Set in episode eight. And this one shot, just like the others in this series, is an answer to the question of what would it be like if something more happened between Charlie and Bass in this point of the story you know from the episodes in season two?

Meeting her, meeting him.

As the bullets are flying through the dark forest around her she hears her own breathing inside her own ears.

Miles is not that far. He is like a shadow just behind her. Her mom is not that far behind her She runs, avoiding roots of trees under her boots. The shadows of the trees flying over her face. She hears the guns going off. Too close. The sound of bullets are crashing in the air because Truman and his men have found them. Her grandpa is buying them more time as she had sneaked out through the back door with her mom and Miles.

She runs. She does not stop running but she does feel it. The sharp but yet dull sting in her side. She feels numb and then she feels even more filled with adrenaline. She runs, she tells herself to keep on going. The sounds of the bullets are moving back in the distance as Charlie moves deeper in the forest. Her own breathing echoing around her ears. But her mom is not there anymore. Miles, her shadow, right behind her is not there anymore. The pain in her side is.

But she cannot stop, because she does not know anything else but to survive. So she keeps on running. Until the forest is quiet. Until she has to stop. It is then when she hears it, the sound of a boot on a twig. Another wave of adrenaline meets her inside her veins.

She turns, aims her weapon and right before she is about to pull the trigger two things happen at once. She sees him, Monroe. And then she cannot stand on her feet anymore and she almost goes through her knees.

He is with her in a heartbeat. His strong hands grabbing her, one hand on her back, the other under her armpit holding her up. He moves her towards the ground, never letting go of her.

Bass is breathing fast, he has been roaming this fucking forest for any sign of Miles after those kaki's have found Aaron and his bambi girlfriend. And he was done. They would not kill Aaron on the spot, but him however...he could not afford to get himself killed, not when his son was out there and he needed to get to him. Miles had hid the kid long enough. He was fucking done.

He was on the north side of the forest when he had heard the sound of guns going off in the distance and her stumbling through the forest, fucking alone, instead. Something in the way she moved before she was about to drop down through her knees made every single alarm bell in his mind go off.

She is hurt. The thought claws into his heart. The wide terror of that idea filling his heart and veins fast. Bass sees her reach her for her side. He crouches down before her, removing any distance between them.

'Charlie...hey...what happened? Where is Miles?' His first instinct is to make sure she keeps talking to him. His voice raw because of days on the bed an being drugged out of his damn mind.

Charlie looks from him back to the wound and then back to him. She can and cannot believe he is here at the same time. The asshole always is. But that is not the worse of her problems right now.

She moves her trembling adrenaline filled fingers towards her tank as she lets her weapon fall on the ground next to her. She lifts her tank as Monroe is sitting right in front of her. His knees so close to her thighs. She moans a small whisper of pain when she has to left her tank up. The bullet only grazed her side but there is blood and there is pain.

She moves her head back against the three behind her. And it is not the pain of the bullet wound in her side, but the pain of betrayal that makes her drive through her knees again even when she is sitting on forest moss against a tree with Monroe crouched down so close in front of her. It is not the pain in her side and her blood against her fingers that makes her want to tell everyone to go to hell and feel so god damn alone at the same time.

It is the pain of her grandfather betraying them all. It is the raw pain and salty raw tears in her eyes of seeing her grandpa stand next to Truman, hearing how he accused Aaron and Miles of the bombing.

It is the pain of having to see her mother again, hate filled and cool and only listening to what she thinks is right, ready to kill her grandpa for another round of what she wants. Which was dropping that poisonous bomb of chemicals into the shaft of that patriot basement to wipe out Horn and her grandpa in one sweet. And god, doesn't Charlie feel the betrayal of her grandpa. But watching her mom move into ice hate mode again right in front of her eyes after everything that is behind her, took its toll today. Only adding more to her mother floating between imploding into self destruction and self hate and seeing that hate at work when she wants someone dead.

The disappointment. The hate. All that hate, all those people, people who are her family, bringing her through her knees.

The betrayal of the people that are her family. Not being sure how much she could take. It all mixes with the copper pain of the wound inside her chest. Large wide hands with roughened skin on the fingertips around her face are bringing her back to the forest.

His hands.

'Hey Charlie, stay with me all right?' Bass keeps on talking to her, seeing something of defeat in her eyes he fucking hates seeing inside of them. She looks so damn lost and that says a lot about the woman that tried to kill him minutes after waking up from a drug coma those assholes in that bar had put her in.

He cups her face and holds her. His fingertips rubbing her cheeks to bring her back to him.

'Let me take a look huh?' His fingers almost tremble too and he tells himself to get a fucking grip.

Charlie just looks at him, sitting in front of her under a tree. His skin is laced in sweat that reflects the moonlight. His eyes are wide but not filled with his usual ego. She takes in the scent of his sweat, a strange familiar scent that she knows now, after weeks with him on the road. It is strong, low and mixing with the scent of the night around her.

It is the first time she sees him after she had found out he was alive, after she had smiled, really smiled, and god this she forget what that was like, when Monroe went al buddy buddy with her uncle. Embarrassing Miles along the way with the best friend speech he got from his best friend. The whole damn thing had been too cute.

And now he is here. And he is Monroe again. Or what she thinks is Monroe. He is different. With her he is. And he is here. Alive. With her. She looks at him, at this tall wide strong force of a man that is Monroe is front of her.

Bass checks the wound as his fingers touch the skin of her side. She sucks in a breath when he touches her and he apologizes to her with his eyes. His jaws locking when she whimpers from the pain. She sees it, she does not miss it.

Bass feels her own pain move right through him like a damn bullet on its own. He works as fast as he can, as gentle as he can, not to hurt her even more. She does however not move away from him. She is so damn close, her skin smooth under his fingers and her mouth close enough to touch with his. He forces all those thoughts out and focuses on the wound again. It is not deep and he rips a piece of the sleeve of his shit from his arm.

He takes care of the wound, and her, dammit, her, the best way he can. Her eyes slowly move more into her normal focussed self and he feels a sigh of the worse relief moving away from his chest.

Charlie feels how the first numb shock moves away and she is focussing again on getting up as fast as she can to find Miles so they can free Aaron. Her mind already searching for her gun again. But she cannot help but feel the care in Monroe's fingers. He is gentle, so gentle she forgets to look away when she sees his fingers moving over her skin. His fingers that move back the fabric of her tank over her belly. And she remembers, how it was with just them on the road.

Charlie waits till he locks eyes with her again. 'I have to go back...Horn, they...they have Aaron.'

Bass nods, understanding. Remembering and seeing Aaron standing right behind Charlie the night adorable Texas decided to execute him. He knows what that guy means to her. He wants to talk the whole damn idea out of her mind, his instincts screaming she is walking straight into hell again. But he knows her. Her loyal heart. And he, he needs his kid. So he needs to go where Miles is now. He will go where she goes. He has waited long enough.

'Can you get up?' Bass asks, looking at her and locking eyes with her. He can feel her breathe against his scruff.

'Yeah...I think so.' She nods, pushing herself up from her place on the ground with one hand covering her wound. Monroe's hand is placed for support under her shoulder blades and the other wrapped around her upper arm with firm gentleness to help her.

Bass watches her, watches how she is moving too fast. 'Hey, take it easy.' His words are rolling of his lips with a low raw warmth.

It is the way he sounds, just like the way he spoke to her near that fire that makes her tilt her head and look straight at him. Low, raw honest care radiating from his words. She forgets to move until she remembers herself to keep on going.

Bass helps her find her balance and hands her weapon. He moves one arm around her middle to steady her. The other hand is wrapped around his gun. His eyes scanning the forest. Ready to move when anyone gets between him and Charlie. Ready when anyone tries to attack them. Her.

'Come on..' He nods to her as she is testing her legs. He helps her walk and she lets him. They move slow but move feet by feet towards the town walls until Charlie finds more of her strength and he feels her picking up the pace. Until she stands still and he can see something happening in her eyes and mind.

'Stop.' Her voice is aching but her strength is moving through the pain.

Bass looks at her, his hand still steady on her hip. He makes sure both of them keep going.

'Monroe..stop.' She tries again, her face forming into a grimace when she speaks and feels the wound in her side again.

'Charlie..dammit..come on.' Bass curses, her hair so close his breathe reach the little hairs from the skin of her neck close and under it. He is not going to get stuck inside another stubborn Matheson discussion. She needs help. Now. He needs Miles. Now. He wants her out of this forest and the shadows of the forest where kaki could hide to attack them.

Charlie watches the firm line of his lips, the annoyance in his jaw lock. She tries to look for his eyes. She finally looks up. And he finally gets what she is trying to say. 'You can't get into town. You can't get any closer than this. They will kill you.'

He is about to say something snarky, fast. But then Bass looks into her eyes, into the calm shore there in her eyes. And he does not only know it was her that saved his ass, he also knows she cares. Dammit, she does. He swallows.

Charlie watches him. As he finally gets something she cannot put into words more than she is doing know.

'I did not go through all that trouble to save your ass to have to watch you getting killed all over again.' She nods to the town in front of her when a small ghost of a smile moves around her lips, all Matheson, all her. Her eyes serious, her voice close to Matheson sarcasm. But the smile, the care, the fighting tone in her words trump the sarcasm.

He locks eyes with her. He follows her eyes then to the wound in her side. He has to swallow at so much of her care.

'Look, it is barely bleeding. I can do this.' She leans a bit into him and she almost lets her heart make the mistake of putting her hand on his chest.

Bass feels her weight closer to his side, pressing against his chest and fuck, does he like her there. He has no fucking clue what is happening here but he cannot hold back. He almost moves his hand towards the line of her jaw. His fingers needing to brush it, to hold her. To feel her.

Charlie feels the shift in him and takes a step back. Her heart beating wild and not ready for what was happening. No doubt in her mind that they were too close. Or maybe there weren't.

Her right hand is wrapped again on her weapon, the other on the wound, adding more pressure. She finds herself feeling the void of his body not by her side anymore. She starts walking, back to Miles, back to the hell waiting there. For him, For Aaron. They need to get Aaron. After everything he has done for him, she will not let him die there alone. He is her family, the one that is never not loyal to her, the one that always tries to see where she is coming from. Loving her and supporting her no matter what.

'Charlie?' His words are holding a low plea that make her turn around and look at him. She nods shortly. Waits for him to talk. Remembering the scent of him, of his fingers against her skin, of his arm around her.

Monroe looks unsure, too open, too raw. It grabs her attention and does not let go anymore.

'I need to talk to Miles.' His words are agonizing when they come out, having a hard fucking time admitting this to her. Bass swallows again, the words coming out taking everything he has to share this with her. The closest thing to looking straight into his heart that she would get. He needs to find Connor, he has wasted enough time. He wants, needs, craves his kid. 'It's uh...' he feels a heavy breathe inside his chest, 'it's important.'

Her eyes are thoughtful, lacking hate or loathing or mocking. It makes this easier and so much harder for him at the same time. He cannot let her go with his eyes. And she just nods, concern in her eyes. He needs to know, he needs to get to Connor.

He needs something else too. He realizes is the moment she starts to walk again after she is finally able to look away from him and turn around to start the walk back to town.

His voice is rolling lowly through the trees until it reaches her and her chest.

'Hey... take care of yourself, all right?' Bass swallows, his voice raw and so low. It's the way her eyes match the lush of her lips that draw his eyes to her face.

He does not miss how she looks at him. Charlie does not miss her heart beat with someone out here that sees her, that gives a shit about her, that is here, caring. For her.

They lock eyes and when she has disappeared into the line of trees before him he looks at her. 'Take care of her brother.' His' voice his soft when he mutters it to the town. before him.


Author's Note Thank you so much for reading, I will update this story again soon!Love from Love