Chapter Text
Charlie's truck rumbles to a stop outside Jocelyn's row home, the engine cutting off with a tired sigh that matches his own. Streetlights glow over cracked pavements, the kind of place where sirens echo nearly constantly. Bambi's call replays in his head, blunt, nosy, impossible. Congratulations on the baby. He grips the paper bag of takeaway, a peace offering really.
He climbs the few steps to the front door, knocking twice once he reaches it, and leans against the door frame while he waits, forcing a grin to mask the knot in his gut. His military training kicks in, assess, approach, adapt. The door cracks open, and there she is, the woman he had wanted to marry. Jocelyn Wolf, in all her glory, mess of auburn hair held back in a clip and exhaustion darkening her eyes, wearing a pair of oversized sweats that do nothing to hide the slight four-month swell of her belly.
"Charlie?" Jocelyn’s eyes widen, flicking from his face to the bag, then back. Shock melts into something softer, familiar. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Got a call today," Charlie says, an amused smirk in the corner of his mouth, "Dropped a bomb about me being a dad. Figured I'd show up, stake my claim, and bring a peace offering." He lifts the bag. "Your favorite from that Thai place. Pad Thai, extra spicy, and that tea they make. Decaf, of course." Charlie motions to her midsection with his free hand.
She stares, then starts to laugh, a real burst that crinkles her eyes. She steps aside, allowing him entry, "You're insane. Get in before the neighbors start rumors."
The living room hits him like a time capsule, chamomile steam from a mug, takeout boxes piling up near the bin. No baby ultrasound tacked to the fridge. No excited baby clutter. Just isolation, thick as the humid air. Jocelyn steps past and sinks onto the couch, hand absently placed on her bump. He removes his jacket, switching the bag of food between hands, placing it on the coat rack, before he begins to roll up his sleeves.
Charlie’s voice is soothing to her, a sense of familiar levity, "Bambi sounded like she'd seen a ghost. I don’t think she believed I was real." He unpacks the food on the coffee table after carrying it over. “I didn’t tell her anything. Figured you had a reason for giving my name.”
Joceyn’s face softens, “I’m sorry, I-I panicked.” She starts to shake her head, “I had no idea she’d-”
“It’s fine.” Charlie shakes his head, breaking apart the chopsticks and rubbing them together out of habit. “How are you feeling?”
Giving a soft huff of a laugh, no amusement found within, Jocelyn stares absently near the coffee table, “I don’t quite know yet.”
“Well...if you’re already showing, that means you’re a bit into this, right?” Charlie doesn’t wait for a response, opening the container of her food and offering her the chopsticks, only to then see Jocelyn’s face holding back a sob, “oh, Joss.”
“I haven’t told him.” Jocelyn shakes her head, “he’s...he’s much older and-”
“You always did have a thing for older men.” Charlie smirks a little, “except for me.”
“You’re two years older.” Jocelyn responds, instinctively.
“I also wasn’t a man when we began dating.” Charlie nods slowly, “not long after, but...” He watches her profile, able to see the anxiety painting her features.
“Mum never knew. I never told her, never needed to.” Jocelyn shakes her head, swallowing as she lifts her head to look at her former lover as well, “she thinks you’re the father too.”
“So you panicked with...how many people?” Charlie is near a laugh.
Jocelyn seems at a loss for words, “I trust you.”
Charlie nods a little, the chopsticks still in his hand, he picks up the styrofoam container and brings together a bite between them, offering it to the woman, “do you...know where the guy is?” He pauses, watching as she takes the bite, “the father?”
Jocelyn nods, taking a moment to chew her food, “I work with him now.” She doesn’t realize that Charlie is even feeding her, simply focusing on the conversation between them. “Anthony doesn’t...he’s fine, alright. He’s...He hasn’t put two and two together yet that he’s a possibility.” She’s fed a bit more from the chopsticks.
Taking the opportunity of her chew to speak, “but he’s going to, Joss.” Charlie reaches forward, grabbing the tea and opening the supplied straw to stick through the top after opening the paper wrapper. He offers the cup to her, watching as she takes a sip, “he’s a GP, just like you, and I’m sure he can check a calendar when you accidentally mention how far along you are, because we both know you will.” He smirks a little, “and if I pop in to see you or to take you to a scan or something, it may happen that they...” Charlie exhales, “hormones and binding can only do so much.”
Truly, Jocelyn doesn’t know what she’d expect, “you’d...you’d do that?”
“We were friends long before we got together, and we didn’t break up on bad terms...like an argument or cheating or something.” Charlie shakes his head, giving her another bite of food, “you’re afraid of commitment...afraid you’ll be stuck when the grass might be greener on the other side.” He shakes his head, “it’s understandable regardless of how much I wish you weren’t.”
Jocelyn chews her food, remembering the five times Charlie had proposed marriage to her until finally telling her that he was being deployed...and that he would let her go to find what she’s looking for. He made the decision instead of relying on her to agree. Not that they would be able to get married anyway currently, but it was the point of the matter. Jocelyn was at a loss for months, sleeping with people in an effort to cover the pain of heartbreak. She looks down at her swollen middle, sighing to herself. She deserves this mess that she’s gotten herself into.
“Think you can handle this?” Charlie offers her the chopsticks again, smiling softly when she gives a slight nod. He gets her set up to eat the food before standing up and walking toward the kitchen area.
“Where are you going?” Jocelyn asks quietly, using the chopsticks to bring up another bite of food.
“I’m just going to straighten up a bit. Take out your bin bags.” Charlie nods, set on taking care of the space, “Tidy space, tidy mind. Might help you feel better...if only a little bit.”
“You don’t need to-” Jocelyn inhales and exhales slowly when she garners a look from the man that this was an argument that she isn’t going to win.
Charlie clears the trash, cleans out the fridge, and gathers her dirty laundry puts it in the duel washer-dryer in the kitchen, “I gotta be honest with you,” He speaks as he washes the pile of dishes in the sink, “I think you told people it was me because you knew that I would go along with it.” Charlie glances over his shoulder, just wanting to check that she’s okay and still eating before returning to the dishes, “maybe not directly. I don’t think you had any ulterior motives or anything.”
“I don’t really know him.” Jocelyn finally says, shrugging. She falls silent for a moment, taking one last bite of food, “and...I don’t know if he’d make a good father or a bad one, but-”
“You don’t want to go through it alone, especially not with someone you don’t know.” Charlie finishes for her, noticing the dimpling of emotion on her chin, only confirming his hypothesis. “You wouldn’t be alone though, even if I weren’t here. I know your Mum must be champing at the bit to be a grandmother.”
“She has feelings for Anthony and...I-I mean, that would be weird, right?” Jocelyn starts, “what if he and Mum start dating?”
“So what?” Charlie shrugs, finishing with the dishes and drying their hands off on a tea towel. “He’s already had it off with you and is still entertaining something with your mother. Who cares? Let him be with someone his own age.”
The comment causes Jocelyn huff a soft laugh, “easy for you to say.”
“Maybe, but your mother’s not horrendously disfigured or anything like that.” Charlie shakes his head, still straightening up by putting the dried dishes into the cupboards, glad to know where each thing belongs. “I just find it amusing that you both have similar taste in men.”
“Not funny.” Jocelyn mutters, letting the idea sink in before bringing her hands up to cover her face.
Charlie sighs softly, walking over and taking a seat next to her before he pulls her close, holding her tenderly, “if it means anything, I never once hit on your Mum.” He can feel that she’s trembling, nervous, “I am all for glaring at pushy receptionists, all for hauling baby gear wherever you’d like it, I’m all for dinners with your Mum, but I can’t be a biological father...and you’ll have to tell him sometime, whether you want something more with him or not.”
Jocelyn sniffles, her head on Charlie’s chest, “you’d be an amazing father.”
“Damn right.” Charlie hears her huff a laugh, though knows it's something he’d want more than anything with her as well. “We’ll make it work.”
Slowly sitting up, Jocelyn offers him a soft smile, “my knight in shining armor.”
“Carrying takeaway and tea.” Charlie smiles for her, doing his best to keep things light though this hurts his heart just as much. He doesn’t like to see her in pain, though he knows he was the one to cause it at one time.
“The decaf doesn’t taste too different from the regular, it’s nice.” Jocelyn nods, absently placing a hand against the side of her belly. “There’s no...you have no stake in the game, Charlie. You don’t need to...” She reaches her other hand up, tucking a piece of hair behind her own ear. “You don’t need to be nice to me just because I’ve mucked things up royally.”
“Jocelyn, I-” Charlie exhales slowly, watching her, “I’m always going to have feelings for you, regardless of the circumstances. We have too much history together for me to feel otherwise.” He shrugs, “no matter what happens, no matter what you decide, you’re always going to have me...in any way you need me.” Charlie notices the soft smile forming in the corner of her mouth, “you’re never going to be alone.”