Two months later

Inevitably, everyone and Santo Padre recovered from Los Cobras' raid. After weeks of renovations, most, if not all shops reopened, and life went back to normal, but no one forgot what had happened that fateful day.

The day Isabella had been released from the hospital, Samuel had returned to Flagstaff with Lorenzo and Gunner and as the guys had taking a liking to him, had him over regularly. Isabella had taken the time to recuperate fully and then had gotten back to working on her projects with Adelita and Letti.

She had spent a lot of time with Letti, trying to help her understand that she was not to blame for what had happened. Finally, feeling at peace, Letti had resumed her studying and taken her GED exam, which they were now waiting to get the results of. Coco had more than once shown his gratitude to her for saving Letti's life. He kept saying that now he owed her and if ever one day, she needed anything, all she had to do was ask.

The club was back to normal business, usual and side but at least everyone was more relaxed, or at least partly. There were still a lot of issues on the border with the rebels and it was getting, apparently, difficult for the cartel to move the drugs around. Angel had proposed to Adelita and Isabella suspected that her nearly getting killed had made him realize that not only life was short, but he loved her truly and wanted to commit. She was happy for them.

Life was good, or so they thought.

Potter twirled the chair he was sitting on in the meeting room when his colleague walked in.

"Finally managed to get a full report on Bishop's love interest."

"Sure, took long enough," said Potter, "did you go and interview every person she's been in contact with since she was born?"

"There was missing information that we needed to get and then verify," she said as she handed him the file that was a tad thick.

He stopped twirling and placed the file on the table and opened it.

"Isabella Amalina Hernandez, born on October 19th, 1983, in Santo Padre, California." He looked up. "I like that name Amalina, it's got a very pleasant ring to it," he said he returned to the file and flipped slowly through the pages. "Born to a Mexican father and American mother. What a lovely combination."

"Oh, and the boy she was seen with in Flagstaff is her son, Samuel."

He bent over and looked at the information and the picture of the teenage boy. "The father is not named on his birth certificate."

"No."

"And you couldn't find out who it is? I doubt it was an immaculate conception."

"We've hit a dead end in that regard."

"Well, she must have gotten pregnant in college, try to find out if she was dating anyone at the time. I'm curious as to why Amalita didn't keep the boy's father in her life."

"Maybe it's the father that didn't stick around," she added.

He then leaned over Samuel's picture again. "Interesting…"

"What?"

He looked up. "Nothing. Try to get me a name on the father."

"Is it really relevant for the investigation?"

"Everything is relevant."

She rolled her eyes. "Do you also want me to find out what she has for breakfast and how many times a week she and Bishop Losa have sex?"

"Why not," he replied sarcastically. "What I ask may seem futile to you, but the more I know about Senorita Hernadez, the better it is. I want to know what skeletons she has in her closet and then, I'm going to use them and her son to turn her on the Mayans and in turn close in on Galindo and his cartel."

When she walked out Potter stood with Samuel's picture in his hand and walked over to the wall. He once again shot glances at the pictures on the wall. He then returned to the file and turned the pages back and forth until he found the information he was looking for. He then brought Samuel's picture to the wall. "I find this quite interesting indeed," he said. "It's a wild shot, but who knows," he said as he placed Samuel's picture on the wall with the others.

Adelita walked up the back patio of the house and walked through the open back door. "Bella? Are you ready to go?"

"Just give me a minute," heard Adelita from the bedroom.

She was leaning against the wall near the bedroom, smiling when Bella opened the door in a beautiful flowing navy-blue dress. "You look pretty in that."

"Thanks. You're early."

"Sorry, I was bored at home."

Isabella walked to the kitchen and served herself a glass of water. "You're bored? Your fiancé is still in Santo Padre whereas mine left for Stockton a week ago."

"I know, I'm sorry," said Adelita grimacing. "That sucks."

"It's not like I can do anything about it

Adelita sat down on the stool. "So, when is Bishop coming back?"

"I'm not sure. Last I heard, the crew from Stockton and him had gone down to Mexico for some business stuff, and then they were going to stop by Arizona on their way back."

"I'm glad he didn't take Angel along."

Isabella looked at her watch. "Come one we've got some appointments this morning at ReAchieve, and then I have interviews with some new potential teachers."

Adelita jumped off the stool and grabbed her purse. "Isn't Letti getting her results today?"

"No tomorrow," replied Isabella as she closed the back door, locked it and headed for the front door where she grabbed her keys along the way. "She sent me like 10 text messages last night saying she couldn't sleep. Every time I was falling asleep, I got a new text," she said as she yawned.

"Only one more night for you to withstand her nerves. Besides, sleeping is overrated."

"Ha!" said Bella as they walked over to the door, "says the one whose got a man in her bed every night, while I toss and turn alone."

Middle of the afternoon as she was sorting through the pile of applicants she had seen in the morning, determining which ones were a "no", "maybe" and "yes", her phone rang. She picked it up, still looking at the paperwork.

"Isabella Hernandez,"

"Belita," said Bishop as he stood outside with Lorenzo at the Flagstaff clubhouse.

"Hello mi amor," she replied as she stood and looked out the window, "Did you get to Arizona?"

"Yes, thirty minutes ago. I stopped and had a quick bite to eat with Samuel before coming here."

"That was nice of you. How is he?"

"Apparently swamped but he says he's fine."

"So, he has time to have lunch with you but not enough time to call his mom."

"Don't be jealous, mi amor."

"I'm not, I'm only kidding. On the contrary, I'm happy you two get along as well as you do. In all honesty if he doesn't call me, it's because everything is OK."

"That's a very positive way of looking at it and I love your boy, you know that."

"How are the guys? Are the ones from Tucson and Stockton with you."

"They are all here. Which is why I'm calling you."

She raised an interested brow.

"I've asked the rest of the guys to come up for the weekend. Come join me, mi amor."

She smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, I told Angel to bring Adelita as well, and Coco, Letti."

"I could arrange to see Samuel."

"Exactly, and Taza will take the van, you don't need to drive."

"I'm sure I can ride up with EZ or Riz," she said.

"Which ever you prefer, Belita. We just have a thing Saturday night at the casino, but you and Adelita can enjoy it while we have our meeting."

"OK. I'll talk with the guys here so Adelita and I can see when they plan on driving out."

"I miss you," he said as he walked away from the group of guys. "Maybe we can take a room at the casino on Saturday night and spend some quality time together."

"I don't know, I've kind of gotten used to sleeping alone," she said jokingly.

"You just broke my heart," he replied.

"Bishop, I've spent the past week and a half without you and its torture. I like what you're alluding to."

"You and me, alone in a nice suite, naked and tangled up in the sheets…" he said.

She felt a tingle in her stomach. "Don't… please don't do that. Don't get me all exited and then leave me hanging."

"I'm only giving you an insight into what I want to do this weekend," he said as he headed back to the group. "Looking forward to holding you in my arms, Belita. Drive over safely with the guys."

"Yeah, Belita," said Gunner in the background, "can't wait to hold you in arms, too."

"Keep your hands off my girl, Gunner" replied Bishop half-jokingly.

"Ooh," replied Gunner pretending to be scared.

"Off you go, before these guys say things that are going to get them killed. I'll see you tomorrow."