**Characters are the property of Janet Evanovich, I do not make money from this, only the storyline is mine.**
Boarding the jet, I was uncharacteristically quiet. The tension on board was a mixture of pure rage, and anxiety. The only thing holding me together was my internal chant of "What would Ranger do?" I had a goal: to get Julie, and any emotions at this point would be counterproductive. The plane touched down in Miami at around 6:45 a.m, Thursday morning, and a black Expedition was waiting to pick us up. Tank, Lester, and Bobby all took the trip with me, leaving Cal in charge in Trenton. The plan was to grab some breakfast, and be at the Martine house with the Rangeman Miami lawyer, Aiden Warner at 8:30 a.m to make sure all guardianship papers were completed properly so that Rachel, and Ron could never go back on giving up rights. For now, I would be the sole guardian for Julie, just in case Ranger doesn't want custody- I don't want to put any pressure on him whatsoever.
After a quick breakfast meeting with Aiden, and a bathroom stop, we made the 20 minute trip to the Martine household. The entire time I kept the chant going in my head, trying to will myself to not commit a double murder in front of a child, and a lawyer. I didn't really care to kill the Martine's in front of my Merry Men, they would have gladly hidden the bodies for me. I have never really felt such a level of rage in my life. With Scrog, I knew Ranger was there for us, and I really just concentrated on saving the pair of us, with this, Julie was my CHILD. I was going to very well be the mother figure in her life, and I was feeling immediately maternal, and apparently I am a fierce Momma Bear. By the time we pulled up, I had thought of about 3,503 ways to rip Rachel, and Ron limb for limb, making them suffer as long as possible. I guess this aggression is what keeps Ranger in the gym, I feel like I need a punching bag just to not hurt someone.
As soon as I got out of the car, the door flew open, and Julie flew into my arms effectively knocking us backward into Tank's muscular arms. I gave just as good as I got, and we were holding onto each other like our next breaths depended on it, sobbing into each others shoulders. At that moment, I knew I was a complete goner for her. I would walk to the ends of the Earth, and make a deal with the Devil just to give her anything she needed. I couldn't love that child more if I would have birthed her. I was meant to hold her in my arms, and I have never felt more complete in my life. After about 10 minutes of trying to calm down, I talked Julie into getting into the SUV with Bobby, so he could check her for any injuries while I went inside to have a talk with Rachel, and Ron, and claim my child.
After knocking on the door, a 3 year old little girl with bare feet, and no shirt ran to the door with no parents in sight. After searching the house, we found Rachel, and Ron asleep in their room with no cares in the world. I was immediately in rhino mode. Grabbing the lamp off the bedside table, I proceeded to smash it against the wall effectively scaring the living shit out of both of them. Neither seemed to even give a thought as to where their 3 year old could be, only complaining that they wanted to sleep more. Do these people have no conscience, or work ethic? Their house looked like an episode of Hoarders. I'm no housekeeper, but this was a little frightening even on Stephanie standards. 30 minutes upon entering the house, the paperwork was completely filled out, and Aiden had called Child Protective Services for the 3 year old little girl. There was no way we were leaving the child alone, and after being only a hamster Mom for 7 years, and inheriting a 14 year old in the span of 14 hours, I was already a little in over my head, a 3 year old would have been impossible.
After CPS arrived, and immediately investigated, they took little Olivia into custody, and Aiden left to file all the documentation for me, leaving us alone for a few minutes with the Martine's. As soon as Aiden was gone, I looked at both of them in disgust, and simply told them if they ever step foot inside Trenton, or come anywhere near my child, I would personally make sure they were never found. I had trackers put on their cars, and the Miami Rangemen immediately watching over them. I gave them the warning that Julie's safety is my number one priority, and I would take enjoyment upon making them disappear forever. Rachel's only words were of complete hatred for Julie, and made strange comments about sympathy for me, because Ranger loves nobody. Ron had an unnatural level of hate for Ranger, and because of which, Julie.
My spidey senses were going off the entire conversation, and I had no idea what to investigate first. Rachel was so detached from reality, I was afraid she was using some kind of a hard drug, or drinking heavily. This wasn't a safe environment for any child... I shudder thinking about all that Julie, and Olivia have witnessed. I hope that therapy, and love get Julie through this, I swear I will hurt these cold, heartless assholes if I can't recover the sweet, fun loving Julie that I know, and love. My only thoughts were to re-listen to the conversation later thanks to the recorder Tank was carrying, and bring my Julie home. I wasn't comfortable staying any longer than necessary, and Rachel, and Ron weren't exactly the picture of mental stability at the present time.
As soon as I joined Julie in the backseat, she crawled into my lap, and cried until she fell asleep. We were headed to Rangeman Miami for the rest of the day, and night making sure all paperwork was completely sorted before crossing state lines with Jules. After a small nap, and shower, Julie asked to go shopping to get some clothes to bring to Trenton, since The Martine's refused to let her take anything but the clothes off her back out of the house. In the back of my mind, I knew my days of bounty hunting were over, and a full-time big girl job at RangeMan was going to be a necessity. I had to make sure I had a steady paycheck, and benefits for Julie's sake... I wanted to do this without Ranger's money. I was going to have to grow up, and oddly enough, I was ready. Parenthood was no longer the scariest thing in the world, I guess just the thought of having children with Morelli was the scary part. After a few hours of shopping for the necessities, and having pizza, and ice cream, we spent the rest of the day, and evening in p.j's laying on the couch watching movies.
In the paperwork, Julie had requested a name change, the only thing tying her to Ranger in case he wanted to continue living alone. Julie wanted to change her name, getting a new start in a new town. Instead of being Julia Rachelle Martine, Julie asked for her name to be changed to Julia Michelle Manoso, after myself, and using Rangers last name since he was her birth father. I can't blame Julie for wanting a complete life overhaul after the treatment she received. Aiden seemed to think it would be no problem, and that we were on schedule to be able to leave tomorrow using all of our RangeMan connections.
After a night of bonding, and talking about the future, Julie crashed around 11:30 p.m, leaving me to myself to think through some of the details I had yet to hammer out, and texted Tank to bring the guys up to talk. About 10 minutes later, they let themselves in and met me in the living room, leaving Julie blissfully slumbering in the bedroom. I had some major items on the agenda, and wouldn't be able to rest until I knew things were taken care of. The last thing I wanted was Julie to not feel at home when we got there. Thank God I have the Merry Men, Julie's Merry Godfather's to come to the rescue. Life was going to work out, somehow... and for the first time in my life, I didn't feel alone. All my life, I was destined to give all my love to a beautiful little girl that looked identical to her father. This was love.
A.N : Thanks for reading, this was written during a power outage from an ice-storm, so it may not be the most well-written chapter. Hopefully I did our first Julie/Rachel/Ron encounter justice. Please leave suggestions, reviews, PM's, all that jazz for the story :) Next chapter is all about getting Julie to Trenton & lots of big girl Stephanie decisions )
Xoxo-Brit*