Another quick update,
I am going in tomorrow for pretty major surgery tomorrow morning to remove some tumors. So it will be about a week before the next update. But it is already written and ready to go.
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Chapter 41
Stephanie was sitting at her desk bright and early at 11 am on Tuesday.
Morning sickness was starting to kill her mornings, once again she was lucky that Ranger had an early morning. He had rolled out of bed at 5 am to go work out and left for the police station by 7:30. Stephanie had started to throw up at 8am and didn't stop until about 10 am. She had managed to drag herself down stairs after a shower and sit at her desk right as Tank and Ranger walked back in.
They walked over to her desk where she was running searches on the new skips, "You ok?" Tank asked her with narrowed eyes.
Stephanie raised her eyebrows, "Why?" she asked.
Tank shrugged, "You look kind of like shit."
She narrowed her eyes at him, "And you look like an ass. Haven't you ever been taught that even if a woman looks like shit, you tell her that she is beautiful? That's probably why you are alone." She said, but it didn't have a lot of bite, since she was fighting off the need to throw up again.
Ranger smirked at Tank before he looked at down at Stephanie, "Babe, you look beautiful this morning." He said, "Your eyes do look a little glazed though, are you feeling ok?" He asked softly.
Stephanie looked at Tank, "See, that's how you ask, compliment and understanding. Try it sometime." She said.
Tank rolled his eyes at her."He is your man, not me. I don't have to be nice to you." Tank said crossing his arms.
Stephanie narrowed her eyes at him, "And I don't have to help you the next time you want help. I will drop off all your paper work in your office."
Tank quickly tried to back pedal, "Shit I am sorry, I just don't talk to people like you." He said quickly.
She snorted, "People like me? Do you mean women?" She turned to Ranger, "I have had a headache all morning. I can't seem to shake it. I was going to go see Bobby in a minuet for some pain killers."
Ranger leaned down to kiss her forehead, "Well I am glad we caught you. We are just stopping by to get Timmy. We want him to go back with us to identify any of the men he had to work with. Then we know who we have to get talking. But I wanted to give you the packet we talked about last night."
Stephanie sat back in her chair, "Still not talking?"
"Not yet and we don't have time to question all of them. Figured Timmy could narrow our list down." Ranger said. He turned to Tank, "You get Timmy, I will get Stephanie the contract we decided on."
Tank looked excited, more excited than Stephanie had ever seen him, "You told her! She said yes? We don't have to do that shit anymore?"
Stephanie cleared her throat, "She was thinking about it. She was going to look over the contract and make any changes…. that was before you were mean to her." She said in a sarcastic voice.
Tank leaned down to Ranger and whispered to him, "Please take care of this. I can't take any more of the schedules." He begged before he walked away.
Ranger looked down to see Stephanie smirking. "You are mean." He said before he walked to his office to grab the paper work.
She shrugged and set up another search before following him to his office, "Not mean…. Just trying to teach Tank a lesson." She said as she walked in and sat in a chair. She laid her head back and closed her eyes. She wasn't lying about the headache, which was only making her stomach roll more.
Ranger walked over behind her and began to gently rub her temples, "Babe, why don't you go take the day off? If you are not feeling good you need to rest. Your body has been through a lot the last couple of months."
Stephanie sighed, "Because I have too much work to get done and I already took most of the morning off." She said.
Ranger kept rubbing her head, "Nothing that won't keep until tomorrow. Want to sign these papers really quick so I can send them to the attorney to have everything drawn up?"
Stephanie opened her eyes into slits to look up at him, "The only reason you would want me to sign without reading is because you are adding things you KNOW that I won't be ok with or want. Also, why does it need to go to a lawyer? If it is just a work contract, it should just be signed…right?"
He smiled down at her, "It was worth a try." He said. "Why don't you go over it and cross out what you disagree with, change what you want and then we will send it over to be drawn up." Still rubbing her temple.
She frowned, "I still don't understand why it has to go to a lawyer." Closing her eyes again.
He leaned down to kiss her forehead, "Because there are some none-disclosure forms for the systems. It is required that everyone sign them, even the core team. Hector creates all of the systems and most are vastly different from others. Our attorney recommended the forms."
"Ohh, ok that sounds simple enough." But when he didn't answer she opened an eye to look at him, "Any other reason?"
He was silent for another moment before he said, "There is also a contract with salary, benefits and a few other things."
She raised her eyebrows at him, "You can't be serious." She said standing up, "Ranger, why can't you just pay me hourly like before. I don't need all of that extra stuff."
Ranger looked at her and smiled, leaning a hip on the desk, "Remember I didn't write up the contract. Tank did. Then we as a team voted on what to keep and what to change. So, read it and take up your changes with Tank." He said with a smirk.
Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Fine give it here. I will read over it while my searches are running." She said holding out her hand.
Ranger picked up a stack of papers and handed them to her, "Like I said, cross out what you don't like, write any changes that you want to add and then give it to Tank."
They both turned when there was a knock on the door and Tank stuck his head in. "Ready to roll?" He said to Ranger.
Ranger gave him a quick nod
Stephanie tilted her head back, so he could lean down and give her a kiss goodbye. He lingered his lips over hers, "Babe, read through it with the understanding that we are offering this job because we think you will be great at it. That the entire core team put thoughts and suggestions into it. We are not handing you anything. It will be a lot of hard work and we think you are the best to do it."
Stephanie sighed, "Ok…. I will go in with an open mind." She said kissing him one last time making him smile against her lips.
"Thanks Babe, love you." He said walking to the door, "You are staying in all day, right?"
She laughed as she laid her head back and closed her eyes, "Yes, all day… I have way too much to work to do and now I have to look over this and I just want to sleep." Putting the contract on her stomach.
Ranger turned at the door, "Babe the searches can be done by anyone. The contract has no time limit… take a nap and relax a bit. I don't want you pushing yourself until you get sick."
She saluted him with her eyes still closed, fighting off a wave of nausea, "Sir, yes sir." She mumbled. "Nap now, work later."
"Smart ass." She heard him mumble as he walked out. She sat there for almost 30 minutes trying to get her stomach to settle and her head to stop pounding before pulling herself up to look at the photo on the desk now. This time it was just her, at the beach playing in the surf. She had her foot kicked up, water shooting away. Her head was tilted back as she laughed. She remembered that day, Ranger was there with her when they chased a skip. After they caught him, they went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. She smiled and decided to leave that photo there for him. She already had 10 she had stolen the last few weeks, plus the ultrasound. The book was going to be halfway full, which was fine because she wanted to leave room for more photos later.
She walked over to the door and pulled it closed as she walked over to her desk. The search she had started was finished. She wasn't up to going through the information, so she set it to the side and started an another basic search for Rodriguez. She would come back after she ate lunch to look through both.
She picked up the phone, after deciding that she didn't even have the energy to go see Bobby, he would have to come to her. After a few rings she heard him pick up, "ello." He muttered to her.
"Hay Bobby, what you doin?" She said softly, laying her head back onto the chair closing her eyes.
"Inventory…still, I am trying to log everything into the new system. Upside when it's all in it will be 10 times easier to finish." He mumbled into the phone, "What you need?"
She snorted softly, "Why do you think I need something?" she said.
But he didn't reply, just waited and she broke down with another sigh, "Fine, I need something. Do you have anything that I can take for nausea and a really bad headache?"
She knew that she had his attention when he took a deep breath, "How bad is it that you are actually asking me for something?" he said gently.
She gave a humorless laugh, "Bad enough that I need your help…. I need to get some work done. I am pretty sure I have a headache because I haven't eaten since yesterday and I can't even smell …. ANYTHING, without wanting to throw up the acid that is left in my stomach. And I have no clue what I am allowed to take and what I am not allowed to take." She whispered.
"Let me call Meg and see what she thinks, if I have something on hand I will get it up…if not I will have her call it in and go pick it up for you. Do you think you can try some broth while you wait? Get something into your stomach?" He asked.
She sighed, "I was going to go talk to Ella and see what she had, but I am not sure I want to smell ANYTHING right now." She paused for a second, "Also can you ask Meg why they call it morning sickness, when it lasts all fucking day?" she muttered.
He laughed at her, "Sure Steph, I will ask her. I will call you back in a second after I talk to her. Try some water at least. Make it warn, it will be easier on your stomach, ok." He said."
"Sure, bye." She said before hanging up. She closed her eyes, still leaning back in her chair. She was going to get up in a moment to get the water. But first she had to calm her stomach down, so she made it to the break room without throwing up along the way.
She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, Bobby was shaking her awake. "Hay, Megan said to give you this for the nausea. Then she wants you to eat and take a nap. If you still wake up with a headache we will get you a pain pill." He handed her a small white pill, "Put this under your tongue and let it dissolve. I asked Ella to take you up some simple chicken broth and bread to 7. This should help you to keep it down in about 10 minutes. Then a nap… no arguing, ok." He finished pulling her up out of the chairs. "You look like shit."
"Thanks." She said talking around the pill dissolving under her tongue, "I feel like shit."
"Hay hand me that contract." She said pointing to the envelope. "I need to read it over."
He handed her the packet as he steered her to the elevator, "Did you sign it yet?" He asked with a smile. "You are going to do great here. Hell, you already do half the work."
She laughed softly and leaned against him as they rose up to the apartment. "Not yet, I was going to try and read through it and make any changes before I sign it and give it to Ranger."
Bobby frowned down at her, "What changes?" He asked leading her out of the elevator over to the door.
"I don't know yet, I haven't read it." She said, walking in to see Ella setting out food at the table.
"I wrote that contract up with Tank and Lester. It is prefect, we all agreed on everything in it." He muttered as he sat her down and handed her a bowl and a water. "How is your stomach?"
"Better, actually. I am smelling the food and not running away to throw up. So that's a great improvement." She said looking at the simple soup with veggies and the water. "Thanks Ella, it actually smells good to me." She said turning over to Ella who was smiling at her.
"Don't worry dear, I am thinking for now simple is the best. So, I have broth, a few light veggies and a dash of salt. It might be a little plain but should be good on your stomach." She said putting out a basket of French bread pieces.
Stephanie smiled at her and took a small bite, "Its good, I love it. Thank you so much."
"Any time dear, for dinner I am thinking more of the soup tonight? Maybe if you are feeling up to it more veggies, some noodles and seasoning… but still mostly simple?" She asked picking up her things to walk to the door.
"That sounds prefect." Stephanie said grinning at her before taking another bite. She turned to Bobby who had sat down to watch her like a hawk. "So why don't you tell me the highlights of this contract, I will tell you yes or no and what to change?"
"Fine, this should be quick because it prefect." He muttered as he pulled out the papers. "Ok first section, title and duties. Your official title in the company would be Business Manager. See sweet and simple." He said with a smile.
She raised her eyebrows and finally braving solid food took a bite of bread. "And what does the Business manager do?"
Bobby grinning at her, "Yes, next is the job description. You will oversee all schedules, billing and data information. You will also be expected to take a more hands on roll in sales, specifically with female and family clients. You will oversee all media and advertisement as well as be part of the core team that will make decisions about the company once a month. Also, all new budgetary and inventory would have to be approved by you." He finished.
Stephanie's eyes, nearly bugged out of her head, "That is a lot, it's like you guys are handing over everything but the actual surveillance and captures." She said.
Bobby grinned at her again, "We are. Although it was discussed at the meeting that you may be asked to do the occasional distraction or capture for a bounce. Of course, they didn't know about all of that." He said pointing to her stomach, "And I couldn't tell them, so that would be put on hold a while."
She rolled her eyes at him, "All of that seems a bit much. You guys are giving me a lot of responsibilities. What if I make a mistake?" She said finishing her soup.
Bobby's smile fell, and his face got a serious look, "Stephanie, We are all in agreement that you are the best person for this job. We had been talking about hiring someone for years. As Rangeman gets bigger, we needing to hire more men because the core team is stuck doing all of this. And we HATE all of this. The issue we all had was finding someone that we trusted to do all of this…we all trust you, we KNOW that you will do great." He reached over and placed his hand on hers, "We will be there to help you in the beginning, show you how we have been doing it…. I am sure you will make more changes. This is not a pity job, unless it is you taking pity on us."
She gave him a small smile, "If you are sure…. All of you." She whispered.
Bobby gave her a massive grin, "We are 1000% sure that we don't want to do any of this shit any more. And we are 1,000,000% sure you are the best person to take over this job."
She gave him a grin back, "Fine, I am ok with the job description and the responsibilities. What does the rest of contract say?" She said as she sat back and pulled the bread towards her to munch.
"So, the next is work hours, pay, vacation and the rest of the little things." Bobby said with a small frown. "Work hours would be Monday through Friday 9am until 5pm. However, meetings may be after hours and weekends depending on clients. When that accrues you may either come in late or take off a weekday as you see fit." Bobby looked up to see her nod and motion for him to continue. "You get three weeks of paid vacation each year."
Stephanie held up her hand in the stop motion, "Three weeks? That seems like a lot…...change that to two weeks." She said with a frown.
Bobby shook his head at her, "We all get three weeks, its standard." He said leaning back.
She smiled at him, "One…... you guys do a job that is a lot more stressful then mine. Two…. when was the last time any of the core team took three weeks in one year?"
Bobby narrowed his eyes at her, "One…... you haven't started this job yet…... it is more stressful then us going in the field. Two… we couldn't take three weeks because we had to do this job." He growled.
She shook her head at him, "Two weeks, or I don't sign." When she saw him begin to cut her off she held up her hand, "You can put in an optional third week of non-paid vacation if it makes you happy."
Bobby sighed and pulled out his pen to cross out some information and write in the new terms. Better not argue with her yet. "Ok next, you will be expected to attend all meetings which often happen on the weekends or evenings, you will get bonus hours… like we all do." He said cutting her off when she went to cut him off, "However you will be paid salary each year, it will be up to you to write down all extra meetings and hours. Your salary is for a 40-hour work week only… and before you argue, we all have the same deal. So, you are not getting anything special. Next you will be expected to sign and maintain anonymity of Rangeman and any systems you have information on. You will get a new office next to Rangers, and that's about it" Bobby finished with a smile.
Stephanie nodded and grinned at him knowing he was glossing over some vital information, "What is this salary and hourly pay?" she said starting to take a drink, but she spit water all over him when she heard him say, "200,000 a year and hourly is $30."
"You have to fucking kidding me." She said sitting forward. "That is way way way too much." She growled at him with narrowed eyes.
Bobby held up his hands, "Hay we wanted to make it 250,000 but we knew that you would never take it." He said with a grin.
She sat back in the chair, "No, never. It has to come down." She said frowning.
Bobby also sat back, "Stephanie, you are essentially taking over this company. You will be responsible for almost everything that is not actual capture. Your pay is reflecting that. You have a degree in business. That is more formal education than anyone else in this building." He said.
She shook her head, "It's too high, we have to come down and I can tell you there is probably no number you will come down to that will get me to agree on adding hourly."
Bobby gave her a slow nod, "Fine no hourly, but if we see you working like crazy we might rea address that. What number would make you more comfortable for salary?" he asked crossing off the hourly pay.
She shook her head at him not sure where to go, "What is the lowest you will go?" she asked.
Bobby narrowed his eyes at her, "We talked and we all agreed that we would not go any lower than 150,000 a year."
Stephanie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head at him, "Fine I will do it for 100,000 a year and not a penny more."
Bobby looked at her, "I just said 150 and not lower." He said lips going flat as his mouth closed.
She raised both of her eyebrows up at him, "And I said I won't sign for any more than 100." She said crossing her arms.
They had a staring contest until finally Bobby broke, "Fine, I will change it…. But the contract has to be signed by the entire core team. Good luck getting them to agree." He said crossing out and changing the salary amount. "They are not going to agree to being paid more than you, when you are doing more work."
Stephanie shrugged, "They will if they want me to work." She said standing up and walking her plates over to the sink. "Ok I am feeling better, I better go get those searches finished. Anything else in the contract that I would want to change?" she asked him as she got back to the table.
He shook his head at her, "Nope just regular info, more on the non-disclosure the lawyer will go over more with you. Nothing you would worry about." He said standing and handing her a pen. "Nap?"
She gave him a smile, "Well I am almost working with you guys." She said leaning down to sign. "And no, I am feeling a lot better already."
Bobby gave her a grin, "I can't wait to hand you every single piece of paper work and run." He said picking up the papers and following her to the door. "How is your headache?"
"Getting better actually, I can still feel it but better than it was before. I think I can actually get some work done this afternoon." She said as they got on the elevator. "What are you doing the rest of the day?"
Bobby scowled, "Fucking paper work."
She laughed as the doors slid closed.
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Stephine made it back down stairs and worked on searches for the next few hours until Ranger walked back in with Tank and Timmy.
"How did it go? Any new information?" She asked leaning back in her chair with a smile.
Ranger leaned against her cubical, "Timmy identified 3 of the men as people that he came in contact with during his job with them. We are leaning on them to talk, but so far they are closed lipped as the other ones." He said.
Tank crossed his arms over his chest next to Ranger, "We are going to go back tomorrow and have a private talk with them." Tank grinned down at her, "So I heard from a little birdy that you signed the contract."
Ranger looked down at her in surprise, "You did?" he asked with a smile.
Stephanie looked at them with a grin, "Don't get to excited, I made a few changes to it that you guys have to approve, but yes I did sign it."
Tank grinned at her, "I don't care what you put in there, you could have put you want a pet unicorn and want catered dinner every night. As long as you signed it I am happy."
Ranger raised an eyebrow knowing she didn't add things, but most likely took things out, "What did you change Babe?" he asked her.
She grinned at him, "Just changed a couple numbers. I think Bobby put it in your office." She said.
Tank figured out what Ranger was thinking and frowned, "You didn't change anything to the point where people are going to object, did you?" he asked looking at Ranger but talking to Stephanie.
She shrugged, "I just put what I could live with, anything more I won't be able to sign." She was answering Tank but looking at Ranger.
Tank looked back and forth at both of them, then threw up his hands and walked away muttering, "I am going to be stuck doing paper work again, I know it."
Stephanie grinned at Ranger, "So I heard that if I work for you that I get a bigger office?"
Ranger nodded down at her, still not speaking.
"So where is this magical office going? You don't exactly have a ton of room around here." She said sweeping her finger in a circle.
Ranger nodded over to the closet between his office and Tanks. Making Stephanie laugh, "I knew there was a catch, you are going to make me work in a closet?" she asked.
Ranger looked like he seriously wanted to roll his eyes at her but instead her said, "No smart ass, not a closet. We are going to turn the closet into your office by making it bigger, about a fourth of my office and more than half of Tanks. Now that you will have to have all of the filing cabinets you need a lot more room than we do. Plus, the closet was already pretty big so everything in there will go down the hall to a new home." He nodded down at her computer, "Are you done? Ready to go upstairs?"
She looked over at her computer and nodded, saving and closing it down. "So, you guys are giving up space to me?" she asked standing up to follow him over to his office.
Ranger nodded opening the closet door, "See how it goes all the way back, the same length as our offices about 10 feet and it's about 5 feet wide. Then we will push this wall into my office about 5 more feet and we will push this wall into Tank's about 10 feet. So, you will get about 20 by 10 feet. Tank and I will have about 10 by 15 and 10 by 10. Then we will have glass sliding doors between our offices, so you and I can work together if we need to." Ranger said looking down at her.
She tilted her head to the side, "You and Tank are ok giving up that much space?" she asked.
Ranger nodded down at her, "With the amount of stuff you are taking over you will need the space to keep it all in your office. Plus, that is stuff that will no longer be in our office cluttering shit up."
She smiled up at him, "So that will my uniform be? Will it still be all black like it is now or will I have to wear nice office stuff?" She asked looping her arm through his and leading him to go upstairs.
He looked down at her with a grin, "I think that you could wear the office stuff, and you can bend over in front of me." He said.
She rolled her eyes, "I am adding it into the contract that I don't have to wear heels or skirt unless I am meeting a client." She said as they got into the elevator. "All the other days I get to wear boots and t-shirts like you guys."
Ranger gave his wolf grin as the doors slid closed, "Fine, as long as you wear nothing upstairs." He said as he pushed her into the corner attacking her mouth as she laughed.