Chapter 11:

"Wild Horses"

a. was originally going to be a stand alone one shot but half way through I realized that with a few tweaks it work nicely as an epilogue of sorts to "Surprises are better than Promises." I'm so glad all of you had as much fun reading this story as I did writing it. And again my thanks to JM2788 for her wonderfully, fun pranks.

"Wild Horses" (The Rolling Stones version)

Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can't let you slide through my hands
Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn't drag me away
I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn't drag me away
I know I dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom but I don't have much time
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let's do some living after we die
Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day

Chapter Text

"Mrs. Monroe! Mrs. Monroe!"

Charlie turned from where she was supervising the unloading of supplies just in from Austin as Sam Tockman slid to a stop in front of her.

"Hey, Sam, what's up?' Charlie asked as the boy attempted to catch his breath.

"Mr. Pittman sent me. Said to tell you the kids are at his house and to come quick."

Charlie panicked for a half a second before getting a grip. If the kids were with Aaron, it might be serious but they didn't need her freaking out. It was her week to pick up the kids from school and Aaron knew that. "Thanks, Sam. Go on in and tell Harry I said you can pick out some candy for you and your sisters."

The boy's face lit up with a smile as he headed to her office in the hospital.

"Darryl!" Charlie shouted for her assistant who came trotting over. "Something's up with the kids." She said shoving the clipboard in his hands. "I'm not sure if I'll be back today or not. Finish getting this unloaded and put away. I'll add it into the inventory in the morning."

"Sure thing, Charlie." Darryl replied already dismissing her as one of the men unloading the wagon had a question.

Grabbing her jacket, Charlie set off for the Pittman's at a quick pace.

Knocking once, Charlie let herself in coming to an abrupt halt as she turned to the living room. Seven years old William "Billy" Sebastian Monroe sat on one end of the couch holding the hand of the little girl beside him, as eight year old Miley Michelle Matheson sat on the other end holding the other little girls hand while the two girls in the middle clasped hands as well, presenting a united front. Priscilla was kneeling down in front of Miley cleaning blood off of her scraped knuckles, while Aaron tended to the bloody nose and blooming black eye of her son. She could see his lip quivering from where she stood observing, as the two little ones were openly crying and Miley looked nothing more than pissed.

Charlie sighed as she walked into the room, the little ones jumping to their feet to throw themselves at their mother as Billy and Miley stood like they were facing a firing squad. Her half-sister and her son were quite the pair. She had never seen two children closer than the two of them, not even she and Danny had been that close. The two could have silent conversations with just their eyes. They were in fact, miniature replicas of Miles and Bass and she could very well imagine the lifelong friends having the same connection in their youth as they did in adulthood. Circumstances and all that, she supposed, eyeing the two as she comforted the little ones.

"Please tell me this isn't what it looks like." She said hoping that she wasn't dealing with the first actual fight between the two.

"It's actually much, much worse." Aaron muttered as he and Priscilla moved towards the kitchen to leave her alone with the children.

Moving towards the couch she settled the little ones beside her as she waved the oldest to her. She took a look at Miley's hands before inspecting Billy's eye and nose. Luckily it wasn't broken but he'd have quite the shiner tomorrow.

"What happened?"

The two children looked at each other for a moment before turning back to her, Miley having been appointed the spokesperson. "We had history class today before recess."

"Uh huh." Charlie nodded already familiar with their daily routine.

Miley pursed her lips and stuck out her chin before continuing, turning into a miniature replica of Charlie herself at that age. Charlie watched her sneak her hand into Billy's who grasped on. "Today the teacher began talking about the Monroe Militia."

Charlie's face crumbled right along with theirs as the girls sniffled loudly beside her. "He said bad things about Daddy Bass and Daddy Miles." Maddie said sadly as Maggie began to softly weep. She kissed each of them on the head as she turned her attention to the older two.

"What caused all this?" she asked pointing to their injuries. Another look was exchanged as Billy spoke up this time.

"At recess some of the older kids were being mean to the girls."

"And?" Charlie asked her son, a mask already falling over her face as she knew what was coming.

"They wanted to know how it felt to have someone who raped and murdered for a father." he answered looking away with a pained expression on his face. He might not know what all those words meant but from the way the older kids had said it, he knew it wasn't very nice.

"Charlie? What's a Warmonger?" Mileys soft voice asked breaking into her sisters thoughts.

Charlie held her arms open, "Come here, both of you." Pulling them into her embrace she held them both tightly before pulling away so that she could see all of them. "Your Daddy's were once very important men, but things went wrong. And sometimes when things go wrong, you get blamed for every bad thing that's ever happened whether it's your fault or not. The only thing that the four of you need to know is that your Daddy's love you very much and that they will do everything in their power to keep you safe. Unfortunately though, neither Daddy's nor Mommies can keep people from saying bad things about other people. So, you need to try your best to keep your chins up and ignore them, okay?" she asked meeting each of their eyes.

Once they had nodded their heads in agreement, she hugged and kissed each of them. "I need to take care of something before Daddy Bass gets home, so I'm going to have Priscilla and Aaron take all of you to Daddy Miles and Mama Rachel's house okay?(With both families having children so closely together it had just become easier to refer to all the adults as Mama and Daddy to avoid confusion.) One of them will be home by now." Charlie smiled at these children that she loved so much.

"Aaron!" She called out as she stood kissing Billy's brow and hugging Miley.

"Yeah, Charlie?"

"Would you and Priscilla please take the kids to Rachel and Miles? There's something I need to take care of. "

Aaron's eyes went wide as he moved to block the door. "No, no! Charlie, whatever you're thinking don't do it."

"Aaron," she began calmly, moving him from in front of the door. "You know how we do things. There was a problem at school on my week so I'm going to handle it. I'm sure that Mr. Higgins and I can come to some type of understanding about his history lessons."

"Does that understanding include him keeping all his limbs?" Aaron yelled after her as she strode down the street in the direction of her house before turning back to the children perched on his couch. "So, everybody ready to go?"

Charlie made a quick stop by her home before heading to the school, waiting outside Mr. Higgins room until the bell rang signaling the end of the school day. The children were chattering happily inside the school room until they headed out the door and caught a glimpse of Mrs. Monroe standing casually outside the door, a booted foot propped on the wall behind her, arms crossed over her chest. Charlie took note of the older boys, picking out which ones had been involved in the fight with her kids, and yes, she considered Miley hers most of the time as well. She had been there when she was born and had been the first person to hold her baby sister, even before Miles and her Mother. The older boys and their older brothers took note of her as well, noticing the hooped belt that didn't typically adorn her hips, as well as the matching sabers that hung from it. Pushing off the wall as the last child left the room, Charlie entered the classroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

Sending Priscilla with the kids, Aaron headed straight to the sheriff's station barreling in the doors as Connor sat at his desk doing paperwork. "Whoa! Stay-puft! Where's the fire?"

"Only...Monroe...gets…to…call me…that!" Aaron wheezed as he put his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

Connor chuckled holding his hands up in surrender. "Seriously, what's up man?"

"Where's your Dad?"

"He had to go over to Hamilton. Won't be back for a few hours yet."

"Miles?"

"Aaron, I'm the town sheriff, not the town babysitter."

"It's Charlie."

Connor stood, buckling his belt on. Anything involving his father's wife that got Aaron this wound up was sure to be trouble. "What happened?"

"The kid's teacher thought it would be a good idea to introduce the history of the Monroe Militia to the class. It didn't go so well."

"Ah, fuck." Connor groaned. "Where is she?"

"Last I saw her, she was headed towards the school."

"Find Miles." Conner yelled back as he took off towards the school.

Arriving at the school, Connor was met by a gathered crowd of facility, students and a few parents.

"Oh thank God you're here, Sheriff!" The principal, Ms. Wylie exclaimed.

"Calm down, Ms. Wylie. I take it Mrs. Monroe is still in with Mr. Higgins?"

"Yes, Sheriff, and I can't begin to tell you how much Mr. Higgins behavior today has distressed me. He was told from day one that the history of the Monroe republic would only be taught to our most senior students. However, that does not excuse your… Mother's behavior."

"Well, Ms. Wylie, why don't we find out just what exactly she's done first?" He said with a wink as he squeezed her elbow in passing, causing the woman to blush.

Walking directly to the classroom where he had picked his siblings up on many occasions, Connor knocked at the door before trying the handle which of course was locked.

"Charlie?" he called out listening as he heard her footsteps making their way towards the door and the lock being turned before she opened the door to face him.

"Aaron?"

"You made him run, Charlie." He said in exasperation. "Can I come in?"

"Please, join us," she invited swinging the door open wider to allow him access.

"Really?" he asked looking over at Mr. Higgins and back to Charlie.

"No?" She asked with a pout as Connor groaned.

"Jesus, Charlie, you know I can't let this go. All those parents and teachers out there are going to be expecting me to do something. So for God's sake, please, cut him down."

"But I so wanted to save him for Bass and Miles." She said watching the man's eyes go wide as she picked up one of the twin sabers lying on the desk.

Mr. Higgins stood on his tiptoes, his wrists tied with rope which hung taut from one of the ceiling beams, shirtless and gagged with what appeared to be one Bass' bandannas as he bled from a thinly carved Monroe brand which had been cut into the wide expanse of his fleshy chest.

"Did you know that Mr. Higgins has agreed that it's probably in everyone's best interest to resign his position? Immediately." Charlie informed Connor as she stalked towards her prey.

Connor was impressed. He didn't know what had happened before he arrived but sheer terror radiated from Higgins face to his pores.

"Isn't that right, Mr. Higgins?" Charlie said as she ran a finger through the blood on his torso, smearing it over her hand.

The man nodded rapidly as he looked down into Charlie's eyes. Reaching out with her arm, Charlie cut through the rope that kept the man suspended. He moaned as he fell to the floor.

Charlie turned back to Connor, indifference written all over her face as he sighed and moved to help the man to his feet, taking the gag off and untying his hands. "Bass should be home in an hour or so, Connor?" she asked looking pointedly at the teacher who was hurriedly getting dressed with Connor's help, the sword slapping against her thigh.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"And we don't know where Miles is, so he could be on his way now?"

"No, no idea." He replied. "Probably headed this way when Priscilla dropped the kids off," he managed to get out with a straight face when he realized what she was doing.

"Now, Mr. Higgins, are you going to want to be pressing charges against Mrs. Monroe, here? It's completely within your rights if you do after everything that's transpired."

"Oh, no!" The man exclaimed walking a wide path around Charlie to reach his desk, pulling things out and shoving them in a backpack that rested beneath it. "That won't be necessary, Sheriff. Mrs. Monroe explained to me in detail the problem that she had with my curriculum and I have to say I agree with her entirely. I'll be turning in my resignation to Ms. Wylie on my way out. I'm thinking Mrs. Monroe's suggestion to visit some of my out-of-town relatives might be just what I need."

"Have a lovely vacation, Mr. Higgins." Charlie said in that voice that rubbed Connors spine the wrong way. Mr. Higgins as well if the look on his face was any indication. "I can assure you my Husband and Uncle will be incredibly disappointed that they missed you."

Higgins whimpered slightly and then left the room as if the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels, which Connor supposed in a way they were.

Connor threw his head back as he ran his hands through his hair. "Put the swords up and give me the belt."

He reached for them as she did as he asked. "It's not that I don't agree with you, but you should have handled this a different way."

"Tell you what, Connor." She replied coldly, "Do what you need to do, then you can go explain to your brother and sisters and their Aunt just what exactly a rapist is."

"Fuck."

Connor held her upper arm in one hand and the swords in the other as he escorted her out of the school and down the sidewalk where Miles stood waiting, thunder written across his face.

He had heard there was an incident involving Charlie at the school as soon as he rode into town and had come straight over. He had seen the kid's teacher as he went racing away from the school and recognized all the subtle signs of a person who had been psychologically tortured to scare. It was the bloodstains on the man's shirt that worried Miles.

Grabbing her other arm as he kept pace with a frowning Connor, Miles ground his teeth together.

They all remained silent as they entered the jail and Connor put her in a cell, locking the door.

"Charges?" Charlie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Disturbing the peace." Connor replied turning away to throw her swords and belt down on the desk.

"Anyone wanna tell me what happened?'

"No!' Charlie and Connor both barked at the same time.

Miles threw his hands up in the air before dragging a hand across his face. Stalking to the cell bars he grabbed a hold of them and shook, taking his anger out on the inanimate object.

"Damn it, Charlie! You're a mother now. You can't keep doing this shit."

Charlie instantly appeared next to him, her voice low and deadly as her entire body shook. "Go home and talk to your daughter, Miles. The man is lucky I didn't shove his balls down his throat."

Miles backed away from the bars. He admittedly didn't know about a lot of the jobs she had been sent on during the war. Didn't want to know, truth be known, but looking into her eyes, Miles got the vast impression that perhaps he done them both a huge disservice. Turning on his heel he high tailed it home to check on his daughter.

When Bass arrived home to an empty house, he thought nothing about it, heading on over to the Matheson household. Knocking once at the back door, he let himself in wandering through the house to discover a living room full of bruised, upset children and pissed off adults.

"Billy?" Bass called his son's name, dropping down to one knee as the boy approached. "What the hell?' Bass asked inspecting his son's face.

"I don't want to talk about it." Billy told his father in a whisper.

Bass looked over him to where Rachel and Miles stood, Miley in between them, as Maggie was perched on her Grandmother's hip.

"Come on kids, why don't you help Priscilla and me in the kitchen. You can stay for dinner?" She asked the other woman as they herded the kids into the other room, shushing Maddie as she cried for her mother.

"What happened?"

"Mr. Higgins, their teacher happened."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the kids got a crash course in the Monroe Republic today."

Bass leaned his head back to look at the ceiling, blowing out a breath as he propped his hands on his hips. "How bad was it?"

"Oh, it was bad." Aaron answered from where he sat on the couch drinking. "But that wasn't the worst part."

Bass leveled him with a heated stare, before something dawned on him. "Where's Charlie? It's her week."

Aaron winked at him, tilting his glass in his direction. "Welcome to the worst part."

"Where is she?" Bass growled.

"Connor's got her in lockup for disturbing the peace."

"Shit." Bass spit heading for the door, Miles on his heels, grabbing his arm to spin him around.

"We need to talk."

"What do you want to talk about, Miles? The fact that some piece of garbage was spewing hate at our kids or the fact that my wife did something about it?"

"Neither. I want you to tell me what kind of jobs she was running during the war."

"No," Bass hissed as he shook his head. "You do not get to ask about that. You didn't care enough to ask her then so you sure as hell don't get to ask me now. If you hadn't had your head shoved so far up Rachel's ass you might have seen what was happening. Let it go, brother. I'm begging you."

"Jesus, Bass."

"Stay here with the kids. I'll send Connor over to take them home. Let them know their mom will be home in time to tuck them in."

Bass strode into the jail house seeking out his wife's form, finding her sitting quietly with her back propped up against the wall. He held out his hand towards Connor. "Give me the keys." Connor tilted his head with an accompanying eye roll but did as his father requested.

"I need you to swing by Miles and pick up the kids. Take them home and get them ready for bed. Charlie and I will be there in a little while."

Looking back and forth between the two, he turned the sign in the door to closed and punching the lock, closed the door behind him.

Unbuckling his sword belt Bass laid it on Conner's desk, beside her own. Slowly, as he kept eye contact with her, he pulled his belt off. Doubling it, he began to swing it against his leg.

"Get undressed." He growled.

Swinging her legs over the side of the cot Charlie pulled off her boots, tossing them aside with her socks. Standing she shed her shirt adding it to the pile before shimmying her pants down her legs.

He pointed to the bars and she immediately grabbed on to them. Entering the cell, Bass opened his pants, pushing them just far enough down to free himself. Without warning he swung his hand out letting the belt connect with her flesh causing her to cry out.

"Again!" She demanded and he complied, but after watching the belt lick her skin a second time he threw it to the cot, pulling her hips roughly to him and slid his cock into her glistening pussy without warning.

"Charlie," he groaned pulling back out and slamming back in again. As he reached around to grab a breast with one hand, Charlie propped her foot up on the edge of the cot opening herself up wide for him as his other hand tightened on her extended thigh. One of her hands traveled down to between her legs.

"Oh, yeah, baby," he moaned against her neck, "Make yourself come for me."

Her breath hitched in her chest as the faster Bass pumped in and out of her, the faster her fingers rubbed her clit.

"Oh, fuck! Bass! She cried out as her world shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, Bass joining her as he pulled out, spilling himself over her lower back.

Resting his head on her back for a moment to catch his breath, he eased her down to the cot stepping over to Conner's desk to grab a rag, wetting it with water from the pitcher on his desk. Returning to the cell he sat down sideways on the cot so that he could wipe off her lower back.

Her elbows were propped on her knees and she had her face buried in her hands as he ran his hands over her smooth skin, leaning over dotting her spine with kisses. Getting no response he reached out, hauling her up against him as he rotated and laid them both down on the cot with his back facing the door.

"Charlie, look at me." He said harshly to get her attention.

Raising her head she locked eyes with her husband who reached up with his thumb to wipe away her tears. "I don't care what you did today or what you thought you had to do to protect or avenge our children. Do you understand?"

Charlie nodded, closing her eyes again as another tear fell. "You weren't a monster then and you aren't now." He said kissing her temple as he stroked her hair.

"The things he said to our babies, Bass. I wanted to kill him."

"And I would have helped you bury the body without blinking an eye." He said pulling her closer. "We'll get through this just like we've gotten through everything else. With our family."

Charlie clung to her husband's shirt, soaking in his warmth and his smell, letting it calm her like it always did. "I wanna go home." She finally whispered against his neck.

Bass smiled as his hand wrapped around her neck. "Sure you don't want another spanking?" he asked causing her to chuckle which warmed his heart.

"No, but do you think Conner would let us play here again? I mean bars and handcuffs, what's not to love?"

He sat up with a smile, pulling her with him. "Come on and get dressed. He's at home with the kids so you can ask him yourself."

Charlie stopped, grabbing Bass' arm before he could push the door open to their home.

"Bass?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For never leaving me."

"Wild fucking horses couldn't tear me away from you, Charlie," he said as he pulled her into his arms for a passionate kiss, just as the front door swung open to reveal Conner.

"Oh come on, guys. It's bad enough that my jail is gonna smell like it tomorrow, but on the front porch?"

"It's funny you should mention the jail, Conner. I was wanting to talk to you about that," Charlie replied with a grin as she walked into the house to the sound of her children's voices, Bass clapping his son on the shoulder as they joined their family, shutting the door on rest of the world for at least one night.