Word count; 2578 (ex notes)

Notes at the bottom

If you're all like me you'll begin showing Revolution withdrawels tonight since there isn't a new ep this week. So since my muses were kind I decided to update tonight aswell, to soften the blow. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 10:

"You know, I'm glad that arrow missed you in New Vegas." Her voice was soft and pensive. The words registered and he felt her tense against him. He could feel a laugh starting in his chest and before he knew it it had bubbled to the surface and he was wiping the tears of laughter from his face. Turning on his side he looked into those amazingly blue eyes of her and caressed her cheek. "So am I, Charlotte. So am I." He slung his other arm around her slender waist and pulled her against his chest, face buried in her silky hair breathing in her scent.

"I guess this explains why our little adventure in New Vegas was a one time thing, now doesn't it." Bass shot up at his son's voice, tense and annoyed, he covered Charlie with his body as well as he could. "Connor?"

"Yeah, and you should be damn glad it's me and not that Neville guy. Or even better, Rachel or Miles, how'd you think that would go over 'dad' huh?" Behind him Charlie was scrambling for her clothing and hurriedly put them back on. Damn his son for interrupting and ruining their after-glow. He checked to see if Charlie was covered before getting up himself to find his clothes. His shirt was to his left and a little to his right were his pants and boots. Without giving Connor the time of day he slipped them on and checked if Charlie was okay. She seemed a bit embarrassed but she wasn't hauling ass back to camp so he figured that was a good sign.

"What did you need, Connor?" He couldn't keep the agitation from his voice "Is there any reason you're disturbing us or did you just figure this would be good timing?" Brown eyes narrowed at him "Can't find Neville anywhere, was actually looking for him when I stumbled across this little scene." Bass sighed and nodded "I'll be there shortly." He rolled his eyes when Connor didn't get the hint and just kept standing there. "Connor, I'll meet you back in the camp. Go." The impatience and annoyance in his voice finally getting through to the younger man Connor turned on his heals and started making his way back to camp.

Bass turned around to look at Charlie, she was fidgeting with her hands and her feet were shuffling across the mossy ground. A feeling of dread gripped his chest and he feared that she was regretting what they'd just done. That maybe she went back to hating him once more now the sexual tension was broken. He reached out to her and cupped her soft cheek, still red from blushing. He smiled, it was a beautiful sight to behold, her messy hair, her swollen lips bruised from his kisses "Charlotte?" He spoke her name to get her attention. Blue eyes shot up to his and she smiled hesitantly. "Charlotte, are you okay?" He prayed to god she was and he prayed to god that she didn't regret everything they just did because he sure wasn't.

She didn't answer his question and just continued putting on her clothes. Her movements jerky and hastend. Fuck, she was regretting it. He knew it, knew it by the set of her mouth, by the fact she kept her back to him and was ignoring him completely. "Charlotte!" His voice louder now, a bit agitated. It had been her after all who dragged him into the woods for a kiss. She was the one who started their impromptu little sex session.

"I'm fine, Bass." Oh, yeah. Bass could hear she was perfectly fine due to the iciness of her tone and her eyes who did everything to avoid his. Way to go, Bass. Way to let your dick do the thinking again. Maybe he should just swear off all women, it never seemed to turn out right for him anyway. Emma, Shelly, Duncan and now Charlie. "We should head back to camp, see what your old buddy Jason is cooking up." Fine, if she didn't want to talk to him, fine. But he wasn't going to stand there like some chump waiting for her to throw him a bone or show him the least bit of recognition or affection after what had just happened. And he wasn't going to apologize for fucking her either, she initiated it, she knew what was going to happen and if she hadn't wanted it there had been enough time for her to tell him to stop. She hadn't so he wasn't at fault.

Connor had been right, Jason was nowhere to be seen and a quick survey of the surrounding woods told them he wasn't in the immediate vicinity either. "God damn it! Where has that little deserter-prick gone off to now?" Bass was having a hard time keeping his anger in check. "That little ass really doesn't know what to do with himself, does he? Militia turned rebel turned patriot turned rebel again and now what?" He paced by the fire, fuming and ranting. "What the hell was Miles thinking agreeing to Tom and his brat being here, I'm not going into battle with someone I can't even trust is on the same damn side as me."

Fuck it all to hell. He was so sick and tired of this shit and for a scant moment he wished he was General of his army again, at least they'd done as they were told... most of them anyway.

Charlie's men were sitting spread out over camp, Connor was sitting next to Charlie and they were all watching him pacing around, ranting like a mad man and he sighed. "Stay here, I'm gonna go over to Miles. I need to know what to do about Neville JR."He looked over at Charlie "How angry would you be if I'd hunt him down and put a bullet in his head?" The words were out of his mouth before he remembered that she was refusing to talk to him. She chuckled stiffly, obviously not realizing that he was being completely serious. He fixed her with a stare. "You can't just go around killing people, Bass." Charlie Matheson, ladies and gentlemen, the voice of reason. Sometimes he really despised reason.

"Fine. I won't hunt him down and kill him... yet. But I am going to talk to Miles. Where the hell do you think you're going?" He glared at her as she got up and reached for her pack. "With you, where else? I want to know what's going on" He laughed harshly "Like hell you are! Jason is gone, god knows where. For all we know he's running back to his little patriot-bitch friends and giving away our position. You stay here where there are five man to watch your back!" They might not be the best of friends right now but he'd rather keep her safe... and maybe away from Miles in her current emotional state, she might just blow what had happened and then he was back to being shish-kebab.

Without further discussion he fell into a quick stride out of the camp. Like he was gonna let her come with him now. If Jason had defected once again and there were Patriot troops out there she'd have a better chance with six men looking after her than just him.

It took him about twenty minutes to get to Miles' camp, his pace had been fast and he could move better on his own. "Miles!" He called out his former best friends name as he approached the barn.

"Bass, what the hell are you doing here?" Bass quickly descended the stairs and looked around the room. He saw Rachel and Gene sitting at a make-shift table "Where is Neville?" The absence of the dark man set him on edge and his worry grew when he saw Miles and Rachel's silent communication. "Haven't seen him the past hour, Dad?" Gene looked at his daughter and shook his head "Me neither."

"Fuck!" Bass swore "Baby Neville's been MIA as well. I'll give you three guesses, Miles, as to what they're most likely doing right now" But before Miles could answer he continued "Selling us out to the fucking Patriots, Miles, that's fucking what!" A strong hand wrapped around his arm and Miles dragged him up the stairs and out of the barn, not stopping until they were on the other side of the building, where they couldn't be heard by Gene and Rachel. "Calm down, Bass."

"Easy for you to say, Miles. It's not your head they want on a platter!"

"Then why don't you just leave, Bass." The question was slung in his direction, brown eyes watching him intently. "You have your son. You said that he was all you wanted, you didn't care about the Patriots or Willoughby, remember. So go."

"That what you want Miles, huh. You want me to leave, and then... Gonna win the war with Staypuft, grandpa and Combat Barbie in there." Nodding towards the barn, indicating Rachel. "You really think you stand even the slightest chance without my help. You need me, Miles. If only to do the things you're to chicken to do anymore."

"And what's in it for you, Bass. Why stay all of a sudden. You have your son, why are you still fighting with us, what are you fighting for?" Miles brown eyes watched him closely and then widened "You want the republic back" His eyes widening further at Bass' silence "Oh my god, you actually want the republic back. Are you out of your goddamn mind, Bass?"

"At least I know what I'm fighting for!" He couldn't even believe he wasn't denying it but he'd been thinking about things the last few days. "It's not... I don't want what I used to have, I don't want the 'Monroe' republic back, but yeah... some form of it, different. People will still need laws, some form of leadership, Miles, you can't deny that. Or do you want it to go back to the way it was six months after the black-out? I don't need to be at the head of it, Hell I'd prefer it if I wasn't."

Miles fumed at him "Different?! What the hell makes you believe you can do it different? The last time was a disaster, you were out of control. You were a maniacal, paranoid bastard who made the lives of thousands of people miserable! I can't believe you're even thinking of doing it again!" Bass watched as Miles kicked against the side of the barn in frustration "Did you forget that the fact that you went completely insane was the reason we kept your son from you, because we feared you'd destroy him."

"Destroy him?" Bass got right up in Miles face "Destroy him? Miles, we found him in a two-horse whore town leading a bunch of wannabe gangsters for some Don Corleone rip-off Mafia moron! I'd say it wasn't ME who destroyed him!" He was screaming now "You keep telling me how I was so off the rails that you felt you needed to protect him from me. Remember what had me so off the rails, Miles?! Huh? You remember?" Silence fell for a split second. "My parents, dead. My little sisters, dead. Shelly and our baby.." He choked up for a moment and couldn't finish his sentence.

"You think, maybe for a second, he could have been my salvation instead of me being his downfall? What I wanted more than anything at that time Miles, was a family. I needed a family and you took that from me. You took my son from me! What if you had gotten him to me. What if I'd seen Emma and Connor and it had stopped me from spiraling down. Did you ever think of that!?" He was screaming again. "No! Because Miles knows best! Because Miles is always right. I just wanted a family, Miles. I lost everything over the years and in the end the only family I had... was you and you took that away from me too."

"What, you're trying to tell me you'd been a saint instead of a monster? You were off the rails, Bass. You were killing people that didn't need to be killed. You were beginning to deal out punishments that didn't fit the crimes that had been made and I just couldn't stand by and watch you do it."

"Then why didn't you open your mouth? Why did I have to find out that you disagreed with everything I had been doing with a gun being aimed at my head in the middle of the night." Bass' voice was soft now, hurt and breaking up. "Why didn't you just tell me when I did something wrong the first time? Why did you let me go down that road? You were my brother, Miles. Brothers are supposed to watch out for one another. Why didn't you stop me before it was too late?" The last words were nothing more than a whisper. Bass ran a hand through his hair and across his face. He hadn't even noticed he'd started crying and he wiped the tears from his face, disgusted with himself for showing Miles exactly how much his self-proclaimed brother had hurt him.

"Because by the time I realized that it was going to far for me it was too late."

"So you split?" Bass was angry, so incredibly angry. He'd never gotten the chance to air our his angry feelings towards Miles and now he'd started he couldn't stop. "You decided that what we were doing was wrong and instead of telling me that we were, that I was, going to far you decided to put a gun against my head? What the hell is wrong with you? What, you figured only you were capable of remorse, that only you could be saved if you got out at that point, that maybe you could get your Saint Miles status back by wiping Dictator Monroe off the face of the planet." His breathing was labored his heart beat erratic. "So you disappeared because you couldn't pull the trigger and left me to myself. I did that for YOU! I went along with that stupid republic because you said people needed structure. Everything I ever did was because you asked me to! The republic, the militia! All because you wanted it and it didn't go the way you wanted so you split and people wondered why I became so paranoid."

"You're a son of a bitch, Miles. A back-stabbing son of a bitch and I think you were right in what you told me when you came for Danny and Rachel... We are not family. You were a lucky son of a bitch though. You got out and you weren't the face of the republic. Your actions have been JUST as horrible as mine, just as violent but you, you everyone just forgives. Everyone seems to have forgotten all the horrible things you did when you were 'The Butcher of Baltimore' but me? I was the face of the republic, whether I liked it or not I got stuck with everything, not just my own actions, but yours as well."

"I'm sorry, Bass."

"Yeah, I know. For not pulling the trigger the first time. Trust me, I haven't forgotten that little fact."

"Sorry... for leaving you behind."

Author's notes.

I know, I know... totally unlike Bass in the show but I decided that after the last two episodes that I was going to veer away from the TV version of Bass. They're starting to make him more like season one Bass and I prefer first half of season 2 Bass so that's what I'm gonna go with.

So, the last bit is completely me and my feelings about the who Bass/Miles situation. I feel like the show hasn't even scratched the surface of what happened between Miles and Bass and Bass' little outburst here are really my questions to the show. What if Bass had gotten to know his infant son? Why didn't Miles protest before about how Bass was acting? Also, in the very early flashbacks you clearly see that it's Miles who wants order, it's Miles who kills those two guys beating up Jeremy. It's Miles who puts the idea of raiding another camp into Bass' mind. Granted, Bass takes it to far but his wife and child had just died so he can plead temporary insanity. Anyway, that's where that bit of the story came from.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :D Thank you for the reviews, they are my crack cocaine and I live off of them :D

Love, Marisa