*CHARACTERS ARE THE PROPERTY OF JANET EVANOVICH, I DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THIS, I ONLY OWN THE STORYLINE*

Sitting in the living room of Ranger's 7th floor Miami apartment with Tank, Lester, and Bobby, I, Stephanie Michelle Plum, became a woman. I mean obviously I had already started my period, and lost my virginity, but I made multiple actual woman decisions beyond that of Boston Creme doughnut, or Pinos. In a meeting of the minds that lasted until about 3 a.m, I made the first of what I can assume would be a long life of motherly decisions.

First off, we discussed my living situation. This was a major decision for me. Obviously the guys wanted us to move into the 7th floor apartment at RangeMan for security, and their assumption of what Ranger would want. For the first time, I had to decline. I needed another solution that was secure for Julie, and I but in case Ranger came home, wouldn't influence his decision of what kind of relationship he wanted with Julie, and also what he wanted from me. It was never lost on me that Tank told me Ranger was in love with me, and was scared of the back, and forth of Joe. I can understand that, heck I can respect that. But, for both Julie's, and my mental health, I decided to forego Ranger's personal apartment, and live in a two bedroom apartment on the 4th floor, until I saved the money to get a down payment for a house. The last thing I want is Ranger to come home to a ready made family, and feel an obligation. I want him to CHOOSE us. Obviously obligation didn't work out for Ranger the first time, if he wants us, or even just Julie, he is going to have to make the decision on his own. As much as I would love to make the decision for him, if I did, there is always the possibility that down the road he would cheat, or resent us if he wasn't ready for it. I am cautiously optimistic that Ranger will still be in love with me, or love me enough to have this ready made family with me. I know it will be weird to date with a 14 year old daughter in tow, but I have actual hope for the situation. I find myself actually wanting a family life with Ranger, and for the first time in my life, I'm not afraid of that life. At this point, I'm just praying that my heart doesn't get crushed... that would really suck.

Next on the list of decisions was my job. I am going to quit at Vinnie's, and do full-time work with RangeMan. I have a house to save up for now! As much as I hated the thought before, the thought of working in the office is actually offering me a little comfort during all this drama. Tank had been wanting to talk to me ever since Ranger went in the wind this time about an office job at least while Ranger was gone to help filter some of the paperwork that was piled on him alone, so we decided that it would be a good thing to put my business degree into use for the first time since E.E Martin, and help get all the paperwork into some semblance of order. Apparently, Tank really sucks at all things paperwork related. The men in black are great at action, not so great at anything that would cause a holding pattern...enter me. I am going to be an office manager/high bond skip tracer, because I can't live my life without any action whatsoever...I'm not dead yet. I will do all the work from folder to the actual apprehension planning, which is a really new, and exciting thing for me. The only other person in this world to have this much confidence, and pride in me is Ranger, and I hope he is proud of me when he gets home, I am really going to try to find my wings, and fly.

Third is, Julie, and I will both be taking self-defense training. At 14 years old, and coming from a bad situation, she needs something to channel her energy. As a Manoso in Trenton, she won't be living under the Martine name in a different state, so we both need to learn how to take care of ourselves in the event something along the lines of Scrog happens again. I can't be too prepared with her life in my hands. We both need to know how to protect ourselves. I know we will have a gaggle of Merry Men, and eventually hopefully Ranger in our corner all the time, but my mind will be much more comforted knowing we have some self-defense skills. I know this is what Ranger would want.

Rounding out the discussion for the night finding was Julie a therapist to speak to, and figuring out what school I want to enroll her in. It's only July, but with all of this excitement, August will be here before we know it, and I have no idea how much paperwork will be involved. I need to figure out what the best school for Julie will be. Private, or public? This is going to be a really tough decision, and it's the only one I couldn't make heads or tails of, completely out of my depth there. Bobby had a friend that is a child therapist, so we are going to try her to see if Julie likes her.

Feeling proud of myself for making so many grown-up decisions, I hugged, and kissed my favorite men, walked them out, then crawled into bed with a still out-cold Julie. I laid there for a solid hour just watching her innocent face sleep. I always found it a little bizarre that Ranger centered himself by breaking into my apartment to watch me sleep, but now I kind of understand how he got his zen this way. Her innocence, and trust in me completely centered me, and I eventually fell into a deep sleep.

I awoke about 4 hours later to Julie getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. While she was taking care of business, I went into the kitchen to start the pot of coffee that my body was begging for from lack of sleep, and to text my Merry Men to let them know we were awake. We would all be having breakfast on 7 in about 45 minutes, and then meeting with Aiden before heading back to Trenton. After Julie's turn in the bathroom, I took mine, and we met in the living room to wait on the guys, and food.

Julie was adapting well to being with me, and I filled her in on the decisions I had made last night, and got her opinion on the self-defense, and therapy. Julie being the easy-going kid she is, just told me that she trusted my decisions, and she couldn't wait to start training with me. Seriously, I lucked out in the kid department. The guys came in bearing Boston Creme's (seriously, how did I get so lucky?) and we hashed out our flight plan for going home. Our meeting with Aiden was quick, and easy- Julie will officially be a Manoso by the time she starts school, and she is officially in my care thanks to a few favors. Just like that, by 11:30 a.m we were headed home to Trenton.

On the trip back to Trenton, my heart was lighter, but my blood pressure was still probably at stroke level. In 2 days, my life has completely changed, and I am responsible for another human being. While on the plane, I realized that once we got back to Trenton, and went back to my apartment to gather my things, and Rex word would have spread like wildfire through the Burg grapevine. My main problems were going to be my Mom, Joe, and the girls at the bonds office. The plane landed around 2:15 p.m in Newark, and we were on our way to Trenton in a black SUV driven by Hal. I have to say, it felt amazing to be back home with Julie in tow. Hopefully we could settle into life fairly quickly, and try to get some sort of a routine for Julie's sake. The poor girl at least deserves some semblance of normalcy... not sure how that's going to work out with good ole' Bomber as her guardian, but we will roll with the punches here.

An hour later, we were cruising through Trenton, and both of our stomachs decided to revolt. It was definitely past lunch time, and breakfast was clearly only taking us so far. Jules begged for Pino's, after hearing about it so many times on the phone, and via email from me. After taking a cleansing breath, I agreed. I guess there are a few ways we could handle things, and we are about to jump head first into the deep end of the Burg. As my Grandpa Harry used to say," Just hit it, kid." So, Pino's it was. Walking in, all activity stopped. Everyone had seen pictures of Julie, and I from the Scrog incident, so she was instantly recognized. All heads immediately craned around searching for Ranger, who was definitely not there. I guess we perplexed the Burg. Making our way to the back booth, we sat, and had our orders of meatball subs, and coke's for Julie, and I, and Pizza with water for the fellas. 11 minutes into our Pino's visit, the door burst open, and a very angry Joe Morelli strolled in, neck vein bulging, looking like he was about to blow a gasket...just wonderful.

A/N: I had this chapter finished last night with Chapter 3, since several of these were pre-written, but my electric went off until about 2 hours ago in the great ice/snow storm of 2014 & our generator decided to go on the fritz during the night. It is a bit of a cliffie, but I swear I will post the next chapter fairly quickly. Some of the chapters should come fairly quickly where they only need editing. Shoot a review to let me know what you think, or PM me any suggestions, I'm always open for help ;)

xoxo- Brit*