Ten Things Charlotte Charles Never Told the Pie-maker
Fandom: Pushing Daisies
Pairing: Ned/Chuck
Rating: G
Summary: Chuck’s hidden memories of Ned
Disclaimer: I only own these characters in my thoroughly romantic, yet over-zealous imagination.
All of her first life and much of the second, the girl called Chuck felt she could tell the Pie-maker most anything. They shared the kind of bond where she would never be too embarrassed or self-conscious to share her thoughts, memories or wishes with him. And yet, there were a few things from her past that she had locked away in her mind, like a trunk filled with dusty old blankets and faded photo albums. These closed up thoughts and memories were something she suspected she would never share, no matter how close they were, because they were about him.
1.
When the five-year-old Charlotte Charles first moved to Cour de Cours, she dreamed that a girl her age would live nearby. Instead, she discovered a shy, awkward boy living across the street. But it didn’t take her long to discover they liked the same things, could happily play together for hours and that she preferred his company more than any one else’s, except for her father, of course. Around her, Ned was talkative (even if he stuttered a little when nervous) but didn’t much like talking to others. And she, who would never be at a loss of words, was happy to do his talking for him because she seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say. She never told him how this made her feel -as if they had a special, secret connection. It just felt right. Everything with Ned felt, well, so very right.
2.
Charlotte never knew her mother and, as much as she loved her father, couldn’t help thinking of the ragged, aching hole in her life where a mother’s gentle love should be. When she pondered this, which was more often than she liked to admit, she couldn’t help but feel lonely. So sometimes, just sometimes, Chuck secretly pretended Ned’s mom was her mom as well. His mother always welcomed her to their home with a quick hug, kiss her skinned knees when she fell playing in their backyard and say that Charlotte could stay as long as she liked. The three of them would sit at Ned’s kitchen table in the afternoons, eating many different flavored pies and laughing over corny jokes, like a family. But unbeknownst to them, when Chuck returned home, she couldn’t help feeling lonelier than ever - and a little more than envious of her best friend.
3.
The kiss, oh that kiss. Short, sweet and everything she could dream for in a first kiss. His lips were so soft and his breath warm. But what she never told him, and probably never would, is that she had thought about kissing him many times before that. In fact, the determined and headstrong Chuck had been waiting for just the right moment. Never would she have imagined that moment would come at the funeral of her father and his mother. But, in the end, it had been perfect timing because that’s exactly when they needed each other the most.
4.
After Ned left with his father for boarding school, Charlotte wrote him a letter; a long one where she had to look up all words she didn’t know how to spell. She told him how school was going, how she hadn’t seen his father since Ned had left and how much she missed him. She asked him about his new school, if he made any new friends (would he like them more than her?) and where had Digby gone? What she didn’t write was how she cried herself to sleep every night, her head under her pillow so her aunts wouldn’t hear. How if she only had him to talk to, maybe this terrible overwhelming ache for her father would lessen. But then it didn’t matter what she didn’t tell him - because without an address, she couldn’t send the letter anyway.
5.
Over the next few years, Charlotte carefully guarded a secret from her aunts. At night, especially on a full moon, she would look out her window and watch his house, hoping a light would go on upstairs or that a car would turn into the driveway. Or, if they’d been out of town on tour, she would run across the street as soon as she got home to look in the windows, hoping for furniture, suitcases - anything to signify that someone had moved back home. If she wished it hard enough, he had to come back, didn’t he? She’d like to say she only did this for a year or two, but that wouldn’t be the truth.
6.
At the age of eleven, Charlotte kissed a boy for the second time. It was at Katy Jensen’s birthday party, after the games but before the cake. Jeffy Nichols had been making faces at her every time the grownups looked the other way and she knew what that meant. She thought he was cute enough, although rather noisy and he seemed to care what the other boys thought of him too much. Then, during a game of hide-n-seek, he pulled her behind the rose bushes and pushed his lips to hers. Charlotte expected it to be like her first kiss, but she could only think how hard his lips were, how his hair smelled like dirt and that she knew that he’d tell all the other boys about this (and she was very right about that). If this had been her first kiss, it probably would have been her last.
7.
When Charlotte’s aunts arrived, she kept feeling that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t just that she grieved for her father or that she missed Ned. No, there was something else missing, something else that made her feel unlike the self she’d been before. It wasn’t until school started and the teacher asked if she had a nickname that she realized what it was. She missed being called Chuck or perhaps it was really the easiness of being with someone who felt comfortable enough to give her a nickname. She feared she’d never have that kind of relationship again in her life. And, as it turned out, she was right.
8.
When Charlotte had turned twelve, she could go weeks at a time without thinking about Ned at all. (Or, at least that’s what she had made herself believe.) Then the Darling Mermaid Darlings would go on tour, moving from city to city. And once again, Charlotte would catch herself scanning the crowds, looking for someone with those green eyes, honey-colored hair and wide smile. She knew he wouldn't look exactly the same, but she was certain she’d know him immediately. And so she watched, wondering in each town if this was where he lived now and feeling sure he would know her right away if they were to bump into each other. Or, at least, she hoped and prayed he would, then he would still be “her Ned.”
9.
She hadn’t been looking for anything specific that day in the cellar. Bored, she decided to explore, knowing that her aunts stored their props and costumes for their now-abandoned act down in the moldy, wet room under the house. It was when moving one of trunks that she discovered Aunt Lily’s musty collection of historic erotica. The 16-year-old Charlotte knew all about sex and while she hadn’t yet lost her virginity, had already had some heavy breathing experiences with a boy in her high school math class. But they had broken up and when she started to read about the act itself, another boy’s face kept popping up in her mind - a boy she didn’t recognize. It took several trips to the cellar, trips that left her face flushed for the rest of the afternoon, for her to finally figure out whom she imagined living out the stories she read- a tall, lanky man with a deep voice, green eyes and a stammer when he spoke. It could only be Ned all grown up. Or, at least, what she imagined he’d look like at 17. Why him, she could only wonder.
10.
When he first brought her back to life, Charlotte didn’t really get a good look at Ned because, well, she was too busy trying to fend him off with a chair. Then he explained everything and she realized that she should have recognized him immediately as he had grown up to look exactly like she thought he would - tall, handsome and sweet, not to mention extremely sexy. Later, as she lay in her dark coffin, waiting for him to come get her, she couldn’t help smiling as she replayed in her head a few of those fantasies from her secret afternoons in the cellar. When he opened the coffin lid, and the light of a new life shone on her face, she could only hope it wasn’t too flushed.
And a girl called Chuck hoped that would be the last secret she would ever want to keep from her Pie-maker.
Pairing: Ned/Chuck
Rating: G
Summary: Chuck’s hidden memories of Ned
Disclaimer: I only own these characters in my thoroughly romantic, yet over-zealous imagination.
All of her first life and much of the second, the girl called Chuck felt she could tell the Pie-maker most anything. They shared the kind of bond where she would never be too embarrassed or self-conscious to share her thoughts, memories or wishes with him. And yet, there were a few things from her past that she had locked away in her mind, like a trunk filled with dusty old blankets and faded photo albums. These closed up thoughts and memories were something she suspected she would never share, no matter how close they were, because they were about him.
1.
When the five-year-old Charlotte Charles first moved to Cour de Cours, she dreamed that a girl her age would live nearby. Instead, she discovered a shy, awkward boy living across the street. But it didn’t take her long to discover they liked the same things, could happily play together for hours and that she preferred his company more than any one else’s, except for her father, of course. Around her, Ned was talkative (even if he stuttered a little when nervous) but didn’t much like talking to others. And she, who would never be at a loss of words, was happy to do his talking for him because she seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say. She never told him how this made her feel -as if they had a special, secret connection. It just felt right. Everything with Ned felt, well, so very right.
2.
Charlotte never knew her mother and, as much as she loved her father, couldn’t help thinking of the ragged, aching hole in her life where a mother’s gentle love should be. When she pondered this, which was more often than she liked to admit, she couldn’t help but feel lonely. So sometimes, just sometimes, Chuck secretly pretended Ned’s mom was her mom as well. His mother always welcomed her to their home with a quick hug, kiss her skinned knees when she fell playing in their backyard and say that Charlotte could stay as long as she liked. The three of them would sit at Ned’s kitchen table in the afternoons, eating many different flavored pies and laughing over corny jokes, like a family. But unbeknownst to them, when Chuck returned home, she couldn’t help feeling lonelier than ever - and a little more than envious of her best friend.
3.
The kiss, oh that kiss. Short, sweet and everything she could dream for in a first kiss. His lips were so soft and his breath warm. But what she never told him, and probably never would, is that she had thought about kissing him many times before that. In fact, the determined and headstrong Chuck had been waiting for just the right moment. Never would she have imagined that moment would come at the funeral of her father and his mother. But, in the end, it had been perfect timing because that’s exactly when they needed each other the most.
4.
After Ned left with his father for boarding school, Charlotte wrote him a letter; a long one where she had to look up all words she didn’t know how to spell. She told him how school was going, how she hadn’t seen his father since Ned had left and how much she missed him. She asked him about his new school, if he made any new friends (would he like them more than her?) and where had Digby gone? What she didn’t write was how she cried herself to sleep every night, her head under her pillow so her aunts wouldn’t hear. How if she only had him to talk to, maybe this terrible overwhelming ache for her father would lessen. But then it didn’t matter what she didn’t tell him - because without an address, she couldn’t send the letter anyway.
5.
Over the next few years, Charlotte carefully guarded a secret from her aunts. At night, especially on a full moon, she would look out her window and watch his house, hoping a light would go on upstairs or that a car would turn into the driveway. Or, if they’d been out of town on tour, she would run across the street as soon as she got home to look in the windows, hoping for furniture, suitcases - anything to signify that someone had moved back home. If she wished it hard enough, he had to come back, didn’t he? She’d like to say she only did this for a year or two, but that wouldn’t be the truth.
6.
At the age of eleven, Charlotte kissed a boy for the second time. It was at Katy Jensen’s birthday party, after the games but before the cake. Jeffy Nichols had been making faces at her every time the grownups looked the other way and she knew what that meant. She thought he was cute enough, although rather noisy and he seemed to care what the other boys thought of him too much. Then, during a game of hide-n-seek, he pulled her behind the rose bushes and pushed his lips to hers. Charlotte expected it to be like her first kiss, but she could only think how hard his lips were, how his hair smelled like dirt and that she knew that he’d tell all the other boys about this (and she was very right about that). If this had been her first kiss, it probably would have been her last.
7.
When Charlotte’s aunts arrived, she kept feeling that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t just that she grieved for her father or that she missed Ned. No, there was something else missing, something else that made her feel unlike the self she’d been before. It wasn’t until school started and the teacher asked if she had a nickname that she realized what it was. She missed being called Chuck or perhaps it was really the easiness of being with someone who felt comfortable enough to give her a nickname. She feared she’d never have that kind of relationship again in her life. And, as it turned out, she was right.
8.
When Charlotte had turned twelve, she could go weeks at a time without thinking about Ned at all. (Or, at least that’s what she had made herself believe.) Then the Darling Mermaid Darlings would go on tour, moving from city to city. And once again, Charlotte would catch herself scanning the crowds, looking for someone with those green eyes, honey-colored hair and wide smile. She knew he wouldn't look exactly the same, but she was certain she’d know him immediately. And so she watched, wondering in each town if this was where he lived now and feeling sure he would know her right away if they were to bump into each other. Or, at least, she hoped and prayed he would, then he would still be “her Ned.”
9.
She hadn’t been looking for anything specific that day in the cellar. Bored, she decided to explore, knowing that her aunts stored their props and costumes for their now-abandoned act down in the moldy, wet room under the house. It was when moving one of trunks that she discovered Aunt Lily’s musty collection of historic erotica. The 16-year-old Charlotte knew all about sex and while she hadn’t yet lost her virginity, had already had some heavy breathing experiences with a boy in her high school math class. But they had broken up and when she started to read about the act itself, another boy’s face kept popping up in her mind - a boy she didn’t recognize. It took several trips to the cellar, trips that left her face flushed for the rest of the afternoon, for her to finally figure out whom she imagined living out the stories she read- a tall, lanky man with a deep voice, green eyes and a stammer when he spoke. It could only be Ned all grown up. Or, at least, what she imagined he’d look like at 17. Why him, she could only wonder.
10.
When he first brought her back to life, Charlotte didn’t really get a good look at Ned because, well, she was too busy trying to fend him off with a chair. Then he explained everything and she realized that she should have recognized him immediately as he had grown up to look exactly like she thought he would - tall, handsome and sweet, not to mention extremely sexy. Later, as she lay in her dark coffin, waiting for him to come get her, she couldn’t help smiling as she replayed in her head a few of those fantasies from her secret afternoons in the cellar. When he opened the coffin lid, and the light of a new life shone on her face, she could only hope it wasn’t too flushed.
And a girl called Chuck hoped that would be the last secret she would ever want to keep from her Pie-maker.