Bass found himself on a wagon again. Close to her. Again. On the road to Willoughby. Again.

He sat next to a silent Charlie, her long locks flying in the wind, her eyes straight ahead. It was years ago, but here they were again. They would be in Willoughby soon. This time, when he looked to his left, her eyes were one a spot in the distance, yet again. He bowed his head to the moving wagon under him and then he looked at her again. He moved an arm to her back and rested it gently just under her shoulder blades. She did not look up.

He understood. So, he sat next to her in silence.

Two days ago

Charlie was eating breakfast with an anatomy book right in front of her. Time was scarce today so she had to multitask and combine breakfast with catching up on her reading. She was concentrating while eating some fruit when there was a knock on the front door that slowly pulled her out of her thoughts. She put her apple down on the table. When she opened the door, Miles was standing in front of her. Charlie felt a warm wave through her at the familiar side of the man she loved so very deeply. She could not help but smile at her uncle, surprised to see him there. But then she saw his eyes.

'Hey kid, can I come in?' Miles eyes were serious, while there was some nervousness on his face. It made her heart feel heavy.

'Miles, what's wrong?' Charlie's smiled had faded when she felt dread appearing instead.

Miles had heard her question, but had to take in a deep breath. He had been on the road for hours, riding nonstop to get to her.

'Miles, tell me.'

'You need to come home, kid. I'm sorry...' The rest of his words were a blur when Charlie's eyes filled with tears. She took a step back, and felt how Miles closed the distance between her. She shook her head. Shock in her wide eyes when her lips parted but she did not know what to say.

That's what Bass saw from a distance, when he was almost home. He watched Miles standing in front of their building. Charlie's face lit up with surprise and then her face dropped. She stumbled back. He watched how Miles took a step forward, catching her. Miles' arms wrapped slowly around Charlie. He started to run.

Charlie had packed some of her things, while Miles had stood in their living room. Silently. Bass had wrapped a comforting hand around her neck and Charlie had closed her eyes, feeling his touch. But then she had stepped away from him, not knowing how to let him in now, when Miles was waiting for them to get ready so they could get on the road.

And now Charlie was back in Willoughby, a town she kept on returning too.

Charlie let some friends hug her, but then took a step back. She felt strangely numb, standing in the silent house. Friends and family had gathered and the energy in the room was like time stood still. She had not allowed herself to cry. She couldn't.

She walked into the living room and then she saw him. Staring in front of him, looking at empty hands.

'Hey,' she simply said, when she sat down next to him.

'Hey Charlie,' he said, tears filling his eyes.

Then here was more silence, when Charlie shifted on the couch. Tension around her throat.

Don't cry. Don't cry.

'She fought so hard, kiddo.' Tears were in his broken voice now too.

'I know she did. I am so sorry,' Charlie's voice sounded not like her own. Then she gently moved her hand towards his, and put her hand in his, 'I'm so sorry Aaron.'

'Thanks kiddo,' Aaron managed to get out, before he had to look at his hand again, this time it was in Charlie's. Her hand felt warm and strangely comforting. Then he felt another raw wave of realising that the woman he loved so much, his Priscilla, was not here anymore. One accident with her horse when they were returning one late evening from friends, one concussion later and she simply never woke up anymore. Just like that. He had to say goodbye today. He had kissed her forehead one last time this morning, and then he had sat down on this couch and had not moved anymore.

At the end of the day Charlie found herself in the small cemetery. She had to burry so many of the people that were a part of her. But today, they were not on the road anymore. They were not rushed. There were no distractions. They had not another battle ahead. Today, the seconds stretched out in front of her, one painful second after the other. Today she had watch Aaron, her family, say goodbye to his.

Bass had told her one day not too long ago, with a broken voice, about his parents. About his sisters. They had found themselves home and he had been staring out of their living room window, when Charlie would find out that it was his youngest sister's birthday today. Charlie had walked up to him and had put her forehead against his back. And then, he had started to talk. She had listened.

Without any doubt, Charlie knew that this, this afternoon, was impossible for him. But here he was. For her. For Aaron. Not too long after she had sat in silence again on the couch next to a broken Aaron, he had walked over. He had shook hands with Aaron, and told him how very sorry he was. There had been a short nod between the man, and Bass had locked eyes with her for a moment, giving her and Aaron room again but telling her with his deep blue eyes that he was around.

He gave her the strength to stand on her feet today, when she felt she was going to break at any second. He had his jaws locked, his eyes were almost black, but he was tall behind her.

Today was a day filled with another final goodbye, and Charlie felt sobs waiting in her chest, felt tears that wanted to fall. But she did not allow them. She stood there, when she heard birds somewhere over her head, flying free in the air, and told herself to be strong. She watched her mom, Miles, her grandpa. Rachel found her eyes for a second, and both woman looked at each other for a moment. Their greeing had been short, before Charlie had stepped back. She was here for Aaron. Because he had stood behind her, next to her, so many times when she had said her goodbyes, together with him.

Bass watched the lines of grieve on her face, watched the pain in her eyes and it almost broke him. She stood there. Strong. Trying to keep her shoulders straight. For Aaron. His heart poured over with love and respect for this amazing woman. Her shoulders almost touched his chest. He stood there. With her. For her.

She watched the coffin in front of them. She heard a heartbreaking sound coming from Aaron. He was surrounded by all of them, but Charlie knew that he was lost in his own grieve. She put a hand on his upper arm.

Bass felt her hand glide into his. when Charlie was finally reached out for him. He felt the light tremble running through her palm. He wrapped his hand around her, taking in her smaller hand in his larger hand. He slowly wrapped his fingers closely around her skin.

Charlie tried to stay strong, tried to keep the waves from coming.

But then, a sob escaped her throat. Tears were crushing her. Bass felt how her pain almost drove him to his own knees. He let out a shaky breath through clenched jaws. Miles turned around. His arm had been around Rachel but when he saw his niece break, Bass standing behind her, tears appeared in his eyes. Bass saw the powerless rage through Miles and then had to look away.

When the beautiful ceremony had been over, after Aaron had told everybody how they had met on a rainy day in New York, after he spoke lovingly about Priscilla and said his goodbyes, the small group of friends and family were around Aaron, shaking hands. Patting him on the back.

Bass felt how Charlie started to wave on her feet, he watched her blue eyes lost and grey. Without thinking he stepped even closer and took her in his arms. He started walking and did not stop when they had left the church and the small group behind them.

There was a small bench and he slowly guided her down onto it. She held on to him, when tears finally started to fall. She had not cried all day but now she could not stop. There was so much silence in the air today, there was so much definitive goodbye around her. Aaron's pain, memories of other graves, of other people they had all lost.

Miles kneeled down before her. He had watched how Bass took care of Charlie and had wanted to be there, with him, with Charlie. He could not think of any word in the entire fucking world that would make any sense right now. He had watched her, lose so much, and there was not a damn thing he could do. And now, after she had lost so much, she was here, here for Aaron. God, she was better than all of them together.

He moved slowly from the position in front of her, to her other side. Sitting down on the bench, dark brown eyes filled with powerlessness and hurt. She was still sobbing into Bass' neck, who was slowly cradling her. So het sat there, silently. He waited.

When her sobs became more silent, she turned in Bass arms. She moved to Miles and put her head on his chest. Miles wrapped her in his arms, tilting his head and letting it rest on her head, when her hand was still firmly in Bass'.

The three of them sat down on that small bench. Together.

After she had sat for what felt for days on that bench, she had told Bass and Miles she had to go back. Look for Aaron. Miles had pressed a kiss in her hair and before she walked away from them, Bass had moved some hair away from her face, pushing it back gently behind her ear.

Both Miles and Bass were now alone. They watched Charlie who sat down next to Aaron, who was watching straight ahead, while he sat down in front of Priscilla's grave.

Both men had kept their distance. Bass leaned into a tree not far away, fighting memories of the he had sat down in front of new graves. Miles was standing a little bit to his right. They watched Charlie leaned her head towards Aaron arm.

'Thanks for coming to Austin, to tell her, Miles.'

Miles swallowed something away. 'I just ..I wanted her to hear it from me.'

They watched Charlie, who was talking softly to Aaron.

'She has been through enough, Bass.'

Bass watched the frustration and pain on Miles' face.

The cemetery was silent around them. Here they were again. Another cemetery, another grave. Bass. Him. Miles remembered that day, when he found Bass with a bottle of whiskey and a gun in his other hand when his family had been ripped away from him. He remembered telling him he would be there.

And now, he watched his niece, a young woman that had stormed into his life, telling her she needed him to walk his ass over to Philly to get her brother. He watched her, sitting next to Aaron. Another grave, another cemetery.

He had not been there for Bass the way he once promised him. Time had taken them both far from that day. And no matter what happened, no matter how much Rachel pushed him into taken more distance away from bass. He couldn't. He had made that promise. He had been an asshole to Bass. Bass had been an asshole too in the past.

But it did not matter, because hell, they were brothers. Asshole or no asshole, fucked up past or no fucked up past. That would not change.

'I'm sorry Bass. I should have...should have had your back there that night.'

Bass narrowed his eyes at Miles, surprised at the rare fact that Miles was fucking apologizing.

'I was wrong to question you there. It was wrong for to just jump in and believe Rachel .I know you would never hurt Charlie. I know she is safe with you. I was a total ass...'

'Yes, you were..' It was a low grunt, but there was something in Bass' voice that told him that maybe, things were not all gone to hell between the both of them.

Both men locked eyes and then they both watched Charlie and Aaron.

And as he watched Charlie got up from Priscilla's grave , he questioned if Charlie realised, how she kept on bringing Bass and him back in the same damn spot. he watched how Charlie reached out a hand for Aaron to take, and both of them got up and walked slowly back to both Miles and Bass.

When Charlie walked up to her uncle and Bass, she felt Bass' arm around her shoulder. She looked back one more time, following Aaron's eyes.

'I don't know how you do this every time, kiddo.' Aaron sniffed, his voice raw and so sad.

Truth was, Charlie did not know either. But then she looked at Miles, she looked at Bass. She held Bass' eyes in hers, as she started to speak, turning her eyes on Aaron.

'You hold on to the good things, Aaron. You let the people you love take care of you. You hold on to them.'

Aaron looked at where he had to say goodbye to a woman he loved so much, then he looked at the sky. The light was slowly changing. And then, he turned around, he walked next to Charlie, when Miles and Bass were walking with them to the small open gate of the cemetery.

Not only them, but also her words kept him company for every heavy step back away from Priscilla and the life they had.

You hold on to the good things, Aaron. You let the people you love take care of you. You hold on to them.

Two days later, Charlie found herself at Miles' apartment. She had just said goodbye to Aaron, with words and an embrace between old friends and the promise she would be there if he needed her. She had hugged her grandpa goodbye and shared a quick hug with her mom. The goodbye had been less tensed than the last, and for now, Charlie knew this was all she could give her mom. Now only time would give them both the answer to the question if they could be what they both hoped for.

But today, she would head back to Austin with Bass. First, Miles had asked them both of them over for a drink. She had seen the relieve in her uncle's eyes when Bass had nodded at him and had walked with Charlie to his place not far from the main street of Willoughby.

They had shared a drink in silence, made some small talk. She watched her uncle, she watched Bass. There was tension in the room, but there was also old friendship, two men who knew each other their whole lives. Something had changed in the last couple of days.

'Maybe when you have some time, you can join Aaron when he is coming for dinner one day?' Bass asked, without looking up from his glass of whiskey.

Charlie could not hide a grin, when she heard the casual low tone in Bass' voice, knowing how much it would mean to him.

Miles nodded at Bass. Bass knew it would probably take some time for the stubborn ass to join them, but when he would show up, he would have a good bottle of whiskey waiting for his brother.

A moron or not, an ass or not, he still considered Miles as a brother. They had both signed up for that gig a long time ago, and hell if he would come back on that promise.

'Yeah, I guess I could do that, Bass.'

'Good.' Charlie said, finishing her drink when she looked with a grin at both men.

'Good?' Miles repeated her word with his usual dash of sarcasm when he gave her his best impression of her.

'Yeah...good, because I love the both of you and I need the both of you in my life.'

Bass jerked his head back to Charlie. His eyes were wide, his face in shock. Charlie just realised what she had said and locked eyes with Bass. But then she smiled. Bass still could only look at her in shock.

'We better get on the road, don't you think?' Charlie said slowly.

Bass only nodded at her, finishing his drink and putting it back in the table in front of him. Miles sighed a silent what the hell in his head at realising that his niece loved his best hell indeed. But Bass' face was quite entertaining, sooting some of the what the hell moment.

Charlie said goodbye to Miles, a strong hug, a smile between uncle and niece.

'You'll be all right kid?'

'I will, Miles,' she said softly, when she looked at Bass, 'thank you Miles. For coming to get me. For everything.' Charlie got on the wagon that was waiting for them.

'You take care of her, Bass.' Miles walked over to Bass, who was about to join Charlie.

'I will man.' Bass leaned into the wagon, one hand against the wood, as he was almost ready himself to climb up the wagon.

'I know you will, Bass.'

Miles stretched out a hand in front of him. Bass looked at that familair hand before he shook it. And then Miles pulled him close, slapping him on the shoulder in a way they had not done in such a long time that Bass was cornered with the feeling of an almost forgotten bound he had forgotten he could feel.

Both men looked into each other eyes. Brown into Blue. Monroe and Matheson. Matheson and Monroe. They were still them. No republic, no loss, no damage, no woman, no other bullshit could and would change them. Two brothers.

'Take her home,' Miles said, when he looked at Bass.

Bass climbed up the wagon.

'I will, Miles.'

Bass smiled, that bright smile that was genuine and familiar. The smile that belonged to Bass.

That smile that took both men to Jasper, where it all had begun.

'You morons stay out of trouble,' Miles said to them both, when Bass put the wagon into motion. '...although I don't know why I even bother to say that...' Miles mumbled softly under his breath.

Miles watched how Bass grinned. 'Trouble? What's that brother?' The smirk plastered on the moron's face, Miles sighed, shook his head but had to grinn back... 'Don't worry, I will take my woman home, safely, brother.'

Charlie turned around one more time.

The wind played with Charlie's hair, when she turned around to look at her uncle one more time, a wide grin appearing around her lips, her body swaying with the ruthem of the wagon.

While she could feel Bass' leg against her own, as he drove the wagon and would take her home, their home, she smiled one more time at Miles. Miles smiled back at her.

Charlie Matheson had told him she loved him, that day in Willoughby. He had been in shock, knowing he damn well, he had felt the same. He knew she knew.

It had taken him weeks, but finally, when she was drinking her whiskey like a true Matheson, he had walked over to her. He had put the glass with the dark liquid back on the table and out of her hands.

He had taken her chin in between his fingers. His voice had been low and hoarse.

'I love you, Charlie. With every fucking thing I have. I love you.'

Charlie felt warmth inside of her, growing through every part of her. She had already known. She knew he knew. She had waited. She had known he had to do this at his own pace. She had waited until he was ready.

He had picked her up, felt her weight against his chest, in his arms. He had watched her. Watching her eyes with a burning intensity.

'I love you, Bass.' Her eyes were open, and so blue, and free and watching him. Her voice was sweet and firm and determined.

He had walked her to their bed. And when he had filled her, his eyes had been still firing into hers, just like the day he had known what she felt like for the very first time.

On the road, in that safe house on the kitchen counter of that small kitchen, in the middle of the night with the moonlight falling inside and her hot breath in his neck.

Charlie Matheson would never see Venice. Aaron's plane would never leave the ground. But Bass took her places, she never thought she would see. He took her to a place where she would know how silly, loved, happy and without words a woman could feel, when he had surprised the hell out of her, asking her to marry her. Her answer had been a complete and utter yes. He took her to a place where she would now what it would be like to feel life inside of her belly. He took her to a place where she would know what a joy and challenge it was, to raise a family of two stubborn, fierce, beautiful, strong children.

So, she got to know what love was, what being a mother was, what being a wife was. She explored all those places and took in each and every moment with Bass next to her side.

Miles had joined them for that bottle of whiskey that Bass kept in his home for the day Miles had joined them. Many more bottles would follow. When sitting in front of their fire place, Bass, Miles, and her, Miles had once made a joke.

A joke after hearing his niece talk about her work at the hospital, that one day, she would run the damn place.

It turned out, he would be right.

And at that day, Bass had never been more proud of her. He would still surprise her at work, and her desk, or his desk at his office for that matter, would be the place of many passionate moments. Because, that was just them. She would protest, tell him she had to work. He would tell her to hell and screw work,she was fucking running the damn place, before he put his mouth on hers roughly and pull her body close to his.

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to bring you to your knees. Sometimes life gives you something, everything, to see it all ripped away from you again. It can take a lifetime, but it can also take only a second to almost lose your mind, to see your life crumble before you.

You lose, people leave you on the side of a road, people die in your arms. You stare death in the eyes, you know you will never travel the road you wanted to travel. You became somebody else you thought you would be.

You lose yourself, death cornering you, families die on you, friends leaving you, until you look back and you don't know, you honestly don't know, how it all got out of hand so very much.

But sometimes it takes only two, two to know, two to realise that you are in fact not as alone as you thought.

That out there, there is a person who should not have become what they have become to you. They really should not have. But they did. And it is messed up, but so is this whole life. So were you, at one point.

So you hold on, you learn to let them in, you learn you were able to give something to the other.

You remember to love again. You remember to trust again.

It will take time. It won't be easy. But you will.

Sometimes, it takes two.

Just two.

The End

I believe, the last part of the story, is true for us all. For life in general. For love. In the end, that what this story was about. I want to thank Threemagpies, for our wonderful converesations about Bass and Charlie, and what they are about, what their story is about. It was very inspriring. She writes amazing stories, filled with details and our two amazing characters we all love to read about. Thank you!

Thanks for reading the story. For reviewing, showing your appreciating and sharing your thoughts. You are the reason why I write, and as long as you still want to read my stories...I will write them!

I will go back and work on a story I have started a long time ago called 'Who do you really want.' A story focussed on Charlie and Bass, and that one question. Sorry for taking so long to update that story, but I will work on that one and hope to update soon!

With my gratitude for you all,

Love from Love