Wild (Cherik Book One)

You're Safe Like Spring Time

"I wanna hold hands with you
But that's all I wanna do right now.
And I wanna get close to you..."

______Edie Lehnsherr______

Once every great once in a while Edie Lehnsherr would take her and her son out to dinner. For this to work the stars had to align perfectly. If Edie could spare a few hours before her night shift, given she hadn't had to work overtime, she was usually exhausted. Erik never made her feel bad for choosing the few hours between her morning and night shift to catch up on weeks worth of lost sleep. But, on the rare occasion Edie was lively and could spare the extra expense she would treat Erik to a nice dinner out. The last dinner out was two months ago and the pleasantness of the night had been cut short by Erik's father and his monstrous temper. Edie was sure not to make that mistake again. In fact, the man in question had been rather sporadic in his appearances lately and Edie was grateful. He was a putrid demon she was stuck with, but Erik could get away. His brain, so full of flowers and bright little things, yes she thought he could get away from these decaying roots. Run off to the city with Charles.

Edie finished tying her graying brunette curls up in a braid. She wore a simple sweater and jeans with her golden chain she got from her mother back in Germany. A parting gift of luck at the time. Now it held a weight of failure as Edie looked at the life she's subjected her son to. Rotten, cold and unloving the world has been to the Lehnsherr family.

"Ready?" Erik called from the doorway and Edie turned to smile at her boy. Her little miracle. She nodded and took his arm.

Charles and Raven were sitting together on the couch when Edie and Erik were getting ready to leave. The bright fire hues of the young girls hair were illuminated by the moonlight swimming into the windows. Edie hadn't minded when Erik asked if Charles and his sister could stay. In fact she was rather delighted at the thought of her son not being alone in the house. It would discourage her husband's brash behavior if he ever did show up again. Edie could only hope he wouldn't.

"Hey, we're headed out," Erik came up behind Charles with a smile and the boy looked up.

"Oh! Well, you both have a wonderful time, yeah? Mrs.Lehnsherr you look beautiful," Charles served the compliment and Edie waved him off.

"You both have a nice night in," Edie smiled before giving each of the Xavier siblings a warm kiss on the forehead. Little had she known her small acts of motherly kindness were the only motherly acts the siblings had received in years. She wasn't aware of the impact she had on the two seemingly perfect siblings.

Edie has prayed for Charles every night. Charles and his bright mind now so clouded with a trauma she understood better than anyone. She knew how it ate you up like a parasite and left nothing in its wake. All she could hope was that he had the strength to fight for his mind. He had a future with her son, a bright one far away from here.

______CHARLIE______

Charlie wiggled his nose in thought before turning to his sister. This was the first time the siblings had been alone since The Incident. That night plagued them both, intoxicating the air in their relationship. Words unsaid, feelings buried deep...Charlie could feel it eating them alive.

"Clear night," Charlie started and Raven hummed.

"Want to go out back?" Charlie encouraged. Raven looked at him seeming to sense that tonight was going to be an hours-talking-under-the-moon kind of night. And by God she was thankful.

"Yes," she clapped and raced to grab the spare sheet from the closet.

As Raven set up the backyard, Charlie got them both some tea. It was chillier in the nighttime and Charlie always knew a nice cup calmed any mood Raven found herself in. Charlie wasn't exactly sure how he was going to start the conversation. How do you dive into something so brash? So serious? Something that would undoubtedly upset them both to a great extent? Charlie wasn't at all sure but he knew it needed to happen. A lot of things had changed and Charlie needed to let those changes happen and process it. For the first time, he has found a reason to want to get better.