Alastor was very reluctant to leave Charlie. Oh how he wanted to continue speaking with her. Gazing at her beautiful face and listening to her lovely voice. But he had a business to run, and he didn't want to frighten Charlie by doing something creepy. He slowly exited to kitchen, reached for his car keys, and approached the front door.

His hand was just on the knob when he felt a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. He turned around to find that the hand belonged to Rosie, who's face had been painted with a look of concern.

"Why Rosie, whatever is the matter?" He asked her. "You don't seem like your usual cheery self this morning."

"We need to talk." Her tone was serious.

"We can talk later. At this exact moment, I must be on my way to work."

"We need to talk now." She insisted. "Don't try to fool me Alastor. I know you're not going to the fishing plant. Production doesn't officially start til ten-thirty. You're off to make a deal, aren't you?"

He didn't say, but the grin on his face confirmed everything.

"Alastor your deal-making can wait. This is important."

"Very well." He conceded. "What is it you wish to discuss with me?"

"Alastor I found out what happened between you and Charlie the other night. The kissing."

Alastor blushed.

"Momentary lapse my dear cousin. But I can assure you, we never went past kissing."

"I know that. That's not what I'm worried about."

"Oh?" He said intrigued.

"Alastor, you and I have known each other for a very long time. We're more than just cousins, we're the only family we've got left. Only biological family that is, but we've always been able to trust each other. We always knew that we could tell each other everything."

"I'm afraid I'm failing to understand the point of this conversation."

"I'm just preparing you for what I'm about to ask." She said. "I have a very important question for you, and I expect an honest answer."

"Rosie I wouldn't dream of ever lying to you. You know that."

"I know you'd never lie to me, but I also know that you have no qualms of concealing bits and pieces of the truth from me."

"Am I not entitled to have my own secrets?"

"Not when they could do terrible harm to you and anyone else here. Now I want you to tell me the whole truth, why did you want me to bring Charlotte Morningstar here?"

"What do you mean? I told you why."

"But is that the only reason you wanted her here?" She asked. "Or do you have some ulterior motive in mind?"

"Rosie I really don't think now is the best time to discuss this."

"What do you plan on doing with her?" Rosie continued. "What exactly is your endgame here?"

Alastor didn't answer, and now he couldn't face her. So he turned away.

"Alastor please tell me, that your goal with her is not what I think it is. Please tell me that you're not that crazy."

He still didn't answer and he still didn't look at her.

"Oh my God." Rosie said in quiet shock, upon learning that her suspicions were correct. "Oh my God...You can't be serious...You can't...Have you lost your mind?"

"Yes, I do believe that I lost it 131 years ago."

"Alastor this isn't a joke! You can't do this! You just can't! It's...It's ludicrous!"

"Why Rosie?" He asked. "Why is it so ludicrous? If it's really her, and if she still loves me as much as I love her, then why can't we just pick up where we left off?"

"Alastor you're a smart man but it seems you have over looked some important factors in your plan. She is not exactly who she was all those years ago, and neither are you. For God's sake, you're not even human anymore."

"So?"

"So?! Are you even listening to yourself? Alastor I agreed to bring her here to help you find peace, not set you up for more pain."

"I will never know peace until I reclaim what I lost."

"You're right about that but it's not her you have to reclaim."

"She is all that I desire to have."

"But I don't think you can have her. Now I truly believe that she can help you come to terms with what happened back then, and help you finally move on, but I'm certain that's all she can do. I find it very unlikely that she'll stay with you. She has her own life, a new life. Eventually she will have to leave here."

"Well Rosie, her leaving is not up to you, and it's not up to me. It's entirely up to Charlotte. After the Harvest Moon passes, and if she chooses to leave of her own will then I shall not stop her. I'll open the door myself. But if she willingly chooses to stay, then she will stay and nothing more will be said about it."

"I am only trying to be realistic about this. There's a very good chance that once she finds out what you are and what you've done, she won't want to be with you. She'll probably still help you but staying with you...That might be hard for her."

"If she truly loves me then she can look past that. You did."

"Alastor, it's different with family. I'm not bound to you til death." She explained. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up. Heaven only knows what'll happen to you if they were to get crushed again."

"Rosie I know that you have my best interests at heart and I know that you're afraid I may do something foolish, but I promise you that I know exactly what I'm doing. I've thought everything through and you may not believe me, but what I wish for, is possible."

"What do you mean?" Rosie asked him skeptically. "How is it possible?"

"Well the answer to that is incredibly long and detailed and I'm pressed for time, so can we pick this up later?"

"Alright. But please don't do anything rash until we talk again." She pleaded. "Please Al, promise me."

"I promise. I'll take it steady today. I won't do anything crazy."

"Thank you."

"May I please go now?"

"Yes." She reluctantly consented.

It was a barely a second before he was gone, leaving her very worried and wondering if she had been wise to go along with this scheme. But then again, what else could she do? She had tried everything to help her cousin. Prayers, reading from the bible, exorcisms, hoo-doo, necromancers, she had even tired scientific methods. But none of them worked. That's when she realized that there was nothing "she" could do. This was something Alastor had to do. He had to decide to let go of his anger and vengeance, to let peace and forgiveness in his heart, to repent for his sins and beg the lord for forgiveness. Only then would he finally be free and happy.

She had tried many times to convince him to forgive and repent but he refused. Despite his constant smile, there was so much rage and hurt inside of him, so much that he just couldn't allow himself to forgive and repent. Still she never stopped trying, and she never would. For his sake and the sake of everyone in the household, she had to find a way to somehow get him to see the light before it was too late. And it would seem that Charlotte Morningstar was that way. Rosie only hoped that her plan would not cause more harm than good.

"He worries me to no end and I fear that he's letting his suffering pull him closer and closer into the devil's clutches." She thought to herself. "But as my mother used to say, where there's love, there's hope. And while he has suffered much, he is greatly loved and can give love, so there's hope for him."

With that in mind, she decided to fix herself a nice cup of coffee before officially starting the day. As she was adding the cream and sugar to the black liquid, which soon turned brown, she thought to herself again.

"He better know what he's doing. Because if he does something stupid, I'm going to hit him on the head until he starts making sense."