Day 19
6:55 am
After receiving her note from Jason, Charlie's mind had gone into complete overdrive. She was sure that Jason was alive, but the real question was, was the note really from him? It was entirely possible that Barbie-Neville and her husband were planning on helping her escape just so they could kill her, or they were going to get her caught so Monroe would kill her. Either way, she ended up dead.
Which meant that escaping wasn't an option.
So what should she do? The note said Friday night at 9:15, that was tonight. Charlie figured she could do nothing, and then when whoever was coming showed up, just refuse to leave.
But that was the other problem.
What if Monroe found out about it, and believed that she was trying to escape? He'd kill her for sure, then kill Aaron, and to top it off that, he'd have whoever was with Miles kill him too.
Two options; One, say nothing and pray that Monroe wouldn't find out that she had know about the 'escape attempt' before hand. Or two, tell Monroe, pray that he believed her, and if needed, beg him not to kill her and her friends.
Either way, she was fucked.
It was with all of those possibilities on her mind that Charlie had been up most of the night pacing in her room. Which was the reason why she was running late to breakfast this morning. She entered the kitchen and looked at the clock on the wall, 6:58.
"Your late, Charlotte."
Charlie approached the table slowly, avoiding Monroe's gaze. "I thought breakfast didn't start until seven."
His eyebrows rose slightly. "It does. I was merely pointing out that you're usually the first one up for breakfast, I've actually gotten used to you reading my reports for me. Makes it so I don't have to."
Charlie slid into her seat and finally looked over at him. "Well I'm sorry, Mr. President, I guess you'll just have to do your own job today." It had come out a little harsher than she had intended, but Monroe ignored her attitude in favor of studying her face.
"Is something wrong, Charlotte?"
Charlie stared at him. She hadn't even been in the room for five minutes and he had already picked up on the fact that, yes, something was very wrong.
Which brought up yet another problem. She knew she needed to tell Monroe about the note and the dagger, because the consequences otherwise would be to severe to risk. The problem was, how was she going to tell him? If she just came out and said it, he might not believe her, especially considering that he still thought Jason was dead.
"Nothing, I'm fine." Charlie had always been a terrible liar, but she hoped, just this once, that it was enough to get away with it. Monroe however, didn't look all that convinced. "I'm fine, I just didn't sleep well last night. That's why I didn't get here early." Then, hoping to change the subject, she asked, "where's Jeremy?"
But Monroe completely ignored her question in favor of his own. "Didn't sleep well... is everything alright? Are you not feeling well? Would you like me to call for Dr. Huber?"
For a man that killed people, like every other day, he was oddly caring.
It was kind of annoying.
"No, that's really unnecessary. I had a hard time sleeping, that's all." She looked him directly in the eye, his steely blue gaze studying her, hoping to convey some degree of sincerity so he would believe her.
Whether or not he did, she wasn't sure, but Monroe let the subject drop and answered her question. "I sent Jeremy to Harrisburg to take care of a few things, he should be back in two weeks, no more than three."
Charlie's heart sunk. She had been thinking that if Monroe didn't believe her about the note that Jeremy would at least have her back.
Guess not.
"Relax, Charlotte," Monroe's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Your girlfriend will be back soon and then you guys can go back to braiding each other's hair."
Charlie frowned at him. "You know, Jeremy is the only person here that actually likes you, maybe you should try being a little nicer to people who are supposed to be your friends."
She had been expecting Monroe to glare at her, or even roll his eyes in his usual condescending way, so she wasn't prepared for it when he bowed his head and poked at the eggs on his plate. "I don't have any friends left, Charlotte. I thought you would've noticed that by now."
She should have laughed at him. She wanted to, really she did, but the bitter tone in his voice made it hard. Even after everything Monroe had done to her family, she couldn't find it in herself to laugh at someone looking so dejected.
Never kick a man when he's down, right?
Instead of responding, Charlie went back to her breakfast and tried to think of the best way to tell Monroe about the note, and possible escape attempt to follow. But this wasn't the right time. She knew he would be angry with himself for revealing so much to her as soon as he realized what he'd said, plus, it was still early in the morning. Giving Monroe bad news, like an escape attempt, in the morning was a bad idea. Her chances of survival would be best at lunchtime. They always ate lunch together, just the two of them, and he seemed to reserve the best of his attitude for the occasion.
Or it could just be that he was awake by that point.
Either way, lunch was her best bet.
They finished breakfast in a somewhat awkward silence, with Monroe refusing to look at her. As Charlie finished her eggs she grudgingly admitted to herself that reading Monroe's reports, while not very entertaining, at least gave her something to think about. Now however, she was stuck in her own head, contemplating all of the different ways telling Monroe about Jason's note could go wrong. And wondering which of the objects on the table would be her best choice as a weapon for defense.
If worst came to worst, she decided that she could always throw salt in his eyes to distract him and then stab him with her fork. But even if she managed to kill him, she'd still have to make a run for it and Aaron would still be in danger.
Suffice to say, she really hoped that Monroe believed her.
8:40 am
Charlie spent the morning pacing in her bedroom, occasionally stopping to look out the window in order to see militia guard Jack nearly topple over because he fell asleep leaning against the wall while he was supposed to be on duty. Chuckling, she shook her head and watched as guards John and Jane chased away the stray dog from the butcher shop. Again.
Poor thing. He just wanted something to eat.
After that, she did her best to distract herself by playing solitaire, doing some more militia watching, playing more solitaire, etc.
You get the picture.
She wondered why Monroe had sent Jeremy to Harrisburg. He said it was 'to take care of a few things'. Charlie couldn't decide whether or not she thought that might be Monroe-speak for 'he went to kill a bunch of people for me', or if he really had sent Jeremy all the way to Harrisburg just to run some errands.
Unfortunately, the first option seemed the most likely.
Charlie knew that shouldn't really bother her, but she had come to like Jeremy, and the idea of him running off to kill people just because Monroe said so made her fists clench. So she stopped thinking about it.
Now that she had made up her mind to break the bad news at lunch, time couldn't possibly have moved any slower. Charlie was resting in her armchair, propped up with a cup of hot tea that Madelyn had brought in for her. She looked out the window, lost in her own thoughts. She wondered what Miles was doing. Almost three weeks into the trip to California, traveling at least 15 miles a day (she figured it would be slow going with all the extra soldiers and stuff), they had to be at least to Pittsburgh by now. With any luck Nora would have realized something was wrong and taken Danny and her mother far away from here, to Georgia or Texas so that they would be far from harm. Poor Aaron, Charlie had given up asking where he was being kept or whether or not he was alright, every time she did, Monroe got angry and sent her to her room.
12:20 pm
When it was finally tie for lunch, she tucked Jason's note into her pants pocket, but opted to leave the pen sitting on the vanity in her bedroom. She didn't want Monroe to misunderstand her bringing it to show it to him, for an assassination attempt.
Charlie had grown fairly comfortable in Independence Hall, especially with Nevins gone, but on her way to the kitchen she found herself wringing her hands and biting worriedly at her bottom lip. Chad seemed to sense that something was off, and looked like he was going to ask her if she was alright, but she went through the door of the kitchen before he had the chance.
Monroe was sitting down in his seat as she came into the room. He completely ignored her. At first she couldn't figure out why he would be ignoring her, the man seemed to get a lot of satisfaction out of forcing her talk to him, but then she remembered their not-so-nice conversation this morning. Charlie could have slapped herself. She had held off on telling him until lunch in order to make sure he would be in a good mood, but then she had gone and upset him and now he was still acting like a kid that got picked over for teams on the playground.
They each took a bite of their potato soup while the awkward silence around them thickened. Charlie decided that just because he was going to act like a child didn't mean that she had to, so she broke the silence softly. "How was your morning?"
Monroe couldn't hide the surprise that crossed over his face. "Why do you care?" And if his voice sounded a little suspicious, well, that was probably because they both knew she didn't care in the slightest.
Rather than trying to convince him that she did, Charlie shrugged and took another bite. "I don't. Just trying to make conversation. I don't know about you, but spending the next two weeks in silence just because Jeremy's gone doesn't sound like fun."
He raised an eyebrow at her, but gave no other outward signs of opposal. "It was fine."
Nodding awkwardly, she asked, "what did you do?"
Monroe chuckled, a low sound that seemed to vibrate from his chest, down his arms, and all the way into the table so that she could feel it in her fingertips. "I read my reports. Someone suggested I do my own job for a change."
A small smile, without her permission of course, broke out across her face, and she could have sworn that she saw the corner of Monroe's lips twitch as well. And just like that, they were back to their normal dynamic. Charlie pretended that she was merely in Philadelphia on vacation, staying at a beautiful inn, that just happened to have some overbearing security guards while Monroe pretended that Charlie really was his guest instead of being a prisoner/hostage.
With things back to their comfortable silence, it was time to tell Monroe about Jason's rescue attempt. "There's somethin-"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. President, but you need to come see this." Charlie had been interrupted by none other than Jane, the female militia soldier whose post was on the front lawn, who looked slightly terrified.
"I'm having my lunch, Lieutenant." Monroe's voice was icy cold.
"I know, sir, it's just that, well..." The poor girl was looking more and more scared by the second.
"Spit it out, I haven't got all day."
"There's a man outside that wants to see you."
Monroe glared at her. "Are you kidding me, you came to interrupt-"
"Sir, trust me, you're going to want to see this." The sincerity in her voice was hard to miss, even for Monroe.
He quickly stood from the table and followed Lieutenant Jane out the door. Charlie stared after them, knowing better than to try and follow, Monroe would notice if she was doing something she wasn't supposed to.
But now what? She hadn't even gotten to show him Jason's note, and she had to tell him before 9:15, preferably even before dinner. So Charlie waited, for about an hour longer than lunch would usually take, but Monroe didn't come back to finish his food, and she was surprised that Madelyn hadn't even come in to clean up.
Realizing that sitting there was a waste of her time, Charlie went back to her room. Chad asked her why she had been in the kitchen for so long but she waved him off, saying something about wanting to spend time in a room that wasn't her bedroom. She went to her window to look and see if Jane was back in her usual spot. There she was, right next to John.
But then why didn't Monroe come back to lunch? And when the hell was she supposed to show him the note now? She sighed, plopping down on her bed and deciding that she would just have to catch him at dinner. But before dinner, she needed a nap.
6:15 pm
Dressed in fitted black pants and a red blouse with flowing sleeves, Charlie made her way down to dinner. She figured that Monroe might take the news better if she appeared to be conforming to all of his stupid rules, so she had donned the shirt with the hopes that he would deem it 'appropriate'.
It had actually taken quite a while to decide. Madelyn seemed to really enjoy shopping, so over the past few weeks Charlie's wardrobe had grown to three times what it was when she arrived. She had more clothes now then she had ever had in her life. More pants and t-shirts and lots of pretty blouses for dinner, the woman had even bought a dress and put it in the closet, telling Charlie that she didn't have to wear it right now, but that it would be nice to have it just in case.
Just in case what?
But again, she kept Jeremy's warning in mind and simply smiled to keep her happy.
Entering the dining room, her eyes bulged when he saw Neville sitting in Monroe's usual seat. Charlie approach the table cautiously, but with her head held high. She sat down in her chair and looked over at him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow, a small smile playing around his lips. "Can I help you, Miss Matheson."
The sickly sweet way he addressed her made her want to strangle him. "I don't think Monroe would like you sitting in his chair." She smiled triumphantly when a small flicker of fear crossed his face.
"Well I wouldn't worry about it. The President has asked me to inform everyone that he isn't feeling well, so he won't be joining us tonight."
What?!
Why was it that whenever she wanted nothing more than to never see Monroe's stupid face again, he always made a point to be around every corner. But as soon as she needed to talk to him, he couldn't be bothered with her.
What the hell was she supposed to do now?
Looking back at Neville, she asked, "what's wrong with him?"
Neville let his surprise from her question show. "I wasn't aware that you cared so much, Miss Matheson. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you're just like Miles." Those last few words left a disapproving look on his face, making Charlie's already bubbling anger, flood to the surface.
"Well I'd rather be like Miles than be stuck being like you. Even your own son hates you." His eyes narrowed maliciously, but rather than letting him threaten her, she beat him to it. "Careful, Tom. I would hate to have to show Monroe the gift your wife gave me."
She watched as he barely restrained himself from reaching out and wrapping his hands around her neck. Smiling in triumph, she proceeded to ignore both Neville and Strausser for the remainder of dinner. Though her victory over him started to loose its charm after she realized that she still hadn't spoken Monroe. As she pulled her boots back on in the hallway, she contemplated her options, which there really only was one option left.
Go to Monroe's office and tell him the truth.
Only problem... she had no idea where his office was.
"Chad, I need you to take me to see Monroe."
Chad looked at her like she had completely lost her mind. "I can't. The President isn't seeing anyone else today, and even if he was, my orders are to take you to and from your meals. No place else, no exceptions."
Charlie rolled her eyes at him, she hadn't been expecting him to say no. "Chad, it's really important, I need to talk to him."
Sighing, he asked, "can't it wait until morning? I really am not supposed to take you there."
With her nervous energy already on the maximum setting, her anger easily solved both of their problems. "How about I make it easy for you then. Take me to Monroe, right now, or I'm going to tell him that you came into my room and... touched me." While she may have finished rather lamely, it was obvious by Chad's terrified look that her threat had worked.
"Fine," he said, clearly surprised by the lengths she was willing to go to. "Right this way, Miss Matheson." Chad directed her down the hallway and Charlie had to push down the apology threatening to escape her lips. If she lived through the night, she'd apologize tomorrow.
7:50 pm
Chad headed down the hallway in the direction of her bedroom, but instead of turning left at the end of the hall, which was the only other way they could have gone, he opened the door directly across from them which she had always assumed led to another bedroom or an office. Charlie was surprised as she went through it and realized that the door led into another hallway. She turned her head from left to right, taking in the short corridor that turned sharply to the right and ended at another door. At her questioning look, Chad finally took pity on her and explained as they went through the door and started down a long hallway.
"Independence Hall was a public building before the blackout, people could come and take tours to see what the building looked like on the inside. When Matheson and Monroe started using it as their headquarters, they were worried that people would remember the layout and be able to use that against them. So, they demolished some of the rooms and turned them into hallways, and vice versa." Chad pointed to an ordinary looking wall that seemed as though it had always been there. "They put that wall in to block off a hallway, your bedroom is right on the other side."
They fell silent as they continued to walk. Militia soldiers were standing guard at various spots along the wall and Charlie had to restrain herself from running out into the night when they passed the front doors. Through the glass, she could see Jack snoozing against the wall and George making lovey-dovey eyes at Jane. At the end of the long hallway, their only option was to turn left, and there at the end, Charlie saw four guards, two on each side of a set of double doors.
That had to be Monroe's office.
8:05 pm
Chad stepped up to the men guarding the doors and saluted them before saying, "Miss Matheson needs to speak to the President."
Three of the guards remained stoic and calm, but the one to the right of the door eyed her up and down with a smirk. "Well Miss Matheson is going to have to come back later, the President isn't seeing anyone right now."
Fear pulled at Charlie's chest. What if they wouldn't let her see him? If she didn't get to talk to Monroe in the next hour, she was as good as dead.
"It's important. Trust me, Monroe will be happy that you let me in when he hears what I have to say." The guards all looked at her, the one who had been talking was shaking his head.
"No. The President said no visitors, those were my orders."
Fuck your stupid orders!
Charlie took a deep breath, tyring to keep her desperation at bay. "You don't understand, I-"
"I don't care. No one is getting in this office tonight. Private, I suggest you take your prisoner back to her room." The man looked pointedly at Chad who quickly nodded. He gave her an apologetic look, gesturing for her to move back the way they had come, but she had come to talk to Monroe and she wasn't leaving until she did.
Charlie started to turn around, acting like she was going back to her room, and then ran at Monroe's office door, banging on it with her fists and yelling, "Monroe! Get your ass out-" But wherever she had been prepared to demand he take his ass to, no one heard, because one of the guards had lifted her bodily from the ground and pulled her away from the wood, shocking her into a momentary silence.
"Get your hands off of me." Charlie pulled at the arms wrapped tightly around her waist, but when they didn't budge she tried reaching behind her head to scratch at the guys face. He yelped in pain as one of her nails scratched across his eye and he dropped her on the floor, she caught her balance and prepared to make another attempt at Monroe's door only to have to firm hands on her shoulders pull her back.
Chad pulled on her a little harder, pleading with her in a low voice so that the others wouldn't hear. "Come on, Charlie, you can see him tomorrow. It's not that big of a deal."
No big deal? Her family was about to be in some serious trouble, not that Chad knew that, she had to protect them. Suddenly, Charlie remembered Chad telling her how useless he had felt being unable to protect his little sister Ellie from the bandits that had attacked her, and she got an idea.
"Help! Help!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, Charlie found herself praying that Monroe was still at least partly human. "Please, help me!"
She also tried to ignore the fact that she was currently yelling for help and hoping that Monroe would come 'save' her.
Chad grabbed her shoulders roughly and turned her to face him. "What the hell are you-"
BANG!
Everyone in the hallway froze as Monroe's office door flew open, bouncing off of the wall with a bang. Monroe was out of the room and at Chad's throat with a sword before any of them had even registered he had exited the room. Charlie stood rooted to the spot while Chad's grip on her shoulders had tightened out of fear of the man who currently had a blade across the skin of his neck. Monroe's whole body was tensed, his breathing was heavy and his eyes were on fire.
"Let her go." It was a simple command and Chad hastened to obey, dropping his hands from Charlie's shoulders and retreating back several steps. Monroe turned to Chad with his weapon raised and Charlie almost realized too late what he was planning to do.
"No, no, no, wait," she reached out and laid a hand on Monroe's shoulder, feeling his muscles through the thin white shirt he was wearing. "He didn't hurt me," Monroe turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye, "I'll explain everything, just don't hurt him." Charlie watched most of the rage leave his face to be replaced by curiosity. He turned to face her fully, eyeing her up and down as if he were checking for injuries before gesturing for her to enter his office.
Well, here goes nothing.
A/N I know that I promised you lots of Charlie and Monroe in this one but I hadn't really anticipated all of the different things that had to happen in this chapter before we even made it to his office. So I apologize and assure you that the next chapter will pick up right here. :-) Thank you for for reading and leave me a review if you have a minute, I love the feedback.