Thanks for hanging in there and waiting a bit longer for my updates. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter.

Stephanie's POV

All this talk of a big wedding made me actually want just that. I was surprised to hear Carlos tell me that he also wanted a big wedding, but the words he said actually made me tear up. "Why did we wait this long Carlos? Why did we fight it for so long?"

He laughed and said, "I'm a moron, that's why Babe."

"No, it wasn't just you. I was also a bit of a moron. I kept going back to a destructive relationship. Even though you pushed me away, I should have fought for us."

I watched as Carlos smiled sadly and said, "I don't think we should dwell on the wasted time. I think we should focus on the future, and speaking of the future, we're here."

I looked in the direction he was pointing and my jaw dropped. The only thing visible in front of us was a huge house up on a cliff, overlooking the sea. Whenever Carlos referred to this, he called it a cottage or beach house, I never once pictured something like this. I turned and looked at Carlos and said, "That is some beach house."

He grinned and said, "I know. All us kids chipped in and bought it for our parent's 40th wedding anniversary. They don't get to use it as much as they'd like, but they do spend a lot of time here over the summer."

Carlos parked inside a two-car garage and then grabbed our bags and led me into the house. The first thing I noticed upon walking in the door was a huge black and white photograph of the entire Manoso family. I recognised Carlos' parents from when I met them the time Carlos was shot and Julie had been kidnapped. I also recognised his sister Celia. Carlos was there and he was even smiling, although he wasn't looking directly into the camera like the rest of his family. He was looking at Julie instead.

"That's a wonderful portrait Carlos. You all look so happy in the picture."

"We were happy. That was the only time after her kidnapping that Rachel allowed Julie to come visit. Julie wasn't allowed to stay with me at RangeMan, but Rachel said she could stay with my parents. In the end, I took the week off and we stayed here with my parents."

"I'm so glad she's in Trenton now. Rachel can't really interfere from where she is."

"No, not really. Ron filed for divorce today. He expects Rachel to contest, but she won't have much say from behind bars."

"Wow. I wasn't sure if he was going to bother. It's in his best interest when it comes to Julie not to get a divorce."

"I know what you mean Babe. I think Ron had similar misgivings, but I explained to him that we could come up with new legal papers that let him retain his rights and my visitation rights. He said that while he and the kids remain in Trenton, there's no need for that kind of thing. If he ever decides to leave town, then we'd have to get something drawn up that we can both agree on."

"I suppose now that Ron has decided on a divorce, he can move one. Maybe he can meet someone new and get on with his life."

"Yeah, that would be nice. Now, let me show you around."

I followed Carlos around the house. There was a large kitchen and a dining room. There was a large living room with a desk at one end of the room and a large TV and seating area at the other end of the room. Behind the living room, a bedroom had the same view as the living room, out over the sea. This bedroom had an ensuite bathroom and a large closet. Next to the bedroom was a large library with two desks.

Up a small set of stairs brought us to another 3 bedrooms and a family bathroom. One of the bedrooms had its own ensuite bathroom and the other two rooms would share the family bathroom. For a holiday home, it was pretty decent.

I followed Carlos down to the living room and then down another flight of stairs. In the basement, there was a laundry room, some storage and a door out to a patio area out back. Carlos led me outside and pointed to a staircase. I looked at it and looked down. The stairs were fitted to the stone cliff and went down to the beach. Carlos also pointed something else out to me. It looked like a rope. He grinned when I asked him about it.

"It's for abseiling down the cliff if you don't want o climb down the stairs. My brother and I installed it the weekend my parents first came here. We were impatient to climb down the stairs after the slower women and kids so we thought this might be quicker. It was quicker, but only on the way down. We still had to climb up the stairs and walk behind the slowpokes."

I laughed at this and said, "Well, I don't anticipate climbing down anytime soon."

"Don't worry Babe. If you want to go down to the beach, I'll take you down by car or carry you."

"Thanks Carlos, but I think trying to wash sand out of my cast would be an unpleasant task. I think it might be best to avoid the beach until my cast comes off."

"Yeah, you might be right, Babe. Come on back inside. We'll see what Ella has left for us and then we can come back out and have dinner on the patio if you want."

I smiled and nodded as I hobbled back into the kitchen. Carlos rummaged through the fridge and pulled out a platter filled with various cheeses, cold cuts, fruit and spreads. He also grabbed a bottle of wine, two glasses and a basket of bread rolls. I looked at him balancing everything and wondered how he didn't drop something as I followed behind.

After a basic meal and some nice conversation, Carlos and I sat side-by-side and watched the sun go down. He wrapped his arms around me when the wind picked up and then when it got too cold to sit outside, we moved indoors and finished watching the sunset on the sofa.

Once it became dark in the house, Carlos lit a few candles rather than turn on the lights. We then sat there and talked about a lot of different things. We talked about the house we would build. We talked about our wedding and we talked about how our families would react to our wedding plans.

I was pretty sure that my mother would try to take over and plan everything. I would have to explain my wishes with her and Carlos' mother to make sure that the day stayed about us and our wishes. I was a little more confident than usual when I explained this to Carlos.

After a bit of discussion, we decided that we would each have 5 people stand up for us. There were 5 very special women in my life and Ranger had the same amount of men, so it worked out well. I just had to figure out a way to get in touch with Mary Lou and Connie before the news hit the Burg grapevine.

Carlos suggested that we ask my family to give us 2 hours after we left on Tuesday night before they could call and tell people. This should give us enough time to visit both Connie and Mary Lou. If possible, I'd contact them ahead of time and get them to meet us somewhere. That way the news could get out even quicker.

Around 11PM, I started to yawn. Carlos took a look at his watch and said, "Let's head to bed Babe. I have to go into town and meet Morelli tomorrow and I'm sure you'll want to visit with the guys in the office and go see your family or something."

"Yeah, I think I'll go into the office while you're at the station. I don't really want to visit my family until Tuesday. I don't want to give my mother too much time to start her wedding planning. I want the news to be out before I put a hold on her plans. I'd like to avoid that for just one more day."

"OK Babe. I'll go to the office with you and then leave you there with the guys. I'll come back after meeting with Morelli and then we can have a leisurely afternoon."

"I like the sound of that. Maybe you can call your friend tomorrow and figure out when his resort is available for the engagement party. Maybe if we like it, we can try and have the wedding there as well."

"OK. I'll call him in the morning and if he's got the time, we can go there for dinner tomorrow night and have a look around."

As I drifted off to sleep that night, I had a thought about the perfect colour of bridesmaids' dresses. I just hope I remember it in the morning.

Carlos' POV

Babe and I took our time the following morning. While Babe was showering, I called my friend Robert out at Chimney Rock Park. He listed off a few dates that could work and I made arrangements for my Babe and me to have dinner there tonight.

We ended up arriving in Trenton around 1PM. Stephanie and I went to see the new RangeMan offices and we were greeted with a lot of hugs and congratulatory remarks. At 1:30, I left Steph with the guys and headed over to the police station to meet with Morelli.

I walked into the station and was greeted by various people that I knew. It was obvious to me that my men and Morelli had kept their word and kept our secret. Nobody offered their congratulations or made any remarks. This made me smile. I knocked on Joe's door and heard a mumbled command to enter. I opened the door and at once could tell that something was wrong. Joe looked up at me and stood to shake my hand. "Hi Ranger. Thanks for coming."

"It's not a problem Joe, but please call me Carlos when it's not RangeMan business."

"Oh right, sorry Carlos, I forgot. Things have been a little hectic today."

"What's up? Is it related to my case?"

"Yes it is. Those four bodies in Washington caused a few problems. There seems to be a lot of paperwork involved for me even though I am not in Washington or have anything to do with the investigation. I guess it's just part of the whole liaison role. Speaking of which, I have some questions that I'm sure you've answered a dozen times already, but I need that information in my reports."

"Go ahead."

Joe ran through his questions and it turned out that I had indeed answered those same questions a few times before. It was more of a formality, and he wasn't too bothered when I didn't go into too much detail. We had finished the questions when Joe asked me about Steph and my engagement. "I haven't heard any rumours about your engagement. I'm guessing you haven't told Steph's family just yet."

"Well, Frank and Ellen know, but we're going there for dinner tomorrow night and will tell the rest of them. Immediately after dinner, we'll tell Connie and Mary Lou. The rest of the town can find out via the usual way. We will make sure that we tell the people that matter most to us ahead of time."

"Kudos to you in convincing Ellen Plum to keep her mouth shut. How did you manage that?"

I laughed and said, "I promised to let her and my mother plan our engagement party. Steph and I have selected the location, but we'll leave everything else up to our mothers. We're hoping this will keep them out of the wedding plans so we can have what we want and not what our mothers want."

"Well, if anyone is able to stand up to Ellen, I'm sure it will be you. She practically had a whole wedding planned when Steph and I were engaged. She was very pushy and sort of forced things on us that neither of us wanted, including the wedding itself."

"I'll keep that in mind. I think both our families will back off if we threaten to elope. Maybe I'll give Ellen some isolated projects that don't mean all that much to us."

Joe nodded and said, "That's a great idea. She'll go overboard, but as long as it's not something either of you care about too much, it won't matter in the long run."

Joe and I continued to have a pleasant chat about my plans to build a new office building on the site of the old one on Haywood. He was even making a few recommendations on the non-secure area, which he was sure to visit on occasion. I welcomed his input and actually made a few notes. We were wrapping up our conversation when Joe's desk phone rang. He answered and then looked up at me.

"No, he's actually here now. Why don't I put you on speaker and you can fill him in now."

I raised my eyebrow and Joe just nodded toward the phone. "Detective, Captain, I have some more news. Somebody got to both the General and Gina inside federal custody in D.C. Gina was killed by another female inmate and the General is in critical condition after being pushed down a flight of stairs. We're not sure what exactly happened there."

I looked at Joe, who was a bit pale and said, "It appears that Gina did not have a partner after all. Maybe she was simply a pawn in this whole thing."

"I agree Captain. We would like to move Mrs. Martine to a more secure facility and we would recommend that the rest of her family and Miss LeBlanc be placed under our protection as well."

I shook my head and was about to say something when Joe spoke up. "I think that RangeMan is in a much better position to protect the Martines' and Fiona LeBlanc. Transporting Rachel might also be just what the person behind all this wants. I would recommend against moving her unless absolutely necessary."

Agent Saunders sighed and said, "I can contract out the protection for Miss LeBlanc and the Martines' to RangeMan at our usual rates. Unfortunately, the order to move Rachel Martine has already been carried out. She is currently on her way to a different prison."

I swore and said, "It sounds like you have an inside man. How else could somebody get to the General and Gina?"

"I don't know Captain. I assure you that we are looking into every person who has entered the detention facility and try to find a common link. We will keep you in the loop. In fact, we may contract your company to do some of the background research on these people. You tend to find information that we miss."

I smiled and said, "That's all down to two of our newest employees, Stephanie Plum and Lula. They manage to find links between information that others overlook."

"Is Miss Plum going to be up to doing work? I know her injuries were extensive."

"I think she'll be willing to help here. Also, being side-lined due to her injuries isn't something she copes with well. Feeling useful will probably be a blessing to her."

"OK, we'll run down a list of names and then get a contract faxed over to you so Miss Plum and this Lula person can get started. I'll be in contact soon."

Saunders paused for a moment and then said, "Detective, I will be in touch soon if we need anything or have any other information to share. Goodbye gentlemen."

Joe and I sat there staring at the phone that was now just emitting a dial tone. Joe hung up and looked up at me and said, "If I were you Carlos, I'd heighten security at all RangeMan buildings and high profile customers. If you need assistance, I'm sure some of the off-duty officers would be willing to help out."

"That's a great idea Joe. We have a budget set aside to hire some contract workers, and hiring some of Trenton's finest would eliminate a lot of the usual background checks."

"I just meant volunteers Carlos. I don't think they'll expect to get paid."

"I know Joe, but legally, if we pay them as contractors, they'll be covered under our full insurance if something happens. I would be better if something were to happen. If you could spread the word, I'll provide pizza and beer on Thursday night at Pino's for any officer who is interested in working part-time for RangeMan. I will have paperwork available to show them our rates and our benefits to contract workers that they can take home and consider. My only requirement is that these officers must have worked for at least two years here in the Trenton PD. They will all undergo a background check run by RangeMan before they are accepted."

Joe nodded and then I said one more thing, "Scheduling will be done in a way that no PD contractor will be allowed to work two 8 hour shifts in a row. It's not safe and I will not put any RangeMan employee or contractor in that kind of danger. Because of this, any shift working officers may be restricted to days off or shorter shifts with RangeMan."

Joe nodded again and said, "I'm sure any volunteers will be fine with that. I'll spread the word about Pino's and I'll be there myself to offer my support."

We shook hands and I was just about to open the door when Joe asked, "Is she really as good as you say?"

I raised an eyebrow because I wasn't 100% sure who Joe was talking about. "Stephanie. You said that she has a knack for finding information from searches that others overlook."

"Oh yeah, she really is that good. So is Lula. Between the two of them, they found Lester and then me. If it wasn't for their quick thinking, I'd probably not be standing here today. I don't understand exactly how she does it, but she does it. I'll see you Joe. Call me if you need anything or something relating this case comes up."

I left the station and thought about what it would mean to hire some of the men we work alongside on a regular basis. They respect us at the moment because we provide a service to them. If they worked with us, they would have a much better understanding of what we do. This could work in our favour. We could eliminate the thug persona once and for all that exists in the police department. It's improved over the years, but there are still some holdouts.

A majority of people in the community still see us as mercenaries, and I suppose that is technically correct for some of us, but a mercenary typically has no loyalties, except to the money. Most of my men were in one of the branches of the US military. Several of us did missions for money, but those missions were only ever for our own government. I know I have received some pretty significant sums for some pretty dangerous missions. I sometimes still have nightmares about those missions, but they have eased over time.

I parked in a public parking lot across from our new office and slowly made my way upstairs. I didn't want to admit it even to myself, but I was sore. My back muscles were not used to this much movement and I was hoping that my Babe had some pain meds in her purse.

I walked into the RangeMan offices and as soon as I entered, I requested that Tank, Bobby and Hal join me. We all squished ourselves into Tank's office and I explained what was going on. Everyone was shocked to hear that Gina was dead and that the General was injured. I had to agree. I was in shock as well. I explained that we'd be sent a list of people to investigate and then moved on to the idea of getting off-duty police officers to help us out.

Tank agreed that hiring some volunteers was a quick and easy way of supplementing our staff. He also has a list of a dozen people that he is looking into hiring. Background searches were already underway. I never doubted his ability to have my back or do what was best for RangeMan.

We also agreed to put a 2-man team on Ron and the kids. If Ron went somewhere without the kids, at least one man would travel with Ron and at least two would stay with the kids. We also conferenced Lester and Fiona in on the call and explained what was going on to them. Fiona agreed to stick with Lester and return to Trenton on Thursday when Lester comes home. Lester agreed to come to Pino's when they got back. In fact, I invited all RangeMan personnel to Pino's. I also promised that those who were on shift and unable to attend would be able to attend the next one. We would start having more of these staff and community related events so RangeMan and its employees could better integrate with the people in this town. It would be good publicity and it would help soften our image.

The guys liked the idea and we agreed to do it every other month. The venue would change each time and the guys already had a few suggestions. Bobby's idea to host it at the hospital as sort of a charity event was popular. Hal suggested a RangeMan sponsored softball tournament followed by a BBQ. Suggestions of picnics, ground-breaking ceremonies, charity events and other things left us with loads of ideas.

The guys suggested that we put Ella and Luis in charge of organising these events. Tank mentioned that they were going a bit stir crazy. They still come and do a bit of cleaning at the new offices, but there wasn't that much needed because of its small space. I agreed that Ella could take over this task. I was confident that she'd do a great job and she might even have some other ideas.

I said goodbye to the guys after I was given an update. I told Tank that he needed to stay in charge and then went to look for my Babe.

Ron's POV

I could hear the kids in the other rooms. They were very excited because Ella just turned up with a bunch of stuff. RangeMan arranged for the contents of the kids' rooms to be packed up and shipped up here. She arrived about 20 minutes ago with several RangeMan men and a big delivery truck. The kids were just so excited.

Carlos mentioned that he would do this, but with all the other things that were going on, I assumed it had slipped his mind. I should never doubt that man. When he says he'll do something, he does it. There were also a few boxes of my belongings. I could tell that whoever packed them took their time and did a great job. I laughed at the thought of RangeMan branching out into a moving company.

"What's so funny Dad?"

I looked up to see Julie staring at me with a concerned look on her face. "Oh, hi there sweetheart. I was just looking in this box and noticed how well the contents were packed. I had a momentary thought about RangeMan branching out and starting a moving company."

Julie laughed and said, "I think you should make that comment to Papa and see what he think. I bet if you time it right, you can get him to snort his drink."

I hugged Julie and then continued to unpack the items in my boxes. Julie watched me for a little bit and then asked, "Are you hungry Dad? Ella has made us some lunch."

I looked up and noticed that it was lunch time. I nodded and put the book I was unpacking into a shelf in my room and then followed Julie into the kitchen. We sat down and I invited both Ella and Luis to take a break from their unpacking and join us. We all sat together at the large dining room table and Emma spent about 15 whole minutes telling Ella all about all of her favourite foods. Ella took that on board and asked Diego about his favourite foods and then she repeated the same questions for Julie and me. By the time we were done our lunch, Ella had planned two weeks of our favourite foods.

Julie looked at Ella and said, "No wonder Papa and Mama love to have you around."

Ella looked a bit confused so I said, "Steph and Carlos."

Ella nodded and smiled. She then stood and started to clear the table. Without asking, all three kids stood and followed suit. I carried my plate into the kitchen and within a few minutes, everything was cleared away and clean. Luis spent that time carrying in the last few boxes from the front porch. Once all the boxes were inside, Ella and Luis headed back to their place. Ella was just about to exit the door when Diego ran up and asked, "Can we have some cake tonight Ella? Steffie says you make the best cake."

Ella smiled at him and said, "Of course kiddo. What kind of cake would you like?"

"Steffie says that your chocolate fudge cake is to die for. I don't want to die, but I wouldn't mind trying some."

Ella agreed to make Diego a cake and headed out the door. She barely closed it when she opened it again and stood aside as 4 RangeMan men walked in. Ella and Luis came back in and we all stood around staring at each other. Julie was the first to say something. "Dad, I'm going to take Emma and Diego out back to play."

The kids disappeared out the back door and then one of the men introduced himself and the rest of the men. "Ron, my name is Hal. Ranger has asked us to set up a protection schedule for you and your kids."

I knew Ranger wouldn't do this unless something had happened. "What's changed? Is there news?"

Hal nodded and explained the situation. He said that Rachel has been moved to a more secure location and that the kids and I would have a RangeMan shadow until things calmed down. I wasn't too bothered by this, but mainly because most of our time is spent at home. Any travelling I need to do will be on RangeMan business, so a shadow won't really be out of line.

Hal explained that three teams would take turns protecting us. Hal would work with Junior and they were taking the first shift. Binkie and Ram would turn up after 8 hours and then Woody and Zip would follow them. If I had to travel out of town, Vince would accompany me so the other teams could stay with the kids. This reassured me that my kids would be safe if I was away. Carlos really was taking the safety of my family seriously and I was grateful. I think if this happened a year ago, I might not be so tolerant of Ranger's security imposition. Mind you, a year ago, I was happily married and the relationship between Rachel and Ranger was a little strained. Now, the relationship between Rachel and I was over and the friendship between Carlos and I has solidified.

We introduced the kids to the men and they went outside to play with the kids for a little while, leaving Hal and I inside to go over some of the security features of the safe house. After all the doors and windows were connected to the alarm system and the cameras were hooked up, everyone but Hal and Junior left. The guys helped the kids with their unpacking and they even played with them outside so I could get some work done. It was kind of like having two supersized nannies around. I wasn't going to knock it because the kids seemed to love them and Carlos never would have sent them here if it wasn't a precaution worth taking.

Hey, I'm hoping my next update will be a little more timely than the past 2. Thanks for sticking in there. More will follow as the story unfolds.