The moment Eleanor showed even the slightest sign of a smile, Charlie caught onto it.
“Aw, there it is. There’s the smile I’ve been waiting so see”, Charlie said in a playful manner before a smile spread across his face.
Charlie was rather playful with Eleanor, even if she wasn’t right now. His weaponized strategy was to smile, and spread it to Eleanor. It was contagious because of how genuine it was. One of the sweet things he used to whisper to Eleanor when it was just them in bed was how much he liked to see her smile.
Even now, Charlie was trying to make her smile by saying, “If there’s milk in the fridge, and some spoons in the drawers, then we are in business baby.”
Before Eleanor could comment how he called her baby, Charlie revealed her cake with an enthusiastic, “Ta-Da”. It was literally a giant cupcake with frosting, and her name on it. The whole thing was topped with an actual cherry on top. Charlie’s logic was, if he couldn’t make her smile with his enthusiasm, then this probably would.
Charlie was smiling again by Eleanor’s astounded expression. It was most likely that Charlie thought, “How ridiculous can I make this birthday cake?” Now here it was, tailored specifically for Eleanor, with the touch of Charlie on it.
“It’s real”, Charlie assumed Eleanor was talking about the birthday cake, that is until Eleanor expressed how she could be sleeping. When her gaze was away, Charlie brought her attention to him. He did so by taking both of her cheeks into his hands, so she was forced to look at him.
His touch was always so gentle with her, his deep blue eyes always locked with her’s, and his focus always blocked everything out when he held her face like this. “Don’t worry, I’M real….”, Charlie reassured her, “And if you want, I’ll stay here until you wake up…”As his hands cradled her face, his thumbs caressed her cheeks into that manner that always felt comforting.

















