Charlie and Conner stood back to back, a mere three feet from the escape tunnel, with a man facing each one of them. Being his usual, lazy self, Conner tried to talk his way out of doing any actual work.

"Guillermo! It's great to see you, buddy. How you been?"

Charlie tried and failed miserably not to roll her eyes at him. "Seriously, these guys want to kill us and you want to catch up now?" The man facing her grinned, his eyes traveling down the length of her bare legs.

"Better late than never, right?" Conner tried.

The man on his side, Guillermo, snorted and pulled his sword from his belt. "Come on, boy. It's time for you to go back into time out."

With their backs pressed together, Charlie could feel Conner shaking, but he held it together surprisingly well. "I think I'll pass on the time out, thanks for the offer though." She felt it the moment Conner made his move. He gave himself a bit of a boost by pushing off of her back and she used it to go after her own guy. She crashed against him from the force of her momentum and they both hit the ground with Charlie sprawled on to of him. He opened his mouth to say something but all she got was a face full of alcohol breath. Groaning in disgust, Charlie took the knife from his belt easily and shoved it up between his ribs.

Turning around, she saw Conner shove Guillermo against the back of the large house with his hands wrapped around the other man's neck. Guillermo struggled and gasped for breath but Conner held him in place until his body went limp.

Now of course Charlie had seen Conner kill before, it was just rare to see him do it so willingly and without even an ounce of regret. He was usually the one that knocked people out rather than shooting them like she and the others typically did.

"You OK?" She asked him as she pulled aside the fake grass and lifted the metal circle blocking their escape.

He bent down to help her, taking the grate from her hands and setting it aside with a strangely blank face. "Yeah." He turned and looked at Guillermo on the ground before looking back at her with a very serious expression. "I've know that guy since I was a kid and I've seen him do a lot of shit. Trust me, he deserved that and then some."

Charlie nodded and started to climb down into the sewer. "No arguments here."

She dropped to the bottom of the ladder and stepped aside just in time for Guillermo's body to drop down next to her. "What are you doing?" She hissed up at him. But Conner ignored her and dropped the man that she had stabbed down through the hole as well before climbing down and replacing the circle over his head.

When his feet hit the ground, Conner turned to her with a grim smile. "Nunez and his pals think that they've got me locked up, if they had found these two behind the house they would have known that I escaped. This way we might have bought ourselves a little time to get out of here."

Charlie huffed and crossed her arms, secretly impressed that he had thought of that before she did. "Well a little warning would have been nice. You almost dropped a corpse on my head."

Conner rolled his eyes at her as he set off down the tunnel. "Quit whining and come on, I wanna get the hell out of here."

Grinning, Charlie called after him. "That's a great idea, but the exits this way." He turned back to find her smirking and pointing in the opposite direction he was headed.

As he stormed past her, he muttered, "showoff."

XxX

Miles, Bass, and Jeremy had found the ditch and tunnel entrance with relative ease. They'd left the horses tethered not far from the steep hill and went down to look for Charlie and Conner. Standing at the tunnel entrance, the three of them argued over what their next move should be.

"We need to go in and bring them both out. Right now," Bass said angrily.

Miles simply shook his head. "We have no idea where Charlie went or what her plan is, if we go in now we might blow the whole thing."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing while she's in there alone!"

Jeremy sighed and patted his frightened friend gently on the shoulder. "Bass, we know that you're worried about them, so are we, but you know how Charlie is. She's like a one man wrecking crew, if we try to go in and help we'll just end up screwing up her plan."

The former dictator huffed in a 'I don't like this' kind of way and slumped back against the metal side of the tunnel. The three of them waited silently for less than a minute before he couldn't hold back anymore. "This is stupid. We should at least go in and see if she needs help getting them out. You guys know how she is when it comes to the get away. She doesn't exactly think things through."

Miles finally nodded in agreement. Even if it was just to shut him up.

XxX

As she and Conner wound their way through the maze of tunnels, Charlie found herself wanting to return to Bass less and less. She loved him of course, without a doubt. But now that he had finally admitted his feelings for her, she sincerely doubted that he would still feel that way when he found out that she had lied to him about Conner being kidnapped.

Almost as if they were thinking the exact same thing, Conner turned to her and asked, "so how mad is my dad?" Charlie gave him a confused look and he shrugged his shoulders like it didn't really matter, even though she knew it did. "I left without even saying goodbye and didn't look back. I know that you said he walked all this way to get me, but isn't he at least a little mad at me?"

Sighing, she shook her head. "No, he's not mad at you at all."

"Really? Like, not even a little bit?"

"Nope. He's not mad because he doesn't even know that you left. He thinks that you were kidnapped and forced to leave. As far as he's concerned, we're rescuing you."

Conner stopped walking with a confused look on his face. "Why would he think that? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's not pissed, but what made him think that I was kidnapped?"

The guilt weighed down on her a little more and she leaned against the slimey wall for support. "Because that's what I told him."

"You lied to him, why?"

Charlie put her face in her hands and shook her head, trying to shake away the idea that Bass would never forgive her for lying to him. "He was so upset that you were gone, I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that you'd left voluntarily. It would have crushed him."

Conner shook his head slowly. "And now he's going to be mad at me for leaving and you for lying, when it could have just been me."

Nodding sadly, Charlie looked up at Conner's sympathetic face. "Do you think he'll be able to forgive me?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but the voice that sounded around them was not his own. "Maybe if you ask nicely." They both whipped around at the sound of Bass' raspy voice as he, Miles, and Jeremy came out of the shadows.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked in surprise.

But Bass just shook his head and went straight for her, almost knocking her over as he pulled her into a bone crushing hug. He kissed the top of her head and whispered close to her ear. "I've spent years chasing after you Charlie. I hope you didn't think you could just sneak out once you got what you wanted."

She chuckled weakly against his neck and shook her head. "So you aren't mad at me?"

"For lying? No. But we are going to talk about you never leaving my bed again, later." He leaned back to catch her eyes. "OK?"

Nodding, she kissed him. "Sounds good."

Conner cleared his throat loudly. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just the son, returned home, safe and sound."

Bass turned to him and shocked everyone by pulling back his fist and ramming it into the side of Conner's face. He must not have hit him as hard as he could though, because the kid was still standing afterwards, even if he was swaying slightly.

Touching the side of his face gingerly, Conner stared at his father in shock. "What the hell?"

Bass moved towards him again but Charlie pulled him back, feeling protective of him after risking her life to save his sorry ass. Bass shrugged her off though, this time pulling Conner into a tight embrace and mumbling, "I was so worried."

Charlie moved over to Miles and leaned against his side as they watched the father and son reunion.

"You alright, kid?"

She nodded as he wrapped an arm around her and gave her a little squeeze. The equivalent of a hug where Miles was concerned. "Yeah." She yawned widely. "But I'm exhausted. I didn't get any sleep."

Standing on Miles' other side, Jeremy snorted. "Yeah, we know. You and Bass aren't exactly quiet."

Miles suddenly let go of her and groaned. "Ugh. Can we not talk about it, please? Listening to it was bad enough."

Conner looked between Bass and Charlie with a grin. "What! I missed it?" He stomped his foot like an angry child. "Man, I miss everything."

Bass took one look at his son's pouty expression and slapped him on the back of the head. "Stop it. That's... weird."

But the younger Monroe merely shrugged and grinned over at Charlie. "So does this mean I get to call you 'Mom' now?"

"Try it, and I'll slit your throat."

Conner opened his mouth but Bass quickly slapped a hand over it to keep him from talking. "We just rescued you, can you at least try not to get yourself killed right away."

XxX

They made their way back to the horses quickly and mounted up. Conner talking Charlie's horse and her electing to ride with Bass. She had to pull the skirt of her dress up dangerously high just so she could sit comfortably on the horse, though Bass didn't seem to mind as he swung himself up onto the saddle behind her. Her immediately settled his hands on her waist and slid them over the silky fabric covering her skin.

"I like this dress," he hummed with his lips pressed beneath her ear.

Charlie squirmed and tried to pull the skirt down a little. "Don't get used to it. I hate this stupid thing. I want my pants back."

Chuckling against her neck, Bass moved one of his hands to her thigh and squeezed her exposed flesh. "As much as I love you in those tight ass jeans, I definitely like the bare legs." He ran his thumb up the inside of her thigh and skimmed it over the edge of her panties, making her moan softly.

Miles turned his horse from where everyone else was up ahead of them. "Hey, are you guys coming or what?"

Charlie grabbed their horses reigns and spurred him into motion. "Yeah, we're coming!"

Bass never released his grip on her thigh, though his thumb was rubbing more effectively against her with the horses movements. She moaned again, letting her head fall back against his chest and turning to see the smirk on his face. "You're not coming. Not yet, anyway."

She tried to roll her eyes at him but they opened wide when shoved her underwear aside and pushed a single finger into her wet heat. Arching against him, Charlie barely managed not to cry out loud enough for the others to hear. Bass kissed and licked at her neck and bare shoulder, admiring her pert breasts through the thin fabric of her dress while he worked her over. He added another finger to her tight pussy and thumbed her clit, reveling in the small gasps that managed to escape her tight lips.

"God, you're so fucking hot. I can't wait to tear this dress off you and fuck you all night long."

Charlie bit her bottom lip and groaned, then whispered against his cheek with a grin. "Promises, promises."

Growling, he added a third finger and picked up the pace, his fingers sliding through her slick juices with loud, wet noises. "I'm gonna fuck you so hard you scream my name loud enough for the whole town to hear. Then everyone will know that you're mine."

Her breath caught in the back of her throat and her entire body tensed as her orgasm tore through her. Bass fucked her slowly with his fingers and placed gentle kisses along her jaw as she floated back down to Earth. When she turned her head to look at him, he pulled his fingers out of her and stuck them straight in his mouth, licking them completely clean while she watched. He pulled the last finger from his mouth with a 'pop' and whispered, "mine."

Charlie captured his lips with her own, shoving her tongue into his mouth to taste herself. Bass leaned into the kiss but she abruptly pulled away from him and grinned as she wiggled herself in her seat, his hardness pressing firmly against her ass. She scraped her nails down his cheek and kissed his jaw, whispering against his skin. "Nope, you're mine."

XxX

Several miles out from the tunnel, Bass and Charlie finally rejoined the test of the group, ignoring the looks of amusement from Conner and Jeremy, and the look of horror mixed with disgust that they were getting from Miles.

"We should stop for the night and get some rest while we can," Miles suggested.

"No, we need to keep going." Everyone turned to look at Conner in shock. Never once had he volunteered to keep going, he always wanted to stop and sleep. He rolled his eyes at them all in an annoyed way. "Nunez is back there throwing a big party, which means that everyone is going to be up really late and that they'll all be tired and hung over tomorrow. Odds are, no one will realize I'm gone until some time after noon, which means we should get as far away from here while we can and find a good place to hide before they send out the search parties."

Miles frowned. "I don't know, I think it would be better for us to rest that way when they come looking we'll be able to make a run for it without being exhausted."

"No, we need to keep moving. There's a river a few more miles from here. We can go through it so we don't leave a trail for them to follow and then find a place to set up camp so we can sleep. That way, we'll be rested and out of harms way."

Miles still didn't look convinced and turned to Bass for support, but Charlie cut across them. "I agree with Conner."

"What?" Jeremy was looking at her like she was crazy but she merely shrugged.

"Conner knows Nunez and how he operates better than any of us. He also knows the area better. He's the expert here, we should take his lead," she reasoned.

"Yeah, but... he's Conner," Miles said, as if she'd forgotten.

"I know that," Charlie snapped back at him. "But we're in a foreign country where we don't even speak the language. If we were in Wisconsin, wouldn't you say that letting me take the lead would be best? When we were in Philly, you took the lead because you said 'it was your city' so you knew everything about it. This is the exact same thing, you're just being stubborn because you think Conner's useless."

Miles looked around at everyone awkwardly. "Well so do you," he said defensively.

Sighing, Charlie nodded. "I did, but now I think that we need to give him a chance."

Behind her, Bass squeezed her hand gratefully. "I'm with Charlie, let's give the kid a chance." Jeremy nodded in agreement, making Miles bite his lip and attempt not to roll his eyes. He turned to Conner and waved for him to keep moving.

"Alright, fine. Get going, kid. We're following you."

Conner turned his horse in the direction that they all assumed the river must be and took off with a giant smile. As they followed after him, Miles sidled up to Bass and Charlie with a scowl. "I hope you're right about this," he said.

Charlie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me too."

XxX

It wasn't long before they found the river, but Bass had to take the reigns as they trudged through the water because Charlie was fast asleep with her head thrown back against his shoulder. He chuckled as he steered the horse through the water and followed the others. Conner lead them about a mile downstream before he finally pulled his own horse up onto dry ground on the opposite side. He had somehow managed to find the only place in the Mexican desert with trees and led them towards them.

What none of them had been expecting, was to find Maya and Ricardo sleeping soundly on the ground. They both popped up at the sound of their approach and Maya let out a terrified speak which cause Charlie to jerk awake. "Are we there yet?" She asked sleepily, though no one heard her as Conner jumped off of his horse and ran to Maya.

"Oh, thank God you're OK." He pulled her tight against his chest and they all watched as she went willingly into his arms.

Maya looked up at him, the moonlight highlighting the tears running down her cheeks. "I was so worried about you. I thought for sure you would be dead."

Conner shook his head and pulled her close again. "I'm fine, I promise. I'm so sorry, Maya. I'm sorry I left you here."

She shook her head at him, smiling as she cupped his cheeks. "I am just happy that you are safe." The two kissed sweetly, making Charlie sigh at how cute they were and making Ricardo rise angrily to his feet.

"Take your hands off of her!"

"Papa, please," Maya begged. But he wasn't hearing it.

"No. You will not be with this man. He is a monster, who takes children away from their families." Ricardo grabbed Maya by the arm and yanked her away from Conner, but she pushed her father away angrily.

"No! Conner saved me from them! Do you remember when Mama got sick and we used all of our money to pay for medicine? We didn't have the money to pay the taxes that year, and you thought that I was going to be taken away. Do you remember, Papa?"

"Of course I do," he huffed. "I thought that I was going to lose both you all at once. But I didn't because you did extra work with Luisa. She gave you the money to pay the taxes."

Maya looked at her father guiltily and shook her head. "No, Papa. I could never have earned that much money in such a short amount of time. Conner gave me the money to pay for my freedom. If it wasn't for him, Nunez would have taken me away a long time ago."

Ricardo looked confusedly between the two of them. "But..." His eyes landed on Conner. "Why?"

Conner's mouth opened and closed, though no words came out. Eventually, he just shrugged. "I love her."

Maya turned to him with wide eyes. "You do?"

"Yeah. I guess I kinda have for a long time."

Flinging her arms around him, Maya completely ignored the presence of her father and Conner's family, and kissed him. Quite a bit more than any of them would have like to see.

Charlie bit back a smile and leaned into Bass. "Aww, who would of thought that Conner's actually a romantic."

Jeremy snorted. "Umm, me."

"Right, we should have known. Nothing ever gets past you, Jer." Miles said sarcastically.

But the other man just smiled. "Come on, Miles. The kid's just like Bass. Chases after every girl he meets, until he meets the one, then he becomes the picture perfect boyfriend. Now Bass gets Charlie, Conner gets Maya, and the Monroe boys live happily ever after. It's simple I've-known-him-for-twenty-years logic."

Miles actually laughed and nodded. "Yep, that's pretty much how they do it."

Bass looked between his two oldest friends with mock outrage on his face. "Excuse me, I didn't chase after every girl."

But Charlie elbowed him in the ribs to keep him quiet. "Oh, just shut up and live happily ever after."

Bass leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. "OK."

"That's great you two, I'm super happy for you," Miles said quickly, though he didn't look the least bit happy to see them kissing. "But we still need to deal with all of the kids locked up in Nunez's mansion that are being forced into slavery."

Jeremy glared at him. "Seriously, we couldn't have our happily ever after for just one night?"

A/N I'm sorry that it's been a little longer than usual since my last update on this. My family decided that now would be a great time to have some serious drama, so I've been dealing with them for the past four days. I had to lock myself in my apartment and shut off my phone just to get some peace and quiet today and ended up spending most of my time working on this. That being said, this has been edited even less than I usually do (which as you guys know, isn't a lot) so I apologize for whatever terrible mistakes are in here. I will try my best to stay away from my ridiculous, over dramatic family, but if it takes me a little longer to get updates up, I blame them. Thanks for reading. :-)