This is Part 3 of my "The Power Stayed On" series. I want to thank avarosier and hithelleth for betaing! I'm glad so many people have been enjoying this series. I don't own Revolution, this is just for fun.

June 2022

Charlie was excited to be a bridesmaid in her uncle Miles's wedding. She had never expected her uncle to get married and even if he did, she had never thought he'd be having a large traditional wedding. Granted, she knew the only reason they were having a big church wedding was because Nora's mom insisted. She had hoped that when Miles got married maybe he would have done the whole wedding-in-Vegas adventure. It was something Bass had always teased Miles about. "Just elope," he had said the last time Charlie had visited Miles for the dress fitting and to help out with some other details. After seeing how much work putting together a wedding was, Charlie vowed she was going to either just get married at the court or run off to Vegas or Niagara Falls, something much simpler than planning a huge church wedding.

Plus, with her parents now divorced and basically just getting along for her and Danny's sakes and her mom and grandfather refusing to go anywhere near her uncle Miles, it would make for a tense wedding, and who would want to ruin what was supposed to be the happiest day in your life? Since school had let out, she'd been spending her time in Boston with her dad and Maggie, whom she still couldn't quite get used to calling her stepmother, despite it being two years now.

At first, Charlie had wanted her dad to have a big wedding, because she had been jealous of her friends who got be junior bridesmaids, but after seeing how much work it was, she understood why her dad had simply got married at the court and taken the family out for dinner. Her stepbrothers Elliott and James were nice enough, she just didn't see them often enough.

One good thing about Miles's wedding was that the wedding party was small: just Nora's sister Mia as the maid of honor, Bass as the best man, her dad as a groomsman and her as a bridesmaid. Nora and Miles also didn't want all of the parties that went along with a wedding; no need for a bridal shower, engagement party, wedding shower, or bachelorette party. Bass wouldn't let Miles get away without a bachelor party, but even that was just them getting away to Vegas for a weekend before the wedding. The wedding was a week away and today's agenda was a trial run with the hair and makeup for Charlie and Nora. Mia wasn't able to make it out until two days before the wedding which left it up to Charlie to keep Nora calm. Mostly to keep her away from Bass, who seemed to take pleasure in getting Nora and Miles riled up over the whole wedding, since neither one of them wanted it.

As much as Charlie was excited about the wedding, she was not looking forward to having her hair pulled and makeup smeared on her face, but she knew that was what she'd have to do. After a tortuous hour, she supposed it was worth it when she walked into Miles's house and she heard a catcall as she walked upstairs to change into the bridesmaid dress so Nora could see how the whole ensemble would work. At least she had outgrown some of her clumsiness and would be able to walk in heels. She paused, trying to think who would have whistled at her. It was probably just Bass trying to tease her.

Connor was spending the usual few weeks at Dad's house for summer break, knowing that the first week would be interesting with Miles finally tying the knot with Nora. College was fun, but there was nothing quite like summer and he always enjoyed his weeks with Dad. Especially since Dad didn't seem to care about underage drinking and had, in fact, encouraged it most of the time. He was sitting in the living room watching TV with his dad when a hot girl walked past, someone he hadn't seen in the house before. He whistled at her as she sauntered up the stairs and earned a smack up the head from Dad. He rubbed his head as he turned towards Dad.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?" Connor asked, forgetting how strong Dad was.

"First, I don't want to catch you whistling at girls ever. But especially not that one."

"What's so special about that one?"

"I never thought my son would be that much of an idiot, but that's Charlie, Miles's niece. Remember her?"

"Shit. How old is she now? I haven't seen since she was a kid, I think the summer her parents divorced," Connor said, realizing he had put his foot in his mouth when he whistled at her. Great, because he knew Charlie was staying here with them until after wedding. It was going to be a crowded, house but since Miles had been staying at Nora's lately anyway, Dad offered to keep an eye on Charlie. Which Connor supposed was already not going according to plan if his son found her hot.

"She's fifteen, so way off limits for you, got it? Go mess with the girls at Georgetown or whatever."

Geez, Connor knew she was off limits just because she was Miles's niece and he knew she was younger than him but this girl definitely didn't look fifteen at all and didn't look like the little girl he remembered from years ago. In fact, he was surprised she didn't turn around to see who whistled, she just walked straight upstairs without a glance back. Now he knew it was going to be a long week; Dad would either drop this completely or tease him for coming on to Charlie, the one who was pretty much completely off limits.

A few minutes later, Charlie sauntered back downstairs, this time in the bridesmaid dress, which seemed to only make her hotter. Damn it, Connor thought, rubbing his head again where Dad had hit him. This was going to be a lot harder than he had thought.

"Where's Nora, she was supposed to be right behind me to make sure the hair and makeup went with the dress and heels? Hey, Connor, how've you been? Long time no see," she smirked.

She must have figured out it was him who whistled, except she seemed to look straight at Dad.

"Well, don't you clean up nice, Princess," Dad said, "Miles and your dad certainly won't recognize you. I can only imagine what your mom will say when she sees you."

"Didn't you hear? Mom's not coming, she made up some excuse about work," Charlie answered, probably hoping to get a reaction out of Dad.

"A likely story," Dad snorted.

"Seriously, where's Nora, I want to take a shower and get all this crap off my face," Charlie whined as she paced around the living room, glancing outside before huffing back towards the stairs, turning around, and repeating the exact same thing.

"You should leave it on, at least until Miles gets home. Should we take some pics and send them to your mom, show her how much we're corrupting you?" Dad said, while Connor wisely kept his mouth shut, not wanting to get smacked, this time by either Charlie or Dad.

"Like Mom really needs another reason to think you're corrupting me. She hardly lets me come here. You know the only reason I ever get a chance to come is because Dad lets me come without telling her. Considering some of the stories I've heard about you and Miles, it's a wonder I'm allowed to come at all," Charlie snapped back. Connor heard the door slam in the driveway and hoped that would calm Charlie down, whether it was Miles or Nora.

Miles knew the only reason he had agreed to this wedding was because Nora's mom was very religious and probably would have had a heart attack if she had known that he had been pretty much living at Nora's the last few months. He wanted to make Nora happy and Nora wanted to make her mother happy. He didn't remember Ben's first wedding that well and thought Ben had the right idea with the second one. Making Bass the best man seemed like a good idea at the time, but really Ben was the more responsible one and Bass just wanted to plan the bachelor party. At least Bass had offered to keep an eye on Charlie and let her stay at the house while Miles moved in with Nora. He couldn't believe it was only another week and he'd be settled down and married. Not that he had planned on being a bachelor forever, he just never imagined settling down.

He turned to look at Nora sitting next to him as they pulled into the driveway and he felt like the luckiest guy in the world. After Nora had dropped Charlie off, she had gone back to her place to pick Miles up. There were still a few last minute details to go over, final seating arrangements, coordinating who would pick everyone up from the airport and where everyone was staying. Miles couldn't believe just how much work went into this. He was also glad Nora wasn't the kind of woman to have been planning her wedding since she had been a child, it made planning this wedding a lot simpler when they both just wanted it to be about celebrating with their friends and family.

When Miles walked in the house, he saw Charlie pacing back and forth, but he had to do a double take to make sure that was really Charlie. If she hadn't been wearing the bridesmaid dress, he wouldn't have thought it was her. He looked at Bass, who was obviously laughing at his reaction, and Connor, who was trying to look everywhere but at Charlie. Nora walked in right behind him, told Charlie the look was perfect for the wedding and Charlie immediately ran upstairs to take a shower.

Nora gave him a quick peck on the cheek before dashing out the door. Miles settled in the chair across from the sofa and looked back and forth between Connor and Bass. They were hiding something from him.

"One of you start talking or I swear to God," Miles started, pointing his finger back and forth between them. Connor looked down at the ground as Bass continued to smirk. He knew Bass well enough to know whatever they were hiding wasn't something Miles particularly wanted to hear, but Bass was practically jumping in his seat to tell Miles.

"Oh, it's just that Connor didn't recognize Charlie when she walked in and whistled at her," Bass barely managed to get out between his laughs.

"I'd kill you, but it sounds exactly like something your old man would have done. You're still here, so obviously Charlie didn't think anything of it. Can I trust Charlie staying here for the next week?" Miles said, mostly glaring at Connor, but trying hard not to laugh at the situation.

"Yeah, I'm actually heading back up to campus this week. It's a friend's 21st, so we're celebrating before and after the actual day, since I still can't go out with them on that day," Connor answered, scowling at his father for selling him out to Miles right away. Then again, Miles could always tell when Bass was keeping something from him.

"You missed the look Charlie shot him when she came back down, I swear, that kid spends too much time here and has picked up your mannerisms," Bass added.

"I forgot to mention it, but the band's got a gig Thursday night. I know you're probably busy, Miles, but if you're free, Dad, and you don't mind tagging along, I can sneak Charlie in. If she wants to come, that is," Connor said.

Miles wanted to go along, he enjoyed going to Connor's shows when he played, but this week was just not feasible.

Bass was proud of his son for having his ambitions of studying political science at Georgetown, going on to a successful law school and entering the political front. He had the charisma for it, which Miles had always joked was inherited from Bass. Somehow, his son was smart enough to get into Georgetown, which Bass and Miles both attributed to Emma's genes. At the same time, he enjoyed playing gigs on the side. He was a halfway decent singer when the band was backing him up. Bass encouraged Connor to do whatever made him happy, as long as his studies came first. Of course Connor always threw it back his face that he didn't go to college, but Emma usually managed to steer that conversation back towards her own success.

Sometimes Bass wondered if Connor only even applied to Georgetown so he would have a place not terribly far away to crash, since there would definitely be fewer questions at his house than at Emma's. He still loved Emma, but he knew she was a slightly overprotective mother when it came to Connor. As his fatherly duty, he made sure to show up in support of all of Connor's gigs, but now with Connor asking him to drag Charlie into it, he didn't know how this was supposed to go.

"What's the age we're trying to make her pass for?" Bass asked, knowing some venues he played at were 16 and up, some 18 and up, and some 21 and up. If he was going to take responsibility for watching Charlie, he wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into.

"It's an 18 and up club, just ask Nora to do her makeup, she'll definitely pass for at least 18 and I'm allowed to bring guests in the back entrance, this place is pretty legit, so we don't have to worry about selling a certain amount of tickets," Connor answered, glancing at Miles to see his reaction.

"You know the only person who will really freak out at us for agreeing to this will be Rachel. Ben will just shake his head and blame it on you or me corrupting her again," Miles said, "but ultimately it's up to Charlie."

Just then Charlie came from around the corner. "What's up to me?"

"Connor's band is playing in DC later in the week. I'm too busy to go, but Bass doesn't miss a show if he can help it. Only problem is the club's 18 and older so we'd have to sneak you in," Miles answered Charlie's question as she sat in the chair next to Miles.

"Hey, I didn't even know you were in a band, how come I don't have my free copy of your CD?" Charlie teased him.

"There's a bunch up in my bedroom, I can give them to you later," Connor replied.

"Sounds good. What day's the concert?" Charlie asked.

"Thursday," Connor said.

"Dad, Maggie and the boys are coming in then, won't they notice if I'm gone?"

"That's why I can't go, I've gotta pick them up from the airport and coordinate a few other airport arrivals. We don't have to tell your dad the entire truth."

"Nah, I heard the first part earlier. He probably won't care as long as one of you sticks to me like glue."

Bass agreed to that and got up off the couch to start figuring out the dinner plans. Chinese was usually a good option for everyone. It was made easier by the fact that they all had their standard orders and delivery only took fifteen minutes. When Bass started to place the order, Miles came in, signaled that he wasn't going to be there for dinner and gave Charlie a quick hug goodbye before running out the door, leaving Bass to deal with Connor and Charlie during dinner.