Bass looked like he'd seen a ghost when he met up with Charlie and Miles in the headquarters building a couple of weeks later.
They had set up shop on the second floor in the former wing command offices and cleared out all the office furniture on the first floor to make room for training sessions.
Charlie had already begun teaching sword-fighting to the soldiers under her command as well as several women in the community. Even Cassidy's children Ian and Kira had eagerly volunteered to learn, with their mother's permission and uncle's promise to closely watch them.
"What's wrong?" Charlie asked, alarmed by Bass' wild eyes, an expression she hadn't seen since their days back at the tower. He took a deep breath and sank into one of the oversized chairs. He locked eyes with Miles.
"Jeremy's alive," Bass whispered.
"What?" Miles asked in disbelief. He had heard Bass had their friend and comrade executed for deception.
"Jeremy is here. I swear," Bass replied, holding Miles' gaze. "I just saw him out in field. He's not dead …"
Bass had re-lived that scene as one of his many regrets through the years: the sound of the gun going off in an outer room after he had sentenced Captain Jeremy Baker to death.
Jeremy had been his last remaining friend after Miles had left and he'd been loyal to the end. Bass hadn't believed him when they had come under fire from the enemy and Jeremy had escaped unscathed.
Turned out Jeremy had been innocent after all, much to Bass' sorrow. But he'd been in a crazy state of mind back then, paranoid and psychotic.
"Would someone fill me in?" Charlie asked as she glanced between her husband and her father, unaware of their history with this Jeremy-person.
Miles shook his head as if to clear it before answering.
"Jeremy Baker was one of the captains in the militia. We saved him after the blackout from bandits who were beating him. He was one of our most loyal soldiers as well as a good friend. You met him a few years back when we were with the rebels and there was a bridge involved …" he explained.
Charlie vaguely recalled blowing up a bridge and eluding militia men while trying to save Miles, but then again, so much had happened in the past few years it was hard to pinpoint any memories.
"What happened to him?" Charlie asked Miles, missing the grimace on Bass' face. Miles hesitated, his eyes flickering to Bass.
"I had him executed for a crime it turned out he didn't commit," Bass answered resignedly. "That was back when …" he tapered off, staring at the floor. Everyone present knew exactly what he was referring to.
Charlie sat next to him and captured his chin in her hands to force his blue eyes to meet hers. Both she and Miles had long forgiven him for his transgressions; he was no longer that person.
"The past is the past," Charlie softly said. "And if who you saw is really Jeremy, then we will face him together."
"I hate to mention this, but I'm not sure how forgiving Baker might be seeing how you had him shot and all," Miles interjected. Charlie gave him a dirty look.
"Geez, aren't you just full of sunshine," she growled. Miles feigned injury to his heart and stalked off to go find out for himself if Baker had indeed risen from the dead.
"So it is true," the blond-haired, blue-eyed man said as he watched Miles approach. Miles smirked and cocked his head.
"Apparently," he replied. They stared each other down for a moment before Miles spoke.
"How the hell are you, Baker?" he said without malice.
Jeremy smiled.
Miles returned to headquarters with Jeremy in tow.
They had conversed for a while outside as Jeremy filled in the blanks between his alleged death and arrival at the air base. Miles in turn told him that Monroe wasn't dead either, despite patriot reports.
After Jeremy recovered from his own shock, he asked how the former general was doing.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Miles said, motioning toward the headquarters building.
Bass was standing at the conference table reviewing current intel with Charlie when Miles wandered in.
"Try not to flip out, okay," Miles said under his breath when he passed Bass. Bass looked up to see Jeremy standing in the doorway.
"I guess the reports of our deaths have been greatly exaggerated," Jeremy said by way of greeting.
Charlie immediately recognized him. Jeremy had been the one to blow Miles' cover with the rebels and had repeatedly tried to bring Miles to Monroe back then. She was conflicted between wanting to sock him for his treachery and hug him for his loyalty. Instead she stepped forward with a hand extended.
"Glad to see you're still kicking," she said. Jeremy grinned at her.
"Charlotte Matheson. It's a pleasure to see you're still saving Miles' ass," he replied as he shook her hand.
She gave him wicked smile.
"Actually it's Charlie Monroe now," she corrected, "and it's my job as second in command to make sure neither my father or my husband get killed in the line of duty."
Jeremy blinked as he digested the information and then laughed.
"My apologies. That's a tall order keeping these two out of trouble," he said.
Charlie grinned in agreement.
Bass listened to their banter and found himself smiling. His wife knew how to put anyone at ease with little effort; he was going to have to suggest she take the role of negotiator or diplomat in the future republic.
Jeremy met Bass in the middle of the room, and without a word, they embraced.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you escape a bullet?" Charlie asked Jeremy after Bass had motioned for all of them to sit at the conference table.
Jeremy half-smiled and looked directly at Bass.
"I was shot. I just wasn't fatally wounded," he said. "The others obeyed your order but deliberately missed any major arteries. I was carried away and taken to the outskirts of town, told never to show my face again."
Jeremy glanced at Charlie.
"I aimlessly drifted from place to place, wondering what an old soldier was to do," he continued. "I couldn't rejoin the militia, didn't really want to anyway, but I wasn't ready to side with the rebels, either. I encountered those patriots … They're a vicious bunch so I stayed out of their way. Then I heard Miles was heading up the resistance and I thought, what did I have to lose? The worst that could happen was he would kill me on the spot, which would have put me out of my misery anyhow."
"I'm sorry," Bass quietly said. "You told me the truth and I didn't believe you."
Charlie gently squeezed Bass' hand under the table in reassurance.
Jeremy shook his head in dismissal.
"Doesn't matter now. The gang's all here and we can defeat those patriot bastards together," he said.