Chapter 3

Friends with Benefits

8 months ago

Charlie was just wrapping up her shift at the clinic when Bass came stumbling in the front doors holding on to a man with a nasty gash on the head. Shaking her head, she held up three fingers to indicate what room he should take the man into.

Hanging up her hopes of going home anytime soon, she went to the sink and washed her hands. She'd have Bass poor moonshine over her them when she got to the room. She sometimes wondered how she had went from seasoned war vet to working the second shift in her Grandfathers clinic in town.

However, she didn't think about it too hard because that would involve thinking about other things that she wasn't ready to deal with. No, this job suited her just fine and kept her in town away from Miles and Rachel.

Don't get her wrong, she loved Miles and Rachel and was truly happy for them, it was just at times, she wished that they'd dial it down a notch or two because if she walked in on so much as one more half-dressed, make-out session, her reaction would probably make Bass look like an altar boy.

Speaking of Bass.

Making her way back to the treatment room she walked in to find him pressing a cloth against the man's head. "Sorry, Doc." He said looking up at her arrival. "I know it's about your quitting time."

Charlie shuddered at the nickname. "That would be Colonel Matheson to you, General Monroe."

Bass smirked and simply tilted his head, the light-hearted rebuke taken for what it was. "What can I do to help?"

"If you'll pour some moonshine over my hands, I should be good."

Bass stepped up next to her at the sink in the room and taking the bottle on the counter, slowly poured a small amount into her hands.

"Thanks, Bass. You can head on back to the bar. This is probably going to take a while," she sighed lifting the towel to take a good look at the wound.

Bass stood leaning against the door-frame, his hands tucked in the pockets of his jeans. He seemed to reach some conclusion as he pushed himself upright. "I'll be back in one hour. Don't leave without me."

"What?" Charlie asked turning away from picking glass out of her patients scalp.

"It's going to be after three a.m. by the time you get done here and I'm not letting you walk home by yourself."

Charlie chuckled. "It's okay, Bass. I'm a big girl and can take care of myself. It's why they made me a Colonel in the first place," She mocked whispered to him.

"Be that as it may, Colonel, I'll still be back here in an hour to escort you home.

Charlie rolled her eyes turning back to her patient. "Suit yourself, General, but the boogeymen are probably more afraid of me than you."

"Of that, I have no doubt, Charlotte."

When she looked up again he was gone.

True to his word, an hour later Bass came strolling into the treatment room as she was putting in the last few stitches. "How's he doing?"

"Oh, he's great. Passed out about a minute after you left. It's my shoulders and back you should be worried about," she groaned as she unbent herself from the position she had been sitting in since he left.

"What are you going to do with, him?"

"He can stay here and sleep it off. Martha'll kick him out in the morning when she comes in to clean." She replied beginning to put the unused supplies away and gathering the instruments to take to the back to be sanitized. "Just give me few minutes and I'll be ready to go."

Bass followed her out front where he waited in the lobby as she dropped of the instruments and gathered her things.

He took her coat as she rounded the nurses' station and helped her into it, tugging her hair out of the collar.

Charlie's cheeks were stained pink when she thanked him.

The streets of Willoughby were quiet and deserted at this hour, not even the shop keeps were up yet, as they walked the few blocks to Charlie's home making small talk about his business and her patients.

Walking her up the steps, he waited as she pushed the key in the lock before placing his hands on her shoulders and started rubbing.

"Bass?"

"Said your shoulders and back, right?"

"Yeah."

"Give me five minutes and you'll feel like a million bucks," he whispered next to her ear causing goose bumps to shoot down her spine.

Instead of answering, she simply stood still and forced herself to relax as his hands rubbed and kneaded her skin, losing herself in the sensation to the point that she actually whimpered when he spoke again, his hands pulling her back against him. "Better?"

Biting back a moan at the feel of his hard body pressed against her back, Charlie swallowed, taking a step forward so she could turn and face him. "That was great, Bass. I think I might actually get some sleep now." She said genuinely grateful.

However, her breath caught in her throat when she looked up at his half-hooded eyes only to think that she had imagined it a second later when he grinned at her. "Anytime. And I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Well, technically today. Miles invited me over for dinner."

"Oh. Well, I haven't seen Miles all week. But I guess I'll see you then. And thanks by the way, for walking me home. It wasn't necessary, but I appreciate it nonetheless."

Bass reached out squeezing her shoulder with his hand. "It was the least I could do for dragging numnuts in at the end of your shift."

She waited until he had walked down the porch steps before pushing in her door. Just as she was about to step in side she heard his voice softly carry back to her.

"Sweet dreams, Charlotte."

Stepping inside and closing the door behind her, Charlie leaned against it trying to calm her racing pulse. "I have got to get laid." She mumbled locking the door and making her way to her bedroom.

"I'll get it!" Charlie called out to the rest of the house, wiping her hands on a towel as she made her way to the front door, swinging it open to reveal Bass holding up a bottle in each hand.

Giving the bottles a quick inspection she let out a low whistle. "Very nice. You're welcome anytime bearing gifts like that. "

"I'll be sure to remember that." He said with a wink, which flustered her, causing her to abandon him in favor of the kitchen from where Miles emerged from a few moments later.

Dinner was a tolerable affair since Charlie and Miles had done most of the cooking. It had always baffled Charlie how someone as intelligent as her mother could cause total chaos in the kitchen.

They lingered over dinner, drinking from the bottles Bass had brought until Rachel began clearing the table which was Rachel speak for "get out."

Bussing Miles on the cheek, she took a half-empty bottle with her as she grabbed her jacket, smiling sweetly as he glared at her. "Have fun doing the dishes, or whatever it is you kids are calling it these days." Causing Bass to choke back his laughter as he stood to follow her.

"Wait up!" he called as he bounded down the porch steps, trotting to catch up with her.

She uncapped the bottle, taking a swig before passing it over to him.

"You okay?" he asked taking it from her.

Charlie frowned as she heard real concern in his voice and looked up at him with a sigh. "Yeah. Just sucks to know my parents are getting laid on a more regular basis than I am." She whined before pounding on his back as he choked on the drink he had just took.

"Charlie," he finally gasped, "I'm not sure which part of that sentence bothers me the most."

"I, sadly, have no such issue."

"Surely there are some unattached men in town."

"Yes, there are," she agreed. "There are the ones my age, who are ready to settle down and have children and expect me to lay my bow aside for a plow, and then there are the older men, most of whom are widowers who want someone to raise the children they already have. The conversation typically revolves around said children, alive or imagined, or all the work that's needed to keep up the farm or the proper image a shopkeeper's wife should have. And don't even get me started on the sex."

"The sex?" Bass squeaked out as she continued on with her rant about the male species currently inhabiting their fine town.

"Can you say, vanilla?" she snarked handing him back the bottle. "I mean seriously, what does a girl have to do to get fucked around here?"

Bass stopped to look at her, a bemused expression on his face. "Do you even know what the term vanilla sex means?"

Charlie narrowed her eyes as she took her turn with the bottle. "Do you remember Kurgan?"

Bass' jaw clenched as he looked at her, all humor gone from his face. "Yeah, I remember. I remember that I fought tooth and nail to get you moved out of his unit, but Frank said you refused." His eyes glittered with emotion. "I know we never really talked about it, but you have to know that I never wanted that for you, Charlie. That's why I forced Frank to make me your partner. I was not letting you go through that by yourself and Miles was so preoccupied... Some of the shit that we had to do," He turned his head to the side for a moment swallowing heavily, "and then for you to be teamed up with Kurgan on top of it. The rumors about his 'appetites' after a mission…"

"Are very true." She interrupted, baldly meeting his eyes.

Bass' nose flared as he took in her dilated pupils and rapidly moving chest. For her part, Charlie bit her lip as a rush of fluid from between her legs, drenched her panties. She reached for the bottle hanging loosely in his hand.

They walked in silence then, each lost in their own thoughts before she found them once again on her porch. "This is getting to be a habit."

"There are worse habits to have." He replied looking at her thoughtfully.

"Well, thanks again, and thanks for listening."

Three weeks later she came stalking into the bar around midnight with a look on her face that had most people fumbling to get the hell out of her way. Bass knew differently.

He grabbed a bottle and glass and headed over to the table that she had staked out as her own, setting them down on the table. "You okay?"

She shook her head and tried to pour a glass, but her hands were shaking too badly. Bass wrapped his hand around hers on the bottle and poured a healthy dose, which she threw back without blinking. He poured her another one before placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'll be around if you want to talk."

She nodded, not meeting his eyes as she picked up the glass and stared at the contents before downing it. Bass left her to it.

Word had trickled through an hour ago that the Fitzsimons boy, who had been run over by a runaway wagon earlier in the evening, had finally passed. Knowing Charlie, and from the looks of the scrubs she was wearing, she had done everything she could to save that little boy. Sometimes though, everything just wasn't enough.

Charlie had finished the first bottle on her own and had started on a second by the time Bass locked up the bar and joined her. In the last two hours she had managed to pull herself together, back to the confident woman that the town was familiar with.

Sliding into the seat across from her, Bass deposited his own glass on the table and poured from a fresh bottle. Tilting his glass towards her, he downed the drink before pouring another and settling back in his seat. Pulling out a deck of cards, he began to shuffle and deal a game of gin rummy. They had spent many a night out in the field this very way. He looked up after a few hands.

"You look tense."

Charlie gave him a no shit look and went back to playing the cards in her hand.

"What you need, Charlie, is a friend with benefits.

She looked up from her cards with semi-glazed eyes. "Huh?"

"A friend with benefits," he repeated himself.

"Explain," she demanded sitting back in her chair, cup in hand.

"Basically what we do now, but with sex."

Charlie crossed her arms over her chest trying to decide if he was serious or not.

"Look," Bass said leaning forward on the table pouring them both a drink. "You're not looking for a relationship and neither am I. Trust me, some of the women in this town are just as scary as the men," he said with a shudder thinking back to the proposition he had received just last night. "We're comfortable enough with each other to know that a booty call is just that. We drink together, have dinner together, and socialize with our fucked up little family together so why not throw in something that's going to make us both happy as well."

Charlie, filled her glass again as she eyed him. "You been thinking about this, haven't you?

"I wouldn't say thinking about it, however, I do have to admit that my hand could use a break."

Charlie snickered at his admission, but wasn't shocked by it . You lived in someone's back pocket for weeks like they did and you began to notice things. She knew exactly how his breathe caught in his throat as he climaxed and he probably knew the same about her.

"Friends with benefits," she repeated rolling the words around in her mouth before sticking out her hand for him to shake, "Sure, what the hell."