Nora arrived back at the Militia headquarters on the last possible evening that she could, with the tax evader in tow. The biggest struggle of it had been listening to him complaining and trying to talk her into releasing him for the whole trip back. Still, she hadn't budged. Her sister was more important to her than any excuses that the man she had been transporting could come up with.
"What is it, Captain Baker?" Bass questioned as his comrade stepped into his office.
"Looks like Miles was right," Jeremy responded in an amused tone as he hesitated in the doorway. "I just locked up the tax evader that he sent his newest bounty hunter after."
"I told you," Miles commented smugly from where he stood, pouring himself a glass of the president's scotch.
"Where is she now?" Bass asked, seeming not nearly as enthusiastic as he probably should be at his friend's successful plan.
Jeremy turned to look behind him and Nora reluctantly stepped the doorway in front of him, into the office. As she stopped in the middle of the expansive office, feeling like a trapped animal utterly surrounded by predators, she tried to keep any signs of discomfort free from her features.
The president glared silently from behind his desk as Miles grinned over at her and offered, "You want something to drink?"
"No." She told him sternly, keeping her back straight and her head held high as she tried to force herself to feel as confident as she was making her body language out to be. "I want my bounty."
Miles let out a chuckle. "Straight to business. I like that."
He sipped at his drink, but made no move as if to get her the money he had promised her and Nora felt a sudden wave of horror rush over as she wondered if they were planning on paying her at all. They had her surrounded. For all she knew, they weren't going to let her back out of there. But if she wasn't able to get back with the bounty, and quick, then Mia was sure to be thrown out.
"I want my bounty." She repeated. "I got you your criminal. You owe me."
Monroe let out a twisted laugh at that before repeating in disbelief, "He owes you?" His head whipped over to look at his friend in disbelief as he questioned, "You hear that, Miles? She tried to kill you and you're the one that's indebted to her."
Miles brushed that comment off though and his eyes still didn't leave her as he insisted, "You'll get your money. But what's the rush, can't you stay for a drink?"
"No. I can't." She responded firmly.
"Hmm," he murmured thoughtfully to himself before taking another painfully slow sip of his drink that she was sure was intended just to torture her. "And why's that?"
She remained silent, jaw clenched firmly shut, for several seconds as she looked over at the window in order to avoid his gaze. When she realized that he wasn't planning on letting her have her bounty until she gave him an answer, she turned her attention back to him and stared him down as she responded, "I need it for rent. If I don't get back in time I'll get thrown out, alright?"
"Don't worry about that," Miles told her. "There are plenty of rooms here and they're probably a hell of a lot nicer than wherever you're staying. I'm sure we could find somewhere for you."
She frowned. "I can't. My sister's waiting for me to bring that rent money back. She probably ran out of food by now. I need to get back to her."
"We've got more than enough room for her to stay here too," Miles countered. "And the food's pretty good, if you'd give it a try."
Nora let out a humourless laugh at that. "No offense, but there's no way in hell that I'm bringing my sister anywhere near you."
To her surprise, Miles' lip simply twitched up into a smirk in response. "Alright," he said before his eyes finally left her form to flicker over to the man still standing in the doorway. "You heard the woman, Baker. She wants her bounty. Bring her some bread back with it."
Jeremy gave the general a nod and turned out of the room as Monroe silently fumed in the corner, focusing all of his energy on glaring at Miles in the hope of him realizing just how unimpressed he was with the other man's actions.
The silence was heavy, so after several seconds passed without a word, Nora felt the need to break it. Her voice was much less aggressive than before as she told Miles, "Thank you."
He gave her a nod of his head, but said nothing else before Jeremy came back with a pouch of diamonds and a loaf of bread, which he handed to the bounty hunter.
"Looks like her work is done for the night," Miles commented. "Show her out, Captain Baker." His gaze flickered to hers one last time as he added, "That's a standing offer for the rooms, by the way."
Nora took her payment from Jeremy and then turned to look back at the general over her shoulder one last time before following the captain out the door.
"You gave her everything she wants and then just let her leave," Bass insisted. "She is never coming back."
"That's what you said last time," Miles countered. He turned his friend's words back at him with a smirk as he commented, "And your record's not that great. 0 for 1."
The president was clearly not amused as he glared over at him. "Since when do we give food away as part of the bounty?"
"It was a loaf of bread, Bass," Miles pointed out. "We have enough of those sitting around that I think we can handle giving one away. Besides, it's worth less than if she had taken the drink that I'd offered her."
"I don't see how feeding her sister is our concern," Bass muttered out. He knew that it wasn't necessarily the soundest of complaints, whining about feeding some starving kid, but that wasn't the point. The point that Miles was completely going against every ounce of logic Bass knew he possessed to try to keep this bounty hunter, who had practically taken him out, happy.
"She did good. We could use her," Miles insisted. "I think we can afford a loaf of bread to keep her sister alive."
"She did good because you gave her the easiest bounty we've got," the other man countered.
"To see if she was worth sending on something bigger," he pointed out. "And she proved that she's worth a try."
"Too bad we'll never see if she can handle something bigger because you gave her food and money and she has no reason to come back here," Bass muttered out.
"That money isn't going to last her forever," Miles responded. "She'll be back. Trust me."
A/N: Please read and review! I've got the rest of the chapters written now, so there should be daily updates. Also, a humongous thanks goes out to simbagirl, strangeJenny, and the anonymous guest for reviewing last chapter! :D