Starring:
Summary:
Charlotte stops by the Dawson house to check on the boys and deliver some news about Niki.
Date It Happened:
January 17, 2008
Sometimes Even Moms Need Alone Time
Queens, NYC - Monica's House
Charlotte promised herself, Linderman, and Niki (though the latter not in so many words) that she would check on Micah. As instructed, she'd read the boy's file close. Computer genius, with ability. Oh, lovely. She really will have to walk on eggshells. She brought a good deal of snacks and treats, knowing there were two children here. Crepes, Belgium chocolates, German cookies, things of this nature. The kids are missing their mother/guardian after all, any little bit might help. Done up in a black pea coat with her floppy hat, pink scarf and mittens, the young Corday walks up the way from wence she teleported. Checking the address on the little peice of paper one last time. She does it. She knocks, after a deep breath to calm herself.
Cam sits in the living room, working away at his homework. Lack of a foster parent hasn't stopped him from that. Still, any excuse to take a break is good, so when someone knocks on the door he immediately calls, "I'll get it!" Hopping to his feet, he runs over to the door, opening it up. "Hi."
"Ok!" comes Micah's response from his bedroom. And it's only seconds later does he appear in the hallway, hope filling his face. It could be his mom. Anyone hanging around him the past few days would know he's concerned about her, and that he's been trying to find out what happened. But alas, nothing.
It's not his mom. Instead, it's a brunette wrapped up like a mummy against the cold, but her face pokes out from between the scarf and the hat. A dimpled, warm smile is given to Cam, despite the cold. "Hi there." She says, giving him an adult like tone, with just an underlying 'oh how cute' in there. "I'm looking for Micah, is he here?" May as well start with the blood-son, after all she's read…
Cam doesn't seem bothered by the cold wind blowing in the door as he looks up to the strange woman. He just looks at her a moment, perhaps a little unsure, as he tries to figure out what she might want with his friend. Finally then looks back, "Micah?"
Micah rounds the corner of the hallway that leads down to his bedroom as he's headed for the front door. The voice doesn't sound like his mom's voice, so immediately the hope fades. Even more when he comes into view and discovers it's not anyone he recognizes at all. "Can I help you?" he asks, apprehensiveness evident in his voice.
Charlotte nods, juggling the brown paper bag from one arm to the other. She continues to smile at the kids. "I think so. Do you mind if I come in?" She heaves a sigh, the cold giving a nice little puff of steam from her mouth. Still, she waits patiently. No reason to worry the children, even if their mother/guardian is missing…
Cam steps back away from the door, holding it open but doesn't answer. Letting Micah choose whether to let the woman in. He does ask, sounding a little worried, "You a social worker?"
"Sure." Micah says, motioning the woman in. He's not about to let her stand out in the cold. He glances sidelong at Cam when his friend questions. He, himself, backs up a bit, maintaining distance from her. If she's a social worker, she would have identified herself as one. No reason to take chances.
Charlotte sighs happily as she steps inside. "Thank you." She says, stepping out of her shoes right by the door. No reason to be rude, after all. "And no, Mister Reynolds, I am not a social worker." She looks around for a table to set the bag down on. Someplace flat and sturdy would work, really. Still, when she turns, she pauses long enough to reguard Micah. "I'm a friend of your mother's. My name is Charlotte."
Cam seems to relax once Charlotte answers his question. Once she's inside he closes the door again, almost asking something when she knows his name, but at her last statement he smiles a bit, "Oh, cool. You seen her," he asks hopefully. He might not have been worrying quite as much as Micah, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been.
Micah tries to scour his brain for some reference to the woman's name. ERROR: 404 - File Not Found. Still, doesn't mean she isn't someone his mom didn't mention. "You do?" he asks, raising his brow. "Do you know where she is?"
Charlotte finds the table and sets down the bag, slipping off her hat and unwinding her scarf. THe mittens come off, and finally the coat. She sets it on the table beside the bag, and she's wearing a simple blouse underneath with some gawdy ethnic jewlery. Only one piece, a necklace with the Hindu Eye of Protection. "I'm just here to check on you two." She says, turning back to face them. Hands slide down the front of her slacks as she looks over them, sighing softly in concern as the questions begin. "I know she's alright, Micah, and safe. But I can't tell you where she is, no." She shakes her head, hair bouncing perkily even if her emotions aren't as boing-y.
Cam climbs up to sit on the edge of the table by where Charlotte put the bag down, glancing at the bag but not being too obvious about looking in. His attention goes back to the woman then and blinks, "Why can't you?"
"Yeah, why can't you?" Micah seconds, as he makes his way towards the kitchen table. He's not remotely interested in the contents of the back or anything else aside from frinding out where his mother is being held.
Charlotte crosses her arms, more as an emotional hug for herself than anything else. Adults she can do, they can listen to logic. Kids? Not so much. She doesn't know much about kids. Hard to believe anyone thought she could have been a teacher once upon a time, but then again teachers don't deal with these sorts of situations. "Because she's still recovering." She looks between the kids. "I'm sorry, I really am." Her eyes tell that. She really is sorry. "But you're both able to hear the truth, I think. Your mother was kidnapped." She pauses to allow it to sink in. "My friend and I rescued here, but she's still recovering. She doesn't want to come home to you until she's all better." It's true, all of it. She looks between the boys, waiting for the flood of questions and demands that usually comes at this point.
Cam is quiet a moment, just blinking at Charlotte's answer. He then shakes his head, "Who kidnapped her? How bad was she hurt? She was in the hospital before and never stopped her from seeing anybody, why now?"
Micah is now even more concerned than before. "What happened?" he asks, taking a seat at the table. That might explain why he couldn't find anything out about her not coming home when promised. "And if you rescued her, why didn't she call me to tell me she was ok?" There's the kicker. Why no notification.
Charlotte looks at Cam, mentally running all his questions back in her head. "I don't know, not bad at all, she's not in a hospital." She gives the kid a playful smile. That's right, she can keep up with your rapid fire questions! It's Micah she's concerned about, for more than one reason. Her face softens at his question, and she slips into a seat next to him. "She was visiting a friend when some men came in and took her. But like I said, she was hardly hurt at all…my friends and I got to her very quickly and made sure she was okay. But she's taking some time for herself, Micah. Like…like a vacation. She didn't know she'd need one, but after the kidnapping…she just needs to spend a few weeks without worrying, so she can come back and be a good mother." She cocks her head to the side, searching the boy's face.
Cam blinks at Charlotte's answers, looking a bit confused, but when she turns her attention to Micah he hops back to the floor, moving around to stand by where Micah's sitting. "That doesn't sound like her," he comments softly.
"You're right." Micah agrees, nodding at Cam. "That's not like her at all. My mom would never just decide to take a 'vacation', as you call it, and not tell me." Yeah, he's not buying the story at all. "So…who exactly do you and your friends work for?"
Charlotte shakes her head, as if correcting him. "You've got this all wrong, Micah. I'm not here working for anyone." A half-truth. She's here because Niki is her friend, and her room-mate. And when Niki does remember all of this, she'll be pissed if the family hasn't been cared for. She looks at Cam for a moment before turning her attention fully to Micah. It's going to be hardest on him. "When we found your mother…she had no memory of who she was or how she'd gotten there. She didn't know anything about herself." She pauses, looking down at her hands. She picks at one nail in a nervous gesture. This has to be so hard to hear, but she looks back up, this time at Cam for awhile. "Now, I'm doing everything I can to fix this, find out why this happened and help her get better. But she decided that she didn't want to come back until she could be your mother again."
Cam blinks again. He almost says something, but then stops, biting his lip. He glances to Micah again then and back up to Charlotte. The boy hesitates, and then says, "If that's true, might know someone who can help her. But gotta know where she is."
Micah frowns at the answers he's receiving. This is not like his mom at all. Glancing over at Cam, he gives his friend a wink. "I want to try and call her again." As if he hasn't tried a dozen times already. "Can you get my cell phone off my desk, Cam?" Cam's mention of someone who might be able to help is met with a raised brow.
Charlotte shakes her head to Micah, still sad-faced. "She doesn't have her cell phone, all her belongings were taken when she was kidnapped. When we rescued her, there was nothing on her except for what she was wearing." She looks at Cam to see if he'll go and get the phone anyway, but asks just the same: "Who do you think can help her? Please, give me the name and I'll look into it. Niki's my friend, I'm doing everything I can to help her, including coming here."
Cam runs to get the cellphone anyway, coming back in moments with it and passing it to Micah. He then answers Charlotte, "His name's Peter Petrelli." Not the person he was originally thinking of, but still an honest answer nonetheless. He, of course, doesn't explain why he thinks Peter can help.
"Thanks." Micahs says to Cam as the phone is passed to him. "It can't hurt to try. Maybe whoever has her stuff will answer." That could be good. Could also be bad. Lifting the phone up to eye level, he pushes some keys. The shutter tone of a camera is heard. "Oops. Wrong key." The phone beeps with the sound of something being deleted. In actually, the image was being transferred to an email Micah has set up for stuff like this. As the phone rings, he puts it up to his ear. A moment goes by, with no answer. And so he gives up. "No answer. But Cam's right. Peter might be able to help."
Charlotte cocks her head to the side, setting her chin on her hands, which are linked together with elbows on the table. "Petrelli? Any relation to Senator Petrelli?" She digs into her pocket and pulls out a strip of paper with something scribbled out on it, sliding it across to him with a pen she pulls from another pocket. "Got a phone number?"
Cam nods quickly to that and says, "His brother, I think." He takes the paper and pen, quickly writing out the number, and then passing both back to Charlotte.
Micah watches the exchange between Cam and Charlotte. But he still frowns, despite the chance to help his mom. "Can you pass on a message to her?" he asks, sounding hopeful?
Charlotte tucks the paper away, turning with a sad smile to Micah. "Of course." Ofcourse she'll have to be slick about it, wait for Niki to ask about her family again. She's adament about only doing what Niki wants done, and that includes the receiving of information. She waits for the message.
"Just tell her to call me." Micah says, trying his best not to be mad. "Tell her that her son is worried about her." The more he talks, the easier it becomes. "That if I don't hear from her soon I'll have to resort to vandalizing ATM machines." The last is said with a bit of a grin. And humor.
Cam steps back a bit again, as Micah asks that. He climbs up to sit on the edge of the table again, but his focus is still on Micah and Charlotte, listening to Micah's request and watching Charlotte's reaction.
Charlotte slowly moves to stand, smirking at his last comment. "Hey, I told your mother I'd check in on you guys and make sure you're okay. So don't go breaking the law, okay?" Her face becomes more somber. "When she can hear it, I'll tell her. For now…she doesn't want to have to try and pretend to be the woman you knew. We're trying to get her there. Just trust me." She pats the bag. "I brought…a few things for you guys. Just go easy on the sugar, okay? And save some for Miss Dawson." ANd with that, Charlotte seems content to let herself out, and let out a sigh. God, that's hard, she feels for them. She really does.
Micah nods silently at the response he gets from Charlotte. "No promises." is his only response, watching as she lets herself out the door. Turning to Cam, he frowns. "Something is wrong. I can feel it. Just doesn't seem right."
Charlotte hears what the boy says, and she pauses, sighing as she's about to close the door. She's doing the best she can. She's telling everyone the truth, and yet….it seems the people don't trust each other in this city, and it's easier to say they don't trust Charlotte. She gives them one last thing before she goes. "Try calling Nathan Petrelli, if you know his brother." She tells the boys. Maybe they'll listen to him. She closes the door and is gone…
Cam watches Charlotte go too, and nods quickly to Micah. "I won't tell Hiro to stop lookin' for her. She didn't bring any proof, 'cept that she knew our names. Anybody coulda looked that up." Then he asks, "What if she's telling the truth?" At Charlotte's last words, he blinks.