Time didn't really seem to matter much after that kiss. They didn't kiss again for several weeks after that, though Bass wished they would, the two of them spent most of their time acting like nothing out of the ordinary had even happened. The only difference seemed to be in Charlie's general treatment of him. Before, she had just been warming up to him, which compared to the others could have been considered borderline cuddly, but now she really was cuddly.

Well, about as cuddly as anyone with the name Matheson would ever get.

They all sat around the small living room of the abandoned house that they were currently calling home eating the modest dinner that Charlie had caught for them. Miles and Rachel were chatting about some concert that they had attended way back when, while Conner and Aaron chattered away in Spanish to each other. Apparently, the former millionaire had owned a villa in The Dominican Republic. Bass watched Charlie look around the room cautiously before moving to sit next to him. Their shoulders brushed together and she leaned into him a little while they ate their food. No one else even seemed aware that they were in the room, nonetheless sitting contentedly in each others company. He loved those moments though, just him and Charlie, that was all that mattered.

Later, when everyone else had shuffled off to bed, Charlie stopped on her way to the room she had claimed for herself and kissed his cheek. Bass had reached out and smoothed back some of her hair while he wished her goodnight.

It was a quiet night on watch and as the few short hours passed the house grew colder, making him worry about Charlie in her room by herself. He made his way quietly through the house to her bedroom and eased the door open. Panic flooded his whole body instantly. Charlie's bed was empty. His stomach dropped. Had she been kidnapped? Had she run away, never to be seen again because she had finally realized how worthless he was?

He was about to raise the alarm and start screaming when he noticed that her pack was still on the floor, though her bedroll seemed to be missing. A small crept across his face. Down the hall and on the left, his own bedroom door stood slightly ajar. Inside, he found Charlie snuggled deep in his bedroll with her own blankets thrown over top for extra warmth.

He smoothed the blankets out a little and tucked them more securely around her small frame, accidentally waking her up as he did. She sighed softly and blinked up at him, smiling.

"Hey." Then she sat up quickly, suddenly wide awake. "Is it my watch already?"

Bass chuckled, pushing her back down onto bed. "No, I just went to your room to check on you and you weren't there. I was worried, for a second I thought that you'd left without me."

"Oh." She yawned and started getting comfortable again. "Don't be stupid, Bass. I'm not going anywhere without you. I just came in here 'cause that other room was all drafty. It was freezing in there." Bass bit back a smile as she dozed off again. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and then went back to his post.

When Miles came down a little while later, he turned to Bass with a tired smile. "I think Charlie stole your room, brother."

Bass, not quite ready to have that particular conversation, merely shrugged. "As long as she didn't drink all my whiskey, I don't really care where she sleeps." Miles huffed a laugh as Bass escaped up the stairs.

Slipping into bed next to Charlie, he didn't even notice that his flask sat empty on the floor next to the bed. He drifted off to sleep without a drink for the first time in a very long time. The only assistance he had was Charlie's warm body pressed against his and her slow breathing to lull him to sleep.

When morning came, Bass found himself alone in the bed - not surprising since Charlie had last watch - but with Miles standing over him with the face of an angry tiger.

"Morning, brother." He tried for a smile but Miles cut him off with a hand in the air.

"For the record, it would have been nice to have been told about, about whatever this," he gestured to the bed where Bass and Charlie had just slept, "is supposed to be, rather than walking in here and finding my best friend using my niece like his own personal teddy bear!" Miles' voice had quieted to a harsh whisper, but still held every bit of his anger. "And if Rachel finds out about, about this, then she's going to kill you. And then she's gonna kill me just for knowing about it and not telling her."

Bass straightened up a little, a bit of hope stirring in his gut. "Wait, you aren't going to tell her?"

"Of course not!" Miles hissed. "You think I want to be the one to break it to her? No way. If you two are going to be stupid together, then that's your problem." And with that, Miles stormed out of the room. Bass barely had time to register the fact that Miles had just given him his blessing (more or less) when Charlie poked her head into the room looking a little fearful.

"How bad was it?" She asked with a frown.

But Bass just shook his head and held his arms out to her. She sat down on the bed and let him pull her against him, resting her head on his chest. "Not too bad. We'll be alright."

Charlie leaned back in order to see his face. "We will?"

He took one look at her hopeful expression and felt his heart melt. "Yeah. Worst case scenario, I have to kill your mother."

She laughed. "We could always just run away."

Bass nodded. "Maybe someday."

A/N I actually did some real work today. *smiles proudly* But unfortunately I also did most of the work that I had to do for the rest of the week, soo... I guess I'll just go ahead a write some more.