Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The family picture on his mantle is the last photo he has of his daughter before she left.

He doesn’t like looking at it, and frankly if it was any other picture he wouldn’t have it up. It’s an out of focus grainy shot, but it was the one photo he had due to a photography error. Charlotte hated having pictures taken of herself, so it would have been a bigger fight to get her to take another one. He stands in the middle of the frame with an arm around his wife, his family surrounding him on either side, dressed in their Sunday best. Charlie stands off to the side staring at something off camera wearing a ratty black hoodie and jeans.

The other photo of his youngest daughter is on her first day of kindergarten. He’s more fond of this one - Happier times of when he wasn’t constantly worried about his youngest daughter. She's smiling in the photo, all dressed up, and seconds away from dashing out of her mother's arms excited for her promised barbies and new friends. He remembers fondly picking up his daughter, maybe 6 hours after the picture was taken as she cried about how worried she was that they would never come back for her.

One of those silly childhood fears, that he could never remember his other children having.

“Don't you raise your voice at me young lady!”

“You just don't get it! Leave me alone!”

Frank wishes for a moment that he could see her again, as the little girl in the picture who he remembers crying over her birthday cake. That's a feeling many parents go through, he feels, the desire to keep their children small and safe forever, or with kids like Charlie- the feeling that they could have done more for them.

He knows that little girl in the picture with the daddy’s girl shirt probably isn’t the Charlottle of today. It certainly wasn’t the girl who disappeared 10 years ago, with the dark circles under her eyes. The same girl who couldn’t go a day without getting into a screaming match with a family member, that would run away constantly, that he spent days worrying about- that he stills worries about. Sometimes he sits and thinks about how he could have done so much more for her.

Frank remembers sitting outside the doctors office, one of thousands. Its been maybe 2 hours since she went in. Charlie comes out without saying a word and falls into his arms bawling. Its such a terrible sound to come from a girl only 15 years old. Frank rubs her back soothingly - he doesn’t know how to help her.

He lingers over the picture a little longer. No, Charlotte doesn’t look like this now. He wraps the tie around his neck, and heads downstairs. He doesn’t know if he would recognize her if he passed her on the streets

The wallpaper laughs at him mockingly as he makes his way to the kitchen where his father greets him while sitting reading the morning paper. There's another disaster that he’ll assuredly hear about from Garrett when he gets to work.

A brief Image of a very young Charlotte plays in his mind, she’s sitting at the table and quietly eating her peanut butter toast.

I'm so sorry.

---

The mugshot glares at him, from behind the 4 am haze of caffeine and fog.

Baez has brought him another warm cup of coffee as he sifts from mugshot of Abigail Copeland, to witness statements, and security footage. The last sighting of Charlotte Reagan in New-York was at the bus stop on the southside in 2004, the most recent sighting was of a young woman at the court house in Washington 2006.

“Y’know, its the fifth time this month I’ve seen you go over her file.” His partner remarks from behind her own paperwork.

“Mn.”

“Copeland still won’t cough up what she knows about your sister?” she asked.

He doesn’t answer that, just holds up the tape of her confession.

The only reason he hadn’t clocked Baez when she picked up the file from his desk a few months ago, and clearly put together that the girl on the file was family - was that he’d known Baez for twenty years and if he had to put in for another partner, he’d eventually just kill them.

Charlies disappearance had been such a sore spot for the family. There was a silent agreement not to bring her up unless absolutely necessary. The only reason she was brought up anymore was her birthday, or Danny's various arguments with Erin about what it would take to get a subpoena for some desperate gamble on where she might be.

As if they could just accept that she just wasn’t coming back, or if she was just dead in a ditch somewhere. That was their kid sister, you can't just abandon your family like that -

He wastes time going over Copeland’s various victims- girls all around his sister's age, who all hung around in the same circles as Charlie. Desperate, vulnerable young women with various dependencies on drugs, and had no familial support structure.

Charlie had a support structure, she had a family- was she a Copeland girl? Had she been threatend? Promised something? Why had she attempted to see her at the jail?

The day of her sentencing, Charlie had fled. Copeland had taunted him with her name, going so far as to mention what window was connected to her bedroom. There was a connection between the two of them somehow- he was certain of it.

It didn’t help that Abigail Copeland qualified for Parole at the end of the month, the slap in the face to a 10 year sentence for sex trafficking. So even if she’d let him in to talk to her again, he had a limited time to do so-

“It's been ten years.” Baez offered. “If she was dead-”

“ If she was dead, we would at least have a body, or some idea of where she was or what happened to her. An answer.” He grumbled. “ Focus on your own paperwork.”

She gave him a look, which he ignored. “Have you checked the records of shelters in Washington?”

“Most won't give their information out unless I have a court order, and I can’t get a court order on a ten year old cold case under the reason of ‘She might be my younger sister’ because she’d be 18 now, and that's a violation of privacy or whatever.” he said. “ And I’ve already talked to Erin about her case this year.”

He didn’t want to get into another fight with her about it this year.

“Women's shelters?” she said.

He shook his head. “ They, especially, won't give their information out to the police unless we have legitimate reason to believe they have a criminal under their care. Which is another no go as she hasn’t been in the system since before she disappeared.”

“Wouldn’t they have to notify -”

“No, she’s only ever had minor offences for underage drinking-”

He never liked going over this file, too many memories. Charlie and Jamie had been fraternal twins, both the youngest siblings and equally babied by their mother before Charlie disappeared. Was that why things had turned out the way they had? That they hadn’t been tough enough on her?

No, their mother was just as soft on the both of them, and Jamie hadn’t run off.

They certainly hadn’t been close growing up. Not when Danny couldn’t go one second without hearing about another fight she’d gotten into, or in what company she’d been found or -

He could admit he shouldn't have lost his temper with her as often as he did. Everyone lost their temper with her at some point - but he didn’t think there was a quiet moment between the two of them after she turned 12, when she stopped being some snot nosed kid and turned into something else.

He could list a million things about her that just completely rubbed him the wrong way at the time - years later, pouring over her missing persons case all he could see was a hurting kid crying out for help, same as all the other missing kids cases he’d been asked to sort through.

He was a first grade detective for a damn good reason, no one in his department was as dedicated, or had the closure rate that he had. No one had the guts to do what he did when it came to his cases.

He could have done something, this didn’t need to be another cold-case. Was there anything he could have done for her? If he had only pulled his head out of his ass -

There haven't been any updates to the case in the last 7 years.

Sergeant Gormley walks in barking orders about something he can’t hear through the static in his head. It's all hands on deck.

He collects the evidence, and shoves it back into its box.

Another in a long list of failures.
---

Erin had been so excited to have a baby sister.

As the only girl between three boys, she had spoiled Charlie to death. Between the constant pampering, and the defending her from their brothers, and the hours of time spent together -

Hell, she had even begged her mother to let her share a room with Charlie, that they would absolutely totally not be a distraction to each other, and that she would totally sleep through her crying at night.

Though like all children with a new toy- eventually she’d grown tired of her.

All of her whining and crying- Charlie had always been scared of everything as a little kid, and she just had nothing to do with her as a teenager. Maybe that was the problem? Would it have only been worse if she had been more present in her life?

Then she had gone home one weekend from university, expecting the whiny crybaby and was confronted with an angry hormonal mess. All dark clothes, and bitter attitude - which was funny because Charlie had only been fourteen- Too young to be that jaded.

And that's how it had been for a while, she’d come home in the middle of another massive tantrum from Charlie. She’d pick fights with her older sister, and then Erin would head back to uni, or just back home.

Once she’d even tried to talk to her at her mothers insistence, relate to her as the other “wild child”. Charlie had lost her absolute mind at her, and ran away for a day or two, and that was the last time she had ever tried to get her sister to open up to her. Her parents could deal with the little monster all on their own. It had been another issue altogether when Erin was hesitant about letting Nicky around her.

Afterwards it had just been tantrums at family dinners, to tales about what disaster Charlie had managed to get into. Or listening to yet another screaming match between her and Danny, or their mother. Or talking to her father about another potential doctor who could help Charlie - another crackpot for her parents to waste their money on.

It's her birthday this month. She can always tell when the day is approaching because everyone is always a little more on edge. Danny’s once again decided he's finally made a big breakthrough in her case, and he just needs the one thing that she knows no judge in their right mind would ever sign off on. They fight about it, about how she doesn’t care about Charlie, and that if she could do this one thing for him, he’d never ask for anything else-

Or Jamie, who is always a little bit more distant as his birthday approaches. Everyone remembers it as Charlie's birthday, though they try to celebrate it as Jamie's. The twin who's still around. She always tries to get him something, or actually treat him like it's his birthday and not the reminder of a tragedy.

Could she have done something for Charlie? Not then, not in the middle of law school, a failing marriage and raising a child. Now? Maybe. The part of her that still remembers the joy of the new baby fantasizes about finding Charlie homeless on the streets of New York, or sitting in some coffee shop out of town. Bringing her home, getting her the help she couldn’t afford back then, reuniting her family-

Finally making peace with the ghost of that 16 year old sister who she failed so miserably.

Charlie is long past 18 now, long past the point of ever coming home if she's still alive. No one has heard from her since she left. She misses her- misses the little kid, or the missing piece of her Mother's shattered heart.

She takes a long drink out of the now lukewarm coffee she’s been avoiding, it's bitter and sweet. Erin doesn’t like to think about it- the Reagan family’s biggest failure.

She's been sitting in her office for too long, and has court in the next hour - a walk will do her good.

Erin can hear the wind from the open window as she stalks through the court house, steadily worsening the already bad mood she’s already in.

The paper sitting in her hands is blue, and the pencil barely shows up on it. Sprawling cursive reads out, “I love you all.”

---

It's their birthday today.

He's sitting at the playground close to his fathers house, holding a half eaten blue cupcake. Next to him on the bench is a little pink cupcake with an empty birthday candle that's been burnt down to the frosting.

The blue cupcake is cheap and sweet, and truthfully he had finished eating it after the second bite.

He's been out here for an hour. His birthday dinner had ended, his family had all gone home, and now it was just him and the ghost that always followed him in July.

They had always been close, even after she had changed so drastically. Sure, the two of them fought - they had to live together, and Charlie fought with everyone so it was practically inevitable. It was never as bad as everyone had always made it out to be. A lot of their fights that everyone else recalled was really just the two of them getting loud, there was only a handful of real fights between the two of them- ones Jamie worked really hard to keep private- which was mostly just Jamie covering for her more reckless behaviours.

There was always something just on the tip of her tongue that Charlie had been dancing around in all of her fights with others, something she wouldn’t have told even him, and she told him everything.

The 17 year old memory of his sister stands across from them laughing at his stupid cupcakes. She wouldn’t have eaten the thing for its bright pink frosting, even if it hadn’t been sitting on a warm bench for the last hour. She hated all things to do with pink, even when she was younger her favourite colour had been purple. He toasts the half eaten blue cupcake towards the ghost, and she only laughs harder.

"Just you wait Jamie, on our 21st I'll buy the first beers."

“You mean our first beers?”

“Your first beers maybe.”

Getting drunk sounded a lot better than these stupid cupcakes.

Janko had wanted to take him out for his birthday, and had made some smart remark when he mentioned something about family obligations - in truth he really hadn’t wanted to go either. He hated feeling like everyone was treading water around him whenever her name was brought up. One cake instead of two, 3 less family members than there should have been.

Which left him to his stupid cupcake.

He takes a frosting filled bite, and winces at the artificial sweetener. It's what he got for just buying a cheap store bought thing for like, 6 dollars.

The ghost of his twin stands on the roof of the playground, holding a stuffed backpack and about to jump. It's obvious to him what she's about to do, she's just had another blow out with Dad and is going to run off for a few days to cool down. He's made a habit of going with her the last couple of times she's tried to run away. When Jamie's there she'll usually cool off in an hour or two and her pride doesn't keep her away for longer.

It's - unusual to say the least for something like this to happen on today of all days. Their birthday was the one day Charlie was just - Calm.

He wakes up the next morning to find a broken glass against the wall where Danny sits at the table.

He can feel the words "I'll go get my bag" dust his tongue- there's no reason to think tonight is any different; they'll wander around New York for a while, maybe even go as far as the subways before she turns around and he can go back to bed. The ghost in the playground gives him a look he can't read, then in a blink she jumps off the roof.

Leaving him to find the note on her dresser, and for his father to find him asleep in her desk chair the next morning when she still hadn’t come back.

After a week- the longest she’d ever been gone, the news station played footage of Charlie hopping on a bus, disappearing into the night. The interrogations follow him into law school about what he saw when Charlie disappeared. She didn’t tell him anything, so what was there to say?

In the early days of her disappearance, before he left for college he’d wait outside the bus stop for her. Waiting to get on the bus with her to make sure she wasn’t going to do something stupid.

He could’ve grabbed her to stop her from leaving, he could’ve tried to tell his parents instead of just getting his things-

He finishes off the stupid blue cupcake and tosses the wrapper out. He hurls the uneaten cupcake into a tree - it doesn’t make him feel any better.

The window in her room is still open, no one can bring themselves to close it.

---

She had promised herself she’d never set foot in this city again. Though standing on the outskirts of New-York, standing next to a bus stop, and a leaking garbage can - Charlie was beginning to regret every decision she’d ever made when it came to her degree.

She’d lived in Florida since she was 17, and had been steadily working towards a degree as a mortician. Issue was though, at 27 she still hadn’t gotten an internship- something she needed to graduate and to make up for the lack of available jobs in her area (Something that seemed insane to her) they shipped her out to New York.

Luckily- they had agreed to pay for her plane ticket, and set her up with the local hospital for work, which was very generous of them. Unluckily, she had to pay for food and board - Even better, her internship was unpaid. So, at 27 she was knee deep in 6-figure debts, single, essentially homeless, and being set up to work 16 hour days for minimal pay.

She pulls her hoodie up and shoves her hands in her pockets. It's cold out. New York cold is something she's forgotten living in in the south for so long. It's late fall, steadily approaching winter, and the wind bites through the thin hoodie she dragged with her from her apartment in florida. She didn’t think to bring any gloves with her, or a hat - or better shoes

To make a shitty situation worse, she was now standing in the very same city where her family was - the same family she went homeless trying to escape. As she drags her suitcase behind her, prepared to walk the hour it'll take to the subway, and then the OTHER hour it'll talk to get her new apartment in the west side.

To pass the time she muses to herself about what she might do if she runs into one of her siblings, or maybe even her grandfather. It's a big city though, huge even, the only way she's going to run across any member of her family is if she's actively hunting them down.

Pops would be easiest to distract - that or out run, he was probably very old and feeling it. Erin might be a little bit easier to escape as she might accept an - "No I have no idea who Charlotte Reagan is", and then leave.

Danny and Jamie would probably be harder to fight off -

" Nah." She says aloud, making the little old lady walking next to her shoot her a nasty glare. " It's probably best to avoid both at all costs."

She's sitting across the table from Danny as he gloats about the arrest he made that morning. He doesn't know that she was standing outside on the balcony. Her mother demands to know why she wasn't at school that day. Her cup lies shattered against the floor.

Her older brother is still probably detective #1, solving cases faster than most other detectives could get their hands on them. He's bound to be all over the city right now, if not with his kids - then working on some cases. Just like he was before she left. He probably doesn’t even remember the Abigail Copeland case -

Does she have a missing persons case? Have they bothered to look for her all this time?

Time stands still in the courtroom.

A chill cuts through the air stabbing through her cold sweater. Charlie hails a cab- She can't be thinking about this right now.

Chapter Text

She had been in the city all of four days before she ran into her first problem.

Well the first of many problems.

For one, the apartment that looked great on the website was actually crap- to be fair it was a studio apartment in New York, so crap might as well have been a 4 floor mansion.

Two, the new job her college had set up for her paid all of Jack and Shit. If she’d heard right from the old guys gossiping in the break room, she wasn’t due to be paid for the next four weeks. Even if it was a lot of fun talking to her coworkers, Charlie was not looking forward to her finances by the end of the month.

Her internship at the funeral home wasn’t until next week so she didn’t even have that to look forward to - even if it was unpaid for - which didn’t help.

But that was FINE she could deal with that, it was the standard college experience so far - being dead broke, getting even broker with her six figure debts, and starving to death. She could deal! She was dealing.
It could honestly be worse, It's not like she was in the hospital again.

No- her problem came in the form of one Janko the cop.

There was this cafe called The Black Cat, a cute little hole in the wall just a 5 minute walk from her apartment. It was a cute little place, with a very witchy theme she enjoyed but the main feature was this very pretty barista- Who was really the only reason she showed up to the cafe. Charlie really couldn’t afford the 5 dollars for a cup of coffee it took to see the pretty barista, so she didn’t go regularly.

She had been getting coffee that morning after her night shift, because she had things she had to do before she went to bed: Like call her bank to try and find an office close to her, call Her advisor back in Florida to figure out how long she had to do the internship for before she could graduate, stalk her siblings on Facebook -

She may have been a little stressed. Just a little.

Janko was a cop (also very pretty, but she wouldn’t date a police officer on principle) had come in the same morning and noticed her immediately. Which wasn’t too unusual- Charlie looked like a hot mess after a 12 hour shift.

Janko might not have been coming to investigate her for her looks. It was more likely that Janko was interested in her for the knife she was using to cut her earbuds free from the trash she’d haphazardly shoved in her jacket pockets.

Which in hindsight - of course she’d have to come over and talk to her about. This was a public place and the pocket knife she was fiddling with was a weapon- technically. New-York state law said it was a weapon, but really what kind of damage would a two inch blade do to someone?
It was a puny little thing, perfectly legal to carry in New-York city- there was probably a law about using it in public however.

“Hey!”

Charlie nicked herself with the blade, cursed loudly, ready to tell off the idiot who startled her when she had a god damn knife in her hand, and then realized she was being towered over by some cop. Wordlessly, Charlie folded up the knife and held it out to the officer with a “ I suppose you want this?”

“Suppose. How long is blade?” Her shiny name plate flashing in the sunlight, Janko studied the thing for a few minutes, but didn’t take it.

“I have no idea, can’t be more than like - what's the rule 4 inches?” Charlie said. “It’s probably way less than that though.”

Janko takes the knife then studies it. “ Alright, this is fine. Just don’t take that out in public.” she said.

She breathed a sigh of relief, while sucking on the finger she’d cut. “Alright, Cool. Can I have my knife back?” she said.

Janko stared at the little red pocket knife a while, and then a sudden realization dawned on the both of them. A realization in the form of a decades old scratch on the knife - the knife wasn’t originally hers. “ Reagan, huh? ” she said.

“Haha, yeah.” She said fiddling with her phone, preparing to lie on the spot. Janko Gestures to someone right outside the window.

Maybe she’ll give her the good old - I grabbed it from the junk pile in the pawn shop off 25th, y’know the one? With the crotchety old asain guy you can’t understand?

She gave her a little smile, probably genuinely trying to make conversation. “ That’s so cool! My partner's name is Reagan too.” she said. “ Any relation to the commissioner?”

It took her a few seconds to get past the phrase partner. Janko was probably talking about the officer on patrol with her, and not a romantic partner. “No No, My first name is Reagan.” she said through gritted teeth. “Can I have my knife?”

Did… Did Danny get demoted? Pissed off the wrong sergeant and was now stuck training rookies? That would be hilarious. Even if she really didn’t want to run across her oldest brother right now.

Out of all her family to run into after a 12 hour night shift, Danny certainly wasn’t the one she wanted to see. Especially because she wanted to be able to visit this cafe again.

The only other person that could reasonably be was Joe, because Jamie was hopefully some big shot lawyer right now - in court and far away from this little cafe on the corner of nowhere New-York.

Poor Joe, stuck with rookies. She wanted to laugh, but laughing in Janko's face might have been a bigger issue.

The barista calls the name Charlie from the counter.

“ No, I think I’m gonna hang on to this.” Janko says. “How’d you manage to scratch this? It looks pretty deep.”

The knife came from her older brother's basement closet. She had stolen it when she was younger after getting into a argument with him. The knife didn’t seem that important to Joe at the time so really it was fair game. If Joseph Reagan was her partner, she might have to give him his knife back and that would be embarrassing.

The best lies were the ones closest to the truth. “It's my brother's knife, I think I grabbed it from his closet when I was younger.” She said, “ It's important to me, I’d like it back please.”

Janko relinquishes the knife, which she quickly shoves back into her jean pockets. “ You scratched your name onto his knife?” she said.

The Barista Calls the name Charlie from the counter. Janko has certainly noticed that “Charlie” hasn’t gotten up to get her drink by now.

“Well yeah, I was like - 15, maybe?” She smiles though it feels strained even to her. Charlie didn’t have nearly enough energy to deal with this. “ I thought he was gonna kill me when he found out.”

A lie, She had no idea if Joe even knew she had the knife still, and he scratched the name onto it. The thing had been with her since she left New-York, and in all that time no one had bothered to come look for her to get the knife back, so screw what Joe thought about his knife! It was hers now dammit!

The barista notices her talking to Janko - more reasons that she was completely enamored with this absolute angel of a woman, she just got up from behind the counter to bring the drink over to her.

“Here you are Charlie.” She says as she gets closer. “Is there a problem here officer?”

Oh there's was a problem alright- The floor had yet to open up and swallow her whole. She’d lied to a cop, and said cop knew it. She had no real reason to be lying to the cop- really she was only taking extra precautions so her name wasn’t linked to the NYPD.

Perfectly legitimate! Everything was Fine.

“Yeah, there's a problem. Can I see your ID?” Janko says.

The barista places her mug down on the table. “If you're not ordering coffee officer Janko, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” she says with a very lovely smile.

God, she's so beautiful, her little black name plate reads “Laura”, but she isn’t helping Charlie as much as she thinks she is. “It's fine, really”. She pulls her wallet out of her pocket. “ I don’t have a valid state ID card yet, but I’ve got my student ID.”

“That’s fine”, she says.

Really, the ID thing wasn’t an issue. Her Student card read as Charlotte O’Connor - no relation to the police commissioner at all. Unless you had a good understanding of his family, and knew that his wife's maiden name was O’Connor. Janko Doesn’t say anything, still probably confused as to why she was being lied to over something so insignificant detail as her name-

Or more importantly- what she was hiding if she’d go so far as to lie to the police about her name.

And then her second problem of the day walked into the little corner cafe. He stands there all decked out in the proper police uniform, it's not Joe or Danny, but Jamie.

Jamie Reagan the beat cop- Charlie doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Of all the surprises she’d been expecting upon meeting up with her family this was not one of them. This was not at all how she wanted her first week in New-York to go.

She didn’t even want to be in New York! Charlie wanted to be back home in her apartment in Florida over top of Sam’s bar, bar-tending, and flirting with the hot girls who came in. Or back on her college campus drinking at the cafe around the corner.

He’s looking for Janko, and she wants to fall into her seat when he locks eyes with her. “It's fine officer, I don’t mind.” she mutters.

She can never come back here. She's had no were near enough sleep to be dealing with this now. There's no therapist in the world strong enough to cover the reasons why she feels dread settling into her stomach as her twin brother walks over to her.

Jamie stalks over seemingly in disbelief, quietly asking himself if this is really who he thinks this is, and can he risk making a scene here? He's on the job.

Which is entirely fair, she looks very different at 27 than she did at 17. Long brown hair is now a short black pixie cut. She's got various piercings, and few tattoos that no one could see under her jacket.

" Sorry to do this to you, but can I get this in a to go cup?" She says to the barista, still as beautiful as when she noticed her through the window, who walks off with her coffee.

Officer Janko says something to her partner that Charlie can't hear. All Charlie can hear is her name from her brother's lips, it rings out like a gunshot.

She screws her eyes shut, bites her lip, and nods.

Sometimes late at night when she's feeling guilty, she'd imagine what she'd do if she ran into her twin brother again. In rose tinted fantasies, especially when she was younger - their reunion was sappy and pathetic and full of "I'm so sorry" and " I'm so happy you're back." Or when she was feeling particularly brutal Jamie would just beat on her with a baseball bat until her ribs caved in.

She didn’t want to live in a world where Jamie hated her. He had done so much for her as a kid, She could rely on him for everything. Charlie remembers a time not too long ago that they could read each other's minds without a word and now she can't bring herself to look at him, she's not ready to face the consequences of her actions.

"How long have you been in New-York?" He asked slowly.

He’s hurt, he’s hurting - she hadn’t even bothered to call, hadn’t bothered to tell him of all people that she was at least alive-

"Not even a week." she whispers back.

As Jamie starts to say something, the Barista brings her the coffee, Charlie scribbles her Phone number and address on the napkin while saying. " This is where I am, here's my number, contact me when your shift is over, I’m in New-York for the next six months." and then she says a little louder, she's still not really looking at him when she pressed the napkin into his hand. " You're on duty after all, officer, I can't take up too much of your time."

Charlie all but sprints out of the Cafe. Later, She’ll realize that she left her Coffee there

Officer Reagan has enough resolve not to chase after her.

---

It's a fairly quiet day at the precinct when Danny gets the call.

He had just finished working on a case, and should have been sorting through his paperwork. However his shift ended in 30 minutes and he was just counting the seconds until he could leave. He lets the phone ring twice before Baez gives him a look and he picks up the phone with a short “you’ve reached detective Reagan-”

Linda cuts him off “Danny, Hi- your not gonna believe this.” she said.

“Well hello to you.” he says, rubbing at his temples. Though genuinely happy to hear from his wife, it had been a long day and it was starting to get to him.

"Love you too, and your gonna want to hear this." Linda shoots back. " It's about your sister."

" Erin?" He said. " Is she okay?"

" Not Erin. The other one - the little one." Her words hit him like a shot of adrenaline.

" Charlie?" He demands.

"Yes! She's here, Working at the hospital - "

"I'll be there in twenty." He slams the phone back in its holder.

Baez startled from the intensity of it, both of them had been quietly going through paperwork from a previous investigation that was maybe two weeks overdue. "Reagan?"

"Emergency. Leaving early, cover for me?” Danny asks already halfway out the door.

She waves him off, and Danny takes the stairs two at a time while he rushes to his car. There's too many people in the lobby and they are all in the way, all at once.

Abigail Copeland glares at him, specifically at him, as she’s slammed into the wall by someone on the swat team he can no longer remember the face of. She knows what he did.

The traffic feels like fog, and the stoplights feel like he's been choked out. It seems like everyone is desperate to get somewhere today, and he can't take any shortcuts to get to the hospital because it's right in the busiest part of downtown New-York. She's alive- Alive -

Would he recognize her now? After 10 years on the run would she still be the same kid who used to ditch class and hang out in alleyways near the river. Whatever she was - Whoever she was now, Danny was prepared to drag her home kicking and screaming.

“Reagan!” she snarls, screams and thrashing against the other officer. “Reagan you son of a bitch!”

She was all dressed up in a classic little black dress, and a delicate pearl necklace that did not fit her character at all.

“Where's the girl Copeland?”

And even though the words are spoken by a different officer, She grows eerily still and smiles at him. “Which one?”

The words don't feel real. Charlie is alive and in New-York. She's here, so close. Closer than she was during the weeks he and his brothers went down to Washington to look for her. He had driven the other two nuts over the course of two weeks, tearing through every alley and homeless shelter in Washington. He would’ve stayed longer if Joe had gotten fed up with him and practically dragged him home.

It had never made sense to him, how Joe just seemed to accept that Charlie had just left. He had only really come to Washington with them- reportedly to make sure that Danny didn’t do anything stupid-

Its been two months since Copelands incarceration, and 43 days since the footage of Charlie leaving New York -

A truck tries to cut in front of him as he pulls through the intersection on the way to the hospital. He lays on the horn and barely resists the urge to flip the driver off. Traffic is heavy today, he makes a move away from the main roads to an area with less traffic. Normally this road isn’t his preferred shortcut to his wife's place of work, but with how heavy traffic is the back roads will be faster.

He won't let her slip away again.

The cut on his forehead stings, and for a moment his vision is overtaken by red lights, and the fluorescent lights of the family dining room. There's screaming, screaming - grenadegrenadegrenade-

He realizes a second too late that he's run a stop sign in a registered car and forces himself to slow down before he causes some kind of accident. Even worse he might have to hear from Gormley later about how he was being “Unprofessional” or whatever.

If Charlie was alive, maybe then she could tell him what she had to do with Copeland, what happened to her.

If she could stand to look him in the face again.

He parks down the street from the hospital, and storms through the doors. Linda’s already waiting for him at the lobby.

“Where is she? Is she here?” he demanded.

“... she just left.” Linda admitted.

“DAMMIT!”

“What, did you expect me to keep her here until you got here?” Linda demanded.

“YES!” He pauses when she gives him a look “No. I mean- I don’t-”

“I know- I know how this feels, but if you don’t keep your head on, I’m going back to work.” She said, Danny forces himself to breathe, mostly for her sake. “She looks okay for the most part- healthy. I didn’t speak to her, I just noticed her in the hallway.”

“Your sure it was her?” he asked.

“Y’know that tattoo she had, the eight little stars on her arm?” Linda said. “ The tattoo’s certainly had some work on it since she left, but it's still the same tattoo.”

He certainly remembers the absolute fit his mother had thrown upon discovering the stars. They were in a perfect line from her wrist to the crook of her arm, and Charlie had been grounded for two months - (For all the good grounding her had ever done). “Your positive?” he says.

“Yes! - Well, I mean obviously she doesn’t really look the same - like she had a haircut and maybe a couple of piercings, but anyone would remember a tattoo like that,” Linda said. “ I never thought she would get a job in - Well I don’t think anyone ever thought that girl would get a job.”

Charlie certainly wouldn’t have made it in law enforcement, that was something he was certain of. When she was younger, his kid sister's emotions ran on a leaky faucet - She would cry a lot - and there were some days when she just refused to go to school and wouldn’t elaborate why. As she got older the truancy letters would only grow in number, because there was no one to force her to attend.

No college would take a student when their grades were all in the Zeroes, let alone what a future employer when you couldn’t even be bothered to show up to class. “ What's she doing here?” he asked.

It took her a second to come up with an answer for that. “She was moving a body to the morgue at Saint Joe’s, but that could really mean anything.”

“Yeah that - that sounds more like Charlie.” he muttered, gripping his temple. The detective part of his brain suggested that maybe Charlie was moving the body for someone, maybe Copeland had some dirt on her and was forcing her into dealing with corpses. The more logical part of his brain punched it into submission, until it agreed that Charlie wouldn’t do that.

She's here, In New-York, and she’s been in New York long enough to find a job. Which means she should have enough money for an apartment. And she hasn’t come home yet? He begins making the mental preparations in his head to begin telling his family that she's back. His father will need to know - He needs to think about how to break the news to Jamie.

He's not going to break the news to Jamie, Danny will just let his father do it.

He holds the letter loosely in his hands. “I appreciate how your sister tried to visit me in the prison. She was always so good to me.”

Abigail Copeland would stop taking visitors the next day, and he was unable to gather enough evidence for a judge to force her to talk to him. The day after that Danny is sitting in the E.R getting stitches for the knuckles he split open on the sand bags at the gym.

Chapter Text

The silence is clear on the other end of the line. “... I can’t believe your back,” he says.

“I know.” she said.

Jamie had called sometime mid afternoon, thankfully on her day off.

Currently it was sometime after dark- The clock on her stove was broken so she wasn’t sure what time it was at the moment.

Before answering the phone Charlie had made sure she was mentally prepared to deal with her brother. After all, it had been ten years since they’d last spoken, and she’d had plenty of time to think of all the ways this could go wrong.

Especially with how she left him.

Currently she was sitting on her bed draped in several blankets and had a large tub of ice cream stocked into her fridge.

“So, Florida huh?” he said. “You really choose the farthest place you could think of.”

That stung a little bit, she probably deserved it. “ I kind of just travelled until the bus pass ran out.” She said, “ At the time I kind of just- I was a little numb.”

He doesn’t say anything to that, she winces into the phone. “ Frankly the only good thing about Florida is the water. I Thought I’d be fine without the snow when I left, but I always used to get really sad when december would roll around -”

“Why did you come back?” he says suddenly.

“I’ve been taking mortuary science courses for the last 5 years, Its been taking longer for - reasons.” She said. “Most of it was because I couldn’t get an internship in my town. So my college shipped me back to New-york.”

“Thats it?”

She doesn’t know what to say here, a little worried shes being led into a trap. “Your a cop now?”

“Your avoiding the question.” he said.

“You haven’t asked me anything. Weren’t you supposed to be a lawyer?” she repeated.

“Yes, I’m a cop now. Is the internship the only reason you came back?” he said.

“Following the family business.” She said, smiling. “Dad must be proud of you.”

“Answer the question!” he snapped. “ Is that the only reason your here?”

“Does it need to be?” she asked quietly.

“What?”

“Does my Internship need to be the only reason I am in New-york?” she repeated.

This had been a game between the two of them, where Charlie would dance around what was on the tip of her tongue. Something that was usually unintentional. Though Jamie had always been really good at knowing what she was thinking, it was most certainly a twins thing.

“... just admit you never planned to come back.” he sighed.

“Thats not true.” she said quickly. “ I wanted to Jamie, I just - I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” he said quickly.

“That's not fair.” she snapped.

“You left Charlie you don’t get to tell me what isn’t fair.”

She sighs into the phone and rubs her temples. There were so many reasons why she left, so many things she could tell him. But she can’t, not yet, there are too many unknowns right now.

“Its- it was really complicated alright? I still don’t really know how to talk about it because most of it was just teenage angst but -”

Jamie’s voice is crisp and clear through the screen. It may have been ten years since she last saw him, but she could still remember the exact way his voice sounded when he was angry. “I spent, Years defending all the stupid crap you did to our parents, and trying to keep you and Danny from murdering each other. You owe me.” he said.

What he wanted was the truth.

Something she didn’t even know anymore.

One of the many reasons she'd left home was how bad things had gotten with her family. Most of it was the fear or the hole she had dug for herself when she was only seventeen. She had completely believed at the time that her family would never accept her for who she is, and that they wouldn’t be able to help her.

She doesn’t know how true that is anymore. Charlie doesn’t know how much of the truth they need to know.

" We make a deal." She says. " I'll tell you something, one thing about why I left."

" Is that supposed to make me feel better?" He sounds tired over the phone. She can feel the knife in her gut twist.

"Just for now, until I can figure out the rest." She said, " but not over the phone."

He takes a moment to consider. " That's… something. Fine. Send me your address."

" Thank you." She says.

They both hang up.

There was never a need for goodbyes between them.

She puts the phone down next to her on the bed after sending Jamie the address, and shoves her face into her pillow to muffle her screams. She screams until the neighbours knock on the walls to remind her she is not alone here. She responds by slamming on the wall with her fist, once angrily. They didn't react well last time after she put her fist through the wall.

Charlie slumps onto the floor of her tiny bedroom.

It doesn't make her feel better, and she lets herself succumb to the spiral for a little while. The swarm of old memories and violent fantasies claw at her heart, and she has to resist the urge to sink her nails into her arms.

While laying on the floor her phone cheerfully beeps at her. Jamie will be here in ten minutes.

She wants the building to collapse on her.

She resolves to call her former place of work instead.

The phone doesn’t even ring once as Adam picks up.

“Charlie! Baby how’ve you been!” He says through the phone.

“Adam!” She cheers.“ Hey, Man I’m alright, had four fucking days you will not believe.”

“Oop, Girl, cheers.” He says. “Listen listen, Busy busy day at the bar-”

Adam began to go on about some random newcomer to the bar who hadn’t yet heard the rule about not pissing off Cherise. Then regaled her with the thrilling tale about how the new chef the owner had picked up off the streets had burned some ones chicken to make a point-

She needed it, she wasn’t sure how much he knew that she needed it. Though Adam could always just sense when she was off.

Adam was her Coworker, but she’d joked several times that they were married, and she’d split custody of him with his boyfriend. It was the kind of comradery that would only come from dealing with homophobic customers who’d made their way into the dag bar.

“So, how’s New-york?” he asks, and then there's a brief scuffle on the other end of the phone.

“It's been- Adam - Adam don’t tell me you picked up in the middle of serving a customer?” she asks, fighting off a snicker.

Which was just like Adam. He was - in the most loving way possible, a total ditz, but he was her ditz.

There's a louder scuffle, and a full giggle breaks through. Charlie can hear Cherise making a grab for the phone. “The dish boy stole my phone last week- Go away Cheri-” The Phone is ripped away from Adam’s hands.

Cheri answers with “Hey Kiddo!”

“Hey Cheri.” she says. “And before you ask, No I haven’t started the internship yet. It's not until next week.”

She can hear Cheri smiling through the phone. “Too hasty for a little chit chat dove?”

“I’m a little off right now, I'm not gonna lie.” There's more scuffling, Adam is making half hearted protests in the back. “Cheri didn’t I promise you this morning I would call you after talking to my brother?.”

“And you did say. How did the call go?” she says. There's a muffled insult in what she can assume to be Adams' general direction that she can’t quite make out.

“It … went about as well as expected.” she says quietly. “He certainly isn’t happy.”

“And?” she presses.

“ I’m gonna tell him. He was hurt and I didn’t want it to snap at him over the phone.” she can feel her eyes burn, and it takes a round or two of breathing to keep herself from bursting into tears. “So I gave him my address, and he’s coming over in, maybe less than ten minutes.”

“Charlie.” Cheri says. “You’ll be fine.”

She rises to her feet to begin pacing across her one room apartment, it takes maybe all of six steps back and forth. “I know, I Know I Doc, it's just-” She starts and Cheri cuts her off with a click of her tongue.

“What did I tell you?” She interrupts.

Charlie rests her head against the door of her apartment, willing her brother away. Even though this reunion was a long time coming, and it was high time she faced the consequences of her actions.

“The part about my chronic state of bad bitchiness, or my terrible taste in women?” she says far too lightly, hoping to avoid the answer she knew was coming.

“That part where your overthinking this.” she chides. “Haven’t we talked about how you didn’t know the full picture, and neither did they?”

The state had Cherise down as Geoffrey. Geoffrey Trudeau - Craig.

But it wasn’t Geoffrey who showed up to work in her little black dress, high heels that made Charlie's feet hurt, and the outrageous faux fur coat. As a doctor at one of the top psych wards in her small town in florida, it wasn’t part of the dress code, so she was fine to ditch the heels for some sensible loafers and reapply the name of Geoffrey if she needed it.

As Cherise la criox the star of Sam’s, Geoffery shone brighter than any star in the evening sky. Cheri was probably the only reason why Charlie hadn’t thrown herself over the bridge after getting released from the hospital.

She frowned into the phone. “Cheri-” she started.

“Listen, Listen, I know what your gonna say, and I just wanna say - your wrong. This’ll go fine.” She said, “I know you’ll do great, and Your gonna call me as soon as he leaves, right?’

“I know, I will.” There's a knock on the door, and Charlie feels the brief urge to throw herself out the window. “Alright, I’m gonna let you go, you enjoy your shift Cheri.”

“See you kiddo!” she says cheerily, and drops the call before Charlie has a chance to hang up.

There's another knock at the door, a little louder this time. She still isn’t really ready to do this. “I’m coming!”

When she opens the door, Jamie Immediately breezes past her, shoves the door closed. “What are you?-” she demanded.

Jamie quickly cut her off. “Danny followed me up. I had no idea he was even here, and he didn’t find your address from me.”

Her heart sank into her chest, and she could feel it screaming within her ribcage . “You- Dannys?”

“I can tell him to leave,” he offered.

Charlie had always had a tumultuous relationship with Danny. When she was really young, in that age where she could only communicate numbers by hand, and Danny was old enough to know better- He used to play a lot of pranks on her.

To be fair, she understood much later after a lot of long talks with Cheri, that Danny probably hadn’t meant anything by it- he was a kid. She also had to reassure Charlie that her older brother was a Dick, and she was right to feel angry about it after Charlie had offhandedly mentioned the fate of many barbies.

She was an emotional kid, who cried a lot. It made sense to her now why she got picked on. As an adult, she could also totally understand why stressed out, angsty teenager Charlie got on Danny’s nerve’s as well. Hell she would’ve gotten on her own nerves, and Charlie would kill to go back and tell her 15 year old self- She would go back and tell herself a lot of things.

She started laughing, though she really didn't know why. There wasn't anything particularly funny about the brother she had the least functional relationship with being at her door.

Tomorrow Charlie would blame it on the sleep deprivation, but for now, she opened her fridge from her seat on the floor and grabbed 3 cans of beer.

“Tell him -” she cut herself off to giggle like a mad woman. “ Tell Danny to leave?!”

Jamie tried to voice his protest as she opened the door to her elder brother. Poor Jamie, trying to be helpful as Charlie continued her mad giggling into the door.

Danny stood in the door frame about to knock, the pressure in the room felt like an oncoming storm. He looked a little bit startled, which she was counting on. Before he could say anything Charlie shoved a can of beer in his hand. " Hey Danny, Welcome, take a seat." She said, Charlie turned around before he had a chance to say anything, leaving him to close the door.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded, stalking through her tiny little apartment.

“Florida, good to see you too.” she said, handing Jamie the other beer from her fridge, which he took quietly. “Why the hell are you here?”

“Tracking down your dumbass.” he turned his attention to Jamie. “Did you know about this?”

“No. He didn’t.” She snapped at Danny. “He was invited, unlike you.”

“Invited?” he wheeled back around on Jamie. “You knew she was back and didn’t say anything?”

“If he’d said anything. Neither of you would be in my apartment right now.” Charlie shot back. “Now sit down and drink your damn beer.”

Jamie was still strangely quiet, seated on the edge of her bed. Charlie took her seat on the counter sipping her beer, and Danny took to glowering at her from the corner of her apartment like an angry cat.

Charlie broke the silence first. “ So, We’ll catch you up first-” She points at Danny.

“Nine years, eleven months, and 25 days.” Danny cut her off. “We’ve looked everywhere, Where were you?”

“Florida, Masters Degree, Back for an internship.” she sighed. “ I already said that. You looked for me?”

“Of course we looked for you.” Jamie said.

“ No. I mean- You looked for me?” she said pointing to Danny.

There was an awkward silence that just set throughout the room. “Of course I looked for you! Your family! You don’t give up on your family like that.” Danny said angrily.

“Oh you mean like I did?” she snarled back, and then slapped a hand over her mouth.

The swirling pit of anxiety in her chest spiked at least two or three levels. She promptly put the beer down, Not quite at the level of embarrassment to empty it down the drain. Maybe the alcohol was a bad idea. “I didn’t- I’m sorry.”

Jamie finally cut in, to which she was only slightly grateful. " What happened?”

“I didn’t give up on you.” She repeated. Jamie and Danny gave her mutual looks, and she quickly moved on. “What happened, what happened- How did that day go?”

More looks. “It was ten years ago- What happened that morning?” She said,

Both of her brothers continued to give her twin looks of exasperation and confusion. She quickly hurried to fill the silence. “ Look, Look, I Got one side of what happened, you- and I mean specifically you Jamie, Danny you weren’t around much - have you side of what happened that morning. I’ll fill in whatever gaps you have.”

“For that day?” Jamie asked.

“ and I wouldn’t have a different version of the morning?” Danny asked unprompted.

“I said one thing, this seems like as good a starting point as any.” Charlie said, taking another sip of her beer while fiddling with the rim of the can “ and I don’t think you know much beyond - uh -”

“What happened that night- Yeah. Thanks for that by the way, Linda is still traumatized.” Danny deadpanned, finally opening his beer.

“Oh your still together?” she asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Married, Two boys. Sean, and Jack.” He said. “When you start coming to family dinners again you’ll have a chance to meet them.”

“If I’m ever allowed back at the family dinners” She thought bitterly, taking another small sip out of her can.

Linda was the one girlfriend Danny had who had always been nice to her. One of the many things Charlie regretted that night was putting Linda in the crossfire of her temper, She certainly didn’t deserve to see her future husband -

Charlie quickly pushed the thought away, she could apologize to Danny for that later. “Cool, Cool, Cool- anyhow, to the best of my knowledge - Jamie and I walked to school that morning, parted ways at the door.” she started.

Jamie quick as ever caught on and continued. “ I Think I saw you again briefly at lunch? And then I didn’t see you until after school. Waited half an hour, Went home, Birthday - “

“ I was there until lunch.” She agreed. “ I Ditched afterwards, and met up with someone at the water, and then I met with ah-”

Danny cut her off again with a strange expression. “ Actually y’know what? I think I do know something about that morning.” he said.

Jamie, also had a very strange look on his face- almost like he knew what Danny was gonna say. “Danny.” he warned.

“I do remember being told about you meeting up with someone.” Danny said, holding his hands up in surrender. The patron saint of innocence he was.

“Not anyone criminal if that's what your assuming.” she said dryly.

“Can you blame me?” Danny said .

“Only a little.” Charlie said who'd stop drinking her beer. “ Is that what you think I did when I skipped school?”

“You should’ve heard the stories Jamie came home with sometimes.” he muttered.

She snickered into her beer can. “ Oh yeah. I remember that.” she said grinning.

“Oh so you were fucking with me?” Jamie asked

“Oh I was absolutely fucking with you. The way you used to look at Gracie Thomas- it was hilarious.” She said, “ I was mostly just ditching class and smoking.”

“Gracie… Gracie- We went to school with a Gracie?” Jamie said.

“She wasn’t Grace back then but that's a different Story.” she said. “ More details. I met up with Matt, and then I went down by the water.”

“Alright. You weren’t home until dinner that night. I think- Yeah you got home when Danny got in.” Jamie said.

“Who did you meet up with after the water?” Danny asks.

Charlie laughs to herself bitterly. “Y’know- you were right about criminal activity.” She finds herself saying. “ Yeah, I did meet up with someone I shouldn’t have.”

“And then you came home, I remember you were off.” Jamie said. “ Quieter than usual.”

“You threw a glass at me.” Danny said dryly. “And then you disappeared.”

“You left a note on the window. I don’t remember you throwing the glass at his head. I think I went to the garage before supper briefly to … Well that's where Pops usually kept the presents.” Jamie said.

“Knew it.” Danny said.

“Yeah well, Guess who showed me where the presents were.” Jamie retorted.

“Way before that.” she corrected. “That person I met up with- No, not met up with I went to see her - I didn’t get in though. She refused to see me. Then I went home, You started talking about- the … trafficker you put away. Her charges went through that afternoon.”

“This part I don’t remember.” Jamie admitted. “Who was she?”

“It happened really fast. Right after we sat down, grace didn’t even start.” She said.

‘Back up a little.” Danny said quickly. “ Who were you trying to see?”

And here was the part she was dreading. She opens her mouth a couple times attempting to say something but the words just feel like lead in her mouth. She can hear static in the back of her head, and knows that she’s in trouble.

Okay, alright that's fine, she’ll give little bits and pieces of the truth. Admitting out loud that she messed up was hard, admitting that she’d gotten far too involved with the woman who’d ruined her life was even more difficult. But - she owed them.

No, no. I owe Jamie. I don’t even know why Danny cares. She thought to herself.

“ I ah- um, I already told you. A friend.” She said, touching her mouth with the lip of her beer. “Someone who I thought was a friend.”

“Okay.” Danny said. “ I’ve had about enough of this.”

“What?”

“Danny.” Jamie said warningly.

He wheeled around on Jamie. “ Oh no, you don’t get to talk. How long did you know she here?” Danny demanded.

Charlie realizes belatedly that she should have told him to leave, for all the good it would have done. Danny didn’t listen to anyone he didn’t want to.

“He didn’t even know anything, leave him alone!” She raised her voice instantly. “Why do you even care?”

“I ran across her while I was on shift.” Jamie said.

“Good, good, so at least someone here hasn’t been lying.” Danny said

She can feel her pulse start to race through her veins, the very familiar urge to clock her older brother rise very quickly to the surface. She fought it down, almost like she was swallowing bile. Charlie could not loose herself now.

“ I didn’t lie-”

“Who were you trying to meet?” Danny demanded.

“She doesn’t have to tell us anything.” Jamie shot back.

“No, no. I don’t have to tell you anything.” Charlie said. “You weren’t invited here.”

“You threw a a wine glass at my head- and then fucking LEFT FOR TEN YEARS-” Danny snapped. “ Did You ever stop to think about what that was like for everyone? How could you be so selfish!?”

She’s clenching and unclenching her fist’s, and has to force down her anger. Danny looks livid, and she can’t blame him. This is a long time coming, and truthfully Danny’s got every right to be angry at her, she repeats the phrase over and over in her head hoping she’ll feel like it's true.

But Charlie can’t bring herself to say her name, it sits behind the block in her throat. “... it wasn’t- selfish.” she forces out. “ It was- better that I left.”

“Better? Better- she says.” Danny Yells. “Christ- Do you even know what you did to everyone? Leaving like that? So y’know what your gonna tell me?-”

“I Don’t have to tell you anything-”

“Danny back off-”

She wants to hit him, She wants to hit herself-

Her hands would fit so nicely around his neck, and the only reminder that she isn’t currently choking out her older brother is when her fingernails cut into her palm.

For a second the spiral grows impossible loud.

“Who is Abigail Copeland to you?” Danny says.

Crack

“I - What?” Her voice is caught around the lump in her throat, and she sounds impossibly small.

“Abigail Copeland?” Danny demands. “The most sick, Vile Sex female trafficker I have ever had the displeasure of putting behind bars? We put her away in 2004- I put her away in 2004, and you. Ran. Away, and I haven’t seen you - None of us, your family. Has seen you in ten years. So you wanna know what I think?”

“... How do you know that name? Why do you- I didn’t -” Her lungs feel like there slowly filling with cement.

Danny feels, Impossibly tall- overwhelming to her, and hes in between her and the door. “You wanna know what I think? I think your involved somehow - I think you made a friend, and you got in too deep- and you ran away because you couldn’t take the shame.”

Her arms are caged around her, and her finger nails are digging into her arms. She looks to Jamie quickly to try and help her but he’s just silent. “I - Don-”

“I Don’t What? You didn’t help her lure those girls into the arms of monsters? WHY THE HELL ARE TALKING TO SOMEONE LIKE THAT?”

“GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!” She doesn’t realize her hands are on him until he’s shoved up against the walls of her apartment.

“Charlie!-”

“Get off me!”

“GET OUT!” She’s still screaming at him, as shes pulled off of her oldest brother by her twin.

“Charlie just listen!-”

“No! No! I’m not gonna sit here and listen to you accuse me of luring victims to that fucking MONSTER!” Shes feeling slightly hysterical, and she cant get either of them to leave. Charlie shakes Jamie off until both of her brothers are in line to her door. “You don’t know ANYTHING! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY APARTMENT! Both of you LEAVE, JUST LEAVE.”

“Answer-”

“GET OUT!”

“Danny lets just go.” Jamie said quietly.

“What?” Danny demands.

“We’re leaving. Sorry to bother you Charlie.” Jamie grabs Danny by the back of the jacket, and forces him out the door.
As soon as the lock clicks, Charlie falls to the ground and Pulls her knees to her just, Forcing out a few sobs, and trying to keep her nails away from her skin. A loud BANG! Comes from the door of her apartment, Which makes her jump and forces another sob from her. Muffled arguing, something she knows is arguing but can’t make out through the static.

Deep breathes, Deep Breathes, Deep breathes

So much for reunions.

Chapter Text

Erin had actually started off having a perfect day. The sun was bright for a day, under 32 degrees, and there was no expected cold chill as she walked to work after a mild November storm. She hadn't had to coral Nicky out the door that morning, and traffic had even been reasonable.

"So… She's Alive," Erin said, staring into her coffee.

"Yes."

"And in New York," she said.

Danny and Jamie had stormed into her office maybe half an hour after she sat down. Jamie was in plain clothes, and Danny was in his usual attire for a workday.

"Okay." she sighed and folded her hands over her desk. "Does Dad know?"

"No," Danny says. "But he is the police commissioner, so honestly, who knows."

"I haven't said anything," Jamie said. "But honestly, he'd take it better coming from you."

'He'd take it better coming from Charlie.' but Erin doesn't say that.

Erin could be doing paperwork or sorting out files for a case; instead, she's doing this.

Jamie had found her alive at a coffee shop; Janko had ID'ed her as Charlotte O'Connor. (using their mother's maiden name was very clever; they'd searched under Charlotte Reagan for years.) Linda had seen her working for the ME's office moving bodies. The woman running the coffee shop they'd found was of no help. She refused to talk to Jamie without a warrant or justifiable cause.

She'd lived in Florida since 2004 and enrolled in a mortuary science program at Saint Petersburg College for the last 5 years. Charlie hadn't graduated yet but had started working as an intern at Greyrock Funeral Parlour.
Legally, She didn't want to know what Danny did to get all of this information- But everyone had been so desperate to figure out what happened to her that she knew better than to imply that he had done something wrong.

Well, it's about time for this yearly conversation; this isn't the twist she expected.

"Okay, I understand why you are here." She says, pointing at Danny, "Why are you here?" She says, pointing at a very tired-looking Jamie.

The line for coffee this morning was short, and she had gotten out of the house early enough that she could afford to get decent coffee. Which was now sitting cold at maybe a third of the way empty on her desk; she glared at it- this was an all too familiar scenario.

Jamie shrugged, staring at her with the eyes of someone up for several hours. She knows those eyes. She'd been those eyes. "Danny said it would be better if we told you together." He said.
As per usual, Jamie was stuck playing peacemaker.

"Alright, Jamie found her, you-" she pointed at Danny. "Walked in after Jamie when he met up with her, and she kicked you out because?"

"Abigail Copeland." Danny snorted.

"May have played that card too soon," Jamie said dryly.

"The leading theory I have is that she'd been a victim of Copelands Gorilla tactics, and when I suggested that she may have done something to her to keep Charlie away from us -"
Abigail Copeland, That name had been tied to Charlie for ten years. Danny had arrested her, and Erin had sent her to Rikers.

And she had been out on parole for the last 2 months.

After their grandmother died, Erin had inherited her jewellery. Inside sat an ancient stone necklace that she called her prized possession, and frankly, Erin thought the thing was hideous. A big Green rock carved to look like an upside-down heart. She'd been happy to give the stupid thing away to Charlie when she asked about it.

Charlie had always been closer to their grandmother anyway, so it didn't make much of a difference to her.

"I can only imagine how that conversation would have gone." She sighs and folds her hands over her desk. "Alright. Thank you for letting me know. "

"That's it?!" Danny demanded.

"What else do you want me to say?!" she shot back.

"I don't know - Something better than 'Thanks for letting me know.'" he snapped.

"You barge into my office -" she started.

Her office door squeaked, and the both of them looked towards the sound to find Jamie attempting to silently slip out the door. "Where the hell are you going?" Danny demanded.

"I've told Erin that Charlie is back in New York, and I'm under 5 hours of sleep." Jamie deadpans. "Bye."

And he leaves without another word.

Danny turns to continue their argument, and Erin glares at him menacingly.

The fight is nothing unusual. Erin has had this exact fight with Danny since Charlie disappeared. By the time Danny got fed up enough with her to leave, Anthony had walked in with another cup of coffee for her. She takes it gratefully, "I could kiss you." she says. "Thank you so much."

"You kidding me? Both of your brothers on the same day- much less at the same time?" He asks. "What was it this time? Did some idiot at the precinct put them in the same case?"

She's known Anthony for a long time. "The same thing our usual yearly fight is about." she shrugs.

"Your sister?" He guesses.

"Unfortunately." she sighs and takes a sip of her coffee. "Speaking of, I need you to do me a favour."

"I'm not following her." He said

"Not illegally following her." She corrected him. "Detective Reagan has just informed me about a lead on her missing persons case. Which warrants investigation."

"Of course." He grumbles. "Y'know, you could just ask Danny or Jamie for her number, right?"
She pointedly doesn't respond; if Charlie wanted to talk to Erin- wanted to talk to her family, she would have to seek them out herself. Erin busies herself by writing down some of the addresses that Danny told her. "Here's her current address. She's going by Charlotte O'Connor. Just confirm that she is alive, then come back. She's so currently working at Greyrock Funeral parlour, and she's also working for the city - easy as pie." She hands Anthony the slip of paper.

"I think we need to have that conversation again about how I don't work for you," he grumbles but leaves her office anyway.

She waits until she's certain Anthony is out of earshot, places her head down, and grumbles loudly into her desk.

Of course, of course, Danny had to ruin it for everyone. They were so close to finally figuring out why she left and what happened to her. And Danny -

She takes a drink of the coffee Anthony brought her; it's not great and extremely strong. Erin pulls her current case out of her desk, begins to review it, and then pauses.

She took a long, slow breath to try and calm herself before quietly dialling her father's office number.

She was the only one home at the time when it happened. Maybe a week after her grandmother's funeral.

Their father was out, and she had been tasked with watching Charlie after she had come home in a fury after school and locked herself in the bathroom. Wisely, Her father had asked Erin to stay and watch her until he returned. He was right to do so because not five minutes later, there was a series of crashes from the bathroom upstairs.

She first gets through the front desk and then has to get through Detective Baker. Her father picks up, and- she can't say anything about it at first. The words are stuck in her throat, so she dances around it, and they talk about nothing in particular-

When she finally managed to break into the bathroom, Funnily enough, she didn't register Charlie standing in the centre of the room.

When she works around the block in the centre of her throat, Erin finally manages to get out everything she knows, or that Danny and Jamie had told her about Charlie in the last couple of days. When she finally forces it all out, Her father is quiet. "... Well, that's. Something." He says after a while. "and you're sure it was her?"

"I asked Anthony to confirm it. He'll be back sometime soon." She said, "But since Danny and Jamie have seen her- I don't know what to think."

"And you haven't heard anything from her directly?" He asked.

"We were never close, Dad; I wouldn't expect her to call me," Erin said mildly. "I Don't even think she had my number."

"You call me the second she reaches out to you." He said. "After all this time -

The bathroom had been carefully constructed by her mother. It had this pretentious blue beachy theme that she couldn't stand at 26, with pretty fake seashells in jars and seashell walls. And her mother's favourite piece in the bathroom was this pleasant blue shower curtain.

Which was now in tatters all over the floor. Those jars of pretty blue seashells lay smashed on the ground, along with everything in the medicine cabinet. The toilet tank was shattered in the bathtub, and the mirror and window were cracked. Erin could see her fractured reflection staring up at her from the floor.

Charlie stood in the middle of the room, looking like a wild animal. She was staring at her hands, which were covered in blood, and when she looked at Erin, there was blood dripping down her face. She had never been afraid of Charlie before, and she never hoped to be again.

"I promise; I intended to tell you in person, but Danny and Jamie just left, and I figured you'd take it better coming from me than one of them." She says. The little kid deep inside her is holding her arms out to her father and begging him to pick her up and make it okay.

"I understand, and we'll talk about this on Sunday," he says. It's Wednesday, and she wants to break her phone. "I'll let Pop know. Try to keep the best of the carnage everyone knows ahead of time; we'll figure this out together."

As she sat in the emergency room, waiting for her father and covered in blood, The doctor had rattled off Several broken ribs, lacerations to the forehead and forearms, and a few other injuries that Erin was sure she hadn't gotten in the bathroom. When she checked in on Charlie, She found her staring at the wall and crying about the damn necklace. How sorry she was that she "Lost it" and would try to find it, she promised.

All that carnage over a necklace.

"I hope so." is all she can manage before hanging up.

Chapter Text

"Welcome to Greyrock Funeral Parlour!" sang the cheery old video from her laptop. "Need a place to memorialize and celebrate your loved ones? The staff at Greyrock will support and comfort you during this journey of grief and do our best to make these troubling times easier for you and your family."

The training videos were shockingly basic, with the expectation that they were a mix of old seventies-style tapes and modern presentations that walked her through all of the chemicals she would be using, where the fire escapes were, and how they were to be used - not that she hadn't spent 50'000 dollars on what chemicals she was going to be using with dead bodies, or that she was utterly lacking in common sense.

The training tapes, however, failed to mention that Greyrock was partnered with St. Jeanne Jugan, a top-rated care facility for the elderly. She stands in front of the apartment doors for what is clearly not just a place for dead bodies- Charlie has to force herself through Doctor Craig's seven stages of wanting to escape and not debate the logistics of throwing herself into traffic - over what she has to reassure herself is a minor inconvenience.
She takes a deep breath - "Charlie, if you just breathe through your mouth anyway, you're not going to centre yourself." - and walks through the doors.

All things considered, the St. Jeanne Jugan retirement community was a fairly nice building, a large plot of land dedicated to preserving centuries of beautifully constructed French architecture - Her inner wannabe goth kid steadily losing her shit at the beautiful and intricate windows of long stained glass, stunning winding spires that decorated the towers of the funeral home. Beautiful rose gardens that sat on acres of property.

Only for all that joy steadily slipped away as soon as she walked in the door and was greeted with stale post-century modern interiors and elderly people milling about. Charlie holds in a sigh of contempt as she walks over to the female receptionist at the desk, who greets her with a deadpan spiel and a light midwestern accent. "Welcomes to Saint Jee-anne Jugan's retirement communities; what is the purpose of your visit today, darlin'?" she says.

"I uh- My Name is Charlotte O'Connor? I'm supposed to meet with Mr. Lewis-Sterling at twelve o'clock about my internship?" she said.

"Oh, Dearie me!" Squeaks the receptionist, who perks up immediately, fast enough that it throws Charlie for a loop for a second. She's not an old woman, maybe in her early 50s with fading red hair. "Oh, you're at the wrong entrance for that, sweetheart! Come, come, I'll take you through our little shortcut- I'm SURE Mr.Lewis is expecting you."

She hops out from behind the desk and is MUCH shorter than Charlie was expecting but moves at the speed of an Olympian as she dodges elderly people while leading Charlie through the halls. "Oh, don't you worry, sugar, we'll get you there lickety-split - oh, everything has been just a mess since they combined the parlour with the home. I do not know WHAT Misters Sterling and Mendez were thinking-"

The receptionist's "little" shortcut is not little, and after maybe the 5th hallway, the receptionist ducks into as she leads Charlie around and through the winding, poorly decorated halls - Charlie finally looks up. She's just gone.

She sighs into the empty hallway and grumbles into her hands. Her introduction to the company takes place in less than half an hour, and she's lost in an old age home. Charlie turns around and attempts to backtrack, only to discover that the hallways branch off in several directions.
While wandering, she starts cursing everything in existence and then trying some more of Doc Craig's breathwork techniques before giving up and going back into her furious tirade against New-york, her college, the stupid, pretty retirement home, Her landlord, her boss - and then she bumps into a wall.

That - Really Hurt.

"Ow." She says to no one in the hallway.

"Well, I should think so." says the voice in the hallway. "Though I'm surprised the thought managed to get that far if you're stupid enough to walk into a wall of all things."

She flinches in surprise and wheels around to confront the asshole who said that -
Her grandfather looks at her, smiling. He's older than she remembers and walking with a cane now- but it's still Pop.

She stares at him for a second, confused, with a slight headache,
and he says. "Did you knock your brain loose? - Youth these days, No manners." Her brain takes a second to auto-restart before coming up with a response.

"Ain't no way to talk to a stranger, Old man." She says slowly, blinking rapidly to try and pass the pain, and failing. "Stupid Wall."

"This part of the building is restricted, you know that, right? It's for residents and staff - not trespassers here to take aesthetic pictures." Pop says sarcastically, motioning for her to lean down a little. He's shorter than she is now. Charlie doesn't know how she feels about that either.

He takes her head gently in her hands and pokes at the area she bumped, which causes her to wince. "Suppose your right at home then, Old Fart? I see dementia has finally kicked in. Also, ow." She said,

He ruffled her hair affectionately, apparently satisfied with the state of her bruised ego and let her go. "For your information- Not that you need to know since security is already on its way- I am volunteering. You know, A real job? Now that you kids know anything about working these days."

She winces at that as well. Personally, she'd heard that phrase far too often growing up before firing back with. "And for your information, Old man, I was trying to find the funeral parlour, for y'know, my real job?" she says. "And thank god, security is on its way. I can let them know that one of their residents is lost and confused- you know volunteers aren't paid, right?"

"Eh, forget about it, I'll just take you there personally. Have Reggie kick you out himself," he says. "Come on then, Charlotte."

Pop Starts off down the hallway, and Charlie slowly follows after him. "... Broke character too soon, Pop," she says quietly.

He turned back around faster than she was expecting and wrapped her in a hug. "Welcome Home, Kid," he says, smiling, and then lets her go. "Now come on, You've got a thing to do, and these halls were made to confuse! Hurry up; we can catch up when you come to dinner on Sunday."

She laughs and follows him dutifully. The thought of Sunday dinner nestles in her mind, and she has to work to push it down. "You're working at Greyrock?" he asks after a few minutes of silent walking.

"Uh- Yeah, well, not really work; it's an internship," she says. "Not paid or nothing."

"Work is work, Charlotte." He says. "How'd you manage to get in with Reggie? He's a stickler about his interns; I think they usually last a month at most."

She has to force herself to keep a straight face and not get upset because - No, she didn't know how she got in with the old man, as he was a former colleague of Doctor Geoffery Trudeau-Craig. The more she stood in the hallway, the more it became increasingly apparent why He was a former Colleague of her mentor, not a current one. Charlie suddenly found herself looking less and less forward to her interview. She started to explain, "Well, uh, one of my professors back in my college-"

"Which program?" He interrupts

"Mortuary science."

"Which college?"

"Saint Petersburg."

"Florida? Teams any good?

She didn't attend any sports games for the sports, and the only time she had a decent reason to attend any games was when an old girlfriend of hers was on the soccer team. "Well, they started up the women's beach volleyball team a few years back, and yeah, Florida. They've been doing pretty good since," she said. "And I guess the Softball team isn't too bad."

"Play on any?" Pops asked.

"Oh god no." she laughed. "I only really went with friends when it wasn't too loud."

"MMmmm, right, how could I forget? I think I, or maybe your Father, tried to take you to a Nix game once -." Pops says.

"And then promptly had to leave because the cheering was too loud." She laughed as they turned the corner. "Jamie took two months to stop bringing it up. He was so angry."

When they turn the corner, the little receptionist is frantically explaining something to a tall, rail-thin silver-haired man wearing a suit that must have come from Fifth Avenue. The receptionist was startled at the sight of the two of them and pointed at her and her grandfather. "Oh, there she is, Mr. Sterling! I tolds you she was right on her way, and then I turned around, and she was just lost- Oh dear -"

He held up a hand, and she fell quickly silent. "Everything is… Quite alright, Roberta, Miss O'Connor has arrived on time." He said.

His voice sent shivers right up her spine. She pushed down the fear and walked forward to shake his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sterling."

He didn't take her hand.

"Yes. I heard… many things about you from Doctor Trudeau-Craig," he said.
Charlie wanted to reach through the phone and smack Cheri for speaking a word to her about what a great opportunity this would be. Maybe smack her for even speaking about her to her new boss. Meddling old man.

"Well, I expect you to hear any good things about my granddaughter from any friend of hers." Pops chimed in, and she was briefly tempted to smack him too. "She had the best science grades in her entire school- an excellent, expensive school, Reggie."

That was a lie, but she silently thanked Pops in her head instead of giving him any confirmation that she had heard him. "Your granddaughter?" Mr. Sterling asked, surprised, and then addressed her again. "I was under the impression that your last name was O'Connor?"

She had to force herself to remain neutral to the fact that he was suddenly very interested in her now that he knew her last name. Yes, that police commissioner, and that other police commissioner, and that detective with all those extremely public police brutality reports. "I had it legally changed a few years back," she said.

"... interesting, may I inquire as to why?" he said.

For a man so prim, proper, and professional - that was not a question she was expecting. Charlie had to force herself not to look at Pops.
"No, you may not."

He didn't like that but was quick enough to change the subject. "Very well, Miss. O'Connor. If you'll follow me to my office?" He said, briskly turning around - He looked like he was on a swivel. "Roberta, thank you for your service. Henry, always a pleasure."

"Oh, of course, of course, Mr. Sterling." the Little receptionist said and promptly hustled off.
"Ah, Charlotte?-"

"I Know." She said hurriedly. "If you're here after my intake, I'll be waiting in the lobby. I'll pass you my number."

"That would be appreciated. But what I was going to say was good luck at your interview," Pops said warmly.

She sighed, gave him a one-armed hug and a quick cheek kiss before hurrying after Mr. Sterling. When they arrived at his office, Charlie had expected something akin to a grand library or maybe some red velvet couches.

In reality, Mr. Sterling's office was a glorified broom closet with eye-bleeding white/blue walls and stacks of paperwork. He sat behind a poster of someone's nervous system, and Charlie sat in an uncomfortable black plastic chair.

The fluorescent lights whisper her failures down at her, and the heels on her boots make her feet hurt. It felt - oppressive, which was something she had never expected from a job interview before or any building that held some respect for the dead. Charlie forced herself to keep a neutral expression to not give away any nervousness or displeasure at being looked down on.
"Now Miss… O'Connor. I understand you have been enrolled at Saint Petersburg College for five years. Is that correct?" Mr. Sterling said, shuffling paperwork in his hands.

Charlie tugged on the collar of her black turtleneck and wondered why she subjected herself to the sensory nightmare in the name of professionalism. "That is correct."

"I was under the assumption that the mortician program was 2 years?" Mr. Sterling asked.

Strange way to ask her to explain the gap in her resume, but Charlie went along with it. "It is a two-year program traditionally, but the bachelor's degree is five years. Eventually, I hope to work my way up to a doctorate." She said carefully. This is a lie; she hadn't had enough money to take all her classes at once, so she had to take them as she could afford them- but that wasn't strictly relevant to her interview.

The interview carried on for what felt like hours. Mr. Sterling threw every question he could think of at her regarding the massive gap between her gap in employment, why she had a GED and not a high school diploma - Why her GED was extremely recent, and finally, as she stared down at her in her little black turtleneck, and dress pants, a cascade of questions about her experience at the bar, the little corner gas station, how she handled various customer interactions-

And then, mercifully, the interview is over." That will be all for today." Mr. Sterling says, and as Charlie stands up, he looks like he's about to say something.

"Thank you for taking the time to see me, Mr. Sterling," she says.

He nods, opens his mouth, pauses, and then carefully says ", Off the record. And your answer will have no effect on your placement here at Greyrock, Miss O'Connor -"
She doesn't like where this is going.

"Doctor Trudeau-Craig has taken the liberty of vouching for you and what your performance may be due to… some discrepancies that appeared on your background check," he says - and Charlie can just feel her heart rate spike.

"I see…" she says through gritted teeth. Oh, she was going to kill Cheri, Feed her an unholy amount of cheesecake and hide her phone. Why on EARTH-

Mr. Sterling looks largely sympathetic now, a strict change in his earlier persona as he continues. "Now I see her efforts here as largely presumptuous and unnecessary on the part of the doctor, as your professors also had many positive things to say about your performance. I felt you needed to know that some of your more... private information may have been passed on to myself without your consent. Though I have to ask-"

He turned his computer monitor around, and there stood a picture of Charlie in pretty heavy makeup - she looked like a devil because it was one of the bars-themed nights, and everyone was dressed up. The headline is about a particularly unruly customer that the bar had that night who felt it necessary to pitch a fit over the tab he got.

Charlie has no idea why he's showing her this. "This article here shows you in this… attire." says the old man. "Was this something you did to yourself, or did you have help?"

She reboots for a second to process what he's saying. "... Are you asking if I did my own makeup?"

He nods.

"I- uh. Yes?"

He nods again. "Very good."

She then had to sit through a lecture about how if she was to apply to another funeral parlour, she was to put her skills with makeup on her resume, as that was an essential skill in the preparation of bodies for viewing-

By the time she got out of the stuffy broom closet and made her way back to the entrance, Charlie had thoroughly abandoned her exterior of anxious professionalism as it had been replaced with pure confusion as Mr. Sterling welcomed her to Greyrock and her internship and shuffled her off to the lobby where her grandfather was still waiting.

The receptionist waves at her cheerily as she and her grandfather exit. "So your interview went well then?" Pops said.

"I think. Mr. Sterling is-" Charlie chews on her words for a second. "An interesting man."
Pops waves her off. "Well, Reginald was always like that. The poor man could never be anything but uptight and professional, his mother- a right terror -"

They walk off the property. Charlie is careful to Match his pace as he leads her to a coffee shop down the road; it's a quiet, preppy little place with soft Jazz playing in the background. Pops sends her up to order and is nice enough to pay for her - just like he did when she was a little girl, and she gets herself a black coffee and tea for him, which she carefully sits down in front of him before taking her place.
-and their conversation is … pleasant. Pops spends the next half an hour catching her up on years of family history and stories about what each of her siblings has gotten up to over the years (Apparently, Jamie was almost Married- which She was shocked about) and What things her nephews do when they come to visit, and various conversations from family dinner. Compared to every other interaction with her family since she returned to New York- Charlie is happy.

In exchange for stories about her Family, Charlie gives him various tales about stuff her Classmates did in her class, A couple of stories from her nights at the bar - careful to walk around how she worked at a gay bar in Florida, and an adventure she'd had a few years ago while staying at a youth shelter.

He nods at each story and asks a few questions about some of her friends - particularly interested in Cheri and Geoffery, as Charlie didn't need to mention that they were the same person.

Then Pops stops, takes a breath and says, "I'm so happy you've made something of yourself out there. You know - I knew you had it in you. I'm so proud of you, Charlotte."

Ow, but she quickly tried to brush it off. "If you wanted to make me cry over some Coffee Gramps -" she warned teasingly.

"No, I mean it. I'm proud of you."

She smiles at him softly. "Thank you."

Chapter Text

"Can you believe this crap?" Grumbled the Transporter. "Dragging old guys off the streets like they're trash. And for what? So they can rot in some morgue, forgotten by everyone? And for God's sake, why the hell are there all these cops here?"

Jamie has to focus on not allowing his eyes to ascend to the back of his skull for far longer than he's willing to admit. The guy is old, maybe around the same age as Danny- though incredibly jaded, and maybe a month or two away before he’d taken off the job- from the way he's talking while on a scene, he might not have the luxury of a month or two anymore.

It's a cold night for early december- winter has just hit New York, and the snow is gently falling across the city. Which would be beautiful- if he was not working a night shift and he had a better jacket . "I have two hours left on my shift," Jamie repeats like a mantra. " I have two hours left on my shift, and then tomorrow is my day off, and I am going to sleep."

Jamie had been called out to secure the scene - a homeless man stabbed to death in what looked like a robbery. Yellow tape up, officers posted to keep the public back, and the detectives assigned to the case had come through maybe an hour ago to do their done their poking and prodding at the scene (Not Danny, thank god, Jamie would have drank paint before he ever put up with Danny on a night shift), and now Jamie was just waiting for the transporters to move the body to the M.E's Office so he can take the tape down and clock out.

There is not enough coffee in the world that would make him happy to be here

“Why the hell are all these cops here?" Mimics a second voice that Jamie recognizes almost immediately, to his shock, as Charlie. "Jeezus Pat, a man's been stabbed to death. Give him some dignity."

He whips around to confirm his suspicion and - yup, she's here, in uniform, bickering with her partner for tonight. Charlie doesn't notice him, Jamie turns back to face the crowd before she does.

"Jeezus nothin." Says the other transporter. "I swear New York is nothing but cops half the damn time, I'm just cleaning up after some trigger-happy rookie, Freezing my ass off while he's sitting toasty at his desk doing paperwork."

Charlie said. “Yeah well he’s sitting cozy in whatever afterlife, and I have to sit here freezin’ to death, listening to your dumb ass- ”

“Hey! you can’t talk to your superiors that way!”

"If you keep making judgements about the death, superior or not, I'm reporting you to the boss again,." Charlie snapped.

"Whatever, new girl. God, I can't believe I'm still stuck training-"

Charlie cuts him off. "Yeah, keep yappin'; you'll have it your way tomorrow. I'm never workin' your bus again, I swear-

If Jamie wasn't on duty (And the sarge wasn't watching), he would turn around, grab her by the shoulders and demand answers again. Promise to keep Danny away so he can finally learn the truth about why she left, that they won't be interrupted this time-

"Is that your sister?" Janko suddenly materializes behind him.

"Yeah."

"... are you gonna say anything to her or?"

"Everyone here is at work, Janko." He said. "The sarge would have me at a desk in a second for bothering the transporters."

"Not even a wave? Pfft, I thought all you Reagans were so close." She says, rolling her eyes, and using a tone far lighter than what Jamie feels about his twin sister.

"- Yeah, and I'm not the idiot who disrespects beat cops on a crime scene. Christ's sake, Pat, Shut up!" Charlie's had about enough of her idiot coworker tonight.

"Oh, like you're one to talk. Y'know, I've heard what the guys in the office say-"

"Watch your mouth, Pat. You don't know a damn thing about me." She fires back

Janko turns to stare, but Jamie doesn't. "I've called, she hasn't called back. Figure it's best to give her some space for a while. She's made it clear that she didn't want to talk to me." He said.

There's some more rapid-fire rushed whispering from behind him. Apparently, Charlies realized that her voice was too loud and was walking back her remarks to keep the peace for tonight. Janko, satisfied that they're not about to kill each other, turns back around to keep pestering him.

"She's spicy.” Janko says.“You should introduce me,"

He gives her an annoyed glare and tries his best to tune her out for the rest of the night.

---

Janko pops around the corner of the precinct while he’s on his break, maybe a day or two later. "So, I keep hearing all these rumours around the precinct about- what's her name? Charlie?" she said.

Jamie quietly prepares for a migraine and the fact that Janko clearly isn't going to let this go- as usual. "There just rumours," he says. "What's the newest one? Cocaine? Pregnancy?"

"Actually, it was a secret incestuous love affair." She says, sitting down and pushing a coffee over to him as he chokes on his spit in surprise.

"Careful," she says cheerily.

"-Okay, that one's new," he said, sipping carefully on the drink. "Who was that from?"

"Fitz. But that's not even the craziest one I've heard." Janko says and then starts mimicking a deep falsetto. "Oh hey, Janko, You partnered with Reagan? Damn, that's crazy. Have you heard about that twin he supposedly had? I hear she's psycho."

"I'm not surprised." He said, tapping his fingers rhythmically against the table, waiting for what he knows is coming from her. “She’s got quite the reputation.”

"How come I never hear anything about her from you?" She asked. “I didn’t even know she existed until like 2 weeks ago.”

"It's not something I enjoy talking about." He said, sipping his horrible coffee. “And it's not like she’s going to come around after how that conversation 2 weeks ago went.”

"Is that why she's not talking to you right now?" Janko asks.

"What? No." He said immediately.

“Didn’t you say Danny went with you?” she asked.

“What's that supposed to mean?” he said.

"Look, From what you told me about your brother and what the reports say. I'll bet anything that Danny lost it the second he saw her and started accusing her of everything under the sun." She said, waving her hands dismissively. "And if I know you, then I know you didn't take control of the situation fast enough- because y'know- Danny."

Jamie takes a minute to choose his words because that's almost precisely what happened. Though Jamie didn't need another thing for Janko to hold over his head. "Well, that's not… Exactly how it went." he started.

"Oh, so I'm right then," she said.

"You are not." He said.

"Men. Ugh." Janko groaned. "Knowing you, you also started demanding answers instead of like, being happy she was okay, or supportive- and I know you think you mean it from a point of being concerned, but it never comes out that way."

He glares at her; she gives him a glare right back.

Jamie backs down.

"Look, that's not the point - Yes, I will Apologize later." He shoots out once Janko opens her mouth again.

Janko however, is still staring at him. Waiting for something. "… Well?" she says.

"Well, what?"

"Are you gonna tell me about it?"

Janko has these big doe eyes that she likes to use on him when she thinks it'll get her something. Whether it be lunch or a turn to drive the car. "Absolutely not." He says immediately, taking a large sip of coffee, hoping to down it fast enough to get out of this conversation- it's still too hot, and he burns his tongue on it.

Janko then uses her next favourite trick: The "Don't be stupid" eyes- another classic look for when her first trick doesn’t work. She sighs at him, rolls her eyes and says, "Oh, Come on, Reagan-"

"Don't 'Oh C'mon Reagan' me. You don't need to know any of this!" He interrupts.

"Think about it though. If you tell me everything. I could not only help you dispel some of the more not-so-savoury rumours- And you have someone else on this big mystery. Besides, when's the last time you discussed this with anyone?" She said,

"My family. Literally, the second she showed up," he said.

"That doesn't count," she said, far too quickly for his liking.

"Whad’ya mean 'That doesn't count',"

"You need a fresh perspective! Someone who's removed from the situation." She said,

Jamie takes a more conservative sip of his coffee, and Janko is really working her puppy dog eyes right now. "Firstly, I don't care about the rumours. People can say what they want. Secondly, If I hear anything- Anything about this from anyone other than you-" he said, immediately caving to her demands. "I'm gonna make you clean every damn car in the lot."

He can't actually make her do this, and Janko knows this- but She smiles at him, extremely pleased with herself. Eddie zips her lips and tosses an imaginary key behind her. "I won't tell a soul," she said.

"Alright… okay. I don't know much about what led to her running away. Danny has a whole case about everything that she could have possibly been doing before she disappeared. He also refuses to share it with me - or talk about it.." He sighs. " But what I do know was that Charlie was - Angry. She was angry at everything when we were kids. Started maybe after we turned twelve? This was a huge character shift because she was terrified of everything when we were little. And everyone noticed. She picked constant fights at school with anyone who even looked at her funny, got into screaming matches with every family member more than once - maybe not Pops, but eh- Smoked, Drank, y’know the works -"

Janko nods thoughtfully; Jamie takes a minute to watch her reactions before continuing. This is the first time he’s ever really sat down and talked about what happened to his twin sister with someone who wasn’t family. Even then, there was this unwritten rule to ever discuss Charlie at the dinner table - this feels strangely vulnerable. "The only concrete proof we have of what may have happened to her is that Danny got Abigail Copeland arrested," he said. "And That was probably the beginning of the end."

Janko interrupts him by raising her hand. "Abigail Copeland?"

"Yeah, uh, she was this really big sex trafficker back in 2004," Jamie says, swirling his coffee nervously. "I think- Well, From what we could gather, She and Charlie were involved somehow."

"Involved how?"

“Honestly? I have no clue.” he said, brows knitted in concentration. Janko is asking for details that he hasn’t had to think about in a long time. “Charlie tried to visit her after she was sent to Jail to await trial. We only know about this because Danny got a letter from Copeland a few days after Charlie disappeared mentioning it. But other than that, we don't actually know. Danny thinks she might have been involved somehow in pulling in victims for her- but I don't know about that. We didn't find out about the letter until after Charlie ran away. Danny gets Copeland Arrested, and a Month later, she has her first day in court - With Erin as the prosecutor. Coincidentally, it's on the day of our birthday. Danny ends up in the hospital after Charlie throws a wine glass at his head-"

Janko smiles at that. "Damn, really?"

"I wasn't, like, In the room for it. I only heard about it when the rest of the family came home from the hospital. I got out of the basement, and the house was empty. But yeah." he said.
Janko smiles at that as well, and raises her coffee in toast. "Good for her," She says, Which made Jamie laugh a bit despite himself.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess." He said. "I can't imagine what he did to deserve it, but huh-"

She lightly punched him in the shoulder. "See, this is what I mean! A fresh perspective," she said. Janko then gets very serious. "Alright, if I'm hearing this right, Your sister has a huge personality shift at twelve, going from scared to angry. Gets in with a bad crowd. And disappeared about what- ten years ago? She was 27 in her ID, which made her 17 then - when she was seventeen, she threw a wine glass at your brother - who arrested the sex trafficker, and just? Leaves?"

He nods and continues. "I come up from the basement, and the house is empty. Wine Glass and blood on the floor, Dinner in the kitchen. I went upstairs to see where everyone went, and I saw Charlie standing on the house's roof, bag packed and ready to leave. I tried to get my stuff to go after her, but when I returned to her room, she was just- Gone. Note on the desk and everything." he said.

"Do you know what Danny said to her?" Janko asks.

"He was talking about some case he was working on- Domestic violence, I think. And Charlie just lost it on him, he said,"

Janko mulls that over. "... What do you think happened?"

"... Well, I don't think she was luring in victims for Copeland," Jamie clarified. "If anything, Charlie hated people like that - I was subjected to many rants about it on the way home from school. So, I don't think she knew anything about Copelands more sinister nature if they were involved. Charlie also didn't have many friends outside me and this other guy from school… I think she was searching for people she thought understood her, searching for that connection she didn't have back home. Got herself involved with some bad people. Still don't know why she ran away, though."

"Do you know what the note said?" Janko asks.

"The one she left or the one to Danny?"

"Both."

"I Don't remember from memory. Charlie's note wasn't very long, just something about how she loved us, but she couldn't take it anymore, and not to look for her. I also can't tell you much about the note from Copeland, Danny won't talk about it, and I need help getting my hands on that box if you want clearer details.” Jamie said. “Though apparently, Copeland knew enough that she could tell exactly which window was attached to Charlie's bedroom."

"... Alright, I'm gonna propose something just- Wild to you," Janko says. "And you can't say anything until I'm done."

Jamie feels he's not gonna like where she's going with it but nods in agreement. "So, you said she was mixed with a bad crowd, and I'm pretty sure that also meant she skipped school a lot?"
Janko said and then continued with thought. "So, She skipped school a lot, you probably had no Idea what she was doing or who she was with during these times. And then the night she disappears, she attacks your brother- to the point that he has to be taken to hospital, who also arrested this chick who you later discovered was mysteriously involved with her."

"Where are you going with this?" he asks.

"... Jamie, have you maybe considered that Charlie isn't? What's the best way to put this- The straightest crayon in the box?"

Jamie raised an eyebrow at her, and Janko responded with a straight face. "... Did you break into evidence or something? What are you on?" he demanded.

"What are you on?" She shot back. "And you said you wouldn't say anything until I was done!"

"I didn't say shit; there is no way in hell that Charlie is… was - Like that!" He said. "Even if she was - I - of all people would know!."

"How is that so hard to believe?" Janko said, sounding a little incredulous.

"Well, it just- It is!" he said. "- There is not a chance - There would have been signs that we would have seen, and there was nothing! Thats a huge leap -"

Janko pulls a face at him. “Signs?”

“Like I dunno, Short hair, flannels-”

"Have you ever seen her in a relationship?" Janko asked, cutting him off.

"Well, No- But that doesn't -"

"How about talking about boys?" Janko said. "Y'know, all teenage girls, they're just boy crazy, aren't they?"

"She just wasn't interested in stuff like that," Jamie said. "But some girls aren't; I know Erin wasn't- No, that's wrong, she was, but not every girl-."

"Okay, sure, But did Erin have posters of Different boy bands up?" Janko said. "Celebrities?"

"I mean, Yeah, Obviously, but Charlie did too! But only … female singers," Jamie said carefully. This made an uncomfortable amount of sense the more he thought about it.

"Well…" Janko started carefully. "You said she started dodging your calls after you visited her to find out what happened. Danny lost his shit when she was about to reveal the truth, probably because she wasn't getting to the point fast enough- Don't Look at me like that, Jamie; I know I'm right."

He closes his mouth to contain his expertly worded retort and continues to glare at her.

Janko continues. "She won't answer questions about her relationship with Copeland, right? Maybe she ran away because they were … more involved than you think. Maybe she attacked Danny because he arrested her ... girlfriend." Janko said.

"That… Oh god, that makes sense. Way more sense than Danny's theory that she was an accomplice." Jamie said, head sinking to the table. He pointed a finger In Janko's direction. "I don't wanna hear anything about your 'Fresh perspective' ever again."

Janko didn't say anything, and Jamie continued for her. "She ran away because Danny arrested her girlfriend, and if It got out that she was involved with a prolific sex trafficker- Dad would've - Christ, I don't wanna imagine what Dad would've done." He said. "I- still, Why didn't she say anything?"

"Well, I mean, it's obvious, isn't it," Janko said.

Jamie gave her a more inquisitive look. "She could have come to us with anything, like, compared to some of the other things she got up to in high school- I guess being gay wouldn't have been the biggest deal- but… I just don't know." He said.

"... You know that your entire family is Extremely catholic, right? Mr. Sunday Family dinner?" Janko said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he said.

"Well. If you want me to drive you by the next pride protest that one of the churches downtown is holding, you let me know." Janko said.

"But we're not like that," Jamie said insistently.

Janko gave him a look. "Five-minute rant on why your sister couldn't be gay." She said,

"... Doesn't mean anything. I Don't care, I know that Danny certainly doesn't care about that - He hates everyone equally." Jamie said. "I mean, I don't know about Erin, but she has Nicky for a daughter, and I can't imagine that she isn't at least a little aware of that kinda stuff. Can't say anything about Dad or Pops, though."

"Okay… you know you don't care about that stuff," Janko said. "Does Charlie know you don't care about that stuff?"

"... No, that wasn't anything we ever talked about." He said a realization dawned on him slowly. "... Crap, am I part of that family? To the point that It drove my sister away?"

"It's just a theory, Jamie," Janko said sympathetically. "And I wouldn't say anything to her- or the rest of your family about it either, but maybe you should give it some more thought." She pats him on the back and walks off.
---
That night, Jamie dreams of church.

When Jamie thinks of church nowadays, He thinks about the hauntingly beautiful building, stained glass windows, and neatly organized pews. But if you asked him what he thought of church when he was 12, he would've given you a half-answer about communion and Sunday school. As a kid, the only thing Jamie liked about church was the end; he especially hated Sunday school.

Near the middle of the service, all the children would be called to the front. Father Micheal would talk to them for a while about the lesson they would be learning today, and then they would be sent off to the back of the church to the tune of "God bless the little children.".

This particular memory sticks out because this was the day that Mrs. Emery decided to go over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It was a story from Genesis about a city whose men would force passing travellers to sleep with them; according to his father, the story's message warned about indulgence in a hedonistic lifestyle. He read the story once again in his adulthood to prove a point to an old law school friend, the angels in the story were threatened with rape by every man in the city - it makes sense now as to why the entire place was wiped off the face of the earth.

In his adult life, and this is only because he can't really remember the entire event- Jamie imagines a Sunday school lesson littered with fire and brimstone- and the story of the destruction of Sodom wasn't necessarily the most child-appropriate tale.

He doesn't remember how she taught the story, only that a few parents complained and that Mrs. Emery was not welcomed back to teach a lesson afterwards.

In the dream, a very young Jamie sits in the centre aisle of the church he grew up in.

The sanctuary is dark, he is alone, and the organ plays hauntingly in the background. Eyes appear in the palms of his hands that burn and bleed, but he can only stare at them, confused.

The pastor stands at the front of the church- Jamie has known this man almost his entire life and has never been afraid of him before, but now he stands as a looming, bone-thin monster in white robes and a cavernous open maw.

It points a twisted, gnarly finger behind him, and Jamie turns around.

Charlie is slowly led down the aisle by Mrs. Emery- another bone-thin monster- but she is a creature with no mouth and one giant eye, and she wears an ugly flowered dress instead of priest garbs.

The pews suddenly spring to life, full of eyes and looming vaguely human shapes that spread up the church walls and stare at him oppressively, and then shift their judgement to his chained sister. The organ seems to be singing "Sinner, Sinner, Sinner."

She's older- the Charlie she is now, compared to the Charlie he knew at 12. He reaches out to grab her, free her - but when he makes contact with her, Charlie shrieks in pain and pulls back-

His hand is covered in the same eyes that decorate the pews and her arm is sporting a nasty bruise.

He stares in disbelief and tries to say something - the words don't come out as the eyes have spread to his neck. Charlie smiles at him, suddenly bleeding from wounds around her temple that leaves thin trails of blood running down her face.

She is once again pulled off by Mrs. Emery; who leads her to the front of the temple, and hands Charlie's chains to the pastor. She then stands to the side as the pastor begins his sermon.

The eyes start to pull him to the ground. He fights against them as the pastor rips the cross from the wall. "Kneel Sinner.” the voice commands.

She does. Jamie fights against the eyes in vain.

“You who have sullied who have sullied the body and blood of Christ in its rejection of the holy word. In death, may the Lord our god see it fit to redeem you for the cost of your original sin."

He's too small to do anything to help.

He croaks out something to her -he might be screaming to her to run, he might be screaming for help, but the eyes enter his mouth and begin to choke him before he can get the words out.

Charlie stands with her hands cupped before the monster, ready to receive her punishment. The monstrous pastor speaks once more. “May god have mercy on your soul.”

The organ grows impossibly loud, the pastor slams the cross into her, and Jamie is pulled into the ground.

Jamie awakens from the nightmare with a gasp.