Hey, it's a new story! Miles is keeping secrets.

Un-beta'ed, so quibble away.

- o – o -

For the Faithful

When the next Militia patrol, with Sergeant Struasser in the lead, catches them, Miles makes a token show of putting up a fight. He's got some things he needs to discuss with Bass. Only one of them is related to his actual mission. The rest seem to deal with incoherent rage issues that are still left over from his last day in Independence Hall and Philadelphia in general. Getting Strausser to agree to take the rest of the gang is easy enough—Miles just smiles sweetly and tells the man he'll make life difficult for him, for a very. Long. Time.

Strausser believes him.

Coming back to Philadelphia as Strausser's prisoner is humiliating. There's the idea that, hey, this is Strausser who captured General Matheson and is bringing him back to Philadelphia that's just somehow inherently wrong. (At least Jeremy had the personal connections to make the trip interesting.) Miles thinks one of his back molars is dislocated, and his nose is definitely broken. Breathing sucks either way.

Charlie keeps trying to get him to help her and Nora plan an escape. Miles just rolls over on his side and stares at the wall of the cattle car they're in for the duration of the ride back to Philadelphia. He's just been back from a visit with Strausser, so she stops bothering him after that. Nora smiles at him and Miles has no time to be properly scared before she jerks his nose back into place. The cursing is entirely justified.

Miles can't help but take a deep breath of air when he's pulled out of the cattle car in the Philadelphia station. He can't keep the smile off his face either. Of course, the rest of the gang is doing the same thing, so it doesn't look too odd. As Miles is led past Independence Hall, he can't help but look up at the window he knows is Bass'. He smirks and blows a kiss up at the window, ending it with his middle finger upright just because he can. Nora gives him a strange look. Aaron is too busy protecting Charlie (from herself or from her guards' wandering hands) the best he can to notice anything.

And then they're tossed in the cells. Charlie flies over to the person she's sharing her cell with and rolls him onto his back. Her sobbing keeps everyone awake for several hours. Miles' lips thin as he takes in the damage on the boy's body (what he can see, anyways), and resolves to talk to Bass about it. Danny whispering "you came…" is just the clincher on the deal. Strausser has to go. That's his future Marine lying broken on the ground in that cell.

Miles doesn't resist as Major Neville and his spawn come down to the cells to take him upstairs. Major Neville just gives him a sidelong look, as though asking "what went wrong?", but doesn't say anything. Jason Neville looks like he wants to punch Miles. Miles doesn't think the brat has the guts to do it. He's right, of course.

And then Bass is there, sitting in his ridiculous chair, behind a desk overflowing with paperwork.

"The idea bombed, big time," are the first words out of Miles' mouth, after Neville and his spawn leave. He's pretty sure he meant to compliment Bass on how ridiculous he looks, or snark about Strausser, or Jeremy, or a hundred other things. But those are the first ones out of his mouth.

"Which one?" Bass replies, smirking. He comes around his desk and pulls Miles back with him, until Bass is sitting on the desk and Miles is between his legs. The president rubs his general's wrists gently, massaging feeling back into the other man's hands. "Because there were so many bad ideas."

"Slotnick," Miles says, dipping down to capture Bass' lips in a kiss. He pulls back, and Bass whines a little. "He's making soldiers."

Bass gives him a look. "That was the point, wasn't it?"

"And the brand is a mark of honor; not a torture method," Miles replies, scowling. "Bastard's getting too big for his britches again. And I mean he's making soldiers. Remember those guys in the Army?" Bass nods. "Make it about a hundred times worse." Bass winces.

"I'll take care of it." He pulls Miles down for a kiss, rocking his hips a little. Miles groans, partly because he wants this and it's been years, and partly because he's got a big fucking boot-shaped bruise on his hip. Strausser will pay for making this end before he can even get to the good parts.

Bass, rather reluctantly, sends him back to the cells. Miles sits with his back to the one solid wall and stares at his guard, not blinking. The man leaves at the end of his shift, sobbing in relief. It's two days before Bass comes to visit him. Miles has broken three guards in the intervening two days.

Their old tailor is with Bass. Miles doesn't even blush as he strips down to his birthday suit and lets the tailor take his measurements. He smirks at Bass, who's been eying him appreciatively all the while. Charlie is too busy trying to coax her brother to drink some water to do more than give both of them glares (directed at Bass, and Miles is pretty sure she's trying to kill him), and her hurt little puppy dog looks (directed at him, because she sure as hell doesn't know what's going on).

Bass drops a bombshell on the whole group a few days later. Charlie and Danny are sitting on the sofa. Danny's half-conscious and wheezing, and Charlie's protective. Aaron has a black eye from fighting Strausser (which makes Miles wonder just what the man's been doing since he shot Drexel), and Nora has a gag firmly in her mouth (because really, she just can't shut up to save her life—it's worse than Charlie).

"Welcome back, General Matheson," Bass says warmly, shaking Miles' hand. Miles smiles back, feeling powerful again. He's dressed in his new uniform, which fits. He still misses his old boots, though—the new ones are pinching at his toes. The high and tight is making his scalp itch, but the haircut still looks better than the perpetual scruff he'd had to cultivate.

Charlie is on her feet in a second, screaming. Miles casually turns around and hits her across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground. There's a sickening crunch as her nose breaks. Danny doesn't move, staring glassy-eyed at the proceedings. (Miles learns later that Bass, out of some sense of pity, gave the kid a nice big dose of morphine before the events of the day began.)

Aaron pulls Charlie away from Miles, sheltering her from the man he thought he knew. Miles isn't sad to see Nora go, cursing into her gag as she's dragged off to Strausser's interrogation cells. He liked her, but… Hell, that was a long time ago, and she's gone a little nuts since then. (He's also never going to forgive her for the insult she paid to the Corps, or the one she continues to pay to the flag he used to serve. Then there's that whole issue of her trying to shoot him a few times, but that's ancient history at this point.)

Later that evening, Bass has quite a bit of fun stripping Miles out of the uniform. Miles forces Bass down to his knees, and everything is right in the world. Bass is doing what he's best at when he's not being all presidential, and Miles smiles down at him, petting the younger man's hair as Bass does that thing with his tongue that makes Miles weak at the knees every time.

And it's going to be alright, because Bass and Miles are back together. They're thick as thieves, and even a silly little thing like an undercover assignment that made them enemies for nearly four years isn't going to stop them.

Miles is happy.

- o – o -

So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Do Miles and Bass make a cute couple or what? Drop a line and let me know!

Author's note: This was spawned from a comment over on AO3, and is thus dedicated to 3988Akasha, who put the idea forth in the first place. Miles was undercover to find the Rebels or the pendant (or Ben, but whatever). Now he's back with Bass.