Alison hummed to herself as she sorted through her wardrobe, keeping some of her dresses hanging, while others were slung over the arm of a nearby chair. She had some mending to do, so she thought she might as well collect everything that needed a little something. Finding her sewing box, she collected the few dresses she had pulled and some trim and made her way next door.
"Chaaaarlotte," she sang as she knocked on the door. It was cracked, and she poked her head inside, pleased to see Charlotte up and about. They hadn't had much chance to catch up recently. "Are you still moping about? Or can I sit in here with you? I've some mending to do and I thought we could catch up. And if you need anything done, I can help. It's mostly small spots, and switching out some trim."
---
Charlotte might not have characterized herself as moping about, but neither did she really have much evidence to the contrary, should Alison have asked for it. The last month- or perhaps more- had been turbulent at best, and she still wasn't entirely certain that she had a handle on what might be happening.
But she looked up from- fittingly enough, her own needlework- and gestured for Alison to join her. "Come sit, please. It's been too long, I'm sorry."
---
"Nope, you do not need to apologize," Alison replied, happy enough to enter the room, arms full as she moved to drop her things on the bed before perching on the edge of it. She'd start with the small spots first, then remove and add trim, perhaps.
She reached for her sewing box, flipping it open to pull out a needle and some white thread. Once the needle was threaded, she reached for her first white dress, starting to repair a small hole. "How are you holding up?"
---
She watched as Alison settled in, amused at the mess that somehow soon became order as her sister started working. Charlotte had paused her own needlework, a much smaller piece, but picked it back up from her lap once it seemed that Alison was settled.
"I… think I am well," she offered, laughing at herself just slightly once she realized how that sounded. "No, I am," Charlotte insisted, belatedly. "It… has been a rough time, but I feel… at least a little more hopeful, now."
---
"You think?" Alison started, smiling at Charlotte's next insistence. "I'm sorry it's been rough, but I'm glad you're feeling better. I saw you and Mister Parker dancing at the sweethearts ball- it looks like you two have made up from whatever it was that had you both looking like somebody had kicked your puppies."
She finished the first tear in her dress and knotted it off before holding it up. That was fine, and the trim was still good on this one. She stabbed her needle into her pincushion and lay her dress to the side, picking up the next dress where the trim along the bottom hem was looking a little more ragged than she'd like. She found her scissors to start clipping the seam that held the trim on. "Do you want to talk about it?"
---
Of course, Alison must have known that Charlotte hadn't really been given a choice in her dance partner for that particular evening, but she could hardly deny the… observation her sister made about the way the pair of them had looked.
"We've had one another so wrong," she offered, finally. "In our unfair assumptions, and quick judgments." It had happened on both sides, Charlotte knew, and she would own her part in it, no matter what the final outcome might one day be. "We're… going to try to get to know one another again. A fresh start."
---
"Oh, good!" Alison was pleased enough to hear that- she recalled the things Charlotte had written- and carefully left out- in her letters home from her first visit to Sanditon, and she hoped that it would all work out for the best for them. "I hope it goes well for you, Charlotte. I truly do- I just want you to be happy."
She finished removing the trim from her dress and eyed the hem. It was in pretty decent shape, and she reached for the replacement, a lavender instead of the blue. "What else have you been up to?"
---
"That's all any of us could hope to find, isn't it? So simple, and yet…" She sighed, but a smile lingered even still. Charlotte remembered Georgiana and Otis- hadn't they seemed happy? Or Tom and Mary, perhaps, even with Tom's frenetic energy. They were happy. They must have been.
"Oh, now- I think you owe me the very same, no?" Charlotte returned, fixing her sister with a look. "How was your time with your sweetheart?"
---
"Do you mean the threesome I was in?" Aison asked with a laugh. "It was..fine, I suppose. Awkward and a little embarrassing, but Felicity was nice and I think we could be good friends with time. And Gregory- Mister Bridgerton- is.."
She trailed off, cheeks flushing for a moment. "Well, once we were able to speak after, I think we've cleared the air."
She paused, finishing a knot on a hem. "Did you- did you ever get that lightning bolt moment? Like where you met a person and just knew you were supposed to know them?"
---
Charlotte's eyebrows had shot up at that word- threesome. Even if undoubtedly accurate, it seemed a little brash to label it as so. But Alison's quick correction of the youngest Bridgerton son's name, well, that only intrigued her further.
"I… do not know if I have. I will surmise that you have, though, with Gregory?"
---
"Yes, there was- not long after I arrived, I was in the library. And he pulled a book from the other side of the shelf- our eyes met, and- I mean, I'm not so foolish as to think it's love at first sight, but I certainly felt like we should know each other. Nobody ever tells you how the heroines get to their happily ever after!" Alison felt her cheeks flush, and she paused in her mending.
"It started off a little awkward, but I think..I like him a lot, Charlotte. He's so sweet, and he enjoys poetry, and it's just..it's easy to just be myself with him."
---
"I don't think there's anything wrong with… calling it a connection at first sight," Charlotte offered, trying to be more encouraging. "And certainly, if he allows you to be wholly yourself, I can hardly say a word against it."
---
"It's..something." Alison sighed. "I don't know. It's a little terrifying. But wonderful? We had a little confusion at first- I think he thought I wanted him to be someone..different than who he is. But I didn't. He likes poetry and food and walks in the garden and we can talk for hours and it's just..it's nice."
Her hands began moving again, working on the trim of her dress. "Maybe it could be love someday."
---
"Terrifying and wonderful, in my… very limited experience on the matter," she gave a little sigh, "sounds quite familiar. Perhaps that is just the state of most men, when it comes to perplexing us."
"All I am asking is to allow me a chance to show you who I really am."
"And if it is love, someday, and you believe him to be worthy of your affection, I will support you wholeheartedly."