulled something out, before moving his hand towards Vaggie.

Vaggie looked at him for a moment, before her eyes turned in the direction of his hand. It looked like a small piece of laminated paper. It took a few moments to realize that it was a folded photo.

She met his gaze once more, and when he didn't move, only then did Vaggie finally place her spear down as she reached over and took the photo from his hand, unfolding it so she could see it for herself.

And her eye widened in surprise.

The photo looked like a family picture, and it was clear that everyone in the photo was happy. The only thing was… there wasn't a single demon in the photo.

The picture was of a human family.

"That was taken at a Christmas party, a year before I died." Well, that explained the mistletoe on the wall in the background. "I don't know how death works… but I had that and a few other things on me when I died." He let a slight chuckle escape him as he held up his wallet. "Would you believe it if I told you that I've had this wallet since I was thirteen?"

Vaggie raised an eye to look at him, before going back to studying the photo. In the middle of the family stood an older couple. Off to the right were a couple of children, one of which looked like he'd been a pre-teen, while the other was a black-haired girl no older than ten.

To the left of the couple were a trio of teenagers. A large, well-built boy with long brown hair stood with his arm around a brunette girl, and to the far left was a boy in sweatpants with short hair.

In front of the older couple were another few teenagers. A boy in a red flannel kneeling upon the ground, and a blonde haired girl kneeling as well, hugging him from behind with her head upon his shoulder.

Vaggie recognized the girl, down to the outfit.

"The statue you made." Vaggie spoke up, meeting John's gaze as she turned to look at him. "When you showed us why you had the gashes. It was the girl in this photo."

John let a small smile take his expression over as he nodded, leaning over to see the photo himself. Against her better judgment, Vaggie met him halfway, tilting the photo for him to see it better.

"She was my girlfriend, Maddie." John explained, a fondness in his voice as he spoke. "We'd been best friends since we were kids. We'd been together for about a year when the picture was taken."

Vaggie couldn't stop the small smile working it's way onto her face as John spoke about the girl. "She's beautiful." It was probably wrong to say that about a teenager, but it was true.

"That she is." John agreed, his smile falling slightly as he more than likely had memories of the girl go through his mind. "We were together up until the moment I died."

"How… How did you die?" Vaggie couldn't stop herself from voicing the question once it was brought up, because she was honestly curious. It would've had to have been something insane, considering how powerful the behemoth was.

"I was poisoned." Well, that was certainly insane, but not necessarily in the way Vaggie thought it would be.

"Poisoned?" She couldn't help but to ask in surprise, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "Charlie said you were seventeen when you died. Why'd anyone want to poison you?"

John actually chuckled at that, and it caught Vaggie off-guard as the behemoth looked away for a moment. "Vaggie, I was a superhuman." He said as he met her gaze once more with a smile. "Matter of fact, I was a particular superhuman. Heard of the Juggernaut?"

"I thought that was a myth, honestly." Vaggie admitted with a small laugh. "I died a few months after all that. I thought it was some hoax."

"That's the way I liked it." John admitted with a chuckle. "I wasn't exactly eager to have people come rushing up to me when I was out in public. If it hadn't been for a dust cloud, you could've seen my face." He explained in amusement. "Anyway, I ended up in a superhuman militia. Turns out, superhumans have been around for a long time."

"But I thought you were the first?" At least, that was the rumor. The first ever superhuman in existence had been the Juggernaut, right?

"To the public, yeah." John nodded his head. "But not actually. Superhumans have been around for centuries. The militia was sanctioned by the U.N. Top secret. We were based in Nevada." He let a cheeky grin replace his smile as he looked at Vaggie.

It took a second for it to click.

"Area 51? Are you serious?" Vaggie couldn't help the amused smile. At this point, finding out why Area 51 was so heavily protected was nothing compared to what she'd seen since she died.

John chuckled, but nodded his head. "Yeah." His smile fell as he went silent for a moment. "Thing is, doing that… well, I made a few enemies. One in particular."

"He poisoned you?" Vaggie guessed, to which John nodded once more.

"Specialized, or it wouldn't have worked. Instead of trying to shut down my body, it focused on my heart. In my last moment, I tracked the sumbitch down and… well, I don't think I need to elaborate."

No, he didn't. In fact, Vaggie realized she now wanted to get off this topic of conversation. It had been… a lot more depressing than she'd thought.

She turned her attention back to the photo, before looking at John as she pointed to a random person in the photo. "Who's this?"

John looked at the photo, and then at Vaggie, and then back at the photo… and then back to Vaggie.

"That's me."

Vaggie looked down and realized that she had indeed pointed at the younger, living version of the behemoth next to her. She felt embarrassment creep up at her blunder, but she rolled her eyes and smiled, giving a playful slap at the behemoth's arm.

"Shut up." She muttered as the behemoth chuckled, before pointing to the older man in the photo. "Who's this?"

"That's my Papaw." John answered with a smile. "Obviously, that's Mamaw next to him, and that's my little siblings, James and Shiela, next to them. And that's Rachel, Peter, and Levi." He listed off, pointing to each individual person as he spoke their name. "Me and Maddie went to school with those three, plus Rach and Peter were already in the militia by the time I got my powers."

"What could they do?" Vaggie asked, curious as to what kind of abilities the two unassuming teens in the picture had.

"Well, Rachel's pyrokinetic." John answered, before chuckling. "As for Pete… he's a doozy. He can create and control some kind of metal substance that can't be harmed by normal means." He explained, shaking his head as he recalled his old-friend's abilities. "He could even coat his skin in it. Made him one helluva unit. Made him the toughest person I've ever met."

"So… one controls fire, one controls metal, and one is strong." Vaggie recounted what she at least knew, before giving the behemoth a small smile. "Well… I can't say that sounds like an effective team."

John let a loud laugh escape him at that, and Vaggie could actually feel the couch vibrating from the way his body shuddered in amusement.

"You'd be surprised…" John said as he came down from his laughter. "We did a lot of missions together, and we only ever had three failures."

"What kind of superhumans did you face?" Assuming John's words were true, Vaggie was genuinely curious as to what kind of abilities superhuman could have.

John let a whistle escape him, laughing slightly as he seemed to recall the many he'd met in his life. "That's… most of them were usually psychos, but there were times where we came across genuine if somewhat misguided people." He explained with a small smile. "And we faced all kinds of superhumans. Size changers, shapeshifters, elementals… one mission, we faced a wackjob that could literally make blood combust and explode. That one was not fun." John's hand unconsciously moved to his chest, rubbing it as a grimace came across his face.

Vaggie couldn't help but to laugh at the site of the behemoth looking uncomfortable. "You sound like you experienced that power for yourself."

"Felt like somebody lit a fire in my chest." John chuckled as he returned his gaze to Vaggie, before his eyes fell as his expression shifted to a more somber look. "But… that mission is also probably a good reason why I'm down here. One second I was on the ground, the next, my fist was in his chest."

Well… that took a very dark turn. "So you've always been willing to be…" Vaggie paused, trying to choose her words carefully. By his own admission, John could be exceedingly cruel, but she didn't want to come off as accusatory.

"Cruel?" John finished for her. When Vaggie nodded her head, he let out a sigh. "Yeah… simple truth is that superhumans can hurt a lot of people in a little time. So there's been times where I'd figure that just killing the target would be safer." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck in an almost shameful manner. "I've done a lot of fucked up shit… but I'd rather be a monster so no one else has to, even if I don't like it."

That sounded… familiar. Far too familiar for Vaggie's liking.

But she wouldn't let him know that.

"Sometimes, it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, doesn't it?" Vaggie asked, looking over at John as she handed the picture back to him. "I can relate to that. A lot more than I'd like."

John's gaze wandered back towards Vaggie, and he let a small smile come onto his face as he put the picture back in his wallet. "Maybe we ain't too different after all." He said as he put his wallet back in his pocket.

"You're still an ass."

"Fuck you."

The two found themselves sharing in mutual amusement, laughter abound. Deep down, Vaggie found herself beginning to rethink things.

Maybe… maybe John wasn't the monster she thought he was.

Three Hours Later

Charlie couldn't take it anymore, she felt terrible.

This was why she didn't like getting stern with people. She always felt horrible afterwards, like she'd done the worst possible thing to a person she could think of.

She preferred kind words and understanding, not ultimatums and judgement.

Though she had felt in the moment that she'd taken the best course of action… threatening to fire either of them was definitely a bit harsh.

She still couldn't get the look on Vaggie's face to go away. That look of pain and betrayal was seared into her brain, and she wanted more than anything to make it go away, to see Vaggie's happy face once more.

She'd thought it over the past few hours, and she'd come to the conclusion that maybe she should lift the punishment. Ignoring her cruel threat, something about Vaggie's distrust for John seemed to be far more deep than Charlie had wanted to realize, and it was definitely cruel to force her to spend an entire day with him.

She'd fought with herself over it, trying to convince herself she'd made the right decision, but in the end, her heart wasn't in it. Not with the cruel threat she'd made to Vaggie.

In the moment, she hadn't even thought about what it would mean for their relationship, she simply acted. But now… well, she was honestly scared to death that she might've pushed Vaggie away for good, and that wasn't something she was ready to face.

As Charlie made her way back to the lobby, however, she heard sounds that she found quite odd.

After all, laughter wasn't at the top of the list of things she expected to hear when it came to an interaction between John and Vaggie.

As she came out into the lobby, she couldn't help the absolute shell-shock that flooded her at the site that awaited her. A quick glance at Husk showed that he was clearly surprised by the encounter as well.

There they sat, right where she'd left them in the couch, and John and Vaggie were laughing to their heart's content.

"I call bullshit!" Vaggie managed to get out between fits of laughter as she looked over at John. "There's no way you did that!"

"The two me-sized foot dents in Papaw's truck bed would disagree with you." John replied as his laughter died to a low chuckle. "I was still getting used to my strength, and even with the instincts, there were still a few minor fuck ups."

"That doesn't exactly sound like a minor fuck up to me." Vaggie commented with a giggle. "I mean, what went through your mind that you thought that would work?"

"Stupidity." Came John's simple response. His eyes flicked in Charlie's direction, as if he'd known she was there the whole time, and he grinned. "Well, the Princess has returned."

When Vaggie twisted around on her spot on the couch to face Charlie, images of her hurt expression flooded the Princess once more.

In the span of half a second, Charlie had cleared the considerable distance between herself and Vaggie, pulling the moth demon right up off the couch and into a bone-crushing hug as she found herself wailing in anguish.

"I'm so, so, so sorry!" Charlie apologized at a frantic pace, her voice sounding utterly heartbroken as she blabbered her apologies to the moth demon. "I would never fire you, I didn't mean it, I love you, I-!"

"Charlie!" Suddenly, Charlie was no longer hugging Vaggie, the moth demon gripping her girlfriend's shoulders and pushing her so that they were no face to face. A soft smile was upon Vaggie's features as she met Charlie's gaze. "It's okay."

It's… it's okay?

Did… did Vaggie really forgive her? Just like that?

Charlie wasn't sure if she felt even worse because Vaggie had still forgiven her, or if she was so touched that she couldn't contain her emotions, because her tears started grow even thicker rather than slow.

"You were right." Vaggie's voice was soothing as her thumbs came up to gently wipe away Charlie's tears. "I wasn't being fair… and it would've had a bad impact on the Hotel."

Charlie continued to stare at Vaggie, still trying to process her own emotions alongside Vaggie's admittance to being in the wrong. She wasn't really sure what the proper response would be.

So she followed her instincts.

Charlie sniffled as she tried to hold back the tears from erupting once more, but it was clear as day for anyone to see that she was failing miserably, before once again erupting into a sobbing fit as she flung herself back around Vaggie.

"I'm sorry!" She apologized once more, because it really did feel to Charlie like she would never be able to apologize enough for threatening to fire her. Her own girlfriend.

"Alright, take a seat, both of you." John stood up from his spot on the couch, gesturing towards the love seat as he walked around to the back of the couch. "Come on, Husk. Let's make ourselves scarce for a bit."

"Thought you'd never ask." Husk replied with a small grin, moving from behind the counter and following after John as the two made their way out of the lobby, leaving Charlie and Vaggie alone.

"Charlie, it's fine." Vaggie assured the Princess once more with a soft laugh as she once again gently forced Charlie to look at her. "Look, I'm sorry that I was being such a pain. I shouldn't have been such a bitch, especially considering the goal of Hotel in the first place." Once again, her thumbs gently brushed Charlie's tears away. "It's okay, Charlie. I mean it."

Charlie's sobbing finally began dying down to sniffles, before she brought an arm up to wipe her eyes as she finally managed to give Vaggie a smile.

"I… I should've talked to you before doing something like that." Charlie admitted her own wrongdoing in the whole situation with a shameful look as her smile disappeared, rubbing her arm as she did so. A habit she'd developed. "I… I'm sorry, Vaggie. Really."

"I know, Hon. It's okay." Vaggie assured once more as she gently pulled Charlie back into a reassuring hug, rubbing the Princess' back in gentle circles in an effort to calm her. "I'm sorry too."

Charlie simply took comfort in Vaggie's presence, happy that she hadn't completely ruined their relationship.

After a few moments of standing like that, the two pulled apart as Charlie began wiping her eyes in an attempt to dry her tears.

"So… are you and John… Y'know?" Charlie asked hesitantly, remembering the laughter she'd arrived in time to hear.

Vaggie gave a playful eye roll at Charlie's question, but she nodded her head. "He's… not as bad as I thought." Vaggie admitted as she stared in the direction the behemoth had disappeared before turning back to Charlie. "I still don't trust him… but I can relax a little more around him, I guess." She finally promised, bringing her attention back to the demoness in front of her.

"Okay…" Charlie nodded her head as she finished drying her tears, before giving Vaggie a smile. "I'm glad to hear that." While she found herself curious as to why Vaggie's distrust of John had been so strong in the first place, she was glad to hear that they'd come to some type of understanding at least.

A few seconds later, the moment between the two women was ruined, however, by the sound of loud booms echoing through the Hotel. Charlie tensed up, looking around frantically for the source as Vaggie brandished her spear on instinct.

A few seconds later, they'd understand what the source was.

"Angel you fucker!" John's voice erupted through their ears, before the spider himself came running at a full sprint into the lobby.

The booms grew louder as the shaking increased in frequency, before they realized the cause was John's own footsteps as the behemoth came quite literally barreling into the lobby like a freight train after Angel.

"You gotta go faster than that, Spike!" The spider taunted with a proud grin, ducking under John's attempt to grab him as he immediately sprinted back down the hall.

Charlie couldn't help the concern on her face, and immediately took a step forward, intending to resolve the situation.

Until Vaggie's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Look, Charlie." The moth demon instructed when Charlie turned to look at her, pointing towards the behemoth's head. Charlie did as asked.

Despite the byproduct that was the sheer force of John when he was running, the behemoth had an amused grin on his face as he stared after where Angel had disappeared off too.

"Oh you're asking for it, now!" John called back to the spider as he once again took off, the Hotel shaking once more as the large frame disappeared out of view at a surprisingly quick rate.

Despite the rattling walls of the building… Charlie couldn't help but to smile. And upon glancing at Vaggie, she noted that the moth demon was too.

Finally… there was a bit more peace within the Hotel.

A/N: I think we all knew that Charlie wouldn't have the heart to follow through on her punishment.