A/N: Hey there people! Well this is last chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. And I'm sorry for the six month gap between chapter 3 and 4.

Ch 5

Fran waltzed back into the shop with a ham roll and a smile on her face.

"Charlie?" She called happily.

There was no response. There were two or three customers in the shop and not a sign of either Bernard or Charlie.

"Bernard?" She walked across the shop and headed into the kitchen.

Bernard sat with a cigarette in his mouth, a wine glass in his hand, and a smile on his face. But the smile was one of pure pleasure; the likes of which Fran knew meant that he had done something terrible. She feared for Charlie.

"What have you done to him?" She asked, glaring at Bernard and walking up to his chair in the kitchen.

"Nothing. He simply left. He said he was going out for pasta and then left." He blew a curling puff of smoke in Fran's direction.

She gripped him by the hair and yanked him up off the seat.

"He didn't do that. I know that he didn't. Now tell me what you did or I'll-"

"Fran?"

Fran turned and in doing so made Bernard do the same. Standing in the shop and staring at the two was Manny.

"Manny!" Fran cried, dropping Bernard's head. "He did something! Bernard did something to the temp! He did something to Charlie and now I can't find him!"

"Manny, she's crazy." Bernard stood up from his chair. "She keeps talking about a temp. Some strange man by the name of Charlie. He smiles and cleans and enjoys customers. What goings on she has concocted inside that head I can only imagine."

"Bernard, I know Charlie is real." Manny sighed, putting down his suitcase and walking towards the kitchen. "I called the temp agency and I told you he was coming."

"Clearly you've both succumb to the same brain crazy disease." Bernard sat back down. "Thank God one of us has stayed immune. Now, as the only sane person in this room and quite probably the whole of London, it is my duty to find a cure and have a street named after me." With that he picked up his wine, snatched up a book and began to read.

Fran and Manny looked at each other and then at Bernard. Without saying anything they seemed in agreement that Bernard should be avoided and left out of the Charlie search.

"What are we going to do?" Fran asked Manny as they walked out of the kitchen and into the shop. "I don't know where he could have put him."

"Well if you were Bernard, where would you put a temp?"

"You know as well as I do that no one can imagine what Bernard's mind is like." Fran fell on the chair at the desk and sighed. "So is your mum alright?"

"Yeah she's fine." Manny leaned against the wall. "She's a lot better. The doctor-"

Just then the phone rang. Manny reached down and picked it up.

"Hello Black Books-"

"Is this Mr. Black?" Came a deep and angry voice.

"Um, no this is Manny."

"Manny then. This is Mr. Callahan, from the temp agency that you contacted last week."

"Well…hello Mr. Callahan."

"I have in my office one Mr. Charlie Forrester. Do you recognize this man, Mr. Bianco?" The voice asked.

"Well I can't really see him over the phone so…wait, how did you know my name?"

"Do you or do you not recognize Charlie Forrester?"

"I know his name." Manny was very confused. "But how did you know-"

"He is sitting here now, barely able to speak. He tells us that the owner of the shop did things to him. He says that he was sent on pointless shopping trips for pasta, was made to believe that Clint Eastwood was dead and haunting the book shop, he says that the owner of the shop, Mr. Bernard Black, began impersonating a TV character with a lollypop in his belly button!"

Manny pulled away from the phone and stared, terrified, at Fran.

"He showed Charlie Belly Savales."

Fran's eyes widened and she let her mouth fall open slightly.

"Oh no…"

Manny placed his ear back to the receiver just in time to her the man say,

"I don't know how you people treat your temps but this is unacceptable! Never expect another temp from us ever again!" And the phone was slammed down.

Manny slowly placed the receiver back into its cradle and stared at Fran.

"Well at least he's alive." Manny shrugged. "Though I think Bernard may have killed some part of him."

They looked into the kitchen and saw Bernard drinking his wine and being Bernard.

They decided not to yell at him or give out to him. Or do anything about the whole incident. Because Bernard was just being Bernard.

There was nothing they could do now besides sit down, have a drink and try to stop thinking about what Bernard could have done to Charlie.

"Please don't go away again Manny." Fran said as she poured some wine. "I don't think I could handle it."

"Well thanks Fran." He smiled. "It's nice to know I'm appreciated."

Manny put extra emphasis on that last word and said it rather loudly into the kitchen. Bernard heard it, but it interrupted his book so he avoided answering. Answering lead to more words. And more words meant less reading. And besides, if he answered Bernard would probably end up realizing that he was glad Manny was back too.