A/N: Well, I finally managed an update to this one. Thank you to those who read, reviewed and favorite my recent two-shot. I know I say it a lot but hopefully it won't be long before the next update. My co-conspirator and I appreciate all the faves, follows and reviews to this story. We're moving along a bit now. I know some of you were surprised at their new location but I promise, there is a method to the madness. Let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 38

It had now been over a week since they left the safe house in Virginia. They'd been in multiple safe houses, cars and planes. While there had been no threat to either of them the Marshals were taking every precaution to make sure they weren't followed. This morning they woke up in a small house on the outskirts of Vegas, Kelli informing them since Brandi and Persephone had lived in the city it would be a good idea to have some pictures of them there. While both were exhausted from their travels they did enjoy their day in 'sin city'. Neither were one for gambling but they did enjoy seeing the casinos and trying out a couple restaurants.

Walking down the street looking like any other couple in love, Kelli and another Marshal following discreetly close by, Persephone couldn't help but think about how close she was to California and her home.

Sensing the change in the brunette Brandi squeezed her hand tightly "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Brandi leaned around a bit and looked in her eyes "You're lying."

She wasn't going to say anything but remembered their promise of no more secrets after the blow up the morning their true identities came out. "I was just thinking how close I am to Los Angeles."

Brandi nodded slowly "You miss home."

Persephone stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and stepped over away from the crowds. "No, I miss Los Angeles." She smiled and took Brandi's hands in her own "You're my home now. Wherever you are is home." sensing the question the blonde was about to ask she shook her head "No, no regrets. I promise you."

Brandi grinned as she leaned in for a kiss "Have I mentioned how much I love you?"

"Once or twice today, but I can handle hearing it again."

"Well I do love you. Very," a kiss "Very," another kiss "Very much." A much longer kiss.

"Ladies? Would you like to have your picture taken?" Kelli asked, giving off the appearance of a kind tourist.

They looked up to see Kelli approach and nod toward Persephone's camera. "Sure, thanks."

They were now standing in front of the famed fountains at The Bellagio. They smiled for a couple shots then took the camera back to take a few of the water show. A quick dinner and they were headed back to the safe house. Persephone had raved about the donuts at a bakery they'd stopped in and she'd begged Kelli to stop there again before leaving the city.

"These are so good! You want one Alex?"

"Just a half of one." The blonde said reaching across the back seat of the SUV.

"What did you just say?" Kelli turned from the passenger seat.

Persephone looked confused for a moment then tilted the bag forward "Um…do you want one?" not realizing what she'd said.

"You called her Alex, and Brandi you answered to it."

Both sighed, it was difficult getting used to new names but they'd been doing pretty well so far. Naturally there were slip ups here and there.

"We're trying." Persephone sighed while Brandi rolled her eyes.

"I know you are and I know it's difficult, you both know it as well, but we're headed to Montana tomorrow. You will be in your new home, your new life. I'm not trying to be a bitch but you've got to try harder. So far you've both done really great but it's different this time. At least before you just needed to get used to hearing your new name. Now you know one another, you have to get used to responding to, as well as calling each other by their new name."

Later in the little safe house in the desert they were making sure everything was packed except what was needed that night, in the morning they'd set out on the last leg of their journey. Brandi closed her suitcase and headed to the kitchen where the brunette was making them tea. "Hey Persephone, I forgot I ran out of shampoo this morning, do you have enough to share?" not receiving an answer she tried again "Persephone?" her partner was staring at the cups in front of her stirring the tea. She lightly touched her arm "Persephone?"

The brunette jumped and took a deep breath as she tried to calm down "You scared me to death!"

"I've been talking to you. I said your name three times."

"Huh?"

"I said 'Persephone' three times, you didn't answer."

She covered her eyes with her hand "Fuck!" she looked into those blue eyes "It's not gonna be any easier this time, is it?"

"Afraid not." Brandi wrapped the brunette in her arms. Trying to lighten the mood she kissed her neck "Ya know, there are certain activities that are legal here in Nevada that's not legal elsewhere."

Persephone turned her head to the side "What?"

"You know, the world's oldest profession." A smirk on her face. "I hear there are places that cater to people seeking those services."

Her eyes widened as she pulled back "Prostitution? Are you suggesting we go to a prostitute?! One of those 'ranches'?!"

"I just…" she laughed.

"I'll have you know," Persephone said pulling her close, her eyes darkening slightly "I'm the only one you're gonna be having sex with for the rest of your life, and you're the only one I'm ever having sex with."

"Ooh…I love it when you get possessive."

Later as they were climbing into bed Brandi's expression turned quizzical "Wait a minute, how do you know about the ranches?"

Persephone laughed "Well it's not because I've frequented them that's for sure." She settled down into the bed "For one, this is a border state to my home state so we just know, plus we encounter people who've been in trouble here. Plus," she smiled "One of the detectives I worked with, Fin, well…he just knows stuff and likes to enlighten us from time to time."

Brandi nodded "Kinda sounds like one of my guys, Munch, a fountain of information…even though most of it was based on conspiracy theories."

"Sounds like they would make good partners."

Both were quiet as the thought about their friends back home. Persephone rolled over and kissed the younger woman goodnight and snuggled close to her.

"I guess we could've always gone and watched some strippers." Brandi whispered into the dark. She had to bite her tongue not to laugh when the brunette rose up suddenly.

"No ma'am, we're not going to a strip club." She pressed their lips together, her tongue pressing against Brandi's lips, sighing when allowed entry. Pouring every ounce of love, lust and passion she had into it. they finally parted, both breathless from the kiss "Why on earth would I pay to see a woman who is mostly plastic strut across the stage in a G-string or less when I can watch the most beautiful woman in the world walk around in mismatched bra and panties? Or even better, one of my t-shirts?"

Brandi shook her head, unable to speak, and pulled her in for another kiss.

After a plane ride to Wyoming, a stop at yet another safe house, they were finally on their way to their new home. Kelli driving in front of them while Persephone drove their new car, their new used car.

"I wish we still had one of our old cars." Brandi mused.

"I like it. Yeah, I miss my Jeep but it's a decent car." she said of their little Nissan. She reached over and pat the blonde's thigh "You'll be okay without your BMW."

"Oh ha ha." Brandi replied with a roll of her eyes. "So, once we start working are we going to get another? I mean, depending on what they are we may have different hours. I don't want either of us stranded without a car."

"Well," the brunette laughed "We have to find jobs first before we can worry about that." even though she was joking she admittedly was a little concerned about finding a job. They had money from their time in Wisconsin but it would only last so long.

They turned onto a street dotted with a few homes, Kelli's SUV turning into the driveway of a small two story house. They sat in the car for a moment as they stared at their new home. Even though it was two story it appeared to be slightly smaller than Rachel's Wisconsin home. "It has potential." Persephone said while looking at the empty front porch and imagining spending quiet evenings there.

"I think it's cute." She squeezed the brunette's hand "Well Persephone, what do you say we check out our new home?"

As they walked onto the porch Persephone was already taking in their surroundings, the detective in her would never go away. She took note of the lady across the street checking her mailbox, the woman carefully watching them as she did so. "Looks like we have a Mrs. Kravitz on our hands." She said when she noticed Brandi watching her.

"Who?"

"Mrs. Kravitz, didn't you ever watch Bewitched as a kid? Remember she was the nosey neighbor."

Brandi shook her head and smiled "Must've been before my time." she laughed as she received a playful shove from the brunette.

"My ass! I know you've seen it."

"You know you love me."

"You're lucky I do."

Brandi put an arm around her waist and pulled her close "So very lucky."

"Ladies, welcome to your new home." Kelli said as she opened the door and showed them inside. The living room floor was covered in boxes and the furniture sat haphazardly around the room. Both sighed as they realized their work was cut out for them in unpacking and rearranging. "Go ahead, have a look around."

The room was small but felt cozy, a fireplace at one end of the room already had them imagining curling up in front of it. The room opened to a small dining room and beyond it the kitchen. Previously neither would've really cared about their kitchen but since their culinary skills had improved both we glad to see it was quite a nice kitchen.

Kelli pointed down a short hallway "Down here is a half-bath and a small guest room." then pointing to a door off the kitchen "That leads down to the basement. And back here," she led them to a door at the opposite end of the kitchen "Is a mud room slash laundry room that opens up to the patio and back yard." she quickly walked back through the house and pointed to the stairs "The master bedroom and bath is up there."

They walked up the stairs and was surprised to see the entire upper floor open up into a nice sized bedroom. While Brandi looked around Persephone headed to the bathroom "Check this out!" she waited till the blonde joined her "That is an awesome shower," she said while pointing at the glass enclosure with waterfall shower head "And a garden tub." She waggled her eyebrows "More than enough room for both of us."

Walking back into the bedroom they noticed the bed from Rachel's house sitting at the other end of the room "At least we got to keep one of our beds." Brandi then noticed the bedside tables sitting in the corner. The room was full of boxes to be unpacked and her face reddened as she imagined someone touching the items they kept there. Seeing a note on one of them she picked it up, noticing as she did so the drawers appeared to be secured.

'We secured the drawers so they wouldn't open in transit. After seeing what was inside we figured it would be less embarrassing for all of us to not touch them.' it was signed 'The Movers' it was followed up by a note at the bottom 'PS: way to go ladies!' signed 'the three girls on the moving crew'

Both ladies were furiously blushing at this point but couldn't help but laugh. "Well, now do you think you'll be able to use them again?" Brandi asked.

"Maybe not tonight, but yeah…we'll definitely use them again."

"So, do you like it?" Kelli asked as they descended the stairs.

"Not much we can do about it if we don't is there?" Brandi asked, but then she smiled "I think we'll be just fine here."

"Would you like for me to stay and help you unpack?"

"You're not staying?" Persephone was surprised.

"No, you two know how this works now so I'm sure you'll be fine. Plus, I'm sure you're ready for me to be out of your hair."

"Well." Brandi smirked at her.

"I'll be staying at a hotel nearby for a couple days just to make sure everything is okay."

They stood at the door and watched as the Marshal left and started down the street. Brandi closed the door then grabbed Persephone, slamming her against the closed door and kissing her with everything she had.

"Wo…wow!" she panted when they finally parted for air. "What brought that on?"

Brandi ran her fingers through her partner's hair "I want to do more than that but we have so much to do here, I just had to get it out of my system."

"Well," Persephone ran her hands over the blonde's waist then down over her hips, pulling her tightly against her "The sooner we get started the sooner we can do more of this." leaning in and lightly tracing her lips over the blonde's neck.

"God Liv, I love you."

And with those words the moment was broken. "Dammit." The blonde whispered.

Persephone placed her hands on either side of Brandi's face while kissing her forehead "Its okay, it's gonna take us both a while."

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent arranging and rearranging furniture. Finally getting the living room the way they wanted it and the bedroom semi-arranged, it was tolerable…at least to Brandi's standards.

Persephone was just returning from sorting through some boxes, heading to the kitchen for some water. After filling a glass and downing it quickly she looked to the blonde who'd been working in the kitchen. After a near blow up about how things in the bedroom should be arranged they decided to work in separate rooms for a bit. "I'm starving." She said while opening the refrigerator, completely forgetting they'd just moved in. "We have no food." She said looking back from an open refrigerator door.

"No shit."

"Really?" Persephone turned to face the younger woman. "Are we seriously gonna do this? Fight after everything we've been through, everything we've done to stay together?"

Brandi sighed, she was so tired, but the last thing she wanted to do was fight with the one person she loved more than anything. "Sorry. I'm just…I'm just tired, and annoyed, and hungry." at that both grinned.

"I'm sorry too."

"So, we gonna start looking for our new favorite restaurant or go to the store?" Persephone started toward the stairs to change and freshen up.

"Why don't we go out to eat then the store? Because you know, if you shop while you're hungry we leave the store with about three times what we normally would buy."

"Hey!"

Brandi laughed while changing clothes "Sweetheart I love you to death, but if you grocery shop while hungry you leave the store as the proud owner of aisle four. It doesn't matter if we'll eat it or not, you buy it anyway."

"Hey, I've got a healthy appetite." Then kissing the blonde "And we work it off anyway."

Brandi took her hand and led her downstairs and toward the door, grabbing their purses as they did so. "Well, let's have dinner, shop, and get back here so we can get busy working it off."

As they walked out the door, not caring if their neighbors were watching or not, Persephone smacked Brandi's backside causing the blonde to squeal. "Have I mentioned I love the way you think?"