A/N: Sooooo people, the day of you - well, those who read the spoiler in one of the first chapters anyway - have been waiting for. It MIGHT however not be what you guys are expecting. Same goes for the next chapter :) Because I'm evil like that... Also, I hardly ever change POVs withon a story, but... well, this was almost a requirment. And can I also just mention how surprised I was with how many of you guys were surprised with yesterdays chapter? I mean a lot of you said earlier they had read the spoiler and such and yet so many of you seemed genuinly shocked/surprised/overwhelmed...

TANK'S POV

I stared at the screen of my computer for the tenth time, hoping this would actually change into something I liked. It didn't happen. Just like it didn't happen the last nine times. Going through the men that were in today and wondering whether I could just push this task on to one of them, I let out a barely audible sigh. This really sucked.

For the hundredth time I actually wondered how Steph found any of this entertaining. How she actually saw logic in these numbers and summaries. It was odd in a weird way. How far she had come, how little she said she had known about anything and how little she had assumed she could actually work this through and out. She had always been her harshest critique, never listening to any of us – especially Ranger when he was still around – who told her she was capable of so much more than what everyone in her family and Burg-surrounding was telling her she could do.

I always knew she had potential and Ranger knew as well. He had always seen that her methods might be unorthodox or unusual and that often enough she based her success on pure luck, but… luck or not, it always was a success. I hadn't seen the first few weeks she had been here when news of Ranger's passing as well as his will had been delivered to her, hadn't seen her struggle or issues and what it all did to her, but I had heard the stories. First from the guys, eventually from her. It was hard to believe she had struggled and was feeling like this wasn't working out when now it seemed like she had never done anything else. Whenever she didn't understand anything, she'd ask as many questions as possible until she understood. In the beginning there had been plenty of questions, as of late, it was probably more one of us doing the asking and her having all the answers. Her desk was home to a quadrillion files and documents, that all looked like cluttered, but she knew at every second of every day where she put what. And by the end of the day her desk was empty. I have no idea how she does it and sometimes I'm certain I don't want to know.

Stephanie Plum had a way with things and especially people. Every single guy in the Trenton office loved her and would die or kill for her. The other offices might not have been as high on her radar in regards of love, but it was there. She had a way of keeping everyone on their toes, especially everyone outside Trenton. Her budgeting and finance calls for the other offices were legendary and even a little bit feared throughout the other offices. She was never tough and unreasonable and gave the other offices a lot of leeway, but when she felt money was constantly being wasted and budgets were not made well enough, she could give you hell. With a smile.

Like every contact and handler of every single alphabet agency could tell you about. We are talking about some of the biggest, toughest and scariest guys and yet all of them were wrapped around her little finger. She had managed to earn her respects from some of the hardest to please guys I knew. Hell, I remember meetings when Ranger had walked out and was cursing six ways into Sunday about some of these men, their expectations and demands. Steph had managed to somehow turn things around and took these challenges that were thrown her way on with stride. Always delivering and never disappointing. As long as you did play by the rules. You screwed up or tried taking her for a fool, she'd come down on you with all her force and verbal strength. The guy from Homeland Security who had been responsible for Slick and Zero getting shot – in a way he had been responsible – and had tried blaming us for the screw up was now looking for a new job after Stephanie had made sure he knew her two cents and then went on and complained to his superiors, telling them she expected better from them. She seemed to play politics like no one else and to some degree I found it amusing, seeing how she never had spoken up for herself before and how she had always cursed out the Burg for their politics. Now, she could teach them all lessons in how to do it right.

Clients loved her and even when there was an issue, none of us ever heard about a complaint. She took whatever was being said serious and worked out solutions without giving away stuff for free. I had seen the last few reports on earning for Trenton and moneywise she was above anything Ranger ever had dreamed of accomplishing. And even with Ranger money was never much of an issue since RangeMan made good money. Now, RangeMan was on its way to become a very valuable company.

I found it amazing how there were so many articles by now, talking about RangeMan and her specifically, making her the golden girl of a business that is usually very testosterone-driven, how all of that was such a big success and yet, her family and Joseph Morelli were not seeing any of it. Though Morelli was no longer an issue – and hadn't been in her life for a while now – their paths obviously crossed often enough. After all was RangeMan and TPD still tightly connected and we counted on each other. Morelli had been overheard a few times with other officers and how he bitched about her accomplishments. How Steph was now into making career, getting ahead and forgetting where she came from and what her purpose in life was. He bitched about her loosing her touch with reality if she thought she could survive in this world and she'd be crawling back to him eventually. Two days after that conversation at Pino's was overheard she ran into him, picking up a lunch order on her way to a client meeting on site with me as her backup. I wish I had filmed what was going down since she gave him a very clear idea of who'd come crawling to whom and who had lost touch with reality. It was amazing to watch her hand Morelli his balls and tell him in front of probably half the Burg just what he could do to himself.

Her parents had come to terms with her not going to get married to Morelli and not producing grandchildren anytime soon and just taking over the world. Business-wise speaking. Not certain whether I'd go ahead and call the Plums proud parents, but at least they weren't trying to convince Bomber to settle down and start a family any longer.

She had a head for business like no one else, seeing things and opportunities that no one else before her even considered. Sometimes I wonder whether we are just too jaded and just too focused on one single thing in order to see what she sees. When she came to us with her K9 project I was surprised to say the least. This was entirely new territory, but she had done her research well, presenting us with an idea that seemed almost perfectly thought through. There was never a guarantee for anything, especially when it was business related, but looking at her first idea and project, it would become a huge success. I was already fighting of calls from TPD daily, inquiring when we'd finally be able to present them with a K9 unit. Even after I explained the lengthy training for these kinds of dogs, it still didn't mean I wouldn't get another call tomorrow, asking the exact same question they did ask today.

When she came up with the idea for an office in LA, I was once more a bit sceptical, but then again expansion had always been Ranger's thing and he hardly ever involved any of us in his plans, knowing that most of us wouldn't give him much input anyway. Now, she was in LA again for the next week and I was stuck doing some of her stuff that needed to be taken care of urgently. It wasn't rocket science and I knew that this was just a matter of time and patience, two things I really didn't want to spare right now. I was more of 'out and about' guy than sitting behind a desk. But it needed to be done. And I was in charge.

The first part of the LA office had been finished and Steph, as well as Bobby and Cal tried taking turns as well as possible in regards of manning the new office and giving some leadership. The mobile team had been sent out to LA for the time being and things seemed to work out well – according to literally everyone. Steph and the others were looking at possible recruits, sending a few files my way occasionally with questions of general input. Steph had arranged for a waiting list for the office when it came to clients. A waiting list. For our services. It seemed odd, but when explained it made sense. Apparently, there was such a demand that with current staffing it would have been impossible to handle everything. So, it was decided that a few clients would be taken on – basically the first ones that had contacted us as well as few others that didn't require an awful lot of work – and the rest would have to wait for the office to be set up with more – and more permanent – people.

The ringing of my phone brought me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I almost barked into the receiver.

"Um…. Someone just pulled into the underground parking and we are not sure who," Bones replied.

"What do you mean you are not sure who? How did they access the underground parking?"

"It isn't a fleet car, there is no one on our agendas that would warrant for a visit of a client and as far as I know Steph and or Lester aren't supposed to be back for another few days or weeks. It looks like they had a fob. What do you want us to do?"

"Have they left the car yet and can you see who it is?" I asked, already on my way out the door and towards the elevators.

"Nope, they pulled in, navigated to an empty spot that is usually yours or Steph's and just… idle. I mean, the car has been killed, but they haven't left the vehicle yet. I'm running plates through our databases."

"Fuck," I said, waiting at the elevators and turning around to see who was on the floor and could come with me. "Slick, Junior, Hal, all of you with me," I more or less ordered and a few seconds later we took the stairs down to the parking garage, me having all of them filled in what was happening.

"It's a rental," Bones eventually said through the receiver of the phone. "However I can't access any information."

"Any movement?" I asked when we reached our destination.

"None," Bones said. I hung up, drew my weapon and signalized for the others to do the same, spotting the car instantly the moment we made it through the door. I stood next to the driver's door, with Slick behind me and Hal as well as Junior to my right. Maybe this was a bit much, but without knowing who this was and how the hell they managed to get inside here with a fob, I was willing to take the risk of overkill. This was a security firm after all. With the windows all tinted it was hard seeing anything inside the car, but it wasn't necessary since the door opened a moment later and the driver got out.

"What the-?" I asked, looking probably as shocked as I felt and judging by the faces from the guys around me, I was not by myself with that sentiment.

"Ranger?" Junior asked after all of us staring at each other for what seemed hours.

He stood in front of us for what felt an eternity without anything happening. He just looked at us and we looked at him. "Would you mind lowering them?" he eventually said, pointing towards our still drawn weapons.

All of us holstered the guns and I was still not sure I saw what I saw.

"I," I started, trying to make sense of what was happening, but truth be told, I couldn't. My mind could not wrap itself around the idea that Carlos Manoso was standing in front of me. A guy every single one of us believed to be dead. Well, everyone except for Steph. I should have known better really.

I looked around myself and saw in Junior's, Slick's and Hal's faces the exact same expressions of disbelief I was feeling.

"I don't understand," someone finally said and I wasn't sure but it could have been Hal. "What…how… when…" he started, trying unsuccessfully to formulate a question. It were things that probably went through all our minds. Though, my most pressing one would have been why he hadn't contacted anyone. At any time.

"Do you mind if we don't have that discussion down here in the garage?" he asked, walking around the car and retrieving a bag from the trunk. He walked towards the elevator and surprised me when he pressed the keys for the penthouse as well as the fifth floor, as well as what I assumed was to scramble the video fed.

"None of you have seen me," he addressed Junior, Zip and Hal, letting them get off on the fifth floor. "Keep your mouth shut for a while and pretend nothing ever happened."

"Did something happen?" Junior asked, playing pretend and I saw my best friend just nod grateful, letting the men get of the elevator and ready for us to ride on.

"I assume there is a reason we are going up here?" I asked when he fobbed the door open and took a long look around once inside. I hadn't been often in this apartment, but from the few times I had been around when Ranger was still in charge and the handful of times when Stephanie took residence, I knew nothing really had changed. Maybe a throw or a blanket had appeared or a few more colourful accessories, but other than that she hadn't changed much.

"Getting off on the fifth floor would mean people see me, well, more people than you and your backup. And… I don't think I want it to make the rounds yet that I'm here;" he started to explain is his usual calm voice. "How have you been?" he finally asked after a long moment of silence.

"How am I?" I asked surprised and almost amused. "I should rather ask how you are? And well… there are a shitload of questions I feel the urge to ask right away. But I know we'll get there sooner or later."

He just nodded, so I decided on answering his question.

"I've been doing good and as you can see things run smoothly. Though I am not going to lie, when Steph left me in charge for RangeMan I figured it'd be easier. I hate paperwork."

"What do you mean she left? Why?" he asked almost irritated, and I loved how my little mind game actually worked. I know I could have been a bit more specific but choose deliberately not to. Payback would be a bitch for Manoso.

"She left about a week ago. For LA," I said, making this harder than necessary. He however surprised me when he just nodded as if all of that actually made sense and he knew what I was talking about.

"New account?" he just asked and I smiled – more to myself then to him.

"New office," I replied and saw his surprise for a moment. Maybe he didn't know shit. I remembered that Steph had left messages on his mailbox for the longest time, so maybe he was aware of a lot more things than I assumed, but not every little thing. Especially since I didn't know when she had spoken to his mailbox last.

"In LA?" he finally asked and I just nodded.

"It's a long story and I think one she herself should tell you. Does she know?"

"No," he answered curtly. "After… after I returned and got out of debrief and spent a few days taking off heads from people, I made my way directly here."

"And… you couldn't have called?"

"And tell you what exactly? I'm alive? Sounds a bit obnoxious. Some things need to be done in person to be believed."

"Why didn't you let anyone know? Where have you been anyway all these months? You've been gone for over a year and not once did it occur to you to let us know? To let anyone know? Do you know what you put her through? The crap she went through?"

"Truth be told, I couldn't. Like, physically couldn't. I was in a hospital for about …for a shitty longass time. I don't even know how long. All I know is that one day I woke up and someone told me the date and I just couldn't believe it. I was supposedly in a coma and… I don't even know. I was rescued by a militia group that sympathized with the west but was on no ones radar and kept things very quiet. They saved me and my life and just… I don't know what it is they actually did."

"How did you get out of there? I mean, all of us saw the video of the detonation. And.. there is almost no way you could have made it out of there."

"I don't remember a lot to be honest. Just that I was one lucky bastard. Some of the building fell down on me but instead of crushing me it sort of created a safehaven, a hole of sorts that kept me save from a lot. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I somehow was able to get out of there through a pure streak of luck. I guess that is when they picked me up. Can't remember much after that since I lost consciousness and the next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital – though that is already putting it nicely. It was a hole, masked as a hospital, just like you'd expect from a warzone."

I nodded and tried hiding the smile. I think everyone here knew what he was talking about since most of us had at one point or another found themselves at these kind of hospitals. "So, when you woke up, even then you didn't think of maybe letting people know you are still around?"

"How? The entire region is instable and the more I learned the more I know it was a setup. Someone screwed up and while I wasn't the exact target itself it was a message that mattered. Well, at least to those who benefited from it. It took me several weeks to dig through shit and found out who I needed to go after just to do what I came for. I made sure a few heads rolled with all parties involved – at least the ones I could influence and had a say with – and decided on keeping a low profile. For weeks if not even months I wasn't entirely sure who to trust and what to actually trust. There was no way I'd risk contact with either of you just for the phone lines to be tapped and then someone showing up here for either of you or Stephanie."

I just nodded at his explanation. Again, something most of us knew as well. Once something was compromised it was hard to tell who to trust. And making contact with us could have been risky. Also, I figured he had a point when saying that just calling after a year and saying you are alive could have been difficult.

"So the debrief was okay?" I asked.

"Like hell. I don't know how long they actually kept me there for until I made it out a few hours ago. I took back my belongings, rented a car and just drove. They needed to make sure I told them everything I knew, and of course the paperwork of me being alive seems to be a mile long, not that I actually give a fuck. They tried keeping me around longer, not entirely sure why since all I knew I told them and the initial target they sent me out for all these months ago had been neutralized. So the job they sent me out to do, was done."

I just nodded, glad to hear that the job was in the end done. Coming back and knowing that what you were sent out to do was not accomplished would have killed Ranger on a whole different level.

I watched my best friend walk through the apartment all a sudden, looking at a few things longer than at others. I followed him around silently, assuming that if he wanted to talk he'd say a word. Sometimes, after missions, you just didn't want to talk about anything, you cherished the silence and the fact that you made it back from god knows what hell. I imagined it must be even worse when you were considered dead. When he walked into his study/office he stopped in front of the desk, looking at the placard that had been deposited there for the time being. He looked at the desk for a long while and had an odd expression with a proud smile on his lips. Sitting down behind the desk he leaned over and took the placard and studied it for a long moment.

"It was supposedly a gift she received from the guys," I explained without a real need. "It's the first one that now had to get replaced when Batman got his teeth in it and used it as a chewing toy when it fell down one day."

"Supposedly a gift?" he asked and I didn't even find it odd that he didn't ask who or what was meant by 'Batman'. "You don't know?" he asked confused.

"I wasn't here. Bobby, Lester and me had been in Canada and Alaska at that time, tracking down an FTA for weeks. We heard about your demise, but weren't able to abandon the mission unfortunately. Especially since transportation was a tricky thing to begin with. When we came back she was already settled in. She was informed by Bones and Cal and things were really… emotional for a while. It didn't get much better when she heard about your last request for her taking over. From what I heard she debated with everyone and their mother to come to a decision what to do until she accepted, surprising everyone."

"Why? Did none of you think she'd be capable?" he asked, sounding not just angry, but pissed.

"No, but she told me months later that she herself actually had been on her way to meet the attorneys to turn the offer down. She took on the position eventually to save the world in your name – more or less."

"How have things turned out?" he asked, still studying the placard.

"Now who's doubting who?" I asked amused, knowing fully well that Ranger had all the world's faith in her capabilities.

"I've never doubted she couldn't do it nor did I ever doubt her. But I can acknowledge that I threw her probably in a slightly awkward position."

"Honestly, she… I don't even know where to start. In a way, if she'd walk through that very door right now, I'm not sure you'd actually recognize her. She has become someone else really. In a very very good way."

"She has changed?" Ranger asked confused.

"Yes, to be someone better than she herself ever believed she could be. There isn't a business magazine on the east or west coast that doesn't have a boner for her. People love her, the other offices love her, Taylor loves her – and you know how hard Taylor is to please. For him everyone who doesn't speak finances is a hard sell. She has earned the respect of everyone, from TPD to every agency of this country. You'll be proud to see what she managed to accomplish. She was the best thing that ever happened to this company. Sorry, if this would ever come down to a vote, you'd lose out to Bomber," I laughed, seeing his version of a smile. "She has taken on the RangeMan code in a way, working out almost religiously – though with a lot of cursing involved, depending on the workout -, knows how to handle her weapons and easily passes any target practice as well as the annual physical. You'd be surprised how driven she has become in regards of that."

I saw my best friend smile at that. Not sure how long he had spent trying to get Stephanie to be more active and work out, nothing ever worked and to hear now she finally did her part, all by herself without anyone forcing her, must have made him proud.

"Do you know when she'll be back?" I heard him ask and shock my head.

"Not exactly, she had a few things to take care of in the new office and with contractors on site. Officially though at the end of next week, that's when Bobby is up for his round in LA and after that Cal until we decided on head of that office."

He just nodded vaguely and it was quiet for a moment. "LA? Why… LA of all places?"

I laughed at his question, having wondered about the same thing. Until she came up with the whole Marylin Swanson angle. "I… a bit of luck I guess. She herself didn't pinpoint LA as a possible location until Marylin Swanson became a client here in Trenton and then in LA, bringing in a whole load of celebrity clients and stuff. It will be different than our offices, but I've seen the plans and also the client list. That office will make a lot of money in a very little time. She thought outside the box and commissioned an old factory site, transforming into something else and also getting heavily subsidized in the progress."

More smiling from my best friend.

"So what's your plan from here on out?" I asked after a long pause.

"I don't want anyone to know about me being back. This stays between you and the guys that were down with you in the garage. No one else supposed to know, especially not before Stephanie does. The last thing I want is for everyone to know when she comes back. I'm not entirely happy with Junior, Hal and Slick knowing, but I guess with my way of coming out of the woods I can't really complain about your actions. But it doesn't go further than you and them."

I nodded at his stern request and knew where he was coming from. It was hard to gauge Steph's reaction when she'd come back and found out every single person in the office knew apart from her. "And you? What do you want to do until then?"

"I'll head up to Newark until she returns and spent time with my family, hopefully coming up with how to break this to her in the meantime."

I shrugged for a moment, realizing this really was not going to be easy. Walking into her office was definitely not the way to go about this. Neither was walking in on her in the apartment. But inbeween were little options that would work and wouldn't seem odd or overstimulate her. Though, drama and emotions were guaranteed.