Ram got busy at work the next few months with an influx of new employees and that kept his mind off of Julie. He needed to evaluate their skills and let Ranger know where they needed work and what he thought of each new member. Ranger had also approached him about visiting the other offices and doing an evaluation of all employees, not just the new ones. He had agreed and was planning to spend about a week in each office, with a brief trip back to Trenton in between to check on things here. His visit to Boston went well and his report back to Ranger was positive. He headed to Atlanta next and found a few of the older guys needed some extra time on the newer weapons, but otherwise, they were fine. His trip back to Trenton after Atlanta was short, but he manage a few minutes to play with Rosie. She was getting bigger, almost walking and he wasn't so afraid of her anymore. Steph had teased him about being afraid of Rosie, but she realized that most of the guys were like Ram. They were big, always had been big and most people found them intimidating, even though she could see through to their softer sides. He was headed to Miami next and Steph had asked him to check on Julie for her. Apparently things weren't going well at home for her and Steph was worried. Steph didn't go into great detail about the issues, but just asked that he check on her.
His flight landed in Miami and when he walked into the terminal, expecting to find one of the guys from the RangeMan office waiting for him, he was surprised to see Julie. She was smiling and holding a sign up that simply had a picture of a cartoon ram. He laughed at it and walked over to her. She grabbed him and hugged him, and dropped a kiss on his cheek. "Hey, welcome to Miami. My name is Julie and I'll be your driver for today." He laughed and they walked over to get his bags. She tried to carry one for him, but he wouldn't let her. She led him to the car and he loaded the bags. He headed towards the driver's seat and she shook the car keys at him. "I'm driving. You can sit in the copilot seat or the backseat if you want to be Miss Daisy." He must have looked skeptical because she said, "Ram, I'm almost 18 years old and have been driving for two years. No accidents and no tickets. Besides, you don't know where you're going." He got in the front next to her and they took off. She drove like she was being chased and he looked at her and said, "No tickets? Are you sure?" She laughed and said, "Nope, no tickets. I didn't say I didn't drive fast, just that I haven't had any tickets." She turned the radio on and started singing. He glanced over and asked, "What did you do about that camp at Julliard? I never heard anything more about it." "Something came up at home and I had to defer for a year. Julliard was very willing to work with me and hopefully I'll get to go this year." Just the way she said it made Ram think that something big was going on and it was eating at her. She pulled into the parking garage at Miami RangeMan and parked. They got out and grabbed Ram's bags and headed up the elevator. They got off at the control room and she took him to Silvio's office. She knocked and Silvio yelled for them to come in and when she opened the door, she found Silvio and her dad, Ron, sitting there talking. Ram noticed that Julie tensed when she saw Ron and she said, "Dad, is everything is okay?" He nodded and said, "Julie, everything is the same as it was before you left this morning. I just stopped by with some paperwork that Ranger needed your mom to sign. I was just dropping it off so Ram could take it back when he returns to Trenton." He nodded to Ram and then stood up. He pulled Julie in for a hug and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you later at home, okay?" She nodded and then headed out to the control room. Silvio nodded for Ram to sit down and once the door shut behind Julie, Silvio let out a big sigh.
Ram looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Problems?" Silvio shook his head. "Just some issues going on at the Martine house and I'm the go between with them and Ranger. Makes me glad I never got married or had kids. This family crap is tiring. Julie is putting in some time with searches for us, since we're short staffed at the moment. Hopefully it will keep her mind busy." Ram nodded and took the envelope from him that he held out that contained the papers Ron had dropped off. "Just give these to Ranger when you get back. He's expecting them." "Sure, I'll put them in my bag now so I don't forget them when I leave." They got down to work and came up with an evaluation schedule for the next few days. The next few days went by quickly and before he knew it, it was his last night in Miami. He was packing his bags in the apartment he was staying in at RangeMan when there was a knock at the door. He walked over and opened it to find Julie standing there with tears running down her face.
He pulled her into his arms for a hug and she broke down in sobs. He kicked the door shut and just stood there, holding her, letting her cry it out. When he heard her sobs slowing down, he said, "Julie, what's going on? Are you hurt?" She shook her head and when he tried to pull her away from him, she grabbed on tighter. "Julie?" She let go of him and ran her hands across her face to wipe away the tears. She walked farther in the apartment and disappeared into the bathroom. He pulled out his phone to see if he a text or missed call about a problem with her, but found nothing. She walked out and saw him with his phone in his hand and said, "Please don't call Steph or my dad. I don't want to talk to them yet." He nodded and put his phone back in his pocket. He motioned for her to sit down on the couch and he pulled a couple bottles of water out of the fridge. He handed one to her and she drank it down quickly. "Thanks. I'm sorry for dumping on you, but I had to get away from the house and you were the first person I thought to go see. I hope you don't mind." Ram reached over and wiped more tears that were running down her face and said, "Not at all. Can you tell me what's going on and I can try and help?" She started talking and by the time she was done, Ram felt like crying. He had gone through the same thing a few years ago with his own family, poor kid. He looked at the clock on the microwave and saw that they had been talking for about 2 hours. "Hey, do you need to let someone know where you are? You've been here for over 2 hours." She jumped up and grabbed her purse that she had dropped when she came into the apartment and pulled out her phone. She looked and saw she had over 20 missed calls. She punched a few buttons and then started talking to whoever she called. "I'm sorry. My phone was turned off." "I'm okay, just with a friend talking." "I'll be home soon. I'm sorry." "Love you too." She hung up and then turned back to Ram. "I need to get home. Thanks for listening to me babble on and on. As your driver, I'll be back in the morning to take you to the airport." She hugged him one last time and left him standing there, staring after her.
