Ranger was already home when I got back. His office door was mostly closed so I didn't disturb him. I went straight to the shower and lost myself in the heavenly scent of Bulgari. I stayed in until the hot water was gone and proceeded to don my new dress. It hugged me in all the right places without being slutty. I was doing my hair when I looked at the clock and it occurred to me that Ranger couldn't have been home long before me and that he wouldn't have had enough time to shower before I got home…had he forgotten our dinner plans? I tiptoed to his office door and paused. No voices suggesting he might be on the phone, but Ranger is a man of so few words. I pushed the door open a bit and stuck my face in. He was just sitting there staring at the wall, fingers steepled before him. Crap.

"Ranger?"

He looked at me, "Don't you look nice."

I could see a smile playing at the edge of his mouth, "What's the occasion?"

Double crap.

"We have dinner plans with your family!" I exclaimed.

"Shit."

He jumped out of his chair and headed for the shower, "I've had such a crazy day, I forgot," he called over his shoulder.

I sighed and sat on the couch to wait. Ten minutes later we were walking out the door. Calm in the zone Ranger reappeared after we got on the road. I stared out the window and thought about the upcoming meeting. How many people were gonna be there? Would they like me? Would I be embarrassed at any point during the meal?

"Should I have brought something?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"What?" Ranger asked, clearly confused.

"My mother told me to bring something. Hell, she even offered to bake something for me to take."

"Babe, it's going to be fine. Everyone is going to love you," he said as he put his hand over mine.

I've survived countless dinners at my house, right? His mother seemed to like me; maybe there was hope after all. I just prayed that his Grandma Rosa was nothing like Morelli's Grandma Bella.

Apparently Sunday night at the Manoso household was similar to Friday night at my home. There were a lot of cars parked out front and I immediately started hyperventilating. Ranger got out and opened my door. He saw my face, chuckled and grabbed my hand pulling me out of the car.

There was a lot of happy noise coming from the inside of the house. Elena opened the door right as Ranger was about to open it. "Come in, Come in!" she exclaimed happily.

"Everyone, this is Ranger's girlfriend, Stephanie." I was greeted by a myriad of hand waves and hellos.

"Ranger, introduce everyone to Stephanie while I go check on dinner," his mother instructed. Ranger squeezed my hand and started leading me around the room.

"Steph, this is my brother, Manuel and his wife, Jennifer and their son, Arturo." Arturo looked to be about two and appeared terrified of us and hid in his mother's blouse.

"This is Cecilia and her husband, Marco and their kids, Lorenza, Marcella, and Robert."

Great already more names than I'll ever remember.

"It's Lori," Lorenza mumbled, glaring at Ranger as he ruffled her hair.

"This is my Tio Alex and Tia Carmen, my father's brother and his wife."

"And this is my father, Ricardo," he said as his father got out of his chair to shake hands with first Ranger then me.

"You'd better take her in to see Abuela," Ricardo said.

Ranger nodded and pulled me toward the kitchen.

"I thought you had more than one sister," I whispered.

"I do," he whispered back, "but they've moved out of the state. We only seem them for holidays."

I froze as we entered the kitchen. Grandma Rosa was only about 4feet tall and looked to be about 100.

"Ah, Carlito!" she exclaimed, coming over to hug Ranger.

"Quién es esto?'

"Stephanie, mi novia."

"Novia?!" she laughed. Great what had he said about me? I think Elena noticed my face because she nudged Grandma Rosa who stopped laughing.

"I am sorry," she said in halting English.

"My Carlito has not brought home a girl since Rachael."

I smiled and nodded, "Can I help with anything?" I offered, nervous and desperate for something to do.

"No, no, we're almost ready to serve. Go back into the living room and relax," Elena said. Fat chance of that. Ranger took my hand and led me back into the living room. The conversations didn't stop when we entered and I was allowed to become invisible as his family tried to catch up on his life.

We went outside where his family had set up colored lights in the trees overlooking the patio. There were two long tables with benches on either side. There was a lot of noise- no quiet mealtime here. The conversations, mixes of Spanish and English, created a cozy cocoon around me. Food was passed at warp speed. I had no idea what kind of food was here. I couldn't identify anything, but tried everything. I looked at my plate and sighed - here goes nothing. Fire! My mouth was on fire! I grabbed the beer that had been placed in front of me – ack not enough! I looked at Ranger, panic stricken. He calmly reached across his sister for water from the pitcher in the middle of the table. His hand got the pitcher just as his niece was reaching for the soup. She lost her hold on the soup bowl and dropped it. Ranger managed to hang onto the water pitcher, but got his beer spilled in his lap as his sister jumped up to help her daughter. Now this felt like home. Ranger's mother swallowed a shot of tequila and his father just kept eating. Grandma Rosa was laughing as Lori looked like she was going to cry. The commotion scared Arturo who proceeded to wail at the top of his lungs. Ranger continued with his dinner and I tried to pick around the spicy green chilies that I found were the source of my problem.

Elena and Grandma Rosa walked us out to the car.

"It was lovely having you over."

"Thank you so much for dinner, it was lovely meeting your family," I said as Ranger helped me into the car.

Ranger hugged his mom and grandma then got in.

"Well, that was fairly painless."

"Reminded me a lot of my family's dinners," I said with a smile.

When we got home, Ranger grabbed Tank and Lester and told me he'd be up later. I went up to the seventh floor and put on one of his shirts to sleep in. I waited – no Ranger. I watched some tv – no Ranger. I finally put on some sweats and went down to the control room.

"Where's Ranger?" I asked Hal. He pointed to a screen. There was Lester sitting beside the sparring ring in the gym. He had a towel over his head which he was holding like it hurt. Tank was in the ring with Ranger. He got in what looked like one decent hit before Ranger made him go down on one knee. Tank put his hand up to stop Ranger, but it was no use. After a few more hits, Ranger stormed off. I gulped then scurried back upstairs. I took the sweats off and got into bed. A few moments later, Ranger walked in the door. Something (probably the same part of my brain that told me I could fly if I jumped off the garage roof) made me thing that now would be a good time to address the Morelli issue.

"So…interesting day," I started.

"Mmmhhmmm," he said as he took off his shirt and headed for the shower.

"Are you ok?" I persisted as I followed him into the bathroom.

He nodded and stepped into the shower. Now I know he doesn't like to talk, but I wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be major retaliation. I didn't want a war. I closed the toilet cover and sat down. He stuck his head out and looked at me.

"What?" he asked, dripping water on the bath rug.

"How mad are you?" I asked, looking at his eyes.

"Not as mad as I was earlier."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"Not today."

"Ranger…"

"Babe, yeah, I was pissed today."

"And you had a good reason to be," I interjected

"I was ready to start another world war this afternoon. The man had me arrested with no other cause than I have you and he doesn't. But, I'm not stupid and I don't do things without thinking them through. Losing you was hard for him. I get it. He went overboard, but I get it."

"Really?"

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you for good," he said with a wink.

"I love you, Ranger."

"I love you too, Babe. Now, why don't you get in here and help me with my back…"

Oh boy.