fandomtownies | The Boardwalk; Late Sunday Night.

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The Boardwalk; Late Sunday Night.

Depending on your perspective, Charlotte had either a really rough night at the bar, or a very productive one, considering the number of drinks she'd consumed. She, of course, was an optimist, so she was going to go with the latter. Just like she was going to tell herself that it was okay, people disappeared for over a week all the freaking time and Dale would be fine, even with giants...who didn't deal with giants? And he promised he'd be back and he wouldn't lie, would h--?

Charlotte's train of thought was interrupted as she stumbled a little, the heel of her shoe getting caught a little on the cracks between the boards of the boardwalk, and she regained her balance, blinking as she looked around. "Wait a minute," she muttered, narrowing her eyes at her surroundings. "This isn't the right way home...."

[[ expecting one, but certainly open for anyone else who might be around this late at night, before that one in the timeline ]]

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When Dale awoke he was in the middle of a forest and feeling a tad disoriented. The island had just shifted before he disappeared in Fandom so this particular set of woods was very unfamiliar to Dale.

He did however find a way out eventually and made his way onto the boardwalk where he found a familiar figure standing there.

He breathed a sigh of relief and headed toward her as fast as he could.

Okay, either the power of optimism really did get you somewhere sometimes, or Tino and Jolee really were not messing around with her Cosmos tonight. Since that first one was never the case almost ever, Charlotte figured this was probably a hallucination, either inspired by excessive booze, the strangeness of the island, or some sort of trick of the light, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to check after she rubbed her eyes and he was still there.

"...Dale?"

It was kind of dark on the boardwalk, so it was hard to tell. It did cross her mind that it could totally be Trey, and if that were the case, oh man...She was so going to try to shove him into the water.

There was a small smile as Dale moved closer. "It's me," he said and went to glomp onto her with everything he had. "Was I gone long?"

"Oh," Charlotte sighed with relief, a faint but happy smile flitting to her face. "Dale..."

And then she blinked and the smile faded into a frown as she answered, "Yes! You were! Like...forever!" She threw her hands up into the air with drunken exasperation. "You can't just call someone and tell them, oh, yes, hello, I'm going to disappear for a really long time and there are giants but that's all I can say, but it's okay! I'll be back, just God knows how long until then!"

And she finished the tirade with yet another emotion, a very impressive and saddened pout.

"I'm sorry," Dale said sincerely, reaching out to take her hand. "If I could have avoided it I would have but I had to go home. I was needed there. But I'm back now and I don't think I'll be leaving again. At least if I have a choice in the matter."

Charlotte blinked a little at him taking her hand; it sent a very small, almost sober realization that it couldn't just be the booze if he was actually touching her. The pout started to tremble a little and, with an uninhibited strangled sob of his name, she launched herself forward to throw her arms around his neck.

"I was going to be so mad at you if you didn't show back up, just so you know!" she added into his shoulder.

Dale pulled her in close and closed his eyes as he inhaled the scent of her hair.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I didn't mean to scare you or make you mad. I just... I'm sorry. I missed you incredibly."

Charlotte was quiet for a moment, leaning against his shoulder; the foremost thing on her mind, however, was not that he was back, but more that she wished she'd had done all this drinking last night. This was totally wasting what was a pretty phenomenal smash.

No, not last night. The night before. Then, she could avoid being hungover for this.

"What happened?" she asked, quietly, and not moving.

"Wait," she said a second later. "Better question. Do I want to know what happened? Do I actually need to go drink more before I hear what happened?"

Dale frowned as his hands touched her hair. "Something from an old case. Something that was a mess a long time ago and needed to be stopped."

He pulled back a moment and tried to find her eyes with his own.

"It's over now. I won't have to leave again."

Charlotte frowned a little at the readjustment and the movement, things shifting a bit more jarringly than the simple gesture normally would have. She blinked a few times before she managed to find Dale's eyes, and the creases of concern in her forehead deepened as she looked into them. She drew in a breath through her nose, blanching slightly.

"...Dale?" she asked.

Dale frowned a little and watched Charlotte's face carefully and with concern.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I...I'm not feeling so good," Charlotte admitted in a quiet, sickly tone, eying him with a terrified expression that almost made it seem like she'd already puked on his shoes. The mere thought of it was horrifying enough, but it was the mix of all the drinks she'd had, the excitement of his safe and seemingly sound return, and the scent of the salt from the sea not mingling at all with any of it.

Dale gave her a sympathetic smile and gently moved to her side to offer support... and perhaps to get out of range.

"Perhaps we should get a ride home," Dale suggested. "Unless you are up for a walk."

Charlotte had absolutely no issue with leaning against him, although she did wonder if she leaned a little too heavily, but it didn't matter enough. "Walk is good," she decided, hoping that maybe if they took it slow, it would make her feel better. Especially since a rickshaw was hardly the smoothest ride.

Dale let her lean on him all she wanted and gave her a small kiss on her temple. "Anything I can do to make you feel better?" Dale asked as he slowly began to walk with her.

"Don't go and disappear again for a week?" Charlotte offered, pouting again, even though she knew they had already covered that.

"How about the next time it happens I'll take you with me?" Dale offered as he cracked a grin.

"I don't know," Charlotte muttered, frowning deeper and leaning against him a little more. She brought up an arm around Dale, holding him tighter as if that would prevent him from going off again. "It didn't sound like much fun from your phone call."

"It wasn't," Dale admitted. "But being apart made me realize how much you mean to me."

He gave her arm a little squeeze. "I missed you Charlotte. I'm sorry I put you through that."

Even if she was still very mad at him, Charlotte still couldn't help a small smile at that, leaning against his shoulder and settling into an appreciative quiet for it. And then she started to feel another little wavy haze of nausea sneaking up on her and realized that looking down in some sort of gleeful bashfulness right now was not good for her stomach. "You came back," she noted. "That's what matters. And I got a lot of work done, too, you know, so there's that that came out of it, too...."

"Well that's one positive thing," Dale said feeling guilty. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."

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The Boardwalk; Late Sunday Night.

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