After making her decision, Charlie was able to get a few hours of restless sleep, waking just as the sun was rising. She sat up, taking in her surroundings, remembering what had happened last night.
Looking over to her right, Monroe had curled up on the ground in front of the log. She couldn't help but let out a little chuckle looking at him. He looked like such a little boy, hands tucked under the side of his face and his knees pulled up towards his chest. The only thing missing was a teddy bear and blanket. She got up and walked over to him shoving her toe gently at his leg.
"Monroe. Rise and shine" Even looking at him now, recalling the memories, she couldn't bring herself to call him Bass. While he had opened up to her last night, showing some form of remorse for his actions, she knew that the man in front of her still wasn't the Bass from her memories. But she was now determined to find that Bass….her Bass…. somewhere under all the hardened layers that made him General Monroe, and bring him back home.
When he didn't respond she kneeled beside him and reached over to shake his arm. "Monroe. Come on buddy, time to get your ass moving." He rolled over on his back and clenched his hands onto her arms. "Miles, you can't do this, you can't leave" he said in a panicked but still sleepy voice, his eyes darting behind his closed eyelids
She recognized it for what it was. A nightmare about the day that Miles had walked away from him and the Republic. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps the fact that Miles had tried to kill him really didn't matter as much to him, as the thought of Miles leaving had. Maybe he would rather have had Miles take the shot and kill him than have him leave him with no one.
Part of her could empathize with that thinking. There were many times since the deaths of her dad, Maggie, Danny and Nora that she had thought death might be easier for her than living with the pain of the loss.
Placing her hands over his she gently pried his fingers from her arms, bringing them down holding his hands in front of her. She braced herself hoping that her close proximity and waking him from the nightmare wouldn't cause him to lash out and attack her.
She squeezed his hands firmly "Wrong Matheson, now open your damn eyes."
He sat up quickly, blinking the sleep away and looked down at his hands and then up to her, seeking some kind of explanation. Without much thought he pulled one of his hands from hers and reached up to brush the hair out of her eyes.
"Charlotte, what...why...what are you"
She pulled back from him, dropping his other hand and bent over to retrieve his weapons from the ground behind her. "Here's your gun and your knife. Now let's get going, I know a place a few miles south of here where we can get a decent breakfast."
He was hesitant but packed up his stuff and followed her letting her stay a few feet ahead of him. For the first mile or so the silence was deafening, neither of them really wanting to talk about the night before and his soul bearing confession. Finally, he decided to break that silence with a neutral topic.
"Damn it's hot."
"It's Kentucky" she responded as if that would explain the sweltering temps.
"No it's not."
"Yes, Monroe, it is"
"Well, I guess technically it used to be Kentucky" he conceded. Since it appeared that she was willing to talk he felt compelled to ask her "Why are you doing this Charlotte?"
"One, because I'm hungry. Two, you and I need to have a little chat about this death wish of yours."
She stopped and turned to smirk at him, not realizing how close behind her he was. As she did he collided into her having been watching the ground and not noticing that she had stopped. He instinctively threw out his hands to steady her, landing firmly at her waist, just as she had steadied herself, his action did nothing more than pull her closer to him. He glanced down at her as she looked up into his eyes.
His head dipped just a little lower, his lips now level with her ear as he whispered to her. "Why do you care? You were ready to put an arrow through my chest just last night. What game are you playing here?"
"No game" Charlie replied, placing a finger over his lips and pushing him back away from her. She had to put some space between them. Every touch of his was like electric shooting through her body, and she was disturbed by the fact that she wasn't the least bit disgusted at the thought of his hands on her or the way it felt when his warm breath kissed the edges of her ear. She tried hard to convince herself that it really had just been too long since she got laid and she guessed that it was nothing more than the presence of a somewhat attractive man that was playing tricks on her mind, and her body.
"But I'm not discussing it on an empty stomach, so lets keep moving" she turned and resumed walking.
"You're the one that stopped."
"Yeah, to make sure you were keeping up, not my fault you're slow."
"Obviously I'm not that slow if I ran into you"
"Maybe you should pay attention a little more" Charlie smiled to herself walked a few more steps and stopped in her tracks forcing Monroe to run into her again. She couldn't contain the laughter as she spun around to see his face.
"Damn it, Charlie!" he put out his hands and gave her a gentle shove backwards.
He moved to walk around her brushing her shoulder with his, and she let him. Turning then towards him walking away from her, she shrugged her shoulders and threw her hands up.
"Ya know, it's okay to laugh!"
She wasn't entirely surprised when he continued walking. She let him get a little distance ahead before she yelled out to him "You do realize you have no idea where I was taking us right?"
He stopped, bent down, and placed his hands on his knees. She couldn't really tell from his posture what was going on, but she had a fleeting thought that maybe her tactics had been wrong. She'd admit to trying to push his buttons, to see just how far she could push him before seeing the General flash across his face again. And this was his first test….could he still laugh? In her mind, if he did, it meant that he had at least a little bit of his soul left that might be able to be saved. She sucked in a deep breath waiting to see what his next move would be.
It didn't take long before he spun around, and started walking back towards her. Hands wiping at his eyes….he was laughing….hysterically.
She smirked as he approached her. He passed the test.
"God, you're infuriating, you know that Charlotte"
"What can I say? It's part of my charm"
"Alright then, where are you taking us" he put his arm around her shoulder letting her lead him in that direction.
"A friend's house"
"A friend?"
"Yeah, a friend, you do know what those are right?" She regretted the words as soon as they passed over her lips, and she froze.
"Um, yeah, I know what friends are. Apparently, I'm no good at it." he smirked.
She let out an uneasy breath. Ahhhh and there it is she thought, self-deprecating humor. She knew what she was seeing was a small glimpse of the Bass she knew was still in there.
"Just someone who was kind enough to let me stay with them for a few weeks after the Tower, let me have time to clear my head"
Neither of them really wanted to broach the topic of what had happened that day in the Tower, so they fell into a somewhat tension filled silence for the rest of the trip.
Within view of the town Charlie stopped and put her hand out to his arm to hold him back.
"You need a name. They know me around here, but I don't know what they'd do if they knew Sebastian Monroe was walking around with me."
"Jimmy King"
Charlie snorted at that "Seriously? King? You really can't stay away from the titles can you? General...President...King quite a complex you've developed for yourself"
"What can I say? It's part of my charm" He smiled, throwing her words back at her.
"I assure you, your name has nothing to do with your charm, but fine….King it is. Just don't let me calling you that go to your head."
He leaned forward and whispered into her ear with a light laugh "which one?"
Charlies mouth dropped open. He placed his hand under her chin and pushed it up, her mouth forming into a thin serious line.
He stepped back, and she could see that he was amused by her reaction. "Relax Charlotte, it was a joke."
"I...I know that"
"Certainly doesn't look like it"
"Lets just go." She walked past him, making it a point to shove her shoulder against his as she did.