Synopsis: Yet another thing I wrote in a rant or else I would fucking explode.
Charlie knew it as soon as she opened her eyes that morning.
That day was not going to be her day.
She didn't know why and she couldn't just shake the feeling of it, despite she couldn't wake up in a better way.
Wrapped tightly, arms crossed, next to the best girlfriend in all of creation, just right in the place where she could fulfill her biggest dream yet.
Contrary to her habits of being the first to get up off bed, springing out like a bunny to get ready with her day, Charlie just laid there.
That on its own was nothing strange, sometimes she just stayed in bed a little longer just so she could see Vaggie sleep and so she could be the first thing she saw in the day. More often than not the mere thought of doing that was enough to make her giggle like a little girl.
But that day her eyes stared past her into an empty spot in their room.
She zoned out for who-knows-how-long, only returning to herself when Vaggie roused her.
"Hun, are you alright?"
Charlie coughed a few times as she recomposed herself. "Ye-yeah! Just, you know, finishing booting up!" She ran her fingers through Vaggie's hair with a smile she had to consciously form up.
"Heh, right. Let's get started. Last thing we want is for everyone else to oversleep."
The couple walked together into their bathroom, as it was their habit. Despite the seemingly spicy scenario. For both of them it couldn't be further from that.
And for the first time in a long time, it was…rather mundane, not to mention how quiet it was.
Vaggie was the first of them to catch up on this, and the fact Charlie was not singing something or even humming a melody, despite her girl's mind was an endless stream of artsy ideas. One Vaggie had had to learn to keep up with, and to some degree, she enjoyed it, despite how troublesome and taxing it may, and actually is sometimes.
The second thing Vaggie caught as off was when they had their breakfast together.
Vaggie cooked for the both of them. When your significant other has more money than you can spend, your options to show your love language are narrow, but if Vaggie's learned anything from Charlie is there is always something that can be done about it.
Their usual breakfast would consist of them discussing their schedules for the day, while Charlie praised Vaggie, telling her she was better than a five-stars, Michelin star, star in the sky, star anything, chef in hell.
But right now, Charlie could only stare at the plate in front of her.
"Did you hear me?"
"What!?" Charlie rose up her head suddenly, almost falling off her chair.
"I said, since extermination is no more for now, a lot of sinners should be willing to give the hotel a try. Surely you must be excited."
"Oh!" Charlie cleared her throat and tried to muster her best smile, but she could only raise her cheeks. "Yes! We are gonna be drowning in guests any time soon."
"What?"
"Swimming! I meant swimming. Ha-ha. Nothing we can't take together."
For the first time in that day, Charlie strived for something and reached her hand to grab Vaggie's hand and squeeze. Vaggie reciprocated, stroking her thumb over Charlie's palm. The hellborn felt she could melt right then and there, but Vaggie then withdrew her hand.
"About that, I'm going out with Angel and Husk. We are going out to get supplies for the new wave of guests. As you said, they are coming here any time soon, last thing we want is…"
Charlie couldn't really hear anything else afterwards. Next thing she knew Vaggie was leaving, and Charlie was left with Alastor and Niffty at the hotel.
Left was a pretty accurate word, as shorty after the trio left, Alastor left her to fence for herself under the excuse he needed to catch up with a few "old friends", and Niffty rushed at the speed of a bullet to chase and kill insects, not before telling her that some of the new guests that had arrived after the extermination day had not come for breakfast at the dining room.
Charlie gave herself the task to prepare the rooms for the upcoming new guests, while at the same time checking on those guests.
Normally she would be bouncing with excitement as she went through each room. Preparing and making sure every little detail is perfect. Decoration, notes of encouragement on the most unexpected places or leaving a welcoming gift, which included but was not limited to food, a phone, and a ticket for them to invite anyone they wanted to the hotel. A "bring-a-friend-to-redemption" kind of coupon.
But right now, as Charlie sat on her desk, she struggled to even write the most simple and generic notes she could think of. Simple things that could easily make her day failed to spark the slightest of emotions within her.
A simple "Good job" was too much for her to believe.
But when it came to checking on their current residents, Charlie couldn't not find them.
She tried knocking on their doors, and when they didn't answer she entered as carefully as she could, only to find each room raided and left ramshackle.
Everything that could be taken off the ground and carried was gone. The bed sheets, pillows, blankets, bathroom products, most of the furniture. The decoration Charlie had set up was gone as well or broken and torn apart on the ground.
Charlie would have thrown herself to the ground in a corner as inconsolable crying ball of sadness. But that day, all she could think of was she knew this kind of events was a tangible possibility. Many of the sinners she took in would only use the hotel as a means to get free food and shelter, and just leave without a second thought after a while.
Vaggie had warned her of that, Alastor had told her he expected just that. And there was a time where the thought of Angel being a potential perpetrator of just that floated in a corner of her mind.
"Niffty?" She whispered bluntly and in a second she appeared crawling over her. Charlie simply grunted and picked her up by her sides. "Think you can…clean this?"
Nifty said something she couldn't make of it as she nodded frantically and got to work.
After a while, Vaggie, Angel and Husk returned. Charlie broke it down to her girlfriend with surprising calm, trying to make it sound like no big deal.
"Did they try to hurt you?"
"No."
"Did they steal anything else?"
"No."
"Are you okay?" Vaggie grabbed her by her shoulders fondly.
Charlie blinked puzzledly.
"Yeah. Don't worry. I…we will just try harder with our new guests!"
Vaggie's eyes grimaced as her eyes deviated for a second. "Sorry hun, we didn't get anyone to join us today."
Vaggie prepared herself for an awful reaction from Charlie, she would tell them they could try together another day. Maybe even letting her try one of her musical ideas, if that's what it took to spare her the—
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, it's not a big deal."
"Charlie, is okay if you get upset once in a while." Her brow frowned. "Are you sure you're okay?" She run her fingers through Charlie's hair, but she stopped her as gently as she could. "Charlie…"
"Do you mind if we call it a day?"
…
Vaggie, unlike Charlie, was fluent in silence. When the hellborn closed the door and they saw each other face to face, Vaggie understood what she had to do.
Charlie, of course, didn't. She walked to the kitchen and began to prepare their dinner like it was their habit at the end of a long day of having their work not being reciprocated by no one.
No one, except…
Vaggie took Charlie's hands and forced her to put down the knife and plates.
Her not questioning her and her adamant reaction just gave Vaggie proof Charlie needed to clear her head.
She walked the two of them into their bed until they two laid down.
Before Charlie could say anything, Vaggie extended her arms and wrapped them around Charlie's head, bringing it closer to her chest so Vaggie could rest her own head on top of Charlie's.
"Vags…?"
"Shh…it's alright."
Charlie thought Vaggie would try to rationalize how this day had been a good day. Truth be told, they knew that was not Vaggie's strongest suit, and she would end up laughing to not make Vaggie feel bad, ending up with her being the comforted one with tickles and affirmative words, when Charlie needed to be the comforted one.
They spent the next twenty minutes in that position in silence, only with a calm, yet heavy breathing and rickety pants and gasps filling the room. Vaggie didn't try to kiss her, look at her face and tell Charlie everything would be okay, or pull away, all she did was wrap her up in her arms, without an ounce of selfishness in it.
She just held the person who deserved heaven more than anyone in this pit until her muffed gasp calmed down, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep in between her arms.
Vaggie chuckled to herself at the thought of Charlie insisting tomorrow they should have changed clothes to sleep, but that was a trivial issue for future Vaggie. For the time being she limited herself to put Charlie down on the bed and she laid next to her looking at her until she fell asleep too.