Bass approached the small house slowly, taking in the various broken windows and vine covered walls. He could hear the boys laughing about something about a half a mile back, Emily had disappeared not long after they left town through the hole in the fence in their backyard.

The old, rotten porch creaked under his worn boots and the door fell backwards off of the frame when he pushed it in. He shook his head sadly as he looked around the familiar tiny house. True, it had been years since his family had lived there - fourteen to be exact - but it had been their first home, and it held a special place in hist heart.

Two mice scuttled across the wooden floor and he scrunched up his nose. If Ryder and Mary-Ann were going to rent the place, they had a lot of work to do to get it cleaned up. He crossed into the small bedroom, frowning at the disgusting mattress. It had been bad when he had first moved in, now it was even worse. The window above the bed had been shattered - by bored kids or a storm - and the glass covered the mattress. He pulled on the rusty bed frame in order to get it out of his way, but stopped when something on the floor caught his eye.

It was a tiny, pale pink, hand knitted sock. Swiping glass out of his way, Bass plopped down on the old bed, trying to wipe the sudden tears from his eyes.

Booted feet sounded from the back door, a woman's voice carrying through the house. "Good news, the well is still in tact. We'll just have to clean it up a bit. Some of the stones have come loose." Long, honey blonde hair and a face identical to her mother's, Emily stood in the doorway to the bedroom staring at her father.

"Dad? You hear me?"

Bass looked up at his daughter. "Hmm? Yeah, sure honey."

She raised a single eyebrow, so ridiculously like Charlie it would have made him laugh if it weren't for the sad little sock in his hand. "You weren't listening, were you."

He shrugged. "Look what I found, it's one of your little socks." The tears burned again but he covered them up with a chuckle as Emily rolled her eyes.

"Mom's right, you really are a big baby."

"Am not."

"Are too."

Bass sighed. "Mom's right about you too, you know. You're just like Grandpa Miles."

"I am not!"

"Are too."

Emily glared at him but he merely smiled and stood up, going over to her and handing her the sock. Just like her mother, Emily was small statured, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. He kissed the top of her head.

"So the well needs to be fixed. Who's gonna help me with that when you're gone?"

She looked up at him, a small smile on her usually stoic face. "Isn't that why you guys had Aiden, so you would have a boy around to do all of your dirty work?"

As if on cue, a tall, skinny boy with dark brown curls burst through the backdoor carrying a bag on his shoulder and cackling like a madman, only to run right back out the front door. He was followed by a shorter, slightly rounder boy with reddish-brownish hair who was laughing just as much. Bass and Emily watched the pair through the empty door frame with only mild curiosity.

"Yeah," Bass said sarcastically, "because your brother's always so helpful."

Emily snorted, tucking the pink sock into her pocket. "I wonder what he's got in that bag," she added conversationally.

"Let's just hope its not another tarantula. Your Uncle Aaron's still complaining about that damn thing."

"Aiden said that that was Cameron's idea." Emily nodded her head in the chubbier boy's direction.

Bass raised a skeptical eyebrow. "More likely it was Grandpa's idea, but neither of them want to get him in trouble."

Neither of them said anything after that, both of them knowing it was probably true.

XxX

The bell chimed somewhere outside and Bass sighed with relief as his class of fifteen and sixteen year olds filed out of the room. It was Friday - finally - which meant that he had the whole weekend to work on the old house, but it also meant that it was almost time. This time tomorrow, Emily would be off on her own.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he grabbed his bag and headed for the door, meeting Aaron in the hallway. "Cynthia's making apple pies for tonight."

Bass grinned. "Good, something to brighten up my week."

"Oh come on, she'll be fine."

They walked quietly for a moment down the hall. "You really think so?"

Aaron nodded thoughtfully. "She's Emily, Bass. It's not like we're sending Cam and Aiden out on their own. Those two, I would worry about, but Emily's smart, she'll be fine." Bass nodded, accepting that their thirteen year old sons would definitely need more supervision than his nineteen year old daughter.

"I know she'll be ok," he admitted, "it's just hard to... to..."

"Let go?" Aaron supplied for him.

"Yeah."

The fatter man slung an arm over his shoulders and smiled. "Look on the bright side, with Emily out of the house, you'll have more time to focus on that menace you call a son."

"My son? What about yours? Half the crap they get into is Cam's idea!"

But before Aaron could respond, high pitched screaming broke out somewhere ahead of them. They made their way quickly to the front steps of the small school, finding a group of teenage girls huddled by the front door.

"I bet you Friday night dishes duty that whatever this is, was Cam's idea," Bass muttered.

"You're on."

They edged around the girls and found the source of their fear. An iguana was sitting, rather harmlessly, on the front steps. Bass rolled his eyes and shooed the girls away. "Relax, everything's fine, it's just an iguana."

The girls continued to mutter and sniffle, but he ignored them and picked the reptile up, looking around. Bass spotted the large oak tree in the yard and approached it quietly, Aaron right behind him. They each took a different side, moving around the tree to find Aiden and Cameron smothering their laughter in their hands.

"Nice work, guys," Bass said loudly, making both boys jump.

"Yeah, at least the iguana was inventive," Aaron added.

Aiden's eyes widened as he looked at Bass. "Hey, Dad."

Cameron smiled uncertainly. "Hey, Uncle Bass."

The two of them looked like boys that knew exactly how much trouble they were in, and they would have been, if it hadn't been for the chuckling coming from another nearby tree. Bass approached the tree with a frown, knowing exactly who that laugh belonged to after having heard it for most of his life.

"Miles." His oldest friend jumped at the sound of his voice. "Please tell me that this wasn't your idea."

Miles scrunched up his face and then gave him a lopsided smile. "It wasn't my idea?"

Bass glared at him. "Seriously?"

Well, at least he'd found out what Aiden had in that bag.

XxX

The Monroe house was filled to the brim, as per the usual for a Friday night. The old mailbox out front still read 'Ralph Wilcox' but 'Sebastian Monroe' had been painted just underneath it. It had been fifteen years since Ralph passed, sixteen since Opal died, and still every time he looked at the mailbox, Bass' heart ached.

Aaron and Bass both stood at the kitchen sink, Bass washing the dishes with Aaron drying. Cynthia and Charlie were outside scolding the boys while they watched them take the laundry down from the clothesline. Emily sat in the living room with her grandpa, her feet tucked up underneath her, lost in her thoughts. Miles stood in front of her with a glass in each hand, holding one of them out to her. She took it and sipped the amber liquid, letting it burn down her throat.

Miles sat down next to her, his silver streaked hair shining in the light of the fire. "Are you nervous?"

Emily took another sip of her drink and shrugged. "More excited I think."

He nodded understandingly. "Good, 'cause you have nothing to be nervous about. You're a Matheson and a Monroe, you'll have those Ranger idiots worshipping you in no time."

Emily let out a half-hearted chuckle, staring into her glass like it held all of the answers to the universe. Miles waited patiently. Much like her mother, Emily would talk when she was ready, and not a moment sooner.

"What if I get there... and... I'm terrible. What if they say I'm not Ranger material and send me home?" Her voice was low, and strained, and Miles knew that these were fears she had yet to voice with anyone else. "Grandpa, what if they see my name and send me straight back?" She looked at him then, her big blue eyes frantically searching for some comfort.

"Then to hell with them. If they send you home just because your name is Monroe, then it's their loss. You are an amazing fighter with a good head on your shoulders, you are exactly what a soldier should be. If they don't like it, then tell them Grandpa Miles said 'hi' and walk away. Then you can spend the trip home laughing about the terrified looks on their faces at the mere mention of my name."

Emily smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm gonna miss you, Grandpa," she whispered.

Miles wrapped an arm around her, furiously blinking back tears, and kissed the top of her head. "I'm gonna miss you too, booger."

XxX

The family stood around the town gate with sad faces, Miles holding onto the reigns of Emily's horse while she said goodbye. She embraced Cynthia and Cameron, then hugged her Uncle Aaron and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she turned to Aiden, who was trying - and failing - not to cry.

"Oh come on," she whined. "Don't be like Dad, he's been crying all morning."

Bass sniffled loudly. "I have not." Charlie wrapped a supportive arm around her husbands back, smothering a giggle against his shoulder. The kids ignored them.

"I'm gon-gonna miss you," Aiden managed to say before hiding his face in his hands.

Emily looked up at her little brother, who was about four inches taller than her already, and rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. It's not like I'm leaving forever."

"But I'm not gonna see you," he wailed.

She finally relented, pulling him into a hug and letting him cry on her shoulder. Charlie watched her daughter with a smile. When it came to things like emotions, Emily was like Miles, she bottled them up and kept them inside, always keeping people at arms length. Aiden was one of the few people that she made exceptions for.

Emily gently rubbed his back, whispering soothing words in his ear. Promising to write, most likely.

Charlie caught Miles watching her carefully. She knew that he was expecting her to break down at any moment. But she wouldn't, she had already promised herself to be strong. Strong for Emily, who needed her support, and strong for her boys, who would no doubt be overly sensitive for the next few weeks.

Emily finally got Aiden calmed down and released him, he immediately sought his mother out and clung to her like a child to a teddy bear. Bass didn't wait for his daughter to come to him, he went straight to her and nearly crushed her against him. Emily allowed it, turning her head to rest her cheek against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.

"My baby girl. I love you."

A single tear slipped down her nose, but she hid it by wiping it against his shirt. "Love you too, Daddy." He squeezed her tight then let her go, kissing her forehead before retreating towards Miles and the flask everyone knew he kept in his jacket pocket.

Emily turned to her mother. Aiden stepped away and clung to Aunt Cynthia instead, letting his sister have their mother to herself. Neither of them said a word for fear of breaking down completely. Charlie held her daughter tight and kissed her cheek, and then spent a ridiculously long amount of time adjusting Emily's hair on her shoulders. Finally, she made herself speak.

"You don't have to go, honey, you know that, right?"

Emily nodded, then shrugged. "I want to."

Both women nodded and Emily turned to take the reigns from her grandpa. "Take care, kid."

"You too, old man."

Miles huffed but winked at her just the same as she swung herself up onto the saddle. With one last wave and a smile, Emily set off down the road towards Austin.

"She'll be ok, right Dad?" Aiden asked.

Bass grabbed his son and wrapped an arm around him. "Yeah, your sister's smart. She'll be fine."

Charlie nodded along with everyone else as they contemplated Emily's journey, her own anxiety growing more and more as the speck that was her daughter got smaller and smaller.

Cameron's voice somehow managed to cut through the fog in her brain. "But what if she runs into someone on the way there and... you know... gets in a bad spot." Instantly, Charlie's mind created an image of her only daughter lying slaughtered on the ground. Cynthia made a shushing sound at Cameron, but the damage was already done.

"Bass, we should at least go with her. Just to make sure she gets there safe." Charlie turned to her husband with pleading eyes. "Anything could happen on the way there and she hasn't even had any training yet. What kind of parents are we, sending an untrained little girl off on her own!" Panic and fear gripped at her heart like a vice, making breathing feel impossible.

"Babe, she'll be fine. Now calm down-"

"Do not tell me to calm down, Bass. That's my baby out there all by herself!" Everyone took a step back, which only fueled her anger. "I'm going with her." She pounced on Bass and poked his chest. "And you can't stop me."

Charlie took off back into town, most likely to grab her horse and chase after Emily. Miles sighed, making Bass look over at him.

"I'll go get the horses, Cynthia pack us some food, and Aiden go pack some of Mom's clothes, 'cause I'm sure she'll forget."

Miles chuckled. "I'll get my shotgun. Oh, and the booze."

"It'll only be a few days. Can you really not go that long without a drink?"

He glared, looking a little offended. "It's not for me. We'll probably need it to knock Charlie out so we can drag her ass home. You know she's never going to want to leave once we get there."

Bass opened his mouth to deny it, but snapped it shut again. "Yeah, bring the booze." It was going to be a long trip.

A/N This was actually my original idea. I wanted to show the second generation of kids, all the Charloe stuff that came before it kinda came out of thin air. :-D Anyway, thanks for reading everybody, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please review if you have a moment!