Jane saw the black SUV in front of her house from half way down the block, and her stomach swooped. For a second, she was worried that it was the paparazzi again, but she could see Tony behind the wheel, and she knew who it was. She briefly considered turning around, but there was nowhere to go in that direction where there weren't people, so she took a deep breath and resolutely headed for home, hoping she wouldn't faint before she got there.

When she got to the car the door opened and Charlie stepped out, and she really did almost swoon. He looked thinner, and tired, but still so handsome. His gorgeous eyes looked larger in his face, and there seemed to be a look of strain about them as he looked at her.

Charlie filled his eyes with the sight of Jane, who looked so beautiful to him.

She stared at him, and he wasn't sure if she was just going to walk right on by, but she finally said, "Hi."

"Hi," he responded with a little smile.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked quietly, and he nodded. She was glad to see Tony pull away as Charlie followed her up the walk, to know he wouldn't be parked in front of her house the whole time Charlie was in her house.

They sat down together in the family room, and Charlie automatically sat next to her, where he sat before. He felt Jane stiffen and moved to sit in the love seat across from her, though it hurt a little for him to do it.

"Do you want something to drink?" she asked politely.

"Water?" he responded.

She rose, returning moments later with a cold bottle.

"Thanks, darling," he said without thinking. He heard what he said and quickly opened the bottle and took a huge drink.

Jane sat and looked at him expectantly.

"Where's your brother?" Charlie asked, remembering his last, disastrous visit to this house.

"Oh, he has student council today until five," Jane said.

"Oh. Look, Jane, I came to see you today because--I had to come today because--" Charlie stopped, unsure of what to say in the face of Jane's distant cordiality.

She continued to look at him with that expression of polite interest.

"How have you been?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I've been okay," she said, showing a remarkable lack of enthusiasm.

"How's Camilla?" he finally asked, when she didn't elaborate.

"I'm not really sure," Jane said. "We're sort of not speaking."

"What?" Charlie asked, aghast. "You and Camilla are like sisters, Jane! What happened? Surely she wouldn't split with you over--over all this? Over what happened?"

Jane shook her head. "Not exactly," she said. "But it was about you, though," she admitted. "She was jealous of me, of--of us, I suppose," she said. "This whole thing, with me and you, it changed the dynamics between me and Cam, you know? I think it was the first time in our lives she wanted something and I got it."

"And Camilla couldn't deal with that?" Charlie sounded surprised. That didn't sound like the Cam Jane had described to him.

"No, I couldn't," Jane admitted. "I guess I'd been storing up a lot of resentment toward Cam all my life that neither one of us realized was even there, and it all came spilling out."

"Oh," Charlie said. "So what was the fight about, then?" he asked politely. "Sounds like you both just cleared the air a little."

Jane ruminated on his words. "We're just redefining things, I guess." She shrugged, looking at Charlie again.

"I miss you," he finally said simply. "And I was so worried about you," he added.

Jane swallowed, her eyes landing on various objects around the room before returning to Charlie. "But I thought our attorneys said we shouldn't communicate with each other or see each other or anything for a while?" she finally said, still in the same, strange, formal voice.

"Fuck them," Charlie said succinctly. "I'm tired of being away from you, and I don't want to do it any more."

"Charlie," Jane began, but Charlie cut her off.

"No, stop," he said. "I can tell, just from how you said my name, that you're not going to say anything good. These last months without you, it's like I've been dead, honest. I can't do anything, and what's more, I don't want to. Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't even remember why we decided to take this little break, but it was the most idiotic idea we ever had between us. We need to be together from this day forward, forever. And I know we're both teenagers, and I know I'm in an industry that chews up relationships and spits them out like they're nothing, but I still want to try.

"Jane," he continued in an emotional voice. "I still love you so much, maybe more than before. I've been miserable without you. What we had was marvelous and real and worth having, you know?" He leaned forward.

"No it wasn't! What we had was meaningless and sordid!" Jane responded, and Charlie leaned back in surprise at how loud her voice was, and the expression on his face was awful. To Jane it looked like he'd been slapped.

"No," he responded softly. "How can you say that?" His voice was raw with pain. "We made our own language, we spoke to each other with our hearts, Jane."

Jane sighed. "That's really poetic, Charlie, and would probably make really nice song lyrics, but it's not true." She was surprised to feel tears on her cheeks, and wiped them away absently. "What we had, what we did together, is out in the world as a joke, as a punchline, Charlie! People jerk off to it in groups at frat parties, did you know that? The clothes we wore are being sold online as costumes for parties!" She stared at him, chin trembling, eyes huge.

Charlie closed his eyes, shaking his head.

Fuck.

Jane took a deep breath, trying to hang on to her composure. She nearly made it, but she made the mistake of looking at Charlie's face when he opened his eyes. The pain she saw in them was so deep, so huge, that her own eyes filled and she let out a sob.

Charlie was on his feet and at her side in a heartbeat, and she was leaning into him as his arms came around her. She was utterly without strength, melting into his body as he held her, letting go for the first time since that awful night she found out.

"I want you to know I carry the compact," she whispered. "I carry it with me all the time."

He tightened his grip on her, showing her his wrist at the same time. The bracelet shone dully in the afternoon light.

"I never take it off, darling Jane," he assured her. "Never."

They stayed that way, holding each other, for a long time, for so long that Charlie wondered if Jane had fallen asleep. Just when he was wondering whether or not to lean back with her, she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Charlie, but I can't do this."

Charlie closed his eyes again, brows furrowed with pain.

"Jane, no, don't say that, please."

"I'm not strong enough."

"I'll be with you, every step of the way, I promise!" He released her so he could look at her face.

She shook her head, looking down.

"I just can't. I can't."

He tipped her chin up in the gesture that was so familiar to both of them, so he could regard her streaming eyes.

"I'm sorry, Charlie," she whispered. "You deserve someone like you, someone strong and confident and fun and funny..."

He wiped her cheeks with his thumbs, and leaned in and kissed her soft mouth, following it up with a kiss to her forehead.

"I guess I'd better go, then," he said, rising.

She didn't say anything, she just rose with him.

They walked together to the door, and Jane could see that somehow, Tony had magically appeared at the curb.

"Til we meet again, darling Jane," he said softly, kissing her again.

Jane didn't say anything until she shut the door behind him. She leaned her forehead against the closed door and whispered, "Dot dot dot, Charlie."