The last person Zara expected to see on her porch when she returned from a school supply run was Nestor. She groaned, unsure of what he was doing there but assuming it wasn't good, and got out of the car leaving her purchases in the trunk.

"Wasn't expecting to see you here," she said making her way up the porch steps. "Everything okay?"

"We haven't seen each other since our dinner," he said, "It's been almost a week."

Zara nodded. "I know, I'm sorry. I'm trying to accept it all, think about how this all works into my life and how I'm supposed to go on like I don't know what you're doing. Before there was some plausible deniability but now," she shook her head.

"I figured," he shrugged. "I heard about your lunch with Emily."

"Okay," she said, side-eyeing him.

"There's no going back, Zara," Nestor sighed. "Spending a week hiding from me isn't gonna help normalize this shit. Reyes is proof, you can't have your head in the game."

"Are you breaking up with me?" She asked, looking him up and down with a mix of sadness, surprise and, mostly, relief.

Nestor nodded slowly, "I figured you'd be scared and I know that's what you were planning so I wanted to do you that favor."

"Oh," she whimpered. "That is sweet, all things considered."

"I'm still not gonna hurt you and I'm still," he leaned in and whispered into her ear, "Crazy about you. So if shit changes, you feel different, hit me up."

"Hmmph," she sighed and smiled as he stepped away. "I will remember that."

Nestor's lips lingered on her cheek as he kissed her goodbye but he was held in place when Zara grabbed his arm as he tried to leave. "Uh, you know, I was wondering if there was a way to pin the shooting on someone? Those two are making me nervous," she admitted. Despite it all, Zara still trusted Nestor, with particular things though she knew the limits, and she felt comfortable asking this of him.

He paused, already thinking up a plan, and began to nod as it fell together in his head. "I can do that for you," he said sweetly. Boldly, he kissed her and pulled away wearing a cheeky smirk. "I needed one last good kiss, sorry."

"You're the one that dumped me, remember?'

"I remember," he chuckled. "If you ever need anything, I got you."

"Thank you," she said with a sweet smile.

Zara watched with bated breath as he moved swiftly down the steps and back to his blacked out SUV. She exhaled as drove away and hurried into the house to be bombarded by an overly eager Angel. They hit the door with a thump as Angel kissed her forcefully.

"I heard it," he muttered into her mouth, "He dumped you. You're free and clear."

"I just got dumped," she said pushing him away playfully, "Let me mourn."

"Are you serious right now?" He gawked at her.

"No," she laughed. "How long were you listening?" Zara knew if he heard anything suspicious he'd be asking already but she was still anxious.

"I came down from the shower when he was moving to kiss you," Angel said with disgust. "If you need anything I got you," he said mockingly.

Zara rolled her eyes. "You won, don't be so petty."

"Fuck him," Angel spat.

"Hey," she said sternly. "What's this?"

Angel shook his head. "Him and Galindo think they're so much better than us and they don't even try to fucking hide it."

Zara felt her heart sink. "I'm sorry. They definitely do and I'm sure it sucks."

"Sucks?" He scoffed.

"Well, they're not better than you or us, if that helps."

"Do you think they're better than me? Than my club?"

"No," she said instantly. "Nestor and then, they're a level of bad man that few can rival. You're no angel, Angel," she winked to lighten the mood, "Buy you're a good man and that's more than I can say about any of them."

He slowly nodded. "I'm good with my life. I made my choice and I'm happy."

"Good," she smiled broadly, "That's more than a lot of people can say."

"Are you happy?" He asked her, staring intently into her eyes. Seeing her hesitation, Angel grumbled something under his breath before speaking directly to her. "It's a simple question."

"It's not a simple answer," she told him sadly. "I'm happy with you, in this house, I'm happy to be going back to work soon, but there's still a sadness I feel every damn day. I should be big and fat now, picking out a name and painting that middle bedroom some soothing color as if it would help an infant sleep," she laughed.

"I'm sorry," he said awkwardly.

"Don't be," she shook her head. "It's different for you, fuck it's different for other women. The receptionist at my therapist's office, my therapist of all places, was shocked I'm still dealing with what happened.

"Fuck her," he groaned. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying it," she told him. "So, to answer your question, I'm happy with where I am and who I'm with; but I'm not happy about losing that part of my future, of our future, and it goes beyond the miscarriage. Who knows where we'd be if Campbell hadn't shown you those pictures. You know?"

"Yeah," he sighed, "I know."

"Moving on is part of dealing with it, so we're moving on."

Angel cracked a smile and laughed. "Yeah, we are."

"Do you have a key to your dad's place?"

"Yeah," he said with uncertainty. "Why?"

"It's been over a week," she reminded him. "I want to straighten up, fill his fridge and make him dinner."

"You're making my old man dinner?"

"I am," she smirked. "We're going to have dinner together, the three of us, like we should have had months ago."

Angel sighed. "Couple months ago I would have said no, you know, but now, I think waiting was for the best. My old man and me, we get along now."

"I know baby," she smiled.

"Said I'm more like him than I know, he's been trying to change my path. I don't get it. Old butcher doesn't seem that bad."

Knowing now what Felipe actually meant broke Zara's heart. She smiled sadly and nodded. "I'm sure it's more about your hotheadedness or something," she said dismissively. "Did you start packing? Is that why you're here?"

"Nah," he chuckled, "I was in the mood to doodle," he said casually. "Do you mind?"

"No," she said firmly. "You're moving in though, right?"

"Fuck yeah I am, I just wanted to wait till you dumped his ass," he smirked. "But he got to you first."

"Oh please," she laughed. "I'm not going to hear the end of this, ever, am I?"

"Nope," he smiled smugly as he moved in to kiss her, "I'll be busting your balls for the rest of our lives."

She kissed him back and nodded. "That sounds amazing."

—

It was eleven days after the shooting when Zara and Angel arrived at Felipe's for dinner. Angel carried in two totes of food, just about everything Zara needed to prepare the meal and placed them on the kitchen counter.

"How are you feeling?" Zara said as she hugged him gingerly. "You look great."

"Sore," he answered truthfully, "But I'm alive."

"We're all so grateful for that," she beamed. "Oh," she frowned. "Angel, I forgot the meat."

"Huh?" He came out of the kitchen. "Really?"

"Yeah, sorry babe. Would you mind?"

Angel shook his head and kissed Zara, pulling her keys from her jeans as he did. "Where is it?"

"Kitchen counter, the pink bag by the fridge."

"I asked you about that. I thought you said you didn't need it?"

She feigned ignorance and shrugged. "I must not have been paying attention."

Angel was unconcerned and oblivious to the manufactured reason for him to leave. Taking Felipe's hand she walked with him into the kitchen. He sat at the table while she began to prepare their dinner.

"I'm not going to dance around anything," she said with her back to him. "I'm not playing some game and I respect you too much to play around."

"I was waiting for this," he admitted.

"I know who you were," the knife clattered on the cutting board as she stopped and turned to face him, "And I know who shot you and why."

"Who told you, Galindo's boy or Emily?" Felipe looked behind her at his wife's urn. "She never wanted them to know."

"I'm not telling Angel," she said, joining him at the table.

"No?" He seemed surprised.

"I think it would do more harm than good emotionally and, how I found out, that would get him killed."

Felipe nodded. "How did you find out?"

"You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"No," he chuckled.

Zara nodded and inhaled slowly before deciding she had to trust him. "I overheard a phone call, he didn't deny anything then Emily basically filled in the rest."

"Did she know?" He asked hesitantly.

"Not until after," she explained. "She was only telling me the details so I could keep Angel safe, so I understood how dangerous pushing it would be."

"And am I safe?"

"You are," Zara said earnestly as she took his hand across the table. "That was the first thing I pushed when I found out. We just have to make sure Angel doesn't," she stopped and looked up at the sound of Angel trudging through the door.

"I know," Felipe said softly, "I know."

"All right old man," Angel said, "Back off my girl."

Zara smiled up at him, "You get your charm from your father."

"And his looks from his mother," Felipe said. "You look just like her."

Zara felt her chest tighten, the emotion too much for her, so she jumped up to continue with dinner. While she cooked Angel and his father talked baseball, nursed beers and had an easy going conversation in the living room. Before the ninth inning, Zara declared dinner was done and the three of them gathered at the table.

"It smells great," Angel said eagerly. "What is it?"

"You have a way with words," Felipe said with a stone expression.

Zara laughed. "Spinach and parmesan cheese stuffed chicken."

Neither said anything before serving themselves and from then on the conversation was sparse while they ate.

"This is amazing," Angel said seconds before swallowing. "You never made this for me before!"

"Uh, yeah I have," she laughed. "Must not have made an impression the first time."

"My bad," he said, helping himself to another serving. "It's good though."

"Keep eating, I love a little tummy," she smirked.

"Nah, I was a fat fuck as a kid," Angel huffed. "Probably why E got the upper hand with sports."

"You were good when you played football," Felipe remarked.

"Was he?" Zara asked eagerly. "I can't see you playing football, you're so skinny now."

Seeing his father stand, Angel quickly tried to stop him. "No pictures, come on."

"Please? Please, I want to see! Just one?"

Felipe looked at his firstborn with a smile but waited for his approval before digging the photo from the hutch.

"Oh baby Angel," she laughed. "You look like a totally different guy."

"He was," Felipe said, "But he's happier now. That wasn't the path for him."

It was stated as a fact and Felipe kept his opinion of Angel's choices to himself. He accepted them but he would never be happy that Angel decided on the dark and dangerous path through life.

As Zara told them earlier, they did keep eating. Once their plates were finally empty she gathered the dishes, despite Angel's offers, and left the two alone.

"I can see how happy you are," Felipe said with a smile.

"I am, Pop," Angel said.

"That's what matters," Felipe said. "We're all happy and alive, let's not disturb the peace you've finally found."

Angel nodded. "One lead left. If it doesn't pan out it's done."

"Angel," Felipe said angrily.

"Okay so I cook well, I don't bake quite as well," Zara said as she came out from the kitchen, "So this is from the bakery."

Angel and his father turned to her with smiles and not another word of the shooting passed between them. The cake turned into liquor with turned into fits of laughter and finally, Angel and Zara passed out on the sofa together.

Felipe kissed their heads, placing a blanket across their bodies, and told Marisol to watch over them, he knew they'd need it.

—

While his brother and father were having a family meal, EZ was meeting with Adelita. The grounds around the house were bustling as they worked to make the area a warm and welcoming home after so long on the run.

She was surprised to see a Reyes visiting her but even more surprised that it was EZ instead of Angel.

"He's still angry?"

EZ frowned and shrugged, "He's not, he's just done."

"Can't be done, we are partners," she told EZ.

"I'm not here to be the middleman between you and Angel," he huffed. "I'm here about my dad."

"I heard what happened to your father," Adelita said sadly, "Word travels fast when you're inside the circle. "I'm sorry, Ezekiel."

"He's gonna be fine," EZ told her. "Angel and I wanted to know if you heard anything about who could have gone after him or why. No one knows anything but no one knows secrets and the underground better than you."

Adelita smiled at that. "That's true but none of those secrets mentioned your father."

EZ wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed but he was something and it didn't feel good. The lack of information should have soothed him, just a random botched robbery, but it didn't. He had a sick feeling that he couldn't ignore.

"Okay," he sighed. "Thanks."

"Is this going to work?" She asked him with concern. "The Mayans and the Rebels?"

EZ nodded. "It's gotta work, we'll do what we have to for the club."

"Have a safe trip," she said with a small wave. "We'll be seeing each other soon."

—

It was late, closer to sunrise than sunset, when EZ arrived at his father's looking for Angel. Using his key he crept into the house to find his brother and the girl he once thought he could fall in love with sleeping together peacefully. Stifling his laughter, EZ pulled out his phone to take a picture to use later when he was startled so badly he dropped his phone.

"Do it and I'll break your hand," Angel grumbled seconds before EZ's phone slipped from his hands.

"Shit," EZ grunted. "You fucking scared me."

"I heard ya roll up," Angel explained as he slipped carefully from under Zara. "What's going on?"

"Just got back," he said cryptically.

Angel nodded, knowing what he meant, and roughly pulled EZ out onto the front porch. Instantly he lit a cigarette and sat on one of the chairs. "What's she say?"

"She hasn't heard shit," he huffed, leaning on the banister.

"You believe her?"

EZ nodded. "I do. She feels bad about shit with Zara if she knew she'd wanna help."

"Is she okay?" Angel asked with his eyes on the glow of his cigarette.

"They got a nice setup, nicer than a camp in the desert," EZ explained. "They're safe. At least we all got that accomplished."

Angel nodded. "You think we can still trust her? She flipped so fast, got involved and shit for dark. We gotta work with her, trust her, I don't know what that looks like. I don't know if I can trust her."

"We have to," EZ said.

"We gotta watch her," Angel huffed. "We can't let her doublecross the club or expose the four of us."

"I know," he agreed. "How do we protect ourselves? You have a plan for how we can get ahead of it?"

"No," Angel swallowed hard, "I don't."

"Easiest thing to do is make peace."

Angel scoffed. "You want me to make peace with her? She coulda got me killed, almost got Z killed."

"Doesn't matter if it's real or not," EZ shrugged, "Just gotta make her think it is."

Rolling his eyes Angel flicked his cigarette off the porch and got up. "Not yet. I'll just watch her till we get comfortable. I wanna see how this is gonna plays out."

"I got your back," EZ assured his brother. "I love you, Angel."

"I love you too, Boy Scout," he chuckled. "Now stop watching us sleep and get the fuck outta here."

"Dinner went well?"

"It was great," Angel said happily. "I'll see you tomorrow." He quietly opened the door as EZ hopped down the porch steps.

Zara hadn't moved since he got up and Angel was worried he'd disturb her if he tried to get back on the couch. Instead, he grabbed a beer and another piece of cake before sitting in his father's recliner and clicking the TV on.

Looking over at Zara again he smiled. "I'm gonna get used to this domestic shit real quick."

That's it! Roll credits! The sequel is already started though lol! Go check out 'And Back Again' for Zara and Angel part 2! Thanks so much for reading, liking and commenting. You guys are the best! xoxox