A/N Everything you recognize belongs to Janet Evanovich. Thank you to Kathy's amazing beta skills, Heather for all her sound advice and encouragement and Lisa who did a little of both! A huge Thank You to the readers, you guys make all the hard work worth it!

~Chapter 26

***Dec 26th

The day dawns and like normal, I'm up in the wee hours of the morning, going back to sleep then waking again at 6:30am, keeping sweet little Ava on her schedule. Everything is the same except I'm leaving this morning. I don't have a great feeling about that. We have made some progress but we have a lot left to accomplish. It will take time. I really love the idea that has been created here. The perfect family holiday if the circumstances would have been different. It's so tempting but I know it's not the real world. In the real world, we have a heck of a lot of issues to work through plus Ranger has responsibilities, I have responsibilities. We have to leave so it may as well be today. I venture out with Ava in my arms at 7:00am and the sun is already up. The coffee aroma is wafting through the air and Ranger is leaning against the counter watching me. He gives me a nod toward the window and I look out at the ocean. The brightness registers and all I see is white. Shit. Snow is covering everything. The thick layer on the railings is probably a foot deep. Lex's tail is thumping on the hardwood floor. He loves the snow. It looks like I'm not going anywhere today. I turn to get the empty mug that Ranger has apparently gotten down for me. I choose my pod and pop it in the machine one handed. I'm going to need caffeine for this. I hand Ava over to Ranger and open the door for Lex. We all watch as he runs around hopping over the snow drifts and playing in the fluffy whiteness. I smile as I see him take scoop after scoop in his mouth. The goofy dog eats the snow like its candy.

"I bet all the flights are canceled," Ranger says to me. "I'm not sure if you were planning to fly but I just assumed..."

I stand, still staring out at the snow thinking about how I'm going to do this. I have a reservation for today and was planning to head back out to California. Now I don't know what to do. I need to talk to Sarah and Jason. If Jason can fly Dr. King home then I can just fly down to NJ. That would be easier on me but I don't know if that's an option.

"I have to make a couple of calls." I tell Ranger. "I'll let you know." I take my coffee back into my room and begin to figure out what our options are.

I talk to Sarah, Jason is available to fly Dr. King back home so I can meet them in Cape May. Jason has to be back on his ship on the 29th and is now planning to fly to NJ the day before. I am assured that the local airport will be fully functional by tomorrow, the 27th, so I change my ticket destination and date to one of the first flights out tomorrow morning. That will give me some leeway if there's a delay at one of my layovers. I know Jason has to be on that boat so I can't risk anything going wrong.

I come back out, empty mug in hand to find an empty kitchen. I rinse my mug and wander around until I find Ranger and Ava in his office. The door is open so I walk into the room. He's showing Ava photos of people we know, pointing out each person. I haven't been in his office this whole time and am surprised at the personal effects I see. The rest of the house looks like it's straight out of a log home living magazine, Christmas edition and didn't give it a second thought. This room is different though. This room is very personal. There are photos of the core team. Photos of Julie. Older photos of men I don't recognize. A graduation photo with military dress uniforms. Family photos. This is surprising. I stop when the thought suddenly hits me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to just come into your personal space." I say as I turn to leave.

"It's fine. You're welcome anywhere," he says simply and I have to push down my irritation. If that were true, then we wouldn't be here. If that were true then he wouldn't have cruelly shoved me out of his life. I'm stupefied by the fact that I can go from forgiving him and moving on to rhino mode in three seconds flat. I guess I have a lot more residual anger that I still need to deal with. I take a long slow breath, not looking at him as I back out of the room, and I turn and bolt for the living room. He catches up to me and touches my arm. I stop but refuse to turn around.

"Wait. I'm sorry..." He begins.

"It's fine." I interrupt. I have to get my emotions under control. I think I'm fine and can move on but then the next second, I get angry all over again. I have to get it together! "I need to move on and put this behind me."

"No. Please. If you do that, I'm afraid you'll put me behind you too. I want you to talk to me. Scream at me. Tell me why you're upset. I want to tell you that you're right. I want to apologize for having my head up my ass. I want you to forgive me first and then we can move on for Ava's sake," he says, putting more pressure on my arm to turn me so I would face him. I look at him with unshed tears.

"Fine," I say, voice raised. "I'm angry. I'm so angry that when I wanted to know all of those things about you, you wouldn't share squat with me. But I'm really angry that I may not want to know them anymore. And I'm really angry that I don't know how to not be angry anymore." I finish my rant with wild eyes and hands clenched.

"I know," he says, and pauses while I take deep breaths. "You're right. I kept you away. At first it was habit. Then I justified it to myself that I was protecting you. Now I know that I couldn't because I was scared. I was scared you would push me away like my Father did. It was my Mother that sent me to Miami, my Father wanted me to sit in jail. He had written me off. Something inside me closed up. I was mad at both of them at first. My Abeula showed me that what my Mother did was an act of love. She didn't know that my Father showed me the opposite. I didn't let myself get close to anyone after that. I'm closer to my Mother and Abeula than anyone else but I have still managed to keep them distanced. I'm closer to my core team because we were in combat together and you have to be but I didn't open myself up fully. I'm able to dutifully take care of those people but I'm not emotionally dependent on any of them, at least for my happiness. It took me a lot of counseling to figure out that I AM dependent on you for my happiness. You are the other half of my heart and I need you. And I didn't think I would ever need anyone." He pulls me into a hug. "I want you to scream at me whenever you feel like it. I want you to do that until you get everything out. I don't want to move forward until you've forgiven me completely. It was all my fault. Please," he says kissing the top of my head. His words are penetrating and I feel a little lighter. I feel like more of the weight is lifted off me.

We stay in the embrace until Ava squirms and makes her displeasure known. She's kinda getting squished and I pull back. Lex has been silently at my side ready to jump in since I raised my voice. I know I should get it all out. I know I should keep screaming at him until every last little bit of anger hiding in my heart is addressed, but I'm exhausted. I only have so much that I can deal with at a time.

"Please keep letting it all out. I know I have a lot of work to do and I'll do it. I'll do it for you and Ava. How about we get some breakfast and relax. Then when Ava sleeps, we can work out more of your anger for me. It'll be fun. You can even hit me next time," he says, earning him a smile.

We work silently in the kitchen making breakfast. We have egg white omelets and fruit. We're finishing up our breakfast when I start the conversation about leaving.

"I'm flying out tomorrow morning. I have to get back." I tell him and see him stiffen.

"Can I take you to the airport?" he asks and I think about it for a minute.

"You promise you won't follow me or violate my privacy? This is really important. If I can't trust you, this whole thing is off."

"I promise," he says. "I know what's at stake here."

"Okay then, I'll go with you. I won't be able to take most of the stuff you gave to Ava." I add.

"It's okay. I'll take it back home and store it. If everything works out, I'll get to see you both and those toys will come in handy. Or, we can arrange for you to get them somehow."

We play with Ava until she gets sleepy and I'm able to put her down for a nap. I walk back into the living room and Ranger has a big mug of hot chocolate ready for me.

"Oh, thanks"

"So, let's get started. Do you want to start with me violating your privacy?" he asks and I just stare at him. This is weird. He really wants to bring up a topic to spark my temper so I can yell at him?

"How would you feel if I hacked into your records for your counseling sessions?" I ask, taking a different path. He drops his head.

"I would feel betrayed." He says in almost a whisper.

"Yes. And then you would feel angry and wonder how in the world you could forgive a person who did that." I say to him. "I understand that we're different. You're private and I'm an open book. I get that but I still have an expectation of privacy with my doctor. You could have asked me and I would have told you the truth and then cleared up the mistake. If I would have asked you a question about a doctor visit, would you have told me? No." I answer the question for him.

"A doctor is personal and off limits. Plus, it's a trust thing. You didn't trust me enough to ask me about it."

"You're right. I know I crossed a line. I'm not trying to downplay my responsibility but I do want to throw out there that in my profession, intel is key. I have to trust my intel over someone's word 100% of the time. My life depends on it and I don't have the luxury of trusting someone's word in battle. I'm not saying you're not trustworthy but I want to tell you that is my normal operating procedure. I have learned that I have to treat you differently. I have to throw out the training that's been drilled into me for the last 13 years when I'm dealing with you. I have to show you my emotions. I have to trust you. I have to let you in. I know what I have to do. I just worry that I'll need a learning curve and that you'll kick me out the first mistake I make," he says to me and I think about that. I know in the field, he had to make snap judgments and that his life depended on the intel. I get that. I have to admit that I feel a little better knowing the why.

"You thought I was trying to trap you. Don't you know me? Didn't you ever think just once that 'Hey this isn't the girl I know'. 'She would never want to get pregnant on purpose'?"

"Full disclosure, I was even more convinced when you made the appointment at Planned Parenthood. That went against everything I knew about you and it solidified my poor opinion of you. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't watched you go in. But eventually, Yes. Finally, after you left, when I calmed down and could think clearly, things didn't make sense and I wanted answers. I wanted to speak to you and I was worried about you so I went to look for you but you had already disappeared. I realized then that I should have let you talk. I should have listened to what you had to say. I was hurting and I said things to hurt you back. I regret every single thing I said to you the night you came to me to tell me you were pregnant. I'm so sorry. I know words can't undo any of the pain I caused but know that it hurts me more than words can say when I think of how much I hurt you. That's probably what I regret the most," he says. "That and the fact that I didn't trust you, that I didn't believe you over the evidence. I can't get past that to forgive myself."

"You are an emotional toddler." I add helpfully. I bring my hands up to my face. I lay my head in them and wonder how I'm supposed to let go of this?

"You're right. I have left this part of me undeveloped. I hope to change that though. I hope to be the man and father you and Ava deserve. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me," he says and surprises me with his next statement. "Do you know that you have a lot of people looking for you? I'm not sure when you talked to your grandmother last but it's a rather recent development."

I look at him questioningly. "Who's looking for me?" I ask, concerned.

"A bunch of alphabets, the Trenton PD, the press..." he answers and I think I look even more perplexed. "The Diaz case." he reminds me. "Homeland security, DEA, NSA and the Trenton PD created a task force because the bomb that was used to blow up your car..."

"Joe's car." I correct.

"Right, anyway, it was a new technology and had the potential to be a huge game changer for national security," he says and I nod. I knew all of this.

"The case was stalled when I left." I respond.

"I was asked to sit in on a new DEA case. It was a new player in the drug war with ties to Colombia. I was going to decline the case just on that fact when I glanced at a murder scene photo and recognized something," he says and then pauses. I get impatient.

"What? What did you recognize?" I ask. I remember my grandmother telling me some of this and I read the article but I wanted to hear Rangers version.

"It was a metal sculpture that was almost identical to the piece of metal that was removed from your back. If you remember, that piece was hand crafted and not commercially made so it linked the new bomb maker to the new drug cartel that has ties to several countries, not just Colombia." I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that all of this happened without me knowing.

"Am I in danger?" I ask.

"I don't think so, not anymore. You aren't needed to substantiate the link. Homeland has the piece of metal from you and they have retrieved the sculpture from the crime scene. Once the link was established, they were able to pull the data together and build a strong case against the cartel. Now, this isn't the kind of case that will play out in a court room. Once a case is built, the task force initiates a unit to locate and eliminate the people involved. I'm not sure what the current status is but it's highly unlikely that you're on their radar now. You were when Morelli made a big deal about looking for you and putting a spotlight on your involvement. Your involvement has always been inconsequential but the media was blowing it out of proportion and making you into more of a threat than you actually were. That's classified so you're going to need to keep that to yourself. The people now looking for you just want to interview you. As far as I know, you have been successful at staying hidden and no one but me and my core team know that I've been in contact. Your grandmother is the only one who knows where you're living and again, only my core team knows that. She may have told your parents something. She gave me the impression that she was going to tell them about Ava. I'm not sure if she did or not. I do want you to continue to stay hidden at least until the case is closed. If your grandmother hasn't said anything, I advise her to wait. Morelli is not good at keeping his mouth shut and I don't want to renew the interest in you."

"Every time she brought you or Joe up, I told her I didn't want to hear anything unless it was that either of you found me." I said. "The last time I talked to her, she did say something about people looking for me. For some reason, I was only scared about you finding me. She also told me that you helped Valerie. Thank you. She wasn't specific, did you get her caught up on her house payments?" I ask, leading the conversation in a new direction.

"There's more to that story too. Late last year, Albert was having financial issues, he borrowed money from the wrong people. He was trying to pay them back but they took advantage. They were extorting money from him and he was having trouble paying them. Valarie didn't know. I helped convince Eduardo, he was the loan shark that held Albert's debt, that he has been paid in full and any future payments required would go through me. Let's just say that Eduardo reconciled the debt and Albert and Valerie are now free from the extortion and are current on their house payment."

"Thank you. I gave her a lot of money and I couldn't understand how they could still be struggling, so that makes sense. I bet Albert was thankful."

"You could say that. I won't get into the details but he'll be much more careful who he does business with in the future." I roll my eyes at that. Albert is not cut out to live in a harsh world, he would be an ideal candidate for extortion. I'm glad Ranger was there to help him.

We talk more about Joe, his suspension and how Ranger got the truth out of him. I laugh at that. Joe deserves all the crap he gets. He brought it on himself.

"I have two more big things I need to tell you and I'm scared beyond belief that this will undo the progress we've made so far. But, I'm more afraid that if I don't tell you now that when you find out, you'll be even more angry and that you'll disappear again. I can't let that happen," he tells me and I'm instantly on alert.

"What did you do?" I ask, getting pissed even before I even hear what he has to say.

"Please Steph. Please, promise me you will hear me out and stay and talk to me about this. Hell, you can scream at me and I'll even give you my gun. Just don't leave me."

I take a breath and he keeps talking. "Please remember, I was off the rails angry and I did these things in anger. I thought you had betrayed me. At the time, I was living in that mind set. I regret them both and one I can reverse and the other, well, let's just say, I'll likely have more karmic debt to repay."

I wait for him to continue with my arms crossed over my chest. I really don't like where this conversation is going.

"Right after you faked the abortion, I was drinking and going back over what I thought was your betrayal. I was angry that I had yet another unintended pregnancy. I made the stupid decision to get a vasectomy," he says and I gasp so he hurries on. "I regret it and I've already looked into getting it reversed. I'm so sorry. I have completely changed my mind on children and I'm not dead set against having them anymore. It will be a decision you and I make together though. I only want children with you so if you decide you don't want me in your life, I'll probably not go through the trouble of reversing it." I try to wrap my brain around what he has just told me. He was really pissed at me. He went to the extreme to prevent this from ever happening again. I'm pissed and I don't believe his true feelings are that he's okay with being a family man. I flex and relax my hands.

"So, you want me to believe that the person... with the vasectomy really wants to be a part of family life, Ava's life? That you…." I stop to point at him. "..really want to be a father to Ava?" I ask incredulously.

"Yes," He states simply. "I've changed. If you would have asked me five years ago, the answer would have been no. It changed when I fell in love with you. I've thought a lot about what would have been my reaction if I had let you tell me about the baby. If I didn't think that you were trying to trap me. I believe I would have stepped up and made it work. If I would have known it was truly the unintended pregnancy that it was, I know that I would've done the right thing. I would've married you and supported you like I did for Rachel. But the difference is, I would have stayed married to you. I divorced Rachel because we didn't love each other. I didn't want to stay married to her just to raise a baby. I love you. It doesn't matter since everything is changed now. Now I know more about myself and what I want. Now, I know that I love you and I can't live without you. Plus, I'm in a different place in my life. I don't feel the need to take on the dangerous missions anymore. I still have threats against me but I'm in a position that I can protect you both. But mostly, I'm more willing to because it's you. Even if I tried to do something stupid like push you away, I know I wouldn't be able to. I can't seem to stay away from you for very long. It is impossible for me to stay away from both of you. Worse case scenario, I would have eventually realized it with or without a shrink's help," he says, but I say nothing to him.

"Please Steph. I'm sorry," he says for the umpteenth time and I reflect on how I hate the word. I hate that he has to say it. I hate that he has to feel it. I hate that it represents the hurt I feel. I hate that there's one more bomb he's going to drop on me.

"Let's have the next one." I say as I start pacing again. He remains silent and I stop to look at him. He has his head in his hands, fingers spread through his hair.

"I need to hear what you think. I don't want to move on until you have addressed the vasectomy." He says the word vasectomy like it pains him.

"I can't believe you're this new person who wants children and wants to be part of a family." I say.

He looks thoughtful as he processes my statement. "I know. I still can't wrap my head around it. I do know that I would give you anything I could. I do know that I love Ava like she's part of me. When I remember how I felt when I saw her photo on your grandmother's phone, that feeling of utter relief. The amazing joy that she represents," he says and looks up at me. "I was just a young kid when I had Julie. I didn't love Rachel and I didn't know how to be a father. I was selfish. I'm not selfish anymore and I want to learn how to be a good father. I'm not saying I'm going to turn into the greatest dad in the world but I can reprioritize my life. I already have. I've already reorganized Rangeman so I can dedicate time to you and Ava. It's already done. Even if you push me away. I made that choice already. I'm not the same person I was seven months ago. I can't go back to that man and I don't want to,"

"It will take time for me to trust you again."

"I know. I just want to make sure that I haven't pushed you away completely," he says and begins part two of this onslaught.

"This next one is bad and I can only tell you that I was not in my right mind. I was very angry that I thought you had betrayed me and I guess I wanted to get back at you. I didn't know everything and I'm so scared that this is going to be a deal breaker," he says and puts his head in his hands again. "Please promise me you'll listen to me. Please promise me you'll take into account that I wasn't thinking clearly."

I close my eyes and shake my head. I don't know if I can do this. I don't want to hear a deal breaker. I don't want to hear this. "Fine, I'll hear you out."

"After you had the abortion, I was in bad shape. Angry. Confused. Drinking heavily. Jeanne Ellen propositioned me again but this time, I accepted. I was with her for two months but it really only amounted to a half dozen hookups. It was just sex on my part. I ended all contact with her over the summer. She will never work for me or my company ever again. I'm ashamed that I let her manipulate me. She had the wrong impression of what little we had. I also suspect her as being the person who impersonated you at the bank. I believe she was trying to discredit you. It worked. I didn't bother confirming since I had already exonerated you. It will just make me want to kill her and I don't need to add to my karmic debt." he says and I remain silent.

"So, Mr-no-relationship-Ranger found himself in a relationship anyway?" I say and start to smile. This is funny. The pained look on Ranger's face tells me he doesn't think it was at all funny. "Too bad, you guys are cute together." I add flippantly.

"Stop. I don't want her or the neighbor or anyone else. I only want you. I fucked up. I'm really sorry. I want to make this right," he says earnestly.

I take a deep breath and let it out. "Why do you think I would care?" .

"I want to make sure you know that I didn't have a relationship with her. I wasn't in my right mind when I agreed to ... I wasn't ready to face my feelings for you. She was just a means to dull the pain of everything that happened. I used alcohol to dull the pain too. I was put on desk duty until I got my shit together. I don't want you to think that I cheated on you."

"You are free to sleep with whomever you want. We don't have a relationship, we never did."

"We did. We did have a relationship!" he states emphatically. "Just because I said we didn't, just because I wasn't able to acknowledge it back then, doesn't mean it wasn't there. Our relationship was the reason I was so pissed about Joe. When I thought you were back together with him, I reacted. If we weren't in a relationship then I had no reason to be angry. Looking back, we went on dates. I gave you jewelry, we spent all our free time together. We were exclusive, we supported each other... loved each other... That IS a relationship." He says with emotion.

"Did you do any of those things with Jeanne Ellen?" I ask.

"No. We only had sex. We occasionally ate dinner together but never in a restaurant. It was only for sex."

"Where?" I ask and he looks down, hands in his hair again. "Was she on Seven?"

"I broke it off before I knew about the shot recall. I broke it off when I knew she had the wrong impression of what it was. She didn't mean anything to me," he says, not answering my question.

"Ok, so you had sex with her on Seven and told her what? My love doesn't come with a ring and she hoped it would be more. That kinda sounds like what we had. How was it not a relationship with her but it was with me?"

"I love you. We did have a relationship. We had dinners, we spent time together. I met your family, I gave you jewelry. It was never just sex with you," he says emphatically. I shake my head. I have to do my deep breathing. I'm just so angry. Yet one more thing to pile on top of this shit stack. All because he violated my privacy and hacked into my doctor's record. He didn't trust me and now I don't trust him.

"I don't trust you." I say simply.

"Please Steph. I'm sorry..." He begins.

"Stop. Stop saying sorry. I'm sick of that word. Hearing you say it makes me want to throw up." I rant. "You're the one who didn't trust me. You're the one that destroyed all of this. All of this can be traced back to that single moment when you hacked into my private medical record. That was the single defining moment of where everything collapsed. My loyalty to you, my character, it all meant nothing. You didn't trust me, and now, I don't trust you. I meant what I said about Ava. I will allow you in her life as long as you respect our privacy. You have to earn my trust but as far as there being an us? I don't know. I don't know if I trust that you've changed. I guess time will tell." I say and turn to head back into my room to pack. I busy myself trying to get all of our belongings into the bags we packed. Ugh. No easy task. I end up leaving a lot behind. It gets easier. I have experience just walking away with only the clothes on my back. I also have really perfected the art of minimalist living. It really frees up time when you don't have to manage the clutter.

***Dec 28

RPOV

I'm back in Trenton alone. I have mixed feelings about my time in Maine. I know she's giving me everything she's capable of at the moment but I feel anxious that nothing real was decided. I know I have a lot to make up for. I close my eyes. If I sit here any longer, I'll have someone knocking on my window. I take a deep breath and ready myself for the shock to my system.

I only brought home the toys for Ava. All the decorations I stored in Maine. Hopefully by next... Fuck. I shut down that thinking. No point in dwelling on what may or may not happen. I get out of the SUV with just my duffle. I'll deal with the rest later. I make my way to the stairs and head up to my apartment. The seven flights will hopefully undo the stiffness in my legs from the long drive. After a quick shower I head back down to five to grab a sandwich and coffee. The eight hour drive was hell and I welcome the distraction of work. I'm not yet at the point of exhaustion so sleep will not be easy.

Dinner in hand, I enter my office and note the stack of paperwork in my inbox. Several marked urgent so I sit and begin the arduous task of running a business . Halfway through the pile, Tank knocks on my open door. "Enter." I bark.

"Hey, how was your trip?" he asks and I put down the pen I have clutched in my hand.

"Fine." I say noncommittally. Not giving away the emotions bouncing around in my head.

"Well?" he asks, not happy with my short answer.

"What do you want me to say? Steph looks great? Ava is perfect? Everything is still fucked up?" I say revealing the edge in my voice. "She went home. I still don't know where she's living. I still have her grandmother's phone and can only receive calls. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Sorry man. I was hoping everything would be back to normal. I was hoping she'd come back with you. Shit. I guess that was too much to hope for."

"I know. I was too." I say, running my hand down my face, feeling the exhaustion stronger now.

"You know, we can probably find her now. Did you get her plate number?"

"She flew. I know I can find her now but that's the last thing I should do. I need to give her privacy. Our future depends on it. I can't fuck this up Tank."

We sit for a few more beats in silence then Tank surprises me by asking, "Well, you got a picture?"

I spend the next ten minutes showing Tank all the photos I have. Most are Ava but I was able to get Steph in a few."

"Wow, they look great." he says, then adds, "You got a plan?"

I take a deep breath then respond, "I need to wait. Wait for her to call me." I say. When she left, she assured me that as long as I gave her privacy, she would call. She said she had to get her responsibilities in order and get back on a routine. I don't really know what she means by that and that frustrates the shit out of me. I do know that pushing would be met with resistance and violating her privacy now would be catastrophic. Neither of which I plan to do. All I can do is wait. Fuck. "She'll call me in a few weeks and we'll arrange a time and place to meet up." I tell him. If she changes her mind then I'm screwed.

"A few weeks? We can find her. What if someone is after.." Tank begins and I have to shut that down immediately.

"No. Stand down. That's an order. I'm keeping an eye on the Diaz task force and I'm going to ensure they're successful so don't worry about that. If anyone invades her privacy, I'll lose both of them. I have to play by her rules. This whole thing would have never happened if I had respected her privacy." I interject.

"How is it your fault? The doctor's office is to blame."

"It's my fault because I should never have hacked into her record. How would you like it if Steph hacked into your psych evals from any one of our missions?"

"That shits classified," he says, pissed at the thought.

"Right, and personal and no one has a right to invade your privacy." I finish for him and see the moment it dawns on him just how violated she felt.

"The fact that those sessions are deemed classified is not really relevant. If all of a sudden, those missions get declassified, those sessions are still personal and private. So, I need you to promise me, you or anyone else will not search for her in any way for any reason." I say and Tank lets out a breath.

"I promise."

"I can't fuck this up." I repeat.

"I'll take care of the men." he says with a nod.

"She has a dog." I add.

"What? She get a replacement for Bob?" he asks jokingly.

"Actually he's a trained military dog. German Shepherd. I don't know how she got it but he's quite bonded to her. He would protect her with his life. She's safe." I assure him.

"Okay. We just wait for her to forgive your stupid ass. Then hopefully our stupid asses." he says, trying to lighten the mood. It works and we chat about business for a few minutes and I finish up my paperwork and make my way upstairs. It's late and I'm exhausted. Perfect, maybe I'll sleep through the night.