This chap has a bit more insight into the Plum history, told from Frank's POV picking up right where we left him last, plus another peek at Steph's recoup time post op. So, basically Frank's POV is technically the past, while Steph's POV brings us back to the present after her surgery.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE. Mistakes are mine and I post as I can.

Frank's POV

"Why?" I glared at my wife, continuing to drill her with my hard gaze.

She squirmed under the heat of my stare, thrown off balance by my sudden harsh tone. She's usually the one bossing everyone around, which makes it very rich coming from her to expect our daughters to be submissive to their partners. The whole do as I say not what I do is quite hypocritical on her part.

"Oh come on!" Helen is sauced enough to throw her selective good manners out the door. "Here we go again." She accused, immediately shifting to make herself the victim. This is part of the reason why I dissociate most of the time, actively avoiding fights that just go in circles. We get nowhere fast.

"Don't." I warned, because I could sense that she was about to bring up the skeletons of the past. She likes to throw in my face that I haven't 'moved on', but how can I when she brings the past up at every turn. When we're in private, of course. God forbid anyone else finds out that we don't have the shiny, perfect marriage she proclaims we do. Nobody is perfect, Helen.

"Yes, I am." Helen sneered, coming to stand before me and titling her head back to be able to keep eye contact. "You all make me to be the villain, when in reality this family would have crumbled without me!"

I glared at her, not having much of a comeback. This is not, nor will it ever be, the last time my wife brings up the fact that had she not taken charge from nearly the start a lot of things would have never gotten done.

"The girls saw me as the bad parent for setting up the rules, while you were simply Daddy." The heat in her eyes dripped venom. She's never going to let that go. Ever.

I let her continue. Maybe it's time she gets it all off her chest.

"Why?! Because you were a shell! If I didn't take charge, then nothing would have gotten done!" Yeah, she's not shouting anything I haven't heard before.

I nodded, acknowledging that she was the driving force that kept us afloat in my dark times. I felt like a robot most days, going about life on autopilot but dead inside. Back then there weren't really many resources for those of us who came back from the service scarred on the inside. Sure, I came back home in one piece physically, yet that didn't mean I was whole. I went to work, did the same repetitive job day in and day out, then at the end of the day I came home. Perhaps somewhere along the line Helen got tired of being 'second best', turning her bitter.

Maybe it is all my fault.

"All because you didn't have the…" Helen slurred something in Hungarian that I couldn't really understand. It sounded like she was taking a shot at my manhood, saying that I didn't have the balls to go after what I really wanted. Or maybe she meant whom?

"That's not fair." I tried to cut in, becoming angry that she was going to go there. I married her didn't I? Wasn't that enough?

"No!" Helen roared, giving me the indication that I accidentally blurted my thoughts aloud. That's another thing that Stephanie got from me, which Helen loathes. "I wanted you to love me!"

"I do!" It was my turn to shout, because it's the truth. I do love her. She gave me the girls and has been by my side for over three decades. How could I not?

"No." Helen's voice softened. "Not like you do her."

"I…I…" I wanted to deny that I still had feelings for Maria, but we both know that's a lie.

"You should have gone after her." Helen sneered, reaching for the bottle of whiskey she keeps in the cupboard. "You'd have saved everyone a whole lot of misery." My wife mumbled as she pushed past me, chugging her drink and aiming to drown her sorrows.

"Maybe you should have." Edna murmured from beside me, placing her bony hand on my shoulder in solidarity before leaving me alone in the kitchen. She's probably going to go after her daughter to make sure she doesn't try to drive off.

I went to the garage, hoping to give everyone time to cool off. As I went around the front of the house to head to the detached structure down the driveway, I noted a few faces peering out of windows.

"Get a life!" I shouted, making eye contact with several of the gawkers. Lightning fast, curtains closed shut.

As I sat at my work bench, I allowed myself to go through the memories of my past. If Stephanie thinks that this town has been hellish for her, she has no clue how it was in the past. They've always been vultures, but back then they were ten times worse.

The photo of the girls on our one and only fishing trip caught my attention. Reaching for the old Polaroid, it takes a good yank for me to detach it from the corner on the window sill where it's been stuck for ages. Valerie was miserable throughout that whole weekend, whereas Stephanie really enjoyed the reprieve from her mother's constant scolding. She was a natural, catching a record breaking catfish on the first try. Valerie freaked out as Stephanie teased her by holding up the huge fish. Yes, my little girl released her catch after tormenting her big sister for a few minutes. I was initially angry that she let the fish go, but I couldn't stay mad at the cheeky smile and bright blue eyes.

I am a complete failure. Failing as a soldier, husband, father and man drove me into a deep spiral that I've been stuck in for decades. Maybe it's true that they'd all be better off without me.

Maria De Luca was my world even before I went into the service. With my life experience now, I'm able to refute the Burg's assessment that what we had was nothing more than puppy love. I really, really loved her and planned on making a life with her. Being together wasn't in the cards, because more than one person interfered. I was on leave due to my mother being very ill. Just as I was gearing up to return to my post, the whispering rumors that Maria and my cousin Giuseppe were fooling around behind my back gained traction and reached my ears. I didn't want to believe it. How could I? It had to be nasty rumors with no foundation. Right?! I went looking for Maria, only to find her in bed with Giuseppe.

Looking back now, I can clearly realize that she had to be under the influence since her blue eyes were unseeing. Hindsight is twenty-twenty after all. Maria couldn't even register that I was in the room with them. Furious and heartbroken, I stormed out of there before I could kill them both for such a deep betrayal.

Because my mind wasn't focused, I got injured a few months into deployment. Getting medically discharged truncated my aspirations of having a long career in the military. Yet another loss for me. When I came back to Trenton, my mother introduced me to Helen. At the time, my mother required a lot of care and couldn't go to church often. Helen visited weekly for bible study. Eventually, I asked her out as a way to fully erase a certain traitor from my mind. We were married soon after a brief courtship. Helen got pregnant very soon in our newlywed phase and the rest is history.

"You son of bitch!" I grumbled, not really knowing who I was more angry with. Either myself or my father or Giuseppe. It wasn't until he was in his deathbed that Giuseppe finally confessed the truth, the bastard. Back then, my cousin was deadbeat. He did anything for a quick fix, chasing his next high even before he came down from his current trip. Everyone in the family knew that, something my father took advantage of. My father formulated a plan that would ensure I no longer had a relationship with a De Luca. He despised the family and I never really knew why. Could be that Maria's mother turned my father down, as he was known to be quite the sleazy horn dog. My nephew Vinnie gets that from his grandfather, my father.

I too was a coward, too stubborn and too prideful to hear someone Maria out. I refused to listen to her, the hurt and anger blinding me from the truth. Giuseppe told me the truth shortly before he passed, shifting my reality off its axis. From that point on, I knew that the last decades of my life had been built on a lie. Giuseppe went to Maria's home when he knew her parents and sister wouldn't be home, asked to speak to her about something important that had to do with me. As expected, she offered him some refreshments. The asshole spiked her drink, set the scene and waited until I went over to find out for myself if the rumors were true. He claims he wasn't inappropriate with her, that all he was solely focused on was getting the job done so that he could get his payday from my father. His 'I'm sorry' was too little too late. He took part in something so despicable, shattering everything I believed I knew.

Of course, by the time the truth finally came out it was too late to make amends. Trying to track down Maria was futile, because she was already deceased by that point.

Blowing out a breath, I looked around only to find that night had fallen. Locking up the garage, I walked back towards the front door. The memory of Stephanie jumping off the roof because she wanted to fly assaulted me, another stark reminder of the failure I've been. I saw her climb onto that roof and didn't think anything of it until I heard a harsh landing and piercing wail. Father of the year I was not, am not and will never be.

With the memories of all of my failings threatening to overwhelm me, I dragged my heavy feet towards the front door.

All was silent when I came in. The light in the kitchen caught my attention, so I ambled over after locking up the front door.

"That crazy old bat." I murmured to myself with a smile, appreciating my mother in law's gesture of fixing me a plate and leaving it on the small kitchen table for me to find.

Sitting down to eat, I munched on my meal while memories of my past continued to flash before me. Flicking my eyes to the cupboard where my wife keeps her stash, an incessant nearly all consuming urge took over. It didn't register that I was up and moving until I was squatting to rummage through the glass bottles until I found what I was looking for.

Aiming the bottle towards the light, an unquenchable thirst took over. So, I drank until I forgot about everything, even if that meant ruining decades' long sobriety.

What's another loss for me at this point…

S&R

Stephanie's POV

I woke up with a start, suddenly yanked out of a dream that felt so real. Blinking rapidly, I was greeted with total darkness.

"Umph." I cried when I forgot to go slow, attempting to get up like I normally would.

"Babe." Ranger's voice sounded close to my head. I felt him move and turn on the bedside light, bathing us in dim lighting.

"Forgot." I nodded that I was on the same page thanks to the pain. Shuffling slowly, I used my arms to push my upper body off the mattress as my legs hung off the side of the bed. My sock clad feet planted firmly on the wooden floor, allowing me to stand up sorta straight. "Upmh." I groaned as I began my slow trek towards the bathroom.

Gritting my teeth, I lifted the shirt I stole from Ranger and gingerly began lowering Ranger's sweats. The baggy fit is godsend. Squeezing my eyes shut, I swallowed my muffled groan of pain as I lowered myself to sit on the toilet.

Doing my business didn't take long. No, what took long was standing back up. I knew that if I didn't get myself moving, I'd have Ranger in here in the blink of an eye. My Batman has to be running nearly on empty, because besides taking care of me he's also still actively managing important matters at Rangeman. The man needs his sleep, no matter how super human he tends to portray himself.

By the time I shuffled back to the bedroom, I found a snack, water bottle and my next dose of pain relief waiting on the nightstand. I was honestly going to try to go back to sleep, but Ranger beat me to it. He knows me too well.

"Babe." His mocha skin was cast in the soft lighting, shadows dancing over his big muscles. My man looks exhausted, so I blew him a kiss.

"I'm okay." I promised, finishing the bite of food before I took my meds. Now, getting back into bed took a little extra maneuvering, but I managed. "Get some rest, Batman." I whispered, locking eyes with him when he placed his head next to my pillow as he mirrored my facedown position on the bed next to me.

"Don't overexert yourself, Stephanie. You need rest." Ranger tried for a stern tone, but ended up smiling at my pouting look.

"All I've done is sleep!" Whined, knowing that eventually I'll get back to normal. I mean, I haven't even been out of the hospital for over twenty-four hours. I'm just impatient.

"Because it's a necessity." Ranger brushed his lips across mine softly, tucking a few stubborn curls behind my left ear. "You'll be able to visit Franco once your body heals a little more." Leave it to Batman to know why I'm so frustrated with the downtime.

"I know." I thunked my forehead with his lightly, gracing our noses in the process in a rare Eskimo kiss. "You gotta get some sleep too, Batman." Kissing the corner of his mouth, I wished him sweet dreams as I watched him drift off to sleep. Yeah, Ranger's running on fumes. Sure, Ranger's tough and has been through way harsher physically demanding circumstances, but I worry about him too.

As I waited for the meds to take effect, I scrolled through my cell. I replied to Mary Lou, since she made sure to tell me that she didn't care how late I replied to her check-in texts. Ignoring every other notification alert from Burg gossiper after Burg gossiper who sent me texts, left me voicemails or a DM through my rarely used old social media accounts was extremely easy. They're unbelievably intrusive. Luckily for me, having a couple hundred miles between us has been refreshing.

The medicated drowsiness was amping up and I was on the verge on falling asleep when I felt my phone buzz in my hand. I was literally falling asleep while sifting through the endless notifications, only to be jolted into alertness once again by the buzzing alert.

Frowning, I realized the call was coming from my Dad. He finally broke down and bought a cell phone a couple years ago as a way to combat the ridesharing app competition for his taxi gig. Technically, he only uses it for work. I don't think he's ever called me from his cell, despite me inputting all the contacts when he first bought the device.

"Eh'lo?" I mumbled drowsily, putting the phone to my left ear and closing my eyes despite trying my hardest not to.

"Pumpkin." My Dad greeted, sounding off.

"Dad?" Without proof that anything was wrong, my stomach clenched. Something felt off. I just don't know what it is.

"Listen, I no-know that I haven't been the best father..." A loud sniffle floated out of the line, making me worry further.

"I love you, Dad." My lips murmured in response to his cryptic slur. We may not be a very demonstrative family, but despite everything I love them.

"Love you, too. Pumpkin..." Dad's voice sounded off. My Spidey Sense sent a jolt of awareness through me, somehow negating the previous drowsy spell.

The tingling on the back of my neck was going off, distracting me from the never ending throbbing on my lower back and pelvis.

On instinct, I shook Ranger's bare shoulder as Dad continued his perplexing words.

"Babe?" Ranger snapped into consciousness before my hand finished shaking his shoulder violently.

Locking eyes with his questioning drowsy eyes, I switched my call to speaker mode.

"Dad, where are you?" My heart was thundering under my ribs, a cold sweat washing over me as the ominous message began to click into place.

"Frank, where are you?" Ranger barked, switching into his commanding role. You'll be surprised how often people to submit to his orders simply because of the authoritative tone.

There was a long pause, the staticky silence nearly deafening.

"I've been a failure for too damn long. E'sscuse the language." Dad's heart wrenching sob was full of pent up emotion. He's going through it at the moment.

Ranger was out of bed, his cell pressed to his ear as he contacted the control room back in Trenton. To buy the Merry Men time to find him, I did my best to keep my Dad on the line.

"No, you haven't been a failure." I reminded him of all the moments we've shared. "Driving me to places, doing the maintenance in the vehicles I didn't destroy or sent to car heaven are just some of your ways of showing me your love language: acts of service." He may have not been the most vocal of my supporters, but I know he's been in my corner. In his own way. I get that.

"You deserved more." The sniffling sound was muffled by some cluttering noises in the background. "You all deserved so much better than what I had to offer. Mi dispiace, mia bambina."

My heart nearly lurched through my throat when the line disconnected. Fumbling with my device, I called him back. The moment the call went straight to voicemail, I knew.

Dad!

Mi dispiace, mia bambina= I'm sorry, my baby (if it's not grammatically correct, we'll blame google translate, lol)