Lovlies! Happy holidays! This is a fic for TheCursedChild for the Goodship Charloe gift exchange! I hope this is what you were looking for! Read on and I'll chat at the bottom!

It was the night before New Years eve and Charlie was in a bad place, a really bad place, one that Miles had seen before and it killed him to know that the only person he loved more in this world other then his brother was dying on the inside.

When Miles figured out what was going on he knew what he had to do, he had to get Bass to talk to her, to make her understand that this wasn't all there was, that there is a life after all the tragedy and pain. He knew that if there was anyone in the world who would understand what she was going through it was Bass, he'd lost his family and ended up in the worst possible place mentally and physically.

Charlie was sitting in the chilled forest by herself a bottle of whiskey leaned against her leg and angry tears sliding down her face when Miles decided it was time to intervene. He had tried talking to her a few times leading up to Christmas, he knew how hard it was going to be to spend her first holiday without her dad, Maggie or Danny, he also knew that with everything slowing down on the crazy patriot front she had been given more time to really think about her losses.

Charlie never bugged though and she was starting to slip farther and farther into herself and he couldn't bare the thought of losing her. Enter Bass, the one man she hated, but the one man who understood.

Bass walked to the edge of the dark tree line and looked at Miles. "What am I supposed to say to her?" Bass whispered to his brother. "You really think she's going to listen to the one man who took everything away from her?" He asked waving his hand in her general direction.

"It's not about who you are Bass, it's about what you've gone through. I know you don't like talking about it but if it keeps my niece alive I need you to try." Miles practically pleaded.

"You know I would do anything for her, but this isn't something that can be fixed with a chat and a hug Miles, you know it can't." He looked back towards the dark. "I'll do what I can but I can't promise anything else."

Miles placed his hand on his brothers shoulder as he moved to walk away. "It's all I can ask." bowing his head Miles walked off to find something strong to drink.

Bass sighed and rubbed a hand over his face in distress, as he stood trying to figure out what to say memories from the worst night of his life flashed before his eyes, he knew that the same must be happening to Miles which is why he was desperate for Bass to talk to Charlie.

-20 years ago-

Miles' hands gripped the steering wheel in his panic, he just heard from Bass' now ex-girlfriend and was now driving from all of Bass' favourite places trying to find the angry and upset Bass. He had just left Bass' usual liquor store and found out that Bass had bought a very large bottle of rather expensive whiskey, leading him to think of one place and one reason that Bass would blow that much money on liquor.

That is exactly where he found his brother, sitting against the tomb stone of his sister the bottle sitting mostly empty in the grass and a gun in his hand as he sobbed holding the gun against his head.

He pulled the car as close as he could and shut off the engine, throwing open the door he stepped out, trying to be as calm as he could he stood and watched his brother for a second as Bass finally registered who it was that just interrupted his lowest point.

After talking him down and sitting with him in the cold as Bass cried over his loss, Miles finally managed to get him in the car and on their way back to the base, there was no way Miles was letting Bass stay at him family home feeling the way he felt.

-Present-

Bass walked through the forest keeping an eye out for the young blonde, the girl that tugged at his heart in more ways then he was comfortable with.

He found her sitting on the forest floor a large bottle of whiskey in one hand and a gun in the other, he couldn't believe what he was seeing and it made all of the most horrible memories become front and center in his mind. Circling around he walked towards her from the front trying not to startle her.

Stopping a few feet from her he crouched down on to the balls of his feet and waited for her to notice him there. When she finally did notice his presence she looked up and he felt a pang of hurt and agony he'd long since buried and tried to forget.

"What do you want Monroe." She spat, looking him directly in the eyes as if to challenge him.

Monroe sighed and crossed his arms over his knees. "I want to help." He said lamely.

"Oh? And what makes you think you know anything about how I'm feeling right now." She narrowed her tear filled eyes as she asked.

"I know more about how you feel then anyone else here believe it or not." He rested his chin on his arms.

She slammed her fist into the ground and growled in frustration. "You don't know shit about me or how I'm feeling."

Bass didn't respond, he knew that she needed to vent, to get her anger out and if yelling at him helped he'd let her do it.

"Why the hell are you even here? Why do you care about what happens to me?" Charlie asked angrily.

Bass moved until he was sitting closer to her. "Charlie, I care about what happens to you because I care about you. And I have a pretty damn good idea because I've sat where your sitting."

"What do you mean?" She asked wiping her hand across her cheeks.

"A couple years before the blackout my parents and sisters were in a car accident, a drunk driver sideswiped them and they were killed in the wreck. I'd been gone for about a year before it happened and it was right around the holidays, they died two days before I was supposed to be home. Miles found me sitting with their graves a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a gun in the other. Without my family I thought I had nothing, I'd never see my sisters get married, I'd never get to tell my mother how amazing I thought she was." He explained softly, the hurt in his chest didn't seem so bad when he was telling Charlie.

"I never really got over losing them, Miles was all I had left in this world and when he walked out on me I was thrown right back into the spiral of anger and hurt. When I woke up that morning with a gun in my face and the look on Miles face, I knew that there was no going back, I'd killed to many people, I'd lost to much in my life and I just gave up caring."

Charlie looked him over as he told her his story. "I never knew..." She said looking down at the ground.

"There was never any reason to tell you, it was my past and I wanted to look forward, start over and be a better person, someone worthy of being a father to Conner and being Miles' brother again." He explained shrugging.

"What made you change? What made you want to start over, think that this world was honestly worth living in." She asked quietly.

Bass looked up at the stars and breathed out a long sigh. "Honestly?" He asked peering down at her from his upturned face. "You did, I saw this amazing person who was given the shittiest circumstances ever, someone who'd lost the most important people in her life and for some reason was still strong and fierce and never gave up seeing the good in people." He smiled at her gently. "You're an amazing person Charlie, I know that it hasn't been an easy year. And I'm sorry that most of that had been because of me, if I could go back and change everything that happened trust me I would. You don't deserve any of the shit that's happened and I wish I could have seen what was wrong with what I was doing a lot sooner."

Charlie looked down at the gun in her hand and gripped it tightly before bringing her hand back and tossing it as hard as she could into the dark. "I don't want to feel this way anymore." She said weakly.

Bass moved so he was sitting beside her and pulled her into his arms. "God I know, I wish I could tell you that you'll one day forget all about it and the pain goes away, but It doesn't, it never really will. It will just become a pain that you can live with, you'll remember all the happy things that happened and it will overshadow all the bad that's happened." He whispered into her hair. "Your not alone, Miles will always be there for you, you know that. He loves you so much Charlie and it's killing him seeing you like this." He rested his cheek on her head.

"I know it doesn't seem like much but your mom loves you to, she just has a hard time showing it. Aaron is one of your biggest supporters that guy had gone to the ends of the earth for you and I don't see that changing any time soon. And me, I'll always be here for you to use as a verbal or physical punching bag if you need it, god knows I deserve it." He felt her laugh in his arms and he felt a small flutter of hope well up in his chest.

"Seriously though Charlie, I'm here, even if you just want to get drunk and punch me in the face."

Charlie leaned back and looked at him. "Thank you Bass." She whispered, leaning up she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "For being here, for not crying and for not pestering me." She smiled into his shoulder as he hugged her back tightly.

"Do you want to go back?" Bass asked pulling her back. "Miles is probably wondering what's going on out here." He gestured blindly to their surroundings.

"Not just yet, want to stay and drink some of this whiskey with me?" She asked sloshing the bottle as she pulled it from its spot in the grass.

"Only if you want me here." He said looking in her eyes.

"Wouldn't want you anywhere else right now." She smirked back at him.

Charlie and Bass had spent the rest of that night sitting and talking, she told stories of her brother and Bass had told her stories of his sisters and Miles, eventually she had fallen asleep leaned against his shoulder, which prompted him to take her back to camp, her death grip on his jacket resulted in the two of them being curled up in a corner together.

-Next Morning-

Miles kicked Bass' boot gently to wake up him and not startle Charlie. Bass' head snapped up and caught the blurry sight of Miles looking down at the pair.

"Can you get away?" He asked quietly.

Bass looked down at Charlie who had her hands buried in his shirt. He tried to get up and her face screwed up into a grimace, she clearly didn't want him to go. He smoothed his hands down her arms and whispered in her ear to calm her down, after she'd relaxed her grip on him he gently moved her off his lap and tucked his coat under her head.

Looking back as they walked a little ways away Charlie had curled into herself and was sound asleep again.

"I take it things went okay last night then?" Miles asked looking over at his niece.

Bass sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "She's got a ways to go before she'll be alright, she's at a pretty low point right now."

"I gathered as much, where was she when you found her?" Miles asked crossing his arms.

"Where I was when you found me." Bass said simply as he watched Charlie.

Miles hung his head and scrubbed a hand over his face. "I thought so, god how did I let this happen to her, I was supposed to protect her from this shit." Miles said quietly.

Bass reached out a hand placing it on his brothers shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done Miles, everything was just catching up to her and it hit pretty hard, the holidays have a tendency of doing that. We talked a lot last night, I think she'll be okay for now, you just need to be there for her when she needs it, and she will you know that." He explained sighing.

"Thanks for talking to her last night." Miles said brushing his hair out of his eyes.

Bass shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You did it for me once." Was his only reply.

Miles was startled as Charlie suddenly sat up facing the wall. "Bass?" She asked sounding slightly panicked. Without missing a beat Bass sprinted back to her and was down at her level.

"It's okay, I'm right here." He said soothingly, brushing some hair out of her face he smiled down at her, she smiled faintly back him before burying her face in his chest as she hugged him tightly.

Miles stood back and watched the exchange and smiled faintly, shaking his head he turned and left the pair in search of of some sort of booze.

-10 minutes to midnight-

Bass and Miles were standing around a large-ish fire sharing memories and laughs when Charlie appeared three glasses balanced between her small hands. "You guys ready for a new year?" She asked handing the glasses to the two men.

"Only if the next year is better then the last." Miles said swirling the amber liquid around in his glass.

Bass smirked at Miles. "I second that." He looked over at Charlie and his smiled softened.

She smiled back and clutched the glass close to her chest. "Any resolutions?" She asked raising an eyebrow at them.

"I plan to kick some patriot ass, find the finest whiskey that's left and spend a little more time sitting on my ass when this is all over." Miles said sighing heavily.

Bass looked down into his glass, "I'm going to go after what I want." He then looked up at caught Charlie's bright blues watching him intently.

"So am I" She said quietly.

Miles apparently missed the glances between Bass and Charlie when he spoke again. "At least I'm not the only one with no one to kiss on new years eve." He said laughing.

Charlie looked up him curiously. "You're supposed to kiss someone on new years eve? Why?" She asked confused.

"It's supposed to give you good luck if you kiss someone as the years change at midnight." Bass explained.

"Hmm..." She hummed thoughtfully, looking down into her glass. "How are we going to know when it's midnight by the way?" She looked from Bass to Miles.

"We can say it's now if you want? There isn't really an easy way for us to tell anymore." Miles shrugged.

"Why not." Bass shrugged to.

Charlie held her glass up to the other two, who followed suit. "Happy new year boys, let's kick some ass in the coming year." They clinked their glasses and downed their drinks.

Bass tossed his glass into the grass and stepped forward, grasping at Charlie's small face he kissed her slowly, Charlie sighed and kissed him back, her own glass slipping from her hand.

"Hem." Miles coughed awkwardly.

Bass stepped away from Charlie and smirked down at her. "Happy new year Charlie." He said softly.

Charlie smiled up at him before turning to Miles and throwing her arms around his neck. "You'll never be alone with us around." She said and he wrapped his arms around her, leaning back a little she kissed him on the cheek. She rocked back on her heels as she let him go only to be yanked back as he grabbed her face and kissed her forehead. "Happy new year kid." He let her go and stepped back. "Clearly there is something that you guys need to talk about so I'm gonna go... find... someone to drink with." He backed up waved awkwardly then hurried away.

Charlie looked up at Bass and smiled shyly. "Talk?" She asked shrugging lightly.

"If I said lets forgo the talking can I kiss you again?" Bass said stepping towards her smirk in place.

Charlie reached up and threaded her fingers together behind his neck. "I think I'd be okay with that." She said smiling. "Thank you by the way, for everything. It's nice to know that someone understands." She ran her thumb along his neck. "I'm sorry about your circumstances but I'm glad you felt you could share them with me."

Bass pulled her close and rested his hands on her hips. "I'm glad I was able to help, and I hope you'll let me keep helping you." He smiled as he brought his face closer to hers. "Now, no more talking, I want to make this year the luckiest yet." Charlie started to laugh but was cut off by soft lips landing on hers.

"Oh." She said between pecks. "I think you'll have a very lucky year."

Leave a review and let me know what you think! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all have a good holiday and get to spend it with friends and family! lots of love I'll probably see you some time between christmas and new years with some chapters maybe a new story!

Stay safe everybody and have fun!