I do not own Revolution just this weird plot bunny.
Once upon a time, when the world was much different and there were lights, cars, television, and the Internet, there was a little girl. She did not like to be called little though.
"Mommy says I'm a big girl now!" She would say, all crossed arms and lowered brows. "I have to be big so that I can help take care of Danny."
People would remark on how mature the child was. She accepted her 'responsibility' without question. Behind her parent's backs, though, they would question whether or not the elder Matheson's were doing the right thing. They never said anything to the girl's parent's though.
Charlotte, for her part, was very happy with her role. She liked to have a job, something to do to make her mom happy after so much sadness. She didn't know why her mom had been so sad, but all that mattered now was that she do whatever she could to alleviate some of it.
Of course, she didn't know what words like 'alleviate' meant when her grandma said it to her mom, but she knew whatever she was doing was a help. She liked to be helpful.
It was why she was both surprised and chagrined when her mother passed her off to her uncle for the day. Great tears pooled down her little face, and she sobbed to her confused looking uncle, "But why doesn't mommy want me?"
She heard a chuckle, and if she'd been less upset, she would have scowled in the direction of the laugh. How dare someone laugh at her when she was obviously upset?
"Miles, you're no good with kids, you know that?" Charlotte poked her head up at him, looked at his soft, smiling face through her tears. Her sobs softened gradually, looking at that smile, and he finally bent down to her level, extracting her from her uncle. "What seems to be the problem?"
Her tears welled up again, and in response, he hugged her to his chest, rubbing soothing circles across her back. "Mommy said I was supposed to take care of Danny!" She finally got out, hiccupping through her words. "She sent me away! Didn't I do a good job?"
"Oh sweetheart," He said with a soft sigh, pulling back to look at her flushed little face. "Your mommy wanted you to have fun today. I'm sure you do a great job taking care of your brother, but it's okay to have a day to yourself, okay Charlotte?"
Both her uncle and the strange man were happy to see her trademark scowl back on her face; the man knew very well that she liked to be called Charlie, but he had a plan in mind. "Today, you don't have to be Charlie. Today you can be Princess Charlotte, and your wish is our demand." He'd set her down somewhere along the way, and he ended his speech with a sweeping bow that brought a small laugh out of the little girl.
"But what will I call you and Uncle Miles if I'm a princess?"
He smiled at her again. "I'll be Sir 'Bastian, and your uncle can be Squire Miles."
"Squire, Bass?"
"I'm the one that got her to stop crying, aren't I?" Bass hissed out between his teeth at his friend before looking back at the girl expectantly.
"Anything I want?" She asked with a quirked brow.
"Anything." Bass said with a nod.
And they did anything the girl wanted. They took her to the park and the zoo and for more ice cream than any of them could really stand. They went and caught fireflies and walked through the park again so that she could see the stars 'closer up.' Her valiant knight, Sir 'Bastian scooped her into her arms and soothed away her tears once more when she fell and scrapped her knee. Bass decided more ice cream was in order after that, to which Miles only rolled his eyes.
When they returned her that night to her parent's, she was happy and asleep.
Miles was relieved as they left his brother's house. For the first time in months, Bass was smiling again.
*****Fifteen Years After the Blackout*****
It was a mistake. A slip of the tongue. She'd been dreaming of that day again, and thinking about it. She couldn't be blamed for calling him 'Bastian (she thanked whatever gods may or may not exist that she did not add the 'sir'). It was the first time though that she let him know she remembered their past. That she remembered him from before the time when she thought of him as a monster. The time that she thought of him as her knight in shining armor.
It would be easier if he stopped saving her all the damn time.
And yeah, sure. He was more avenging knight than knight in shining armor at this point. But he kept saving her and she kept dreaming of that first meeting between them.
When he saved her again, she couldn't help the soft, "Thank you 'Bastian," that slipped out of her mouth. She was glad she withheld the girlish urge to kiss his cheek, a move that would be so unlike her; but she couldn't fight off the embarrassment that flooded her veins when she saw his eyes widen in shock.
Shit. Shit. Shit. It became a litany in her head, a constant loop in her head every time she saw him over the next two weeks.
Charlie avoided him. She had a ready-made excuse to leave whenever he entered the room. She slept as far from him as she could. Miles and Rachel didn't question it; her feelings toward Bass changed week to week it seemed, so no one thought twice about her sudden change from sleeping close to him and going on every mission with him, to not wanting to even look at him.
At least, she thought no one questioned it, until she came across her uncle and her long lost knight shouting angrily at each other and she hid so that she could understand what was going on.
"What did you do to her, you son of a bitch? What did you do, huh?" Miles pushed Bass into the tree every few words, anger clear in every motion.
"I didn't do anything to her!" Bass shouted back, frustration clear in his voice. "I don't know why she's mad at me." He said, calmer now, but a deep sadness entered his face. "I just don't know."
Miles seemed to believe his old friend, for once, and let him go with the order for Bass to, "fix it before I make you."
Charlie sighed, and stepped out of her hiding place as soon as she was sure her uncle was out of earshot. Bass' eyes widened at the sight of her. She gave him a tentative smile, trying to apologize without really saying it. "Hey."
"Charlotte." It was short, curt. "You've been avoiding me."
"You noticed."
"I notice a lot about you."
She suppressed a shiver at what his tone suggested. That was a matter for another time. "I remember." She said simply.
"I gathered," he responded with a tentative smile.
"You gonna keep saving me?"
"Anything my lady wants."
She finally allowed herself to smile at that, stalking closer to him. "Anything?"
"Anything."
And maybe they couldn't go back to the way things were or who they'd been before the blackout. But Charlie was starting to realize that there were some parts in all of them that remained the same. "Kiss me." She breathed, making up her mind, and her knight gladly obeyed.
A/N: So I am trying to delve into new fandoms, and I really love Charloe, but I'm not sure I'm doing them justice? Let me know how I did, and any suggestions are more than welcome. You can follow me on tumblr at .com if you want. This should be either a two-shot or a three-shot, and smut may be coming so the rating might be upped.
