A/N: I don't usually post these but I felt the need to apologize for the lack of updates from me! It's been a very busy month and I've been trying to squeeze in writing time when I can. I plan on putting up several chapters in the next few days to make up for the lost time :)

Also, as if this story wasn't straying from canon as it was, we are now in full non-canon territory.

Charlie could not imagine living in the Tower for fifteen years. They had only been down there two, maybe three days- she was losing track of the time- and she was feeling claustrophobic and antsy. She missed sunlight, fresh air, seeing the trees. The trek to Philadelphia had been harrowing but right now, she would have given anything to be out on the open, overgrown road where anything could happen. The Tower was too stagnant and too sterile. On top of those reasons, the place felt like a cage. In her opinion, only a few things were worse than being trapped in an underground maze with her mother.

For the most part, she had managed to avoid her. Either she spent time hidden away with Jason or sat silently at Miles's side. Even if Charlie was in plain sight, Rachel seemed to keep her distance or wasn't around. If Charlie had bothered to care, she would have wondered what her mother was up to. She may have even questioned her. Now, she would have been happy if her mother disappeared once more.

At the moment, Charlie was with Miles, who kept a watchful eye over Nora, as though she were about to jump up and run or disappear into thin air. She tried not to look at Nora- it was too painful to see her severely injured and hooked up to the strange machines. She tried not to look at Miles- it was too painful to see his sleepless, scruffy self hunched over the bed and clearly distraught over the current state of their lives.

"I'm going to get something to eat." she said softly, catching his attention. He moved his head in a silent nod and scrubbed one hand over his eyes. The other seemed permanently glued to Nora's. "I'm going to bring you something back."

"No." his voice was more gravelly than usual and he cleared his throat. "No, I'll... I'll be out in a few minutes."

She cocked her head to the side in a silent observance. After a moment, she gave a nod, and mumbled, "Okay. I'll see you out there."

She shut the door to the infirmary quietly and began to make her way through the winding halls back to the dining room. She had quickly learned her way around Level 11. Half of it was offices and the other half were apartments with a shared dining room and recreational room. She supposed she should have used the word apartments loosely. They were more like dorm rooms, or so Aaron had said, as they stood in the doorway of one earlier at some point. They were barren and sterile, just like the rest of the Tower, with a simple desk, bookcase, and a set of bunk beds. A door in each led to a bathroom, typically shared between two rooms.

"Charlie,"

She was determined to keep on walking and ignore her mother. She had been doing a fine job of it up until then and she could continue to do so. This did not deter Rachel, as she continued to follow her daughter down the hall.

"I want to talk." she said quietly. The statement elicited a snort from the younger woman, who still did not turn around.

"There's a first."

"How's Nora?"

"What do you really want?"

"Like I said, to talk. I'd like it if you stopped and did that."

"I'd like a lot of things from you but I haven't gotten any of that either."

"Charlie," Rachel's tone turned slightly cold, as if warning her that she was about to cross some unwritten line. Her daughter picked up on that and laughed, finally stopping and turning to face her.

"Do not try and play the mom role okay? You and I both know that that is not who you are, at least not for me. You were never there for me and when you finally had that chance, you pissed it away. I am done. I don't want to hear the excuses anymore."

"There's so much that you don't know."

"And who's fault is that? Yours! Every question I have ever asked has been answered one of two ways: 'not right now' or 'you wouldn't understand'. I'm convinced that you don't have the answers or I'm not going to like them. At this point, it's not even worth it."

"Well, please listen to me now. I'm leaving and I want you to come with me. Whatever you want to know, I will tell you but I want you to come with me."

"You're leaving." she repeated flatly. Rachel gave a short nod and crossed her arms over her chest. "Where are you going?"

There was a moment of hesitation on Rachel's part, which made Charlie's expression harden.

"Off to a great start." she huffed. "Forget it. I don't care. I'll be happier with you gone."

"Charlie."

"Stop. Just stop. The only reason you're even doing this is because Danny and Alex are gone. I finally made it to the top of your priorities but only as a last resort."

"I know it seems that way, but it's not. Charlie, you're the one I never had to worry about. You were always so self-sufficient and headstrong. You never needed me."

"I always needed you. I needed a mom. I wasn't a mini-adult. You threw that onto me. I was a kid and I had more responsibilities than I should have had and the sad thing is is that I thought that was normal. But not anymore. I don't need you and I don't want you. I'm not going anywhere with you."

"This could be a second chance."

"You had that opportunity. No more."

"I'm your mother."

"It doesn't matter. You don't care so I won't either."

"I do care."

"You won't even tell me where you're going!" Charlie let out an incredulous laugh. "How can you stand there and say you want to start over and things are going to be different when you're just as secretive as you always have been?"

"I will tell you but I can't right now."

"No. I don't trust you. Do you know how messed up that is that I don't trust my own mother?"

"You can trust me."

"For how long? Until I get hurt on the road and you decide something is more important?"

"That's not fair. I would never leave you."

"You're doing it now! You did it eight years ago and you did it three months ago! That's all you know how to do!"

"Do you think I wanted to do that? Both times I left, it was because of you. I left eight years ago to protect you from Miles. He threatened to hurt you and Danny if I didn't go to him and give him what answers he wanted. He kept me as a prisoner for years Charlie."

"I don't believe you."

"Ask him yourself."

"If you were a prisoner, how did become involved in Alex's life?" Charlie retorted. Rachel remained silent for a moment, which only infuriated Charlie more. "It's not so easy to lie to me now is it? I'm not that naïve, little girl anymore. I actually can tell when something is wrong with your stories."

"There's a lot you don't understand."

"Surprise, surprise."

"If you come with me, I promise things are going to be different."

"Why do you need to leave so bad? What makes you think I would voluntarily want to come with you? You left Nora to die and you left me to deal with it."

"Charlie, the power was more important at that point and Nora knew it. Sometimes there are sacrifices that need to be made and she understood that. When she wakes up, she's going to tell you the same thing. None of us are holding any grudges so you shouldn't either."

"Except you didn't leave her to turn the power back on."

"There was nothing I could have done."

"You could have tried. You could have put yourself at risk, just like she has for me and for Danny, and tried. There was nothing we could have done when Don or Dan or whatever and his weirdo group didn't fall for the tripwire and she still tried. She was willing to do whatever it took to make things work when she has absolutely no reason to help you whatsoever. She hasn't done anything to you. She's been helping you. If anything, she should be the one turning against you."

"The world doesn't work like that."

"Not for you. That's what decent people do, especially for their family. But you don't do that, right? You don't think Aaron didn't tell me what happened on your journey? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would wonder how you could be such a cold and heartless bitch." Charlie snapped. Rachel's eyes narrowed at the insult.

"She's not my family and she's not yours either." she responded calmly, deciding to ignore the last part of the statement.

"No, that's where you're wrong. She is my family and more so than you are."

"Charlie, they are driving a wedge between us."

"You're doing that just fine on your own."

"Come with me and things will change. Once we are on our way, I will tell you everything. Right now, it's too risky to talk."

"Why is it too risky to talk?" Charlie frowned and crossed her arms. "Are you afraid someone might hear you?"

"There are certain things that don't need to be discussed at the moment."

"What are you hiding?"

"Nothing. It's just... not safe."

"Where are you going?"

"Charlie,"

"I won't give you any consideration if you don't give me the slightest hint as to what you're talking about. Where are you going?"

"Cincinnati." Rachel responded after a moment's hesitation.

"What's so special about there that you don't want anyone overhearing it? The power is on. Looks like Monroe's been stopped by Neville. The only thing that could be important to you is-" she trailed off as it hit her. "I can't believe you."

"Charlie,"

"Alex is there, isn't he?"

"I'm leaving in half an hour. Meet me at the elevators."

"He is. You don't want Miles knowing he's alive."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"You're trying to keep him away. You're doing exactly what you did when he was born. You're trying to make him think he's dead. Plus, you just made it very clear what your plans are. You want me to come so you have help getting there but once you have him, I'll be out of the picture."

"I know that I have made mistakes but you need to learn to trust me. It's going to be hard but this is our chance to work on that."

"No, that's exactly why I don't trust you. You're manipulative and I refuse to take part in this. I know you and I know you're hellbent on doing what you want. If I were you, I'd leave now because I'm telling Miles and you'll need a head start. If not, you'll have to drug me and lock me in a closet to stop me from talking."

She took off down the hallway before Rachel could even react and nearly ran headfirst into her uncle as she rounded the corner close to the infirmary.

"Whoa, why are you in such a rush?" he put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. Immediately, she launched into the story and with each passing moment, his expression morphed into a venomous scowl.

At least he could be thankful for feeling something other than complete hopelessness and despair. Now, he was pissed. He could feel his anger simmering as he hastily threw a bag of supplies together. In twenty minutes, everything had been turned upside down. Now it was a race to see who would get there first and Rachel, taking Charlie's warning to leave, currently had the advantage.

He figured he should have known. She hadn't seemed very affected by the launch of the bombs. She had been disgusted but that had been because two cities had been destroyed. Her lack of concern and inability to get into the launch room hadn't been brought on by shock and grief. She didn't care because she knew the entire time Alex was not in danger whatsoever. Everyone else didn't matter to her.

It seemed like such a Rachel move to use a major attack as a cover to slip away and steal Alex again. His fingers gripped a bottle of water tightly, nearly cracking the plastic. She fully intended to let them think he was dead again. He wondered if Bass was heading in that direction as well. One, big, fucked up family.

"Here, I found these." Charlie appeared at Miles's side and tossed down a box of ammo. Jason lingered behind her, armed with his own weapon. "A couple locked cabinets in some of the offices. Found two handguns too."

"Thanks," he holstered both the guns, making her frown.

"One of them is mine."

"You don't need one in here."

"I'm coming with you."

"No you're not."

"Miles,"

"Charlie, I don't have time to argue with you." the expression on his face must have been serious because her mouth snapped shut immediately. Even though he could see her annoyance at being left behind, she didn't fight him again. "I need you here in case Nora wakes up before I get back. I don't want her to be alone."

"You're going by yourself?"

"No." Miles looked towards Jason- a silent order for the younger man, who gave an understanding nod. "He knows where we're going."

"I don't understand. Why Cincinnati?"

"It's one of the major cities of the Republic; a capital, if you want to describe it that way. Boston is for New England, Philly was the main one obviously. Cincinnati is a central command for that area. It holds one of the larger bases for the Militia and we would stay there when we had business to conduct. It was a stand-by city, ready to take over as the capital of the Republic if we needed it to. Same goes for Boston."

"What do you mean?"

"If we felt Philly wasn't safe, we would head to one of those. Nora and I went to Boston once or twice but it was rare."

"Monroe never left the city. If he did, it was just to go to the surrounding camps to see what was going on." Jason said quietly. "My mom went to Cincinnati with Alex a few times. The city came close to being attacked or whatever he thought was a threat. He sent Alex with my mom and an armed guard. They would stay maybe two, three weeks, then come back. Monroe was paranoid. He never wanted anything to happen to Alex. The kid was under lock and key constantly. He wanted him as far away as possible but in the safest environment. He didn't like sending him to Boston. The one time he did, there was an attack. Alex was almost kidnapped."

"At some point before Monroe left, he sent Alex there. He most likely told Rachel this while he had her captive in order to gain her help." Miles added.

"How do you know that? I mean, I know she's going there for him but how do you know all that?" Charlie asked.

"I don't but I know how Monroe works. He wouldn't leave Alex alone in the city that is ready to turn against him and he was going to want your mother back on his good side and the incentive was going to have to be good enough to make her want to help." Miles started for the door and glanced at Jason as he passed by. "I want to leave in ten minutes. Kiss her goodbye, meet me at the elevator."

If they hadn't been in such a tense situation, he was sure Charlie would have been scowling at him to try and cover her embarrassment and Jason would have been spluttering and stammering over his words. Instead, they both remained silent and didn't so much as move towards each other as he left the bedroom. The walk to the infirmary only took him a few minutes. Once inside, he sat down on the edge of Nora's bed and stared at her, unsure of what to do next. In the time he had sat with her, he hadn't said a word. It always struck him as ridiculous when he heard of people talking to loved ones in comas but right now, he had the inexplicable urge to unleash the events of the past two days on her unconscious form.

"I'm going to get him back." he whispered, voice barely audible. "I promise I will. He's going to be here when you wake up."

He leaned in, almost hesitantly, and placed a light kiss against her mouth. The lack of response killed him. She was always eager, teasing, or willing to reciprocate. Now there was nothing. He waited a moment or two before pulling away. He kept his eyes open, watching for the slightest hint of the flutter of her eyelids like they were in one of those damn princess movies Charlie used to watch.

"Because I'm not Prince Charming or whatever. This wouldn't be some grand love affair."

"I'm not the romantic type."

The distant memory forced an ache to form in his chest. He pulled away enough to lean his forehead against hers and shut his eyes momentarily. Please don't leave me. He kissed her forehead as he straightened up, then left the room quietly.

As requested, Jason was standing at the elevator as Miles turned the corner. Charlie was nowhere in sight, which surprised him. He had expected one last argument from her.

"Ready?" he asked gruffly. Jason nodded twice and tugged at the strap of the bag on his back. "Alright, let's go."