Hello - I had a lot of fun with this one, so hopefully you all enjoy! Thanks for all the support and feedback, I love hearing what you all think - B

Chapter 10: The Talk…

Several hours later, Bass watched as the carriage holding his daughter, and what he assumed was her guard turned boyfriend, rolled up in front of the hall. The pair sat disturbingly close and was laughing, clearly unaware he was waiting. Bass reminded himself that he preferred John to Frank, before his mouth dropped open in shock at the pair started to kiss. 'Aww, hell,' he thought that wasn't so bad, he could handle this… wait maybe not, was that tongue and his hands seemed to be moving where? "OH, HELL NO!"

The two jumped apart at the sound of the irate father waiting on the steps and Danni gave a guilty smile. "Hi Daddy…";

With a slightly sickened look John simply responded, "Sir", before jumping down from the carriage and reaching up to help Danni. After she was settled on the ground she boldly walked up to her father, as though he had seen her do nothing more shocking than reading alone in the family room; before patting his chest and kissing his cheek. Well his girl sure had style, or possibly she just knew she had her father wrapped around her little finger, though he guessed John was right there with him.

Smiling at his little girl, Bass nodded and said, "Your mother and sister are waiting in the kitchen for you – something about a pre-wedding girl's lunch."

John stood at the base of the stairs and waited until Danni had moved into the house before approaching the General. "Sir, I assure you, at no time was she in any danger and I showed her the same respect I would expect for my sisters." Bass simply nodded and waited for the young man to continue. After a few moments of uncomfortable staring, John remembered the note in his pocket, "Sir, I was instructed to give you this upon my return."

Bass took the offered paper and examined the wax seal, before cracking it open. The words on the paper simply read, 'Thanks for the business. Your man slept on the floor.' Nodding in relief at the words on the paper, "I appreciate that you kept her safe. My children are very important to me; I don't want to think about what my world would be like without them – what I would have become without Charlotte or our children. Someday – an incredibly long time from now…" Bass said with deliberate calm and a menacing look, "you will understand what it is like to love a child of your own and you will understand that protecting them, keeping them safe is your only priority."

Plucking up the courage John replied, "Currently, and for quite some time now, keeping Danni safe has been my only priority. And though it will be a while before she and I are ready to have a family of our own… I would guess that we might be ready before you are; much the same way, I suspect you and the new President Monroe were ready to have children long before General Matheson was prepared to be a grandfather."

Bass nodded, the boy clearly had more of a spine than he expected – definitely a good thing if he planned on a relationship with Danni. In response, Bass simply said, "Your parents arrived yesterday with Robert's parents; they said something about taking your sisters out to see the markets. I am sure if you walked around to the stables you could join them before they leave." With that Bass turned and walked up the stairs followed by his guards.

- Kitchen –

Danni stood and watched her mother and Claire laughing as they picked over the platters of food. Two more days and the wedding would be here, followed by Claire's departure – who knew when the next time the three of them could enjoy another of these lunches together… Moving into the room, Danni slipped her arms around her mother's back and kissed her cheek. "Too hungry to wait for me?" she asked with a laugh despite the tears in her eyes.

Claire hopped up and threw her arms around her sister, screaming "Group HUG!"

Charlotte laughed at her girls, but also found she couldn't quite disagree with Danni's tears – how had they gone from those tiny bundles to these beautiful woman.

- 19 ½ years earlier –

Charlotte sat wrapped in a blanket on the couch watching the fire burn. She had spent most of the day incredibly uncomfortable; she was thrilled the ball had been cancelled due to the impending birth of her twins, but not even the lighting of the Christmas tree at sunset had helped to improve her mood. Hitting her husband, Charlotte gripped, "Bass, my back aches and it is all your fault."

From across the room, Miles chuckled at Bass' discomfort. Nora smacked his shoulder chiding, "That is you daughter that is so uncomfortable, so show some sympathy." Then turning to her friend, "It's getting late, it has to be close to midnight; do you think it would help to go up to bed and lay down?"

Without waiting for a response Bass popped up and scooped her up, "A great idea – Santa won't deliver your gifts, if you're not in bed…"

Rolling her eyes, Charlotte responded, "Put me down before you hurt yourself! I'm huge!"

Kissing her forehead, Bass laughed and simply said, "Please, you are still light as a feather." As he turned toward the door, Bass almost dropped her a second later when Charlotte screamed in pain. Miles bolted up and steadied Bass' hold on his daughter while she screamed in pain. Thrusting her forward, Bass commanded, "You get her upstairs, if I run I can catch up to Ben." Grabbing the pendant before leaving, Bass screamed after Ben as he ran down the hallway. Miles moved into the hallway carrying, a now calmer Charlotte, and watched as his hysterical best friend begged his brother to get a neo-natal monitor operational. "You have to help her, you can't leave her in pain…"

As Miles moved toward the stairs, he listened while Ben tried to explain why he couldn't get a machine operational. A second later Miles thrust Charlotte toward a waiting guard and barked, "Get her upstairs and into bed." Then turning to the other guard, "You find Maggie, she's likely in her room, and tell her Charlotte is in labor." With that Miles turned back to his daughter, "Don't worry, I will get the gun away from your idiot husband and get him up stairs."

Charlotte found herself moving quickly up the stairs and toward her room. Maggie stood waiting at the door and Charlotte started to say something, before she stopped startled at suddenly feeling wet. Looking up at the guard she added a quick, "sorry?" before doubling over at the feel of another contraction.

Maggie barked orders at the guard, "Get her in the room and then go to my room and get the basket of towels and blankets." Maggie dropped her bag just inside the door she opened for the young man and reached up to help Charlotte stand. After the door closed she helped Charlotte strip and slip on a nightshirt, before she settled her onto the bed. "How close together are the pains?" Maggie asked as she moved to get her bag from beside the door.

Breathing like she had been instructed to do, Charlotte waited out the pain before answering, "The first really sharp one happened just a few minutes ago in the family room; we barely got up the stairs before the second one happened."

Nodding Maggie moved to sit at the foot of the bed and positioned Charlotte's legs, "Well let's take a look where we are at… Um, a, how long ago was that first pain?"

Confused Charlotte said, "Is everything ok?"

"Everything is fine," Maggie responded, "but you appear to be almost fully dilated. You can't have just had one pain a few minutes ago."

Charlotte panted as the pain returned, then said "Well no. I've had back pains all day, but I figured you said that could go on for days."

Shaking her head, Maggie corrected, "I also said you needed to tell me when it happens." Patting her leg to calm her patient, "You've been in labor most of the day, we will have to see how fast this progresses."

- Downstairs –

Miles shook his head as Bass continued to alternatively rant at Ben demanding a working neo-natal monitor and plead for drugs to make Charlotte's pain disappear. Ben seemed to be holding his own; granted he was far from effective in explaining why he could not provide either the drugs or the long defunct machine; but the rant was likely to wear Bass out a bit and depending on how long this labor took – a calmer Bass would be more helpful. Deciding Ben had this under control, Miles moved toward Bass. Slapping him on the center of his back, Miles said, "Might want to consider putting the gun down or maybe even stopping this idiotic argument and checking on Charlotte…". With that Miles moved down the hallway before calling out, "I'm gonna go find some Jack, so we can celebrate the arrival of my grandchildren. Don't forget to head up stairs before you miss everything."

Bass seemed startled by Miles' words enough to lower his gun and start to listen to Ben explain why Charlotte was going to have to handle this like everyone else. Twenty minutes later Bass had dropped his gun into the hand of a waiting Militia guard and Ben was directing him up the stairs. As they reached the top step, Bass paused at the sound of a baby's cries. Looking at Ben he asked, "Is that… I mean, that's my child – right?"

Nodding and smiling, Ben responded, "Yeah, those strong lungs belong to your little girl or boy; you probably should go in and be with Charlotte."

Wobbling as the realization struck him, Bass reached for the wall to steady himself. Bending over he breathed deeply until the woozy sensation passed and then reached for the door knob. Stepping inside he scanned the room, before his eyes landed on Charlotte in the bed and Maggie helping his second child into the world. Baby two was red and wrinkly and quieter then baby one, but perfect. Quickly moving to Charlotte's side, Bass kissed her forehead and brushed away her hair before whispering in her ear, "Hey beautiful, you did it. God you are so amazing – stronger than I could ever be, they're here – both of them are here and safe. One of them is loud like Miles…"

"Bass!" Charlotte grabbed his attention, "Girls? Boys? One of each? Hair? Eye color? Fingers? Toes? Where are they, I want to hold them!"

Bass looked at her confused, but Maggie moved toward them smiling. Handing one blanket wrapped bundle to Charlotte, she said, "This is your oldest daughter. She has a great set of lungs, wants everyone to know she is here and has 10 fingers and 10 toes; wisps of blonde hair and the same blue eyes that every baby has – though with the two of you as parents that blue is likely her actual eye color." Maggie made sure Charlotte had a solid hold on the baby before returning to the basket to grab the second baby, "and this is her twin sister and though she is quieter I would guess they are identical."

Bass settled himself onto the bed next Charlotte had took hold of his little girl. "Wow – they're perfect and beautiful! Oh, thank God! They look just like you."

Tired, Charlotte shook her head at her husband's goofy smile. "We need to name them. Are we still going with your sisters' names?"

Looking down at the girl in his arms, Bass beamed at the quiet baby that seemed to study her father, "This one's a thinker. My sister Claire was a thinker, sweet and quiet." Then leaning over to look at the baby in his wife's arms, Bass whispered, "You my bossy little talker should be named after your uncle Danny."

Charlotte laughed, but nodded, "I like that idea… Danielle and Claire – those sound like perfect names."

- Present Day –

Charlotte wiped the tear on her daughter's cheek, "Take a seat sweetie, we are going to have a talk."

The sisters looked at each other both confused and curious. "Ok Mom, what are we talking about?" asked Claire.

Pausing at the question, Charlotte considered what prompted this lunch conversation. Delaying the start, she reached for a sandwich off the platter and nibbled on it for a few moments before speaking. Finally, Charlotte looked at her girls and began, "You, Claire are days away from getting married; and Danni you seem to have found yourself a special young man as well. The two of you and I have something in common – you see my father made sure that I was… protected, yeah let's say protected, from ever being alone with a boy. In fairness, I never wanted to date anyone other than your father, so I didn't argue with my father about the lack of dates."

Interrupting Danni said, "Mom, do you have a point?"

Cupping her daughter's chin, Charlotte launched back into her speech, "Yes, I have a point. I think we need to have a real conversation about sex." Ignoring their groans, she continued, "I didn't have anyone to ask questions about what it would be like to have sex for the first time, what I was supposed to do, what it would feel like and how I could make it good for my husband…"

Dropping her head to the table Claire shuddered before whining, "Please, we are begging you! You have got to stop! We don't want to talk about you and dad having sex!"

Shaking her head, "Yes, I get that, but once you get past the idea that I am your mother; I have to believe it would be easier to just ask any questions you have instead of not knowing what to expect."

Danni asked, "Well if you didn't have anyone to talk to what did you do?"

Thankful that Danni was open to the conversation, "Well, your grandma Nora had lost hope that your grandfather would notice her so she had decided to have sex with a boy she was dating that was a Militia solider. When I told her I was nervous – that I didn't know what to expect or do, she told me about her experience. She told me the first time was painful, but that after that it wasn't so bad. She said I really would just have to lay there and let the boy do what he wanted." Charlotte paused to see the look of horror on their faces.

Finally Claire questioned, "But if that was all there was to sex then why would you choose to have sex with dad so often? I mean, let's be honest – we've all been traumatized by walking in on you."

Nodding, Charlotte responded, "That's not what sex is; at least it has never been my experience. Your father loves me, and it did hurt a bit the first time, but he always made sure I enjoyed our time as a couple. The best advice I can give you is trust your husband. And, yes – you need to wait until you are married to John. Talk to him, tell him what your fears are; what feels good, what you want to try or what you don't understand – if you are ready to be married and you trust a man enough to marry him, then you better talk to him. You need to figure out together what works for both of you; what you find fun, what feels amazing." Charlotte paused to see that both girls were listening; for two that seemed so reluctant to have this conversation they seemed to be paying attention now. "You need to know that the only full proof way to ensure that you don't get pregnant is to not have sex. But, for a married couple – a couple that loves each other and wants to feel that love, you need to know that there are ways to reduce your risk of getting pregnant before you are ready…"

- Upstairs in the family room –

Miles poured another drink before handing a glass to Bass, "So I am guessing, since you haven't changed the wedding to a double ceremony and John is not dead that nothing happened."

"No, the boy seems to respect my little girl enough to wait." Bass responded before taking a swallow of the Jack.

"Or…" Miles started, "John actually learned my personal motto – keep the stupid to a minimum, and I am guessing that he figured waiting was less painful than dying."

A few minutes passed before Bass spoke again, "Charlotte is in the kitchen explaining sex to Danni and Claire. I'm not ready for this!"

Quaking with laughter, Miles asked, "Do you remember when my brilliant little girl almost called off the wedding after she had the sex talk?"

"What I remember, you moron; is that your wife used scare tactics and bad information to send poor Charlotte into a panic."

Miles tossed a pillow at Bass before responding, "Hey, she wasn't my wife at the time, so I am not responsible for any misinformation she gave."

Rolling his eyes, Bass responded, "Yeah, but your refusal to actually help, meant we had to 'ask' Jeremy to find a woman in the Militia that could sit and talk with her."

Polishing off the drink in his hand, Miles shrugged before saying, "So, that's how Jeremy met Duncan. Now they are happily married with an adorable son."

Shaking with laugher, Bass stood and cuffed Miles on the shoulder before moving to refill both their drinks, "Sure, hey did I mention that same 'adorable' son told your little Sophia he was done doing her bidding until she was naked?"

Groaning, Miles muttered, "Yes you ass, you have mentioned it several times. I'm not worried; Sophia knows how to handle that boy."