Chapter 13

"Ow! Quit poking me!"

"It's a needle Charlie, buck up." Bass tells her as he weaves another stitch into the gash on her side, mindful to try and control the pressure he's putting into the needle. He tries his best to stitch a straight line knowing he'll never hear the end of it if she has a crooked scar.

Charlie glances down at her side and gives a half impressed nod. "It's better than I remember you doing."

Bass glares at her and continues the stitch he's on before speaking.

"Well you're not fifteen anymore and you actually listen when i tell you that if you squirm, its not going to look pretty."

Charlie rolls her eyes but has to admit that he's not wrong, the jagged scar on the upper shoulder from falling out a tree a reminder that you should never squirm during stitches.

Bass notes her silence as she takes another pull from the bottle she had pulled from her cupboard before they had started.

"I'm gonna to have to move."

It's said quiet but in solace and Bass takes a quick glance up to watch Charlie look around her apartment, her eyes lingering over the cherry red walls and abstract paintings that cover her walls.

"Maybe." Bass says, tying off the end of the stitch as he leans in closer to inspect his work. "But not today, not tomorrow."

She sighs and then shrugs. "But someday." Charlie studies the shelves she spent months searching for and staining. "It's too bad, I really loved it here."

"Where do you think you'll end up from here?" Bass asks her, his hands collecting items and placing them back in the first aid kit Charlie had under bathroom sink.

Charlie takes a deep breath, feeling the stitches tighten. "Hopefully still in this city, it's big enough that I might just end up in another part of it."

"You'd still want to live here?"

Charlie shrugs, "Why not? I grew up here, I know the city and the people. Miles is here, Nora too." She's quiet and Bass thinks she's done talking.

"So many terrible things have happened here, but so many wonderul things too. No matter where I could go, this place is still home."

"I get that." Bass nods and gets up to grab a beer from her fridge, keeping an eye on her as she reclines slowly back into her brown worn leather couch, her feet resting on top of her coffee table. He raises a beer bottle in her direction and she nods and he grabs another one from the fridge and pops the cap off them both before taking them back to her.

"No matter where I go, this place still feels like home." Bass confesses, taking a sip of his beer and watching as does the same.

"Where will you go from here?" Charlie asks him, curiosity in her voice as she settles back in the couch cushions.

Bass shrugs. "If we catch this guy? I could probably have my pick of assignments, go anywhere, with any case I want."

"So this isnt really home anymore."

Charlie's words are hard and Bass looks hard at her even though she doesn't squirm like most people do under his gaze.

"It's where I was born, where my parents live and sisters where born. Where Christmas is. Where Miles is. But it's not always home when the people you're closest too don't really want you around."

Charlie scrunches up her nose as she takes another pull from her beer. "Miles wants you around, sure he's with Nora but I'm sure if you don't try to trick him into going to a strip club with you, he'll be fine."

Bass almost spits out his beer at the mention of his strip club attempt and glares at her when she can't contain her laughter at his mortfication.

"MILES TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?!"

Charlie laughs and then holds her hands up in a surrender motion. "For what its worth, Nora found it hilarious, said that next time you guys go, she wants to come. Said it's been awhile since she's been on a pole."

"She said that?"

Charlie shrugs, "She was joking... I think. Who knows with Nora, maybe she really misses the pole."

Bass shakes his head and takes a long drink of his beer.

"I do want you here Bass."

Bass looks up to find her cerculean eyes on him, a stare so vividly strong he finds himself sucked in.

"It's just... different than before. We know each other, but we don't really know each other, not anymore. So many years have gone by that we missed. Milestones, tragedies, birthdays... is it too late to know each other again? And even if we could, should we? One of us will have to leave, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but someday."

His words from earlier ring in his ears before he leans over to touch her knee. "Not today or tomorrow, that's a good place to start."

BABES IT"S BEEN SO LONG. I really lost inspiration for awhile there but I've been re reading everyone fanfictions on here and decided it was time to get writing again. I ended a relationship about a year ago that was very similar to this so it took a little time to get writing about them again but I hope you enjoy!

REVIEWS ARE LOVED! xx