A/N: When I first started this story, it was supposed to be like 10 chapters and all of them short. It's gotten out of hand. This is the 2nd of three chapters for the day. If this was the first you've read today, you've missed one. Up next is the epilogue.

They lay there together, the muffled sounds from outside the room reminding the both of them where they were. For the time being, Monroe just tucked her under his chin and wrapped his arms around her, as if by doing so he could keep her with him just a little longer.

"I'm sorry I ruined your plans," he finally said quietly. There were a lot more important things to worry about than her failed attempt to celebrate his birthday, but he needed to break the silence somehow—and he was sorry. Monroe didn't know exactly what she'd planned, but whatever it had been, she at least had made an effort.

"It's okay. I know you hate birthdays anyway."

The fact that she'd so readily accepted his apology only made what he was about to say next harder. "I meant what I said earlier, Charlie. I can't live like this anymore. I can't keep pretending I'm something I'm not.

"I never tried to hide myself from you—from the day you showed up in my office I laid it all on the line for you. You knew and you still loved me once. Why can't that man be enough for you now?"

Charlie pushed away and sat up. Monroe's gaze was fixed of to the side and he refused to look at her. "Bass, I—"

"Let me finish." Monroe knew if he didn't get it all out now, he never would. "Either you love me, or you don't; either you want to be with me, or not. I can't do this one foot in the door shit. If I'm not what you want, you need to tell me. I'll find you a place—or, better yet, I'll give you the house and I'll get an apartment or something on campus."

He finally looked at her; his blue eyes were shining in the dim lamplight. Monroe fully expected her to say it was too much for her to deal with. Why wouldn't it be? No one wanted the stress of living with someone with as many issues as he. "I won't let you take Bethany way from me though. I've buried two children. I can't lose a third."

Charlie stopped him there. "Wait, a third child?" she asked, holding up a hand. "When did you have another kid?"

Monroe hadn't been aware that Charlie didn't know. He sat up against the cracked headboard of the bed and held his arms out to her. When she finally complied, he settled her in between his legs, holding her against his chest as he told her the story of the young man that had lost it all. By the time that he was done, her eyes brimmed and heart ached for the man that buried his humanity alongside his wife and child so long ago.

"You never told me," she murmured when he was done.

"I—I thought you knew," he said with a sad sigh. "I don't talk about them, but I would have if I'd have known Miles hadn't told you already—he seems to have no trouble telling the rest of the world, so I just figured he'd have mentioned something to the one person that had a right to know about it."

Her heart was breaking for him and now she understood why he'd been acting the way he had. "After the way things ended before, I was terrified. I found out I was pregnant and I just freaked out. When we read about Connor, I didn't know what you'd do when you found out about the baby, so I hid in Willoughby, knowing you wouldn't come for me there."

"Do you have any idea how much it hurt to have to find out from Shawn?" Monroe's tears flowed freely now. "How much it still hurts? She doesn't even have my last name, Charlie. Even now, it's like you're still trying to keep your options open. Every time you showed up at my door, it was so hard to let you go again, and now you expect me to do it again if you change your mind."

Charlie grabbed the sides of his face, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Look at me—that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm sorry I implied that I was. It's just that it scares me how easily you can go back there in your head."

"You have to know that no matter how fucked up I get, I'd never hurt you and Bethany. I promise I-"

Charlie practically smothered Monroe's mouth with her hand. "Now it's time for you to let me talk, okay?" She waited for him to nod before continuing. "I love you, not this weird yes man you've been pretending to be, but you—crabby, depressed, idiotic you. I just wanted you to talk to me so I knew you were going to be okay. I never expected you to turn into the damned dog and just let me walk all over you."

When he opened his mouth to reply, Charlie smacked him. She got him in a sore spot and he yelped in protest. "I said, shut up. I just need you to let me know when life is piling up on you. If you can handle that, I can handle the fact that you're just a little nuts, okay?"

Her lecture complete, Charlie settled back down against him and they lay there together for some time while Monroe mulled her words over in his mind.

"Charlie?"

"Hmmm?" It was obvious that she'd started to doze off a little, and when she finally looked up at him with sleep filled eyes, he couldn't help but smile down at her.

"I think I'm ready to go home now."

After Monroe took the time to settle up with Tony's bartender, they started the long walk home. They talked as they made their way through the quiet streets of Austin. He told her about that last conversation he'd had with Connor. "Those idiots in Congress may have put the idea in his head, but it was never about taking over. It was about taking it away. I don't know if being in Mexico messed him up or if he was always like that. I knew he was sick, but I didn't know how deeply it ran."

Charlie told him of how she and Miles had both been so desperate of news of him and how they'd ached for him as they'd collected those articles and letters from Shawn. "I wish I could have been there for you. You shouldn't have had to go through all of that alone."

"You were there with me the whole time," Monroe confessed. He went on to describe all of the nights he'd spent in her quarters, alone and depressed. How he'd read the letter she'd left so many times he had it memorized. He told her how being there and seeking out traces of her had pulled him back more than once—both from doing things that would have let the monster inside take over completely, and from putting said monster out of its misery.

By the time they got to the cul de sac, Charlie had forced an explanation over what had happened over the past week. She was downright indignant in her defense of him. The fact that once again a member of Texas' congress was instrumental in messing with her life by driving her man crazy was almost enough to send Charlie packing for Cali (with her family in tow, of course).

Monroe had been floored by her support- not that he should have been so surprised. Rather than expecting him to go off the deep end, she'd have backed him up and maybe would have given him what he'd needed to get through the week feeling a little less persecuted. He now felt like an idiot for not having confided in her, and made sure that she knew it.

When they got home, they found a note wrapped around the doorknob:

We've got your munchkin tomorrow. Sleep in, work it out, fuck like bunnies! I'll bring her home Monday morning. We don't want to see your faces before then.

Loves!

Chuck and Jackie

(Relationship counseling, parenting advice, and all around awesome neighbors!)

The second they walked through the front door, Charlie insisted on them cleaning up a little. That mattress had been disgusting and she was adamant that she was not going to bring anything from that place into their bed. She'd also insisted that Monroe let her tend to some of the worst cuts and bruises.

"Next time, you'd better keep it to a fight or two instead of letting them beat you to a pulp. If you get yourself killed working off your temper, I'm going to kick your ass," she told him as she rubbed some salve on the worst of them.

They were too tired to do more than collapse into bed afterwards. Tomorrow would be soon enough to follow Jackie's instructions—and Monroe had every intention to do what he'd been told and enjoy every damn minute of it.

By the time they woke up Monday morning, Charlie could barely walk, Monroe had the biggest ego in Texas because of it, and they'd come to a simple solution to at least one of his hang ups. Since Bethany was his daughter, her name would automatically change if he married her mother, and Charlie had agreed to go through with it. That also solved the problem of him carrying that ring around in his pocket to keep her from finding it—he was starting to worry he'd lose the damn thing if he'd kept doing so.

Bethany came toddling in the door with Jackie right behind her just as Monroe was putting the coffee on and getting breakfast started. After practically groveling at Jackie's feet for everything she and Chuck had done in the past few days (and agreeing to help her husband whitewash the house), he sent her on her way so he could concentrate on feeding Bethany.

His daughter happily followed him as he carried a tray into the bedroom. Charlie waited there, curled up with a book. After making a quick trip to the school to pick up the long forgotten box, he made sure the rest of the day was just for them. While Bethany took her nap later, Charlie put on the dress and Monroe got his birthday present a little late.