Finding Home

Back at the mansion, Charlotte stood in Nate's arms at the window for hours awaiting word from the guys. She would cry for a while then get herself together only to cry again. Nate stood there as long as she needed, holding her and patting her back.

Time seemed to slow down painfully as the darkness filled the room. The only remaining light filtered through the window from the moon.

"Mom........if you can hear me......please watch over the guys....they mean everything to me....I can't.....I can't imagine my life without them in it.", she whispered the prayer into Nate's shirt.

Nate felt his breath hitch in his throat as he realized the possibilities he had not let sink in before right then. Holding her tighter, he felt warmth on his cheek. Reaching up, he found that he had began to cry. Holding her tighter he allowed himself to feel the sadness. He had only cried once before, when he had lost Charlotte's friendship.

The tears flowed freely as he worried about his new family. He had only just found them........his thoughts racing.......his heart beating wildly. Charlotte could hear his uneven breathing and hear his heart beating hard within his chest. Pulling away enough to look up at Nate, she found the moonlight glistening off his wet face. Placing her hand on his cheek and wiping away his tears. She could see the hurt in his eyes.

His feelings clear she placed her arms around his neck pulling his head down to her shoulder. Standing slighly bending over he placed his head on her shoulder breathing her in.

This time she patted his back calming him. His breath hitching periodically as he got himself together he hugged her in thanks.

The chime on Nate's phone went off. Standing immediately he pulled the phone out of his pocket and read the message. *Pulling up! Mission complete*

Nate immediately picked up Charlotte and spun her around in a circle before placing her back to her feet. Reaching down, he untucked his shirt and wiped Charlotte's face free of tears, then his own before making his way to the door.

"They are back!", he said with happiness as he opened the door and scanned the hallway.

Finding the hallway clear, he led her downstairs as they waited for the guys to enter.

The door opened and all the guys walked in one after the other. Before Charlotte could move, Nate ran past her and hugged Bull. They all froze in shock at his reaction as they could hear him crying.

Dropping his bag, Bull hugged Nate while patting his back. "It's okay, Son. I will never leave you."

They stood like that for quite sometime as all the guys felt moved by the attachment that Nate and Bull clearly had.

Nate eventually got himself together and stood up sniffling and taking deep breaths.

The guys each walked up and patted him on the back and messed up his hair. "You did good kid. Thank you for protecting our girl."

Nate smiled a small smile as he realized Charlotte had not had a chance to welcome the guys. Blushing he looked around the guys to find Charlotte looking at him with kindness. She made her way forward and hugged him tightly. Placing a kiss on his cheek, she then made her way to all the guys and welcomed them back.

Axel broke through the tender moment with his announcement, "Hey! I thought there was supposed to be pizza and french fries!"

They all laughed at his playfulness as they made the way to the dining room where the food was now waiting.

Bull dialed a number on his phone and Jeh answered. Stating, "It is done." Bull then ended the call.

Sitting down at the table, they all took a turn descibing the punishment and how the mission went. They were all happy and relieved that the threat had been contained before their little girl could be harmed.

Across town in Yibo's office, He and Evan both stood at the window looking out at the darkness.

Yibo's phone began to ring. Upon picking up the line Jeh clearly stated, "It is done."

"Understood. Do you need us to do anything?", Yibo questioned.

"All is complete..........we will follow up later. You remain my best friend.", Jeh said clearly.

"Thank you old friend.", Yibo responded thankful.

The call ended as Yibo faced his Son and filled him in on the status of things.

Feeling relieved the threat had been taken care of, Evan looked at his Father with hope in his eyes. "Do they know we had nothing to do with it? That we did not order it?", he said in desperation.

"They know that much, Son. That does not mean that us bringing the threat to her doorstep has been forgiven nor that your relationship will be able to move forward at this point.", Yibo said with sadness in his voice. He hated to break his Son's heart but needed to be clear with him at the same time.

Evan had already suspected this may be the way things would go. Looking down at the floor he did not know how to fix this.

"Let's go back home and we can wash up and finally get some rest.", Yibo said while placing his arm around his Son's shoulders and leading him to the door.

Back at the mansion they had all enjoyed the pizza and french fries. The night was late by the time they all stopped talking and began to head to bed.

Charlotte stood up and began to head to her room. Noticing Nate was not following her, she turned and looked at him. "Are you coming?"

Nate looked unsure as he looked at the guys whom all looked around the room purposely not making eye contact with him as they all grinned.

Losing her patience she walked over to him taking his hand and pulling him with more strength than her little body should have. Stumbling behind her as she pulled him quickly along, She and Nate disappeared upstairs.

Alan spoke first, "I knew the mission would be hard on our little girl but I didn't know it would be hard on our little boy too."

"Poor fella, I didn't know what to do for him.", Seth said calmly.

"He really needs us.", Grayson followed up.

Bull nodded his head as he thought before speaking, "I have thought about it and I am going to ask the boss if he can arrange for me to adopt the kid."

All the guys looked at Bull with surprise and admiration.

"I think Nate Lockhorn has a nice ring to it.", Alan said happily.

The others chimmed in with agreement.

Bull would speak with Nate first, then take it to the Boss.

Tomorrow would definitely be an interesting day.