Caroline sighs, the rich aroma of coffee, bacon and eggs pulling her from her slumber. Finding herself along one the couch, the blonde combs her fingers through her hair as she climbs off of the soft furniture and pads her way toward the kitchen. She pauses in the doorway, watching as Charlie and Peter bicker as the older man moves around the stove. The brunette herself is seated on a stool at the breakfast bar, her curls pulled into a messy bun at the top of her head as she nurses a mug of coffee.
"I'm just saying, we should really convert one of the many extra rooms in this place into...a den, or entertainment room. The couch is comfy, but the living room is too...formal for my tastes."
"And exactly how would you like it converted?" Peter asks and without turning away from his cooking he greets Caroline warmly, "Good morning. Care for some coffee or juice?"
"Coffee, please. Three sugars and a splash of milk," Caroline replies as she moves to take a seat next to Lottie.
"We can make the floor into a nest of pillows and blankets. Get a projection screen and any console devices can be moved there. That way, if I have people over when you have business guests over we won't be in the way," Lottie says, leaning over to brush against Caroline. "How did you sleep, Princess?"
"Good."
"As if I'd bring business guests into my home," Peter snorts before placing a mug of warm coffee in front of Caroline.
Caroline can't recall the last time someone cooked for her, let alone cared enough to treat her so casually in their own home, "Actually, the idea of a media room is pretty good. There are some ideas I can show you if you're interested?"
"See, Peter, I'm not joking. The living room is fine for formal shit, but casual get together would be best for a different setting."
As the three eat a delicious breakfast, Caroline wonders if this is what it feels like to be a part of something more. Something that actually feels like family. She watches how easy Peter and Lottie interact with each other and can't help but wonder how they are so close, even if Lottie says he's a friend of the family. None of her mother's friends treat her like this.
After breakfast is finished, Peter presses a kiss to Lottie's forehead before making off with a claim for a need to get ready. Lottie explains as the two girls set out to clean up the dishes that Peter is a private consultant and dabbles in exchanging information for his clients.
"See, Peter has a lot of knowledge about different things and that knowledge can help people. So they pretty much pay him to tell them what to do."
Following Lottie up two flights of stairs, Caroline is in awe when she sees the brunette's bedroom. Most of the walls are a rich lavender color, except for the one far wall that is half chalkboard paint and half a cork board. There's a bookshelf stuffed full of hardback books. Her walk in closet makes Caroline squeal at the sight of so many clothes.
"Casual on the left, semi-formal on the right, and formal dresses along the back. Shoes are all organized in the cubby holes along the bottom," Lottie says, pointing out the many boxed cubby holes that run along underneath all of the clothing hanging in her closet. "You're definitely curvier than I am, so I have leggings and sweatpants you can wear out in my dresser."
Caroline shifts through all of the clothes before pulling out a pretty yellow sun dress, "Can I we- oh my God! Lottie!!"
Caroline is stunned at the sight of the half dressed girl. Lottie is all lean muscle and slight curves, her skin a natural pale olive tone tan.
But it is the three scars cutting along her torso, from her left side and dragging down toward her waistline, that catches her attention.
Lottie blinks before glancing down at her shirtless torso, "Oh. I forgot you haven't seen them before. This is when I got into that fight with a mountain lion."
Caroline is gobsmacked, because she thought the girl had been joking, but she watches as the girl turns slightly, tugging her waistband down just a bit to show another faint scar just along her right hip, "This is from when some asshole jumped me on my way back from a party."
"But isn't that close to your..."
For the first time, Caroline watches her pretty golden green eyes shudder, "...Yeah. It is."
Caroline swallows thickly as sorrow thumps heavily in her chest, "Well...I'm more curious how you are so fit. I mean seriously, are those abs?"
Relief flashes through the blonde when Lottie's pale pink lips twitch upward, "I told you guys I work out like...every afternoon. Now, what do you say we get dressed and you play navigator. We need to get started on that media room."
"Peter didn't say yes."
"He sure as fuck didn't say no either. Besides," Lottie pauses as she tugs a black t-shirt on. "Peter can't deny me shit."
Snickering, Caroline watches as the brunette pulls on a long sleeved blue plaid shirt, "Yeah, alright. Let me text my mom and let her know."
Within thirty minutes the two girls are piled into Lottie's car and driving to Whitmore, Alternative Rock music playing softly in the silence.
"So...I get that Peter is a family friend, but how did you guys get so close?"
Caroline glances at the brunette behind the wheel, as the girl hums thoughtfully, "Honestly it was mostly through a series of circumstances and common issues of trust. How do I explain this without breaking confidence with Peter?"
There's only a moment of pause and Caroline is surprised by the level of thought the girl is giving her question. Because even though Lottie doesn't want to tell her Peter's secrets, she still doesn't seem to want to lie.
"Right, the best thing I can give you is that you could do literally anything and Peter will never judge you for it."
"Anything?"
Lottie nods her head, "Yeah. I mean, unless you do something incredibly stupid, which he will definitely judge you for, but mostly he won't make you feel bad for living."
"What's the worst thing you've ever done?"
Lottie visibly freezes before meeting her gaze, "Honestly? Just between the two of us?" At her nod, Lottie let's out a small sigh. "I killed someone."
"What?!?!"
Lottie doesn't look away from the road, her entire expression falling blank, "The night I got jumped, the fucker stabbed me. I fell out of his grip, pulled the knife out of my hip and stabbed him in the throat." Caroline swallows thickly at the heaviness in the air as she watches the girl's fingers flex around the steering wheel. "I survived and he obviously didn't. And a lot of people judged me for taking his life. With the exception of my Pops, Stiles, Lydia, surprisingly Kira and Peter."
"Are...are you like...okay?"
Lottie seems surprised by Caroline's question, but it's really the first thing the blonde can even think to ask. She doesn't fault the girl for wanting to survive. Granted, Caroline isn't sure she could do something like that, but maybe if she had been in the brunette's situation. Who knows?
"I'm dealing. I mean, I don't remotely feel an ounce of guilt for living, but the stigma I had on me after didn't help. It's why I left."
"Well...remind me that if I'm ever in trouble that you and Peter are my first call."
Lottie snorts, her blank expression falling away into a genuine smile, "You are a literal ray of sunshine, Princess."
"I have to ask, are you hitting on me? Because there are rumors already about your sexuality."
Pulling into the parking lot of an outdoor shopping plaza, the two girls head toward the Bed, Bath and Beyond.
"No, I'm not hitting on you. I mean, don't get me wrong, you are strikingly beautiful," Caroline flushes lightly at the easily given compliment. "I'm attracted to the person not so much the gender. If I was a decade older I would marry Peter in a heartbeat."
Caroline snorts, "I don't blame you. He is very attractive."
"You should see his nephew, Derek. Total bad boy appearance and all soft on the inside. It's tragic really."
The two girls make their way around the store, Caroline surprised when the brunette constantly asks for her opinion. Not just on large, roomy couches, but on bedroom sets, curtains, tables, sofa chairs, bedding and bathroom effects. It's even more surprising when Lottie doesn't even think twice to toss items into the cart, or rip tags off of displays.
Caroline catches a short glimpse of the black credit card, and more importantly the name and promptly snags it when the cashier hands it back, "How the hell do your pronounce that?"
Lottie chuckles as she fills out the paperwork for delivery services, "You're not at that level of friendship to get that knowledge."
As the girls leave the store, Lottie stashes everything in the trunk before glancing around, "Anymore shopping?"
"Well, there's the Founder's Heritage Ball in a few weeks. I could use a dress and so could you."
Lottie snorts before allowing Caroline to drag her to different stores. Caroline can feel herself bounce with excitement because it's so rare that anyone ever wants to go out of their way to spend time with her.
***
It's late afternoon when Charlie finally returns home after dropping Caroline off at the Forbes' residence. With a quick focus on her Spark and a snap of her fingers everything in her trunk immediately disappears upstairs in the desired rooms. Making her way to the study, she activates the silencing rune with a press of her hand and shuts the door behind her.
Booting up her laptop, she sends out a request video conference with the proper code word. Receiving a time limit for her wait, she turns to research, hitting up the underground forums for details surrounding vampires and Mystic Falls.
She's halfway through a shit ton of information when her laptop chimes with an incoming video call. Closing out of the information, she accepts the call and the familiar tempered steel bond thrums in her chest as her gaze connects with honey gold eyes.
"Hey, Mischief."
"Terror. How are things in Mystic Falls?"
She cackles, causing her twin to groan, "Boy do I have a story for you."
"Oh this has got to be good."
She grins, wild and vicious, "One word for you: vampires."
"Dude, Sourwolf owes me fifty bucks." She waits, mentally counting down, "Wait!! Did you say vampires?"
Her brother is so predictable.
The twins spend the next three hours throwing out theories, plans of action and if the sword Mrs. Yukimura gave her would be a viable weapon when combined with her inner Spark.
"I'm just saying, they can't do damage without a head, and worse comes to worst I can always light them on fire from the inside out."
"Why Do we always plan to light shit in fire?"
"Because nine times out of ten, fire is quick to destroy everything."
"Speaking of fire, how is Creeperwolf doing?"
She doesn't appreciate that particular shift of conversation and it shows when she gives her twin a look of reproach, "He's fine. I actually think he's doing better when he isn't surrounded by all of...that."
"Can't blame him. Lydia is a half step away from killing Scott."
"I didn't call you to talk about Alpha Douchebag."
Stiles snorts at her new title for McCall, but nods his head in agreement, "Right. So, what's the plan for this vampire, or possible vampires?"
"Can't do anything without knowing the motive behind it. I wasn't kidding when I told Peter that it made no sense for a vampire to not only leave his victim alive, but also let her wander into a party full of witnesses."
"A message for someone that had been there."
She tilts her head as she thinks it over before nodding, "That...is a good point. Now I just need to figure out the who and the potential target. Only then will I have a better idea at the why."
"Alright, well I gotta get going and get dinner ready for dad. Love you."
"Love you too, Mischief."
***
Author's note: I want to thank everyone for reading so far. It's a bit slow in the beginning, but I want to get the the different dynamics Charlie has with different people into position before she gets physically pulled into everything and I already know exactly when that is going to happen. Let me know what you guys think, what can be improved on and what you might like to see. As you can already tell, Charlie has already changed one aspect of the story so far. Thanks again and please leave a review.