Archive of Our Own ^beta

Since the day she forgot her Librarian and saw a glimpse of the future, a question has remained in Charlie’s heart.
The vision showed her happiness and hope for her future with the Library, but also put a stone of dread in her stomach.

The vision started out simple, her alone sitting at the main table working through paperwork for the damage that had recently been caused, peace and quite permeated the space, followed shortly by the constant bickering of Lysa and Conner, which apparently evolved into a full blown argument in a span of seconds.

As she looked at the paperwork she noticed that the dates were for the following year and well past the six month deadline that Stone had set, this made her happy because it meant the team would remain together, but the absence of Vikram made her weary, where was her Librarian. A calm settled over her when she sensed him behind her and to her shock he gently began to kneed the knots out of her neck.

Conner and Lysa’s argument had picked up steam in the moments she had been assessing the situation, and as they had gotten louder her head had begun to pound. Vikram’s presence had eased the tension in her, the stone that had settled in her stomach had eased enough to allow her to notice that not only was he more hands on with her but she was comfortable with not only his presence in her personal space but with his actions as well. Conner and Lysa had stopped their argument and had quietly slipped out of the room giving them some privacy.

Vikram gently moved his massage from her neck to her shoulders, which for her was a red flag, because for a man from his time to be doing that it meant that they were more that just friends and the ring on her finger which she had just noticed confirmed her observation. Vikram gently leaned over and quietly said “you need to relax, come to bed the paperwork can wait till the morning.” Charlie just leaned back into his chest and said “Tomorrow may not give me the time to complete it, before Mrs. A gets on us again about the paperwork she asked for two weeks ago, go ahead to bed I’ll join you when I’m finished.” Vikram just looked at her and sighed “I wont sleep without you next to me” Charlie gently raised her lips to his and said “I’ll bring the paperwork with me but you can’t complain about the lamp being on until I finish at least the back paperwork that I promised I’d complete.”

With that final image the vision had faded, while she was happy that the team would remain together and that Vikram was settled into the new time, she was unsettled by the intimacy that had been between them and what it meant for their partnership long term. For Vikram to have been that at ease with her in such a short time frame something momental must have happened.

Just a short few weeks had passed since everyone and everything he had ever known had been ripped from him, every friend and the the woman he loved with all his heart, gone in a flash, 200 years passed and he never got to say goodbye to any of them. She knew that he still struggled with the modern world and the fact that the rules had shifted with the Library, but if her vision of the future was right then something was going to happen that would bring healing to Vikram and allow him to move forward with them. But it also filled her with dread because she knew that all healing involved pain, the amount of pain differed but there was still pain in healing.

The fact that they would apparently become a couple was a shock and Charlie knew that would not be happening anytime soon, she didn’t want to have to juggle a romantic relationship with someone she worked with and Vikram was not ready in any way for that kind of relationship either. So she decided not to even think about the vision and honesty tried to forget it ever happened.