I wasn't sure if Carlito had heard me, let alone breathing. He just stared at me and blinked, twice. He then cleared his throat.

"Okay. Sure. I understand. Take me in" he said holding out his hands, "Now is as good a time as any." WHAT? It was that easy? I lost it, blame it on a combined effort of no sleep and sexual tension between me and a certain Cuban man.

"WHAT. You mean to say that I did all of this for nothing!!! I dressed up like a man who wanted to be a woman, I paraded myself about, I lied to my new best friend, I went out in public with inappropriate hair and it turns out I didn't have to do ANY OF IT???" I was pissed off. If I had known it was going to be this easy, I would have just asked him on day one when I sat on him.

"D-did you just say your new best friend?" I nodded, steam was still coming out of my ears. I felt like an idiot. He smiled, "Well then honey, did you have fun?" I nodded. " DId you learn to except yourself for who you are regardless of what others think?" I nodded again. " Were you able to experience life in someone else's shoes? Well then, I don't think it was a total waste, plus you did just win a pageant by stuffing yourself with socks. I don't know many people to have the preverbal balls to do that. No pun intended."

He walked over to me and have me a hug. "I understand that you have a job to do, and I understand that you never wanted to lie to me, I'm okay with that. I just wished you had felt close enough to me, as I do to you, to tell me what was up." He gave my shoulders a squeeze and let me go. "Now are you calmed down? Good. Get dressed because you still have to face the cameras on the way to the elevators. They might even ask you if you believe in world peace." He paused, his face paling.

"What is it Carlito?" (I had a hard time calling him Rae when he didn't look like Rae)

"Oh SHIT. I totally forgot about the photographers. My picture, as a woman, no, as a cross-dresser is going to be in the paper and my father will see it!" He started to shake.

"Woah woah, I thought you said that your father supported you in your lifestyle."

"He supports me being gay only politically, not personally. You have a file on me right?"

"Yeah....but what --"

" Well, does it say anywhere in that file about my father's connections to various drug rings in South America?"

"Yes, but I don't un--"

" My father is okay with me being gay because it gets him elected. It makes him seem worldly and progressive and allowed him many freedoms the drug trade never had before. But, with the cartel, I am seen as a weakness, as not being manly enough. One of the groups in Columbia threatened to kill me for being a weak link but my father wouldn't allow it. He said I was a perfect scapegoat. In exchange for my life, my father made a deal with the cartel that I would act as a drug runner for him, I'm a young college student, the son of a politician, who would think it was me? However, if these photos are seen by him, or worse, by the Columbians, they will think that I am not living up to my end of the deal, which is staying "manly" and "out of sight". I just wanted some freedom of expression and the right to feel good and now it is going to kill me." He hung his head, tears streaming down his face.

I, by this point was bawling. This was something I never expected.

" Come with me upstairs, my team is waiting for us. You can tell Ranger what you told me and he will do everything to keep you safe. I'm sure you have information vital to him, we will take you back to Jersey with us and get a deal to put you in protective care. I just welcomed you into my life, I'm not ready to let go." We hugged briefly and made our way up to the fifth floor. I opened the door to my room and all the Merry Men stood there waiting, guns drawn. I stood in front of Carlito.

"Babe, you're going to have to move."

"No." he raised his eyebrow and made a step towards me. " Wait, I have something to tell you." I spilled everything that Carlito had told me about his father and the Columbian cartel. I made sure to emphasis that they were going to kill him, especially if they saw the pictures of the pageant. Ranger listened intently and agreed to talk to the D.A. about protective care for him.

"Babe, we're still going to have to book him."

"I understand."

"Boss, we should leave tonight." Hal noted. Ranger nodded.

"How long will it take you to get packed?" He asked our skip.

" I can leave right now. There's nothing in my hotel room that's important to me. It might even keep them off my trail if it looks like I was taken." The Merry Men all agreed.

"Good. It's settled " Ranger said, " We leave in 5 minutes."

"Uh Boss, shouldn't we let Bombshell change?" Tank asked. I eyed him.

"Why, you don't like how I look? You don't want to be seen in public with me? Is that what is it? I worked my ass off and now I WANT TO GO HOME. " Tank began to blush and his eyes looked down my body. "Ahhhh, I know what it is." his eyes snapped back up to mine. "You're just jealous that my dick is bigger than yours." And everyone proceeded to burst out laughing at Tank's expense all the way to the airport.