Morning dawned bright and early, and Bass was woken by the rustle of blankets and tiny whimpers as Emily started to fuss. He didn't want to move from the comfortable position he was in. Charlie was turned on her side and facing him, her head tucked under his chin, one hand tangled in the front of his shirt and the other still wrapped around his neck, her fingertips tickling the hairs on the back on his neck. She was breathing deeply, still lost in her dreams. Emily cried out a little louder, making him abandon his comfy bed so he could scoop her into his arms.
Emily stilled instantly, her cries subsiding as she pillowed her little head against his chest. She clearly just wanted to be held and Bass wasn't about to turn that away. It had been a long time since anyone had showed him such open affection, even if it was from a baby that didn't know any better, he was going to take what he could get.
They wandered into the kitchen and Bass munched on some more bread and jam, letting Emily suck some of the surgery jelly off of his finger. He wasn't sure whether or not Charlie would care but he figured if Emily didn't tell, it could be her and Daddy's little secret. And since she couldn't really talk, he figured they were safe.
It took him a while to figure out that the disturbing smell in the room was coming from his daughter's diaper. Who'd have thought that a stench like that could come from anyone other that Miles Matheson?
Cloth diapers. He missed the pre-blackout days with their disposable ones and special little trash cans. It took them a while, with Emily fussing and Bass trying to figure out where he was supposed to put the pins, but they eventually got her clean and changed into a fresh set of clothes from the diaper bag. Considering that was his first ever post-blackout diaper change, he thought he'd done petty well.
With the dirty diaper outside soaking in a bucket, Bass brought the basket out of the bedroom and sat Emily in it so he could get a fire going on the stove. She was clapping and babbling, pointing at this and that. Eventually Bass gave up trying to focus on the fire and instead sat on the floor in front of the basket to play peek-a-boo. She squealed and giggled every time, scaring the poor little kitten into hiding in the cupboard under the sink. Bass had worried a few times that they might wake Mommy, but he could see the end of the bed through the cracked bedroom door from where they sat on the floor, Charlie's bare feet were sticking out of the blanket and she never once moved. He wondered if she was just worn out from the day before, but then it occurred to him that she'd been playing the role of single Mom to an infant for the past six months. She was probably exhausted.
An hour or so after the sun came up, Bass was getting ready to wake Charlie when he thought he heard something moving around outside. Sharp knocks on the door immediately sent him running for his gun, Emily craddled carefully against his chest in an effort to protect her tiny body. He was three feet from the bedroom door when he heard a voice call out, "relax, Bass. It's me."
Sighing with relief, Bass moved to open the door and let Miles in. As it swung open, he was met by not only Miles, but Rachel too. Her face was scrunched up in anger, her eyes alight with fury. "How dare you take my daughter away from me! I..."
But her continued rant was drowned out by Miles trying to hold her back from attacking Bass. Rachel managed to push her way into the house by pushing Miles in front of her. As they came through the door Miles muttered, "sorry. I kept her away as long as I could." Bass nodded. He understood, there was only so much you could do to hold Rachel back when she put her mind to something.
Rachel rounded on him instantly, Miles still between them and Emily still in Bass' arms. "I can not believe you. Are really so pathetic that you had to stoop to stealing other people's children just so you wouldn't be lonely?" She kept trying to push around Miles to get to him, but his brother held her back. When Rachel finally realized that this was as close as she was going to get, she started laying it on thick. "You are such a man whore. Taking advantage of a young girl, purposefully getting her pregnant-"
"Enough." All three of them turned to find Charlie awake and staring at all of them. She was still only wearing his shirt that she'd slept in and her hair was a tangled mess, but her eyes were burning with anger.
"Sweetheart," Rachel started, her voice sickly sweet.
Charlie glared at her mother. "I said that's enough," she growled. "Now I want you to listen, really listen Rachel, because I'm only going to say this once. Bass is Emily's father. No it wasn't planned and it wasn't forced either." She stepped closer, watching Rachel's unreadable expression intently. "You have a choice. Shut up and live with it, or get the fuck out."
Rachel's mouth dropped open in shock. "You can't talk to me like that, I'm your mother."
Charlie simply rolled her eyes at that, shaking her head. "I'm an adult, Rachel. I can do what I want and you can't stop me."
The older woman's face turned back to anger and she jumped in Bass' direction, attempting to take Emily away from him. "No, I won't let you do this. You can't take her away from me!" Her eyes were wide, making her look wild and dangerous. Bass was trying to break away from Rachel without hurting Emily, before Miles could even attempt to intervene, Charlie had grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back so hard that it threw her off her feet, making her land flat on her butt.
She turned to Bass. "Get Emily out of here, she doesn't need to be around this." He nodded and left without even questioning her. She was right anyway. Charlie in momma bear mode was not something Emily needed to see. He hurried them out of the still-hanging-off-it's-hinges back door and settled them under a tree in the backyard. They were far enough away that if Rachel came out running he'd have a decent head start, but close enough that if Charlie needed him he'd still be around to help. Voices, indistinct but angry, could be heard from where they were sitting so he tried to distract Emily with another round of peek-a-boo.
XxX
The moment the door shut behind Bass, Charlie rounded on her mother. "Will you wake up! I am not the little girl you left behind anymore, and Emily is not a replacement for you to try and make up for skipping out on me. She's my daughter and I'm trying to do what's best for her."
Rachel staggered to her feet breathing heavily. "Do you really think that having that monster anywhere near her is good for her? You can't possibly be that stupid."
"She's his daughter, too! And if you really think that Bass would hurt an innocent child than you're the stupid one. I've seen the way he is with her, she means everything to him. There's no doubt in my mind that he would do whatever it takes to protect her, unlike you, who left your kids stranded with a man who couldn't tell the difference between a nut and an acorn."
Rachel shook her head condescendingly. "You have no idea-"
"Get out." Charlie cut her off flatly.
"Excuse me?"
"Just get out," she said tiredly.
"Charlie-"
"I said get out," she shouted.
Rachel sucked in an angry breath, releasing the words all at once. "I slept with him."
Charlie's eyebrows rose, the confusion evident on her face. "With who?"
"Bass, of course." Rachel gave her a triumphant smirk, like that was the end of the argument.
Something sick and slimy slid into her stomach making Charlie want to run outside and vomit, but she held it together. "So? Who cares?" Her lack of reaction left Rachel completely baffeled. "I said get out. Now go." Charlie pointed at the door and with one last look of contempt, Rachel ran off into the woods.
She could feel Miles right behind her, a similar sense of confusion coming from his direction. "Do you think she's lying?" Charlie asked him without turning to see his face.
It took a moment, but Miles eventually sighed. "No. They did." Charlie turned to look at him. Miles didn't appear angry or hurt, maybe just a little sad. He caught her looking and shrugged. "I always kinda figured." She nodded, not so much in agreement, just acceptance. It happened. She'd get the story from Bass later.
Or maybe she didn't need it. Or want it.
No. What she wanted was to check on Emily.
They went out through the back door, finding Bass and Emily playing with rocks under a tree. He looked up at their approach, radiating nervousness. "That was quick."
Charlie found that it was a little difficult to look at him so she picked up Emily and cleaned some imaginary dirt off of her face instead. "Yeah, well, she's gone. And I doubt she'll be back, so... I'm just going to go feed Emily." She fled back into the house, glad to get away from Bass and his searching gaze.
XxX
Bass jumped up from his spot on the ground as Charlie all but ran away from him. He looked at Miles, worry filling his gut. "What did I do, what's wrong?"
Miles seemed torn between anger and something close to pity. "Nothing. Well, not recently." At Bass' questioning look he elaborated, "Rachel told her about... you know... you two."
Bass stared at him for a moment, still confused as to what he was talking about but it became clearer as the memories of a long forgotten night floated through his mind. He cringed a little at the memory and turned to his best friend. "Miles, you have to know that I never-"
Miles held up a hand to stop him. "Was I still in Philly?" He asked quietly.
"No. It was after."
"Then it doesn't matter." Miles pulled the bag he was holding off of his shoulder and handed it to him.
"What is this?" Bass peeked inside, finding lots of tiny cloths and some more cloth diapers.
"It's as much of the girls stuff that I could fit. Here," he reached into his jacket pocket and handed him a small jar.
"What's this?" Bass took the lid off and sniffed it.
"Butt paste." Bass froze, making Miles laugh. "For Emily, you moron. It's for her diaper rash." He pulled a leather pouch from one of his other pockets. "Tea leaves for Charlie. She gets nightmares, bad ones, at least twice a week. The tea helps calm her down and get her back to sleep. And there's this," Miles pulled out a nice looking bottle of whiskey.
"What's that for, to spike the tea?"
Miles shook his head and shoved the bottle into his hands. "Nope, it's for you dickhead."
"Oh, thanks..." Bass gave him and uncertain look.
"Don't drink it now. Put it up, out of sight, and save it."
"For what?"
"For when you realize that taking care of a woman and a child is a lot of work, responsibility that you're not ready for. It's for that moment when you think it's too much for you and you want the easy way out. And when that happens, and I know you so I know it will, you wait for the girls to go to bed, drink the whole bottle, and let yourself wallow for one night. Just. One. Night. Then you get your ass up in the morning and take care of my girls, because I swear to God, if anything happens to either of them I will hunt you down and put a bullet in your head. Understood?"
Bass nodded his head and shoved the bottle into the bag of clothes, feeling like this was the part where any reservations he may have had were tossed out of the window. "One night. Got it."
Miles gave him a wry smile and set a hand on his shoulder. "Then congratulations, Bass. I'm happy for you." He felt tears pooling in his eyes and wiped them away quickly, making Miles groan. "Oh, come on, don't start with that shit. Just-just go bond with your kid or whatever." Miles stomped away from him towards the front yard, Bass could have sworn he heard him grumbling about over emotional people on his way.
He cleared his throat and wiped away those silly tears. It wasn't too much for him to handle. He could do this. He'd run the Monroe Republic for years, how hard could taking care of two people really be?
A/N I know everybody wanted Charlie to punch her, I did too, but I feel like Charlie's not really angry with Rachel at this point in her life, she's just sad and dissapointed. Anyway, thanks for reading!