Bass woke up slowly. Early morning sunlight filtering through the thin, white curtains. Charlie's golden curls splayed over his chest, her breath warm on his neck. The light shone perfectly on her beautiful face, her features soft, still deep in sleep. It was like a dream, a peaceful morning with a beautiful woman in his arms. Only one thing could make this moment better.

He ran his hand down her side and over her hip, gently cupping her ass. She sighed and snuggled into him. "Good morning." He kissed her temple and moved his hand back up her side to cup her breast.

Charlie chuckled sleepily. "Good morning." Her voice was thick with sleep but she leaned further on his chest to kiss him gently on the lips. He moved his hand to her lower back and kissed her slowly, his tongue running gently along her lush lips, asking for entry. Charlie opened her mouth and he moved his hand back up to knead her breast lightly.

"You know, I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing that."

They pulled apart quickly, Charlie pulling the sheet up higher over her body and Bass reaching for his gun. But he didn't get far. Miles stood up from a chair in the corner of the room and was at his side of the bed, snatching it out of his hand before they even registered that it was Miles in their room.

They both sat up in the bed looking shocked, Bass bare chested and Charlie carefully covered with the sheet. Miles stood at the end of the bed with Bass' gun held loosely in his left hand, his own gun held more firmly in his right. His eyes were focused on his best friend.

"I knew yesterday, when you came out of the woods with her," he gestured in Charlie's direction, "that something was going on." He looked like he was barely hanging on to his careful control. "I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. I've been defending you left and right." Miles' voice had reached dangerous levels. "And what did you do? You went and slept with my niece!" His anger had finally reached its peak and he pointed his gun at Bass.

Until this point Bass and Charlie hadn't moved. They had been shocked out of their lazy morning by finding someone in their room, and not just anyone, but the last person that they wanted to be found in bed together by. But Miles actually pointing the gun at Bass seemed to bring Charlie to her senses.

"Miles, I know that-"

"Shut up Charlie, just shut up." He turned angry eyes her way. "I thought you were smarter than this." The disappointment in his voice broke her heart, Miles meant so much more to her than she could explain to anyone, except for maybe Bass.

"Get up and get dressed, we're leaving." Miles still hadn't lowered his gun. "I'll meet you out front." He showed no signs of moving and it hit her. He's going to kill him. Miles was actually going to kill Bass.

"No." She mover closer to Bass' side.

"Charlie, you should go." Bass wasn't looking at her, he was staring at Miles and his voice was no longer low and soft, it was sharp and harsh, and she knew what that meant. The General was back.

"No!" She looked between the two men.

"Charlie, go." Miles wasn't looking at her either, his gun still pointing at Bass.

She got up from the bed, wrapped the sheet firmly around her body, and crossed the room to stand next to her uncle.

"Charlie, I said-" but she didn't wait for him to finish. She grabbed the gun out of his right hand and knocked the other one to the floor. Miles jumped back looking shocked.

"And I said no." She removed the magazine from the gun and set it on the chair, turning back to look at the boys, one hand holding her sheet in place, the other on her hip. "Who the hell do you think you are!" She poked Miles in the chest angrily. "You break into our room! You try to kick me out! So you can what? Kill Bass?"

"Charlie, don't-" Bass tried to cut her off, his voice carefully measured.

"Shut up!" She held up a hand to silence him and he shut his mouth instantly.

"You are such an asshole." She lowered her voice and looked Miles directly in the eye. "When you and my mom got together, I didn't complain. Actually, I supported you, because I want you to be happy. And I've been putting up with your sickening, love birds, bullshit ever since! But I'm ok with that, because it makes you guys happy. I guess that doesn't go both ways though." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, waiting for a response.

Miles stuttered and sputtered trying to form a response, but he couldn't seem to put the words together.

"Get out." Charlie pointed at the door, her eyes never leaving his.

"But..."

"I said, get out." She reached for the handle and opened the door, pointing into the hallway. Miles feet didn't seem to comprehend what was happening because he moved slowly towards the door. He stopped just outside the door and turned around, his mouth open to say something, but Charlie cut across him. "I'll meet you out front." She shut the door in his face with a loud bang.

Turning back to the bed she saw Bass sitting there, staring at her open mouthed. "Charlie what are you-"

"Enough." She held up her hand again and gave him a sad look. "I'm not some whore that you can use and just throw away like a wet rag. I can't believe you. I thought you said I was important to you?"

"You are, but-"

"Forget it." She bent down to pick up her clothes and started pulling them on.

"Charlie wait." He jumped out of the bed and grabbed her shoulders.

"Don't touch me." She pushed his hands away angrily and reached for her boots, but her beat her to it, snatching them off of the floor. "Give them to me." She held out her hands but her just shook his head. She grabbed for them but he held them out of her reach. She was leaning close trying to get to them, so he took the opportunity and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Get off me." She tried to push him away but he dropped her boots and put the other arm around her, holding her firmly in place. "Let me go." She was wriggling in his arms trying to break free, but he just held her tighter.

"Not until you hear me out." His voice was firm.

"I'll scream." She met his eyes and he could see the anger and hurt there. He loosened his hold on her and she ripped herself out of his grasp.

"Please Charlotte, just listen for two seconds." Something in his voice made her stop, or it might have been him using her full name again. That never failed to get her attention.

Her hand was on the doorknob. Just turn it and walk away.

"Charlie..." She stopped, but refused to turn around. She wasn't sure she'd be able to walk away if she did.

When she spoke her voice was soft. "I'm so sick of being lied to." And then she was gone. He vaguely registered the sound of her boots on the stairs and the opening and closing of a door down on the main floor.

He sat down on the end of the bed. The same bed that he had just shared with Charlie. His Charlotte, so strong, and stubborn, and fierce. But just the tone of her voice in those parting words made him realize how stupid he had been. He had been avoiding her for weeks, trying to push away all of these feelings. Feelings that he shouldn't have for his best friend's niece, or even if she wasn't, she was half his age. It was wrong.

But she had cornered him on the road, forced him to face her and admit that he felt something more than just friendship. He had been so stupid to think that it was only one sided. There was no way a woman like Charlie could care for a bastard like him. Right? He figured she was just horny, and was trying to mess with him. A cruel trick, but he did kill half of her family, so it wasn't like he didn't deserve it.

That's what he thought last night had been. A trick, a glimpse into what could have been a beautiful life, and then she'd rip it away the moment they left the inn. But sitting there on the bed he knew how wrong he had been. She did care, for whatever reason, Charlie cared. But he blew it, he let his fear take control and he pushed her away. Now she was gone, and the last thing she'll remember of him was that he lied to her and made her just another in a long list of whores.

That thought finally brought him back down to Earth. He had never thought of her as a whore, not ever. How could she think that he would think that, after everything they had said yesterday. No, she needed to know the truth. And just like that, it hit him. The truth was, he was in love with her, and he couldn't let her leave without knowing that.

Bass dressed at top speed and flew down the stairs, yelling to the old man that the keys were in the room before slamming the door behind him. It was still early, so there weren't many people on the street. He whipped his head left and right looking for her golden blonde mane or even just a hint of bright blue eyes. But as he stood there, in the middle of the road he realized, she was already gone.

There was no way he was going to lose her. He couldn't do this again, his family, Shelly, Emma. He didn't think his heart could take it. Running at top speed he almost knocked over a man coming around the corner.

"Whoa, easy, what's going on?" It was Conner, standing there with a goofy grin on his face that clearly said 'I got laid last night.' His face went from happy to mildly concerned when he saw his father's crazed expression.

"Where's Charlie?" It was a question that demanded an immediate answer.

"I thought she was with you." Conner was quickly becoming more concerned, his father looked like he was between tearing his hair out and snapping someone's neck. "What happened? Why are you running?"

"You didn't see her come down the road just a minute ago?"

"No, I haven't seen her. What's going on?" But Bass wasn't listening, he felt like the world was collapsing in around him and it was difficult to breath.

"She's gone." His voice was just a whisper, but Conner caught it.

"Dad," he grabbed his father's shoulders and waited until he looked him in the eye. "What are you talking about? What happened? Did someone take Charlie?" Bass forced himself to stop and take a deep breath.

"No, no... no one took her." Bass took a deep, calming breath. "She left, with Miles just a little bit ago." He looked sadly at his son, the only person he had left, his family.

"They left without us? I thought we were supposed to meet-" Bass raised a hand to silence him.

"We got into a fight this morning." At Conner's questioning look he continued. "Charlie stayed with me at the inn last night." He couldn't bring himself to meet his son's gaze. He didn't want to tell him that he had just spent the night with the woman he'd been chasing ever since he arrived from Mexico.

"Well that was the plan, Miles took Rachel, we took Charlie. Well, you did, I had other business to attend to." He winked at his father and smiled. He knew something was off and he was trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Bass gave his son a forced smile, "Charlie and I had some... business too."

Conner stared at him, his brain hadn't put two and two together yet. It dawned on him slowly, his face going from confused to surprised. "What? You? And... Charlie?" He stepped back from his father, eyes wide with disbelief, then he stopped and looked straight into his fathers eyes, a smug little smile creeping onto his face.

"What?" Bass suddenly felt like a fourteen year old boy again.

"Oh nothing, just that now everything makes waaayyy more sense." Dragging the word out, his smug smile only grew wider. Bass just glared at his son. But that didn't deter Conner's amusement. "I thought you might have had a thing for her when you found us in that field, and then when you told me to find a girl to settle down with, just not Charlie, I knew it." He was standing there with a giant smile on his face looking particularly proud of himself.

Bass simply blinked at him. "Wait. Your telling me you've known the entire time?"

Conner just smiled at him. "Yup."

Anger tore threw Bass like a bullet. "You've been all over her this entire time! If you knew, why didn't you back off?"

But his anger didn't seem to phase his son, he did however, look slightly guilty. "I wanted to see how you would react. I thought you might get jealous and finally make a move." He gave his father a small smile. "Guess it worked, huh?"

Bass closed his eyes. He was trying really hard to understand what was going on. Conner knew he had feelings for Charlie. He had known about it since Vegas, and he'd been chasing after her with the intention of making him jealous so he would admit how he felt about her. His son was either Cupid or an evil genius. Or both.

Conner put a hand on his shoulder and steered him towards the main gate. "Come on Dad, lets go find your girlfriend."

"Shut up."

A/N I am not a Conner fan, but I think deep down he just wants to be loved, just like Bass. So I decided to be nice to him. Charlie might not be when she finds out though ;-) I love seeing your comments so let me know what you think!