May 4, 2030
Chicago, Illinois
Miles Matheson's house
Six days since Miles death.
Unfortunately, life in the real world goes on and Bass was out of vacation time, so Charlie had no choice but to start the packing process on her own. He was however, planning to 'get sick' at work today, so he could leave early. Boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Junk, trash, keepsakes, storage, and more junk. Apparently Dad wasn't so fond of throwing things away.
Bass had helped her pick a real estate agent the day before, they had called her together and arranged for her to come see the house at two o'clock. Charlie hoped that they would be able to get the house sold quickly. Not because she wanted to leave it, but because even if she used her savings, she would only be able to hold on to it for a few months at best.
Charlie had been so stuck in her own internal ramblings that she hadn't heard the front door.
"Hey kid, how are you?" Uncle Ben stood in the doorway of her dad's old bedroom.
"I'm fine. You?" She looked at him over the top of a box filled with old tax returns and he smiled at her, but she could tell he didn't really believe her. She could see it in his eyes.
"Your mom's been calling you," Charlie froze momentarily as she moved another stack of papers, "but you've been ignoring her calls."
Leave it to Uncle Ben to make her feel guilty for needing some space.
"Hey, I get," he raised his hands in mock surrender, "I know how she is. And I think that deep down, she knows too, and that's why she asked me to come invite you for dinner instead of coming herself. I think she just wants to make sure your doing more than just getting drunk with Bass."
She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Uncle Ben may not have been in the boys' little club, but he knew Miles and Bass so well.
"See? I knew it. Let me guess, pizza and beer for dinner every night?"
Laughing, Charlie glared at him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Oh it's not, just don't tell your mother I said that." His face turned serious, "please come by tonight. I want your mom to stop worrying and I want to see you." He made it seem so simple. Go have dinner with mom, and suddenly everything would be better.
Charlie was temporarily saved from answering by the front door opening and closing again. Bass appeared in the doorway to the bedroom holding a plastic takeout bag. Noticing Ben, he frowned slightly. "Oh, I didn't bring enough food for three."
"Actually, I was just heading out. Rachel is waiting impatiently to see if Charlie's going to come for dinner tonight." He looked pointedly in her direction, and Bass followed his gaze. They both waited patiently for her decision.
She stared blankly at them for a moment, but then realizing that no one was going to come to her rescue, she sighed. "Fine. But tell her I can't stay long because I have a lot of stuff to do."
Uncle Ben frowned like he wasn't to fond of lying to his wife, so she smiled sweetly up at him. "Which isn't technically a lie, because we all know how much of a hoarder Dad was and it's gonna take me forever to get through all of this." She gestured at the stacks, and stacks of boxes before her.
Ben rolled his eyes, but nodded his head. "Alright, I'll take what I can get. But do you think you can answer your phone the next time she calls? She's starting to really worry."
"Deal." She grinned up at him, causing him to roll his eyes again. He started to leave but stopped short and set a hand on Bass' shoulder.
"You should come too, Bass. I think Rachel would like to see you."
Bass snorted and looked at Ben like he had suddenly grown a second head. "That's bullshit and you know it. Rachel can't stand me, never has been able too." He put a hand on Ben's shoulder, locking the two of them in a brotherly embrace. "I appreciate it, but I think I'll save us both the headache and sit this one out."
Ben chuckled and nodded his agreement. "Yeah, well, Miles would've been pissed if I didn't at least offer." He walked out into the hallway calling behind him, "later Bass. I'll see you later kid, and don't forget to answer your phone!"
They heard the front door shut behind him and they both laughed. Bass set the bag of food down on the dresser and came to stand behind where she was sitting on the floor. She was bent over a box full of papers, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and the tight t-shirt she was wearing was riding up, showing off her creamy, touchable skin. He took a deep breath and stepped back, shaking his head to clear all of those unwarranted thoughts.
"Hey, you ok?" Innocent concern covered her beautiful features, and he knew that all of the time they had spent together the last few days was starting to go to his head. The wrong head.
He forced a smile, "yeah, just hungry."
She nodded like she didn't really believe him, but didn't press the issue. "Alright. Did you bring me mini pizzas?"
"No, don't you ever get tired of those things?" When she merely shook her head, he rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag. "How about some egg rolls?"
Charlie seemed to think really hard about his suggestion. Her eyebrows knit together, with a tiny frown on her face. Even when she's deliberately being a pain in the ass, he can't help but think about how fucking cute she is.
"I guess." She jumped up and snatched the bag out of his hand, heading off into the kitchen.
"You know, most people say thank you."
Stopping abruptly in the hallway so he almost ran into her, she turned to face him. "Thank you, 'Bastian."
He sucked in a breath and choked out, "your welcome, Charlotte."
She studied his face for a moment before going into the kitchen. He released a shaky breath and followed her. She was already sitting on the counter with a half eaten egg roll in one hand, and a container of sweet and sour chicken in the other.
They ate lunch in comfortable silence. Every now and then Charlie would look up just in time to see Bass looking away from her. She didn't ask why, they had so much going on that him staring at her didn't seem all that important.
When they had finished eating Charlie headed back into her dad's room to finish cleaning out his closet, while Bass went to the living room to start packing up the pictures hanging on the walls. He had just finished taping up another box and labeling it 'breakable' when the doorbell rang.
Charlie came out of Miles room, "that's gotta be the real estate lady." He nodded and followed her to the door.
Charlie opened the door to reveal a professional looking woman with auburn hair, and dark brown eyes.
"Hi, I'm Miranda Ford." She was holding out her hand for them to shake. "Are you Charlie? We spoke on the phone yesterday." The woman was smiling good naturedly, which immediately put them both at ease.
Charlie shook the woman's hand, "yeah, I'm Charlie. This is my friend Bass." He smiled, taking her hand and shaking it. "Come on in." They waved her inside and she looked around the living room.
"Nice space, but it could definitely use a fresh coat of paint," she looked over her shoulder at them, "buyers like to feel like they are walking into something fresh and new, even if it isn't." She smiled at them again, and went back to her criticizing of the living room before moving on to the kitchen.
Charlie turned to Bass with an eyebrow raised. He shrugged as if to say 'don't look at me, this was your idea.' She rolled her eyes, "you are so unhelpful."
"Did you say something, dear?" Miranda was looking at them from her place in front of the kitchen sink, where she appeared to be inspecting the faucet.
"No, sorry. You were saying?" Charlie did her best after that to pay attention, but there was so much stuff she said that they needed to do. It was making her head hurt. And Bass walking around next to her trying not to laugh wasn't helping.
As Miranda prepared to leave, she stood in the doorway to the kitchen, where she had just left a long list of updates for them to do. "This is a nice house, great starter home for a young couple, or a new family. Just get those updates finished and it should sell in no time." She smiled at them and turned to leave but stopped short, pointing at the doorway.
"You'll want to paint over these marks too. Depersonalize the space, so potential buyers can picture themselves here." With that, she left closing the front door behind her.
Charlie and Bass looked at each other with matching confusion. "What marks?"
They both went over to the doorway to see what she was talking about. Up and down the wall were faint pencil marks with dates written underneath them.
"Oh," Charlie's voice was soft, "those marks."
August 15, 2011
Miles Matheson's house
Charlie is four years old.
"Ok honey, hold still." Miles stood in the doorway to the kitchen with a pencil in hand, trying to keep a squirming Charlie in place.
"Daddy, I wanna play with my doggy!" Charlie had been begging for a dog for months, but due to Danny's allergy, that wasn't exactly a practical gift. So being the smart dad, he had gone out and bought one of those robot dogs that can walk and bark.
"I gotta take him for his walk, he needs to pee-pee." She added that last part as a whisper. Like the dog would be embarrassed about having to pee
"Alright, we'll take him in a minute. I just need to mark how tall you are." Huffing and puffing like any agitated four year old, she held still so he could draw a line above her head.
"See? That wasn't so bad." She stepped back and pointed at the line, her face a picture of amazement.
"That's how tall I am?"
Grinning, Miles ruffled her blonde curls. "Yep, and look at this," he pointed at the next line further down the wall, "that's how tall you were last year."
"Woah, I got big." Her blue eyes were bulging, and he couldn't help but laugh and pull her into his arms, wishing she would stay little forever.
The front door opened and Bass came in, balancing a cake in one hand while he shut the door. He barely had time to set the cake down before Charlie was pulling on his pantleg and dragging him towards the wall.
"'Bastian, 'Bastian, look! Look how tall I am!"
Feigning shock, he put a hand over his mouth. "No way! I can't believe your so tall."
"Uh-huh, and guess what," but she didn't wait for him to guess, "I'm gonna get even bigger!"
He put a hand over his chest and gasped, Miles rolling his eyes at his friends antics. "No way. If you get any bigger, your gonna be taller than your dad."
Charlie's eyes went wide, her little mouth forming an 'o'. "Whoa."
Bass laughed and picked her up, placing her easily in his shoulders. "Told you, now your taller than your dad."
She was clinging to his hair and giggling like a mad man. "Daddy, look, I'm bigger than you."
Miles rolled his eyes again, but played along, putting a hand over his heart and acting surprised. "Oh my gosh, how did you get all the way up there? Your a giant."
Her squeals of laughter filled the entire house and the boys found themselves laughing with her. Eventually, Miles pulled her down off of Bass' shoulders and hugged her, kissing her head.
She turned in her father's arms to look at Bass, a serious expression on her small face. "Where's my present, 'Bastian?"
Both men erupted in laugher once again, causing the little girl to pout. She takes presents very seriously, she is four after all.
"Let's eat some cake first, the you can have your present." At her look of outrage, he quickly cut in, "I promise, Charlotte. Cake first, then presents."
Present
Bass ran his finger down the markings on the wall; August 14, 2015, August 16, 2014, August 2013, 2012. She had turned five that year and had been barely three feet tall.
"God, I forgot how little you use to be."
Charlie too, was touching the lines along the wall. Her hand wandered up further to August 14, 2027. Her twentieth birthday, Miles had been quite drunk and had demanded that she stand and let him measure her. She had done it laughingly, just to please him.
"Guess I'm not so little anymore, huh?"
She could feel his gaze on her and she daringly met his eyes. There was something there, bubbling just under the surface. She could feel it.
Bass grabbed a hold of himself long enough to tear his eyes away from her. "No, you aren't." He stepped back from the wall with a deep breath and looked at it thoughtfully. "I don't think we should paint this. Let's leave it, and if whoever buys the house doesn't like it, then they can paint over it."
Charlie smiled, trying to push away the emotions running through her. "Yeah, ok."
A/N Thank you so much for your fantastic reviews! I love them! So I had this entire chapter finished and then I got this one little idea and had to rewrite the whole thing to work it in. I hope it was worth it lol. Tell me what you think :-)