All familiar characters belong to Janet. The bonus characters and mistakes are mine.
I've endured torture sessions that were less painful than what Stephanie subjected me to after my mother left our apartment. While her mother-in-law was driving back to Newark to interrogate my father on what he learned that evening in class, my wife tried out a few 'make-you-talk' tactics on me.
Steph had visibly relaxed when I assured her that Raphael is alright and just needed a sounding board and a little advice from someone he trusts. But when her concern waned ... her curiosity kicked in. It went into overdrive when I didn't tell her the nature of my conversation with him or that she was a key talking point in it.
As our daughter played with Gunny and Mo and all of their toys, my wife played with me. When Olivia ran down the hall to get Mo's ball for him, Steph came up behind me and slid her hands deep into the front pockets of my cargo pants from behind ... and she let her fingertips linger.
"Are you feeling more talkative now?" She whispered to me, as if Olivia would catch onto this adult game of hers.
"I'm feeling something," I said quietly back to her, happy to play along.
"Yeah ... so am I," she said, as she teased and squeezed me until she got a response.
"Stop," I ordered her, trying to keep my body from reacting the way it desperately wanted to.
She moved in even closer and kissed the side of my neck. "Do you really want me to?"
"No."
That was the wrong answer it seems. She took her hands back and stepped away from me.
"Olive ... it's getting close to bath and bedtime," she said, when our daughter had glanced back to see where we were. "What toys are we drowning tonight?"
I gained a little breathing room until Olivia was happily hosing our bathroom down again. Stephanie 'innocently' pressed her breasts into my back as she leaned heavily into me, presumably to hand Olive a penguin cup that our baby could use to wet her own hair in anticipation of becoming citrus-scented again.
"So ..." my wife began, "have you changed your mind about sharing any information yet?"
"Your plan may be backfiring, Babe, because now I purposely wouldn't tell you what Raphael wanted to discuss, just so I can see what you're planning to do to me next."
She backed off once again, but she had effectively turned us both on throughout the evening. The moment Olivia was asleep and our dogs set for the night, my wife and I were on each other ... barely making it into our bedroom, forgetting all about the game as we focused on the new goal of satisfying and completing the other.
A second call from Raphael didn't come that night, but Steph and I caught sight of his car coming in the following morning on the monitor covering Rangeman's front gate.
"Are you and Steph on seven or the fifth floor?" He asked, when he called me from the lobby.
"We're on five. And be warned, the infamous Plum-curiosity is alive and well ... and Stephanie just saw you drive in," I told him.
"I had an extra shot of espresso this morning just so I'll be ready for today and Steph."
"Smart man."
Five minutes later, he was stepping out of the elevator.
"There's the peanut," Raphael said when Olivia toddled towards him, back to 'rocking a dress' - Steph's words this morning - since our daughter is sticking to walking more than crawling these days.
Her dog-guards weren't far behind her, as they looked beseechingly up at him in hopes of a treat or a belly rub. Raphael's arms swung out like ropes on a tree swing and he caught Olive up in them to give her a playful Merry Go Round ride via Merry Man.
"And that's why he's Uncle Rah-Rah. He's like a kid-party in Tactical boots," Steph whispered to me, before turning to grill Raphael. "Our Olive 'peanut' has been right here where she belongs. The big question is ... where were you?"
He glanced at me. "You didn't tell her?"
"I told her that you're okay so she wouldn't worry about you. If there is news ... it's yours to tell."
"'The Boss' really can withstand anything," my wife shared. "He didn't crack despite how I tried to make him."
"Then you should've tried harder to make me enjoy the attention a little less, Babe."
She and Raphael blushed while Olive just grinned at me from her latest Uncle-perch. My daughter and I do enjoy the reactions we tend to cause in other people.
"Nice attempt," my wife said, "but I want to know what's going on ... and you Are Not going to distract me."
Raphael kept hold of Olivia and met her Mama's eyes. "What's going on is ..."
He made the mistake of pausing too long as he tried to figure out the right way to phrase what he wanted to tell her.
"Olive ... can you show me Uncle Rah-Rah's fishy-face again?" Steph said to our daughter. "I forgot what it looks like."
Her little hands came up and then slid together, making Raphael literally have to cry 'Uncle'.
"I asked Aubrey to marry me last night," he said, his mouth appearing realistically fish-like as he formed each word between Olivia's hands.
The control room ground to a halt as one man passed on the news to whoever hadn't heard what he said.
"Holy crap," Steph so eloquently stated. "You did? What did she say? Damn, why don't guys get engagement rings so I'd already know the answer without having to ask?"
"Jeez, Steph," Bobby said, "for a woman who was against marriage even after you were everything-but-legally married to Ranger ... you're now acting like Raphael's mother?"
"I'd punch you for that," my wife warned, "but I'm busy torturing another guy right now. Olive, this is a catch-and-release program. You can release your Uncle-fish now so he can talk faster. What did Aubrey say?"
"Yeah, Dude. Spill," Zero told him. "You getting hitched?"
"He is," Aubrey said, coming out of the elevator with the jacket I spotted yesterday in her hands. "But we spent most of the night talking about it ... and I want Raphael to know without a shadow of a doubt that I said yes for no other reason than he's who I want to spend the rest of my life with. So we're going to wait at least a year before we get married."
"Getting the shit beat out of me had a bright side, since it got my foot in Aubrey's door. My injuries caught her attention and flipped on her sympathy-switch. She stuck it out and saw that I was even cuter without all the bruises and scabs on my face."
"If someone tries that again and messes up this face that I love," Aubrey stated, "I'm going to get involved ... and it won't be pretty."
"You're always pretty, even when you're angry," he told her, looping his free arm across her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug.
"Shit, Man," Junior said to him. "If I were you ... I wouldn't wait twelve months to marry her. She could change her mind by then."
"You can change your mind at any time, married or not," Steph told him. "But if you're with the right person, being with them is the only thing that's important, not how you're relationship is labeled. I'm not much of a jewelry person, but I can't help but notice that you did pick a great ring, Raph."
It was the only time Raphael appeared uncomfortable ... when Steph picked up Aubrey's hand to get a better look at the ring's details. Having my wife's hand wearing the rings I bought her so close to the engagement ring Raphael purchased, had him feeling suddenly self-conscious.
"The ring is ..." he started.
"Perfect," Aubrey finished for him. "You know exactly what I would've picked if I had wanted you to spend this kind of money on me."
'Aubrey's ring' as Raphael had dubbed it, turned out to be an incredibly delicate-looking gold band that has three oval diamonds ... a larger carat in-between two smaller ones of a similar shape. Having some experience now, I know why he picked it. It fit Aubrey's ring finger like it was meant to be there. They both deserve this after the year they've had, and I wouldn't be surprised if they eloped like Steph and I did long before the one-year marker they've put in place.
Waiting is a nice gesture on Aubrey's part, but everyone can see it really is unnecessary. Both she and Raphael clearly know what they want ... and their relationship is it. Stephanie must have been thinking the same thing as she kissed Olivia's head when she'd run to her Mama for an 'Up' after Raphael had put her down.
"Oh crap," she said, my wife's expression suddenly set to 'not-pleased'.
"What?" I asked, knowing she'd prefer her feelings or worries to be out in the open rather than trying to bottle them up for a later explosion-date.
She glanced at the engaged couple and did what I could only call a grimace. "If you guys are getting married ... Raphael, you won't be living here in the building anymore."
"Aubrey and I are going to be looking for a house closer to Trenton than where she's living but also not far from her work. But I'm getting married, Steph, not quitting. I'm still going to be here almost everyday," Raphael told her. "You guys can't get rid of me that easy."
"Ranger, Olive, and I, don't want to get rid of any of you," Steph told the control room. "We want you all to be happy, and hopefully have what Ranger and I now have, but I'm not looking forward to our Rangefamily breaking off as it gets bigger when we start to welcome your eventual partners and children into it. Since he's not here to glare at me, I'm guessing Cal and Kenzie are now the ones to watch."
