It was a year later when Miles started hearing rumors. It was a year and six months when he actually got the news. He'd set up shop in a dingy bar in Chicago figuring the city would be the first place Bass would look for him. Miles wasn't trying to hide, not really. He just needed Bass to cool down a little bit before he called Miles home. Bass was going to call him home of course. The question was simply whether he would do it before or after he called for Nora.
Nora had stopped in to the bar on her way to the west. She told Miles she wanted to see the Republic she had worked so hard to build. Miles could understand that. Bass loved Nora so much he practically kept her under lock and key back in Philly. Nora deserved to see what the world out there was like these days.
Of course they still kept in touch. Letters smuggled through trusted friends assured that they still knew the other was alive and well. Though they were also still on the outside and that was a little painful. But in each letter they wrote each other they remained hopeful. Bass loved them. He would call them home soon. They just needed to be patient while he worked through his issues.
Nora was the one who brought up the rumors first. The rumors that Bass really wasn't going to call them home. That they had completely broken ties with him and now he was asking for their heads. Somehow Miles couldn't quite believe that. He knew Bass was angry at them. There was no doubt of that. But this was Bass they were talking about. He was always much more level headed than Miles. He would call them home. Soon.
Miles was actually reading Nora's latest letter when he heard his name called. "What is it?" he asked without turning round.
"You need to leave," Alex stated, setting the new jars on the stack.
"It's my damn bar, Alex. I don't have to go anywhere."
"You do now."
"Give me one good reason."
"The Militia is coming."
Miles cursed in several languages. He wasn't hiding from Bass. He really wasn't. But he couldn't afford to be found until he was sure of the welcome he would receive back home. "You know the drill," he sighed, folding up the letter.
"I've never heard of a Miles Matheson in my entire life and I can't imagine where he might be," Alex quoted. "I know what to do."
Miles hopped out the back of the bar. He found a nice, dark, quiet corner to settle in with his letter. No one would notice him in all the shadows and he would still be able to hear all the talk going on. It was a good spot. He watched the new guard enter. Miles took note of all the familiar faces in the crowd. It was always good to know who was in power. Especially when you weren't. "Alex!" the major, Miles wanted to say his name was Jake, called. "Beer for my unit."
"You plan to pay for it this time?" Alex challenged as he started filling glasses.
The major set down a large chunk of gold. Alex began to pass out the drinks. "Do you have a place to hang some wanted posters?" the major asked.
"I might," Alex nodded. "Why? This about that Matheson guy you're all looking for?"
"He's got the highest bounty in the Republic on his head," one of the corporals said gleefully. Miles felt his stomach turn. "But it's only paid out if he's alive." Oh, that was so comforting. Bass wanted his head but only Bass could take it. Miles still felt sick.
"So did they raise the bounty or something?"
"Nope. Still 25 pounds of gold or 50,000 trade dollars. Depending on which you want. But there are new people we need to look for."
"Anyone interesting?"
They ran through a few names that Miles didn't really know. "There's this one that sounds realy feisty," the corporal from before said. "She's a Texan."
"A Texan up here?" Alex repeated. "Why'd she leave the country?"
"No idea. But she should stand out. Latin apparently." Miles tried to keep his breathing under control. There were lots of Latin women from Texas. There was no way they were talking about… "Apparently her name's Nora Clayton."
Miles' heart hit his stomach before he even had time to process the sentence. It was true. It was all so painfully true. They were wanted for crimes against the Republic. Wait, did he say… "Clayton?" Alex repeated. "Any other names?'
Miles tuned them out for a moment. "Her name is Monroe," he whispered. "Her name is Nora Monroe and she is the wife of your President." But was she? Why would Bass use Nora's maiden name? She had been so proud to take Bass' name. It was the name of *their* Republic. He swallowed and tuned back in to the conversation.
"Yeah, but she's only worth a small sum," one of them said.
"What is it, like 4 ounces of gold?"
"Yeah that or 5,000 trade dollars. Barely worth going after." That was okay. Bass had probably kept the bounty low to keep heat off his Nora. "Certainly not enough to keep her alive."
"Wait, the reward is payable dead or alive?" Alex asked.
The man answered in the affirmative. Miles suddenly realized the fluttering sound he heard was the letter in his hand. He was trembling. He stuffed the letter in his pocket and tried to absorb this information. Sebastian Monroe, Miles' best friend in the world, was not only asking for his wife's head on a platter but apparently she meant so little to him anymore that the reward was a pittance. And she didn't even need to be alive for the reward to be collected. Miles was not known as an emotional man but he wanted to sob right then.
How could Bass treat Nora so callously? This was *his* Nora. Miles had seen the man take on entire squads single handedly just to make it back to her. There was no being on this earth that Bass loved more than Nora. Certainly not Miles. Oh they had been close forever but when Bass had found Nora, his entire world shifted. He walked taller, sat straighter, smiled brighter. Nora was the best thing to ever happen to Bass and everyone in the capital knew it.
Whatever the fault was, Miles knew it had to lie with Bass. The letter he had been reading before the Militia came in spoke of how badly Nora missed her husband and just how much she wished they were both home in Philly. She kept talking about all the things she missed there, usually relating them back to Bass somehow.
God, her letter had been so hopeful too. Did she know about this? Did she know that not only was she wanted but Bass hadn't even bothered to put her real name on the poster? Nora would be crushed by that. Miles couldn't tell her. It wouldn't be fair. Not like this. Maybe he could get to her, speak to her in person. That would ease the blow a little, he was sure. If she got to hear it from someone she trusted then she would be able to actually grieve. Because that was what they both needed. To grieve the loss of something they never thought they would lose.
Miles didn't even realize he could be so broken by such a simple thing.
A/N: And we are now cannon compliant.
