Author's Note
Thank you all for your lovely comments. They are much appreciated.
So I had to change one small thing in Chapter 3, because the timeline was adding up. My apologies. I made it now that Charlie used to work for Train and Rescue during High school and during school holidays too. And was approached by the owner again after she couldn't find a job in her field.
As much as this chapter seems like the end…I promise it's not. There is going to be another hurdle to come (Author rubs her hands together of excitement :D )
Enjoy
Charlie's POV
"Holy shit…" I take a deep breath and look at Nora.
"What does it say?" My best friend questions.
"It's positive" I tell her and take another deep breath to calm myself down. "He is going to freak and he is going to be so mad…Shit"
"Charlie….as much as I don't like your boyfriend, I know he will be happy about this." Nora assures me and guides me towards my bedroom.
"We only have been together for a little over a year…Shit…" I curse again, as I sit down on my bed. I would love nothing more than to smack myself right now. How could I be so stupid and forget my Pill?
"Have you guys ever talked about this?" Nora probes and sits beside me.
"Sort off. I am only a few months away from being 19, having a child was the last thing on my mind." My heart is pumping as if I just ran a marathon and I put my head between my knees to prevent the panic attack that I can feel coming.
"Talk to him…see what he says. I am always here for you, if you need me." She assures me and gets off the bed. "I need to go. Dad needs me to work a shift tonight. Call me if you need anything." She adds and before she leaves she gives me a tight hug.
For the next couple of hours I try to get some school work done, but my mind keeps going to the pregnancy stick which is now hidden in my bathroom. I don't know what to do with a child. I know I wanted kids, but didn't think it would happen this early in my life.
I love Bass, but I am worried about what he is going to say when he finds out. Is he going to tell me to get rid of it? Is he going to shout at me? Or will he be happy?
"Charlie?" My mother calls out, pulling me out of the deep end of my mind. "Bass is here." I didn't even hear the doorbell, that's how deep I was in my thoughts.
"Tell him to come up" I call back and place down the pen I am holding with shaky hands.
My mother doesn't know about this yet. I know she would freak and probably shoot Bass with her riffle, which she hides behind the coat hanger downstairs.
There is a small knock on my door and my heart speeds up even more. How am I going to explains this to him?
"Hey" Bass smiles and comes to stand next to my desk. "Let me just quickly shower…I didn't make it home beforehand" He says, after giving me a kiss. Bass makes that blue overall look very good and for a moment I can't help but star at him. "How are you?" He asks with his back towards me taking of his boots. My mind goes blank and all the blood drains out of my face.
As he doesn't get an answer, he turns around and looks at me. "Charlie?" He looks at me in worry. "What is going on? You are just as white as a sheet of paper!"
"I need to tell you something…" I start and tears appear in my eyes. I can't lose him over this.
"Hey whatever it is…it can't be that bad!" My boyfriend says softly and drags me out of my chair and into his strong arms. I take a deep breath and inhale his scent. He smells like engine oil, cars and something uniquely him.
Here goes to nothing. "I am pregnant…" I almost whisper and hold on tighter. I can feel him go very still and panic rises within me. "I mean I am pretty sure, since I took a home test…actually multiple…but the Doctor would still need to confirm it…so yeah I am pretty sure that I am pregnant…"
As he doesn't answer, I look up into his face and it is as white as the wall. "Bass?" I question carefully.
"You are pregnant?" Bass says it in an almost whisper, staring at me.
"Yes" I answer and step away from him.
"Are you sure?" He questions, as the colour slowly comes back into his face and a small smile spreads on his lips.
"Yeah, I am sure" I tell him and the next thing I know I am being twirled through the air. "HEY…let me down…" I yelp and can't help but laugh.
"I am going to be a Dad" He grins and kisses me senseless, until the need for air becomes too much.
"You are happy about this?" I asked stunned.
"Yes…incredibly happy. I mean this isn't exactly how I imagined it would go…but I thought we eventually will have kids. I just always figured it would be after you finished College" He replies honestly and sobers. "Are you happy about this? I mean do you want to keep it? Whatever you decide we will deal with."
"I think I want this…" I smile. Not once since I found out that I am pregnant, it crossed my mind to get rid of the Baby.
"Seems like we are going to be parents then" Bass says with a huge grin. "Have you told your mom yet?"
"No not yet…But I suppose I will have to soon" I sigh.
"Well before you do, hide the rifle though. I didn't leave the army to be shot at on home turf." He remarks and I can't help but laugh. I know in this moment that everything will be okay.
"CHARLIE" My mother shouts from downstairs.
CHARLIE
CHARLIE
I startle awake with a smile, which vanishes as I hear the shouting voices coming from downstairs. SHIT.
I quickly throw back the covers and make my way down the stairs.
"Will you keep it down Danny…your sister is still sleeping!" Bass growls.
"I am asking you again…What are you doing here Bass?" Danny shouts and glares at Bass.
"He is here because of Alex and what are you doing here Danny?" I question as I enter the kitchen. Bass is standing there in only his shorts, without a shirt, and it looks like he was making breakfast, before my brother decided to show up.
"Great you woke her" Bass shoots Danny a look, which could send a lesser person running for the hills.
"I wanted to check on you. Mom told me about the accident and I came home immediately. Thought you might need help with Alex." My brother replies. "But instead I find, Alex at Mom's and your Ex-Husband in your kitchen."
"You can't just come over here unannounced Danny. Did Mom put you up to this?" I question, but nevertheless walk over to him and give him a hug. I haven't seen my little brother in months. He is studying in San Diego and only comes home every few months. Our mother said she would tell him about the accident, since I was constantly with Alex in the hospital.
"Mom may have neglected to mention that Sebastian is here" Danny speaks his name with disgust and I hit him over the head. "HEY…what was that for?"
"Stop being an asshole" I say and walk over to where Bass continued to make breakfast. "Smells good."
"Thanks…it should be ready in five minutes. You wanna join us Danny?" Bass questions, without looking at him. But I see the eye roll and shoot Danny a glare.
"I am going to have to talk to Mom about this" I growl and shake my head. She knew Danny's feelings towards Bass and I am sure she also knew that he would kick off, if he saw him here. Both men got along just fine until I made the mistake of calling Danny a few times, crying.
"She just means well." Danny says and sits down at the table. "And yes I would like to stay…I need to talk to him anyways." He says pointing at Bass.
"Danny…" I warn him, but Bass interjects.
"It's fine Charlie." My husband replies and shoots me an assuring smile.
Bass's POV
We only stick to the weather, football and university as breakfast topics and Charlie shoots us both worried glances all the way through breakfast.
"We will be fine" I assure her and press a kiss onto her lips, before I join Danny in the garden.
I woke up this morning fully rested and couldn't help the grin spreading out on my face, as I saw her still snuggled against my side. I actually intended to bring her breakfast to bed, like I used to do early on in our marriage, but Danny destroyed those plans, by shouting around.
I close the door behind me and as I turn around, Danny hits me square in the face. "Ufff…"
"You are a real asshole you know that" Danny growls and shakes his hand in pain.
"I know" I only reply and sit down on the couch. My jaw is throbbing, but I don't think that it is broken. But I will have a nice bruise there tomorrow. I am actually surprised that Charlie hasn't rushed out, maybe she gets that Danny and I have to sort this out between ourselves.
"You don't deserve her" My brother in law says and sits down next to me.
"I know" I repeat.
"If you hurt her again, you will suffer worse than a punch in the face" Danny assures me and shoots me a glare.
"Got it"
"For some fucked up reason she still loves you, so don't fuck it up." He tells me and looks me right in the eyes.
"I don't understand it myself" I mutter.
"I mean it, Bass" Danny growls "I don't want to get another call at 2 am with her crying on the other end. I had enough of those."
"I can't promise you anything…I will properly fuck up, I am a Monroe after all, but I will try my best. She is it for my Danny…I love her." I tell him.
"I should have known Mom had an ulterior motive as she urged me to go and see my sister this morning" Danny admits and shakes his head.
"Your mother never really liked me, so I can't blame her for trying." I say and laugh.
"I will call ahead next time I come around" Danny holds out his hand and I shake it. "Good talk" He grins and gets up. I hear him say to Charlie "He needs some ice" as he enters the house.
Minutes later Charlie walks outside with a bag of ice. "Unbelievable" She mutters and hands it to me. "I am going to kill him."
Just as she turns away, I snatch her hand and pull her towards me. "Sit down, Danny can show himself out." I say the last part loud enough for my brother in law to hear and seconds later the front door closes with a small 'Bang'. Surprisingly she listens to me and sits down. I snag my arm around her and pull her closer. "I deserved that. I am surprised he didn't show up a lot earlier."
"Well he probably has been avoiding mom's calls again. I am sure she called him the minute she found out that you are here" Charlie replies and snuggles further into my embrace.
"At some Point your mother and I will find common ground…" I tell her and place a kiss on her temple.
"Yeah when one of you is dead" Charlie mutters and making me laugh. She has a point though. Rachel doesn't like me, no matter how hard I try; I cannot convince her that I am good enough for her daughter. And what happened these past few months, it will be even harder now.
A couple of weeks later
"Hey" I knock on Andrew's door and he motions for me to get in. I seat myself in front of his table and wait for him to get off the phone. His office is spacious and on the 15th floor, with a view over Chicago.
"Hey…good to see you. I am glad that Alex is doing better. Me and the wife will come around on the weekend" Andrew says and shakes my hand. "So what was so urgent?"
"Well the thing is…I want out." I tell him straight up.
"You want to leave Black Ops?" Andrew questions and sits back in his seat with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes." I nod and add "I need to think of my health and family. Charlie and I are on better terms again, working towards getting our marriage back on track and I need to be here for that. So I will fulfil my contract, that is two more tours, but I won't renew my contract."
"Wow…didn't think I would see that day coming." Andrew smiles at me. "Good for you…but maybe you don't have to leave Black Ops completely."
"What do you mean?" I ask curiously.
"Well…we are looking for people to fill various positions at the moment." Andrew answers and leans forward to look at something on his desk. "The positions you are qualified for are recruiting and Training. What do you say? Any of that interest you?"
"Is there any overseas time in there?" I like working for this company, because they always paid me good and were fair to me, but if I the new positions require me to go back in a war zone for a longer period of time, I won't do it.
"The Recruitment position requires you to travel twice a year overseas, to do assessments. The training position only requires you to travel domestically. Maybe to Europe, if we are able to open that branch in London." My friend informs me and hands me a stack of papers. "Talk it through with Charlie and let me know before you deploy next week."
"Thanks Andrew" I stand and shake his hand. "For everything."
"You would have done the same for me." He replies and adds with a grin "You may want to check out the Salary we are willing to pay you."
I laugh and leave his office. One task down for the day, next one is talking to Charlie.
"Hey" Charlie comes down the stairs and places a kiss on my mouth. We always shared a bed during the last couple of weeks, but we decided that is as far as we would go. Even though I get up with a hard on every morning, I haven't even tried to have sex with her. I respect her wishes to much for that. But I swear she is trying to drive me mad with those small shorts she is wearing all the time.
I lift her up from the last step and she locks her legs around my waist. "Hey" I say, back her into the door and kiss her. Her lips taste sweet and her tongue is just begging for a wrestling match. And as the need for air becomes too much we pull apart.
Charlie's eyes have taken up a darker shade and are filled with desire. How much I would love to take her upstairs and just rip the clothes off her, but I have something to talk about with her.
"I have something to tell you" I inform her and carry her towards the living room. I want to be comfortable.
Her back stiffens and her face slips to a natural expression. Charlie tells me I have a world class 'Blank' face, but I am sure hers tops mine. "Don't worry…nothing bad." I assure her and place another kiss on her slightly swollen lips.
I sit us down, so that she is straddling me. Charlie wants to hop off me, but I keep her locked into place. "No stay here".
"What is going on Bass?" Charlie questions softly, but I can hear the worry in her voice.
"I have been seeing a psychiatrist for the last couple of weeks." I admit.
"What? Why didn't you say something? I could have made it easier on you!" Charlie says immediately.
"I didn't want it easier, Charlie. And I wanted to make sure that it was going somewhere and that I was actually going there regularly. I didn't want to tell you, then chicken out and disappoint you all over again." I tell her.
"Thank you" She tells me with a small smile and kisses me with everything she has got.
"It's a slow process and since I am deploying again next week again, I will miss a few session, but once I am home again I will go back. I promise." I assure her and add "There is more."
"More?" She questions and raises an eyebrow.
"I am going to quit my job…Hear me out" I say as she is about to interrupt me, with a big grin on her face. I think Christmas came early for her this year. I haven't seen her smile like that in a long time.
"Okay" She whispers and waits me out.
"Andrew offered me a different position in the company. Minimal to no overseas travel. I have the information in my back pocket and I would like to discuss it with you tonight, after dinner." I tell her. "And I want us to sell the house."
I reached the conclusion between waking up and making breakfast. I want a new start with my family. And I think the right way to do is, to buy a new house.
"What? No…why? It's our house! So many good memories in there." My wife points out and I nod in agreement.
"Yes…but also bad ones. Especially from the last two years. Especially for you. It is time for a fresh start. We don't need to buy another house immediately and I can sleep on Miles's couch until we are back on track, but I want to start over…with you." I tell her honestly.
"Why would you want to sleep on Miles's couch?" She questions.
"Well I…I don't know. I just thought given the circumstances that would be the right thing to do" I inform her and shift her slightly on my lap, because my legs are slowly falling asleep.
"But I just gotten used to having my heater in my bed again" She smirks and I laugh.
"You and your cold feet. Its 30 degrees at night and your feet are still like ice blocks." I shake my head. "Well fine…if I can help you keep your feet warm, I will share a bed with you." I sigh as if that will be such a bad thing.
"Such a hard job huh?" She grins and inches her face closer to mine.
"Yes it is. I should receive hazardous pay." I grin and claim her lips with mine.
I am beyond happy at the moment. I am saving my marriage, I am giving up my job and I will get to actually go to one of Alex's football games in the future. Life couldn't be better.
Loved it? Hated it? Comment below