All familiar characters are Janet's. Mistakes are solely mine.

"Okay, this is the third time," Steph told me, walking up the hall with Olivia upside down over her shoulder. "Someone seems to really want to be somewhere other than our apartment."

That was obvious, considering that she keeps racing from the kitchen to the front door the minute her Mama retrieves her and lets her go again.

"What are you proposing?" I asked. "I have a meeting by phone at two, that gives us a few hours of time."

She considered that. "I don't know. It's been so long since we've planned to do something outside of the building. What do you think we can do?"

"I'd suggest something outside, not only as a safety precaution but because it appears our baby wants to move."

"How about walking the trails in the reserve by Wargo Pond? We could take Gunny and Mo too and get everybody some fresh air and exercise."

I leaned in and brushed my lips against hers. "You do realize that you just purposely suggested participating in some exercise? You aren't staying alone in the car."

"I told you when I found out that I was pregnant ... that I will do anything for our baby. Today proves it. If Olive wants to run, we run. Well ... really ... we'll walk with spirit, not so much run."

"Only you, Babe. Do you want anyone to come with us or just keep it intimate?"

"Depends who you have in mind?" She asked, suspicion clear in her question.

Olivia used her hands to palm her way back up her Mama's back so she could be upright again and take in the conversation that just changed in tone and interest.

"I was merely going to suggest that if you want to torture Atlas, we could invite him and Tank along. One's a city kid ..."

"Tank's a city kid too," she pointed out.

"But Tank has been trained to survive and work in any terrain. Atlas only knows the layout of asphalt-covered jungles."

"Bungo," Olivia tried.

Steph kissed her head. "That's right, Atlas has bungled up a lot."

"Babe."

She rested her temple against our daughter's and studied my face. "You really want me to like that guy, don't you?"

"Yes and no. I've made a lot of mistakes growing up, and if I weren't given a second chance, I wouldn't have survived to my twenties. But I'm never going to force you to feel or do anything you're opposed to. He's trying, I was just hoping you'd cut him some slack at some point."

"You weren't given a second chance, you earned everything you've achieved over the years. You wouldn't be the man you are if you'd expected to have your slate automatically wiped clean." She shrugged. "He's your buddy, you can invite him if you want to, since you swear he isn't a danger to Olive, but I need Tank to come too. He can't escape me on a trail."

"Steph, he once survived almost two weeks hiding in a dense jungle with little water and no food, I'm sure he can manage to walk on manicured trails far enough ahead of you to avoid giving you info on a woman he's interested in."

"Here's where your guy logic is seriously flawed. He wants to discuss her and get advice on how to win points with her, he just needs to be in a safe space to ask my advice. But don't tell him any of that, he won't appreciate it. Just tell him I don't trust One Shot and I'd feel better if he was with us."

"I'm not lying to him."

"You're not lying to him. I don't trust One Shot and I really want Tank to come."

I shook my head at her, which had Olivia mimicking me as I called her Godfather.

"Yeah?" He said as a greeting.

"Olivia and Stephanie are wanting some exercise ..."

"Steph wants a workout?" He asked.

"In the most general sense of the word," I explained.

"Is he making fun of me?" My wife asked.

"No. He was only looking for clarification." I had to smile at her eye roll. "We're hitting some trails with the mutts, you want in? I'll give you a head's up, Steph plans to have a heart-to-heart with you regarding your love life. You can pass if you want and I'll call Santos or Woody to stand in for you."

"You think I'm scared of your wife?"

"Yes, that's why I'm giving you an out."

I felt a shove and turned to look down into an extremely annoyed face. "I thought you were on my side?" Steph said.

"I am."

"And that means ratting me out?"

"No, it means letting Tank know that you're available if he wants advice or to talk ... like you just claimed he did."

Her blue eyes narrowed so quickly, Olive felt the need to try to open them back up manually to see what was going on inside them.

"You're an evil man." She caught the baby fingers threatening to blind her and pressed a kiss to them before setting them free. "So … you coming to spare me alone time with Mr. Bad Shot?" Steph said into my cell.

"He's coming?"

"Not if there's a God," she muttered.

"Way to keep an open mind, Babe."

"I'm not perfect, so sue me."

"She's in a mood," Tank noted.

"Yeah, you've been warned. I asked that she give Atlas a chance ..."

"By leaving him out in the wild?"

"No. He'll arrive - and come home - with us. We're leaving no man behind."

"Darn," I heard Steph say to Olivia.

Tank also heard her. "This could be fun after all. Count me in."

"Meet you downstairs in fifteen," I told him, before addressing my wife. "Why don't you get Olivia changed into jeans and a pair of boots that her pants can be tucked into."

"Afraid your little buddy will overhear mine and Olive's conversation?"

"Absolutely."

I waited until they disappeared around the corner before I contacted Atlas.

"I got you invited to family day," I informed him. "You interested in the opportunity?"

"The missus is okay with this?"

"Mostly. She's trying to give you a chance as a favor to me. But it is still time for her to get to know you."

"I think she's made up her mind, but it'll be fun to see if I can eventually change it."

My men have questionable taste when it comes to fun.

"Meet Tank in the garage. He's taking you."

"Is he my babysitter today or your kid's?"

"Mostly yours. Make sure he isn't needed in that role. You piss Stephanie off when she's already struggling to like you, and it'll put the final nail in your coffin."

He was quiet for a beat. "Why you doing this? You should be telling me to get the fuck out, not constantly giving me chances to become one of the guys here."

"You were dealt a shitty hand in life. You did what you could to survive. I don't approve of the way you went about it, but I understand your choices. You've spent years trying to distance yourself from your past, I'm just helping to add some more miles between you and it."

"I won't piss off the Missus or scare the little one," he promised.

"I know you won't, because I'll kill you myself if you do."

"Gotcha. See you in a few."

"Okay," Steph announced, "we've got waterproof and flowered hiking boots, jeans tucked into socks above them, and a T-shirt under a thin windbreaker. I think I've covered all the bases. The weather looks perfect right now, but I don't trust it to last. This whole year has been a shitstorm."

"Subtle," I said, taking in the "Girl Boss" scrawled across Olivia's shirt before Steph zipped up the small pink jacket to cover it.

At least we won't have to worry about losing sight of our daughter unless we stumble upon a plant nursery in the middle of the woods.

"Really? We weren't trying to be subtle," she teased, going up on tiptoes to kiss me. "Did One Shot chicken out?"

"No. He's up for the challenge. He's riding with Tank."

"I got Olive's bag and I added water and some snacks for the boys, all we need are leashes and to get them all headed in the right direction."

I held up the leashes. "Check that one off. And the second chore is an easy one."

I just unbolted the front door and stepped out of the way as three bodies rushed through the open doorway. Getting them contained and secured in one of the larger fleet vehicles took more time, but we managed it. We headed out with Tank and Atlas following almost on our bumper.

It was the perfect summer day to be outside. It'd be too warm to be on a beach under full sun, but the cover the trees provided, cooled the air by a good ten degrees.

"Not the dogs too," Atlas whined, when my family were all helped out of the SUV.

Gunner and Ammo had smiled and wagged their tails when they saw Tank, but immediately morphed into guard dogs when Atlas appeared beside him.

"Steph's opinion carries a lot of weight around here," Tank explained, "right down to the mutts. They didn't growl or attempt to separate your face from your body, so you're good. Just don't get too close to Olive until you get their dog breath seal of approval."

Steph's mood lightened considerably after hearing that exchange. She's being supported no matter how she feels about Rangeman's newest hire.

"Maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all," she whispered to me, holding Olivia's hand as I chose a trail for us to start exploring.

I kept the two leashes in my hand until Olivia wanted mine to hold too. I retained possession of Gunny and let Tank keep track of Mo.

Seeing how our daughter's eyes widened and her little mouth made an adorable 'O' any time she saw a squirrel racing up a tree, chipmunk darting across the path in front of us, or a brightly-colored flower, I had to agree with my wife. Having to stay confined together had its rewards, but returning slowly to a small sense of normalcy has beneficial results as well.

Tank and Atlas hardly spoke, but that isn't unusual, especially when Olivia was talking enough for all of us. Flash card games have obviously helped expand her world and vocabulary, and now any time she spots something familiar, she yells it out.

"Feef," she stated, when her ponytail brushed the leaf of a maple tree. "Buv," she called the beetle that landed briefly on the sleeve of her jacket. "Board," she shouted, pointing to a bird we'd startled into flying away when she wanted her Mama to pick her up.

"You're getting really good at this," Steph told her, kissing Olivia's nose.

My wife was in an even better mood after getting Tank to finally share the name of his love interest, Mabyn, and how they began talking ... she wanted to arrange for a specialized security system for her father who's at the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. She wanted him contained, but not feeling like he's in prison.

Our daughter brushed off her Mama's praise, seeing something she wanted over Steph's shoulder.

"Mama, pitty," she announced.

"She is beautiful," I agreed.

"Thank you, but I know she's talking about that flower over there, not me," my wife stated. "That is a pretty color, isn't it?"

"Hang on, I'll get it for her," Atlas informed us.

"No you won't," Steph told him. "It's against the rules to step off the path. And you're not allowed to take or touch anything."

He grinned. "Rules are meant to be broken, Mrs. Manoso."

"Not when we're trying to teach our baby that we can't have everything we want when we want it."

"Jesus, it's only a friggin flower. Relax."

Ignoring everything and everyone, he veered off the trail, scrambled up a few feet of hill, and proceeded to fall backwards as the rocky ground shifted beneath him when he tugged the flower free from where it was growing between two good-sized boulders.

"You okay?" I asked his now-prone body.

"Does feeling like an idiot count?" He said, still not moving.

"No."

"How about that I hit my head on something when I landed? I know there's a shitload of trees here, but they probably shouldn't be dancing like that."

I handed Gunny's leash to Tank and went to inspect Atlas' head wound. He had a knot already forming but no blood.

"You're an idiot," I told him as I helped him sit up.

"Yeah, I got that. Not having a Mama, guess I don't know when to listen to one. I just wanted to give the kid something she had her eye on."

"It is hard to resist spoiling her. Can you walk?"

"Yeah. I was just dizzy for a sec. You can let go."

I did and he immediately swayed. "That's what I thought. Tank will take you to get checked out to make sure your concussion isn't a serious one."

"I'm fine," he said, as we rejoined the group.

"You're also dumb for not listening to me," Steph told him.

"Maybe so, but I had my eye on the prize," he said, holding the wildflower out to Olivia. Her eyes lit up as she reached for it with both hands. "See? That face is totally worth the pain."

Steph was trying to remain irritated, but that was hard to do when our baby turned back to her and stuck her contraband blue Cosmos so close, Steph was almost inhaling it.

My wife freed herself from the flower attack and leveled her blue eyes at Atlas. "I hope that fall knocked some sense into you." She paused, took a breath, and continued. "But thank you for the effort. You just made my baby's day."

It wasn't the clean slate she was referencing earlier, but it's an optimistic start. She'll hate him forever for almost hurting me, but she'll also forgive him someday if he goes out of his way to take care of Olivia.