With only a week to go before the gala, Independence Hall becomes become a flurry of beautiful decorations, delicious food, and stressed out Mathesons. Like his usual self, Bass is managing to keep calm, if for no other reason than to keep Miles and Charlie from having nervous breakdowns.

Miles hates anything formal and has been dropping hints all week that he isn't feeling well, no doubt hoping that he can be 'sick' the night of the gala. Charlie on the other hand is a little more complicated. While she's well versed in the ways of the social elites, she hates having to actually spend time with them. Dresses annoy her because she can't move in them, high heels hurt her feet, and small talk bores her to death. If it weren't for the fact that this is the first year she'll be attending as the official First Lady, Bass would excuse her from the gala just to save himself from a headache.

To help her deal with her own misery, Charlie decides to teach Danny how to ballroom dance. Unlike his sister, Danny seems excited about it. He bounced around excitedly all throughout breakfast because he couldn't wait to get started.

Two hours later and after getting her toes stomped on for the one hundredth time, Charlie decides it's time for a break. She and Danny prop open the second floor window and breathe in the cool, fresh air as they sip from water glasses that Jason had so kindly dropped off for them. Charlie studies her younger brother over the rim of her glass as he gazes out over the front lawn. His cheeks are a little flushed from the activity and his eyes are sparkling with happiness. She notes the strong line of his jaw, just like their uncle's, and wonders how their parents could have ever kept them apart.

"What is it?" Danny asks when he catches her staring.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about us. Can you imagine what we would be like if we'd grown up together?"

Danny nods, his eyes full of understanding. "I know. I feel like my mom - I mean, our mom - and dad totally ruined it for us. We could have played the best games of hide-and-seek in this place."

"Oh yeah. Me and Jason used to get in so much trouble when we were little. Bass and Miles would be in the middle of some important meeting only to have Jason jump out of a closet or have me pop out of an air vent." She chuckles at the memory of the look on Miles' face when she'd fallen onto the couch in his office after a six foot drop from the old air vent above it, causing him to spill hot coffee all over himself and nearly give a dozing Bass a heart attack.

Danny gives her a sad smile. "See? All that trouble we could have caused was ruined because they're... stupid."

The truth in his words goes deeper than just the missed out shenanigans they could have gotten into together. They missed out on each other's lives because of what their parents did. No growing up together or fond memories. All they have is what they've built in the past few months, which seems insufficient compared to the almost twenty years they should have.

Charlie sighs heavily, wrapping an arm around her brother's shoulder as they look out across the green front lawn and it's dozen or so soldiers doing their rounds. She spots Maggie's curly blonde head as she ascends the walkway to the front doors and is struck with an idea.

"We may not have been able to cause trouble together when we were kids, but I do know of some trouble we could cause now."

Danny's eyes narrow in confusion and he looks out the window for the source of this so called trouble. He spots Maggie and frowns. "I don't want to do anything to Maggie. She's my doctor, and pretty much the only reason I can even think of trying to dance."

Charlie grins mischievously and pulls him to the door, already planning out their mission in her head. "Don't think of it as doing something to her, think of it as doing something for her.

XxX

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Danny asks as he shifts nervously from foot to foot in the freshly made up living room.

Charlie rolls her eyes as she rearranges the flowers on the table for the tenth time. "No it's not a good idea, it's a great idea."

Jason sighs from his spot at the door where he's been instructed to keep an eye out for their targets. "Actually, I think this is a horrible idea."

Charlie glares over at him. "Well I didn't hear you offering up any better ideas."

"Yeah I did. I said we should leave them alone."

Danny nods in Jason's direction. "Maybe he's right. I don't think Maggie's gonna like this."

Charlie ignores them both as she lights the candles on the dinner table and looks over her work with a satisfied smile. They managed to transform the living room into the perfect private dinner space in a matter of hours and she can't wait for their dinner guests to arrive. She turns around to find both Jason and Danny silently pleading with her not to go through with her plan but again she ignores them.

"Don't look so worried," she scolds them. "Jeremy and Maggie are going to love this."

The boys share a doubtful look before Jason makes one last attempt to change her mind. "Don't you remember Jeremy telling us to stay out of his business? He's not going to like it if we try to push him and Maggie together."

Charlie shakes her head. "He may not like it at first, but trust me, he'll thank us later." With one last look around the room, she decides that the ambiance is just right and motions for them all to leave the room.

"Remember what you're supposed to do?" She asks them as she closes the door behind her. Jason and Danny both nod reluctantly, causing Charlie to grin like a maniac. "Then let's get to it."

Charlie heads off to find Maggie and Jason goes to find Jeremy while Danny hides out in the room directly across the hall from the living room. His job is to secure the door once Jeremy and Maggie are both inside. He waits impatiently, his heart pounding and a sense of dread in his stomach. When he'd told Charlie that he wanted to spend time together, this wasn't really what he'd had in mind.

Jeremy arrives first, strolling along nonchalantly into the living room appearing mildly curious about something. Danny hears him call out as he crosses the threshold. "Bass? What's up? Jason said you needed me..." His voice trails off and though Danny can't see his face, he can imagine the confused look that must be on it.

"What the hell is all this?" He mutters just as Maggie comes scurrying down the hallway with her medical bag flapping along over her shoulder. She skids into the living room breathing heavily.

"Wha-Where's Danny?" She huffs at Jeremy.

"Why, what's wrong with him?"

"Charlie said he was having another asthma attack," Maggie says, her voice turning from worried to confused.

Danny shoves down the pit of guilt in his stomach and does as Charlie had planned, running out from his hiding spot and slamming the living room door shut before locking it from the outside. It takes several seconds, but Jeremy's voice is unmistakably angry when he beats his fist against the door.

"Hey! Open this door immediately!" He bangs on the door a few more times before Charlie comes skidding down the hall with a grin on her face.

Danny motions to the door and says, "see? I told you they wouldn't like it."

Charlie waves him off and speaks to the closed door. "Relax Jer, you're gonna break the door."

The beating stops and they can hear Jeremy and Maggie's hushed voices before Maggie calls through the wood. "Charlie what's going on?"

The irritated tone of her voice does nothing to curb Charlie's apparent glee at their success. "I just figured that it was time for you and Jeremy to spend some quality time together," she explains innocently.

Something thuds against the door again and Jeremy barks, "Dammit Charlie! Open the door!"

But his anger only makes Charlie giggle. "No way. I am sick of you two making lovey dovey eyes at each other all the time." She grabs Danny's hand and pulls him away from the door, shouting over her shoulder. "Enjoy your dinner!"

The sounds of Jeremy's continued efforts on the door are joined by Maggie's impressively colorful vocabulary. Her insults follow them around the corner to where Jason is apparently hiding from the main scene of destruction.

"They're going to kill you when they get out of there," he says simply.

Charlie shrugs. "Nah. They'll thank me in the morning."

"Morning? I thought we were going to let them out after dinner?"

She wrinkles her nose a little bit. "We were, but did you hear what Maggie was calling me? She could use a good time out."

The boys share matching looks of dread as Charlie heads off to get some real work done before dinner. "I have a feeling they won't be thanking her," Danny says.

Jason nods in agreement. "Probably not."

XxX

When Bass goes to grab a book he'd left in the living room the next morning, he's in for quite the surprise. Finding Jeremy and Maggie completely naked and fast asleep on the living room couch isn't at all how he'd planned to start the day.

"Oh come on! I love that couch!"

Maggie wakes with a start, her eyes searching around wildly for the source of the noise until they land on Bass' face. She shrieks and grabs for the nearest thing to cover herself up with, which just happens to be Jeremy's uniform jacket. As she climbs to her feet, Bass gets an eyeful of more Jeremy than he ever wanted to see.

"Oh, dude. Seriously?"

Jeremy blinks up at him sleepily, his brain clearly not as quick as Maggie's. "Hey Bass. What are you doin' in my room..." His voice trails off as he takes in the living room around him, his eyes becoming fully alert when he sees Maggie rushing around the room in search of her clothes covered by nothing but his own jacket. "Fuck," he groans.

Bass chuckles as he picks up a simple white bra from beneath the coffee table. "Looking for this?" He asks, holding the garment out in Maggie's direction. She swipes it out of his hand and glares at him.

"Not a single word about this to anyone. Got it?"

"Who would I even tell?" Bass says innocently. She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously but stops in favor of finding herself a corner to redress in. As Jeremy yanks his pants up over his hips, Charlie comes sauntering into the room oozing smugness.

"What happened here?" She says gleefully.

Maggie pulls her shirt quickly over her head and stomps over to the younger woman. "How dare you lock us in here! I can not believe you."

Charlie's grin widens. "Soooo," she says in a sing-song voice. "How'd it go?"

The only response she recieves are glares from both Jeremy and Maggie, which only causes her to laugh. "You know, you could just say thank you."

Maggie snatches her medical bag off of the floor by the door with a huff and leaves without so much as a glance at any of them. Jeremy pulls on his uniform jacket that Maggie had discarded and sends Charlie an angry scowl that gets completely undermined by the wink he gives her right after.

Alone in the messy living room with his wife, Bass turns to her with curious eyes. "Do you think we should buy a new couch?"

Charlie shakes her head. "Nah. I'm sure we've done way worse on it."

Bass nods in agreement as he offers her his arm. "Have breakfast with me?"

She wraps her arm under his with a smile and kisses his cheek. "I'd love too."