Chapter 9: A plan
Again, no idea if the nanite thing or pendant thing make any sense, but I need to get rid of the nanites, and it never made sense to me that the pendants just disappeared from the Rev plot.
Blackfoot, Idaho. A small town near Bradbury
"Rachel, I found them." They enter a small kitchen of a house that has clearly been abandoned. She comes into the kitchen with Aaron behind her. "Charlie." She makes no move to hug her.
"Mom." She makes no move to hug her either. But her face lights up at seeing Aaron and gives him a big hug.
Rachel clocks this and turns to Monroe. "Bass." No hug obviously. "Rachel." "Stay Puft." She looks at Connor and then at Bass. "Do we trust him?" "I can hear you," says Connor.
Monroe just looks at her. "He's with me."
She blinks and looks over to Miles.
"Okay, greetings over." Miles ends the awkwardness. "Tell them what you told me."
She explains the electrical grid and her theory that the nanites may create so much energy together that they will overload the power grid.
"How is that not going to result in a power outage like any other?" Monroe asks. "They'll short circuit themselves." Aaron steps in. "And how do we know that?" asks Charlie.
"Because we have these." Aaron holds up three pendants. "The pendants!" Charlie and Monroe both say. Connor looks at everyone. "Okay, what are the pendants?" "They provide electricity," Monroe tells him.
"And with an amplifier they can provide a lot of electricity," Rachel tells him. "But," Aaron adds. "They're also thumb drives." Everyone except Rachel looks at him blankly. "I can reprogram the code on them to speak to the electrical grid and the amplifier." Blanks all around again, except Rachel.
"Just trust me that this should work," Aaron is clearly done explaining things to the luddites.
"Okay," Miles steps in and turns to Monroe, Charlie and Connor. "There you go. Presentation over."
"So now what do we do?" asks Connor. "Now we wait," says Rachel. "Yeah I don't think so," says Connor. "Do you have a better idea?"
"I do actually."
"Okay," Miles steps in again. "We'll get to that later."
"How long do you think?" Charlie asks Aaron.
"Not long. Few days, tops."
"A few days?" Connor whines. "No. I'm not sitting around here with my thumb up my ass for a few days."
Rachel just looks at him. She could give two shits what Connor thinks. Then her eyes dart to Monroe to see what he'll say.
Monroe looks to Miles and Charlie. Miles nods his head. Charlie shrugs, "Let's give it a few days." "Okay then. Let's pick bedrooms." Monroe slings his pack over his shoulder.
** The first night is hard. Charlie isn't used to sleeping on her own. She tosses and turns, until she finally gives up and goes to the window of the 2nd floor bedroom she's sleeping in. She opens the window and crawls onto the roof. Despite having so many people around her, she feels very alone at this moment. She misses him. She misses their camaraderie. His humor. The warmth and comfort of his body lying next to hers.
On the other side of the house, Monroe sits on the porch, not even trying to sleep. He leans against the wall and stares into the night. He misses having someone next to him. He misses talking to her, teasing her. Her laughter. Her questions. Her trust as she sleeps next to him. He's anxious about what lies ahead now that their little bubble is over and they're back with the others.
Because they might be back with the same group they were with before, but they are different people now to each other.
The next morning
Charlie enters the kitchen for breakfast at the same time Monroe enters from the kitchen's back door. They look at each other and both feel an instant – and surprising – sense of calm.
Miles and Rachel are at the kitchen table with Aaron, eating bread and fruit. Monroe and Charlie serve themselves but both remain standing, leaning against the counter.
"So Miles tells me that you want to go to DC," Rachel says to Monroe in her calm, self-righteous voice.
Thanks a lot Miles. Monroe pauses before taking a bite. "Rachel, could you maybe wait until a little later in the morning to pick fights with me?"
"I'm just asking because—"
He talks over her. As I said to Charlie and Miles—"
"–I think it's a good idea." She interrupts him.
'Wait, WHAT?" Aaron is the only one able to find words here, because everyone else is speechless.
"Going to DC. We'll have to." "Why?" asks Miles.
"Because that's where the 13th pendant is. Without the code hidden on that one, we'll never be able to turn the lights on."
Everyone speaks at once. Variations of What the hell, Why didn't you tell us, Who do you think you are, Fuck the nanites let's just go now, etc.
"It's hidden in the basement of the Pentagon," says Rachel. "So yes, I'm in favor of going to DC. But it won't work unless the nanites are gone."
"Ohhh kay. Anything else you're not telling us?" Aaron hates being out of the loop. Rachel just looks at him.
Connor has entered the room. "Okay, so why don't some of us head to DC, and get this last pendant before anyone else can find it? We'll just wait for the rest of you."
"You won't be able to find it by yourself," Rachel says. "I'm not as dumb as you think."
Monroe levels a look at Connor, hoping to shut him up. "We do need a plan though," helping himself to Charlie's blueberries. She hates blueberries. "It's a long way to DC from here."
Charlie lets him take her blueberries, and grabs the last chunk of bread on his plate. This is so natural for them, that they don't realize what they're doing. But Rachel clocks it and she doesn't like it.
"There's a steam train that cuts through this town," Miles says. "It goes as far as...the old Monroe Republic." Everyone looks at Monroe. He didn't allow steam trains. Even if he did, they would have been obliterated when the bomb fell.
Monroe sighs in exasperation and looks away. He can't win with this group. Charlie's had enough of the bickering. "I'm going into town to get supplies." "I'll go with you," says Connor.
"Nope." – Miles. "No, you won't." – Rachel. "I don't think so." – Monroe.
"Let's go." – Charlie.
"Jesus, I can't handle the energy there," Connor says as they set out.
"Yeah."
"I mean that's like a weird bunch of people there."
"Mmmm."
He laughs. "Are you ever going to say a damn thing to me?"
"I think you're a real asshole. How's that?"
"They're all assholes too!" he swings his arm towards the house. "How am I any different?"
"Because we're assholes who take care of each other." She shrugs because she knows it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. "Can I say the same about you, Connor?"
He considers this. "No." She actually appreciates his honestly. "So don't wonder why we don't trust you."
He thinks on that for a bit. "You trust Monroe, and he doesn't seem to have a great history with Mathesons. His best friend fucking hid me from him. That's some sick shit."
He does have a point. For the first time, she wonders if Connor might be lonely. "I don't know. I think Monroe was in a bad place. He was not a good guy."
"Oh, but he is now?" She doesn't answer. Is he?
They're silent until they approach the town. "So, you want to bang one out somewhere while we're here?" Connor asks.
She gives him a sidelong glance. "That's never happening again."
He laughs, "Yeah, I already figured that out. You'd never do that to Monroe again. Maybe he's a good guy, maybe he isn't, but you want him."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on, we both know why you picked me that night. You wanted to piss him off. I mean you two couldn't be more obvious. Can't imagine your mom or uncle is going to be too happy about this."
Again, nothing.
"I mean, really, this is so entertaining. Can't wait for this to implode."
They go their separate ways in town. Charlie in a store buying some arrows, when she spots it. A Wanted sign for Sebastian Monroe. She picks it up – is it the same one the other bounty had? No, it's a new one, which means another bounty hunter is looking for Monroe.
She pays for her arrows and leaves. She finds Connor flirting with a girl who's manning one of the market stalls, and without stopping, she grabs his elbow and keeps walking. "Let's go."
He lets himself get pulled along, turning to the girl behind the table. "I'm in high demand, sorry." He turns to Charlie and she lets his arm go as they walk back to the house. "What is it?" "Wanted sign for Monroe." "So? There must be thousands of them."
"Maybe but there's one here and the paper looks fresh." Once they're far enough from the town, she pulls it out of her bag and shows him.
"Shit, even has a drawing of him. And it's a pretty good likeness," he says. "But I don't understand who has a bounty on him, it doesn't say."
"I guess it could be anyone. Which is probably worse than if we did know."
When they get to the house, Charlie calls out to Miles and Monroe and shows them the Wanted sign.
"Jesus Bass." Miles, shakes his head. "Trouble follows you everywhere." "Oh, like you're so innocent?"
"This is not a competition Bass." He looks over the sign and sighs in frustration. "We don't even know who's after you."
"We've gotta get outta here –" but Connor is interrupted by Miles who doesn't give a shit what Connor thinks and doesn't want to give him the opportunity to even speak.
"If this," he waves towards the general direction of Bradbury, "hasn't happened in two days then we'll reassess."
"But—"
"Meeting adjourned." He leaves to find Rachel. Connor rolls his eyes and goes upstairs. Monroe heads outside to the porch, where Charlie joins him a few minutes later.
He's sharpening his sword against the railing. He's not accomplishing much, but it does make a satisfying sound.
"Hey." She leans against the railing facing him.
"What do you want?"
"Seeing if you're okay, since you're doing something oddly unproductive there."
"Why wouldn't I be okay?"
She gives a little laugh, looking away from him. "Have you noticed that you always answer a question with a question?"
"Do I?" He gives a little smile.
She rolls her eyes but then looks at him, trying to catch his eyes, although he doesn't seem to want to look at her. "The Wanted poster. We can't stay here much longer."
He knows that he can't. But he's not sure that if it really got down to it, the Mathesons would actually care what's best for him.
"Awww you worried about me Charlie?" To mask his uncertainty, he calls back to a couple of days ago when she asked him the same thing, in the same manner. But when he finally looks at her, he sees sincere worry in her eyes.
"Yeah, I am," she says.
They stare at each other for a beat.
Then to break the tension, he lifts the sword. "Wanna spar?"
Her face lights up. "Is Miles's sword around?" She's always wanted to learn how to swordfight. They do a sweep of the porch, but it isn't.
"That's fine," Bass steps to the clearing by the porch and picks up two branches. "We'll use these." He hands her one. "And we'll be just be productive here..." he uses the railing to smooth out the branch's edges..."and voila."
And he teaches her how to sword fight.
"You're in a unique position because you're left handed," he teaches her. "Use that to your advantage." He comes behind her and puts his hands on her hips, moving them to the correct stance. "Lean into it like this. Feet here." He uses his own feet to kick hers into place. Leaving his right hand on her hip, he moves his left arm over hers. "Hold it here," he holds the branch while she adjusts her grip, and then folds his hand over hers. "This is your grip. This is your stance."
Their chemistry is buzzing through both of them, but they ignore it, partly because they're in view of the house, and partly because they're both having fun.
He steps back opposite her. "Now the trick here is to watch my hand, not the sword." They parry. She loses when he easily "stabs" her in the stomach. She sighs in frustration and determination.
"Okay, so watch my hand, but remember to read my entire body. People will give you unconscious signals about what their next move is."
And that makes the difference. She's been around Monroe for so long that she realizes that not only can she read his body language, but that she knows it well. She's a fast learner, but Monroe definitely makes her work for it. They step towards each other with each parry and clash, then step back. Their usual sparks are alive between them, as they circle each other, parry and thrust, out of breath.
Finally Charlie comes at him from the left, just as she's been taught, but she also knows full well that's where his blind spot is. She stabs him squarely in the side.
"Hey!" He can't believe she got him. Then he looks at her. "You know my blind spot." She out of breath from the exercise. "Hard to have fought next to you for so long and not notice."
She knows his blind spot weakness. She knows a lot of his weaknesses. It's a vulnerability that he's not sure he likes.
They stand staring at each other, recovering their breath. Is it because of the exercise or something else? They both think back to that kiss by the tree. The heat. The passion. How badly they each wanted it. What a bad idea it is. Monroe's eyes dart to her lips, and Charlie feels a longing at her center that is becoming familiar around him.
But neither will cave.
He recovers his composure first, lunging forward to knock her branch out of her hand, before grabbing her shoulder and "stabbing" her in the stomach with his branch.
"Hey! Now you're just cheating," she says, leaning down to pick up her branch.
"You do whatever works, Charlie. That's not cheating, that's war." He raises his branch and starts attacking again.
She reacts to his coldness. "Well you would know."
"I would. That's why there's a Wanted poster for me."
A minute or two goes by as they just fight. Their branches cracking against one another, their boots on the gravel, their heavy breathing.
"You think we're going to leave you don't you?" Charlie finally asks. Their branches clash together. She steps back.
"It's what I would do." He steps forward.
"No it isn't." She parries and her branch stops him, clashing into his.
They move around each other, looking for angle.
"I'm a monster Charlie. Remember?" He thrusts.
"You definitely were. You were awful." She holds him off. Thrusts herself.
"Stop acting like you think I've changed." He easily stops her. "People don't change Charlie." He comes at her harder now, really making her work for it. "I'm not who you want me to be."
"I don't want you to be anything other than who you are." She gives as good as she gets, coming back at him just as hard.
She isn't experienced enough to talk and concentrate on a skill she's just learning. He catches her in a maneuver and knocks her branch right out of her hand again. She's close enough that she can make a grab for his but he catches her wrist. "You don't know me Charlie."
They're so close again. She smells his familiar scent - a mixture of soap, sweat, and something distinctly him. "Yes I do."
Then she kicks her foot behind his, takes advantage of the weakness of his own stance, and topples him to the ground, where he lands with a huff, pulling her down with him.
He's not sure if she should be impressed or pissed. "Now that's a move I know," she says proudly.
They scramble for his branch that has dropped to the ground next to him. He's faster, and he grabs it and "stabs" her. Because he's competitive, he keeps poking her with it just to be a jerk. "But I still win." Poke poke poke. "Tell me I win."
She holds her arms up in mock surrender. "Ok! Now stop poking me with your stick. What are you, four years old?"
"Maybe." He smiles. Their earlier tension forgotten. He gets up, pulling her with him. He can't help himself – he leans in and whispers in her ear, "I'm bigger than a stick."
"Says you." But color heats her face, which was his intention, but he knows that his is equally flushed.
"Ahem." They look up to see Miles on the porch, arms crossed, watching them. "If you two are done, Aaron's made dinner."
They walk past him and inside, not noticing Miles's curious look about the sides of Bass that Charlie brings out.
Later that night.
It's late, but Charlie knows she'll have a hard time sleeping again, so she sits on the steps of the front porch, lost in thought, staring in the general direction of Bradbury. Will this actually work? What will happen when they go to DC? What does she want?
"It's late." She looks up to see Monroe, who hands her his jacket before settling himself opposite her on the stairs, a flask in his hands.
She didn't realize how cold she was. "Thanks." She puts her arms into the arm holes. It smells like him, something she finds both calming and arousing. The jacket engulfs her, and seeing her in it does things to Monroe's pulse. He takes a sip from his flask and hands it to her. "Why are you still awake?"
"Why are you?" 'Ever notice you always answer a question with a question?"
She smiles. "I can't sleep. I keep thinking about what's going to happen with this," she gestures towards Bradbury, "And then DC. Are we going to be better off, or is this just going to add to our problems?"
"What choice do we have?" He realizes he just answered a question with a question again, and quickly revises. "I don't know what choice we have."
She moves so they're facing each other on either side of the staircase. "You and Miles both have another choice. Texas Rangers.
"
"That could probably be your choice too if you wanted it. But I see you doing bigger things than that. And for me..." he looks off, unable to look at her when he says this next thing. "I've got to fix what I broke."
That's definitely not what she expected him to say. "So this isn't about Connor and your guilt?" He considers this. "I think that's all a part of fixing what I broke." "And what does that look like to you?" He smiles. "Are we playing 20 Questions?"
"Sure." She won't let him dodge this question. It feels too important to her.
"I don't know, Charlie. I know what I don't want, and that's to be a president by myself. Because you're right, I hated it. But I want to be a part of putting this country back together."
"Do you think people will let you?"
"I've gotta try." He waits for that to sink in before continuing. "My turn to ask questions."
"Okay."
"Do you still think I'm a monster?"
She looks into his eyes, and can see how important this answer is to him. "No."
The intensity between them is more than chemistry right now.
"My turn," she says. "Why did Miles leave?"
He frowns and drops his eyes, because he knows his answer to this will kill the moment.
"Because I slept with Rachel when we had her in Philadelphia."
She pauses before saying in a small voice, "What?" Instinctively, she draws his jacket closer around her.
He takes a breath, determined to say this, and hoping she'll understand. "We – Miles and I – wanted Ben to come and fix the power. She came instead. It wasn't good between her and Miles, to say the least. There was a lot of anger there. And one night she came to me and..." he shrugs. "I was young and stupid and mad at Miles myself. He was already pulling away. Not interested in being at the top anymore." He pauses again, thinking back to those dark days. "He found out about us, and tried to kill me. So I hid Rachel and told Miles she was gone. He left shortly after that. I always wondered if he'd gone in search of her, but...apparently not."
He looks back at her. "And that's the story."
"Okay." She looks into his eyes, telling him that it is okay. That she believes him. Her turn to sigh and look away. "Power corrupts, Monroe. It's one of the reasons I'm so uncertain about DC."
He nods his head. "It can. That's why you want it in the hands of the right people. There were some good presidents before the power went out."
She turns back to him. "What do you want for Connor?"
He takes a breath and lets it out as he rests his head against the railing. "It's my turn to ask a question, but I'll answer this. I want Connor to have stability and purpose. But I'm not sure he'd even care what I think."
"I think he probably does." He lifts his head back up. "You two looked like you were getting along today." "We get along just fine. And that's not a question." "Okay. Why did you sleep with him?" The energy between them is palpable.
She chews her lip and looks away, thinking about how to respond. She turns back to him. "Connor and I were just sex and it didn't mean anything beyond what it was. For either of us. I didn't even let him kiss me."
As soon as she says it, she knows it was a mistake. His eyes burn into hers. "You let me kiss you."
She can't tear her eyes from his. She thinks back to that day, that kiss, when they let their chemistry take over. She wants that again – the feel of his body against hers, his lips pressed to hers.
He must read that in her gaze, because he pushes off his hands, and bends his knees to shift closer to her. She does the same. They stare at each other a beat before he runs his fingers along her cheek bone, moving a lock of hair out of the way so his hand can cup the side of her face. Her breath catches and she leans into him, wrapping her hand around his nape. They press their lips softly together in a gentle kiss.
And then the sky explodes.