Bass was on his way back to the shack after another visit with Emily. They'd had four more since their Saturday lunch with Grandpa Miles and she seemed more and more excited to see him each time. He and Charlie had agreed to start meeting in the old park on the opposite side of town from the Matheson home because it was still within the safety of the town walls, so she wouldn't have to go far with Emily, and that part of town was less populated so it was easy for him to get in and out without people noticing. So far, he'd been using a hole in the wall in some old guy's backyard to get in and out, but as he crossed the yard, Bass was sure that was about to change.

"Excuse me!" A man in his late sixties called out to him as he made his way through the yard, careful to avoid any holes so he wouldn't fall. Bass groaned inwardly, knowing that he should have been more careful. As the old man approached, a grin formed on his face. "Ah, don't worry. I ain't mad your cuttin' through my yard."

Well that was a relief. "Great. Then what do you want?"

The older man seemed to be oblivious to Bass' less than enthusiastic attitude towards him. "My old lady seen you goin' through the yard and thought you might be one o' them clan boys," he squinted over at him, "you ain't... are you?"

Smiling, Bass shook his head. "Uh, no."

He seemed pleased enough with Bass' answer and held out a hand for him to shake. "Name's Ralph."

For a moment he was tempted to give a fake name, but then he remembered Emily. He didn't want his daughter to grow up having to lie about who her father was. "Bass."

"Well Bass, and I don't mean to be nosy, but can I ask why you keep cuttin' through my yard?"

Telling Ralph that he was sneaking around so he could avoid the mother of the mother of his child, didn't seem like a good idea, but he figured if he was going to go with the not-lying thing, then he better go all in. "I come into town so I can visit my daughter. The hole in the wall here is close to where I live, so it's easier than walking all the way around to the gate." Which was all true.

Ralph nodded understandingly, but frowned a little. "Daughter, huh? Her Momma know you're comin' to see her?"

Something about the man's easy going attitude put Bass' mind at ease, and he found himself not at all worried about telling him the truth. "Yes, she knows. Her mother's the one that brings her to see me."

"Got yourself a little girl, huh? How old is she?"

"She'll be six months old soon," the pride in his voice was unmistakable.

Ralph gave him a big smile, "that Emily's a cutie, that's for sure. Congratulations."

Bass' eyes widened in alarm. "I never said-"

"Oh, keep your panties on," he waved a hand dismissively, "there's only so many fatherless kids in town. You got the Reynolds kids, but their dad was killed a few years ago. Then you got Mary-Christina's little one, but you don't seem the type to go for a fifteen year old, and everyone knows it's the Carpenter boy's kid anyway. That just leaves Doc Porter's wandering granddaughter and her mysterious little Emily." Ralph smiled, all self satisfied and happy. "That Charlotte is quite the beauty," he gave Bass a sideways look while trying to contain a grin.

Bass frowned, finding himself oddly embarrassed under the man's gaze. "It's not like that. I... we... it's complicated."

"Ain't it always?" Ralph chuckled and leaned against a nearby tree. "So is that why you're hiding outside the wall? I'll tell you what, that Rachel Porter can be quite the force to reckon with. I remember when she was just a kid, and she was causin' trouble even back then."

"Yeah, Rachel's part of the reason."

"Only a part, what else could keep you from your kid?" Bass shifted uncomfortably, the conversation was steering in dangerous directions. If this man found out who he really was he would get run out of town for sure, or worse, arrested by the great state of Texas. "Come on, son, I don't bite. Just spit it out."

There was no way he would be able to hide forever, if he really wanted a chance to know his daughter, he would have to tell people sooner or later anyway. "I did some stuff... bad stuff that I'm not proud of. And Rachel knows about all of it. She wouldn't want me around Charlie, and when Rachel eventually finds out I'm afraid that it'll hurt Charlie and Emily even more than me. So I hide." It actually felt pretty good to say it out loud.

Ralph nodded sadly. "Well we've all done stuff we ain't proud of, but you can't live your life worryin' about every little thing you've ever done."

Bass understood what he was saying, but Ralph didn't know about everything he'd done. Would he say the same thing if he knew that he was talking to the Scourge of Scranton? He doubted it very much. "Thank you, I appreciate that. But I need to get going, I have a lot to do today still."

"Oh, you got yourself a job to get to? That's good."

He huffed a laugh. "No job. Just some traps to check and a homeless kitten to feed."

Ralph hummed low in the back of his throat, looking him up and down. "Nice build, you a good worker?"

"I guess so..."

"How are you with manual labor?"

"I was a Marine before the blackout, so I'm no stranger to hard work."

Ralph hummed approvingly. "Good. Be back here a dawn, I got some stuff I need done. I'll even pay you fair."

Taken aback by the generous offer, Bass stared at him curiously. "Why?"

The older man shrugged. "I like you. And I'm gettin' too damn old for some of the stuff that needs done around here. So are you in or what?"

"I'm supposed to meet the girls again tomorrow for lunch."

"Don't worry, I won't make you work all day long without a lunch break. You can go see your girls and then come back."

"Ok, I'll be here." They shook hands and Ralph started picking his way back towards the house. Bass wormed his way through the hole in the wall and started home, wondering how he had gotten so lucky as to choose the one backyard that belonged to the only truly decent person he'd met in a long time.

Well, other than Charlie.

XxX

The swing screeched angrily as they swung back and forth, Emily squealing as they rose and fell through the air. They were waiting in the playground for Bass. He was late, which was strange because he was almost always early for their play-dates. Charlie had tiredly suggested to Emily the other night that Daddy slept in the playground so he would always be there when they showed up. Apparently, she was wrong.

Bass finally emerged from the bushes, no more than five minutes late, with a bag slung over his shoulder. Charlie turned Emily around so she could see him and said, "look, it's Daddy!" Emily squealed and held her little arms out to him as he approached. He was moving a little slower than he usually did, his shoulders seemed slumped, and as he got closer Charlie realized that he was absolutely filthy. "What happened to you?"

He smiled grimly, dropping the bag on the ground and taking off the button up shirt he wore over his t-shirt. "I know I'm dirty, I'm sorry, I was working."

"Working?"

He nodded, wiping most of the dirt off of his face with the discarded shirt and then snatched Emily off of her lap, swinging her through the air and making her giggle. "Yeah, I met this old guy, he said he'd pay me to help him out around the house and stuff."

"Oh, that's good." But he wasn't really paying attention. His focus was all on Emily while she picked at flecks of dirt in his hair. Charlie didn't mind, as much as she actually liked talking to Bass, these visits weren't about her. She was glad he'd found some way to make money though, she and Miles had discussed the fact that he was basically living off of nothing and were both a bit concerned. Her eyes fell to the bag he'd left on the ground, she wanted to ask what it was for, but she also didn't want to pry. They'd talked about the house he'd moved into a few times, but he hadn't seemed to eager to discuss it so she'd been trying to give him his space. As difficult as that may be for her.

She hadn't realized she'd been staring at the bag for so long until Bass broke her out of her thoughts. "It's my lunch." She looked up at him confusedly. "This is technically my lunch break, and the guy's wife took it upon herself to pack it for me. She looked so excited, so I couldn't tell her no."

Charlie smiled. "Look at that, you made friends."

He rolled his eyes and sat down on the ground next to her swing, situating Emily between his legs and pulling the bag towards him. There was an apple, a hunk of fresh bread, some cheese, and a canteen full of water. He gulped down half of the water at once, Charlie watching his Adam's apple bob up and down with each swallow. At this proximity, she could see the dirt from a mornings worth of work crusted into the little wrinkles around his eyes and had to mentally smack herself as a reminder that that sort of thinking wouldn't get her anywhere.

Bass picked up the apple and held it out to her. "Are you hungry?"

"Oh, no you eat. We just had lunch." They really had, but even if they hadn't she wouldn't have taken the food. She had a sneaking suspicion that he hadn't had anything decent to eat since lunch with Miles last Saturday.

He shrugged and bit into the apple, Emily reaching up to try and take it from him. He let her pull it down to her level and they both watched her attempt to take a bite out of it. Unfortunately, only having one tooth made eating apples pretty much impossible though, which - of course - made her angry. Bass chuckled at her while she slapped the offending fruit with a chubby hand as if that would make it easier to eat. She then proceeded to gnaw around the part where he'd already taken a bite, succeeding in covering it with drool. Charlie scrunched up her nose in distaste, but he merely shrugged and took another bite before letting Emily go back to drooling on his food.

"I'm her mother, and even I think that's gross."

Bass shook his head with a smile. "Well, her spit is partly my spit, just with some of yours mixed in it, and since we swapped spit when we made her, I figure I've had it before anyway."

Charlie blinked at him. "That's a weird way to think about it."

He grinned, his blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "But it's true."

"Yeah. I guess it is." They both laughed and watched their daughter move on to play with the laces on his boots, Charlie ignoring the fluttering in her stomach every time their eyes met.

XxX

With a bag full of vegetables over her shoulder and Emily on her hip, Charlie entered the house after another play-date with Bass. She'd started picking up things in town that they needed so that her trip out of the house wouldn't seem so unnecessary. But as she closed the door with her foot, shouting coming from the direction of the living room made her stomach churn. She didn't know what her mother was angry about this time, but she had a feeling it wasn't good.

"Rachel, just calm down-" Miles pleaded.

"Calm down? Oh my God... you already knew." Miles didn't answer, but his silence said plenty. "How could you lie to me? How long have known?"

Charlie stood silently in the hallway to listen. "Not long, Bass only came into town a couple of weeks ago."

"Weeks?" Rachel's voice was no more than a squeak. "He's been here for weeks, and he's still alive? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Miles sighed. "Charlie said-"

"I don't give a damn what Charlie said. I will not let that monster corrupt my granddaughter."

"Rachel, Charlie's an adult. She can make her own decisions."

Judging by the footsteps coming from the kitchen, her mother was most likely pacing. "Clearly she can't Miles. If she had any sense she'd have shot him herself instead of falling for his little act and letting him have his way with her." The venom in Rachel's voice cut straight through her. Her own mother thought she was nothing but a stupid whore. Tears burned in her eyes, but she swiped them away and continued to listen. "I want him gone. He will not have anything to do with Emily, and that's final."

Anger burned in Charlie's chest. Who the hell did she think she was? Rachel hadn't even stuck around for her own children and now she was trying to control Emily too?

No. No fucking way. Emily was her daughter, and she would decide what was best for her. She hiked the bag of vegetables up higher onto her shoulder and turned back down the hallway, stepping out onto the porch and purposefully slamming the front door behind her. She vaguely registered her mom and Miles calling her name, but ignored them as she stomped down the street. Miles was right, she was an adult and she was sure as hell going to make her own decisions.

A/N Hmm... can anyone guess where she's going? :-D Thank you so much for reading everybody! Leave me a review if you've got a sec!