Again, the characters aren't mine. I hope you enjoy this one.. it's a bit longer than previous chapters.

Lula's POV

Tank and I arrived at the office around 7:30 this morning. My first stop was the fax machine to see if the FBI had faxed us the list of names they wanted us to investigate. Not only did they send us a list, they also send a contract that both Stephanie and I had to sign and then fax back. I took the contract and knocked on Tank's door. He yelled for me to come in, so I opened the door.

He looked up from his desk and smiled. "What's up?"

"This fax came in from the FBI. I figured you'd want to look it over before we started the search. Neither Steph nor I have done one of these contracts for the FBI before, so I just wanted to make sure that we weren't getting ourselves into something that could bite us on the ass somewhere down the line."

Tank held out his hand and I gave him the papers. He read through them and then handed them back. "This is the standard RangeMan contract with the FBI. Ranger or I sign it off but you and Steph have to add your signatures as well because you'll be doing the actual work. This is common practice for these sorts of contracts."

"OK. I will gather all the necessary things we need and head over to Point Pleasant."

"Before you do that, come in and close the door for a moment."

I looked at Tank and closed the door. I was expecting a lecture of some sort, so I was pleasantly surprised when he stood and pulled me into a hug. "Please be careful Lula. We're just starting out and I'd hate to lose you."

"Don't worry Sugar, I'll be dressed and I'll take a circuitous route, just like you taught me. I will come back here if I think I'm being followed and I'll call you as well."

"OK. Let me know when you get there and when you are about to head back."

Tank hugged me again and then kissed me gently before I left his office.

I walked back to my desk that I was currently sharing with Brett. He looked up at me and sighed with such relief when he realised that I was packing up to go. He saw the surprised look on my face at his reaction and he seemed embarrassed. "I'm sorry Lula, I'm not glad that you're leaving so much as glad to have a bit of space. This place is a bit cramped if you know what I mean."

"No worries big guy. You'll probably have the desk to yourself for the foreseeable future. I'm going to be working with Steph on a project. I'm going to work out at their house so she can stay relatively close to home."

Brett smiled at me and said, "Let me know if you need a hand with anything. I'd love to get out to Point Pleasant."

"You'll be the first I call if we need more manpower out there. Talk to you soon."

I grabbed my laptop bag that was filled with my laptop, a spare laptop and the paperwork that was faxed over by the FBI. I went into the hardware room and picked up a printer and the necessary power and USB cables from a pile and headed down to the car. Once loaded, I sped off towards the old Haywood location. This gave me the perfect opportunity to turn around in a bit of a circle and to see if I was being followed.

I couldn't see a tail after I passed the clean-up efforts of the old building and headed towards the freeway. At the last minute, I cut across traffic as safely as possible and exited onto the freeway. I pulled into a service station part way there and once again, I came out tail free. I was confident that I wasn't being followed so I followed protocol and gave Ranger a heads' up that I was on my way.

I called Tank as well to let him know that everything was going well and turned up my music and enjoyed the ride. Music was one thing that Tank didn't approve of. He felt that it interfered with my alertness but I disagreed. I felt more alive and alert when there was something in the car that had a bit of a beat. I could time my mirror checks to the beat and I wouldn't forget like I did in a quiet car.

About ½ ways to Point Pleasant, I spotted a car that looked like it might be following me. To rule it out, I took the next exit. Sure enough, the car followed me. I pulled into a restaurant and watched the car sail past. After a few minutes, I pulled back out and rejoined the highway. The same car was nowhere to be found. I breathed a sigh of relief at the false alarm and continued on my journey.

I kept looking for that car or any other car that seemed to be ever present, either in front or behind me. When I took my exit off the freeway, instead of heading straight towards the house, I took a more scenic route. There were two good reasons for this. The first was purely selfish. I wanted to see the beach and the promenade. The second was to ensure one final time that I wasn't being followed.

I pulled out my phone one last time and called Ranger. "I'm minutes away Boss. I'm pretty sure that I've not been followed. I probably drove 40 extra miles just to get here to make sure."

I could hear Ranger laugh before saying, "OK, see you soon Lula."

Of course, he hung up without saying goodbye, but I was used to this now. Practically every RangeMan employee did it. Only Steph and I used things like manners. With one last look in my mirrors, I pulled into the driveway of the beach house. Ranger was expecting me so the garage door was open and I pulled in and turned off the car. The door closed automatically behind me and both Steph and Ranger were at the door to greet me.

I smiled as I walked towards them with the printer and my bag. Ranger tried to take the printer from me but I said, "Back off mister. You're still recovering from surgery and I'm more than capable of lifting this here printer. Just tell me where to put it down and you can relax a little while us girls get some work done."

Ranger grinned at this and led the way into a room that had walls covered with bookshelves. I looked around and placed the printer where Ranger indicated. There was plenty of room in here. There were two desks pushed together, one with a laptop already set up. I looked over at Stephanie and she said, "I've already set up my stuff over there. I left you the desk that faces the ocean since I get to see that view any time I want. You can have the desk with a view."

I smiled my thanks at Stephanie and set up my laptop. I didn't worry about the printer just yet because we wouldn't need it for a few hours at least. I then pulled out the paperwork from the FBI and handed it to Ranger. He reviewed it, signed it and handed it back to me for my signature. I signed it and then handed it to Stephanie for the same reason. She looked up at Ranger and asked, "Why does this have my name on it and why do I have to sign it?"

"RangeMan was contracted by the FBI to perform these searches. You and Lula are the ones authorised to perform those searches."

"Does this mean that we cannot discuss the results with anyone?"

"Yes and no Babe. You can share the results with Me, Tank and the rest of the core team, but nobody else. Once the results are in, the rest of the team will hear about any actions we take, they just don't get to hear about how we knew to take those actions. It's common for an FBI contract to be compartmentalised like that."

Steph nodded and signed her name before handing the paper back to me. I then looked around and asked, "Do you have a fax machine here? I never thought to bring one or to check beforehand."

Ranger shook his head and walked over to the table and took a photo of the document. He then pressed a few buttons on his screen and said, "I just sent a photo of the document to our FBI contact. That should suffice until we send him the original in the post."

Next, I pulled out a fax that had a list of 30 names on it. I laid it across the edge of the desk and carefully ripped it in half. I gave Stephanie the top half and I took the bottom half. Ranger stood in the doorway and asked, "Can you give me an estimate on how long these searches will take?"

I looked at Steph and we both thought for a moment. If each search took two hours, that was a full week's worth of work. With four computers, we would be able to run four searches concurrently. That meant that 30 searches would probably take at least 2 days. I looked at Ranger and said, "The searches can be run and the results reviewed in say 3 or 4 days." I looked at Steph and she nodded in agreement.

Ranger nodded and said, "Before I leave you to it, would either of you like a coffee or something before you get started?"

Both Steph and I said, "Black with milk, no sugar." almost in stereo. Ranger laughed and said, "Since when do you either of you take no sugar in your coffee?"

I laughed and said, "Steph and I had coffee at the office when Lester was missing. There was no sugar available so we just had it white. It turns out that we both like it without the sugar just as much as with. Since sugar is counterproductive to our diet, we'll go with no sugar."

Ranger looked at us with his blank face, said, "Works for me," and disappeared from view. He returned a few minutes later with 2 mugs and then left us to work on our searches.

Carlos' POV

While Babe and Lula were busy in the other room, I pulled out my phone and started to go through the list of customer requests. Babe had already separated the customer requests into new customers and existing customers. I figured that I could call our existing customers first and assure them that we would get to them as soon as possible.

I moved over to the sofa and made myself comfortable before pulling out the list and starting to make phone calls. I ended up leaving messages for some and talking to others. The ones that were available explained that they were very happy with RangeMan and they were very impressed with how we reacted to our troubles. As a result, they wanted to re-evaluate their security requirements and improve where it was needed.

Stephanie was using my laptop for searches, so I didn't have my calendar handy. As a result, I had to rely on an old-fashioned paper calendar to make the appointments with our customers. At most, I'd book one appointment in the morning and another in the evening. When was done booking appointments with existing customers, I came to a very obvious conclusion.

Stephanie and I were going to need to look for a place closer to Trenton. Point Pleasant is a lovely place but it's just too far out of town. With that thought in mind, I called my real estate agent and asked for her to find a 4 bedroom house somewhere in Trenton that we could rent in the short term. She promised to look around and get back to me with some possibilities via email.

I looked up at the clock and was surprised that it was already 12:45. I hadn't heard either Lula or Stephanie so I walked towards the library to see how they were getting on. I walked in the door and said, "How about a break for lunch ladies?"

They both looked up at me and then towards the clock on the wall. I guess neither of them noticed the time pass because they stood, stretched and made their way out into the kitchen. "Thanks Ranger, my back was beginning to seize up in there. I am not used to sitting for so long at a single time."

I looked over at Lula and said, "I know what you mean. I spent the entire morning on the phone. Steph and I are going to be extremely busy in the coming weeks with new accounts and upgrades."

Stephanie looked at me and said, "How busy? Is living way out here going to cause a problem?"

I smiled and said, "I think so. As much as I like it here, I think we need to move back to Trenton. I called my real estate agent and asked her to look around for something to tide us over for a while."

"Oh good. As much as I like it out here, I don't like the drive back and forth. It takes a lot out of me and I'm sure it does you too."

I nodded at my Babe and reached into the fridge to pull out some sandwich ingredients. I laid the cold cuts, lettuce, bread and other ingredients on the workbench and said, "Help yourself ladies."

I stood back and watched as both Stephanie and Lula made sandwiches and hurried back into the library. I thought it would be better if they took a break, but I wasn't going to argue with them while they were on a roll. I made my own sandwich and returned to the lounge where I reviewed the list of potential new customers and highlighted those that I wanted to run a search on before I bothered to talk to them. Some names I recognised and others I didn't.

If there was a customer that I knew well enough to forgo the typical search, I would mark them and I'd call them after lunch. I wanted to check in with Tank, Lester and the other offices before I committed to any new customers.

"Hey Tank."

"Boss, how goes it?"

"Lula and Steph are in the other room doing what they do so well. They will probably take a few days to finish. I just thought I'd check in to see how things were going."

"We keep getting new customers calling and enquiring about our services. A majority of recent requests are for home security systems. That type of system doesn't tend to bring in a lot of money for RangeMan, but the sheer number of requests could add up to a lot of money."

I thought for a moment and said, "Set those requests aside for now. You should see about hiring a few people to deal with the domestic systems specifically. For now, Stephanie and I will focus on the corporate customers only. If we get through them before you are able to hire someone, we'll take some on."

Tank agreed to this and then said, "You won't guess who's on the list."

I thought for a moment and then said, "Frank Plum or Joe Morelli."

"Geez, how'd you guess? In fact, they're both on the list. So is most of the Trenton PD."

"Hmm, maybe we should come up with some sort of self-install system where we provide the hardware, the instructions and then let them to the installation themselves. What do you think?"

"I'll get right on that. I'll get Hector to put together 4 plans and then get Bobby to translate the instructions. Do you have anyone in mind to act as a guinea pig?"

"I'll ask on Thursday night for four volunteers to get a discounted system. They'll have to review the instructions and provide feedback once it's installed. I'm sure somebody will jump at the chance for a cheap security system for their home. Please ask Hector to bulk order the parts for each of the four systems. Anything that we don't end up using for a customer can be used for safe houses."

Tank seemed to like my idea and commented on how the image of RangeMan was changing in the community. He mentioned that Cal and Bobby were stopped while out on patrol by a woman who asked if she could hire them. She had a stalker and the police could do nothing to help her. Bobby called in and explained the situation. They were relieved and then Cal and Bobby went to confront the stalker. He pulled a gun on them and they subdued him. When they brought the stalker into the police station, they found out that there were 3 outstanding arrest warrants out-of-state for this guy. The woman was a professional decorator and has volunteered to decorate the RangeMan offices free-of-charge.

I was surprised by this and asked for the woman's details. I wanted to call her and hire her. I didn't want her to do anything for RangeMan free-of-charge. I might let her talk me into a discount for her fee, but I would insist on paying her something. Tank relayed the woman's information and I was shocked. The name was familiar to me. Brigitte Travis was not only an interior decorator. She was also a fashion designer. A quite famous fashion designer at that. I thanked Tank and hung up.

I'm not much into fashion, but I've heard the name from time to time. She specialised mostly in gowns for Hollywood fashion events, so having a building's interiors designed by her would actually be pretty cool. Then, an idea struck me. I dialled the phone number Tank had just given me and waited for an answer. Unfortunately, I got her voicemail. I left her a message telling her that I was the RangeMan CEO and I wanted to discuss an upcoming event that I hoped she could help with.

After hanging up the phone, I looked at the list of new potential customers again. There were only 4 on the list that I was willing to talk to without the background check. This was because I'd dealt with three of them before and the 4th backed out on a deal with us a few months ago because they hit a bit of a financial snag.

I called each of them and made appointments in the following weeks for Stephanie and I. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was now 3:30. The afternoon practically flew by. If Stephanie and I were going to make it into Trenton by 6PM, we'd have to get a move on.

I stuck my phone in my pocket and headed for the library. I walked in and found Lula and Steph in exactly the same positions they were in last time. I cleared my throat causing both of them to look my way. "Ladies, I hate to break up this search-fest, but Steph and I have plans this evening and if we aren't on the road within the hour, we're going to be late for dinner at her parents. We also have to stop and pick up Julie on the way."

Babe looked at the clock and started to panic. With her leg in a cast, it took her twice as long as usual to shower. I smiled at her and said, "It's OK Babe, there's enough time if we start getting ready now."

Lula looked between us and said, "Do you mind if I stick around until you're ready to leave? I have one last search running and then I can call it quits for the day."

Both Steph and I shook our heads. Steph said, "I have one in progress as well. It should ping when it's done. If mine finishes before yours, feel free to print it out for me. We can start at 9:30 tomorrow and while our first searches are running, we can review the print outs from today."

Lula nodded and returned to her search as I helped my Babe out of her chair and up the stairs. She was down to a single crutch whenever I was around. I think she just liked to lean on me, but I wasn't complaining. I liked feeling useful. We went upstairs and I helped my Babe wrap her cast and shower.

After the shower, Steph sprayed her new detangles spray on her hair and let it air dry after brushing it through. Or that's what I thought she was going to do. She surprised me by putting a bit of gel in it and getting out this contraption that looked and sounded a lot like a blow-dryer. It only took her a few minutes, but the effect was quite stunning. She had loose curls but they weren't too wild. I asked about the contraption and she giggle. "It's my normal hair dryer. It just has a diffuser on the end. It helps me dry my hair without it getting too frizzy."

We were both limited on clothes since we lost most of ours in the explosions, so I ended up wearing the same thing that I wore in D.C. when we went out to dinner. Steph wore a nice skirt and blouse that she bought in D.C. as well. She looked fabulous.

Stephanie's POV

Carlos and I made it downstairs by 4:30. When we walked into the library, Lula was putting her laptop into her bag and cleaning up the piles of printouts we made. She turned as we walked into the room and said, "I'm off now. I'll be back around 9:30 in the morning. I still have my 6AM workout to get through and then the drive out here. If I'm running late I'll let you know. As usual, I'll call when I'm close so you know to expect me."

Carlos walked over and hugged Lula and said, "Thanks Lula. You've been wonderful and we'll see you tomorrow."

I also hugged Lula and then we all piled into our cars after Carlos set the security alarm. Once we were on the road, Carlos turned to me and asked, "Did you have a productive day Babe?"

I nodded and said, Between Lula and I, we managed to finish 15 of the 30 searches. We should finish the rest tomorrow and then we can start looking at the data and try to pick out anything important. How about you? What did you get up to?"

"Well, I made a lot of appointments. I've limited it to two per day. I scheduled one in the morning and another in the afternoon over the next few weeks. We'll be running around a lot but I don't think we'll be run off our feet. I also told you that I called my real estate agent. I should hear from her in the next couple of days so we can look at moving closer to Trenton. This commute would kill me if I had to do it every day. After lunch, I called a few of the new customers and then talked to Tank about a few things."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Maybe. It seems that there has been a huge influx of requests from home owners about getting domestic security systems. RangeMan doesn't usually deal in basic installations like that, but I don't want to turn it down outright. I suggested that we offer packages for self install to home owners and Tank liked the idea. We are going to trial it to see how things get on and then if it's successful, we can move on from there. It might be an excellent market for RangeMan to delve into."

"What kind of people asked for this? Was it all mobsters and criminals?"

"Actually, the majority of people are well respected members of Trenton society. Two people on the list might surprise you. Joe called as did your father." I sat there with my mouth open for a few seconds and then asked, "My father? Why wouldn't he just come out and ask?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to get special treatment because I'm going to be his son-in-law. Who knows? You can ask him when we get there if you'd like."

Carlos reached out and grabbed my hand and raised it to his lips. He kissed it twice and was forced to let go when his phone rang. I watched as he lifted it to my ear and answered. I only heard ½ the conversation, so it wasn't very informative.

"No, I was actually hoping to talk to you about your other services."

"Yes, that's right."

"No, nothing has been decided as of yet, but there are ideas. I can call you later and give you more information."

"Saturday would be perfect. Do you know Pino's? Two PM. Thank you. We'll see you then."

I narrowed my eyes and looked over at a grinning Carlos. "What was that all about?"

"It's a surprise Babe. It's a surprise that I'm sure you're going to love. At 2 PM on Saturday afternoon, our wedding party needs to join us at Pino's. We can arrive earlier and have lunch, but a special guest is going to join us at 2 o'clock."

I looked at him and decided to let him have his secret. Normally, I would nag and nag and try to get to the bottom of the surprise. For some reason, it didn't bother me this time to wait. I think it was because there is so much going on right now that I wouldn't really have time to dwell on it. That and I trusted Carlos.

The trip to Trenton went by quickly enough, but Carlos didn't take the most obvious exit to get to Ron's. I looked around and then at Carlos to see him checking his mirrors every few seconds. I was about to ask him if we were being followed when he said, "I am just trying to make sure that we were not followed. I don't want to let anyone know where Ron and the kids are living."

I nodded as we drove into the neighbourhood of the safe house and pulled to a stop in front of the house. Zip stepped out the front door and relaxed when he saw Carlos climb out of the car. Carlos helped me out with my crutches and Zip walked beside us while looking around the neighbourhood, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

As soon as we walked in the house, Emma came running and practically jumped into Carlos' arms. He looked a bit surprised, but he grinned when Emma said, "Hi Papi Carlos."

Julie came in wearing her new pink dress and she was closely followed by Diego and Ron, who walked over and gave me a hug and shook hands with Carlos. "Papa, do you have time to sit down before we go for dinner?"

Carlos looked down at Julie and said, "Unfortunately not Julie. Steph's mother doesn't like it much when people are later for dinner. We'll have plenty of time tomorrow to sit down and talk when you come to the beach."

"Yay, the Beach. I can't wait. Will we be able to swim Papi Carlos?"

Carlos nodded and said, "Your Dad and I can take you down to the beach. Stephanie can't join us because of her cast, but that's OK. She has some work to do anyway."

Diego looked a bit disappointed when he heard that I wouldn't join them at the beach, so I tried to smooth things over by saying, "I'll be up at the house getting things ready for a BBQ while you're all down at the beach. Tank and Lula will join us for the BBQ as well."

Mentioning Lula made Diego smile. While he was distracted with his thoughts of Lula, we said goodbye to Ron and the kids and headed over to my parents. We arrived about 5 minutes before 6 which was just enough time to get in the door and be ordered to sit down. Val, Albert and their three kids were happy to see us. Grandma Mazur was happier to see Carlos than she was to see me. I introduced my family to Julie and everyone welcomed her. Mary Alice and Angie looked at her with curiosity, but they were all a bit shy.

Throughout the meal, everyone referred to Carlos as Ranger and we didn't correct them until we were having coffee after dessert. I looked up when Val asked Ranger how things were getting on with RangeMan after all the trouble. Carlos looked at me and winked, so I said, "Actually, RangeMan is doing well. We have a bit of an announcement. The first thing is that Ranger would like it if you would all start to call him Carlos."

Grandma Mazur looked a bit confused and asked, "Why?"

Carlos was the one that continued. "Well, Ranger is a nickname that I use for work. My friends and family all call me Carlos."

Val, Albert and Grandma Mazur were all looking at us with dumbfounded faces. They didn't understand. I was just about to lay things out for them when Grandma Mazur's face showed recognition. She looked closer at my hand and exclaimed, "Oh my god. You're engaged."

This caused both Val and Albert to whip their heads back at us as both Carlos and I nodded. Val squealed and scared Lisa, who started to cry. She rushed over to me and hugged me and then hurried back to comfort her youngest daughter.

Grandma Mazur was grinning at the end of the table. She slowly made her way over and hugged me and then Carlos. She even kept her hands to herself. She smiled up at Carlos and said, "Welcome to the family. I always knew that something would happen between you and my granddaughter. I just always assumed it would be more social and lot less permanent. For both your sakes, I'm glad that wasn't the case."

We smiled and then the questions began. Did everyone know? Is it a secret? When's the wedding? Will you have an engagement party? I looked at my watch and said, "We will have an engagement party. It will be three weeks from Friday. Mom, Maria Manoso and Ella will do the planning. Here are the details about the venue. If you have any questions, please let me know. I will leave everything up to you guys. Carlos and I will just want to add some names to the invitation list, that's all."

Val was looking at me like I was mad. "Are you seriously going to let Mom plan everything?"

"Yup. Carlos and I have already made a lot of plans for the wedding itself, so if Mom wants a say in anything, it's going to have to be the engagement party."

I looked up at my Mom and said, "One thing about the party, we want to make it very clear that we don't want any gifts. If people want to spend money, they can donate to charity. We'll provide you with a list of options. Maria will call you on Saturday and the three of you can get together and figure out whatever you want to do. I know the time is tight, but I also know that you three will have a blast together."

I then turned and looked at Val and said, "Sis, will you be my Matron of Honour?"

Val looked at me and came over and hugged me. "Of course I will. Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather have Mary Lou or Lula?"

"They will be bridesmaids but I wanted my sister to be my Matron of Honour. Besides, Mary Lou was my Maid of Honour at my last wedding. I didn't want to tempt fate by having her again."

Val hugged me again and I said, "Can you get away and meet us for lunch at Pino's on Saturday? We're getting the entire bridal party together."

Val looked over at Albert. He looked a bit worried, but after a moment and a stern look from Val, he nodded. She looked at me and nodded. I then said, "I hate to leave, but we have to get Julie back and I have to go tell Mary Lou and Connie. Can you guys hold off on any phone calls for about an hour minutes? I want to tell them about the wedding rather than let the Burg grapevine let things loose."

Everyone nodded so we all made the rounds. Julie felt a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but she was invited back anytime. Mary Alice also suggested that she join them for a day. I kissed my dad on the cheek at the door and he hugged me saying, "You've done well Pumpkin. I'm glad to see you so happy."

"Thanks Dad. Carlos tells me that you want a security system. What's up with that?"

"I just thought about all the memories and trinkets in our house and decided that it was time to invest in protecting them. Having a son-in-law in the business will mean that we get the best service possible."

I kissed my dad and then walked out to the car with Carlos and Julie. We waved from the car and Carlos drove us back to Ron's, keeping his eyes on the road and on all of the other cars around us. We hugged Julie and bid her goodnight. We were on the road on our way to Pino's only a few minutes later.

Carlos looked over at me briefly and said, "That went well Babe. I think your family likes me." He was grinning at this so I asked, "Why would you ever doubt that my family would like you?"

"They used to see me as a thug. Just because I asked you to marry me wouldn't change that."

I smiled at him and said, "I guess they just realised that their perception of you was wrong."

We pulled into the Pino's parking lot and I saw that both Connie and Mary Lou were already there. I looked at my watch and gasped. We were 5 minutes late. Carlos raised his eyebrow and then we both started laughing. We walked into the restaurant and saw Connie and Mary Lou sitting at a table across from each other.

Carlos excused me and headed to the restroom. He figured it would be easier to explain what was going on without him present. I nodded and hobbled over to the girls. They both stood and hugged me. Connie asked, "What's the occasion? This isn't' the usual girl's night out time or venue."

I looked at both women and said, "I have something I need to ask the two of you."

The both looked at me with curiosity so I continued. "I have something that I need your help with on the last Saturday of September."

Mary Lou narrowed her eyes and asked? "What is it? You're not asking us to help you move are you?"

I laughed and said, "No. Would you both do me the honour of standing up with me? Will you be my bridesmaids?"

Both girls squealed, nodded and hugged me. When they pulled away, they both looked at me like they wanted to ask something. They looked over my head and understanding passed over both of their faces. Mary Lou squealed. "You're marrying Ranger? Oh my god Steph, I'm so happy for you."

Carlos approached the table and received a hug from each of the ladies. When we were all seated again, a waiter arrived with the nicest bottle of champagne that Pino's sold and 4 glasses. Carlos opened the bottle and poured out the glasses. He looked each of us in the eye and said, "Thanks for agreeing to help us on our special day. Now that we're practically going to be family, I would like you both to stop calling me Ranger when it's not work related. My name is actually Carlos and I'd prefer if you used that."

Both women nodded and smiled as they took a sip of their champagne. When I lifted my glass, Mary Lou reached out and took my left hand. I had to switch my champagne glass to the other hand so I could still drink it. They both gushed over my ring and lifted it so it caught the light. Connie and Mary Lou both asked a lot of questions about the wedding. They wanted to know the venue and whether I'd decided on anything yet. I told them that we just decided on a date the day before. We only just finished telling people about the wedding, so we haven't had much of a chance to do a lot of planning.

Carlos looked at me and winked. He then said, "I hope you ladies can make yourselves available on Saturday afternoon. The entire bridal party is going to meet here for lunch and then we're being joined by a special guest. Our guest will be arriving at 2PM, but if you arrive at noon, Steph and I will provide lunch for everyone."

I noticed Connie look behind me and then a hand was placed on my shoulder. I turned my head and almost fell out of my chair in an attempt to figure out who was touching me. "Calm down Steph, I just came over to congratulate you and Carlos."

Eddie was standing beside me, helping me back into the seat. I looked over at Carlos and said, "I guess our 30 minutes are up. My mother must have jumped on the phone as soon as the second hand ticked over."

Carlos laughed and helped me stand up so I could hug Eddie. I thanked him and he left us alone to celebrate after shaking hands with Carlos. An entire group surrounded us so I didn't even bother to try to sit down for the next 30 minutes or so. Carlos and I received many hugs and handshakes from the off-duty cops who frequented the place and various family friends. It was somewhat overwhelming. These were the same people who watched Joe and me like we were a tennis match.

Everyone was standing around smiling and laughing. I heard the door open and the sudden stern look on Connie's face made me turn. A path cleared in the crowd and none other than Joseph Morelli was striding towards Carlos and me. He had his cop face on until he was within a few feet of us. The cop face was replaced with a huge smile. "Cupcake, you look so happy." He then looked over at Carlos, who was also smiling.

What Joe did next didn't surprise me at all, but it must have surprised everyone else in the room because I heard a few sharp intakes of breath when it happened. Joe reached out his right hand and shook hands with Carlos and then did that man-hug thing where their shoulders meet and he patted Carlos on the back with his left hand. When they pulled apart, both men were still smiling.

I looked over at Connie and smiled. She raised an eyebrow to Mary Lou, who was standing there with a look of disbelief on her face. I laughed at them and said, "Joe, why don't you join us? Do you want some champagne?"

Joe smiled at me and said, "Sorry Cupcake, I'm just about to go on duty. I didn't want to wait too long to officially congratulate the two of you. I was on my way out the door when my mother called to give me the news. I decided to stop here on my way to the office."

I smiled at Joe and said, "Thanks Joe. I really appreciate that. I guess I'll see you on Thursday night then?"

Joe nodded, kissed me on the cheek, shook Carlos' hand and left. Both Connie and Mary Lou were staring at the door as Joe walked away as if they'd just witnessed the most unbelievable thing in the world. Both Carlos and I just stood there smiling as we waited for the girls to come out of their stupor. Mary Lou was the first to speak. "Joe knew?"

I nodded, but Carlos replied. "I called him and sort of asked for his blessing. Steph and Joe were over and they were both OK with that, but I know Joe had problems with me. I wanted to tell him rather than let him hear about it from the Burg grapevine. We also have to work together from time to time, so I figured it would make things easier if he knew."

"Wow. There will be plenty of people out there who will assume you and Joe hate each other. That little exchange will boggle a lot of minds."

We all laughed at Connie's comment, but I had to admit that she was right. I'm sure my mother even worried about Joe's reaction. She always liked him. Mary Lou had to get home and Carlos and I had a bit of a journey ahead of us, so we said goodbye. Both girls promised to turn up on Saturday. Connie could join us for lunch, but Mary Lou wasn't sure. She said that she'd definitely be there by 2, but she wasn't sure about lunch. That depended on Lenny's availability or a sitter.

Once in the car, I relaxed a little. Carlos looked over at me and said, "Well, the easy parts are over. I should probably talk to Tank and the guys, just to confirm that they're willing to stand up with me. My brother might be a bit of a pain to pin down on Saturday. I'll have to call him in the morning and swear him to secrecy."

I looked at Carlos and smiled. "You can ask Ron tomorrow when you're down at the beach, and Tank already knows. I'm sure a phone call will suffice for Bobby and Lester."

"Yeah, you're right Babe. My brother is the only unknown factor at this moment. Alex travels a lot for work, and the wedding isn't that far away. I don't want to discount him, but it's unlikely that he'll be available."

Carlos picked up my hand and brought it to his lips. I smiled and asked, "If your brother is unavailable, do you know who else you'll ask?"

"I will probably ask Hal. He's shy, but we've been through a lot together, so I'm sure he'll see it as an honour. I know I will."

Carlos and I spent the rest of the trip back to the beach house in silence. I spent a little bit of time thinking about the surprise on Saturday afternoon, but I didn't dwell on it. Instead, I was thinking about tomorrow. I had a sudden thought and pulled out my phone.

"Hi Ella, it's Stephanie."

"Hi Dear. What can I do to help?"

"Well, as you probably already know, Ron and the kids are coming over tomorrow to spend the day at the beach. Lula and I have a bit of work to do and then afterwards, Tank is going to join us for a BBQ."

"Did you want me to put some food together for you?"

"No, that's not why I called. I actually called because I'd like to invite you and Luis to the BBQ. We already have all the food. Carlos is going to make a couple salads and we're just going to grill some burgers and hotdogs, nothing fancy. I just thought you might like to come out for the day as well."

"Oh, that sounds lovely. I need to double-check with Luis, but he's not home right now. I'll send word with Ron in the morning. I'll bring something for dessert."

"We have loads of ice cream already, but if you feel obligated to make a cake or something, I'm sure the kids would enjoy it. Lula and I are trying to avoid foods like that at the moment."

"I'll bring some fruit to put with the ice-cream instead. That way everyone is happy."

"That works for me. Call when you get close and use the typical RangeMan travel protocols. The beach house is an unofficial safe house."

"OK. See you tomorrow."

I got off the phone with Ella and noticed the corners of Carlos' lips turned up. "What's with the almost smile?"

"I'm just proud of you for avoiding things like Ella's cake."

"Well, I can't really exercise in my current condition, so I have to do something to make sure I can still fit into my jeans."

Carlos laughed and said, "If you want, we can work around your cast to get you a bit of exercise."

He grinned and winked at me, leaving me with no doubt as to what he was talking about. I blushed and rested my head on the seat and dozed until we arrived home. It was nearing midnight, so we hurried through our respective bedtime routines and climbed into bed. Carlos pulled me towards him and I think he managed to drift off seconds before I did.

Thanks for all the encouragement. I have a question though. What is FanFiction etiquette? I have read a few stories where the author mentions replying to each reviewer. Is this normal? I don't want to offend anyone with my lack of replies. Let me know if you want my reply or not.

Cheers,

L.