The Beast pulled into the garage at headquarters. She sighed to see home again but she didn't plan on staying. Not tonight anyway.

Their team climbed from the vehicle each of them with a sigh and maybe a groan or two. It had been a full couple of days. Pulling their bags from the back of the Beast, Gaige and the second team unloaded from the second Beast, which they still needed to name, and said, "Let's debrief tomorrow at 08:00 hours. Sleep good everyone."

Various good nights were called out and Josh, Wyatt, and Axel headed to the elevator while Ford and Lincoln headed to their trucks. She turned to Dodge and said, "I want to come home with you."

His smile was beautiful. Perfect really. "That right?"

"Yes. I'm one hundred percent positive that I want to spend the night with you. I'll help you take care of your arm, wrap it up for your shower, and well, that's good, right?"

"Little Mama, you don't see me arguing do you?"

She giggled. She'd been afraid he'd say no. "I'll drive."

"You want to drive my truck?"

"I do."

"Shit, Little Mama."

She tossed her bag into the backseat, closed the door, then opened the driver's door and jumped in. Reaching her hand out for the keys, she smiled at his reluctance, but he only seemed to be toying with her more than being reticent to comply. Pulling the keys from his front pocket, he handed them over to her, walked around the front of the truck, climbed in the passenger door, and closed it. "Let's head home."

She snickered again, put the truck in reverse and backed out of his parking spot. The garage door slid open as the truck neared and she eased the big vehicle from the garage. At the end of the driveway she stopped and looked at him. "Which way, Tarzan?"

"Take a right and head out of town. I'm at the bottom of Lynyrd Station on the Hill."

"Isn't that Ford's mountain?"

"Yep." He chuckled. "Lincoln and I live at the bottom of the mountain on opposite sides of the river."

"Handy."

"By design. We wanted to be close but not too close. Ford had the land, we each bought our lots and proceeded to build. Lincoln's is finished. Mine, well there's still decorating to do. It's not my thing."

Shaking her head she said, "Me either. And, I don't cook or clean and I'm only a mediocre nurse."

She braved a glance in his direction and saw him smiling. "But you shoot like a demon, you run into situations where guns are blazing to help a teammate. You're smart, sexy, and kind of fun to be around. And Megan's a nurse, so there's that."

She looked at him again, back to the road and to Dodge again. No one had ever said things like that about her. No one.

Then her face scrunched. "Really?"

He burst out laughing and she gripped the steering wheel tightly. Stupid to be jealous, but dammit, that little jealousy bug bit her anyway.

"Megan is sexy as fuck. Long, auburn hair, voluptuous body, stubborn as a mule, and a nurse. Remember, she’s also Ford's wife and the mother of his daughter?"

Rolling her eyes, she raised her right hand to punch him in the arm and he reared back so fast she thought he'd fly out of the truck. Realizing she would have hit his injured arm she dropped her hand. "Sorry." Then she burst out laughing. "But you should see your face."

"Turn right up at the driveway."

Slowing his truck she navigated the driveway and turned the bright headlights on to see. The world was dark out here at the base of the mountain. Dark and serene.

"Stay right up here."

Following directions he pointed to a turn to the left. "That's Lincoln and Skye's driveway."

"Oh, wow."

It was pitch black up Dodge’s driveway and once again she wondered if she ever had the chance, would she want Skye to tell her about Jake's death. Josh's words came back to her and she shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts.

"He's already home and they're probably already in bed." His grin was adorable. His eyes skated to hers. "They're newlyweds."

Nodding to continue to watch the narrow drive they were on as it curved them to the left and around the mountain. The road shifted uphill briefly then back down.

"We just drove over the river. Isn't that cool?"

She wanted to turn and see it again. "Maybe tomorrow when it's light you can show it to me."

"Sure thing."

He fidgeted with an invisible piece of lint on his trousers and she wondered what was suddenly wrong. He'd seemed fine with her coming home with him, but the closer they got, the quieter he became.

"You may as well tell me what's going on in your head, Tarzan. We're going to be together for a while."

He sat up straighter and cleared his throat. "How do you feel about me killing Mangus?"

"I feel fine. I wanted to be the one to do it. I've dreamed about it. Making him pay for Jake's death. I know it was mostly Victor, but those two together were like a hell on this earth. There was nothing they did that was upstanding or right. They stole, lied, cheated, killed, dealt in death and destruction. There was nothing they did that should keep them alive."

He nodded. "I had the feeling you planned to kill him. Truth be told, it was one of the reasons I killed him. Not to take it away from you, but to keep you from doing something that you might one day regret. Not that you would, but this way you have a clear conscience."

"I hope you do as well."

"I do. Sometimes that makes me feel like I'm a bad person."

Reaching over to touch his thigh, she replied. "You are not a bad person."

"For the most part I'm not. But, in our line of work we do bad things: killing all those guys in the barn, even though they would have killed us first and they've probably killed others for Mags or Mangus. But, I try to remember that taking out the garbage isn't glamorous or even something anyone wants to do, but it needs to be done or the house stinks."

"Yep. That's right. My father taught me that a long time ago. I was just a little girl when he began working for GHOST. Back then, Gaige's father ran things. Now it's him and both of our fathers are gone. But, my dad believed in what GHOST was doing. He loved it. So did Jake and so does Josh. I do, too. I don't always like the situations we're in, but I love at the end of the day knowing I took the garbage out."

Suddenly lights lit up and illuminated the driveway, which then curved first left then right, then stopped at an impressive house. Putting the truck in Park, she turned to look at Dodge. "Welcome home."

He chuckled, "I should be saying that to you."

He opened his door and stepped out of the truck, which considering he was in a sling, he made look graceful as if he always did it. Pulling his bag from the backseat he slung it over his good shoulder, and waited for her in front of the truck.

Stepping up next to him, he chuckled but began moving toward the house. "Lincoln's sister, Josie, is a big time interior designer. She's offered to decorate for me and I hadn't taken her up on it before she got some big ass fancy hotel design job. She's almost finished with it, so I think I'll have her come up here and decorate away. How do you feel about that?"

"Did you ever sleep with her?"

He laughed. "No. She's a bit too bossy for me. Plus she's married and has kids."

"Then I think it's a great idea."

"It'll make Skye happy too, they can spend some time together."

"Sounds like a win/win."