Genuine Heart (Chucky Fanfic)

07 - Cold Meat

The doorbell rings a sweet chime at the Dickens' house. Charles sneers at the name plate nailed to their house. I give him a look reminding him that we have to somehow make a proper impression to remove any sort of suspicion.

We're greeted by Mary gaping and quickly turning this into a blinding grin, "Oh my! What do we have here?"

I can't imagine what's going on inside Charles' head as Mary shrieks at us appearing behind her door,

She sees the bottle of wine in my hand, I hand it to her and she takes it, "Thank you!" she smiles, "You wonderful folks are early?" she states,

"Sorry?"

Charles catches my quick glance and glances back at Mary who's smile is still plastered on her face, "Oh! Joe didn't tell you?" she turns around, "Joe, honey--"

As if they were this coordinated couple on tv, Joe appears just in time and wraps his arm around his wife's waist with a bright smile, "I told you to come down at their place to tell them we're going to be preparing a little late?"

Joe grimaces, "I know I should have, but I thought it would be much better if they came in early for us to have more time to chitchat!"

The couple laughs cheekily, I'm forced to chuckle and I see Charles loudly force out a "Ha!" before laughing louder than everyone else,

What have we gotten ourselves into?

"Well, do come in!" Joe quickly says and allows us to step into their house,

Charles shoots me a 'what-the-fuck' look as soon as the couple turns around, I shoot him a look and quickly smile at the couple welcoming us.

They lead us into the living room, 

Joe speaks with Charles as Mary grabs my arm and flashes me a warm smile, "I'm preparing the food, d'you mind helping me?"

I glance at Charles with a smile, "Umm--"

Should I really leave him alone with Joe? Or should I say, do I want to go home having to hide a dead white man's body tonight?

Charles smiles back at me, "Oh you go ahead, honey" he emphasizes, "Joe and I will be having a chat!" he follows up with a forced grin then laughs with Joe,

"Okay." was all I said as Mary guides me into the kitchen.

* * *

"What brought you here?" Mary asks,

I focus on setting the table, pretending I have enough to do to make her think I don't need to answer questions right now, "Just thought it would be a nice place to stay in,"

"Well you're right about that. This neighborhood is so...relaxing." She says,

I nod and chuckle as a response,

"I'm assuming you both don't have kids?"

I glance at Mary who's completely stopped doing whatever she was doing with the food, 

"Oh..." Should I tell her? "We're...we're not married."

Mary widens her eyes, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, I thought you two were married!"

"Well," I chuckle, "We're not, so."

"Moving in...that's a big step." She says,

"It is. And it's none of your business."

Mary turns, "Sorry?"

Crap, I said that one aloud.

"Oh, yeah, we moved here for business, too. That's what I said," I chuckle again,

"What kind of business?"

I snap, "-Jeez!"

Mary jumps at my sudden response,

"--I'm really, really hungry, that smell is so damn good." I quickly reel in a different topic, "Is that the roast?"

Mary stutters, "Yes--yes it is," She turns around and hurries to the oven, "I think it's ready,"

"Great!" I hiss,

Mary shouts ever so lovely, "Dinner's ready!"

I look around wondering where Charles and Joe would be coming in with the number of doors inside the dining area and if there are other people in the house that I don't know of. Anyone shouting 'dinner' like that has got to come out of a movie or something,

Charles walks in the dining room with Joe and I have never felt so relieved,

Our eyes meet and I bet he felt the struggle I've been trying to go through in here,

He smiles lightly at me, "Hey," he says,

Joe joins Mary at the counter as she brings in the food, giving me time to speak to Charles, "Hey,"

"Everything okay?"

I shake my head, 

He grimaces, "This'll be over soon,"

"I see Joe's still alive,"

Charles pulls the chair for me and whispers back, "Yeah well he hasn't gotten me pissed yet," he says and once Mary and Joe turn around he plants a light kiss on my head and sits beside me,

Joe smiles at what he just saw, "I hear you both aren't really..." he points at us both,

Charles furrows his eyebrows,

"...married?"

"Hope you don't mind," he chuckles, "you both look like a lovely couple,"

I clear my throat as I look down at my plate,

I feel Charles' eyes on me,

"We're not but...we're thinking about it." He says, our eyes meet. He's smiling at me and he reaches for my hand,

He's doing well with this.

I nervously smile back then look away, "The food really looks good, Mary." I change the subject,

Mary smiles at us, "Thank you for helping me back there."

"My pleasure," I smile at her,

Everyone starts reaching for their own food on the table. Suddenly, Joe struggles as he tries to reach for the roast to slice it in half, but Charles offers.

Charles stands from his seat and takes the knife, I watch him as he slices the meat in front of all of us smoothly,

"I have to agree with them, Honey, your roast really looks good!" Joe states as Charles slices the meat,

"Yeah, Mary, this probably tastes great as it looks."

"I see you slicing that beef roast easy,"

We all chuckle, "Yeah," Charles says, "Just like good ol' shanking,"

I accidentally drop my fork on the plate alarming both Mary and Joe, but they keep their eyes on Chucky,

He looks at me then at them, "You know," he tries to laugh it off, "Fresh, cold meat."

I secretly hit his foot under the table,

Joe and Mary stay quiet, "Yeah," I chuckle and go on with Chucky, "You remember that business I was telling you about?"

Mary looks at me, "Charles used to own a place, where he butchers meat."

Both couple slowly nod, finally understanding,

Charles finally gets it, he nods with me, too. He stabs one of the beef and offers it to them. Joe shrugs and suddenly grins, "I'll have one!" he laughs,

Charles places a slice in every plate and finally returns to sit beside me. I squeeze his hand, then reach for my glass to drink my wine.