Guess you didn't like Ranger stepping out on Steph, huh? Well hello! She was about to marry his arch rival – don't you think he's entitled to a bit of happy too?

Anyway, all will become clear as to what they're all thinking...

Steph was sitting at the kitchen table, half way through a cup of coffee and a long way down a list she was compiling when her Grandmother came in through the front door.

"Grandma?" Steph asked as she heard the old woman's familiar wheeze and the sounds of a pair of shoes being dropped on the lounge carpet with a dull thud. "You ok?" she asked again, getting up from her chair to investigate.

Nervously sticking her head round the corner she found her Grandmother sitting on the bottom stair, in her wedding finery looking a lot dishevelled and with dark green leaves and a few old twigs sticking out from her hair

"What happened, Grandma?" Steph asked as she crouched down to check her over, noticing a large muddy mark on her cheek.

"The best non-wedding reception I've attended. Hell, it was the best party I ever attended - ever. What a pip!"

Steph hid a grin as she looked at her mad relation. "Let's get you upstairs and cleaned up, shall we?" she said gently as she grabbed a wrinkled arm and draped it round her shoulder. After several attempts she managed to get a giggling septuagenarian up onto her feet. Half way up the stairs they nearly tumbled as Edna was cackling so hard she nearly pulled her over as she recalled the events of the evening before.

"... and Marjorie Belmont did the splits right in front of..."

Steph rolled her eyes and pulled her up the remaining stairs determined to get her into her bedroom. As they turned the corner they bumped into Frank who'd just left his bedroom he helped get the still drunk reprobate into her room.

"Can I have a word, please Pumpkin?" Frank asked once all the excitement had calmed down and Edna was tucked into bed.

"Sure Daddy."

"Follow me" he said as he led her downstairs and to a cupboard in the dining room "I have something to show you" he added as he reached in and pulled out a box full of photo albums and age old memories which he picked up and carried carefully to the table.

"Just need to find... ah, here we are." He said as he held up a small pristine book. The cover was white with the caduceus emblazoned in dark blue at the top. Just below it were the words "Modern Nursing Practices – for today's woman". He passed it to her and she looked at the title before giving him a questioning look.

"I gave that to you Mother on our six month anniversary. She never did open it and part of me always wondered why she'd sacrifice all her dreams for me. I never really understood until yesterday what a truly remarkable woman your Mom is. I think it's time to give her this book again, but I think you need to do it." He said as she took her hands and slowly folded her fingers round the slim volume.

Steph just nodded.

The air was thick with emotion and silent for a few moments before they both heard footsteps.

"Go, Pumpkin. Talk to your Mother." He added as he stood up and kissed her curls before putting the box away again and heading out, taxi keys in hand.

Steph hugged the book to her chest and went back into the kitchen to get her head round the conversation she'd just had and the one that was imminent.

o0o0o0o0o

Joe woke to find himself alone, hoping that the last 24 hours had been some weird and horrible nightmare and that he hadn't just been made to look like a total ass wipe in front of the whole 'Burg nation. Listening, hopefully, for her to make a sound in the bathroom of the opulent, light and spacious beach hut they'd selected together he realised that he really was alone and that he really wasn't married to... He sighed and turned over into his thinking position (yep, he has one too) and contemplated his life.

It would have been foolish to have called Stephanie 'the love of his life' because deep in his heart he knew that she wasn't, probably never had been. But she'd been a part of his life for so long it had just felt like the right thing to do, getting married, that is.

Theirs had been an open and upbeat relationship all the time they'd been dancing round each other, but as soon as they'd started to plan the wedding things had changed. He could see that the playfulness had gone. The thrill and wonder had faded away. All replaced by the unspoken understanding that this was to be their life – one of caring for rather than about each other.

Damned if Helen hadn't been right and that he had been caught up in the thrill of the chase and the knowledge that he'd won the prize. That he'd beaten that smug, self righteous SOB and gotten the girl.

He smiled as he thought about the harmless flirting he'd done with Tiffany but in his heart he'd known that it would never have gone any further than a bit of banter on an otherwise boring flight. The younger version of himself would have gladly taken her to the Mile High Club, but then again the younger version of himself had very different priorities. He still wanted to settle down, but the fiasco at the Church of the Immaculate Conception had made him realise a few things. He didn't want the fights that went with ignoring Stephanie's needs and wants.

He needed someone who wanted to settle down now, or at least soon, and make a family with him. Not someone he could mould into that role. And that's what he would have done, bit by bit, inch by inch, the woman he thought he loved would have been diminished and replaced with an ideal that he created. That was not right for either of them.

He wondered what Stephanie (he couldn't see him referring to her as Cupcake anymore - that time was now passed) was doing right now. Part of him was sad for how it had ended, but part of him was relieved that the most unlikely person had driven them apart and right now he would have gladly kissed his never to be Mother-in-Law!

Thinking over, he climbed out of the oversize four poster colonial bed in search of a shower, some food and a bit of sunshine.

He'd call his mother later to find out what had happened since he'd boarded the plane, but right now that world was far away and he needed time to get his head round what had just happened.

o0o0o0o0o

Tank nodded to the control room as he exited the elevator and headed to his office, shutting the door behind him and settling himself on his sofa. He never shut the door unless he didn't want to be disturbed and right now he did not want to be disturbed.

Glancing up at the clock he did a mental head shake as he ran his hands over his bald head. It was 1215 and already he was exhausted. Ric had given off so many mixed messages in the past 24 hours that he wasn't sure if he was coming or going any more. Once he'd understood his best friend, but now, not so much.

He closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his upper arms on his thighs and thought back to their final conversation of yesterday.

FLASHBACK:

"Tank, I'm outta here. Don't call me, I won't answer."

Tank gave Ranger a hard look "You're off to see Amy, aren't you?" His blank face may have been in place but his voice was laced with contempt.

"And? It's no concern of yours, 'Pierre' so just drop it, ok?" Ranger growled back, emphasising his given name.

"I don't get it! You could be consoling Bomber right now, but no, instead you're off whoring it with that..."

"Enough!" Ranger roared "It's nothing to do with you anyway. If things had gone according to plan right now Stephanie would have been out of my life forever and I wasn't going to hang around like a love sick puppy wanting the impossible."

"Amy's a distraction, no more - that's not fair and you know it!" Tank spat out "I thought you cared about something more than your own selfish pride. Guess I was wrong. You're no better than Morelli."

END OF FLASHBACK:

What he couldn't reconcile was how Ric could have been so 'outed' at the church yet in the bed of a different woman a few hours later, then this morning making arrangements for Bomber to stay in his personal beach house for an undefined period.

He knew Ric loved Stephanie, it had been evident from the moment they'd all met her she was going to be in it for the long haul. But why not step up to the plate and deal with his feelings once and for all? That made absolutely no fucking sense, after all he was being given a golden opportunity - one that the mercenary in him should have been desperate to take advantage of.

He looked up from the steel grey carpet and spotted Les walking past his internal window. Maybe he could shed some light on what their moronic boss and partner was really thinking because quite frankly, he had no fucking idea.

o0o0o0o0o

Almost as soon as Steph had sat down and picked up her coffee cup, Helen walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Mom" Steph said, carefully, not really knowing what to say.

"Hi Sweetheart." Her mother replied "You missed one hell of a party last night!" she added slightly too brightly.

"Yeah, so it would seem." Steph said glumly.

"Oh Sweetheart, I'm so sorry that things didn't work out between you and Joe, but I had to stop you both making a terrible mistake."

"Great timing, though, Mom! Couldn't you have reached this conclusion ... say 6 months ago?"

"If I'd stepped in then, you'd still be yo-yoing back and forth. Really the only way to end things for absolutely the last time was by doing what I did yesterday. I'm really sorry, but it was for your own good!" she said pleadingly.

Steph snorted. "Mom!"

Helen sat down, grabbing the table for support as she leant forward "Please, sweetheart, hear me out before you condemn me, okay?"

"K"

"When I met your father I had dreams, lots of them. I was going to be nurse, I was going to live an independent life, I'd even looked at a couple of apartments. Bet you didn't know I couldn't cook – I made a mean ham sandwich but my Mom, your Grandma, was the provider – I just turned up and ate what was put in front of me. In many ways I was just like you.

"Trouble is, Grandpa Harry didn't think it was right for me to behave like that. He'd encourage me to be more like my own Mom. I resisted, hell, by the time I was 18 most of my friends were married and pregnant and I didn't even have a steady boyfriend.

"Then your Dad came along and he was everything I wanted. Tall, good looking, kind. He looked after me and encouraged me to follow my heart. Trouble was, my heart was out there seeking adventure yet desperate to be married to him at the same time. I too had a love triangle in my life but mine was caused by the times in which I grew up rather than two men." She reached over and grabbed her daughter's hand and gave it a soft squeeze. Steph smiled a little and squeezed right back.

"My Dad wanted me to give up my dreams and sat me down over a milkshake at the diner one day to explain why. Your Grandmother was busy cooking our dinner so he knew she could have no influence over what he was about to tell me." Helen gave Steph a wry smile.

"I guess he thought he was being sneaky, but many years later Edna told me she'd known all along but knew he'd have collared me for a 'chat' at some point anyway so let him say his piece. Guess I just needed someone to explain the ways of the world and that's what he did.

"He told me that I could always go back and revisit my career dreams at a later date, but that men like your Dad don't come around too often. He knew that I was torn, but pointed out that if my marriage was a solid one, Frank would understand my need to change direction once my own kids had flown the nest.

"That night I asked your father to marry me."

"Mom!"

"Yeah! And it wasn't even a leap year!" Helen giggled as she recalled what happened next. "Your father didn't know what to do – after all the man usually asked the father's permission before asking the daughter for her hand. Once Frank had said yes, we agreed that he would go ask my Dad and then I'd pretend I knew nothing about it when he popped the question a couple of nights later at a cute little Italian restaurant." She suddenly sobered as she looked at Steph.

"I was lying in bed yesterday morning and something hadn't felt quite right. I wasn't sure if I'd eaten something that had disagreed with me at the rehearsal dinner, but then it hit me. You shouldn't be getting married, at least not to Joe.

"Over the past few weeks I've seen you fade away. Not due to the stress of organising the wedding but almost as if you were resigned to your fate. I know you would have had a good marriage with Joe, but it would not have been a balanced one. You'd have been made to make the same choice as I was, but the difference these days is that you can have your man and your dreams but Joe would not have allowed that. He needs someone to become a housewife and mother and that person is so not you.

"I love your Dad and every day I'm glad I made the decisions that I did. I'm not sure your father understands my logic but in my heart of hearts I regret nothing. But you? You shouldn't have to tear yourself in half the way I had to. I may not like your choice of career, but I respect that it's a part of you.

"Go out, take the world by the horns and ride that pony... Is that right? Hell, you know what I mean!" she added laughing.

"Maybe Ranger is the man for you, he certainly seems more likely to let you be yourself. Maybe it's someone else, but I don't think it's Joe and last night, after a couple of bottles of wine, I gave a speech at your reception, with Angela Morelli by my side explaining that."

"Mom!"

"Put it this way, I think you'll be ok and the gossip mongers will leave you alone."

"Not so sure I'll get out of this in one piece though" she added to herself. Knowing that Angela was also going to have a hard time, but that's what Mom's were there for, she thought. To protect their children.

"Mom?" Steph said softly, breaking into her thoughts. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?" she asked as she rushed round the table and gave her Mom a big hug.

"I have a little something you might have forgotten about" she added as she held up the book Frank had given her earlier. "I think it's time we both got our dreams, don't you?"

Helen made a sobbing sound as she took the book from her daughter as a large tear fell down her face. "Where did you find it?" she whispered.

"Let's just say your biggest fan thinks we both need to fly."