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

"I just realized a major difference between us," my wife said to me.

"Which is …?"

"You just saved a family, but you didn't dish out any names. When I show up in someone's life, three minutes later I know the names of their ancestors three generations back and which food each of them preferred."

She does get invested in those she helps. I do to some extent, but I prefer more than one-degree of separation between my job and my personal life except when it came to her.

"Tobias Manden has been a reliable informant for me for years. And Sadie Hopper is who I had to rescue for him," I replied. "They're having a little girl."

"So you do butt in as much as I do?"

"No. I had history to reference and the rest I was told on-scene."

She dodged Olivia's head to kiss me again. "Admit it, you care."

"About you, Babe."

"You do, but you're not fooling anyone. Your interest in a happy outcome doesn't end with me."

I lifted my daughter over my shoulder and got her in the fireman's carry she finds so amusing. "It does extend to our baby," I teased.

"Yeah, no question there. And since I bet your siblings also factor in. Olive, we need to go call Tiá Celia."

She burrowed into me a little more. "Daddy ack," she stated.

"Yep, Daddy is back just like he promised, and he's coming with us. So is Uncle Atlas. Hey, Atlas!" My wife shouted. "Get your arms around Mado and meet us at the elevator!"

"She'll scratch my eyes out!" was his muffled response.

"She's a total sweetheart. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Her claws are telling me something different. I'm never going to have children thanks to her."

"I bet Amari can help with that, but I'll rescue you anyway. Mo, Gunny, go get Mado," my wife ordered.

Olivia propped her hands on my shoulder and turned so we both could watch our boys run over to Atlas and nudge our cat's tail and side with their noses. Atlas proved himself to be a bigger baby than Olivia when our cat slowly stood up, licked one paw that had somehow gotten dirty during her nap, and jumped down in-between Gunner and Ammo.

I whistled and the three headed our way, with One Shot looking a little embarrassed as he trailed a foot behind them.

"You don't have to be brave," my wife teased. "We love you and accept you anyway."

"You're not funny, Mrs. Manoso," he complained.

"Mama's super funny, isn't she, Olive?"

"Mama bunny," our daughter said.

My wife nodded. "That's pretty good. Bunnies are funny pets."

"You know that how?" I asked.

"I don't know it firsthand, but I bet I'm right."

"I'm sure you are, but I draw the line at rabbits living in my building."

"You say that now, but if Olive wanted a bunny, I can't picture you telling her no."

"I bet you're able to picture me forcing someone like Kane to adopt one, which he'll only bring over when he brings Angel and Harper for a visit. Problem solved."

"You guys are nuts," Atlas told us.

"You'll see things from our perspective if and when you become a father," I told him.

"I don't think I'll ever be a dad," he admitted, as the elevator doors closed. "I don't have a lot of memories or experience with a good one."

Steph nudged him with her shoulder. "Don't let your non-parents dictate who you can be. You're a pain in my butt, but I have no doubt that you'll do what I did … take everything I didn't have as a kid and give it - with interest - to mine. You know that my mother is the queen of only thinking about herself and how to make herself look good, but I'm a pretty badass Mom. Don't limit yourself based on what you never had. If you and Amari want kids … you give them everything you wanted from your parents. That alone will make you one heck of a daddy. Olive is stuck with me, but she seems okay with that."

"She's more than okay with you," I told her. "She couldn't have a better Mama."

"Mama isses," our daughter ordered.

Steph took her in her arms and covered our baby's face in loud, smacking kisses.

"That's disgusting," One Shot muttered.

"That's love," I corrected. "You should give it a shot sometime."

"You're worse than your wife with the 'feelings' crap."

"More deadly too. You may want to remember that."

"I'm pretty good with a gun," he fired back.

"But you aren't me."

My words ended the exchange, since I remain the one hit he didn't have a hope in hell of carrying out.

"You can leave me on four," he told us. "I need to get all this fur off me before dinner."

"Tell Amari we said hi," Steph told him.

"How do you know I don't want to look pretty for Ella?"

"You should present Ella with your best after all she does for you guys, but she's the first one to pick up Mado and kiss Mo and Gunny. She doesn't care at all about cat hair unless it's on something she's just made impeccable."

"Neither does Amari, but I don't enjoy being covered in the shi … stuff," he said, looking towards Olivia.

"There are worse things in life," my wife told him.

"Yeah. I've lived every one of them, so I get to choose what I can live with now."

"I can't do anything about your control freak/germ-free tendencies, but I promise Mado is as clean as a cat can be. She has some freaky habits too. She's probably the only cat who likes having baths, which I still need to 'thank' Tank for, since it adds to bath time. She has a similar thinking pattern as you. After not having a steady home before, she takes advantage of all the luxuries one provides now. That would explain the bonding between you two."

"I am not a cat person. She just likes torturing me," he protested, as we came up to the fourth floor. "I'm not an animal person at all. Having to fight rats for dinner will do that to a guy."

"Yeah, well the guy we're looking at has come a long way. Olive tolerates you, Mado uses you for a bed whenever you're around, and the boys want to play fetch with you, so clearly you have a few redeeming qualities. Hanging out with Amari will no doubt make you an even better man."

"I'm leaving now," he stated as the elevator stopped. "Hope the cat'll be happy with just the dogs to push around or suffocate."

"Should we blow Uncle Atlas a kiss goodbye?" Steph asked Olivia. "Or not because he's being a little cranky?"

"I'm good," he assured my wife.

"It's always fun to scare you guys a little."

"I'm not scared."

"Uh-huh. See you tomorrow."

"Whatever," he said in almost a growl.

"How was he ever a hitman?" Steph asked me, when the elevator began moving again.

"He had nothing to lose or look forward to back then," I answered. "He can pick and choose his lines in the sand now."

"I guess that makes me happy for him?" She asked.

"It does."

"Alright, so he is okay-ish. That means we can now shift our focus to Celia."

"Yes," I told her, passing her the key fob while taking our daughter in exchange. "You can unlock the door for the beasts while Olive and I get her on the line."

"And who am I talking to right now?" Celia asked her niece, when she appeared in our apartment via app a few seconds later.

"Olib Manobado."

"That sounds familiar. I think I know this little girl. Are you two-years-old?"

"I tued," our baby answered, holding up a finger from each hand to show Celia her age.

"Okay. This is definitely one of my favorite nieces. I could talk to you all day, but I wanted to tell your parents something. I hope they're lurking nearby."

I moved Olivia's hand with mine so I would temporarily be in view. "It's called supervising, Celia, not lurking. I need to screen who my daughter talks to, but one nut just slipped through."

"You dare to call me crazy, Carlos? You're forgetting that I'm older so I have a much longer memory."

"What were you going to tell us?" My wife asked, sticking her head in the frame to rest against mine. "I hope it's good news."

"We're only kidding around, Steph. My brother's hard to handle, but I do love every impossible inch of him."

"Same here," Steph said. "But something's telling me you didn't call just to say that."

"No, I didn't. Arlen told me that I wouldn't be surprising Carlos, but I wanted to call you both anyway and tell you that he proposed … and I said yes. Actually, I tried to say yes, but I was too busy kissing him to get the word out."

"Please, stop there. I'm going to have to eat soon," I teased.

"Translation," Steph said to my big sister, "is Ranger is happy for the two of you. I am too. I can't thank Arlen enough for helping me with my mom, and you for sharing him."

"We're family, Steph. That's what we do."

"Your family does anyway. If I were you, I'd be scared to marry a lawyer with his background."

"Since you brought up family," she replied, "Carlos is my brother. Arlen may have a fancy law degree, and his father an esteemed member of Jersey's highest court, but if he did anything to hurt me or screw me over, the law would not be able to protect him from my brother. And believe me when I say he knows that. Only in my family are our boyfriends more afraid of our brother than our Papa."

"You're welcome," I told her. "No one hurts any of you without feeling the effects of it."

"Arlen won't hurt me, but thank you for always being my protector even when I don't need one."

"I love you, Cel. And I am happy for you. Arlen is a good guy, but you're still too good for him."

She laughed. "I'll tell him you said that. He would be here with me now, but our parents wanted 'a word' with him."

"Oh no," Steph said. "I hope that doesn't mean the same thing in Newark as it does here."

"No oh," Olivia tried to repeat.

"No need to worry ladies," Celia told them. "If Arlen can deal with me on a daily basis, there will be no problem. I still can't believe I found 'the one'."

I felt Steph's eyes on me even though she was talking to Celia. "It happens when you least expect it."

"I wasn't expecting it at all. I was worse than my brothers when it came to not wanting to get married."

"And as we both figured out," I told her, "when you know … you don't let go of the person or the opportunity you've been given."

"I'm not, though Arlen was sweeter in how he described our relationship and what he loves about me. Don't worry, Steph, he may suck at showing it, but Carlos really loves you. So much so, he gets teased relentlessly whenever the six of us kids are able to talk."

"Your brother actually excels at showing us how much he loves us, but I don't want to gross you out with the details," my wife said.

"I appreciate that."

"Let us know if you need our help with anything. Parties, planning …"

"Or I can just pay for the wedding so I don't have to be included in any of that," I told them.

"Money doesn't fix everything, little brother."

"But it can get me excused from a lot of things I have no time or patience for."

"Says the guy who got married in our parents' living room."

"That's where we wanted it to happen. Money didn't factor into the decision."

"That's another reason why I called," Celia said. "I want a church wedding when one can safely take place. And, Steph, I'd really love for you to be one of my bridesmaids when it does."

"You would?" My wife asked, thinking she heard wrong.

"Yes. You're my sister too. And I can promise you that what you wear will not be purple or a monstrosity like you said Valerie chose."

"You had me accepting your bridesmaid request at 'sister', but I will love you forever for not repeating that hideous dress decision."

"I haven't had much time to think about details, but I do know I want everyone happy, comfortable, and hopefully wearing dresses that can be remembered fondly, not burned right after the ceremony."

"Don't tell Val this, but you're a nicer sister."

"I'm glad someone thinks so."

"We all love you, Celia," I told her. "You know that. It's just our family's duty to keep you humble."

"You, little brother, saying the word 'humble' is pretty hysterical. I'll call when we have a date or more details …"

"It'd be wise to warn Arlen that I want another word with him."

"Another? Is that why you aren't as shocked as I was about this?"

"Even his father was sure a daughter-in-law was in his immediate future. Not that I'm at all surprised, but he approves."

"I think you hit the in-law jackpot as much as I did," Steph told her.

"We're both lucky women. I may be a little luckier, since I'm marrying Arlen and you're stuck living with Carlos."

Steph pressed her lips to my jaw and then to Olivia's head. "It's a tough job," she said in a playful tone, "but I'll never regret signing a lifelong contract that keeps me doing it 'til death do us part'. And from what I've heard so far, neither will you."