As Connor and his mother entered Independence Hall, he ignored the stares they received from the guards.
"I thought you were missing," one of the guards outside his room commented when he walked up.
"Glad to know you've been protecting my clothes since I mysteriously disappeared," Connor commented sarcastically. "Makes me feel really safe."
"You didn't go missing on our watch," the guard pointed out with a hint of hesitation in his tone.
Connor hated to admit the guy had a point, so he didn't.
"Do you want to prove you're worth more than guarding an empty room?" He questioned. "You think you can handle something a little more important?"
Apparently, the guards thought it was a rhetorical question because neither of them answered him. Connor decided to let it go for the time being. He didn't need to piss them off when he wanted them to protect his mom instead of just his room.
Connor's bedroom was the only room in its hallway that was actually in use. That was the way he liked it, but he was willing to give up one of the rooms in his private hallway for his mother.
"She's moving into the room across the hall," Connor told the guards. "Your only job now is keeping her safe and, trust me, you do not want to find out what happens if you screw that up."
With that, Connor turned and held the door to the room across from his open for his mother.
"It's huge," she commented as they stepped inside.
"You like it?" Connor asked. "Because there are a lot of rooms around here. If you don't like this one, I'm sure we could find something better."
"I like this one," she responded as she turned to look over at him. "It's close to you."
Connor hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you okay to unpack here by yourself?"
"I think I can handle finding places for all this by myself," his mother commented with a smile as she lifted the single backpack of stuff she had brought with her from home. "Why? Are you going to go unpack?"
Connor shrugged. "I was going to go change."
"Go ahead," his mother told him. "I can survive without you for that long. I promise."
He didn't move.
"Actually, I was going to go look for Dad after," he admitted. "Someone's got to tell him we're here and I'm guessing he's going to have a lot to say about me helping Charlie escape."
"Do you want me to go with you?" She offered.
"No," Connor responded. "I want to deal with this on my own."
Concern was written all over his mother's eyes as she told him, "Don't let him make you feel bad about your right choice not being the one he wanted you to make."
Connor knew that was easier said than done, but he decided to humour her. "I'll try."
He left the room then and went past the guard into his own.
Connor threw the bag of clothes he had brought back with him from his mom's place on the bed, then headed to his closet for a suit to change into, instead of staying in the old jeans and t-shirt that were dusted with dirt.
Apparently, the guards thought better than to make another comment when he left his room, since they remained completely silent, even when he looked back at them over his shoulder and commented, "Don't let anyone else in her room."
Connor didn't bother knocking on the door to his father's office. He never did, but this time he was feeling especially strongly about not following the stupid protocols he was expected to. So, when the guards moved to block the door and tried to ask what he was there for, Connor pushed past them and slammed the double doors open.
He frowned when he saw his father's personal lapdog sitting behind the desk, listening to the report from some soldier. Connor thought his name was Neville. Tom, maybe?
"We're kind of in the middle of something here," Captain Baker said as if he had the authority to be telling anyone whether they were allowed in the president's office or not.
"I couldn't care less," Connor announced theatrically, then he turned to glare at Neville. "You can leave now."
Neville hesitated for a moment as he glanced between Connor and the lapdog, then insisted, "But I'm in the middle of my report."
"Ignore him," Baker said.
Connor narrowed his eyes at Jeremy. The guy had some nerve. It was bad enough when his dad discounted him. He wasn't going to let this guy boss him around like suddenly he was the president.
Connor turned to face Neville and took a few steps closer as he warned through gritted teeth, "Get. Out."
Neville hesitated for a moment longer, then glanced in Baker's direction as if he was waiting for Baker to either lecture Connor or give Neville permission to leave. That was the final straw for Connor.
"I said get out!" He shouted. When a few seconds went by and Neville still didn't start moving, Connor pointed at the door and growled out, "Now!"
Neville took a step back in the direction of the door, but he was still looking to Baker for help.
"What are you looking at him for?" Connor demanded. "Is this the Baker Republic? You can give your report later. To me."
Neville shot one last apologetic look to Baker before he finally slipped out of the room.
"Was that really necessary?" Baker asked in an irritatingly calm voice as soon as the other man had left.
Connor wasn't in the mood for small talk or being condescended to, so he cut straight to the chase.
"Where's my dad?"
"Official story is on some important mission people don't have the clearance to know about," Baker responded. "Truth is, you helped Charlie Matheson escape just because she slept with you a few times and then you disappeared too. So, he went looking for you."
Connor had no doubt that his father had set out looking for them with the hope of finding Charlie so he could dangle her in front of Miles like catnip to lure him back.
"Why are you at his desk?" Connor demanded.
He decided it wasn't worth getting into a fight about how Charlie wasn't just some girl who had slept with him a couple of times. Baker was already acting like Connor was naïve enough. Connor didn't need to say anything that would prove that assumption true in Baker's mind.
"He left me in charge until he gets back," Baker responded. "Which means people report to me. Not to you."
"I wasn't here when he left," Connor argued. "I'm in charge now."
Baker let out a laugh, then when Connor didn't laugh along with him, he quickly composed his features.
"You're serious?"
"Dead serious," Connor responded. "I'm supposed to take over for him when he's gone. He's not here. That means I'm in charge. Not you."
"Those aren't my orders," Baker argued.
"Those are the orders I'm giving you right now," Connor insisted. "If you're looking for the best way to cover your ass for when my dad gets back, I'd advise you listen to me now."
"You really want to be in charge of holding things together and listening to a bunch of complaints and reports?" Baker questioned doubtfully.
If Baker thought it was such a bad job to be stuck with, then why was he pushing Connor so hard to try to keep him from taking over?
"Yes," Connor responded. "And clearly you don't, so you go back to your normal job and I'll take over running things."
"Alright, kid," Baker gave in. "But it's your grave. I'm not taking credit for it if you mess things up."
"Don't call me kid," Connor warned him. "And, don't worry, I'm not planning on messing up."
Charlie should have been thrilled to be back in her own bed, but instead she found herself lying awake with a head full of worries. She wanted to go check on Danny, even though they were both adults and he hadn't had a bad asthma attack, especially indoors, in a long time. She knew it was ridiculous, yet she felt a pull to go make sure he was still there and alright.
He was probably asleep though and she didn't want to wake him, so she remained where she was, lying in her bed that had never felt large before and trying to will herself to sleep.
The door opened slowly and Charlie was glad when she saw her brother standing there, silently peering in.
"I'm supposed to be the one checking on you," she teased as she sat up in bed. "What are you doing in here?"
"I couldn't sleep either," he admitted as he took a couple of steps into the room. "I kept thinking you were going to disappear on me again, so I figured I may as well come check you were still here."
"I'm not disappearing on you again," Charlie assured him. "I missed you too much and, even if I wanted to run away again, I wouldn't have anywhere to go. Besides, next time I am definitely taking you with me."
"Oh, so there's going to be a next time?" He questioned as he sat down at the foot of her bed.
"Probably not," she admitted as she leaned forward, resting her forearms on her knees. "Running away requires an awful lot of walking and you aren't the only one I'd miss, anyways. It's hardly running away if you take your whole family along with you."
"You miss him too, though," Danny pointed out. "Don't you?"
"Who? Miles? Or Connor?" She asked. "Either way, yes."
"I meant Connor," he clarified. "It's no secret I'm not his biggest fan, but I know somehow he tricked you into really caring about him when it was supposed to be one-sided the other way around. Are you in love with him?"
"I am," she admitted. "Even after all of the effort I wasted on trying not to fall for him."
"Does he love you too?"
Charlie nodded her head, then glanced down at the blanket as she toyed with its edge. "He told me he loves me and I still left him."
She didn't want to know what it said about her that she had run off with him, only to drag him back and break both of their hearts even worse in the end.
"It's not your fault his dad is a dick," Danny pointed out.
"It's not his either," she added. "He ran away and hid from his dad for me and I came back because I couldn't run away from my family too. He can't come here because of who his dad is and I couldn't stay with him because I couldn't live with turning a blind eye to what his dad's been doing. We're on opposite sides. I should have known things wouldn't work out."
There was a long pause, since they both knew that she was right and there was no solution Danny could suggest that would fix the fact that Charlie and Connor didn't fit into each other's worlds. Charlie was glad when Danny changed the subject, instead of agreeing with her or trying to reassure her in ways they would both know weren't true.
"So, where did you guys go anyways?" He asked.
"He took me to his mom's house," she responded.
"Isn't his mom dead?"
"Apparently, that was just the official story to keep people from going after her," Charlie explained. "She was alive and well when I last saw her. She was nice. Plus, she knew Miles when he was a teenager and had some dirt on him. Too bad he isn't around for me to rub it in his face."
"I'm surprised Connor wanted to bring you around her," Danny commented. "You posing as a prostitute was the whole foundation of your relationship. That seems like it would make for an awkward introduction. And, what? Did he walk around in front of her, still expecting you to play whatever part he wanted and to agree with everything he said?"
"No, it wasn't like that," Charlie insisted. "Even before we made it to Emma, things weren't the way they were when I had a cover to protect. It was different, even from when I was pretending to be his girlfriend. I didn't have to worry about saying or doing the wrong thing and ruining everything anymore and that meant disagreeing sometimes, but that wasn't always a bad thing after trying to force everything to be perfect all the time before. He didn't treat me any worse after I dropped the act and stopped trying to be everything he wanted and more. He was sweet. He didn't want me to leave, but he didn't try to make me change my mind. He just packed his stuff up and walked all the way back with me."
"I guess he doesn't completely suck then," Danny admitted.
"No, he doesn't suck," she agreed with a smile.
Miles and Monroe were a night or two outside of Philly when Miles couldn't put off the inevitable anymore.
"So how does this work?" He questioned in an irritated tone. "Are you gonna drag me straight back to Independence Hall? Or do I get the luxury of stopping to tell everyone how I screwed up and turned myself over to you, then didn't even bring Charlie back for it?"
"Who said anything about me dragging you back?" Monroe asked. "I can't stop you if you want to leave."
"Oh, come on. Cut the crap," Miles snapped. "We both know that was the deal. I help you find your kid and I get to walk with Charlie. Your kid's still missing. We both know you're not letting me go without going after the rebel base. You want to manipulate me into going back with you? Fine. But we are not friends, I am not helping you, and if you think I'm going to play along with whatever delusions you have and play nice, then you have another thing coming."
"So, what?" Monroe argued. "Your plan is to come back and just sit in a cell and tell me how much I've screwed everything up, instead of trying to do anything to help fix it?"
"Why would I help you?" Miles demanded. "You want me? You got me. But I'm not going to stroke your ego and pretend I won't be sitting there rooting for the rebels to tear your republic down."
"And then what? You really think things are going to be better with no one in charge and everyone looking out for themselves and scrambling for power with no consequences?" Monroe shouted. "Wake up, Miles. You're the one who said somebody needed to do something."
"Somebody doesn't mean you," Miles argued. "I'll take chaos and anarchy over the mess you're calling a republic."
"I know things aren't running smoothly," Monroe argued. "You think that's news to me? Thing went downhill and you just hauled ass out of there and left me by myself. You don't like how I'm running things? Then how about you help me fix it from inside, instead of aligning yourself with a bunch of half-armed half-wits? You don't get to just turn around and run away the second things go south, then get pissed at me for not magically repairing the things you helped break."
"What do you want me to say? That I had a part in the militia too?" Miles demanded. "Fine. I did. But I didn't make you do anything. You lost it. You went so far across the line that you wouldn't be able to find it again if someone handed you a map and directions."
"I'm not trying to make you say anything," Monroe insisted. "I'm asking you to help. This is your chance to make a way bigger change than you ever could with the rebels. Things have gotten worse since you left. I can't keep doing this by myself. So, I'm giving you a choice. When we get to Philly, I'll let you go. I'll even give you a head start. Three days before I come after your base. Because I know you're going to make the right choice. That's plenty of time to evacuate the rebels and disappear with your family. But we both know that you're going to huff and puff and, in the end, you'll take a few days to come to your senses and then you'll come back and help me fix our mess."
A/N: Please read and review! Another great big thanks goes out to TheLateNightWriter93 and the anonymous guest user for being truly awesome and taking the time to review last chapter! :D