'What happens in Venice…'
A Revolution fic: Bass Monroe/Charlie Matheson, Jeremy Baker. Charloe; No Blackout AU.
Sebastian Monroe has a well-earned reputation as a stunt man, fighter and womanizer and his Agent and friend, Jeremy Baker is used to smoothing the way, dealing with hotel suites, publicity, twitter accounts, restaurant bookings and jealous boyfriends, as well as organising his MMA bouts, video shoots and generally doing everything but brush his teeth…
Charlie Matheson has known Jeremy for years. A kind of adopted member of her family, he's been a shoulder to cry on, a strong arm when she needed a sparring partner and there for her to talk to when her family were busy with other things - which was most of the time. She also knows Bass, although she hasn't seen him up close since he left Jasper when she was a teenager with a major crush...
After a raging argument with her mom, Charlie has to get away. Jeremy and Bass are working in Venice, so she decides to fly there to meet up with them…
Author's note:
Hi there and thanks so much for reading. This is a birthday fic for the lovely and hugely talented Hayjbsb! Happy birthday Hay, wishing you lots of all the good things - health, wealth, happiness, and lots of fun.
I'd like to send a big thank you to LoveForTheStory, for listening, for her wise and thoughtful advice and for her knowledge of Venice! She's actually been there! Not that I'm jealous or anything, really… Oh, and I don't own anything of Revolution.
Cross posted on Ao3.
'What happens in Venice…'
Marco Polo airport was crowded, frantic and inside looked pretty much like every other airport she'd ever been in except for the signs mostly in Italian, the posters and murals of Carnivale everywhere and the hotel transfer concierge in a gondoliers outfit… There was no sign of Jeremy yet though, so Charlie bought herself a takeaway espresso and headed off to the carousels to retrieve her baggage, glad she'd worn a summer dress and brought a sun hat, it was hot...
Outside, she found a spot to wait near the crowded vaporetto dock, parked her bag, close by, slung her tote over her shoulder, just in case, and sat down. The view was incredible. The water was dazzling in the hazy Venetian sun and the distant, magical, pastel view of the city was like a picture postcard. There were boats and people everywhere of all sizes, shapes and colours, but the sounds of engines, voices and horns, music of all kinds and the cries of birds were all muffled by the water, fractured like the choppy little waves on the lagoon.
A light breeze from the city ruffled her hair, it smelled of the sea and fish with a heavy seasoning of oil and fuel and the faintest tang of something musty, mouldy and really, really old…
Her phone pinged, and she found a message from Jeremy. They'd been delayed on set and he'd be another half an hour at least. From the sound of it, Monroe was being a pain in the ass about something and for a moment she considered getting her own ride to the apartment. But Jeremy had sounded so excited about coming to get her and she sat back, getting as comfortable as she could on the metal seats….
There was a message from her dad too, telling her to be careful, and one from Danny asking her to bring him back something from the film set Monroe and Jeremy were working on…but nothing from her mom. That was a relief actually, because they'd both said things that were going to take a while to get over…
Miles had sent an email asking her to check out good places to stay and Charlie smiled. Since he'd met Nora – at a fight night of course, Miles had stopped drinking so much, had taken up running and started training again… Mixed martial arts, like before, like Nora, like Jeremy – and Charlie too, it was something that she'd grown up with, something almost everyone she knew did, except Danny of course, he was too fragile, along with hunting, growing food, survivalist stuff… Hell, between them they were ready and prepared to save the town, or their part of it anyway, from almost anything. But then, with her parents working for the DoD for the last few years, being prepared had taken on an extra layer somehow, it felt important, because knowing her mom and dad anything could happen anytime. They were working on some pretty crazy stuff…
And then there was Bass Monroe. One of their own, although he'd been away from Jasper for so long getting famous that he'd become a kind of myth, people remembered him and were proud of his success but it was always tinged with pity, because of the reason he'd left.
A drunk driver had run Bass' parents and two younger sisters off the road on their way to see a movie, killing them as well as himself. As soon as the funerals were done Bass had left town and had never been back. Before that though, he and her uncle Miles had been best friends from the time they were kids together playing at soldiers. They'd been in the Marines together, toured together, come back alive together, but after the accident, it was as though he wanted to leave everything behind, even the good things.
Charlie knew Miles still hurt about it…
She sighed, she was beyond sorry about his family, but couldn't understand why he'd just cut himself off from everyone and everything like that. Everyone except Jeremy, although he was a friend from the Marines, he hadn't grown up in Jasper…
And now, well she'd read the stories about Bass, seen photos of him with a different woman every time, always with that big smile, the arm around a shoulder, the blue eyes smiling too but giving nothing away. The women were usually young and beautiful, blond and curvy in all the right places and they always clung to him as if they thought they could be the one, that special one. But they never were...
She'd always wondered why, but whenever she asked Jeremy he just clammed right up.
Bass wasn't just a serial dater though, he was a stuntman, very expensive and very in demand, because a lot of people still wanted the real thing, wanted real action, real danger. Working alone or as part of a team, he did things that very few others would – or could. Someone on Youtube had even christened him Mr fucking Invincible and he was making so much money that he really didn't have to do anything else, although of course he did. In his spare time he fought MMA bouts and made videos demonstrating historical and contemporary hand to hand combat skills and weapons techniques. She knew that because she'd watched every single one, had memorised them, practiced the moves over and over…
But it was as though he never stopped fighting…
She yawned, despite the coffee. It had been a long trip, and back home it was still the early hours of the morning, not nearly lunchtime.
'Charlie?' the familiar voice came from the dock, rising above the noise…
She grinned, standing up and waving as the tall, good-looking figure came striding towards her. Jeremy was looking smart and very movie star cosmopolitan in a dark well-cut suit, a white shirt crisp against his tanned, blond handsomeness… 'Hi Jer,'
He pulled her into an expensively scented hug, his chest broad and wonderfully solid under her cheek, his arms strong and familiar… 'Hey, Charlie, it's so good to see you'
She breathed him in and hugged tighter…'It's good to see you too, and you smell amazing,'
He pulled back a little, the blue eyes dancing down at her, 'what can I say, the Venetians take shower gel very fucking seriously…' He let go and bent to get her bags, 'Come on, I want to show you our Palazzo'
'A palace?' Charlie's grin was so wide her cheeks ached, 'you're kidding, really?'
He led her to a smart blue and white water taxi, handing her luggage down to the young – and gorgeous - driver, who took them with a smile and a cheery, dark eyed, 'Buongiorno, Signorina', then he climbed down and held a hand out to help her into the boat. 'Not kidding, it really is…'
And it was…
Jeremy pointed the Palazzo out to her as they made their way down the Canale Grande… 'It's called Ca' Cerchieri, and we have the piano nobile…' He put his arm round her, pulling her against him, 'which means, chica, the noble floor, or the main floor, the best bits…'
Charlie leaned against his shoulder, staring, her mouth open, it was beautiful, incredible, like something out of a history book… 'We're actually staying there?'
He laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners, 'Just wait, it's even better inside. Bass wanted a place with some privacy but where we could throw a party if we wanted to.'
They pulled up at the dock in front of the Palazzo and Jeremy threw her bags up onto the wooden walkway, jumped up himself and helped her out.
The boat drew away, their driver waving and saluting…
The smell of must and old, damp wood and stone was all around them, although the walkway itself was quite dry, at the moment anyway, Charlie had read about Venice and it's floods on the plane…'So the first floor is just empty?'
Jeremy opened the metal security door, then the doors behind that and held them open for her, 'Yep, most of these old places get flooded so often that no one uses the ground floor any more, this one's all blocked off for safety – everything's up on the second and third floors.' He locked the doors again, picked up her bags, then turned and grinned, 'and we've got the whole of the second '
'Wow…' Charlie couldn't stop smiling.
Just inside there was an old-fashioned lacework cage lift, and they piled everything into it then stepped in. It was old and creaked a little, but the ride was pretty smooth considering.
'Are there any fire stairs?' She was wondering what would happen if the lift didn't work.
Jeremy nodded, 'yeah, back entrance…' then he patted the metal cage, 'but the old girl doesn't break down that much'
She laughed, 'so how much is much?'
His lips twisted into his wry grin, 'a few, we've been here two weeks and we've used the stairs more than once or twice.' The lift shuddered to a halt and he slid open the door…'but she's ok at the moment, they came and fixed her again a couple of days ago…'
They were in an elegant hall with paintings on the walls, sculptures on antique tables and decorative plaster and stone work everywhere…
Jeremy held a hand out with an elegant bow that looked right at home in this place. 'After you, signorina,' He picked up her bags again and they walked through into a huge, opulent room – with a grand piano, massive, ornate chandeliers, old paintings and rugs, antique chairs and a high, ceiling lined with wooden beams that looked like they'd been there for centuries and probably had…
Charlie didn't know where to look first. It was like being in a museum.
Jeremy put her bags down, 'I'll show you your room in a minute. You've got to see this first…' He led her towards a set of bright French doors at the end of the room and when they went through those they were standing on a stone balcony that looked out over the whole fucking Grand Canal…
She gasped, leaning on the wall under one of the arches, her eyes wide. 'Oh…my…God, Jeremy, this is incredible, I love it.'
'Wait till you see it at night…'
It wasn't Jeremy…
She jumped and swung round, forgetting all about the view.
He was leaning against the door jamb, tall, beautiful, lean and elegant in a grey suit that looked like it had been moulded on him, a snowy white shirt framing his throat and a little smile twitching his lips between the van dyke moustache and neat beard. He took a step towards her, those incredibly blue eyes looking her up and down, leaving tingling, goose bump trails behind them... 'Hello Charlotte, it's good to see you again,' He held out a hand, 'and you're even more beautiful than I remember.'
She swallowed, her mouth dry, pussy wet, heart pounding and nipples on instant alert. Shit, she'd forgotten the effect he had on her, that he'd always had on her… She took his hand, 'Hi, Bass.' Damn, her voice sounded like she'd been smoking something.
His fingers wrapped round hers and he took them up to his lips, his eyes on hers, his kiss soft, lingering. 'You're all grown up.'
'Yeah…' She blinked, and now she sounded like an idiot. She took her fingers back, stroking her hand down over his lapel, then narrowed her eyes and gave him a sharp edged smirk, a challenge. 'It happens'
He laughed, 'believe me, I'm not complaining…'
There was the sound of someone clearing his throat behind her, and Charlie turned again, only now remembering that Jeremy was there too. Damn...
He was standing looking from her to Bass, his handsome face carefully blank although a little muscle jerked at the side of his jaw, 'Uh, guys, maybe we should all go inside? Lunch will be here any minute…'
Bass chuckled, 'thanks for the reminder, Jer, I'm starving…' He tucked Charlie's hand under his arm and looked down at her, his eyes glinting, 'are you hungry too, Charlotte?'
She looked up at him, almost, almost losing herself in hot, beautiful blue. And she nodded, her tongue flicking out over her bottom lip, feeling excitement ripple through her belly… 'Oh yeah, and I prefer Charlie…'
He smiled, 'I like it too, Charlie it is….'
Then they stepped together through the wide open double doors and into the cool shadows of the palazzo…
Jeremy stood there for a moment, his face tense. 'Oh shit…'
….
AN: I really hope you enjoyed this. I think there'll be a couple more chapters, coming as soon as I can write them! So, happy birthday, Hayj, and wishing Revoinfinite a very happy birthday too, I wish I could spend all my time writing, but earning money is a sort of necessity… all the best! Xx Magpie