A/N: Sorry, but there was an error in the timeline of my last chapter. Charlie was actually five years old at the time of the blackout, so she's five at the time of this flashback, not ten. Her memories from this early an age are probably only as clear as they are because of the continued impact Monroe made on her life after the blackout, via the Monroe Republic. Feel free to imagine an adorable lisp when she's telling her Uncle Bass that she wants everyone to start calling her Charlotte, and generally treating her more like an adult J

Again, thank you for the continued encouragement and support. Each of your reviews is like a shot of adrenaline straight into my fingers while I'm typing. Stay safe, stay healthy, and don't be surprised if these crazy quarantines lead to more chapters in the near future.

Charlie hadn't realized where she'd recognized the man standing before her from until Slotnick had given him away. While they'd been surrounded by all the others – on the deck, and up until just a moment ago in his quarters – Charlie had taken care not to look directly at him for more than a few seconds. Her limited experience with powerful men had taught her that they were far more often likely to overlook her if she refused to let herself stand out.

But when she'd heard him say that name… as soon as he did, the image had clicked violently into focus… head hanging out the car window, the sound of rock music nearly drowned out by the rushing wind… sitting beside Miles in the front seat because Uncle Bass had volunteered to sit in the back… making a promise never to tell on either of them for letting her sit in the front seat on the highway, even though she'd been the one begging for hours… looking back at Uncle Bass, smiling and laughing at her constant questions… Miles finding a deserted back road and tearing down it at a speed that would never be possible in the years that would follow… looking back again and seeing the flash of tears that had suddenly spring up in Uncle Bass' eyes… asking Miles why Uncle Bass was crying and watching Miles immediately slow the car to a crawl… her youthful bluntness leading her to ask whether he was scared and hadn't he ever done this before… hearing Miles mutter a gruff apology to him, a quiet order to be silent to her, and Uncle Bass remaining silent for the rest of the ride.

Later, after they'd dropped Uncle Bass back at his small apartment, Miles had told her. All about the car crash that had killed Bass' sisters, and about the way it sometimes hit him again when he least expected it.

"Or when his shit 'friend' makes him relive it." Uncle Miles muttered under his breath, his head in his hands, forgetting completely that he wasn't supposed to swear in front of Charlie. Rachel has said she'd have his

Charlie didn't understand it all, but she knew that her friend was sad. Every day that week, and the next, she asked her parents and Miles if they could go see Uncle Bass. He needed them, she knew it.

But Mom had just shaken her head and looked hesitantly at Miles, sitting on their couch, drinking a beer. He told them both that what Uncle Bass needed was time. Time and space. That's all they could give him.

Charlie tried to understand.

When she was sad, she always went right to Danny and gave him a hug. As soon as her little brother hugged her back, she always felt better.

Why couldn't she go and hug Uncle Bass until he felt better too?

The next morning, before Charlie was even awake, Miles came by the house to tell Dad that he and Bass been called back to the base on a special assignment.

By the time Charlie woke up and came downstairs in the hope of finding pancakes ready for her and of finally convincing her parents to let her goo see Uncle Bass, Miles and Monroe were already gone.

She hadn't seen him since.

It's not him. It's not possible. Not him. Not here.

Charlie wanted to chant it to herself until she believed it.

Not him. Not here.

Charlie's eyes were having trouble staying safely focused on the glossy wooden floor beneath her when she wanted more than anything to look up and stare at the man who'd destroyed her family – to see that he really was a man… not the ghost of her childhood memory she'd secretly feared for years.

"Charlotte?"

The voice was soft and hesitant and… warm.

Too warm to belong to him.

Too different from what it sounded like in her nightmares to be real.

"Charlie?"

And way – way – too close.

Before his half-extended hand could reach her, she was up, springing off the floor and across the room in two seconds, and whipping around to face him. The room before her seemed to spin with her, and took a moment to settle – a moment that would have counted if he'd still been moving toward her.

But he wasn't.

He shouldn't be here.

Charlie blinked, and then blinked again

He was standing, very still and possibly not breathing. But here. In this room. With her.

Alone.

Inside of Charlie, there was a little girl whose heart leapt at the sight of the face that featured in almost all of her best, most cherished childhood memories. But that little girl wasn't in charge today.

And the man across from her was far from an old friend. He was the worst kind of enemy.

His eyes were wary, but the crinkles on his forehead betrayed his interest.

Charlie had to get out of this room, had to get somewhere – anywhere – where she could clear her head. Come up with a better story. The one she and Miles had come up with the night before at camp wouldn't last if she had to tell it to him-

"Charlie?"

Before she could stop herself, she flinched.

It was the wrong reaction.

His blue eyes slowly lit with amazed certainty, and Charlie began to feel nauseous.

She had to make it stop.

Fortunately though, even if she wasn't as good at it yet as Miles was, Charlie wasn't half-bad making people believe something more convenient than the truth.

Drawing back her shoulders and letting her expression slip into one of innocent confusion, she waited a long moment before answering him, letting the uncertainty in the room grow until she was sure he could feel it.

"Who… Who do you think I am?"

A/N: Sorry this chapter wasn't much in the way of action, but I wanted to get Charlie's perspective on their first reunion before it all starts to hit the fan – which it definitely will next chapter.