Word count; 2789

Notes at the bottom

CHAPTER 38 :

He had cooled down considerably when he walked back into the camp but he knew it wouldn't take a lot to make him blow again. He'd meant what he'd said, if Rachel tried anything again he wouldn't be responsible for his reaction, he wasn't just going to sit around and let her take shots at him.

Dusk was starting to come in and fires were being lit for warmth. It was a lot colder up here and Bass didn't like it one bit, he liked warmth and sun. He drew his jacket closed and shoved his hands into his pockets, his fingerless gloves not doing much in keeping his fingers warm.

"Bass?" He turned around when he heard Miles call him name "Hmmm?" He mumbled as he looked at the man who he was slowly starting to see as his friend once more. "I heard about what happened between you and Rachel."

The former General sighed, now he was gonna get a lecture on how he shouldn't have head butted Rachel. "I... You couldn't have expected her to be okay with it, Bass." Hmm, that was less confrontational than Bass had suspected. "She's been through a lot, a big part because of you and me, she's not just going to up and forget that."

"I don't expect her too. I don't need her to love me, Miles but I'm sick and tired of her looking at me like I'm the same monster from a year back." Bass sighed "I think I've proven myself useful. I think I treat Charlie with the respect she deserves and I would do anything, anything in the world to keep that girl safe. So I don't need Rachel to be the doting mother in law but Miles... if that bitch tries to kill me again I won't be so calm."

Miles kicked a rock away from him "I know," His brown eyes connected with Bass' "Bass, what she did... with Neville, giving you up like that... I" It was obvious Miles didn't know what to say but Bass could see by the look in his friends eyes that he was furious with the blonde woman.

"She won't do it again." The promise in Bass' voice was low and dangerous and he knew Miles got the implication of that.

"It's still weird as fuck that you're with my niece, you know." Miles commented to relieve the tension. "Never in a million years could I have fathomed she would be attracted to you."

Bass grinned and followed Miles further into the camp "Me neither, brother. Me neither." He stole a glance at Miles "How are you with all of this. Honestly." Brown eyes turned towards him "Honestly?" Bass nodded.

"Honestly it's still freaking me out a little, especially when I see the two of you together but like I told Charlie... I never could stop her from doing anything she wanted. When I think about it I can find a million reasons why the two of you shouldn't be together." Bass frowned "But if I'm honest... there's the way she's even more protected now then she ever has been. There's the way she looks at you, but more importantly... the way you look at her."

A dark blond brow raised "And how do I look at her?" Miles stopped and turned towards him, eyes serious "You look at her like you love her. No matter what has transpired between us, no matter what lies in the past... I can actually see that you love her and she deserves all the love she can get. She'd been through so much in her short life, lost so many loved ones... I don't think I could look myself in the eyes if I took someone from he she so obviously loves. I also know that you're telling the truth when you say that you'll do anything to protect her and I guess that's why I'm not killing you where you stand. She's my niece and one of the two most important people I have left in this world. I want her safe and I know you have the skill and the ruthlessness to keep her safe from anything."

Miles ran a hand through his hair "So I just wanted you to know that I won't try anything against what you and Charlie have and I'll try and keep Rachel in line a bit as well. See to it that she doesn't try and kill you again."

"Good." Bass said "Because contrary to what people might think I don't actually like killing people but if Rachel keeps this up I might just be too tempted. I made a promise to Charlie not to kill her mom, I don't want to break that promise but I'm gonna need a little bit of help from Rachel for that."

They made their way to the middle of the camp where Aaron, Priscilla and Gene were sitting, eating from the deer that had been caught by one of the tribes men. Bass still was a little iffy about Priscilla, there was something strange in her eyes, or something he thought was strange. He hadn't known her before so he didn't have a clue about how she usually was but something seemed wrong. He made a mental note to ask Aaron about it.

A warm body sat down next to him and took the canteen he was holding from his hand "I spoke to my mom." Bass turned his face towards her, Aaron and his strange girlfriend instantly forgotten. "What did mommy dearest have to say?"

Charlie took a swallow before handing the canteen back "I did most of the talking." She stared into the flames and he placed his hand on her thigh "You ok?" He wanted to know. Blond hair moved as she nodded her head "Yeah," Charlie replied somewhat surprised "Yeah, I'm ok. I told her that we, you and I, weren't going to sneak around anymore. Told her flat out I was going to sleep with you, actual sleep."

Bass chuckled "Only sleep?" He winked at her and she chuckled back at him "Let's not confront her with anything more at the moment, hmmm?" Bass squeezed her leg "No, I told her I was going to be with you and she better accept that. I told her that I didn't need her to love you the way I do but she's gotta stop calling you out and trying to hurt or kill you."

"And she was okay with that?" Charlie half shook and half nodded her head "She said she wouldn't try and kill you anymore and she was most likely just going to ignore you. I do have a feeling we shouldn't let our guard down just yet."

He liked her use of the word 'we' and pressed a kiss to her temple "We won't. But relax, okay," He squeezed her shoulder before resting her hand on her thigh once again "It takes a lot more to kill me than a pissy mother. I've seen a lot of those in my time and I'm still kicking."

Charlie snorted "Oh, yes. Talking about previous conquests to your current girlfriend... very smart. Do you WANT to get laid again this year?" Bass let out a laugh and leaned in, his lips next to her ear and he felt the shiver run through her body "I wonder who would be more upset if we wouldn't have sex anymore?" His tongue snaked out and he licked the lobe of her ear.

The gasp he heard put a smile on his face and he straightened up once again "That's what I thought." The smug smirk on his face was wiped away when Charlie placed her hands on his chest and pushed, shoving him off the seat he was sitting on and sending him to the cold, hard ground.

Bass chuckled and quickly re-took his seat beside her "You watch it, young lady." He teased "I have ways to punish you." They ate something whilst bantering with each other. The fire was warm and the mood was good, maybe because Rachel had chosen not to show herself this evening.

When he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked up, straight into his son's brown eyes "Hey, kid. Want something to eat?" It wasn't until then that he noticed the serious and elated look on Connor's face "Connor, what's wrong" Bass asked.

The young man was silent for a few seconds and shook his head "This is something I can only explain by showing it to you." He tilted his head and Bass got up from his seat, Charlie stood up with him "Is this something all of us should see or is this a private thing?" She wanted to know.

Connor shook his head "I guess you can tag along, you'll wanna know this too." Now Bass was getting really curious, it couldn't be too bad because there wasn't a look of fear on Connor's face. The look on his face was more... excited if anything else and Bass had no idea why or where it had come from.

He followed his son through the camp and into the woods. It was getting stranger and stranger, especially since Connor wasn't speaking. "Connor, would you please tell me what the hell is going on and why are you taking me to..."

Bass stopped speaking mid-sentence. Connor had led them to an empty clearing, or at least, it used to be empty. Now it was filled with people, lots and lots of people. If he had to take a guess he wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be over three hundred. They were pitching tents and making fires. Animals had been killed and were waiting to be prepared over afore mentioned fires.

The people were all talking to each other and working together to set the camp up. "Connor... where did all these people come from?" His son turned towards him with an excited smile "They've been trickling in for the entire day now." He said "They've come from the plains, from Georgia, from what used to be the republic. The all heard about what the Patriots have been doing and they want to fight for our freedom."

He looked around and then his eyes fell on someone he vaguely recognized. The man with brown hair spotted him and came walking towards him, a tentative smile on his face. "General Monroe." He extended his hand and Bass' eyes caught the brand on his wrist. Militia.

Again he took a second to take a look around and here and there he spotted more brands. Bass re-focused his attention on the man in front of him and shook the offered hand "You seem familiar but I've lost your name." The man smiled a little wider and enthusiastically shook Bass' hand.

"I'm Major Jack Enders, sir. I served under you for over three years, mostly I was stationed out in the field though so don't feel bad about not remembering my name." Bass returned the smile hesitantly "These men, are they all former Militia?" Now when he'd been looking around the numbers were probably closer to four hundred."

"Some." The man replied "Some are former Militia members, some are former rebels to the Monroe republic. We got a couple of war-clans and a lot of pissed off farmers, merchants and other folk wanting to fight the Patriots." Bass was amazed and for once he was left speechless.

"Word about you and Miles and your little group fighting these sandy assholes reached a lot of people. The Patriots have been focusing on Texas and California but word of their actions have reached far and wide. People realize that they are a huge potential threat to everyone that needs to be dealt with... swiftly." The man screamed military. His posture was that of a soldier reporting to his superior, his answers were quick and clear.

"We heard about them wiping an entire village out by giving them typhus laced oranges... something needed to be done." Bass' wide eyes looked around the camp "So you all just up and walked, knew directly where to go and find us?"

Jack smiled "Word of mouth is a powerful thing, sir. We want to join you in the fight. We have a right to protect our own lands, our own people. We want the Patriot threat over and done with."

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Bass spun around on his heals and saw Miles standing at the edge of the clearing. He was looking at the large group of people the same way Bass imagined he had been just moments before. "What the hell are all these people doing here, and where the hell did they come from?"

Bass let Jack explain everything to Miles, he himself was still too shell shocked to say anything of use. Charlie was still standing next to him but she'd been silent ever since they got to the clearing. He turned towards her and raised his brow "You think this was gonna happen."

Her blue eyes drifted over the group and she shook her head "I don't even know what to say." She said "All these people are here to fight the Patriots? How the hell did this happen." Bass grinned "I don't know but I'm not complaining."

Jack had finished explaining to Miles and he notified them that he was gonna get the leaders of all the packs together so they could have a conversation and start setting up a plan to take down the Patriots.

Miles stopped him "Not to sound ungrateful or anything but... why?" Jack looked at him quizzically "Why... what?" Miles swooped his arm around, indicating all the people there "Why are you wanting to help us, fight for us. Most of you were against us at some point. We're Bass Monroe and Miles Matheson, the former leaders of the republic. Why do all these people want to help us all of a sudden."

The man grimaced "Because the Republic, flawed that it was, kept people mostly safe. There were a lot of things wrong with it but it never used war-clans to kill villages so you could look like heroes saving it. You didn't use laced food to kill off hundreds, thousands of people because you wanted to form a superior race of humans. The Republic was far from being the perfect utopian society but it was heaven compared to what these assholes have in mind."

Bass made eye-contact with Miles and he shrugged his shoulders. He'd let all of that go, he'd decided he wasn't going to walk around with a world full of guilt on his back so he was ready and willing to accept the held of these people were they willing to offer it.

Jack went out to get the leaders together, in the meantime Miles, Connor, Charlie and Bass headed back to the other camp. "I can't believe all these people came." Miles commented "I mean... even Militia and former rebels and now they're all fighting on the same side and wanting to fight with us?"

The walk back to their main camp didn't take long and Bass looked around. There were well over one hundred people here, together with the people who had just arrived they had a nice little army going.

Back at the fire Aaron and Priscilla had been joined by Evan, Gene and Rachel, all of them looking up when the four of them got back. Bass let Miles explain what had happened the past half hour.

Once again Bass couldn't shake the strange feeling he had about Priscilla. She had been watching all of them for quite some times, a strange look on her face and he didn't understand why. Her and Aaron had joined them a while back so it couldn't be that she was still sizing them up, she'd had enough time for that now. No, it was almost as if she was studying them.

She didn't talk much, only when asked a direct question but she was always watching, always observing with those alert eyes of hers. It set him on edge but he didn't know what to do with it, she was Aaron's ex-wife after all.

He chose to focus his attention back on Miles who was telling the entire thing to the others. "You should see them, the group is huge." He added.

Miles' eyes found his, a small smile on his friends face and his brown eyes were optimistic. "We're gonna win this." Miles said matter-of-factly. Bass took the bottle Miles offered and took a long swallow before grinning at his friend. "We're gonna win this." He confirmed.

So, been a long ass time since I updated. Feel free to berate me for that, I feel like an aweful human being :(

Anywho, here is the latest chapter! The reason it's been so long since I updated is because since Revolution is over I spend a lot less time thinking about it, haha.

On the bright side, I have re-opened my no-blackout AU. I wrote a few chapters last week and it actually looks like it might be happening afterall. My question to you is, do you want me to post it? I mean, I might lose my muse and not finish it but I have a couple of Chapters done so far so do you guys want me to post chapters until I run out with the rist of it not getting finished? Just let me know, ok. If so I might do alternate updates with the other story I'm writing for Charloe.

See, even though it's off the air and my attention does wander a bit I'm still writing this wonderful pairing :D For both your and my own entertainment and pervy-mind ;p

If I take too long between updates again feel free to send me a PM. A PM by the wonderful Redbanker is the reason I'm updating today because I got a little reminder in my mail inbox that it been a while since I posted so you have Redbanker (ff.) to thank for this one.

Enjoy!

Oh, also. It's been pointed out to me that the comments might be dropping because i don't respond... TRUE! My bad. It's because I get all your wonderful comments in my mail box and when I next get online to post the next chappie it's usually late as fuck and I'll tell myself 'tomorrow' and proceed to space out and not reply.

From now on I will reply to the comments that warrant one (i.e the slightly longer ones.) Not that I don't LOVE the 'loved it' comments ;p because I do, and keep them coming ;p It keept my writers heart happy and excited ;p

Hope you enjoyed this one!

Love,

Marisa