Miles was rummaging through his stuff, trying to find his keys and jacket, so he could head down to the bar. He texted Charlie earlier in the week asking her if she wanted to go pick a tree with him, but he was backing out.

This time though he covered his ass by planning to ask Bass to take her himself. He promised Charlie he would not cancel this time, but lo and behold he was canceling for some made up reason of him needing to go to the bar to tend to some made up problem.

And yes, he did realize how stupid and childish that sounded.

"Why don't I go down to the bar and take care of things there, and you can go with Charlie to get a Christmas tree?" Bass suggested while he watched Miles search aimlessly

"Because you're the one with the truck," was the first pathetic excuse that came to Miles' mind, and even in his mind it sounded dumb.

"As I recall you've driven my truck many times before Miles, I'd be happy to let you borrow it again. It's not like you could break it, it's already a hunk of junk."

That truck was more important than Bass lead on, but he would trust Miles with anything, plus he wanted to get to the bottom of why Miles was canceling on Charlie, yet again.

Miles shook his head not saying anything. Bass could tell he was trying to up with another lame excuse, but even he couldn't figure out a good enough excuse so he opted for something rare, the truth, "I just can't face her Bass, not when I don't know if she's still mad. She hasn't said anything to me other than you telling me she was ok after you picked her up from the bar, which she didn't even directly say to me."

He let out a groan, "hell brother, I'm more worried that she's disappointed in me, a pissed Charlie I could handle, but an upset Charlie, you know I'm not good with feelings and shit."

Bass did know, but it wasn't like he was any better at it, he just had more life experiences that forced him into a different viewpoint. He had to be more willing to talk about some feelings, or things would get bad again like last time.

It's not that Bass didn't want to spend time with Charlie, he did. She was beautiful, funny, and her don't-give-a-fuck attitude reminded him of Miles. She was a mini-Miles only prettier and with longer hair.

He just didn't want to be alone with Charlie for long because ultimately he didn't trust himself. He was always a gentleman, but flirting was second nature to him, especially around Charlie who obviously liked to play with fire.

Bass couldn't tell any of this to Miles because he was quite sure that Miles would explode and possibly have a mental breakdown with all the shit he has been going through.

Miles was as tough as nails, but even nails bend to a point where they break eventually. He didn't want to be that breaking point, so he just had to suck it up and hide his feelings for her as best as he could.

"Alright fine, we'll go get your idiot ass a tree, which by the way, when did you suddenly become cheermeister? You never decorate, the most holiday thing you ever do is buy beer cans with a turkey on them."

Miles looked at him sheepishly, "well I just felt guilty about the whole Rachel thing so I was trying to make it up to Charlie by letting her force me into decorating. Thought maybe that would make her…I don't know, happy, I guess?"

Bass smiled internally thinking about the night where he put on that stupid sweater for the exact same reason, he couldn't blame Miles because he would do the same thing. Only he was the one who had to suffer through it until Miles got his ass in trouble, for being himself, and had to share in the punishment.

"Are you sure she's even going to be ok with me taking her? This kinda defeats the purpose of YOU trying to make it up to her." That was one way Bass could try to get around this whole situation without having to incriminate himself.

Miles was already nodding after Bass asked if she would be ok with it, "right now I think she likes you more than me anyway," he tried to laugh the comment off but he ended up sounding more jealous than anything.

Bass sighed, which signified to Miles that he was giving in, "fine but at least let her know so you don't just spring it on her when she gets here."

Miles smiled lightly and clapped one hand on Bass' slumped shoulders as he went by him, out of the kitchen, "thanks again brother, I'll let her know."

Heading towards the front door Bass called out to him before he could make a quick exit, "wait you aren't even going to wait and tell her in person? Miles I swear if I have to spend hours with a pissed off, brooding version of you, you're going to owe me. I'm talking massively."

"I already texted her jeez, she's cool with it she said, so if there isn't anything else I'm leaving," he grabbed the keys off of the table by the door, the last place he ever thought to look…go figure.

Miles was shuffling his feet and his arms were twitching to reach out and grasp the doorknob. His nervousness made Bass laugh, "yeah alright get out of here…coward, I can't believe you're scared of your own niece."

Miles glared, "well if I were you I'd be scared of her too." Bass was scared of her, but not for the reasons that Miles was.

He attempted to get his shit under control before Charlie got there, but it wasn't long after Miles left that Charlie pulled into the driveway of the house. He heard the car door shut softly, so maybe that was an indicator that she wasn't too mad about the arrangement.

However when he saw her face as she walked in, he knew he had been wrong about the door. She didn't look pissed necessarily, but she didn't look overjoyed at the idea of going with him, which kinda hurt him a little bit.

He shook it off when the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile, "at least this time he didn't cancel altogether, he just gave me a stand-in." She laughed, but again her tone mirrored Miles' before, he didn't know why she would be jealous of Bass though, unless it had to do with the fact that Miles didn't seem to want to see her, but he spent all his free time with Bass.

"If it'll help I can do Miles' impersonations along the way," he offered and when she laughed he knew she wasn't totally angry at having to spend the rest of the day with him.

"We can compare impersonations, I make a mean Miles," she grinned, obviously proud of her skills.

Bass just laughed and motioned to the door, "are you ready to go?"

When she nodded, he turned the lights off in the kitchen and closed the door behind them, making his way to the truck. Charlie's face looked curious when she took in the old beat up truck. There was notable wear and tear, but it also had a charming quality, like it was sturdy and reliable, which reminded her of Bass. He was a little worn, but he still looked as fine as ever and was dependable.

"It was my dad's truck," he spoke up when he noticed she was still looking at the truck, "I guess you could say I'm a bit of a pack rat."

He laughed, moving to go around to the passenger side to open Charlie's door who wasn't used to the gesture, but smiled nonetheless.

"It's nice you keep things that are important to you." They weren't touching, nor were they close to one another, but Bass could feel the heat radiating off her body just from the look in her eyes when she said that.

He nodded and closed her door shut, going around the back of the truck to his side of the car. This was going to be a long night if she kept looking at him like that.

"So where were you and Miles going?" He asked once they got going, he wasn't sure which direction to head in so he began thinking of places that he knew sold Christmas trees.

"I hadn't really thought that far in advance considering I knew he was going to cancel on me," her voice took on a snappish tone at the end of the statement. Charlie wasn't angry at having to go with Bass, but he knew that she was furious that Miles was blatantly avoiding her. He knew that, if he could see it, then so could Charlie. She was far from dumb; she was good at reading people.

An idea dawned on him, he wasn't sure it was necessarily a good idea, but that didn't stop his mouth form opening and suggesting it, "do you trust me?"

When she looked bewildered at his question he went on, "I have an idea that might help you and get us a tree, so what do you say Cindy Lou-Who?"

Charlie laughed, "I say that if we're going with those nicknames I'm not sure how much I should trust the Grinch, but I'm feeling lucky so go for it."

He looked at her from the corner of his eye to see if she meant anything by that, but she was peering out the window as he drove them to the unknown destination.

Neither of them talked, it was just like being in the car with Miles, they weren't much on car conversations, which Bass didn't mind; he preferred to listen to the radio anyway and their destination wasn't too far.

They pulled up to what looked to Charlie like a park and she recognized it instantly. This was the park where she went a few years back with her family to see Christmas lights, they also had evergreen trees growing all over the place. She had no idea why they were stopping there, you couldn't buy trees there, but Bass cut the car off and unbuckled getting out of the car.

Charlie took her cue and followed going around to the bed of the truck where he was shuffling around for something, producing a large axe as he turned to Charlie, "how do you feel about cutting your own tree? Miles doesn't need a big tree, I'm sure between the two of us we can manage a small one at least."

"Aren't there places where you can actually cut your own tree, that's not in a random park, I get the feeling that this may be a bit illegal, but what do I know?"

Her playful, nonchalant attitude made Bass laugh, "but this is more fun, besides it's only illegal if you get caught…so just don't get caught."

He had already started moving towards the forest while Charlie was left muttering to herself at the back of the truck, "yeah that's really comforting, I'm sure everyone says to themselves 'just don't get caught' right before they get caught."

While she was hesitant, she was also excited. She didn't think Bass would honestly let her get into trouble, she felt safe, which left room for her to be excited. She hurried along to catch up with him as they went further into the forest, scouring the place for a small tree that they would be able to cut.

Charlie started to walk ahead of him when he dead halted, but his arm shot out across her body and both had to resist the spark that was flowing between them.

He didn't retract his arm but he pointed with the other hand that was holding the axe to a tree further on his left, "there, that one looks easy enough."

Charlie nodded, but he didn't wait for her approval before he began his path there. When they got there he handed the axe to her, who took it skeptically in her hand, "when you said we I just assumed you meant you."

He laughed at her and shook his head, "no way, I was just told to drive you to get a tree, we're sharing in the physical labor."

She smirked at his words, not a good choice of words on his part, "well it wasn't my idea that put us in this position, but whatever, if I lose a limb that's on you."

She had already grasped the axe in her hand before Bass could stop her, his facial features filled with terror at the realization that she could in fact get hurt. That went away quickly when he saw that she knew her way around an axe and was only kidding before.

When she took in his awestruck face she laughed, repeating the movements, "one year we built a tree house, well dad did, but I helped."

Bass smiled, he liked when she talked about things in the past, it gave him a chance to get to know her, other than through Miles' eyes. Speaking of, "do you want to know the reason why he cancelled?"

Bass knew that he probably shouldn't be telling her this, but he felt he owed it to her, everyone kept everything from Charlie and Danny, and he wasn't going to be another person.

He was surprised when she scoffed, "I already know the reason. He thinks I'm still mad or whatever, I guess he's scared to face me."

"And are you? Mad that is?" He was probing, but he knew that Charlie needed to be pushed and maybe she didn't really know the answer herself until she said it out loud. Saying things out loud has a way of making things more real, which is when you're alone is easier to live in denial, no one to forces you to say what you don't want to.

She didn't say anything, but her swings grew more erratic, which communicated he struck a nerve. "I don't know, I can't really judge I guess because I've never been in their shoes. It was just easier when I didn't have to think about it."

Bass nodded, "it's always easier not to think about things, but eventually it'll come out, and usually harsher than you intended. It's better to get it out now."

She immediately stopped swinging and turned to face him, "I'm pissed okay, but what is there to do about it? Get mad? What's that going to solve besides get me worked up? It's just something that happened and now it's done."

"It's not done though because you haven't really expressed how you felt have you? I know Danny blew up and said what he felt, but have you, honestly?"

She was so tired of people probing and asking her that question. She wanted to deal with things how she dealt with them best…by avoiding them. A light bulb went off in her mind, that's exactly how Miles was going about the whole business. He was avoiding it and avoiding her.

"No," she spoke up in a soft voice, "I guess I haven't really. I'm not mad at Miles, hell I'm not even mad at my mom, I can't be mad at them because I'm pretty sure my dad cheated on her too."

She dropped a bombshell that not even Bass knew about, which meant that maybe Miles didn't know about it either. When she saw his face she laughed, no humor present, "yeah that was pretty much my reaction, more fucked up shit. I saw him out with someone a month ago who wasn't my mom, and they were too close to be just friends. I went to where she worked and pretended to need something, just so I could scope her out, her name's Maggie; she has kids but no husband."

Bass didn't know what to say so he remained quiet as she continued on, "I think it was a one time thing, but I don't know, maybe my dad knew about the affair and that was him acting out. I don't know it's just a mess. They're acting like everything is ok, even went out the other night with Aaron and Priscilla. I think I only heard dad yell once, and I know he hit Miles, but that's it? That's all you do when you find out your brother and your wife had an affair?"

She stopped talking and immediately went back to swinging at the tree, this time she wasn't even paying attention to what she was hitting, she just kept swinging.

Her literal mood swing confused Bass so much, sending up a red flag that something was wrong, "Charlie stop before you cut a limb off, or worse you hit me." He tried to make a joke about it and speak in a friendly voice, but she didn't stop.

"Charlie…Charlie, hold on…Charlotte, stop, stop," he tried being nice the first few times, but when he wasn't getting through to her, he all but yelled at her.

As soon as she lowered her arms, preparing to swing again, he closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around hers, forcing her to drop the axe on the ground between her feet.

Neither one of them said anything; the only sound that could be heard was Charlie's breathing and heart pounding. He pulled her in close, not thinking about what he was doing, he just wanted her to stop. He wanted to comfort her.

Without warning she turned around in his arms, in the little amount of space he left her, and laid her forehead on his shoulder. He loosened his arms a bit, but still kept them around her, flattening his hands across her back as he moved them up and down.

She wasn't crying, she didn't cry often, instead she just muttered against his shirt, but he couldn't hear her. He ran his arms over hers until he gripped her forearms and pushed her back to look in her eyes, silently asking her to repeat it.

She just sighed, "The worst part of all of this is that I think I hoped Miles was my father. Not that I don't love my dad, but I'm just…I'm not like them. Mom says all the time how alike Danny and dad are, but I'm not like mom or dad. And I argue with mom constantly, it's like everything I do she picks a fight with. It just makes me wonder if it's because I remind her of the mistake she made."

Even though it wasn't asked as a question Bass still answer, his heart breaking, "There are a lot of qualities in you that are in Ben as well. You're hardworking, you're compassionate, you're caring, you wouldn't hurt anyone unless it was absolutely necessary…that screams Ben, trust me I knew him as a kid. And as much as you want to call what Rachel and Miles did a mistake, it wasn't, they were in love, they might still be I don't know."

He was partially lying, he knew that Miles was definitely still in love with Rachel, he confessed to him the other night, and you know what they say, drunken minds are sober thoughts. "No matter any of that though, that doesn't affect you, Rachel gives you a hard time because it's a mother's job. Shit if I had a dollar every time my mom yelled at me or questioned my stupid choices, which almost all revolved around Miles, I would be as rich as Aaron."

Charlie laughed at that statement, already starting to feel better. She knew in her mind she was being ridiculous, but Bass was right, things didn't just disappear if you didn't talk about them, in fact it was the opposite, they grew bigger when you pretended not to notice them.

It was then that she noticed the close proximity between them, which Bass did as well. Charlie could've sworn he blushed and let his arms drop to his side. Charlie wasn't giving up that easily, she threw her arms around his neck, and even if Bass wanted to, he couldn't stop himself from reciprocating.

"Thank you Bass," she whispered softly in his ear, pulling back just enough to look at his face. Time stood still as they both looked at one another, he wasn't sure what to say and neither was she, so she did the only thing she could think of, she kissed him. Not rushed, or aggressively, she simply pressed her lips against his in a tender kiss, so light that he could've sworn he imagined it.

When he didn't respond she took that as a sign she should untangle herself from him, she laughed as she picked the axe back up, trying not to let him see that she was sort of upset by his lack of reaction, "I guess we should finish cutting this tree before we do get caught."

Bass wasn't sure what type of caught she was talking about, but he was glad that she didn't seem too upset. It's not that he didn't want to respond, in fact he wanted to take things further, but he couldn't take advantage of her in that moment. It didn't feel right.

"Oh we're not actually cutting down the whole tree are you crazy? That would take hours, I just brought you here so you could whack things safely, we'll go buy a tree. I'm too old to be cutting down trees."

Charlie looked at him, "you have got to be kidding me? I did all this work for nothing?"

"Not for nothing, it made you feel better didn't it? Besides if wasn't kidding about the jail, we really could go to jail, I'm not risking it for some Charlie Brown Christmas tree."

"What?!" She exclaimed, dropping the axe for the second time that night, "I thought you were kidding, I'm not going to jail, I will leave your ass to take the fall for it."

"Relax we're going to be fine, just don't get caught and we'll be good. If we leave now we should be—"

No sooner had Bass uttered those words did he see blue lights flickering from where his truck was parked. "Oh fuck me," he murmured to himself and turned towards Charlie, "ok just let me do the talking, I have cop friends."

Charlie snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm pretty sure if you tell them that, then they're going say you shouldn't have been so stupid as to break the law when obviously you have friends who could've told you, this was in fact, breaking the law."

Bass didn't respond to her, but she was right, that would be a dumb thing to say. He didn't get the chance to think much more when two officers appeared before him, neither of them Bass knew, now he was doubly fucked, he thought if they were friends he could get out of it no problem, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Good evening officers," charming people came naturally to Bass, but it was unlikely to work on men, he usually had better luck with women.

"Well it would've been a good evening had we not gotten a call about strange noises being heard in the park, something that sounded an awful lot like tree cutting, which I'm sure you know, you can't just go chopping trees Paul Bunyan."

Bass nodded, feigning remorse, "I'm very sorry officers, it won't happen again, I was just taking my niece here out to find a tree," he pointed to Charlie who said nothing.

He could tell by the look in her eyes she was mad, but he had to say something, and if those guys knew Miles or Baker, he couldn't say she was anything other than family.

"You do realize there are places where you can do that legally? Crazy thought I know," the officer rolled his eyes.

His sarcasm was getting on Bass' nerves, but he tried to remain polite until Charlie had to interrupt, "that's what I told him."

"Thank you Charlie, that was helpful," he thought to himself and the other cop responded, "So you knew this was illegal and yet you still did it? Well I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to think it over while you wait in a holding cell."

"What the fuck, you aren't serious. You're going to put us in a cell because of some stupid tree, that's a little ridiculous don't you think?"

The cop looked sad, but his tone indicated that he was silently taking pleasure in this, "look pal I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."

"Well the ones you want to enforce anyway," Charlie muttered under her breath, but unfortunately they heard her, "well unlucky for you, young lady, this is one of the ones I'm enforcing."

Bass groaned as they went to cuff his hands around his back, watching as they did the same with Charlie only she didn't look quite as worried or nervous, but she didn't have to face the wrath of Miles or Rachel for getting them into this mess.

Non-too gently, they shoved both Bass and Charlie into the patrol car and radioed over that they were bringing in two people, Bass just hoped that Jeremy was still there this time of night.

Bass and Miles met Jeremy Baker in high school before they left for the Marines. They tried to talk Jeremy into enlisting with them, but he declined saying that he would rather diminish his chances of being killed by staying at home. Shortly after they learned he entered the police academy, which was kinda ironic considering he wanted to minimize his chances of being shot or killed.

Bass had to hand it to him though; he was damn good at his job, he had to have been good enough to be promoted to Captain.

Once entering the jail, they were both led to different cells when Bass spoke up immediately, "don't we get one phone call or some shit like that?"

"You do as soon as we tell you that you can make that call," was the short response huffed out by one of the officers.

By this point Bass had enough of them and was about to fly off the handle, his face getting red, when he heard laughter and a familiar voice, "well I'll be damned, Bass Monroe, it shouldn't surprise me that you've landed your ass in here."

Baker took in the girl in the cell next to him and just raised his eyebrows at Bass, "although it does surprise me that the old ball and chain isn't with you. I called him though as soon as they told me you were the owner of the truck. Figured he could come get your sorry ass."

Bass grunted, "as always Baker you're completely useless, this is Miles' niece Charlie," he motioned to her who had remained silent as she sat on the cell cot, only smiling up at him softly when he looked at her.

Baker's eyes grew wide, then he whistled and laughed, "you're in for it now man, Miles is going to be pissed, if I had known I wouldn't have called him."

Bass laughed, "yeah right, you would've called him sooner and made popcorn so you could watch it all go down. Don't kid a kidder Baker."

He laughed and nodded his head, obviously Bass knew him so well. He pointed to one of the cops, "go ahead and let this idiot out, and of course let Miss Matheson out as well. You're Rachel's daughter?"

Once she was out of the cell she just shrugged her shoulders, "as far as I know."

She was half serious, but Baker took it as a joke and laughed, "you got your uncle's attitude, poor kid."

She was about to speak up when said uncle burst through the doors of the cell. He looked madder than a raging bull, "Bass you son of a bitch, I told you to take Charlie to get a damn tree, and by that I meant one that wouldn't land you in jail. Didn't think I needed to clarify."

"If you had taken me yourself to get a tree, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess, it wasn't Bass' fault. Besides you're the one who wanted the damn tree."

Her tone softened when she said Bass' name. No one noticed but him and Baker, who looked at Bass curiously from the side of his eye. Bass said nothing, but his jaw clenched unconsciously, that told Jeremy all he needed to know, Bass Monroe was screwed.

Pulling at his hair in anger Miles huffed, throwing his hands up in the air, "Charlie I'm not arguing with you about this."

"Good because you know you're in the wrong, and you're just as much to blame, so take some responsibility for it." Miles and Bass both could hear the double meaning behind her words, "If you hadn't been trying so hard to avoid me, then we wouldn't be here."

He held his hands up in mock surrender as he rolled his eyes, "alright fine it was my fault, happy?" He pointed a finger at Bass, "You still aren't off the hook, I have no doubt this was your brilliant plan. What do I always say, don't get caught."

Bass laughed and looked to Charlie, "that's what I told her," obviously mocking her words earlier that landed them there.

She glowered at him as Baker crossed his arms over his chest, clearly amused by their bickering, "as glad as I am to see you two, get the hell out of my jail before I throw you all in one for giving me a headache."

"You always were one to abuse your power Baker, but it's good to see you too. Sorry you had to meet my niece this way, but hey at least you can clearly see what Matheson traits stuck with her," Miles laughed.

"Oh I definitely can, one of my officers said it was her mouth that got them thrown in here. Bass might've pulled the idiot move, but the jackass comments from her were all your traits."

Charlie beamed, "which reiterates my point that this was all your fault Miles in more ways than one, thank you Baker."

By this point Baker was full on laughing, along with Bass, and Miles was just rolling his eyes at her, "ok Charlie I think you've sufficiently made your point, now let's go home."

Miles had calmed down enough to where he didn't blame Bass entirely anymore for the whole incident, "I guess we aren't getting a tree, not that I really wanted one anyway."

Charlie looked at him like he was crazy, "are you kidding? We're going to go back and get that tree, it's almost fully cut, besides what are they gonna do? Come pick us back up and throw us all back in jail? I highly doubt it. We just have to be more careful and not get caught."

She was already walking away when Miles and Bass both exchanged looks between one another, she was in fact mental, but neither of them said no to the idea, which is how they all three ended up back at spot where Bass and Charlie had just been.

Miles looked critically at the tree, "this is the one you chose…seriously? This is ugly."

Charlie shoved the axe in his hands before pushing him towards the tree, "well it was too much work trying to get a bigger tree, you're not worth all that. Besides it's cute, it's a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree."

She met Bass' eyes and instead of turning away from her he smiled as he continued looking at her, "yeah it's beautiful."

Miles huffing was the only sound that could be heard, "I hope you know that I am not decorating this hideous thing."

"Maybe if you ask me really nicely and supply me with some alcohol I can be tempted to help you. Besides you're the one who's suddenly become the holiday cheermeister" Charlie laughed.

Miles turned around and pouted at them, "oh not you too. You two are ganging up on me and that's not very nice. And what's with all the Grinch stuff?"

Both them of started laughing oblivious to Miles who didn't understand their joke inside, they knew and that's all that mattered.