Author's Note
Thank you for all the comments.
As I already told Monroe-Militia, Bass and Charlie will have some hard emotional times coming up. I hope you will stick it though with them.
Enjoy!
Bass's POV
"MONROE" Nutter shouts across the yard and I peak my head out of the tent. "PHONE CALL FOR YOU!"
I drop my washing onto my bed and make my way over to the tent, where Nutter is waiting for me.
"It's from home" He informs me and points at the phone. A bad feeling is putting up shop in my stomach and I grab the device with shaky hands. If Charlie is calling outside the scheduled calls, this has to be serious.
"Charlie?" I question as I bring the phone to my ear.
"Bass, its Andrew." My friend replies and the bad feeling intensify.
"What is going on?" I ask immediately.
"Alex and your mother in law were in a car accident…" Andrew starts, but I interrupt him.
"Are they okay?" I question.
"I spoke to Charlie ten minutes ago and Alex was still in surgery at that point." Andrew informs me and then adds "Listen…I will get you home as soon as possible. I will find someone to take your place, but it may take a couple of days."
"Wait…call Timothy Grant. He owes me." I took a tour last year for him because his wife was due to give birth at any minute.
"Done. I will call you again as soon as I have more information." He assures me.
"Just make sure Alex is okay. And keep me updated!" I reply.
"Talk to you soon, Bass" He says and hangs up.
"Everything okay?" Nutter questions from behind me.
"My son was involved in an accident…he is in surgery" I reply, trying to wrap my head around it.
"You are going home?" Nutter asks and comes to sit next to me.
"Hopefully. Tim Grant owes me a favor, so I hope I will be able to cash that one in" I answer.
"He will be alright, man" My friend claps me on the back and ads "Come on. We leave in an hour, let's get our gear ready."
Two days later
"Thank you for doing this" I shake Tim's hand as we meet on the airfield at 8 am in the morning. The plane needs to refuel and in a couple of hours I get to fly home.
"No worries. I know you would do the same for me, if the roles were reversed" Tim replies. "How is Alex?"
"He is okay. Sleeping a lot. He lost a lot of blood and he coded on the table once" I reply and still can't believe how close I came to losing my son.
"Tell Charlie and Alex I said Hi" Tim says and with that he gets into the waiting vehicle. Tim also lives in Chicago and we went to dinner a few times together with our wives.
18 long hours and one stop over in Istanbul later we finally touch down in Chicago.
"Take me to the Hospital" I order Miles, who is already waiting for me in front of the airport.
"Got it…Glad to see you were able to come home early" My best friend throws me a sideways glance.
"So am I. How is he?" I question. The last few hours I willed the plane to fly faster and tried not to think about the fact that my son is lying in the hospital.
"Good. He is just sleeping a lot." Miles replies.
"Good…good" I say and drift off into my own world. Half an hour later we finally arrive at the hospital and I jump out immediately, just barely hearing Miles shouting Alex's room number. Miles can't stay unfortunately, since he has a bar to run and his employees to pay.
I run up the stairs, down the corridors and stop dead in my tracks as I enter Alex's room. He looks so fragile, lying there with the monitors attached to his tiny body and his arm and leg in a cask. Charlie is sitting next to him, with her head lying on his bed and snoring softly.
I drop my duffle bag silently on to the floor, shrug of my jacket and drape it over Charlie's shoulders. Afterwards I make myself comfortable in the chair on the other side of Alex's bed and set the stuffed animal I brought at the airport onto his bedside table.
A few minutes later a Doctor comes in and checks Alex's monitors. After he is done he motions for me to follow him out. "I am Doctor Scott. Are you Alex's father?"
"Yes, how did you know?" I question curiously. Alex looks more like Charlie than me.
"Name tag on your Duffel bag, Mr. Monroe" The Doctor replies. "Alex is doing well. All his vitals are good and the wound seems to be healing well."
"Will he have any lasting injuries? My wife told me that he coded!" I ask.
"No he won't. He needs to keep his arm and leg in a cask for about four weeks. His fractured collarbone can take up to six weeks to heal. His arm will need to stay in a sling." Doctor Scott answers and shoots me a small smile. "He will be able to run around in no time. Children's bones heal quicker, thankfully."
"Thank you Doctor" I shake his hand and walk back into Alex's room. Charlie and our son are still sleeping, so I pull a book out of my bag and start reading.
"When did you get here?" I hear Charlie mumble an hour later and I lower my book to look at her. Her head is still resting on Alex's bed, but her eyes are focused on me. She has dark rings under her beautiful, blue eyes, which tells me that she hasn't slept much in the last few days and I guess she hasn't been home either.
"About two hours ago" I reply and place the book on the bedside table. "How are you?"
"As good as can be expected" She replies and stifles a yawn. "I am sorry; I didn't intend to fall asleep."
"You obviously needed it. Why don't you go home and sleep for a while? I will stay here" I suggest, but she immediately starts shaking her head.
"No, I want to be here, when he is awake." She replies stubbornly and I notice that she draws my jacket closer to her body.
"Charlie" I sigh "You are tiered and I assume you haven't eaten much at all the last few days, so please go home. You won't be any good to him in this stage. I will be here all day and night, so you can get some decent sleep. And I am not accepting no for an answer."
"Fine…I will go home." My wife replies "But I will be back for dinner tonight"
"I can live with that deal" I smirk and she rolls her eyes in return.
"I have never been good at negotiating with you" She sighs and gets up. "Call me if anything happens!"
"I will" I say and she walks out the door, just to return seconds later.
"Sorry…here" Charlie says and shrugs my jacked of her shoulders.
"You keep it. Don't need it here" I answer and motion for her to put it back on. "And it is a little chilly out there this morning."
"Thank you" She says and puts it back on. "I will see you later."
"Later" I nod and watch her walk out the door for the second time.
Charlie's POV
I have to stifle another yawn, as I walk down the hall away from Alex's room. As much I want to turn around and stay by my son's side, I can't. Bass is right. I need some decent sleep, which I only will get at home.
I put my arms through the sleeves of his jacked and have to smile at the familiar scent. God I miss that smell!
My phone rings in my jeans pocket and I take it out to answer it. Jason "Hi"
"Hey, beautiful. How is he?" Jason questions.
"Sleeping" I reply and as I get into a cab, which is waiting in front of the hospital, I tell the driver my address.
"Where are you?" Jason asks.
"In a cab on my way home. Why?" I question back.
"How come? Yesterday, as I wanted to take you home you refused, what changed?" He inquires.
"Bass is there, looking after Alex. I will go home to shower and sleep. I will be back there tonight" I answer.
"Didn't think he would come" Jason remarks.
"What is that supposed to mean?" His questions are slowly getting on my nerves.
"Well… it means exactly how I said it." He answers.
"His son is in the hospital; of course he would move heaven and earth to come back. And even if he couldn't, I would understand. He can't just leave there, they always need someone there to replace him and that is easier said than done in a war zone" I reply harshly.
Bass is a sore subject between Jason and me. Not only because he is my soon-to-be ex-husband, but also because Jason doesn't understand how a man can leave his child and wife alone for most of the year and risk losing them rather than giving up his job.
"Why are you defending him?" Jason questions just as harshly.
"I am not. I am just saying how it is…Jason…" I sigh "I really don't have the nerve nor the energy to fight with you about this right now. I will call you in a few days."
"Charlie…I am sorry" He replies softly.
"Me too." I tell him and hang up.
Once I get home, I quickly shower and then drop onto the mattress, with a towel still wrapped around my head.
"I am sorry…" I call out to Bass, who is pacing in front of Alex's room. I didn't hear the alarm I set myself and ended up sleeping in until 8 pm. I had another quick shower and drove past our favorite takeout restaurant, to get some dinner.
"Why are you apologizing?" Bass looks at me with a small smile. "You obviously needed the sleep."
"Yeah I did" I answer honestly. "Thank you!"
"Now, give me that food, I am starving" Bass says and takes the paper bag from me. "He fell asleep again."
"Oh…okay." I am disappointed, that I wasn't here as he woke.
"He asked for you and as I told him you would be back, he was determent to stay awake." Bass smirks. "The little guy didn't quiet succeed at that."
I only nod and carefully push the door open. I smile as I see my son holding the stuffed Meer cat, Bass brought for him, to his chest.
"Doc said he will be ok" Bass says. My heart, that traitor, speeds up a little as I realize how close he is standing behind me.
"He is a tuff little nugget" I smile and look at Bass over my shoulder. "He got that from his father."
Bass turns his head, fixates his eyes on mine and shoots me a small smile. "He had to get something from me."
"He is more like you than you think" I mutter and my stomach chooses that moment to make itself known.
"Well he inherited your stomach…come on let's eat. Even though my stomach doesn't voice it as loud, I am definitely starving." He chuckles and pushes me into the room.
For a moment I relish the feeling of his hand at the small of my back, but then I remind myself that I am with Jason and that I shouldn't be this happy for my soon to be ex-husband to touch me.
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