By the Shores of Old Mexico
prompt # 274. Some say it's just a legend.
Charlie leaves Willoughby when the war is over, leaving her mother and Miles behind to play house. It makes her mad, sad and every other emotion that she hasn't put a name to yet, that the one to end her world actually gets a happy ending.
Miles shoves a pouch full of diamonds in her back pocket as he pulls her into his warm embrace, not knowing if he'll ever see this child of his heart again.
"I love you," he whispers raggedly next to her ear as he places the gentlest of kisses upon her forehead and walks away.
She's never seen the ocean before and decides that's as good a place as any to start her life over.
She buys her train ticket and has barely settled her ass on the bench seat, when he's suddenly beside her, shoving his bag under the seat and plopping down beside her.
"Who the fuck invited you?" She barks.
"You kiss your mother with mouth?" He asks which earns him nothing more than a familiar Matheson glare.
Leaning back in the seat he gets comfortable as the whistle blows and the train begins its slow trek away from the station.
"I don't need a goddamn babysitter," she growls scooting away from him.
Bass sighs as he gathers his thoughts before speaking. "No one asked me to come with you, Charlie, and if you really don't want me here I'll get off at the next stop. Miles and I, well, it'll never be like it used to, and now that Connor's gone, I don't have anybody else," he says toying with the bandana wrapped around his wrist.
Looking at the broken man sitting beside her, Charlie thinks that they are the two most pathetic people in the world if all they have left is each other.
Scooting back across the seat toward him, she tucks her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. "So help me God if you snore in my ear, I'll cut off your dick."
"Yes, ma'am," he murmurs, resting his head against hers with a smile.
They travel the gulf of Mexico, bumming along the border towns, picking up odd jobs here and there; finding enough deserted shanties along the way to put a roof over their head, sleeping under the stars on the beach when they don't. They find themselves laughed out of more than one establishment when they introduce themselves with their real names.
Seems they've become something of a legend, down Mexico way.
Charlie's pissed about it at first, nearly getting them into a bar fight, until Bass grabs a bottle of something that resembles tequila and drags her back to their seaside shanty.
She's not nearly drunk enough to use it as an excuse when she crawls onto his lap and wonders aloud what it would be like to fuck a legend.
"I don't know," he purrs near her ear, one hand palming her ass as the other slips under her shirt to pluck a nipple. "Wanna find out?"
She grinds down against him with a growl. "Yeah, I think I do."
They move on the next day and from then on, find themselves the center of attention wherever they go as they spread tales of the infamous Dictator, Monroe, and his rebel lover, Charlotte.
Charlie is grinning into her shot glass as Bass embellishes on a particularly gruesome story, when she realizes that the broken man who had begun this journey with her is no longer broken. Neither is she for that matter. Somehow two broken people have managed to patch up the broken pieces of the other.
It's nearing the end of summer and they're curled up on the beach watching the sunset when he surprises her once again. "We should think about going home. It'll be winter soon and we'll want to get settled."
"Home?" Charlie asks tilting her head to look up at him from where her head rests against his chest.
"They're not the only family we have anymore, but they're the only family we've got," he says kissing her gently and she understands exactly what he's trying to say.
They've been back a week, keeping a low profile as they find a small abandoned home outside of town that Bass thinks will need minimal repairs, using the untouched pouch of diamonds that Miles gave her to buy supplies at the general store.
While they're there, Charlie spots a small brown book in the window that has a picture of a couple that looks surprisingly like herself and Bass. Picking it up with a grin, she calls him over to see.
He adds it to their growing pile of things, while pulling her in for a kiss, the sound of happy laughter ringing throughout the store. The shopkeeper glances between the book and the couple with suspicion.
Within a week rumors are flying around town that Sebastian Monroe has, once again, taken up residence outside of town.
Bass is working in the kitchen when there's a knock at the door. Charlie, who's taken a break to read the next chapter in the book, opens the door blindly as she calls out over her shoulder, "Have you read chapter three yet, Bass? I swear they didn't get the details even close and that's one of my favorite stories!"
A strangling noise interrupts her yelling. Turning, she finds Miles standing in her doorway, eyes glued to her pregnant belly.
"Hi," she says sheepishly waving the book in his direction.
Miles doesn't know if he should strangle her or hug her, so, given her condition, opts for the latter.
"Charlie, who was at the door?" Bass calls out as he rounds the corner clad only in a pair of low hanging jeans.
"Touch him and we're done." Charlie whispers menacingly in Miles ear, as he steps away at the sight of his former best friend.
"Miles!" Bass crows, swooping in to embrace his former friend, patting him on the back.
"We've been meaning to get by, but wanted to get the work on the house done first," he says, stepping back to wrap an arm around Charlie's shoulders.
"How long have you been back?" Miles asks, bewildered at the change he sees in the man before him.
"Umm, two weeks, now?" Charlie squints up at Bass.
"Two weeks on Thursday," he corrects her, with a kiss to the top of her head.
Miles feels like he's been dropped into some kind of leftover Patriot/Nano Twilight zone. "I know your Mom would love to see you," he manages to say waving towards the Porter home.
Charlie gives him a half-hearted shrug. "Maybe, maybe not. We came home because you're our family, Miles, but you're not our only family anymore."
Bass nods in agreement, as he bends down to kiss her cheek. "That kitchen isn't going to finish itself," he says with a smile, holding out his hand for Miles to shake. "Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully we can get together soon."
Charlie watches him disappear around the corner. "Since the cat's out of the bag, would you mind sending Grandpa out sometime?"
"Earth to Miles," Charlie says snapping her fingers at him as he stares in the direction of the kitchen.
"He...you...you both…" he stutters, realizing that these are not the same two people who left here a year ago.
Charlie smiles softly, rubbing her belly. "Yeah," she responds with a nod of her head.
"I'll let Gene know you're asking for him." Miles says sadly before heading out the door, Charlie shutting it firmly closed behind him.