Sandcastles

by SammyMae

They met in a jungle but they had been a part of each others lives for a long time before that. This is the story of how Lester and Meagan met. A long fluffy/smutty oneshot to help me out of some writer's block. Takes place before the crew knew Stephanie. Rated for language and smut.

I hit some writers block and then went on a writing binge on a couple of other stories, wrote this one, re-wrote this one, re-wrote it again and offer it to you as a Christmas present. This super long one shot is the story of how Lester and Meagan met. It takes place before Ranger and Stephanie meet. Tink, Ranger and Tank have been working together for about two years, Bobby has been working with them for a few months and Les is just about to join the unit. There are some parts that are vague because if I elaborated there would be major spoilers for Family Matters. Really I wrote it because things were getting intense in Family matters and too serious in another story and I just wanted to write something fluffy and smutty and I like Lester and Meagan fluff. So here you go, fluffy, smutty, slightly Christmassy, fluff. Enjoy!

LMLMLMLMLM

It was hot. Like they were in a sweat box hot. The air so thick with humidity that you could probably bottle it. They had all dropped weight after weeks of unabated heat. The only one who wasn't miserable was Meagan, she was soaking up the heat like she was trying to store it for later. For someone who was always cold it was a great feeling and she wasn't going to start complaining.

The worst thing about being stuck here was that they were stuck in a holding pattern. Either the two months were going to turn out to be a complete waste of time and their mission would get scrubbed or they were going to be starting a delicate undercover op and there was no way to tell which way it was going to go until the interrogation happened and that wasn't going to even start until later in the day when their prisoner was finally delivered to them. They were going insane. All of them. Ranger knew his men needed action or they needed leave and they needed one or the other badly.

The tent they were in now was sort of a rec room for the core unit so they could stay out of sight. They spent weeks in Eastern Europe making their presence known so the people they were after didn't know they were going to be operating in Columbia. They couldn't really roam around the camp and risk being seen so their downtime was spent inside a tent and there was a lot of downtime.

"WORSHIP ME FOR I AM GREAT!" Bobby shouted before he flipped open the flap and strode in, "After hours of delicate surgery, I have saved the patient!" With great ceremony he plopped an oscillating fan onto its stand, plugged it in and turned it on high.

"You deserve the Army Cross for this," Tank said and flopped into a camp chair in front of the fan.

"Thank you. Thank you." Bobby took some not so modest bows to imaginary applause.

"I'm surprised you didn't electrocute yourself," Ranger said wryly, taking the seat next to Tank. The seats were arranged in a semi-circle that started and ended with the oscillation of the fan. A cooler full of ice, water bottles and beer held a place of honor in front of the fan.

"Me, too, actually," Bobby said with a laugh. He grabbed a water from the cooler, dumped a packet of rehydration salts into it then put the lid on and shook it. He tossed the bottle to Tank then repeated the process for Ranger and himself. He prepared a fourth bottle of water and put it in the cup holder of the fourth chair.

At 0700 sharp Meagan strolled in. All three sets of male eyes were on her. She was reading while curling a stray lock of hair around her finger; her cargos were hanging dangerously low on her hips because of the weight loss and there was only so much a belt could do. Her tank top had ridden up slightly and was clinging to her midriff thanks to the sweat beading there. She looked like she belonged in a beer commercial and she was completely oblivious to that fact. She walked to the book case, snapped the book shut and put it back on the shelf then reached to grab a book she needed from the top shelf. Naturally she couldn't reach so she stood on toes and stretched as far as she could in an attempt to get the book. The action elongated her body and managed to cause her pants to ride lower and her shirt to ride higher. Tank made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and Ranger reacted. He got out of his seat and went to the book case. He lifted Meagan by the waist until she could reach the book she needed and he put her down again.

"Thanks," she said brightly and took her seat in front of the fan with the book.

"You know, Tink," Bobby said. "You could have just asked one of us to grab the book for you."

"I could have," she agreed, eyes down and reading, "By the way, good job with the fan, B. Hopefully it's more than an hour before it dies again. I'm getting sick of having to fix the damn thing."

"So is that what you're wearing today?" Bobby asked instead of responding to her praise. This brought her out of the book and she blinked slowly at him.

"No, B. I was thinking that maybe I'd wear this Chanel gown I have. I'm just concerned about how it will look with my combat boots. I mean they are both black so they should match, right?"

"I was only curious," Bobby shrugged his shoulder and took a sip of his water.

"Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Nope. Not at all." he grinned. She rolled her eyes, put the book on Bobby's lap and then stretched, arms over her head, and she yawned again.

"Oh, Jesus. You used to have your navel pierced." Bobby swallowed, his eyes glued to her flat stomach and the small scar from the piercing.

"Okay, guys, the heat is getting to Bobby. I told you we should have sprung for a small AC unit when we were in Cabo." Meagan said with a concerned look at the Medic.

Ranger and Tank laughed. She bent to retie her boot and Tank cursed. She looked up to see all three men staring at her. She was used to men looking but not these men. Well okay, that was a lie, all three of them looked occasionally, they were usually smooth about their ogling though. Not that morning, that morning Bobby was damn near drooling!

"What is your problem today? All of you? You're acting weird." Ranger reached behind her and tugged the back of her shirt down over her exposed underwear. "Oh. Sorry." She tugged the back of her cargos up and the top down in front.

"Yeah." Tank said, "Tink, I say this with all possible respect. You need to requisition some smaller cargos. You're going to cause a riot if they ride any lower. I think Bobby is brain dead now."

"Aww I'm sorry, B," she said and patted him on the back, "Drink some water. You'll feel better." She checked his wrist watch for the time and popped up onto her feet. "I have to prep for the interrogation. B, gonna have you assisting. You cool with that?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said snapping out of it. She made for the door of the tent and turned back to face them.

"Oh and, B, the piercing? It was a canary diamond stud." She winked and jogged out of the tent.

"Well, shit. That's an image that's going to linger." Tank said and they all nodded, "Why do you care what she's wearing today anyway?"

"My boy, Les, is joining us today. I was talking to him last night." Bobby grinned, "and he's not going to know what hit him. Hell she's not going to know what hit her. It should be interesting to watch."

"You need a hobby, man." Tank laughed.

"I am starting to think that Les shouldn't partner her for this. You know how he is. He's not going to be able to concentrate, especially if they have to act as newlyweds. I should go, you know, to maintain objectivity," Bobby said.

"Man you just want to see her in a bikini," Tank said.

"Like you don't?" Bobby retorted and they looked at Ranger who was grinning smugly.

"Words cannot describe, boys," he said, "and I've seen the stud."

"How are you not with her, man?" Tank blurted, "I mean you could be."

"Never going to happen." Ranger laughed, "I'm sure it would be mind blowing but we're better as friends and it's better to keep it uncomplicated."

"You're fucking insane."

Ranger shrugged, "Has that ever really been up for debate?" They all laughed as General Frakes walked in, had it been Vadrine they would have all snapped to attention…maybe. Frakes preferred to see them casually like this. Better way to get an idea of where their heads were.

"Don't you have anything at all productive to be doing?" He asked.

"Well, it's been a big day Sir. Bobby here fixed the fan and Ranger and I were thinking about getting more ice for the cooler in a few minutes," Tank replied, "Tink is pretending to be busy and is prepping for an interrogation she's been prepping for, for weeks."

"Point taken, Sergeant." Frakes laughed, "Mind if I join you?" They motioned for Meagan's vacated seat. "You should put a block of ice in front of this fan."

"We did that last time. Shorted the fan when it melted and Tink cussed us out. Said she refused to fix it again if we were going to just wreck it by being idiots," Tank replied. Bobby prepped a bottle of water for Frakes and handed it to him.

"Either way it won't be much longer. You either get leave or you get a mission followed by leave. A long one. I'm thinking a couple of months."

"Christmas stateside?" Bobby said, "I could be down with that. I say we don't tell Mira and Paul and just show up on their doorstep with Christmas shit in tow. Do up the house and everything."

"That's actually a good idea," Tank said. "We should call Julio and let him know we're going to descend on his parents. He can organize everything."

"I thought Ella was the miracle worker?" Frakes asked. He made sure he knew every detail there was to know about the close knit group. The phrase, "Call Ella." whenever they needed something in their personal lives, had become so commonplace that he ran a background check on the woman just to prove that she was real. The woman seemed to be able to arrange anything, with little to no notice and have it go off with out a hitch. Hell his wife once asked where she could get her own Ella. It seemed somewhat strange that they wouldn't call her for this. This was the sort of thing that Ella was an expert at.

"She is, but she and Mira have a little sibling rivalry going on and it can get ugly. When it does, we all lose." Bobby said, "If Mira finds out that Ella picked the ingredients she'll refuse to use them and vice versa."

"Best to enlist Julio." Tank added.

"Why aren't you bugging Ella for Christmas?"

"Ella is in New Jersey with the Manosos this year." Bobby explained, "She'll be up to her ears in nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Last thing she needs is the five of us showing up. We'll go invade mama Manoso for New Years. Less people then. It will be just Mira and Paul in Miami and we all have beds there... Sort of."

"I'm almost jealous that I don't get to be there," Frakes said with a chuckle, "but I'd have problems with my wife and kids if I left them in Georgetown and went to Miami to crash your Christmas."

"I'd say the more the merrier, Sir, but you've never been in the house with both Santos brothers," Ranger said dryly. "You would regret joining us in a second."

Meagan popped her head back in the tent to ask something but Tank preempted her. "Yo, Tink, Christmas with the Santoses?".

"Are we telling them or just hijacking the house?"

"Hijacking."

"Sweet. I'm in." she turned from Tank to Frakes, "He's here and the DEA wants to use one of their interrogation specialists, Anderson; he's going to wear an earpiece. I'm going to guide the interrogation from command and Bobby's going to assist."

"Anderson is an idiot," Frakes said. "His boss knows that you are in charge?"

"Yes, it was his boss's idea and Anderson has been informed of that fact," she said and her head popped back out of the tent.

"Well, Brown, let's do this." He and Bobby got to their feet and followed Meagan out of the tent.

LMLMLMLMLMLM

"Yo, B!" Lester called out two hours later stopping Bobby in his tracks. Bobby turned to greet his friend who was walking up the path to the command tent.

"Hey, welcome to the sweatbox, man!" They did the guy hug thing, "Don't get comfortable. I don't think we're going to be here much longer. This thing is maybe ten minutes away from going tits up. Ranger looks like he's about to hurt someone and Tank has that look he get's when he's about to start tossing people out windows. Good news is we get a long leave. The five of us get a few months off."

"Sweet."

"Damn! I wish I could talk but I've gotta get a file for the CO."

"Yeah, I have to report in anyways..."

"Oh, be warned man, we're working with this interrogation expert; she's fucking brilliant. You're gonna feel like an idiot after about five minutes. Get over it. Oh and she's an 11 at least. Try not to stare. She likes it but you'll just look stupid."

Lester chuckled as Bobby jogged off, that laughter caught in his throat when he walked into the tent. Bobby had lowballed with 11; she was a 15 at least. He'd seen enough of those hairs on his pillow to know just who she was. That was Meagan. Years of exchanging letters, smelling her perfume on his things and hearing stories about her had him half in love with her already. She had been involved with his family for a decade, his brother was one of her best friends, his cousin was closer to her than he was to anyone in the family and his aunt and grandmother had practically adopted her. She had been attending family events for years and somehow they always just missed meeting each other. It was such a longstanding running joke in the family that after the first two years they stopped displaying pictures of either of them because Rosa said the curiosity would be the only thing that would compel them to attend a family event at the same time. The problem with this of course was that Lester developed a bizarre fear of meeting her. How could any woman possibly live up to the one he'd created in his imagination? In their letters and his imagination she was perfect. He was pleasantly surprised then when it turned out that his imagination had nothing on reality. When she spoke her voice was slightly husky and had a musical lilt, like she could do jazz some serious justice.

"Anderson, I'm going to tell you for the last time, you cannot intimidate this man through aggression; it's not going to work. He wakes up every day expecting to be assassinated. He's not afraid of you. You need to finesse him. You need to make him think you are the smartest man in the room. To do that you have to listen to me." Lester looked at the monitor she seemed to be talking to and the guy on screen, presumably Anderson, pulled his earpiece out. She popped her headset off of her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You're going to have to go in there, Colonel," Frakes said, anger was evident in his voice.

"He's losing control," she observed, "not that he had any in the first place."

"Mmm." Frakes said noncommittally.

Two minutes later Bobby returned with the file and handed it to Meagan, "Thanks, B," she said absently. Lester grinned, he was the only one who called Bobby "B." It seemed to suit him better than Robert, Bobby or Brown. She appeared to agree.

There was an explosion of movement on the monitor as Anderson sprang out of his chair and slammed his fist into their prisoner's jaw. "You were right Sir. He's a fucking idiot," Meagan mumbled, "Pull him."

"Well, that's two months of my life I'm never going to get back," Ranger said.

"Harris, you have to go in there. We need the intel more than we need to send your unit undercover. We'll have to go to plan B and use the back up team." Frakes said as he took off his headset. Using Meagan meant that they couldn't release the man they had in custody as originally planned. If word got out the Pixie and her friends were in the area everything would change and the op would be blown completely.

"Sweet. Christmas in Miami." She pulled off her headset and stole the Army ball cap Ranger was wearing and tucked her hair up into it. She swiped Bobby's sunglasses and held out her headset and the file, "Alright, B. Take these, you're going to feed me names off of that list. I've got the first three already, once I've said them, give me the next one."

"Anything besides the names?"

"You'll catch on," she said breezily, "just be ready. I want this to look like it's coming from memory. Like I know everything. Not like I've scanned this file briefly for five minutes."

"Yeah, sure, like you didn't memorize that file in the five minute scan," he joked and she half smiled before she slipped on the sunglasses. They quickly checked their comms then she partially collided with Lester on her way out. She didn't look up; she just kept going. The collision did however bring everyone's attention to the newcomer in the group.

"Hey, Santos, just in time for the show," Tank said and waved him over to an empty seat in the room.

"Christmas in Miami?" Lester asked as he sat in the camp chair next to Ranger.

"Yeah, we're going to crash your parent's place. Sound good to you?" Ranger replied.

"Sounds great to me. Mom will be thrilled. Get Julio to help, though. Not Ella. We don't need that to happen."

"We ain't stupid, man." Tank laughed.

Frakes held up a hand to silence them as Meagan appeared on the monitor. "May I speak to you for a moment?" she asked.

LMLMLMLMLMLM

Meagan leaned casually against the door frame of the former hanger they were using as interrogation space. She had her hair piled up under a ball cap and mirrored aviator shades on. Her tags were gone, there was nothing on her to denote the fresh new rank of Colonel. Not bad for 22, she'd only had the rank for a couple of months. It still felt weird. Especially as she hadn't actually done anything in those couple of months.

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation." Anderson scowled at her, "If I was interested in what you had to say, I would have left the earpiece in."

"Yeah, but I have orders and I outrank you so the question was rhetorical. Get your ass out here."

"You don't outrank me. I am DEA and you're Army. Nice try, though."

"Well, frankly we could bicker about this all you want and then I can make you cry in front of this guy and really destroy any slim chance you might have of making him talk. Or, you can remember that your boss and even your Director told you that I was in charge. So… How 'bout that? It does make me outrank you,"

Anderson stood up with a glare aimed at her. She maintained the almost pleasant grin. She let him precede her out of the hanger and was about to order him back to command when he decided to be a dick. He backed her into the wall by the door. He had about a foot and about 80lbs on her and he was used to intimidating people to get his way. "Back up, Anderson." She warned, "If you don't, I'll make you, and then you will be done with more than just this assignment. You'll find it difficult to find work at a lemonade stand."

"Try it, Princess." He pinned her hands above her head and she smirked infuriatingly at him.

"If you say so." The next thing he knew his balls were in his throat and she was kneeling on his back and everything, even his hair, hurt; he hadn't even seen her move, "Now that we have that bit settled, let me make a few things clear. You are going to go back to the command tent. You are going to go in there and you are going to observe a real professional at work. Then you are going to write me a formal letter of apology and if you haven't completely blown this op by being a sexist dick, I will let you keep a job with the DEA. If you're lucky, some day you might even be allowed in the field again. Oh, and if you even think of breathing in my presence again, I'll make sure your wife finds out about all of the little friends you've had here in Columbia." She got off of him and went into the interrogation, completely unfazed by the altercation. He had to lay there and regroup for a minute before he staggered to his feet. It was really his own fault. She had warned him.

"Who are you? Good cop?" Vasquez asked when she walked in.

She wrinkled her nose adorably at him and shook her head in the negative, "You wish I was good cop." she smiled as she took what used to be Anderson's seat and put her boots up on the table, crossing her ankles. "You know what the cool thing about a reputation is? You introduce yourself to someone and it's like they think they already know you. If you have a good reputation, well that's great; you can get away with all kinds of shit. If you have a bad reputation, well those are hard to come back from. Me? Well I like mine. It's a handy thing to have. I mean I just display a few distinguishing characteristics of mine and people practically volunteer information. "For example." She tugged off the hat and took her hair from the pony tail it was in. She used her fingers to shake out her white blonde hair. It's waves slightly more pronounced because of the humidity. Then she popped the sunglasses up onto her head revealing the large black eyes.

"Fuck." Vasquez said.

"Yeah. Fuck." She agreed, "Right now you're wishing you spoke to Fuck-Nut aren't you? I bet I know what's running through your head right now too. I bet your wondering, 'Are all of those pesky rumors true?' Did I really rip a guy's throat out with a stud earring and waltz back into the party we were attending together like nothing happened? Is it true that after an interrogation by the Pixie they put you on suicide watch because she fucks with your head so much? And the latest incident, Bolivia? The one everyone wants to take credit for but can't because it's got me written all over it and they're too scared to try and steal credit. Your wondering if it's really true." She got out of her chair and cracked a bottle of water and took a long drink. "Lucky for you people exaggerate for effect. For example, the earring? It was a three inch long platinum lightning bolt and not a stud and I had to change my clothes before I could go back to the party. Blood is a bitch to get out of white silk. Oh and I was dating his boss, not him." She walked around the table to where he was cuffed to the chair and she leaned down. Her hair fell like a curtain next to him as she whispered seductively, menacingly, "Now what am I going to do to get you to speak?"

LMLMLMLMLM

Back in the tent they were all leaning forward watching her work. She knelt beside Vasquez and started whispering in his ear. Bobby started reading off names and details about murders into his headset. Bobby could hear her whisperings, they couldn't. He would say the name and then he would pause while she said whatever she was saying that was making the man go grey with fear. Thought she said he couldn't be intimidated? Lester smirked. Anderson was watching her on the screen, you could see he was wondering what the fuck she was saying that in ten minutes she had almost broken the man that he hadn't been able to even get to blink in hours.

"Stop! Just stop!." Vasquez pleaded, "What do you want from me?"

"I want information. I want to know everything you know about the trade routes, quantities, mules, informants, dirty agents. In short I want everything you know."

"If I give you that, I'm a dead man."

"Lorena Santiago." She said.

"Well, I'm going to be sick," Bobby said into his headset, "These aren't good out loud words, Colonel."

They saw her lips twitch on camera, "She was the one you experimented on." Meagan said, "Do you need me to list those experiments? I'd love to retest your method on you."

"You can't do that!"

"That's cute! You don't think I remembered to disable that camera before I came in here!" she exclaimed and clapped her hands, "Miguel, you overpowered me and escaped." And in an instant she went from predator to prey, her eyes became impossibly large and her body tensed and seemed to shrink in on itself. She began to tremble, her skin paled slightly and her breathing accelerated. Her body language screamed victim. It lasted for seconds before she resumed her former careless pose in the chair, ankles crossed on the table, arm draped over the back of the chair, "All of those big alpha male types out there will buy it too. Then I take you out someplace nice and remote and we see if your experiments can be duplicated. I have two." She held up two perfectly manicured fingers, her nails coated in a glossy black polish the same shade as her eyes, she wiggled her fingers slightly, "PhD's, I love research and experimentation. And, well, there's that pesky reputation again. I'm crazy and I'm fucking smart. No way I get caught." She took another casual sip of her water. Her lips curved up slightly, her smile just a little bit naughty, her eyes promising pain.

Bobby shuddered as he read just what had been done to Lorena Santiago. Lester looked over Bobby's shoulder at the file. Yeah, those really weren't good out loud words. Apparently Vasquez agreed because he started talking. He gave them everything they were looking for and then some. She hardly even had to ask questions. She just sat there looking almost bored. When she had what she wanted she stood up and started for the door, Vasquez didn't even know why the words came to his mouth, they could tell right after he said them he didn't know why he said them. They didn't even make sense. "Thank you." She stopped by the door for just a fraction of a second and walked out.

Tank whooped, "And that is why we pay her the big bucks!"

"We?" Frakes laughed, "You mean the US government gladly bleeds money for those skills."

"Why'd he say 'Thank you'?" Lester asked staring at the screen. The hardened killer was crying into his hands. Lester reached forward and flicked off the monitor, not wanting to see that anymore. She was damn good at her job. Everything he'd heard about her was true, but that wasn't the woman he knew from the letters. She didn't show up until the "Thank you." He'd almost missed it, a slight twitch in her upper back, like an eye twitch it was an involuntary muscle contraction brought about by stress.

"No idea. They always do." Ranger replied, his pose in his camp chair was remarkably similar to the former pose of his diminutive partner, he didn't have a table to prop his feet up on so his ankle was resting on his knee, his arm draped casually over the back of the chair, his bottle of water dangling carelessly from his fingers, "Started doing it in Prague about 18 months ago. Mostly it's just the ones who have heard of her before."

"She doesn't like it," Lester said, "like fucking hates it."

"Nah, man, that's where Tink eats!" Tank laughed.

"She might eat there but she doesn't like the cuisine," he replied. "She didn't like going there." Lester looked up as Anderson quickly left the tent. Meagan walked in ten second's later and he turned at the sound. She saw Lester this time. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart pounding hard, her head spinning slightly, but most of all there was an overwhelming sense of relief at seeing him there.

"Well done, Colonel." Frakes said, "Get packed, we're shipping you out in two hours. I don't want to see you until March. You all need some downtime." She nodded at him as he passed.

"Merry Christmas, Sir," she said. The rest of the tent began clearing out.

Lester waited until it was just the five of them before he very deliberately approached her and wrapped his arms around her. She melted against him and returned the hug. "It's me," he said into her hair.

"I guessed that." she grinned, "You smell like you. I hope you didn't unpack?"

"I hope you can pack fast," he replied and they left the tent together, his arm wrapped naturally around her shoulders until they were actually out in the open where he dropped it.

"What the fuck was that?" Tank blurted out once they were gone. "I mean, I knew he worked fast but shit. I thought she was gonna kick his ass for doing that but she… You've said they've never met!" He looked accusingly at Bobby and Ranger.

"They haven't!" Bobby said, "I swear, Les has been looking forward to it for years now. You said she didn't know he was coming."

"She didn't." Ranger chuckled, "They have been sharing a room at the Santos house for years. You both know about the letters. I guess they have been communicating more than any of us thought."

Bobby smacked his palm to his forehead, "Chemical warfare," he groaned. "I should have known."

"Excuse me?" Tank asked.

"She told Julio once that she thought Lester smelled good. It was after she slept in Lester's bed the first time. Julio told Lester and since then whenever he's home Lester sprays his pillow with his cologne before he leaves so she smells him when she goes to bed. She told me last week that she does the same with her perfume. I said it was like flirtatious chemical warfare. Les looks like Ranger and she knows what Lester smells like. Of course, she knew it was him."

Meagan led Lester back towards her quarters so she could pack and so they could actually speak for the first time. They were half way down the path when he stopped her and dragged her into the bush, out of sight. "The 'Thank you' got you didn't it?" he asked and she nodded. He pulled her into another hug and she let just let everything out. They did this in their letters when things weren't going well and it always felt good to trust him with her feelings. He always knew the exact thing to say even if she had to wait months before she got a reply.

"I hate it. I hate that I'm good at it. I hate that while I'm doing it I like it. I found that shit in there fun! How sick am I that I like twisting a man's head around so much that he's going to have nightmares for months? It didn't need to happen. It really didn't. Fucking Anderson! All he had to do was listen to me and Vasquez would have talked just to prove he was smarter than Anderson. I didn't need to give the man nightmares. I didn't have to…"

"Listen to me, Meagan," Lester said cutting her off firmly but gently. "Vasquez could use a few nightmares. You are sought after because you don't have to fuck people up to get intel."

"I could, Lester. I could. The rumors about the suicide watch aren't true, but I know I could do that, too. Fuck, in there today I wanted to. I wanted to go there and I just barely stopped myself. One day something's going to happen and I'm going to do it. I won't feel remorse for it either and that's fucked up."

"You sound like you're cracking, Gorgeous." he said. "If there was ever anyone in dire need of a vacation, it's you."

"Yeah, some vacation it's going to be." She chuckled ruefully into his chest, "Your parent's house is going to be packed."

"Lucky for us we have our own room then, huh?" She tipped her head up and looked at him; her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"That's rather presumptuous of you."

"I swear to God if I don't share that bed with you at least once… with the both of us in it… at the same time… I might have to end it all."

"And people say Carlos and I think alike." She smiled at him and his breath caught momentarily. Not that she noticed, what she did notice was that the pupils of his vibrant green eyes had dilated with attraction. It had her heart pounding so hard that she was starting to have trouble thinking straight. His arms, comforting at first, were still around her but now instead of a feeling of security she was hyper aware of every angle of his body pressed up against hers. His hands shifted slightly lower when she adjusted her angle to try and regain her equilibrium. It did nothing except cause her lips to part and her cheeks to flush slightly from arousal.

"Fuck, Meagan, your eyes…" He sounded… captivated.

"Good or bad?" She bit her lip nervously, "They freak people out a lot of the time."

"Fucking beautiful. You're fucking beautiful. And I'm not just saying that because I really want to get into your pants." She freed her lip and a grin, the one that hinted at the woman who was just begging to play, lit her features again.

"What would you say if you really wanted to get into my pants?" Her voice was an octave lower than it had been before.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and brought his mouth to her ear, barely grazing the shell of it with his lips as he whispered, "I'd say, 'Meagan, you're beautiful and it's all I can do not to take you back to your quarters right now and fuck you until your legs won't stop shaking.'"

She hid her face against his chest and started laughing, silently at first, and then tipped her head back and laughed hard. He was fighting a smile while hitting her with a tragic pair of green puppy dog eyes, "I'm hurt you find the idea so amusing."

"Oh, Lester, you said that and my first reaction was to think, 'Why the hell do we have to go back to my quarters? There's a perfectly good tree right here that you could fuck me against.'"

He started laughing too, "Come here, you. I've waited years to do this." And with that he covered her still smiling mouth with his and they both forgot about everything but their first kiss. Meagan was not inexperienced by any stretch of the imagination and neither was Lester; but this wasn't just any first kiss. This was a kiss between two experts of seduction, neither wanting to leave anything but the best first impression. He gently bit her lip and she groaned as she slipped her hand up the inside of his shirt, scratching her nails lightly down his abs. The act turning her on just as much as it did him. She loved cut abs and from what she could feel, Lester certainly had them. His hand on her hip, he directed her until she was backed up against the tree she had pointed to seconds ago. She was right it was a perfectly good tree. His other hand released her hair and went to her other hip, his intention was to lift her up against the tree, both of them were completely out of control, when a car horn sounded, startling them apart.

"Oh, shit!" She gasped, "You're way too good at that. I'm in so much trouble right now."

"Me, too. We have to get out of here and not to my parent's place. Come with me." It wasn't a question. It was an order that she was more than willing to obey. She'd only been half joking about the tree before he kissed her, half way through the kiss she wasn't joking at all about the tree. When her back hit it, she was hoping that her belt would finally give up the impossible task of keeping her too big cargos up and just drop to the ground.

"You organize the ride. Use the charter service we're going to be using to go stateside. I'll pack. What do I need?" she said, her eyes glued to his lips, wanting more. God she wanted more.

"Pack for the beach," he said his voice think with desire and it was only a Herculean show of self control that was stopping him from saying 'Fuck it all' and ravishing her mouth with another kiss. He kept himself to a quick, bruising, heart stopping kiss before he took off to make the travel arrangements. He left her up against the tree. She touched her now swollen lips and resisted the impulse to do a happy dance in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. She couldn't help the girlish giggle that escaped before she jogged to her quarters.

She packed two bags. One she was sending back with Ranger, the other was coming with her wherever they ended up. That bag was much smaller. One of Lester's t-shirts (stollen from him, Lord only knew when), underwear, two bikinis that would cause his blood pressure to sky rocket, a sun dress, a pair of sandals and her toiletries. She'd buy anything else she would need. Everything else got crammed into her duffle to go back with Ranger who would probably visit with Julie before going to the Santos's. She'd pick it up from him before she went to the Santos house. She giggled to herself again and licked her lips in a subconscious and futile attempt to taste him again.

"So I take it you won't be coming back to Miami right away then?" Ranger teased from the doorway. She'd felt his presence before he'd spoken so she'd not been startled by him.

"Oh, hell no!" She laughed and turned to look at him, "Carlos I am so screwed." She flopped dramatically back onto her cot and covered her eyes with her arm. She was flushed and a little breathless still.

"Well, not yet but you will be," he chuckled.

"Shut up! That's not what I mean and you know it!" She laughed and he effortlessly knocked the pillow she tossed at him out of the air, "I know he's a player and I'm a sucker for them. I know how to handle them but, fuck he's good! One kiss and I…"

"Have nothing to worry about." he reassured her, "He just walked up to Bobby and said, 'Man, I'm fucked.'"

"He did?" She popped up onto her elbows, her eyes wide with hope "Did you hear anything else?"

"Oh Christ, you do have it bad. You're acting like a girl your age. You've never done that a day in your life. Get it out of your system. I'm going to need you to be the Pixie when we get back to work."

"Oh, fuck off!" She threw the duffle at him. "I can still take you."

"Maybe." he shrugged and slung the bag over his shoulder before reaching down to haul her to her feet, "Just do me a favor?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember that he's a good man and that he won't hurt you. Let yourself get caught up in this and enjoy it. You've more than earned it." He picked up the smaller bag and handed it to her. She slung it over her shoulder and put her arm around Carlos's waist in a sisterly hug. He kissed her hair affectionately and for a moment, they were Meagan and Carlos, not Tink and Ranger. They didn't get a lot of these moments lately and it felt good. "If he does hurt you, pretend for a minute that you are a regular girl and let me be the one to kick his ass okay?"

"I think you would have to get in line Carlos."

"Fuck that. The line starts behind me Hermana."

They met everyone at the chopper they would take to Cartagena. From there they would board a private jet to DC, do a quick debrief and then go on their leave. A leave that had been approved of by absolutely every single one of their commanding officers. "So descending upon Lester's parents, great idea." Meagan said while their luggage was being stowed, "But maybe not three weeks before Christmas. I say we show up a week before. That way Mira doesn't end up hating us."

"That's what Julio said when I called." Bobby said, "He's arranging for everything, we'll just have to pick up the tree when we land." While they were waiting for their bags to be stowed several different aides showed up to hand Tink and Ranger various files. Meagan would scan the top sheet of whatever file she had been given and either hand it to Ranger or tuck it under her arm. He would do the same. The last aide offered her a binder that strongly resembled the Yellow Pages in thickness, "Your personal correspondence ma'am."

"This is just this month right?" she asked. Tank took the other files from her so she could take the brick she was being offered.
"Yes ma'am, General Frakes said he'd ship the rest to Miami for you if you needed it. If you don't it will go to DC and from there to your next posting."

"Thank him for me." She said and was about to start reading when Ranger took it from her.

"It can wait Hermana, if you start reading this now, you'll hold us up and someone will stop us from going on leave. Get in the fucking heilo."

They took their customary seats once inside the chopper. Meagan sat beside Ranger, Bobby beside her, Tank opposite Ranger and Lester, the new guy, sat across from Bobby. She was just barely belted in when she took the binder back from Ranger and flipped it opened. She carefully read the first page and yawned. "We're being bought out." she announced to Carlos, "They're offering us twice what it's worth. I'm saying let's sell before they realize their mistake." Ranger looked over her shoulder and then shifted the binder into his lap as the chopper took flight.

"I agree." Ranger handed her the report back, "I'll talk to our lawyers when we land. You want in on the negotiations?"

"Fuck no. I've got a call with the board of MacDunnaugh that I should be on in January and according to Julio, an inch thick financial report waiting for me. I should spend a week in New York sometime after Christmas as well. But that's it. I have leave. I'm going to actually enjoy it for a change."

"I will believe that when it happens, Hermana." Ranger smirked and ruffled her hair.

"I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks checking out locations for the start up." Tank announced, "I'm thinking New Jersey, New York, and Miami. They make the most sense for us personally. I want to look at the markets there, and I want to look at Boston and possibly Atlanta."

"We're a few years away from that Big Guy." Meagan said.

"Which is why I want to get an idea of the market now. I can make comparisons down the road."

"You do what you gotta do. It's barely a plan right now."

"Which is why you have me. I plan the shit out of everything and then you guys pick apart the flaws. Otherwise, you come up with something vague and make up the rest as you go and it pisses me off. We aren't all super genius super heroes. You want this to be successful then we are going to have to start putting together an idea right now."

Meagan shrugged "I say again, you do what you gotta do, Big Guy." She yawned and closed her eyes.

"…and Tink goes out in 3-2-1," Bobby said and she flipped him off but he wasn't that far off. About a minute later she dozed off. A bit of turbulence and her head was on Ranger's shoulder. In a well practiced move he shifted to accommodate her more comfortably. Lester raised an eyebrow, surprised at how fast she went out. He'd heard enough about her relationship with Ric to know that there was nothing going on there. For a good portion of her life the only one who offered her any sort of feelings of security was Ric. That she cuddled him didn't bother Lester beyond the fact that he wished he was in his cousin's shoes.

"She's physically incapable of staying awake in a helicopter." Tank said, "Doesn't matter when we leave or what we are about to do, chopper knocks her out and she always ends up passed out on the nearest shoulder. It's pretty funny when it happens to some unsuspecting Captain. They don't know that all you have to do is shift her on to Ric or Bobby or me and she won't wake up. So they spend the whole flight all tense. She will wake up two minutes before the descent and be as alert as if she's never been asleep. It's the damnedest thing."

"It's her dad's fault." Lester said, "He used to take a chopper to New York all the time. He'd take her with him, usually really early in the morning or really late at night depending on his meeting schedule, so she'd always be tired on the flight. She said he'd let her sleep on his lap for the flight and he'd wake her up when it was time to buckle her seatbelt. Early childhood conditioning at work here."

"Just what the hell did you write to each other?" Bobby asked with a laugh.

"Julio told me that one. I was telling him how you can't get into a chopper without needing to take a piss immediately upon landing even if it was only a five minute flight and how fucking annoying it was. He told me about her dad."

She opened her eyes ten minutes later and yawned. She gave Ranger's arm an affectionate squeeze and then sat up, "Didn't even drool on you this time," she teased in German.

"Feel better?" He replied in kind.

"Much." she glanced at Lester and she got butterflies in her stomach and fought a blush of excitement.

"My cousin looked like he was plotting my death when you put your head on my shoulder."

"Stop it. You aren't allowed to tease me over this." She pouted and crossed her arms like a petulant child.

"Oh, hell yes I will."

"You tease me and I'll tell you in great detail what he's like in bed because I fully plan to explore him as soon as possible."

"You're not right in the head. Under no circumstances do I want to know anything he does in the sack." Ranger chuckled and then glanced at Lester again, "His head is going to explode. If I put my arm around you right now I'm pretty sure he'll shoot me."

"He's simply jealous because he wants to be touching me right now. Has nothing to do with whether or not you have a shot with me. He's a smart guy. I'm pretty sure he realizes that if something were going to happen between us it would have by now. It's not you, it's Bobby. If he moves any closer to me Lester is going to inflict pain on him."

Bobby casually and completely unconsciously, draped his arm around the back of her seat while he was talking to Tank and Lester just as casually kicked him in the shin. Meagan began giggling uncontrollably and Ranger grinned. "This is going to be fun. Can I be the one to tell him that I was your first kiss?" he asked. Meagan backhanded him in the chest and he chuckled, "Hermana, I've never seen you like this. I'm going to have as much fun with it as possible."

"You know how much I fucking hate it when you speak in a language I don't understand." Tank grumbled irritably. "If you can't speak English, French or Spanish will be fine."

"Je m'excuse Pierre." Meagan purred at him and Tank raised his hand like he was going to hit her and cussed at her in French. She blew him a cheeky kiss in response. "You love me and you know it big guy."

"Some days I wonder."

They touched down a minute later and predictably Bobby hit the head, Tank went to grab a coffee and Ranger went to talk to the pilot who was in the Terminal filing a new flight plan because of some iffy weather that he wanted to avoid. Lester grabbed Meagan's hand and dragged her onboard the plane and straight back to the aft bedroom. He closed the door, pushed her up against it and kissed the hell out of her. She let him for about ten seconds before she pushed him away.

"Are you seriously marking your territory right now?" She challenged.

"Fuck, yes." He said breathlessly, "You're a flirt and I just wanted to be clear about what my intentions were. I want more than friendship with you Meagan."

"Just checking." She said and yanked on his t-shirt so he'd bend slightly and she kissed him back just as passionately. When his hand caressed her stomach, his thumb brushing over her belly button she pushed him away. "Just so you know, we're on the same page." she walked out of the bedroom and sat at the table at the back of the plane. Lester grinned, he was well and truly fucked. It wasn't every day that you met your match.

What he didn't realize was just how much paperwork Ranger and Meagan actually had to do. The back seats of the plane were around a small table, and while she was sitting as close to Lester as possible and their legs were touching, she and Ranger worked for the entire flight back to the States. "I bet we're going back to A-Stan." Meagan said dropping her pen onto the table, "I say this simply because we haven't been there in a while. And as much as I like to keep things small, we need more men in the unit and that's where everyone is deployed."

"We'll be back in South America." Ranger disagreed.

"My money is on Russia," Tank said.

"Actually Tank is probably right. They're probably going to have us go hunting again." Meagan said, "Either way. I'm done. I'm looking forward to this time off and I've decided to forget my cell phone somewhere for two weeks. I'm going to refuse to use it. In fact…" She found the offending device and removed the battery. She handed the battery to Ranger and said, "I don't want to see it until January 5th."

Ranger grinned. "It's about fucking time," he said and shoved it into one of the many pockets of his cargos. Their flight attendant, a pretty British woman by the name of Daphne, approached the table. She'd spent most of the flight doing nothing as Bobby was sound asleep forward and aft they were all working. "Colonel Harris, we're making our final approach to Andrews," she said and blushed slightly when Lester smiled at her. "The Captain asked me to tell you that he received word that you will be doing your debriefing at Andrews and not at the Pentagon. He's going to re-fuel and take on supplies. Is there anything specific you'd like?"

"Bell peppers," she said, "any color, cut into sticks. Les?"

"Just some turkey sandwiches on rye bread, hold the mayo, please." He smiled at Daphne again. She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled lightly, showing a hint of dimple.

"Yes Sir." She glanced at Meagan who was completely unconcerned about the way Lester had just checked out the flight attendant. Daphne had worked for Meagan for a long time and Meagan was definitely a flirt, she naturally assumed then that Meagan was not interested in Lester so she slipped him her number. Lester took it and put it in his pocket.

They touched down minutes later and were met on the tarmac by Vadrine. As usual they didn't snap to attention but they did stop fucking around. Meagan and Ranger stepped forward. "Anything I need to know that's not in your reports?"

"Anderson, does he have a reputation?" Meagan asked.

"As anything other than an idiot?" Vadrine asked, "He believes his marriage vows only count if he's on the same continent as his wife. Other than that, nothing that I'm aware of."

"Ask around." she said, "He pinned me up against the wall outside of the interrogation. I'll press charges if he's done it before. If it was his first offence I doubt he'll be trying it again. I rearranged his manhood and put him down."

It was a damn good thing Lester didn't have that knowledge when he met Anderson in the tent hours before. Anderson would be dead right now if he did. "Cool it man." Bobby whispered, dragging him out of earshot "Pisses me off too, but she put it to me this way, the same type of asshole that would do that to her is the same type of asshole that would have taken a swing at you or me. We'd have put him down and moved on, reported him if it happened again. She's just doing the same thing. The only difference in this situation is if he makes a habit of being aggressive towards women then she will take action and he'll wish he'd never met Colonel Meagan Harris. She fights her own battles and she fights them well. She doesn't need you to do it."

"She shouldn't have to."

"It's not a perfect world. If it were, we wouldn't have a job."

They looked back over at Ranger and Meagan talking with Vadrine, she said something and Vadrine chuckled. She flashed a smile at Lester and then feigned innocence by biting her lip and staring up to the sky. Lester heard Bobby suck in a breath and Lester turned to look at his partner again, "Am I stepping on toes? I should have asked."

"A bit late now but thanks for asking." Bobby laughed, "She's just, damn, you don't even know yet. No, you aren't stepping on toes, you've been talking about this girl for years, I'm wasn't even going to try anything until I saw if you hit it off or not. You should know though, she thinks I'm hot and I make her laugh, if you fuck this up I'm moving in."

"Noted." Lester said as they moved back to the group "But don't get your hopes up. I'm not fucking this up."

Vadrine's aide, a man by the name of Davies, approached them and Meagan took a step back and waved him off, "Don't even think about giving me anything to read Major. I don't want it. I'm on vacation I have the paperwork to prove it and everything. I've given Carlos my cell phone battery, for the next three weeks I want nothing to do to the U.S. Army."

"It's just that we heard you were in town, we ha-" Vadrine held up his hand to cut of Davies.

"Whatever it is, it's not going to happen, Major." He said, "Colonel Manoso, her cell phone battery." He held out his hand and Ranger handed him the battery. "Colonel Harris, the phone?" She handed him the phone. He reconnected the battery and shoved the phone into his pocket, "Short of a repeat of Pearl Harbour or 9/11 I don't want to hear from either of you until the first of March. You're whole unit is on leave until then. I don't want to know where you are going or what you are doing so I can't contact you. In fact, I want all of your phones. If there is an emergency, I will contact Doctor Santos and he can track you down."

"You know? I knew there was a reason I loved you, General," she said cheekily.

"You're pushing it, Colonel."

"But I haven't crossed the line just yet, have I?" She winked and he rolled his eyes.

"Get out of my sight."

After that they scattered. Ranger to Miami to see his daughter, Tank and Bobby went to check in with some buddies of theirs in Maryland and then Bobby was going to go with Tank on his mystery scouting mission. Lester handed Davies, Daphne's number, "Toss that for me?"

"You don't want to keep that? Daphne's hot."

"Nah man, don't need it. I'm spoken for, just didn't want to embarrass her by rejecting her in front of everyone." he said. Meagan, busy with signing shit for Ric so they could sell whatever the hell they were selling, hadn't missed the exchange. She forced herself to keep her eyes on the page of the binder despite the happy summersaults her stomach was doing. She wasn't particularly worried when Daphne handed Lester the number, she got handed numbers all the time and never called them, she often just shoved them in her pocket for expedience sake and emptied her pockets when she got home. She suspected that Lester was the same way. It was nice to hear him say that he was spoken for even if it had only been a few hours. She signed the last document she had to sign, scribbled a fax number onto a post-it so they could be faxed by Davies later. They made their goodbyes and boarded the plane.

Lester didn't bother dragging Meagan into the bedroom before he kissed her this time. As soon as they were on the plane and out of sight of anyone military, he gave in to the urge to kiss the shit out of her again, he released her just as suddenly as he'd seized her lips and she was left slightly dazed.

"Sorry about that, didn't think I could wait to do that until we landed again." he whispered in her ear while she was still trying to catch her breath. "Come on you." He picked her up by the waist and held her close while she wound her arms around his neck (a maneuver that would become common place for them) he carried her back to their seats at the back of the plane where they resumed their seats.

"So where are we going?" She asked once she was belted in and the plane was taxiing down the runway. They were once more at the table, this time there was food in front of them instead of paperwork. The peppers she requested were there and she was taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in eating them. He was nursing a beer while she munched.

"Remember I told you I was thinking about buying a house?"

"Yeah. You said you needed someplace to go unwind without interruptions."

"I found the house. I bought it the same week I wrote the letter, I would have told you about it but I'm pretty sure mom found our hiding place and reads the letters and I didn't want anyone to know. The couple selling the place were getting up there in years and they just wanted to off load the house. I was able to close right away and had a few weeks of leave so I spent them making it habitable. I'm pretty sure you'll be okay with the location."

"If it's some cabin in the woods, you should know, I'm not good at camping."

Lester choked on his beer and then laughed, "Gorgeous, you spend half your life in tents. How can you not be good at camping?"

"That's different," she said. "When it's because we are working, I don't even think about it. We have technical support, we have comms; I have so much work and so much to think about that I don't care that I'm sleeping on a cot in a tent. When it's camping for recreation, it drives me fucking insane. We have modern conveniences. I don't understand the appeal behind giving them up for fun. When I relax, I want running water and a hot bath. I want electricity and central heating. I don't want to have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire so I don't get hypothermic. Not my idea of fun."

He chuckled, "Noted, anything else I need to know, Gorgeous?"

"I'm a bit spoiled."

"We'll see about that."

"No, seriously, I don't know how to do anything domestic. I can make a bed and tidy up after myself but I've never actually cleaned anything and washing machines freak me out."

"You're joking." he stared at her in shock.

"No I'm serious. They freak me out. Used to scare the shit out of me as a kid. I tried to help Ella with the laundry once when I was seven and I ended up running out of the room crying."

"You crack me up," he said. "Fine, you are a spoiled little rich girl. I can handle laundry and cooking if you do the dishes and make the bed. The place isn't huge so I'm sure we can keep it tidy and I have a cleaning service that comes in to do the other shit. Does that work for you?"

"That sounds like a deal. Though I think you get the better end of it. I didn't exactly pack much."

"You're killing me, Gorgeous" he groaned.

The flight was short and when they touched down in Nassau, she smiled broadly. Yeah, she approved of the location. She stepped off of the plane and onto the tarmac. A black Ducati and a large white van with a resort logo were waiting for them and she clapped her hands excitedly.

"I've never ridden on a motorcycle before!"

"Never?" He quirked an eyebrow, "I'll be gentle then."

"Oh don't you dare." She laughed, "What's with the van?"

"They are going to follow us with our luggage and groceries," he replied and picked up a helmet, "We'll beat them to the house, they have a couple of stops to make on the way." She whipped her hair back into a French braid and squashed the helmet on her head. He mounted the bike and it roared to life. He held out a hand and she took it and scrambled onto the bike behind him, snuggling in close as he wound her arm around his waist. He gave it a squeeze before she brought the other arm around as well. He revved the engine a couple of times and they took off out of the airfield.

She loved it. Sharing a bike was doing things to her head and other regions and she kept reflexively squeezing him with her thighs. It didn't do anything for her composure, every time she squeezed she could feel how strong his thighs were and it was causing all kinds of fantasies to run through her mind. On top of that they were cruising down a beautiful coastal road at sunset, it was like a romance novel come to life. It was almost too perfect. Lester followed the road until they started seeing signs for the resort the van belonged to. He turned into the resort and stopped at a guard house to show some ID.

"I'm a member here, I get to take the shortcut through the property. The house is just down the beach from the hotel." He explained while he was waiting for his ID to be returned, "They store my bike and open the house for me when I'm coming down so I don't have to spend the first hour I'm there doing shit like turning on the water and the fridge and dusting the place."

"Convenient." Meagan said, thinking that it was something her father would have done. The guard returned with the ID and they drove through the resort, out of the back gate and into a neighbourhood that was all about long gated driveways and enough tropical foliage that they obscured the houses the driveways belonged to. Five minutes down the twisty road and Lester turned into one such driveway. Given the expensive electric gate and the length of the driveway Meagan was expecting some kind of largish luxury getaway. She was not expecting the small Caribbean coral bungalow.

The flagstone steps were flanked by gardens that, while well groomed, structurally had seen better days. The house itself was in good shape, had a grey clay tile roof and a beautifully carved, arched doorway.

Lester parked the bike, killed the engine and kicked the stand into place, "Welcome to my humble abode." He said and held out a hand for her to use as balance as she climbed off of the bike.

"Les, your house is pink." She grinned at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her and a corner of his mouth tipped up, "Wow, they weren't kidding when they said that you were hyper observant." he said sarcastically.

"It's not a criticism; pink happens to be my favourite colour." She replied primly, "I'm going to choose to believe it was a contributing factor in your decision to buy the place."

Lester rolled his eyes and shook his head with a grin, "Give me your helmet Gorgeous." She popped her helmet off of her head and handed it to him after he got off of the bike himself. She jogged up the front steps while he stowed the helmets and she made a closer inspection of the front door.

The door was a work of art. It was made of a heavy dark oak and was carved to depict several tropical animals and flowers in each of the sixteen panels. The hardware of the door was a tarnished metal that had been heavily etched with a rose motif.

"Oh, wow," she said running her hand over a relief of a hyacinth. Lester jogged up the steps behind her.

"The real reasons I bought the house are because of the location and because of that door," he said. "Figured if the house was complete crap, I could tear it down and build something else around the door and it would still be a bargain." He turned the large brass knob in the centre of the door and it made a quiet clunking sound as the latch let go and the door swung open inward. The house itself was like a slightly oversized studio apartment that was done in light colors with natural slate floors, the entryway was home to a small closet to the left and to the right was a small table that was the same color and as intricately carved as the door.

Once past the entrance and directly to the left was a king-sized bed with luxurious, white sheets and about a million pillows; to the left of the bed was a walk-in closet with louver doors. To the right of the bed she could see the door to a bathroom. Opposite the "bedroom" was a kitchen that consisted of white cabinets, a matching built-in double fridge with drawer freezer, and a small square island with a breakfast bar big enough for just two people. The island was home to the sink, a built-in dishwasher and the oven. The lone bank of lower cabinets was home to the gas cook top, a knife block and a toaster and coffee maker (that to Meagan looked like they required a degree in either astrophysics or computer sciences just to be able to operate).

Past the kitchen was the living room. There was a set of built-ins along one wall that contained books and family photos. There were only three pieces of furniture in the living room. A white square Ikea coffee table, a simple brass floor lamp with white shade and a very long sofa that was covered in what looked like worn, faded denim. Instead of facing a television, the sofa faced the back of the house which was made almost entirely out of glass.

"The doors slide so you can open up the back of the house for the entire length of the deck." Lester said, "I've never done it because the deck is currently a death trap. I was planning on rebuilding it on my next leave. Maybe not now. If you don't camp and you don't cook, somehow I doubt manual labor is on the agenda," he teased.

"With a little convincing I could probably be persuaded to swing a hammer. I've never done it before." She glanced at the sofa again and laughed, "You stole my quilt!" Over the back of the couch was a very beat up and much repaired patchwork quilt done in greys and greens.

"I don't think so," he scoffed affably "Abuela Rosa made that quilt for me when I was 10."

"And you've lived with it in your closet for the entire time I've been going to your house. I've walked around the house with that thing wrapped around me more times than I can count. I thought your mother must have thrown it out because it wasn't there the last time I was."

"It doesn't live in the closet. It lives on my bed when I'm there. Mom just puts it in the closet when I leave and puts the duvet on the bed because she says you need warmer blankets."

"Well, I'll be damned. I love that quilt," she said. She didn't have keepsakes like that. Her parents hadn't been sentimental. If they felt she'd outgrown it, they threw it out.

"Mom never said anything. If I'd known, I would have left it in the closet for you. I just wanted a piece of home here," he said and led her around the sofa where they both flopped down. It had been a long day of traveling for Lester. He'd spent more time in the air today than he had ever spent in his life. In fact, he started his flight from Germany the day before.

Meagan toed off her boots and reached down to take off her socks. She wiggled her toes appreciatively at the freedom. "Do you have flaws, woman?" Lester asked.

She laughed, "I'm sorry? Did we not already discuss that I'm a massive head case?"

"You've been in those boots for nearly 18 hours and your feet don't smell," he said with disbelief.

"Doctor Scholls." She said, "Don't tell me you haven't discovered them yet?"

"Actually, my feet don't smell. I just thought that I was the only one. I was all prepared to tease you about it."

"You're a man. Of course your feet smell," she snorted. "Even Ranger has smelly feet after leaving them in boots for hours. Well, he did before I shoved the Doctor Scholls in his boots. Nothing worse than sharing a confined space with smelly footwear. Tank is the worst. Even with the Doctor Scholls we don't let him bring his boots into the tent." Lester toed off his boots. He wasn't lying. His feet didn't smell. Actually, come to think of it, when he'd hugged her that first time, he hadn't even really been sweaty. "Well, you're a keeper for that reason alone. How are you not married already?"

"Oh, many have tried. I'm apparently quite the catch."

"Is that so?" She teased, "Enlighten me."

"Well... I'm a well paid, well respected Army Major who is probably going to make Lt. Colonel in the next year or so. I have all kinds of mad skills that have me highly sought after and got me involved with this elite unit. I own a house in the Bahamas though only this one girl I met knows that. She's the CO of the unit. Pretty cute, too. I think I have a shot with her."

"Go on." Her eyes twinkled and she valiantly tried to suppress a smile, failing miserably.

"Well, I'm hot. Fairly smart. Some women get turned on by the Sniper thing. I drive a hot bike, like fast cars and I am an excellent lover. Oh! and because my mother said my future wife would thank me for it one day, I cook too."

She laughed, "Yes, quite the catch." She agreed, "And the sniper thing is a huge turn on. Speaking of guns…" she said as she shifted and pulled the two out of the small of her back and put them on the table. She also took off the ones strapped to her thighs and she pulled a small heavily engraved little weapon out of her pocket. "I really don't want to carry these around all week; tell me you have someplace safe to stash them?"

One by one he picked up each gun and ejected the cartridges and emptied the chambers. "You think the Sniper thing is hot? That you walk around with that many guns on is fucking hot," He picked up two and led her to the bedroom where he opened the closet, showed her the safe and punched in the digits on the keypad.

"Lester?"

"Yes."

"Why is your code my birthday only backwards?"

"Is it?" He asked innocently.

"You know damn well it is."

"I needed a number I could remember easily and not one that would be associated with me. Your birthday filled the bill. You never sign any of your letters so if for some reason someone knew I had a female pen pal, it's not likely they would know it was you unless they were family." He opened the safe and stashed their guns inside. "I should probably change it now, though." He took the last gun, the little one she pulled from her pocket. "This thing is so fucking cool! Can I shoot it?"

"I'll have to show you how," she replied. "It's an antique and if you load it wrong, it can blow up your hand."

"Where did you get it?"

"It was a gift from an ex-boyfriend; he gave me that, (my first gun by the way) for my 18th birthday," she said. "I'm not with the guy anymore but I couldn't bring myself to give it up." She wasn't wrong. A knife, a revolver and a pair of brass knuckles all in one. It was gold plated and heavily engraved with pixies dancing all over it. The word Hada was engraved along the barrel in elegant script.

"Hada?"

"My street name." She grinned back.

"Of course it was and that's why you are the Pixie now. How did you get Hada?"

"One of Hector's goons, Jorge, used to drive me to dance class all the time. He took it upon himself to become my bodyguard and muscle. He called me his Sugar Plum Fairy whenever I was in my tutus. Only Jorge only spoke Spanish so…"

"Hada du Azucar and he shortened it to Hada."

"Correct. So I was on this mission with this guy Rex. You'd like him by the way. He got hurt and he's out now, but he was my partner before I met up with Carlos and Tank. Anyway, Rex and I were on this mission. I used my little gun rather effectively. He liked it. Took the gun from me afterwards and asked me what Hada meant. I told him Fairy or Pixie. He started calling me Pixie for the rest of the mission and it caught on with the rest of the men in my unit and it sort of never left."

"I'd like to be massively jealous right now because you carry around a keepsake from an old boyfriend, but I can't say I really blame you. It's a fucking cool keepsake. Small, beautiful, deadly, complicated and explosive when handled incorrectly." He closed the safe, guns now safely stored, "Suits you, Gorgeous."

"It does, doesn't it?" She grinned back at him. He was about to lean down to kiss her when the door bell rang. It was an old fashioned bell that sounded almost like a phone ringing. He sighed and his shoulders slumped.

"Hold that thought," he said and went to answer the door while she went back to the living room, flopped onto the couch, snagged her quilt from the back of it and snuggled under it. She wasn't concerned about the interruptions. They would be free of them soon enough.

"You staying long this time, Major? I have a friend I'd like to introduce you to if— Oh. Hello." The man speaking was in his late thirties, had shaggy sun bleached blonde hair and a surfer's physique. He was dressed in a pair of white shorts and a green golf shirt covered in pink tropical flowers. His accent was New English and his hotel name-tag read Steve. He looks like a Steve, Meagan thought as she stood up and walked around the sofa to say hello.

"Steve, this is Colonel Meagan Harris." Lester said.

"Oh shit, as in MacDunnaugh, Meagan Harris?"

"As in," she confirmed. "Nice to meet you." She held out her hand and he took it in a warm handshake.

"Don't be weirded out, Ma'am. My dad worked in your shipyard for years. Loved your father."

"What's your father's name?"

"Wilfred Mackelroy."

"Freddie was your dad? I loved him. He used to let me sit on his drafting table when I was little. He let me pretend I was designing ships with him. He actually designed the Meagan."

"That he did! Wow! I can't believe you remember him!"

"He was a nice man. I was sorry when he passed. I was deployed or I would have been at the funeral. Did your mother get the flowers I sent? I ordered them online while I was in Romania. I hope they were okay? I sent like a million daisies."

"That was you? There was no card." He laughed, "We couldn't figure out why daisies? We thought it was dad and his morbid sense of humour."

"Oh, every time your father knew I was coming into the shipyards with my father he would pick some of the daisies that grew outside of the building and give them to me."

"Well, that's it. I adore you already." He added, "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Colonel Harris."

"Meagan or Tink, please." She said with a smile.

"Tink?"

"Long story."

"Well, Tink, if there is anything you need, Lester has the number for the hotel. Just ask for me and I'll take care of it. My mother will be tickled when I tell her about the daisies. They were stunning."

Lester was grinning at her fondly. Steve made sure the groceries were unpacked properly and the staff had even unpacked their luggage then ushered everyone out of the house with great efficiency.

"So, does that happen to you a lot?" Lester asked. She'd handled her fan like a pro.

"I do seem to know a lot of people. I've just kind of accumulated contacts along the way. My dad drilled it into my head to never forget a name and never forget a face. I can't say I remember absolutely everyone I've ever met but I remember quite a few. It's handy."

She sat on the back of the sofa and gracefully fell lengthwise onto the couch, fully stretched out.

"So tell me, Les," she said once she was comfortable, "how many girls do you bring back to this place?"

"You're the first."

"Bullshit."

"Okay, it is bullshit. My cleaning lady comes once a week when I'm here, her name is Maria, she's Greek, about 50, and married with 7 children. Sometimes she brings her sister. And then there's any of the hotel staff that come to do deliveries."

"So you're telling me you've never picked up some honey from the beach? I don't believe it for a minute. Your brother is one of my best friends; I know all about your notorious rep with the ladies."

"I never said that, I've just never brought them back here. They all come with conveniently located hotel rooms with excellent room service."

"And the ability to sneak out while she's still asleep."

"That would depend on several factors."

"Uh huh."

"Are you judging me?" He teased.

"Hell, no! I take a similar approach." She grinned at his raised eyebrow. He shook his head with a laugh and put his feet up on the coffee table, crossed his ankles and then hauled her feet into his lap. "Oh, don't I'm in dire need of a pedicure." She tried to take her feet out of his lap and he held onto her ankles.

"I'm ignoring a statement that girly, Colonel. Except to say that the spa down the beach at the resort could probably accommodate you tomorrow. Now trust me, would you?" Lester's hands were magic. Absolute magic. She wasn't sure how he was getting rid of the tension in her shoulders by rubbing her feet but he was. She was half asleep and practically purring she felt so relaxed.

"Why are you so good at this?" She sighed rhetorically.

"Lots of practice. I learned it to seduce women." he replied, drawing a quiet laugh out of her that turned into a large yawn. He found her lethargy entertaining. In the service she had a reputation for never stopping and never needing sleep. In his family it was the opposite. Meagan was famous for how late she slept and her propensity for taking long naps.

"Sorry Handsome, but if your intention is to turn me on, it's not working. Putting me into a coma like sleep, yeah; but turning me on? I don't think so." Lester grinned, dug his thumb nail gently into the arch of her foot near her heel and dragged his thumb up the arch. "YEOW!" Meagan bolted upright on the couch as what felt like a bolt of electricity shot straight to her business. "Holy shit! What else can you do?" She blurted out and then slapped her hands over her mouth. Lester burst out laughing.

"Many good things," he replied still laughing. "Later, if you're a good girl. We should eat a real meal first, though." He pulled her hands away from her mouth and drew her close for a quick kiss. Well, that's what it was supposed to be. That's how it started anyway. Their lips met and it was like their first kiss. Sparks might have actually begun flying for all they were aware. This time there was nothing to stop them from getting carried away. In seconds she went from almost straddling his lap to underneath him on the sofa while his hand slid up the outside of her thigh. She moaned into his mouth and he stopped.

"Fuck, Meagan you can't react to me like this. I can't control myself around you." He pressed his forehead against hers trying to catch his breath.

She put her hand on his cheek and pushed him away slightly so he had to look her in the eye, "So don't," she said earnestly and he all but jumped off of the couch in attempt to slam on the brakes. Things were moving too fast. She wasn't some girl from the beach or the bar. She wasn't some one night stand, he had no intention of hurting her and he didn't want her to think this was some stupid fling. More than that, he didn't want to get hurt. She said it herself, he was a notorious player and Meagan had a reputation playing right back.

"You aren't just another notch on my belt, Meagan. I don't want…"

"Stop. I know I'm not."

He ran his hand through his hair and paced in front of her looking conflicted. He looked back down at her, her lips were kiss swollen and she had a little beard burn because he needed a shave, her eyes were bright and heavy lidded with arousal and he could see her nipples taught through her t-shirt. "Awww fuck it." He said and scooped her up off of the sofa, "You know I'm fucking in love with you, right?"

"Oh, thank Christ for that." She said, "I thought I was going to be waiting for you to play catch up. I've been in love with you for-fucking-ever it feels like."

It was the damn letters. It started when she was seventeen and stayed in his room for the first time. He was away at college and she was in Miami getting a pregnant Rachel settled into her new place as a favor to Carlos. She and Rachel didn't get along and it had been a long day. Alone in the room of a boy she'd heard so much about from her adoptive family, she decided to snoop. She found the false bottom in his sock drawer and in it she found porn and weed. She stole a joint and one of the DVDs and tucked the DVD into her suitcase for later and to see if he noticed. She opened the bedroom window and climbed out onto the roof to smoke the joint. A few minutes later she was joined by Julio and that was the end of it for a full year when they were supposed to be each other's dates for a family event, again, and once again their schedules screwed things up. She was delayed in Montana interviewing veterans for her Thesis Advisor and Lester was leaving for Basic training the morning after the event. They literally missed meeting each other at the airport by five minutes. Carlos passed on a message from Lester.

"Les says he charges late fees on all DVD rentals."

"You see him next week right?" she grinned impishly.

"Yeah," he narrowed his eye suspiciously.

"Tell him that I'll pay late fees starting from the day I actually finish the movie. I've never been able to make it to the end. I just can't get past the car chase. Excellent movie though."

A week later she got a call, "I'm not a fucking carrier pigeon. Write him a letter if you want to respond to his message."

Meagan smiled into the phone, "What's the message?"

"He said, 'Don't wreck it for me. I haven't seen the end either.' I gave him your message an hour ago and he's still fucking laughing. Do I want to know?"

"Nope."

"That's what he said and that makes me uncomfortable."

That day she wrote Lester a letter and hid it in the false bottom of his drawer. It had been short and flirtatious. They traded letters like that for years, some silly like the first one, some serious. Once or twice, when word of a difficult mission made its way through the grapevine, they even called Lester's parents to offer council through them. They genuinely cared about each other before they met. It was a contributing factor in her decision not to accept a proposal and to in fact break up with a long term boyfriend. It was the reason why he never dated anyone seriously. They just couldn't do it until they had at least met each other. Which was why after only knowing each other for half a day, exchanging "I love you's" didn't feel rushed. The only thing that had been missing from their relationship had been proximity and a chance for physical attraction, neither of those things were an issue now.

He carried her over to the bed and half tossed her down onto the mattress and then peeled off his t-shirt. Meagan's eyes rolled back in her head and she moaned, he was perfect. He wasn't even completely naked yet and she knew he was perfect. His abs and chest were perfectly defined, his pecks not too bulky, his abs made Michelangelo's David look like he was in need of a few sit-ups. She sat up and lightly scratched down them, delighting in the feel of them under her fingertips. He pushed her gently back onto her back and pushed her tank top up her belly.

"Oh, you are just full of surprises, aren't you?" He murmured against her navel,"you should get this re-done." His tongue flicked over the scar on her belly button and she gasped. "Tell me to stop," he said as his hand went to her belt buckle.

"No." She whispered, "don't stop."

He unbuckled her belt and she lifted her hips so he could drag her cargos down her hips, "Those aren't standard issue," he chuckled as he took in the full view of her hot pink string briefs. "Do you match?" he asked and swiftly tugged her tank top off. The answer was no but he didn't care in the slightest. She was wearing a sheer black bra that fit her like skin, a tiny hot pink bow between the cups, precisely the same shade as her underwear, told him that it was an intentional pairing and it was a fucking hot pairing. She didn't look real, her breasts perfectly rounded C cups that were just shy of being D's, her waist trim and flat from all of the physical exercise she got, her hips flared in perfect proportion to her breasts. She was in peek physical condition, and years of dance had kept her graceful and lithe.

Again she sat to work his buckle since he was still half dressed and she was mostly naked. It was only fair after all. He pushed her hands away and then pushed her back down again. He gently pinned her hands above her head with his right hand; if she wanted freedom, it would only take was a gentle tug and she'd have it. That wasn't the point. The point was that he needed to maintain some form of control because he'd be damned if he rushed this, not when he'd been waiting for this forever. If she touched him, it would be over quickly and he was going to hear her scream his name if it was the last thing he did. He hooked one of her bare legs around his hip with his free hand and ran his hand up her thigh as he devoured her with a kiss.

Just his kisses were rocking her to the core, she could feel his arousal straining against his cargos and pressing against her. She tried to grind her hips against him for precious friction and he moaned and tipped her hips, stilling her as he continued to kiss her. His heart was pounding in his chest he was just barely hanging onto his control as she was surrendering hers completely. He broke the kiss and placed a gentle biting kiss on her throat and she tipped her head to allow him easier access. It was enough to give him access to the hair tie in her braid. He tugged on it and freed the luxurious white golden blonde hair from the tight braid she'd whipped it into earlier.

He wanted her completely naked, that included the dog tags around her neck and the tie that had been in her hair. He pulled the tags off and tossed them onto the side table beside the bed and then kissed his way down her body. He slid his hand under her and deftly flicked the clasp of her bra then tugged the garment off. Tossing it randomly and not caring where it landed, he was up close and personal with perfection and he didn't want the barrier between them.

She was breathing in shallow rapid breaths, her body becoming all sensation and he'd barely done anything. She'd had good sex before. She'd had sex so good she wasn't sure she'd be able to walk the next day. Nothing compared to what he was doing to her body. His touch was the perfect amount of pressure required to set her skin on fire. Wherever he kissed her it was like he was branding her with his mouth, the kiss searing her skin with pleasure. When his tongue flicked lightly across her already rock hard nipple, she started to feel the building pressure in her belly, just begging for release. Her body was screaming at her to find some friction of any kind. Her panties were completely soaked. His glorious sucking, licking, nibbling mouth left her breast and she whimpered in frustration only to moan in ecstasy as he reapplied it to her other nipple.

He could feel her starting to tense up and tremble violently and he grinned. God, she was responsive, not at all afraid to fully enjoy whatever he wanted to do to her. She had given him complete control of her body and he was playing her like an instrument. He slipped his hand inside her panties to discover that, fuck, she had a Brazilian wax.

He had to start singing the alphabet song backwards in his head to stop himself from tearing her panties off her and just fucking her to within an inch of her life. It was definitely on the menu, just not before she came hard enough to kill off brain cells. He found her clit, hard and eager for attention. He stroked it lightly and she cried out. When he increased the pressure, she pulled her hands free, one grabbed onto his wrist with one hand and with the other, raked her nails down his back. He pinched her clit at the same time as he bit down gently on the nipple in his mouth and she screamed and convulsed against him as her body was hit by a powerful orgasm. He was relentless; he wanted her sobbing with pleasure. He got his wish. When he could tell she couldn't take anymore, he stopped teasing her and kicked off his cargos. He spread her legs wide and impaled her.

She arched her back and slammed her pelvis against him. He stilled for perfectly selfish reasons. She was coming again, he could feel her squeezing him and he wanted to come right along with her. He wasn't done with her yet, not by a long shot; but he had to regain his control. When he felt like he could move without coming like an overeager teenager, he moved slowly, She was so tight it took intense concentration to stop from pounding her into the mattress. She was half laughing, half crying, all hysterical with the sensation of him filling her so completely, she wanted to urge him to move faster, harder, half terrified of how her body would react to it, half begging him to just let go.

He continued to pump with almost excruciating slowness, savoring the way she clenched around him. "Harder, oh god, Lester, please, harder." His name on her lips snapped his control. He hiked her left leg a little higher around his waist and drove deeper inside of her. "Fuck, Lester. Yes. Oh God yes!" She yelled and moved with him, both of them finding a quick rhythm almost immediately. She clung onto him with her legs, her hands gripped his ass urging him to go harder. "Oh fuck!" she cried as she felt the most intense orgasm of her life begin to build. Her head was spinning, her heart pounding she screamed his name as she exploded around him. Wave after never ending wave of intensity crashing onto her. She lost the ability to do more than move erratically a couple of times. She sobbed hard and then gasped as another larger orgasm crashed into her at the same time as he erupted inside her and she lost consciousness.

It wasn't for long, maybe a couple of seconds, he was still inside her, regrouping and catching his breath when she became aware again. "Welcome back," he said.

"Holy shit! What did you do to me?" She laughed a little. She was still trembling lightly as he slowly slipped out of her and rolled onto his back. She went with him and draped herself over his body. She tugged the duvet up over them both, her head was on his chest and she could hear his heartbeat starting to come down.

"You have a problem, Meagan," Lester said.

"What's that?" She asked lazily, her eyes already drooping, her desire to move even a single muscle was gone.

"I'm afraid that after that, I'm pretty sure you're stuck with me." He started gently stroking her hair.

"If that's the price I have to pay for sex like that, I think I can take one for the team and take you off of the market."

"Good. I'm not going to have to handcuff you to the bed then."

"Oh, God," she popped up so she was looking at him, "I hope that's not off the table now because I'm willing to retract my previous statement if necessary to get it back on there."

He burst out laughing and rolled her onto her back leaning over her. He kissed her mischievously grinning lips softly. "Have I broken you?"

"No. Why? What else have you got in mind for me?" Her eyes flicked to his mouth.

"Oh, many, many good things."

They exhausted each other that night, pushed each others limits. Meagan screamed herself hoarse, Lester's staying power was phenomenal and his recovery time, minutes. She was convinced that he wasn't actually human when he took her for the fifth time. Her body practically destroyed from what he'd already done to it. When she finished that time she crashed hard and went so deeply asleep, he had to double check that she was still breathing she was so still.

When she woke the next 'morning' at around 11 she was draped over him and he was sleeping but, unbelievably, hard again. She mounted him and he woke to her slowly rocking herself on his lap riding his morning wood. He sat up and fused his lips with hers, wrapped his arm around her and gripped her ass as he thrust up into her. Their movements were lazy but no less intense as they slowly woke up together.

When they finished, they fell back onto the bed. "This is where it would be really handy if we were in a hotel." She sighed, "Because I could roll over and slap a button on the phone and presto, food would be here in twenty minutes."

"You are spoiled," he teased.

She burrowed her face into his chest and moaned, "I know. It's not my fault. I was too busy doing everything that I didn't really learn to fend for myself. And I've always had Ella."

"Well, when I can feel my legs again, I'll go create something to eat," he said and closed his eyes again. She was idly stroking his stomach, enjoying the feeling of his stomach under her finger tips. She really did love his body. Her hand strayed to his side and continued it's idle movement when suddenly he grabbed her wrist. "Don't." He said sleepily and brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed them.

"What?"

"It tickles," he said and let her go. She bit her lip innocently and did it again. He grabbed her wrist again, "Stop it! I'm serious or I'll force you to tell me where you're ticklish."

She relented and said, "I can't tell you what I don't know." She snuggled back against him and closed her eyes. It wasn't for long because the words were barely out of her mouth when he sat up, dislodging her from the comfortable nook she'd found.

"What the hell does that mean?" he demanded, ignoring her groans of protest as she flopped back against the barely used pillows on her side of the bed. She'd spent most of the night sleeping on him.

"It means that I've never been tickled before. I don't know if I'm ticklish or not." she shrugged not bothering to open her eyes, quite content to probably go back to sleep.

"How the fuck is that possible?" he stared at her incredulously. She cracked an eye and sighed.

"Well, my mother didn't believe in tickling." She explained on a yawn, "She read an article that said it was akin to teaching your daughter to submit to sexual assault because it's forcing the child to accept something she doesn't want to feel. So there was a no tickling rule in our house. We also didn't hug for similar reasons. Though my dad periodically broke that particular rule."

"That is the most fucked up thing I think I have ever heard." Lester protested, "Tickling isn't abusive, it's fun!" He rolled over so that he was once again in the now familiar location of between her legs. He knelt there and said "If you will excuse me, I will prove it to you."

"Are you ticklish anywhere but your sides?" She asked as he grabbed her left ankle and lifted it to gain access to her left foot.

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me where?"

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself. Now stop asking questions, this is an important job," he replied sternly. "I know your feet are reactive, but are they ticklish?" He tickled her foot and she shrugged.

"That just feels really good…wait how do I know if something tickles?"

"You just know." He tried her other foot. Nothing. He tried her belly, her sides, under her arms, "Hmmm." He picked up her right leg and tickled behind her knee.

"Maybe I'm just not ticklish. Or maybe you have tickled me and I just didn't know…AH SHIT STOP!" She squealed. The left knee, front and back, very ticklish. He stopped tickling with a highly satisfied look on his face, that is until she decided to tickle him back. The tickle fight ended abruptly when his erection brushed up against her and she gasped, startled, "AGAIN?" she said in shock, "That's not even possible! How the hell do you do that?"

"Talent." He grinned. "Gorgeous, I just stroked every inch of your body, have you looked in the mirror lately? I'd be concerned if it didn't happen." He repositioned himself as she pulled him down for a kiss. His tongue entered her mouth at the same time he slid inside her and she moaned in satisfaction, "You're fucking amazing, you know that right?"

"Says the man who is hitting all the right buttons for the 7th time in less than 24 hours." in truth if he didn't feel so fucking good, she'd have stopped him because of how sensitive she was. As he was bringing her gently into another orgasm that would leave her shaking and satisfied right to her soul, she wasn't even a little interested in complaining. When they finished again, Lester collapsed on top of her.

"I'm done. I need food. I need Gatorade and for you to put a shirt on," he panted in her ear, "or we are both going to die of starvation and dehydration."

"Death by sex. I can think of worse ways to go." She panted back. He flopped onto his back and felt around on the floor by the bed for his t-shirt. He found it and threw it at her and rolled out of bed, muscles protesting; pulled on his discarded cargos and headed for the kitchen. There were two one liter bottles of orange Gatorade in the refrigerator. He took one for himself and tossed her the other one, his aim and her reflexes were perfect. She caught the bottle easily like a football, pounded back half of it and dragged herself out of bed. She staggered to the bathroom and frowned. The lack of tub was a bit annoying but she could live with that, the ocean was in the backyard after all. She started the shower and when it reached as hot as it would go, she stepped in. Her body ached deliciously.

She laughed to herself as she found his body wash, something provided by the resort that smelled like lemons, and started scrubbing herself down. She felt grimy. Amazon rainforest sweatbox and countless hours on the plane followed by a night of endless sex. Yeah, she was filthy…and couldn't stop smiling. She led an incredible life. Ten minutes later she dragged herself out of the shower, towelled off and pulled on the t-shirt he had tossed at her earlier then went out to join him in the kitchen.

Fruit, French toast, pineapple juice on ice and a steaming cup of black tea were waiting for her at the breakfast bar.

"Yeah. I'm keeping you," she declared as she sat down, appreciatively inhaling the aroma of breakfast. He was holding his own plate and leaning up against the counter. He grinned as he popped a grape into his mouth.

"I can't believe you were a tickle virgin. The last one I met was three months old," he teased.

"My parents were a little odd. They treated me more like a mini-adult than like a child and I was extremely obedient. I had a strict routine I had to stick to and until I met your cousin, I never got into any kind of trouble. I simply had no time. Which was rather the point."

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"When I was three, my parents thought I was developmentally delayed. I didn't interact with the other kids my age at preschool, I didn't smile and I never laughed. They brought this therapist to the house one day, Alfie, I loved him, he was great. Anyway, he tested me and discovered that I wasn't delayed, I was more like an intelligent nine-year-old than your average three-year-old. He told them that I was bored. I needed more stimulation otherwise I was going to start acting out and getting into trouble. Stimulation to my parents meant scheduling activities. By the time I was seven-years-old my days were so packed full of activities that I would wake up at 4:45 in the morning and basically go nonstop until 9:30. On a good night, I would crash and sleep; on a bad day, I'd lie there trying to convince my body to sleep until it was time to get up again."

"How busy can a seven-year-old possibly be?" He laughed in disbelief. So she began to recite her childhood schedule.

"Monday to Friday

5:30-6:30 Figure skating.
6:45-7:45 Voice lessons
8:00-9:00 Ballet
9:30-3:30 School or follow my father around the office, depending on the time of year.
4:00-7:00 More ballet
7:15-8:00 Dinner
8:30-9:30 Piano or drum lessons.

"Saturday

6:00-9:00 Gymnastics
9:30-11:00 Swim
11:00-5:00 I ran errands with my mother
5:00-8:00 Ballet
8:00 until whenever the hell I went to bed was dinner/dinner parties.

"Sundays

5:00-8:00 Ballet again
9:00 to 10:30 Church and then, in the summer, I would play 36 holes of golf with my father and whatever men he needed to schmooze that day. In the winter: tennis, racket ball, squash, badminton, or whatever indoor sport they happened to play that our club had the facilities for. Then Dad would take me to dinner somewhere and we'd go over my weeks progress and discuss what was going on with MacDunnaugh."

"Holy Christ! What about homework, friends, normal kid things?"

"I was in a program that allowed me to study at my own pace. It was how I was able to graduate high school so young. I went to school half days in the summer and would go to the office for the other half of the day. I was miles younger than all of my classmates and miles better than the other dancers in my class which, by the way, was why I was bumped up age groups there as well. I had no peers so my only real friend was Alfie, who I saw for lunch and a game of chess once a week."

"Yeah, but you must have gone on vacations?

"Yeah, ski holidays and trips around Europe; but there wasn't any playing; just shopping and sight seeing and shows. My mother hated the beach and she hated being hot, so we never went anywhere warm."

"Wait, Julio said you love the beach."

"Oh, I do. Unlike my mother I'm always cold so I love stretching out on the beach and baking myself in the sun."

"Yeah, but you must have played on the beach?"

"Julio and Ranger took me to the beach. How much playing do you think actually went on?"

"Shit. The answer to that would be none. Julio would have been hitting on anything that looked remotely good in a bathing suit and was legal at the same time and Ric just reads."

"Correct."

"So you've never built a sandcastle?"

"Nope."

"Never filled a plastic bucket with sand or…"

"Les, I had a cabbage patch, a stuffed lion named Stanley and a box of Legos that Ella stole from you and smuggled into the house. I didn't have toys," she laughed. Lester looked horrified.

"No Barbie?"

"My mother didn't believe in tickling, what makes you think she'd approve of Barbie?" she cocked an eyebrow, "I didn't have dolls because they enforced gender stereotypes. The only reason I had a cabbage patch was because my mom was guilted into it by other moms. Don't get me started on the weird-assed double standards my mother had. It's not that I didn't want the toys the other kids had. I just wasn't allowed."

"That's just not right." Lester looked like he'd just heard the greatest injustice to have ever hit the world.

"They gave me everything else I wanted, and my parents were very warm. I was spoiled mercilessly everywhere. I always had the best things, the nicest costumes, the best clothes. I never had to lift a finger around the house. My childhood was just… different."

"What happened to Alfie? Do you still speak with him?"

She frowned sadly, "Alfie was in the car with my parents that night." she said quietly, "He hung on for a few days after they died, he developed an embolism and passed not long after they told me he'd make it. He never woke up."

Lester stared at her. No wonder she was so fucked up. Her parents turned her into an insomniac workaholic whose only friend until she was basically 12, was her shrink and she lost all of them in one night.

He watched her eating the rest of her breakfast and it occurred to him that Meagan didn't know how to play. She probably wasn't great at relaxation either. He had heard about her playing pranks with Ric, Julio and Hector; that was more like getting into trouble and pushing boundaries than playing. This was a girl who grew up without any toys to speak of and the one thing she could really play with had been his hand me down Legos, of which there really wasn't much because it hadn't been his thing. Who the fuck doesn't take their kid to the beach?

Lester took her empty plate from her and tossed it into the sink with his own then deliberately walked around the island, picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Today he was going to right some wrongs.

He dropped her onto the bed and opened the closet to grab her bathing suit and had to do some deep breathing. The black bikini she brought was almost nonexistent. The hot pink one was a little fuller so her ass would be fully covered (sort of) and the top would cover more than her nipples but just barely. He was pretty sure the black one was designed to cause him to pass out from the sudden rush of blood from his head to other more important regions. Lester grabbed the pink one and tossed it at her, willing his imagination away from the image of her in the black suit and grabbed his own swim trunks.

He shucked the cargos he'd dragged on to cook in and pulled on the black swim trunks. "Hurry up and put that on," he said and went to the front hall closet and began rummaging around. Meagan did as ordered then wandered out of the bedroom to see what he was looking for. He found it at the back of the closet. "The former owners of the house left these here." It was a box of children's sand toys. "You, my dear, require these." He handed her a pink plastic pail and purple plastic shovel then took the yellow, castle-shaped pail and blue shovel but left the rest of the toys in the box. She grabbed her sunglasses and a ridiculously large floppy hat she found in the closet with other things forgotten by the former owners and followed him out to the back porch. Lester was right; it was a death trap, half rotten, rickety and pulling away from the house, but they managed to get off the deck unscathed and he led her near the water.

"What are we doing?" she asked when he stopped and knelt in the sand.

"You're building a sandcastle with me." He tugged on her arm until she was kneeling beside him on the beach.

"I don't actually know how," she said sounding worried. He couldn't help but smile at her. Put her in a room full of trained assassins and if rumours were true, she wouldn't break a sweat, she'd almost be bored; but building sandcastles had her worried. He was right to be doing what he was doing.

"Well, I grew up on the beach, so fortunately for you, I know how to build awesome castles. We'll start small." He reassured her, "Okay first," he instructed as he filled his bucket with the dry, powdery top sand, "This shit's useless. See?" He packed it into the bucket and it poured out like sugar, "You can't use the wet mud shit either, it's just sludgy; you need damp sand." He brushed away the top layer of the sand with his hands and had her fill her bucket then showed her how to pack the sand, how to flip it over and form the perfect bucket sand castle.

She carefully followed Lester's instructions and it was all he could do not to laugh at how seriously she was taking it. Her brow furrowed in intense concentration as she pulled away the bucket. "Now that was satisfying," she said with a grin at the smoothly formed bucket castle.

"Good." Lester said, "Now smash it. That's the whole point of sandcastles."

"No! It's perfect."

"No it's not! See the top is a little broken."

"It is not! Look at yours! Your stupid little battlements are barely formed!" He raised an eyebrow at her and with a smirk he knocked over her castle. Affronted she smashed his castle.

"Hey! I was going to build on that!" He protested.

"It was crap. You destroyed perfection." She snatched his bucket and started filling it with sand, carefully packing the turrets with sand before filling it all the way up. She packed it tight and then smoothed a patch of sand. She tipped it over and pulled off the bucket. "Perfect. Better than your crap."

"Not perfect." Lester argued. He flicked one of the turrets and it broke, "See it's broken."

"You're a bastard." she laughed, "I can't believe you did that."

"It's the point of sandcastles. Now give me my bucket back." He reached for it and she yanked it out of reach and jumped to her feet.

"No, you gave me the boring bucket. I want to use the real one!" She moved back a few steps until she was further out of his reach.

"I gave you the beginner bucket because clearly you are the beginner here." He argued.

"Fuck off. Mine was better than yours." He stepped on the remains of her castle.

"Hmmm. Seems to me they look the same now." He was laughing at her and she was trying to show outrage; but her bright smile belied it. "Give me my bucket back."

"No." She took another step backwards as he reached for her then she turned and took off in a sprint with the bucket.

"Oh, it's on Gorgeous," he laughed and raced after her. "Fuck she's quick," he hissed and poured on more speed; in the end his longer legs out stripped her. If she was a few inches taller, Lester wasn't sure he would have actually caught her; but since she wasn't, he did. When he snagged her around the middle, she shrieked with laughter as he lifted her off of the ground with one arm and neatly stole the bucket from her with the other. Putting her down once he had it, Lester sprinted back to their trashed castles while Meagan pretended to be in a huff about it and took her pink bucket off to go build somewhere else where he couldn't easily smash her work. She waited until he was into his castle building before she went to the water and filled her bucket. Creeping up behind him she doused him and his somewhat showy offy castle with water. "Look, you have a moat," she quipped then dropped her bucket and ran.

He took off after her again, scooped her up and ran her out into the ocean tossing her high into the air. She landed with a splash and came up spluttering and laughing. "Oh good, drown the new girlfriend." She laughed, "I thought you made an excellent water feature. Very handsome and sculpted."

He swam out to her and pulled her close. "New girlfriend, huh?"

"Well, that is what you implied after you fucked me silly last night." She wound her arms around his neck.

"I did, didn't I?"

"Mmmmhmmm."

He slipped his hand under the water and adjusted her suit, "I guess you are my girlfriend aren't you?" He lifted her slightly, she wrapped her legs around him and kissed him as he adjusted himself for the right angle then they came together again. She threw back her head and sighed happily when his lips found her pulse, "Move in with me," he whispered against her throat.

"You need a better bathroom," she said, "But …Oh God, yes! Yes, Les! Fuck, yes!" He wasn't sure if she was agreeing to move in with him or if she was reacting to the fact that he'd started thrusting harder. He didn't really care because he was beyond thinking at that particular moment.

Later, Lester thanked God they were on a private section of beach and that because of the time of day, there had been no witnesses. It wasn't that he'd never fucked in the ocean before but that he'd never done it in full view of whoever happened to be jogging by in broad daylight during high tourist season. He chuckled to himself because she seemed in no way embarrassed about it. Instead he was pretty sure she was turned on by it. She was perfect.

Meagan was looking at the area of sand where he'd started his castle and she'd turned him into a water feature. It was like he could see her brain at work. She was calculating something. She handed him both buckets and shovels and got down onto the sand and smoothed out an area about four feet in diameter. She grabbed a shovel back from him and started drawing in the sand. It was a footprint for a sand castle. "OH hell yes." Lester said and got down in the sand beside her with the other shovel and started adding onto her design, "Can I show you?" He asked. She nodded, "Clear another area this big beside this, we're going to need more than these buckets. I'll be right back." He got up off of the sand and dusted himself off and jogged back to the house and grabbed a real shovel, a five gallon bucket, a piece of scrap 2 by 4 and a few random tools they could use for carving the sand. He went back to the beach she had already traced the perimeter into a newly cleared patch of sand. While he began shoveling sand into the center of the new patch, she began using the five-gallon bucket as a scoop to help him.

They got the pile of sand to his waist height and packed the sand into a large bowl shape. He made a few trips to the ocean with the large bucket for pails of water to fill the bowl. Lester had her jump inside to pack it down and then they filled it with more sand until the bowl was full then they started carving away shaping towers and cutting out battlements. It was late afternoon when they were finished.

The world's most beautiful sandcastle it wasn't. Julio had been the artist of the Santos brothers, the one with more patience; but their work of art was still pretty awesome if Lester did say so himself. What they had was a castle that looked like a drunk Dr. Seuss had built it and, quite without meaning to, Meagan was trapped inside the castle. They had somehow managed to build it around her. It was up to her rib cage and the only way she was getting out was if she trashed it and she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"The point of sandcastles is to build them and then knock them down, Gorgeous," he laughed, "Remember?"

"I know but I can't believe I fucked that up!" She whined,"I want to see it!"

"Fine. Hang tight, I'll get the camera and you can pose in your work of art. How's that sound?"

"Hurry! I have to pee!" She laughed.

"Do Not pee in the sandcastle," he commanded, "That's just gross."

"Oh, thanks for the tip, dumb ass. Hurry!" She danced a bit in the castle. He jogged back to the house and grabbed his camera and came back out. She got her vogue on in the centre of the sandcastle while he pretended to be a pretentious photographer directing a photo shoot. They were both laughing when they were approached by a jogger who had halted his run to avoid wrecking their pictures.

"Want me to get one with the both of you?" He asked Lester. Lester handed him the camera and stood beside the castle with Meagan still on the inside and posed for the picture. He went to put his arm around her carefully avoiding the castle walls, trying not to fall into the castle with Meagan. Meagan, not having it, decided that if the castle had to be destroyed then it should be done in spectacular fashion. She yanked on Lester, pulling him off balance into the side of their masterpiece. She miscalculated and when Lester fell into the castle he fell into her, knocking her off balance. Smoothly he managed to hook one arm around her waist as he was regaining his balance, his other arm caught her leg as she fell backwards and he managed to slip her into what looked like a well practiced dip.

"Nice catch." The friendly jogger laughed, once Lester had righted the both of them, "Hope I got some good ones." He handed Lester the camera, shook hands with both Meagan and Lester and took off down the beach.

Later that night they were on the beach again. Lester had a barbecue pit in the back and they were eating homemade turkey burgers at a picnic table that served as his patio furniture. "So about the bathroom." She said suddenly, "I need a tub and you need to adjust the water heater because that water does not get nearly hot enough. Oh, and I'm a girl so I know it might seem strange, but I need counter space when I'm not being Tink. Lots of counter space; I'm kind of high maintenance."

"Well, I don't do plumbing and I'm absolutely useless at laying tile so we're going to have to get someone in to rebuild the bathroom." He said pragmatically, "I'm also going to have to get your name on the title."

"Why?"

"Because it's your house, too. If something happens to me, I want you to have it."

"Les…"

"It's practical, Meagan, and you know it," he said with a shrug. "Now is there anything else wrong with the house?"

"Nope. It's perfect otherwise. The deck and I need a tub."

"And a new roof." he said, "The tile is crumbling; it's not in great shape at all."

"We hiring someone to do that?"

"Fuck no. We're doing that. And the deck. And the front gardens. You get to learn how to swing a hammer, Colonel Harris."

They barely spent any time away from the house during the two weeks before they had to be in Miami. The last four of those days were dedicated to tearing down and rebuilding the deck. Four days of Lester periodically having to leave the area so he could laugh without getting a hammer thrown at his head. Meagan had a very posh voice and a very dirty mouth. Sometimes she would be swearing up a storm as she bashed her fingers with the hammer for the fiftieth time and other times she would be rapping Eminem to herself while she worked.

When the deck was finished, the stairs she had built herself slanted slightly to the right but were solid and she refused to let Lester fix them. Not that he wanted to, he was proud of her handy work and it gave the deck charm. They celebrated by buying an iron Bistro table and two chairs. They ordered a custom lounge that was long enough and wide enough to hold the both of them at the same time. It would be ready sometime in February and they were already making plans to come back for Valentine's Day because who knew when they would have this much time off again.

That night he woke alone and found her out on their new deck. She had a discman clipped to her short board shorts acquired on a shopping trip that had been like going through hell. She hadn't been lying when she said she had a shopping problem. They had to call a cab to put everything in. She filled the back seat and the trunk with purchases. They had to lead the cab back to the house on the Ducati. The good news was that she wouldn't have to pack to visit the house. She was set. Why she needed 14 pairs of sandals he had no idea since she went barefoot most of the time.

She wasn't barefoot that night though. That night she was wearing a pair of black point shoes and for the first time he watched her dance. He couldn't hear what she was listening to and he didn't really care. She actually was a world class dancer and if her parents had lived he had no doubt it would have been her career. Their deaths had put her on the path she was on now; it was the catalyst that had brought his family fully into her life and with it, military service where she discovered a whole new set of talents.

She finished whatever piece of music she had been dancing to and turned to see him standing in the doorway. "What were you listening to?" He asked.

"A cello piece I like," she answered with a smile and untied her shoes and took them off. She picked them up as she asked, "I didn't disturb you, did I?"

"Only in so much as I rolled over and found a pillow where you used to be." He said, "I wasn't sure if something was wrong. Ric said you don't sleep well?" He was referring to the nightmares she had been having since the death of her parents and made worse by her job. He wasn't sure if she would be happy that Ric and Julio told him about them so he didn't come right out and ask. The dreams were supposedly violent in nature and he was pretty sure she hadn't had one. He had to be certain though.

"Not alone, no. Not since my parents died. You'd be surprised what a good teddy bear Hector is."

"It's a good thing he's gay or I'd have to think about being jealous," Lester muttered.

She laughed at him, "Will you dance with me, Lester?" She asked.

"Well, I don't do ballet."

"I wouldn't ask you to." She grinned and offered him one of her ear buds.

He plugged it into his ear and laughed, "Not the Backstreet Boys!"

"Oh, come on It's I'll Never Break Your Heart," she giggled, "It's romantic."

"Sure, if you're a thirteen year old girl. What else have you got?" She skipped to the next track, Tupac. He cracked up and skipped to the next track: Beethoven then Brahms and then Michael Jackson.

"What the hell kind of fucked up mix is this?"

"I wanted to have a little of everything with me." she grinned. "Here." She skipped to an instrumental piece from some movie he couldn't place. Years of taking his mother to ballroom dance classes came in handy and he surprised her by leading her around the deck in a traditional waltz. She was utterly delighted and complete grace in his arms. The song ended and Dave Matthews piped through the ear buds with Crash Into Me. He drew her closer and she smiled up at him. The song was perfect for them. She loved being in his arms. She loved their little island paradise. She didn't want to leave. When the song ended he kissed her forehead and they sat together on the edge of the deck.

She leaned on his shoulder looking out at the ocean, "I want to get a place stateside." she said without preamble, "I sold my house and my New York apartment and I want to have friends to visit, but not here. I don't want anyone to know about this place. This is just for us; I don't want people intruding." He kissed the top of her head.

"That's a pretty good idea. Where were you thinking?"

"I want to be close to your parents, but the place has to be perfect. It has to tick all the boxes because I don't want to do major renovations. It's fun here, but I doubt it will be in Miami."

"It's going to need at least four bedrooms." Lester said, "My brother and Bobby will crash there a lot and I don't want them sleeping on the sofa. Bobby sweats and Julio drools. I don't want to be smelling either of them when I lie on my couch."

She laughed, "I'm going to need a study and I'd like a dance studio."

"I want a condo not a house."

"Oh, agreed. Worrying about maintenance on one place is enough, thank you."

"The building is going to need a gym."

"Yup," Meagan agreed.

They talked for hours that night until the sun came up going over what they needed in a place and eventually made a physical list. They agreed that the place had to have absolutely everything on the list or they wouldn't get it. Some of their demands were ridiculous, like it had to have a bathtub that would easily accommodate Lester's height so he could join Meagan in the bath if he wanted to. There had to be a walk in closet with a shoe island in it for Meagan's shoes, there had to be a view of the ocean and they wanted lots of big windows with one way glass so they wouldn't need window coverings anywhere but the bedrooms. The only thing they were willing to overlook was paint color because that could easily be changed. The list was long and a real estate agent's worst nightmare. When it was finished and Lester returned from putting the list in his duffle where it wouldn't be forgotten he sat back down beside her on the deck and handed her a glass of ice water.

"Why aren't you sleeping, Meagan?" Lester asked finally as they watched the sky turn pink.

"I have a very active mind and think of about 87 things at once. Unfortunately sometimes it happens when I should be sleeping. I'm not worrying; I just can't shut my mind off, but I have some things I had planned to tell you before I got in too deep. I just didn't want to bring it up now because it's too soon to bring them up, I thought maybe in a few months I'd tell you but it's too late because I'm already in too deep and if these things freak you out then I'm fucked and I'm scared to tell you…" she was babbling and he cut her off gently.

"What things?"

"Well I know from your brother that you want a big family. I do, too. It's just that it's probably not in the cards for me. There is a long history of miscarriages and infertility in my family. I was born so premature I was barely viable. My mother almost died having me and I wasn't even 2lbs at birth. I know it's early to be talking about this but you did ask and I'm sorry but I just might never…" she paused and took a deep breath, regaining her composure, she was tired and it was hard and she was scared, but she had started and there was no point not finishing, "I had my first physical when I was thirteen and the doctor told me that I shared a lot of the same physiological characteristics that my mother had and it looked like I had only one functioning ovary. So because of that…" He put a finger to her lips and she stopped speaking.

"I wanted a large family when I was younger because I was jealous of the fact that Ric had such a big family. I was the smartest kid in my class and didn't even come close to being as intelligent as Julio. I wanted someone to be better than because I was a kid and I was tired of being second best all of the time. It's not something that bothers me anymore. I discovered that I'm good at a lot of other things that Julio is shit at and I don't have all of the self doubt he has. The truth is that I don't know if I even want kids. If we can have them, great, and if not, we'll explore other options. It's not a deal breaker for me."

"There's something else…" she quietly told him her biggest secret and he stilled completely and then burst out laughing. A loud belly laugh and he wrapped her into a tight, reassuring bear hug, "That doesn't weird me out at all." He continued laughing, "I promise. It solves a mystery or two but it doesn't weird me out. I know why it happened and I'm glad it did. It also makes me glad I didn't meet you until now because if you had told me when I was younger…well that would have been awkward."

"So you're really okay with it?"

"I am. I even understand why it's a secret. I won't tell anyone. Does Ric know?"

"Of course he knows. Yeesh! Like it's even possible to keep a secret from him," she rolled her eyes dramatically. Lester laughed and gave her another kiss. "He guessed when I was fifteen. Your brother doesn't know he knows though."

"Anymore skeletons in your closet?"

"Of course! Look at my job."

"Fair enough, can we go back to bed now? Or is there anything else that's freaking you out and therefore pressing?"

"Not freaking me out, no. Just a lot of shit I have to do in a few months. I can't put it off either. Who the hell knows when I'll get leave next? Tank, Carlos and I are working on our exit strategy. Tank had this brain child one night on a mission. We were wondering what the fuck we were going to do when we retired. Not one of us could hold a normal job, not that we'd need to. We make a shit load of money doing what we do. Also I'm, you know, loaded and more than willing to support everyone when we get out which weirdly everyone seems okay with.

Anyway, we're going to start a security firm and call it Rangeman. Carlos and I are going to finance it to start. We bought a bank when we were younger and used the proceeds from the sale of it to make several investments, so we have the start up capital. We are going to offer a five percent buy in for anyone else who wants to be partners. Carlos is talking about doing bond enforcement, high-end shit. I mean we hunt people for a living already. We'll just be doing it privately. Hector and Julio will run Tech. Bobby is going to do Medical. We were thinking that we'd ask you to buy in and do Training and Personnel. None of us can stand to be in the office so we'd all do field assignments. Start off with just the seven of us and a couple of guys we think have promise from the unit, then decide how much we want to expand and where to go from there. Tank thinks this is going to be huge. If it is, it is."

"It sounds fucking cool." he said, "When do you plan to start building this security empire? I'm in by the way."

"Dunno. A few years maybe? Some days I think I'd like to do it tomorrow."

"That's just because you're tired, Meagan. That's all. Give yourself a few more weeks off and you'll be itching to get back. You like your job and you like the adrenaline. You like being the best. When that stops being the case, that's when it's time to get out."

"I like my rep. It's pretty fun to be thought of as so badass."

"If only they knew how adorable you are when you build a sandcastle."

"It would be terrible for my image," she grinned.

"What time do we have to be out of here tonight?" He asked.

"Not until late. I couldn't get the charter before 2200."

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I'd like to ask you out on a date," he said feeling strangely nervous after everything.

She giggled. "I'd like that. Where are you taking me?"

"Dinner and dancing," he replied, smiling and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. God she was beautiful. "Does that work for you?"

"It does," she smiled, "but before you do that can you take me to bed? I'm tired." He stood up and held down his hand to help her to her feet. Once she was standing he tucked her under his arm close to his body and walked her back into the house. She barely made it to the bed. Apparently speaking what was on her mind got her head to stop spinning and she fell asleep almost instantly. He climbed into bed behind her and pulled her as close as he could get her. Even if for some reason this turned out to be the only time he got to spend alone with her until they left the Army, it was worth it and he wanted to make every second count.

That afternoon she got up around 1400. Lester was still sleeping soundly and she slipped out of bed and dressed in one of her new bikinis. It was hot pink and purple and less skimpy than the rest, more sporty. She pulled on a pair of matching purple board shorts, clipped her Discman to her hip and went for one last solitary run on the beach before they went back to semi-reality.

She was on her way back when the wind blew a beach ball past her. It bounced off of a rock making pretty impressive air for a beach ball and then was blown out into the ocean. She heard a little girl start to cry and her mother say, "We'll get you another one, Sweetheart. That one's gone too far and mommy can't swim out to get it and leave you alone on the beach."

"But it was the only one with pink on it," the girl wailed. Well in that case…there was only one thing Meagan could do really. It was the only beach ball that had pink on it after all. She tugged off her shorts tossing the Discman onto them, jogged out into the surf and dove under the waves. She came up and easily swam the distance to the quickly retreating ball. She caught the ball and swam back to the beach to the little girl who was waiting with her mother, guarding Meagan's stuff. "Couldn't let the only one with pink on it get away," Meagan said when she got back. "It is my favorite color, too."

She crouched and handed the ball to the little girl. "Here you go."

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" The girl squealed and jumped up and down, "I thought it was gone forever."

"You're very welcome," Meagan said and stood up.

The girl's mom offered her a beach towel.

"It's slightly sandy but it's better than nothing." she said, "And thank you, you just averted a first class meltdown."

"Not a problem," Meagan said taking the towel from the woman and quickly dried herself off, squeezed some of the moisture from her pony tail then pulled her shorts back on.

"Mommy and I were building a sandcastle and a mean boy kicked my ball and the wind took it before I could catch it," the little girl pouted.

Meagan looked around the beach and saw the sandcastle in question. She was using a pink bucket and purple shovel not unlike the one Meagan had started with two weeks earlier. "I like your sandcastle," she said.

"Thank you," the little girl said, "I think you're pretty." Meagan laughed.

"Thank you. I think you're pretty, too." The little girl was probably around 5 with huge blue eyes and golden blonde hair.

"I'm Emily."

"Are you?" Meagan asked with a smile, "My name is Meagan, but my middle name is Emily just like yours."

"I bet it isn't." The little girl said, "My name is spelled funny. It's A-M-A-L-I-E like my grandma."

"Ahhh your name isn't spelled funny, it's just Norwegian. Is your grandma Norwegian?"

"Mmmhmmm," the little girl nodded enthusiastically.

"My name is spelled differently too. Not the Emily. It's just the regular Emily. My mom liked the way Megan sounded but she didn't like the way it looked so she spelled it with an extra 'A' so it's M-E-A-G-A-N. People say my name wrong all the time!"

The little girl giggled at the way Meagan rolled her eyes. "Do you want to come build sandcastles with us?" Amalie asked.

"Sweetie, Meagan was running the way Uncle Bill does every day. Remember what he said about running like that? You can't stop for too long or your legs won't want to run again? Meagan has to keep in shape for her job so she has to finish her run."

"Oh." Amalie frowned, "Maybe you can come back tomorrow?" She asked hopefully.

"I would love to but I'm leaving tonight. I have to go home for Christmas."

"Well if it's because you're worried Santa won't find you, Mommy said that Santa can find you anywhere because he's magic."

Meagan attempted to keep a straight face but her lips twitched before she frowned in mock seriousness, "Your mommy is very smart and absolutely right, but I still have to go home. I haven't gone home in a super long time and I would like to be there for Christmas."

"Meagan has the same job as Uncle Bill; see how she's wearing the same necklace that Uncle Bill wears?" her mom explained.

"You fly planes, too?"

"No." Meagan said, "I sometimes have to jump out of them, but I don't fly them. My job is to find people the bad guys have taken and bring them home. I'm what's called an Army Ranger." The girl's mother started a bit and Meagan handed the little girl her tags.

"Are you a Major like Uncle Bill?"

"No." Meagan said, "See that part right there? That funny word? I'm a Colonel."

"Is that better than Uncle Bill?" The girl asked.

"I outrank your Uncle Bill, yes; but I'm not better than he is. I just have different responsibilities than he has because of my rank. I'm sure your Uncle Bill is very special."

"But that's why Meagan has to go home. She's away a long time like Uncle Bill is."

"Does your mommy get worried the same way Mommy get's worried when Uncle Bill is gone a long time? She's Uncle Bill's sister."

Meagan's smile froze in place, "Oh, Sweetheart, I don't have a mommy and daddy anymore. I borrow my friend's mommy and daddy though and they worry about me a lot so that's why I want to go home and surprise them for Christmas. Wouldn't that be a good Christmas present?" Amalie nodded, "I'll tell you what though. I want to give you a Christmas present because you are so nice."

"You do?"

"Yup. I have a house just down the beach that way. It's about a ten minute walk, but the beach is private which means only people who go running like I do or go for walks ever go on it. It means that mean boys aren't allowed to play on it. If your mommy says it's okay, you can use my beach to build your sandcastles. There is even a box on my deck that you can put your stuff in so it doesn't blow away."

"REALLY!?"

"Really. My friend and I built a huge sandcastle on the beach there a few days ago. It was almost as tall as me and there were no mean boys to push it over or steal my toys."

"That's really nice of you. Thank you," her mother said.

"Not a problem, it's the pink house with the new deck. You can't miss it. The steps are horribly crooked," she grinned. A movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention and she turned her head; it was Lester jogging down the beach and he slowed when he saw her.

"Hey, Gorgeous, I was hoping to run into you. Are you on your way out or on your way back?" He asked.

"On my way back. Didn't think you ran this way." She replied, "You weren't looking for me, were you?"

"Not until about two minutes ago. I realized you weren't back yet and thought I'd keep running to see if I found you. I see you are making new friends." He shook hands with Amalie's mother and smiled down at Amalie, "Hello." He held out his hand to shake hers, "I'm Lester."

"I'm Amalie." The little girl said, "Are you Meagan's friend?"

"I am," he confirmed with a smile.

"Are you in the Army Rangers, too?"

"Yup. Major Lester Santos at your service, young lady." Lester bowed.

"That means Meagan outranks you?"

"Yup. Just barely."

"Uhh huh." Meagan said wryly, "I'm his CO which means I'm his boss."

"But he's so much bigger than you are!"

"Sure, I'm bigger and stronger than she is," Lester said, "but she is waaaaaaaaaaaaay smarter than I am and that's way more important than who is bigger and stronger."

"Are you the friend who lets her borrow his parents because she doesn't have any anymore?"

"I am," he confirmed, "Me and my big brother. We like Meagan a lot so we share our parents with her and because we don't have a sister my mom is super happy that we let Meagan borrow her."

"You should marry Meagan and that way she will be family for real and then she doesn't have to borrow your mom and dad anymore."

"Amalie!" Her mother scolded, "That's private!"

"It's alright, ma'am." Lester said, "I'll tell you a secret Amalie," he whispered conspiratorially, "I plan to one day but we can't right now because our jobs won't let us. When we are done with our jobs, then we will get married. Right, Meagan?"

"That's absolutely right," she said with a beaming smile. It wasn't a real proposal but it was a promise and Meagan suddenly felt very giddy. Amalie's mom wasn't stupid and she knew exactly what had just happened and smiled herself.

"We should let you finish your run," she said. "Thank you again for the use of your beach and for saving her ball. That was sweet of you."

"It was my pleasure," she replied, "it really was." She waved goodbye to the little girl and her mother and then looked up at Lester. He smiled down at her and leaned in to give her a kiss. She waited until their lips were almost touching before she whispered, "Race you," seductively against his mouth. It took him a few seconds to register what she said, but it was all she needed. She'd taken off in a full sprint.

"That's cheating!" He yelled and took off after her. She was a quick sprinter and had great stamina, she was sure she could beat him back if she could get enough of a head start that his long legs couldn't easily out stride her shorter ones. She beat him back to the house but just barely and he scooped her up and carried her up the crooked stairs. He dropped her unceremoniously on the sofa inside. "Four years," she said panting. "That's all. Four years and then I am done. I just decided right now-I'll be 26 and I'll be finished my contract. I can start the Security Company and I can run MacDunnaugh; I'll be ready to be out by then. Four years. You have to promise not to get yourself killed in that time."

"You do, too." He panted back, "If you promise not to get killed, I will put the most spectacular engagement ring I can find on your finger."

"You have yourself a deal, Les."

LMLMLMLMLM

Paul Santos woke up to the sound of a stifled giggle coming from downstairs. There was a slight crash and then the sound of a girl whispering, "You're going to wake them up."

"You're the one who won't stop giggling," his younger son's voice said and Paul rolled his eyes. Lester had dragged home yet another woman. Lord knows from where. He waited for the sound of Lester's duffel hitting the floor of the laundry room, the sound of him grabbing his car keys and then the sound of the front door again. The women never stayed here. He hadn't brought a girl to stay since Meagan started using his room. Kind of awkward trying to explain why your bedroom smells strongly of women's perfume and why there are petite women's clothing hanging in your closet.

He heard the thump; it was a double thump. Must be home for a while, two duffels. Then there was the distinct clunk of the metal washer lid denting as someone sat heavily on it. "You're supposed to be a shit hot Black Ops Colonel. You're supposed to be quiet," Lester scolded.

"It's your fault. You put me up here." MEAGAN!? Paul sat upright in bed, somehow not disturbing his wife.

"Don't cloud the issue with facts," Lester said then there was silence followed by a throaty female moan and then Lester saying, "How the fuck do you do this to me? It's only been half an hour and it feels like it's been a lifetime." More silence. "How quiet can you be?" Lester's voice had deepened.

"It might not be possible with you, Les," she replied huskily. "Just don't do that thing with your tongue and I might be able to manage it."

"Shit!" Lester cursed. "I like doing that thing with my tongue...in fact..." There was a thunk as the weight on top of the washer was removed. "You can bite on my pillow if you have to." Paul stepped out into the hall a few seconds after he heard the sound of the second step from the top creak. He watched as Lester carried Meagan. Her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist, her arms were wound around his neck and Lester's hands were on her ass supporting her and they were locked in a deep kiss. She reached behind her and opened the door to his/their bedroom. He then carried her through the door and kicked it shut behind him. Paul walked out of his bedroom and shut the door to the guest room then he went down to the laundry room and carefully used Lester's bag to cover up Meagan's name on hers. He chuckled. Mira was going to freak. She'd been rooting for those two to get together for years. So had he for that matter. They were perfect for each other.

It was going to be a great Christmas.

LMLMLMLMLM

Mira Santos woke up at exactly 7:00 the way she had every day since her boys started kindergarten. She smiled. The house felt different, like one of those boys was home. It was probably Lester as Julio said he was spending the holidays alone with his new wife.

Mira got out of bed and pulled on her robe. If it were Lester, he was going to be up in a few minutes looking for coffee and he probably had tons of laundry that needed doing as well. She wouldn't let him do it. It wasn't that she had some profound love of laundry that made her prevent him from doing his own washing. For some weird reason it was what let her really accept that he was home and safe. She was like that with all of the boys and Meagan. She loved them all and it was her way of being sure they were alive. She opened her bedroom door and saw that the guest room door was closed. The bed was always made up because she never knew when Lester and probably Bobby were going to be home. Sometimes it was Ric that came home but he always took either the sofa or Julio's room. Tank and Bobby always took the guest room. Meagan always slept in Lester's room. One day they would actually be here at the same time and they'd have to rethink the sleeping arrangements. Lester was too long for the sofa and Meagan's back hurt if she slept in the guest bed. Oh well. She was sure they'd figure it out. She peaked in the laundry room, two duffels, Good, she thought.

It was going to be a great Christmas.

She made the coffee and opened the fridge to put some orange juice out on the table. She had just picked up the carton when strong arms seized her around the middle, lifted her off of her feet and squeezed her.

"Put me down, you big oaf." She laughed at her large and exuberant son.

"Hello, Mama," he said and then put her back on solid ground. He went to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

"Are you home for the holidays?" She asked hopefully.

"I have leave until March first," he said. It was the best news she could have had or at least she thought it was. He sat in his usual place at the table and took a sip of his coffee. "So I've met someone and I've asked her to move in with me. We're going to start finding a place while I have leave." Mira nearly dropped the orange juice. Of all the bits of news he could have sprung on her it was the one she had been the least expecting. Whoever it was had to be pretty special to have caught his attention.

"A-are you going to get married?" she stammered.

"We can't for a while since she's military too so we're just going to be roommates for now but we plan to in a few years when she retires." Lester grinned.

Mira squealed with excitement and hugged Lester just as Paul walked into the kitchen. "A bit early for this kind of excitement, isn't it?" He walked towards the coffee maker pausing to squeeze his youngest son's shoulder affectionately on the way by.

"Lester has met a girl!"

"Lester meets a lot of girls." Paul replied dryly as he poured his coffee.
"Oh shut up. This one's serious." She sat down in her seat at the table with her coffee, "So tell me about her, I want to know everything!"

"Well, she's absolutely stunning and very smart. She's hilarious, has a great giggle and an even better laugh. Her eyes are incredible. I can't get enough of her." He handed his father the paper as Paul took his seat at the table. Paul took it and snapped it opened, "We just met on the last mission but I feel like I have known her my own life. I don't suppose you know any really patient real estate agents do you? We want a condo and have a long list of must haves for the place."

"Why don't you write Meagan and ask her? She knows someone everywhere. Give her your list." Mira suggested.

"Meagan is going to be crushed," Paul said into his paper, "when she gets back from wherever she is. Somewhere in Europe, I believe. A colonel at her age! Can you imagine?"

"They work that girl too hard." Mira said disapprovingly, "She hasn't had leave in ages."

Lester made a noise of agreement, smirked into his coffee and caught his dad's eye. He knew his father had seen them go into his bedroom last night. He loved it when his dad toyed with his mother like this. He and Meagan would probably be the same way in 30 years.

"By the way," Lester said, "The new sheets on the bed are great. I haven't slept that well in a long time. Where did you get them? I think I'm going to want them for whatever place we find."

"Ella is the one you need to talk to. She bought some for Meagan and sent me a set for her to use here, but enough about the sheets! Tell me more about this girl! When do we get to meet her?"

"I imagine you'll see her before Christmas. We somehow lucked into leave at the same time," Lester began as the girl in question strolled into the kitchen. He flashed her a smile and tossed her a wink. She grinned back at him.

"Oh, Meagan honey!" Mira cried and rushed out of her seat to embrace the younger woman, "I'm so glad to see you! I thought it was Bobby that had come home with Lester!"

"No, it's me." Meagan said, returning the hug, "Les and I were supposed to work a mission together and it got scrubbed so we thought we'd come back and surprise you," she explained as she bent to kiss Paul's cheek hello.

"Congratulations," he whispered in her ear. "It's about time you two got together. Mira doesn't know yet. Let's see how long it takes her to figure it out." Meagan grinned mischievously in response.

"You two had better stop whatever you are plotting right now! It's too early." Mira mock scolded, "Now Meagan, you're up early. Normally we don't see you until around 11:00. I hope it's not because you slept in the guest room?"

"No." Meagan said, "I slept where I always sleep. The new sheets are fantastic. Were those the ones Ella was telling me about?"

"Yes! Lester was just saying he liked them, too. Now why are you up so early?" Mira replied and Paul nearly choked on his coffee. Obviously his wife needed to drink her coffee still or she'd have realized what she just said. Meagan chuckled.

"I'm up because I have a lot to do today," she replied, still laughing. Lester rolled his eyes and shook his head at his mother who continued to be oblivious.

Meagan walked behind him to go make her tea and he decided to take matters into his own hands and throw subtlety out the window. He snagged her wrist as she walked by and tugged her onto his lap. He kissed her soundly, there was nothing brotherly or platonic about the kiss. "Morning, Gorgeous."

"Morning, Handsome." She kissed him back quickly, "Can I get my tea now?" He released her and she stood up. Lester swatted her ass playfully and Mira dropped her coffee cup. The three of them started laughing as everything registered and Mira jumped out of her seat and hugged the two of them as hard as she could. At that moment the front door banged opened and they heard cursing.

"Why the fuck does it have to be a real tree? Why can't we just have bought a fake one?" Tank griped.

"Because my aunt likes a real tree," Ranger replied.

Then from the lawn they heard, "Bobby, you're not a fucking Griswold. Get off of the damn roof! I am not going up there when you fuck off to your parents' house after Christmas to take those damn things off," Julio yelled.

"Make me!" Bobby yelled down.

"I'll get Meagan to make you and then you will be sorry."

"Tink loves me and she loves Christmas. She'd be more than happy to get up here and help me!" Meagan started laughing, "LESTER GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" Bobby and Julio yelled together and they all went out to the lawn. Bobby was standing on the roof having a tug of war over Christmas lights with Julio who was half way up a ladder.

"Tink! Get up here and save me," Bobby yelled and she went around the side of the house and climbed the tree next to the house. She got onto the roof outside of Lester's bedroom and then climbed over to Bobby. Julio gave up with a roll of his eyes. He was physically incapable of saying no to Meagan. He resigned himself to fetching them more lights that he'd have to take off himself.

"Just how Griswold are we going, B?" She asked, picking up the staple gun, "Are we doing the full Clark? Or can we just make shapes on the roof with the lights for Santa. I'm thinking big-assed Christmas tree."

"Tell me you and Lester fought horribly and you are completely incompatible," Bobby pleaded.

"Sorry. The man taught me to build sandcastles and he can dance. I'm sold."

"Fuck!" Bobby whined, "If I'd known all it took was to teach you how to build sandcastles…okay, Gorgeous, let's get our Clark on." Meagan grinned.

LMLMLMLMLM

Mira was beside herself. She and Paul weren't even going to bother with Christmas that year beyond exchanging presents with each other. They weren't going to her mother's house and the boys weren't going to be there. They didn't see the point in making a fuss for just the two of them and were planning on going out to a nice dinner at some normally impossible to get into restaurant. She'd been a little sad about it but it made sense. Now they had everything but the turkey; the turkey she had been assured was fresh and waiting to be picked up on Christmas Eve.

The boys and Meagan wouldn't dream of bringing pre-made baked goods into her kitchen so she was sitting at her table as Lester tried to do the impossible and teach Meagan how to make gingerbread cookies. It wasn't going well. She'd burnt two pans of them and her cookies were seriously uneven; but there was a lot of laughter going on in the kitchen and that was the point of Gingerbread men. Julio's wife had shown up and they left again, on the hunt for enough booze to keep them all pleasantly lubricated for a few days. Almost all of Mira's favourite people were there, Ranger even had Julie over to help with the tree.

What was blowing her mind was how much Meagan was laughing. Meagan's laugh was a rare thing. It was so rare in fact that Mira had been startled by it. Not sure she'd ever seen the young woman laugh the way she was laughing today. Bobby and especially Lester had her laughing almost constantly during her failed attempts to make the cookies. Meagan was currently between the two of them and Lester's arms were comfortably looped around her middle while she tried to evenly roll out the dough. Bobby was critiquing her movements, "You're absolutely hopeless at this, even pressure woman! You can assemble bombs. Are you telling me that you take that same slap happy attitude when you do that, too?"

"I say we go all Ghost on his ass," Lester said, "What we need is to trade this Christmas music for some Righteous Brothers."

"Well I could always sing it. Really freak him out." Meagan teased as Lester's hands covered hers on the rolling pin. Meagan started singing Unchained Melody and both boys stopped.

"Well, Jesus Christ, Gorgeous." Lester said interrupting her after the first few lines.

"I second that. Who knew the Pixie had fucking pipes like that?"

"14 years of voice lesson, boys. I can bring it. I can fucking sing anything."

"Language!" Mira scolded, "This is my kitchen not the barracks!"

"Sorry, Mira."

"Sorry, Mama."

"Sorry, Mrs. S."

She laughed at the patently false looks of contrition on their faces. Three sets of exceptional puppy dog eyes looked back at her.

"If we aren't careful, she might punish us by making us eat a cookie," Bobby muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"That's it!" Meagan exclaimed in outrage as she dumped a cup of flour on Bobby's head and Lester shielded her with his body for the oncoming retaliation. He was only partially successful and they both got flour on them. That's when Meagan grabbed the hose from the sink and sprayed Bobby turning the flour on him into paste.

"Oh, you little…" then Bobby went after Meagan who shrieked and hid behind Lester again.

"Run, Gorgeous!" Lester yelled as he dumped the remainder of the bag of flour on Bobby's head and then ran after Meagan; Bobby in hot pursuit.

"And who do you think is going to clean up this mess exactly?" Mira shouted after them with a laugh of her own.

They'd at least taken things out to the yard and Mira grabbed the portable phone and dialled Ella, "I have a Christmas present for you," She said when Ella picked up the phone, "Meagan and the boys are at the house and all of them are safe and sound. They were going to surprise you for New Years."

"Oh, that is a wonderful Christmas present," Ella sounded delighted. "Thank you for calling me."

"That's not the present. The first part of the present is that Lester and Meagan have finally met."

"And?" Ella asked hopefully.

"Better than we could have hoped. They are going to move in together, but that that's not the best part. Just listen." Mira put the phone on speaker and walked out to the front steps.

Meagan was standing with her hands out in a defensive gesture, Bobby armed with a garden hose was aiming it at Meagan and advancing on her slowly, "No, B, we're pals. I helped you Griswold the roof. I mean we have a bond." Meagan was back pedalling.

"You dumped flour in my hair and turned it into paste," Bobby said. "For that there must be retribution."

"Now, you started it," she said taking another step back. "You insulted my first ever attempt at gingerbread."

"Because it was a shit attempt. Now hold still." He pulled the trigger on the hose and nothing happened. He turned it towards his face and Lester, who was behind him, unkinked the hose and Bobby got a face full of water. Meagan let out a peal of laughter.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" She was laughing so hard she was doubled over, "It was like a fucking cartoon!" Bobby stood there dripping and laughing because he couldn't believe he fell for it. "Les that was perfect."

Mira took the phone off of speaker and heard Ella crying softly. Blood be damned, Ella had raised Meagan and Meagan was Ella's daughter as far as Mira was concerned. Mira had shared her concern over the young woman who rarely laughed, who worked herself into exhaustion. Meagan almost never did anything for the fun of it. She was doing that now and Mira knew how much that meant to her sister, "Merry Christmas, Ella," she said.

"Oh, I've never heard her laugh like that. Thank you for calling."

"They've been like that all day. Between Lester and Bobby, Meagan has barely stopped laughing. I don't think either of them know how good they are for her."

"Mind if you have a couple more for Christmas dinner? I promise I'll stay out of your kitchen."

"I'll be staying out of it, too. My new daughter-in-law has asked to cook. Julio is sous chef so hopefully we are okay. I've no idea what she's like in the kitchen." They chatted for a few more minutes about sleeping arrangements and disconnected.

Mira went into the house while the water fight in the back yard turned into an all out war as Tank, Julie and Ranger joined in the fun. Mira went into the kitchen and took the latest burning batch of cookies out of the oven, looked at the disaster in the kitchen and shook her head. She grabbed herself a beer out of the fridge and went to the backyard to read. No way she was cleaning that mess up.

AN: I hope to have more of Family Matters up after the holidays. Please stay tuned! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season and I wish you all the best for the New Year!