A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please, let me know what you think!

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It hadn't taken long for Rey to settle back into sleep once more; the migraine combined with all that had happened since the schoolhouse had completely drained her. When she opened her eyes once more, it was to the grey light of early morning. The jungle just outside the sanctuary of the cave was alive with the noise of birds and primates and insects of all sorts, and the sounds soothed her. Nature always tended to do that.

She lifted her head and looked in the direction of the cave entrance. Poe was still asleep, it seemed. When they had first settled in this hideaway, she had assumed he had placed his own pallet next to the entrance in order to keep control of her comings and goings, but now she knew it was to protect her. By being near the only access to the cave, he would be between her and anyone else who entered. His Glock, his knife, and the FN P90 that he had carried since the schoolhouse were lying close, all within easy reach. He lay on his side, facing her, his back to the wall next to the cave opening. It would be easy for him to grab a weapon and sit up to face the door if need be, but at the moment he was very obviously asleep.

She sat up, and his eyes opened immediately. Though still sleepy, they were alert and focused, and she knew that sleeping with 'one eye open' was his normal state of being right now. She wondered if he had had any real sleep in the last two years, three months and almost fourteen days. He glanced around as he sat up, assessing his surroundings in a heartbeat, then looked at her.

"Good morning," she said, her voice rough, catching a bit.

He took a deep breath and shifted his position a bit. "Good morning," he answered, his voice equally rough. Unlike hers, however, she liked how it sounded. Sleepy and sexy and… shut it down, Rey. Stop thinking of him like that!

She watched as he got up and walked over to one of the boxes on the back wall. He pulled out a package of what looked like granola bars and looked at it carefully. "They're still good," he said, looked back at her. "You want one?"

"Please," she responded, then cleared her throat as her voice still sounded like a frog. He tossed one over to her, and then a second one for good measure. She caught them with ease and was extra glad her reflexes were awake and good, else they probably would have hit her in the face.

He went back to his pallet with his own bars and they began eating quietly. Their silence should have been uncomfortable, but it wasn't. At least it wasn't on her part and she thought he looked content as well. When she was through with both bars, the grey light of pre-dawn was already turning golden outside. She assumed they would be heading back into the jungle today, ready to make their way toward Ajara, and that made her both nervous and excited. She opened her mouth to ask him exactly what his plan was when she heard voices. She jerked her head toward the openings in the wall behind her, then looked at Poe with wide eyes.

He had a finger up to his lips, and he quickly rose from his seated position and walked silently over to her, kneeling down next to her and crawling carefully over to the closest opening, which was very close to the floor of the cave. He lay on his belly and peered out. Curiosity took over, and Rey turned onto her belly and inched along quietly to lay next to him.

Four men were by the spring, filling up their canteens just as she and Poe had done upon their arrival here. She recognized two of them from the group that had taken her, Miguel and one whose name she had never gotten. The other two were unfamiliar to her, but she was pretty sure Poe knew who they were. The fact that they were here at the spring at sunrise told her they had probably camped not too far away. That thought gave her a moment of panic; she and Poe hadn't been loud during their talk last night, but they hadn't been quiet, either.

The men talked among themselves as they filled the canteens, and one of them pulled out a handheld two-way radio and began to talk on it. Rey could barely hear the response, but when she glanced at Poe, she knew he could. She also realized with that glance just how close she was to him, her shoulder brushing his. She looked back down at the men. Soon, they were talking to each other again, and after taking a moment to resettle their packs, they began to head off into the jungle, going back in the direction she and Poe had come from.

Suddenly, Miguel turned his head and looked right up at them. It was only a fleeting look, but the fact that he focused exactly on them made her start. She looked at Poe again, but his expression didn't change. Miguel turned away and followed the others into the jungle. With a sigh, Poe backed up slightly, brushing against her as he did so, and sat up. She followed suit, not bothering to put any distance between them as they faced each other.

"What did they say?" she asked quietly.

"They're giving up the search," he told her, his own voice soft. "They know how hard I am to track, so they're not going to waste the energy. Instead, they're going to have men stationed at every village in a fifty-mile radius to wait us out."

"Including Ajara," Rey said. It wasn't a question.

"Including Ajara," Poe repeated with a nod. "That's okay. I have friends there to help once we get there."

They were silent for a moment, but then Rey asked, "Miguel knows about this cave, doesn't he?"

Poe nodded again, and his eyes met hers. "It was his family that showed it to me."

Rey opened her mouth in surprise. "And he won't tell the others?"

"I don't trust a lot of people down here for obvious reasons, but I have bet my life on him and his father in the past, and they have yet to let me down." He nodded toward the spring. "He still hasn't. He knew we were here." He stood suddenly, looking at his watch. "Let's give them a bit to put some distance between us and them, and then get going," he told her. "Ajara is waiting."

She watched as he began rolling up the pallets and folding the blankets and replacing them in the pile he had gotten them from. He moved over to the boxes and started removing cans of stew and another box of granola bars and put them in his pack. He pulled out another backpack and looked back at her, a question in his eyes, but then he sighed and looked back down at the boxes.

"What is it?" she asked.

He looked back at her. "I feel bad about asking, but can you carry a pack of your own?" He shrugged. "I don't expect us to be out in the jungle for more than a week, but it would be nice to have enough supplies to last longer than that if we need them."

She stood from her place on the floor of the cave and walked over to him. "Of course, I can!" she exclaimed. "What kind of question is that? You're not some kind of old-fashioned Macho Man, are you?" she asked in a teasing tone.

He laughed. "No! I just feel bad about making you work when you really had no choice to be in this situation," he explained.

"Well, the fact is that I'm here and I can help in whatever way you need me to. Load it up," she told him, referring to the pack. She glanced out the 'windows' of the cave "And we can always live off the land if we have to," she added.

Poe's eyebrows rose. "You think you could dress and cook a tree rat?"

"Absolutely," she answered. "I'm not a fan of hunting in and of itself, but my father made sure I would know how to survive in the wilderness if I had to."

He lifted his chin and a small smile graced his lips. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Of course, the Big Horns are a lot different than the Amazon," Rey added with sigh.

Poe laughed. "That they are," he said as he continued filling up Rey's pack.

She tilted her head at him. "Have you been there?" she asked. "The Big Horns?"

Poe nodded. "Yep. And the Tetons." He glanced up at her. "I even spent some time in a compound in Montana near Glacier," he told her.

"Undercover?" she asked and he nodded, looking back down at the pack. "What kind of groups?" she wondered aloud. "I can't see right-winged militia or the Aryan Nation welcoming a latino."

He grinned and looked back at her. "You'd be amazed at how 'white' I can look when I want to."

She folded her arms and looked at him carefully, at his dark hair, thick eyebrows, and chocolate eyes. "I guess your job is a lot like being an actor, huh?"

He seemed to consider that for a moment. "In a way. But the key to undercover work is keeping the lie as close to the truth as possible." He frowned. "And actors get to go home and be themselves at the end of the day," he added softly. He zipped up the pack and stood, handing it to her. "Too heavy?"

She hefted it, and then gave him a mild glare. "Seriously?" she said as she swung it on her back. "I once had to carry one of my dogs down the mountain when he injured himself on a hike. He's a seventy-pound coonhound."

"In your arms?" Poe looked disbelieving.

"No," Rey shook her head. "I rigged up a sling so I could carry him on my back."

He walked over to his own pack and pulled it on, then grabbed up his knife and the P-90, attaching it to one of the shoulder straps on his pack so it hung at his side, easily accessible should he need it in a hurry. Then he reached for the Glock and looked at it for a moment. He looked back at her. "I'm assuming you know how to use a gun?"

She nodded. "Of course."

He walked over to her, releasing the clip on the pistol and showing her the full magazine, then sliding it back in place. He handed it to her grip first. "Just in case."

She accepted the weapon, acknowledging as she did so not only his trust in her but the very real danger they were both still in. She swung the pack back down and put the gun in the front pocket, where she could get to it easily. He nodded at her as she replaced the pack and then turned toward the cave entrance. She followed without a word.

Rey had to gather up her skirt again in order to make the climb down the tree from their hidden sanctuary, but let it drop back down to protect her legs once she was on the ground. She watched as Poe pulled out a combination compass/GPS, read it, and then headed off in a direction not quite opposite from the way they had come.

"Have you ever travelled this route before?" she asked him.

"Not by foot," he admitted. "I know this jungle fairly well, but only up to the village we came from and Miguel's village on the other side of that ridge," he nodded back toward the rock wall they were leaving behind. "I've always travelled to Ajara by road." He glanced back at her. "It'll be an adventure!" he grinned.

"I've already had enough 'adventure' to last a lifetime," Rey grumbled good-naturedly.

She heard him laugh softly at her response as he walked along. She followed, a smile on her own face. If she had to be lost in the jungle with dangerous killers on the lookout for them, she was glad she was with El Halcón.

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