With all the Rachel drama behind them, Bass and Charlie are finding unguarded enjoyment in everyday life. They both still work of course, but they spend as much time together as they possibly can. He still writes her letters and says he has no intention of stopping. She will need another lunch box to store them in soon. Lately she's been writing some for him as well, and he treasures these notes from her more than he'll ever be able to say.

They found a stray puppy a while back. Bass named him Blackout, and they take the ornery little guy on walks every morning and night. They've accumulated a new collection of board games to replace the ones lost in Charlie's house fire. On Sundays, they host a game night, inviting Aaron, Priscilla, Gene, Connor, Miles and whatever girlfriends the single guys have at the moment to join them. Sometimes Big Ethyl or the Blanchards come by too.

Not everything is perfect.

Bass still sometimes leaves laundry lying around on the floor. She still can't cook, although he's trying to teach her. Sometimes Bass and Charlie fight, and when they do, she sometimes throws things. Luckily Bass is quick on his feet and hasn't been hit yet. They follow the rule to never go to bed mad at each other. It's a good rule, especially since bed is Bass's favorite place to make up with her.

Not everything is perfect, but in general - life is very good.

They don't even bother with the Fifty Shades book anymore. They keep Bass's hand written pages all in a little binder by their bed. They have added a lot to his original work over time. Each entry is carefully numbered, and they use the binder on occasion like the sexy little take out menu it has become. It sits next to the red wooden box full of interesting sex toys from Verne's collection. They've added to that as well.

Charlie is thumbing through the binder, "How about number seven again?" She asks him with a little grin.

Bass traces circles across her bare belly, now slightly rounded with pregnancy. The baby is due in spring, and they are very excited to meet their first child. "You sure do like number seven." He teases her.

"Well, you are really very good at it." She leans over to kiss him, almost dropping the binder.

He bites at her lip, "I really like it when you pick number three."

"Oh number three." She sighs, remembering how much fun that one is as well.

Bass grabs the binder from her grasp, "I think it's my turn anyway."

"Okay Bass, What do you pick?"

"I pick number twenty seven." He carefully sets the book down on the floor, staring into Charlie's eyes.

She looks confused. "But there is no twenty-seven. You detailed twenty-six scenarios in this binder. Not twenty-seven."

Bass moves a hand to cup her breast which is tender and slightly swollen due to her fluctuating hormones. The pad of his thumb feathers across the nipple and she moans at his touch. He leans closer and smiles against her lips before speaking, "Twenty-seven is where we do whatever feels right. We don't need an instruction manual Charlie. We never did."

She laughs then, "So if we don't need an instruction manual, why did you write one in the first place?"

He remembers that night when he'd stayed up late carefully writing out some of his favorite fantasies with her in mind. He'd started to feel things for Charlie that were new and intense. He wanted to make her think of him differently as well. He smirks, "I just wanted you to picture me naked Charlie. That's the only reason I wrote all that down for you."

She punches him playfully, "Believe me Bass, I did not need any help in that area. I'd wanted to see you naked ever since I watched you fight without your shirt on in New Vegas. There for quite a while I still wanted to kill you of course, but I also wanted to see you naked…."

"I'm so glad you don't want to kill me anymore, but that you do still want to see me naked." He's chuckling as he begins to nibble the flesh behind her ear.

"So Bass… you said twenty-seven?" she is breathless as she runs her fingers through his curls.

Bass grins at her, "Yeah, twenty-seven."

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's Note: And that's that. Another one I can mark as 'complete' on my little stories list. Somewhere in the back of my brain, tiny angels are singing the Hallelujah chorus – I swear. This one has been fun, but also a little stressful. Glad to put it behind me. Thanks as always for the reviews, favorites, follows etc.

A special thanks to all who asked for, read and commented on my little alternate ending. It won't ever be published, but I sure did enjoy the conversations it initiated with several of you. Thanks for showing an interest. I really appreciated it. A final big thank you to my friend Ice who was my sounding board when the going really got tough for me on this story. Your help was invaluable.

So, next up is a multi-chapter story titled Sins of the Father. That one is inspired by the brilliant dvpdvpdvp and I think you can expect to see chapter one within the next few days. Hope to see you there.