The Case

Chapter 19

Charlie's POV 

Six weeks. It has been six weeks since I last heard her laugh, since I last saw her beautiful face. I keep going, I have to. For her. I started school three weeks ago and I am loving it. I smiled, remembering when I told her. 

Flashback

"Hey there sunshine." I smiled, walking into her room. In three days I am quiting my job. It's kind of scary, but I'm excited. 

"Hey Aunt Charlie!" she smiled brightly at me, hopping off her bed and putting her book down, running and hugging me. 

"How is my little fighter?" 

"Good! How are you? I missed you when you were gone." I smiled down at the little girl. 

"I missed you too love." 

"Did you miss Uncle Harry?" I smiled down at her. 

"Of course. But I missed you too!" 

"Really? Was it fun, being undercover?" she asked, "Did you fight bad guys?" 

I smiled, "Of course!" 

"I want to be a cop just like you Aunt Charlie!"

"Hunny, I'm not going to be a cop anymore." I said, sitting down on her bed.

"Really!?" 

"Yeah, I'm going to be a social worker, helping people who need it." 

"You know Aunt Charlie, no matter what you do I will be proud of you!" she smiled brightlly up at me. She is so old for her age, but thats what cancer does, it makes you older than you should be. 

"I will always be proud of you too Court!" I said pulling her in and hugging her tight. "And how did you know?" 

"Know what?" 

"To call Harry uncle?" 

Courtney sat up straight. "He is Uncle Harry. He always will be as long as he makes you happy. I love him, he is perfect for you but you know what? I bet he loves you tripple the amount I love him!" 

I smiled down at Courtney, she is skiny, from the amount of radiation put in her body, and her bald head is slowly getting more hair on it. 

"Well Courtney, now he can really be your uncle, we are getting married." I smiled. 

"REALLY!?" she yelled standing up on her bed. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" she yelled, jumping up and down. 

"Cut that out before your mom gets us both in trouble." I laughed. 

Courtney took a seat beside me and looked up at me. "You know Aunt Charlie, when I grow up I want to find a Harry." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I want to find someone who loves me just like Harry loves you. Who will do the little tings for me." she said. 

"Oh Court, I'm sure you will. But in the mean time you should know that I love you." I said, pulling her in for a tight hug. 

End Flashback

Little did I know that day would be the last day I hugged her. Before I knew it I was crying over the potatos I was cutting. "Char I'm home!" Harry yelled from the door. 

"In here." I called back, wiping the tears. 

"Hey." he smiled. "You ok?" 

"Yeah, you know she called you uncle right?" 

"Courtney?" 

"Yeah, I went to tell her about the wedding and she was already calling you Uncle Harry." I smiled as I started to cry again. 

Harry smiled and pulled me into a hug. "She always knew."

"She told me she wants a Harry." 

"A what?" 

"Someone who loves her as much as you love me." I said as the tears stopped and I wiped the last of them from my face, a big smile on my lips. 

"She did. We all loved her. More than she could ever imagine." I nodded and he tilted my head up "I love you." he said before capturing his lips on mine. 

"I made dinner." I smiled. 

"Should I be afraid?" 

"Hey!" I said, slapping his shoulder, "I'm not that bad of a cook!" 

"Darling, I love you, but you just can't cook!" 

"Oh yeah! Well I made chicken and potatos! So ha!" I said placing my hands on my hips. And just my luck as soon as the words came out of my mouth the fire alarm went off. Harry just stood there laughing. "Well fuck." I sighed, walking back into the kitchen. 

In the stove was chicken... on fire. "Dammit!" I said befire fishing the fire extingusher out of the cupboard under the sink and opening the stove, putting out the fire. 

"Oh yeah, cook of the year!" Harry said, leaning on the wall behind me. 

"Oh shut up and help me clean this up so we can order in." 

So that;s what we did. We cleaned up the mess I had made with the chicken, threw it out and ordered chineese while watching re-runs of Law & Order. 

Maybe this is what Courtney meant by the little things. We don't need big houses and fancy cars to be happy. What made Courtney happy was watching people be happy. 

And with Harry's arm around my shoulder, my head on his chest, a bowl of popcorn on the table (made by Harry) and re-runs of an old show for the first time in weeks I feel... happy.