Word count; 2576

Notes at the bottom

CHAPTER 25:

Fuck. Charlie ran a hand trough her disheveled hair and watched him walk away, his shoulders stiff and tense. Fuck!

The conversation she'd had with her mother after the battle had left her completely upside down "How could you follow that monster into that camp, kill children. How could you, Charlie!" Her mother had accused. Charlie had tried to explain to her mother why she did what she'd done but her mother wouldn't have anything of it, she'd laid into Charlie with morals and values and how could she murder children who had been brainwashed, they should have saved them. And her mother had made sense, in a way. When she listened to her mother she'd started to feel guilty, it was one of her mothers talents, she was sure.

Then her mother had proceeded to rail on Bass, how wrong he was, how murderous. naturally her mother had noticed that she'd been more civil towards Bass the past few week but did she really think the former dictator had changed? If this wasn't proof that Monroe hadn't changed a single bit then Rachel didn't know what would. And did Charlie really want to hang out and be associated with a man like that, was she insane. For half an hour Rachel had spouted off how much of a monster Bass still was, how wrong and irredeemable.

All these things had made her doubt, doubt Bass, doubt herself, doubt her feelings for the former General. Was she insane? Was she a sandwich short of a picnic for thinking that Bass had changed, that he could change. Maybe she should tell her mother to stuff it where the sun don't shine but seeing Bass moving through wounded soldiers and shooting them had scared her. For a moment he was General Monroe again and not the Bass she'd gotten to know the past few months. His reaction bothered her, so cold and calculated. He hadn't even tried to defend himself, he'd just taken her words and left.

Why couldn't he just be sorry, why couldn't he be upset about the fact that he'd spent his night killing people. He didn't seem affected by the happenings that evening at all, only when Evan had told him that Duncan had died he'd shown emotion. It had made her jealous, it had made her wonder if he'd be upset if she were to die, if he cared enough about her to not only fight to keep her alive but mourn if she didn't make it. Things like this had been dominating her head the entire night and she hadn't been able to shake it. Even if she could accept him the way he was, ruthlessness and all, her mother would never accept him. Her mother would never understand how she could love a man like that, a man with questionable morals at best.

The heart wants what the heart wants but why did her heart want him? Why him, why couldn't she be head over heels with Jason or Connor or anyone else but him. Why did her heart want the only person in the world that her family would never accept. That's why she figured she'd better cut it off now in stead of wait until she wouldn't be able to go on without him and then have him ripped away. Even though she had questioned it all before and even told him she wanted him, she was doubting herself because of her mother. It was going to be a bloody, messy ending for all of them and why put her heart through the pain of having a loved one ripped from her arms all over again. If she chose Bass it most likely meant that she couldn't have her family, that she couldn't have her mom or Miles... even Aaron, them accepting Bass was as unlikely as Bass turning into a saint. And could she really forsake her family for Bass? Maybe for a while but after she was afraid she'd blame him while it would all be her own choice.

Stupid thing was, she didn't want him to turn into a saint. She didn't want him to turn into some spineless, meek man, she liked that he was a fighter and if she were completely honest with herself, she liked that he was a 'bad boy'. It turned her on to see him fight and the knowledge that there pretty much wasn't anyone alive that could take him, yeah, that didn't hurt his appeal either. She only wished he could be a little more compassionate, a little less ruthless. Why did he have to be the former leader of the Monroe Republic? Why couldn't he just be Jimmy King, fighter extraordinaire?

Because then he wouldn't be Bass Monroe.

She sighed and banged her head against her arm "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" This was insane, why was she listening to her mother, she KNEW he changed. Yes, he was still a killer but then again so was she. She was going to find him and demand an explanation for the nights events, then she was going to tell him she was a dumb-ass for saying he was a monster and a sociopath and then she was going to make it up to him for thinking the worst. He deserved the benefit of the doubt after everything he'd done for her.

"That is one hot ass!" Charlie froze at the slurred words and when she turned she saw three of Duncan's crew staring at her. She'd left her weapons with Miles and Rachel and the noise from the celebrating people was so loud she doubted anyone would hear her if she called out. Fuck, this night just kept getting better and better. "Can I help you?" She tried to keep her voice steady and calm but the way the men were looking at her didn't make it easy. Slowly she moved away from the railing and away from the three pair of eyes that were following intently. Not that it helped, for every step she backed away they took one forward.

"Why so shy, baby. No need to be like that." The 'baby' came out slurred and sleazy, nothing like the way Bass had whispered and groaned the word. She very much preferred Bass' version. Damnit, if she hadn't pissed him off then he'd still be here and she wouldn't be neck deep in shit-ville. "I'm gonna go join the rest down at the fire, boys." She said and as casual as she could she tried to pass the two men, one of them grabbed her arm "Why the hurry. We can have a little celebration of our own, right here." That's what she was afraid of. Charlie did her best to keep cool and calm and to keep her voice from wavering. "Sorry, boys. But I have to decline."

She tried to pull her arm free but even though the men were drunk they didn't falter or stumble, a hand still firmly around her upper arm. They all had dark hair and dirty faces, like they hadn't seen water for quite some time and her mind drifted back to that day in the woods when those two men had attacked her. Then it had been Bass who'd come out of the woods and saved her, she knew that it wasn't going to go down that way this time though, Her eyes had followed him out of the camp and into the dark of the woods, the rest of her family still down in the clearing so she shouldn't expect help from them either.

Before she had time to react the man holding her arm pushed her back into the railing, her spine protesting under the sudden steel pressed in the small of her back. "Guys, I wouldn't do this if I were you. Not a good idea." But their eyes were hooded and sly, horny smiles covered their faces. Shit, she was in trouble now. Charlie head butted the closest man and jammed her knee in his crotch but was stopped by one of the other man banging her head against the wall next to her, leaving her disoriented and confused. "That little bitch." She vaguely heard one of the guys say "Little bitch kneed me in the junk." Charlie nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand cupped her between her legs and squeezed "No worries, bud. I have a feeling she's gonna be making up for that little stunt rather nicely. Aren't you sweetie?" His large hand cupped her breast through her shirt and squeezed painfully. His buddy had pulled her belt from it's loops and shoved a hand down her pants, fingers grabbing at her flesh.

Greedy hands ran over her body and stroked and squeezed places she didn't want touched. Once more she tried to get away, catching one of the bastards in the face with an elbow and another on the stomach with a quick blow, she called out but knew no one would hear her. It didn't help, three were too much in such a little space, she couldn't move properly and her head was throbbing from being slammed into concrete. "let me go!" She demanded but two of the three just chuckled, the third was cupping his nose, blood dripping into his hand. Good, she thought, at least she hit the asshole hard enough to break his nose.

"I'd step away from the girl, if I were you." The words were cold and sent a shock through the men holding her. "If you value your life then get the hell out of here and I'll blame this stupid action on the alcohol." The three men scurried backwards and without another word they disappeared. Eyes watching her intently once more but these weren't mean, they were indifferent, if anything. "I apologize." Charlie shook her head and straightened her rumpled clothes as best as she could. "Not your fault." And it wasn't, how the hell could he have known that those guys would harass her tonight while most people were celebrating in the clearing.

Evan stepped closer and reached out to her, immediately pulling his hand back when she nervously shifted away from his touch. "I'm not gonna hurt you." He assured her "I like my head where it is, on my shoulders. I have a slight inkling that Monroe would remove it if I ever dared to touch you like that, be it with your permission or against it." He smiled slightly "Again, I apologize. These aren't gentle or well-mannered men here and after a little bit of booze... well, you see what happens then."

She took a few deep breaths and stepped away from the railing, her body slowly starting to calm down a bit. "Thanks, for stepping in when you did." She acknowledged the other man's intervention "I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't come up when you did." Evan chuckled "Most likely you would have kicked their ass into next week and we'd be out three fighters." His voice was cheerful but Charlie doubted their truth. She'd been pinned down by three men who were bigger, stronger and more vicious than her, she didn't really think she'd been able to get away from them. Still, it was nice to hear Evan say the words, even though she didn't think he believed them himself, either.

"Let's keep this between us, huh. Not tell Miles or my mom?" Charlie looked into Evan's hazel eyes. "No problem. I'll make sure they steer clear of you from now on." She nodded her thanks and slipped past him."Thanks again for stopping them." Another smile from the blond man "Anytime, Miss Matheson." Only a little mock in his voice.

Charlie hurried back to the clearing and settled down onto a broken down wall next to Connor. "Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to you?" She'd completely forgotten that she'd had her head smashed against a wall. Her fingers reached up and touched the side of her face and sure enough there was blood on her temple and the skin around it felt bruised and sore. "Slipped and fell." Hell, even she didn't believe it but her tone didn't accept any argument and Connor let it slide. "Yeah, whatever. Just tell me you're good."

She turned her head and smiled at him "I'm good... promise." The young man nodded and handed her a piece of cloth "Good." Charlie took it gratefully and with help of a little spit she scrubbed the blood from her face best as she could, not wanting Miles or her mother to start asking questions. "So... anything new down here?" She just needed some mindless conversation to be distracted from what had happened and Connor always helped in that department.

"My dad split like a bat outta hell a while ago. Right after he told me he was going to find you, wanna tell me what the hell is up with the two of you?" So much for mindless conversation. "Nothing." She said coolly but Connor wasn't about to let it drop that easily. "Come on, Charlie. What the hell is up, I saw you looking at him during the attack on the boot camp, you guys have a fight or something?" She shook her head "Didn't you see him, killing all those people?" Brown eyes narrowed and Connor shot back "You mean when he shot those people who were lying on the ground, guts hanging out, bleeding to death. You mean when he shot those people so they didn't suffer more than necessary?" He sighed "I thought we were going to show him a little faith, the benefit of the doubt."

Charlie blushed, when he put it like that. "Surely not every person he shot was mortally wounded?" Connor eyed her and placed a hand on her thigh "I don't know about 'all' but most were, yes. There wasn't anything that could have been done for them, we don't have the resources nor the knowledge to fix those types of wounds. Even if your grandfather had been here, this was way out of his league without all his equipment and supplies back home." "So, he did it out of mercy."

Connor nodded "Mostly that. And because they're dangerous, Charlie. Those patriots would kill us given half the chance, he told me. He didn't want to take the risk of leaving them alive so they could attack us again, so it was half mercy, half prevention I suppose." She was glad he didn't lie or sugarcoat it for her. Her fingers fumbled with the knife she's slid back into the sheath, not intending to ever go anywhere without some sort of weapon ever again. "I called him some names, said I regretted starting anything with him. That he was nothing but a murderer. He didn't argue. He didn't tell me his reasons for doing it, for shooting those people after the battle was over."

A chuckle came from beside her "Strange, for a man normally so talkative, huh. I wonder why he didn't just pour it all out there." Sarcasm dripping from his words. She couldn't help but laugh, Connor was right, it wasn't as if Bass was big on sharing his emotions. Damnit, Why couldn't she just have given him the benefit of the doubt. Because she was stupid, she determined. That, and she should really stop listening to her mother.

Sorry for the late update you guys. I totally spaced because I somehow lost a chapter and needed to re-write that, I hate re-writing chapters, I always feel like I'm forgetting something the first draft had.

Also, I've started on my No-Blackout AU. First two chapters done but I won't start posting it until this one is completely written and published. Give y'all something to look forward too :D

I hope you guys didn't mind me not warning you up-front on the heading-toward-rape scene but I didn't want to give it away before it even happened. I know y'all were hoping Bass would save her but he's drowning his sorrows in the woods still ;p What did you think about Evan being the one stepping in and getting Charlie out of trouble? I know some would have liked to see Charlie get herself out but I needed Evan to be the one to do that this time. It's why I made it three pervs and not 1, 1 she could have taken out on her own.

Promised I would explain why Charlie did what she did, I hope it was to your liking. It's not resolved just yet though.

Little tete-a-tete with Connor there, I read in some reviews that people were worried I'd let her be 'comforted' by Connor... AS IF! Nonono, Connor wouldn't go there, at least, my Connor won't ;p

Hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter, I'll be back in a few days with a new one for you all :D

Thanks for reading and reviewing (over 200!) I fucking LOVE you guys! Thanks sooooo much :D

Love, Marisa