"Hurry up, Charlie!" Her brother called from outside the door. "They're going to be here soon."

Charlie let out a sigh. Looking up to her mother's standards turned out to be more time consuming than she had first expected.

"Connor's been ready for like twenty minutes," Danny added on.

"You're not helping," Charlie called through the door. "Just give me five minutes."

What was she going to do with her hair? To her mother, it would still be a pitch black reminder of how she looked now and there wasn't much she could do to change that. She stared into the mirror at a face she hardly recognized anymore, covered in the makeup Nora had leant her, and finally decided to get the hair out of her face as much as she could.

"She's still not ready?" Connor asked as Danny walked back into the room. He had thought that she had always been late before, but this was even worse than usual. "What's taking her so long?" Had she forgotten where all of her piercings were or something?

"I don't know," Danny answered with a shrug. "She said she'll be out in five minutes."

They both knew that she had already said that more than once.

"I'll go check on her," Nora told them as she rose from her chair. Neither Connor, nor Danny thought it was likely to go any better for her, but Nora figured that Charlie might need some help getting ready or that she might want to talk.

Nora knocked lightly on Miles' bedroom door. "Charlie? It's me."

She was expecting a response, but instead Charlie pulled the door open and shot her a doubtful look.

"I look ridiculous. Don't I?"

"You look good," Nora insisted. "Like any parent would be lucky to have you."

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked doubtfully, then glanced back over at her reflection again.

"Positive."

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked in an annoyed tone when she arrived at Miles' apartment, only to meet Sebastian Monroe in the hallway. Miles had invited her and Ben over, but had said nothing about Bass coming. If she had known she would have to make it through a night with him, she wouldn't have come. Or at the very least, she would have waited until Ben got off work.

"What am I doing here?" Bass repeated in a tone of disbelief. "Miles invited me. What the hell are you doing here?"

"He invited me too," Rachel responded through gritted teeth.

"Oh, great," Bass muttered out sarcastically.

He turned away from her and pounded on the door with his fist. He wanted some answers and he wanted them now. Hopefully Miles would clear things up and get rid of Rachel, especially since Bass had already invited Duncan to come over for a non-committal night of drinking. It was the one way he'd known he could convince her to come meet Miles without there being any strings attached. Now, he was probably going to have to listen to Rachel bitch about how he was a bad influence on Connor for sleeping around and then she'd try to blame all Charlie's problems on him.

Well, he wasn't going to let her.

Miles got up to get the door, leaving Connor and Danny waiting by themselves in the living room. That is, until Nora reemerged from the hallway.

"Any luck?" Connor asked. "Someone's here."

Nora didn't have to answer him, since Charlie stepped out of the hallway a moment later looking uncharacteristically unsure of herself. Connor burst into laughter at the sight and Danny quickly joined in.

"Shut up," Charlie told them, although her tone didn't come out quite as angry as she had intended. After all, she herself had thought she looked ridiculous too.

"No, I like it," Connor assured her through his laughter. "It's just a lot to take in. I mean, you definitely outdid me. Is this what you used to wear?"

"Not even close," Danny answered for her. "You're right, Charlie. This is going to be like a dream come true for Mom."

The pink dress she was wearing probably was a bit much, but Charlie was going to do whatever it took to try to get her parents to actually give her and Connor a chance without just writing them off. It was a dress that her mother had bought and tried to coax her into almost a year ago. The garment had spent all of its time since at the back of her closet, up until then.

The dress covered up her naval, but she had still removed her belly button piercing so it wouldn't create a bump in the fabric. Almost all of her piercings were out, with the exception of a pair of small stud earrings that her mother had given her a long time ago. She was wearing light, natural looking makeup and her hair was pulled back into a bun, although she couldn't remember the last time she had put her hair up. On her feet were a pair of flats. The overall effect was definitely attention-grabbing.

The door opened and instead of having the decency to look apologetic or like he had just realized his mistake, Miles had the nerve to look pleased at the sight of the pair he found standing outside his door together. "Oh good, you're both here."

The two outside the door glanced nervously at each other, then hesitantly stepped through the doorway. Bass was sure to make a point of cutting Rachel off to let himself inside first.

They were barely three steps in when they heard voices coming from further in the apartment.

"Hold on, is that Connor?" Bass questioned.

Miles said nothing and continued to lead them to the living room. Something was definitely off and Miles clearly knew exactly what it was.

"What's going on?" Rachel questioned, but by the time she got the question out they had already turned the corner and could see for themselves.

"Holy shit."

Bass didn't know what was going on, but this definitely had to be some kind of joke.

Charlie was standing in the middle of the room, next to Nora, staring at the people in the doorway in sheer surprise. Connor was sitting on the couch with his feet up, wearing a suit he had borrowed from Danny. It was a little tight, but fit surprisingly well. There wasn't a hint of eyeliner on his face and all of his piercings, including the tongue stud he had purposely been bothering Rachel with before, were gone. Danny was seated on an armchair, dressed in his ordinary clothes, looking completely unsurprised by the scene that was playing out around him.

Miles was the first to say anything more. Charlie had finally emerged from his room while he was answering the door, so this was his first look at her since she had disappeared to go get ready.

"I know you said you were trying to dress in something she'd approve of," Miles said with a chuckle. "But I haven't seen you in something like this since your mom still dressed you."

Rachel glanced from her daughter, to Connor, then back to Charlie again. Well, Rachel wasn't sure what game they were playing, but they had certainly put quite the effort into it. Still, how was dressing up for one night supposed to undo all of the things she had caught them doing? And how was it going to reverse any of the damage Bass's son had done to her daughter? She was still staring in shock when Bass finally spoke up again and broke the silence.

He turned over to Miles and commented, "I thought it was just going to be us."

Miles shrugged innocently. "I figured you were more likely to show up that way."

He had a point. Bass probably would not have come if he'd known Rachel was going to be there. He probably would have stayed home and had Duncan over instead of coming to Miles' apartment to watch his kid and Charlie play house, or whatever it was that was going on here.

Connor glanced from Rachel, who was still frozen in the spot she had been standing when she had first seen them, over to his father. He forced his tone to come out indifferent as he commented, "You're always complaining about the eyeliner and piercings. I thought you'd be thrilled."

Well, it was quite the improvement. Bass just wasn't sure what to think of this set-up.

"You two might actually make it through a metal detector now," he responded. "I'm not complaining."

Rachel felt the need to speak up then. She couldn't have Bass coming off as the approving parent out of them. If Charlie and Connor were going out of their way to put on an act, then she was going to play along. At least for now.

"You look good, Charlie," she finally spoke up, addressing specifically her daughter and disregarding Connor altogether. "See? You don't need all the make-up and piercings."

It was a somewhat backhanded compliment, but at least Rachel was actually playing along with their plan for now. Maybe she was ignoring Connor, but at least she wasn't targeting him. And maybe if she took Charlie a little more seriously, she would consider giving Connor a chance.

Rachel was more than a little surprised when Charlie had voluntarily left the room to order pizza. She couldn't get Charlie to cooperate at all at home. Then again, helping out now was probably a part of the act they were putting on. Little did she know that Charlie and Nora almost exclusively ordered the food around there.

There was a knock at the door a few minutes later, definitely too early for the pizza to be there.

Connor got up off of the couch, glad to have an excuse to get away for a moment. He agreed with the plan and although he thought it could work, it was a little difficult trying to be on his best behaviour and win over people who would barely even hold a conversation about whether or not they were willing to eat pizza.

He opened the door and was more than a little surprised by who was at it.

"Oh," Duncan said in a surprised tone. "You're here. Your dad didn't tell me you would be."

She didn't know what was going on. But if Connor's suit was any indication, then she was sure she was going to hate it. Hadn't Bass said they were just going to have a few drinks? She very specifically remembered asking, somewhat apprehensively, if this was going to be a date and him assuring her that it was anything but.

Connor couldn't hold back a smirk at that. His dad must really like Duncan, regardless of how casual they claimed things were, if he was bringing her around Miles. No wonder he had been so worried about it not just being him and Miles. This did not seem like Duncan's kind of thing.

Connor liked Duncan and he didn't want to screw things up entirely between her and his dad, so as he stepped out of the doorway to let her in, he warned her, "He didn't know. He didn't know about any of this, so just keep that in mind."

"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Duncan commented sarcastically as she followed him further into the apartment. When Connor didn't answer, she added, "Nice suit, kid." She meant it, but she had also said it because she was hoping he would explain why he was wearing it.

Connor glanced over his shoulder and flashed her a grin. "Right? I look good."

Duncan let out a laugh. "How modest of you."

"I'm serious. I might start wearing suits every day," Connor insisted as they turned into the living room. He was kidding, mostly anyways, but he certainly hadn't been bothered by his reflection when he had checked how he looked.

Duncan stopped in the doorway and looked around. On the one hand, she was relieved that Bass was dressed casually and not wearing suit and tie like his son was. On the other hand, this was definitely not what she had been expecting to walk in on. So this is what Connor had been cryptically warning her about.

"This is a lot of people," she pointed out.

Shit.

Bass should have called her and cancelled. He had been considering it when he'd first run into Rachel, but then he had gotten a little distracted by Connor and Charlie's new appearances and had forgotten. This had to be the opposite of anything Duncan wanted to attend.

Duncan shifted her gaze over to Charlie and questioned, "So is this the girlfriend?" Somehow, this did not fit the mental image she had of Connor's girlfriend, especially considering she knew Bass did not approve of the girl. She didn't exactly look like a corrupting influence to Duncan. "Tell me she isn't always this pink and frilly."

Although pink and frilly may have been an overstatement, it certainly wasn't completely unwarranted.

"She isn't," Connor responded for her. Charlie was still a little too busy wondering who this woman was and who had invited her to defend herself.

It was Rachel who finally joined the conversation as she turned to the brunette and questioned, "Who are you?"

Connor had to resist the urge to introduce her with 'This is Duncan. She has casual sex with my dad'. They were supposed to be on best behaviour, not picking fights right off the bat, so he bit his tongue.

"Duncan," she introduced herself. She left her last name out since she wasn't convinced she wanted these people knowing it. She didn't bother explaining why she was there as she questioned, "Who are you people?"

"I'm Nora," Nora introduced herself with a friendly smile as she quickly took over the introductions to try to ease of a little of the tension in the room. "And that's Miles," she said as she pointed over to her boyfriend. "That's Charlie and Danny. And then Rachel's their mom."

Well, Miles made a total of one person Duncan had actually heard of besides Connor's girlfriend. She didn't really want Bass telling her all about the people in his life though. She liked only having to hear about his one friend and, if she was being perfectly honest, he did talk about Miles more than she really cared for.

"Anyone else coming?" Duncan asked.

She had meant it as a joke, but Charlie spoke up with, "My dad's still coming."

"Oh, so it's a whole family thing," Duncan commented. Perfect. She didn't meet families of the guys she was seeing. Hell, she usually didn't even give in and meet their friends. Now, she had gone from drinking with one of Bass's friends to a dinner party with Connor's girlfriend's whole family. "I need a drink."

Bass finally spoke up for the first time since not his date had shown up as he stepped towards her and told her, "The kitchen's this way."

Once they were alone, Bass rushed to explain, "I didn't know all these people were going to be here. I thought it was just going to Miles."

"I know," Duncan responded. "Connor told me."

That was surprising. Normally, Connor would go out of his way to do anything he could to get under his father's skin or mess with him. So then why was he going out of his way to explain to Duncan that this wasn't Bass's fault?

She opened some cupboards, hoping to find where the good alcohol was hidden, but instead found that they seemed to be mostly for decoration. After the first two turned out to be complete busts, she opened the fridge and found that there was only beer in there. Well, that made her decision for her.

As she walked back out of the kitchen she turned to Miles and commented, "Tell me, how does someone live on their own without any plates, only two glasses, and a fridge with only beer?"

Her place wasn't exactly stocked with fresh ingredients, but at least she could make a meal and eat it off of something.

"One glass for me and one glass for whoever's over," Miles responded with a shrug that showed he wasn't embarrassed about being called out for it.

His idea wasn't half bad for ensuring there wouldn't likely be more than one person over. However, it wasn't exactly practical for situations like this.

Charlie's composure cracked and she let out a sigh without thinking. How many times had she told Miles that he needed to buy actual plates and not just stock up on paper plates once every two years? Her and Connor were supposed to be having their parents over for a nice dinner where they weren't going to drink any alcohol. She never should have trusted that Miles would have dishes, even disposable ones. She realized now that it was the first thing she should have checked when she got there.

Nora shook her head as she told her boyfriend, "One of these days I am going to make you buy real plates."

That wasn't going to do them any good at the moment though, so in a somewhat exasperated tone, Charlie commented, "I'll deal with it."

She glanced over at Connor and he fished the keys out of his pocket and tossed them over to her. As she headed towards the door, he commented, "I can't believe you're going out in public like that."

Rachel thought it was much more presentable than anything Charlie had worn out lately, but held back her opinion. Instead, she waited until the door shut behind her daughter and then commented, "She really is laying it on thick."

Connor frowned and forgot about being civil for a second as he muttered out, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, suddenly she's volunteering to do everything for Miles without any prompting," Rachel responded. "I know my daughter and I don't really see what she thinks she's going to accomplish with this act."

Connor couldn't believe Rachel's nerve. Maybe Charlie had put on an outfit that she thought her mother would like and was trying to tone the attitude down, but it was only because it was what Rachel wanted and what she kept nagging Charlie to do. Charlie had put a lot of effort into it, but this wasn't just an act, especially dealing with Miles' inability to keep his apartment at all stocked with anything other than alcohol.

Who cared about what Rachel thought of him? She wasn't going to give him a chance anyways, but she should really give her own daughter one.

"It's not an act," he argued. "If it wasn't for Charlie, Miles would never have anything but beer here."

Bass was actually inclined to agree on this one. He knew Miles and he knew that he wasn't exactly concerned with keeping his kitchen stocked with anything reasonable. He had expected Nora to whip him into shape when they had started dating, but for the most part they went to Nora's place, so she wasn't too concerned with what was or wasn't in Miles' kitchen. And if Connor apparently volunteered to get Miles drinks without any prompting on a regular basis, then it wasn't that far of a stretch that Charlie helped him too. After all, they had both seemed to act a hell of a lot better around Miles when they had been giving Danny the opposite makeover at his place.

"That sounds about right," Bass agreed with his son. "So is this where you two are always running off to?"

"Maybe," Connor responded with a shrug. He was surprised that his father was on his side. He couldn't tell if it was because he really agreed with him or if it was just to get under Rachel's skin like it had been when she'd shown up on their doorstep to complain about him. He really hoped that this plan was at least working on one of their parents.

Rachel couldn't believe that they had been coming over to Miles' place regularly while she had spent so much time worrying about where Charlie was and what she was up to. Why hadn't Miles told her and calmed her nerves a little?

She turned to look over at Miles as she asked, "Does she really help you like this regularly?"

"She pretty much runs things over here for the price of the occasional pizza," Miles responded casually.

Why did everyone here seem to think this was so obvious? And how had Rachel not known about any of it?

There was another knock at the door and Connor assumed that it was Charlie, back with some paper plates and cups, so he rose to his feet and headed for the door once again.

He opened it to find that he had been wrong about who was going to be on the other side once again. Instead of Charlie, her father was standing in the doorway and he looked more than a little surprised that Connor was the one answering Miles' door.

He probably should have said something to greet him, but instead Connor just stared at the other man stupidly.

"What's with the suit?" Ben asked after a long pause. "And what happened to your piercings?"

"Both good questions," Connor responded. However, they were both good questions that he would rather have Charlie answer. Too bad she hadn't come back yet.

Ben waited, then decided that he probably wasn't going to get an answer to either of those questions, so he decided to try a different one. "Why are you answering Miles' door?"

"I thought you were Charlie," Connor answered. At least that one had an easier explanation.

"Okay," Ben said, although in all reality Connor really hadn't cleared anything up for him. "Well then, can I come in?" It was kind of strange having to ask Charlie's boyfriend for permission to enter his brother's apartment.

"Oh, right," Connor said as he took a big step back to get out of the way.

Ben was no less surprised when he walked into his brother's living room to find significantly more people than he had originally anticipated. He looked from Rachel to Miles, then asked, "What exactly is going on here?"

"I'm finally getting that intervention you keep threatening to give me," Miles lied.

A/N: Please read and review! Sorry it has been so long and another huge thanks goes out to Isabella Poulous for being awesome and reviewing last chapter! :)