93,000 Miles

Authors note: The Powerpuff Girls don't belong to me and as always, they have human appendages.

They are roughly 25-26 years old.

Part II

Buttercup followed Butch into the main compound and down several cold, metal hallways, all the while staring straight ahead at his broad back, not daring to look at the soldiers they were passing in the hallways.

He didn't say anything to her as he pushed his way down the tight metal hallways, but she could hear him mumbling things under his breath, so quietly that even she, with her advanced hearing couldn't hear them.

They were probably obscurities he was uttering. Obscurities about her.

The mumbling became slightly louder as she accidently trodded on the back of his heel and she couldn't help but flinch at the sound as some of the words became clearer to her.

Oh yeah, they were definingly obscurities. He was not happy to see her.

But she hadn't expected him to be. After all, she had taken her sweet time to find him, and the last time she had seen him had been a particularly bad day for the both of them.

She heard him sigh deeply after another moment, and watched as his broad shoulders rose and fell with the action, as he cut himself off and fell silent – still not glancing back to look at her.

As they passed more soldiers in the hallways, she watched proudly as they quickly moved out of their way and saluted the intimating man in front of her as he walked past them, grumbling small "at ease's" at them as he went.

She couldn't help but stare admiring at his back as they turned down a less occupied hallway. Twenty-five and already a high-ranking officer who's very presence commanded respect. She was proud at what he had managed to accomplish in such a short time period. She would have never had thought that the most violent Rowdy would have managed to become such an important figure-head.

But he had always had a way of surprising her.

After a few more minutes of silence between them, she coughed quietly, catching his attention.

"Look at you… general at twenty-five… you know it takes decades to earn that title, and yet you got in it a few years. I'm proud of you."

"Yeah, well you know me: I'm their most efficient weapon – so they gave me a token title to keep me satisfied." He snorted as he led her down another corridor, pointedly ignoring the surprised looks they were receiving from the other soldiers as they stomped down the hallway.

Finally, they turned into a less used section of the compound and stopped at a large door with a key pad at the side. Punching in a code on the pad, the door opened with a quiet hiss, reveling a medium sized room with a metal table and two chairs. He nodded at her

"Ladies first."

With a sigh, she stepped in the room, glancing warily around the confined space, before he stepped in after her, shutting the door behind them with a loud slam that echoed off the walls.

He didn't turn around immediately to look at her, instead opting to stare at the door in silence. When he finally did speak, he didn't bother turning around to face her.

"I'm going to assume that Mitch told you where I was." It wasn't a question. She nodded, and the powerful male let out an irritated groan as he turned around.

"Fuck, I knew it was a bad idea to tell him, the two of you were always close. He can't hide anything from you."

"He didn't want to tell me, I begged him to." She finally snapped, unable to take it anymore. "It took me almost three and a half months to wear him down, and even then, he still didn't want to tell me." She sat down in one of the metal chairs as she unlaced her boots, letting her feet breathe slightly.

"I think I finally broke him when I basically got down on my hands and knees and pleaded with him to tell me where you went, and you know damn well that I don't do that."

"Holy hell were you that desperate?" The tall man asked as he turned around to look at her with shock written across his features. She nodded. "I knew I needed to make things up to you... Honestly I was surprised that you didn't tell Brick or Boomer that you were getting deployed out here."

His eyes hardened at the mention of his brothers, and she flinched – clearly it was not a good idea to bring them into this.

"I didn't get deployed out here Buttercup, I asked to come out here. There's a difference."

She opened her mouth to ask why he would want to come to this military base in the first place, but he only shook his head at her. He'd be asking the questions right now – not her.

After a tense moment, he let out another sigh, and sat down in the unoccupied chair across from her. Folding his arms across his chest, he looked her up and down before cocking a dark brow at her.

"So let me get this straight – you walked all the way out here?"

"Yes."

"The hell? Why didn't you just fly? You could have been here in like five minutes from Townsville."

"… It gave me some time to think." She responded after a slight pause.

He snorted. "I'll say." He muttered darkly, looking away from her. She sighed. He was obviously upset with her. She didn't blame him in the slightest – he had every right to be after all. She had wanted to come after him much earlier, but she hadn't known what to say to him at the time. Now, four months later, she had figured herself out for the most part, and knew what had to be said.

"So, let's get down to business then. Why did you come here?" he growled, as he folded his arms across his chest, making the muscles bunch, and appear bigger than they already were. She swallowed dryly at the defensive display.

"I think you know why I'm here Butch."

"I might, I might not. For all I know the Purge has started back at home. I want to hear you say it."

"I'm here concerning the… event, that happened four months ago."

He shot her a sarcastic look as his frown deepened. "The event?" he echoed. "Can you really not say it?"

She slapped a hand to her forehead as she willed her heart to stop frantically palpating. He just had to make things more difficult for her, didn't he? He was pissed with her, she knew that he was, and again – he had every right to be. She had to play by his rules for the time being – but couldn't he tell that this was just as difficult for her to talk about as it was for him?

Removing her hand from her face, she looked at him – deep and full in the eyes, as she murmured so quietly that if he didn't have super hearing, he wouldn't have heard her.

"I'm here to talk about what happened at our wedding."

There is was, it was out in the open now – there was no taking it back. They had gone long enough without talking about it.

She had some things to say to him that he needed to hear.

He only nodded as he sat back in his chair and laced his hands behind his head – his expression as emotionless as stone, giving nothing away.

"Alright, let's talk then."

She took a breath. He was resigned – which was good. It would be very difficult to try and talk to the green Rowdy when he was in a blind rage – a fact that she knew better than anyone else.

She folded her hands in her lap as she willed herself not to break eye contact with him, which she was finding obscenely difficult to do suddenly.

This was not how she pictured it playing out in her head.

Inhaling and exhaling lightly she began to speak slowly, making sure that he heard every word.

"First of all… I need to apologize to you – for that whole day. I guess you could say that I wasn't feeling like myself at all."

"Yeah, no shit. Wanna tell me what was running through your head sweetheart?" he snapped sarcastically, as his voice took on a nasty edge.

She sighed. Where to begin…

Half a year ago, her beloved counterpart had popped the question of marriage on her suddenly – taking her completely by surprise. It was mostly because of that shock that she had agreed in the first place, she figured the more she thought back on it.

She had conflicting emotions about their new situation from the get-go, and while her sisters had been ecstatic, and had immediately set to work helping her plan the upcoming wedding… she had taken a step back.

It wasn't that she didn't love him – quite the opposite. She knew she cared about him more then she probably should be able to, and she knew that he clearly felt the same about her. His feelings were not the concern.

It was hers.

She hadn't planned on him popping the question as soon as he did. Hell, if she was honest, she hadn't been expecting him to pop the question ever, but she was completely fine with that! They had a good thing going, there was no reason to ruin it with official papers and rings and all the other shit that came along with marriage.

So when he had asked her – both wrapped up in each other's arms, on their couch, watching horror movies together – she was so shocked that she had said yes without even thinking it though.

The months leading up to the big day had been a whirlwind of insecurities for her. On one hand, she was happy, on the other… she was absolutely terrified because she wasn't sure if this was what she wanted.

She didn't have the heart to tell her boyfriend- no, Fiancée, she corrected herself mentally – about her feelings toward their upcoming wedding either, as she had seen how oddly happy it made him, and she didn't want to ruin his mood with her nagging insecurities. So, she stayed quiet, hoping that it was just her nerves talking, and that they would change by the wedding date.

They hadn't. If anything, they had gotten worse.

The nerves had gotten so bad that on their wedding day she had come close to suffering a breakdown, and had three miniature panic attacks in her dressing room, and that was the last straw.

When her sisters had finally left her alone in her room on the second floor of the church, she had opened a window to get some air. When her father had come in moments to walk her down the aisle – she was gone.

It was single-handedly the most cowardly thing that she had ever done in her life.

She could take down monsters the size of skyscrapers without even breaking a sweat. She could tame a goddamn RowdyRuff by simply batting her eyelashes, and yet – she couldn't even muster up the courage to walk down the aisle and marry the man that she loved most in the world.

It was pretty messed up when she thought about it.

"I… Well, I guess one could say I was having some doubts about it… The wedding itself I mean, not you." She clarified as she watched the skin underneath his right eye jump.

"Yeah, you could say that." He managed to get out though gritted teeth. "You. Fucking. Ditched. Me."

"I know." She murmured as she hung her head in shame. "That was wrong of me. I know it was, but I can explain-"

"You left me standing there for hours looking like a damn fool Buttercup!" He snapped as he glared at her.

"I didn't even know you had left until I sent Brick and Boomer to go looking for you – they couldn't find you anywhere, and that's when I knew you dipped. What the hell did you do? Jump out a second story window in your dress?"

"Actually yes." She said with a sheepish smile. "That's exactly what I did."

He stared at her, unblinking, as he desperately fished around in his head for words to explain himself.

Finally, he settled on a strangled: "… That was sarcasm…"

"Well you're right that's exactly what I did. I won't bother trying to deny it, since we're both being honest with each other here." She shrugged helplessly.

He snorted. "You know, Boomer had even suggested you had done that once we realized that you had left. It sounded so fucking stupid and unlike you though, I ended up smacking him. He's going to have a fucking heyday once he finds out he was right all along."

"Have you see Brick and Boomer recently?" she asked him curiously. He shrugged. "I've been stationed out here for the past four months – so no, I haven't seen them. Have you?

She nodded. "I went to see them right before I came out here looking for you. They were pretty surprised to see me."

"Well yeah. After we couldn't find you at any of your usual spots – including our place, we thought you had left the contrary. Fuck, you didn't even tell your sisters where you went. They were freaking out because they couldn't find you anywhere."

He leaned forward. "So, since we're being honest here, mind telling me where the fuck you disappeared to? Did you leave the country?"

"I didn't go that far!" She scoffed, mirroring him as she crossed her arms. "I was camping out in a place near Denali I found a few years ago… I had to clear my head. I didn't go near as far as you did." She guested around the room they were in.

"Now, do you mind telling me what the hell you're doing out here in the middle Sahara of all places? I gotta hand it to you: you can really make yourself disappear when you want to. I would have never have found this place if Mitch hadn't told me."

He scowled at her as he jerked his thumb in the direction of the door. "If you haven't noticed, quite a few soldiers could already guess why you're here." She nodded slowly, not liking where it was going.

"That little wedding fiasco was all people could talk about for weeks." He informed her with a growl that made her slouch down in her seat.

"It was bad publicity. You should have seen the fucking head-lines: 'Butch Jojo, former RowdyRuff Boy stood up by long-time sweetheart Buttercup Utionum – and shit like that. It was fucking humiliating, especially considering how big we both are… I had to get away from it. Clearly l didn't go far enough though – because everyone in America knows what happened between us, and that means that everyone here in the compound knew as well."

His eyes glinted. "Thankfully though, people here are smart and they don't say jack shit about it… to my face anyways. So, imagine the commotion you stirred up by coming here."

"Well, I mean…" she muttered, glancing down at her hands. "I knew that it made a few headlines, but I didn't think that everybody in their mother knew-"

"Yeah well they did." He snapped, interrupting her. "Still do. You remember how big of a deal the Reds and Blues weddings were… ours was going to be as much as a hit as theirs were."

Both lapsed into an uncomfortable silence afterwards. The tension between the two grew to the point where she couldn't take it anymore and reached up to toy with the chain around her neck. It didn't go unnoticed by him and he nodded. "What's that?"

She paused, and looked at him hesitantly. He only raised an eyebrow in response. Wetting her lips slightly, she reached behind her head to unclasp the chain, and slowly pulled the circular pendant out from underneath her shirt.

His forest irises widened impossibly as he stared in shock at the diamond ring that was hanging off the chain.

"I-is that-"

"Of course it is. You thought I got rid of it?" she asked as she sild the chain out of the rings loop.

"Well I don't know… for all I know you did."

She scowled at him. "Are you fucking serious? We've been together for how long now? and you honestly think that I would do that? I know I fucked up big time with the wedding, but I'm not cruel." She figured the ring as she shyly looked up at him.

"I love you… you know that right? The wedding didn't change my feelings toward you… I hope that it didn't change yours to me."

He looked at her for a while after that, before dropping his gaze to the engagement ring as he slowly shook his head. "No…"

She leaned towards him slightly, looking at his bare fingers. "Where's yours?" she asked calmly. He froze as he peered up at her. He straightened up with a cough and reached down his own shirt, to pull out a similar chain, with a matching ring on it.

Snapping the chain off his neck, he pulled the ring off and held it up for her to see. His wedding band matched her own, and she smiled softly at the sight. "So you didn't get rid of it."

"The hell would I get rid of it? They were a lot of money you know – it's not like I can just revert to my old ways and steal 'em – though I was tempted."

She let out a small snort, "You better not have stolen them, you know I'd have to kick your ass if you did." He let out a sound between as snort and a chuckle at that, and she inwardly smiled.

Good, things weren't so tense between them anymore – this was safe territory.

She leaned over and held out her hand, and he obediently dropped his band into her palm for her to look at it, while he reached across her to pick up hers.

All and all, the rings really were a beautiful pair. Platinum bands with small emeralds engraved in them, complete with a diamond on her own ring that wasn't too small, but wasn't massive either – to her, it was the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen. She had to hand it to him: he really did have a good taste in jewelry.

She was so busy studying his ring that she almost missed him muttering quietly.

"Fuck, I was so fucking ready too."

She looked up at him, surprised by his quiet words.

"I was so fucking ready to make you my wife, buy a bitching house with you, go globetrotting or some shit like that… maybe pop out a kid in a few years – but… goddamn it. I really wanted that. I really did."

He shot her a nasty glare. "But then you had to go and ditch. Fuck, if you didn't want to marry me, you should have just said."

"I… I didn't know if I was ready to call myself your wife yet!" she sputtered. "That's a huge commitment and I wasn't ready to take that step yet! You know I love you – you know I do, I just wasn't ready to marry you at that time!" She gripped her wild raven tresses and tugged at them, clearly frustrated with herself. "Fuck, I am so sorry that it took me until our wedding day to figure that out! I felt like shit for leaving you at the altar, and I wanted nothing more than to apologize to you after I did it – But I just couldn't face you…"

"Just be quiet for a fucking second." Butch's tired voice broke across her frantic ramblings and made her look up at him in concern - only to see him looking at her with tired eyes, her ring still enclosed in his hand.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that Butters?" he asked her snidely, causing her to fall silent. "I'm not a mind reader you know – you can't expect me to know that all this shit that's going on inside your head! Fuck if you had just told me-"

"I didn't know how you were going to react!" she feebly protested. "I thought I knew what I wanted! Turns out I didn't, I panicked and I bolted. It's not something I'm proud of! And I didn't realize at the time just how big of a piece you are in my life…"

His eyebrows rose and his jaw went slack, and he leaned forward intently as she trailed off. Her breathing slowed, as she finally admitted the second part of why she had come chasing after him in the first place.

"I didn't realize just how much I need you in my life… Your like… god this is hard to explain… You're a piece of me that I need in my life to function… I didn't realize it before, but if we're being honest here, then I'll admit that the past four months have been awful for me without you back at home… I haven't exactly felt complete for a while now."

She paused again, only to be met with an almost blank stare from the man across from her. "I'm just sorry… that it took me so long to figure it out. And why I only came to that conclusion after our… "wedding" day."

There, it was all out now. She said what she needed to say. Now, it was up to him to decide where they went from there.

He didn't say anything for a while afterwards. He sat in his chair, half stunned, half confused, by her confession because he honestly didn't know what to say to that.

The green powerhouses sat in a tenses silence for what could have only been a few minutes at most, but felt like hours to them. Finally, he let out a harsh sigh and locked her in place with his piercing green irises.

"God, you're such a cold-hearted bitch sometimes, you know that?" He ground out, as he raked a hand though his jet-black spikes.

"And yet…" he paused as he saw her flinch, and his forest green eyes softened the tiniest bit.

"…You're still one of the best people that I know, if not the best – hell you even beat out my brothers." He laughed at his own admission.

"Even after all of this… you're still my favorite person in the world. I just wish that you'd let me in more often." He admitted as he averted his eyes. "Counterpart privileges remember?" He muttered the last part, as his combat boots suddenly became very interesting to look at.

She felt her heart pound in her chest, suddenly wanting nothing more than to reach across the table and smash her lips onto his. She refrained from her sudden urge, instead opting to fist her hands in her lap as she nervously blinked.

Why didn't she just tell him before? What had been holding her back? The fear of rejection? She shouldn't have been worried.

Looking at his wedding band in her hand, she traced it with her fingertip. Its smooth surface was cool to the touch, and the metal gleamed brightly under the harsh florescent lighting the room had to offer.

It almost had a hypnotizing effect on her the longer she stared at it, and it prompted her to glance up at him – only to see him looking at her ring in the same manner. The sight stirred something in her, and suddenly a question that she had long been wanting to ask him, slipped out of her mouth before she could register what she was saying.

"Do you still want to?" she asked him hesitantly, catching his attention.

"Do I want to what? Marry you?"

"Yes."

"I've got no fucking clue Butters. Now I'm confused."

"I think you do. Just give me a one word answer, yes or no."

He groaned as he rubbed at his eyes tiredly, before glancing down at his hand where he was still holding onto her ring, and looked back up at her.

"Yes…" he whispered. "I still do."

Her heart began to beat rapidly. This man was the piece of her that she didn't know that she needed. He needed her as much as she needed him

It was then she made her mind up.

"Ask me."

"Ask you what?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Ask me."

"Ask you- wait…. What?"

"Yes."

"That? Are you fucking nuts? Once was enough."

"Please." Her voice broke as she looked at him. "Please ask me… I need to hear you say it…"

She knew that no matter how badly she screwed up, he will deny her nothing.

He sighed, but she noted there was a slight flush on his cheeks. Pushing the chair back with a harsh squeal, he slowly made his way over to her with her ring clutched in his left fist.

Pausing in front of her, he twitched slightly from the implication of what she wanted him to do. She met his eyes and nodded firmly, as she reached out to squeeze his hand. "I know what my answer is now. I know what I want. I promise."

He trembled.

Slowly, he sank down onto one knee in front of her, and although she had asked for it, she felt her face heating up and turning red at the sight of him kneeling before her.

"Buttercup-" his voice is rough and his face is flushed. She didn't think that he looked anymore handsome then he did at that moment.

"Will… Ah god, I can't believe I'm doing this for a second time…" he groaned as he ruffled his jet-black spikes, trying to calm himself. She waited as he cleared his throat, anxiously gripping the edge of her seat.

"Will-" he started again, only to shake his head, and a determined look entered his eyes. Griping her left hand in his, she swore that he saw though her – seeing past her clothes and skin, and into the depths of her soul. She was the one trembling now.

"Buttercup. Will you marry me?"

He said it firmly. No hesitation. No fear. He wants this.

And so does she.

"Yes." She whispered breathlessly. "Yes. A thousand times yes."

He met her eyes and smiled. Not a smirk, not a grin – but an actual genuine smile that seemed to brighten up the room and that simultaneously made her heart stop and took her breath away - as he took her left hand and slid the ring back on her finger.

She could have swore that the earth stood still in that moment.

When he slipped the ring back on her ring finger where it belonged, she didn't hesitate to throw her arms around his neck, as he picked her up and held her close to his powerful frame – she knew this was what she wanted.

He tilted her head up to kiss her deeply, and she melted against him – the piece of her that she never knew she needed as badly as she did.

For the first time in a while, she feels whole again.

.

XxX

A year later she and Butch are running out of the church hand in hand, and making a be-line for the luxury sports car that will take them to their honeymoon spot as Mr. and Mrs. Jojo.

FIN