Married to my Best Friend

Hope

A/N: Here's another chapter. Enjoy readers!

I wouldn't say that Charlie is completely back to himself, but at least he is fussing over me, so... that's something, I suppose. If only someone told me that all I had to do to bring about this progress was to fall sick, I'd have taken off my clothes, drenched my self in ice cold water and ran to the roof naked, to let the cool November air wash over my body. Anyways I've pretty much fallen sick without doing that much and so, well. There have been minor changes in the arrangement that me and Charlie had kept going on last few weeks, for example, now, instead of me sleeping in Charlie's bed, he sleeps in mine, lest I get a sudden fever in the middle of the night, then, there's the fact that Charlie almost spoon feeds me my food, and the best of all – he forbids me to do any kind of office work. Two things have come from the last fact, one, I don't have to wake up early any more and two, Charlie had called my secretary and threatened her that if all work wasn't according to my satisfaction when Charlie deemed me fit enough to go back to work, and if, he said and I quote, "You run off for a fun tumble on the office table with Dylan instead of doing what I just told you to do, I will convince Eric to fire your sorry arses out of the office, you do understand that right? ". While I had felt immensely satisfied at the thought of what Dylan's face would be like when Mia told him about the threat, I also made sure to note it in my head never to be on the receiving end of Charlie's wrath. To be honest, he looked quite terrifyingly menacing when he was speaking to Mia.

I will admit that I've never enjoyed falling sick this much before. While I'm not as sick as I was when it first started, I don't want to get well anytime soon. This is a good state. I'm not terribly sick with water running down my nose and eyes and a grumpy tired body, but I also get Charlie's undivided attention, which in turn means that Paul has been missing from our lives for quite sometime now. I will not say that I haven't heard Charlie talk to him over phone, but, it's usually conversations regarding the fact that Charlie is very busy right now because he has to come straight home from work to look after me and so is unable to meet up with Paul. While it makes me feel like Charlie thinks of me as a five year old kid who is going to trip over his own feet and die, I can't protest against what he says. Anything to keep Paul 'I-want-to-get-into-Charlie's-pants' Whittle away from my husband.

I'm brought out of my thoughts when Charlie comes into my room with a mug of cocoa in his hand. "Belle wanted to come in but I forbade her, can't have her falling sick too, right?", he says as he hands me over my cup. I smile and nod. "How are you feeling now? ", he asks as I take a sip of the most wonderful cocoa in the world and sigh in contentment. "Good.", I reply. He nods. A moment of silence passes. I take another sip of my cocoa and then another. I can feel there's something on his mind. I take two more sips and when he doesn't talk, I sigh and put my cocoa down on the bedside table. "What is it? ", I ask. He looks at me for a moment and then shakes his head. "Charlie, tell me. Come-on out with it. ", I keep my voice gentle but firm and demanding. He gnaws on his lower lip for a few beats and then opens his mouth once and then closes it abruptly. "It's nothing really. Just... it's silly. ", he finally says looking away. I boldly place my hand on his cheek and turn his face back towards me and raise my eyebrows. He sighs loudly as he gives in. "I'm just... scared okay? Mama just... and then you fall sick all of a sudden, I know... it's nothing, I know it's just a fever and that you're gonna be okay, but I don't know why... I am feeling scared. I don't want to lose you ever. Eric you're my... I lo-care about you. You mean a lot to me. I don't think I'll ever be able to handle it if anything happened to you. That's all. Like I said its silly.", he says. The butterflies in my stomach start to flutter in full force and I fight to keep a genuinely besotted smile off my face. "You're a nutter. I was born to annoy you, Charlie. I'm not going anywhere, not for a long time. We're hus-best friends and you're stuck with me. So don't worry. I'm here, okay.", I tell him, my tone very gentle towards the end. He looks at me for a beat and I notice his eyes turning suspiciously shiny. Then, he promptly starts crying. Tears spills out of his eyes and run down his cheeks as he takes in rugged breaths. His face slowly starts turning red and I hurriedly do what comes to my mind first. I wrap him in my arms. He comes willingly, wraps his arms around my mid section and buries his face in my neck. "I miss her. I miss Mama. I want-I want her back... Er-Eric... br-bring her back. ", he says in a muffled voice. I hold him tighter and rub my hand along his spine, trying to reassure him. But he doesn't stop pleading and I feel tears welling up my eyes. We sit there like that, for how long I have no idea, until his crying subsides into tiny sniffles and he turns his head to rest his cheek on my shoulder. "You don't leave me okay? ", he asks me after a while. His voice is so quiet that it's barely above a whisper. I pull away slowly albeit reluctantly, cup his face in my hands and raise his head so that I can look at him directly in the eyes. "Okay", I tell him. His lower lip trembles again and a small tear drop slides down his left cheek. His eyes are red rimmed, his face is tear stained and blotchy and I don't know why he looks so adorable that I can't find words to describe it. I also don't know why I lean in to rest my forehead against his as I wipe away the wetness on his face.

We look at each other and it feels like the time has stopped, I know this is just not the time but I desperately want to kiss him. I also know he might never see me again if I do that. So I close my eyes to reign my thoughts in. I take a deep breath and try to compose myself. 

That's when I feel it, a pair of incredibly soft lips, Charlie's lips, on mine. His hand comes up to rest on my cheek and he kisses me. There's nothing sensual about the kiss but I know it's the best kiss of my life. It's extremely tender and overly sweet and when we finally break apart after what I feel are a thousand sunlit days, I'm surprised to see that the earth hasn't shattered yet. His eyes are still closed and I gently caress his cheek. I think I'm still floating somewhere in the clouds. He opens his eyes and we lean in for another kiss when a knock sounds on the door. Charlie quickly wipes his eyes, just in time for the door to fall open. Belle stands there looking extremely determined. "I want to talk to dad, Charlie. You can't stop me.", she says with her nose held high and takes a firm step into my room. She stops at the foot of the bed and narrows her eyes looking from me to Charlie. She studies Charlie for a moment and then turns to glare at me. "What did you do?", she asks me in an accusing tone. "I did nothing!", I say and shake my head to stress on my words. "Why is Papa crying then!?", she asks again. Charlie takes in a sharp breath beside me at the word 'Papa ', I quickly retaliate before Belle catches on with her slip up. "I swear Belle!", I say and when she continues to glare daggers at me, "What!? Really! In fact we were ki"-"talking, we were talking. I got upset about Mama. That's all.", Charlie cuts me off mid sentence and I am almost horrified at what I was going to reveal. I really am the dunderhead that Charlie calls me, ain't I? Belle's expression softens and she climbs up on the bed and settles herself between the two of us. Then she takes hold of our hands in hers and says, "Since we are a family and since Charlie, who is practically the only sane member in the family, is upset, we are going to hug him tight to reassure him that we are always there for him.", she declares and then hugs Charlie, who has a rather watery smile on his face. I hug Belle from the back and try to wrap my arms around both of them. Charlie kisses Belle's head and then shrugs us off. "Cocoa's gone cold.", he says and gets up to get the mug. Just as he is about to leave the room I call out his name. He turns and raises an eyebrow at me. "Um... I was just... you know... ", I trail off. Why isn't Belle going back to her room? "Go to sleep, Eric.", Charlie tells me, a shy smile on his face. I have the feeling he knows just what I'm talking about. Then he turns and leaves. Belle turns to me. "'In fact we were ki-' what exactly?", she asks and after a moment of confusion I realize that she has caught on with my slip up. I mouth like a goldfish for a moment or two and she smirks. She is way too perceptive for her own good. "Good night dad!", she says cheekily and leaves the room. Despite being embarrassed, I can't help the loony grin that appears on my face in the hope of waking up in the morning with another sweet kiss from Charlie .

A/N: I would be very grateful for your feedback. Do not forget to vote. Hope you liked the chapter.