dear you, it's me, pick up.

[HOLIDAY HARLOW ,]

CLOSED - Charlie Broderick only, please.

OUTFIT

Holiday had been trying for hours, in vain, to get ahold of Charles on his cell. Though, perhaps she was being a bit overzealous in her attempts and... well, a bit ridiculous, too. Calling, waiting after two rings, and then hanging up wasn't giving Charlie enough time to answer, obviously, but a frantic Holiday didn't have the right mind to sit back and think about these things. No - she just needed to get a hold of the man she loved and that was that.

Ring... ring... CLICK!

And she smashed the little red button with a painted nail to hang up, lips pursed, a frustrated crease appearing between her eyebrows. 'Pick up the Goddamned phone, Charles Broderick', she mentally shouted, glaring down at the little flip screen as it went black, her blue eyes narrowed lightly. Ugh. She wasn't in the states for her health, nor was she hanging outside the building she believed he worked in because she was 'in town'. It was just a simple Tuesday afternoon wherein Holiday had nothing out-of-the-ordinary to do, nor anyone to asist with anything, so she was spending it as she pleased.

... and if that meant jumping from the hideout to California to see the one man she shouldn't have any affiliation with aside from 'enemy', so be it. She was a grown woman, she could do as she pleased. Leaning her thighs back against a parallel parked car along the side of the road, she pressed her lips into a thin line, glancing off down the crowded street. Maybe Charlie had lost his cell? Maybe it had nothing to do with her impatience or lack of waiting while his phone rang and rang. Perhaps, even, he was busy and didn't have the time to pick up his cell...

Or he was ignoring her. Yeah, there was that. Following that idea a sick feeling formed in the pit of her stomach and she frowned, chewing away on her bottom lip, suddenly self-conscious. Charlies, her Charlie, didn't want anything to do with her anymore... Because she was a Jumper and he was a Paladin and he'd finally come to realize what she'd known long ago - there was no way for them to work it out and be together, especially seeing as they were both in charge of opposing organizations out to kill the other. Holiday dreaded the day she had to face him on opposite sides, absolutely dreaded it, but she believed it would come, unlike Charlie who seemed so determined to find a way around it.

Until now, now that he was ignoring her calls. Eh, one more try, she thought, flipping her phone open once more to redial his number.

[CHARLIE BRODERICK]

Charlie's phone had been vibrating on and off for the past thirty or so minutes. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer it, it's that he couldn't at the moment. He was in a rather important business meeting,and he couldn't afford to lose the interest of his employees. But who ever it was trying to get a hold of him, was trying their damnedest. "And that, gentlemen,con-cludes...our...Excuse me." Charlie, finally getting annoyed with the vibrations in his pocket, took a moment to glance down at the caller. 'Holi' flashed across the face of his cell phone. He glanced across the room, dismissed them, and closed the door behind them as they exited the room. By then, the phone had stopped vibrating.

A long sigh pushed its way through Charles' lips. What ever Holiday was wanting, it was probably not important. Charlie had been trying to find the time to call her,but he'd been so busy lately, he'd forgotten all about his ex-wife. He took a seat at the head of the large meeting table, propping his feet up on the top of the table. Turning to look out the window. Being 13 story's up was the least of his worries. Guess she gave up... Charlie climbed out of the seat, gather up some folders and documents, and headed for the door.

Ding!

Charlie stepped into the elevator, pressed the large round ONE button, and leaned back against the side wall of the moving room. Reaching the bottom floor, several people piled in as Charlie exiting, greeting him as they passed. Walking to the front desk, he placed the folders and documents in his arms in the hands of the secretary on duty. "Please give these to--" His pocket started vibrating again. His attention diverted from the middle of his conversation with the woman at the front desk to his phone. 'Holi' flashing across the face again.

He whipped around from the woman, who now had a shocked and 'How rude' expression on her face he was sure, and flipped open his phone. He stared blankly at his phone for a minute, walking toward the exit. The Paladin leader couldn't afford to talk to her while others were around. Her safety was everything to him. He mashed the green 'Talk' button and pushed open the door, stepping into the warm California sun.

"Holi?"

[HOLIDAY HARLOW ,]

She was going to give him exactly 3.2 seconds to pick up his goddamned phone before she hung up and left. Where she'd go or what she'd do after given up was undertermined, since she didn't exactly have any other plans for the day. Mrf. "Damnit Charlie," she mumbled into the ever-ringing echo of her phone, hearing her own voice echo in return, seconds before Charlie's all-too-familiar vocalization of her name sounded. The brunette froze, momentarily knocked into silence. A lingering wave of insecurity passed, the typical feeling that struck whenever she was around him, and she swallowed hard before light blue eyes lifted to see the very same man exiting the building a bit to her left.

Alarms rang off in her head and she visibly froze, tensing against the door of the parked car, face darkened. Shit, shit, shit. She had to say something. Suddenly not wanting to be seen, she mumbled a somewhat coherent 'hey' into the phone, slipping sideways against the car in a vain attempt to escape before he saw her. Hell, he wasn't looking at her yet and he had his free hand over the opposite ear... Yeah, she was probably a-ok to escape right about... now.

Fwap!

Her elbow slammed against the car's side mirror, making a rather annoyingly loud sound, the bone in her elbow colliding neatly. "Shit!" She voiced, half into the phone, half to herself, forgetting for an instance that she was speaking to Charlie and that he was not twenty feet away. If her face had been red before then it was surely crimson now. Tucking her cell between her ear and her shoulder she carressed the dull, thumming pain in her arm and glanced as inconspiciously over her shoulder as possible back at her the male. Had he seen her? Was she still in the clear? Would it be foolish to jump and disappear that second and get the hell out of there? ... no, definitely not.

Sighing into the phone, she kept her back to him, fingers mentally crossed that he wasn't coming towards her. Though, with her luck, she wasn't too sure what she was expecting. A tiny 'you still there' was whispered into the phone as she tried to let out a semi-carefree laugh, hoping her previous shout hadn't freaked him out or anything. Oh, yeah, Holiday, soooo graceful. NOT. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she awkwardly tugged on the sleeve of her trench-coat and finally lifted her gaze to stare at him from where she stood, still speaking through the cell. "Sorry I... er, called. A lot. I couldn't get ahold of you." Why she was still talking through the phone was beyond her, but Holi wasn't always the wisest of wise. "How are you?"

[CHARLIE BRODERICK]

His opposite hand over the opposite ear, the Paladin leaned forward like he was trying to make sence of what Holiday wasn't saying. All he could make out was random cursing and the sound of cars in the background. Trying to block out the busy street in front of his building, Charlie squinted down at the ground, listening to Holi saying ... nothing? "Holi? Are you there? Is something wrong?" It sounded that way. She wasn't saying anything, except for the ocassional 'shit' which was mubbled as if she was trying not to say it. "Holi?"

"Yeah, I kind of noticed you called. Alot. I was in a meeting, I couldn't answer. I'm sorry. Aaaand, I'm fine. And you--" As he started to finish the sentence, he looked up as a female bumped and stumbled around several parked vehicles in front of him. He snorted and shook his head a bit as he spoke softly into the phone's mouth piece. "Hello Holi." He slammed the phone shut and slid it into his front right pocket of his sleek, black pants. Shoving his hands into his pockets and taking a step towards Holiday Harlow.

He grabbed her by the arm and darted across the street with her into a coffee shop. Charlie knew it wasn't a great idea to stand outside one of the buildings he runs. If any one of the many Paladins inside found out that the very woman they had been working so hard to find was right outside... well... Charlie wouldn't let that happen. And the very idea of losing Holi was too much to think about after having such a long, stressful day.

"Holi, you know you shouldn't been hanging around outside like that. You should really try to be a bit more careful." Sighing and folding his arms around, crushing her against him. He inhaled deeply, her scent was intoxicating. Exactly how he remembered. He paused and then grabbed her shoulders and pushed some space between them so he could look at her, his hand resting lightly on her shoulders. "What are you doing here?"

[HOLIDAY HARLOW ,]

Gaah, her elbow stung! Even after speaking to Charlie for a few moments she couldn't ignore the dull, thrumming pain. Damnit! "I'm here, I'm here..." she mumbled a few times into the phone, half-focusing on the conversation at hand. Go figure she finally got the ellusive bastard on the phone and got herself distracted. That clearly took skill that only Holiday had. "Nothing's wrong." Didn't something sound wro-- Oh, right, she'd cursed into the phone. At least he was trying to speak to her, despite her lack of communicating for a moment and, when he finally did start replying to her understandable questions, she found an uncontrollable smile curling onto her face. Mhm, typical facial reaction to his voice, no doubt.

"Oh." Stupid meetings, stupid Paladin stuff, stupid Romeo and Juliet-esque issues that could easily be resolved if Charlie wasn't so adament about killing off every other Jumper around and she wasn't obliged to protect them at all costs. The world was clearly as fucked up as her elbow felt. "Don't be sorry," she continued, leaning against the parked car once more, only for him to say hello again and the line to go dead on her. Er, what--? Holi paused, blue eyes slowly shifting to glance carefully over her shoulder, only to find the familiar form of Charlie coming towards her.

Heart racing, her mouth went dry, and she tried for a small, somewhat uncertain smile. Eep. Yeah, she was possibly in trouble. No, no, it was confirmed. She was definitely in trouble the moment he firmly grabbed her arm and nearly dragged her, shuffling quickly, across the street into a local coffee shoppe. A series of numb nods were the only response she offered as he reprimanded her for being so dreadfully careless. "I know, Charles, I know..." she finally vocalized, face flushing ever so slightly. Bad Holiday, no cookie. It was like getting a slap on the hand. "I was being careful!" She retorted, stomping on heel-clad foot against the tiled floor, lips pursed, only to semi-lose her balance as he wrapped his arms around her.

Warmth, familiar warmth, and an even more familiar smell engulfed her and she folded her arms back around him, revelling in the comfort of it all. She would happily remain in these arms for the rest of her life if she could, but she knew she couldn't. Holiday probably knew so better than anyone else, to be frank. And then, before she could get used to the whole thing, he was pushing her away, his hands now firm on her shoulders. Wide blue eyes stared up at him, a tiny pout forming on her face, and she tried for her best, innocent look she could muster. "I'm not allowed to hang out and wait for you to get off work?" Yeah, the innocence was probably failing. Mind, she would've been waiting for him to get off work if their lives were easier, but... yeah.

"I couldn't get ahold of you through your cell so I thought I'd jump here and... just be in town. Is that a crime? No one who came out of your building even looked at me, I swear..." Okay, that was slightly a lie, but the catcall whistle she had gotten was to be promptly forgotten, thank you. "I don't exactly look suspicious--" though the Paladin's probably had her photo posted everywhere like her Jumpers had Charlie's. It wasn't like she could go in and tear the pictures up without arousing suspicion. She might be in love with Charlie still, but she wasn't stupid. "Am I not allowed to miss you anymore?" She asked softly, curving one hand up and around the nape of his neck to play with his hair, forgetting about the coffee shoppe around them.