The Great Unknown

I'll Stand By You - The Pretenders

"Klaus!" Charlotte called out dropping to her knees next to the man. He held the pill in his open hand, Charlotte reached over and gently took it away from him. "Klaus?" She called out tossing the pill to the side and putting a hand on Klaus' back, He sat up and looked at her for a long moment.

"You think I'm strong?" He asked his voice shaking. Charlotte laughed a bit and nodded. Klaus smiled putting both of his hands on her cheeks and pulling her in. Their lips locked and Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling away after a long moment.

"We need to get Luther out of here." She yelled over the music. Klaus nodded getting up and then offering her a hand. As they stood they turned and saw three men, on who had a bat walking towards Luther.

"Oh, shit Luther," Klaus said thinking out loud.

"We have to help him!" Charlotte yelled grabbing Klaus' hand and pushing her way through the crowd. Klaus ran in front of her jumping on the main guy's back yelling for his brother while Charlotte fought with his two friends throwing punches and kicking at them.

"Luther!" Charlotte yelled loud enough to get the man's attention as Klaus' body hit the floor, his head hitting the ground hard resulting in him laying on the floor asleep. As Luther got kicked out Charlotte ran over to Klaus kneeling besides him.

"Klaus wake up!" She said shaking him lightly but one of the guys came behind her and grabbed her arm to pull her up and then picked her up. She struggled against him. "Klaus!" She yelled trying to wake him up as the man carried her out and dropped her outside next to Luther. She got up and ran towards the door before the man closed it in her face, banging against it with her fist she yelled for Klaus. "Goddamnit!" She yelled loudly finally giving up beating against the door as her hands were now throbbing and probably going to bruise.

Luther stumbled away after Charlotte lectured him and told him to go the hell home. She sat on the ground against the graffitied wall waiting for Klaus to come outside. After almost an hour his figure walked over to her. She stood up wrapping her arms around him slowly and he did the same.

"Where's Luther?" He asked glancing over her shoulder.

"I sent him home, I wanted to make sure you got out okay." She said laying her head against his chest. Pulling back slight her hands gliding from his shoulders to his chest she looked up at him. "Are you okay?" She asked looking deep into his eyes, they both knew the question had many layers.

"I'm okay." He said with a small smile pulling the woman towards him kissing her again, she kissed him back. This kissed lasted longer than the kiss in the club. Klaus' arms wrapped around Charlotte's waist as her arms wrapped around his neck causing her to stand on her toes due to their height difference. Klaus was the first to pull away this time, "Let's go home." He said resting his forehead on hers. She smiled and softly nodded. The pair walked home side by side.

January 15, 2001

The Knoles family had made it through their first holiday season without Mr. Knoles. It was tough for everyone, Eleanor had barely uttered a word since her husband's passing. She'd smile at her children but there wasn't much conversation happening within their home. Charlotte laid in bed wishing to be anywhere but home as she heard her brother downstairs yelling at their mother to wake up and deal with the pain. Charlotte could picture the argument in her head, James would be standing, fist clenched and red in the face while their mother would be sitting somewhere in the house staring off into space. At first, Charlotte really did believe her mother was gone, that her father's death had taken away her mother's spirit along with it. But the night before she had woken up in the middle of the night after hearing a crash. She silently made her way downstairs to see her mother sitting at the kitchen table looking at wedding photos wearing one of Daniel's many flannels. On the ground was a shattered liquor glass, the twelve-year-old walked over to her mother and hugged her smelling her father's scent from the flannel. They stayed like that for so long that Charlotte lost track of time, she sent her mother to bed and cleaned up the glass and put away the pictures before returning to bed.

"Charlotte and I have to be adults now. We are twelve-years-old and we're both working to help pay for this damn house because you won't wake up!" The boy yelled before stomping up the stairs and slamming his door. It was true, both the twins had found jobs to help pay for groceries and to put towards the bills. They had become mini adults. Charlotte got up and knocked on her brother's door, he swung it open hoping to see his mother. "What?" he snapped.

"Stop being such a little asshole to mom," Charlotte said a new found confidence flooding her system.

"Excuse me?" He asked shocked.

"You heard me. You're being an asshole and I'm sick of hearing it." She said with an equal amount of attitude. "For Christ sake James the whole neighborhood can hear you yelling at all hours!" She said remembering the looks her neighbors would give as the kids left the house.

"You need to learn when to shut your mouth, Charlie." Her brother said in a warning tone.

"You need to learn that mom is going through a lot and she doesn't need someone who looks like her dead husband yelling at her!" Charlotte said yelling, his use of her nickname setting her over the edge.

"We all lost Dad, she's not dealing with it!" He yelled matching her volume.

"People deal with things in their own way James!" Charlotte yelled enraged with how dumb her brother was being.

"That's it." He said quietly before slamming his door. Charlotte rolled her eyes and walked downstairs to make lunch for herself and her mom. Thirty minutes later James came down with a suitcase.

"What in the world are you doing?" Charlotte asked not bothering to look up at the show her brother was putting on.

"Dealing with things my way." He said simply before he left the house.

He was gone for two weeks. Charlotte had called the police and put up flyers but didn't hear anything till he walked back in the front door a bit over two weeks after he left. The two twins didn't talk to one another for over a month, this left the house eerily silent even though three people lived there. It was their mother to first break the silence trying to make small talk at dinner, both the twins took this as a sign to stop acting like children and start talking as well. James' and Charlotte's relationship never fully recovered.

Current Day

Charlotte woke up stretching her arms past her head, but she didn't wake up to the sound of an alarm but a bell. Pushing back the covers she looked around seeing she was in Klaus' room. She wore one of his large tie-dye shirts and was wearing a pair of boxers as shorts, looking under the men's underwear seeing she was still wearing her own. She got up taking off the "shorts" and slipped on her jeans, tucking Klaus shirt into her pants.

"Klaus what are you doing?" She asked sleepily.

"Well good morning!" He said cheerfully causing Charlotte to laugh. She rolled her eyes and walked across the hall to the bathroom, freshening up she walked back outside to see Luther with his blanket wrapped around his waist and a girl in his bed.

"I thought I told you to come straight home!" She whisper-yelled at the large man, he winced.

"Sorry, I forget what happened." He said innocently.

"Well come downstairs there are important family matters to discuss," Klaus said with a smile. "And Luther no dilly-dallying." He said cheerily waving his bell back and forth. Charlotte and Klaus walked downstairs to the kitchen as he walked he was swinging the bell.

"Give me that!" Charlotte laughed taking the bell from him carrying it in a way that it wouldn't ring anymore.

"That shirt looks good on you by the way." He said kissing the top of her head and walking to the coffee winking at her. She rolled her eyes and sat at the table placing the bell gently down.

"Thanks some hot guy gave it to me last night." She joked winking back at him, he laughed handing her a cup of coffee. She smiled watching him dance around the kitchen happily, she loved how upbeat he was even without the drugs.