Author's Note: Thank you all for your continuing love of my story =] I also want to thank Jersey Sue for being my Beta and making my story even betta… Haha I'm a dork- oh Well! Enjoy all my babes and cupcakes! .Loved.

Disclaimer: JE's original characters, this version of their lives is mine.

We spent the next few days unpacking and getting everything settled in and even though Aly was mad at first- she loved this house as much as I did. Especially her play land in the backyard, almost as much as I loved that hammock.

On Thursday night after I put Aly to bed, I called Joe and gave him my new address, but the conversation didn't end there. We slowly began talking about everything from the weather, starting my new job, Bob, and Aly. I began to feel like a high schooler again- every few minutes I looked at the counter on my phone to see how many minutes we had been talking. Not only that but I couldn't stop smiling. I was on the sectional sofa and I would go from laying on my stomach with my ankles crossed above me, then I'd flip around and lay on my back with my feet walking up and down the nearest wall. And just as the conversation was beginning to die- we would bring it back to life, neither wanting to hang up- not yet. Joe started telling me about how his mother had been setting him up on dates and he wouldn't realize it was even a date until he got to the restaurant. We laughed together at the disasters these woman turned out to be, and he told me there was a couple girls he got into a relationship with. But after a couple months he realized they weren't right for him, but the way he said it I knew he meant, none of them were me. I told him about the few dates I had been on, and he seemed pleased they didn't go further then dinner. We never mentioned Ranger, Joe didn't ask anything- and I didn't offer anything. I wasn't naïve enough to think Joe didn't know Ranger had visited Aly and I in Wisconsin- and I was sure he knew he flew in just to drive us home.

After an hour and a half of sitting with him on the phone, I eventually had to hang up before I fell asleep on the couch, the phone to my ear. Once I hung up though I didn't go up to bed right away, instead I paced around the kitchen. Once I was tired of pacing, I hopped up onto the countertop, letting my feet dangle over the side. I lit up my phone and dialed Ranger, not that I wanted to sit on the phone all night. But since he helped move my stuff in, I hadn't spoken to him. It rang a few times then went to his voicemail- I debated whether or not to leave a message- but before I knew it the answering machine began recording.

"Hey you, it's me- Stephanie me, not that you have a lot of other…. Yeah it's Stephanie Plum- I was just calling to see how you were. I haven't talked to you for a little bit, and I'm sure you're really busy with work. I've been unpacking and stuff- so yeah, well um, call me later. If you want I mean don't feel obligated to or anything, but okay. I should probably hang up now, so good night." I hung up and stared at my phone like a bomb had just gone off in my hand.

"What the hell was that?" I asked my phone, but received no answer. And since I didn't want to risk embarrassing myself anymore tonight, I went upstairs and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up at 5 and was way too restless, and had too much on mind to fall back to sleep. So I got up took an extra long shower, shaved everything I needed to, then got out. I flipped my hair upside down and scrunched moose in it, flipped my head back to normal and added more moose. I loved the way it gave my curls more dimension, and I loved even more how it took my mind away from all the questions swirling around- if only for a few minutes. I assumed it'd be hot again so I didn't spend a lot of time picking out my clothes- shorts and a tank top. Then since it was only 6 in the morning and I wasn't going to wake Aly up just because I was bored- I decided to put my beautiful kitchen to use.

When Aly came down for breakfast an hour later I was just setting out a plate of happy face pancakes, some fresh strawberries, and orange juice. With a side of bacon of course. I was actually pretty impressed with myself- this tasted great and my house was still standing- all good things. As I was in the middle of doing dishes Aly yelled to me and said she heard my phone. I booked it upstairs to my bedroom and picked up the phone right before the answering machine got it.

"Hello?" I asked, out of breath. So apparently I could run 4 miles, but I couldn't run up the steps without effort. Well I suppose when I'm running 4 miles, I'm not racing to answer the phone.

"Babe."

"Oh hi." I said again, this time with a smile.

"How's it going?" The amusement in his voice was clearly there, so I guess it was safe to say he got my message. I was somehow hoping he would break his phone or something- and the ridiculous message I left would be erased.

"Good just made some pancakes and bacon for breakfast." For some reason I couldn't just sit on my bed like a civilized person and talk to someone I had talked to on the phone more times than I could count. Instead I laid on my back, letting my hair hang over the side of the bed.

"You feeling okay?" I was actually wondering the same thing.

"Why- why do you?" Lord, I couldn't even ask a question without stuttering out the answer.

"You don't normally make breakfast, and it's a little past 8. This is when you're normally getting up."

"Oh I've been up for hours." The sound of his laugh made me do a mental head slap… what was wrong with me. I had been a fool on the phone with both Joe and Ranger- for reasons I was having a hard time understanding.

"What are you guys doing for lunch?"

"I don't know, probably eating." Again, another soft laugh.

"Well, I'm going to be in a meeting that gets out at noon then I have some free time. Why don't you guys come to Rangeman, I'll have Ella cook us some lunch."

"Yeah, that sounds great."

"Alright, feel free to come a little early and stop in to see the guys. They keep asking about you and Aly."

"I'll do that."

"What should I have Ella make for lunch?"

"Um, whatever. I mean Aly's really not that picky, I'm more picky than she is. She just doesn't eat a lot of food at a single sitting. Oh and she likes things she can pick up and eat with her hands."

"Oh yeah?" He asked, and even over the phone I could hear his smile.

"Yeah the other night I made spaghetti and well, let's just say I'm not doing that again until she decides to use her fork."

"Alright, well no spaghetti. Listen I have to run, but I'll see you later."

"Yup." I quickly hung up, it made me smile to be able to hang up before him. I hung off my bed for another minute before sitting up, and when I did Aly was standing in the doorway staring at me.

"You're weird, mama." I laughed- she had no idea.

We pulled into Rangeman at 11:30 and the gate opened for us to get into the garage before I had even stopped to say anything. We got in the elevator, Aly's hand tightly latched onto mine- I told her we were going to see Ranger. I crouched down to be face to face with her and pointed to the little camera and I waved.

"The guys we're going to see can see us, wave at them sweetie." At first she didn't know what to think but then she looked up and gave a big smile and waved.

The elevator door opened on 5 and I walked out, Aly's hand still tight around mine. This place hasn't changed in all these years- which made me happy, a lot in my life had changed. It was almost comforting to have something that was unchanged- in a good way. The first person I saw, running towards us, was Lester Santos, his pace didn't stop until he grabbed me in a hug, lifting me from the ground.

"I've missed you, Bomber."

"I've missed you, too." I always knew how much I missed the Merry Men, my Merry Men- but it wasn't until this moment that I truly realized how much. He set me down and I looked at him, seeing the slightest resemblance to Ranger. His dark hair was spiked up and his eyes and smile told me he knew how to make women fall for his playboy ways. He crouched down balancing on his heels, hands placed on his legs, and looked at Aly.

"You must be little Bomber, you sure look a lot like your mother." He looked up at me and back at her. "Trust me, it's a good thing."

"I'm little babe." We both laughed.

"Yeah, and I'll bet you have Ranger wrapped around your pretty little finger, just like mom too huh?" I wasn't sure she knew exactly what that meant but she gave him a big smile and nodded.

"So how many cars has he given her so far?" I smiled as he stood back up.

"None yet." Lester shrugged his shoulders.

"Still early." The men at Rangeman knew not to talk back to Ranger, and listen to everything he said. Not that Lester didn't, but being of blood relation gave him a confidence to joke around about things the others wouldn't even joke about in their minds. Just in case somehow Ranger developed the ability to actually be able to read their thoughts (and not just mine).

"We're meeting Ranger for lunch and he said we could stop by early to see you guys."

"Well I'm glad you did, come on- some of the guys are in the control room." Lester held his arms out to Aly offering to carry her, she looked at me making sure it was okay. When I nodded to her she smiled and let him pick her up.

"I'm Lester by the way."

"I'm Alyson Isabella but you can call me Aly." He smiled at her and then at me."I'm happy to meet you Aly, I sure hope your mom doesn't take off on us again. Because I know that we're going to be great friends."

"Like me and Ranger?"

"Better." She smiled again as we entered the control room. There was a new guy in there that seemed a little concerned at first to see us but didn't say anything. Bobby and Hal were both in there too, each standing and taking their turn to hug me.

"X, this is Stephanie. You don't know about her yet, but I can guarantee that will change since she's back in town." Lester said, receiving a playful smack from me.

"Nice to meet you, X." He nodded my way and focused his attention back on the screen. "You really don't think he's going to make you guys be on permanent, Stephanie patrol do you?"

"Did you seriously just ask that?" Bobby said with a snort.

"Come on, I'm no bounty hunter and I haven't blown up a car in years."

"You've blown up cars mommy?" Aly asked, eyes wide like I just told her I was drowning puppies.

"No, not at all. Never."

"Tons." Lester added with a smile."They were play cars honey, and hopefully it will be Uncle Lester's play car that gets blown up next." He winked at me.

"Well, I don't think the last 4 years count- you weren't living here."

"But I was still dealing with bad guys up there." When Aly started asking me what I did everyday, I couldn't tell her I tried to find murderers and rapists and do what I could to pin them to a crime. So instead I told her I put bad guys away, to protect the good guys.

"I guess we'll see about all that, not that I want you to blow up anymore play cars." He shot a serious look at Aly, but I knew exactly what he meant. Especially with this sweet little girl with me. I had been lucky so far to not be playing scratch offs in the sky with Grandpa Mazur, but if anything happened to my girl. There would be some serious hell to pay. We talked with the guys for a few more minutes, Aly introducing herself as "Alyson Isabella, but you can call me Aly." Hal asked if she wanted to see what they did, and she took his hand and looked on as he showed her some of the different security screens.

"How's your love life, Les?" He snorted. "Haven't you ever wanted to settle down." He just shrugged his shoulders and I rolled my eyes. "Have you been taking speech lessons from your cousin, by chance?"

"I don't know, I am actually kind of getting tired of the playboy lifestyle."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter- I can't be serious with someone with this job. I mean it's not just a job either, it's a lifestyle. It just makes it easier to not get attached." I put my arm around his shoulder.

"Since when is life ever easy?"

"You know you're right, I was just thinking- maybe I should go fly away to the Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin. Maybe that will make it easier." This time the playful smack- was more of a playful punch, with a little more force.

"Hey, I don't regret I did that and my life right now is great."

"Great or not, it isn't any less complicated."

"Sure it is."

"Really, hmm. So who is Aly's dad again?"

"Les, you know who her dad is."

"You're right, I know- it's that cop. Now who are you here to see again? Oh right, Ranger. Some things haven't changed, Bomber." I knew there was a hint of a joke in his voice, but he was being serious- not just serious, he was concerned.

"I've changed, Les."

"I sure hope not, I liked the old Steph." I smiled giving him another big hug. Lester had always cared about me as his friend, but also because he knew the feelings I used to have for both Joe and Ranger. He was looking after me as an older brother would, and I was happy to see that hadn't changed.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Ranger asked Lester. I let him go and we both looked over, Ranger was casually leaning against the door frame- arms crossed over his chest.

"I was boss, she attacked me. I was just about to fight her off when you came in and saved the day. Thanks, I owe you one." He said with a smile and walked over to the computers.

"Aly, let's go baby." Aly gave Hal a hug and ran over to Ranger, he lifted her in his arms and left the room, I followed him onto the elevator.

"How are you little babe?"

"I'm good I was working for you." A small smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Thank you for helping out, I bet you're hungry now after all that work?"

"Yes!" We reached 7 and stepped into the beautiful apartment that had been a temporary home on a few different occasions. Something felt different, but everything looked the same- perfect. Ranger sat Aly down as his cell phone rang, he sighed.

"I have to take this, it will be just a few minutes. I'll call Ella to bring the food up in a minute."

"Okay." He walked into his bedroom and Aly and I took in his place. I had so many memories here, sometimes I didn't even believe they were real. It felt more like a place I had created in my mind and escaped to only to get away from the burdens of real life. But even my mind couldn't have come up with something this wonderful.

"Aly babe, go sit on the couch until Ranger comes out okay?" I pulled out one of her books from my bag and handed it to her. She took it and hopped onto the couch, laying on her back- legs hanging over the edge of the couch, letting herself get lost in the pictures of her book. Sometimes this girl made me so proud. I walked around remembering everything I could, and trying to find what was different. There was a different feel to this place- but I didn't know what it was. That's when I saw it- sitting on his desk in a black picture frame was a picture of Aly and me. It wasn't one I had ever seen before, then I recognized it from one of our conversations on Skype. I was sitting there at my kitchen table where I usually sat when we had our video chat sessions. I was smiling into the screen and Aly was smiling next to me, I could tell she had been sitting in my lap. Never in our conversations had Ranger asked us to pose for him, I didn't even know you could take screenshots. Somehow though, he managed to get this picture and printed it out.

"Ella's on her way up." Ranger said, standing directly behind me. I hadn't even felt him enter the room, but now his presence radiated throughout my body.

"When did you take this?"

"Little while ago."

"I didn't even know you could do this." I looked over and caught a small smile playing at his lips.

"Ella framed it."

"Did she take this screenshot?" I was almost positive every single time we Skyped he was either in his apartment alone, or his office- alone.

"I did."

"So how did she frame it from your computer?" It wasn't hard for me to tell he really didn't want to answer these questions, but I was sure he could just as easily tell then that I wasn't just going to let it go.

"I printed the picture out, she saw it sitting on my desk- I came in one day and it was in that frame. She wrote me a note to say she thought I might like to keep it safe." And he kept it, not that Ranger was one to just throw something away. But this place didn't have any actual personal touches to it, no pictures of Julie, nothing that says Ranger Manoso lives here- until now. It wasn't just the fact that he kept the picture where it was after Ella framed it- or that he could have been doing simply because Ella was in his apartment everyday cleaning it. It was that no one forced him to take a screenshot, and no one told him to print it out and save it. He really had missed having me around.

There were really no words to tell him how special this simple picture was, so instead I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head on his chest. His arms held me closer and his cheek rested against the top of my head. I could stand like this for hours, days, I could have stood like that forever. But a few moments later there was a knock at the door. Ranger released me and yelled that she could come in.

Ella came in with a silver cart like one would see at a fancy restaurant carrying an assortment of different things. She set them in the center of the dining room table and Ranger told her she could leave it like that. I ran to give her a hug.

"It's great to see you, Ella."

"You too, darling. You have been really missed." Her eyes shot quickly to Ranger's back and gave me a smile and a quick wink. "We're all very happy to have you home."

"I'm happy to be home, too. Oh! Aly come here." Aly ran to my side and smiled up at Ella making Ella smile so wide in response.

"Oh my, she is gorgeous, Stephanie. Hello sweetie."

"Hi, I'm Alyson Isabella, you can call me Aly." Ella took her in for a hug, and me in for another one.

"I hope we will all see you again."

"I'm sure you all will." She smiled again and took her cart and disappeared back into the elevator.

"So what's for lunch?" I asked, walking Aly over to sit at the table. He let out a soft chuckle.

"Well, it looks like a little bit of everything." I looked and my mouth dropped open. Ella had gone all out for this lunch, my favorite mac and cheese was there, along with a couple mini pizzas (that you could tell were hand made), chicken strips, cottage cheese, and a variety of fruits like grapes, strawberries and apple slices. I served Aly up a little bit of everything, and then served up myself while Ranger took a small bowl of the Mac and Cheese and some fruit.

"I think she thought she was being smooth." Ranger said after a few silent bites of food.

"Who- Ella?" He looked at me with a smile. "You're not going to fire her are you?"

"Not today." He answered, the smile still playing at his lips.

"Good, oh and before I forget- you're not planning on having 'Steph and Aly' watch are you?" Ranger's silence told me there was already a plan in motion set up.

"Ranger, don't. I don't need supervision- I haven't been here in 4 years, none of the old bad guys probably remember me. Besides, Aly will be safe too."

"You both will." Was his only response, mine was too make my eye roll as obvious as possible.

"I can't accept all this, I mean you can't take men off of accounts- people are paying you to protect them."

"And I'm paying my men to do what I say." I wasn't just going to drop this, I couldn't let him do all this for me. Not just that, I didn't want to be followed around by an entourage and probably draw more attention to myself.

"How about I pay you to not have them follow us. Especially since I'm certain there are trackers all over everything of mine."

"They won't follow you all the time."

"Oh what- so you're saying they get bathroom breaks this time." He didn't look up from his food, but I saw the amusement on his face.

"Ranger!"

"So Aly, do you like your new house?" Ranger asked Aly, shooting me a look long enough for me to stick me tongue out- and try to give him a look that said this conversation wasn't over. If I was successful- who knows.

We were back home and I had unlocked the door to let us in the house. I looked back and saw the woman that must live in the house next to me outside grabbing her mail.

"Go on in baby, I'll be there in a minute." I was used to living in the Burg where everyone already knew you, but when I moved to Wisconsin I realized it was really fun to be close with your neighbors too. I walked down to her to introduce myself, she was a few inches shorter than me and looked to be the same age as I was. She had on a pair of grey stretch pants and a white T-shirt that was stained with a variety of different color paints, but even with her baggy shirt on I could feel boob envy coming on. She was definitely more gifted in that area than I was. My favorite part of her outfit though was her pink furry slippers and painter's smock.

"Hey there, I'm Stephanie- my daughter and I just moved in next door. I guess we're your new neighbors." She flashed a wide smile at me, and I noticed her grey eyes lit up.

"I'm Suzanne- I guess I'm pretty new to the neighborhood too. I moved in about a year ago, but apparently the person who I bought the house from forgot to leave me the secret password to be accepted into the neighborhood by the other neighbors." I laughed, she took her very long dark brown hair with blonde highlights and wrapped it into a bun atop her head sticking a long paintbrush she had in her painter's smock through the middle to keep it in place.

"Well don't worry I didn't get a secret password either, so we'll not-fit in with you." She smiled again.

"You said you have a daughter, how old is she?"

"She's 3 and a half, her name's Aly."

"Pretty, I like it. Is it just the two of you?" A nice polite way to ask about her dad.

"Yeah, I moved to Wisconsin when I was pregnant and just recently moved back. Her dad is coming over tomorrow to meet her for the first time."

"Wow, that sounds exciting."

"I hope there's just not too much excitement." I said with a smile. "What about you, do you live with anyone?"

"No," She said shaking her head. "I used to have a cat but her hair got all over my work- so I gave her to a better family."

"What do you do for work?"

"I'm an artist, I do paintings, sculptures- just about everything."

"That's awesome, if I had any sort of talent- I would do the same thing."

"Yeah, well it definitely wasn't easy. In school I spent more time drawing in my sketchbook than I ever did on homework. Right after high school I moved all over the place selling my paintings, doing custom pieces. I made decent money, enough to survive at least. I grew up in New Jersey so I wanted to move back, and I also moved back because an art gallery started showcasing my pieces. Once my name was out there- everything just sort of took off."

"But still, no matter what you were doing something you love- that's what is really important."

"I completely agree- however, I don't mind the extra cash either though." I smiled, I knew I was going to like this girl. She was easy to talk to, and had a career based on passion. There was another thing I was envious of, not that I didn't love the work I did- but I didn't grow up wanting to do this either.

"Hey listen, I need to get inside and make sure my daughter isn't in the process of burning my house down. But feel free to stop in anytime we're home- I'd love the extra company." I didn't think it was possible, but her smile became bigger and brighter.

"You too, I'm home a lot- working on paintings or whatever I have commissioned at the moment. But I can work and talk at the same time."

"I'll take you up on that sometime."

"Great, it was nice meeting you!"

"You too."

We both walked into our houses, I was pleased to see Aly had already grabbed her coloring books, and nothing smelled like it was burning. Except the inside of my chest, reminding me that in less than 12 short hours Joe Morelli would be at my house- meeting his daughter for the first time.