A/N: OKay - so... I never thought I see the day where I'm getting really unpleasnt messages in regards of a story of mine and people being superupset with me. But, I guess with the ending of the last chapter, it shouldn't surrpise me. But can we all please take a moment to take a chillpill and realize that this is fiction and I didn't actually physically went out and killed someone? So people, maybe... less angry? Also, and I never thought I do this either, but I'm actually going to go ahead and SPOILER something that won't be happening until... way down the road.

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*********SPOILER*************

He isn't dead! That much should have been obvious when looking at the story summary where it states as pairing Stephanie and Ranger. BUT! I am now down to chapter 32 and he hasn't risen from the dead yet. So, this will take very long for him to re-appear. I have a plan and I know how and when in regards of the story, but for you, it won't happen until probably chapter 35 and until then the whole story is actually built around the fact that he is dead. At least everyone in this story believes it.

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So, maybe no more threatening and abusing messages? My inbox would be delighted. THANKS.

I opened my eyes and found myself on the couch, covered in a throw and soft whispers somewhere behind me. I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing on the couch, since the last thing I remembered was coming home from Morelli and now having had the weirdest and also most definitely scariest dream I could think of. Maybe I came home from Morelli's and passed out on the couch? Wouldn't have been the first time.

When I sat up, trying to investigate the source of the hushed whispers, I all of a sudden was faced with a whole armada of Merry Men. No kidding. Cal and Bones looked somewhat warily, while Binkie, Junior, Hal and Vince flanking each of them and Ram as well Zip, Woody and Manny taking up the space behind them. This seemed… slightly excessive even by my standards. Either the biggest lunatic was out to get me or… my nightmare hadn't been just that, but… actually took place. Would explain my waking up on the couch.

"It… wasn't a dream, was it?" I asked almost close to tears. "Bones and Cal really… were here and Ranger really is…?" I said, gesturing wildly with my hands for no apparent reason. And then the tears I couldn't hold in started flowing.

Within seconds I was surrounded by at least half of them – or as many as actually managed to fit on my couch and around it as well, being pulled into bodies and feeling hands gliding over my back, patting, stroking or just soothingly moving over arms and back and neck. Someone was making shushing noises as if trying to calm down a scared child or …in my case a distraught Stephanie Plum.

I don't know how long we sat like this – could have been minutes, could have been hours – but when I finally regained control of my tears and myself to some degree and freed myself from the hugs and embraces I was caught in, I saw Zip reach over everyone and handing me a steaming cup of hopefully something that contained liquor. Preferably strong liquor.

As it turned out, it wasn't. It was plain and normal tea. Which was nice, but… not liquor.

"Your kitchen doesn't hold liquor," Zip just said, with the hint of a sad smile as if he understood perfectly.

"Maybe not the worst thing right now," I simply stated, having a feeling that if my kitchen had a liquor cabinet, it would probably get raided empty in the immediate future.

Another long silence later, I finally found the courage to ask the question I was holding. "Are…are you certain? That he is…gone?"

I saw every single pair of eyes trained on me and everyone nodding almost simultaneously.

"It has been unofficially confirmed through several sources and a few people, He had missed his last three check ins and his handler had been worried since a while."

"How?" I just asked, finding it hard to form any kind of words.

"Bomber," someone said as if asking whether I really wanted to do this to myself.

"Just… tell me. Please."

"Explosion," someone else said a moment later and I let out a somewhat disappointed sigh, followed by several sobs. I had at least hoped he wouldn't have suffered or it would have been a graceful death without any pain."

"When?" was my next question.

"About a week ago," Binkie next to me said in a soft and strained voice. "But we only heard about it last night and got the video this morning."

"What…. What video?"

"Surveillance camera from the street. He walked into the building and probably never even saw it coming."

"I called in a favor with a friend of mine who works for the DOD and used to serve with me years ago. Officially this video is not existing and everyone will deny that the guy walking into the building is Ranger but…, " Cal said. This all just felt like a dream, like a really really bad one I wanted to wake up from.

"What… what happened to him? To… his body?" I asked, confusing everyone, even myself. It was an odd question and to some part I figured I just wanted to keep my mind busy but not stopping and having to actually think about any of this.

"They… haven't found it yet. The area isn't necessarily known to be stable and explosions happen on a daily basis all over the city. Anyone with money has long left and anyone else just fends for him- or themselves. It is hard gaining access to the building that crashed. But… judging from the video I don't think there is much left to be found. It was quiet a bad and heavy explosion, targeted at the weakest points in the construction from the looks of it, with way more substance being used than what was really necessary. The whole area with three blocks of the building was affected."

In other words, no chance in hell someone could have survived.

"What… what happens now?" I asked, looking for any excuse to occupy my thought with something, anything really. Anything that wasn't the current situation.

"That's what we came here for to be honest. To get you and come back to Haywood with us. You… you shouldn't be on your own right now. And… there also is someone you should meet."

"Who?" I asked confused. Who should I possibly meet in a time like this?

"The RangeMan attorney. He actually… called to request a meeting."

"With me?"

At my question everyone just shrugged. Guess they knew as much as I did.

Next thing I knew, I got up and walked towards my bedroom, letting the door fall into its lock behind me and throwing myself on my bed. And then I started to cry. Uncontrollable and crazy amounts of tears left me and hit the pillow, soaking it in wetness. The tears kept coming for what felt like hours, uncontrollable and over and over again until I couldn't cry anymore and fell asleep.

I woke up when it was pitch black outside, turned on my back, stared at the ceiling and then cried some more until I fell asleep again. This was my schedule for several days, crying, staring at the ceiling, falling asleep and then repeating everything all over again. Occasionally my cycle was interrupted with going to the bathroom and throwing up.

Eventually I was no longer able to cry or throw up anymore. I couldn't sleep anymore and felt my body almost screaming for food. So I got up and stumbled into the kitchen, in search for something edible.

It was dark and I had no idea what day it was. I didn't feel like turning on the light, knowing there were very little obstacles between my bedroom and my kitchen and that I didn't necessarily need light. But opening my bedroom door, I almost fell over something, which turned out to be a body at closer inspection.

"Zero?" I whispered from my place on the floor next to him.

He turned, groaned for a second and sat up.

"Bomber?" he asked sleepily and I just nodded, noticing a moment later movement from all over my place. All of a sudden I was surrounded by several Merry Men who all looked at me after someone had turned on some light somewhere in my apartment.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked confused, looking around.

"We were worried about you and decided to stay. We didn't think you should be alone and wanted to be here in case you … needed something. Some of us had to occasionally return to RangeMan since someone needs to actually work, but the rest remained here."

"For how long?" I asked, not even sure I knew what day of the week we had.

"You have been in your bedroom for four days."

"It feels longer," I admitted, seeing Ram reach out a hand to me and pulling me up from my sitting position a moment later.

"We ordered some food earlier tonight. If you want something. It is cold by now, but we can probably find a way to warm it up for you."

"I'm… not really hungry."

"You need to eat something, Bomber. You haven't eaten anything in four days. Your body needs something to work with, some source of energy. You don't need to eat a lot, but maybe… some?"

"I really don't think I can hold much down to be honest."

"At least try," someone probed and I felt like I was surrounded by a bunch of mothers. I knew they were right. I had gone four days without a single bite of food and despite the fact that I hadn't done anything physically, I felt extremely weak. So I nodded and literally a second later a plate with some Chinese was presented to me.

"Are…. are you okay?" Woody asked and I wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question.

"I… I will be. Eventually and at some point. Maybe not soon but… eventually," I answered truthfully.

"I guess that is all we can hope for," Binkie said a moment later and I just nodded.

"So… what have you been up to these past four day? Other than listening to me crying and throwing up?"

"Morelli… um… was here. Since you didn't answer your phone and… well, he came by. Not sure whether it was worry or a different force that drove him."

"What did you say to him?" I asked, seeing my cellphone laying in close reach to me and being out of battery when I grabbed it.

"We told him the truth. That Ranger was dead and that you needed time alone. He demanded to see you so he could make sure you were okay, but we weren't sure whether you wanted to see him… or anyone really in general. So… we didn't let him in and told him you'd be in touch."

"Thank you," I simply stated, seeming to surprise everyone.

"For what?" Bones asked.

"I… I don't think he would have been able to understand what I was going through. It isn't a secret that Joe and Ranger didn't always see eye to eye on a lot of things – mainly me. Having him here would have just… meant him belittling what I was feeling or not getting it. He was never a fan of Ranger and would have not known how to act in a way that would have been respectful to what Ranger and me had and were. The friendship that now seems lost. Did he seem angry when he left?" I wondered.

"Not more than usual," Cal laughed and the others sort of joined in.

Getting up, I was walking around my apartment, trying to find my charging cable so my phone could get powered up and I could see what else I had missed these past few days I had decided on spending in misery. Finally locating it in one of the drawers next to the couch, I plugged it in and decided to give it a good ten minutes before delving into its contents.

"So… what happens now?" I asked into the room, not addressing anyone specifically. I wasn't sure for how many things they had made plans for and what the normal procedure would be.

"Well, you are still required to meet with RangeMan's legal representation. Connor had called the office already to see if we could schedule that meeting – in his words – rather sooner than later."

"Did he say why?" I asked confused, not sure why RangeMan's corporate lawyer needed to see me.

"Not really, just that it was rather urgent. My best guess would be that it is in connection with the current situation."

I just sat down for a second, taking a sip from the coffee that magically had appeared out of seemingly thin air and basked in the glory of caffeine. "Call his office," I stated in a more or less defeating tone. Whatever it was he needed to see me for seemed urgent enough, and after four days of solitude I figured I needed to get outside and mingle with people. Otherwise I'd probably lose my mind sooner or later.

"Um…," Ram said, looking at me uncertain for a moment. "It´s two a.m., Stephanie. However urgent this might be, I assume it isn´t as urgent that it warrants for a two a.m. wakeup call."

"Right, I forgot. Sorry, my time settings are a bit off I guess," I offered with an apologetic smile.

"Understandably so," Hal said gently and a moment later my phone sprang into action, making each of us jump in our seats when an orchestra of notifications from the last few days came in and filed my phone.

"I guess in the meantime I could look at what happened the past few days and what I missed out on." Picking up my phone I scrolled through several notifications of missed calls, messages and E-mails.

"Or..," Hal said into the otherwise quiet room, "…you could get changed and we take you out for breakfast. To help you mingle a bit."

I laughed at his suggestion for a moment and the fact that he picked up on my line in regards of socializing which I has thought had only been in my head and not spoken aloud.. "But at two a.m.? Don't think there will be much mingling at that hour of day."

"The six of us aren't enough of contact for you? I figured we start of gentle and ease you into more contact later."

I laughed some more at his remark, but got up nevertheless to follow his suggestion and get changed. I wasn't sure how much of great company I'd be for them or how much I would actually eat – if anything at all if my leftovers from the earlier offered Chinese was any indication.

I hadn't been sure what to expect in regards of breakfast to be honest. But I was with Merry Man, who all followed semi-strict Ranger's diet and nutrition plan. So when the three SUVs with us pulled up in front of an IHOP I was confused. This wasn't a 'tree bark and beetle smoothie place' I had always pictured the Merry Man going to if eating outside RangeMan and Ella´s amazing cooking.

We got placed rather quickly which wasn't really surprising seeing that we were mostly by ourselves and had the entire restaurant to ourselves. The order was quickly placed and about ten minutes later we all had way more food than of us could ever eat, but tried our best nevertheless. It felt odd to a certain degree, sitting here, laughing about silly stories and remarks when what got us here and together was not the most cheerful thought or event, but maybe that was one way of coping and one way of distracting one´s mind.

What had started as an odd idea for some breakfast ended up in a lengthy affair, with the occasional Merry Man leaving to relieve other Merry Men from their shift and duty, just for these to join us eventually. Hours passed like this, with several stacks of pancakes and several plates of omelet-variations being passed around the table.

Eventually we left and Ram decided on giving the attorney´s office a try, seeing if he could reach someone, now that we had a more reasonable time. A meeting was set up for later that morning and I decided I had done enough mingling for one morning and to head back home, maybe getting a bit of sleep before the meeting would take place.

So three SUVs made it back to my place and stayed there until it was time to leave once more.

"Ms. Plum, I'm Connor O'Malley and represent RangeMan and Carlos Manoso on all legal matters. I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances, Ms. Plum and would like to express my condolences for your loss."

"We don't even know if he is dead. No body had been found so far and nothing has been confirmed. Until the government is actually confirming what so far is only a suspicion let's just assume he is not entirely gone.."

I knew the Merry Men must have thought I was losing my mind. And quiet honestly I didn't understand myself either. Maybe I was just emotionally fragile and didn't want to admit to other people that he really was gone and would never return. Maybe I was just living in denial for a little while longer until I couldn't anymore. But I had spent four days crying and occasionally thinking. There was no body found – and maybe there never would be one found either. But… how could they pronounce him dead without much proof?

"Stephanie, the…the government won't confirm anything since officially they knew nothing about his mission. It wasn't an official government job."

"I…. I don't understand. How can he have been on an unofficial government job? It isn't like he took some time of his job and decided on killing some time by travelling to a country that is probably just barely one level above a hellhole. He…possibly died for this country and they can't even acknowledge that he was there for them? Protecting this country from whatever unimaginable threat we could have been under?"

"That is the kind of lines we are moving in, Stephanie," Cal said to me. "That's what we signed up for when we signed our contracts. Sometimes Uncle Sam needs people who move within grey lines who they don't have to take responsibility for when shit hits the fan."

There was silence for a long moment with me just looking out the window and watching the clouds move on the horizon. It was a grey and iffy day outside and it just mirrored my mood.

"So… why am I here?" I finally asked.

"Mr. Manoso has very specific instructions what is supposed to happen and be done if the event of his demise ever arose. I'm here to share his last request with you."

"His... will?" I asked confused.

"One of them."

"How…. How many are there?"

"Two. One that deals with the business side and one with the personal one. The personal one can't be executed under the law until he isn't officially pronounced dead though."

"And since there is no body or the government ever going to acknowledge the fact that he was on a mission sent out by them, that most likely will never happen," I concluded, surprising myself how quickly I managed to catch on to that. The nodding from Connor O'Malley just confirmed my thought.

"Not in the intermediate future, no. The law requires a missing person to have been missing from their home or usual residence for seven years. Their absence must have been continuous and inexplicable. There must have been no communication from the missing person with those people most likely to hear from them during the period the person has been missing. Also, there must have been a diligent but unsuccessful search for them and their whereabouts. Only then a person can be declared dead in absence."

"Seven years? That is a very long time."

"It is the legal requirement."

"So… what about the non-personal one?"

"Since Carlos Manoso is acting CEO or RangeMan LLC this side needs to be dealt with one way or another and the law requires for enterprises to have a fallback in case of situations like these. Situations where their acting chief is no longer able to perform his duty on running the company. His unplanned absence, unknown whereabouts and uncertain return call for immediate action and a will to be executed."

"And what does that mean or have to do with me?" I asked, looking around the table two see Cal and Bones looking at me as confused as I felt.

"As per Carlos Manoso's will you are to be appointed acting CEO of RangeMan."

"I'm…sorry?" I asked, almost spitting the sip of water I had tried taking a moment ago across the table.

"Mr. Manoso leaves you in charge of the company, or… rather his shares, which are the majority."

"I…what?" I kept saying, looking around the room to see and gauge Bones' and Cal's reactions.

I couldn't say anything. It was almost as if I was paralyzed, my thoughts going a million miles a second and not reaching any destination. Eventually my hands covered my face in one way or another, trying to keep them busy by doing anything really.

"I… I don't understand. I mean… why? Or… how? Mr. O'Malley, I…I… I have no idea of this company or what it takes to …to run it. From all the people Ranger could have picked I'm the… the least qualified. There… needs to be someone else."

"There is no one mentioned or put down into the will."

"And what if I refuse?" I finally asked. "What if I don't accept …this."

"Well, as per the law his shares will be transferred onto the other partners, namely Mr. Pierre Sherman, Dr. Robert Brown and Mr. Lester Santos. Since all three of them are not present for the moment the agreement appoints that the most senior employee of the RangeMan Company will be appointed intermediate liaison until their return."

I nodded, but kept staring out of the window. This all was just too much. The idea that Ranger would never call me Babe again or grace my life with his presence was already bad enough, but this? What had he been thinking when deciding to hand his company over to me in a moment of his demise? He had seen me these past years, seen the chaos I had havocked and how I was barely able to manage my life, let alone a whole company that employed hundreds of people who would all sort of rely on my doing a good job. This was just… too much.

"I… need to think about this," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course, that is understandable," Connor said, and I saw him getting up. "When you have come to a decision, just call my office." He pushed a business card across the short distance on the table. "Once again, I'm sorry for your loss, Ms. Plum."

And then he left, leaving me with the shatters to pick up.