A massive, massive time jump here folks. Well, not that massive, but more than a few months. Things are different for the group, and then again, some things haven't changed. I tried to keep this one as light-hearted as possible, but I wouldn't be me if there wasn't a little bit of drama.

Mistakes are mine.

Let's get Part Two going!

Eva lit her second cigarette of the morning as she relaxed on the balcony. She hummed under her breath, watching the sunrise on the horizon, and smiled to herself. Her mood was one of contentment. One of the main reasons she loved about being in charge was the power rush that came with it and having experienced it in full, it was addicting.

Seven months ago, she'd hosted a party in her new home in Miami. It went about as bad as she expected it to. Though they followed the instructions on her letter, those who showed up still operated under the belief they were in charge, and she took great pleasure in providing clarity. Of course, the aftermath meant separating her family for the time being, but they agreed on the plan, and they went through with it. Plus, they each went with their own guard, their personal protection, and their own failsafe should someone try to take them out before their time.

Noah and Sam had the most issues, but that's why she put them in the Northwestern and Northern Regions respectively. Her Kings were doing exactly what she wanted them to, and so far, it was a success. The Collective was back to its discriminating ways and demanded payment when required and not when available. She didn't even think her father realized the amount of debt they were incurring with other organizations due to 'friendly favors' being passed around like a collection plate at church.

Xavier was having a ball with the Southern Region, and since most of his bikers were from the south, they were allowed to go home whenever they wanted and see their family because of their new status. Going from Blood Serpents to Reserve Collective members saw both a bump in their pay and their rank amongst the other black-blooded men and women they ran into.

Sue seemed to be enjoying her Southwestern assignment if the tan she was sporting had anything to say about it, and surprisingly enough, Brittany was whipping the Midwest into shape faster than she anticipated. The blue-collared, hard-minded, rough-necked men and women Brittany ordered around practically re-wrote the rules on hand-to-hand combat, and they were dangerous to train, profitable to employ.

Though, their growing success probably jumpstarted after the body parts Eva shipped off with her people arrived. Coming into the HQ and seeing the head of your former leader resting in the middle of the room should and did put things into perspective. Plus, the note Eva attached might've helped:

Consider this a Royal Flush.

Follow my rules, get paid, and develop a reputation that can't be erased.

Disobey my rules, lose your life, and have your name dragged through dirt, mud, and blood for eternity.

You choose.

P.s., The Collective is no longer up for grabs.

I dare you to take it from me,

E.K.B.

After that, it was only a matter of revamping the organization's reputation and growing from the changes. Debts were paid off, whether in blood or cash, and they were finally out of the red and into the green. Literally and figuratively.

Her mood tripled when she realized that she would be seeing her family at the neutral ground in two days. She missed them. Having Kosmetika was fine and dandy, but it was mostly empty. With Reagan off doing odd jobs here and there across the world, keeping to the shadows, only Taylor and Stone were there with her, Santana, Tina, and Quinn. It was calm, thankfully so, but she was looking forward to having the entire gang back together.

Taking another drag of her cigarette, Eva exhaled through her nose just as the door creaked open. Without turning around, she said, "And to think I was having such a peaceful morning."

Santana smacked her on the back of the head, causing Eva to grin, and she slid onto her lap as she said, "Normally I'd threaten to withhold sex for such a stupid comment, but I think you get off on that shit. So, I'll just threaten to tie you down and make you watch."

"Make me watch what?"

"Me and Quinn having a round or two."

Eva pouted and placed a hand over her heart. "Ouch, baby. That one hurt," she said.

"It was supposed to," Santana drawled.

"Mhm. Did you sleep okay?"

The question, as odd as it sounded and as abrupt as it was asked, was a valid worry for Eva. Santana's nightmares were getting worse, and she would never know about them until the morning after.

"I didn't have one last night."

"Good. So, the medication is working?"

Santana nodded and snatched the cigarette from her hand, stomping it out on the ground. "I hate when you smoke these things," she grumbled.

"How come you always take mine but never take Quinn's?" Eva whined.

"Because I have to kiss you, not her, dumbass, and I don't like it when you taste like tobacco. It's a turn-off."

"Out of everything I do, my smoking is the turn-off?"

Santana scrunched her face, and said, "Most of the things you do are because of what you do for a living. Smoking is a dirty habit that you purposely picked up because you thought it made you look cool."

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did," Santana deadpanned.

Eva puffed out her cheeks and blew out into Santana's face. She received a slap for her actions, but it was worth it.

"You're lucky you're cute," Santana said.

"You're lucky you're a good fuck."

Another slap, but still very much so worth it. Santana turned around, her eyes roving over the bay where boats and ships were passing through in the distance, and Eva couldn't help but smile. A simple change of scenery, coupled with a change of lifestyle, turned their relationship into something more than what it was. They were no longer worrying that someone would see something they weren't supposed to see, hear something they weren't supposed to hear, or just the lack of privacy to develop their relationship.

They went on dates, they communicated better, and they were learning more about one another as time went on. The only dark side was that as they grew accustomed to Miami, Miami grew accustomed to them, and sometimes it wasn't friendly. Santana's nightmares stemmed from two weeks prior when Eva was clipped by a bullet during a robbery. She was only in the store to grab some beer for their movie night and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Taylor saw it too late, and Stone was outside with the girls. It barely grazed her hip, but Santana's viewpoint during the event made it look much worse than what it was, and it took Stone, Tina, and Quinn all holding her back while Taylor shot the men responsible.

Bribes were made to erase the footage of Eva ever being there, and they fed the owner a bullshit story before they ran out of there. Santana kept replaying the same shot, the same image of Eva falling backward, but the bullet was never in the same spot. It was either in her stomach, and she bled out, in her chest and pierced her heart, or in the head. It'd gotten to the point that Santana had to start taking sleeping pills just to get through the night.

It was a thin line.

In Miami, people with a secret were more dangerous than people without, and Eva was starting to realize that everyone in Miami had a secret.

Fingers brushed against her wound, and she absentmindedly grabbed the hand tracing the scar. Santana's head snapped up, and Eva brought the hand to her lips. She kissed her knuckles and used her free hand to cup Santana's cheek. "I'm okay," she promised softly.

"I know. I needed to get your attention. I've been calling your name for the last few minutes."

"Oh, I apologize."

"It's fine. I only wanted to know if you had plans for breakfast."

"I thought we were going out today?"

"Yes, but, I mean, if you wanted to eat here, that's fine too," Santana said quickly.

Eva narrowed her eyes and asked, "Do you want to eat here?"

Santana blushed and stammered, "Yes, I mean, no, well, we don't have- if you want to eat here-

"Why are you so nervous?"

"Huh?"

"You're shaking, and you won't look me in the eyes. What's going on?"

Santana's mouth opened, but Quinn stepped outside, and Santana deflated in obvious relief. Her girlfriend slipped off her lap and vanished inside, and Quinn shuffled back and forth awkwardly when Eva glared at her.

"Sorry. I guess I came at a bad time?"

Eva flicked her lighter at Quinn, the girl yelping as it came flying at her head, and she hissed, "No shit. You have the worst timing in the world."

"Well, I thought she-

Quinn's mouth clamped shut, and like Santana, she hurried back inside, leaving Eva wondering just what the hell was going on.

"You're fucking kidding me. You panicked?"

Santana pouted at her sister over the video call, and she said, "The words wouldn't come out! I didn't know how to ask her."

"Most people go with the original route of saying, 'Will you marry me?" Reagan deadpanned.

"What if she says no?" she whined.

"Unbelievable. Remind me to slap some sense into you when I get there."

"Wait, you're back?"

Reagan gave a non-committed hum and arched an eyebrow. "Don't change the subject. You chickened out, again, and you've used the same excuse."

"I want it to be perfect," she said defensively.

"It will never be perfect!" Reagan exclaimed. "San, proposals aren't going to always be perfect. You've had the ring for nearly five months, almost as long as you all have been in Miami, and you keep putting it off while you wait for the right time. There will never be a right time, and the more you keep setting up to ask, the more suspicious she will get. And you know how she is once she has an inkling something is off with you."

Santana looked down at the box resting in her lap and sighed. Most would assume Eva would propose first as it was clear to everyone it would happen sooner rather than later, but Santana realized how bad things were going to get when she saw all that blood. It scared her to think that she would lose Eva and not have the opportunity of walking down the aisle to call her a wife. It was selfish and motivated purely by her own personal reasons, but part of her hoped that Eva felt the same. If not, she wasted a ton of money on a custom ring and nearly a year of her life.

"Tana, you have to stop doubting yourself. Why do you keep second guessing what everyone sees?"

Keeping her eyes on the ring, she explained, "Six months ago, I watched my best friend get on a plane to the middle of fucking nowhere Nebraska to help restart an organization Eva wanted nothing to do with before I pushed her into it. Three days later, the guy that picked up where my brother left off got on a plane to Brooklyn where he has pretty much destroyed whatever foundation Leroy put in place and crafted a group of people Eva can be proud of. Then Sam left, then Sue, and then Xavier, and it hit me one morning. This is my life now. I'm in this forever, and it might seem silly, but putting this ring on Eva's finger would be the one thing I can control. I can't control what'll happen tomorrow. Eva could get called away to Los Angeles to deal with some rogue operative. She could be kidnapped, shot, poisoned, and I would have nothing left. She's everything to me. I've invested so much into this, into her, that marriage seems like the next logical step, you know?

"Maybe it's just me being a hopeless romantic. Living here with her, spending all this time with her, and discovering why I fell in love with her has been nothing short of amazing. I love it, I love her, and I want to marry her. I just don't know how to ask. It seems silly having some romantic declaration, and it seems foolish blurting it out in the middle of breakfast with pancakes stuffed in her cheeks. I want it to be special, just us, and I want to be able to look her in the eyes and say, 'will you marry me?'"

"Yes."

Santana jumped up, her phone clattering to the floor, and she never even realized that Reagan was no longer on the screen. Her heart turned to stone as Eva picked up the box that'd fallen off her lap, and she reached for it, only for Eva to hold it out of reach.

"Is this why you've been so jumpy lately?'

"I- haven't been jumpy," she lied.

Eva grinned and opened the box, keeping one eye on her and another on the ring, but her smile faded. She glanced at Santana quickly, and whispered, "You remembered?"

Santana wrung her hands and nodded. "You stood there for nearly ten minutes drooling over it. I knew you didn't want the original because it was too 'Princess-y,' so I asked them to change the diamond to onyx and put it on a rose gold band. It took forever to get it back, and when they called, we were in Seattle visiting Sam. I had to have Reagan fly in from Atlanta to grab it for me and place it in a hiding spot. I-"

"Hush, baby," Eva cut in. She then turned on her heel, the ring still in her hand, and Santana was terrified. She had no idea what Eva was about to say or do, but to her utter surprise, Eva opened her nightstand drawer and pulled out a similar looking box.

"Your sister is an asshole," she snorted. "I had her pick up your ring around the same time. She said she was in Miami for personal business, and now I know that personal business was you."

"You…bought me a ring?"

"Of course, I did. Why wouldn't I? I told you a long time ago that I would marry you, and I meant it. I was going to propose last night, but the stupid caterer messed things up by not having the food ready in time and I-

"Hush, baby," Santana said, mimicking her exact words from before.

Eva laughed and walked over, holding out the box she bought for Santana. "You want me to get down on one knee?" she teased.

"It would help. I was sitting down when I asked you."

"You didn't even know I was in the room!"

"Semantics."

Eva rolled her eyes and dropped down, grabbing Santana's left hand. "Fine. Santana, will you marry me?" she huffed.

"No fucking way. You're not going to bullshit this proposal."

"I have literally been waiting to ask you this for almost a year, ever since the night after my father's funeral. When I saw you in the bed next to me, having exposed one of your biggest secrets to me, I knew I wanted to wake up like that for the rest of my life. I didn't start calling you Koroleva because it tied into the card joke around my family. You truly are my Queen. I'm nothing without you. Fighting with you is the worst because it feels like I'm fighting with myself. Every time you're sad, I want to hold you tight and never let you go. When you're angry, I'm angry too. When you're happy, my whole fucking world becomes this shit storm of rainbows and sunshine. Seeing you smile is the best thing in my life, and honestly, I would give all of this up if it meant staying with you for forever. I would never pick up a gun again. I would do some random shit, like go to Broadway or something, and go on the straight and narrow for you. No pun intended. So, please, for fuck's sake, marry me?"

Santana was about to say yes when a voice that sounded suspiciously like Quinn sounded from the hallway, "Say yes or I will!"

Eva quirked an eyebrow, and Santana said, "Yes, I will marry you."

There was cheering, crying, and a lot of demands to see the ring. Santana's stronghold on her emotions took a hit when Quinn revealed that Brittany had heard the entire thing, and it only got worse for Eva when Stone flipped his phone around, and Sam had popped a bottle of champagne in his apartment. Santana caught Eva's eye over the madness and winked. She actually wished Reagan was there to see the moment, and as if her ears were ringing, Reagan's hand-picked text tone sounded from her phone on the floor.

Tina picked it up, and muttered, "Oh, fuck."

That caught everyone's attention despite the noise. Santana snatched her phone away, and her eyes widened as she caught sight of her sister tied up in the back of a van with blood caked on the side of her head.

The text message attached was simple and to the point:

Sister or Girlfriend?

Which will you choose?

There is no win, only lose.

No cops, no agents, and no fancy tricks.

Deliver Eva in twenty-four hours or your sister gets dumped in a ditch.

Bang.

And then it hit them like a truck going full speed. They'd forgotten someone was out to get them, get Eva, and in the eye of the storm, they'd forgotten the one thing about hurricanes: there was always more rain.

Eva took the phone from Quinn and switched over to audio on the call.

"Someone took Reagan," she said to Brittany.

There was a pause before Brittany replied, "I'm on my way."