A/N: Some walls don't last long...Yes this chapter is short... Some of them will be longer than others (some exceedingly so..)
Chapter Text
Over the next several days he got up and went to work without so much as a word to her, leaving Mei to check on her during the day still. When he returned each evening, he did not speak to her unless it was absolutely necessary. She hadn't realized how kind he'd been to her until he'd replaced what little he had spoken with utter silence. She'd tried several times to break the barrier between them, but he'd refused to engage her. He just cared for her in an uncomfortable and detached manner.
Mei let it slip one day that Monroe was racking up quite the debt in order to care for her. The woman told Charlie that he'd missed several days of work when he'd first found her because of the flooding and that just like the rest of the town, he'd spend a few weeks suffering because of it. And that was before he was spending everything he had on her care.
Supplies were expensive enough in Wyoming as most of them were brought in via caravan from all over the Plains and California. Recent disruptions of unknown origin had made the cost even dearer. The wastelands were typically ignored by the organized nations as a whole but this area was too rich in the coal they produced for it to be ignored. That didn't mean that things came cheaply.
She'd had no idea that in addition to the supplies, he'd been paying Mei to see to her needs. She'd thought the woman had done this as a friend, but the reality of it was simple; friend or not, she was a business woman and tending to Charlie was hurting her own shop.
On the fourth morning after their "fight", she told him she didn't need Mei to check on her any longer. She was still too weak to go anywhere, but she could at least make it out of bed long enough to use the outhouse and see to her own needs. "I want my crossbow," she'd also announced.
"Like I trust you with a weapon," he'd scoffed.
She'd mocked him in kind. "If I was going to kill you right now, I could just have easily shot you with your own gun while you were sleeping."
"I'll have to make sure I keep it on me then," was all he'd said, implying she wouldn't go for it if it involved touching him. Still, when he returned home that night he was carrying her weapon. He tossed it unceremoniously on the bed along with her supply of bolts.
"Do whatever you want with it. Kill me, don't kill me – you're gonna get whatever it is you want in the end anyway," he said before heading outside to clean up. Despite his anger at her, he still dutifully made sure to keep as much of the dust from the mine as possible outside of the shack for her benefit.
When he returned, Charlie was using a knife to pry at something on the crossbow's wooden stock. Finally getting it loose, she slid a piece of wood free, revealing a hidden compartment. She turned the crossbow over and shook it until a small pouch fell out on the bed.
"Here," she said as she handed it to him.
Monroe furrowed his brows in confusion as he took it from her. He opened it up and looked inside to reveal several gold coins and a small handful of diamonds. He tossed it back to her. "I don't' need your charity," he snapped.
"Mei told me how much my being here is costing you – you're in debt to half the town. This isn't charity. I'll be damned if you starve because of me," she explained. She did her best to keep the sneer off of her face.
"What do you care? You're just going to turn around and kill me anyway," he pointed out.
She plucked the pouch up off her lap and threw it at him, hitting him square in the chest. "Well maybe not right away. I thought I'd give you a head start, seeing as how you saved me and all." He picked the pouch off the floor and went to hand it back to her, stubborn as ever. Charlie just crossed her arms over her chest, refusing it. "I don't like charity any more than you do," she added.
Resigned, he set the pouch down on the counter and went about fixing her something to eat – all he seemed to do these days other than work was feed this little witch. He decided that if she was going to force him to take her money, he'd only use it to pay back Mei for her help. The rest of it he'd save and leave for her. He'd already made the decision to split town when she got a little better. He had no doubt in his mind that she'd reveal his identity the moment she didn't need him any longer, so he wanted to be long gone before that happened.