A/N: I forgot to put this on the earlier chapters, Ranger and the guys are a

little older in my Story, they would be along the lines of 37/38 ish. I am going to diverge from Cannon a little and make Steph a little younger than Ranger, so she would be about 34/35.

I would also like to give special thanks to Wanda517. You graciously agreed to step in and help out when I needed it most. The more I work with you, the more I realize that with out the hard work of a Beta, the work we writers do, just wouldn't be the same.

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize belongs to JE. The rest are Mine. I promise I make no money off this or any other stories I write in the Plum Universe. I am however, open to bribes. Kidding!

I woke with a start and reached for my weapon. I pointed it in the direction of the sound that woke me.

"Ray, Stand down. It's Bobby."

I sat up and forced my eyes to focus, and once I saw it was indeed Bobby I lowered my weapon with a soft sigh. "Sorry. I didn't mean to draw on you in your own apartment."

Bobby laughed softly. "Does that mean you'd still draw on me outside of here?"

I laughed and shrugged as I stood up, setting my gun down on the coffee table. Bobby held up a handful of black cloth in my direction as I stretched out all the minor aches and pains from sleeping on a couch. "What's that?"

"Ranger had me bring down one of Steph's uniforms for you. He said it should fit."

I took the clothes from him with a nod of thanks. I walked into the bedroom to quickly change. The pants fit, even though they were a little long, but Steph must have a shorter torso than I do. The shirt was skin tight and barely came to my belly button. I sighed and pulled off the shirt and dug out another plain black t-shirt from my sea bag. I pulled that over my head and tucked it in. The long pants were simple to fix. I just bloused them rather than try to mess with folding them and hoping they stayed. I grabbed my utility belt from where I tossed it on the bed while changing. I slipped my equipment on the belt before fastening it. I grabbed my Kevlar vest and held it in my hand. It got too hot to put it on before I had to. I hurried back to the living room where Bobby was just sitting on the couch.

"I should actually thank you for waking me up. I didn't realize it was already 2030." I glanced at my watch again making sure I had enough time to make it up to the meeting.

"So, did Steph decide if she was going to join us tonight?" I asked him as I waked over to the coffee table and picked up my side arm. I checked the chamber and popped the clip making sure it was fully loaded before slipping it into my holster.

"I don't know if she did or not. If she does come she'll be with alpha team, so that way Ranger and Tank can keep her safe. Can I ask you why you asked to be assigned to Juliet?" He asked as he turned on the couch to watch me double check my gear.

"Yeah, I don't ask anyone in my command to do anything I won't do." I put my foot on the coffee table to double check the laces were secure. I switched feet and looked over at Bobby. "Besides, you know the way it is. I'm the FNG, I've got to earn my stripes the same way they have. I might not have anything to prove to you, but those guys out there, they don't know me from Adam, and what they see is Ranger brought me in personally and now I'm leading an op. They need to know I'm going to take the shit jobs too."

"I guess I never really saw it that way. I mean we trust you to have our backs." He said as he got up and went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"You guys have had the privilege of knowing me for years. The guys here at Rangeman, haven't even met me."

Bobby took a drink of his water as he walked back into the living room. "You have a point I suppose."

I reached over and grabbed the bottle, taking a drink before handing it back to him with a grin. "Of course I do. I'm never wrong."

Bobby just shook his head and set the water bottle down on the coffee table before gesturing to the door. "You ready to go?"

I glanced at my watch and realized that it was almost time for the meeting. I nodded and followed Bobby out the door and up the stairs. We made it to the conference room a few minutes early. I walked over to Ranger, as Ricky had insisted I call him at work. "Will Stephanie be joining us tonight?"

In response all I got was a glare and a very sharp "No."

I held up my hands in surrender. I wasn't going to say anything, his relationships were none of my concern. I stepped backwards a few steps before heading to the front of the room. I picked up the file on tonight's op and double checked to see if there was any new information. I tossed the file back onto the conference table before clearing my throat to get the attention of the men in the room.

I waited a minute to see if that would work, when it became obvious that it wouldn't I put my fingers in my mouth and let out an ear piercing whistle. All conversation came to a stop as all eyes turned to face me.

"Now that I have your attention. I would like to reiterate a few points from this afternoons briefing." I waited a minute for a the quiet groans to die down. No one liked more meetings than necessary, me included, but this was the way I did things.

"Ok. Please remember there is probably going to be one or more small children in this building." I gestured to the bags of Safety pops on the conference table. "Fill a pocket or two. Kids aren't going to realize what's going on. Do your best not to scare the crap out of them."

I grinned as a small laugh traveled through the group. "One last thing. Take your time. Look everywhere. Overtime is cheaper than death benefits. Let's finish suiting up and get out there."

There was no more talking as we all dived in to get the last little details, our throat mikes and ear pieces, extra flexi cuffs, etc. When we went down the stairs, I couldn't help but wonder how nineteen men who were at least 200lbs of pure muscle could be so damn quiet.

We all fell out to our respective vehicles and we waited until Tank and Ranger pulled out in their SUV before we all followed. We grouped together briefly to enter into the building and most of us headed up into the stairwell. I was listening carefully to the radio chatter in my ear piece counting off who was all in position.

"Alpha ready."

"Bravo ready."

Charlie, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot were soon reporting that they were ready. By the time my partner and I were in place on the 10th floor all the units had reported in. My partner and I got into position and I whispered into my comm. unit. "All units are in place. We have a green light. I repeat we have a green light."

I heard everything through the comm. units, but I registered none of it. My focus was on the job ahead of me. We burst through door from the stairwell onto the floor. The apartment to our right did not have a door, so I signaled to start there, we went in the door. On the floor we found two girls who couldn't have been more than 13, huddled together. They were wide eyed and terrified. I nodded towards the girls, and my partner got the gist, I'd secure the girls while he continued the search.

We ended up bringing everyone we rounded up back into that first apartment. This job was depressing, seeing the depth of poverty and the sheer number of drug addicts we rounded up tore at my heart. Even some of the kids, were high as kites. It felt like it took forever to get the floor completely secured, in reality it only took about an hour, but it felt like so much longer. Once we were standing in the first apartment I leaned against a wall doing my best to still look intimidating.

"Juliet clear… Status Check All Units"

"Alpha Clear"

"Bravo Clear."

"Charlie Clear"

I waited a for just a few moments. "Delta, This is Juliet team leader requesting a Status Check."

It was just a minute before I got my answer. "Sorry Boss Lady, Delta Clear."

I sighed with relief. My shoulders sagged with exhaustion as the rest of the units checked in and were clear. I started helping my partner Ram, he said his name was, get everyone to their feet. "Juliet beginning decent."

Ram and I started leading everyone down the stairs. The trip down took a lot longer then the trip up did. I was half tempted to just start throwing some of the addicts down the stairs. It would be faster. I know my original plan was to bring down one floor at a time, but if we did that we'd be here all night. "Bravo and Charlie… move out and meet us at the first floor."

When we had finally made it past the eighth floor I let those two teams know to start moving out, this pattern continued until we were all on the first floor. Bobby was checking out as many as he could, but there were just to many people for him to get to. I took a deep breath, all I really wanted to do was go be flat for a while, but there was still work to be done. One of the things we all learn in the service is basic first aid, so I felt confident that I could help determine who at least needed Bobby to see them before going to their final destination. I looked up and saw several of the other men had joined in assessing everyone, so I stood up and walked over to Ranger.

"Might be a good idea to call in the Cops and medics. I'm betting no few of these folks have wants and warrants. Tell them to bring the on call social worker too." I jerked my head to the corner where Hal was handing out suckers to a couple of kids who must have been about 6 or 7.

"Already done."

"Not bad for your first op here in Trenton Ray." Tank said as he came up behind me. I turned a little and smiled at him.

"Thanks Big Guy. I thought Ranger here was going to give me something difficult." I said with a small laugh. It was then that Lester sauntered up and slapped me on the back.

"Couldn't make it too hard on ya, at least not at first."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Go ahead, make a Marine joke… I dare you."

Lester looked at me and appeared to be thinking for a minute. "Nah, I think I'll let Vince take this one." He turned to a group of men who were standing against one wall keeping an eye on every one that had already been seen by Bobby and who were awaiting the police. "Hey Vince! What did you do all day when you were in the Navy?"

Vince looked over at Lester, and with a shit eating grin said. "Drink coffee and deploy Marines."

I rolled my eyes. "Really Vince, all that time on a luxury hotel afloat and that's the best you got?" I laughed with the rest of them though. I didn't mind this little banter about which branch of the service was better. It was all in good fun. Our joking was interrupted by the arrival of the Police.

I watched as several black and whites came to a stop in front of the building followed by an unmarked sedan. I wondered if Narcotics decided to get involved because this was really nothing more than a flop house for addicts. I watched the detective as he made his way over to us. He was good looking, I'll give him that. His skin tone spoke of Italy or the Mediterranean. He did need a hair cut though. I thought he might be a decent cop to work with, at the very least he would be easy on the eyes.

I started to move towards him. "Evening Detective." I wanted to say more, but he held up his hand and continued to move towards Ranger.

"What the hell do you have going on here Manoso?"

I turned around to watch the exchange, my arms crossed over my chest.

"Fulfilling my contract with the City. My men were doing exactly what we were asked to do. Clear the premises, so that demolition can continue on schedule."

"And so you decided to handcuff everyone?" The cop asked his voice becoming more and more agitated. I decided that it was time I stepped in.

"Excuse me officer, I believe we were well within bounds to do so. At the very least every one of these people is guilty of criminal trespass, I'm betting that if patted them down you might just get enough petty drug busts to make your captain a very happy man."

"I'm homicide, and just who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"I'm Raven Hunter I work for Mr. Manoso." I told him calmly. Even though I remained calm it seemed as though he was getting angrier than he already was. His gaze turned to Ranger.

" I see you have a bitch of your own now, maybe this means you'll finally leave my girlfriend alone."

I could hardly believe my ears, but then I put it together. This was Detective Morelli, Stephanie's boyfriend. I kept my mouth shut, and just turned to watch uniformed police officers taking people out the door with the help of Rangeman. I was here to do a job, and nothing else. Once the first floor had been cleared of everyone but Rangeman and Morelli, I had no choice but to say something to interrupt the quiet staring contest they were having. I once again moved a little closer to the group. "Ranger… Deje al bastardo sólo. Nosotros no necesitamos el jaleo." (Leave the bastard alone, we don't need the hassle.)

That seemed to be enough to get through to him, because before I knew it, I was following him out the door to the last SUV. I climbed in the back seat, and got stuck next to Lester. I was getting to tired to put up with his jokes. Luckily he realized that now was not the time, and the ride back to Rangeman was silent.

As soon as the engine cut off I got out of the truck and made my way, trying very hard not to limp with the increasing pain in my knee, to the elevator. Just as the doors closed I heard Tank say to someone.

"I didn't know she even knew HOW to use an Elevator." I hadn't said anything to Ranger about the increasingly painful joints, or all the other symptoms that left me feeing crappy. Now I just realized I might have let more slip than I had planned.