Enjoy!

X.x.X.x

"You still haven't told me where we're going..." Charlie reminded, they'd been walking for awhile now and she was getting bored and concerned. Not that she didn't enjoy the scenary, the road they were one was cracked and falling apart like every other road but the trees on either side of it formed a canopy of different shades of green, with a hue of orange sun shining between the spaces in between leaves and tree branches. It was beautiful but it was the same thing all the way down. It was still boring.

Miles let out a frustrated sigh as he ran his hand down his face, "Charlie... we're just going out on a run for supplies..."

"And that's why Nora got mad at you?" She questioned, not believing him.

Growing more and more irritated Miles shook his head, "That was something else... that had to do with the republic."

"Right," She tossed her head a bit and continued to walk. She couldn't tell if he was getting more and more secretive or if she was just beginning to take it personally.

They fell back into uncomfortable silence and continued to walk when a gunshot rang through the air, bringing them both down to the ground and reaching for their sidearms. When nobody stepped out into the road and there were no further gunshots they both slowly stood and looked around. Charlie felt her eye twitch with anticipation, she faced death on more than one occasion but she still wasn't used to it.

Another shot followed by men shouting back and forth.

"Probably nothing..." Miles shrugged, not wanting to be bother by someone elses' problem. "Bandits or a domestic dispute."

Charlie didn't hear her uncle but was instead focusing on the voices of the men. "No..." She finally said when one of the voices clicked in her head. "No, that's Jason!" She ran off in the direction of the fight, pushing through the trees to the right and running out of Miles' reach to stop her.

"I know you know where he is!"

"Look, man! I don't!"

"He tells you everything!"

"Not this!"

She followed the shouting, letting it guide her through the maze of brush and thick tree trunks. It was a deep wooded area but the shouts were crystal clear and she was more than capable of tracking the sound down to it's source. "please! I have a family!" Finally she could see the edge of the woods, where a dirt road led into a clearing, to a blown out bridge.

Stopping just outside the treeline she looked at the situation, Jason was practically holding a Republic soldier over the edge of the bridge, the soldiers feet were barely able to stay flatfooted on the last foot of ground available to him. Her eyes were wide as she waited for what was to come next.

She could hardly see the full profile of Jason's face but had a clear view of how scared the other guy was, the soldier was clinging to Jason's forearms while the man she had come to realize she had genuine feelings for held him out at a distance, only holding onto the mans flap jacket. "Look, Monroe killed the Captain over your father's betrayal! If I knew something about it, or even looked like I would know something about it... Monroe would have me killed too!"

A branch snapped behind her and she spun around and jabbed her knife behind her which Miles caught and held her wrist until she relaxed and put the knife back in her boot. Miles nodded behind her, to Jason and the soldier again, and they both turned back around to watch. Jason paused and the man continued, "please, I swear I don't know anything." Seconds ticked by slowly before Jason finally pulled the soldier back onto solid ground, beside him, both men somewhat tense but not up for further confrontation they just stared at one another, face to face. Before Charlie could move to confront Jason a horse drawn wagon filled with soldiers pulled up to aid the man who had appeared to be threatened. All together the soldiers jumped out of the wagon with their guns raised.

With wide eyes and her lips parted to called his name, Charlie looked between the soldiers and Jason... Jason... run!

Jason took a step back and looked straight ahead to his man opponents, he already looked like he was defeated but Charlie knew him better than to accept defeat. The soldiers took proper aim as the commanding officer made demands of Jason who was already calculating his next more, she could tell even from so far away. "If you won't surrender..." The CO said dismissively and rose his hand in the air as a mark.

Charlie gasped and stepped forward but Miles grabbed her arms and held her back her hair bounced around as she fought his grip, rolling her shoulders and using her legs to push away from him, it was futile but she couldn't watch as the militia put Jason down like a dog. Eventually Miles got a good hold on her, pulling her against his chest and crossing her arms around her body so she couldn't fight anymore. With wide eyes and hair falling in her face from her head jerking she grimaced as they opened fire but not before Jason grabbed the soldier he had been questioning and used his body to shield his own. The two Matheson's watched as the soldier was riddled with bullets while Jason jumped off the edge of the bridge, under the cover of the human shield and into the river below.

"No!" Charlie gasped but her mouth was quickly covered by Miles hand, she continued to jerk against him, hoping to get free and run to the bridge. Miles lowered both of them to the ground, so that he was kneeling in the grass behind the cover of the trees with her back against his chest while he kept his right hand over her mouth. Despite his efforts to keep her still she continued to move against him, her hands pulled on his forearm in a ineffectual effort to get away. Eventually, as the soldiers loaded up the dead body of their fallen comrad and turned their wagon around to leave, she stopped fighting though her body still shook with anxiety. They remained in that position until they could no longer hear the horses or wagons depart.

Once she was released she bolted out of the trees like a race horse out of the gates and ran to the edge of the bridge, feeling a sense of hopelessness at how far down it was to the surface of the river. "No... No!" She ran her hand through her hair and stopped at the top of her head, holding what hair she had in her fist there. Miles came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder which she shrugged off and turned away from the edge and went to scale the side to get to the bank of the river.

"Charlie! You can't just free climb that rock face!" He ran after her, grabbed her, and turned her to face him. "There's got to be an easier way..."

Charlie rose an eyebrow and curled her lip, "You don't know what I'm capable of. I can do this!"

"No, you can't."

"The next fastest way is to jump down the same way he did!" She tilted her head to the side and squinted her eyes, daring him to deny her again. He's DYING down there, he could be shot... or drowning. Stop staring at Miles and DO something! Her brain was going wild with all the different possibilities of Jason's current state but she just stood there, staring down her uncle. When Miles didn't reply Charlie shook his grip and glowered at him, "Fine..." She began to walk away and he sighed, running a hand down his face.

"Look, we can find ano-" he started to turn back to face her retreating form just in time to see her start to run towards the edge of the bridge, "Charlie no!" He sprinted after her barely catching her wrist and yanking her back in time - he tossed her onto where the cement bridge met the dirt road. She gasped and he flinched, squinting his eyes and shifting awkwardly, when he saw the scratches in her palms and ripped jeans. He hated hurting her but it was a sacrifice to be made if he was to keep her from jumping off. Charlie looked up at him with pained eyes, a look that told him she felt a stab of betrayal of one sort of another. Shaking the gut wrenching feeling in his stomach he opened his mouth,"Stay. Here." he pointed at the spot she was currently in before jumping off the edge into the river below.

X.x.X.x

Charlie gaped at the spot she last saw her uncle in, unable to believe he had just jumped off the bridge, unable to believe she almost jumped off that bridge. Despite the pain in her hands from the rocks embedded in her skin, she crawled to the edge and looked over the edge of the bridge, still able to see the ripples from where her uncle had landed.

Standing up she kept her eyes on the river for a moment longer, waiting to see him surface but he didn't. "Oh, no... no no no no no..." She spun around and ran down the edge of the grass to the right until she found a more gentle slope down to the bank and basically slid down the muddy hill, why hadn't she just found this in the first place. After she got to the bank she back tracked back towards the bridge, treading into the water to her knees she called out their names, hoping that someone would answer her.

Nothing, not a sound.

"Miles! Jason?!"

"Charlie, over here" Miles voice called. She searched both sides of the river before finally catching Miles waving his arm at her from across the way, down a few yards to the left of the bridge. She could make out two figures right outside the treeline on the sandy bank, one kneeling on the sandy one laying down.

"Miles..." She breathed and dove into the river from where she stood, knee deep. Once on the other side her limbs felt like rubber but she managed to stay on her feet and run in his direction, stumbling to a stop at Jason's feet. The young man, was quiet, motionless, and he had blood staining his shirt which she prayed had been blood spatter from the soldier he hid behind. She knelt down and stared at the wound before finally looking at his face he seemed so still... why was he so quiet?! "Miles... is he...?"

There was a hesitation that made Charlie uncomfortable, like there was something he wasn't telling her. "No, he's alive but he caught a bullet in the side."

Charlie felt her face go numb, "What do we do?" She asked quietly, tucking her blond hair behind her ear.

"We need to elevate his feet and then go get help." He looked her right in the eye, "Can you do that?"

Charlie stared at Jason's face... he was so still... why was he so still?

"Charlie!" Miles snapped his fingers in her face, "I need you to keep it together, huh?" Charlie looked up at him but her eyes were glossy, she wasn't understanding what he was saying, she was going into shock. The same way she had when Danny was shot, she had one frame of mind and couldn't get out until someone snapped her out of it. Last time Rachel had tried but it wasn't until Miles gave her a talking to that she came out of it... he'd have to do it again. "Charlie..." He said softly, his hands were still busied with putting pressure on Jason's wound. "You need to focus, Jason needs you. Okay?"

She nodded, a little color coming back to her face as she came around. "Okay..."

"Go," he ordered a little harsher than he intended but it worked well, she jumped to her feet and ran further into the woods behind them coming back with a large fallen branch behind her, it would be high enough to elevate his feet. Once the branch was placed in a strategic place for his feet to go, Charlie pulled off her jacket and bunched it up and placed it on top of the branch providing a higher elevation and also comfort.

After she finished she went to Jason's head and studied his face, he looked peaceful, if she didn't know better she would assume he was just sleeping after a long day. "He'll be okay, right?" She asked, not looking to the person he question was intended for.

There was no reply but she know what that really meant, Miles was a realist but he never liked to point out to her unless he was angry at her. Suddenly he grabbed her hands with his blood slick ones, "Keep the pressure here." He placed her hands into the wounded area and forced her to press down hard. "Come over on this side." He ordered and didn't pull his hands away from hers, making sure she kept her hands in place as she stepped over Jason's torso. "Do not move from this spot unless you absolutely have to," He ordered, " but if it comes to it... do not hesitate to leave Jason to save your own skin..."

Charlies mouth opened to protest, "Jason would tell you to do the same thing if it was me..."

"You two hate each other, of course you would!" Charlie snapped. Miles couldn't help but smile just a little at her accusation.

"I don't hate him, Charlie. I just don't trust him." Miles corrected, "There's a difference." Charlie squinted her eyes at him but then looked away, staring at Jason's face again. "I'll be back soon, hopefully before nightfall." Charlie didn't look up at him again, "What did I just say Charlie?"

"You'll be back before nightfall."

"What else?" He asked as he stood and took a step back, closer to the river. Charlie finally looked up at him with a questioned look, "To not move from this spot unless..."

"Unless I have to."

"Good, I'll be back as soon as I can..." With that he waded into the water and swam back to the other side and took her path to the slope she came down on.

X.x.X.x

Charlie never pulled her hands away, pressing into the wound as hard as she could without turning her arms into feeling like rubber from being too tense. She stared at his face for what felt like hours, finally gathering up the courage to try and wake him. "Jason..." She whispered and shook him a little. When she got no response she felt like pouting but instead continued, her brows furrowed with worry and frustration. "Jason..." She called louder, "Jason, please wake up. Look at me, Jason."

Giving up she slumped her shoulders and watched his chest rise and fall with each deep breath. She had spent the last week worrying over his well-being, where he could possibly be... if he had betrayed them, if he had run away, was captured, died... and now she finally found him and she couldn't even talk to him about all her fears, then realizing she actually could she began.

"You know you're an asshole right?" She began, bringing her lips into a fine line as she did. She shifted by his side as she brought her legs out from under her bottom and crossed them Indian Style, never taking her hands from his side. "You... you left without so much as a wave or a note saying 'bye'. Even that would have been nice but no. No, instead you just walked away and got yourself shot." Her voice was bitter but she had tears already forming in her eyes. "You must be stupid... or just incredibly brave... I'll go with incredibly stupid." The blond sniffled. The wind blew a strong gust through the trees and around her, blowing her hair from behind her ears and framed her face.

Huffing she looked up into the trees and watched as they swayed with each new gust of wind, the area was serene really. With the sound of the water, the wind in the trees and the sound of nature playing around them. It was beautiful. Charlie closed her eyes and listened to the different sounds all around her, allowing them to calm her senses. "I just want you to be okay..." She said aloud. "Even with all the insanity constantly going on between us, the world trying to keep us apart, I feel drawn to you... I feel connected with you..." She sighed and finally opened her eyes to look at him again, his eyes still closed, much to her disappointment.

"You weren't supposed to protect me... but you've-" Her voice cracked so she paused until she knew she could continue, "-you've always been there for me, had my back. You saved my life more times than I can actually remember and I kept pushing you away and... and leaving you behind." She drew in a long breath, "I'm sorry... please don't go away again. Just stay with us... stay with me..."

It was nearly dusk and the temperature had dropped down to about 40 degrees with a chilling wind coming off the surface of the water, to keep both of them warm she had removed her leather jacket from under his feet and covered his torso with it. Then moved around behind Jason and pulled him further into the woods, the sun was setting behind the woods so there was no point in staying out in the open to "get some sunlight", so that she could rest her back against a tree while bringing his upper half into her lap so that they shared body heat. After they were settled better she relocated his wound and reapplied pressure on it.

When she had moved them she had noticed his wound had stopped pulsing blood and had been a slow ooze, allowing her the time away from putting force on it. As she began to tremble with the cold she prayed she hadn't made a mistake by moving him, and only hoped that she had made the right choice for both of them. The only reason she was second guessing was because she knew that if the bullet was still in there, or if she angered the wound too much it could put him into critical condition... if she messed up, her mistake could kill him. How would she live with herself is she killed the man she was falling in love with?

Another hour and it was nightfall, she knew she needed to stay awake but she was tired, cold and hungry... all she wanted to do was sleep the rest of the time until Miles came for them but she couldn't... she needed to stay awake... Stay awake... stay awake... Stay. Awake.

X.x.X.x

It had only been 3 hours since he left Charlie and Jason back at the river, how had it already become dark?! He promised her "before nightfall", he hadn't realized it was already past 5 when he left. It took an hour to get back to camp, a little under 30 minutes to get the proper supplies, people, and wagons to get them, an hour to get back to the general area... and now he was lost. Where was the bridge, how did Miles Matheson forget where he left the only family he had left?

X.x.X.x

This ended up being a LOT longer than what I intended, so long that I needed to stop and end the chapter... and wait to make the third. The story was supposed to be TWO chapters and now it's three. Lucky you! Hopefully this was a little better than the first chap, I know it was slow!

Hope you enjoyed it!