The mystery of Charlie's sudden change in attitude continued to intrigue him. Miles no longer had to convince her to let Bass tag along on her hunting trips. It had become an unspoken agreement between the two of them that when Charlie gathered her crossbow and game bag, Bass would follow. Hunting involved a lot of trial and error, especially the tracking part, so Bass had learned to keep at least a twenty yard distance while Charlie flitted from tree to tree tracking her prey.

That was how Bass found himself leaning against a large maple tree as Charlie disappeared into a clump of bushes. Her sudden shriek of surprise made him tear through them with his sword ready in hand, ready to fight whoever dared threaten her. It wasn't necessary though. The most threatening thing he found on the other side of the bushes was the drop off into a valley down below. He looked over at Charlie, who was staring down into the valley with a small smile, and then back at the narrow ravine.

"What? What are you looking at?" She pointed to a spot down below them and he followed the line of her finger with his eyes. About forty yards out, there were several apple trees nestled in the valley.

They stumbled down the rocky wall and onto the overgrown grass that covered the valley floor. A few small bushes lined the way to the trees, all of them browning in the colder weather. They stood silently beneath a large apple tree, covered from top to bottom with juicy, red apples. Being the taller one, Bass reached up and grabbed one from a lower branch and cleaned it off with his shirt before taking a big bite. The juice smeared on his lips and dripped down his chin. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and offered Charlie his bitten apple. She could have easily gotten her own - they were surrounded by them - but she took it and finished his apple off without even batting an eye.

They wandered silently through the valley, both of them munching on more apples as they went. It was a very peaceful place. On the opposite end that they had come down from, a small stream with clear, cool water trickled down the cliffside and down further into a deeper trench that looked as if it ran on forever through the hills. Not far from the stream, Charlie discovered and old, overgrown garden. She started pulling up potatoes, carrots, and onions excitedly. Bass was obediently piling her findings into the game bag when Charlie stopped him with a hand on his forearm. She had gone strangely still and silent. Bass looked up into her eyes and saw they way her head dipped slightly to their left. He looked over and saw a missing chunk in the rock face. It was about six feet high but no more than two feet wide. It could have been an ordinary rock formation, but something about the way Charlie was looking at it made him suspicious. With a hand on his gun, Bass moved quietly towards it.

At a glace it was no more than a missing chunk of rock, but further inspection proved it to be a small passage. Bass slid into the crack with his gun in hand and was soon shocked to find himself in a dark, but open area. The sunlight streaming through the small doorway lit up a small, wooden table with an old oil lamp sitting on it. Charlie picked it up.

"Got a light?"

With the lantern burning to life, they found not just a cave, but a home. Somebody, who had left long ago, had lived there. A small, circular table with a matching handmade chair was sitting near the entrance of the cave. Further in, a small bed piled high with dusty looking quilts sat in the corner. Empty bookshelves, all carved of the same wood as the table and bed, lined the walls. A few shelves had empty glass jars on them.

"Someone lived here," Charlie said quietly. Bass noticed the note of awe in her voice and if he wasn't mistaken, envy. He could see why she might find this sort of thing appealing. A nice, quiet place to live without the worry of other people bothering you. A flash of himself and Charlie nestled happily on the old bed with small faceless children running in the valley. But he only let himself fantasize for a moment. Those sort of thoughts wouldn't get him anywhere.

Charlie looked around the clearly abandoned home and asked, "why on Earth would anyone want to leave all this?"

Bass looked again at the small bed and single chair that accompanied the small table. It was home built for a single person. An image of himself sitting alone at that very table, eating a solitary dinner, cooked by himself, for himself, surfaced in his mind. "They probably got lonely," he answered simply.

Neither of them spoke for a while after that. Bass was aware that he had just unintentionally revealed one his worst fears and that Charlie had understood it completely. Warm fingers suddenly grasped his own. He looked down at their joined hands and then at Charlie who was staring up at him with a sad sort of smile on her face.

"Come on, we should get back before Miles starts to worry." Bass nodded and let her tug him out of the lonely cave. They walked back to the overgrown garden hand in hand, only letting go when it came time to finish filling their bag with the food they had found.

Later, when Rachel asked where the food had come from, Charlie didn't mention the cave they had discovered together. Bass didn't either. He found that he didn't want to share it with anyone else, it felt like it was their own little secret. A world away from their own where things were just a little less dark.

A/N I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever actually have to do any work while I'm at work... :-D