Nights in white satin, sweet dreams - how the cards fall…
A Revolution fic: Bass Monroe/Charlie Matheson, Charloe; Blackout AU. Miles Matheson, Rachel Matheson, Aaron Pittman, mention of other characters from the show. After the Tower, and before he found New Vegas, Bass headed towards Philadelphia, aiming to see what was left of the Monroe Republic… Somewhere along the way, something happened that made him wonder about the power of dreams, and why Charlie Matheson kept turning up in his…
Rating M
Author's note:
Hi there and thanks so much for having a look at this – and for all the kind comments. I hope you enjoy this next chapter … The story is based on prompts from the Orgy Armada's Revolution, The Second Coming…
I don't own any part of Revolution and am writing this purely for love of the show and its characters.
Nights in white satin, sweet dreams – how the cards fall…
Charlie opened her eyes to a sky full of stars, shining bright through the branches swaying overhead. Her arms were still shaped around that wonderfully hard muscled body, her legs open as though he was still between them, her lips still parted from his… Shit… what a moment for whatever it was to transport her back. Her head fell back against the hard pillow of her leather jacket… Damn, damn, damn and now she couldn't stop thinking about him, the hard, easy strength, those melting blue eyes… the way he'd known just how to move, where to touch, the way he'd swung her beneath him and just filled her up...
Her tongue flickered out; her lips and nipples felt swollen, sensitive to the slightest touch… and as for her clit, well, lets just say that her little playmate was still dancing… Her hand crept downwards, stealthy, but it felt weird doing…that… with Miles on watch at the edge of their camp, and her mom and Aaron on the other side of the fire.
She pulled her hand back up…damn again… then squirmed a little and sighed, quietly…
'Charlie? What the hell just happened?' Aaron's voice was a harsh whisper in the quiet night…
She jumped and looked around. Aaron was sitting bolt upright, staring at her, his glasses catching the starlight, he looked like he'd seen a ghost…
'Where did you go? How did you get back? What the fuck is going on?' his voice got louder… then he stopped and took a deep breath, whispering again…'Charlie, are you ok?'
'I'm fine, Aaron, and I don't know…' she whispered back…
'Hey, keep it down over there, you guys…' Miles swung round towards them from his seat on a log at the edge of camp; his eyes unreadable in the dark …
Aaron kept going, his voice lower this time…'were you with him? with Monroe? I mean, no way is it coincidence that he turns up in time to help us then disappears, and then you do the same…' he shuffled closer – and she understood, she didn't like to guess what her mom would do if she had to process that little bit of information in her current state, or if Miles had seen her disappear too, like Monroe did last night. She didn't think so – he seemed way too calm…
Wow… so it was real; amazingly, incredibly real… Her thighs and butt ached as though she really had been riding him and there was a little sore spot, a friction burn at the base of her spine as though Monroe really had pounded into her on those wonderfully slippery sheets… so maybe he had?
He was really there last night in the barn too; that hadn't been a dream either, because Miles and Aaron had seen him, not to mention that he'd killed all those creeps... He'd somehow come to her, when she, they, needed him, and he'd saved her again, like he did in the Tower.
She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly… Ok, maybe she was getting a bit too rose coloured after a couple of really good fucks, some sympathy and a white knight rescue… but she really didn't care how it had happened, just that it had… And, lets face it, all sorts of strange things had been happening lately, it was just one more…
But she wasn't stupid; he was Sebastian Monroe, the man who'd run the militia, who'd been their enemy, and he was far from being a white knight like in the books… But then none of them were exactly innocent were they? Her mom, her dad, Miles, Aaron, they all had secrets, had all done things… She'd killed people herself; lots of people… and Monroe had lost everything, just like the rest of them.
Besides, she was getting to like him; he was one hell of a fighter – and one hell of a…
'Charlie?'
She came back to this reality…'Oh, sorry, I was thinking…'
He came a bit closer, 'are you ok?' he swallowed, and he had that look he got whenever he was embarrassed about something... 'I mean, he didn't hurt you, or anything… did he?'
Charlie just looked at him…'No, he didn't hurt me…' she searched for the eyes behind the glasses, wanting him to see she was telling him the truth… 'He saved our lives, Aaron, why would he want to hurt me after that?' Then she couldn't help but say something to reassure him, because even behind the big glasses she could see how worried he was, about her… 'He was…nice…'
Aaron chewed his lip…'ok, so when he's not slicing people up, or trying to take over the world, he's… nice?'
Charlie lifted an eyebrow and sat up, relieved to find that she still had her clothes on. So how did it work that she was naked when she saw him in that bed and by the river, but Monroe still had his clothes on when he came to the barn? She shrugged… 'Yeah…' she considered Monroe… 'He was sweet…'
Aaron's face went blank…'Sweet…' then he brightened up again and leaned forward…'ok… so what happened when you went to meet Mr nice and sweet? What did it feel like when you started to, you know, disappear? Did you have any say in when you went, or where you went? What happened when you were between here and… wherever? I mean, you sort of appeared from nowhere, as if you were transported like in that story I told you about when you were a kid - Star Trek?' He took a breath… 'Did it hurt? Did you feel like you were being stretched out? Or like you were being twisted around?' Aaron's mind was obviously moving in mysterious ways and Charlie waited until he paused for breath before she even tried to get a word in…
'Aaron?'
He reached out and poked her arm, then her shoulder…
'Ow?'
He sat back again…'you feel normally solid, and there's no static, and I can't see an aura so it doesn't look as though there's any residual energy from the transition…' he chewed his lip again…'Do you feel hot?'
'Pardon me?'
He ignored her and reached for his bag, pulling out a grubby notebook and a short pencil, leaning into the dim light from the coals and writing furiously…
Charlie stared at him. There was no point talking to him now, he was as bad as her mom when he got an idea going, and she was sure that he'd have some more questions soon enough…
She moved her gaze over to where her mom was still lying in her bedroll, asleep? It was hard to tell if her mom noticed anything at all, she just stared off into space most of the time, walking where they led her, sitting where they sat... Charlie even had to take her into the woods every couple of hours to make sure she didn't mess herself; and she didn't eat, or drink unless they made her…
Miles hadn't mentioned Monroe, not since the barn, but she knew he'd be wondering why she hadn't been that surprised at seeing Monroe appear, or why she hadn't seemed shocked either when he did the disappearing act in front of them…
Whatever he thought about it, Miles had been on red alert since Monroe had turned up and saved her - and the rest of them from the raiders, and just after Monroe…left… he'd told them to grab their crap, leave the bodies where they lay and then he'd walked them hard for an hour, even with her mom doing the zombie thing again, just going wherever he led her…
Charlie wasn't sure of the details yet, but she knew, and so had Nora – that Miles and her mom had had – and were probably still having an affair… Miles was still careful in front of her though, but did he think she hadn't noticed the looks he gave her mom? That even with her mom off in her own little world of guilt and crazy, he was the one she looked for, followed around, reached for when she wasn't just staring off into space… not her daughter, and even when she did seem to notice Charlie she'd get a sort of confused look in her eyes and look past her, looking for someone else, looking for Danny…
And as for Danny, she'd asked him to stay inside when the Choppers came; she'd tried to save him, but no, he had to decide to be a hero… She sighed again, keeping it quiet this time. The world had gone to hell anyway so what did it matter if she'd slept with one of its monsters – and she'd do it again like a shot, dream or no dream, apart from everything else, he seemed saner than anyone she knew at the moment…
Anyway, re-energised Miles had used a leafy branch to cover their tracks, then trekked them through a couple of streams, before doubling back and doing it again, then having them walk in single file with Aaron at the back because he had the biggest feet, just in case the raiders had any friends nearby who might come after them looking for blood…
She wriggled back down in her bedroll, hand heading southwards again… Shit, even with all the thoughts of the general doom and gloom that was her life at the moment she was still pretty damn horny, and it wasn't getting any better... She groaned quietly, briefly considering a trip out of earshot into the trees to have a pee and get herself off, but the chances of getting any decent alone time with Aaron thinking she was something out of one of his more out there stories and Miles back wearing his general's hat were pretty freaking slim…
She sighed, it would soon be time to start off on another weary, awful, dragging day of steering her increasingly out of it mom towards the only help for her anyone could think of; Charlie's grandpa, Gene. She really didn't want to think about what would happen if they got to Willoughby and found Grandpa Gene dead, or gone, but given their luck lately it was a distinct possibility that they were walking all this way for nothing…
A cold breeze wafted over her at the thought, and that did it; she was officially no longer horny, but she did feel a curious sense of loss. Monroe had been sweet, and tender, as well as sexy as hell… He'd made her feel wanted and beautiful, and she was so damned tired of feeling sad, dirty, lonely… So, awfully, horribly tired of all this…
She looked out at the world, trying to put off the inevitable... A watery dawn sun was starting to peek above a line of dark clouds gathering at the horizon and it felt like rain coming. She sighed again…they'd need to get going and find some real shelter before that. So she took a deep breath, let it out through her teeth and wriggled her way out of the smelly and scratch bed roll, mourning the loss of the soft, slippery white sheets and with a last, regretful thought of the man who'd been waiting in them, she got up; time to get real, Charlie…
Her pants done up, she shuffled her jacket on, fixed her knives to her chain belt, buckled her sword belt then walked over to get the fire going again for coffee. They'd need some more of that, of everything come to think of it, and soon… She'd traded a half dozen rabbits for some Mexican coffee beans and what passed as whiskey in the last town they passed by but there wasn't much of either left now. She'd try to do some hunting today – make some jerky, maybe get some pelts ready to trade in the next town.
As she got their mugs ready, her mom started to stir and the dreams – or whatever they'd been - seemed suddenly a long, long way away...
…
As he lay in the big bed, putting off getting up for as long as he could, Bass couldn't stop thinking about Charlie Matheson… The feel of her, there in his arms, in his bed; her warm skin, soft and smooth over taut muscles, those delicious breasts with their sweet tasting nipples, her tight pussy milking him dry… His hand snaked down – again – to a cock hard as a rock and aching to sink itself back into her, his mind bringing up other things too, things that he wanted to do to her, with her…
She was all he'd been able to think about, all he'd wanted to think about since he woke up, alone and heading back out on the lonely road towards his broken city was something he wasn't ready to contemplate, not yet anyway…
He made up his mind and decided to stay another night, maybe a couple… just to see if maybe it would happen again? If it didn't, one or two more night's sleep in a proper bed would do him good anyway, even if nothing happened in it except sleep…
Then he had another thought… what if this was some weird kind of redemption thing, to help Charlie out by killing those guys and giving Miles a kick up the proverbial? Maybe it had been a way of helping him make up for the things he'd done in the past? He somehow didn't mind the idea of that at all…
His stomach rumbled, loud and long, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon and that man didn't live on sex alone, although damn it, he'd be willing to give it a go if the sex was with Charlie Matheson. He chuckled then stretched in the white satin nest, his muscles feeling rested, rejuvenated… He hadn't felt this good in a very, very long time…
Rolling out of bed, he padded over to the window to have a look around. The early morning sun made everything look new and fresh... The lawn outside had become a shrubby, grassy wilderness over the years with little white and yellow flowers nodding on their stalks falling into patterns like green hair, catching the light. And in the saplings that grew close as well as on the bigger trees behind them, the bright greens, pinks and vermilion of new growth splashed vivid at the ends of branches waving in a slight, cool breeze.
The sky was a duck egg, bottomless blue and way up high he could see the slowly wheeling shapes of a couple of raptors – eagles maybe? And off in the blue and purple distance, the Mountain View Motel showed him how it got its name, a range of peaks were arranged like a scenic picture postcard, the highest permanently white capped and serene, the valleys in shades of dark green, purple and sun bright gold and flashes of silver marked the places of river and lake.
The view was incredibly beautiful… and apart from the natural noises, things were quiet and peaceful…
Bass reached for his pants and shirt, dressing quickly and shoving his feet into his boots… There was enough water for a couple of days, and there was the river nearby anyway… He had jerky and dried fruit in his pack, as well as some of the hard biscuits he'd found in the provision packs he'd taken from the Militia guys… so, no real need to hunt yet if he didn't want to and when he did, it looked like there was game ready for the taking round here anyway.
Outside, the air was crisp and clean and he smiled as he looked around; this was a beautiful place. He was surprised that there weren't people living here, but the road didn't look as though it had been used much and there were no signs of even transient occupation.
He shrugged, then set himself up on the old, solid wooden picnic bench and table just outside the front door and pulled out some of his jerky. Chewing, he pulled out the magazine from the Militia man's battered canvas pack, chuckling when he realized that it was a copy that he and Miles had laughed over a couple of months before the blackout...
They'd been on weekend leave and recovering from a night out; Miles had gone out to get them some coffee and come back with two iced espressos and the magazine… He'd said the girl on the front page reminded him of someone. Bass remembered thinking at the time that she looked a bit like Rachel although he was careful not to say her name. Miles had thought his little obsession was a secret; Bass huffed, as if his brother could keep something like that from him…
A feeling of deep regret grated in his bones. They had been brothers since they were kids - better than brothers really, Ben had had so little in common with Miles that it was as though the two of them were from different families. But whatever had happened between them to make Miles do what he did, make him turn his back on his oldest friend, it was something that shouldn't have happened, and to his way of thinking it had all started back when Rachel turned up, when she married Ben instead of Miles, when it was obvious to anyone who looked that she loved Miles, not Ben…
Some seed had been planted then maybe, something that grew twisted when she turned up in Philadelphia, when everything started to go wrong…
Then, and he had to admit his own fault there, he'd kept the fact that Rachel was alive a secret too… That had been a fucking stupid idea; letting Miles think she was dead, even if he'd thought it was for the best… Miles would never have gone away if he'd known she was alive…
Bass put the mag down to have a drink and noticed the pack of cards still in the backpack. He hadn't looked at them closely before; just thought they were an ordinary deck - although he'd kept them of course, pre-blackout playing cards were expensive items now and worth a bit in trade… But these didn't look like regular playing cards; the box was bigger for one thing. He reached in and pulled it out…
They were Tarot cards. Interesting…
He'd heard about the Tarot of course, sort of, although it was a bit new agey for a US Marine to express too much of an interest and since the blackout most people who were into that sort of stuff had headed to Cali. He chuckled; according to the stories, every second person in Cali was a practicing witch or Wiccan, or whatever they called themselves now…
He opened the box. The backs of the cards were patterned with an ornate grid, just like a normal pack… and most of the cards were pretty similar to regular playing cards, except that there were extra picture cards as well as the usual kings and queens; cards with names like 'The Magician,' 'Temperance' and 'the Star. It all sounded very Cali...' He grinned again; Miles would have used the extras as kindling, or coasters, then played poker with the rest…
Bass shuffled the pack and slid one off the top, just out of curiosity...
He picked it up…'The Lovers' was printed at the bottom of his card in an antique script, and it had a naked man and woman standing just above the text, with what he guessed was some sort of magical being smiling above them - bringing them together? He grinned, maybe his little adventure of the night before was rubbing off on the cards…
He shuffled them again; then pulled out another card from way down the pack and turned it over. He sat for moment; just looking at it... It was the same card, The Lovers…
He choked off a laugh; that was a bit…unexpected, but it wasn't out of the realms of possibility... He mixed the cards up on the table, folding and shuffling them again several times, cut the pack into three, stacked them again, then repeated the whole thing twice more just to be sure….
He slid the top card off and placed it on the table, face down... There was no possible, freaking way that the card could be the same this time, the odds were astronomical…
He turned it over…
'You have got to be kidding me…' His voice was startlingly loud, the words ringing out like intruders…and when the sound died away, the silence seemed to hang heavy in the air, the birds and insects gone quiet - even the sound of the wind in the pines stopped for a moment…
The card lay there, the two naked little people smiling up at him, looking like they were waving… and for a moment there he could have sworn that the Angel, or whatever it was, winked at him…
Bass put the rest of the pack down and examined the card… It wasn't weighted; the corners were a little worn but no more than any of the other cards. There were no suspicious lumps, or lines, so unless the whole card was magnetised, which it wasn't because his compass didn't react; it was just like any of the other cards… He put it down, there had to be some trick, he just hadn't found it yet…
He picked the rest of the pack up and two more cards slid out onto the table, just two, from different parts of the deck, both of them landing face up on the table. Bass stared at them…
One was of a man on horseback, galloping with a sword held ready to strike in his hand. At the bottom was written 'The knight of swords.' The other card showed a young man, walking, holding a large coin; it was the 'Page of Pentacles.'
Ok… the sword was a no brainer, and pentacles obviously meant money or coins…
He put the cards down and sat back in his chair, so it was a bit strange, especially after last night, but, hey stranger things had happened and unless the cards were going to show him some buried treasure or something useful like that, he couldn't really see what use they were…
He had a drink, the water tasted bland and a bit flat and he wished the cards had been some coffee beans; some coffee would be really good about now…
Then he heard something in the distance, horses; three of them by the sound, shod, and ridden not driven; there was no sound of wheels or the rattle of a wagon. Whoever was coming was still out of sight round a bend in the road, but they were coming up the ragged bitumen road towards the hotel at a slow but steady walk; the sound clear in the mountain air. He couldn't tell yet if there was anyone walking with them…
Bass looked down at the cards… Ok, this was getting weird…
He pulled himself together, grabbed his crap – and the cards - and headed inside… There was no point advertising he was here, and if the cards were right it could be bounty hunters maybe? Or a Militia kill-squad, although he'd have heard their kit… or maybe even some of the new guys, the so-called Patriots; the rumours had them spreading out across the map. Of course it could just be travelling traders or mercenaries too, there were plenty of both on the roads these days…
Still, caution was not a bad thing these days, especially if your name was Sebastian Monroe – and you had the tattoo to prove it.
…
AN: hope you're enjoying this next chapter coming soon… cheers and thanks for reading, Magpie