Jane entered the hotel first, at Charlie's insistence, though she thought it kind of odd.

"We've never done that before," she said, laughing, as Tony dropped her a block away.

"Jane!" Charlie said, maybe a little sharper than he intended. Jane jumped a little at how loud he was. "Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry, love," he said contritely when he saw her. He pulled her in to kiss her forehead. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I'm just nervous, that's all." He made a scooting motion at her while doing his best to smile.

Jane nodded and got out of the car, buttoning up her coat for the short walk to the Marquis. Charlie was really on a hair-trigger lately about the whole "keeping a low profile" thing, she reflected. She wondered why.

Charlie quickly scanned the lobby as he headed toward the elevators, looking for the photog he knew, but he didn't see her. Maybe she'd been there for someone else.

He went into his hotel room, seeing that Jane was already in her pjs. Seeing her, fussing about the room in her pink flannel long johns with her matching Piglet socks, made him inordinately happy. He realized almost immediately that this might be the last time he saw her like this, and this crushed him.

Jane turned from her bag, toothbrush in her hand. "What?" She walked over to him. "Charlie? You okay?"

He kissed her forehead. "Yes, I'm fine. Go brush your teeth, love. Just going to make a quick phone call."

She went to the bathroom, giving him a curious look as she went. Charlie's call went to voicemail, so he left a message and rang off. He could hear her singing something as she brushed. Who did that? Did she do that all the time, and if so, how had he not noticed before? And what the fuck was she singing? It was annoyingly familiar to Charlie, but so out of place that his brain refused to identify it. Then it came to him.

"Darling Nikki". By Prince.

Charlie approached the doorway to the bathroom at an oblique angle, so Jane wouldn't see him. He watched her reflection in the mirror. She was alternating brushing and holding the toothbrush like a microphone while she danced and sang.

"I knew a girl named Nikki I guess you could say she was a sex fiend,
I met her in a hotel lobby masturbating with a magazine,
She said how'd you like to waste some time and I could not resist when I saw little Nikki grind."

OMFG.

Jane caught his eye as she finished twirling and froze. Her eyes narrowed and she bent over and spit, and Charlie noticed in passing that she made sounds like a child, "Ptooie! Ptooie!" before standing up.

"Peeping Tom!" she said slowly, trying not to smile from embarrassment. "Lousy Peeping Thomas!" She stopped right in front of him and poked him in the chest. "You were spying on me!"

"Oh, please," Charlie defended himself. "The door was wide open! I thought it was a free concert." He smirked at her. "Or at least a free performance art piece."
"You're supposed to brush for two minutes, and with everything I do it's about that..."

Jane gave up and sat on the bed, covering her face with her hands, her hair falling forward. She was the cutest thing Charlie had ever seen.

Charlie sat down next to her, looking straight ahead, blinking rapidly. He swallowed a couple of times.

When he didn't say anything, she looked over at him curiously. "Oh god, Charlie, what's wrong?" She was beside herself. "What happened? The phone call? Was it the phone call?" She knelt on the floor in front of him, taking his hands in hers.

He leaned forward, so their foreheads were touching. "No, nothing like that, honest." He stroked her head. "I just realized that there are still so many things I don't know about you, you know?" He pulled her in and kissed her. "And I might not get the chance to find out." He took a deep breath.

"Oh, Charlie," Jane said softly, putting her hands on either side of his face. "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me in my entire life, you know?" Her face crumpled. "What am I going to do when you're gone?" she asked, looking around the room. "I'm going to be alone. No one cares about me like you do, Charlie, no one ever has. I didn't think anyone ever would," she finished, and Charlie could barely hear her, even though she was right in front of him. Her shoulders began to shake. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"Oh no, oh god, please don't cry, please, please," Charlie begged, just hanging on to his tears himself. "Jane, please."

She struggled to do as he asked, taking deep breaths, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, which only made her look even more like a small child. She sniffed, hard, squaring her shoulders resolutely.

"We'll figure something out, I promise, I promise," he said, pulling her to him, nodding.

"Come on, let's get in bed and watch something funny, hm?" he said gently.

Jane nodded, and they climbed into bed, cuddling together in the middle like shipwreck survivors on a raft.

"Oh, and, look, look!" Charlie said, pulling open the drawer next to the bed. "Oreos! And Entenmann's, and Moon Pies, and, and, HoHos!" He smiled proudly as he dumped the bag on the bed. He looked at Jane expectantly. "That's every odd thing I've ever seen you eat while we Face Time," he explained.

"You noticed?" she asked plaintively. And her chest began to heave and she burst into tears again.

"Jane, have you been drinking?" Charlie asked.

"No, you asshole," she said through her tears, hitting him in the chest. "I love you, Charlie," she said, snuggling in.

"So you're finished hitting me?" he asked with a smile, putting his arm around her as the opening credits to Popstar rolled. She didn't answer, simply lifting her leg over his so she was tucked into his side.

They watched the movie and ate the garbage Charlie had bought, enjoying themselves very much, though Jane did start to get sniffly a few times. Charlie would just cuddle her and tip her chin up for a soft kiss, and she'd get herself under control.

After the movie was over, Charlie took a deep breath. "So, it's really late, and you're obviously exhausted, and I really, really don't want you to cry anymore, so should we wait until tomorrow for me to give you your Christmas present?"

Jane sat up. "Present?"

Charlie smiled, nodding. "Hold on," he said, going to the closet. While he was gone Jane reached over into her bag and pulled out her gift for him.

"Here, open mine first," Jane said, handing it to him. It was a small, oblong box.

Charlie took it, smiling in anticipation, shaking it experimentally. "Wonder what it is? Maybe a bowling ball?" He unwrapped it and opened the box.

It was a bracelet. A simple, fairly thick serpentine chain with a clasp held three silver spheres in the middle, set equidistant apart, each a little smaller than a marble.

It's an ellipsis, see?" Jane pointed to the spheres.

"Oh, the dots we use when we text," Charlie declared in a pleased voice. "Wow, Jane, this is beautiful!" He pulled it out and held it around his wrist so she could clasp it. He looked at it before smiling at her, one of the happiest, sexiest smiles she'd ever seen. "How am I supposed to look at this and not think of, um, you know?"

"Charlie, you just made me so wet, just from your smile, from your fucking eyes, Jesus," Jane said in a soft, incredulous voice. "Oh my god."

"This sounds like something I should check out for myself, don't you think?" he said, putting his hands on her hips.

"Well, yeah, but what about my present?" she asked, beaming at him. This made Charlie laugh.

"Okay, okay, presents first, then shagging," he agreed, picking up a small box and handing it to her.

She sat down to open it, and lifted a box out of the wrapping paper. Inside the box was what looked like a compact, but when Jane opened it, she found two mirrors in it, one on either side. "See? This side's a magnifying mirror," Charlie explained. Jane nodded, closing it to admire the exterior.

It was jeweled on both sides, set with lots of tiny, sparkling, gemstones. "What are these, Charlie?" she asked curiously.

"Well, the opaque, grayish ones? They're moonstones. They remind me of your eyes," he explained quietly, and Jane couldn't look at him, afraid she might cry. "Really your eyes look like sea-glass to me, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy you that had those," he explained.

"The clear ones are diamonds," he finished in an offhand voice.

"Charlie, what?" Jane looked at him. "There must be close to ten carats in diamonds on this."

He shrugged, closing his hands over hers, which still held the compact. "I got you this so that you can look at it any time you like, and see how beautiful you are, and remember why I love you so, so much, okay?

"Jane, you are the most beautiful person I've ever known in my life, and loving you these last few months has been the greatest joy I've ever known," he said in an emotional voice.

Jane shook his hands off so she could hug him, closing her eyes as she felt him hug her back. "And we're going to get through this, okay? We'll make it through the holidays with our families, and then we'll see what's what, and figure something out," he said, and she could feel him nodding against her head.

"I love you, Charlie," Jane whispered into his ear.

And they toppled over on the bed, where they showed just how much they loved each other. They held each other and kissed, and Charlie removed her pjs, admiring every inch of her as he did, from her cute toes to her long legs, from her pretty sex to her slim hips, to her beautiful breasts and her slender neck, all covered by her pale, soft skin. And he looked into her sea-glass eyes, declaring over and over how much he loved her.

And Jane slowly pulled his sweats off, loving his long, athletic legs, his slim hips, his flat, toned stomach, his nice, sinewy shoulders and broad back, and his perfect face, with his world famous smile, and his hazel eyes, which glowed like jewels as he looked at her.

And he readied her, slowly, lovingly, and when he entered her, he didn't think he'd ever felt such utter bliss. He kissed her sweet, sweet mouth as he felt her wrap her legs around him, and they moved together until they finished, they went rocketing over the edge together, hanging on to each other and gasping.

And they held each other after, falling into the happiest sleep they'd ever known.