Melting point.

A Revolution fic (Blackout AU): Sebastian (Bass) Monroe/Charlotte (Charlie) Matheson, Charloe. Rating M. A Charloe road trip Halloween chill fic – it's a little early but hey, why not?

On the road to Willoughby, a couple of weeks after Pottsboro, Monroe and Charlie find what looks like just another empty windblown, dusty town. Without expecting too much they head in looking for necessary supplies. What do they find? Well…

AN: Thanks for some lovely encouragement, there did seem to be a bit more to tell lol, so here it is… Xx Magpie

…

A couple of miles down the road after they'd wound their way past fallen branches, a few major potholes and a rusted out school bus long stripped of anything useful, Charlie turned away from gazing at the woods and mostly empty fields stretching away into the distance. Staring at the road ahead instead, she chewed a fingernail, sucked in a breath and let it out through full, pursed lips then cleared her throat. 'Er… Monroe?'

He sighed, closed his eyes and opened them again, the sun dappled shadows from above making the blue electric bright. 'Yes Charlotte?'

'We have to go back.'

Monroe shook his head. 'No. We don't.' He flicked the horses on, looking straight ahead, eyes narrowed against the afternoon sun. 'We're finding a river to get clean in, remember? That's what you wanted to do.'

'If the surge made it happen, that makes it our fault.'

His lips tightened. 'Not mine. Not yours either. It was your mom and her computer guy.'

'You were the one took Randall Flynn to the Tower, you said it yourself.'

He pulled the horses up and turned to face her. 'That was about the fucking bombs. You said the weird lightening shit happened when your mom and that guy turned the power off again. I had nothing to do with that.'

'You had everything to do with it,' she spat it out, anger and memory making her voice harsh. 'They were trying to stop the bombs going off, but If you hadn't wanted all the power for yourself, none of us would've gone to the Tower in the first place.'

'Bullshit, your mom had her own agenda the whole fucking time.' He took one hand off the reins and pointed a stabbing finger back along the road. 'And all we have is the word of one maybe crazy old man that the weird waxwork crap started after the surge.'

'It wasn't just him. What about his wife?' Charlie protested.

He leaned closer, balanced half off the seat, not caring. 'She didn't believe him either, she rolled her eyes while he was talking about it.'

'No she didn't.'

'Yes. She. Did.'

Charlie shrugged but didn't budge an inch, her lips an inch from his. 'Ok. Maybe she did, but it was when he was telling us he got chased by the big time robot guy.' Her tongue dipped out to run over her bottom lip.

They were almost, almost touching now, tension rising like a storm.

'Terminator. He said it was the Term…Arnold…' The wagon jerked and Monroe nearly fell, grabbing for the backboard to hold on. 'Damn it...'

The horses, tired of being ignored were pulling the wagon off towards the grass in the ditch at the edge of the road.

Monroe swung back to take them in hand with a grunt of effort, biceps bulging, glancing at her with a mix of anger, amusement and something totally, vitally male. 'You're worse than Miles, d'you know that? And that's saying something.' He pulled the horses up, turned the wagon around and started heading them back down the road. 'Ok. We'll go take care of the scary dummies first or you'll go try to do it yourself and I'll have to come back and rescue you again.' His eyes narrowed, the blue heat of them settling on her lips, trailing down over the swell of her breasts and searing a path back up. 'Then we go find that river. Alright?'

Charlie swallowed, her cheeks flushed and heart pounding. Somehow he knew she'd been planning to go on her own if he said no, and that he said he'd come back for her if she did meant more than she would have believed possible just a few weeks ago. Then there was the crazy attraction thing between them.

He wanted her, she knew that.

She wanted him too, didn't know what that meant, didn't care.

'Yeah, we'll find it.' She matched his gaze with one of her own, tracing the lines of his face down to the muscles of his throat, his chest, and lower to the flat stomach and long, strong thighs, then back up to his arms, taking her time and lingering on the muscles rippling there as he handled the reins.

He laughed low in his throat, the sound somehow vibrating along the seat and straight to her ass.

Heat sizzled up and down her spine, making her wet and almost, almost ready to give up doing the right thing and find that river right, fucking now, although frankly she didn't give a flying crap about getting clean first at this point in time. Taking a deep breath she swung one leg over the other, thighs clenched tight, wondering if he knew how hard it was for her not to just jump his bones and to hell with anything else.

Of course he did.

She decided to ignore the smug smile and simmering satisfaction on his face and settled back against the bench, arms stretched out as though nothing had happened, her own smile bright. 'Knew you'd see it my way.'

He chuckled and flicked the horses on.

…

'Okay, so we've got a town full of waxy Hollywood types who can shoot real arrows, move very fucking fast even when they've had their heads nearly shot off and are probably hungry for brains. Oh and there's only two of us.' Monroe pulled the horses up at the crossroads and turned to Charlie. 'What's the plan?'

Staring down the road to town, Charlie thought it looked peaceful and kind of innocent in the dusty gold afternoon air, not haunted at all. 'I'm working on it.' She had to ask though, couldn't help it. 'What would Miles do?'

He looked at her, lips twitching. 'He wouldn't have come back. This is way too much crazy train for Miles.'

She choked off a laugh because he was probably right. 'So what would you do then?'

He ran a hand through his dirty curls and rubbed the back of his neck, stretching. 'Well, since you ask so nicely. They're mostly wax aren't they? Kind of like big candles?'

She nodded, looking at him with new respect. 'Yeah, they are. So all we need is…'

He grinned. 'Something to light 'em up.'

…

Charlie didn't remember the old gas station sitting on its own just past the crossroads on the way in last time, but then she hadn't been looking. It was still a way out of town with no other buildings around to speak of but she was keeping a close watch on the road anyway just in case. Princess Merida had moved scarily fast. She secured the wagon and tethered the horses on the grass under the trees on the other side of the road then walked over to join Monroe. 'Do you think there's anything left?'

Monroe looked up from where he was examining the bowsers. 'Looks like this one's still sealed off so there might still be some gas in the underground tank, we just have to siphon it out.' He looked around. 'There has to be something round here? ' A grin spread over his face as his eyes fell on a tarp shrouded shape in the workshop. 'Oh yeah, that'll do.'

…..

'Pump the handle and gas shoots out like a big fountain over the escapees from the house of horrors, then fire a bullet into the middle and the whole bunch of crazies lights up like a birthday cake. Smart, even if I say so myself.' It had only taken him about half an hour to get something workable together and Monroe was looking impossibly smug.

'I'm impressed.' And she really was, kind of, although she was careful not to show it too much. The thing looked flimsy and the jerry cans of gasoline balanced precariously on the rusty mechanics trolley stunk worse than goat piss. Hoses from the bowsers were tied to the pump and the cans with rope and some tape they'd found in the shop and she wasn't quite sure how they were supposed to hold the nozzles, work the pump and fire a shot as well. She glanced up at him. 'Shouldn't we test it first?'

He shook his head. 'Can't waste the fuel. It'll work when it needs to, trust me.' Suddenly serious, he leaned towards her. 'But when I tell you to run, you run.'

'Or what?' She sounded wary because she was.

He took the handle of the trolley, bumping her out of the way with his shoulder. 'Or we could end up on the barbecue with the dummies.'

'Oh.' She stared up at him.

He pushed the trolley down towards the road, looking back at her, little devils dancing a challenge in his eyes. 'What's the matter, Charlie. You wanted to do this. Are you gonna chicken out on me now?'

'No.' She sent him back narrowed eyes and a smirk, slid a couple more rounds into her jeans pockets and sauntered after him, striding past and bumping his hip on the way. 'I'll ride shotgun.'

…

High above them a big black bird wheeled and soared in slow, silent and deliberate circles over the town.

…

As the theatre came into sight, the hard edged, saturated colors and long shadows of afternoon made it look mysterious, eerie. Then she saw what was in front of it and Charlie stopped in her tracks. 'What the hell?'

'Looks like they've rolled out the red carpet for us.' Monroe pulled the trolley to a halt just behind her.

The sidewalk and part of the road in front of the theatre was crowded with a couple of dozen still figures, including Elvis and Princess Merida. It looked like someone had thrown a costume party.

Charlie frowned. 'They're not moving.' Her eyes flickered to Monroe then straight back again to Princess Merida, remembering the fleeting, dangerous shadow and the arrow that had almost found it's mark. But the red headed cartoon figure hadn't moved, nor had the others. 'They're just standing there, like…like statues.'

Monroe pushed the trolley with its deadly cargo up level with her. 'At least they're all in one place.' He leaned over and checked the tape holding the hoses to the jerry cans. 'Makes our job a bit easier.'

Suddenly there was a sound like wind through pines, a kind of rustling creak as the entire group of waxworks swung round as one to face them, their glassy eyes staring straight at Charlie and Monroe.

Charlie gasped, her jaw dropping. 'Holy crap.' She lifted the gun but didn't know what to aim at. 'Monroe? Do it. Do it now.'

'This place just gets better and better, doesn't it?' Monroe took a hose nozzle in each hand, 'don't take your eyes off them, fuck knows what they'll do next.' The hoses stretched as he aimed, almost coming loose. 'Damn it. This isn't going to reach. We need to get closer.'

Charlie's eyes widened. 'You've got to be kidding me.' She shoved the gun into her belt, ran round to the trolley handle and pushed hard, trying to keep an eye on the crowd of wax figures, the shops and shadows along the street as well as keeping the thing going straight ahead on the bitumen at the same time. 'You said it'd work.'

'It will.' He ran alongside, bent over, pumping with one hand, both hoses held tight in the other, thumb pressed over the nozzle triggers to cap them. 'But we need to be closer.'

Suddenly they were. Too close. A tall figure, his face half gone, cheekbone shining silver and a red light blinking in the metal eye socket was right in front of them, looming like some strange nightmare, others coming up behind him in a blur of movement, the sound of their feet on the road loud as an army, the faces eerie, human but not… their wide wax smiles false, obscene.

'Shit…' Charlie's eyes were wide with horror and she stopped pushing, dropping the trolley handle and aiming her gun, trying to keep it steady with her hands shaking. 'Monroe. Do something. NOW.'

'I am, get ready, and don't get any of this on you.' His foot pumping fast he took a hose in each hand, aiming at the approaching crowd, letting loose high golden streams that arced down on the heads of the approaching wax figures like rain. He glanced back at her, a wild, dark excitement in his eyes. 'Now, Charlie. Fire, then run like fuck.'

She stared at him for a long second, caught by those eyes, then tore herself away, aimed and fired fast at the robot thing, at Elvis and the Princess, at all of them until the gun was clicking empty.

Monroe pumped the last drops out of the tanks then shoved the trolley towards the oncoming crowd, caught Charlie's hand, pulling her away with him. 'Damn it, I told you to run. Come on, before it bl…'

The street exploded, pillars of flame and writhing black smoke rising high into the sky, the wax figures not burning caught by the others, the flames spreading like wildfire, raging.

Heat blasted out, hotter than the sun, Charlie felt it on her back as they ran up the road still holding hands, her fingers tangled in his. She glanced back over her shoulder, then up at him, a slightly hysterical laugh bubbling up from her chest. 'We did it, we actually did it.' Then she tripped on the kerb, nearly falling.

He grinned and pulled her up against him, setting her on her feet, his hair glinting red from the fire. 'Yeah, we did. Now keep running.'

She did, just keeping up, her breath coming hard and legs jelly although she'd never say it. Then she glanced back again, couldn't help it. There were lumps of burning stuff from one side of the street to the other, nothing was moving. 'But they're not… doing anything… they're just letting themselves… burn.'

'Don't care.' He kept going, but looked back for a brief glance, then his eyes met hers, little flames dancing in the blue. 'But I want us as far away from them as possible. Keep running, ok?'

She had no more breath to speak so just nodded and ran.

…..

Back at the wagon Charlie fell to her knees on the grass, then slumped forwards onto her belly, her breath coming in harsh, heaving gasps. The evening breeze was cool and the sweat drying on her skin made her shiver with cold and reaction.

Monroe dropped down on his back next to her, arms spread, breathing hard and laughing at the same time. 'Fuck. That was fun.'

The furnace heat of his big, male body was like a magnet and she wanted, needed to be closer to it. With an effort, she lifted herself up onto hands and knees and swung one leg over him, straddling his waist, her hair swinging in dirty ringlets around his shoulders and her hands falling onto his belly. She moved them to his hip bones and made her arms go rigid to hold her up. He felt really good between her legs, the heat of him radiating up her body and her lips curved as she gazed down at him. 'Yes it was.' She moved her hips, shifting down a little, finding the heavy shaft between his legs, rubbing herself on him, enjoying the feel of him, the anticipation of something more. 'Maybe we could do it again sometime.' She licked her lips, tasting lust and smoke, 'but I'd like to do something else first.'

He went still at first, blue eyes blazing up at her from a face streaked dark with soot, then his hands were on her, hard fingers gripping the cheeks of her ass, the rough skin of his thumbs finding the bare streak of flesh between her pants and her tank, stroking, circling. 'Thought you wanted to get cleaned up.'

She shivered with sensation, 'don't mind things a little dirty if it feels right.' Then she leaned forwards, mouth close to his, her breasts falling forward too, her nipples brushing his chest. 'What about you?'

He chuckled, eyes wicked, a hand leaving her ass to reach in behind, fingers working fast on his pants buttons. 'Dirty works fine for me.'

Charlie sat up, her own fingers working at her belt, wriggling her pants down to her boots as soon as she had room, then he was lifting her up and she was sliding down on him, so slick and wet that his thickness slipped in and spread her out wide like he was meant to be there. She flung her head back, spine arching, knees and thighs clamped to his sides, hands gripping his shirt, holding on and riding him like a bareback stallion, screaming to the stars above as she exploded into bright shiny pieces like Monroe's bomb…

…..

'So how could the surge make something like that even happen?' Charlie yawned, squinting in the morning sun and climbed up onto the wagon, wincing a little as her thighs and a few other body parts protested the movement. She wasn't complaining though, the aches were totally worth it, she just hoped Monroe hadn't noticed, he was smug enough already.

'Don't know.' Monroe climbed up beside her looking cool and relaxed in shirt sleeves. 'Hey, you can have my jacket if you want something to sit on.'

Damn. He'd noticed. She sent him a smirk. 'Only if you want me to throw it at you.'

He laughed, his teeth very white against his still dirty face. 'Fine. We'll go find a river then.'

She sat back and tried to get comfortable. Couldn't. The bench was hard on her ass and bounced her around at every single fucking hole in the road. And there were a whole lot of holes. She glanced at him. 'Monroe?'

He passed her the jacket without saying a word.

….

High above, a dark silhouette against cloudless blue, a winged black shape dipped once, then flew away, disappearing into the distance, a few little green sparks of light trailing after it like a comet's tail.

….

AN: Hi, thanks again and hope you enjoyed this. I love Bass and Charlie, and I love Halloween too – I had so much fun writing this that I might have to do another one lol. Anyway, hope to see you at another story, cheers and happy Halloween, Magpie xx