Strange

Miles was officially worried, and he wasn't one to worry. But Charlie hadn't been herself lately. It was more than just finding out she was the Luke to Monroe's Vader. Sure, she'd been shocked, horrified, well a lot of things after he told her. He'd actually been surprised at her reaction. She took it well, too well. Yes, she did cry a bit, not as much as Miles had prepared for anyway, she'd buried her face into his chest and gripped him as though he were the only life vest in her sea of uncertainty. But she'd quickly stopped, dried her eyes, gave him a quiet 'thank you', and then she smiled. That was the strange part, because it wasn't one of those fake 'it's okay I'm fine' smiles, no it was an actual smile. The kind she'd had when she was talking about him taking her for a ride on his motorcycle when they 'saved the world', the kind of smile he'd seen a dozen time before when she'd succeeded in knocking him down in their sparring.

Worse still, Charlie started acting a bit differently. Not enough for Aaron or Nora, well you never knew what Nora knew, to notice. When she looked at him her gaze would last just a bit longer, when they set up camp for the night she would always volunteer to go help him hunt or scout. It wasn't as though Charlie hadn't done these things before, but it was the way she was doing them. Before all the drama, Charlie had seemed a little more embarrassed, and a little angry at herself. Miles knew why too. But he wasn't going to admit it. Because blood or no blood, she was still his niece. He glanced over at her on the other side of the fire, the orange and red glow dancing off her tanned skin and blue eyes.

Charlie was worried. No, maybe that wasn't the right word, Charlie was annoyed. Ever since they had escaped the compound, ever since he'd told her about her father he'd been different, strange, guarded. Charlie had noticed how he seemed to be trying to distance himself from her, and she hated it. He was one of the most important persons in her life, he'd been with her since the very beginning, and now he decided to go cold on her. It hurt.

To be honest it took Charlie a few weeks to notice the change in his behavior, mostly due to her internal turmoil. Not about her whole 'evil father' situation; Charlie would have preferred that actually. No, what had been nagging at her for the first couple weeks was why she had felt relief when he had told her Monroe was her father. Why she'd felt even a little happy. She was sure something was wrong with her; there was nothing good about it. Except, maybe there was. Charlie shook her head trying to ignore her thoughts. They'd already run a thousand times through her head.

Since the beginning Charlie had felt a connection with Miles, a strictly family connection. But as she got to know him better, as they became friends, she started notice other feelings cropping up. She'd been utterly horrified the first time she thought he was attractive. Rationalizing it the best she could, she reasoned that he was nice looking…objectively speaking, and so it really didn't mean anything. But it kept getting worse. She'd started to feel happy around him, but more than happy; she'd started enjoying their hugs a little too much. Guiltily she knew that was why she liked to spar so much, why she wanted him to continue teaching her after she'd gotten the basics of hand-to-hand.

All that time leading up to that one conversation, Charlie had been horrified, embarrassed and guilt ridden. Because she'd eventually recognized that it wasn't a familial connection they had anymore, or at least not on her end. But when he'd told her they weren't related she realized she didn't have to feel so angry, so bad about her thoughts. When she'd finally reconciled all of it, the reason for her relief, and the knowledge that she could pursue what she wanted she had been so happy. She'd gone after it too. Charlie tried to spend more time with Miles, and tried to figure out how to get her feelings across. He'd known since the beginning that they weren't related, so Charlie didn't figure it would be so strange. He might reject her; she couldn't help but think he would. And that's about the time she'd noticed his withdrawal. He barely talked to her, gave short to the point answers and there certainly weren't anymore hugs, even when she needed them.

She looked up from the fire and caught his eyes. He was looking at her. Immediately his gaze left hers. This was all just too strange.

Cocktail

Charlie was so glad they'd found this place, and she could tell Miles was too. It was a bar or lounge maybe, Charlie didn't really know the difference. But it looked nice. She swung the door open and turned back to Miles. His side had been injured and she could see the dark red color stain his shirt and hand as he tried to put pressure on the wound. Reaching out to him Charlie tried to help him inside, but he shrugged her off dismissively. His attitude was really starting to piss her off. But then he stumbled.

"Miles!" Immediately she was next to him, holding him up. She let him lean on her as she steered him towards the leather couch. He groaned as she helped him sit. The wound looked worse close up. What was most worrying to her however was that it was in the same place as his near fatal wound had been. She wasn't a doctor or anything but she was pretty sure that having an injury re-occur in an already scarred area wasn't good. Charlie looked at him in the hopes that he knew what to do.

"Go over to the bar and get some Everclear, place like this ought to have some," Charlie blinked at his words.

"I don't think drinking is the best idea right now," she pointed out worriedly.

"Charlie, drinking is always the best idea. But I meant for cleaning the wound," Miles clarified rolling his eyes.

"Oh," Charlie jumped up and went behind the bar looking through the different assortments of liquor. She finally found what she was looking for. Grabbing all the bottles of it she could find she brought them over and sat them on the low table in front of the leather couch. Miles grabbed one of the bottles and twisted the cap off. He glanced at her briefly; she was going through their packs getting out the few bandages they had left. Charlie seated herself next to him. "Take off your shirt."

Miles almost asked 'what?!', but knew he'd have to in order to dress his injury. Reluctantly he removed his shirt. He stopped her though when she reached out for the bottle he held and bandage she had set on the table.

"I can do it," Miles took the bottle from her. He hissed as the alcohol sterilized his wound, Charlie knit her eyebrows and gave him a look that landed somewhere between worry and irritation. He reached out and grabbed the bandage and pressed it against the gash. He started wrapping it around his torso, but it was awkward and difficult.

Charlie got up from the couch and moved to the fireplace, lighting the logs that were left over from some prior time, there were quite a few actually. It was starting to get cold. She came back only to see that he was still working on the bandage. Charlie got fed up with watching him; it was obvious he was having trouble with it. Forcefully she took hold of the bandage from him. She was much quicker, and the dressing was much tighter. Every now and then her hand brushed his skin he'd tense up slightly; his skin felt warm. She hoped he didn't have a fever, and hoped he didn't have an infection. He muttered a 'thanks' when she finished.

"Can you get my extra shirt out of the pack?" Hopping up she retrieved it for him, and handed it over. He seemed to want to get covered as soon as possible. Despite the severity of the situation, Charlie couldn't help but think he looked nice without a shirt. But he was still being so dismissive and distant. Her face must have expressed some of her emotions, at least the negative ones. But he misinterpreted them. "They'll be fine Charlie. Nora'll keep Danny safe until we can meet up." Charlie nodded, feeling a little guilty that that wasn't exactly what she was thinking about. He was right though, they'd have to meet up later, it was already dark out. They'd have to stay the night here.

Despite having treated the wound Miles was still in a lot of pain. The alcohol had stung like a bitch and on top of that he'd already had his side ripped open before. Granted it had been much worse last time. He eyed the bottles of alcohol sitting right in front of him. It wasn't as though they had regular pain killers. Reaching out, Miles took the half empty bottle of Everclear. It was hard liquor and would definitely dull the pain. Charlie watched as he took a swig from the bottle. Hesitantly Charlie glanced at the other bottles. She'd had alcohol before, when she'd turned twenty-one her father had let her have her first drink. Charlie took one of the bottles, but before she could untwist the cap Miles' grabbed her wrist, stopping her from completing the action.

"Whoa now, what do you think you're doing?" Miles asked. "You even old enough for this stuff?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. He knew perfectly well that she was old enough.

"What, I'm old enough to kill, but not to drink?" She pulled her wrist from his grasp and opened the bottle. Taking a sip she almost coughed and spat it out. It had a strong burning flavor and stung as she swallowed it. Unfortunately, Miles noticed and laughed. Charlie could feel herself flush in embarrassment.

"Too strong for you?" Miles smirked. Charlie glared. He chuckled. "You'd probably like an actual drink instead of this hard stuff. It's not meant to be drunk alone anyway." Charlie suddenly remembered that he'd been bartending the first time they'd met, he probably knew a lot about this stuff. "A cocktail, that's something more up your ally."

"Will you make one for me?" He looked surprised, "You bartended before right, back in Chicago?"

"Yeah," he acknowledged. He seemed to mull over her question. "Alright," he conceded, "bring me some of the stuff from the bar."

"What do you need?" Charlie asked, she knew her elation wasn't hidden in the least, and headed back to the bar.

"Vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry and orange juice if you can find some," Miles told her. "Otherwise…"

"Hold on!" Miles heard the clinking of bottles and glasses. Charlie brought over all the items he'd listed and some cocktail glasses. "So?"

"So let's hope I'm not too rusty." Her mood was getting contagious. Miles could feel all the apprehension, and tension receding into the corners of his mind replaced by some positive emotion, one he couldn't really name. He started mixing the drinks and Charlie watched with great attention. Turned out he wasn't at all rusty, and he was right, Charlie did enjoy the cocktail. The mood had started to lighten, and it suddenly seemed as if none of the dramas or hardships had happened at all. It was as if they were just two close friends having a nice evening together. He told her stories of his college days, and the ridiculous situations he always seemed to get Ben into when they were kids. Charlie couldn't stop laughing. For her part she'd told him about how she learned to hunt and why she loved it so much, and she told him about all the small adventures she and Danny had had when they were kids, the ones even her parents didn't know about. They talked, drank, and the firelight cast a warm atmosphere around them.

Charlie was starting to feel sleepy. She clearly wasn't thinking straight though because she leaned over and rested her head against his shoulder. The minute she realized that she'd done it, she'd expected Miles to tense up, or push her away. But he didn't. Instead he just put his arm around her and rested his head atop hers. Her breath caught for a moment. Charlie had missed this, missed being with him. Her chest ached with feeling. Slowly she pulled back slightly and looked up at him. She knew that this wasn't fair, or ideal, they'd both been drinking, although neither of them were drunk, and she knew he just didn't have the energy at the moment to keep his defenses up. But she couldn't just let this chance go.

She didn't think she just did it. Leaning up Charlie pressed her lips to his, it was a light unpracticed kiss, and just for a moment Charlie could have sworn he'd kissed her back. But before she'd fully managed to register this he pulled away from her. Miles quickly got to his feet and put some distance between them, she heard his sharp exhale in pain when he moved so quickly. His hand went to his side, pressing against the wound. Charlie started to get up to go to him but he stopped her.

"Charlie, don't." He said firmly. His voice sounded angry, but when she searched his eyes she saw confusion and fear. "This…didn't happen okay?"

"Why not?" Charlie challenged. "There's nothing wrong with it."

"Nothing?" He repeated, exasperated. "Charlie, I'm your uncle." He reasoned, emphasizing his words.

"We're not related." Charlie reminded him, "So why is this such a big deal? Miles, I-"

"No," he cut her off, "no, no, no. Charlie, it's wrong."

"Wrong?" Charlie scoffed. She was starting to get angry. "You knew this entire time that we weren't blood, okay? You weren't the one who felt guilty and disgusted because she found her uncle attractive, because she... I should be thinking this is wrong, not you! You knew, know, there's nothing wrong with it!" Charlie argued loudly. She collected herself, calming her voice as best she could. "So tell me Miles, if we're not related, what's so 'wrong' about this?" For a moment Miles seemed at a loss for words.

"I'm twice your age," he pointed out. He seemed to be grasping at straws.

"So what?" Charlie growled. "Why…" a thought struck her. "Do you not see me that way?" She asked quietly; hurt lacing her voice even before she'd heard his answer. Miles didn't answer.

A/N

Hope you guys enjoyed, and please review! Next episode looks like it'll be ... interesting :3 Also, any one know what kind of drink he mixed her? :D