Him giving her that fraction of a smile was relieving. She wanted to help him, to be helpful, to actually have a use that wasn't trying to further her family business. The good thing about having her own section in the company was that she could work on anything that she wanted to, she didn't have to follow her family's agenda. And she didn't. Her family spent their time having their robotics lab spit out service robots. These were the robots that automated both basic and complicated tasks such as working a cash registers, or... driving a car. But she didn't work those robots, she was working on something else.<br/><br/>As she was lost in her head, she felt Ethan's hand on her upper arm, pulling her attention back up to him, meeting his eyes. She gave him a smile of her own and straightened up a little. Giving him a job, any sort of job, would help him. If she was completely honest she was...excited, about the prospect of getting to spend more time with him. He was the only person thus far who hadn't labeled her as a monster upon hearing her last name. Who didn't assume that they already knew who she was, the type of person she was, based on her family's tainted agenda. "Well I mean you'll learn, and you don't have to do the really precise work. You could...." She trailed off and turned her attention to the TV, standing next to Ethan.<br/><br/>The report made her stomach churn. Eight people were dead, eight of them, due to her family's negligence. Again. She hated waking up in the morning, seeing a new way that her family royally fucked up yet again, the fact that it was becoming routine was not okay. She went to make a comment when she heard her name, making her eyes narrow in anger. They pinned the blame on her. They tagged her name to a robot that she didn't even design in order to take the heat away from them. They were her own family and they were using her as a shield. She may not have been surprised, but she could feel the familiar anger she generally felt towards her corrupt bloodline up to now. She was used to the shame and judgement of her family, she was used to the threats she received walking down the streets, she was ready for them. But she was not ready for the bomb that Ethan was about to drop on her. Not at all.<br/><br/>She saw Ethan step away, and she turned to him, only to meet anger that she hadn't yet seen on him. She saw his pain, the weight on his shoulders, the stone in his heart. She wanted to reach out and take it away, and she almost did. She would've gotten her hand bit off if she had. He snapped at her, and she immediately felt her heart sink at his blame. She knew there was no way she could have caused this considering she hadn't programmed those particular robots, but... it was true that her universal code was implanted in each robots that was ever built. There was a piece of her in all of them but...<br/><br/>She didn't have time for 'but', because she was currently facing the wrath of a man who was using her as a personal punching bag. She didn't know what to say, she was still in shock herself; she doubted she would've been able to get her word in anyway. All she could do now was shake her head, maybe he would let her explain her position. Explain that she would never, ever do that. Explain that she<i>was </i>different.  "Ethan-" She tried, but he was to far in his ranting.<br/><br/><i>I thought you were different, Charlotte.</i><br/><br/>She thought he was different, too. She didn't think that he would jump at the first opportunity to scrutinize her, but she wasn't sure that she could blame him. She was a Montgomery, no one liked them. No one had ever, ever, tried to get to know her. She wasn't the person she presented herself as around her family, she had to put on a mask. She thought that Ethan was going to be that person, the one who would take the time to realize who she was despite the pointed fingers and placed blame. She thought... she thought she finally had a friend. She was wrong, obviously. Up until this point, she had simply submitted and took his hits at her. She understood why he believed the report, why wouldn't he? She expected him to be angry, and after he had finished his vent she could give him her position in a manned way. That was before he hurt her in what she could only describe as the worse way possible.<br/><br/>She took his blaming, his finger-pointing, his harsh accusations. But she wouldn’t take this. As he spoke, her eyes welled with tears from frustration, disappointment. She clenched her fists as he insulted her. She could easily take blame for her family, she’d been doing it her whole life. She’d also spent her whole life making sure she didn’t become her family, so being told she was worse wasn’t something she would sit back and take. She narrowed his eyes as his tone deepened, wiping her eyes before he could notice the effect of his words. She had dismissed his needless stabs before, but this was the last straw.<br/><br/>“Fuck you. You don’t even know me, you’re seriously going to take the word of my<i>family</i>. Did it ever occur to you to maybe take a moment and ask me? Maybe you would realize that I haven’t worked those robots in years, but don’t worry, you’re absolutely right. Let me save you the troubles of kicking me out, I’ll show myself to the door.” Her voice shook as she spoke. She wiped another hot tear and turned away from him. She grabbed her things and walked to the door. She paused, looking over her shoulder. “You can have your apology back. I don’t want it anymore.” With that she left his apartment, slamming his door behind her.<br/><br/>She didn’t know why she cared so much, she had just met him. But either way, it took a lot to hold back the angry tears threatening to spill as she practically skipped steps. She wanted out of this apartment as soon as possible. She nearly sprinted outside, walking quickly down the street before ducking into an alley. She pressed her back to the brick wall, taking in a shakey breath, dragging her hand across her cheek to rid of any signs that his words affected her. But they did, greatly. She heard footsteps from the mouth of the alley and she sighed. “Go away.” She thought it was Ethan. She was mistaken. She turned her head when they didn’t respond, her heart sinking a little when she saw two men raking their eyes over her. She straightened up, turning the other way and going to walk away from them, only to run into the chest of another.<br/><br/>“You’re that uh, Charlotte chick, right? The one responsible for those deaths today? My nephew was in that wreck. I guess I have you to thank, yeah?” He backed her against the wall, his face inches from hers. He laughed manically, glancing over to his friends. “You were right, she is pretty. This could be fun.” He smirked and turned back to her, biting his lip with another chuckle. Charlotte went to push him off, but he caught her hands and pinned them behind her in one hand. His other hand pressed to the side of her leg and he ran it up, around to her backside. With this, she growled and spit at him, her eyes burning with hatred.<br/><br/>“Don’t<i>fucking</i>touch me.” She struggled in his grasp as he wiped his face, his lips pulled back into a snarl.<br/><br/>“You really are a bitch, aren’t you.”<br/><br/>Within a second, his first connect with her cheek in return to her defense. His other two friends took a step back, surprised.<br/><br/>“Wait wait, dude. We can’t hurt her, sh-“<br/><br/>“Shut up, dumbass. She deserves this, she killed those people. We’d be doing the world a favor.”<br/><br/>She wasn’t really listening to their conversation, the throbbing in her cheek was too prominent. She had slammed her head into the wall as he did that, and she was trying to get a grasp on the situation. She thought she could feel a small stream of blood run down her cheek, and she could tell there would be a definite bruise against it. Honestly, her wrists would probably bruise, too; he had them in a death grip. She was a little dizzy as she shook her head, but even then. Maybe she was responsible for their deaths, maybe she did deserve this. Though the thought went away when he turned back to her, dragging his thumb across her jaw.<br/><br/>“What to do with you, Hm?”<br/><br/>Suddenly she wished she hadn’t stormed away.