Charlie quickly realized that Alastor had been drinking. She could smell whiskey off of him before he even made it over to her.

"What did she say?" He mumbled, gripping her shoulders. She couldn't manage any words out so she just shook her head. He pulled her in and wrapped her in his arms tightly. She turned her face towards his neck, still smelling the alcohol but now smelling more of his natural scent. It smelled like a fireplace with a little bit of musk and it calmed Charlie down more than she thought it would. She breathed in deeply, not caring if he noticed. She eventually was able to stop crying and they began to make their way to the hallway. She wrapped an arm around his thin frame making sure he didn't fall. He had a lazy arm draped over her shoulders and together they stumbled towards the elevator.

"It'll be ok, Charlie." Alastor slurred out, his body weight leaning more and more on Charlie as the elevator got higher. She sniffled and let her hand grip his side tighter.

"Yeah. It will. Don't worry." She wasn't sure if she was talking to Alastor or herself. He chuckled that got interrupted with a hiccup.

"You don't have to convince me. It'll work itself out." The elevator dinged, signaling that it made it to the top floor.

"Let's get you to your room." Charlie was now doing most of the walking for both of them. By the time they made it to his door, she was more or less dragging him.

"We made it!" Alastor cheered enthusiastically. Charlie couldn't stop the grin that formed on her face. She had never seen Alastor intoxicated and it was an odd situation indeed. He was acting silly and she never thought that would be possible.

"Yes, we did!" Charlie struggled to open the door while making sure he didn't collapse. She finally managed to swing open the door and drag him to his bed. She non-gracefully dropped him onto his bed with his face buried into his comforter. He said something but was muffled by the bed. Charlie sighed and flipped him over on his back.

"You were saying?" Charlie had both hands on either side of his face, holding herself up. Her legs were on his right side, her instinct to swing one of her legs over him nearly consuming her. It would be a more comfortable position but she blushed thinking about how that would look.

"I said, now to come up with Plan B." Alastor still felt lighter than air laying in bed. He shifted his eyes over and saw Charlie towering over him. Her blonde hair swept over one shoulder, it brushing against the side of his face in a wisp. He felt his whole body relax even further as he gazed at what was before him. All he could see was Charlie and he never wanted to see anything else ever again.

"I...I don't know if there is a Plan B, Alastor." Alastor felt a single teardrop hit his upper cheekbone. He reached up and cupped Charlie's face while his fingers delved in her hair scratching her head comfortingly. He brushed his thumb to wipe away any remaining tears from her porcelain skin.

"Then let us not waste a moment then." Alastor whispered. Charlie's eyes grew wide by the insinuation.

"Alastor, we need to be positive. Everything will be ok! We'll..." Charlie paused. "We'll have more moments together. I promise." Alastor's fingers paused in her hair. He cocked his head slightly, his eyes locked onto hers.

"I sure hope so because I haven't had nearly enough moments with you for me to die satisfied." Alastor's voice was now raspy, his throat still slightly raw from his aggressive drinking. Charlie felt her stomach swirl with heat as she stayed crouched over him. Her arms slowly grew tired from holding herself up but every bit of her was telling her to not move.

"You need sleep." Charlie whispered. She could tell that Alastor was about to be unconscious.

"We have our duet tonight." His smile deepened in a goofy way and Charlie let out a tiny giggle. Dare she say, he was actually cute when he was out of it like this. His walls were down and she liked to believe that maybe he was like this when he was a human.

"Which is more of a reason that you need to sleep this off." Charlie finally made herself get up, Alastor groaning in return.

"I don't want to sleep." Alastor sounded like a child fighting his mother about letting him stay up past his bedtime. Charlie grabbed his arms and pulled him up into a sitting position. He slumped over so his spine was in a C curve. Charlie tried to get him to lay down properly on the side of the bed when he made his body go stiff.

"Charlie if you expect me to sleep in these clothes you are sorely mistaken." Alastor's voice had gotten deeper and it made little sparks go off in her eyes. Her fingers fidgeted on his arms.

"Oh um that's understandable. I can go ahead and leave you be so you can-"

"Could you help?" Alastor looked up at her with sad puppy dog eyes that Charlie had no clue how he accomplished. Between his small smile, his laid back ears and his wide eyes she was helpless.

"I-I mean if you feel like you're unable to I suppose I could because I know you are not quite sober and I'm always up for helping a pal out-"

"Charlie I'm just asking you to help with the buttons no need to panic on me, darling." Alastor couldn't help but be amused by Charlie's bashfulness. He thought it was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen, but he was sure Charlie would do something tomorrow to top that as well.

"Oh! Right, yeah! Pft no biggie." Charlie tried to play it off but Alastor saw right through it. He leaned back, his arms supporting his weight and his torso in full access for Charlie. She let her fingers drift from his arms to the top of his shirt. She began to slowly release each button, making her way down his chest. With each button conquered, more of Alastor's chest became exposed. She noticed old scars that peppered his skin, some larger than others. She couldn't help but wonder how they all got there. What kind of fights had he gotten into to receive such a collection of wounds? The biggest wound of all started to peak out though. It was bright pink and she could see that it was already becoming infected again. Red and aggravated around the edges with tiny gold veins started to stretch out from it. Charlie felt her eyes pool when Alastor brought two fingers underneath her chin to make her meet his eyes.

"I'm ok, dear." Alastor said reassuringly. Charlie felt her bottom lip tremble and really let the thought sink in that there was a good chance that Alastor would die. He could cease to exist and she would never see him again. She would never see his smile nor listen to his snide remarks. The hotel would be more quiet without his voice booming through the halls and she would probably never be able to look at another radio again. Before she knew it, she heard ringing in her ears. She began to breath harder, oxygen having trouble reaching her lungs. It resulted in her wheezing as she fought against it. The walls felt like they were closing in on her and she felt pure terror flood her system. She let go of Alastor's shirt and fell backwards onto the floor, clutching her chest. It was throbbing painfully and her heard felt like it was going to actually explode.

"Charlie?" Alastor fell to his knees in front of her, his shirt only two buttons away from being completely open. He cupped her face with both hands to look at her. She was hyperventilating, gasping for every breath she could get.

"I...can't...breathe..." Charlie got out in between wheezing inhales. Alastor looked around the room to see if there was anything that could help her. His sobriety made an instant return in the process.

"Breathe Charlie just breathe." Alastor saw nothing that could help him so he had to resort to his own abilities. He always caused people to have panic attacks and now he was in the unfortunate situation that he had to help someone through one. His life certainly has made a 180. He looked into Charlie's eyes which were dilated, her entire body vibrating violently.

"I'm right here, Charlie. I'm not going anywhere. You're ok. Just breathe." Alastor tried to get her to take deep breaths with him. After about a minute she was able to mimic his slow breathing exercises. Eventually her heart rate lowered and the room stopped spinning. She realized that she had sunk her claws into the top of Alastor's thigh while she was in the middle of her anxiety attack. She pulled her hands away and saw spots of blood pop up on his pants.

"Oh my god I am so sorry, Alastor!" Charlie covered her mouth but then quickly realized that her fingers were coated in his blood. She pulled her hand away and felt something warm on the corner of her mouth. Before she could process what it was, Alastor leaned forward and kissed her cheek where the blood was. His tongue darted out and licked the blood smear before his lips connected with her skin. Her whole body froze in shock. He pulled away, his tongue licking his bottom lip for any residue leftover.

"Can't let good blood go to waste!" Alastor's eyes seemed playful and innocent but Charlie was still frozen to where she sat. Her tongue felt foreign in her own mouth, not knowing how to move it to form words. Alastor looked down at her fingers and saw that they too were covered in blood. For a moment, she saw Alastor battle an idea in his mind. Deciding against whatever he had originally thought, he made his handkerchief appear with a wave of his hand. He grabbed Charlies hand gently and began to clean her fingers thoroughly. She watched as he became entirely focused on her fingers, making sure they were clean. He even payed attention to her nail beds and underneath her nails. Her heart swelled as she watched this once terrifying and cold creature take care of her. He helped her through her turmoil and managed to clean her up even though she had wounded him.

"All better! Bloodied nails are unbecoming for a princess! Plus we can't have blood stains on the piano keys, can we?" Alastor made the handkerchief vanish and held up her hand to look at it closely to make sure he didn't miss any spots. Once he was satisfied with his work, he reached down and gave the top of her hand a small kiss.

"I thought you couldn't let good blood go to waste?" Charlie asked. Color spread over Alastor's face quickly like a bushfire.

"I didn't think you would've liked my original idea of cleaning it up so I settled on a different approach."

He looked up at her with his signature grin and Charlie felt something form in her chest that she couldn't quite describe. It felt like a warm balloon that was swelling and threatening to pop. It wasn't uncomfortable by any means but it still made Charlie question what was happening. She had never felt this way before but she knew that she didn't want this moment between Alastor and her to end.

"Thank you, Alastor." She said after a brief moment of silence. Alastor stood up and helped her to her own feet.

"What kind of business partner would I be if I let you just writhe on the floor like that?" Alastor tried to cover up his reasoning behind helping her but it was a poor attempt. He could see in her eyes that she didn't believe a word of it. She looked down and saw that he still only had two buttons clasped together. She reached forward and released both of them, letting his shirt fall open. Alastor held his breath as Charlie let a few of her fingers touch his holy wound. It stung like she was holding a match to it, but he didn't stop her. She couldn't help but let her eyes dance over to the V lines that were coming out from his pants over his hips. She erased her mind of certain ideas she had thought of in that moment. She looked up at him with a conviction in her eyes that made Alastor twitch.

"I will heal you, Alastor. If it's the last thing I do." Charlie's voice was stern and strong. Alastor couldn't help but admire how strong she was in the face of uncertainty. Sure she had moments of doubt but honestly who wouldn't? Her recovery was impeccable and Alastor admired it greatly.

"There's no one else's hands I'd rather put my life into than yours, my dear." Alastor said softly. Charlie took a deep breath and felt more confident than ever that she would find a Plan B. A Plan C if needed and all the way through Plan Z. She would go back to Heaven and speak to God himself if she had to. Alastor wasn't going to die on her because at that moment, looking at him, she wasn't sure she would be able to exist without him.

And that was more terrifying than she liked to admit.