T2 - Family Forever

Chapter 6

"Hey, are you okay?" Brian asked worriedly when I went to be alone for a second.

"What?"

"Babe, are you okay? Do you wanna go back to Mando's place?" he asked me.

"Yes and no, does that sound horrible?" I asked him.

"No, of course not. Do you really wanna leave?"

"You want me to leave, I know." I whispered.

"Yes, I want you to leave but you know why. I want to keep you safe Charlie and being here isn't safe for you. Look at what just happened, that could've been me or you rolling down that mountain."

"But it wasn't and I'm not ready to leave just yet. I promise you, if things get too out of hand, too dangerous I'll leave. No questions asked but you have to come with me."

"I wanna say yeah, I wanna tell you that I'll leave with you no questions asked but I can't. I can't leave him here babe, I'm so . . ."

"Don't apologize, it's hard for me to say that I'll leave knowing that you two are doing something dangerous. If it was up to me I wouldn't but there are times when I have to gracefully back out and this would be one of them."

"I love you, Charlie, so damn much."

"Brian, are you sure that you're happy? With all of this? With me?" I asked, sitting on the dock.

"Charlotte, this is the second time that you ask me that. Where is this coming from?" he asked, sitting next to me.

"I don't want you to stay with me because you think you need to. You've been restless lately, a lot and it worries me. I love you so much, so damn much but I don't want you to feel forced to be with me because of Jessie or anything like that." I whispered, looking out over the water.

"Charlie, look at me."

I couldn't bring myself to look at him, I was waging a brutal war against the tears that wanted to fall and if I look at him I'm gonna lose.

"Charlie . . ."

"I know that the settled down life is weighing on you B, it's not what you wanted or expected it to be and. . ."

"I'm gonna stop you there, right now. Look at me . . ." he said, softly turning my face to look at him.

"Brian don't . . ."

"Being with you and Jessie is the only thing that I want to do. Not because I feel like I have to but because I want to and yes, I need to. I need to be with my girls because it's the only place where I feel whole. The settled down life is more than I expected it to be yes, but it's the only life that I would want to have with the only two girls that I'd want to be with.

I love you more than life and I love Jessie more than I love you, sorry. The two of you are the best thing to ever happen to me and I wouldn't change that for the world. I don't want you to ever think like that again because it's not true. By your side is the only place that I ever want to be, it's where I belong." he said, kissing me softly.

"I love you too." I whispered.

He brushed the tears away and kissed me again before wrapping his arm around me. I laid my head on his shoulder and we just sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the beautiful landscape around us. Before long we walked over to our team again and got comfortable.

"Everything okay?" Dom asked me.

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"Did you tell . . ."

"No! I didn't, I'll tell him when I'm ready." I whispered, trying to keep him quiet.

"Charlie . . ."