"Sure I'll call if there are any problems," Louis told Charlotte's brother for the umpteenth time. He'd been kind enough to drop her off but his motives were obvious. Having invited himself in, Sam had made some not too subtle comments as he'd surveyed the place. Louis knew a warning when he heard it.

"Right," Sam said shoving his hands in his pockets. "I guess I'll leave you guys to it." Behind his back, Charlotte rolled her eyes and Louis stifled a grin.

"I'll look after her," he said. "I always did."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Sam said visibly relaxing. "But you can't blame me for being concerned."

"No, of course not." Shame he hadn't shown the same concern when she was with her ex-husband. However, he opened the door, resisting the temptation to shove Sam through it. "And I'll make sure Lottie's home before Nick drops her son off."

Sam nodded. "Okay, I'll shut up now. See you, Charlotte."

"Goodbye brother," she said a smile playing on her lips as he closed the door behind him. "Sorry about the interrogation but he worries about me."

"I'm sure he has good cause to," Louis said pointedly and Charlotte scowled. "I just mean about Nick and everything."

Charlotte sighed as she threw her bag down. "I hope we're not going to spend the weekend dissecting my marriage?"

"Nah I think our time can be better spent."

She bit her lip, trying not to smile. "I'd ask you what you meant but I suspect I wouldn't get a straight answer."

"You suspect wrong."

"I see," she said flushing. She bent down to unzip her bag, taking out her nightclothes and toiletries. "Louis, as much as I enjoy spending time with you I can't make any promises."

"Yeah, I know that. How about we don't talk about it all this heavy stuff? I invited you here so you could relax and have a bit of space. I don't have an agenda."

She frowned, looking at him uncertainly. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I wouldn't want to lead you on though?"

"Let me get you a drink," he said moving into what passed as the kitchen and taking two glasses from the cupboard. Charlotte passed him a bottle of wine that she'd taken from her bag.

"I remember last time you only had spirits."

He opened the bottle filling both glasses. "I did get some wine in, white and red since I don't know which you prefer." He cringed thinking he sounded too eager to please.

"You shouldn't have, but thank you." She took her glass, smiling shyly. "If you don't mind, I'm going to get undressed now."

He swallowed, trying not to read too much into her words. "Undressed?"

"Into my nightclothes." She slowly rolled her eyes. "We are having a sleepover aren't we?"

He cleared his throat. "Lottie, the way you say sleepover, it's kinda de-masculating."

She laughed. "That's not a word, Louis!"

"That's kinda how I feel though."

She raised her glass to her lips. "Well if you don't want to be friends," she said sounding more serious.

"I do want to be friends," he said reaching out to her, his hand resting lightly on her waist. "I mean I spent years trying to convince myself I hated you but I never did."

"Why would you do that?" she asked her hurt clear.

"Because I'd lost the best thing that ever happened to me." She met his eyes before allowing him to pull her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her thinking she had to realise they were more than friends. However he knew not to push it, she always was stubborn and it was best to let her come around in her own time.

~~~

Charlotte woke up, the cold air pinching at her bare arm. She pulled the blanket around herself and tried to snuggle back down when she realised she was alone in bed. Perturbed she opened her eyes, seeking out Louis and was surprised to see he was sat at the kitchen table. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she looked at the bedside clock and saw it was little after four in the morning.

What was he doing up at this time?

" Louis?" She sat up, feeling hesitant as if she were the one disturbing him.

He turned around to look at her. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, I was cold." She swung her legs out of bed and pulled her dressing gown on. "What are you doing up, it's the middle of the night." She joined him at the kitchen table and he pulled her onto his knee.

"I'll get you another blanket," he said. "I don't want you being too cold to sleep."

"No, it's fine." She looked down at the table, a newspaper was spread out in front of him. "It's an odd time to be reading the news."

He met her eyes before looking away. "I don't always sleep that well. Back in the army, I got used to getting by on the bare minimum and I guess old habits die hard."

"I'd imagine it takes time to readjust," she said carefully thinking it had to be a good six months since he'd left, probably longer.

"Yeah and sometimes, sometimes I can't switch off. Like just when I'm about to go to sleep my mind goes into overdrive thinking about all this stuff I try not to let myself think about." He shrugged self-consciously. "I guess I shouldn't think so much."

"No, that makes sense to me," she said thinking it was the first time he'd so much as hinted about his experiences in Vietnam. "There's stuff you stop yourself dwelling on during the day but when you switch off at night you let it back in."

"Yeah, something like that but it's nothing really. Plenty of guys have it worse."

She opened her mouth, wanting to reassure him but what did she know? "Louis, you do know you can talk to me? I can't pretend I understand but I can certainly listen."

He pulled her closer to him. "It's nothing, Lottie, honestly. I'm being self-indulgent and that's not what I wanted this weekend to be about."

"I've offloaded plenty of things onto you." Things she hadn't necessarily wanted to. "I am here for you as well."

He shook his head a slight smile on his face. "But I want to be here for you."

"It's not a competition as to who has had it worse," she said frowning.

"I know, but what I went through, it's over. You're still going through it, you haven't had a resolution yet."

Her heart sank at the reminder. "Maybe I will before much longer. Rosalind had an idea..." She bit her lip wary about continuing. "It was a stupid idea."

"Go on."

"Well, she thought I could confront the woman Nick was having an affair with." She cringed thinking it sounded like the plotline in a bad movie. "Basically, I should try to appeal to her better nature and get her to acknowledge the affair so I could cite it in the divorce petition and not have to go down the spousal abuse road."

Louis leaned back, his eyes scrutinising her. "Have you thought this through? I wouldn't want to see you do anything that could hurt you. And I don't just mean emotionally, I mean your case."

She closed her eyes. "You think it's a bad idea, don't you? But this woman was having an affair with my husband. She told me."

He placed a hand over hers. "I believe you. But I'm not sure this is the right thing for you to do. I think you should speak to Dale, I'd hate to see this backfire on you in some way."

She opened her mouth to protest but he'd simply expressed her doubts. "I kind of think you're right," she admitted sighing. "Nick's side are trying to present me as unstable, delusional..."

"And this will be playing into their hands?"

She nodded. "I don't know what to do for the best."

"Surely it's just a matter of time. Nick has to know you are serious, he'll back down eventually."

"Maybe."

"He will." He stood up, picking her up as he did so. "Now let's get you back to bed."

She tightened her arms around his neck lest he drop her. "Louis you'll put your back out."

He looked down at her grinning. "I'm used to heavy objects."

"Why, you," She spluttered indignantly as he carried her back to bed.

"You can trust me, Lottie," he said as he laid her down. "Don't ever forget it."

                                                                          ~~~

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