Boom.

Bang.

Crash.

Simultaneously, one after the other, a loud sound pulsated throughout the house as Bass carelessly threw the pan down on the stove. He didn't even bother to react when it whacked on top of the burner and food did summersaults in the air.

"Fuck, Charlie?"

He waited two Mississippi's before calling out again, "Charlie?"

She wasn't answering and after that loud noise, he was getting worried. A sharp, stabbing pain struck his heart when he heard a low groan coming from behind the bathroom door.

"Is everything okay?"

All she did was groan again, this time weaker, softer. Rushing over to the door, he jiggled the handle a few times, cursing under his breath upon finding it locked.

"Fuck Charlie, can you open the door?"

"Bass," her hushed voice plucked at his heartstrings, "I think I broke something."

Shit, his mind kicked into warp speed at her confession, "Charlie can you open the door? I'll take you to the hospital I just need you to get the door open."

A garbled response her left lips but to Bass it sounded no different than the groans she kept uttering.

"Fuck," scrubbing his hand through his hair, he pulled at the strands in frustration.

"Are you anywhere near the door?"

When she shook her head she remembered he wasn't in there, so he couldn't actually see her.

"No," she weakly called out, waiting for him to respond.

She never got a vocal response because the next thing she hears is the door flying off the hinges, ricocheting backwards against the wall. Bass had a spare key for all the doors in the house located in a drawer, but as soon as those words left Charlie's mouth, all rational thoughts went out the window.

Clearly, in his mind, the only logical solution was to kick down the door, and that's exactly what he did.

He didn't even bother covering his eyes, at the moment all he could think about was getting her to a hospital. Sex was the last thing on his brain.

Walking over to where she was lying, head resting against the side of the bathtub, he knelt down, "where does it hurt?"

"My arm," she muttered.

Bass' eyes already started drifting down to the bruise forming on her left calf already swelling. Directing his gaze to her arm, he could see where she had it cradled in towards her body, not moving it.

This would be one helluva story to tell, and he would make her as soon as they were done at the hospital.

Fumbling for the towel hanging on the rack beside the bathtub, he gathered the cotton material in his hands. Pulling Charlie's limp, wet body, he wrapped the towel around her, muttering comforting words into her ear as he picked her up.

Visibly concerned about her leg, he wanted to see if she could put any kind of pressure on it before more worrying set in. Standing her upright, she took the hint, planting her right foot firmly on the floor before attempting to do the same with the other.

Sucking in a deep breath, she clamped down hard, teeth gnawing together as she retracted her leg when it only grazed the surface.

"Shit, alright, it's probably just sore from the fall" without another thought he lifted her bridal style into his arms.

"I can't go to the hospital naked Bass," Charlie's muffled voice floated to his ears as he looked down at her.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure they've seen gross ass things Charlie, a naked body isn't going to faze them."

"I realize," she dryly commented, "but I still don't want to show up naked as a jaybird."

Letting out a low sigh, he conceded, changing course in route to her bedroom.

Nudging her door open, he carefully sat her down on the bed, going back into the bathroom. He gathered up the clothes she left lying on the floor, averting his eyes from all her personal items. Tossing them to her when he entered her bedroom again, he angled his body to give her some privacy if she desired.

Struggling, she was able to shimmy into her underwear pretty well, moving on to the shorts until she huffed in annoyance. It was hard to do this with only one good arm.

"Fuck," she exclaimed, drawing her leg back up as Bass turned around, panic written across his face.

Even hurt, she couldn't help but feel the flutter in her heart as he tenderly gazed down at her, checking every inch of her body.

This shit hurt like a bitch, but it didn't mean Charlie couldn't work a little bit of it to her advantage. Arm extending, she reached out her shorts in his direction and shyly looked at him from underneath her lashes, "can you help me?"

Hesitantly, Bass grasped the fabric in between his fingertips, tersely nodding.

Holding up the one good leg, Bass bunched the material up so it would smoothly slide up her leg. When he was standing next to her, she hopped up on the right leg, placing her good arm on top of his shoulders as he bent down to slide it up her other leg.

Paying close attention to the purple, harsh colored bruising on her leg, he quickly pulled her shorts all the way up, letting his fingertips linger on her backside for a moment.

Charlie smiled to herself as she felt some of his resolve breaking. Turning her attention back to her clothing, she fumbled with her bra, trying not to strain her arm.

Bass watched her for a few minutes until he swatted her hand away and took over. He already saw her naked, might as well help her get dressed. Very slowly and delicately, he maneuvered the bra around her bad arm while it hung loosely on the other side. His cold hands slid across her back and, upon instinct, she flinched a bit.

"Sorry," he murmured, voice carrying softly to her ear as he scrabbled to hook the bra behind her back. It was not as easy putting one on as it was taking it off. This job felt more stressful than being a bomb squad technician.

Finally after successfully hooking it, he quickly bundled up the shirt and brought it over her head, through one arm, and then gradually through the other. When she was dressed enough, Charlie went put her arm around his shoulder, placing most of her weight onto him.

They went a few steps like this before Bass said fuck it and picked her back up, "it's gonna take us years to get there like this. Plus you aren't that heavy."

Charlie laughed, holding her breath as he placed her in the car and all but sped off towards the hospital. She hated that place and wanted to say no, but something told her Bass would've made her. Either physically or he would've called Miles and she wasn't sure how Miles would take it.

Of course he would be worried about her at first, but Miles tended to panic differently. Charlie could hear him now, talking in a loud, firm voice, asking her why she didn't keep her stupid to a minimum. And this was the mother of all stupid things she could've done. If she weren't in so much pain, she would've been slightly embarrassed.

As soon as they got to the hospital, Bass was at her side, helping her out of the car and leading them into the main entrance. He tried to help her fill out forms, but after a few minutes, Charlie mimicked his earlier motion and knocked his hands out of the way.

Her leg was starting to feel a little better, so she stood to take the information back to the lady at the front desk by herself. Bass wasn't having any of that. He was right by her side the whole time, laying a tender hand on her lower back as she crept towards the window.

Fidgeting nervously in his chair, he tapped his foot against the ugly, outdated tile floor of the waiting room until Charlie gripped his knee.

"Stop doing that, you're starting to make me nervous," she laughed.

Looking over at her, he kinked one eyebrow, "you aren't nervous? I hate hospitals."

She shook her head, "nah I've broken a bone before."

When she didn't elaborate he motioned with his hand for her to go on as she just sighed, "I hit this kid in eight grade because he was picking on Danny."

Bass couldn't help the laughter escaping from his mouth. Tilting his head back, he clutched at his side, imagining a young Charlie going around and beating people up.

"It wasn't funny at the time," she playfully scolded.

"I broke two fingers on his hard ass head, and my parents flipped out," she shuddered, recalling the punishment she received for her crime, but then she smiled. It was definitely worth it.

"Charlotte Matheson," his rumbling laughter was cut short when a lady appeared, holding a clipboard and barking out Charlie's name.

He went to stand as soon as her feet touched the ground, but she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, "it's okay you don't have to come with me, I'm fine. Just let Miles know because I kind of half told him in a text a few seconds ago."

Bass groaned, sinking in the chair, "ah hell, you're leaving me to deal with him. You know he doesn't do well with bad news or stressful situations. Great, now I have to deal with the freak out."

She smiled, looking at him over her shoulder, "yep, that's why I'm giving you the task. You're pretty good in a stressful situation."

He watched as she followed the nurse down the hallway, disappearing. Good in a stressful situation, I'm pretty sure his broken bathroom door would have to differ.

Sighing, Bass drug his phone out of his pocket, checking for voicemails, texts or any other form of frantic message from Miles. Obviously Charlie hadn't mention he was with her, which he was grateful for until she left him with the job of telling Miles.

He tried to just text Miles, but his phone started violently vibrating holes through his pant pocket. Picking it up, he pressed the button quickly to shut it up, "what?"

"Don't you what me," Miles snapped, "you just texted me and said 'hey I'm at the hospital with Charlie' with no explanation or anything. What the hell Bass?"

"Look I don't know all the details yet, she fell in the shower and hurt her arm—"

"She fell in the damn shower, how did she get out? Is it okay? Did she break anything?"

Bass cut him off mid ramble in order to save them all some time, "I got her out, I'm not sure if she broke anything. Said her arm hurt like a son of a bitch and her leg had a huge ass bruise on it—"

He interrupted at just the precise moment Bass knew he would, "you got her out? Bass what the fuck, I specifically said she was off limits."

"Don't worry I controlled myself long enough to stand her upright before we had mind blowing shower sex with her fucking broken arm and hurt leg," he sarcastically retorted.

Miles didn't say anything for a few moments. He finally sighed, his angry tone dissipating, "Shit, I'm sorry Bass that was stupid. I'm just worried."

He nodded, "I understand man, she wasn't in that much pain though. She felt well enough to boss me around."

He laughed when Miles' voice beamed through the phone, "That's my girl."

"I took her to the hospital and she's back in the room now getting things checked out. I'll call you as soon as you she's out, or she'll text you."

"Alright well, just call me the minute she's out—"

"Yes dear," Bass rolled his eyes, ending the conversation and shoving the phone back in his pocket when Charlie came strolling out.

He turned his head, stretching his legs out as he looked down at her freshly wrapped arm, "what's the verdict?"

"It's fractured, they gave me a prescription for the pain and inflammation, and I made an follow up appointment."

She held out a black brace, "they also gave me this, I have to wear it for at least a week, if not longer," groaning her arm flopped back down by her side.

"Well put it on and let's get you home, you handicap schmuck," he bit the inside of his cheek in order to contain the smile threatening to spill out onto his face.

She sent an icy cold stare in his direction as they walked out of the hospital in silence.

Finally Bass turned to her when they were by the car, "oh by the way I called your uncle and he only mildly yelled, but you're going to have to call him and give him a full report on what happened. I imagine he'll save the yelling for you," he teased.

Charlie groaned once she was in the car, causing Bass' head to whip towards her in alarm. She just laughed at his worried expression, "I'm okay Bass, chill. Although if you wanna take a bullet for me you'll call Miles and tell him my hair fell in front of my face, and for some reason, it looked like someone else was in the bathroom so I panicked for a second. Once I realized it was just my hair, I went to move it out of the way and managed to get soap in my eye—"

She pointed a stern finger in his direction when she saw a grin breaking out on his face, "don't you dare laugh, it stung so fucking bad. From there everything went downhill, including your shower curtain…so I'll buy you a new one."

Bass looked over at her, trying to figure out if she was serous or not. This was seriously what happened. She almost broke her arm because her hair scared her and caused her to get soap in her eye.

Now he was picturing Charlie, flailing around the bathroom, eyes clamped shut, and ripping the shower curtain off the hooks. After a second passed, Bass burst into laughter, watching as Charlie's face grew angrier by the minute. He was never going to let her live this down.

"You won't be laughing when I tell Miles you were checking me out while I was naked," she said in a singsong voice, grinning in triumph when his smile fell.

"I was assessing the damage Charlotte," he pathetically threw out the excuse, but Charlie was already grinning.

"I'm pretty sure my ass didn't need to be felt up in order to 'assess' and there sure as hell wasn't any 'damage' done to my boobs," she smirked cheekily at him while he rolled his eyes in mock annoyance.