Word count; 2765

Notes at the bottom

CHAPTER 34 :

They had been traveling for about two weeks now. It had been brutal but bearable. The days were long and hard and they pushed themselves and the horses to the maximum. Everyone switched around every once in a while, sometimes you rode in the wagon and sometimes on one of the three horses their group had.

Bass preferred to ride one one of the horses, it was more comfortable than the hard wagon and he just felt like there was a little more freedom on the 1000 pound animal. Most of the time Charlie was where he was, either leaning against his side on in the wagon or resting against his chest on the horse. He liked having her close to him so he wasn't complaining.

In the two weeks they had almost encountered Patriots only once, it had been a small group and luckily it had been night so they had been able to slip past the Patriots without too much trouble.

They would be in Memphis by the night but since they had such a strict travel schedule they wouldn't be able to stop. Bass was a bit disappointed by that because he knew there were some good hotels in Memphis and he would love to get Charlie into a proper bed, both for some much needed rest as for some much needed fun.

Sometimes they did stop for the night but both of them being so exhausted from the day traveling that the only ting they could do was unfold their bedrolls and fall down into each others arms, it never took them more than a minute to fall asleep.

Their days were spent talking to each other. He hadn't really noticed before but he and Charlie didn't actually know the other very well before this trip. Now he knew pretty much everything there was to know about her and it made her even more remarkable in his eyes.

She'd told him about what little she remembered before the blackout, Ballet and vanilla ice-cream. She'd told him about the red wagon and watching over her little brother in the night, afraid he might get an asthma attack and choke to death. He was glad she was able to speak about her brother to him without too much pain in her voice, the anger had completely dissipated and he thought that maybe they had a real chance together, to make this work.

Charlie told him about growing up in the village and about being taught by her father, Maggie and Aaron. About how happy she'd been but also how unsatisfied and curious to what was going on in the rest of the world. He listened intently to the stories about her travels with Miles and Nora and how they had tried to foil his plans. Sometimes a little bit of sadness would slip into her voice, especially when it came to talking about Nora but there was never a blame, neither in her tone or her eyes.

In turn he told her about his past, about growing up with Miles. They swayed to the rhythm of the horse as he'd told her about his family and Shelly and how he'd lost them. About what had happened with Connor's mother and how he and Miles had started the republic.

She had asked him a million questions and he'd tried to answer then as best and truthfully as he could. Telling her how everything got started, about the fear when the lights first went out and how everyone went crazy and that Miles felt they needed to do something before the world went down the crapper.

Her eyes had watched him carefully when he explained to her how they had met Jeremy and Strausser and why Miles had left him. It was still a touchy subject for him but when he'd spoken about it she'd laced her fingers in his and just listened to his story. Not once did she interrupt or judge him, she just listened and played with his fingers.

It felt amazing, therapeutic even to get everything off his chest, to blurt out every thought he'd had in the past six years or so that he'd never been able to tell anybody else but her. Even after he'd told her everything she didn't change, she still smiled that beautiful smile of hers and she still touched him in the same way as before she knew the complete truth about him.

They had become even closer in these two weeks, not surprising since they spent ten hours a day at least either on a horse together or crammed into the wagon. "I want to tell my mother."

He startled and cleared his throat, hand patting the neck of the horse he'd momentarily spooked by his reaction. "You wanna tell her what?" He asked as the horse calmed down and continued following the wagon.

"I want to tell my mother that we're together, when we get to Washington. She deserves to know and to be quite honest... after this trip with you, these weeks of being so close, I don't think I could go back to ignoring you just to spare her feelings."

Bass smiled and pressed a kiss to the back of her head "Are you sure to have that kind of show-down with her. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would hate to go back to sleeping alone after this but I don't want you to get into a fight with your mother."

Charlie sighed "It's going to come to a fight sooner or later because she doesn't see what I see when I look at you. She will never be happy about it but she's gonna have to learn to accept it if she wants to keep me in her life."

He breathed in her scent "What do you see when you look at me?" He wanted to know. "I see a fighter," She stated "I see a man who fights for what he believes in. I see a man who doesn't fear anything, who doesn't second-guess himself. I see a man who is kind to his son, fair to his soldiers, good to his friends. A man who had treated me with the utmost respect and affection and who sees me for who I really am, not a little girl but a capable woman, a capable fighter. I see my ally, my confidante, my lover and my friend.

The words spilling from her lips were like music to his ears, god he loved this woman. "You see all that?" He asked and smiled against her hair when she nodded her head "I do."

He could feel she was a little nervous and he settled his hands on her thighs, softly caressing her through her jeans, nothing sexual, just reassuring contact. "What do you see when you look at me?" Her voice was unsure and soft but he heard her none the less.

Bass thought about that for a moment before he replied. "I see a woman who is fierce, in everything she does. Fierce fighter, fiercely loyal. I see a woman with the heart of a Lyon." He entangled their fingers and squeezed hers firmly between his "I see the only reason to keep going, the only reason to be the best I can be. I see the only woman who can calm me down when I most need it. I see my salvation."

"Do you think we can win this?" Her question came out of nowhere and completely changed their topic of conversation. "You mean the fight with the Patriots?" He asked and she nodded "Yeah, I mean... Washington must be full of them and there aren't more than forty of us."

He smirked and shook his head "Maybe a little more by the time we get there." She turned her head and looked at him "What are you talking about?" Her blue eyes wide and questioning. "Well," Bass started "Before we headed out to Austin Miles and I made the dicision to send out a couple of riders into the plains and rally all the possible allies they could find. It's why we left three men behind at the camp-site. They were due back about a week after we left for Washington, we made the arrangement that three men would wait for them and then when they returned followed us. When we get to Washington we will wait a week, maybe two depending on whether we can afford it or not and hope that we'll be joined by some more pissed of war clans who have a score to settle with the Patriots.

"You did?" He nodded "Why the hell didn't you tell me that?" Bass shrugged "I guess I forgot, as you can remember everything went pretty fast once we hit the Patriot camp. It slipped my mind in all the chaos, but the point is that we did send out those riders. Now the only question is if they make it with enough reinforcements so we can take down the Patriot army."

"I can't believe you did that, I never would have thought of that." Bass chuckled and shrugged his shoulders again "Well, baby, I am a former General, I do have some experience in fighting a war."

Her head turned slightly which caused her mouth to come dangerously close to his "Call me that again." She whispered. He couldn't hide a smile and leaning his head down he growled softly "Baby." Her soft lips closed the small distance between their mouths and he felt the plush heat from her lips on his as she kissed him softly.

Bass chuckled softly against her mouth and wrapped his arms tightly around her "Baby, I'll call you anything you want." He growled as he kissed her more firmly "Sweetheart... Love... darling... Charlotte."

"Do. Not. Move." Bass froze on the horse and he felt Charlie's lips go stiff as the rest of her body trembled softly. "Get off the horse."

Neville. It was none other than Tom Neville who was blocking the road, a shotgun aimed at Charlie and Bass. "Now!" It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he wasn't playing any games so Bass looked at the others "Do as he says."

He lowered Charlie to the ground and quickly joined her, using his own body to shield hers. "Now I really regret not killing you when I had the chance, Tom." Bass growled, this one miles apart from the tone he'd growled Charlie's name in.

The sound of another gun cocking drew his attention and he noticed for the first time that Truman was with Tom "Well, Well, Well, lookie here. If it isn't Patriot Truman, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

He moved so Charlie was both shielded by his body and that of the horse. If need be he could get her atop the large animal and out of Tom and Truman's reach within moments. "Tom... still carrying that torch for me, and when it was you who told me I had a borderline erotic fixation with Miles... don't you think this is a little case of the pot calling the kettle black?"

Tom stepped closer and motioned with his gun to the eight men in the wagon "Get out of there and line up on the side of the road, you too." He included the man on the other horse. Since both Tom and Truman had their fingers on the trigger they figured it would be best to comply for the moment.

"You stay quiet and out of the way and maybe we'll let you live." Bass snorted, like that was going to happen. Tom Neville had a genuine mean streak to him.

"What happened to my boy, Monroe?" Fuck, and this was why Neville should be dead already. Figures he would come after them to find out where his son was. "I don't know, Tom, Austin maybe... Willoughby... say, have you checked those recruiting camps?"

There was the sound of a gun going off and inches from his right boot dirt flew up indicating where the bullet had struck. "Now, now, Tom. No need to get trigger happy. How are we supposed to know where your boy is, maybe you should think about getting him a leash or something."

"You smug son of a bitch." Tom growled as he advanced on them, Bass still shielding Charlie with his body. "I know exactly what happened, I have it from a VERY reliable source." Brown eyes narrowed "So how about you tell me, Monroe... how did you kill my kid?"

Double fuck, he was a dead man if Neville thought he had killed Jason. "Oh, there you go. It was bound to happen sooner or later, you've gone loopy haven't you? Where in the hell did you get this piece of so-called information?" Bass sneered at the other man.

He could feel Charlie's hand on the small of his back, slowly creeping towards his gun. "I thought you'd be sick of following me around by now, Tom, but here you are... again. To be quite honest, to never see you again in my life would be a blessing."

Tom growled and took a step closer, Truman was still keeping his gun trained on the others while Tom's was aimed at Charlie and him. "Well then, Monroe, your prayers will be answered because this is the last time you will ever see me in your life. On account that in a minute you won't have one anymore. Maybe, if she's nice, I'll let your little whore bury you properly."

Bass clenched his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes "It'd do you good to show a little respect, Tom. I don't take it kindly when people call her names."

"And if that isn't the sickest thing in the world." Tom noted "Charlotte Matheson and Bass Monroe... together. See, now that just doesn't make sense to me given everything that happened a year ago."

Bass just ignored him, never taking his eyes off the man in front of him. Tom was outnumbered five to one, as soon as the man made a mistake, and he would, Bass would be on him to take him down. "I didn't kill your boy, Tom."

"Yeah, right. And I'm going to believe you because you're such a straight-laced and truthful pillar of man-kind." Tom's tone was flat and cold "No, Monroe. I know that you killed my son and now... you're going to pay for it."

"He didn't..." Bass cut Charlie off before she could finish that sentence."Charlotte.."He growled through his teeth so Tom couldn't make out the words "If you say one more word I will knock you unconscious, do you understand." And he sent her a look that let her know he was being dead serious.

He wasn't going to let her tell Tom what had really happened because Tom was going to kill him anyway, there was no need for Charlie to die as well. Not that Bass planned on dying, he just needed his opening. "On your knees." Was Tom's demand.

Bass felt Charlie's hand tremble and he turned his head around, shaking it, indicating she shouldn't reach for his gun. Tom was standing too close, at this range he would never miss and the chance was too big that he would accidently hit Charlie instead of Bass.

"Bass?" He could hear the worry and fear in Charlie's voice but he shook his head again "Shh. It's gonna be just fine. Stay back."

Tom grinned and motioned with the gun he was holding "Oh no... please, be my guest, get as close as you want to. This feels familiar, doesn't it. Like we've been here before. This time I won't bother with taking him captive though, I'm just gonna shoot the bastard in the head."

The gun was raised and Bass stared down the barrel of Tom's gun, eyes trained on Tom's finger that was around the trigger. He knew he only had a split second to make his move the moment Tom's finger tightened on the trigger "Rachel Matheson sends her regards."

It seemed to take forever though he was certain only seconds had passed and he noticed the smallest twitch in Tom's trigger finger. Bass started to get up and raised his hand to knock the gun from Tom's hand, it was now or never. It was too quick, too soon and the sound of a shot being fired echoed through the quiet of the woods.

Latest chapter, what did you all think? Like I said, not following the show anymore and I'm slowly building towards the end of the story now.

Little bit of a ciff hanger right here ;p Hope you all don't mind. Also, sorry that the update took so long, crazy busy in my personal and work life, I'll try and keep it more regular. Like I said, I am finishing the sotry so it will be posted :D

I know everyone is probably still sad from our show ending but I'll keep the Charloe coming! Thank you so much for sticking with me! Please drop me a line anytime and let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter, like I said, any plotholes... let me know I can still fix em now :D

Love, Marisa