[for ned & crews]

[agirlnamedchuck]

The facts were these: sometimes when life gave you lemons, the idea of making lemonade was just so bitter that it was not bittersweet, but rather sad instead. In the case of Charlotte Charles, having woken to find that Pigby, beloved porcine pet of one beloved friend Olive Snooke was curled around Digby in the front room of Ned and Chuck's hut

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[zenish_moment]

Something had told Charlie that today was going to be a different sort of day. Earthquake weather Rawls had called it, a very California phrase for that feeling you get before things get shaken up. His first impulse was to check on Olive, and so he got Catalina on her leash and headed out.

Olive had not stayed over the night before, as she had a couple times during the cold, so he went to her hut. The unease only increased when he found it empty, and Cat sniffed around his feet before finally plopping down with a sigh.

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself, so detective and puppy simply stood outside the hut waiting for news.

[piemakerprince]

There was very little Ned could do to repair the Olive-shaped hole that now filled both his and Chuck's hearts, and even less still to quell the fear that Chuck would be next. He couldn't bear the thought of waking one morning to find her no longer there; it was almost worse than imagining he'd wake one morning to find his gift had returned and he'd killed her.

It was Digby and Pigby who realized someone was outside, and Ned reluctantly followed both canine and porcine outside. Hands shoved deep in his pockets, Ned was in no mood for visitors, even those of the well-meaning kind. He'd rather stay inside with Chuck, and-

"Oh."

Ned had never been good with breaking bad news. He cleared his throat, then said, in a voice he hoped was loud enough so Chuck would hear and come to his rescue any moment now, "Hi, Charlie."

[agirlnamedchuck]

Bad news was not the sort of news that Charlotte Charles enjoyed giving. In fact the only sort of news that the genuinely enjoyed giving was the sort of news that involved good things and birthdays and cakes. Unfortunately for Chuck, Charlie and the Piemaker, this was bad news.

Following after Pigby, Digby and Ned, Chuck came up behind all three of them hands folded in front of her in an effort to stiffle the urge to hug Charlie before what needed to be said was said. "Oh Charlie," she said with a melancholy sigh. "It's Olive. She's gone."

[zenish_moment]

Cat had wiggled her tail at Digby and Pigby, and Charlie had started off with a smile for Ned but that soon faded when the other man's expression registered. Then Chuck arrived, with her unhappy sigh and her unhappier news, and somewhere in his mind a cell door slammed shut.

"Gone?" he repeated, blinking, and looked from her to the piemaker and back again. "How... how gone?"