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“Daydreaming runs in his family.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Luna has a vivid imagination. She’s been day-dreaming about aliens and other planets since she was little,”
“Why? What did you think I meant?”
___________________________________________________________________________
“He said what?” Rose Calloway Cobalt questions her youngest, Audrey, in the living room of the Cobalt estate.
Rose had been reading her newest copy of Eleanor Roosevelt’s memoir, This I Remember, when Audrey ran into the room - long flowey dress trailing behind her - and gave her mother the horrifying news that Charlie, in Audrey’s words, had dismantled the family name.
“Mother, he is very clearly talking about dear Aunt Lily and I will not stand for it. You must hunt him down and make him regret the day he was born. Mother you must seek justice for your sister,” Audrey exclaimed, theatrical as always.
“Audrey, show me the clip,” Rose beckoned her daughter to take a seat next to her on the white chaise lounge.
“Mother, you won’t be pleased with the contents of this video, I must warn you.”
“Audrey Virginia Cobalt, play the video.”
Rose was becoming increasingly worried that her son had, quite literally, dropped his aunts name on stage, and even though Lily would never - could never - be mad, it would break her heart. And if Lily’s heart were to be broken, Charlie could expect a furious Uncle Lo on his doorstep upon his return from the Fan Con.
Audrey clicked the play button on the video, and instantly the screams of thousands of young and old fans could be heard through the phone speakers.
“Charlie, are you dating anyone?” A young man asks into a microphone.
Charlie leans forward in his seat, looking beyond disinterested, “No.”
Rose couldn’t help but let a small smile pass. Her second oldest gremlin was rude, nobody was denying that, but she applauded how he answered such ridiculous questions.
The questions then gravitated to Jane when another audience member asked about her career path, Rose knew it was a sore spot, and as much as Jane tried to convince her and Connor that her “purpose” was coming, they were waiting for her to realize that she didn’t need to look so hard for it.
“I’m happy to be the CFO of H.M.C Philanthropies.”
For now, Rose thought to herself.
The microphone is then passed to another young girl who looks as if she could faint in the presence of the group.
“Moffy, who is your inspiration?”
Nothing. Moffy doesn’t respond, completely in his own head.
“Here it is, this is when he says it,” Audrey whispers, poking Rose in the arm.
“Day-dreaming runs in his family,” Charlie brazenly says into his microphone.
Rose’s stomach drops as Moffy’s head snaps up and even from the distance of the camera, she can see the fire in her nephews eyes.
“What is that supposed to mean,” Moffy questions, voice giving away his fury.
“Luna has a vivid imagination. Shes been day-dreaming about aliens and other plants since she was little,” he pauses, a small smirk forming on the corner of his mouth, “why? What did you think I meant?”
Moffy is fuming, Rose can tell, because Rose is fuming.
“Turn it off,” Rose says to Audrey, her fingers perch themselves on the tops of her temples.
“Mother, what are we to do? He cannot get away with this. Both you and I know Charlie was not talking about Luna. He is purposely hurting Aunt Lily because of his feud with Maximoff and I will not stand for it. Aunt Lily does not deserve these cruel words, she is kind and generous and-”
“Audrey, please,” Rose cuts her off, “I understand that you are upset, I will be honest with you gremlin, I am greatly upset with your brother. But I am going to need you to reign in your inner chaos, because we are not going to hunt Charlie down, and we are not planning a great revenge plot.”
“Bu-but, mother!” Audrey yelled, “Aunt Lily is your sister, what happened to family loyalty?! Charlie is a traitor, he must be banished!”
“Audrey, we don’t banish family, no matter how poor their decision making skills are.”
“We can and we must! I am relinquishing Charlie as my eldest brother, Beckett will now hold the title. If you will not banish him, I will,” Audrey proclaims, shooting up from her seat on the lounge chair.
“Audrey, you cannot relinquish a title for someone else. Only the individual holding the title can do the relinquishing.”
“I don’t care mother, I’m breaking the rules,” Audrey huffs as she stomps out of the room, likely to go call Beckett to inform him of her “relinquishing”.
With the absence of her daughter, Rose pulls out her phone and immediately clicks on her eldest sons contact.
Call me.
Rose is left waiting for approximately 45 seconds before her phone rings.
“Mom,” Charlie’s voice rings through the phone.
“Charlie, I am rational, correct?”
“Of course.”
“I am glad you agree,” Rose pauses, “however, despite my rationality, my patience runs exceptionally thin at this very moment. I’m sure you can understand why.”
Silence.
“Do you have nothing to say for yourself? Because I know that you know exactly why I’m calling,” the silence coming from Charlie was infuriating, “only cowards are silent, Charlie.”
“Will you tell Aunt Lily that I apologize?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Mom, w-”
“Charlie Keating Cobalt, I said no. If you cannot verbalize your regret to your aunt yourself, then you will simply have to live with the guilt, because I am not taking it from you.”
“I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have said that,” Charlie whispers into the phone. He had likely gone into a separate section of the bus, away from everyone else.
“Oh! It appears your sense hasn’t left you completely, how relieving,” Rose can hear Charlie sigh on the other end, “I know you’re smarter than to be huffing into the phone right now Charlie, I know for a fact that your father and I raised you to be smarter than that.”
Silence.
“I have ignored yours and Moffy’s absurd feud in the hopes that you would settle your differences for family, but this? Charlie I will not ignore this, I will not ignore you blatantly insulting my sister, your aunt, in front of a crowd of thousands. You are not an imbecile, but for whatever reason, you got up on that stage today and decided to be one and I can’t imagine why.”
“I wasn’t thinking about Aunt Lily, mom.”
“Clearly, Charlie. Because if you had thought about her for even the shortest second, you would understand how much what you said would hurt her. You would understand that you took something that your aunt has struggled with for her entire life, and you used it against Moffy,” tears begin to form in Rose’s eyes. She quickly willed them away, now was not the time for that nonsense.
A shaky breathe could be heard from the other end of the phone and Rose deducted that Charlie was also trying not to let tears fall.
“Charlie,” she paused, “you don’t smear your family for your own personal wins. I don’t ever want what’s happening between you and Moffy to interfere with your other relationships. Your issues with him, are between you and Moffy. That is it. I hope to God you understand that, because this will never, ever, happen again.”
“I understand, and you’re right,” a pause, “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Don’t waste your apologies on me. I am not the person you need to be apologizing to Charlie. I expect that you will call Lily and explain the entire situation to her, and then apologize, because if she hears this from anybody other than you-”
“She’ll hear it from me. How did you hear about it anyway?” Charlie asks.
“Your sister showed me a video. You will want to call her as well, she wants to ‘relinquish’ you of your eldest brother duties.”
“Fucking sh- okay, I’ll call Audrey after I call Aunt Lily.”
“Smart. Likely the smartest decision you’ve made today. For the rest of this trip, I expect better from you Charlie, I mean it,” Rose says firmly, “I have never expected perfection from any of you, but Charlie, I swear on your grave, if you mess up this badly again, I will fly out there myself and drag you home, and lock you in this house until I’m dead. I couldn’t give a single shit how old you are, you’re still my son and you will not make this same decision twice.”
“I know mom,” Rose hears rustling from Charlies side, it sounds like a pillow, “hey mom,” he pauses, “does dad know?”
“No, he doesn’t. But he will Charlie.”
“Can you-can you tell him for me?”
“I suppose, but don’t think this means I will tell anybody else, that is your responsibility. And Charlie, you had better expect a word from Loren.”
“Oh fuck, mom, please no.”
“You make stupid decisions, you live with the consequences. I’d say sorry, but I’m not.” Rose knew Lo would call Charlie, she knew her brother all too well. She wouldn’t stop him because she knew that Lo wouldn’t take it too far, but that didn’t mean she was thrilled for her gremlin to have that inevitable conversation.
Charlie sighed out a long breathe, “ya, ok, I guess its warranted.”
“I’m hanging up now, I can only handle so much stupid for one day. But, Charlie,” Rose says, “I love you. Never forget that. You are loved and you have a disgustingly large family who all loves you. Don’t throw those things away because you think you deserve to be alone.”
“I love you too mom. Thank you, for calling, I mean.”
Rose laughed, “if I hadn’t called, it would’ve meant very bad things for you.”
“Ya, I know. Bye mom.”
Rose ended the call with a final eye roll. Despite what gossip columns and tabloids said, Charlie did have a soul, he just didn’t have amazing priorities. She knew he felt terribly about his comments, but there was nothing she could do for him other than be his mother and tell him when he was being ignorant. Rose debated calling her sister, to be there when Charlie made the call, but she rationalized that Loren would be there for the call, and she would go over to the Hale house after.
Rose’s thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the front door.
“Hello Darling.”
“Richard,” she nodded to her husband, “your son asked me to share some unfortunate news with you.”
“My son?”
“Hm, yes, when the children fuck up as monumentally as Charlie did today, they are yours, Richard.”