Day 7

The past week had officially been the worst of Charlie's life. Throughout the week, her human interactions had been limited to meal times and Nevins' usual 'search' before she was allowed to leave the room or reenter it. During the week she had noticed that Nevins didn't dare submit her to the search with anyone else present, which meant that when Jeremy walked her back to her room after breakfast she was safe. But that was the only time she could count on not being groped. Monroe hadn't attempted to escort her anywhere after that first lunch together, apparently, he had noticed her dislike of the idea. As much as she hated to admit it, even just to herself, having Monroe politely escort her to the kitchens would have been ten times better than having Nevins fondling her breasts.

The disgusting creep still hadn't given up, in fact, as the days passed he had only gotten bolder. Cupping her breasts completely from behind and even slapping her butt as she walked in front of him. It made her sick to her stomach every time she thought about it.

But she still hadn't told anyone. Why? She wasn't sure, she actually asked herself that same damn question every time she felt his hands on her body.

The most likely reason? Her hard-headed, Matheson attitude wouldn't let her give Monroe the satisfaction of going to him with a problem.

Aside from Nevins and her obvious boredom, she hadn't had any other problems. Monroe had made Jeremy and Strausser trade seats at the dinner table, which meant that Strausser now sat across from her. It didn't really help her appetite, but at least she was out of his reach. Dinner itself had become the part of the day she dreaded most. During breakfast and lunch, Monroe usually ignored her, leaving her to eat in peace while he read his daily reports and only on occasion inquiring about whether or not her accommodations were acceptable.

Acceptable? Sure, if bars on your window and creepy guard dogs are something you're into.

Though she had learned not to say things like that, it made Monroe's pleasant silence become heavy, which in turn made her nervous, which in turn ruined the entire rest of her day.

She was particularly happy today, because it was Friday, which meant that Jeremy would be off tomorrow and he had promised to come see her and bring some things for her to do.

Charlie was currently sitting at the kitchen table by herself, having arrived twenty minutes early. Madelyn was bustling around the room, readying plates full of food when a soldier came in and set a stack of reports on the table in front of Monroe's empty seat.

No. Don't touch it.

Oh, who was she kidding, of course she was going to touch it.

Grabbing the stack, she began thumbing through the pages, catching phrases like; caused public disruption, disobeyed direct orders, and suspected of rebel activities. That last one caught her attention and she pulled the piece of paper out to read it.

It was about some guy in Delaware that had taken a crate of ammunition off of a militia wagon instead of taking the crate of supplies that he had paid for. The officer in charge had immediately arrested him, accusing him of planning to give the rebels the ammo to help them with their cause. The officer was recommending a death sentence.

Seriously? If he had paid for food and taken ammo it was probably just a mix-up, and they wanted to shoot him for it.

Charlie shook her head sadly at the report, that poor guy was probably just trying to get food in order to feed his family and now he was going to pay the ultimate price for it.

"Well if you think it's bad, then it's either the end of the world or a lost puppy." Charlie had been so immersed in the report that she hadn't heard Monroe approach. He sat down and looked at her calmly, he didn't look angry that she had taken the papers. Actually, the cursory glance he sent towards them gave her the impression that he couldn't have cared less.

Acting braver than she really felt, she set the stack down and slid it his way. "Some guy is going to be killed for something that probably wasn't even his fault." To her immense surprise Monroe looked at the paper carefully and began to read as Jeremy took his seat at the table.

While she and Jeremy chatted about the weather, though why she cared was lost on her - it's not like she was allowed to go outside, Monroe continued to read the report. In the middle of Jeremy's retelling of his 'amazing' work on the training field the day before, Monroe cut him off with a hand in the air and a questioning look in Charlie's direction.

"I don't see how this incident wasn't the man in questions fault." He wasn't mocking her. Monore seemed genuinely curious about her opinion, which made her wonder why he cared.

Why? Who gives a fuck, it's better than sitting in complete silence.

"Well..." Charlie took her time forming her response, "the supplies and the ammunition all go in the same type of crates, which are then loaded onto the wagons, right?" At Monroe's nod of conformation she continued on with a little more confidence. "Then whoever loaded the crates is the one to blame. Why didn't they mark what was in each one, or why didn't the militia check to make sure they were giving the man the correct crate. It's not his fault that your guys can't keep track of their stuff."

Jeremy was looking between the two of them silently, like he was afraid to get involved. But Charlie kept her eyes trained on Monroe, who had tilted his head and was looking at her like she was a particularly complicated puzzle.

"Thank you, Charlotte. I will take your observations into account when I make my final decision." Luckily, Monroe turned to his plate and began to eat, otherwise he would have seen Charlie's mouth hanging wide open in shock and Jeremy's stunned face. She and Jeremy shared a confuse look, but he merely shrugged his shoulder as if to say 'hell if I know'.

Monroe spent the rest of breakfast reading the other reports in silence while Jeremy filled her in on the gossip going around the capital.

Charlie loved when Jeremy walked her to her room after breakfast, it meant that Nevins couldn't touch her and he knew it. She knew it too, and today, she couldn't help but smirk at him as Jeremy opened to door for her and she passed by Nevins without so much as a poke. As the door shut behind her, she saw his eyes narrow menacingly, but she didn't think anything of it, she was too busy being happy about skating by him.

But she should have known better than to think that she would get away with it. When lunchtime came, he opened the door and immediately grabbed her, slamming her back against the wall next to the door.

"Having fun, kitten?" Nevins pressed himself flat against her, his mouth level with her eyes.

"Get off of me." Charlie tried to push him away from her, but his superior size made it impossible.

"God, you are such a fucking tease." He grabbed her breasts roughly in his hands, pulling and pinching and squeezing until her eyes watered. He was so distracted by her breasts that she managed to push him a few feet away, immediately taking off down the hallway to get away from him. She didn't make it but five feet before he grabbed her by the wrist an swung her around, pushing her face first into the nearest wall.

"I thought I told you to play nice." Nevins had her by the wrist still, with her arm twisted behind her back.

"Go to hell," she ground out.

But Nevins merely chuckled, squeezing her right wrist even harder, so much so that she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out in pain. He spoke low in her ear, "now next time, I'm not going to be so nice. Do you understand, kitten?" He twisted her wrist back into an even worse angle and she grunted in pain. "I asked you a question."

Why was this happening to her? What had she done to deserve any of this?

Charlie nodded. Not so much out of fear, but because she was pretty sure that if she didn't, Nevins was going to snap her wrist. He hummed delightedly and licked the shell of her ear before letting go. She tumbled sideways, breathing heavily and clutching her wrist, doing her damn best not to burst into tears.

Because she wasn't scared of him. Matheson's don't get scared.

She composed herself as best as she could on her way to the kitchen, ignoring the shooting pain in her wrist as she stepped through the door. Monroe was already seated, sipping a glass of iced tea. When Charlie sat down, she put her right hand down on her lap and reached for her glass with her left.

Big mistake.

Monroe immediately noticed, his eyes narrowed on her left hand and then went to her face, taking in her usually tan skin's, pale tone. "Is everything alright, Charlotte?"

She nodded imperceptibly, "of course, everything is fine."

Why was she still lying about it? Everything was not fine!

Damn Matheson's and their egotistical bullshit.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Charlie tried to feign innocence, but Monroe saw right through it. He jumped up from his seat and before Charlie could even think about moving away from him, he was at her side, snatching her hand off of her lap. She hissed in pain when he jostled her wrist and he surprisingly let go immediately.

Guess Monroe was full of surprises today.

"Show me your hand." It was a command. Not overly obnoxious or threatening, simply telling her that he meant business.

Slowly, so as not to cause herself more pain, Charlie lifted her arm for him to see. Her skin was an angry, dark red color, it would certainly be black and blue tomorrow. She couldn't bring herself to look at Monore's face, a strange sense of guilt forming in her stomach. Which was ridiculous because she hadn't done anything wrong.

Thankfully, Monroe made no effort to touch her again. He did however send one of the guards for the doctor as he sat back down in his seat. Charlie still couldn't look at him, so she took a sip of iced tea in order to give herself something to do.

"Tell me what happened." Another command, though this time there was an underlying tone of anger in his voice. She finally looked up at his face and found his features neatly arranged in his usual indifference. Except for his eyes, which usually seemed dull and lifeless, were blazing with such an intensity that Charlie felt little beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She looked away, she had to in order to think.

"Nevins," it came out as a whisper. But from the way his back straightened, she knew he had heard her.

"Were you trying to escape?"

Panic flooded through her, if he thought that she had tried to escape he would kill Aaron for sure. "No, I didn't, I swear. Nevins has been doing this since I got here. I swear, please don't hurt Aaron." She looked at Monroe with pleading eyes, begging him to believe her.

His face seemed to soften slightly and he put his hands out to shut her up. "Relax, Charlotte, your friend is safe." Charlie sighed with relief, feeling like the weight of the world had just been lifted off of her shoulders. "But what did you mean when you said he's 'been doing it since I got here'. Doing what exactly?"

Suddenly feeling awkward, Charlie searched for the words to describe Nevins' behavior. "He's been... 'searching' me... whenever I leave my room."

"Searching?"

She nodded and bit her lip. "Yeah, he said that it was protocol to search me for weapons, but... I mean, it's not like I keep razor blades in my bra." Charlie didn't say anything else, she didn't want to. But she figured that she had said enough for Monroe to be able to fill in the blanks.

She saw Monroe's hand clench around his glass right before he jumped up from the table, turning to another one of scariest looking guards in the room. He was easily six feet tall, and built with muscle from top to bottom. "When Charlotte is finished take her back to her room. Your are assigned to her detail until further notice." Without so much as a backward glance, Monroe left the room.

Day 8

The doctor had declared it a sprained wrist and had wrapped it gently for her. Madelyn had come to her room close to dinner time with a tray full of food, explaining that Monroe had excused her from dinner for the night.

Now it was Saturday morning, and since her body was getting used to eating on a schedule, her stomach was rumbling. Charlie was nervous about knocking on the door, her new guard dog was even scarier looking than the last one and she wasn't sure whether or not he was going to be any better than his predecessor.

Mentally preparing herself for the worst, Charlie knocked on the door. It swung open immediately to reveal a man in his mid-twenties with light brown hair and green eyes, dressed in a clean, crisp uniform with a smile on his face.

"Good morning, Miss Matheson." A little shocked by his seemingly non-threatening appearance, she gaped at him.

"Who are you?" Even her rude tone wasn't enough to wipe the smile off of his face.

"I am Private Chad Riley, President Monroe assigned me to your protective detail this morning, effective immediately. It's nice to meet you, ma'am." He stood with his hands clasped behind his back and his seemingly genuine smile still on his face. "Are you ready for breakfast, ma'am?" Riley motioned for her to make her way down the hall in front of him as he shut her bedroom door.

Charlie stepped out of his way, but didn't start towards the kitchens. Instead, she turned to her new guard and eyed him suspiciously. "Would you like to search me before we go?"

She was testing him. And he knew it.

"Oh course not, ma'am. I was given strict orders regarding your care."

When Riley didn't elaborate, she asked, "what kind of orders?"

"Physical contact with Miss Matheson is strictly forbidden, unless under extreme circumstances. Failure to comply will result in immediate discharge." Riley said all of this in one breath, like he had been forced to commit it to memory.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at him, "what sort of extreme circumstances?"

"One: if Miss Matheson attempts to escape, deadly force may be used. Two: if Miss Matheson attempts to harm any person of the household or visitors, deadly force may be used. Three: in the event that Miss Matheson's safety is in question, physical contact may be initiated to protect her at all costs." Once again, Riley said this all very quickly, with his smile firmly in place. Charlie merely gaped at him, at a loss for how exactly she was supposed to react to that.

"Would you like to go to breakfast now, ma'am?" His perfectly polite demeanor was strange, but Charlie quickly decided that it was a million times better than Nevins, so she smiled at her new guard and started walking down the hall. Riley followed her a few paces behind, not bothering to try and steer her, nor engaging in conversation.

When they arrived at the double door that led into the kitchen he opened the door for her with a big smile. "Enjoy your breakfast, Miss Matheson."

She couldn't help it. She muttered a thanks out of the corner of her mouth and slipped inside, still marveling at her sudden change in luck. As she approached the table, Monroe eyed the bandage wrapped around her wrist.

"Doctor Huber informed me of the damage that former Private Nevins caused." While Monroe's tone seemed formal, the look on his face was sincere. "I apologize, Charlotte. I chose Nevins for your detail myself, that was obviously a mistake. How do you feel about Private Riley?"

As he looked at her, Charlie realized that he was actually asking for her opinion. And for what seemed like the millionth time in the past two days, she wondered why on Earth he cared.

Does it really matter?

No. Just be grateful.

"He seems... nice." What the hell was she supposed to say? He's better than the maniac you hand picked the first time?

No. Eight days in Independence Hall had taught her that being a smart ass didn't get her anywhere but sent to her room.

Monroe seemed pleased enough by her answer and went back to his breakfast while he read his reports. Jeremy showed her the bag of things he had brought for them to do on his day off. A chess board, complete with all of the pieces, a deck of playing cards, and a pre-blackout board game called Mouse Trap. Charlie couldn't help the huge smile on her face, she had never played the game before, but the idea of having company for the day made her spirits soar.

They sat talking much longer than they usually did during breakfast, because Jeremy usually had to leave for work, and after a while Monroe got up to leave. He stopped just short of the door and came back to the table with a serious look on his face, Charlie worried if she was suddenly in trouble for something.

"I decided not to charge the man in Delaware. I thought you'd like to know." Monroe didn't give her a chance to respond, he disappeared out the door before she even fully understood what he had said. She turned to Jeremy with surprise on her face only to find him grinning with a smug look of satisfaction.

"What? Why are you making that face?" But Jeremy simply continued to smile as he rose from the table, bag of games in his hand.

"It's nothing, come on, I bet I can kick your ass in chess."

Charlie snorted, "you do know that I was raised by a scientist, a doctor, and a mathematician, right? I know how to play chess." They laughed together as they made their way back to her room.

But Charlie couldn't help but wonder what Jeremy had been so damn smiley about, or why the hell Monroe of all people had actually listened to what she had to say.


A/N First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading this story, you guys are awsome! Second, thank you to all of my reviewers who are 100% amazing! Third, I hope you guys like this chapter, I know everyone has very vivid images of what they would like to be done to Nevins, we will get to that part later. :-) Leave me a review if you have a minute, I love hearing from you guys!