Oh look who's posting on time... I think that would be me! Yay! I've kept my promise so far! I think I'll treat myself later and then get back to work on the next chapter. I hope to keep this schedule up, but writing more than 2,000 words is turning out to be harder for me than I thought (this chapter, without the author's note, barely made it). So bear with me and I promise to try my hardest to post once a week.

See you all (hopefully) next week! Hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Not mine, but we all know that.

"I have one stop to need to make and then we can go get lunch." I said to Natalie. She had wanted to have a real Trenton lunch and asked me to take her. Personally, I think she wanted to get to know me better.

And I'd let her grill me as long as I had a piece of pizza in my hand.

"That's fine." She replied, hopping into the front seat of my black SUV. Becoming a full time Rangeman employee has given me some great additions. More money, a nice company car under Ranger's insurance, health care…

You know, really great stuff.

I put the keys in the ignition and turned to her. "Of course, I do want to apologize now."

She tilted her head. "Why's that."

"You're going to meet my Grandmother."

"Is she horrible?"

"She's more like an experience." I replied, starting the car.

Grandma Mazur was waiting at the door when we pulled up. Her hair was in her usual apricot curls and she was wearing a matching jogging suit. I think she's trying to dress more like Lula. She came to live with my parents after Grandpa Mazur took his winnings and bought a ticket to see Elvis. Since then, my mother has begun ironing more and dad has joined the NRA.

"Who's the fed?" She yelled across the driveway.

I sighed. Way to go, Grandma. "Did I already apologize?" I asked Natalie as we walked up the steps.

"Three times." She smiled and held out her hand. "Special Agent Natalie Fino. ATF."

"Fino. You Italian?"

"Through and through."

"You'll fit in around here. My son in law is full Italian. He only likes other Italians." Grandma said, opening the door for us.

"Grandma!" I said, slightly appalled. Usually, I was all for Granma speaking her mind, but this time was a little too far. Even though she was right. The only other people my father liked were Italians. He tolerated other ethnicities, but he treated them like foreign cars. Second best.

"Well it true!" She turned to look at Natalie. "What does ATF stand for?"

"Alcohol, firearms and tobacco and explosives."

Grandma moved her dentures around in her mouth. "But there's no 'e'."

"I can't explain it either. The government's doing, I guess."

"This is why our country is going to pot. Helen!" Grandma yelled. "Your daughter brought home a federal agent!"

There was a sigh and I'm pretty sure a sign of the cross coming from the kitchen. I could feel her willing it to work on me. My mother was a carbon copy of me, but with more grey hairs (most of which I gave her) and a few more wrinkles. She came out of the kitchen, drying her hands and gave me a stern look. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!"

"I remember the last time you had an agent following you. You almost got killed by a stalker!"

"That you set me up with!"

She stopped and thought about it. "And I apologized."

"And I forgave you. And gained ten pounds."

"Good. You could use the extra meat. You're looking thin."

"Toned. I'm working out."

"With Ranger?" Grandma piped in, waggling her eyebrows.

"Not like that, but he helps."

"What I would do to him if I was thirty years younger…"

"You would still be older than dirt!" My father yelled from his chair.

"Hi dad," I said, giving him a kiss. I get my brown hair and stubbornness from my Italian father.

He grunted. "You in trouble?" He asked me.

"No, she's a friend."

"Good."

We don't share our emotions like normal family does by yelling and hugging. We solve it with food. My father, on the other hand, has got a real soft spot for me. He likes to make sure I'm okay. And I let him because I'm his little girl.

"Are you staying for lunch?" My mother asked me.

"No. I just wanted to drop this off for Grandma." I replied, handing her the box. "They're specialty made tennis shoes. Rangeman gets them in bulk and I thought you could use a pair."

"Thanks, Stephanie."

I grinned. "They came accidentally in white and I asked Ranger to let me keep a pair for you. They'll help you keep your balance better and help tone your body."

"Sweet. Tell Ranger thanks for me."

"Will do."

"Are you going to be here for supper?"

"I don't think so. Work."

She sighed. "You work too much."

"But then I get paid and food goes into my refrigerator and you don't have to worry about me starving."

She sighed again. "I would like to worry less."

"I'll come by soon." I said, appeasing her.

She nodded. "Let me know and I'll make pot roast."

I nodded and gave each of them a little hug, surprising them a bit. Our relationship over the years has been rocky, but I think we're all in a good place now that my parents accept what I am doing and support me the best that they can. I, in turn, try not to get killed or blown up. It's a win-win situation here.

"Let's roll." I said to Natalie.

"So, how do you know Ranger?" Natalie asked me when we had sat down in Pino's. The lunch crowd was leaving, so it was nice and quiet. Pino's was a place for families during the day and for cops and drunks at night. The place was in transition for the night time and hopefully the roaches were staying away from the sauce.

"He trained me to be a bounty hunter." I said while ordering a coke.

Natalie brightened. "Oh! You're Eliza!" She ordered a coke as well.

The waitress brought over the cokes. "What?" I asked, stunned.

"Ranger would come to meetings with these big smiles on his face and he would never tell me why. One day, I dragged it out of him. 'My Eliza did this' or 'my Eliza did that'. It's nice to finally able to put the face to the woman."

Hmm, my Eliza. I like the sound of that. "I had no idea."

"Sure you didn't. That man isn't much of a talker when it comes to personal business."

I hear that. "How did you meet Ranger?"

"Ranger is the acting liaison between us and other government agencies."

"How often does he do that?"

She thought about it for a moment. "About once a month. He gathers all the intel and briefs each agency. It's the first step we took for interagency cooperation. No one wanted to handle the task themselves, so we hired privately."

I nodded. Ranger had filled me in when I started full time at Rangeman. I was surprised he was telling me at all and when I asked him he said he wanted me to know where he was going. That he wanted me to know where he was going whenever he could.

Okay, I swooned a little.

We ordered a supreme pizza. I was stunned to say the least. She looked more like a salad girl to me. I shared my surprise with her.

"Please. Salad is for the weak. I just work it off with exercise and hot sex."

I think I was going to like her.

"I've made copies for you to browse through tonight. I figured you could read it, make some notes and give me your thoughts tomorrow before the meeting. I'm going to brief the team Ranger's assembling, but you can fill any gaps you think are necessary." Natalie explained after we had finished.

"Sure, I can do that."

"Excellent." She pulled out an inch thick stack of papers. "Have at it."

I stuffed them into my bag. "Is that normal?"

"The size? No. Usually we have more. This guy is good. A real bad guy."

I nodded. "I'll work fast."

"So," she said, wiping her lips on the napkin. "What's Lester's deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is he seeing someone?"

"Sure. About five women."

"He's a player?"

"Through and through."

"Hmm, that could be fun." She had a glint in her eye. One that I liked very much.

I smiled. "Do it. I'll be fun to watch him get yanked around."

"I love a good game."

We clinked our glasses.

Later that night, while I was reading through the file, there was a knock on my door. I was surprised to find Ranger on the other side.

"You knocked."

"I brought Chinese. Are you going to let me in?"

I stepped aside. "Why did you knock?" I asked him while he was putting the food on the counter.

"I couldn't unlock the door with my hands full."

"You could've put it down."

"Sure. But knocking was the easier solution." He pointed to the bags. "Steak, chicken, egg rolls, and a spicy stir fry."

"Sounds good."

We dug into the food. "What's with the food gift? We didn't have plans tonight, did we?"

He shook his head. "I heard you talking to Tank that you were going to be looking at the file. I figured you'd need a break."

"Thanks." I looked over at the pile of papers and post-it notes. "He's a really bad guy, Ranger."

"I know."

"He needs to be stopped fast."

"We're going to do everything we can, Babe. That's all we can do."

I sighed and leaned back. Ranger imitated my pose.

"Your Eliza, huh."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Natalie told me."

"What else has she been telling you?"

"That you actually have a smile. I'm a little jealous because I've rarely seen it." I fake pouted.

Ranger smiled.

Holy crap. I think I died and went to heaven.

"There. Now you can't say that anymore."

"Um, yeah." I said. Mental head slap. Way to sound intelligent.

We sat there and ate. I wasn't sure what to say now and Ranger was leaving that ball in my court.

Way to take one for the team.

"Grandma says thanks for the shoes, by the way."

"Not a problem."

"Did you make the customer service person cry when you called?"

"Sure did." He actually looked proud about that.

"You're a strange man, Carlos Manoso."

He shrugged. "Takes one to know one."

"Hey!" I said, flicking a piece of chicken at him. "Rude."

He grinned again.

Ranger helped me clean up the dishes after we were done. He washed and I dried. I was surprised to find out that I enjoyed doing that with him than I ever did with Joe. In fact, I liked doing normal things with Ranger.

Hmm, more to think about later.

Ranger left soon after getting a phone call. He kissed me on the forehead and told me he'd see me tomorrow.

Ever since Joe and I broke up, that's about the extent of our romantic interactions. Which I was completely fine with. Until I figured my life out, nothing was getting anywhere I didn't want it to be.

Plus, I think Ranger was giving me the time I needed.

I shook my head and got back to the file. After the meeting, I'd give my life more thought. But right now, I knew that this needed my full attention. I wasn't going to let the guys down on this one.

There were a few notes I wanted to make with my new head on. I was grateful for the little break Ranger gave me. He made me think of something that I would've missed before. I flipped through some of the older documents first, just to make sure my notes made sense to me now. Sometimes in my sugar filled haze, I write things that make sense at the time. But when Ranger has to decipher it, that's when things get sketchy.

One time, it landed Lester in a dress. But it turned out that the skip was a cross dresser, so things worked out nicely on that one.

They all made sense and I went back to the beginning. I added a post-it to his background page.

Does the wife know?