A.N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in like forever, but I had so much art coursework to do that I simply concentrated on that until my exam last Friday, and in case you wondered, it went really well. Thank you so much for all the reviews! They mean so much and you guys literally make my day! Review, follow, favourite and enjoy! xxxxxxx

Chapter 12- M is for Marry Me:

"Karla! Bedtime!" Karla's mother, Sofia, called up the stairs. Pulling away from Saul, Karla rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. Their lips were swollen, eyes bright, his hands still at her waist. Saul looked down at her and grinned, breathing heavily.

"I'll take that as my cue to leave darling." He murmured, and went to move off Karla, but she placed both hands on his cheeks and pulled him back.

"Don't you dare? Kiss me again!" Saul groaned, his resistance falling and pressed his lips to hers, she smiled at the contact and fell back against the pillows, her hands trailing down his sides to the dip in his spine. He shivered at her touch and pressed his tongue against her lips, they opened and their tongues battled for dominance. Wanting to make Karla happy, Saul relaxed his tongue and she won, kissing him hungrily.

"Karla?" There was a creak on the stairs as Sofia began to make her way up them.

Saul pulled away. "Baby we should stop-"

"No! We're just kissing!" She protested, and pulled his face back down to hers. His lips hovered and she whined and he relented, simply because he couldn't deny her kisses. She drew in a sharp breath as he began to kiss her neck, soft butterfly kisses that turned into lingering ones as he went lower and then back up again. Saul went to press his lips to hers again when they were interrupted by a scream.

"Get off of my baby!" Sofia screeched, ripping Saul off of Karla, who cried out, catching his arm and positioning herself in front of him, as if to protect him.

"We weren't doing anything!" she yelled and her mother scoffed.

"He was taking advantage-"

"Saul was not taking advantage, for crying out loud we were kissing!"

"I told you Karla, that boy is an American and is out for one thing only!"

"I'm not! I love Karla; I love you," Saul caught her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "I'd never take advantage, ever my darling, I promise you!"

He looked so desperate that Karla shrieked at her mother in Spanish for hurting Saul and leapt on him, hugging him fiercely. "I know you wouldn't," she mumbled, "you're too much of a gentleman."

There was a bang and Karla's father walked into the room. He adored Karla more than anything, well, except her mother. Karla was clearly a daddy's girl, even though he wasn't at home much. And even better, he liked Saul, respecting him for his devotion to Karla and liking him even more when Saul had told him his financial security; a way of making sure Karla was well looked after. An added plus was that Saul always called him sir.

"What's going on? Why is everyone shouting?" he rumbled. At six foot three, he and Saul were roughly the same height, both men broad shouldered and a healthy muscular size. His gelled back hair was ruffled slightly and he had an amused look on his face. He folded his arms, kissed Sofia's cheek and smiled at Karla and Saul.

"Mom thinks Saul's trying to take advantage of me." Karla muttered sulkily, less angry now her father was here, knowing automatically Saul would get to have his say.

"And were you?" he asked Saul, sliding a hand over his wife's mouth so she couldn't interrupt. Instead of frowning, she smiled softly, looking up her husband with adoring eyes; Sofia was always nicer when Paolo was around.

"No." Saul said firmly. "I would never take advantage of Karla, ever. I told you, sir, when I first met you that I wanted to marry your daughter first, and even then if she wasn't ready, I'd wait for her. I wouldn't care if we never were together that way; I'd be happy that she loved me and leave it at that."

Paolo nodded, smiled briefly, and then turned to Karla, who pouted, still sulking. "Karla?" there was silence. "Karla, baby, did you feel like you were being taken advantage of?"

It felt like an interview. "No, I did not. I wanted Saul to kiss me. He's always gentle; he makes sure I'm okay with it beforehand. He keeps asking for permission to kiss me. I wish he wouldn't, I have to keep telling him to carry on!"

Saul looked a little embarrassed, but Karla took his hand firmly in his and gave him the kind of smile that made his insides turn to mush.

Paolo laughed and removed his hand from his wife's face. "Well satisfied?"

She frowned, pouted, unhappy at her lost case against Saul, whom she had hated from the beginning. "I suppose…"

"You don't suppose." Karla muttered. "You've hated him from the start. You just want him out so I'll stay in Mexico forever!"

There was stunned silence and Saul looked at his feet. He put up with Sofia, lived with her snubs and her rude comments about him, but hadn't even realized that Karla knew about it.

"That's not true Karla, now apologize." Paolo said firmly. She shook her head. "Karla Sanchez-"

"No, I'm a Benedict now! You're always being mean to Saul! You act like he's trash but he's the sweetest guy I've ever known. He's nice to me. He thinks I'm pretty and he loves me! Which is more than I can say for you!"

"Young lady-"

"You love Loretta more! She's always been the golden girl, make her stay behind! I've never been good enough! She's the perfect housewife, all dewy eyed and defenseless, but I can pack a punch and I like baseball! I want a job! And Saul's okay with that, he doesn't mind that I'm short, or that I can't do math, or that I want to go to college! His mom and dad like me, they don't try to fit me in a box like you do!"

Karla took a deep breath. "So now you have a choice, I'm eighteen, I'm an adult now, either Saul and I will pack our things and leave for Colorado tomorrow, or you can apologize to Saul, make him breakfast instead of leaving it to me to fix it for him and treat him like one of the family, else I'll go and I won't come back."

Within seconds Karla and Sofia were screaming at each other in thick Spanish, Saul and Paolo trying to hold their soulfinders back.

"Karla, please darling, stop, it'll make you ill, please baby it's not worth it!" Saul pleaded; terrified Karla would collapse with the stress of it all.

"You damn well are worth it!" She snarled, trying with all her might to break free of Saul's firm grasp. The women continued to yell at each other, Paolo trying to diffuse the tension, but somehow made everything worse.

"You always take her side!" Both women yelled. Saul knew something had to be done, and slowly his hand reached into his jeans pocket, feeling the red leather box in there. He wondered; he had wanted Paolo's permission first, but now seemed like good way to break up the fight.

"Enough!" He yelled, stepping in front of Karla to make her stop. "Enough." He spun to face Sofia. "I accept you don't like me, and though this is incredibly rude considering you've allowed me to stay in your home, ma'am, I don't like you much either. I've been polite, I've been quiet, but I love your daughter and that's the truth; it isn't going to change."

Saul sighed, choosing his next words carefully. "I can't win with you; one minute I'm going too slow, the next too fast. You forget Karla is her own person, and try to enforce your ideas on her, which then confuses Karla. Thanks to the amount of times you've told her I'm trying to take advantage, she keeps asking when we're going to do it; I have to keep telling her not until we're married and she replies with you could have left me by then!"

Sofia, finally, looked ashamed, staring at her feet.

"Karla is mentally young, and I'm not saying she's stupid because she isn't, but you've wrecked her childhood by pushing her with the Savant Net; some days she can't tell the difference between the future and reality, she collapses, she has nightmares, she cries herself to sleep and while she's in Colorado with me, she's fine, but then comes back here and it all unravels. You didn't even know she was allergic to nuts until she almost died. I'm not saying it's completely your fault, but you are partly to blame." He turned to Karla; "And it's not your fault, darling, don't you ever think it's your fault."

Saul sighed, once again choosing his words. He ran a hand over his face, remembering he needed a shave and looked at Paolo. "I wanted to ask your permission for this first, but Karla's made it perfectly clear how she feels and quite frankly sir, I don't have the patience at this point anymore. Karla my darling; if you want to say no, then please just say no, because I'm not forcing you into this, and if you want to come back with me to Colorado then that's fine as well, but please listen to the end, before you make your decision. Okay?"

Karla nodded, and sat down on her bed, hands clasped in her lap, eyes wide.

"Karla I love you more than anything else in the world, I'd give my life for you in a heartbeat, and I'll protect you to the death. You're beautiful and sweet and kind and my best friend. I don't care if we never make love because I'll love you forever regardless. I'd do anything for you; if you want puppies you can have puppies, if you want books I'll buy you a library."

Saul paused, and got down on one knee. Karla gasped, hands covering her mouth, eyes wide. He opened the box and Karla started crying. It was small and silver, white diamonds in the center. "Karla Sanchez, would you do me the grandest honor and make me the happiest man on earth by becoming my wife?"

Karla smiled dreamily and opened her mouth. "Yes." She whispered, before flinging herself at Saul, kissing him furiously and knocking him back on the floor. Saul laughed, picked her up and spun her round. Sofia and Paolo were forgotten in their sudden moment of bliss, lost in their own world together.

"I love you, Saul!" Karla said breathlessly, kissing him quickly. He smiled softly, kissed her forehead.

"I love you to."