A few more weeks had passed since the night Miles had vowed to make things better between Bass and Charlie...it had just been a slow process...an extremely slow process...

Hell, this was one of the most difficult things for Miles to reconcile in his own mind. He had spent so many years hating Bass and becoming so disillusioned with the person he had become...suddenly realizing that Bass and Charlie meant more to one another than sparring partners was not an easy concept for him to digest...and for him to be the one to spearhead the "Bass and Charlie Reunion" is an approach for which he had to be very careful, for their sake and his own, because frankly, Rachel would kill him. He knew that supporting this relationship could quite positively ruin his own with Rachel...so he realized that he would have to be very methodical in his approach to push them together, without making his involvement obvious...again, not an easy process -

Bass and Charlie had continued to work together in battle for their common cause, remaining "professional" with one another but that was the extent of their interaction. Another newer camp member, Tyler, had begun to practice with Charlie during their training and that's when Miles got a few ideas...

"You're not doing it right," Tyler said, putting Charlie in another lock during their sparring session while Miles stood from the sidelines watching.

"How am I not doing this right, this is exactly what you showed me," Charlie said. She had enjoyed working with Tyler. He was a bit older than she and had more experience in battle. The two had talked and agreed to train when she and Bass had basically cut off most interaction. While Charlie didn't see Tyler in any way sexually, she did enjoy training with him, even when he would push her to the brink - which was actually quite valuable in training as that could be the difference between life and death on the battlefield.

Bass approached Miles while he watched the two train.

"I see that Charlie has found a new training partner," Bass observed aloud, trying to keep any emotion from his statement.

Miles glanced to the side, trying to gauge Bass' reaction. "Yeah - I have to say Tyler is pretty good. He's been able to work with her and show her some techniques."

"Huh," was all that Bass said. Miles shook his head and worked to maintain no emotion himself. These two are pathetic, he thought.

"See, you're doing it again!" Tyler shouted when Charlie missed.

"Damnit - that's because I am doing you told me- which clearly doesn't work!" Charlie shouted back.

"Some partnership...screaming at each other," Bass smirked.

Miles couldn't hide his own smirk, "Yeah, I know right. She keeps telling him that he's arrogant and he says she is stubborn."

"She is stubborn," Bass said through gritted teeth.

"Well isn't that the "pot calling the kettle black..." In fact, I realized, while listening to the two of them just now...They sound the way you and Charlie did-back when you were training together...a lot of tension."

Bass only looked at Miles, his mouth forming a firm line that showed he clearly wasn't amused with the observation.

"Yeah, you can see how well that turned out," Bass said.

"Well who knows - maybe it will end up better for them," Miles said.

At that, Bass just stalked away without another word, leaving Miles smiling to himself.

Step One complete!