"That was fun, Charlie," Monroe chuckled as they approached the cabin. "Maybe you can be my new sidekick."
"Sorry, I'm not a sidekick," Charlie smirked. Monroe scoffed. "What?"
"Oh, come on. You and Miles are like Batman and Robin."
"Okay, what is up with you always talking about Batman?" Charlie laughed along with Monroe.
"He's my idol," he chuckled as he pushed the door open. "Well, I don't know, maybe the three of us could be the three musketeers. The three amigos."
"Like hell," a hard voice scoffed. Miles was lying on the couch looking as irritable as ever.
"Miles," Charlie exclaimed, rushing towards him. "You're alright!" They hugged tightly as Rachel looked happily on. Monroe looked at them, surprised. He had never seen Miles actually show that much affection in… well, ever. "How long have you been up?"
"'Bout an hour," Miles answered as they pulled apart. He frowned as he looked at Charlie. "What the hell, Bass?" Monroe was genuinely surprised, how could he have possibly pissed Miles off?
"What?"
"You guys just disappeared," Rachel said, tearing her eyes from Miles to glare at Monroe. "It's been hours." And how come they were just upset with him?
"Oh," Charlie said, her gaze dropping to the floor embarrassedly. "I forgot to tell you, we went to the base to look for some useful intel or something."
"Don't worry, Rachel. Everything went smoothly," Monroe eased.
"Really? Why is Charlie's head bleeding then?" Miles growled. Charlie touched her head and noted the slight wetness before pulling her hand to reveal, yep, blood. Monroe guessed it was so dark outside that they hadn't noticed, but the candlelight threw a sickly glow over the wound, unfortunately for him.
"I'm alright," she said without missing a beat. She stationed herself between Miles and Monroe for safe measure. "Bass and I ran in to a few patriots on the way back, but we're fine."
"Bass?" Miles asked questioningly, eyebrows raised in annoyance, suspicion, and a whole range of other unpleasant emotions at his niece's more affectionate name for him. Rachel cleared her throat to break the uncomfortable silence.
"I'll get dad to look at that wound," Rachel told Charlie kindly as she went upstairs. Charlie and Monroe glanced at Miles who was now glaring at them both. After a minute, he just sighed and tried to sit up a little. He grimaced as Charlie just pushed him back down.
"Well, got anything good on the patriots at least?" Miles asked bluntly. Charlie and Monroe pulled out some of the files in their bags.
"Something ought to be," Monroe said as Miles smirked at them, obviously satisfied at their work.
An hour later and everyone except for 'the three amigos' were fast asleep, while they searched through the papers. After a while, Monroe looked up at Miles until he looked back.
"What?" he asked irritably.
"Nothing," Monroe answered, clearly trying to irritate him further. Charlie grinned behind the paper she was reading.
"Bass."
"Well," Monroe coughed. "You said you would tell me where my son was if I helped you and well, you're alive so… where's my son, Miles?"
"Bass," Miles sighed pushing the papers away.
"Do you want me to go or…?," Charlie offered halfheartedly. She was extremely uncomfortable but also very interested.
"Nah, it's alright," Monroe said, giving her a slight smile. "Come on, Miles. You owe me."
"Fine," Miles grumbled. "He's in California." To that Monroe, almost choked.
"Why the hell is he in California?"
"Well, we knew you wouldn't be able to reach him there…" Miles trailed off, scratching his head.
"Damn right!" Monroe stood up and massaged his temples, trying to calm himself. "Okay, where in California?"
"Parksdale. With Emma's parents."
"What? Are you kidding me, they hated me!"
"You got their only daughter pregnant at 17!" Miles shouted honestly. Monroe shrugged in agreement and the two of them chuckled. Charlie rolled her eyes and gave up on looking through the papers too. She pulled her knees in and watched her uncle and Monroe. She'd never seen Monroe look so happy; he looked so much younger when he smiled. Her uncle, too. "So, Bass be careful." He looked away from Monroe as he said this, still probably not ready to be comfortable around the man yet.
"What? I'm not leaving now, no need for the goodbyes."
"Tomorrow then?" Miles asked.
"Nah, I'll stick around until you can handle a sword again. Maybe even until you can use it better," Monroe taunted.
"Shut it," Miles said, rolling his eyes and giving him a look that Charlie recognized all too well- annoyance. "Why are you staying?"
"You and Charlie could use my help," Monroe answered sincerely. Miles eyed the two of them again. Did the two of them become best friends while I was out? What's next, are Bass and Rachel going to start a book club together?
"Sure," Miles accepted suspiciously. "Hey, kid, go get some rest." He hadn't noticed that Charlie had started to nod off. Charlie didn't respond. "Charlie?" No movement. "Ah, great, kid's asleep." Miles eyed Charlie's wound, he doubted she had a concussion or anything, but still…
"She's a good fighter you know," Monroe said gently. "I'm guessing you taught her that." Miles chuckled, remembering their lessons in between their rescue attempts for Danny. That seemed like child's play to how she fought now.
"Yeah, she's okay."
"Look, I owe you an apology, both of you actually, for Danny," Monroe said, his eyes on Charlie. Miles resisted the urge to tell him he owed him an apology for a lot of things. "What was the kid like?"
"I don't know," he answered with a twinge of regret. "Brave, I guess. He died taking out one of the helicopters that would've killed us all." Your helicopter. Monroe sensed what Miles was thinking and looked back at him.
"I'm sorry."
"Me too. Charlie didn't deserve that, that destroyed her. But she's strong, she managed to keep fighting," Miles remarked fondly. If he could move, he probably would have tried to comfort her now, since he didn't have the opportunity to before.
"You know, that's how we ended up here. She tracked me down, tried to kill me. Several times, actually," Monroe said appraisingly.
"How'd you get her to forgive you?" Miles asked.
"I don't think she has. I mean, she might kind of trust me now, but-," Monroe explained quietly, hoping she wouldn't wake up and make this clear herself.
"I think she has. At least a little bit. Otherwise you wouldn't still be alive," Miles said honestly.
"You think she'd still try to kill me?" Monroe smirked.
"Nah," Miles chuckled. "But Rachel would've."
"What?" Monroe asked, completely lost. Miles sighed and lowered his voice.
"Rachel saved you because Charlie asked her too."
"You're kidding," Monroe said loudly. Miles shushed him and shook his head. "Well, I'll be damned." The kid must be crazy. "Why would she do that?"
"Beats me," Miles answered. Then he paused thoughtfully and his voice got softer. "For me, I think." Monroe nodded, suddenly having a much higher opinion of Charlie. "Thanks for saving her by the way." His voice got gruff again.
"Huh?"
"I meant before, before you came here." How many times did he save her? Miles wondered to himself. He decided he'd rather not know.
"Oh, yeah, you're welcome. I did that for her. Those guys…"
"What guys?" Miles asked, panic rising up slightly.
"Nothing happened, but eh," Monroe paused, unsure if Miles could stomach the story, but he didn't say anything so Monroe continued. "She and I had a run in, told me not to follow her, I did anyways, lucky thing for her too. Anyways, she was in a bar and the guys, about five, locked the door. She fought them off for a while but they drugged her, so she passed out. That's when I stepped in." Monroe lifted his gaze to Miles' face, which was a pale white. There was a mixture of rage and concern in his eyes. "Nothing happened though," Monroe repeated trying to calm him down. He just nodded in response.
After a long while, Miles cleared his throat, his voice still ragged. "Could you wake her up? She needs to actually rest." Monroe nodded, about to poke her arm before deciding that it was probably safer not to wake her up. If she was anything like her uncle, waking her up would be dangerous. Instead he picked her up gently and laid her down on the couch that she had been leaning against. He turned back to Miles, about to say goodnight when he noticed the strange look on his face. "Please, for my sake, never touch her again." Monroe laughed, knowing he was half joking… but also half serious.
"Miles, I would never- "
"Yeah, yeah," Miles dismissed. Monroe grinned a little as he walked upstairs to his designated bedroom.
