Day 12

The first few days of traveling hadn't been so bad, actually, Charlie had really been enjoying herself. For the first time ever she was free to do as she pleased, within reason of course, so she'd let herself just be. No Dad hanging over her shoulder, no Maggie bearing down, and no Danny to look out for. It was just her and Blue out on the open road.

Until those idiots back in Danville happened. She hadn't slept a wink or been able to hold down any food since then. She just kept picturing that girl crying over the fat guys body, memories of herself crying over her father pushing in and making her gag every single time.

Thankfully she had Blue, the horse was good about knowing when they'd gone far enough and throwing a tantrum until Charlie gave in and they could rest. While they relaxed in the shade she'd feel the horses eyes on her, staring her down until she reluctantly shoved a few pieces of jerky down her throat. If it wasn't for Blue pushing her along and the thought of her family waiting in Atlanta, Charlie wasn't sure if she'd ever make it there. She wondered if Miles ever felt like that, like he was drowning in the guilt of what he'd done.

Knowing Miles the way she did, Charlie figured he must feel like that all the time.

But she forced herself on, Danny was waiting in Atlanta and Bass was waiting for her to get back to Philly. Just the thought of him made her smile, fingering the blade of his grandfather's lucky knife making her feel close to him.

Day 13

Seriously, if he had to read one more report about stupid recruits getting into trouble because they couldn't keep it in their pants, he was going to kill someone. Forget 'don't shoot the messenger', he was going to shoot them, the person that wrote the report, and whichever idiot had caused the problem.

Sighing, Bass turned to the next report and tried not to bang his head on the table while he read about some idiot farmer that thought he could take on three Militia guys with nothing but a head of lettuce for backup. The reports went on and on. He wondered vaguely in the back of his mind if the United States government had ever had to deal with stuff like that. Idiot farmers, hormonal recruits, backstabbing officers, and ladder climbing socialites. If nothing else he knew for a fact that the last one had been true.

Bass nearly tossed the papers off of the desk and cried hallelujah when Aaron and Jeremy came running in to save him from his mountain of paperwork. Aaron was panting hard and clutching his chest while Jeremy panted, a little less at least, and clutched his injured side.

"Amplifier," Jeremy rasped out, "done."

Jumping from his chair, Bass whooped with relief. Finally, they would get Miles back, fix this Flynn shit, and bring Charlie back home where she belonged. He strode over to the door and flung it open, "Johnson, prep the helo team, they need to be ready to leave in two hours. Less if they can manage."

Johnson's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he didn't question his commander in chief. "Yes, sir."

The boys were both grinning proudly and Bass couldn't help but smile along with them. "Alright guys, go get the amplifier on the chopper. I need to write a letter for Miles that'll get him to come back."

"What are you gonna tell him?"

"The truth," he hesitated, "well, the truth that we've told everyone else. I'll tell him that Charlie's really sick and that he needs to get back here ASAP 'cause the Doc said it's really bad. Knowing Miles, he'll come running. Though I might need your guys' help calming him down when he realizes that Charlie's not here."

Jeremy chuckled. "Yeah, that and when he finds out about you and Charlie sucking face in-

"Jer!" Bass cut him off with a sharp look, causing Aaron to snort.

"Oh, please, like I didn't already know. With the way you two were acting, I'm just surprised it took so long."

Bass stared at them both, partly in shock the other in annoyance. "Well we aren't going to tell Miles anything. At least not until after he's gotten rid of Flynn, or Charlie comes back, whichever one comes first.

"Why are you waiting until Charlie comes back?" Jeremy asked.

"One, because he's much less likely to kill her if she's the one that tells him. And two, when Charlie comes back I don't plan on pretending anymore, I wasted enough time as it is. Whether Miles likes it or not, I won't make that mistake again."

The other two nodded, Aaron turning towards the door and calling over his shoulder. "Alright, but when Miles finds out I want front row seats."

Bass frowned at the larger man's retreating back. "Front row for what?"

Jeremy chimed in, following Aaron out of the room. "For when Miles kicks your ass for falling in love with his niece."

Bass closed his eyes and groaned at the ceiling. "Shit."

Grabbing a scrap of paper, he chose his words carefully.

Miles,

Charlie's really sick. Doc says it's pneumonia. She's bad, brother. Come home quick.

Bass

He felt bad for making it sound so horrible, but given the fact that his brother had snuck into his bedroom and put a gun to his head, Bass figured that this made them even.

Day 14

11:40 am

The border between the Monroe Republic and Georgia was getting closer and closer, making her palms sweat and her teeth grind together in anticipation. Charlie did her best to keep Blue moving at calm and steady pace but she seemed to pick up on her rider's frayed nerves and kept jerking around because of it.

Deep breaths, Charlie told herself. Determined to remain calm despite the looming threats. Flynn, Foster, Georgian soldiers, at this point even her own mother might pose a threat. She shoved those thoughts aside and forced herself to focus on the good things. Stuck in a daydream where she and Bass had the suite all to themselves, she didn't notice the rustling in the trees until Blue stopped in her tracks.

"Put your hands where we can see them." The man's voice was calm and steady, directly to her left. Rustling on the right indicated that whoever they were had her surrounded.

Charlie raised her hands from the saddle slowly. "I don't want any trouble."

Another voice, a woman's, came from the right. "Funny, with a brand like that I'd have thought that's exactly what you wanted."

Chancing a glance in the woman's direction, she was almost absurdly relieved to see that she was wearing a Georgia uniform. "Listen, I'm not with the Militia. I'm just on my way to Atlanta to see my family."

The man, also a soldier, laughed. "Yeah right, and who's your family."

Charlie answered with pride and without hesitation. "The Matheson's."

The woman, a brunette with her hair in a tight bun and not much older than Charlie, came around to the front of the horse so she could look at Charlie's face. "Holy shit, Andy, it really is her."

Andy, average looking with black hair, came around as well with his weapon already holstered and a piece of paper in his hands. He looked from the paper, then at Charlie, then back to his paper. "I guess they weren't joking after all," he muttered to his friend before stepping forward with a smile. "Welcome to Georgia, Miss Matheson. I'm Corporal Andrew Beck and this is Corporal Elizabeth Tate. We've been given orders to escort you back to our commanding officer if we make contact."

Charlie smiled, although a bit uneasily, wondering if it was even possible for Bass' letter to have reached Nora already. "Alright," she said slowly, "where are we headed."

Corporal Tate smiled good naturedly and Charlie found that she instantly liked the woman. "Back to camp, it's about a mile from here."

Nodding, Charlie dismounted in order to lead Blue by the reigns. As the group started to walk, she asked, "did they have you guys out looking for me, or did you just get lucky?"

Beck turned to her with a boyish grin. "Technically we're 'patrolling the border', but we were told that if we happened to come across a pretty, blonde girl that there might be promotions in order if we brought her back safe and unharmed."

Tate smiled as well. "And since you appear to be unharmed I'm looking forward to the pay raise that comes with that new rank."

Charlie couldn't help but chuckle. "Well in that case, you're welcome."

The three of them all shared a laugh on the way to their camp, Charlie feeling lighter than she had since she'd left Philadelphia.

12:20 pm

The Georgians camp was small, there were maybe twenty soldiers hanging around doing soldier-y stuff as Beck and Tate strutted towards the main tent with Charlie and Blue in tow. Obviously these people had been looking for her seeing as how the moment she appeared people started dropping what they were doing to stare. She shifted uncomfortably and reminded herself that she was there on a peace mission, these people had no reason to harm her nor her them.

Beck disappeared into the tent and came back mere moments later with an excited looking man. "Miss Matheson," he grinned and held out a hand for her to shake, "I'm Captain Dixon. We are so glad that you made it here safe."

"Uh... thanks." Despite the fact that this was exactly what she'd wanted Charlie wasn't sure how to react.

Dixon seemed to sense her apprehension. "Don't worry, orders are to get you back to Atlanta as soon as possible so we'll be leaving first thing in the morning. As long as you and your horse are feeling up to it."

"Absolutely, we'll be ready."

"Good." He gestured towards Tate, "Corporal, take Miss Matheson and help her get settled for the night."

"Yes, sir." She rushed forward and tugged Charlie in the opposite direction towards a row of tents. Once they were out of earshot of the others, Tate asked, "so it's none of my business, but the rumor is that you were held captive by Monroe, is that true?"

Raising a brow, Charlie answered simply, "I was."

Tate's eyes went wide. "No way. How did you get away?"

Frowning, Charlie stopped walking and turned to look at the other woman. "He let me go."

"He-wait, what?"

Charlie had to fight down the urge to roll her eyes. "Bass let me go. Actually, he asked me to leave."

"Wait a minute... so you guys are like, friends?" The disbelief was written all over Tate's face.

Without hesitating, Charlie smiled. "Yup. Friends."

The Corporal started walking again towards the end of the line of tents, stopping at the last one and waving Charlie inside. As Charlie passed by her she thought she heard Tate murmer, "I didn't think that guy had friends."

Charlie resisted the urge to tell her that she and Bass were more than just friends.

Day 16

She had to admit that these Georgia guys weren't so bad. They were all friendly enough and didn't seem to mind that she'd just spent four months in Philadelphia, which was technically the heart of their enemies territory. At least they didn't seem to mind, she'd caught them whispering to each other behind their hands a few times but chalked it up to Tate telling everyone that she and Bass were friends.

Tate and Beck had been going out of their way to make her feel comfortable and welcome. As it turns out, the two were cousins, their mother's were twin sisters and the two kids had grown up less than a block from each other in Atlanta. When they joined the Georgian Army together years later, they had instantly become a team, their superiors recommending them for job after job. Charlie loved listening to them talk about each other, Andy and Lizzie against the world. It reminded her of herself and Danny.

Captain Dixon had informed her this morning that they would be meeting up with the group that had been in charge of Georgia's search for her. As far as Dixon knew, the President had known of her arrival and sent out orders to everyone to look for her, as well as a specialized task force that was known for tracking people down. He didn't know the man in charge personally, but if President Foster trusted him, so did he.

They had just come upon another camp full of another twenty something soldiers when she saw something that made her heart skip a beat. Short black hair set on broad shoulders. Familiarity slipped down her spine and she found herself completely ignoring Dixon's calls for her attention, following some random soldier throughout the camp. His legs were longer than hers so she was jogging to keep up, his name lodged in the back of her throat, not daring to say it out loud for fear that she was wrong.

"Hey!" Charlie couldn't help but call out. The man stopped in his tracks, slowly turning towards her. "Oh my God, Jason?"

His eyes scanned over her face with surprise. "Charlie..."

She couldn't help herself, flinging her arms around his neck, she hugged him close. "I thought you were dead."

Through her own shock, Charlie hadn't realized that Jason wasn't hugging her back. She stepped away, confused, and looked up at him expectantly. "What," he asked harshly, "dissapointed?"

"What? I never meant for that to happen, I-"

"Oh you never meant for me to die, huh? What about my dad, what about my mom!"

Charlie shook her head desperately, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. "Jason, I-"

"Son, leave it be." The icy tone of that voice was all too familiar, sending chills down Charlie's spine. She turned to see if it could actually be true, finding a confused looking Dixon standing next to a really pissed off Tom Neville.

Charlie's head snapped between the father and son pair, not believing that they were both alive and standing right in front of her. "What... how? But Bass said-"

"Bass, now is it? I should've known he'd get your ass too. You Matheson's can't seem to resist Monroe's big ball of crazy." Tom Neville's sneer made her want to punch him and puke at the same time. "Surprised to see me Miss Matheson?" He asked with a smirk, "I thought you might be. Sebastian always did like his secrets. I bet he didn't tell you that Jason and I managed to get away, and that in his crazed rampage he murdered my innocent wife." The barely contained rage below Tom's easy going mask was radiating throughout the entire camp.

"Now let me make myself perfectly clear, Miss Matheson. My orders are to escort you directly to President Foster, safe and unharmed," he took a menacing step forward, "but I want you to remember what you've cost me... One step out of line, even an inch, and I won't hesitate to kill you and drag your body back to Atlanta with a hole in that pretty little head of yours. Understood?"

Red hot hatred bubbled up in Charlie's gut. "You can threaten me all you want Tom, but you and I both know that you won't touch me, because we both know what Miles and Bass would do to you if you did." She smirked right back at him and stepped closer. "Try not to look so scared Tom, your men are watching."

Tom's jaw clenched as he turned towards some of his men. "Confiscate all of Miss Matheson's weapons. We wouldn't want her to accidentally hurt herself."

The soldiers hastened to obey and Charlie couldn't help but laugh at Tom's retreating back. "It's always nice to see you, Tom!" He ignored her and continued on towards his tent. Out of the corner of her eye, Charlie saw Jason watching her. "I never meant for it to happen, you know." Something flashed in Jason's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by indifference as he stomped off.

Tate appeared at her side with her crossbow, hunting knife, the gun Bass had given her, and the revolver she'd gotten from those idiots in Danvile in her hands. "Did I miss anything," she asked with a grin.

"Nope, you got it all. Well, there might be a knife or something in my first aid kit, but I don't think you need to take that, do you?"

Tate shrugged and whispered, "I won't tell if you won't."

Charlie gave her wink and smiled as she walked away, thanking the heavens that no one had bothered to check her boot. Bass was expecting his grandfather's lucky knife back after all.

Day 20

Jason was avoiding her like crazy. The group had been on the move towards Atlanta for days and everytime she tried to catch him alone, he disappeared. Deep down she knew that there was nothing she could say to make the death of his mother any better, but she desperately wanted him to understand that she hadn't caused Julia's death intentionally. But he seemed determined not to give her the time of day.

"So were you guys a couple or something?" Liz asked, indicating Jason walking ahead of them with her finger.

Charlie sighed tiredly. "No... well, sort of. It's complicated."

"Oh, you mean like your uncle's the ex-general of the Militia, your mother's working for Georgia, and you're secretly dating the President of the Monroe Republic, complicated?" She asked with a grin.

Charlie narrowed her eyes at her newfound friend. "Ok, maybe I shouldn't have told you all that stuff... And we aren't dating... per say."

But Liz merely continued on, "or how about your parents causing the blackout? Or your best friend building a machine to make helicopters fly!"

Charlie frowned. "When you say it like that you make it sound like I'm crazy."

The other woman let out a fully belly laugh. "That's because you either are, or your life is just seriously fucked up."

"Yeah," Charlie groaned, "I know."

Day 22

Atlanta was quite a bit bigger than she had been expecting. The people there were more open, lounging about in the streets without a care in the world, or it seemed that way at least. Tom had been making it a point to be by her side for the past day and a half, Charlie figured it went with the job, or she hoped it did. The other options being less than fun to think about. Jason was still avoiding her, though he had said good morning to her before they broke camp this morning so she figured they were making progress, however small.

Tom was dragging her up the stairs of a tall and formidable looking building to what she hoped was either a tall glass of ice water or at least someone who would tell him to give her some space. They rounded a corner and were met by six men standing guard over a single doorway. "Please let the President know that I've returned with my assignment." He pulled on Charlie's elbow in order to keep her close, like he was afraid she'd run away at the first chance.

One of the men disappeared and came back moments later, "the President is anxious to see you, Major Neville."

Holding back a snort, Charlie let Tom manhandle her as far as the doorway but shoved him away as soon as she was through. "Charlie!" Danny's shout of surprise and relief was drown out by his arms around her, his familiar scent filling her senses. He may be her little brother but he towered over her small frame, engulfing her entire body in the hug. "I missed you," he whispered into her hair. Unable to make the lump in her throat go away, Charlie merely nodded and squeezed her brother tighter.

Nora broke up their hug with a wide smile. "Get out of the way Danny, I need a hug too!" She nudged him aside playfully and Danny rolled his eyes, trying to covertly wipe away the tears on his face. Nora grabbed Charlie and hugged her tight. "You alright?" She asked quietly, "are you hurt or anything?"

Charlie pulled back a little bit to look into Nora's face. "No, I'm fine. Honest." Nora gave her a teary sort of smile and let her go but held onto her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Her eyes found her mother sitting in a fancy looking chair in front of a desk, behind which was the woman that Charlie assumed was the President. "Charlie, how are you?" Rachel asked the question with a tight lipped smile.

She wasn't entirely sure what she'd been expecting from her mother, but it was definitely more than that. "I'm good. Little tired, that's all."

The other woman chose that moment to intervene. "Well Charlie, on behalf of the Georgia Federation I would like to welcome you to our country. I'm Kelly Foster." The older woman shook her hand with a formal looking smile before turning to Tom, "I trust everything went well, Major. No problems to report, I assume."

"No ma'am, everything went off without a hitch."

"Good, thank you Major, you may go." Tom looked a little upset at being left out but didn't protest. The President waited until he left before turning back to Charlie with a frown. "Now I understand you have some 'ideas' about Randal Flynn, Nora's told me all about them, but tell me this, why should I believe you or anything that Sebastian has to say?"

Charlie knew she shouldn't be surprised, but she honestly hadn't anticipated being interrogated the moment she walked through the door. "You should believe me because it's the truth. Flynn is planning on murdering thousands of innocent people, not just in the Republic, but in Georgia, Texas, and California too. If we don't stop him then that blood will be on our hands."

Foster raised an angry eyebrow, "we?"

"Yes, we. Bass doesn't want people to get hurt-"

Rachel gave a derisive snort, effectively stopping Charlie's rant. "Bass doesn't want to hurt people?" She asked incredulously, "are you kidding me? That's all the sick bastard does!" Rachel stood from her chair, the anger etched in her face. "Do you not remember that he took me away from you? Or that he killed your father? Listen to yourself, you are defending the man that destroyed our family!"

Charlie swallowed thickly. "He didn't want Dad to die," she defended quietly. "You have to believe me, Flynn is playing you guys against each other for his own sick, little game."

Rachel shook her head in disbelief. "No way, I worked with Randal Flynn. He was a good man, there's no way he would do anything to hurt anyone."

Charlie stared at her mother in shock while Foster took her seat behind her desk. "Then it's settled, Sebastian's full of shit - as usual - and now we have to deal with his brainwashed bimbo." The President rolled her eyes, nodding her head subtlety in Charlie's direction. Outrage boiled over and Nora had to hold Charlie back from launching across Foster's desk. "Don't worry Charlie, we'll take care of you. I'll have one of my men escort you to your cell."

Finally getting a good reaction out of Rachel, the older blonde woman stood her ground right in front of the President's desk. "Madame President, please, hasn't my daughter been through enough? Just let me take her back to our rooms, maybe with a little family time we can bring her back to her senses."

All of the fight drained out of Charlie at those words. Her own mother really thought that she was crazy.

Foster sighed. "Fine, but if she causes any problems she's going straight downstairs."

Rachel nodded quickly. "I understand. Thank you, Kelly, for helping me get my daughter back."

The women shared a look and Rachel all but dragged Charlie from the room with Nora and Danny following quickly behind. Once they were safely in their rooms, Rachel disappeared. Nora turned to Charlie with a serious look. "Things are about to get really bad, aren't they?"

Charlie nodded sadly, causing Danny to sigh. "Well, at least we finally got out of Wisconsin, right?"

Leave it to Danny, always seeing the bright side.

A/N I was going to wait until after I'd read the comic to post this so I could give my two cents about it (not that anyone asked for it) but then I got sick of waiting so... I hope you guys like having Neville back! Things are about to get really fun! (That's sarcasm for anyone who hadn't already figured it out :-)) Basically from here on out it'll be all action, I think we have 6 or 7 chapters left, I'm not sure my outline is on my phone which is charging, and then the story will be over. It makes me sad, but I'm excited to get there. Thanks for reading! :-D