Too Good to Be True

Once the doctors were sure Matt wasn't going to develop an infection from his gun shot wound, they approved his discharge. And God, was he glad to be going home. The hospital bed was uncomfortable as hell and he was tired of being poked and prodded by the nurses who seemed to come in to check his vitals every thirty fucking minutes. Not to mention he hated sitting on the sidelines, even knowing that Brian was taking care of things. Speaking of Brian, he should be waiting outside for them with Matt's clean SUV.

"Of course I'm excited, we get to see our little bean," Matt said. He reached out to touch Charlie's stomach before walking out of the room. Just as he'd been expecting, Brian was waiting for them just outside the exit. "Thanks for taking care of things, man," Matt said, handing Brian the keys to his car. "Alright, we've got to get going, we've got an appointment to see our little bean."

"Little bean?" Brian repeated, sounding confused. Matt reached out to rub Charlie's stomach again and a look of understanding spread across Brian's face. "She's pregnant?" he asked. "Well shit, congratulations."

"We're hoping for a boy," Matt said, glancing sideways at Charlie with a smirk. "I think I've convinced Charlie to name him Charles." Brian snorted, obviously knowing that wasn't true and Matt laid his hand on Charlie's back to lead her to the SUV.

Charlie grinned as she leaned her head against Matt's shoulder, glancing over to Brian as he seemed to piece together the puzzle. She wasn't so sure it was a good idea to be telling people when she certainly wasn't even in her second trimester yet but she wasn't going to tell Matt not to. He seemed happy to be becoming a father soon and she wasn't about to take that from him, not with everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

As excited as she was, Charlie couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at Matt's comment about potentially naming their son Charlie. "Don't believe a word he says, Brian. He's full of shit," Charlie said, letting out a laugh as she followed Matt over to his SUV. She glanced up to him, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want me to drive?" SHe asked softly, rubbing his arm gently. "Just so you don't end up getting mad at other drivers and overexerting yourself," she said with a small grin. She motioned toward his side. "And you don't want to rip them because we'll just end up right back here. Don't want that, do you?"

Charlie was torn between being really excited for this appointment and nervous because she didn't have any clue what to expect. Of course she had gone through the training during her career but that wasn't personal, first-hand accounts of being pregnant. She hadn't really experienced morning sickness thank God and her cravings hadn't hit. At least not yet. Glancing over to Matt as they drove to the obgyn's office, Charlie grinned. "How many kids do we want to have anyway? I always thought two was a good number, that way they have a sibling but like... it's not too overwhelming that you want to pull your own hair out. You know?"

"Oh trust me, I figured that out a long time ago," Brian said, laughing.

Matt flipped him off as he led Charlie over to the SUV. When she asked if he wanted her to drive, he shook his head. "I'll be fine, I can drive," he said, climbing into the driver's seat. He started the engine, leaving the hospital and heading towards the OB/GYN office. He was assuming Charlie made her appointment at the closest one to their home, so that's the one he went to. "Well darling, you're the one who actually has to be pregnant, so ultimately it's up to you," Matt said, laughing. "But two sounds like a good number. Or maybe three. The triangle is the strongest shape in nature, you know."

Luckily, even with the traffic, they made it to the office with about ten minutes to spare. And hell, maybe if they got there early, Charlie could be seen early. "I'm going to go sit over here while you sign in," Matt said as they walked in the door, gesturing to the small waiting room. He hobbled over to the closest chair, lowering himself into it with a grunt. His pain medication was starting to wear off and he was definitely feeling it. But this wasn't the first time he'd been shot, so he would be fine. He'd just have to take some more when he got home.

Matt felt like he'd just barely sat down when a nurse stepped out, calling Charlie's name. "Well fuck," he grumbled, getting to his feet. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he followed Charlie and the nurse down the hallway and into the exam room. He took a seat in the chair in the corner as the nurse took Charlie's vital signs and asked her questions about her last menstrual cycle. "I hope they'll be able to tell us how far along you are," Matt said as the nurse left the room. "I mean, they should, right? That's why they asked you all those questions. I think. Hell, I don't know."

"At least two. Who knows after that, I mean... we weren't exactly planning on having this little one just yet so I don't think we need to plan that far in advance," Charlie answered softly. She reached over, carefully setting her hand on Matt's thigh as he drove to the doctor's office. They sunk into a comfortable silence which Charlie was thankful for. Shifting around in her seat, Charlie settled her free hand on her stomach. She started rubbing her thumb back and forth over the material of the shirt as she wondered what this all meant for them. The most obvious things were, well, obvious but now Charlie had no clue what it meant for their wedding or anything else. If they didn't get married before she had the baby, she had no clue when they would. Even having never been a mother before, Charlie was almost positive she wouldn't want to leave their little one too soon after birth.

Charlie hadn't thought that she would be this nervous as she took a seat on the doctor's table. Her heart had skipped a beat and now, it was simply racing a mile a minute as she struggled to remain calm. She didn't know how Matt was feeling and because of just how nervous she was, she didn't want to make him stress so she kept quiet.

When the doctor appeared, Charlie began to relax as they ran through the standard questions that she had been expected. When the doctor drew her blood, Charlie huffed slightly but didn't say anything. She knew it was standard but that didn't mean she liked her blood being drawn any more. A few other standard things were done before the doctor offered them an excited 'congratulations' and told them to schedule another appointment, where they would be able to see their child for the first time. Charlie was only about six weeks along so while they could have done an ultrasound, it would have been basically pointless because she wasn't supposed to go to the bathroom for two hours prior.

"Babe, at this point I don't know if we'll ever be able to see the child. Because how am I supposed to not pee for two hours?!" Charlie whined as they left the doctor's office, a pout on her lips. "I thought I was bad before i was pregnant and now..? Now, it's only going to be ten times worse!" Charlie paused for a moment, only to let out a small laugh as she glanced toward him once they were settled back in the suv. "I guess this means no road trips between now and the birth, huh? I mean, if you thought me having to stop all the time before was bad..." Charlie trailed off, smirking at him.

After a beat or two of silence, Charlie leaned over the center console to kiss Matt's cheek. "I'm sorry we weren't able to see them today, though. Doctor Wilks was really nice though, I'm glad that she wasn't one of those stuck up doctors."

Matt was admittedly a bit annoyed that the doctor hadn't been able to do an ultrasound. He'd been looking forward to seeing the baby, but he understood that they wouldn't have been able to with Charlie having recently used the bathroom. And the next appointment was in two weeks, so they wouldn't have to wait too long. "Just don't drink anything?" Matt suggested, grinning slightly. "It won't be that hard. You just have to think about seeing our little bean. Maybe that'll make it easier to not go to the bathroom." He climbed into the SUV, buckling his seatbelt and starting the engine before he pulled away from the doctor's office. When Charlie mentioned something about no road trips, he couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I'm never taking you on a trip longer than two hours ever again," he teased.

"Yeah, I liked her, too," Matt said, smiling as Charlie kissed his cheek. "And hopefully we'll be able to see the little bean at the next appointment." When he pulled into the driveway, Matt was quick to shut off the engine and climb out of the SUV. Now that the excitement of the appointment had worn off, he was starting to feel the pain in his side and he just wanted to take a pain pill and relax on the couch. "Did Dr. Wilk's tell us when your due date was?" Matt asked, the question coming to mind as he kicked off his shoes. "I know she said you were six weeks but that's just...math I don't feel like doing right now."

"Oh, and we probably need to make a few decisions concerning the wedding, don't you think?" Matt said, lowering himself onto the couch. "I think we should get married before the baby comes because if we put it off until after then who knows when we'd get around to it? We might not have as big of a wedding as we originally wanted, but we can always renew our vows when the baby is a few years old and have a bigger ceremony."

"Doctor Wilks mentioned end of January, she said she would give us a more concrete date at our next appointment," Charlie answered Matt softly, reaching out to lace their fingers together. There was a small smile on her face as they settled into a comfortable silence that remained until Matt pulled up to their house. She was quick to climb out, pausing by the front of the suv to wait for Matt. She could tell that his side was bothering him, he was moving a bit slower than he usually did.

Scurrying off to set their bag full of medical supplies. Some of it was about Matt's gunshot wound and of course, his painkillers were inside. There was other information packets from the obgyn with a sample of vitamins the doctor wanted Charlie to begin taking. No harm had been done by Charlie having not started taking them yet but they would help the baby grow healthy while Charlie was still pregnant.

Charlie poured a glass of water for each of them before grabbing the pills and heading into the living room. She smiled at Matt's comment about the wedding, sitting on the opposite end of the couch so that he could stretch out if he decided that he wanted to. "I think that's a good idea, honestly. Just a small family gathering at the church and we can have a get together here. Save on money and everything since we have to start worrying about what to buy for when the baby finally does get here," Charlie stated, dumping a few of Matt's painkillers into her hand before she offered them to him.

"End of January?" Matt repeated. "We'll have to get lots of warm clothes then, don't want the little bean getting cold." He was sure being heavily pregnant in winter would be Kore desirable for Charlie than being so pregnant in the summertime. He couldn't imagine being pregnant period, but if he had to be, he would definitely choose to be heavily pregnant when it was cold. Matt was just about to shout out to Charlie to bring him some of his pain killers when she appeared in the living room with two glasses of water and he assumed was pills cupped in her hand. He gratefully took the pills she offered to him, tossing them into his mouth before he washed them down with a swig of water.

"Uh, I don't know about having the wedding at a church," Matt said, laughing slightly. He always felt a little uneasy in churches. "I mean, if that's what you really want, we can do it, I would just prefer to do something else. Maybe outside? It's spring time now and it'll be summer soon, so the weather would be perfect for an outdoor ceremony. Hell, we could even be super cliché and have it at the beach." Matt stretched out slightly on the couch, adjusting the pillow behind him until he was comfortable. "I apologize in advance if I fall asleep," Matt said, reaching for the remote. He also reached for his phone, tucking it into his back pocket as he started flipping through the channels.

Eventually Matt gave up and settled on something. With his pain fading, he was definitely feeling a little sleepy, something he supposed was a side effect of the medication. He knew in the back of his mind that he had work to do, especially with Thomas gone, but right now all he cared about was sleep. It would take a few days before he was really able to get back on his feet but he knew Brian could handle any problems that came up until then. If he couldn't, he wouldn't be Matt's right hand man.

Charlie let out a soft laugh when Matt mentioned a beach wedding, nodding her head slowly. It wasn't her first option but then, neither was a church wedding. She just knew that they didn't really have all that much time between now and when they needed to get married so it might not be all that easy to find a venue that they both genuinely liked. She smiled as Matt laid out on the couch, reaching over to give his leg a gentle squeeze. "Babe, it's fine. Rest up, we can always talk about the wedding later, okay?" She murmured, giving him a small smile.

Laying back herself, Charlie placed her legs behind Matt's so that she could stretch out as well. She turned her attention to the television, not really caring about what Matt put on. This was their first time home together in days and to be perfectly honest, Charlie had slept like shit at the hospital. Now that they were back in the comfort of their own home, it was no surprise that Charlie started to drift off to sleep soon after Matt had fallen asleep.

A few hours later, Charlie started to come to. She groaned, reaching up to rub the sleep from her eyes as she carefully climbed off of the couch. She was trying not to disturb Matt, knowing he needed his rest with all of his injuries. Charlie headed into the kitchen, decided that she would simply make lasagna. It was quick and easy to make, plus it would be super filling and there would be plenty of leftovers for the next few days. Once the lasagna was in the oven, Charlie left the kitchen with a glass of iced tea in hand. She smiled when saw Matt was starting to wake. "Hey, sleepyhead," she teased softly, taking her seat back at the end of the couch. "I just popped supper in the oven. It'll be done in an hour... are you thirsty right now though?"

It took Matt no time at all to fall asleep and he slept so deeply that it was hours before he started to stir. He was a bit groggy as he sat up a little on the couch, groaning at the dull ache in his side. However, at the mention of supper, he was quick to perk up. "Supper?" he repeated. "What did you make? Smells good, I'm starving. But uh, no, I'm fine. I think I'm going to try and take a shower. I haven't had one since before I got shot, I feel kind of gross." Matt slowly got to his feet, pausing to give Charlie a kiss before he headed upstairs. He knew they wouldn't be going anywhere, so he just grabbed a fresh shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants before he slipped into the master bathroom.

He turned the water on as hot as he could stand it, sighing as he stepped into the stream. He was a little sore from being stuck in that tiny hospital bed and the hot water felt amazing. Matt made quick work of washing his hair and body, dressing before he surveyed himself in the mirror. He could definitely stand to shave but he didn't want to. He might as well grow it out at this point. Yeah, he was going to grow out his beard. Heading back downstairs, Matt was quick to plop down next to Charlie, purposefully leaning all of his weight onto her. "How much longer until dinner?" he asked. "I'm starving. Oh, by the way, I decided I'm going to grow out my beard."

Moving off of Charlie, Matt kicked back on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. Deciding he didn't feel like searching through the channels, he pulled up the DVR and chose a movie had already had recorded. He'd managed to get pretty comfortable but when he heard the timer go off in the kitchen, Matt was on his feet pretty quickly. Like he'd already told Charlie, he was starving and that lasagna smelled spectacular. "Do we have anything to go with the lasagna?" Matt asked. He went over to the fridge, searching for a minute before he pulled out a bag of premade salad mix. "How about a salad?"

"Lasagna. With extra ricotta, I promise," Charlie said with a soft laugh. She knew how much Matt liked lasagna and the first time that she had ever made it, Matt had gone on and on about how good it had been. But it would have been better with more ricotta, that it needed to have some in every bite that he took to be classified as a 'perfect' lasagna. She'd laughed and agreed to always make it worth more than a healthy serving of the cheese. Leaning up, Charlie met Matt's kiss eagerly before turning to watch him disappeared up the stairs to shower.

Having settled on a sitcom, Charlie had pulled her legs up on the couch and was engrossed in the television show by the time that Matt returned from his shower. She glanced up, offering him a small smile as he took a seat on the couch beside her. Groaning as Matt leaned against her, Charlie pulled her legs out and let them fall off the edge fo the couch instead. "Twenty minutes, Matt. Twenty minutes and then you can eat the whole damn thing if you want to," she said, grinning when Matt mentioned growing out his beard.

"So long as you promise to trim it so it doesn't tickle me too much," Charlie commented, a sly little smirk settling on her features as she studied Matt. she was sure that he would know what she was hinting at. It could only be one thing, after all. Rolling her eyes when Matt all but launched off of his feet when the timer went off, Charlie moved to her feet and followed Matt into the kitchen. She shook her head at his question, only to nod when he produced the premade salad. "Here, let me toss that together while you cut up the lasagna," she said as she pulled the dish out of the oven. She turned the oven off before reaching over to take the bag from Matt. Producing a bowl big enough, Charlie tossed the salad with the dressing it came with.

When they had settled down on the couch, Charlie smiled over toward Matt. "Maybe we should just do a small thing in the backyard with the guys. And our immediate family. Then when we have the chance, we can do a bigger ceremony in a church maybe. What do you think?" She asked, thinking Matt would be more inclined to do what she had just offered. Since they had to buy so many things for the new baby, a wedding in the backyard might be a better option financially as well.

[okay but ricotta really is one of the best parts of lasagna ]

"You'd really let me eat the whole thing?" Matt asked. He grinned. "Well I've got to save some for you, haven't I? So you can feed little bean. If it's anything like me, it'll love lasagna. Especially with extra ricotta. That's what makes a lasagna perfect." He wasn't sure what sort of reaction to expect from Charlie when he mentioned his beard but the one he got was better than he'd been expecting. He returned her smirk. "Trust me, darling, you wouldn't notice even if it did tickle." It was nice that things seemed to be returning to normal, almost the way they'd been before Charlie found out about his work. It almost made Matt feel guilty for knowing he would have to keep lying to Charlie, but in his mind, it was the only way to keep her and their baby safe.

Matt tossed the bag of salad mix to Charlie, eagerly moving over to cut the lasagna. He placed one piece on a plate for Charlie so that it could start cooling off and then a bigger piece for himself. He made his salad in a separate bowl, not wanting to get any dressing on the lasagna. Normally he just piled all his food onto one plate but lasagna was special. Grabbing his food and a soda from the fridge, Matt followed Charlie into the living room. He settled down on the couch, eagerly cutting off a bit of his lasagna and shoving it into his mouth.

"I'm fine with a small ceremony to start," Matt said. "But again, I'd like to lean away from a church ceremony. I'm sure we'd be able to find a much better venue. We're in California, after all. And we could even do out of state if you wanted. But we've got a while to plan the bigger ceremony. I think we should just worry about the actual wedding for now, since we don't have as much time for that. We'll have to rush order most things, especially your dress, but I don't think that should be a problem."

{I wholeheartedly agree }

"And the sauce!" Charlie answered back with a huff, almost defensive now that Matt had said ricotta was what made lasagna great. She wasn't necessarily disagreeing with that fact but her sauce was next level amazing, too, damn it. And at least that was home made, not like the ricotta that she had simply scooped out of a container that she bought at the store. She pouted as she looked over at him, trying her best to push away the ridiculous idea of being upset over such a minor detail. She knew it was nothing to be upset over but she couldn't seem to shake the frustration that it had stirred within her.

Once they were sitting down in the living room, Charlie had seemingly forgotten her feelings because God, she was starving and if you asked, she would wholeheartedly blame it on the child that was growing inside of her. The excuse wouldn't work forever but damn if she wasn't going to use it here and now, while she still could. Charlie frowned slightly at the mention of her dress, swallowing around the mouthful of food she had.

"I don't know if.. we should get a dress. Unless we can find an empire waist one that I like because I'm obviously going to be bigger by the time that we actually do have the ceremony. And I don't want to buy a dress that will end up not fitting in a few months," Charlie explained, offering a sad sort of smile. She was disappointed at the idea of not wearing a traditional wedding dress to their wedding but with all things considered, Charlie knew that it might not be as much of a possibility.

Matt couldn't help but laugh at Charlie's indignant reaction to his comment about the ricotta cheese. He knew her overreaction was mostly because she was pregnant and it was cute. "Relax darling, of course your sauce is amazing," he told her. Luckily that seemed to be the end of that conversation because Matt wasn't looking forward to pointless arguments with a pregnant woman just yet. They still had seven and a half months, there was still plenty of time. "You won't be that big," Matt said. "At most, you'll have a slight belly. I'm sure you could find a dress to fit you and I'm sure there are plenty of seamstresses that would be able to let out a dress for a pregnant woman."

"But it's whatever you want," Matt continued. "You're the bride. Just as long as you let me help choose the cake flavor, I'll be happy because I get to marry you. And because of little bean," he added with a grin. Finishing off his first slice of lasagna, Matt went into the kitchen to get another slice. This one was considerably smaller but still more than he ought to be eating and he would probably regret it later. "Well, I'm absolutely stuffed," Matt said, reaching forward to place his empty plate on the coffee table. He rubbed his stomach with a groan. "Probably a little too stuffed but that's okay. I'll just take an antacid or something."

When he noticed that Charlie was finished with her plate, Matt somewhat reluctantly pushed to his feet, grabbing both of their plates before trudging into the kitchen. He tossed the plates into the sink before looking at the lasagna on the counter. There was definitely enough to save so he put the leftovers in a Tupperware container before tossing it into the fridge. Walking back into the living room, he dropped onto the couch. "Alright, darling, what should you, me, and little bean do for the rest of our evening? A movie? Maybe bowling? On second thought, scratch the bowling. My wound hurts and I kind of don't feel like getting up off the couch."

{still plenty of time to argue with a pregnant woman, huh, Matt? }

"Why don't we go dress shopping tomorrow? Nothing has to be set in stone but if we find something that I like, then we can go ahead and buy it tomorrow. Get it going just so that we don't have to worry about it up until the wedding," she commented after swallowing the bite of lasagna that she had shoved into her mouth. Charlie offered a shy grin as she tilted her head to the side. It wasn't that she was nervous to marry Matt because before all of this, she had known that it was going to happen. She loved Matt and she had been sure Matt loved her; everything that had happened since she found out about what Matt did was certainly a trial for them to get through but Charlie realized she still loved Matt just as much. There was just... a bit of fear settled in the back of her mind that if she stepped too far out of line, she would push Matt's anger soaring right back up. Spark the same anger in him that had caused him to lock her in the basement, to threaten to make her disappear.

Most of all, Charlie was simply nervous though. She was nervous because of what the future held. She was pregnant and going to be a mother for the first time, Matt was going to be a father for the first time. They were going to be married and through that all, she didn't know what would end up happening. She had stopped going to school in her last year so it would be hard for her to return to finish school off if she had a newborn and well, she didn't know what Matt was going to end up doing. Part of her doubted whether Matt would actually leave his old life behind and truth be told, Charlie wasn't so sure she wanted him to stop. It felt horrible saying that but she knew that Matt made a lot of money and with a wedding and child in the near future, Charlie wanted them to be as secure as possible.

Pulling her knees up onto the couch, Charlie relaxed as Matt took her plate into the kitchen. She turned when Matt came back, moving to lay down so that she could put her head in his lap. Her face scrunched at the mention of bowling, shaking her head. "Maybe we can go bowling after dress shopping, depending on how we're both feeling?" Charlie suggested, rubbing her stomach absentmindedly. There wasn't a bump there but soon, there would be. "Just pick a movie to watch. When we're not feeling so full, I'll get us some ice cream. I think we still have some left," she murmured, letting out a quiet yawn. "Or maybe, better yet. I'm stuffed. Maybe it's time for a nap," she commented in a soft voice. "Is it silly to take a nap when we'll be going to bed in two hours?" Charlie asked, looking up to Matt with a small grin. "We'll have to start looking at baby things. I was doing some looking online and everything says to make sure all your big item shopping is done before the third trimester because I'm apparently going to be completely worn out for the last three months," she said with a small huff. "Maybe we can just make tomorrow a date day? If you feel up to it."

[he's drugged up, he's not thinking clearly ]

"I'm not sure that I'll feel up for bowling for a while now, but I'll go sit with you if you want to bowl," Matt said. He shifted to get comfortable as Charlie rested her head in his lap. He started to run his fingers through her hair as he rested his own head against the back of the couch. He had Charlie hand him the remote and he started to flip through channels until he found something to watch before he inevitably fell asleep again. He was still exhausted from his lack of sleep at the hospital and that combined with how full he was and the fact that Charlie was starting to fall asleep was a perfect recipe for another nap. Even if it was nearly bedtime, as Charlie had so helpfully pointed out.

"There's never a wrong time for a nap, darling," Matt said, grinning. "But we could always move up bedtime if you're that tired. I definitely wouldn't mind the extra sleep." Now that the idea was in his head, Matt wanted to move upstairs so that if they fell asleep, they might stay asleep. He had Charlie move from his lap and sat up, grinning as she mentioned shopping for baby things. "We can do that once I've gotten my stitches taken out," Matt said. "That way I don't have to worry about ripping them when I try to put together the crib."

Getting to his feet, Matt offered his hand to Charlie. He would have tried to carry her but he knew that doing so would end up ripping his stitches. "Let's go to bed," he said. "We need rest if we're doing date day tomorrow." He grinned at Charlie as he took her hand, pulling her to her feet. He turned off the television before he started upstairs, a little too eagerly as he soon found out. "God, I need to slow down," he said as he reached the top of the stairs, holding his side. He moved noticeably slower as he continued on to the bedroom, losing his jeans before he flopped down onto the bed. "I have missed our bed," he said.

{you have a point }

Charlie whined as Matt urged her to sit up. She shook her head, covering her face with her hands as if it would hide her from Matt and he wouldn't make her get up from the couch. She was exhausted and knew damn well that if she fell asleep, she would stay asleep so Matt trying to urge them upstairs definitely had a valid point. But that didn't mean she wanted to admit it just yet. Grumbling under her breathe, Charlie rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she glanced up to him finally. "You know. We don't have to put everything together first. I mean, we should probably pick out a paint color and stuff, before we put all the furniture together. Right?" Charlie asked, her nose scrunching a bit. That seemed logical to her but she wasn't sure if it was actually the better option to go with.

Reluctantly, Charlie took Matt's hand and followed him up the stairs. She frowned as she watched the pain on Matt's face, her heart breaking for him all over again. If she had just... not been so stupid. If she hadn't ran to Big Bear, Thomas would have never gotten to her and then maybe Matt wouldn't have gotten shot. This was her fault. The reality of the situation seemed to come crashing down on her shoulders and before Charlie could even think about it, a sob bubbled up inside of her chest.

Charlie climbed into the bed, pressing herself carefully into Matt's side as she buried her face into his chest. "I-I'm sorry," Charlie whispered, biting down on her lip as she tried to calm herself down. She knew this breakdown was because of a combination of being tired and of her hormones but that didn't mean a damn thing, it had no say in how bad she felt. "I shouldn't have gone to Big Bear. It was stupid and irrational," Charlie declared, sniffling as she closed her eyes. "This wouldn't have happened if I didn't.. I'm sorry, Matt. I won't be stupid like that again. I swear."

Matt wrapped his arm around Charlie's waist when she laid down next to him, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair. It took a few seconds before he realized that she was crying and he pulled her even closer, shaking his head. "No need to apologize," he said. "Thomas wanted to hurt me, he would've hunted you down no matter where you were. So hush. No more apologies." Matt pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Get some sleep. I'm sure you're exhausted. I know I am." Matt hated to see Charlie cry or upset, he always had, but in the back of his mind, he was glad she was so upset about this. It pretty much guaranteed that she would never go running off again and he would have her here at home, where he needed her. Where he could control her.

Given his current state of exhaustion, it didn't take Matt long at all to fall asleep. He slept much longer than he usually did, noting the time on the clock as he finally willed himself to roll out of bed. The first thing he did was root around in Charlie's bag until he found his pain meds, popping two into his mouth and swallowing them down without water. It was too late for breakfast at this point but certainly not for lunch. "Charlie, I'm going downstairs to make something for lunch, did you want anything?" Matt asked, shaking Charlie gently to wake her. "Is the little bean craving something?"

Unless Charlie decided otherwise, Matt didn't plan on leaving the house today so he didn't bother to put on his jeans before he went downstairs. It was his damn house and he would walk around in a t-shirt and boxers if he damn well wanted to. Even if anyone came over, they wouldn't say anything. They knew better. Matt tossed together a couple of sandwiches and grabbed two bottles of water before heading back upstairs. He handed one of the plates to Charlie. "Remind me, did we have plans for today?" Matt asked. "I slept for eleven hours, I can't remember jack shit."

While Charlie hadn't been through nearly as much as Matt had physically, she was more than exhausted. The few times that she had visited their home, she had tried to sleep but she simply couldn't. THe knowledge that Matt was in an uncomfortable hospital bed coupled with still being jumpy over Thomas kidnapping her in the middle of the night, Charlie's sleep had been less than stellar. When she finally fell asleep in her own bed with Matt's arms wrapped around her, Charlie was sure to be out for awhile.

Charlie groaned when Matt started to shake her wake, pulling the blankets up to her chest. She grumbled under her breathe, burying her face into the pillows as she listened to Matt talk. "Sleep," she mumbled, reaching her hand out to Matt. She made grabby gestures, letting out a content sigh as her fingers brushed against Matt's skin. Blinking away the sleep, Charlie looked up to Matt through squinted eyes. "I honestly don't care. Any food is good food," Charlie murmured, nodding her head. She smiled as she watched Matt disappear out of the room.

By the time that Matt returned, Charlie was sitting up in bed with the tv turned on. She had picked a random movie, not really caring what they watched so long as Matt delivered some sort of food to her. She grinned when Matt offered her a plate, thanking him as she dropped the bottle of water in her lap.

"We were going to go dress shopping and maybe at least looking at baby stuff to get some sort of idea..." Charlie trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. She took a bite of her sandwich before considering for a moment. "If anything, we should probably get looking at dresses. Baby stuff can wait," she commented, tilting her head to the side. "Is that alright with you?"

"Whatever you want, darling," Matt said, hearing Charlie mention something about waiting to look at baby things. They had all the time in the world to do that but only so long to find Charlie a dress. The wedding would need to happen sooner rather than later now that she was pregnant. "I probably won't feel up to being out all day, anyway. Speaking of...I need a pain pill. I'm supposed to take it with food." He sat his plate on the nightstand and went into the master bathroom to get his pain medication. Luckily Charlie hadn't had a chance to put it away in the medicine cabinet yet, so it was just sitting on the counter.

"We should probably think about sending out invitations soon, too," Matt said as he walked back out into the bedroom. He grabbed his plate from the nightstand and sat down on the bed. "I know you're supposed to send them out pretty far in advance." Matt planned on leaving most of the actual planning up to Charlie. His main concern was that the wedding actually happened before Charlie realized that he hadn't actually left his work like she thought he had. It would make things much easier for him if it was harder for her to leave.

Finishing off his sandwich, Matt reached out to set the plate on the nightstand as he laid back on the bed. "Just let me know when you're ready to go," Matt said. "Until then, I'm just going to lay here and watch TV." Grabbing his phone, Matt sent a quick message to Brian letting him know not to bother him for the afternoon. There was no way he could put off going back to work for too much longer, especially having been in the hospital for a few days, but there wasn't much he could do this afternoon.

When Matt mentioned his painkillers, Charlie leaned forward to set her plate down on the mattress. She had had every intention of grabbing them for him. While she was pregnant, she was no where near the point where she needed to be careful about doing too much or where she was exhausted. Charlie knew the only reason she was so tired was because of the circumstances they had been dealing with over the past week and a half. Charlie huffed when Matt moved faster than her, her eyes narrowing a bit even as he returned to the bed. "I could have gotten that for you," she grumbled as she picked up her sandwich again. Her brows furrowed as she angrily ate away at her sandwich, shrugging when Matt mentioned sending out invitations.

"I don't.. do we really need to send them out?" Charlie asked after a few beats of silence, raising an eyebrow as she looked up to him. "We're just doing a small ceremony and we can just call everyone that we want there. Other than our parents, your siblings, and the guys..." Charlie trialed off, tilting her head to the side. "Is there even anyone that we want to invite? At least to this one. Our bigger one, we'll invite more people but until then..."

Charlie settled back after setting her empty plate down on the nightstand on her side of the bed. She pulled the blanket up to her waist before leaning back against her pillows. "I'm not looking forward to strangers trying to touch my stomach when I'm showing," she said after a moment, letting out a whiny sigh before she turned toward Matt. "Going to protect me from the weird old ladies and over excited strangers? Hm?"