**An extra long chapter, but I felt I couldn't break it up into two chapters. Enjoy!**

Julie skipped into the office the next day with a big smile on her face. The night spent with Ram was everything she dreamed it would be for her first time. Ram was perfect, the whole night was perfect and so full of love. She experienced so many different emotions and felt so many different sensations that now, as she sat at her desk staring at her computer screen, she wondered why she waited for so long. Lester walked by and stopped when he saw her sitting there, staring at her blank computer screen, with a goofy grin on her face. "Hey Julie, what's up?" Julie looked up and smiled at him, "Hey Uncle Lester. It's a beautiful day today, isn't it?" He looked around at the chaos of the control room and shook his head. "If you say so." Walking away, he was shaking his head when he walked right into Stephanie. "Beautiful." She laughed, "Hey Les, what's up?" He looked back towards Julie and said, "Something's up with Julie. Look at that goofy grin. She's staring at a blank screen. Good thing Ranger's still out of town." Steph looked over at Julie and smiled and then kissed Lester on the cheek and walked away. Lester shook his head and said, "Women."

Steph walked over the Julie's desk and perched her butt on the side of the desk. Julie looked up and smiled at her. "Hey Steph. How are the kids doing?" Steph narrowed her eyes and said, "Kids are fine, your dad comes home today. Got time for a quick visit in my office?" Julie nodded and stood up and followed Steph into her office. Steph shut the door behind them and they both sat down. Julie still had the grin on her face and Steph finally said, "So, I assume things went well last night? You said Ram was coming over for supper." Julie sighed and said, "He came over for supper last night," and with a twinkle in her eyes said, "and he left after breakfast this morning." Steph didn't say anything for a minute, but then asked, "Are you okay? I mean, do you hurt anywhere?" Julie laughed, "Steph, I feel wonderful! I don't know why I waited so long to do this, but yes, I am a bit sore this morning, but, wow, it was wonderful." As they sat and talked, Julie gave out some of the details about how gentle and slow Ram was with her, how he made her feel so loved, including the part where Ram said he wanted to marry her. Steph paused briefly and then said, "Holy moly, don't say that in front of your dad, well, both dads, yet. Ranger is still hesitant about you and Ram dating, even after all of this time. And, before you say anything, it's because you're his little girl. It doesn't matter how old you are, or how old you will be when you do get married, you're still his first little girl. He's having a tough time seeing you as a grown woman."

They talked for a few more minutes and then Julie headed back to her desk. She finally got busy with work and before she knew it, it was lunch time. She headed into the break room to eat and sat down at an empty table. Her back was to the door when she heard silence take over the control room. She didn't even bother to look behind her, she knew what happened. She heard the footsteps and said, "Hey dad. Welcome home." Ranger kissed the top of her head and said, "You didn't even look, how did you know it was me?" She laughed, "Seriously dad? The entire building when quiet when the elevator opened. Even if they weren't doing anything wrong, the guys go stone cold quiet when you are on the floor." He had grabbed some lunch and sat down with her. He filled her in on his trip and mentioned that he wanted her to visit the other offices before the year was over. He wanted her to share her knowledge of investigations and her thought process with the other teams. She didn't have Steph's spidey-sense, but she wasn't far off from having it. She knew more about the use of social media and could usually find some type of information from one of the sites. She came up with a check list of sorts that she used for every file and because of her hard work, the company's profits had grown and she helped get vital information on some of the tougher cases that came from Washington, DC. He had even pulled her into the planning of a mission for Manny and she ended up finding out information that Ranger passed onto DC and they were able to take care of the situation without Manny. There were still a few of his men that took on missions, and ever since that one, he made a deal with DC to let him have his staff research the mission before he would send his men out in the field. They talked about when she would be able to go and he wanted her to take at least one of the guys with her, and she agreed. She even agreed that it wouldn't be Ram, but one of the core team.

Ram was working the overnight shift so she barely saw him the next few weeks. They texted or emailed off and on and saw each other in passing at the end of her shift and the start of his, but they didn't get to spend any time alone for almost a month. They finally ended up with the same day off and Ram showed up at her front door at the end of his last overnight shift. He had stopped and brought breakfast and hoped that he could convince Julie to have breakfast in bed. It had been an agonizing month for both of them. He knocked on her door and after a few minutes, she showed up and opened the door, pulling him inside. He dropped the bakery bag and pulled her into his arms and kissed her until they were both out of breath. "Finally," he said. She murmured her agreement and then pulled him down for another kiss. He walked her over to the sofa and pulled her down on top of him. Kissing led to more and soon they were both out of breath, but thoroughly satisfied. She glanced over towards the door and saw the bakery bag on the floor. "Ah, did you bring me a donut?" He got up and walked over, picking up the bag, and turned and headed down the hall to her bedroom. "I thought you could have breakfast in bed." She jumped up and ran after him, laughing the entire way down the hall.

They surfaced a few times throughout the day for food and drinks, but spent the rest of the day in bed. The sun was starting to set when they decided to shower and head out for dinner. The shower took a bit longer than normal, due to the extracurricular activities, but eventually, they got out the door and headed to Pino's for pizza. They were seated and had just ordered when the door opened and Steph, Ranger and the kids came inside. Rosie saw them and came running over and threw herself onto Ram. "Wam Wam, you're here too." She turned towards her parents and said, "Look mommy and daddy, Wam Wam and Julie are here too. Can we eat with them?" Before Steph could answer, Ram had gotten up and motioning to the waitress, moved everyone over to a larger table. He sat down next to Julie and, out of habit, draped his arm across the back of her chair. He glanced up and found Ranger sitting across the table from him with a glare on his face. Julie saw it too and said, "Daddy, be nice." Steph elbowed him in the side and he dropped the glare. Steph ordered for the rest of them and soon they were all talking about the babies and what they were doing. All of the food came about the same time and the next few minutes were quiet with all of them eating. Julie was about to say something when Ram's phone rang. He excused himself and went outside to take the call where it was quieter. He came back in a few minutes later and sat down. Julie looked over and said, "Everything okay?" He didn't answer right away, instead he looked at Ranger, who knew exactly what the call was, just by the look on Ram's face. Ranger reached over and grabbed Steph's hand and gave it a squeeze. She understood the look as well. Ram touched Julie's shoulder and said "Sorry to cut this short, but we need to go." She didn't say anything, but as Steph looked at her, she could tell that Julie was beginning to understand what had happened. He stood up and pulled out his wallet but Steph waved him off. "No, we'll take care of it. Go." He nodded and grabbed Julie's hand and pulled her out to the car. Steph didn't realize she was crying until Ranger wiped her tears. "He'll be okay Babe." She nodded, but said, "I know he will be, but I'm more concerned about Julie." "I know Babe, I know."

Ram was quiet in the car on the ride back to Julie's house, holding her hand the entire way. She knew what was happening but hoped that if she didn't say anything about it, it wouldn't be real. He parked the car and before she could get out, he pulled her hand up and kissed her fingers. They got out of the car and walked into the house. Ram locked the door behind them and led her into the bedroom. She started to say something, but he put a finger over her mouth and shushed her. "Later, we'll talk later. For now, just let me love you." She nodded and he wiped the tears that were falling down her face. A few hours later, she had fallen into an exhausted sleep and he unwrapped himself from her arms and headed out into the kitchen. He pulled out some paper from the drawer, sat down, and started to write. He wrote to Steph and Ranger, to Rosie and the twins, and finally to Julie. That one was the hardest to write and it took a couple of tries before he finally got down in words what he wanted her to know. He put each letter into an envelope and wrote the appropriate name on the outside. He put them away in his coat pocket and would give them to Tank to distribute if the need arose. He slipped back into bed and just held Julie until his alarm went off a few hours later. He got up and took a shower and when he came back into the bedroom, Julie was getting dressed. "I'm not going to just sit here and let you go alone. I'm going with you." He didn't argue, just pulled her in and held her. Eventually, they had to leave. He drove to RangeMan and he held her hand the entire way. He pulled into the garage and they went up to his apartment. He packed his duffle while Julie sat and watched. "Is there anything I can do to help with this mission? Is there anything I can research?" He shook his head and knelt down in front of her, holding both of her hands. "I know you want to help, but for this one, there's nothing you can find that they don't already know. It's a return trip to somewhere I've been before and hopefully, it won't take long." He leaned in and kissed her, inhaling her scent so it could go with him on this job. They walked out of his apartment and headed to the control room. The guys working saw them come out of the elevator and saw the duffle bag in Ram's hand, so they knew what was happening.

The entire core team was waiting for him and together with Julie and Steph, they headed up to the roof to wait for the helicopter. Julie held onto him the entire way up to the roof and stood clinging to his arm, not wanting to let him go. The guys came over and shook his hand and wished him well. He pulled the envelopes out of his pocket and gave them to Tank. Without saying anything about what they were, Tank nodded he understood. Tank put them away in his pocket and pulled Ram in for a man hug. Steph hugged him and whispered something to him that had him nodding and he reached up and wiped her tears. Ranger asked to speak to him privately and Julie reluctantly let him. Ranger spoke quietly and Ram nodded. They exchanged a man hug and then he headed back to Julie. He pulled her aside and then into him. He leaned his head down on top of hers and just held her. He pulled back a bit and tipped her chin up to look at him. She had tears flowing down her face and he wiped them away and kissed her. "I love you Julie." "I love you too Ramsey and you better come back to me in the same shape you left me or I'll be pissed." He chuckled and kissed her again. He could hear the chopper in the distance and for the first time in a long time, hated what he did for a living. Maybe if he wasn't so damn good at being a sniper, he wouldn't have to go. He walked Julie back over to the rest of the group and when the helicopter was just about to land, he grabbed Julie and kissed her. He poured everything he had into the kiss. Reaching down to grab his duffle bag, he looked at Julie and kissed her and said, "I love you, I'll be back as soon as I can. Be safe." She nodded and kissed him again and said, "I love you too Ram. Take care of yourself and come home to me." He turned her into Ranger's arms and with a nod to everyone, headed out to the copter. By the time he was aboard, Julie was sobbing and Steph had come over to the other side of her and wrapped her arms around both Julie and Ranger. They stayed like that until the helicopter was out of sight. The rest of the guys had gone back downstairs as soon as it lifted off, so it was just Ranger, Steph and Ram. Ranger wiped her tears and said, "Julie, he'll be back. He's good at what he does and if everything I found out about this mission is true, he won't be gone too long."

They headed back downstairs and she declined Steph's offer to stay at the penthouse, and instead went to Ram's apartment and crawled into his bed. She hugged his pillow, inhaling his scent and cried herself to sleep. She slept poorly for the next few hours before she gave up and got out of bed. She wandered around the apartment and eventually changed her mind about staying with her dad, texting him to let him know. She had thought about staying at Ram's but it was too hard for her. She went into the bedroom and pulled a couple of Ram's t-shirts out his drawer and took them with her when she left. She was headed upstairs when she heard the ping on her phone indicating an incoming text. "This is probably my last chance for a while to text you, but I wanted to tell you again that I love you and I will come home to you." She replied with, "I love you too Ram. Hurry home to me."