Chapter 21

Charlie stirred, opened her eyes, and smiled as she took in her present situation. Sometime during the night, she and Bass had rearranged themselves until Charlie's head was pillowed on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his waist. One of Bass' legs had slipped between hers and she tightened the grip of her knee where it rested across his hip. All in all, not a bad way to start the day, she thought dreamily. She closed her eyes and nuzzled into the curve of his neck; Bass' arms tightened around her and he sighed. "Morning," he murmured, his lips moving against her cheek.

"Hmmm," Charlie replied, unwilling to disrupt the warm, blissful cocoon she found herself in. She felt Bass move and glanced up to find him craning his neck to look around the camp.

"Who else is up?" Charlie whispered.

"Gene's awake," came the quite reply. "Looks like he took over the watch from Rachel. But," he added mischievously, "it looks like he's going to make another sweep of the perimeter." Bass turned back to Charlie, and grinned. "Wanna make the most of it?"

Charlie chuckled and slid her fingers into Bass' blond curls, bringing his mouth down to her and she felt herself melt at the first touch of his lips. Forget the blackout; she felt jolts of electricity shooting through her body straight down to her toes and she moaned softly. Their lips moved together languorously, mouths fused as their tongues met and retreated in a sensuous dance. Bass ran his hand along Charlie's leg, pulling it higher over his hip and she gasped, taking advance of the brief separation to nip at his lower lip, soothing the brief sting with the soft brush of her tongue. Bass groaned and shifted until he was laying half on top of her and Charlie reveled in the press of his weight as his lips reclaimed hers. Charlie felt engulfed in heat as the kiss turned forceful, Bass' fingers digging into her hips as he leaned more fully into the cradle of her body. Charlie's hands trailed down Bass' sides and inched under his shirt, her nails lightly scoring his back, taught skin stretched over flexing muscle. Bass grunted and moved a hand to gently cup her jaw, his thumb pressing on her chin to open her mouth wider to the penetration of his tongue. Just as Charlie was wondering how she was going to tear Bass' clothes off without breaking contact with him, their passionate little bubble was pierced by the loud, almost theatrical coughing of her grandfather.

Bass groaned and rolled off of Charlie, coming to rest on his back as he flung an arm across his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered.

Charlie surprised herself by giggling as she shifted to rest against Bass' side and nestled her head against his shoulder, her lips gently caressing his throat.

"Sun'll be up any minute," Gene called with overblown geniality. "Miles, Rachel, let's go! Charlie and . . . everyone, time to get moving!"

Bass chuckled in spite of himself and tunneled his fingers into Charlie's hair, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and sat them both up. "Back to reality," he murmured. Charlie smiled up at him and stood, putting a little extra swing in her hips as she walked towards her grandfather. She heard Bass chuckle behind her and she grinned. Nope, she thought to herself. Not a bad way at all.

AN: I'm sorry this is so short but I have been absolutely buried under the work my profs have given me for my presentations next week and I wanted to post something so you wouldn't think I had abandoned the fic. Rest assured the next update will be MUCH longer and will be posted by this time next week (at least, that's the plan!). I hope you enjoy this mini-chapter. As always, reviews/comments are most welcome and thank you to everyone who has commented on previous posts. You guys are fantastic! XOXO