Earlier this year, I started to write fanfiction. This story, 'Things Change', was one of my first stories. I was new to writing in another language other than my own, new to fanfiction. I worked on other stories and I have never finished this one.

When some very kind people asked me about this story, I decided it was time to return to this story.I wanted to finish it. Those questions and messages were very inspiring and the spark for writing more for this story.

I read the first chapters. Found a lot of mistakes. Being new to another language and how everything worked, the chapters were sometimes messy. I have learned a lot, had a lot of your amazing support, feedback and reviews and that's why I made the decision to go through the first chapters of this story again. I wanted to do this.

This will be a longer story again, just like Words of Betrayal, and because of that and the time and energy it will take, I wanted to go back to the first part of the story I already wrote and get familiar with the story again, and make the chapters more smoothly for you to read.

I decided to 'start' again, by publishing the chapters, but then with the things I wanted to adjust. The first 14 chapters will be published again. I could not go back to rewrite them here on FF, because those files have been removed. So, I will publish the chapters again and then the story continues.

This story is a sequel to 'Going Back'. A story about what happened on the road between Charlie and Bass after she had found Monroe in Vegas and they both returned to Willoughby.

This story will take Charlie and Bass on the road in second two, focuses on them and will follow the story but with changes, new moments, and focuses on Charloe through the whole season ( yeah, I told you already this will be a long story).

You can expect more very soon and then I will continue the story for you.

In the middle

Charlie was leaning her slender body against a wall, making sure she stayed out of sight. She used the little alley she was currently standing in for cover, now she was back in the town she had walked out of three months ago.

She knew Miles was in the building behind her back, she saw him walking in a while ago. The sight of her uncle was a familiar one, but still made her heartbeat pick up.

She had slowly moved around the small town. She had recognised him immediately when he turned a corner right in front of her. Dark hair, his boots that always were so casually tied. Miles. It was almost surreal to be back at Willoughby. Surreal and yet so familiar. It was still here, the town she had left behind to leave so much pain behind.

The walk from where she had parted with Monroe to the town was a short one. She had been aware of the details of her surroundings, ready to spring into action at any moment because she simply did not know what to expect walking ahead. They had spotted the kaki uniforms from earlier, their first meeting with the patriots that now seemed to control the town.

Together with Monroe, she had found a small shed with a good view on the town gate, and used the roof, to check out what would be waiting for them. She was laying next to Monroe on her stomach. She had been in a hurry to get to her family, but Monroe had grabbed her wrist and told her they had to check the situation out first.

She had been irritated because he had been right, his fingers, his steal grip, his large hand easily covering her whole wrist, his warm skin and sweaty palm burning into her skin when he had stopped her, getting her attention by stopping her this way when she had been ready to get off the roof.

It had been a long couple of weeks on the road and when Monroe called her by her name now, Charlie would roll of his lips instead of the formal Charlotte.

They had moved around the town, deciding Charlie would go in first. When she had walked away from Monroe he had stopped her, calling her by her name. When she had turned around his blue eyes had been burning into her. It was like he had changed his mind about something and he just nodded. To her own surprise, she had nodded back. There had been silence between them, when their eyes had locked.

She had turned around and found the path she knew had to be there, his eyes still burning in her back.

She had been ready for anything, but the path under the trees had been silent. She had made sure she blended in with the townspeople as soon as she was walking through the streets.

Now, she only had to wait for Miles to show up. Her thoughts wandered back to the man who was waiting for her return just outside town. Monroe. Being in Willoughby made those weeks on the road she spent with him feel close and yet already strangely far away at the same time.

For weeks it had been just the two of them. Monroe and her.

And now she came back, back to what she had left behind after the Tower. She came back to her family. Back because of him. Monroe had saved her life in that bar. Storming in, working his way through the men that had tried to rape her. To kill her. To ditch her somewhere. If Monroe had not been there, that would have happened.

When she had left, many months ago, Monroe was an almost abstract concept to her. He was the leader, the general and the President of a republic that held their life in its cold and violent grip. The man she held accountable for so much of her hurt and loss.

Her mantra of killing him, of wanting him dead, craving his dead as the answer to unbearable pain had always been by her side.

And now that mantra was gone, the hurt and loss still as deep wound within her, he had become human.

Human.

He had turned in so much more.

It had been little well placed comments from Monroe, Knowing him he is with your mom, that had been getting a hold of her. Little cuts into a firm foundation that had been her world, and the way she had looked at it. How much she had hated him, he had started to brake open the way she viewed the people around her.

She still carried raging hate and loathing for him with, but there were so many new feelings she had to give a place among them when it came to Monroe.

Those weeks on the road made her see he was capable of more than destruction, more than madness and killing.

She did not expect to remember him, Monroe, being a part of her family once, before everything changed forever.

But she did.

She did not expect that he would give her some comfort, a lifeline in a dark night filled with darkness and fear.

But he did.

She did not expect that he would save her life, save her from an experience that would take away a piece of her that she would never get back.

But he did.

And finally she never expected to feel so very torn, all those feelings almost tearing her apart from the inside.

But she did.

She was torn between the way she saw the man she got to know better and the man who stood next to Strausser, when he had ordered his man to hold her at gunpoint to pressure her mother into finishing what she had started for him in his madness in wanting to bring back power. Power that would to more control.

She was torn by loyalty and love towards her family and torn by things she started to learn and experience on her own.

The feeling of getting ripped apart somewhere in the middle was a battle that just had begun.

She forced herself to come back to the present world around her. Charlie heard Miles before she saw him. She would recognize the sound of his boots everywhere. She kicked a little tin can in front of him. Miles, busy with his own thoughts, turned around slowly. When he turned around surprise was all over his face. Surprise and something else. There was a scarce gentleness in his eyes. He took her in with his eyes, reassuring himself that it was really her.

He closed the distance to her, his arms opening for her. Pulling her close. Miles. Her head against his neck, close to his chest. For a moment she was overwhelmed by a feeling close to coming home warming her. His hand gently on her hair.

She realised this was the way she had parted with him, many months ago. Back then she had to fight the tears in her eyes and heaviness in her heart. One last embrace before she had to go. One more time taking in the scent of whiskey that was Miles, before she had to walk away from everything else that was slowly crushing her.

She had to leave him, her mother and her family behind, wanting to find something, leaving behind everything she wanted to forget. But now she was back.

She asked him to follow her, and he did. Miles knew his niece, she was going to give him answers when she was ready. So for now he followed her and they found a place to talk. When she finally told him she came back to save their asses, with a smirk on their face and her hands casually on her hips, Miles laughed. A true laugh, so very rare from him. A sparkle in his eyes. It was so good to see him. To kid around, to feel that their relationship hadn't changed.

She followed the same path she took several hours ago, Miles not far behind her. They did not have much time, but Charlie realised Miles was aware of the trouble that was ahead, a lot had happened when she was away. She found out that he was working on something, although he didn't fill her in on the details yet.

The terrain and ground before her was rough, and she focussed on the path ahead, jumping from one stone to the other. She knew that with every step they would get closer to Monroe. The lightness of the moment she just shared with Miles faded. She started to recognize the line of threes ahead were she left Monroe.

'She really missed you Charlie,' Miles had started to talk about her mother a while back. 'Try to go easy on her when you see her, okay?' He continued.

Charlie knew Miles meant well. Although Charlie missed her mother, she really did, being back in Willoughby brought the pain and hurt back. It was still there. Of course it was still there. Travelling, trying to lose herself on the road, it did not do one thing to that pain and hurt. She felt herself pulling up that old wall to push out the old hurt.

'I'll try to play nice Miles, I promise'

It came out sharper then she imagined. She did not want to think about the intense relationship with her mother. The man that was now so very close to her uncle and herself was enough on her mind right now.

'So now you have to promise me something, ' Charlie changed to subject. Memories revisiting her from the time Miles met Monroe in Philly. The intense battle between them that followed their encounter. Was she really going to do this? 'Promise me to not explode or something else in that order.'

She felt and heard the surprise in Miles his voice when he answered her.

'Charlie, what? Hey, of course not, that is never the way to...'

Miles stopped talking abruptly. A little ahead Monroe was waiting for them. He stood tall, his shirt slightly blowing open in the wind, tanned skin above the line of his shirt. Weapon in his hand, casually but still close to him.

'Miles, ' Monroe said, in a low unsure tone. Ready for everything. After all, he knew how to read Miles after decades of friendship. Monroe's eyes were focussed on Miles.

Charlie caught Miles' his look. This moment had been on her mind now from the first step of the first day she sat course back to Willoughby, Monroe walking behind so, so close she could hear his breathing.

She was not the type of person that would walk away from what would happen. Hoping her uncle would understand, she met Miles'eyes and faced this head on.

His eyes were dark and full of questions and confusion. Then his eyes went back to Monroe. Charlie felt her body tense up, and swallowed hard.

She could not help but feel for Miles, her chest heavy with guilt. She was determined that bringing Monroe back was necessary but at this moment, after everything Miles and she went through, it felt impossible.

The silence around them, under an old broken down bridge, was heavy with anticipation. The energy was palpable.

She knew the next moments were decisive. She had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. With her Uncle and Monroe, together within each other's reach, she knew things could go either way. Miles took a couple of quick steps towards Monroe, while Charlie followed him quickly, placing herself between Monroe and her uncle.

'What did you do to her?' Miles' brown eyes locked with Monroe's.

Miles was almost in front of Monroe. Charlie could feel how things were about to go very wrong, very fast. She closed the distance between her and the two man facing each other now. She was very aware of their movements, of the weapons they were each carrying.

'Nothing...' Monroe's simple reply, his tone cautious and almost soothing, trying to connect with Miles. Meanwhile his body language changed, taking a step back, opening up his arms towards Miles to show he wasn't there to tear the place apart, trying to keep things calm between them.

' You son of a bitch, I know you.' Miles threw in Monroe's face, this time with more anger and a stronger tone, 'what did you do to her?'

The meaning of those words was heavy in the air.

Monroe's eyes pierced into Miles' eyes. 'Nothing, I didn't touch her.'

She heard him speaking those word and she felt and heard in Monroe's voice how important it was for him that Miles knew he did not touch her, that he did not hurt her.

Charlie was standing next to Monroe now, facing Miles. She realised that somehow she chose a position next to Monroe, trying to reach Miles with her eyes.

How important it was that Miles believed him. He hadn't touched her.

In fact he had made sure that a lot of other men had not touched her, flashed through Charlie's mind.

But it was too soon to share this with Miles, to soon to touch that memory. She just couldn't. So she went for the defence.

'I wouldn't let him touch me, Miles.'

Charlie did not look at Monroe when she spoke those words. There it was again, feeling torn, literally standing between Miles and Monroe.

She automatically fell back to the old habit of putting distance between her and Monroe.

When she wanted to reassure Miles that Monroe was indeed telling the truth, but she could not tell him the whole story, she choose her words in a way that could mean that him not touching her was her own accomplishment, keeping him away and not Monroe who had been respectful in that regard to her.

Because he had.

She knew that somewhere in her heart she wanted to choose different words, but right now this was the only way how she could deal with the guilt she felt towards Miles and her family. That's why she choose those words. She saw her words reached Miles, who was turning her way.

'I saved her life.' Monroe's voice careful. His eyes reaching out for his brother looking for some kind of validation in Miles his eyes. An opening to reach him.

Miles calmed down slightly, looking at Monroe. Monroe looking at him. At that moment Charlie could see, for the very first time herself, how these men knew each other for such a long time. The silence seemed to last for a very long time.

Miles looked Charlie's way, when he finally came to the conclusion Charlie was fearing to her. Fearing her uncle would not understand.

'You brought him here,' Miles said, a sigh almost under those words, confusion, disbelieve.

It was as simple as it was the truth.

Because Charlie did.

She felt a pinch in her stomach when Miles came to that conclusion. She did bring Monroe back to Miles. To this town. To her family. And she still hoped and wished, just like she told Monroe last night when they shared that last night on the road, in a shed just before Willoughby in a thunderstorm, Miles was willing to listen.

I will update the story soon, chapter two will be published as soon as I can. Thanks again for the lovely people who asked for this story, it gave me the spark to start writing again. I thank you! If you don't want to read these chapters again, from chapter 15 it will be all new chapters and more story! Until the next chapter? Love from Love