Ranger and I walked out of the bedroom, our hair wet and dressed casually. I had put on a pair of black yoga pants and a cream tank top, with a teal hoodie layered on top. I would be glad to be out of my maternity wear. Although I only had thirty pounds more to lose, because the C-section had stopped me from exercising after the birth, I had a whole lot of bulk and flabby skin still to go. The kangaroo pouch alone was terrible, and as much as I hated to say it, I was looking forward to getting back into the gym and doing some work to recover my shape.

We walked into the kitchen, and Ranger grinned at Tucker as he walked over and gave him a manly hug. "Hey", he said. "You look pretty good for a dead man."

Tucker laughed.

"Dada, Te two cook."

"You had two cookies?" he said. "Lucky you."

"Actually, she had one and a half and I had one and a half", said Joe. He turned to me and smiled in embarrassment. "She showed me her eyes, cupcake. I couldn't resist her. Those eyes get me every time."

"Kind of like Tracy giving Bob an extra dog treat even though he had just eaten her underwear?" I remembered Joe complaining about that a few months ago.

Joe sighed. "Okay, I get your point."

He looked down as Tia reached over and patted his arm. "Unca Joe", she said as she grinned, "tane tu. Cook good."

I laughed. She was going to be a heartbreaker when she was older. Ranger was going to have his hands full.

"How are you?" said Ranger as he poured himself a coffee and sat down. I could tell that he was trying not to laugh at Tia and take the chance of encouraging her – and I could tell how difficult he was finding it.

Tucker grinned. "Better than I have been since I was a Ranger."

Ranger smiled. "That's great! How come?"

"I liked how successful my company was, but the last year, while I was putting together the information on everyone, was rewarding to me in ways that I hadn't felt rewarded for a long, long time. Being a P.I. is just like doing reconnaissance, and by getting back to my roots, I felt like I was rediscovering myself – and it felt good."

"So you took Miley in two years ago", said Ranger, "married her two months later, and discovered her cheating a month after that. Since then, you've been following her in your spare time and creating a dossier on each of the people you thought might be involved in her scheme. Of those people, four were the money shots and the others were just people who aren't good at their jobs but aren't necessarily trying to kill you or sabotage you. Stephanie found the files that you had created, verified all the information other than the photos you took of people, and added more details, particularly on the financial side. We sent this information to the LAPD Chief last night and arrests were planned for this morning."

"How did you get the chance to verify things that quickly? It took me months to accumulate that information."

Ranger smiled. "We have both an incredibly invasive and efficient search engine, as well as the most effective researcher that I have ever seen on staff. Steph can find information when you think that every avenue is exhausted."

"Besides", I said with a laugh, "I wasn't going from scratch. I was using your research as a guide. It made things incredibly easier."

"Don't sell yourself short, babe", said Ranger with a smile.

"At first, I just had a hunch", said Tucker, "and started to follow Miley and Nolan to see if my hunch was correct but, when I found out they were having an affair, my hunch said that more was going on. So I built up a case and, with your help, I am thrilled that they will be charged."

"Why didn't you just take the information to the police yourself? You had enough."

"That was something I wanted you to wade through, partly just to make sure I'd been fair. I didn't want to take the chance that I was biased in my investigation and, in truth, Rangeman is the best security company in the country and I wanted the LAPD to get used to working with you."

"Thank you. When are you going back to L.A.? As much as I am happy you are here, I also know your staff will be happy to see you again."

"Whether I go back depends on you."

Ranger looked at him in confusion. "On me?"

A look of desperation washed over his face. "I need a new start, Ranger. I hate my life and I have trouble getting up in the morning. I don't want to go to work and the thought of doing all the tasks that I need to do as a leader has become debilitatingly overwhelming. I prefer to work in the trenches. You've always been a good leader, but it was a role that I never have liked. I haven't been this stressed or unhappy since I lost my foot." He took a deep breath, sipped his coffee, then sighed. "When this was all happening, I kept hearing you tell me that there are always opportunities. Just sometimes you have to look to find them. You used to tell me that all the time when I was in the hospital, and it is something that has guided me in my life ever since. I looked at what was happening and how desperately unhappy I was, and I decided to look for the opportunities. What came out of that was the realization that I want out. I don't want my company any longer. I want you to run it."

"But Tuck, it's a billion-dollar company."

"I know. I want you to have my investments as well. I don't like being a Tulsa any more than I like being a President. Tulsa Foods has grown to be the powerhouse in their sector because of shoddy practices, failure to value staff, lack of health and safety measures, and so on. I have been ashamed of who I am for a long time and was trying to make changes, but the CEO and I don't get along and he stopped all changes that I wanted to make. Essentially, I could have forced it but that required a lot of energy that I didn't have. Grocery stores don't interest me. So I turned the company public eight years ago and have been slowly selling off stock. I now own forty-nine percent. I was desperate to escape and worked with Jamie of the WITSEC program to change identities. With Henry's 'poisoning', Tucker Tulsa, billionaire, died, and an identity as Jackson Clark, millionaire, was created. I have a hundred million to my name. I made the shift three months ago, just after I was 'killed', and I'm as happy as a pig in shit. I feel like I can breathe, for the first time in ten years. I should have done this years ago."

"I can't take your company and money. That's not right."

"I want you to. It's been making me unhappy for a long time and, although I want to see the company excel, I know that I'm not the person to guide it there. I have neither the energy nor the interest to see it achieve its potential."

Ranger looked at him, stunned. "Tuck, that's forty-seven billion dollars."

"I know. Ranger, Miley opened up an illegal escort service that provided girls and drugs. It went against everything I believe in, and my wife was doing it. Meanwhile, her boyfriend was trying to wrestle the company from me. When I took the money away from Miley she got mad and started sending me death threats. It is hard to know that the only reason your wife is with you is for the money you have and, although I couldn't prove it, I still highly suspect that Nolan and Miley arranged this all precisely to steal my money. I think it was their plan from the start, which is another reason that I wanted an objective, uninvolved company substantiate the research. I wanted to make sure I was being fair." He sighed, and said quietly, "I'm just so damn tired, Ranger, and I need to make some changes in my life before I go down. You know, the morning after I 'died', I woke up and smiled – and I realized that it was the first time I had smiled naturally in over a year. I can't live my life any longer. I was suffering from panic attacks and stress-related health issues. Now that I have 'died', all those health problems have dropped away. I haven't had a panic attack since, and for the first time in a couple of years I am happy to be alive."

"I can understand that, but you don't have to give me everything. It seems so wrong."

Tucker smiled. "At one time, you offered me all the money you had so that I could start my business. And for a while, that business gave me something to live for. But I've healed now from losing my foot. With your help, I have regained my self-confidence. I realize that I still have value. I don't need my business any longer and, in fact, it is now making me unhappy. I have grown past it and am ready to move on. But Secure has always been yours as much as mine. I hate the responsibilities associated with having money and, as it all came crashing down on me, I knew that, if I wanted to survive, I had to make a fresh start. Once I decided that I had to get rid of the company and the money, I thought about what I'd like to do with it. I could donate it and it would all be gone in a couple of years, or I could give it to someone who would actually use it to make a difference in the world. And you would." He sighed. "Look, Ranger. Money is just money. L.A. is so plastic and fake, and people get really excited about money. They think it makes you better than other people and, quite frankly, that's a crock of shit. I hate people looking at me as if I shit gold just because I have some money. I hate people expecting things from me just because I have some money. The happiest time in my life was when I was a Ranger. Then, your worth wasn't defined by your wallet but rather by what you could do. There was a sense of camaraderie, a sense of purpose, a sense of working towards a common goal. People felt good about their contributions. I recognize part of the reason that was all true was because you were our team leader. However, the environment you created for us to work in was supportive. I tried to recreate that in my company, but I don't think I was successful. You would be the better person to lead Secure." He sighed again as he looked at Ranger. "Your dream was for your company to be nationwide. Now it is. You've always wanted to put after-school clubs into every city that you operate in. Now you can. To you, money is a tool to help people, and now you can help a lot. That is, in reality, what money is all about. And you are the person who can do it."

"Why don't you do that then?"

"When people know that you have money, there are a lot of expectations placed on you. You are constantly getting letters from people begging you for money. People try to take you for a ride. It's not fun having money. You are a new person and you will be hidden. No one will know who you are. You will be able to do all the good for society, without getting all the crap in return. You can do what I want to do but can't, simply because I am a Tulsa."

"But Secure is yours. You have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in it. Just like I have in Rangeman. It doesn't seem right to be given it just so that I can expand operations."

Tucker smiled. "Ranger, you aren't being given it. First of all, I have always considered Secure to be as much your company as mine. Without the work we did together to set the company up when I was in the hospital, without your support and encouragement over the years, without your feedback and guidance when I had problems, even to the point of coming out to L.A. periodically to help, Secure would never have come into being. So that's the first point. The second point is that you earned it. You may not have reviewed the budgets or done all those other things I hated, but you did do your time by being the best team leader that I have ever seen, and you were the inspiration for my role as a team leader. At times, you were helping me so much with finding solutions to problems that Secure was facing that you were acting as a partner. Thirdly, without your willingness to put yourself into danger to save my life, I would never even have been here. You earned it by being the person that you are and conducting yourself with the honor that you have. You deserve Secure and the money that comes with it."

Ranger stared at Tucker.

"If you're handing off Secure and your money", I said, "what do you plan on doing with your time? After all, you are a young man."

"I love you", said Tucker with a smile. "I'm forty."

I grinned. "As I said, you're a young man."

Tucker smiled. "Honestly, I am gifting myself a little life. I hate being on the list of the top twenty-five most wealthy people in the US and, because I was born into it, I couldn't hide myself like Ranger can. I hate what I do with my time. I hate being a team leader. As much as I hated the subject matter because of the personal link to me, I greatly enjoyed doing the investigation. I have been happier over the last year than I have been in years, even though I was upset about the deceit. Ranger has always said that there is always something good about everything and it is up to us to find the opportunity and exploit it. Through the events over the last two years, I have learned what I want to do, what will make me happy. I'd like to become an investigator."

"Are you setting up another company?" said Ranger. "Or would you like to work at Rangeman in our Investigative Services department?"

Tucker smiled. "Thank you for your offer, but I actually bought a little apartment that I've been decorating myself in a light, airy style rather than the tacky, slut style that Miley had redecorated my apartments into, and I bought a storefront down in the Caribbean in my new name. I plan on hiring an assistant, but other than the assistant and me, I don't want any other staff. And if I never earn any money? I will have enough money to live on for the rest of my life." He grinned again. "For once, I feel like my life is coming together. And I have to say that it feels good." He paused, then said quietly, "Ranger, being in the army was my dream and, when I was no longer able to be on the team, it took me a long time to figure out what my replacement dream would be. Now, for the first time in a long time, I know what I want to do with my life. I'm achieving my dream. I'd like to help you achieve yours now. Incorporate Secure into your company and guide it well."

Ranger looked stunned. "What are you envisioning? Do you want me to eliminate the Secure name?"

"Absolutely. The name of 'Secure' will forever be tainted for me with what Nolan and Miley were doing to me and to the company. I would be happy if I never had to hear the 'Secure' name again. There are some locations that I think should be closed, but I'll let you figure that out. I had opened them on recommendations from Nolan, and I don't think they should have been opened. The market, I don't think, was big enough. By the end, I wasn't sure who to trust or how to proceed. I believe that you'll figure that out with ease. You are a decisive leader who doesn't waffle, and you'll be able to trim the company to make it more profitable as you take it over. I think there is a lot of untapped potential in the company, but especially near the end I neither cared nor had the patience to figure out where it was."

"How am I going to hide that I'm now a billionaire? You know that public focus on me is dangerous."

"Talk to Jamie at the WITSEC program. Before I decided on this route, I talked to him to make sure it was possible to remain anonymous. He suggested a couple of anonymous trusts and to set them up before you claim the money and the company. I think, from what I understand, that it is the best way to hide your ownership. Because of the amount of money that you'll be inheriting, Rangeman might want to be in the anonymous trust as well. It will hide your name from the public if someone were to do a search. There are ways of doing it. You also may want to change your name again."

Ranger stared at him for a few minutes. "Holy fuck", he breathed.

"Please, Ranger?" said Tucker softly. "It would make me happy."

There was a silence for a few minutes before Ranger smiled. "Thank you", he said. "You have vaulted Rangeman into the big leagues."

Tucker smiled. "No", he said. "You did. Do I need to go over the reasons why Secure wouldn't exist without you again?"

Ranger chuckled quietly before turning to me. He took a deep breath. "I guess our company is growing again." I smiled, not so much at the fact that we were growing, but instead at the peace on Ranger's face. I had known that he was upset about Tucker's 'death', but he had held that upset close to him and hadn't talked about it. I was pleased to see him evening out and regaining his Zen. I thought that, perhaps, Tucker was a far better leader than he realized. He certainly seemed to be pulling Ranger out of his distress and providing the support to Ranger that he needed. Ranger turned back to Tucker. "Thank you", he said. "I felt guilty to be taking your company and money. I felt guilty accepting your gift and upset that I hadn't done anything to warrant that gift. I didn't think I earned it. But most of all, I missed you and just wanted my friend back." He caught his breath. "I've been having a hard time." Tucker watched him compassionately. "Thank you for making me feel better. I accept your gift." Ranger turned to me. "Babe, it looks like Rangeman now has twenty-two locations. And it looks like we are now billionaires."

"Howy duck", said Tia.