A/N: Hello all… Sorry again for the long delay. I'd had the last chapter of this done, but when I'd reread it, I felt I was letting Charlie off a bit too easily. That, and I had an interesting scene pop up in my head that I just couldn't seem to forget.

This has ended up being a lot longer than I'd initially thought (the next several chapters extending it out by maybe another 8k words at least), and I'd hoped to get at least two out today, but alas I must work early.

My industry typically hits the ground running after new year's, and this year has been no exception to that rule, so between that and chasing my kids around, I've been a bit too sleepy to write at night (that and when the hubby is home, I get no writing done whatsoever—he's a chatty Cathy and I swear he does it on purpose!).

This chapter does not feature our favorite couple at all, but is a reflection of how things have been going for them and advances the story to the next phase, I think. Initially, this was just a narrative from Charlie's perspective of the happenings of the first weeks in Austin, but it was harder to stop it at a decent place. I also wanted to bring Shawn Harris back for a second, because I loved writing his character and it seemed like such a waste to make him disappear completely…

I will try to get another chapter or two out tomorrow if all goes well—we'll see. Now without further ado…

March

"Well that wasn't awkward at all," Miles mumbled as he led the way through the streets of Austin back to the inn that he'd been staying at with Aaron and Priscilla. They'd come to town three days prior with the dual purpose of attending Bethany's first birthday party and for the Pittmans to make arrangements for their impending move from Willoughby.

"Huh? I thought that went rather well," Aaron replied, confused. They'd just spent the afternoon and the better half of the evening at Monroe's house for the party and would be returning to Willoughby on the morning train. The weather had been mild enough for them to hold it outdoors and half the neighborhood had attended. The only notable absences had been Charlie's mother and grandfather, neither of which had accepted her choice to move to Austin as of yet.

For a genius, Miles thought that Aaron could be dense some times. "Really? You didn't see it?"

"I sure as hell did," Shawn Harris piped up. Despite his persistent dislike of his former employer's so-called "brother," he still agreed with him. "Something is off there." They'd all left the party together, having stayed long after Bethany had fallen asleep. His apartment wasn't far from the inn and he'd offered to walk back with them—the streets of Austin could be confusing at night and he was by far more familiar with them.

Aaron still didn't understand. "They seemed kinda, you know… happy." As far as he was concerned it was a pleasant surprise to find the Monroe-Matheson household so peaceful.

"He didn't make one fat joke and not one time did the words 'dick,' 'prick' or 'douchebag' come out of Bass' mouth," Miles protested. "That's not normal."

"Yeah, and it was nice for a change."

Shawn thought about this. Come to think of it, Monroe had seemed quieter than normal. He'd watched Miles bait the man half the evening as they'd sat around the lawn sharing a glass of whiskey after the rest of the guests had left and not once had his friend responded in kind. That certainly was odd. "Even on a good day, he's not nice," he agreed.

Aaron still disagreed. "Maybe he is now. This is a good thing. The old Monroe was a crass, psychotic, alcoholic dickhead."

"Yeah, but he was our crass, psychotic, alcoholic dickhead. That was part of his charm." Miles frowned, worried. "I've known him my whole life. I'm telling you, Sebastian Monroe 2.0 is too good to be true."

It hadn't just been at the party. Miles had watched Monroe for the past several days and he seemed like a completely different person than the one he'd tried to annoy to death three months prior. This man was pensive and quiet, like he was afraid of something. Even before he fell apart, Monroe didn't know how to be quiet. It was like the ability to keep his mouth shut had been left out of the man's DNA.

He'd accompanied Monroe on a trip to the market to get some things for the party the day before and they'd had a run-in with someone that hadn't exactly been a fan. Monroe had turned around and for a second, Miles thought that he was going to deck the guy. He'd stood there with his jaw and fists clenched, but instead of lashing out, he'd turned back to the task of bargaining with the butcher.

Even the Bass of days long past would have reacted—especially after the asshole had made a comment about the former general's parentage (that being a sensitive subject and all). When Miles had asked him about the lack of response, he'd blown it off and used his job as an excuse. "Getting arrested for disturbing the peace wouldn't exactly put me in the university's good graces," he'd said, before telling him to drop it.

Miles had pulled Charlie aside this evening and had mentioned the change in him, but she hadn't seemed concerned. Instead, she acted like she was pleased by this new incarnation of Monroe and had insisted that he be supportive. He still had his doubts despite all of his niece's optimism.

When he'd come to Austin ahead of Charlie the month prior, Monroe had surprised him with his transition into a "civilian" life, but he'd still been Bass. He'd seemed happier—like he'd come to peace with himself, but still had the rough edges that Miles had been accustomed to for years. Now, he just seemed dimmer, passive even. That was not his friend.

They finally reached the inn. Aaron and Priscilla said their goodnights and headed inside. It was quite late by the time they'd gotten there and the train would come all too early in the morning. Not ready to turn in yet, Miles invited Harris to the inn's tavern for a drink. He could tell that the younger man was initially inclined to refuse, but their concerns about their mutual friend had him accepting regardless.

"What do you think, Shawn?" Miles asked as they were waiting to be served.

Harris furrowed his brows, clearly as concerned as he was. "I think that a calm and collected Bass is a disaster waiting to happen. I may not have known him as long as you have, but I know him pretty well. He's bottling up and it's just a matter of time before he explodes."

Miles nodded in agreement he picked up the drink the bartender had just set in front of him. "The question is, why?"

"Who knows? I'm only in town for a few more days though, so it's not like I can keep an eye on him."

Miles laughed into his whiskey. "Where does Walnuts have you running off to now?"

"New Vegas. There's some bad shit coming down out of there and he's decided to put a stop to it. We're going to try to shut the town down peacefully—if not?" he left that to linger. He had no stomach for shooting up a town, but he'd do his job. New Vegas wasn't exactly your typical town anyway.

"It'll just spring up again somewhere else. That's the fourth or fifth incarnation at any rate," Miles told him.

Harris swirled the whiskey in his glass, staring into it. "Yeah, well at least we can make sure it sprouts up somewhere else—hopefully closer to Cali." He hesitated for a second before continuing. He hadn't been planning on saying anything before now, but since the topic of conversation had been going back to Monroe all evening, he decided to bring it up anyway.

"So, some of the guys I've been working with on this were part of the team that Blanchard sent to track down Bass. That's why they've been assigned to the mission—they got a good look first hand at what's going on there."

"I heard he was prize fighting again when they found him," Miles commented evenly.

Harris slammed his drink down and ordered another round. He waited until the bartender went back to the other side of the bar before he spoke again, lowering his voice as if everyone around them actually cared about what he was going to say. "One of them told me that when they found him, he was mixed up in some of the shit we're trying to stop. He was pretty fucked up at the time—barely knew where he was."

"Well, he doesn't seem like he's got a problem now." He had a hard time believing that Monroe would get that far into that particular lifestyle, but maybe that just went to show him how bad off his friend had been before starting over. The revelation of that part of his brother's life still made him uneasy though.

"I know, but with the way he's been acting and what he'd been doing down there… I don't know, it just makes me wonder what's really going on." He felt stupid for bringing it up now. Surely one didn't have anything to do with the other.

Miles thought about this for a few minutes, finishing his drink in silence. He set a few diamonds and coins on the bar to pay for the tab and stood. "Aaron and Priscilla will be here by the start of summer. They'll help keep an eye on him—and I'm sure I can come up with an excuse here and there for a surprise visit."

Miles went upstairs to his room, but sleep was a long way off. From what he could see, from an outside perspective, Monroe and Charlie seemed like a normal, happy couple. Anyone that hadn't known them would have thought Monroe had been in Bethany's life from day one.

The toddler followed him around like his second shadow and it was obvious how much Monroe loved her and doted on her—giving in to every whine to be picked up or played with. The same went for Charlie. He'd seen the man with Shelly and knew how he acted when he was in love—this was like that but somehow so much more. It was almost disgusting how much it radiated off of him.

He'd asked Charlie if they'd resolved everything, and she told him they'd been working through it, but now he wasn't so sure. She'd mentioned that they hadn't finished talking about what happened in Nashville after they'd left—and that had been a big part of why she'd initially decided to hide Bethany from him in the first place.

When she'd discovered she was pregnant, she'd spent months trying to figure out what to do. Of course, her mother had been pushing her towards hiding Bethany from the start—Rachel didn't want Monroe anywhere near her granddaughter. Miles understood, and had told Charlie from the get go that he'd support whatever she decided to do, but he'd also known that Monroe would be devastated if he'd ever found out.

Now that she was here, however he felt that his niece needed to be committed to it, come what may. The idea that she'd given Monroe an ultimatum of sorts did not rest easily with Miles. Knowing Bass, he'd do anything she asked to hold on to her and Bethany.

As he lay there, worrying about two of the people he loved most in the world, the truth suddenly dawned on Miles: Monroe was trying to be the person that Charlie wanted him to be—or the person he thought she wanted him to be.

For whatever reason, he thought that the man she wanted was the human incarnation of that lazy pile of fur and farts that Monroe called a dog. Of course he would try and change for her—that was Bass in a nutshell. He'd been so afraid of losing Miles after Shelly died that he'd become the brutal killer he'd thought Miles wanted him to be. When he'd gotten a piece of himself back after losing the first Republic, he'd only become that man again when Connor had made it clear that's what he'd wanted.

Having lost so many people, the man tended to get a little desperate when it came to holding onto someone he loved. If this went on, Miles knew it would not end well. For one thing, there was only so long Monroe would be able to keep up a charade like this. For another, Charlie would one day wake up and realize that this impersonation of Sebastian Monroe was not the man she fell in love with. He just hoped that they both realized what was happening before it was too late.