Spilled Yogurth (Mae)

Patrollin', rollin' around the town, the tall police officer walked around swinging his bat around his index finger, looking up one moment and then around the other, as not to miss any possible perpotrators in the vicinity.

It was a big responsibility, yes, and he took it seriously. That was exactly why he was alone on patrol that day, without his partner. Sure, it was Sunday and it was their usual day off duty, but he rarely ever got such an opportunity! He could have some fun today on his own, hmhm!

So yes, there he was, waltzing around the plaza, when his eyes caught a glimpse of something in the noon sun -a flash of yogurth pink.

It was quick and it disappeared before he could even turn around. Hmmm, was I seeing things? The android thought to himself, confused but with a tinge of excitement brimming inside of him. He hadn't seen her in 2 years, after all. That notion was what drove him to gulp down and walk in the direction he saw the pink flash. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try. And guess what, as he pushed through the crowd, he finally saw her. There was no mistaking it. He stopped for a moment.

Carefully, as he made certain she hadn't noticed him yet, he began walking towards her. One step, two steps, three steps... He gulped again. This was harder than he thought... Every step weighed more than he could carry... But still, he had to talk to her...

He patted her on the shoulder from behind. "Excuse me, miss. I'm going to need to see your ID." He said with a shaky voice. Funny small talk is what keeps the world spinning, wasn't it...? He should stop listening to Jack's advice...

"Mae! Come on! I wanna go to Penecia already!" Kayle dragged her caretakers arm quite viciously for such a small girl. "Geez, Kayle. Take it cool, okay? The park isn't going anywhere. No need to stress." Mae replied with a light chuckle as the two left the orphanage. Kayle was really one of the brightest parts of Mae's life. Ever since she started working at the Orphanage and met the little kid, everything felt so much better. It... was almost like having a daughter of her own, in a way. The little one had just turned 7 earlier that week, and this trip to the Galaxy Theme Park in Penecia was the birthday gift that Kayle had gotten from Mae. "I know, I know! But it's haaaaard." The blonde girl complained jokingly. "Well, you just have to be a bit more patient, Kay."

As the two walked towards the station, Mae felt someone poking her shoulder. First, she thought it was just Kayle messing with her a bit, but she quickly realised that the girl wasn't tall enough. She would then stop, frozen in place for a second when she heard the voice... A voice she hadn't heard in over two years. "C-Charles...?" She turned around, looking up at him. This was... awkward. And he was wearing... a police costume? Well, that seemed like a very... jack-like thing to do. Dragging along one of his friends into the police force. "My ID? Sure..." Mae opened up her purse, took out her wallet, and revealed the ID card hidden within it. A name he would surely recognize... Mae Iharu. Kayle stopped a couple of meters ahead, when the girl realized that Mae wasn't following her anymore. She would run back, and hide behind Mae's legs, shyly.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, this took the wrong turn almost immediately. At first, seeing her recognize him filled him with joy. Though it wasn't a surprise... Because, well... he hadn't changed a bit... But then, when he saw her confusedly start looking for her ID... He raised his hands in defense and panicked. "Ah, n-no, don't pull it out! I was just joking! It was a conversation starter!" Charles tried stopping Mae from getting her ID. Drats... some way to start the conversation...

"I know it's you. There's no way I wouldn't recognize you... So... I noticed you pass by and I had to come say hi... You know... H-how've you been?" The intonation of his voice wavered more than slightly and he stopped for a moment, then noticed the little girl behind her. Without giving Mae any time to respond, he asked again. The thought was unbearable, but he would have to accept it... "I-is that your daughter? Congratulations?"

What a conversation starter, eh? Well, at least it made Mae ease up a little bit. Seeing Charles like this had made the woman quite tense... After what happened, well... how could she not feel a bit awkward seeing him again after such a long time? The girl stopped per his request. "Hehe. You haven't changed a bit, have you?" Mae said with a light chuckle. He sure had an... interesting way with words. This she was very familiar with.

"I've been alright, I guess. I've started working and... Eh?" She stopped when he spoke up about Kayle. "What? You mean Kayle? Oh, no she's not my daughter no. I'm working at an orphanage now, so I've been assigned to take care of her until she gets adopted." She said, nudging the small girl to go say hello. "Go on. He's nice, I assure you." Kayle slowly made her way over to Charles. "Um... H-Hi... I'm Kayle... Nice to meet you, mister." The girl said shyly before rushing behind Mae again. "She's a little shy, but she's a nice kid. This is Charles, Kayle." The toddler's eyes lit up at the name, and she said, without thinking: "Oh! He's the guy that dumped you, right?" Mae took a deep breath, ignoring it for now. "A-Anyway... How have you been?" Mae asked, taking a good look on him from top to bottom. The uniform suited him, at least. A Robot police officer, eh? Interesting.

He hasn't changed a bit... "I suppose... But I am an officer now, so I did change. Being responsible for all the people's safety, like I said I would 2 years ago..." He tried to grin awkwardly, now avoiding eye contact with Mae. A small spike of regret over approaching her like this began forming in the back of his head, and he couldn't shake it off, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that this was good. But it was so awkward!

"Oh, okay..." Charles had to try his best not to 'Phew!' in relief at the news. Had Mae had a baby with someone, that would've meant she'd have to have a new boyfriend as well! ...wait, that wasn't the right way to think about that sort of stuff... The little girl's voice snapped him back to reality. "Hmm? Nice to meet you too, I'm..." Glad you're not Mae's kid! "...Charleeeeesbut you already seem to know that? Huh?" He looked over at Mae, confusedly. You know that newfound snark he developed as a countermeasure against Jack? Yes, Mae seemed to neutralize that. He wanted to respond with something like: "Ooh, so I dumped you? Funny you say that, as I did go through all the trouble of setting the romantic scene AND we've both agreed upon it. What do you even tell these kids in the orphanage?" But instead, he was stuck like that with the halfway formed grin on his face, staring at her and not knowing what to say.

When he gathered his composure, though, he looked back at the girl. "I... see."

"Heh, yeah. I think it suits you well." Mae said with a bright smile. Being a cop and all that did suit the guy nicely. He could use that responsibility. She would direct his head over to look at her again. "What? Is there something bothering you?" Despite what happened back then, Mae didn't hold anything against him anymore. That would've just been childish and, quite frankly, mean to him. He had gone out of his way to say hi to her, which the woman appreciated.

The pinkette looked at him curiously as his thoughts wandered off somewhere. What was going on in there? Kayle's words seemed to have dragged him out of his own thoughts quite roughly though. "Ehehe... I told her about you... A while back. She asked me if I had a boyfriend, and... well..." Mae scratched the back of her head. "I'm sorry, Charles. I'm sure it wasn't her intention to be rude." Kayle peeked out behind Mae's legs again, with a troubled look on her face. "D-Did I say something wrong...?" The girl asked, unaware of the awkwardness she had just caused. "I'll explain it to you later, darling. Don't worry." Mae patted the little girl's head before facing Charles again. "Well... It's nice to see you again, Charles." Mae said with a bright smile, trying to rid the air of the awkwardness the little one caused. "I'm not holding anything against you. I was incredibly selfish back then... I refused to see things from your point of view and... well..." She paused for a moment, trying to formulate her words. "I see now that you just wanted the best for me..." The pinkette had come to this realization a couple of months after she had been left alone like that... Not that it made her feel much better about the whole thing. In fact, that realization had made her feel even worse. He had split up with her because he wanted Mae to have someone else... someone she could be happy with. He had seen himself as inadequate. In the end, Charles had just wanted her to be happy. She, on the other hand, had thought him to be just enough. Even though she had walked behind him with Sharaku for a while, which was a mistake on her part, that she could admit. The girl had been confused over her feelings for the two, as they both had their ups and downs. If Charles wanted to give it another go, she would of course be open for it. But he would have to tread carefully.

"Hmmm? No, nothing's bothering me." Charles mustered up his courage to look at Mae's face. He approached her, it was silly that he couldn't face her now. So yes, he decided to do this right from now on, nothing from the past would stop him! "Don't worry, it's all right, no harm done, I suppose, haha." He smiled at the little girl. "Don't apologize, you did nothing wrong, and neither did Mae. Besides, if you did, I'd have already had you arrested, haha."

"So, anyways, what are you two doing? I'm on the patrol right now, finally one without Jack following me everywhere." Or more like, Jack dragging him after himself everywhere.

"You sure?" Mae raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging lightly. She might've just imagined things then. Oh well. At least there wasn't anything wrong. That's a start. "Heh, if you say so." Kayle seemed to warm up a bit to Charles, as she stopped hiding. The girl was even brave enough to hold out a small hand to greet him. "Well... Might as well do this proper. My name is Kayle Graves." There was a tinge of pride in the little girl's voice as she spoke her name. The girl was proud of who she was, all thanks to Mae pepping her up. She taught the little girl the importance of self-respect... Although indirectly. The little girl was probably not aware of it in the slightest.

"Ah, we were just on our way to Penecia. Kayle's birthday was just earlier this week, so I decided to bring her to the Theme Park over there." Mae smiled at Kayle as the girl spoke up. "Yeah! I just turned seven!" It was very clear that she was indeed super excited about this trip to the amusement park. Mae was quite stoked too. She hadn't been there once over the last two years. And almost all of her memories of that place were very precious ones, indeed. "Well... If it's not too much... wanna tag along to the station, at least?" Mae asked Charles. "Unless of course... you have somewhere else to be... ehehe..."

"Mhm. Nice to meet you too." Charles said as he shook the little girl's warm hand, smiling politely as he did so. Funny, because he was so tall and she was so small. Heheh. But... She was a nice girl, and Mae surely liked her. Why else would she go out of her way with this particular child, right?

He looked at Mae almost confusedly, but mostly because he was sort of surprised, or, let's face it, a mixture of embarrassment seasoned with a tip of jealousy, that they were going to the amusement park. He quickly gathered his composure. "Oh, right. Well, yeah, I'm veeeery busy..." Lie. But despite the lack of any real work, he was punctual enough not to leave his post until his shift was over. "But, I also cannot allow you two to walk around unprotected like this, especially in this day and age. So, I'll walk you over to the station...just in case."

Mae smiled warmly as the two shook hands. Despite the sort of rough start they got, the two actually got along. If only for the moment. Kayle was a bit much on people sometimes, part-way due to being a very demanding kid. Much like Mae used to be when she was seven. Perhaps that's why the pinkette had taken such a liking to the little girl in the first place... because she reminded Mae of herself as a kid.

"You don't need to come up with excuses." Mae said with a light giggle. "If you want to tag along, then just tag along!" The thought was really nice of him though. Protecting the two of them... Not that she really suspected anyone to attack her and a little kid on the way to the amusement park, but... she'd rather be safe than sorry. The Pinkhaired woman would then grab a firm hold of Charles' hand. "Come on, if we don't hurry, we'll miss the tram." Something about spending time with Charles made her excited. Kayle smiled even wider now, positively glowing with excitement. Her wish was coming true.

"It's no excuse! You really can't ever be sure if anyone mighttttttt-!" Charles was just about to put his hands up defensively when he felt a familiar warmth envelop his palm. It was a moment that his eyes spread wider than ever as they dropped down to look at the smaller hand grabbing his. It was a fraction of a second in which it all flashed before his eyes, all the happy moments they had. All of it...

Until the hand pulled him and the girl shouted out. This broke the illusion and Charles shook the sensation off, grabbing a hold of his officer cap as it was in danger of falling off his head. "R-right, let's go!" Wait, was she smiling? Huh, did she plan on bringing him along all the way to the park? T-that would be wonderful! ...but also not, because he was on patrol. But who cares? That was a human thing to say, right? No, it was a Charles thing to say! He wanted to go, so he was gonna go! No two ways around it!

And so he shouted, "Yes, let's go to the park!" as he hastened his own step to match Mae's and affirmed the smile on his face.

Mae giggled at his reaction. "Hihi, I know you'll keep us both safe." The woman smiled warmly at him as they started walking towards the station. "Yaaay!" Kayle picked up the pace somewhat, running a couple of feet ahead of the other two, her blonde hair swaying back and forth as she did so. Seeing Kayle this happy was a reward all in itself to the pinkette. And Charles was coming with them too! Sure, it had been a bit awkward at first, but things got better with time.

"You're coming with us all the way, Charlie?" Kayle turned around, looking at Charles with big eyes when the android shouted. Mae looked at Charles as well. "That would be lovely if you could." Her grip on his hand tightened somewhat. She wasn't gonna let him get out of this one so easily. Not now, when he had offered it himself. Seeing him smile like that... it brought back such fond memories to her. But still, she felt this sting of guilt along with the fact that she had come to the realization that she still missed what they once shared. Mae decided not to bring it up however, as much as she wanted to... He had cut their time together short for a reason, and she didn't want to guilt-trip him over that. Indeed, she believed that Charles had made the right call that day under that tree... But seeing him smile like that made the woman doubt her own convictions on the matter. Was this wrong of her...?

"Sure, I mean, the amusement park is a dangerous place, yes! I need to keep an eye on you." He replied to the both of them. What was an serious excuse only moments before has gradually been becoming more and more of a joke, even to Charles, as they went towards the train. Going to the amusement park eh ~ This felt exactly like that time they went to the park together and he confessed to her. The mere memory of that could've made him blush in this situation, had he had the blood for it, of course. This time, however, they had a different entourage - the young Kayle. She seemed happy, and Mae seemed happy. That was, somehow-no, he knew exactly how, enough to make him happy as well.

As they sped their way, he would grip Mae's hand back, at first non-intentionally, but then more and more with intent, as he grew concious of what he was doing. He wasn't gonna say anything-silence was more than fine in this situation.

"That's really nice of you." The little girl next to Mae grinned widely. "Yeah! Thanks for coming with us, Charlie~!" It was moments like these that made life that much better for the two. The excitement, especially. The only thing Mae really didn't get here was... a moment alone with Just her and Charles. She felt like the two needed a serious talk sometime soon. Yet, she didn't exactly want to involve Kayle in this. She was too young to be dragged into romantic affairs, past or present. The girl had to keep her innocence for as long as she could. At least, that was how Mae saw the whole thing.

When she felt Charles hand grip back, Mae was momentarily stunned. She looked down at their hands, interlocked as they were, before returning her, now almost shy gaze, to Charles. Perhaps he was just reminiscing a bit about how things used to be between them...? She decided not to say anything however, in fear of losing this precious moment to some comment from her about it. Maybe she would ask him a bit more about this later... you know, once Kayle wasn't around...

Hands, intertwined into one single strand of sentiment. Fingers, roots planted into one another, firm and never letting go. Palms, their warmth making sure you know exactly where your other half is at...

And the beautiful silence, a small realm in the middle of a busy city street. Could there have ever been a more serene moment?

Minutes dragged into hours, but alas, everything comes to an end eventually. And, as they approached the train cart, Charles loosened his grip on Mae's hand before letting go of it entirely. "Shall we climb aboard, then? After you." He smiled and waited for them to enter the vehicle before he would follow after them, the door closely gently behind his back.