Escaping Relativity
Chapter 26

Charlie woke to a soft tapping on the wall and a heavy arm draped over her...Xander. Her backside was pulled snug up against him, his leg and arm draped over her possessively. She had never before slept all through the night with a man, much less been comfortable being held tightly by one. However, with Xander, it somehow felt right.

“Xander,” she tried to wake him.

“Mmmm,” he nuzzled the back of her neck.

“No, someone is knocking on the door. We have to get up,” Charlie said, trying to get out from underneath him.

Coming fully awake, Xander popped up faster than anything Charlie had seen. A shelf not far from him held a weapon, and it ended up in his hand, pointed at the door, all in one fluid motion.

“An enemy wouldn’t knock, Xander. Put on some clothes, I don’t want anyone else seeing you like that,” Charlie said, a small smile on her lips. She couldn’t help but throw the small jealousy out there. Something in her needed to know how he would respond, but her walls were up far enough, if in the event he didn’t react at all.

“Love, if I can keep you then you’ll be the only woman to see me, and I’ll kill any other man who tries to see you,” Xander said winking at her again.

Charlie turned to look at him squarely, barely able to contain her surprise at his words. She searched for playfulness, searched for dishonesty, she even searched for the thread of a lie that was to make someone feel better about themselves...and there was nothing. All truth, pure, white light in his eyes and voice.

The burn of unshed tears clogged her throat and her stomach knotted up at the same time. Of course, she said nothing while fastening the front of the oversized shirt so she would be covered. Xander put on his pants, and without warning, his large hand grabbed her around the waist, turning her around in his grasp until they were chest to chest again.

“I will find a way to keep you. Don’t think I don’t know what happened last night. You gave yourself, your whole self to me, and I’m not letting go, Charlie, I don’t care what it takes. Do you understand me?”

Xander’s eyes were piercing through every blockade and wall, every fence and veil she had. He saw her, who she really was, and he wanted to keep her anyway.

“I won’t risk your brother. You know I won’t. It would kill you, and I...I...well,”

“Say it, Charlie. Say it, now while the lights are bright, and our clothes are on, say it,” Xander commanded, his grip on her tightening.

Narrowing her eyes in stubborn frustration, she didn’t want to give in to his stupid command; but the truth, the raw understanding in him was too much for her to simply ignore, and she wouldn’t lie. Not this close to the end. Not to him.

“I love you too much to have you hate me because I didn’t save him. If I can find a way, I will, and we can both make it back to you, but Xander, I was brought here to save him. It’s what I’m supposed to do,” she answered.

“Well, I love you too much to lose you because you’re too stubborn for your own good. So we’ll just have to figure this out together. Alright? Together,” Xander argued.

“Okay,” Charlie conceded.

Xander bent down and kissed her, hard, and demanding, so full of love and need, desire and understanding, that she was certain she would drown in it. She wanted to anyway.

Finally, he broke the kiss, leaving Charlie feeling drugged, and achy in all the right places. Turning, his head slightly, without letting go of Charlie, he spoke to nothing and everything.

“Enter,” Xander said, and the door zipped open.

Rolara stood holding all of Charlie’s clothes, neatly folded.

“I saw them when we got here, so I washed them. The tear on the shoulder of your jacket was a bit tricky, we don’t have this material here, but I was able to fix it. I needed a way to show you that I can be useful. I’m not grand like Charlie’s ability to fight and save, and I’m not amazing and famous like Mr. Collins, and I’m not a genius like Lennie; but I’ve been a mother since I was eleven. I can tend, heal, cook, clean, hunt, and mechanic. I can do anything and everything you could need as a service. I don’t want to be a burden, but Lennie and I have nowhere to go,” Rolara said, pleading her case.

“How about it, Charlie? Are you ready for a couple of kids already? I know it’s soon and all, but I think the reward will outweigh the responsibility,” Xander said.

A smile was on his face, but a true question was in his eyes. He needed her to want him, to want them all.

They were all now some strange conglomeration of a family, and they could always be; if she could get Brick back, then follow him somehow.

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