Chapter 13: Decisions

Monroe turns to the group. "Well. That was something." He looks across the room to Charlie, who reads his mind and kicks the door closed so the guards outside can't hear them.

"Is it just me or does this seem too good to be true?" says Aaron. "Do you trust her?" Charlie asks again, looking at Miles and Monroe.

The men share a look. "Yes? Maybe? What choice do we have?" Miles says. "We need to be here to deal with the power and the pendant."

Charlie looks at Monroe. He shrugs. "She was always honest with me." "She knows a lot about us and what we've been doing," Charlie says. "Well, she's right that we haven't been the stealthiest," Miles replies. "Clearly word-of-mouth is still strong," says Aaron.

Connor speaks up. "How did you get her to make you Vice President?" "I didn't. She never said anything about that."

"You represent the next generation," Aaron says. "Assuming Affleck wants to create a democracy, she's going to need that generation's support."

Charlie makes a face. "I already don't like politics." "Well hold up," Bass says. "You'd be a good Vice President. Why not you?" "I don't know anything about running a country."

"Neither did we." Everyone's eyebrows collectively go up. "Okay, but I'm just saying that you'll figure it out. And most VP's just did whatever they wanted to do. You make it yours. Jen won't let you fail. No one will."

The room goes silent as they all ponder their potential new realities. Yeah, I might be willing to work on some of the fun stuff," Miles says. "Teach the idiots how to protect their towns, especially once the power is back. I mean, once Rachel is done here."

"You seem to want this pretty badly, Monroe," Rachel says. "Is this your plan to get back the Republic? You're going to train an army, be President, convince Charlie to be your second-in- command?"

He glares at her. "No Rachel. I'm trying to help put this country back together. The country YOU broke." He points his finger at her before pointing it to Charlie. "And I happen to think your daughter would be an exemplary second-in-command to any President. She's smart, she's quick- thinking, and she actually cares about people. Which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about you."

"Okay," Miles steps in. "How about we all take a break, talk to whoever we need to talk to, and reconvene in a couple of hours before we meet Affleck for dinner. And we'll stay here at least for tonight." He looks around the group. "Yeah?"

Everyone agrees.

Monroe raises his hand like a school kid. "Lincoln Bedroom," and he heads towards the door with everyone else.

"Charlie? Can I talk to you a minute?" Rachel asks.

Monroe has just reached the doorway where Charlie is leaning, and they share a look. "Sure," she responds. He points to the ceiling in the general direction of the bedroom he wants. "Lincoln Bedroom," he says under his breath. She gives a slight nod.

When they're alone, Rachel looks at her daughter in disappointment. "What are you doing, Charlie? What is going on with you and Monroe?"

"That's none of your business."

Rachel just shakes her head. "He is bad Charlie, and he is going to hurt you."

"Why don't you let me worry about that?"

"Don't you see what he's doing? How he's manipulating you?"

Charlie takes a beat to study her mother. "What happened to you? Were you always this selfish and narcissistic? Who are you to judge anyone?"

"Do you love him?"

"You cheated on my father! With two different men, and those are only the ones I know of! So how about you not judge what I do in my personal life? Okay? How about you just worry about getting the power back on?"

She gives Rachel one last disgusted look and leaves.

Meanwhile, in the hallway...

Their packs have been brought upstairs and are sitting at the top of the stairs. Bass grabs his and is reaching for Charlie's when Miles joins him, leaning against the wall. "You serious about this?"

"About which part?" He slings his pack over his shoulder, holding Charlie's in his other hand, really hoping that Miles isn't about to ask him about Charlie again.

"Putting this country back together." Bass looks him right in the eye. "Yeah." "If this is about your kid..."

Bass motions towards the Lincoln Bedroom with his head. Miles follows them so they can talk in private. Bass puts the packs on the floor. "Connor doesn't even want it anymore. He's interested in Aaron's stuff."

"So you're really just interested in doing the right thing." Miles sinks into a chair. "You except me to believe that?"

"Miles," Bass sits at the end of the bed, putting his feet on a trunk and resting his elbows on his knees. "Remember the early days when we just wanted to establish some order? Help people?"

Miles knows where's he's going with this. "Yeah."

"We have the opportunity to try it again. But this time we have experience and we have other people to work with."

Miles sighs. "I want to trust you Bass..." "...and you've been able to the last few times I've asked you to..."

They're interrupted by a knock on the door frame. They look over to see Charlie leaning against the doorframe. "Am I interrupting something?" she asks dryly.

But they both take a look at her face and can see that she is upset. "I guess your talk with Rachel didn't go well," Miles says. Bass moves his arm, extending it out on the bed, a silent invitation to sit next to him. She does so, sitting close enough that she can feel the warmth of his arm against her back, but not so close that Miles will tease them.

"What happened?" Bass asks. "Nothing worth talking about. What did I miss here?"

"Nothing much. Just Bass and I talking about the future of democracy," says Miles. "What did Affleck talk to you about?"

She shrugs, "She was straight-forward, like you said she was. Said she'd been following the stories about me, about us, and asked what I want to do."

"And what do you want to do?" Miles asks.

She rests her elbows on her knees and looks at the two of them. "This is why we came here, isn't it? To fix things?"

They stare at each other in silent agreement.

Miles holds his hands up. "I was just living a nice quiet life, and then you had to find me Charlie. Now look at us." But he smiles, because they all know they're happier now. He gets up from the chair. "I've gotta talk to Rachel. You two behave yourselves."

Miles leaves, and Bass turns to Charlie, leaning against the bedpost, extending his feet on the bed. She leans against the opposite post and extends her feet towards him. Unconsciously it's a mimicking of how they were sitting on the steps of the house in Blackfoot when they had their last serious talk.

"You ready for this?" Charlie asks. "You want this?" Bass asks.

Charlie goes first. "I do. I want to fix what my mother broke. Well, I guess both my parents broke it."

"You'd be a great at it," he says. "But Vice President? I don't want to get involved in politics." He shakes his head from side to side, "Eh, VP can be whatever you want it to be." "But why me?" "Why not you?" "She said there are stories about me. They call me the Girl Warrior." He grins. "Not Woman Warrior? The alliteration is better." "Doesn't roll off the tongue as well," she quips. "But I don't know, it feels...weird." He blinks. "Sorry, I'm stuck on tongue." Her cheeks color and she laughs.

"Did I just make you blush?" He smiles his big Monroe smile, the one that lights up his whole face. Then he gets serious, and leans towards her, dropping his legs back on the trunk and taking her hands. She sits forward, tucking her legs under her. "I think you're a warrior in everything you do. They aren't stories, they're true."

"One of those stories is that I convinced Miles to take me to you so I could kill you." She looks into his eyes, raising an eyebrow. She raises the corner of her mouth in a hint of a smile.

He grins for a second. "But still true." He runs his thumb over her palm as they sit quietly for a beat.

"And you?" she asks, curling her fingers over his to still them so she can force him to focus.

"Well I think I have to make myself less killable." They both laugh to release some of the tension they didn't realize they'd been holding in.

"You know what I want, Charlie. I want to fix what I broke."

"Then let's do this."

He pauses. "Come with me." He takes her hand and they get off the bed. He leads her downstairs and outside to the porch that looks onto the Presidents Park and National Mall. As soon as they step outside, four guards ready their weapons. He holds up a hand. "We're not leaving the porch." He walks to the edge of the porch.

"This used to be green. Cut grass, and it was beautiful," he says.

She looks at him quizzically, but lets him speak.

"You could go for long walks there," he continues.

He turns to her. "But we wouldn't be able to. Not without guards and people watching us. Our lives would be about this." He waves to the porch area and the guards.

She nods her head. She gets it. "It's like being a prisoner in a way. Trapped in your job. Your life." "Yes." He's relieved that she understands.

And she does. Maybe for the first time she fully understands what Bass's isolated life as leader of the Republic was like.

"Do you want this?" he says it low enough that she can hear him, but not the guards. "Are you prepared to give up that freedom?"

She turns to him. "We all came her for a reason, and now we're here. We made our choice a long time ago. Do you want this? Again?"

He looks down at her. "As long as I'm not alone, yes. I think I can do this." "You won't be alone."

"Then let's do this." Ignoring the guards, and throwing caution to the wind, he leans down and kisses her. It's a soft kiss, a promise that they will see this through together.

She pulls away to say, "This would be a thing of the past too, wouldn't it?"

"Unless you love very public displays of affection." His eyes are bright with humor, because please, neither of them is the PDA type.

She makes a face. "Yikes." Grabbing his hand, she moves towards the door, saying under her breath, "Let's hope that Lincoln Bedroom has a lock."

They run into Connor inside. He looks at them holding hands. "Glad you two finally figured your shit out."

"Yeah yeah, can I talk to you for a second?" Bass asks. Bass knows he can't respond to Connor's comment without getting mushy, so he goes for flippant instead.

He and Charlie squeeze hands, and she heads to the Lincoln Bedroom to give them a moment. "You really want to work with Aaron?" Bass asks.

"Yeah. Once the power is back on, this world is going to be a much different place. And it's going to be all about technology. I want to be a part of that."

"Okay."

"Don't do this government thing on my account. Not if you don't want it."

"I think there's something here for me. I'm going to stay."

"Something or someone?" Connor raises his eyebrows, looking toward the Lincoln Bedroom.

Okay, he can't hold in a grin and some color in his cheeks. "Maybe both."

Connor points to the bedroom. "Don't fuck it up with her." Then he turns and wanders down the hall.

Bass returns to the Lincoln Bedroom to find Charlie poking around. "This is what you're so impressed with?" She asks, clearly not impressed.

Bass looks around. "Yeah, well, 15 years ago this would have been in better shape and more impressive."

She points to their packs. "Sort of presumptuous of you think that I'm sleeping in here."

He grins, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Is it though?"

She wraps her arms around his neck. "No." She smiles into their kiss. "But you could have asked."

He leans in and whispers in her ear, "Charlotte, will you stay in the Lincoln Bedroom with me so we can fuck each other and then curl up in that bed?"

"Yes," she breathes.

Typical of them, their kiss quickly becomes passionate, and he backs her to the bed, laying her down before gripping her waist and moving her closer to the middle.

"Let me guess," Charlie breathes as he kisses her neck. "You've always wanted to have sex in the Lincoln Bedroom."

He stops kissing her and laughs. "Actually, no. But now that you mention it...I did lock the door."