After they finished fighting off a couple of patriots, Charlie turned to go keep walking, but was immediately stopped by a swift grab to her wrist that pulled her back.

"Come on, we have to go find Miles," Charlie said sternly as she glared back in confusion at Bass.

Her gaze dropped back down to her arm while his grasp on her arm remained firm, digging into her flesh a little.

"Bass stop, we've got to go."

He still remained frozen in place, staring down at her wrist for a few more long moments before he cursed under his breath and flung her arm away as if he could no longer stand to look at it, let alone hold it.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Charlie demanded.

"Your wrist," he responded in an angry tone.

"What?"

"Your wrist! Look at it!"

Charlie flinched back as his voice rose to a shout. Once Bass noticed her reaction, he ran a hand through his hair as he turned away from her and began to pace.

Charlie looked down at her wrist and finally realized what his problem was, the scar on her wrist from when the Monroe Militia's 'M' had been branded onto her flesh.

"Oh."

She had grown used to the scar and rarely thought about it or gave her wrist a second glance. She hadn't thought about it much, but it surprised her that Monroe hadn't noticed it before.

"When did you get that?" Bass questioned, seeming to have regained some amount of control over his emotions "Where did you get that?"

"Does it matter?" Charlie challenged.

"Does it matter?" Bass repeated in a tone of disbelief. "Are you joking, Charlie?"

"No. I'm not." She insisted, anger becoming evident in her tone. "Why do you even care?"

"Never mind, let's just go," Bass replied, deflecting the question. "Like you said, we need to go find Miles."

Before she had the chance to say anything else, he'd already walked past her and was moving fast in an attempt to get away from that conversation and to Miles.

Charlie followed behind him, a little slower as she wondered to herself what had provoked such a strong reaction to her scar. She didn't think that Bass was capable of caring about anyone other than himself and Miles...

Could she be wrong?

A/N: Please read and review! This story is dedicated to tumblr's stairwaytorays because it probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for her suggesting it as a ficlet (and might not be multi-chapter if it weren't for someone anonymously requesting more).