It was nearly noon the next day, when Rachel asked, "How long are we going to wait for them to get up?"

It wasn't that she thought they were going to find anything if they kept moving, but the more ground they covered, the sooner Monroe was likely to give up on finding Connor so they could go home. Besides, Charlie and Monroe being holed up in a bedroom together for that long was uncomfortable to think about. Rachel wanted her daughter to be happy and she wanted her to move on from Jason, but she wasn't sure if Charlie's thing with Monroe was a step in the right or wrong direction.

"I don't know," Miles responded. "They could use the sleep, but this is getting a bit much."

He was antsy too. Miles hated standing still. He kept insisting the trip was strictly for Charlie and Monroe's benefit, but Rachel had a sneaking suspicion that he had wanted a mission to throw himself into too. Last time they had been stuck in Willoughby with nothing to do, he had tried to run off. This time he had run off, but he had taken them with him.

"I'm going to go check if they're awake," Rachel insisted.

That sounded like an idea with a lot of potential to go wrong to Miles, so he volunteered, "I'll do it."

Miles left Rachel behind and walked upstairs and past the open door of the empty bedroom that had gone unused the night before, then tapped gently on the door with his knuckles. He didn't want to wake them up if they were asleep, but he felt the need to knock and warn them in case they were awake. That was more for Charlie's benefit than Bass's, since he knew Bass couldn't care less if Miles walked in on him undressed or not.

"Bass?" He asked, just loud enough to be heard through the door. "Charlie?"

He waited for a long moment with no answer, then turned the handle and gently creaked the door open.

"I'm coming in," he said, although he was fairly certain neither of them were awake to hear him.

He opened the the door far enough to find they were both still asleep on one side of the bed with Bass's arm wrapped around her and Charlie holding his arm to her.

Miles left the room as carefully as he had entered, slowly shutting the door behind him, then headed back to the kitchen where he had left Rachel.

"So?" She asked.

"They're sleeping," he responded. "Let's give them a few more minutes."

Charlie woke up with a jolt and felt hot breath on her neck as an arm tightened violently around her waist. She was still groggy, although her heart was beating a mile a minute, and just as she was about to jut an elbow back into whoever was grabbing her, she heard quiet and utterly incoherent words near her ear as the arm holding her twitched and she remembered where she had fallen asleep the night before.

She was inside, in a bed, safe with Bass. The arm constricted around her waist was not an attack. The breath on her neck was not a warning or a threat. He was having a nightmare and was clinging to her so hard that he had woken her up.

Charlie pried his arm loose enough that she was able to roll over to face him.

She heard a half coherent 'Connor' muttered under his breath as he shifted again, pushing his body into hers, even though she was already closer to the edge of the bed than she would like to be.

"Bass," she tried quietly, but he didn't wake up.

She brought a hand up to his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb. She saw a little of the tension leave his shoulders, but he was clearly still on edge as he pulled his face away from her hand and pushed it further into the pillow.

"Bass," she said, speaking a little above her normal volume. "Wake up."

His shoulder twitched and his face burrowed further into the pillow. She watched him silently as his eyelids fluttered a few times, then settled on open. He grumbled something incoherent that she thought was supposed to be a question.

"What?" She asked.

"Why'd you wake me up?" He repeated.

"You were trying to break my ribs in your sleep," she told him.

"Sorry," he told her, then rubbed a hand over his face. "Bad dream."

"I noticed."

"At least I woke up to something nice," he commented with a flirty smile as his eyes raked down to where the blankets barely covered her chest, then back up to her face. "How about you?"

She knew he was asking how she had slept, but she couldn't resist.

"Not my favourite thing to wake up to," she teased.

"What? Me or the rib crushing?" He asked.

She pretended to consider for a moment.

"You're okay," she said finally. "I could do without your vise grip though."

"How'd you sleep?" He asked.

"Easily after last night," she told him with a small smile. "I can't remember any dreams, so I guess that means better than you."

"So, it's a competition now?" He asked in an amused tone.

"Sure," she agreed. "Since I'm winning."

"Well, as long as one of us is nightmare free-"

"I can hear you up there!" Miles' shouts came through the floorboards. "Get dressed! You've been sleeping all day!"

The colour drained from Charlie's face as she wondered just how much Miles and her mom had heard the night before if he could hear them talking from downstairs.

"Yes, Dad!" Bass called back down the stairs.

There was the faint sound of grumbling, but no response.

"I haven't had a girl's parents catch me in her bed in decades," Bass said to Charlie as he unwrapped his arm from around her.

"I get it, you're old," she deadpanned as she sat up. "Could you maybe not refer to Miles as your dad and my dad practically in the same sentence?"

"Hey, if we get married, he'll be my father-in-law," he defended.

"Okay, one, we are not getting married," she insisted. "And, two, even if we did, he would be your uncle-in-law."

"You remember you said that when you're hopelessly in love with me and begging me to propose to you," Bass told her. "Remember this conversation right here."

"Why wouldn't I just propose to you then?" Charlie asked with a furrowed brow. "And that is never going to happen. Ever."

"Was the ever really necessary?" He questioned. "Sounds to me like you're already getting defensive."

"You caught me," she deadpanned. "I regret it already. Oh, Bass. Please marry me, right here, right now. I'll do anything."

He laughed as she stared at him with a blank expression.

"See? I knew you'd come around."

"Quit trying to get me to marry you and get dressed," she told him. "Miles is already in a bad mood."

"When isn't he?"

When they got in the wagon, Bass sat down next to Charlie and placed his right hand just below the knee of her left leg, with his elbow resting in the space between her thighs, then leaned back and shut his eyes to think. He wanted to find Connor, but they hadn't come across a single clue to his location. Was it stupid to keep looking? Or would he be betraying Connor again if he gave up without looking longer?

"What? You didn't get enough sleep last night?" Charlie quipped. Her voice dropped low enough that only he would hear, so her mom and Miles wouldn't take her joke the wrong way as she added, "What are you going to do if you have a nightmare this time? Pull my leg off?"

"No," he responded without opening his eyes. "I like your leg as it is."

"I'm guessing I don't want context for that," Miles commented.

"There is no context," Charlie told him with a smirk. "He just has a leg fetish."

Bass's eyes shot open as he defended, "I do not have a leg fetish."

"Yes, he does," she bluffed. "He's weirdly fixated on them. I think the real reason he was with me in his dream world was because my legs were his type."

"She's lying. If I had a leg fetish, you would know about it by now, Miles," Bass insisted, then turned to Charlie. "You're the worst, you know that?"

"That would be a lot more convincing if I wasn't literally the girl of your dreams," Charlie pointed out in an amused tone.

"Cute," he responded. "How long have you been sitting on that one?"

She shrugged. "Not long. For someone who's so in love with me, you sure complain about me a lot."

She was getting smug now, smirking over at him with that arrogant look that affected him way more than it should.

"Hey, I just as easily could have fallen in love with Duncan or Emma," he countered, although his usual conviction was missing.

Bass didn't even realize his mistake until she went silent and some doubt crept into her features. Her leg felt tense under his arm.

"I was just messing with you." Her tone was guarded.

Clearly, he had fucked up their new set-up and scared her already. So much for not having all his cards on the table right away.

She paused for a moment, as if she was considering whether to say something else or not, before she asked, "You're in love with me?"

"I didn't say that," he responded. "Those are your words, not mine."

"You didn't deny it either," she pointed out.

"She's right. You did kind of imply it," Miles chimed in oh so helpfully.

Bass ignored that and kept his eyes focused on Charlie, glaring daggers as he challenged, "So what if I am?"

"You're in love with dream me?" She asked, although he was pretty sure she knew that wasn't what he had meant.

"Yeah, her too," he agreed.

His answer was good enough for Charlie, even though it wasn't what she had been asking.

"I'm just surprised that love is something you're capable of," she responded.

It was a cheap shot and she knew it. Obviously, he loved Connor and Miles. But Sebastian Monroe in love. That didn't make sense. Still, the deflection felt harsh.

"Don't worry," he assured her in a tone that came out a little too sarcastic for his own ears. "I'm not expecting you to say it back."

"Good," she told him. "Because I'm not. In love with you, I mean."

He had no doubt that she was telling the truth. In a way, he would be disappointed if she wasn't. Charlie was stubborn in the best and worst of ways and, even if things had been warming up between them lately, he knew she was far from loving him. He didn't want her falling in love with him just because she was going through a rough patch and he was there. He wanted the real thing and he wanted to earn it.

"I know," he told her.

"So, is this why you were trying so hard to convince me to marry you?" She asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"He what?" Rachel asked as her calm composure cracked.

"Relax. It was a joke," Bass told her. "And Charlie permanently turned down any chance of an offer. It was a little harsh, honestly."

Rachel didn't look sympathetic towards his cause, but she dropped it at that.

"What's the difference?" Charlie asked. "It's never going to come up anyways. You're not the getting married type."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed, although his tone didn't come across entirely convincing.

There was a long silence before Charlie added, "I'd like to think I was a little easier to fall in love with than Duncan, considering she couldn't have cared less whether you lived or died. She was perfectly happy to watch you die and take me and Connor down as collateral damage. If it weren't for me, she would have been dead then and you and Connor would have been too."

Even though Gould had claimed he'd let Connor go, Bass didn't bother correcting her. They both knew that the likelihood that Gould would have kept his word and let Connor walk was next to none.

"Yeah, well, how many times over would you have been dead before then if it wasn't for me?" He challenged.

"Not as many times as I've saved your ass," Charlie insisted.

"The Tower?" Bass asked.

"That was once," Charlie pointed out.

"And you only did it because it was the only way to keep me from letting us both die there," Rachel added.

"What about with that bounty hunter?" Bass challenged.

Charlie let out a laugh. "You're kidding, right? That guy was useless. You didn't rescue me from anything. I was only keeping him around to help me find you after you took off and left me behind. There's no way that idiot was going to kill me, with or without you there."

"And the bar?" Bass questioned.

Charlie shook her head, "I could have handled it, even if you hadn't been stalking me."

"Look, you took down an impressive number of them, especially for being drugged," Bass assured her. "But we both know you needed my help there."

"Fine," she admitted. "So, you saved me twice. I'm the reason you didn't get executed, which means I saved you twice. We're even."

"What about when you wanted to rush right into Patriot Town without a plan and I stopped you?" He challenged.

"The Patriots were still pretending to play nice," Charlie pointed out. "I would have been fine."

"Maybe, but how about in the school?"

She frowned. "You mean when you left me for dead and then thought better of it at the last second?"

"I came back for you, didn't I?" He challenged. "In case you haven't noticed, the list of people I'm willing to go out of my way to save isn't a long one. Just Miles, Connor, and you."

Charlie let out a snort at that. "Yeah, right."

"Excuse me?" Bass demanded. He was genuinely confused. They had already established that he was in love with her and he was pretty sure she'd known that he'd go out of his way to save her long before that.

"That's really the story you're sticking with, huh?" She questioned as she stared over at him. "You couldn't care less about what happens to anyone else?"

"That isn't exactly news," he pointed out. "Even if you want it to be a lie."

She wasn't backing down though. Bass wasn't sure what was more shocking, the fact that she was defending his morality, or that she was so utterly convinced that he was a better person than he would ever come close to being.

"It is a lie," she insisted. "And we both know it."

"No. We don't."

"What about Aaron and Cynthia?" Charlie challenged.

"They got captured on my watch, didn't they?" He retorted. He wasn't sure why he was trying so hard to convince Charlie that he didn't care about saving anyone, but he needed her to know the truth instead of trying to twist him in her mind into someone he wasn't. And maybe the mention of another Cynthia he couldn't save had put him in a foul mood. "And I never would have risked my ass getting him back if Miles hadn't made me before he'd tell me where Connor was."

"So then why'd you leave Connor to save strangers from mustard gas?" She questioned.

"That wasn't about saving anyone," he countered. "It was about beating the Patriots and stopping their plan."

He was surprised when instead of looking disappointed at his apathy, she narrowed her eyes in determination.

"What about my mom?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Bass insisted.

Miles and Rachel were staring at him now. Rachel looked doubtful, while Miles was glancing between him and Charlie, trying to determine which one of them was bluffing.

"Why did you come back for me after you got away from the bounty hunters?" Charlie challenged. "I kicked your ass and you left me there until the next day. What made you come back?"

He didn't like the way she was asking like she knew what his motivations were. He was sure she was laying down a trap for him.

"Okay, first of all, you did not kick my ass," Bass argued. "You tried to kill me and I managed to fend you off without even hurting you."

"Yeah, you were a real Prince Charming," she commented sarcastically. "You killed one of the bounty hunters and took the wagon and left me with the compulsive liar one that wouldn't stop staring at my ass. That didn't bother you at the time though, so why did you come back?"

Charlie was going to make him admit it, no matter how long he tried to dodge it for. She hated his macho, couldn't care less about hardly anyone, act. Maybe if he admitted it, things would get a little less tense between him and her mom. She wanted them to get along at least a little, since she knew things were bound to erupt sooner or later if they continued pretending to get along just for show.

"You were my ticket to Miles," he told her with a shrug. "You knew that at the time."

"If I was your ticket, then why didn't you take me with you in the first place? You only came back after you found out there was a bounty on my mom's head."

"You're really not going to drop this, huh?" He questioned. "You were still pissed off and trying to kill me. I didn't have any way to convince you to take me to Miles, until I saw that poster and knew it was my only shot to convince you that you needed my help."

"You were going to take off until you saw it," Charlie argued. "Why can't you just admit you wanted to help stop the Patriots from taking her? You said it before."

Rachel would never believe it if he admitted it anyways. She'd be sure he'd just used the bounty to manipulate Charlie into taking him there. He liked that better though. Things were more comfortable when he and Rachel pretended they'd never felt anything but hate towards each other. That made it easier to stay angry at her instead of at himself for all the things he had done. He didn't need another repeat of the Tower all over again. The idea of dropping the mask around Rachel again made his skin crawl. He'd carefully crafted his defences against her since that moment. He didn't need to give her any more ammunition to use against him and he didn't need Miles or Charlie getting any crazy ideas about him and Rachel getting along.

"You wanted to stop them," Bass brushed it off. "I wanted to find Miles, so I agreed to help you. But it was an act. Why would I want to save her? She wants me dead."

He glanced in Rachel's direction and felt a lump in his throat. He had been expecting her to look pissed at that comment and had been planning on smirking over at her to grate on her nerves, but instead she was staring at him with a confused look he had seen on her before.

"Why do you have to do that?" Rachel questioned.

"Do what?" Bass asked. "We don't like each other. You want me dead and I want you dead, but we're stuck together because we have people in common. You were willing to kill yourself just to take me down with you. The deal was I save Charlie and we work together for long enough to get out of the Tower before going back to killing each other. What part of that made you think I could care less whether you live or die?"

"So, we're just going to pretend like the rest of that conversation never happened?" Rachel questioned.

"I said whatever it would take to stop you from killing us both," he insisted. "That doesn't mean any of it was true."

He never should have let her in. He had thought they weren't going to make it out and he'd had no one and nothing left. He'd been at his wit's end and racked with guilt over everything he had done, so he'd admitted to his sins in what he had thought had been his final hours. He'd said whatever he could to convince her to unlock the gun, or at least to try to earn her forgiveness, and for a horrible moment he had remembered how things had used to be back when they had been friends before the blackout. He wasn't that Bass and she wasn't that Rachel though and out of all the things he had to grieve for, their friendship that was ancient history wasn't high on his list anymore.

"That was the only time you were honest, even with yourself, in years," Rachel retorted. "You were a real person again for a minute and that was terrifying, but at least it was better than the act."

"You seemed pretty damn sure it was an act back then," he countered.

"Yeah, but then you snapped and threw your little temper tantrum," she responded in an eerily calm tone that was somehow so much worse than if she was yelling at him. "And then you dropped it and told me the truth. Or are you saying that you were proud of what the republic became and you wanted Connor to see you like that? Or that you honestly couldn't have cared less if another one of my kids died?"

"Fine," Bass said in an annoyed tone. "I made a lot of mistakes and maybe I wanted to make up for them instead of letting the Patriots take you. Happy?"

"No," Rachel responded. "You've still done terrible things and I still have every reason to dislike you. But I haven't exactly been trying to kill you lately, have I? Treat Charlie right and I might not have a reason to start trying again."

"Is that how Miles won you back over?" He questioned, even though he knew it was a bad idea. "Suddenly he's a nice guy again because he takes care of her? You used to think he was a monster too."

Charlie was surprised. She'd heard Bass imply that her mom didn't deserve Miles dozens of times, but she'd never heard him say anything about who Miles used to be affecting how her mom thought of Miles.

"Miles changed. He switched to the right side."

"And I didn't?" Bass questioned.

"I don't know," Rachel admitted. "I'm not sure you're done changing sides."

"I lost my kid fighting on your side, didn't I?"

"I thought you didn't care about saving anyone," Charlie pointed out quietly.

"No, you didn't," he insisted.

"Sure I did," she responded. "I just haven't thought it in a long time."

Bass decided to change the subject, and hopefully avoid any more serious conversations with Rachel, as he turned to Miles and bragged, "You know, I actually got a reasonable amount of sleep last night."

"Must be nice," Miles grumbled. "We didn't after you kept us up half the night."

Charlie felt a surge of embarrassment at the confirmation that her mom and uncle had been able to hear them the night before. Bass didn't appear all that bothered by it.

"Oh, woe is you," he said sarcastically. "Behind on your sleep for one whole night. You know, my heart really goes out for you, Miles. I don't know how you're surviving right now. You should get a medal."

"You're a dick," Miles told him. "I haven't had to listen to you have sex that much since Emma."

"Bullshit," Bass called. "You never heard me and Emma."

"I was on the couch," Miles pointed out. "You two weren't exactly subtle."

"You were passed out," Bass argued.

"No. I wasn't," Miles insisted. "I was half asleep, trying to decide whether it was worth getting up to take a piss, when you two started having sex. Emma didn't need to tell me about it. I heard."

"And what? You just decided to wait until I was going to be executed to tell me you knew?" Bass questioned. "How is that not a dick move?"

"You waited until you were going to be executed to tell me that you slept with her," Miles pointed out. "That's definitely the bigger dick move."

"Whatever," Bass said, brushing off the subject altogether. "Things worked out now, right? You're with Rachel."

Rachel furrowed her brow as if she knew he was trying to insult her, especially after their uncomfortable discussion about not wanting each other dead, but was still trying to figure out how he was doing it.

"I thought you liked me better with Nora," Miles commented.

"Nora's dead," Bass deadpanned. "And it's not like you would have had me with Charlie in your dream world."

"Oh, so now I'm with you?" Charlie questioned. The question didn't come out as harsh as it would have a few days prior.

Bass turned to look at her and asked, "Aren't you?"

Charlie didn't say anything. Obviously they were something, but that felt like a loaded question, so she was relieved when Miles spoke up and she didn't have to.

"No, I probably would have had you with Shelly," he admitted.

Charlie hadn't heard of Shelly. Bass hadn't mentioned her, even once.

"Who's Shelly?" Rachel questioned. She had known Monroe for a long time and she hadn't ever heard of anyone named Shelly before.

"Shelly's dead," Bass said. Judging by the way his shoulders had tensed, he did not like the new choice of subject.

"They were basically married," Miles pointed out.

Charlie couldn't imagine Bass married. She was still having a hard time picturing him as a boyfriend, even when he was getting closer to filling that role with her.

She looked over at him as she pointed out, "But didn't you just agree that you aren't the type to get married?"

"You don't know me as well as you think you do, Charlie," he threw her words back at her with a smirk.

"I'm surprised you weren't with her in your dream world," Miles said to Bass. "With another kid."

Charlie remembered how defensive Bass had gotten when she'd been surprised that the Charlie in his dream world had been pregnant. He'd said something about how he would want another kid if the blackout hadn't happened and they were in a world where raising a kid, or even childbirth, wasn't so dangerous.

The wagon was completely silent for a few moments. Charlie placed her hand over his, still on her leg, and Bass decided to change the subject again.

"What exactly are we doing here, Miles?" He asked. "With this trip, I mean."

"Looking for your kid," Miles responded matter-of-factly. "What have you been doing?"

"No, I mean, how long are we going to keep this up before you decide I'm mentally stable enough and we stop looking?"

"You want us to give up looking?" Miles asked in a surprised tone.

"No," Bass admitted. "But we're never going to find him and, even if we do, it's not like he's going to want to come back with me. He hates me."

"Maybe he's pissed," Miles said. "But I don't think he hates you."

"He wants me dead," Bass pointed out.

"Okay, now you're just being over-dramatic," Miles insisted. "He risked his ass letting you out in Mexico when he hardly knew anything about you. He doesn't want you dead."

"He gave Neville the go ahead to try and kill me and just stood there and watched," Bass pointed out as he finally opened his eyes to shoot a glare in Miles' direction. "I don't think I'm going to be getting any Father's Day cards from him anytime soon."

"Okay, so maybe he wanted you dead," Miles admitted. "But he'll get over it. I wanted you dead and I got over it. I mean, I was pretty dead set on killing you in the Tower and I ended up saving you from your own men instead."

Charlie hadn't known anything about Miles saving Bass back then, but that was probably for the best. She would have been furious at the time. Now, she was glad Miles had done it.

"You've known me a lot longer," Bass pointed out. "He met me when I was already a fuck up."

"Well, I went all the way to New Vegas just to kill you and I've been trying to keep you alive instead for a while," Charlie chimed in. "And I hated you. A lot. But now I think you're pretty alright to be around."

"Thanks for that ringing endorsement," Bass said. "But I'm pretty sure Connor's not letting go of the grudge on this one, even if we do find him. He came with me because he wanted a republic. I kept Davis alive when it would have been easier to get the republic back if I didn't and that was it. I thought I was growing on him, but I guess not because as soon as he figured out there wasn't going to be another Monroe Republic, he flipped out and bailed. And if that wasn't enough for him to want nothing to do with me again, I'm pretty sure locking him in an abandoned building with pissed off Neville and then just taking off was enough to do the trick."

"Maybe worry a little less about how much convincing he's going to need," Miles suggested. "And figure out if you want to keep looking for him, or if you're ready to stop."

Bass would hate it if he gave up, only for Connor to be in the next town over, so he responded, "Let's keep looking. At least for a little longer."

When they arrived in the next town, Bass looked around and immediately commented, "I need a drink."

"Well, I guess we're heading to the bar," Charlie commented as she headed towards them.

"Alright, we'll look around and meet up with you later," Miles responded, then turned to Rachel. "If that works for you."

She nodded her head in agreement.

Charlie followed Bass as he headed down the street in the direction he thought the bar might be in.

"So, why do you need a drink so badly?" She asked him.

"Between not finding Connor, him not wanting me to, and having to have an actual discussion with your mom, I've had better days. I think I've got enough excuses." When he realized that she wasn't saying anything, he added, "This morning was good though. The day went downhill afterwards."

"Pretty bad when having nightmares was the highlight of your day," she commented.

"Not nightmares," he corrected. "Waking up with you. Having a little time alone before going back to the act."

"The act?" She questioned.

"Pretending I think we're going to find Connor," he responded. "Pretending I don't care if we don't."

"Kind of hard to pretend it isn't bothering you around me when you're murmuring about him in your sleep, huh?" She challenged.

"Was I?" He asked.

"What? No one's ever told you that you talk in your sleep?" She questioned.

He shrugged. "I haven't slept in the same bed as someone in a while. I don't think I used to. Did I say anything else?"

"Don't worry," she assured him. "It was mostly incoherent."

"Good," he said with a smirk. "Wouldn't want you finding out what I've been dreaming about, would I?"

She cracked a smile in response. "Clearly."

"We should go," Bass insisted twenty minutes later as he took a long swig of his drink. "Leave this town. Maybe we should just give up and go back to Willoughby."

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm sure about leaving this town though. Connor's not here. He'd hate this place."

"I'll go track down Miles and my mom then," she said.

"I'll wait here," he responded. "Get another drink."

"Whatever," she told him. "Suit yourself."

She turned to leave and he grabbed her wrist to stop her. His hand slid into hers as she turned back to face him again.

"What?" She asked, when he didn't say anything.

"Forget about it," he said as he let go of her hand. He'd wanted to ask her to stay with him, but that would just slow them down and he wanted to get out of town fast.

"Wherever he is, I'm sure he's fine," she told him.

"What makes you think that?" He asked her.

"He's got way more of a survival instinct than any of us," she pointed out. "He'd rather run away from death traps than towards them."

"Yeah, I guess you're probably right," he agreed in a tone that wasn't entirely convincing.

"I like the sound of you saying that," she said in an amused tone.

He turned on his barstool and his hands landed on her hips as he looked into her eyes and assured her, "You're usually right, Charlie."

She smiled at him in return and her hands moved to his shoulders as she said, "I'm going to go find them. You try not to drink yourself to death while I'm gone."

"I'll do my best to stop on the brink," he said with a flirty smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

She turned to walk away and he grabbed her hand again.

"What now?" She asked in an exasperated tone. For someone who wanted to leave town so badly, he sure was doing his best to stop her from even leaving the bar to look for the others.

He rose from his seat to kiss her briefly on the lips, then took a half step back as he let go of her hand.

"Just in case I do die of alcohol poisoning while you're gone," he told her as he sat back down on the stool.

"So, I can go now?" She asked in an amused tone.

"Yeah, you can go."

Charlie barely made it three steps out of the bar when something hit her hard in the back of the head and her vision went black.

A/N: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to the amazing guest user for being awesome and leaving a review on last chapter! :)