Charlus spent the night outside Grace's room at the hospital, he'd seen countless people come and go. He waited in the shadows so that no one could see him lurking around.
The first person to come had been Delia and the last had been his own mother, he perfectly concealed himself in the corner, totally overshadowed by the darkness in the corridor.
After the lights had dimmed down and Grace was sound asleep, he strolled outside of her room.
Too scared and ashamed to go in.
"You can come in," she said.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he realised that Grace was wide awake. He tried to ask aloof as he walked in the room, their eyes squirted as soon as he switched the lights on.
Once their eye sight returned, Charlus saw Grace lie peacefully on the bed, she looked tired and weak. Seeing her with a nasal cannula and an oxygen mask was weird even for him.
He lingered over her bed with a pout on his face. Grace pointed towards the stool right next to her bed. A sigh escaped his lips as he sat down.
"Hey," she smiled.
Charlus didn't know what to say or how to react, he was ashamed of the way he'd acted before Grace was admitted to the hospital. So ashamed he wasn't able to face her with a straight face.
"I'm sorry," he sighed as he looked down.
Grace smiled, "Boy, I've been hearing that a lot lately."
"Who else said that?"
"My friend Dee-Dee,"
Charlus forgot about his little humiliation for the moment and looked upwards, "You made up with Delia?"
Grace nodded, "As it turns out, all it took was a little sorry."
"So..."
"I forgive you Charlus," she said, "it's fine, you can look up."
He did look up, but with wishful thinking that she too was going to apologise.
Grace seemed to have understood his longing stare. "In your dreams, tree, you deserved the kick I gave you."
He laughed, "Well, you can't blame me for having wishful thinking."
"No, I can't."
The two of them stared into each other's eyes for a long time. For as long as she could remember, Grace had always adored his dark viridian eyes and facial features. His tanned skin and the lines on his face etched the story of old life. He wasn't anything extraordinary or significant, and yet, she felt somehow magically drawn to his serious and salient features.
When she saw he again at the Raider Manor, Grace didn't remember the stern face which hinted a little melancholy, or his long boned face with tapering chin, or his bony nose. What she remembered was his eyes, the same steady eyes and their ironic gaze.
She could remember those dark viridian eyes anywhere.
"Charlus," her lips melancholy sang.
"Grace," he replied with a smile.
No words were spoken for the past two minutes, both of them continued to gaze towards each other with an expressionless regard. It wasn't quite the reunion she had in mind but here he was, sitting still with a smile on his face.
Grace didn't know how to react, earlier today, the weight of the world had felt heavy on her shoulders but suddenly, it was no longer there. She couldn't describe what she was feeling, after all she wasn't accustomed to feeling it.
Not in a thousand years at least.
A smile crept up on her face, "You got old."
Charlus sighed in return, "I want to say you did too but... damn, you look exactly like you did when we last—"
He withheld his tongue, he was going to say the same thing but a different location, the one they'd vowed to never speak of again or atleast he had. Grace had never really aged. At least not on the outside. There were no wrinkles or saggy folds on her face. Her face still shone and her eyes still sparkled bright. The only thing that had really changed was her excessive use of mascara and the her short pixie hair.
"You're still the same," he said with a smile.
"I'm not though, I learned compassion and empathy. But you're still the same."
Charlus frowned, he didn't quite understand her words. If anything, he thought he had changed more than any of them.
"You did," she said before he could object, "you refuse to grow up."
"Look at me," he pointed towards his eye wrinkles, "I've changed a lot."
"Only in appearance," she sighed, "you're still living in the past."
"No, I'm not,"
Grace didn't speak for a long time, "How often do you think about James in a day?"
All the time, he wanted to answer. It had been more than twenty years and not for once had James left his thought. James was still alive in his mind, he was engaged very fiercely with him in his mind that he expected him to walk towards him with signing in his God awful voice.
He would do anything to see him again.
But he wasn't going to soil his hearts desire in front of Grace, he shook his head. "I don't,"
Grace smiled as if she was able to look past his lie. "You muttered his name in you sleep back in Joliet County... please James, please don't die, I didn't mean it James, I'm sorry, please please please!"
Charlus looked down in shame.
"It's been twenty years, Charlus," She took his hand in hers, "you need to forgive yourself."
He needed to forgive himself, James would've wanted him too. But Charlus didn't have it in his heart to do so. He could never forget the last conversation he had with his best friend... his brother.
The anger, the fight, the words.
Charlus didn't want to talk about his nightmares with Grace, at least not when she was still harbouring her own demons.
"Who would've thought Grace Van Black, the Child of Night would give thoughtful advice?"
Grace playfully hit his arm, the impact wasn't as strong at it once used to be. He sat for quite some time, exchanging stories and telling corny jokes. But then his glance landed on the clock near her bed. It read two in the morning, a sigh escaped his lips as he got up. It was time to leave the island with Alain on their mission.
"You're going?" She asked innocently.
"Yeah," he grunted his teeth in annoyance, "I am."
Charlus didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay beside her till morning and fall asleep next to her. But it wasn't possible, he knew it better than anyone. He shared one last glance staring into her sparkling blue eyes, thinking what secret it was that she'd been harbouring.
"It's not about you," she said.
"What isn't?"
"The 'secret'," she air quoted the words, "I don't know what Lysander wanted to say but... I don't have any secrets Charlus, at least not from you."
He knew she was lying, but for the moment, he decided not to bring it up.
"See you later, tree." She parted ways.
"You too, Child of Night."