Time to Call it Quits? (Invite Only)

Charlotte had some serious thinking to do.

Which to be honest was frankly impossible with the thoughts swirling around in her head, she moved, as though drunk through the carriages and she found a blissfully empty one and slid in, not bothering with a seat and just sinking straightly the floor.

He was different. She could tell.

Charlotte knew this wasn't the man she was used to, she had befriended and fallen head over heels for, was it possible she was over-reacting, very possible, but was it really important? This was her gut feeling on it.

Slowly she found herself curling up into a small ball and ghosts of tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, of course some people would say she was weak for this, or even annoying, but she had learnt a new phrase: 'Jog on.' and those people could certainly jog on.

Alex had separated from Cobalt for the train ride, if for no other reason than to give people the impression that he was a regular school boy and not a magical, living, metal, ball of sentience. Because people would probably freak out if he told them that. It was probably a good thing that he'd only told three people then and he was on his way to meet one of them.

Charlotte Matthews.

Or Charlotte Smith as Cobalt and Alex thought of her within the confines of their shared mind. Apparently Cobalt was just waiting for the right time to actually adopt her. Walking into her compartment with a light knock, Alex smiled faintly,

"Knock knock Charlotte." he greeted her before sitting down beside her, "I've noticed you've been pretty down recently... what's up Char?"

Charlotte heard a knock at her door and she looked up, heart in her mouth just hoping it would be him, but of course it wasn't. He was busy doing something else, something without her that was obviously more important.

Who it was though was not a total disappointment, she smiled up at him and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes filling her sad expression in with a smile, just for the moment, after all Alex wouldn't want to hear this.

"Hey Alex..."

She whispered

"It's nothing I'm fine..."

Alex didn't feel emotions in quite the same way as humans did so when Charlotte saw that it was him, and her face fell a little, his pride wasn't stung like that of a human. If anything, it just made her sympathise with her even more. But the fact that she still smiled at his entrance made him feel warmer, happier. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in for a hug, Alex looked into her eyes with a sad smile,

"I know what Cobalt knows... remember? I can read it in your body language." he hugged her a little tighter, "Do you want to talk about it?"

When Alex pulled her into a hug and she wondered why Alex had chosen to come and see her, maybe he was worried about her? That would be lovely. And she was glad that he was hear it was better than being alone.

"I...I guess so...but I'm fine really..."

She lied.

It was probably very obvious that she was lying but Charlotte didn't want to seem stupid by getting upset over something that was not even that probably a big a deal, even if it was to her.

"I...I don't know if I should."

Hugging her had seemed like the most obviously route to making her feel even a little bit better but when she said she was fine, an obvious lie, he merely raised an eyebrow as he held her close to him,

"Well..." he kept his eyebrow raised, "I didn't think you disliked me enough to lie to me like that but it's up to you."

Alex looked her in the eyes for a few moments, in silence. It was obvious that whatever was wrong was hurting Charlotte and he didn't like to see that at all. If he had to compare it to a sensation he'd experience then it was like being punched in the stomach, a delightful experience he'd found after insulting some drunks at a bar,

"Well either way I'm here for you." he assured her, giving her a squeeze in the hug, "For whenever you need me."

Charlottes eyes widened and she looked at Alex and she gasped softly and she bit her lip as she hoped that she hadn't upset him, she tilted her head and she kissed him softly on the cheek.

"I'm sorry Alex, I just don't want the person to get into trouble."

She hugged him to her tightly and thought about the best way that she could tell him that someone was bothering her, one of the most important people in her life.

"Well...I have this friend..."

Charlotte gulped slightly and she squeezed Alex's hand deciding it would be best to tell him in an analogy: "And she's having second thoughts about someone she's close to...and is confused about him."

Alex, for some reason beyond his understanding, blushed a little when Charlotte kissed him on the cheek. Logically he knew about human hormones and such, which often gave this reaction, but he shouldn't be able to blush. He didn't actually have blood after all,

"It's alright Charlotte..." he told her with a quiet smile, "I understand. You want to protect them like you always do."

The tighter hug made Alex smile for no other reason than he rather enjoyed being hugged by Charlotte. As she began, Alex immediately came to the conclusion that this wasn't about her 'friend' at all but he smiled a little,

"Your friend." he agreed, urging her silently to continue. If she was comfortable telling him like this then who was he to tell her to say it differently? He held her small, warm, hand in his own and returned the small squeeze she gave him. He raised an eyebrow, "So your friend... she's having boyfriend troubles?"

Charlotte smiled softly at Alex and as he encouraged her to continue she did so, taking s large breath before she began to organise what she was going to say in her head and after she did so began to talk.

"No no no! Not trouble! Just something that she doesn't quite know what to do about, and its getting her a little down."

She looked at Alex and hugged herself to him, sliding to sit on his lap as she continued to think about what to say.

"She doesn't think that he's the same guy that she loved when they first started to talk, and she doesn't know if she liked this new person or not at the moment."

Charlotte bit her lip and she looked at his eyes, his quiet calm eyes and she smiled softly, biting her lip and trying to stop her voice from cracking as she spoke those next words and she hoped Alex wouldn't be mad.

"And she doesn't know if he can even love her..."

Alex chuckled a little as she denied that there was boyfriend trouble but at the same time gave a definition of what boyfriend troubles were by explaining her feelings on the matter. Sorry, the feelings her 'friend' had on the matter,

"Well Charlotte that sounds like boyfriend troubles to me." he observed with a small smile before shrugging a little bit, "If your friend is feeling down then why not just talk it through with her boyfriend? Or is the lack of communication the problem?"

When Charlotte moved to sit on his lap, he wrapped both of his arms around her and held her close to him with a small smile, enjoying being this close to her,

"People change a lot of the time Charlotte." he told her honestly, having seen it through the decades with Cobalt, "And when they do, the people close to them have to ask themselves if they still love them. If her boyfriend has changed that much... well then maybe it's time to examine the relationship. Maybe move on."

When Charlotte began to look into his eyes, he looked back into hers. They were a different colour to how they were in her base form but that didn't matter to Alex, they were beautiful eyes. He stroked a strand of hair out of her eyes,

"If that's the case..." he smiled sadly, "Then I think your friend needs to leave the relationship... if there's no love, or love is not certain... it shouldn't be worth hurting over."

Charlotte smiled softly up at Alex and she found herself biting her lip to stop herself from talking until she was strong enough to talk on her own without being privy to her voice breaking.

"I think it is, because they don't seem to have talked for a while. When they do she always gets upset because of how he is with her."

She bit her lip harder and she curled up into a little ball, fighting the desire to turn into a cat so that she didn't have to talk but she knew that she had to, she knew that if she didn't would get worse.

"And there's more..."

Charlotte sighed softly and sat up on Alex's knee so she could see his eyes while she spoke and blushed lightly when he stroked a strand of hair away from her eyes.

"Her daddy is a big problem."

Alex saw her biting on her lip, obviously trying to compose herself, and smiled softly at her as he held her close. He was willing to wait until she was ready to tell him after all. He was here to help her to the best of his abilities,

"I'm no expert on relationships... I spent untold years on a beach after all... but that doesn't sound like a healthy relationship to me Charlotte." he told her quietly, "If you only fight when you talk... and only talk when you're fighting... what reason is there to talk?"

When Charlotte curled up a little bit, almost into a ball, Alex was actually ready for her to turn into a cat like she did sometimes with Cobalt. After all, she obviously didn't want to talk about this and she wanted to feel better. And apparently getting stroked and scratched behind the ears made you happy as a cat,

"There's more huh?" he smiled softly, "Seems this friend of yours must be pretty strong for her to live with all of this."

Charlotte sat up on his knee and he looked directly into her eyes, their colours swirling with her current flurry of emotions. The light blush she gained from his instinctive action to move the hair away from her eyes made him smile a little,

"I don't know about your friend's dad..." he stroked her cheek, "But you're dad would never do anything that would make you unhappy. He swore an oath to that effect."

Charlotte smiled and she really thought that Alex was the best thing that could have come along now, he cheered her up a little, he was like Cobalt only he wasn't scary and she could relate to him, and he her, probably was easier because they both looked like kids.

"What do you know Alex," she teased poking his nose "You've never had a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, or another metal ball."

She grinned and dried her eyes, she had let out the explosion of emotions and she was feeling a little bit better but she was half transformed into a cat, she had small White cat ears and a tail, which she blushed at.

"Well...she's not that strong, she's just...just...a jellyfish."

Charlotte smiled, a quick ghost of a smile and she felt her heart beat hard in her chest as she looked into Alex's wyes, gasping softly she tilted her head away and blushed harder again.

"H-he did? W-why? What kind of oath?!"

Alex could see that Charlotte was relaxing around him and he was glad for it. Holding her was much more fun when she was relaxed. Wait... where did that thought come from? He paused in his line of thought for a second before deciding to just enjoys holding her. But when she spoke he flinced as if struck. Being so alone, so helplessly alone, for decades upon decades was still a sore spot,

"Yeah..." he whispered, glancing away, "What would I know about being human?"

Seeing her beginning to dry her eyes though, Alex immediately brightened up. It took him a few seconds before he realised that Charlotte was half-cat now. With Charlotte looking like a cat-girl out of an anime right now, Alex blushed deep red before reaching up and scratching behind her ears softly,

"Well I know one thing..." he said quietly, "You're not a jellyfish... you're a tiger."

The fact that she'd blushed harder made Alex blush in return. It made him feel a little sad that she'd gasped and turned away from him but he was too happy that she was happier,

"He made an oath... to protect you to the best of his abilities... to make sure you're happy, to the best of his abilities..." he told her quietly, deciding not to tell her that it was an unbreakable vow.

Charlotte looked at Alex and she gasped softly, he looked so alone and so sad for that one moment and she tilted his face towards her and she looked intently into his eyes, she didn't want him to ever be sad, she wanted him to be happy.

"Alex, I'm sorry, just forget I said anything, I'm so sorry Alex I can be such a jerk some times...please..."

She didn't want to upset him and he was the closest thing he had to an emotional rock right now and Charlotte didn't want to lose him too, but as he got happier she relaxed a little into him.

Purring loudly Charlotte leant into Alexs hand and she nuzzled his hand, she seemingly lost all control and wanted him to stroke her hair more.

"Mmmmm that's nice..."

Charlotte purred constantly and she forgot about Cobalt and her worries for a little moment, she wanted to keep that up.

" Dont stop."

Alex had been drifting in his memories, so many years of memories, of being alone on the beach when Charlotte tilted his face towards her and all he could see was her face, her eyes especially,

"It's okay Charlotte." he told her with a small smile, "I'm learning to deal with it all. Just a bit of a steep learning curve sometimes you know?"

He was glad that him being happier had made her relax into him more and he sighed happily as he held her close to him. Blushing as Charlotte seemed to be loving the scratching behind the ears, Alex continued to do so and tentatively stroked her tail a few times. It was rather strange to be petting a cat-girl but it was by no means unpleasant,

"It is?" he asked, blushing before scratching behind her ears a little harder, "Is that better?"

Blushing even more as Charlotte told him not to stop, Alex unwrapped his other arm from around her, trusting on the way she was leaning in towards him to keep her upright. Using both hands he scratched behind both of her ears, not noticing that Charlotte seemed to be almost periously close to him now.

Charlotte nodded, there was going to be things that Alex didn't know about to do with emotions and being human and she hoped that being her friend could help Alex get over that and make him more confident.

"It's okay Alex, I know, I understand completely Alex and I really want to help you get over that."

With that Charlotte lost all train of thought and she purred as loud as she could and she pressed her head as hard she she could into his hand and she even, much to her dismay, moaned a little bit as it felt too good.

Snapping out of it Charlotte gasped, and blushed wildly so that her hair turned a strawberry colour of pink and she bit her lip, looking at Alex she felt her heart hammering and she stood up, backing away slowly.

"Uhm...Uh..,gee...Alex...I'm sorry."

Alex knew there were things about being human, about being alive, that he didn't understand. He was intelligent, there was no doubt about that, but he was as ignorant as a child. He smiled at her offer,

"I'd like that Charlotte." he told her in a quiet whisper, "I really would."

The way she was purring so loudly and pushing her head into his hand made Alex blush even more. But when she moaned from the sensation his face went completely red and he felt the heat radiating off of him in waves. As Charlotte regained her senses, Alex pulled his hands away from her ears in case she didn't want him to touch her again. He swallowed nervously,

"It's my fault..." he apologised, blushing heavily, "I'm sorry... you just... um... well you seemed to be enjoying it..."

Charlotte heard just how sincere that Alex was and she grinned at him, she really would like the chance to be better friends with him, and hopefully help him on the way to becoming a better person.

"Then I shall do so, I will help you to become exactly what you want to be."

Looking at Alex Charlotte felt her heart hammering in her chest and she stood against the wall, her stockings reaching up to her knees but not covering all of her skin, she held her hands behind her back.

"I...I did enjoy it..."

Charlotte bit her lip and she leant her head back, her blush making her eyes dance with light.

"Very much so..."

Alex was glad that Charlotte was so glad that he wanted her help in making him a better person. She was the best person to go to about his problem with being a person. Cobalt was an understanding man but he wasn't exactly the picture of a stable human being all of the time,

"I want to be a person." he told her simply, smiling a little, "I want to be alive, Charlotte."

He watched her back up to the wall and was unable to draw his attention away from her tail, which was swinging ever so slightly next to her legs in such a way as the emphasis them and their creamy colour. Swallowing nervously as he was noticing her attractiveness in a much more physical way now,

"I'm glad you did..."

Standing up from his seat, Alex moved closer to Charlotte. Showing perhaps a bit of his ignorance at being human, he stroked her cheek gently with his fingertips,

"That's what matter... isn't it?" he asked, genuinely not understanding why she'd moved away.

Charlotte almost felt like crying when Alex said that she bit her lip and she hugged him tightly to her, grabbing him and pressing him to her body, hugging him closely while stroking his hair.

"You are Alex, you alive, you're a person, a lovely person."

Alex was seriously making this hard for her and she looked at the way that Alex surveyed her and she felt her heart flutter like it was going ten to the dozen and trying to burst free of her chest.

With that Charlotte blushed wildly, she looked up at him as he stepped closer to her and she pressed herself up against the door, Alex stroked her cheek and she leant into his hand.

"I'm not..,I can't...I have a boyfriend...I'm with Arsen...this isn't right."

But boy she wanted it.

Alex was taken by surprise when he was suddenly hugged so thoroughly by Charlotte but he found it very pleasant to say the least. He hugged her back as she stroked his hair, just enjoying holding her and being held,

"I'm not Charlotte... not yet." he told her quietly, smiling sadly, "But I'm getting there. You and Cobalt are helping me become more human. You will never know how much that means to me Charlotte."

Alex was only a few inches away from Charlotte now, the small gap between them looking so easy to get rid of. All it would take was one step and their bodies would be flush against each other. He stroked her cheek softly, enjoying the soft feel of her skin,

"I know..." he whispered sadly, "I know it's not right... I know but I don't think I can help it... I'll try though. For you Charlotte, I'll try."

Charlotte looked at Alex and she bit her lip, she didn't know what to say to that, she knew that Alex more than anyone would know if he was feeling alive or not, so she took his word for it.

"Okay then Alex, I will help you, for as long and as much as you want to, as long as you want me."

With that Charlotte tilted her head back and she looked at the ceiling of the carriage then back into his eyes, she couldn't imagine what this must feel like for Alex, he didn't understand and she couldn't explain.

"what...what if..."

No.

She couldn't say it, she couldn't say it it just wasn't right but she didn't want him to stop she wanted him to continue but she couldn't say that so she just looked into his eyes, with her cat ears flat against her head.

Alex smiled a little bit more at her, happy that she seemed to understand. He wasn't human yet, not really. Hell he was more like a tin doll of a human than anything else,

"As much as I want and as long as I want?" he chuckled softly, "You might be tied to me for awhile if that's the case."

When Charlotte looked up at the ceiling of the compartment, Alex couldn't help but notice the curve of her neck. Oh how he wanted nothing more than to kiss her neck tenderly. As she looked back into his eyes he felt caught by her eyes,

"What if?" he asked her quietly, moving half a step closer so that they were only an inch or two away from each other, "What if... what?"

Charlotte smiled, glad in the change of tone from a more sexual loving thing to something that could be thought of as a friendly gesture, she would love to spend a lot of time with Alex, only he seemed to understand her.

"That will be lovely! I'm sure it'll go by in no time I'm sure..."

Gasping softly Charlotte tried to press herself back up more against her side of the compartment, her tail tracing a pattern on Alex's leg while her cat ears stayed there, standing to attention and she blushed.

"I can't...Alex please...I just can't..."

She couldn't say it, she really couldn't but there was that desire there, but no, she wouldn't betray Arsen, she wouldn't, Charlotte wasn't like that she was loyal she really was and she didn't like it when she felt conflicted.

"Don't..." she whispered