A/N: A big thanks to no 'mo morelli, secretblues, Anastasia Y, lundyred, thinkb4uact, babette7, IrishHoney, hollyhwrites, Anon2329, cmr1002, SapphireJ, XxTartLoverxX and First Generation Scot for taking the time to write a review! I'm glad you all enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

A few of you asked for a hint on who the mystery MM will be. I have a plan to work my way through all of them and since Murphy's Law is Lester's story you can eliminate him from the mix! I will say that this story will feature a core team member!

Chapter 1 – Old Friends and New Friends

3 years later

I stepped off the airplane and back onto United States soil. It had been a long three months and I had missed the sights and smells that could only be found in the U.S. I gathered my baggage from baggage claim and then grabbed a cab to drive me home.

As I watched the now familiar sights of Washington D.C. pass by the windows I thought of my life for the past three years. I had left Trenton the day after grandma's funeral. I hadn't even taken the time to say good bye to Ranger or my mother. When grandma had died, Trenton had stopped being my home.

Devin had called me the night of the funeral after hearing of my grandmother's death and offered to let me stay with him in D.C. for as long as I needed. Devin Hollingsworth had gone to college with me and we had been extremely close. After college, he joined the CIA and worked as an analyst. We had lost touch for a few years while he was doing training and getting started with his career, but we always managed to send at least a few emails over the years.

In college, Devin had been a member a fraternity that had turned on him once it came out that he was gay. At the time I had been dating his brother and had met Devin when he moved into his brother's apartment after he was kicked out of the fraternity. I had never been a girly girl with a lot of girlfriends and had always related better to guys. Devin and I became best friends. We liked a lot of the same things and had similar senses of humor.

When he called I knew I needed to get out of Trenton and I jumped at the chance to visit him. I packed up the few things I actually owned and told Dillon to donate anything that I'd left in the apartment and I left without looking back.

I spent a few weeks grieving before I even thought about getting a job. When I finally decided I'd had enough of being depressed I decided to try to find something that I loved to do. The only problem was I had absolutely no idea what that would be. That was when Devin mentioned joining the CIA.

At first I thought it was a joke, after all I had always been a joke to everyone in Trenton. How could I possibly even get into the CIA? Then I remembered the words from my grandmother's letter and remembered how she always wanted me to fly. I couldn't think of a better way to fly then to join the CIA, so I went and took the initial testing and the rest is history.

Turns out I scored exceptionally well in the "thinking outside the box" part of the testing and was able to find ways out of situations that few people expected. Apparently that made me the ideal spy. So I spent six months on The Farm learning how to fight and use my gun as well as learning how to be a spy. I also was taught to speak Russian, Arabic, and Spanish fluently. Over the next few years I picked up a few other languages.

I had to admit I loved working for the CIA. I felt like I was constantly proving to myself that I wasn't a joke. I was a damn good spy and I was determined to never be anyone's entertainment ever again.

The cab pulled up in front of my two story town home and I paid my fare before making my way into the house. The house technically was shared with Devin, but he had pretty much moved in with his boyfriend about a year ago and since then the house had pretty much only been mine. Which is why I was surprised to see Devin sitting on my couch sipping a glass of wine when I made my way into the living room.

"Hey Steph, did you really think you could sneak back into the country without me catching on to it?" He asked.

I sighed. Devin was an amazing analyst and enjoyed playing 'find Steph' whenever he could. Whenever I was out of the country he would make a list of where he thought I was and then compare it when I came back. Sometimes I would alternate alias when coming back into the country to see if I could get home without him noticing, but so far he had managed to catch me every time.

"Where's Eli?" I asked.

He smiled, "He had to work tonight, but there's a plate of sausage alfredo in the warmer he made just for you."

I moaned in anticipation. Eli was Devin's boyfriend and a five star Italian chef who owned the most amazing Italian restaurant a few blocks from the capital building. He had yet to make me anything I didn't absolutely love, but his sausage alfredo was to die for.

I grabbed the plate out of the warming drawer and sat down next to Devin. "What's the news?"

"I've decided to give you the town house. I'm planning on moving in with Eli for good, and this is just as much your home as it was mine. I want you to have it." He said and then laughed when I nearly choked to death on my alfredo.

"You don't have to do that, Dev! I'll pay for it, I don't want you to just give me the town house!"

He smiled, "The place belonged to my grandfather and I've never paid a dime for it. If it makes you feel any better I can keep it in my name, but you aren't paying me rent for something I'm not even making a payment on."

I sighed. Devin was extremely stubborn and I knew he would never let me pay him rent. I'd just have to find a creative way around it. "Fine. What else has been going on?"

He was silent for a few minutes as I finished eating my food. Once I took the last bite he picked up my plate and took it into the kitchen before returning with a glass of wine for me.

"Damien is back."

"Shit." It was all I could think to say. Damien had been on the Farm with me and we had briefly dated once we made it out, but it was obvious once I started my career that I was going places and he was not. He had always been more sexist than many of her other colleagues and thought that while it was okay to have women in the field, they shouldn't expect to move up the ranks. I had been paired with him for an op in the middle east that had gone bad and he had tried to place the blame on me when the shit hit the fan, but thankfully there had been a FBI agent paired with us for the mission and he had managed to clear it all up.

Unfortunately, Damien's career had been damaged when the truth came out and he was sent to work a desk job at the Las Angeles field office. He blamed me for the entire situation, and if he was back I hoped we would be kept far away from each other.

"Anything else?" I asked.

He sighed. "There's been some chatter from a few Army Rangers who have been making inquiries on your whereabouts. They've hit brick walls and they won't be able to find anything, but I figured you would want to know."

I frowned. Why in the world would they be looking for me now? Three years after I had left. It didn't really matter, I knew that there was only one Army Ranger that would be looking for me, and I was done with him.

A year and a half ago, I decided to make a trip to Miami just to see what was going on in his life. When I got there I found out that Rachel's husband had died and apparently Ranger was once again dating her. I didn't stick around long, and I never let him know I was there.

While I knew there was always going to be a part of me that loved Ranger, I was also sure that I was ready to move on. I wasn't sure if I wanted a relationship at this point in time, but I also wasn't sure I'd be against having one if the right guy came along.

"How long are you back for?" He asked breaking the silence.

"Just a few days, Al Fariq thinks I took a short trip to see a client in China. I needed a break from the Middle East and a few fat filled American meals." I paused, "Plus, I need to visit grandma. Her birthday is tomorrow."

"I can go with you if you want, I'm off tomorrow and Eli is catering a wedding for some Senator."

I smiled, "You can watch my back."

He laughed. We both knew I didn't need anyone to watch my back anymore, but it was nice to be able to relax and not always be aware of my surroundings.

Devin and I spent another couple of hours catching up on the gossip from the office before he finally called it a night and headed home. I was exhausted from my flight and was looking forward to a night on a soft bed. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

The drive to Trenton the next morning was quiet. I wasn't in the mood for talking and Devin seemed to understand. I watched the sights of my old home through the windows and was surprised that I no longer felt any attachment to my surroundings. I had grown up here, but there was nothing but painful memories left.

I was wearing a long blonde wig and green contacts just in case I ran into anyone I knew. I wasn't interested in catching up with my old friends today, and I wasn't sure if I ever would be.

When we arrived at the cemetery Devin followed stayed silent behind me as I laid a bouquet of white roses on grandma's grave and silently wished her a happy birthday. I hoped that she would be proud of me and what I had accomplished since she had passed away, and I hoped that she was living it up wherever she was now.

I felt a little lighter after we left and felt the urge to go to Pino's for a meatball sub. I had yet to find anywhere in D.C. that made one even half as greasy and yummy. Devin laughed when I told him that and agreed to go with me. He loved junk food almost as much as I did, but only ate it when Eli wasn't home to complain.

We grabbed a table towards the back of the restaurant so that I could observe anyone who entered and ordered our subs. After we ordered I looked around and was surprised at how little the place had changed. It seemed odd to think that I was such a different person but this place was almost exactly the same as when I had left it.

"How many people do you actually know in here?" Devin asked as he sipped on his coke.

Devin had always found the ways of the Burg interesting, he had grown up in an Atlanta suburb where neighbors kept to themselves for the most part and there was no such thing as a gossip mill. I glanced around the restaurant and noticed a table of cops that included Carl and Big Dog as well as a booth in the back where to my surprise Joe Morelli sat with a petite blonde girl.

"Joe's in the back booth and the table at the front has a few cops that I know." I said.

Devin knew most of my history that included Joe and Ranger. He wasn't a huge Joe fan and couldn't really understand how I had even begun dating him after all the crap he put me through as a child and teenager.

"Do you miss being here?"

I shook my head. "No, this place isn't home anymore and I'm not the same person I was when I lived here. The Stephanie who lived here was the Bombshell Bounty Hunter who blew up a car every month and rolled in questionable substances at least twice a week. Here I was a joke. I had a boyfriend who treated me like a bug stuck to the bottom of his shoe and a guy I was in love with that was basically playing with me like I was a yo yo."

He smiled as he thought of some of the stories I had told him of my past. He had a hard time believing some of the stories since we had been out of touch for the few years I was a bounty hunter.

"Is there anything you do miss?" He asked.

I thought about it for a minute. "I miss a few of the Merry Men. Tank stood up to Ranger for me the last day I saw him, Bobby was always ran to patch me up whenever I managed to hurt myself, and Lester always knew how to cheer me up when I was down. I know they didn't think of me as entertainment and I know they constantly got onto the cops if they caught them betting on me."

As if they knew I was talking about them, Bobby and Lester walked into the front door dressed in RangeMan black just as our waitress sat our subs down in front of us.

Devin had just as much training as I did and didn't miss their entrance, "Do you know them?"

I chewed the bite of my sub I'd just taken and then answered, "That's Bobby and Lester."

I watched as they sat at a table a few down from ours with their backs against the wall. The only regret that I'd had after I left was not leaving any kind of letter for either them or Tank. I knew they would be worried about me and I hoped if we ever crossed paths again that they wouldn't be angry about my disappearing act.

"You know you could go talk to them."

I sighed. I knew I could, but I wasn't sure what to say. I know they would probably understand why I had left, but I couldn't tell them what I did now. My official cover story was that I was fashion buyer for Saks which allowed me travel out of the country on a regular basis. The guys would never believe that. They knew how much I had hated my job as a lingerie buyer for EE Martin, and would see right through my cover.

Not to mention that I wasn't sure they wouldn't tell Ranger they had seen me. I knew he had been making inquiries through some military channels to try and track me down. I wasn't sure why he would bother since the last time I had seen him he had been with Rachel, but maybe he just wanted to see how entertaining I had been since the last time he saw me. Lester was his cousin and both he and Bobby had served with him on many different missions which I knew would cause a deep bond. I didn't want to have to ask them to keep a secret from their brother so it was probably easier just to stay out of their lives.

We finished our subs with only minor moaning on my part, I had learned years ago to suppress that urge as it brought too much attention to me when I needed to blend in, but I hadn't had a Pino's sub In a long time so I couldn't hold it in completely.

As we were walking out I noticed that Lester was checking me out and it almost made me laugh out loud. Once a playboy, always a playboy. For a brief second I worried that he might realize who I am, but quickly pushed the thought aside. I had in contacts and still had my wig on, not to mention that my body was not the same as it once it was. I was toned now and about fifteen pounds lighter than I had been the last time I saw him.

I gave one more look around Pino's as we left, and then I left not stopping to look back again.