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AND THEN...
Something about being left behind a day after thoughts of renegotiation and promises of being his and hers forever have eaten at Charlie for the last seven weeks.
They'd argued about leaving her behind (something something it wasn't safe to take her) and about her going (something something if he could go, how come she couldn't?) and it'd ended with a compromise that'd sounded suspiciously like pandering. A declaration that he'd let her visit if things seemed calm or he'd simply come back. Just that he wasn't going to allow her on the front lines of anything dangerous because otherwise, what was the point of trying to keep her safe?
She'd pretty much blocked it out once he'd started making excuses not to take her; feelings hurt, she'd pouted for the rest of the afternoon, through most of dinner, but she'd loved him all night long. She'd told him again that she was his, had let him press into her while he'd left marks on her skin and called her his. After, she'd reminded him that he was hers, too, and she'd be very put out if something happened to him and then, without exploring the ramifications too deeply if that happened, she'd curled into him and fallen asleep.
The next morning, she'd woken up alone. She'd woken up alone for the last seven weeks. It was agony as she'd realized that so much of her routine was caught up in this man, a man she'd finally realized that she loved, and now he was just gone. She couldn't be sure where, and the snippets of information she got were too few and far between.
Meandering around the large house didn't help with the boredom, though she spent time with Miles. She refused to leave, despite his insistence, and he still didn't understand. She didn't care and didn't change her mind. It surprised the men that the General had left behind, too, that all she did was entertain her uncle, and a few of the wives of the other soldiers. Just to keep up morale. That they sent notes back to inform him that yes, she'd stayed, and yes, she was keeping busy, was something they didn't share with her.
And then one day, all that tempered peace was rocked. When she came downstairs, she found everyone on edge and, when asked, the answers were vague. Not until she made demands did she find out that he'd been injured. He was expected to live, probably, but it'd been two days now, and Charlie was livid.
That she couldn't go was no longer an option. Who she was taking with her was the only question. Miles, of course. Her personal guard, naturally. And two other men. That was all. And a day and a half later, their group of five arrived at General Monroe's camp like they belonged there.
They'd argued about leaving her behind (something something it wasn't safe to take her) and about her going (something something if he could go, how come she couldn't?) and it'd ended with a compromise that'd sounded suspiciously like pandering. A declaration that he'd let her visit if things seemed calm or he'd simply come back. Just that he wasn't going to allow her on the front lines of anything dangerous because otherwise, what was the point of trying to keep her safe?
She'd pretty much blocked it out once he'd started making excuses not to take her; feelings hurt, she'd pouted for the rest of the afternoon, through most of dinner, but she'd loved him all night long. She'd told him again that she was his, had let him press into her while he'd left marks on her skin and called her his. After, she'd reminded him that he was hers, too, and she'd be very put out if something happened to him and then, without exploring the ramifications too deeply if that happened, she'd curled into him and fallen asleep.
The next morning, she'd woken up alone. She'd woken up alone for the last seven weeks. It was agony as she'd realized that so much of her routine was caught up in this man, a man she'd finally realized that she loved, and now he was just gone. She couldn't be sure where, and the snippets of information she got were too few and far between.
Meandering around the large house didn't help with the boredom, though she spent time with Miles. She refused to leave, despite his insistence, and he still didn't understand. She didn't care and didn't change her mind. It surprised the men that the General had left behind, too, that all she did was entertain her uncle, and a few of the wives of the other soldiers. Just to keep up morale. That they sent notes back to inform him that yes, she'd stayed, and yes, she was keeping busy, was something they didn't share with her.
And then one day, all that tempered peace was rocked. When she came downstairs, she found everyone on edge and, when asked, the answers were vague. Not until she made demands did she find out that he'd been injured. He was expected to live, probably, but it'd been two days now, and Charlie was livid.
That she couldn't go was no longer an option. Who she was taking with her was the only question. Miles, of course. Her personal guard, naturally. And two other men. That was all. And a day and a half later, their group of five arrived at General Monroe's camp like they belonged there.
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He had to have been for her to get here, to be here and...fuck.
"They've got some kind of rocket launcher, Charlie..." He didn't remember much, but Miles had told him what happened. "You shouldn't be here."
At the front. In his tent, with the target he was. "I never wanted to put you in danger..."
But, notsbly, his arm doesn't loosen to push her away. She can protest all she wants. His job puts him in danger, always. Her position in his life shouldn't (even if he knows it does. If people realized she was more than his plaything, found out how he felt about her, she'd be in even more danger, though. Thank Christ, no one believed he had a heart anymore.
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A girl with the same last name as his former right hand man, a man who'd been right there with her when the slaughter occurred.
It's too late to think about it now and Charlie presses a kiss to his skin. "It doesn't matter. I'm here now and tomorrow, we'll head back."
And in the morning, she'll start giving those orders, too. Whether or not Jeremy and Miles have prepared the rest of his army for her to do that or they're aware of what she's done and agree, she'll have to see then.
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For now, he smiles at the press of her lips to his skin and brushes one of his own over her hair.
"Miles says we're safe tonight, at least," and isn't it funny how he trusts that again? "Getting back to our own bed will be good..." He sighs a little. "Sleep well, love."
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