For the first time in over a month, the house is finally quiet. Charlie and Maggie went out dress shopping this morning in preparation for the gala. Well, it was more like Maggie dragged Charlie out to go dress shopping. Plus, Jason has Danny occupied in the banquet hall supervising the decorators, which means that Bass finally has a few hours that he can get caught up on his paper work.

He's made a sizable dent in the towering mess on his desk but he knows his time is up when the office door flings open and Miles comes stomping into the room. His brother shakes his shaggy hair out of his eyes and tosses his dusty uniform jacket onto a chair before plopping down on the couch in the office with a sigh.

"So what's the damage?" He asks, looking to Bass with worried eyes. "Your letter said that Ben and Rachel are being difficult. Define difficult."

Bass absent mindedly rubs the sore spot on his cheek where Ben had punched him two weeks ago but decides not to give Miles that particular detail. He sighs and gets up to pour Miles a drink. "It's not good Miles."

Taking the drink from his hand, Miles says, "don't beat around the bush. Just spit it out."

"They think that we brainwashed Charlie, manipulated her into marrying me, and that we've been using her as our perfect little puppet to gain the people's trust."

Miles chuckles but then frowns when Bass doesn't join in. "Wait, are you serious?"

Nodding, Bass collapses down next to him as the weeks of holding it all together start to come apart. "And I don't know what to do. Charlie officially hates Rachel, she might as well hate Ben too, and both of her parents despise me and seem to fear her." He looks over at Miles' concerned face pleadingly, begging him to somehow magically fix everything.

"Why do they hate you and what are they afraid of? Us? Why on earth would we hurt them?"

Bass bites his lip and gets up to make sure no one is listening at the door before telling Miles what he thinks is really going on. "They know that we know that Ben knows something about the power. I think that they think we want it from them."

Miles shakes his head. "That's insane."

"I know. Me and Charlie have already talked about it a thousand times-"

"-Wait, you and Charlie have talked about the power?"

Bass sends him a look. "She's my wife, Miles. We talk about a lot of things."

Miles holds up a hand to stop him and squeezes his eyes shut. "Enough said."

"Anyway," Bass continues as if there'd been no interruption. "Even if Ben knows something about the power it won't do us any good now. It's been so long that I doubt any of that old electrical stuff would even work, so trying to fix it would be time consuming and would waste resources that we can't afford to spare."

Miles nods in agreement but Bass can see that his brother is only partially paying attention because something else is on his mind.

"Charlie's alright," Bass tells him.

Miles scratches at the beard that has grown in over the weeks of traveling and frowns over at him. "I'm sure that's what she's saying, but how is she really?"

Bass sighs as he thinks about how his wife has been over the past few weeks. "Angry, irritated, depressed. But she's also been happy. I think meeting Danny has been good for her." He waits a moment before admitting, "she's missing you. I may be her husband but I can only do so much and I think what she really needs is for Uncle Miles to swoop in and fix everything."

A smile cracks his lips and Miles' travel weary face lights up at the idea that his little Bug still needs him. "I guess I should go clean up and make my appearance then."

Bass nods in agreement, smirking over at him. "Yeah, I mean I wasn't gonna say anything but you smell like a dead animal."

Rolling his eyes, Miles forces himself off the couch and out of the room, muttering 'dickhead' on his way out.

XxX

Miles takes his time in the bath and shaves before going off to see the barber about his ridiculously long hair. And even after all that, he has to wait another hour before Charlie and Maggie return with their dresses. His niece comes slouching into the room with a long bag slung over her shoulder and a grim expression on her face. Her eyes fall on him as she tosses the bag over the back of the couch and she squeals excitedly.

"Miles!"

She doesn't even give him the chance to stand, instead throwing herself into his arms as if she were still only five years old. He doesn't mind.

"I missed you," she says into his neck. "My parents aren't what I thought... you're so different from them..." her voice breaks and Miles wraps his arms around her protectively.

"I know Bug. Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine."

Charlie clings to him tighter and Miles can see Maggie over her shoulder. The other woman is pointing at Charlie and then at him, mouthing words to him from across the room.

'She's sensitive. Be careful.'

He nods to let Maggie know that he understands and watches as the other woman quietly leaves the room. Over the years, he and Maggie have basically co-parented Charlie, so when Maggie says something like that he takes it very seriously. With a gentle hand on her shoulder, Miles pushes Charlie back enough for him to see her tear filled eyes.

"Hey, tell me what's wrong." He brushes away a few of her tears as she lets out an irritated groan.

"I'm just... I can't deal with them. Rachel's a bitch and Ben's like her little play toy. And every time I talk to them it's the same thing, they think I should leave and get away from Bass, and stay away from you. It's-it's insane! They are insane! Why are they like that? Why do they think I'm in danger? And if they thought I was in danger why didn't they just come get me? Why did they wait so long to come here?"

Miles takes a moment to let her words settle in the air. Knowing Charlie, she's probably been holding that rant in for weeks. Despite how open she normally is with people, there are some things she reserves especially for him.

"I honestly don't know why they did anything or why they're doing what they are now. I haven't even seen them yet."

"Are you going to?"

"Of course, but I wanted to see you first. I was worried. Bass is worried too."

Charlie rolls her eyes. "He's always worried."

"Should he be?" Miles asks seriously.

She sighs and shakes her head. "No. I'm OK, really. I just... it's a lot to take in."

He presses a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I know. I wish I'd have been here when it happened."

Charlie shakes her head at him. "You can't be here to fix every little thing Miles."

"But I can try."

She chuckles and scoots off his lap to sit next to him. "When are you going to talk to them?"

"I was thinking I'd at least wait until after I've had my dinner. Wouldn't want them to spoil my appetite."

"I want to go with you."

"No."

"Miles-"

"-Charlie I know that I usually let you get away with whatever you want, but not this. I don't want you to get stuck in the middle of whatever fight we're going to have."

She gives him one of her little pouty faces but he stays strong until she looks away in defeat.

"Fine," she grumbles. "But you should take somebody with you. Those two are dangerous."

"I will," he promises. Though they both know he has no intention of following through on that one.

XxX

Not long after dinner has been cleared away, Miles makes his way through the house towards where his brother and sister-in-law are staying. He'd asked why they didn't join everyone else for dinner in the kitchen but let it slide when Bass quickly changed the subject. Apparently, Charlie's dislike for her parents runs deeper than he'd originally thought. Luckily though, Danny seems to be a good kid. He and Charlie are already getting along like they've known each other forever and even Jason seems to like him, which is strange because Jason is usually pretty protective of his brother-sister relationship with Charlie.

He tells Sergent Rolland to take a quick break and waits for him to disappear around the corner before preparing to open the door. As his hand grasps the doorknob, a familiar voices floats down the hall towards him.

"Hey, wait for me."

He looks up to meet Nora's caramel colored eyes and feels his heartbeat starting to race just at the sight of her sashaying towards him. A smile spreads across his face before he can stop it.

"What are you doing here?" The question sounds a little too excited for his liking so he adds, "I mean, I didn't even know you were in town."

She stops just a few feet away from him with a guarded look on her face. "I've been in town for a while," she says quietly. "I just... wasn't sure I wanted to see you yet."

It stings, but the reality of their sorry excuse for a relationship is hard to ignore. He nods understandingly and motions to the door with his brother behind it. "Listen, I'd love to catch up but-"

Nora cuts him off with a hand in the air and looks determinedly at the buttons on his jacket. "I'm not here to talk about us."

"Then why are you here?" He asks, trying not to sound hurt.

She huffs and rolls her eyes like she thinks the answer should be obvious. "Because Charlie asked me to come with you. She wants me to make sure you keep a level head."

Miles scoffs. "I'm not gonna do anything to them."

Nora raises her eyebrows knowingly. "You say that now, but I know how you get when you're angry and so does Charlie."

"I don't need a babysitter," he growls at her.

"Say whatever you want but I promised Charlie I would go in with you, and you and I both know what happens when you break a promise to her."

Scowling, Miles nods in agreement. "Fine. But if you're gonna go in there, there's something you should know first. But you can't tell anyone else. Only me, Bass, and Charlie-"

"Know about the power?" Nora finishes for him.

"How do you...?"

"Charlie told me," she answers simply. "She said I'd probably need to know if I was going to go in there with you."

He nods, his eyes drawn to the curve of her full lips before he tears them away again. Nora pretends not to notice the tension and takes a deep breath, grabbing the handle and pushing the bedroom door open.

It's a strange sensation, seeing Ben again after all these years but seeing Rachel causes a whole other whirlwind of emotions, most of which aren't pleasant. Her pale blue eyes are glaring daggers at him and he hasn't even said hello yet. Ben jumps up from his seat at the coffee table with a surprised sort of smile on his face.

"You look... presentable," he says with a chuckle. "Don't think I've ever seen you look so clean."

Miles shrugs, deciding to play along with this little conversation. "Yeah, well, Charlie thinks people won't take me seriously unless I've had a bath so I just do as I'm told."

Ben huffs a laugh, though his eyes grow sad at the mention of his daughter. "She seems... happy," he says hesitantly.

"I've worked my ass off making sure of it," Miles tells him seriously.

Rachel decides that that's her cue to jump in and laughs at his words. "She's not happy," she spits in her husband's direction. "She's a pet, a prisoner. She has no idea what happy even is."

Out of the corner of his eye, Miles can see Nora's eyebrows shoot up high on her forehead. "Actually," Nora says firmly, demanding Rachel's attention. "Charlie's one of the happiest people I know. She has an uncle who loves her more than anything and a husband that adores her. If she were my daughter I would be happy for her."

Rachel looks over at the other woman coolly, her lips quirked in a tiny smile. "I suppose it's a good thing she isn't your daughter then. Who knows how bad you would make things for her."

Miles reaches out and grabs Nora's shoulder before she can pounce all over her and sends Rachel a warning look. "I don't know what your problem is Rachel, but you've got to chill out. Pissing off all of Charlie's friends is not gonna help you here."

"You don't own me, Miles. You can't tell me what to do!" She shouts at him.

"What?" Confusion courses through him and he looks to Ben with the hopes that he'll be able to explain some of what's going on in Rachel's head, but Ben merely shrugs his shoulders apologetically. A pillow launches up from the couch and Miles bats it away easily, scowling down at Rachel as she glares up at him.

"Hey, you want to be this way that's fine with me, but don't come crying to me when Charlie doesn't want anything to do with you."

He keeps a firm grip on Nora's arm and pulls her out of the room as his own anger starts to bubble. Almost twenty years and all he gets is a pillow in the face. He slams the door behind them only to have it open again moments later as Ben comes scrambling out of the room.

"Miles please," he says desperately. "I don't know why Rachel is so angry, but all I really care about is Charlie. I just want a chance to know my daughter."

Nora gently extracts herself from Miles' grip and pats Ben on the shoulder. "Then you need to stop siding with your wife and tell Charlie the truth. All this time you could have been here and yet you chose not to be. You better have a damn good reason for it or she will never forgive you."

Ben looks up and down the hallway suspiciously before looking up at Miles with worried eyes. "I was worried... I thought that maybe you and Bass-"

Miles bends down so his face is mere inches from his borther's, his anger suddenly flaring beyond control. "If you're about to tell me that you were afraid of some stupid phone call you made twenty years ago, then save it. 'Cause I don't give a shit. And neither does Bass or Charlie. All that girl has ever wanted was for her family to be reunited and all we've ever done is try to give her that."

The guilty look on Ben's face confirms exactly what Bass suspected. For some reason, Ben and Rachel were under the impression that they wanted information about the power from them.

"Nobody even cares about electricity anymore," Miles growls at his brother. He doesn't wait to hear what Ben has to say, though he does stop around the corner and wait for Nora to join him. It's been several months since the last time they saw each other and Miles whole heartedly believes that she's gotten even more beautiful since she screamed in his face, whacked him with a frying pan, and left town. Another smile finds its way to his lips as he thinks about their parting, making Nora frown.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because you keep smiling."

"Since when is smiling a bad thing?"

Nora tilts her head back so she can get a good look at his face, her eyes focused on his. "It's not. I guess I'm just not used to seeing them," she says softly.

Miles flounders for a moment. This is unusual for them. Normally they just argue until one of them gives in and then they spend the night together. Talking isn't really their strong suit.

"Maybe I'm just happy to see you," he says jokingly, though he doesn't mean it as a joke at all.

Shock flickers across Nora's face before she neatly covers it up with a smug smile. "I tend to have that affect on people."

Dropping all pretense of the joke, Miles brushes her hair back from her face and drops a soft kiss on her lips. "Especially me," he admits. She looks up at him with wide, questioning eyes and he grins back at her. "But don't let it go to your head."

She shoves him back against the wall playfully. "You are so..." She growls angrily, unsure of even what to call him.

"Yeah, I know." Miles finishes for her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to him so he can kiss that angry scowl right off her lips.

XxX

To say that everyone is shocked when Ben joins them at the breakfast table the next morning would be an understatement. Maggie even gives up her seat next to Danny so the father and son can sit next to each other, leaving her no other choice but to drop into the chair next to Jeremy with flaming red cheeks.

Charlie is cool towards Ben, but not unwelcoming. They chat idly about what her job as the Vice President entails and the upcoming gala. Ben seems to think that the gala is a bit of an unnecessary expense, which warms Charlie up to him faster than any father-daughter bonding could hope to do. They spend the rest of breakfast attempting to convince Julia that this should be the gala's last year but only get scoldings about propriety in return.

Miles catches Bass' eyes from across the table and raises his eyebrows in question. 'Better?'

Bass nods as he sips his morning coffee and Miles thinks, 'maybe Uncle Miles can fix everything.'