Word count; 3228

Notes at the bottom

CHAPTER 37 :

Charlie realized that maybe she should have taken Bass apart and told him before she blurted the words out to her mother. At the moment it had just felt like the right thing to say, the only emotion she could think of that conveyed her feelings for Bass correctly.

Steel fingers wrapped around her upper arm and before she could say anything she was being dragged away from the others. Bass didn't give her a chance to do or say anything as he pulled her along behind him, her having no idea where he was taking her or what he was going to do.

He continued to drag her along until they were behind one of the wagons and out of sight for prying eyes "Damnit, Bass, what the hell is this about." But Bass didn't answer, he just spun around and slammed his mouth to hers.

Charlie made a feeble protesting sound but the moment his hands came to rest on her hips and he parted her lips with his tongue she was lost. Her hands found their way into his curly hair and she pulled that gorgeous head of his closer to hers, accepting his tongue into her mouth and eagerly returning the kiss.

Those steel fingers were now gripping her hips and pulling her close, his tongue dancing around her mouth. She could hear the harsh sounds of his breathing and his chest was heaving. "Bass.." She tried again but once more he just answered by deepening the kiss.

"I love you." For a moment she thought she'd dreamt the words because they'd been said in such a soft manner she couldn't be sure she actually heard it right. "Fuck! This is pure insanity and I'm pretty sure your mother is now plotting to murder me in my sleep but I love you."

This time Charlie was pretty sure she heard it right, his blue eyes staring into hers, a mixture of fear and apprehension clouding them. She decided to take that away. Charlie huffed a laugh and dragged his face back in for another fierce kiss. "I love you." She muttered in between kisses and when she said the words again, this time directly to him she could feel his body pressing hers against the wagon.

His lips drew into a smile against hers but then suddenly he stepped back and broke all contact with her. "Charlie..." She could see the worry on his face clear as day. "Charlie... I... Fuck!" He ran a hand trough his hair and she smiled at the gesture, it was his nervous tic, one she found absolutely lovable.

"Your mother... she. I love you. I do.." She cut him off before he could say anything more "Good. Feeling's mutual."

Bass smiled faintly but she could see that her interruption hadn't deterred him from anything. "Charlotte, loving me is going to cost you your family. I can't be the cause of that." He took a step back towards her "You heard your mother. As much as I want to be a selfish bastard and say to hell with it and keep you to myself... I can't be selfish with you, Charlie. I know how much your family means to you."

"Really?" She knew she sounded indignant but she wasn't about to just let this happen, not now they both finally admitted how they felt about each other. "You, Sebastian Monroe, can't be selfish."

He shook his head "Not with you I can't, Charlie. I can't be the reason for your mother and you to fall apart." She snorted "You're not! The reason me and my mother are falling apart is because she's acting like a know-it-all bitch with a superiority complex! You have NOTHING to do with it."

She grabbed his shirt and gazed angrily into his eyes "And if you think you can just up and leave me, Bass Monroe... you have another thing coming! You want to be with me, I want to be with you... so we're gonna fucking be together, you understand!" It was more a statement than a question.

"Charlie, I can't be the reason you'll never see your mother again. You'll end up resenting me." But she stubbornly shook her head "No, I won't. This has nothing to do with you..." She paused when she saw his skeptical look and shrugged "Okay, it does have a lot to do with you but not all and not the most important part. We've been growing apart for a while now, ever since the Tower, though we never were really close to begin with."

"Bass, she left me and my brother when we were kids. She's responsible for the blackout. She's in love with a man who killed thousands of people but condemns me for doing the same. She's a hypocrite." She smoothed her hands across his chest where seconds ago she had been clutching his shirt "She doesn't care about anyone, not really. She cares about defeating the patriots because indirectly they made her responsible for killing more people than she had done by creating the nanites. She just wants her ledger squared. Time and time again she's made it obvious she only cares about me whenever the mood strikes her of whenever she feels she can get something done from me by being a 'mom' to me while the truth is that she's never been a mom to me, not for as long as I can remember anyway."

She saw he was listening to her intently "I don't blame you for taking my mom from me, that was on her! She could have chosen to stay with us but she gave up because she thought it was the smart thing to do, do you have any idea how many shit we've been put in because she thought she was being 'smart'? She looks at me like I'm still that little girl she left at the side of the road, she acts like I don't know what the hell I'm doing in life, like I'm not perfectly capable of defending myself and making my own damn decisions."

Charlie threw her hands in the air in exasperation "In Willoughby she ignored me for weeks. Just decided she wasn't going to communicate with anyone because the Tower had upset her so much, not giving a flying fuck about what I had gone through in there. That was the reason I left, because she only ever cares about herself, and maybe sometimes Miles, but only for as long as she can manipulate him in front of her little superiority wagon."

He chuckled softly but she wasn't finished yet "You NEVER did that. You never treated me like anything less than what I really am, you've always seen the real me, even when we were not on the same side. Speaking from when I found you in that pool you've never treated me like a child. Even though in the beginning you only needed me to get you to Miles I never felt like I was less, like I couldn't make the right decisions for myself. Traveling with you and Connor is the closest to happy, to family, I've had in a long time and I'm not giving that up just because she thinks I'm making a mistake with you."

"She doesn't know a thing about you, not anymore. Not the important parts." He reached out and cupped her face with one hand. Bass shook his head silently and moved closer, his eyes trained on hers as he leaned his head down "You infuriatingly beautiful woman." He growled before his lips descended to hers once more.

"You get your disgusting hands off my daughter." Charlie felt Bass tense and pull away from her.

Rachel was standing ten feet away from them, shotgun aimed at Bass' chest. The former General was anything but happy with that, Charlie could clearly see.

"You know." Bass growled "I'm getting really sick and fucking tired of people shoving guns in my face!" He stepped forward not even paying attention to the fact Rachel cocked the gun. Charlie on the other hand saw the anger and determination in her mothers eyes and she grabbed the back of Bass' leather jacket to stop him from advancing on the emotional woman.

"Charlie, let me go." He demanded but she wasn't about to. "Yes, Charlie. Let him go." Her mother mocked as she adjusted her aim to Bass' head "I know he's got a thick skull but I doubt that it can stop a bullet."

"Mom, put down the gun." Charlie pleaded though she almost certainly knew it to be a futile plea. "Come on, just put the gun down."

"No." Her mother rejected "No... I should have shot him after he took out the man with the coil gun that had been threatening you but I didn't because I thought I owed him for saving your life. No more. This monster needs to be wiped from the face of the earth."

Bass turned his head towards Charlie and she could see the unadulterated anger and fury in his eyes, never a good combination. "Charlotte, I know I made you a promise but your mother calls me a monster one more time and I'm gonna take her out." He turned to glare at the blond woman in front of him "Permanently!"

"You won't get the chance." Rachel spat at Bass "This is going to result in only one thing, you... on the floor bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head or chest."

Charlie wrung her hands together nervously because right now either possible endings didn't look good. Either her mother would shoot Bass or she would piss off the former General so badly he would kill her. The second being the most likely because even though Rachel had a gun she knew Bass was skilled and seemed to have more lives than a cat.

Her mother took another step closer "This is the last time you'll ever hurt me or my family." But it never came to anything else. Rachel had gotten too close to Bass and he took that opportunity with both hands.

Charlie watched in horror and suspense as Bass reached out and wound his arm around the one Rachel was using to hold the gun, effectively disarming Rachel before he slammed his forehead against hers with all the power he could seem to muster and a furious cry of agitation.

She watched her mother go down without so much as a word or a shot fired. Bass' hand was grasping the gun so hard that she could easily see the muscles and tendons in his arms, his knuckles were white from his tight grip. In fear she waited for anything to happen now, for Bass to aim the gun at her mother.

It was obvious Bass was fighting with himself as his hand clenched and unclenched around the grip of the gun, his eyes focused on her mother. Then all of a sudden he threw the gun on the floor and marched off. "Bass!" She called after him "Bass, wait."

The man kept on going though "I need a little breathing room, Charlie, or else I will come back and shoot that bitch in the head, and I don't want to break my promise."

With her eyes she followed him as far as she could but he went around a corner and she lost sight of him. Her heart constricted because she knew the only reason her mother was still breathing was because Bass loved her, because like he said, he didn't want to break his promise.

Miles helped her carry her mother to one of the tents and place her on a bed roll. She explained to Miles what had happened and that she wanted to stay here until Rachel woke up. She needed to have one last conversation with her mother and the outcome of that conversation would change everything.

"You want me to stay here? Talk to her?" Charlie shook her head as she looked down at her unconscious mother. "No, thanks. This is something I need to do for myself."

Miles nodded and moved towards the opening in the tent "Putting you in danger was stupid. She never should have trusted Neville to only take out Bass... I really thing she only did it because in some twisted way she thought she was protecting you."

"I know." Charlie agreed. "But she crossed a line this time, she went too far. If it hadn't been for Evan and the guys Bass would be dead right now, me and the others as well, I assume." Her blue eyes found her uncles brown ones "I'm done trying to please her and I'm done hiding what I feel for Bass... she either learns how to deal or she loses me."

Her uncle's sad eyes lowered "I know." Leaving her and her mother in the tent by themselves.

It took Rachel a while to come too, Bass did have a thick skull, as Rachel had said. Charlie made sure there was some water waiting for her mother for when she would wake up and she sat down on a ratty chair, contemplating what she would say when the blond woman woke up.

Slowly Rachel started to stir and Charlie grabbed the canteen with water, holding it in her outstretched hand so Rachel could take it. The woman looked around in confusion "What happened, why am I here?"

Charlie leaned back and crossed her arms "One of the tents, Bass head butted you." Rachel touched her forehead where a red bump had formed "I told you, that man is no good, Charlie." Charlie ignored the jab "You're lucky to be alive, he could have easily shot you. At least that way he would know for sure that you won't try and kill him again." She stated matter of fact.

Rachel snorted and took another swallow from the water "And why didn't he kill me, huh?"

"Because he loves me." Rachel snorted again but Charlie stopped her "I realize that it's hard for you to believe and understand but he does, and I love him back."

"You can't love a monster like that, Charlie. The man killed thousands of innocent people." Charlie raised her brow "Why can't I? You do."

Her mothers blue eyes widened and she sputtered "That's different, Miles is different. He changed his ways." Charlie huffed "Miles is still a killer, mom. What, you think we found you by asking around nicely? You think we got to the Tower on our good manners? We are all killers."

"Monroe is different. He's killed innocent people."

"So has Miles! But you seem to conveniently have forgotten that. Or you're choosing to ignore it." Rachel shook her head "I know why you're here Charlie." She said "But you're never going to convince me that Monroe is a good man, that he's worthy of love."

She looked into her mothers eyes "I know. I know I can't convince you." All of a sudden she felt sorry for her mother "I can't convince you that he's worthy of love because you know nothing of that emotion, not really."

Rachel balked and started to protest but Charlie stopped her "No. You said you loved dad but you had an affair with Miles." She ignored her mothers wide eyes "You said you loved Danny and Me but you left us to go to Miles. You don't know anything about the kind of love I have for Bass, and you never will."

Charlie took a deep breath "I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise, I think it would be a waste of effort. I won't try and convince you that Bass is changed, that he's good to me and that I want to be with him. That's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to tell you that I'm going to be with him, regardless of what you think of it. Bass has been there for me, more than you have. Isn't that insane? The man you hate so much has been there for me these past few months, over and over again. Always there when I needed him, whether it was to fight, to laugh, to talk, he was there, each and every time. You were all holed up in your own little world with Miles and completely ignored me and he was there."

Charlie looked into her mothers eyes, Rachel's jaw nearly on the floor, not used to Charlie speaking to her like that "So I'm here to tell you I'm going to be with Bass. I'm not going to hide my feelings for him any longer, I'm not going to ignore him in public anymore. I'm going to spend the nights in his bedroll or tent. I'm going to ride on the same horse, fight by his side. Because I trust him." She could see the wheels in her mothers head turning.

"You are not going to call him a monster anymore. You're not going to scream at him or hurt him in any way. If you want me to still be your daughter you will accept my decision. I'm not asking you to love him, hell, I'm not asking you to like him. You can be indifferent to him for all I care and ignore him around camp but you will accept him as part of my life... or I won't find it possible to be in yours anymore."

There was no going back now and to be honest, Charlie didn't want to. She'd meant every word she had said and she was going to stand by it. These past few weeks one thing had become painfully obvious, there was only one person in this world she couldn't live without and that was Sebastian Monroe.

"I am sick and tired of your continuous insulting of him, of you always thinking the worst where he is concerned. You nearly killed him, nearly killed ME!" Rachel opened her mouth to protest but Charlie cut her off "Shut up!" The harsh words doing just that. "You gave birth to me but you never really were a mother. Everything has been more important than me, Danny, Work, Miles, Making Monroe pay, making the Patriots pay... You never put me first, not once. He has."

Charlie rested her elbows on her knees "You might be my biological mother but he... he's my real family and if you want to be a part of it, you're going to have to work for it."

She could see realization dawning in Rachel's eyes "So what will it be? Me and Bass... or neither."

Waiting for the answer was nerve wrecking but finally her mother nodded, though reluctantly. "Both then because I don't want to lose my daughter." Charlie had the slightest inkling there was going to be more to be said about this and this wasn't over yet by a long shot but right now she would take this slight victory.

Getting to her feet she needed to say one last thing "One more thing." She turned back to Rachel "Don't you ever try to kill him again. You try it again and he will definitely kill you." Rachel scoffed "More importantly... I might not be there to stop him."

Been crazy busy lately, hardly any time to write, post or do anything but work, help my folks out, eat and sleep, haha. So here's the latest chapter and trust me, I haven't abandonded this story so don't worry about that :D But I finally found a little time to update the story and I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Thanks for your patience!

I hope that the non-violent confrontation between Charlie and Rachel wasn't a disappointment haha.

Love you all