The States

like one of your french girls

or, Aidan pines and sketches and Charlie likes to make him flustered 

1863- charcoal

The first time he draws Charlotte is during the Civil War.

He sees her one night after successfully managing to patch Addison up.

She's exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes and frizzy hair and chapped lips, but something about the soft curve of her mouth screams peace and it sticks in his head, driving him crazy until he manages to get it down on paper.

Cal points out the smudge of charcoal on his face the next day.

1890- fountain pen

Aidan uses meetings to practice technique.

Meetings are either chaotic or boring, with no in between, and any state will agree.

Sometimes, one of the older states will offer tips- Monty had once given him a whole tutorial on eyes during a presentation about the economy. (By the time Monty was supposed to present, he'd forgotten what he was supposed to say. Instead, he brought up college sports. The room dissolved into chaos and everyone else forgot that he was supposed to present at all. It was one of the greatest things Aidan had ever seen.)

Charlie grins at something Helena says, covering her mouth with her hand. It doesn't hide much, not when her eyes are so bright with laughter.

(The only drawing he actually completes that day is of Charlie with her grin covered by her hands.)

1900- (interlude)

Charlie's kind of weird, in the sense that sometimes her nose wrinkles up when someone calls her Charlotte or calls her a girl. 

So, of course, he asks Cal, because Cal knows all the good gossip. "What's Charlie's deal?"

Of course, it's also tricky because Cal likes Charlie- Charlie had been her sister far longer than Aidan had been her brother. 

Cal narrows her eyes at him. "What do you mean?"

Aidan shrugs. "She's....she's kind of weird." It comes out as a question and he rushes to clarify before Cal gets mad. "Like sometimes someone calls her Charlotte and she looks like she wants to scream."

Cal sighs. "If you want a good explanation you should ask Charlie yourself, but when were younger she used to get kind of upset sometimes when someone called her Charlotte. We thought it was kind of like Tyler, but Charlie'd go weeks without saying anything about it. Charlie eventually asked people to just call them Charlie because she didn't know sometimes."

"So?"

"So sometimes Charlie feels more comfortable with the male pronouns and sometimes with the female pronouns and sometimes they don't feel like either."

1943- (interlude)

His mild interest in Charlie becomes a full-fledged crush when they're both stationed to the Pacific front.

Aidan hadn't known Charlie was in the Pacific front, or even that she had enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps to begin with. It probably would have stayed that way if Aidan hadn't gotten caught in an artillery explosion.

∾∾∾∾∾∾∾∾

Aidan wakes up in a military hospital feeling like, well, he got blown up.

Ten minutes later, Charlie comes to check on whatever injuries are under his bandages.

She smiles when she notices that he's awake. "Hey. You cut it pretty close, but you didn't die. Picked some shrapnel out of you, stitched you up, and you should be good in a few days. Week, maybe."