Who's the man? Who's the man?
I'm the man, I'm the man
Who's the man with the plan?
I'm the man

Bass caught up to Charlie outside of the tents shortly after.

"I know you can handle this," Bass offered, hoping to make amends. "If we handle everything just like we discussed, this time tomorrow we will be headed to Texas with our men from the war clan."

Charlie nodded and continued to walk. One minute Bass was treating her like a legitimate partner and the next he was acting like she was some hanger-on that he was responsible for babysitting... she chose to just leave it alone for now, it was becoming too confusing and they had work to do besides arguing.

"Thanks for letting me crash at the trailer last night," Charlie changed the subject as she and Bass walked back to his trailer.

"No problem. Like I said before, you want to save your diamonds and you certainly don't want to camp in the woods again," Bass replied. "Although, I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult for an attractive woman like you to find a place to sleep for the night."

Charlie nearly stopped in her tracks at his words.

Bass kept walking and didn't seem to catch on to why she had slowed down- either he didn't realize what he had just said or he was choosing to be more bold and just didn't really care.

8:35pm

Charlie was seated at the bar and observed Bass who was a few yards away at a gambling table.

She noted the blonde woman who had walked up beside Bass, touching his arm lightly and smiling. He grinned at her in response and clearly knew who she was.

Charlie ordered an extra shot of whiskey from the bartender and took it right away, enjoying how the liquid burned all the way down her throat. She proceeded to take three more shots while Bass placed more bets, the blonde now a fixture at his side.

Charlie leaned back in her chair, not sure how this new development was going to factor into the plan. They had roughly 25 minutes until the last diamond collection of the night...she figured either way, Bass would have it covered.

After a couple more minutes at the table, Bass whispered something in the girl's ear and Charlie watched as she giggled and walked out of the tent.

Bass casually approached Charlie at the bar.

"Thought your little friend was going to get in the way there for a second," Charlie said, taking another swig of her whiskey. "Why did she leave so quickly?"

"I told her to get ready and that I would meet her at my trailer in about 45 minutes," Bass said, watching the rest of the gambling tables and not meeting Charlie's eyes.

"Of course you did," Charlie retorted leaning toward the bar. She turned back to the bartender, "Another shot please."

Bass looked from the bartender to Charlie. "Take it easy on the booze, at least until we get this done..."

Charlie just looked at Bass defiantly as she knocked back another shot.

Almost like clockwork, Charlie noticed Gould and a couple of his men had entered at the corner of the tent.

She slid off her barstool, bumping Bass' shoulder as she walked away but not looking back as she walked over to Gould.

"King's lady- Savannah, right?" Gould grinned when he saw her and noted that Jimmy was standing by the bar, watching their exchange.

"I wouldn't say that I am his lady, that's for sure...but I believe you do owe me a game or two of Black Jack," Charlie grinned.

Bass took that as his cue to exit the tent from the right so Gould would assume he had left the area- the key was for none of Gould's men to be able to place Bass near the scene of the crime.

Charlie started smiling at Gould."I have never played Black Jack before, can you show me?"

Gould led her over to the Black Jack table and turned to show Charlie how the game was played. This got the attention of a few others at the table, and a couple of the men were smiling at Charlie as she asked questions she already knew the answers to, related to the game.

A few moments later, Charlie happened to notice the man in the white cowboy hat, making the diamond collection in two small leather bags- he had stopped at each table around them to pick up the payment collection.

Bass had sneaked back in through the side of the tent, but was hidden behind one of the curtains just beside the makeshift office.

Just as he had done the previous night, the man in the white cowboy hat had walked back to the "office" with the leather bags, ready to make the deposit in the safe.

Slowly sneaking up behind the man, Bass delivered a blow to the back of the man's head, and catching him before he hit the ground. The blow wasn't hard enough to be fatal, only to knock him out for a little while so he would have no memory of what happened. Bass laid the man on the ground just outside of the tent, figuring it might be a little while before anyone missed him or realized he hadn't already deposited the diamonds in the safe.

Bass grabbed the leather bags, stuffed them into his leather jacket, zipped it up quickly, and looked both ways before making a quick exit out of the side of the tent.

He kept walking very casually, not too slow or fast, straight back to his trailer.

The pretty blonde from earlier was standing near the front door of Bass' trailer.

"Go on inside and I will be there in a few," Bass said, opening the door for her. and giving her his million dollar grin. The girl smiled back at him and walked through the door of the trailer. Bass shut the door behind her, staying outside.

Bass had already picked out a perfect spot to stash the diamonds for tonight-buried underground a few yards behind his trailer. He couldn't take the risk of anyone finding the diamonds in his trailer. The spot he had decided on was just behind a group of trees so it wasn't even visible from the back porch of his trailer but was far enough from plain sight from passersby.

Bass grabbed the shovel he had managed to swipe earlier and headed straight for the area beyond the trees. He was planning to tell exactly no one where he was hiding the diamonds, not even Charlie. He just couldn't take the chance that she would take the diamonds and split out of town without him...unfortunately, he had been burned a time or two by Mathesons so he was a little leery to fully trust her.

When he was finished, he walked back to the trailer and walked inside to the find the woman waiting on him.

"Listen, Jade...I'm sorry, but I actually have to fight later tonight...I'm just not really up for anything right now," Bass said. He knew it sounded like a weak excuse to get rid of her, but he was giving her such a charming smile that she really didn't argue or try to resist his decision. He gently took her arm and ushered out of his trailer.

He quickly changed into the clothes he normally wore for the fights, mainly consisting of a pair of black pants and boots.

Bass walked back to the gambling tent where Charlie was still at the Black Jack table with Gould and a few of his men. She had been subtly looking around, waiting for a signal that he had returned.

Bass stood at the entrance of the tent and Charlie spotted him almost immediately. He only had to simply nod which was their code that everything had gone according to plan.

11:45 pm

High off one of the best fights he has had in years and the adrenaline pumping through his veins from the success of their plan to get the diamonds, Bass gladly accepted the shots being handed to him at the bar. He was sufficiently buzzed, which was rare considering how high his tolerance was due to how much he normally drank.

Gould had been extremely happy with the outcome of the fight until he had found his payment coordinator unconscious behind the gambling tent. Of course, Gould was set to launch a full-scale investigation into what happened and had already questioned a few of the regulars, but for tonight, he was also going to celebrate the victory of doubling his average winnings from the bets on Jimmy King's latest fight. Gould figured he had lost about 200 diamonds when his guy was robbed, but just tonight had brought in around 600 diamonds...

Charlie walked toward Bass and the bevy of females surrounding him at the bar. She tried to push down the overwhelming feelings of jealousy she was starting to feel...once again, she tried to chalk it up to the numerous shots she had consumed before and after they had managed to pull off their diamond heist.

Charlie stopped and decided to take a place at the bar a few spaces down from Bass and his fan club.

A tall, blonde man who looked to be around Charlie's age sidled up beside her at the bar, "Hey-"

Charlie looked sideways at him, "Hey-"

"Can I get you a drink?" the man asked her. He reached out his hand, "I'm Jake."

"Savannah," Charlie responded, shaking his hand. She looked at the bartender and ordered another whiskey.

She looked over to see Bass, still surrounded by women, but instead of being preoccupied with the women around him, he was instead watching Charlie's exchange with the Jake.

"I haven't seen you around here before," Jake commented. "Are you new to the area?"

"I have been here for a little while-," Charlie replied.

"-Time to go-" At that moment, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the bar and Jake.

"What the hell, Monr-Jimmy?!" Charlie nearly shouted as Bass continued to guide her through the tent and outside, but she caught herself before she blew his cover.

"I am getting really tired of saving your ass, so I figured it was better to call a preemptive strike rather than wait for that jerk-off to attack you," Bass said harshly.

"Who said I didn't want him to try something?" Charlie asked with the defiant look that Bass had come to know very well since she came to New Vegas.

Bass shook his head, continued walking back toward his trailer with Charlie angrily on his heels.

"You are not my father or bodyguard or whatever," Charlie called out behind him. "You don't get to call the shots on what I do or who I do it with!"

Bass turned then and walked back to her, stopping only when he was standing to stand toe-to-toe with her.

"Oh, so you are the only one can do the cock blocking then, is that it?" he said through gritted teeth. Bass was so close to her now that Charlie could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Please- I haven't kept you from any of those women...Just go! Go screw those whores- see if I care," Charlie nearly spat.

She turned to walk away from him when he grabbed her arm, whirling her back, practically falling into his chest.

His lips crashed into hers with such a fierce aggression and pent-up frustration that she was almost taken aback...but once she realized what had happened, Charlie gave as good as she got.

After a few moments, Bass pulled away and looked at Charlie. She had never seen him look this way before. It was a mixture of a haze of lust and a look of uncertainty...almost as if he was trying to silently gauge her thoughts and whether she wanted to be doing this or if it was the alcohol making them both a little reckless.

Charlie could almost see the conflicting feelings in his eyes and she was wondering if the same were reflected in her own. He seemed to be silently questioning the next move and what she wanted. He was trying to give her an 'easy out' on this situation.

Charlie silently answered him by pulling him down for another kiss.

That seemed to satisfy the question in Bass' mind at that moment.

Without another word, Bass took Charlie's arm and pulled her along with him back to his trailer.