When Bass woke up Charlie the next morning, he walked back over to the couch instead of going off to get Miles up.
"I got you something," he told her. His usual cocky demeanour faltered and if she hadn't known better she might have thought he was uncomfortable. His hands were in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched as if he had forgotten what he was doing halfway through a shrug. "I mean, it's not a big deal. It barely cost anything. But I saw it and I figured you seemed like the type to like cheesy tourist stuff and I figured Miles keeps talking about you not staying long, so you could use something to take with you when you go back."
He was rambling now and barely looking at her and Charlie was absolutely fascinated with this shift in his character.
When he finally managed to stop explaining, he grabbed the small plastic bag off the table from next to the food as she watched in anticipation. He handed it over to her and she gave him one last glance before her attention turned to his gift.
She tore the bag opened, discarding at her side, and a wide smile formed on her lips as she saw what was inside. It was a little souvenir snow globe of Chicago and it was perfect. She wasn't sure what she had done to deserve a gift, but she was touched that at least someone seemed to be alright with her sticking around.
"Anyways, I should probably go wake Miles up," he told her awkwardly. "He doesn't like it when his coffee gets cold."
Bass grabbed one coffee for him and one for Miles, leaving the one he'd put a generous amount of sugar in behind for Charlie, then headed for the hall.
He stepped into Miles' room and flicked the light on, causing the other man to let out a loud groan as he rolled onto his back and pulled a pillow over his face. Sadly, this was one of the friendlier greetings he'd gotten as Miles' personal alarm clock over the years.
"You pissy because Charlie's still on your couch?" He asked. "Or because Nora went on a date last night?" He'd shown up at the bar late last night and Charlie had filled him in all about how Nora had left all dolled up for a date and how Miles had clearly been jealous. The bartender had interjected at that point to deny it, but Bass was sure he knew the truth. "Or is this just your regular 'I'm going to thank Bass for bringing me breakfast and caffeine every morning by completely ignoring his presence' level of pissy?"
The pillow moved from face to chest, then Miles sat up a little and responded, "I don't care if Nora had a date. She can date whoever she wants. And I'd rather have Charlie on my couch than following me around like every damn night is bring your kid to work day."
"So, I'll take that as an all of the above then," Bass commented with a low chuckle. He walked over to the bed and stretched out the arm that held the coffee he hadn't already drank from. "Get up."
If Miles noticed the snow globe sitting next to Charlie on the couch, then he didn't let it show or say anything. Instead, he fell heavily into the armchair and waited for Bass to hand him his breakfast.
"Good morning, Miles," his daughter greeted him in a chipper tone.
"No such thing," he grumbled out, then took a long swig from his coffee cup.
When the room still remained silent, Charlie decided to distract herself as she took a small sip from her own cup. Either she was imagining it or coffee was starting to taste not quite as bad. In fact, she thought she even might finish this cup and not have to wait for the perfect moment to dump the rest down the sink without anyone finding out.
Charlie apparently had somewhere to go, since she ate her meal faster than usual and kept her chatter to a minimum. Well, a minimum for her at least.
When she came back minutes after finishing her breakfast, fully dressed and ready for the day, Miles declined the opportunity to ask where she was scurrying off to. It didn't really matter and he didn't want to invite her to start an unwanted lengthy explanation. As long as he was going to get her out of his hair, even for a few hours, he was happy.
She closed the door behind her and Miles frowned as he looked over at his couch. It was clear that Charlie was not going to figure out where the blankets were for herself. Still, she'd been there for three nights and had yet to get herself a blanket and a proper pillow and she obviously wasn't planning on leaving soon, whether she had somewhere comfortable to sleep or not. So when Bass left, he finally gave in and grabbed them for her while she was out who knows where, probably at some dorky tourist site that she knew way too much about.
"What are you doing here?" Miles asked when Nora approached him at the bar that evening. "I thought you had the night off."
"I was out with Charlie," she responded. "Took her shopping and showed her around the city a bit. She's upstairs, putting her stuff away."
"Well, I guess that'd explain why she hasn't been hovering over my shoulder all day," he responded. Then almost as an afterthought he added, "That was nice. I mean, if she gets excited over hanging around in a rundown bar, then I can't imagine how she'd react to sight-seeing."
"She's not excited about the bar, you idiot," Nora pointed out. "She keeps hanging around because she wants to spend time with you. She wouldn't be sitting around here every night if she wasn't clearly trying to get to know you."
This was getting into an area with a dangerous potential for preaching and lecturing, so Miles decided to change the subject.
"You don't have to keep her occupied for me, you know," he told her.
"It's not for you," she responded. "I like her. A lot, actually. She's a sweet girl. Maybe it's a good thing she didn't grow up around you."
Miles would be annoyed if she wasn't right. The kid might be a bit much at times, but she cared. A lot. She was good and she probably was lucky that he hasn't raised her and screwed that up.
"She looks like she's in a good mood," Nora commented as Charlie came back down from the apartment she had gone up to less than five minutes earlier.
"She's always in a good mood," Miles countered.
Nora did have a point though, the kid was practically skipping as she made her way over to the bar.
"You made me a bed," she pointed out with a beaming grin.
Miles caught Nora looking surprised at him over Charlie's shoulder and figured that she wasn't going to stay impressed with him for very long.
"I did not," he insisted.
"Yes you did," Charlie responded happily. "It didn't just appear out of nowhere."
"Don't try to make a big deal out of this," Miles told her. This was why he had decided to not to tell her about putting sugar into her coffee. She made such a big deal out of such a little thing. "It's not like I built you a bed. I threw a pillow and a blanket down. It took me less than two minutes. And I figured you were too stupid to figure it out yourself, so..."
She did not seem deterred by that statement though as she pointed out, "You still went out of your way to set me up a bed. That means that you don't mind having me around as much as you like to pretend you do."
"I'm starting to mind a whole lot more now," he countered. When she still didn't simmer down a little, he turned to Nora and decided to change the subject.
"So, how'd your date go last night?" Miles asked. His voice came out nonchalant, but something in the way he was trying to look busy wiping down the counter and keeping his eyes away from Nora told Charlie that he definitely was not just making casual conversation. "He make it past the front door?"
"First of all, that is absolutely none of your business," the waitress told him. "And second, it went fine. Paul was nice."
Miles winced a little for show as he commented, "That bad, huh?"
Charlie thought she must be missing something as she questioned, "What's wrong with being nice?"
"Nothing," he responded innocently. "If you're into boring and routine. But Nora isn't into nice. That's why she dated me."
So he had finally given up on denying that they had been an item. That felt like a step in the right direction to Charlie.
"Maybe I'm looking to try something new," Nora pointed out. "I did also break up with you. Remember?"
"No, I'd totally forgotten," he deadpanned. "Tell me more. When did this happen?"
Nora rolled her eyes, but Miles wasn't nearly finished yet.
"No, I'm serious," he continued as a small smirk began to form on his lips. "I'm just trying to figure out how I could have missed it."
"Goodbye, Miles," she said with a smile Charlie thought was just a hint too friendly for someone who was pretending to be annoyed with him, as she turned and headed for the door.
A/N: Please read and review! Sorry that I haven't updated this in almost a year, but I'm trying to get my stories updated on a somewhat regular basis now. A huge thanks goes out to Hollywoodlove09, simbagirl, perfectmanhattan, driver picks the music, LemonSupreme, CJ17, TheDuskyCreeper, and the anonymous guest for being awesome and reviewing the last chapter! :)
