Chapter Text
Alastor was reading the newspaper at his desk when Charlie entered. “Morning, sweetheart!”
“Hi.” She sounded grumpy as she flopped in her desk chair.
“Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
“Basically.” Charlie pulled out her phone and turned it up. There was a loud beep and then a shrill voice began speaking.
“Heeeeeey Char-Char! It’s Madison Hollingsworth. I was just calling to invite you to our class reunion! What have you been up to? You’ve been MIA since your dad kicked you out for making a fool of yourself! KIDDING! But really, I do hope you’ll come! It’s next week and I can’t WAIT to introduce you to my fiance! Bye char-char!”
Alastor looked as though he’d smelled something bad. “Ugh.”
“I know, right? Madison always loved making me feel like shit. I’ve got to start coming up with a reason I can’t go before calling her back.”
“Why wouldn’t you go?” Alastor asked.
“Uh, because all of those people are terrible?”
“Exactly! They’re terrible! So wouldn’t it feel wonderful to show up and show them how well you’re doing?”
Charlie snorted. “Sure, I’m doing great. Single. No kids. Estranged parents. Failing hotel. Unofficial laughingstock of hell.” She rubbed her temples.
“Surely that’s not truly how you see yourself?” She jumped as Alastor was suddenly right beside her.
“Why not? It’s the truth. Anyway, I have better things to focus on than Madison Hollingsworth.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Rosie looked at Alastor curiously. “What’s going on with you? You’re letting your finger get all pruney.”
“Whoops!” Alastor pulled out the finger from his cup of tea and popped it into his mouth. “I’m afraid I’m a bit distracted by something. Charlotte received a phone call from some horrible harpy she went to school with inviting her to some sort of reunion. She doesn’t want to go because she feels like a failure.”
“A failure?! No way!” Rosie scoffed.
“I know. I just wish there was a way I could make her feel better.”
Rosie gave him a sly smile. “You’ve got a soft spot for the princess.”
“That’s slander, Rosie! Really, I’m more bothered by the lack of respect. She’s the princess of hell, after all!”
“So why don’t you go with her? You’re great at making other people feel small! Show those assholes that she deserves some respect!”
“Not a bad idea, Rosie. Not a bad idea…”
A few days passed and Charlie was working late by herself when her phone rang. “Hello?”
“CHAR-CHAR!” Crap. She should’ve paid more attention.
“Madison! Hey! I’ve been meaning to call you back.”
“Oh don’t worry, your fiance already confirmed that you were coming! Quite a big fish you’ve got hooked, huh? The radio demon!”
Charlie could’ve crushed her phone in the palm of her hand.
“He did, did he?”
“We can’t WAIT to meet him! I just wanted to call and make sure you got the itinerary I sent! Check in and the mixer is Friday night. Saturday will be events at the country club with the reunion ball that night, then a goodbye brunch on Sunday! I’ve gotta go, but I can’t WAIT to see you! Bye Char-Char!”
Alastor was reading in his room when his shadow suddenly jumped and began gesturing. It was pointing towards the door in a panic. Odd.
“ALASTOR!” There was a pounding on his door. Ah, his shadow had been trying to warn him. He opened the door with a bright smile.
“Hello, dear! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“What did you DO?!”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific.”
“How about calling Madison and saying I was coming to the reunion? Oh, scratch that, that WE were coming to the reunion! Me and my FIANCE, the radio demon!”
“Ah! You’re here to thank me! It was hard to tell by your angry shouting. You’re welcome, dear.”
He saw literal fire in Charlie’s eyes. “I’m FURIOUS with you, Alastor! I didn’t want to go to this stupid reunion, and now I have to go and lie my way through it! Why the fuck would you do that?! Is this your idea of some kind of a sick joke?!” He seriously hadn’t anticipated her reaction. He felt awful when he saw her tear filled eyes. “I’m just going to call Madison back and tell her the truth.”
“Charlie, wait-“ he grabbed her hand, surprising them both. She looked at him, waiting for an explanation. He realized he was just kind of holding her hand and dropped it. “Bear with me, dear. I don’t do this sort of thing very often.” He straightened his jacket and stood tall. “You are a person that I tolerate.”
“Oh boy, this is NOT off to a good start.”
“Hush, I’m trying. You are a person whose feelings matter to me. I don’t like it when someone hurts those feelings. Therefore, I intend to go with you and hurt the individuals that have hurt you.”
Charlie blinked at him. “Ok, your heart is in the right place, and I appreciate that. But I think hurting people would kind of send the wrong message.”
“I think it sends a very clear message. If someone hurts you, they have to answer to me.” Alastor’s voice crackled and his dials began to spin. Then he returned to his regular smile. “I’ll agree to put a pin in slaughtering them for now, BUT we’re going to that reunion and those imbeciles will see what a beautiful, brilliant woman you are.”
Charlie couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “Aaaaaw, Al! That’s so sweet!”
“It is NOT sweet. I’m simply ensuring that they’re giving you the respect you deserve.”
“Sure, sure.”
“I’ve enlisted the help of a few individuals to make sure you’re ready for this weekend. We’ll meet with them tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to get our stories straight.”
“Stories?”
“I’m your fiance, remember? How long have we been together? How long have we been engaged? Do we have a wedding date? These are the things we need to nail down. Do you have any plans this evening?”
“No, just coming to yell at you. That was all.” Charlie smirked.
“Well now that that’s been checked off the list, let’s get to work!”
~~~~~~~~~
“No. Hideous. I hate it. This is SHIT!” Velvette groaned. “Remind me what we need.”
“Um, I don’t really NEED anything, I can just wear something I already have. Not that I don’t appreciate your help!” Charlie smiled.
“Ugh, don’t ever say something that stupid again. NEXT!”
Charlie was standing in Velvette’s studio, a place she never expected to be. They’d formed a shaky alliance with the Vees, but she wondered why Velvette had agreed to help her. “Hey Velvette?”
“What?” Velvette snapped.
“Thank you for helping me with this. I know we’ve not always gotten along-“
“Don’t be thinking we’ll be braiding each other’s hair and having pillow fights. When I heard the reason you needed some clothing, I was on board. I’m a petty bitch and I LOVE to get revenge by looking hot. If you really want to impress them, name drop me. You can call me a friend on this ONE occasion, alright?”
Charlie grinned and nodded. “These are beautiful dresses.”
“I know. Does Alastor like any certain color on you?” She snapped her fingers and Charlie was in her underwear.
“Um, no? I don’t think so?” She made a feeble attempt to cover herself.
“Come on, there’s got to be something that makes him rip your panties off.”
“What?! No, no, no! We’re just friends.”
Velvette looked up from her design book. “What?”
“We’re just friends. He’s just helping me.”
Velvette snorted and rolled her eyes. “Are you seriously that dense? He’s got it bad for you. At every overlord meeting he just won’t shut the fuck up about you. It’s cute in a pathetic sort of way.”
“We’re just really good friends.”
“Whatever. I’m gonna make you look so hot that your ‘good friend’ will want to jump you in the hallway.”
Velvette had finished taking her measurements and said she’d send over a wardrobe of clothing before Friday. The next stop had been to see Rosie.
“Velvette may know how to dress you to turn some heads, but if you wanna look classy, you come to aunt Rosie.” Rosie smiled and handed Charlie a dress. “Fitting room is right back there, doll.”
Alastor was looking at the jewelry case and seemed lost in thought.
“Watcha looking for, Al?
“We need engagement rings.”
“No problem, I’ve got something that’ll look really nice for a low price.”
“No. I want to get something really nice.”
Rosie looked at him questioningly. “For the weekend?”
“If she’s to be my fiance, there’s no way she’d walk around with any old ring on her finger. It has to be perfect.”
“I really don’t think anyone will pay that much attention to it.”
“I will. And Charlie will. What about that one?” He pointed to a particularly sparkly looking ring.
“Tiffany, two and a half karats. Circa 1920s. Comes with a hefty price tag.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Alastor, it’s over 50 g’s!”
“I’ll take it. She deserves the best.”
Rosie was mumbling under her breath as he moved down the jewelry counter.
“Hey guys? Can one of you zip me up?”
“Coming, doll!” Rosie headed to the back while Alastor continued perusing the jewelry counter. He was eyeing a diamond bracelet when he heard the click of heels. “Well?”
Alastor turned around and a loud screech of static startled them all. He opened his mouth and there was a blast of swing music. He quickly shut it and simply gave Charlie a thumbs up while she and Rosie snickered.
She was in a red silk dress that seemed to be sculpted to her body. It was fitted and clung to her in all the right ways. The straps hung off her shoulders and she had ample cleavage that had seemingly appeared in the last ten minutes.
“I love it, but I’m just worried about walking and dancing since it’s so tight.” Charlie did a slow turn and Alastor’s brain was effectively fried.
“Oh that’s no problem. Quick adjustment aaaaand: voila!” Rosie had used her magic and altered the dress, changing the bottom from being form fitting to having a slit that went up to mid thigh. “Ugh, you’ve got legs for days. Might as well show them off!”
“Much better!” Charlie stuck out one of her long, toned legs and Alastor was transfixed. He made himself look away and found Rosie smirking at him.
Oh, she knew EXACTLY what she was doing.
“You look lovely, dear. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to browse.” He had to get out of there. He returned to the jewelry counter and began selecting things he wanted to get for Charlie.
If he was being honest with himself, (something he didn’t care to do) he LOVED the idea of spoiling her. She worked so hard trying to help everyone else, even if it was at her own detriment. He’d lost track of the nights he brought her dinner because she forgot to eat, or rousing her after she fell asleep on her desk. And he knew she’d had a tough time since her split with Vaggie, despite how hard she tried to hide it. So this weekend he was going to spoil and pamper her the way she deserved.
He’d sent her to look at record albums while he paid for the items. He knew she would object and protest if she saw how much he was spending. “I’m not gonna turn down a sale, but I think this is nuts.” Rosie shook her head as she rang him up.
The next day, Angel had taken her for a mani-pedi and Alastor was manning the front desk. A large package arrived and he noticed the V logo. There was an envelope on the top with his name on it. He opened it and pulled out the letter curiously.
“Alastor-
Don’t let the Princess look at this stuff before you go. You and I both know she’ll say it’s too much and want to pack her own shit. I’ve literally supplied everything down to her knickers (which happen to be very easy to rip off, just FYI) so don’t let her bring any other clothes. She’s gonna look hot as fuck. Don’t be a pussy and make a move before somebody else does, and they will, because she’s going to be smoking hot. “
Alastor rolled his eyes. The woman thought she knew everything! He did want to peek in the box, but figured that would be improper, so he simply took it to his room and tucked it away. When he came back downstairs, he saw Charlie and Angel entering. Charlie was walking strangely, with her legs wide and stiff. She mumbled a hello to Alastor and headed upstairs.
“Is she alright?”
“Oh yeah, she’ll be fine.” Angel smirked.
“What happened?”
“While we were at the salon, I talked her into getting waxed.”
“Oh my, I’ve heard that’s quite unpleasant. She was walking strangely, it must’ve been very painful.
Angel grinned and snorted. “That ain’t why she’s walking like that. She just got her first bikini wax.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what that is.”
“The areas a bikini would cover. Ya know.” Angel pointed at his crotch and Alastor’s eyes widened.
“WHY?! My god, that sounds barbaric!”
“Because I happen to know for a fact that the swimsuit Velvette sent is a bit skimpier than she’s used to, so she needed to be ready. You ok, strawberry? You look like you’re gonna pass out.”
“You shouldn’t be discussing these matters with me.”
Angel just laughed his way up the stairs and Alastor shuddered. That sounded like it should be a form of torture.
Alastor waited at the bottom of the stairs with his one measly suitcase and checked his watch. They really needed to leave soon. He heard a grunting sound and saw husk carrying a stack of luggage. “I ain’t a damn pack mule! Gonna throw out my back.”
“I’ll be happy to massage it for ya, Husky.” Angel purred. Husk gave him the middle finger in response.
“Where’s Charlie?”
“She’ll be down in a minute.” Angel replied.
“-My number, and my backup number, and I also included the number for the resort, so if you have ANY questions-“
“Charlie, it’ll be fine.” Vaggie smiled and reassured her. “Go have a good time.”
“Please don’t forget to still do the group exercises! Angel will use my absence as an excuse! Also-“
“Just gooooo!” She and Vaggie entered the lobby and there was a screech, a blast of jazz, then a high pitch frequency that made them all cover their ears.
“Apologies.” Alastor cleared his throat. “You look lovely. Are you ready to go?”
Charlie was in a SHORT black strapless dress and tall heels that made her legs look even longer. Her hair was nearly curled and pushed to one side, and her lips were ruby red. She was the most stunning creature he’d ever seen.
“Thanks, Al! Alright, bye guys! I’ll call you every ten minutes!”
“It’ll be FINE, toots! Go make all those assholes jealous.” Angel gave her a quick hug.
“Come along, dear! Our ride is waiting.” Alastor escorted her outside and she was surprised to see a limousine.
“This is waaaaay too much.” Charlie cringed.
“Nonsense! We’re a power couple. We should arrive in style.”
“I’m already dreading this.” Alastor opened the door for her while an imp loaded the suitcases.