old soul | matthew gray gubler

48. fitting in

charliegregor happy new years, baby @gublergram

comments are disabled for this post.

—

charlotte and matthew were sitting at the kitchen table, cold glasses of water in their hands. marilyn was at the front door, saying her goodbyes to some family members. laura was sat across from them, nursing a red wine, with the baby in her lap. joe was upon charlotte's, snoozing away like he was still an infant. charlotte cradled him carefully, brushing her fingers through the tips of his hair.

matthew looked to her with adoration and rubbed the pads of his fingers across the skin on the back of her neck. "you ready for bed, charlie?"

laura looked up at the mention of such a feat. "oh, i could use a long night's sleep."

"me too, girlfriend," charlotte laughed in response. "i don't think i'm going to get out of bed before noon tomorrow."

"you deserve the rest, momma," laura stood from the chair, and balanced the baby on her hip. "get sleep while you can."

matthew stood up, too, and went to take joe from charlottes arms. "here, i'll help you, laur."

charlotte begrudgingly gave up the toddler, but not before she kissed his little head. he stirred in matthew's hold and looked at her with sleepy eyes. "goodnight, aunt charlie."

charlotte's lips formed an 'oh' and he eyes went slack. "o-ho, goodnight, sweet angel. sweet dreams."

joe gave a sleepy smile and curled into matthew's chest. matthew lay his head against the boy's hair, pouting his lips with closed eyes. "oh, my heart."

laura giggled lightly. "let's go, gray."

charlotte began to clean up their stray dishes on the table. she dumped the liquids into the sink and loaded the glasses in the dishwasher. as she shut it, she noticed a pain her back. it was beginning to get to the point that she couldn't do some tasks without running out of breath or energy.

she sat back down at the table with a heavy sigh, leaning back with shut eyes. she heard marilyn's heels click into the kitchen and opened her eyes with a tired smile.

"thank you for tonight. it was a wonderful dinner," charlotte commented.

marilyn passed her chair and set a warm hand on her shoulder. "thank you for being here, dear."

"of course," she chirped. "i wouldn't wanna be anywhere else."

"you know," marilyn took a seat beside charlotte, "i just wanted to say that you are a wonderful woman. you see, matthew had a difficult time growing up. he was made fun of a lot for being different. and his dating life was a whole other story. he just never really fit very well. but he fits well with you. and i can't tell you how happy that makes me. i've never seen such a beautiful and perfect relationship blossom as quickly and surely as yours has. but it's wonderful. i can't wait to see you bring a life into this world."

charlotte felt like all she did was cry lately, but that's all anybody made her do. she leaned forward and tossed her arms around marilyn.

"thank you so, so much for that. growing up, it was hard to feel like i fit anywhere because of my family. but matthew makes me feel so unapologetic for not fitting. he makes it feel normal, and perfect. and i'm so happy with where my life is fitting now," charlotte responded with slow, methodical wording.

a floorboard creaked in the doorway, and their heads snapped towards it. matthew sheepishly stepped into the room, "sorry to awkwardly break you two up."

charlotte shook her head at him, hitting back a grin, "don't apologize."

marilyn reached for his hand and grasped her sons larger one, "i was just telling charlotte that i'm very happy for you two. it makes this old ladies heart very full to know you're going to be start such a beautiful family."

matthew kissed his mothers hand gently. "speaking of starting a family, we wanted to see about that house, again. low chance it's still available for rent, but figured we'd say something."

marilyn nodded, "they just moved out a week ago. took a little longer than they wanted. they're still going through applicants if you want to put one in. i might've talked you up a few times."

charlotte looked to matthew who looked to her. he had a glint in his eye, and suggestive shrug in his shoulder. charlotte nodded, "i'd like to go look again at it tomorrow, if we could? we need to talk some more details, honey."

matthew agreed with a movement in his head, "yeah, of course. we can do that, absolutely."

marilyn bid the two goodnight with two tight hugs. matthew took charlottes hand in his and led them up the stairs to his old bedroom. she was sleepy, dragging her feet slow and sloppy. matthew practically had to tug her into bed. she lazily stripped form her party dress from beneath the covers and accepted his offering of her spender reid sweatshirt.

"s'that your new favorite piece of clothing?" matthew laughed as he changed into pajamas.

"yes, of course it is. i'm manifesting it," charlotte pointed at the word future.

matthew slipped into bed beside her and she curled into his arms. "no need to manifest it, darling, it's gonna come true."

she pulled back to look at him, "really?"

"yes, really. did you think it wouldn't?"

"i don't know. we just never talked about it, i guess," she shrugged half heartedly. "i'd like to talk. about it, though."

matthew nodded along, "then, let's talk. we wanna get married."

"yes, we do."

"when?" he frowned with question.

charlotte thought for a moment, "friday?"

mattthew looked startled at her response. "no offense, my dear charlie, but i kinda want to propose to you."

"then, do it," she shrugged, again. "i'm ready."

"i wanna do it when i'm ready. when i've planned it out, when i have a ring," matthew laughed at her eagerness.

"fair enough."

"well, then. new year's resolution- to propose," matthew raised a fake glass in the air and toasted to their proposition.

charlotte tapped her faux glass against his, "to propose!"