Miles realised he should have seen it coming. He had seen her watching him for the past two days, and she had done it in silence. He had underestimated how quickly she would pick up on one of his secrets.
"You don't look anything like my father." Charlie stated as a fact as the pair walked along the worn, destroyed road in another dusty, deserted town.
"We weren't twins, Charlie." He said, opening the door of an old chemist, seeing if had been cleaned out.
"I know that. But you don't have any similarities." She countered as they kept walking. "I have pictures of your parents..."
"Where did you get those from?"
"I took them from a photo album before we left our home. Mum said we wouldn't be back so I grabbed a few things." She explained. "Dad looks like your father, with your mother's nose. Danny even looks like her."
"Well, congratulations to Danny." Miles replied sarcastically, hoping she would drop the conversation. "Genetics isn't an exact science, Charlie. You don't look much like your dad either."
"No, but I look like my mother. Who do you look like?" She pushed.
Before he could reply a gunshot rang through the air, the bullet lodging in the side of the building just inches from Charlie's head. Miles grabbed her arm, pushing her in front of him as he looked over his shoulder.
Two militia riders bore down on them, guns raised.
"Run!" Miles yelled, pushing Charlie forwards as their enemy closed in on them.
Charlie bolted for the end of the street, ducking as she heard another gunshot. She was getting used to dodging things intent on killing her. Rounding the corner she spotted an old rail yard. Heading towards it she jumped the waist high fence, running over the rusting tracks towards the carriages.
Weaving between the broken down machinery Charlie realised she was on her own. She had lost Miles, but unfortunately not the fighter that had abandoned his horse and was following her on foot.
Ducking under one of the carriages she crawled as quietly as possible to the other end, watching the feet running past her, pounding the gravel. She waited a few moments, listening to the feet getting further away before getting to her feet.
A hand clamped over her mouth, another about her waist before she had even dusted off her hands, causing her to gasp. Immediately overcome with fear she struggled, fighting the hold he had on her.
"Stop" Miles voice in her ear halted her as he pulled her around the side of a carriage, her body tight against his, hidden in the shadow of the vehicle wall. His lips were so close to her ear she could hear every breath he made as they waited. Every curve of her body moulded perfectly against his as they listened to the footsteps that came together from both directions.
"Damn it to hell!" Yelled a voice, closer than they would have liked. "Do you know who that was?"
"It's just a couple heading through. They couldn't have gotten much so let's head back."
"That wasn't just any bloody couple. That's Miles Matherson" The guy sounded more afraid than angry at losing their targets.
"Shit!" Miles whispered. They had been hoping not to be recognised, more for these men's sake than their own. They couldn't leave a trace of their whereabouts.
Releasing Charlie, he ducked under the carriage, almost hidden behind the wheel. Knowing the two men would need a distraction, he stuck out his foot, knocking Charlie's legs out from under her.
Charlie cried out in pain as she landed hard on the gravel, her ears ringing. Opening her eyes she gasped at the sight of the two Militia offices coming around the carriage, moving to stand over her.
"Well well, what do we have here?" The two men were grinning as they looked down on her. "It looks like we're in for some fun." They sneered. Charlie backed up on all fours, looking under the carriage out of the corner of her eye, finding the space empty.
"Where you going sweetheart? Got tired of Matherson yet, the old guy not taking care of you properly? We'll show you a real good time!" They advanced on her, one of them taking off his jacket, dropping it on the ground.
"I don't think so, boys." Miles voice called out behind them. As they turned around a steel pole caught one of them across the head. He fell lifelessly across Charlie who tried and failed to get the dead body off her. The second guy put up more of a fight before he fell to the ground, the blade of Miles's sword pulling out of the gap between his ribs.
Miles rolled him under the train carriage before hauling the other one off Charlie and dumping his body with the first.
Charlie tried to wipe the blood from her skin, smudging it, before Miles held out a hand to help her up.
"Hey, you okay?" His hand pressed against the side of her head, causing her to wince at a spark of pain.
"I'm fine." She said, but as soon as she took a step her legs gave out under her. She collapsed like a puppet without her strings. Miles caught her before she hit the ground, lifting her up into his arms with ease, her head rolling back against his shoulder.
"Charlie?" He looked at her, worry on his face as he tried to gently shake her awake.
Moving quickly through the rail yard Miles made his way into a building that once resembled a furniture store. He laid her on one of the dust covered beds, turning her head to the side he ran his hands through a dark patch in her hair, feeling the blood and cut.
"Oh god Charlie? Charlie! Come on, wake up." Miles tore off his shirt, drenching it in water from the drink bottle and pressed it against the cut. "I...I'm...god Charlie come back to me."
Charlie moaned at the pressure against the side of her head. "You kicked me." She said her voice soft. Miles sighed in relief, smiling as her eyes opened.
"Yeah...sorry about that." He replied as he wiped the smeared blood from her face. "It was the first thing that came to mind."
"Okay, well, how about next time we wait until the second idea pops up and compare the two." She whispered as she closed her eyes.
"No no Charlie, open your eyes. Talk to me." Miles demanded urgently.
"I am talking to you." She replied, but obeyed him by opening her eyes and staring straight into his.
"Keep talking to me. I need you to stay awake and keep talking. You should be good at this." He joked.
"Ha ha." She stated dryly, but followed it with a smile. She looked up at Miles, his body leaning over hers so he could keep the pressure on the wound. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Anything you want." He replied, pulling the shirt away to add more water.
"Why don't you and my dad look alike?" Charlie asked, their last conversation floating into her mind.
Miles sighed, knowing he wasn't going to be able to get out of this conversation forever.
"You won't like the answer Charlie, so why ask?"
"Because I need to know." She said softly. "Because I'm sick of secrets, old ones, new one, regardless, I want to know the truth."
Miles was silent for a minute before looking Charlie in the eyes, "Ben and I look nothing alike because we weren't biological brothers."
Charlie placed her hand over his. "I thought so."
"Your Grandparents couldn't seem to get pregnant, so they adopted me. They met a young teenager; she had gotten knocked up and wanted to find a better home for her child than she could give. So they got me. Then without even trying they managed to get pregnant, and along came your Dad."
Charlie listened quietly, her fingers absently rubbing up and down his hand, comfortingly.
"Your dad and I were very different children, but our parents treated us equally. They never treated Ben any better than they did me. No one knew I was adopted."
"How did you know? Did they tell you?"
"No. One day, when I was about thirteen, a woman came to the house while i was home alone. She claimed to be my mother, tried to tell me she was there to make us a family again. I told her she was crazy. When I told my parents, well, the look in my mother's eyes was enough to know it was all true."
"Did you tell my dad?"
"Yeah, he knew. I was never very good at hiding anything from him. He said it never mattered, that we would always be brothers."
"Dad loved you. He never cared about anything as much as he did his family." Charlie said, tears in the corner of her eye.
"Yeah, not much ever managed to faze Ben. He didn't care how we came to be brothers just that we were."
"So this means you're not my Uncle." Charlie stated after a moment of silence.
"I'm sorry Charlie." He said, knowing what was going through her mind. "But I'm not going anywhere. I made you a promise, I am not gonna leave you."
"But there's nothing keeping you here. I'm not your responsibility..."
"You were never a responsibility, Charlie. I no more thought of you being my niece then than I do now. That doesn't mean I'm going to up and leave."
"Everyone leaves me. Mum, Dad, Maggie..." She turned away, hoping he didn't see how much it hurt her. She didn't want to admit it out loud but the thought of losing Miles hurt more than any other loss.
"Damn it Charlie, I swore I wouldn't leave you. Not being related to you won't change that. I'm not going anywhere!" He gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him, more roughly than intended. Their faces were so close, his eyes locked on hers.
"I hope so; I don't want to lose you." Charlie whispered.
"Oh hell." Miles stated before claiming her lips in a passionate kiss.
Charlie gasped, her lips parting under his, teasing him unintentionally. A growl came from him as he deepened the kiss. She was still for a moment, shocked at the feel of his tongue against hers, before she kissed him back.
One of his hands moved to the back of her neck, the other pressed against her side as hers moved up his arms, and across his naked chest, his skin hot under her hands, hard and muscled.
Their lips parted only long enough for them to breathe before they were joined again, sudden passion raging through them.
Charlie moaned as Miles moved his hand under her shirt, pressing against her lace covered breast, his fingertips running over the edge of the lace, against her bare skin.
Miles pulled away at the sound, having forgotten about the cut on her head. Their breaths deep and harsh as they stared at each other.
"Charlie, I..." He started but stopped, listening to something she couldn't hear.
"Miles, what is it?"
"Shit, we have to go, we've got company. Can you walk?" He asked, moving away, quickly tossing his shirt in one of their bags before putting on his jacket.
"I'll be fine." Charlie moved off the bed, her head spinning slightly. She wasn't sure if it was from the cut or the passion that ran through her.
Miles tossed both their bags and weapons over his shoulder before gripping her arm, leading the way out the back.