When they hear the knock at the door, followed by Reggie's voice announcing himself; Bass is helping her zip her dress back up. Her cheeks are flushed and her lips are slightly swollen, but she looks amazing and Bass marvels at how much he loves her.

When Charlie looks up at Bass, he sees in her expression that she feels the same way. Every time he's reminded of her love, he struggles inwardly. He knows he doesn't deserve her. He never will.

"Come in Reggie." Charlie calls without breaking eye contact with Bass. They share a quiet moment and a tender smile.

"Well," Reggie comments with a smile, "Looks like I waited just long enough. We do have to get going Charlie."

Charlie nods and turns to Bass, "You'll be around somewhere, right?"

"Yes. Somewhere in the background. I'll have my eye on you."

"So will I, Charlie. You'll be safe."

"I know. I just want to make sure he is." She puts her arms around Bass and he returns her embrace. When they break apart,

Bass walks over to a small table by the door and retrieves the mask from where he laid it earlier. "This is for you from Allison." He says to her with a smile, handing it to Charlie.

"So you must have talked to my Mom." Reggie says.

Bass nods. "Yeah, we spoke for a few minutes and then she brought me to Charlie."

Charlie takes the mask from his outstretched hand. It is ornate and beautiful and matches her dress perfectly. She has a hard time focusing on it though, her mind filled with thoughts of Bass and Allison. Jealousy twists through her belly. Bass picks up on her emotion, and places a hand on her arm. "Like I said before, she's not part of my future. You are."

Charlie looks at him and smiles. "I know. Sorry."

"Don't ever be sorry. Just know that you are my world."

"We really have to go Charlie. We're expected."

"Okay. Let's go." She looks up at Bass once more, "I'll see you later."

"Yes you will."

Charlie takes Reggie's arm and they leave her chambers. Bass waits a few minutes and then exits as well. He'll see them in the ballroom later.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Charlie and Reggie walk down a long corridor. It is quiet. He leans close and says, "You are very beautiful tonight Ms. Mary Benjamin."

She laughs and says, "You clean up pretty well yourself."

"This is true." He agrees with a chuckle. "Ready for your debut into California society?"

"God no."

"That's the spirit," he says with a laugh as large doors are opened by two uniformed guards.

Beyond the doors is a sight that Charlie would never even have imagined. An enormous ballroom spreads before them. It is at least three stories tall, with crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. On each are hundreds of flickering candles. The walls are adorned with wall sconces that also hold candles. The result is a soft glow that permeates every corner of the enormous space. The floor is polished marble. The walls are painted a soft grey. The huge room is already filled with men and women in formal finery. Charlie has never felt more out of place.

A man nods at them and then announces in a booming voice, "Mr Reginald Affleck and Ms. Mary Benjamin!" Their introduction is met with curious stares and a smattering of applause. Carefully they descend into the ballroom.

Somewhere a piano is playing, and Reggie asks, "Shall we dance?"

Charlie nods and smiles, hoping that her childhood dance classes will pay off all these years later. Her first few steps are tentative, but soon she is following Reggie's lead with ease. They are moving easily around the dance floor. Charlie's dress shimmers under the candlelight and she's grinning at Reggie. Occasionally he will lean close and whisper something in her ear. She laughs. Anyone watching will assume they are madly in love. As they move, Charlie is sure she sees Bass a couple of times, but in the sea of masked men and women it is hard to be sure.

They are well into their second song when a man approaches. He is immediately recognizable to Charlie from the posters and banners they'd noticed on their way into Sacramento, even with the gaudy peacock mask he's wearing. President Affleck is an attractive man with dark hair and a ready smile. He taps Reggie's shoulder. "May I cut in?" he asks.

Charlie tenses, and she can tell Reggie wants to say no, but they both know that's not an option. Reggies steps back, and introduces Charlie to his step father, "This is Mary."

"It's nice to meet you Mary." Says President Affleck quietly. He steers her back into motion. He's a very good dancer and soon she is being twirled and whirled around the dance floor. He leans in close, moving his hands up her back. "You are very beautiful. Not at all the type of girl Reggie usually brings home." He shifts a little, pulling her closer still and she fights the urge to yank away from him. He keeps looking down her dress and into her cleavage and its making her stomach crawl. "You are certainly more woman that my dear Reggie can handle." He smirks down at her.

"Reggie and I are very happy."

"Of course you are," he says, once again eyeballing her cleavage.

Later she will wonder if it is his roving eye or the rapid dance moves that most distracts her, but whatever it is; she realizes much too late just how far across the room they've traveled.

"I should really get back to Reggie."

"But Ms. Benjamin, we are only getting started."

"Started with what?" Charlie asks nervously.

"Tonight's excitement of course. You like excitement don't you Ms. Benjamin? Or should I call you Charlotte?" She freezes for just a moment. He continues, "Charlotte Matheson if I'm right, and I usually am." His smile is now cold and threatening. Charlie feels a flash of fear. He's holding her tightly so she can't reach for her dagger.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Charlie tries to keep her voices steady.

"Oh but you do. I knew something was up when I was told Reggie had a girl. You and I both know that you are not his type." He laughs coldly, "Not even close."

"You have this all wrong sir. I love Reggie. I need to get back to…"

Affleck interrupts her, "Not so fast Beautiful. You're coming with me."

It is then that she feels the barrel of a gun pressed to her side, and her heart drops. This is not going to end well.

"Don't say anything. Just follow me and you'll be fine." With that, he leads her through a door into darkness.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

From two different vantage points both Bass and Reggie witness the way in which Charlie is whisked away by Affleck. They converge at the main doors. Bass is frantic. "Where will he take her?"

"Follow me." Reggie says before bolting out the door.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Charlie is quickly disoriented as she is pulled through dark hallways. Finally they push into a large bed room that is bathed in candle light. Now holding the gun to her temple, he pats her down. He enjoys removing the dagger from her thigh, his hands lingering far too long. She closes her eyes tightly, thinking about Bass. He will save her. She just has to stay strong. Affleck pushes her roughly into a chair and ties her up quickly. She pulls at her bonds but they are tight.

"So I hear Bass is in town with you. Wondering what you are to him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you are Miles, niece, right? Miles of course used to be Monroe's best friend. I hear they haven't been so close though, so I can't help but wonder who YOU are to HIM?"

"We're friends. Our families are friends." She says evasively, not bothering to correct his assumption that Miles is her uncle.

"No." he shakes his head thoughtfully. "I don't think that's it." He stares at her for a bit and then begins to pace, "You know the last time I saw Monroe was in his Republic. This was maybe five years ago. I was there on a good will trip. I was trying to build up some relationship between us. It really didn't work out so well. I went to his headquarters though, and do you know who I met while I was there? Your Mom. Got the impression the two of them were close. Is she here with you also?"

"No. My Mom is not here. Monroe held her prisoner for years. She hates him. They certainly weren't close."

"Hmmm" he says thoughtfully. "That is very interesting." He smiles at her in a way that makes her skin crawl.

Suddenly the doors burst open. Reggie and Bass come in. Affleck has the gun pressed to Charlie's temple again, and he grins at his newest guests. "Welcome." He says jovially. His eyes sparkle. The man is crazy.

Bass takes a step toward them and Affleck pulls the hammer back on his gun. "Maybe you should just stay where you are."

"Leave her out of this. Take me instead," Bass says. His eyes look desperate.

"Well, well, well. I think I've figured it out now!"

"What?" Bass asks.

"I figured out what she is to you – why she's important. You love her. Does her Mom know, because it seems to me that might be, oh you know… awkward."

"Shut up." Bass growls.

"Maybe later." Affleck says with a laugh. "Right now you need to send a message to whomever you have around here. Tell them to call off their dogs. I know you have something planned for tonight. I've decided I rather like things the way they are though. Call off your plan, and I'll let you have her back alive."

"Because you are so trustworthy?" Reggie asks, frowning. "I don't believe you'll let her go."

"Well, you don't have a choice."

"Have a choice about what?" Allison is here suddenly, having just slipped through a side door into her husband's bedroom. In her fist is a small revolver. It is pointed at Affleck's head. For the first time, the leader of the California Commonwealth looks nervous. Glancing from his wife to his stepson to Bass.

Reggie answers, "We told him to let her go. He said only if we call off the plan for tonight."

"Well that will never do." Allison says quietly, walking closer to her husband.

"That's close enough." He barks at her, but when she continues to approach he swings his gun in her direction. That's the opening Reggie needs, and in one swift movement, he pulls a small knife from his sleeve and throws it across the room, where it sinks into Affleck's temple. He falls dead to the floor.

Bass is at Charlie's side, untying her as quickly as he can. Allison is already at the door to the room, yelling for LuLu to bring some guys to help them clean up. Reggie pulls his knife from his step dad's skull and turns to Monroe, "General, if you approve I'll let the men know our plans have changed."

Bass nods. He can't stop touching Charlie, making sure she's okay. "I was so worried." He says, "Are you okay."

"I'm fine. Really. I want my dagger back, but I'm fine." He gets it and leads her out of the room. Charlie's happy that this is over, but also feels disconcerted, and can't put her finger on why. She shrugs off the feeling as best she can and lets Bass lead her back to her room which isn't' actually all that far away.

LuLu calls for water and soon Charlie's bath tub is full. She soaks and tries to relax. Thoughts and memories swirl through her head and she can't focus. Clean, she is drying off when the thing that's been nagging at her brain comes through. Wrapped in a robe that LuLu had left for her she pads out to the bedroom. Bass is sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing his suit. He looks up at her with a big smile. "Come here." He says quietly.

She shakes her head. "I have a question and I want an honest answer."

He sits up straighter, his expression suddenly guarded, "What?"

"When Affleck was keeping me, he mentioned something and I want to know the truth. Did you and my Mom ever… were you two ever… were you involved with her?" Charlie watches him carefully.

Bass stands and moves toward her, "Charlie it wasn't like that."

"So you never slept with her?" Charlie sees the flash of guilt, a shadow of regret flash across his face. He doesn't even need to say it.

"Charlie..." he starts.

"Get out." Charlie's voice is low and tired. Her eyes are cold, though they gleam under a shimmer of tears. "Get out now."

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

The next week flies by in a blur. He's been in a lot of meetings with the Confederation and with the highest ranking soldiers which Allison is giving him as her part of the bargain. Bass doesn't see Charlie at all. Reggie will only speak to him regarding official business. Bass feels alone and devastated. He is convinced there is no way things will ever work out between Charlie and him. He knows Charlie is irate that he never mentioned his past with Rachel (though in his opinion it hardly even counts as a past), but he also knows that if he'd been honest, she never would have given him a chance. He decides that he did the right thing. Imagining his life without these last few months with her, breaks his heart. At least he has memories.

He's sitting at the bar in a lounge near the front of the Capital compound, drinking his fourth or fifth whiskey of the night when he feels a hand on his shoulder. "You all right Bass?"

He looks at her with bloodshot eyes. "Hey Alli, never better." He turns back to his drink, empties it and motions the bartender to bring him another. She sits down and orders a glass of wine.

"What happened?"

"Figured Reggie would have told you."

"Oh, he did. I want to hear your version."

He looks at her and she can see the pain in his expression. He shrugs, takes a deep drink and closes his eyes. "Five or six years ago… it was after Miles had left the Republic, I'd kept Rachel hoping she'd give me the information I wanted to turn the power back on."

"She was your prisoner?"

He nods, "Yeah, but I knew she was important to Miles so I made sure she was comfortable. We didn't see much of each other. Once every week or so I'd go in and badger her about helping me and she'd say no and then I'd not see her again for another couple weeks. It had been like that for a long time. I guess she'd been with me maybe three years when it happened."

"What was that Bass?" Allison prods.

"It was Miles' birthday. He and I always used to really live it up on our birthdays. I was missing him and I was drunk. I went to see her because I knew she loved Miles too. Even though they hadn't been together since before the blackout; I knew she'd know where I was coming from. I knew she'd get why it was an important day to me. I took a bottle of Miles' favorite whiskey with me and we drank to Miles. We drank to him a lot…" he trails off.

"And you fucked her?" Allison asks, taking a delicate sip from her glass of wine.

Bass cringes, "Yeah." It meant nothing to either of us and it never happened again. "We were both so lonely and both were missing Miles. I don't know. It just didn't feel wrong until the next day and then it felt very wrong. We never spoke of it again. I went to see her less. Eventually everything fell apart and she escaped. Later we ended up reconnecting because of Charlie and Miles. We never spoke of it. I think Miles knows, but he's never said anything. "

"Ah Bass." She pats his shoulder reassuringly.

Bass puts his head in his hands and rests it on the bar. His shoulders start to shake. "How the hell do I fix this? I love Charlie so much."

"You're planning to head back soon, right?"

"We will leave Sacramento after your inauguration on Saturday."

"That gives us a few days. Let me see if I can come up with an idea."

Bass nods limply.

"For now, go get some sleep and eat food. Stop drinking so damn much. Bathe. Jesus Bass, you look like death. You need to get some strength if you're going to fight for your lady"

Allison motions for one of her men to help Bass back to his room, "Make sure he gets some food and some undisturbed sleep."

"Yes Ma'am."

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Charlie is curled up in an overstuffed chair in the corner of her room, staring out the window. She sits here almost all the time lately. Her brain hurts from thinking. Her heart hurts from breaking. She misses Bass so much, she can taste it. She has no more tears to cry, so she just sits quietly, waiting.

"Are you about done?" Allison asks. Charlie looks up in surprise. She hadn't even heard the other woman enter.

"Done with what?" Charlie asks absently, returning her gaze to the window.

"Being a whiny child."

Charlie's gaze returns to Allison's quickly, her eyes going dark. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Allison says harshly, "Stop being such an unforgiving little bitch. If you love him as much as I suspect you do then you have to forgive him."

"He slept with my MOTHER. How do I forgive that?"

"Why do you even care?"

"What?" Charlie is on her feet now. She is shaking with rage. "Why do I CARE?"

"Yes, why do you care? Were you dating him at the time?"

"No, of course not. I didn't even know him then."

"Did he hurt your Mom? Did he force her?"

"I don't know. I honestly don't know." She sits back down with a plop. Her rage draining.

"I think you do. Think about the Bass you do know. The lover he is. The way he treats you. The way he touches you. Do you see that Bass doing anything against a woman's will? Hurting her in some way?"

Charlie shakes her head silently.

"Are you mad because your Mom was cheating on your Dad?"

"We all thought she was dead. Dad was with Maggie by then."

"Is it because she was his prisoner? Is that the problem?"

"No. I know he only did that to get information about the power. She wasn't his sex slave."

"Are you mad because you've never made a mistake and slept with the wrong guy? You maybe hold him to some higher standard? Seems that Reggie was pretty sure you slept with Bass' son. Isn't that about the same thing?"

"Well, yeah. I am no sait. I've slept with guys I shouldn't have."

"So again, why do you care? You knew he'd been around. Hell Charlie, he was banging girls before you were born. Every man comes with baggage. When you fall for a guy who is twenty some years older than you… you're looking at a lot of it. You have to decide if this is really a deal breaker – this thing that was probably meaningless, that happened before you met him, that was from his description – a one time thing…"

"You talked to him?" Charlie breaks in. She can't hide the longing in her voice. "How was he?"

"Yes, I talked to him, and he's even more miserable than you are. You two are perfect for each other. Get your head out of your ass and tell him you forgive him. Please. I need my allies to be strong and resolute, not mopey and drunk." With that Allison walks out of Charlie's room as suddenly as she'd entered.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Late that night Bass is laying in bed, staring at the wall. He took Alli's advice. He bathed, ate a big meal, slept for several hours and now he's wishing he'd brought some whiskey to his room. He misses Charlie.

There is a quiet knock on the door. He gets up and slowly goes to answer it. "What?" he says as the door swings open.

"Hi."

"Charlie?" his heartbeat accelerates. He can't believe she's here. "Are you okay? Are you…" he trails off, unsure of what he should even say.

"I'm here to tell you that I've been thinking all of this over. This thing between you and my Mom…" she won't meet his eyes. "I decided this morning that we can't get married. I decided we need to break up and I was going to come tell you that tonight."

Bass is struggling to keep his emotions in check. His hands ball into fists. He feels tears forming. "You want to break up?" he chokes out.

She finally meets his gaze. "That's what I wanted this morning. But Allison visited me and we had a heart to heart."

A tiny sliver of hope slices through his despair, as he asks, "And?"

"And she reminded me of all the reasons this shouldn't matter to me. And she was right."

"Yeah?" he steps closer.

"Yeah." She puts a hand on his bare chest and smiles slowly at him. "I've decided that I don't care who you slept with before me. The only thing I care about is that I'm the only one you're going to be sleeping with from now on."

He leans close, running a hand through her hair and tucking a stray strand behind her ear. "I really am sorry. I didn't know how to tell you or if I should."

"I don't want to talk about it. I just want you to hold me. That okay with you?"

"Nothing has ever sounded more okay with me. I love you so much."

"I love you Bass. I'm sorry I flipped out. I know you have history. Emma, Shelly, Allison, Duncan… my Mom," Charlie shudders a little, "and countless others who I don't even need to know about. What I'm saying is it doesn't matter and I'm sorry I ever doubted what we have. I won't make that mistake again. I promise."

"You are my future Charlie Matheson. The rest of them – they're all just a prologue."

"I'm pretty excited about our future Bass. I think its going to be pretty amazing – at least until we get back to Miles and my Mom.

"Well, lets not think about that just yet. We have some missed time to make up for."

"Yes, we definitely do." Charlie grins up at him as he pulls her into his room and shuts the door.