I have come to love both Razor and Blaze although I will say I probably prefer Razor's character just a bit. Over all, you really can't go wrong with any Marry Man, even made-up extra Merry Men.

This is just a fun, fluffy little chapter to help us tie up some loose ends.

"Te Amo"

Chapter 17

Pov- Julie

Shilo and Detective Morelli talked for nearly two hours and by the time she came out, she looked ready to drop. I'd called Ryan earlier while I waited and had gotten the details on tonight's gathering. While I was sure she probably still had things she needed to discuss with her Lowry brothers I was going to make sure that Shilo took some time tonight to relax and unwind.

She saw me waiting in the lobby and came over to my side. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Let's get out of here." She said quickly. "If I never have to give another statement it will be too soon."

I kept my hand in hers; ignoring the little looks and side-glances, we were getting from the other officer's. I slid behind the wheel of the Turbo and waited just until Shilo had clicked her seat belt before pulling onto the road and racing in the opposite direction of Haywood.

"Where are we going?" She asked, as I'd guessed she would, catching right away that I was going the wrong way.

I patted her thigh and gave her an innocent little smile. "We need to get a few things before dinner tonight."

"Like what?" She pressed again.

"I spoke with Ryan earlier." I told her. "We're meeting with him and his friends at a club downtown called La Habana at seven. It's a new Latin club I've actually been looking forward to checking out. I already know what I'm going to wear, but you don't have any dresses with your things and nothing I own will fit you properly."

"We're about the same size." She argued.

I giggled. "Your two inches taller then I am. Anything short on me will be illegal on you." Not to mention that her boobs were bigger and I wanted to have some fun making her try on sexy dresses.

My comment made her laugh and she agreed to go dress shopping with me. As long as this week had been we were both looking forward to getting out and having some fun. I took her to the large mall Steph and I always went to when we needed a 'girls day' and started passing her all of the different dresses I wanted to see her in. Short dresses, green dresses, a gray lace dress that I knew would look amazing with her legs.

"Julie, slow down." She whined as I passed her a floor length dress in jade. "I've already got six; and no floor length I want to be able to move properly if we're going to be dancing. I'll have enough problems with ribs as it is."

Once she had her arms full she went into the dressing room and started rejecting the dresses one at a time, passing the losers back out to me so I could fetch her new ones to try on. I was elbow deep in a rack of black dresses when she tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the shopping bag she was carrying.

"Got it." She said with a smile. "Let's go."

"Which one was it?" I asked. I hadn't even seen her go up to the counter.

She just smiled and placed a light, lingering kiss on my lips. "Guess it's going to be a surprise." She teased.

Ryan was already gone when we got back to Haywood so Shilo took her things into his room to get ready so I wouldn't see what she'd bought. I was ok with that, since it also meant she wouldn't see the outfit I'd planned on wearing tonight until I was dressed.

I showered, shaved, and buffed myself within an inch of death. The end effect was smooth tanned skin I'd never really given much thought to before. Until recently, I'd always liked that the color of my skin kept me from getting sun-burned and helped me stay hidden at night. Now I was starting to think that it looked best paired next to Shilo's much lighter, freckled completion.

I ran large, loose curls through my hair and pinned the whole lot of it up onto the top of my head, leaving only a couple of dark strands down to brush against my neck and shoulders. I kept my make-up light, going with a simple smoky eye and a light gloss on my lips. I'd just slid into my dress and was starting to fight with the zipper when there was a knock at the door.

I held the dress to my chest and padded through the room, opening the door only slightly to see who was there. Steph, and Lester were waiting in the hall. I let the door open more and stepped back so they could come in.

Lester let out a loud wolf-whistle when he saw me. "Damn, little girl." He said. "Does Ranger know you own that dress?"

"Nope," I said, spinning around. "Help me with the zipper would you?"

"I'm not going anywhere near you in that dress." He said with a grin. "and I might have to kill anyone who looks at you tonight. You need four more inches of fabric."

Steph moved forward and I felt her pull the zipper up, stopping to fix one of my bobby-pins before she spun me back around. "You look amazing." She said. "I'm guessing you already have plans for tonight?"

I nodded. "Ryan's meeting up with some of his friends tonight. He invited Shilo and I along to meet them. We're making it a date night. She needs to get away from this building for a bit."

"She's had a long week." Steph agreed. "We were just going to see if the two of you wanted to come with us to Pino's for dinner."

"Where are you going?" Lester asked.

I rolled my eyes at his protective tone, but answered his questions knowing that nothing would stop him from finding out anyway. "La Habana, it's down town, and before you ask; yes, we'll take a RangeMan car and yes, I intend to be armed. I'm sure Shilo will be too. I can take care of myself Tio."

He gave me a smile and a hug, saying "humor me, I'm your uncle. I'm supposed to look out for you. The boy's are going to be all over you in that get up."

I laughed at that. "If the boy's want a piece of this," I said waving to myself. "They're going to have to get past my smoking hot girlfriend."

"Stop worrying Les, they'll be fine." Steph said, grabbing his arm and starting to tow him towards the front door. "Have a good time tonight, Julie." She called out.

"You too," I responded. "Good night."

I stopped back in the bathroom to give myself the once-over. The dress wasn't too short, ending just a couple of inches above my knees, but the slit in the left side stopped only an inch short of my panties. It had a moderate neckline that gave me a little bit of cleavage with one of my wonder bras and short sheer sleeves.

As promised, I strapped on a thigh holster opposite of the slit, so it wouldn't be easily seen and added three inch, black ankle boots. The clock in my bedroom beeped that it was time for me to go get Shilo, so I grabbed my clutch and sashayed across the hall to knock on her door.

The sight that greeted me when she swung the door open almost stole my breath. Shilo's hair was naturally wavy and tonight she'd tamed the blood red waves into curls that hung down her back. The dress she'd gotten was dark-purple and made of satin. The loose sleeves hung off her shoulders and rippled like silk, leaving her caller bone exposed. The little mini skirt hit her at mid-thigh and left a mile of toned leg for everyone to see.

The dress was synched at the waist with a belt the same color as her hair and like me, she'd opted for black, ankle boots. Hers were peep-toe letting me catch a glimpse of dark-purple toes. Her make-up was light and the dark color of the dress made her freckles stand out, both along her cheekbones and across her shoulders.

"Wow," She said stealing my word as she took in my appearance as well. "You look amazing."

"Me? Where did you find that dress? I didn't give it to you."

She smirked and did a little twirl so I could see the whole thing. "I saw it the moment we walked in." She said. "I just waited for you to get distracted and had one of the workers check it out for me. I take it you like it?"

"I think it would look better on the floor." I said unashamed.

She grinned again and stepped out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her. "We'll have to find out later." She agreed. "I think yours would look nice tossed across the back of the sofa."

I took her hand and we rode the elevator all the way to the garage, thankfully it didn't stop on five, so we were able to avoid the cat calls and the teasing. No doubt, whoever was on monitors would let everyone see the shot of us all dressed up. We could face them tomorrow. I wanted tonight to be fun and relaxing.

The drive to La Habana was short and quiet. We listened to soft jazz music in the car and Shilo asked if I'd like to go to the viewing for the Col. with her.

"Of course," I said immediately. "I'll be wherever you need me."

"I don't want you to feel like you have to come." She admitted. "I know the Col. wasn't your favorite person."

I took her hand and kissed her knuckles, keeping my eyes on the road. "Col. Lowry and I didn't get along right away." I agreed, wondering who had told her. "However we did have a couple of enlightening talks. I think that he's an interesting man and I'm sort of sad I never got the chance to really speak with him. I'd like to have had the chance to say thank you and goodbye."

"Why do you need to say thank you?" She asked.

I smirked at her. "Because he saved your life. If he hadn't stepped in when you were little, I never would have met you."

"I never thought of that." She said honestly.

"Also," I added giving her fingers a squeeze. "I know this is going to be hard on you; both because of the Col's death and your brothers all being here. I'll be wherever you need me to be, because I love you and I want to be the one you lean on during this."

She curled her mile long legs up onto the leather seat of the Turbo and leaned over to kiss my cheek. Her lips were soft and she smelt so good I almost missed it when she whispered into my ear. "You're too good to me." She said. "I'm so lucky, you love me."

"I'm just a sucker for those big green eyes." I told her truthfully, as I pulled up to the front door of the club. I got out and tossed the keys to the valet.

Shilo had already opened her door, but I offered her my hand as she stood up. I linked our arms as we walked in and leaned close so she could hear me over the music. "Make sure you tell me if your ribs start to hurt." I said. "Don't over work yourself or you'll fall asleep before I get the chance to see if that dress would look better on the floor or shamelessly tossed over the lamp in my living room."

She nodded and pulled me close for a kiss as we stepped to the side and let our eyes adjust to the club lighting. The center of the room was all dance floor. Latin music was playing over speakers and dozens of couples were already dancing. A bar ran along one side of the room and the rest of the space was dotted with tables and booths.

Shilo spotted Ryan at a large table on the far side of the room and we made our way over to them. True to his word, Connor was there along with three other men I hadn't met before.

"Hey ladies." Ryan stood to great us, giving me a big hug before wrapping an arm around Shilo and pulling her forward a step. "Guy's this is my little sister, Shilo." He pulled out a chair for her and then offered one to me as well. "and this is Julie. The girl from RangeMan I told you about."

Everyone started talking at once and Ryan had to yell over them to do introductions. Along with Connor, there were the two brothers, Evan and Riley, who were both from Dublin, Ireland. They both had green eyes and dark hair, though Evan wore his nearly a foot longer then his brothers. Last was a man a couple years older than the rest named Brian. Brian was sandy haired with brown eyes, he'd been born in the states but his mother was from Scotland and he had a great accent from spending every summer with his grandmother as a kid .

They ordered drinks for everyone and a bottle for the table and told stories about how they'd met. Ryan had already told them about the case and how he and Shilo had reconnected and I was glad they didn't press for more details tonight. Shilo invited them all to the visitation and the funeral. We talked for a long time before Shilo took my hand and smiled warmly at me.

"We'll be back in a little bit, you guys." She said standing up and pulling me along with her. "I want to see how well Julie can dance."

I stayed close to her side as we moved onto the floor and we fell easily into place. Shilo wrapped her arms around my neck and I pulled her close so I could wrap mine low around her waist. No one paid us any mind as we danced. Shilo wasn't able to move very quickly so we kept our dancing simple and I promised to take her out on her birthday in August, when she'd be fully recovered, so we could really try some moves.

"I'd love that." She said, resting her head on my shoulder and letting her lips brush lightly against the skin of my neck. "I mostly brought you our here because there's a guy at the bar checking you out." She said honestly. "He hasn't taken his eyes off you since we got here." She pressed closer so she was flush to my front and pressed a kiss to my ear. "Think he'll get the hint that you're taken?"

I spun us around and let my eyes scan along the bar. Sure enough, I spotted a small group of guys looking at us. One raised his glass when he saw me looking and blew a kiss at us. "No, I think he likes seeing us together."

She snorted. I stepped back and spun her around, keeping one of my arms wrapped around her waist as I pulled her back to my front. I had one hand spayed over her thigh and the other woven through her fingers pressed to her stomach. "Let him look," I said in her ear laying a kiss on her neck. "He'll just see that I've got the hottest date here tonight."

I moved us farther into the press of bodies on the floor and spent the last bit of the song with my nose in Shilo's curls enjoying her scent. Once the song changed, she moved her lips back to my ear and said, "Let's head back to the table."

I took her hand and noticed that below the flush of dancing she looked a little pale. I should have paid better attention. We sat back down in time to hear Ryan and his friends laughing about the men Shilo had spotted by the bar.

"You should have seen their faces Lass." Evan said, leaning closer so I could hear him. "The whole room could tell they were watching you two, then you laid one on her and he spilt his drink all down his front. Beer everywhere."

"Hey," Brian said, thumping Ryan on the leg to get his attention. "It's getting late, give her the thing you got her."

Shilo, who was nestled into my side, raised one dark red eyebrow as Ryan looked over at her and said. "What thing?"

"I got you a present." Ryan said.

"You didn't have to do that." She said quickly, sitting up as Connor and Riley, pulled a big wrapped box out from behind their chairs.

The box was wrapped in black paper with a big green bow and Ryan took it, placing it on the table right in front of where Shilo was sitting. "I'm making up for missing 15 of your birthdays." He said dismissively. "I also owe you my life; this was something very small that I could do. I think you're going to love it."

Shilo smiled sort of shyly and carefully pealed the paper away from the plain box inside. She popped the lid open and I watched her go ridged. Her eyes went wide and she looked up at Ryan. "You got me a violin?"

I scooted closer and looked into the box. Nestled in a bed of cloth was a black instrument case. I'd played sax in high school, but even I could tell it was a violin case. Shilo opened the case and inside was a glossy, dark wood violin. Along the left side of the body, someone had engraved a vine and leaf design and when she wrapped her fingers around it and pulled it out I spotted her name etched into the back.

"It's beautiful." She said softly. I watched her cradle the instrument easily along the length of her left arm, and stroke her finger gently across the strings.

"Someday soon, I hope to hear you playing it." Ryan said.

Shilo nodded. "I will. Thank you."

"Ryan say's you used to be rather good." Connor said with a smile. "You'll have to come play with us some night."

"It's been a while since I've played." She admitted, putting the violin back into its velvet bed. "I was just a kid. I'll need to practice."

Ryan and his friends chatted easily for another half an hour before I caught Shilo looking at me. She looked tired and with a little smile, she nodded towards the door. "You ready to go?"

I took the violin case from her and offered her my arm. "I've been ready all night."

She chuckled like I'd hoped she would and let me lead her out to the car. We got home in record time and I had her pinned to the wall as soon as the door was closed.

I felt her smirk against my skin as her lips trailed kisses down my neck. She took her new violin from me and pulled back a step, "Let me put this away before we hurt her."

"Her?" I asked.

She nodded and the shy little smile on her lips only drew me after her as she walked into my bedroom.

"Yes, I'm going to call her Álainn. Like swords of old, all the best instruments have names."

"That means beautiful right?"

She nodded, setting the case down on my desk and taking my hand. She pulled me flush against her front and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Yes."

I pressed my lips to hers and let my hands roam over her thighs. I felt her roll her shoulders and a couple shakes of her hips later, her dress was pooled around her ankles on the floor.

"You were right," She said pressing closer to me. "That dress does look good on the floor."

She wasn't wearing a bra, and it took me a few moments to pull my eyes away from the dark purple panties she was wearing, made only sexier by the thigh holster she was wearing. I undid the straps letting the knife fall into my hands, it was warm from being between her legs all night. I tossed it behind her onto the desk and let one of my hands land lightly on the bandage still wrapped around her ribs.

"Are you ok for this?" I asked. "I want you bad, but I don't want to hurt you."

"I should probably take my painkillers quick." She agreed.

I got her a bottle of water and made sure she'd taken both pills before pulling her into bed with me. I pinned her under me and let my lips find her neck while she worked the zipper on the back of my dress down.

Pov- Shilo

"Julie, does this look ok?"

Julie glanced back at me through the bathroom mirror and smiled. "You always look wonderful, Shilo." She said, letting her eyes travel over the black suit I'd picked to wear to the Col's viewing.

I rolled my eyes. "You always say that." I stood next to her in front of the sink and poked at the busies around my eye. The swelling was nearly gone, but I still had a sexy dark ring all the way around it. The edges of most of them were a sickly yellow and I knew that no amount of make-up would hide them from all of the people I'd see today.

Julie was wearing a dark blue dress that hung to her knees and cinched at the waist. It made her skin look great and her legs looked a mile long in the matching heels. I'd gone with the suit, since some of my former military bosses would be there and they'd never seen me in a dress. The black pants were pressed and I'd chosen a silver dress-shirt to wear under the jacket.

"Stop worrying so much." Julie said, moving into my side and pressing a kiss to my temple. "You look great, everything's going to go smooth today."

I shot her a thankful smile and forced myself out of the bathroom, knowing that if I stayed I'd start to mess with my make-up again. As a last minute addition, I slipped my old dog-tags over my head and let them hang against the dark material of the suit jacket. There was a knock on the door.

"Shy can you get that?" Julie asked. "I'm almost done in here."

She nodded and padded through her living room to open the door. Ryan and Adam were both in the hallway, looking great in suits of their own.

"Morning." Ryan said laying a kiss in my hair as he let himself in.

Adam looked over my outfit and nodded. "You look great."

"Thanks." I wrapped him in a one-armed hug and let him into Julie's apartment. "Where are the other guys?" I asked.

Adam sighed. "Rob's at the funeral home already. Scott and Jim will meet us there."

Julie came out of her room and got whistles from both of my brothers.

"Hey Julie, looking good." Ryan said with a smirk.

I hit him in the back of his head. "Mine."

Adam and Ryan laughed as I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her for emphasis. I'd been worried at first that they wouldn't get along, but Adam and Ryan had hit it off right away.

The place was still fairly empty when Adam pulled into the funeral home. Julie stayed by my side like she'd promised, while Adam and I greeted the director and he walked us around. Today was just going to be a visitation for friends and family. Tomorrow Robert and Adam would fly the Col back to his hometown for a local visitation, then they would see that he was laid to rest next to his parents in the Lowry family plots. Given the option, I'd declined traveling with them. I would say my goodbyes today and let the son's have one last day with their father.

Scott and Jimmy arrived with the casket and together the four boys carried their father inside and set him down near all of the flowers that had been arriving the last two days. I stood off to the side when people started arriving, not really sure what my role was.

Several of the Col's military friends had flow down to say goodbye including more brass then I'd seen in a long time. I made polite small talk, thanking everyone for coming as well as accepting condolences. Ranger came by with Stephanie. Both of their boy's were dressed in little black suites, looking like mini GQ models. Most of the guys from RangeMan stopped in and said hi. Ryan's band mates all came to see me although they didn't stay long. Ryan hung around even after I told him he could go and together with Julie, they made sure I was never left alone.

It was a strange thing, seeing the Col lying in his casket. Steph had directed me to a good local funeral home and they'd done a great job on him. We'd put the Col in his dress uniform so he looked right at home amongst all of the other class A uniforms in attendance.

I was standing near the casket when Rob came up and put an arm around my shoulders. Julie and Ryan had backed away to give us a moment.

"How you doing?" He asked.

I shrugged. "This is kind of surreal." I admitted, my eyes locked on the Col. "It doesn't really feel like he's gone, yet."

"He's in a better place." Rob offered. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't blaming yourself."

I shook my head and leaned into his side. "I'm not." I reassured him. There was no need to tell him that Julie had already given me this same speech. "He was here to help me, but I know it wasn't my fault he got hurt."

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and said. "Good. There's someone very special here to see you." He added, squeezing my fingers.

I glanced up at him, confused. "Who?"

"Over by the doors." He nodded past me and let go of my side when I turned to look. Standing in the doorway was a man I hadn't seen in almost two years.

"Joker!"

I shot across the room, ignoring everyone who'd turned to look at my outburst and launched myself into the air. Joker was almost 6 foot 5 and he caught me as easily today as he had the first time I'd met him.

I locked my legs around his waist as he set me on his hip and kept my arms wrapped around his neck. He held on tight and said. "Looking good, Ace."

As a first generation American Swede, Joker had his mom's pale skin and his father's height. His hair was so blond it was almost white, buzzed short to prove he was still active duty, and his eyes were spring-sky blue. The last time I'd seen him he'd only had one tattoo on his back, but I could see several more poking out from beneath the short sleeves of his shirt.

"What are you doing here?" I finial managed as he let me slid down to my feet.

He smiled and nodded to Rob, who'd come over to stand near us along with Ryan and Julie. "A little birdie heard I was in the area and though you might need a friend today."

I introduced him to Ryan and Julie and then the four of us found a corner out of the way and I started the whole story over again. Joker sat quiet while I talked, but by the end he looked floored. I'd never told any of my team members about my childhood. They'd known I was adopted of course, but I was sure he'd never guessed the circumstances behind it.

"So this is your birth brother?" He asked motioning to Ryan.

"Yep."

"That's quite the tail. Do Wild or Jack know?"

I shook my head. "No, I've only just been able to tell people. It wasn't safe before. I hope you're not mad that I kept it from you."

He shook his head. "Of course not, but it sure explains some of your temper problems."

"I am getting very good at controlling my temper." I argued.

He chuckled and ran the pad of his thumb over the bruise around my eye. "Sure you are."

"Just don't touch her girlfriend." Ryan said with a smile. "She doesn't like that."

"No worries there." Joker promised. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and passed me a photo. The photo was a candid shot of him and a woman on the beach. The woman in the shot was more than a foot shorter then Joker, with soft brown hair. She was in a camo patterned two-piece and they were smiling. I let Ryan and Julie see it before passing it back.

"Who's the girl?"

He smirked. "Her name is Becca. She's an army nurse, second Lieutenant. I met her four months ago on leave. We have some mutual friends. At some point after my fourth or fifth shot, we got into a bet. She was convinced she could pin me on the mats, I disagreed because she's 14 inches shorter than me and a hundred pounds lighter."

I smiled, loving where this story was going. "What happened?" I pressed.

"She kicked my ass. Apparently, she's been taking judo since she was a fetus or close enough at least. I challenged her too two separate rematches, when we weren't drunk, and she won both of those too. I asked her to diner, she stole my heart over homemade peanut butter and jelly, because we never made it out of her apartment. We got married, two weeks later."

"Awwwwww," Julie smiled. "That's so cute!"

"You're married!" I exclaimed.

He nodded, "Yes and before you say anything. I'm sorry I didn't invite you. We didn't have time to send out invites. It was just a small ceremony, us and her parents at the courthouse."

The rest of the morning flew by with Joker to talk too and I was sad to see him leave. I'd asked him to join us for dinner, but he'd had to decline. He had a plane to catch tonight so he could spend a few weeks with Becca before he was shipped out again.

I wrapped my arms around him, loath to let go, and made him promise to stay safe for me.

I stayed late, saying goodbye to everyone who'd come and thanking them for stopping by. It was past dinnertime when Rob came over to give me a hug. He and the other boy's were leaving tonight on the RangeMan jet with the Col. so they'd be ready for tomorrow's viewing.

I cried when Adam hugged me, and promised that we'd get together again soon. "You need to take Julie on vacation." He said, when I brought it up. "Bring her to L.A and you can eat V.I.P at my restaurant every night. I'll show you all the hot spots."

Scott and Jimmy both gave me short hugs and I was glad to see that they both looked like they were in better moods after their first day in Trenton. Maybe I had a chance at repairing those relationships after all.

Pov- Julie

I stood off to the side of the room with Ryan while we watched Shilo say goodbye to her adopted brothers. The building was nearly empty and a couple of the funeral home assistants had already started putting away chairs.

Ryan and I started carting out pots of flowers, putting them in Adam's car so he could take them with the Col. We were making the last trip when I reached out and touched his arm. I'd really enjoyed getting to know Ryan in the last few days and I was starting to feel guilty that I hadn't mentioned Peter yet.

"Julie?" He asked when he glanced at me. "You ok?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Have you got anywhere you need to be tonight?" I asked. "I'd like to take you and Shilo to dinner. I have something I need to talk to you both about."

~Darkrose

I swear I haven't forgotten about this story. I'm almost done with the last chapter's and I'll get them posted as soon as I can.