Word count; 2627

Notes at the bottom

CHAPTER 36 :

When they arrived at Washington Bass was mostly healed, with certain movements the skin did still pull tight but he'd been exercising with Greg and Evan when he got the chance, slowly getting back to fighting strength. Because the wound had been superficial and Evan and Greg had done a good job of searing it closed, it had healed quickly. Also because the first week Charlie insisted he stayed in the wagon and move as little as possible, which sometimes caused him to lose his temper because he was getting sick of lying down.

They had taken it upon themselves to set up a camp a couple of miles outside of the Patriots patrol area so they wouldn't get caught but could still sneak into D.C. to get intel and supplies. Mostly they let Evan's guys go into town because there was always a risk of someone recognizing Monroe or Charlie.

Aaron and Priscilla's group had been second to arrive but in the meantime other small groups of war clans had been seeping in as well. A couple a day only but their little army was growing by the day and Bass looked around satisfied. When they noticed the group was getting bigger and bigger they had split up the camps to either side, slowly surrounding Washington with their ever-growing troops.

There was something a little off about Priscilla though, and about the way Aaron walked on eggshells around her. He tried to ignore it though, he had bigger problems than a woman who behaved oddly, because didn't they all.

It wasn't until five days after they had gotten to Washington that Miles' group arrived. Bass was in one of the tents their little army had and when he heard the commotion outside he headed out of the tent. Charlie was already greeting Miles and the rest and he saw her exchange a hug with Connor. There was no jealousy towards his son any more, he knew Charlie thought of the younger man as a friend.

Rachel noticed him first and by the look on her face he could tell that everything he thought she was responsible for was true. It was a look of pure horror as he walked over to the small group of people. "Glad to see you made it on one piece, brother." He said as he clapped Miles on the shoulder. The other man smiled and returned the favor "Likewise, Bass."

Bass turned towards Rachel and shot her a grin that was both smug and evil at the same time "Rachel... I see you're thrilled to see me." The woman was at a loss for words and it only made his smile wider, it was all he could do to keep himself from snapping the blonde woman's neck on the spot.. "How come it took you so long to get here?" He knew Charlie only tried to diffuse the situation but he could also hear anger in her voice, she, like him, had realized that their suspicions about Rachel were true. It had been the most likely explanation all along but he knew Charlie still had hope that her mother had nothing to do with Neville finding them.

"We had to take a little detour along the way, we came across a small camp of patriots." Miles looked at Bass "Turns out both Neville and Truman were killed on that road, anything you want to tell me?".

The former General grinned "I wish I could say I was responsible for killing Neville but Evan took that little pleasure away from me." Miles frowned "What happened, How the hell did you bump into that bastard in the middle of nowhere?"

Neville jumped up out of nowhere, Truman at his side and threatened to kill me, almost succeeded as well if Evan hadn't stepped in and shot him in the head. You see...," He turned his angry gaze towards Rachel "Somehow he got it into his mind that I killed his kid and since I wasn't about to disclose the truth about that little thing to him he nearly snuffed me out for good. Isn't that a shame?"

From the corner of his eyes he could see Miles' gaze flick from him to Rachel but he ignored his friend in favor of glaring at Rachel "Maybe you can shed some light on how the fuck Neville knew where we are and also why he was under the impression that I killed his son." Her face grew red and she clenched her teeth, it gave him a sense of satisfaction to see her at a loss for words once again, it didn't happen often.

He could see her mind working to find an explanation since both Miles and Charlie gave them their undivided attention at the moment. "Well?" He pressed. Her blue eyes glared furiously at him but he wasn't impressed, for all her knowledge she could never take him on, in any way. In moments like this it was even harder for him to grasp the fact that a woman like this mothered a woman like Charlie.

"Mom?" Charlie's voice came through the silence "He asked you a question... did you give us up to Neville?" Bass just wanted to hear her say the words, he wanted proof, confirmation that would make this anger burning inside seem justified. "Rachel?" Miles joined in in the conversation.

"Yes!" She exclaimed "Yes, okay. I told Neville where he could find Monroe. I made a deal with him." Bass growled and took a step closer to the woman who betrayed them "What kind of fucking deal, Rachel?" He wanted to know. She didn't back down an inch and he had to give her props for that because not a lot of people dared to defy him when he was in this kind of mood, Miles included.

"When you were in Austin I went into Willoughby and arranged a meeting with him. I told him that I would help him find you if he left the rest of us alone." Charlie balked "You did what?" But her mother ignored her. "When you came back from Austin I met up with him once more right before our group left for Washington and I told him exactly which route you would be taking and where you would be going. He demanded to know what had happened to his son and I told him it was you who killed Jason, not Charlie."

"You stupid bitch!" Bass fumed "You sent the one man who wants to kill us all after us, tell him exactly where we are... are you fucking INSANE!" Rachel pushed him back "I told him where he could find YOU! He promised me that Charlie would be fine, he just wanted your head!" Bass kept himself from strangling the woman in front of him, though it was a close call. "Oh, because Tom Neville is such a trustworthy person?! Because he never went back on his word before?! You idiotic bitch! He blamed Charlie for Jason defecting from the Militia, from him! Did you really think he would just let her leave?!"

Rachel staggered back and Bass didn't know if it was because she finally caught the murderous look in his eyes or because she finally realized in what kind of danger she had put Charlie. "You keep bitching about me being around Charlie, about how you fear for her life when she's with me while in the meantime it's YOU who almost gets her killed!"

The blond woman snarled at him "You are a monster and I don't want my daughter anywhere near you! Don't you think I've noticed the way you've been looking at her? Don't you think I see the lust in your eyes when she walks by? I'm not blind, Bass. You are all that's wrong and evil in this world and I won't let you destroy my little girl! You disgusting murderer!"

"Enough!"

Bass felt Charlie's slender hand against his chest but her angry gaze was focused on her mother "Enough!" She was spitting fire she was so angry "You have NO RIGHT to talk to him like that! He's been nothing but good to us for the past months, kept us safe! He deserves a little respect, god damn it!" He didn't advance further on Rachel but he didn't step back either, he loved Charlie but he wasn't about to let this bitch keep insulting him. The hand on his chest pressed softly but he refused to step back.

"You're defending him?" Rachel asked incredulous. "And here I thought he was forcing you to have sex with him!"

"What!?" Bass didn't know who cried out the word more disbelieving, Charlie or him. He pushed her out of the way and loomed threateningly over Rachel "What the hell did you just say?"

"Don't you dare try and deny it!" Rachel practically screamed "I saw the two of you together in the water." Bass searched his mind for a second and then realized that Rachel must have seen them after they got back from Austin, when they thought both Rachel and Gene were still in Willoughby.

The older man in question stood behind Rachel, faded grey eyes wide with shock but Bass ignored him. "So you've known for a while now that I was doing more than just gaze at Charlie? Is that why you came up with this moronic idea of sending Tom after me?" He was pretty sure it was.

On one hand he could understand Rachel's anger, she hated him after all and Charlie didn't anymore, that must hurt her pretty badly. On the other hand she endangered not only him and Charlie but the entire cause, had Neville decided to take out their whole group. Not knowing what Miles would turn into if he lost Charlie, because Rachel thought she meant the world to Miles Bass clearly saw the love in Miles' eyes when he looked at Charlie. Sometimes more fatherly than uncle.

"Will you keep it down, the whole camp doesn't need to know about this." Charlie's voice as hushed as she hissed the words to him and her mother. His blue eyes found hers and he sent her an apologetic glance before turning back to Rachel.

"How the hell dare you imply that I forced Charlie into sleeping with me?" The blonde woman scoffed "Oh, like that would be beneath you."

Bass narrowed his eyes and growled "You can say a lot about me, Rachel... but I have NEVER had to force a woman to sleep with me, nor WOULD I ever!"

"Then why the hell would my daughter pick you, of all men, to share her bed with, hmm?" Rachel fumed "She can do so much better than the likes of you. You disgusting monster!"

A few months ago he might have stood there and let her call him out like that but the past few months had changed him, he didn't feel as guilty anymore and his hand rested on the grip of his sword "You might want to watch how you talk to me, Rachel. This monster might decide he doesn't like the language you use."

She took a step back and finally he saw a little fear in those blue eyes of hers, good. He was sick and tired of her shit but the slender hand on his chest stopped him once again "Bass, you promised."

He looked down into her eyes "Let me handle this, please?" On one hand there was nothing he'd rather do than cock his gun and shot that dumb bitch right in the face but he knew he made a promise to Charlie and damn him if he wasn't going to keep it. After a moment to think about it he took a step back and her hand fell from his chest, she deserved the chance to talk to her mother but there was no way he was leaving her alone with that back-stabbing bitch.

"I don't understand this, Charlie." Rachel said, a pleading tone in her voice "How could you let him do those things to you?"

Charlie sighed and Bass noticed that she involuntarily took a small step in his direction, a small smile forming on his lips. "How could you let him touch you like that? How can you stand the look of him after all he did. I don't understand."

"I didn't think you would." Charlie sounded resigned. "I don't think you could ever understand why I make the choices I make simply because you don't understand anyone that doesn't think like you."

"That is not true." Rachel protested "I understand you plenty, but him? Sebastian Monroe? The man you spent a year fighting against, who did every evil thing in the book... How can you stand being touched by him?"

The young woman in front of him shifted her weight and he gently touched the small of her back in encouragement. "Don't you try and influence her, you piece of shit." Obviously his gesture hadn't gone unnoticed by Rachel.

"He's not influencing me to do anything, mom." Charlie stated "He's never done that, even though you like to think that everything I do that doesn't bare your seal of approval is his fault." She sighed and shook her head "You can't even look at him long enough to realize that he's changed, that he's a different man than the General we loathed and feared."

Rachel snorted "He's still the General we loathed and feared, Charlie." But the younger woman shook her head "Maybe to you, but to me he's something, someone else entirely." His chest expanded almost painfully at her words, god he loved this woman.

"What? Someone to drive the loneliness away? You could have picked anyone for that, Charlie. Hell I even minded Connor less." Her eyes widened and then she glared at Bass again "Is that what you do, huh? You share her with that bastard son of yours."

He'd heard enough and in a fit of rage and emotion he pulled his gun, aimed it at Rachel's head and cocked it "One more word comes out of that treacherous mouth of yours insulting her and I WILL pull this trigger, Rachel." Bass had about had it with the blonde woman's foul talk.

Once more Charlie's slender hand touched him, this time she wrapped her warm fingers around the hand holding the gun. Her blue eyes gazed into his, not angry or accusing but grateful and, dare he say, loving. "Please." She repeated the word from moments ago and at her command he lowered the gun but didn't put it back in the holster.

"You think you changed him, Charlie?" Rachel sneered "You think a man like that is capable of change? you're wrong. What you feel now, this infatuation, this sexual attraction... it's not going to last. It's just because he's close and virile but sooner or later you're going to realize that he will never change, that he will always be dangerous."

Charlie smiled but there was a sad pull to her mouth, Bass figured because she knew that her mother would never get what they had. "He will, I have no doubt about it. But I don't feel infatuation for him, you're wrong about that."

Her mother frowned "Then what is it that you feel for him." In front of him he felt Charlie suck in a breath of air "Love." She tried to convey all her feelings for the man in a look, tried to make her mother understand "I love him, mom." Her mother's eyes widened and she stormed off without saying another word.

Miles' covered his face with his hand and Bass... well, his heart stopped.

Here you go. Another chapter. I hope you guys are still reading the story, the previous chapter had a lot less comments then the ones before so I hope it's not because now the show is over everyone is just dropping out of Charloe-land ;p

Anywho, I'm still happily writing about them :D and here's the latest. Chapter 36 already, who would have thought this story would have gotten this long? It turned from a PWP idea into a full blown book of epic proportions ;p haha.

So, almost two weeks since hey took it off the air, how is everyone coping? Are we still alive r are you still in a revolution-less depression ;p I'm out of mine, thankfully, by the help of The 100 ;p

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, it was part of the confrontation with Rachel... PART ;p but you'll just have to wait and see what will happen.

To those still reading, thanks for sticking with me :D I hope I can bring this story to a satisfying end for you. We're not there yet but slowly inching towards it :D

Please don't be shy and let me know what you thought of the chapter and of the story so far.

Love you all!

Marisa