Since there were so many reviews, I feel like I ought to reward you. Here's your next chapter. Enjoy!

Usual disclaimer goes here...

8. Home Comforts

Carlos' house was a medium sized two-story brick house with a relatively large yard. It was in a neighbourhood filled with similar sized houses, many of which had extensions or elaborate landscaped gardens. It was quiet and peaceful. I felt slightly jealous that Carlos got to grow up in such a calm neighbourhood.

I grew up in the 'Burg where the houses were pressed together and there was never any peace and quiet in the neighbourhood. Things quieted down during the small hours of the night, but in general, there was always an underlying buzz about the place.

As I followed Carlos up the front steps, I suddenly became nervous about being introduced to his mother. I began to wonder if Maria Manoso would blame me like Lucida's mother had done minutes before. Carlos must have sensed my hesitation to cross the threshold because he reached back, gently grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house.

As soon as Carlos closed the door, somebody yelled something from further inside the house in Spanish. Carlos replied and then showed me where I could put my jacked and shoes. I hung up my jacket where Carlos had indicated and then placed my shoes in the rack beside the door. When I was finished, Carlos handed me the shopping bag and removed his own shoes and jacket.

Taking the bag from my hand, he led me into the kitchen where his mother stood in front of the stove. She looked up and when she saw Carlos, she walked over and hugged him tightly, murmuring something in Spanish. He smiled at her and then kissed her on the cheek. When he pulled back from his embrace he said, "Mama, I'd like you to meet Stephanie Plum."

Mrs Manoso was around my height, but that's where our similarities ended. She was an extremely beautiful woman who still had clear, unlined skin that was a shade lighter than Carlos' skin tone. She had glossy dark hair that was styled in sleek waves that ended at her shoulders. When she looked at me, she smiled, took my hands in hers and said, "Stephanie, it's very nice to meet you. Please call me 'Maria.' For some reason, I always feel funny when young people call me 'Mrs Manoso.' Ricardo has told me that you will be working with him for the summer. Please come in and make yourself at home."

I smiled at her and said, "Thank you Maria. I am really looking forward to working at Manoso Finances. It is a really great opportunity for me and I can't thank you all enough for the chance you are taking on me."

"I'm sure you will fit in fine and your hard work will justify any chance Ricardo is taking on you. From what Carlos has told me, you're a very good student."

I raised my eyebrows at Carlos, because he probably had no idea what kind of student I was. He just shrugged and said, "Come on Stephanie, I'll show you around."

I waved at Maria, who said, "Dinner will be ready in about 75 minutes. Ricardo will be home in an hour. Please relax and make yourself at home. I smiled at Maria, thanked her once again and then followed Carlos down the hallway into a room that was filled with comfortable looking sofas and chairs. There appeared to be enough seating for around 20 people. "Carlos looked around and said, "This is the family room. When the whole family is here, every one of these seats is occupied."

"Wow, you have a huge family. My sister moved out to California right after high school. She married a guy from the Burg whom my mother loved, so she isn't around much. When my family gets together they can be counted on a single hand. Neither of my parents had any siblings, my paternal grandparents are dead and my Grandpa Mazur died last year. That leaves my mother, my father, Grandma Mazur and me. Grandma Mazur lives a few blocks from my parents and she usually comes by when I visit. I think I'm closer with my Grandma than mother."

Carlos nodded and said, "That is small, but it's not necessarily bad. With all my family around, it's hard to have any privacy or peace and quiet. Luckily, only my two younger sisters are still living here, and I'm only here over the summer. I'm not even sure if my sisters will be here for supper, so it won't be too hectic tonight."

I sat down on the end of one of the sofas and sank into the softness. I must have signed because Carlos asked, "Hey Steph, I know you've had to deal with a lot in the last two days, but are you sure you are OK?"

I looked up at Carlos, who was still standing beside the sofa and said, "Actually, I just realised how exhausted I am. It's been a long two days, for both of us. Why don't you have a seat and we can talk and rest a bit before dinner."

Carlos sat on the other side of the sofa and turned to face me so that his back was against the arm rest and his right leg was bent at the knee. I did the same on my end, only I bent my left leg and tucked it under my right so my feet weren't on the sofa.

We sat and stared at each other, trying to figure out what to talk about. After about two minutes of silence, I started to giggle. Carlos' face fell and I assumed he thought I was laughing at him. To set him straight I said, "I just realised that this is the first time today that either of us has run out of something to say. I normally like to fill silence with conversation, but at this moment in time, it is kind of nice to not have anything to say."

Carlos looked at me very strangely and said, "We can stay silent if you'd like. I don't mean to pressure you into conversation. I was just enjoying getting to know you better."

I realised that Carlos misinterpreted my words, so I said, "It's not that I don't want to talk to you Carlos. When I feel the need to fill the silence, it's usually because I feel awkward or I am around people that make me uncomfortable. The silence just now was not like that at all, and I laughed because I think it's funny that I am this comfortable with you. The circumstances of how we met and became friends are just so bizarre. That alone should have kept me talking, just for the sake of talking."

"I think I understand what you mean Steph, because I am experiencing something similar. I don't usually talk this much, especially with women. I spend a lot of time with the guys, but Lucida made it clear that I wasn't allowed to have female friends, so this is kind of new to me. I never expected things to be this easy. Talking to you is not much different than the guys, with one small exception."

I frowned at his last statement and asked, "What small exception?"

Carlos laughed, but didn't answer straight away. When he finally said something, he was staring out the window beside us. "Well, if I'm totally honest, the guys don't smell as good as you do, nor would they protect me from unwanted attention like you did at the diner. If the guys were with us at the diner today, they would have encouraged that waitress and probably given her my phone number without my knowledge."

I looked at Carlos for a moment and then said, "I'm not really sure what I did in the diner can be classed as protecting you. I was just annoyed at being ignored."

"Nevertheless, you didn't let the waitress think that it was OK to fawn over me or to touch me. I also think that it is because of you and your comments when the waitress was near that stopped her from giving me her phone number."

I tried not to laugh and said, "Most guys would be out there soaking up all the attention they could get. Why are you so adverse to the attention you get?"

"I'm looking for more than a physical connection. When woman meet me, they rarely tend to want to get to know me as a person. They're just interested in what I can do for them or how I'll look on their arm. It's shallow and right now, I'm not really interested in that."

I was a bit surprised by his admission but I couldn't fault him for his honesty. I didn't really have anything else to say, so I leaned my head against the back of the sofa, smiled at Carlos, and divided my attention between looking at Carlos and watching the birds outside the window. My eyelids grew heavy and I fell asleep.

My next conscious thought was hearing two quiet voices whispering nearby. My eyes were closed, and as of yet, they weren't cooperating with my attempts to open them. The whispering continued and I was awake enough to recognise that there were two female voices and they were speaking Spanish. I was not awake enough however, to force my eyes open. I was struggling to open my eyes when I heard Carlos speak quietly but forcefully in Spanish. One of the girls replied and I heard them leave the room.

I managed to open one eye and saw that Carlos was watching me. As soon as he saw my eyes open, he leaned forward and quietly spoke, "Dinner won't be for another 30 minutes. Why don't you rest some more. I'll keep my sisters away and ensure that nobody disturbs you."

I smiled at Carlos, who had moved closer in order for me to hear him. I looked around and saw two girls peeking in the doorway and said, "I'm fine. I didn't realise how tired I was until I sat down and stopped for a moment." I motioned at his sisters and continued, "I don't think you should ban your sisters from this room just because I was resting. I'm awake now, so let them go where they want."

"You don't know what you're in for Steph. They'll hound you with all sorts of questions."

"How old are they?"

"Isabella is thirteen and Evelyn is fourteen."

"They're just kids Carlos. How bad could their questions possibly be? Besides, I can probably ask as good as they can."

"OK, I'll let them back in, but I reserve the right to remind you of my warning at a later date."

I laughed and said, "Bring it on."

Carlos waved to his sisters and then said something sternly in Spanish. Two very pretty girls hurried into the room and sat on the sofa between Carlos and me. This forced Carlos to move back to his end of the couch as he watched his sisters bombard me with questions.

"Hi, I'm Evelyn and this is my sister Isabella. Who are you?"

I looked at these two girls and smiled before answering. "Hi, my name is Stephanie."

Evelyn smiled shyly and said, "It is nice to meet you Stephanie. Are you Carlos' new girlfriend?"

I gasped at this question and looked over their heads to see Carlos with a smug look on his face that looked a lot like 'I told you so.' I looked back at Evelyn and said, "No, I'm not Carlos' girlfriend. We go college near each other and Carlos was kind enough to drive me to Newark this morning so I could attend a job interview at your father's company. During my interview, your father invited me to dinner."

Isabella looked between Carlos and me and then said, "Papa must like you then or he wouldn't have invited you here. What will you do at Papa's firm?"

"I will be splitting my time between the accounting department and the marketing department. Other than that, I don't know much more. I do know that I'm really looking forward to it. It's definitely going to be better than working at the Tasty Pastry in Trenton."

Our attention was directed to the door when we heard someone clear their throat.

Isabella stood up and rushed towards the door and jumped at a smiling Ricardo. "Papa!" she cried as she hugged him tightly.

Ricardo looked down at his youngest daughter and said, "Hijita, please go and get washed up for dinner." He looked over at Evelyn and continued, "You too Evie. After washing, please go help your mother set the table. We will be eating shortly." Evelyn hurried after her sister, hugging and kissing Ricardo on the way past.

After the girls left, Ricardo came into the room and sat in a comfortable looking chair across from us. He looked at me and said, "Maria said that you had a little nap before the girls came in and interrupted. I hope you aren't too worn out to stay for a little while longer."

I blushed a little at his words and said, "I assure you that I will not fall asleep at the table. It's been a long and stressful couple of days, and my short rest helped a lot."

Ricardo nodded, stood and then said to Carlos, "Why don't you show Stephanie where she can wash up. Dinner will be ready shortly." Carlos nodded and stood as Ricardo left the room.

I started to stand up, but my leg had fallen asleep from sitting in one position for so long. When I was on my feet, I wobbled a bit and would have fallen over if Carlos hadn't reached over to steady me. I shook my leg to get the blood flowing again and said, "Thanks for that. I would have been slightly awkward if I had fallen and bruised the other side of my face."

Carlos laughed and said, "Come on Babe, let's get you freshened up."

I looked at Carlos and was going to say something to him about his choice of nouns, but he was already walking out of the room. I had to hurry to catch up with him. He opened a door down the hallway and said, "I'm going to run and use the restroom upstairs. Just follow this hallway to the end, walk across the main entranceway and follow the hall on the other side. That will lead you to the dining room. I'm sure you'll be able to follow the noise. I'll see you in a few minutes."

I thanked Carlos and closed the door behind me, thankful for a few minutes of alone time. I looked at my hair in the mirror and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was behaving itself. I used the facilities and then touched up my makeup, which had also held up quite well during the day. I washed and dried my hands, took one last look in the mirror and went in search for the dining room.

I followed Carlos' directions and ended up in the right place. Maria was placing some dishes filled with food when I walked in, so I asked, "Is there anything I can do to help Maria?"

Maria smiled at me and replied, "No dear, everything is under control. We'll be eating as soon as everyone arrives."

I didn't have to wait long because Evelyn and Isabella walked in the room carrying napkins. They were immediately followed by Ricardo who was carrying a pitcher filled with ice water.

I heard the familiar ring from my phone and turned to see Carlos hand me my phone. "Steph, it's Detective Carter. You should probably talk to him.

I nodded, took my phone and then excused myself.

"Hello?"

"Hi there Miss Plum. This is Detective Carter. I have some information that I need to share with you, and then I need your input on how we proceed."

"OK", I said. "Go ahead."

"OK, first of all, I should tell you that Officer Morelli was able to track down and arrest Mr Preston. There was some sort of exchange between them and Mr Preston managed to get himself in more trouble by assaulting a police officer. Mr Preston has been formally arrested and he will be up against a Judge in the next 48 hours. It is likely that he will be granted bail, especially because his father is a very influential lawyer. He will likely be restricted to Trenton, so you should be fine if you stay away from there.

"The next bit of news is a little bit more disturbing. We have discovered that the fax sent regarding your criminal history was actually sent from the public library in Trenton about 30 minutes after we entered your complaint into our system. I am fairly confident that this is no coincidence. We have no proof, but my guess is that Ryan's father got wind of your complaint and was trying to damage your credibility. Fortunately, this didn't work, and this brings me to the main reason for this phone call.

"Ryan made several comments when he was brought in by Officer Morelli. These comments were passed on to me, and along with the circumstantial fax evidence, I think that it would be in your best interest to take out a restraining order against Ryan and his father. I wouldn't put it past either of them to try and intimidate you into dropping the charges."

I was shocked by his words, and after he prompted me for my response I said, "If you think it would be best, I'll follow your recommendation. What do you need me to do?"

"At your earliest convenience, I need you to stop by the campus police station and fill out some paperwork. I will get the legal ball rolling because this will need to be looked at by a judge before it can be issued. I can contact Judge Waters because he works late on Friday evenings."

"I can come in first thing in the morning. I'm currently in Newark and I probably won't be back until later tonight."

"That's fine, just don't forget. The Judge will probably sign the paperwork tonight, but it won't be legal until it also has your signature."

"Thank you Detective Carter, I appreciate all the information you have given me. I will come in around 8:30 tomorrow morning if that's early enough."

"Yes, that will be fine. See you then Miss Plum. Good night."

I ended the phone call and walked back into the dining room.

Carlos took one look at me and said, "Stephanie, you're very pale, is everything alright?"

I nodded and tried to smile and said, "Everything is going to be fine. Thanks for asking." I looked around and noticed the entire Manoso family watching me. I blushed when I realised that I had delayed dinner. "I'm very sorry for interrupting your dinner."

Ricardo spoke for the family and said, "Don't worry about it Stephanie, please take a seat and we can get started."

I sat down, and as we passed the food around, I noticed one significant difference between family dinners at my house and this dinner. The Manoso family actually seemed to like each other. They chatted throughout the meal and chatted about their day. Not once did one of them belittle another or complain about anything that they did.

It wasn't until Ricardo insisted that the two girls clear the table and go do their homework that any whining or complaining started. All of us joined in and cleared the table. The dishes were put straight in the dishwasher, making quick work of cleaning up. The girls headed to their rooms to do their homework and the rest of us went into the sitting room with a tray of coffee.

While Maria was pouring the coffee, Carlos tried to get my attention, but I was purposefully trying to avoid his gaze. I wasn't sure I wanted to talk about my problems in front of his parents, and if I explained my conversation with the Detective, Maria and Ricardo would probably want to know what was going on.

My inner monologue was interrupted when Ricardo spoke. "Stephanie, Carlos refuses to explain why you were talking to a police detective because it is not his story to tell. I just want you to know that if you need someone to talk to, we will not judge you. I could tell that you are worried about something. Why not share it with us and maybe we can help?"

I looked at the concern in both Ricardo and Maria's eyes, so I decided to take a chance and tell them about the last 2 days of my life. I nervously cleared my throat and then spent the next 15 minutes telling my story.

Carlos was the first to speak. "What did the detective want though?"

"Oh right, I had almost forgot about that. Detective Carter called to tell me that he suspects that Ryan's father was the one that was behind the whole eviction fiasco. That has been overturned by the owners, so I don't have to find a new place to live, thank God.

"He also told me that Ryan has been arrested and formally charged with assaulting me as well as the officer who brought him in. It turns out that Ryan said some very unflattering things about me and the police officer didn't take too kindly to them. Ryan punched him and was then arrested. He'll likely get out on bail because his father is a very influential lawyer in Trenton.

"Detective Carter wants me to take out restraining orders against Ryan and his father because of some of the things said about me. I don't know the specifics, but it was bad enough that Officer Morelli shared the comments with Detective Carter. Morelli and I went to high school together, but we never really got along. That means that whatever Ryan said must have been pretty bad.

"I agreed to the restraining orders, so I have to go in tomorrow to sign the orders after they've been seen by a judge."

When I finished, both Maria and Ricardo were staring at me with open mouths. Maria was the first to recover by saying, "My goodness that is a more than enough for anyone to go through in a lifetime. You had to go through it in only two days."

I nodded and replied, "You're right, it is a lot to handle, but I'm very grateful to your son and husband. If it wasn't for them, things could have been a lot worse. I can easily avoid Ryan this summer because I'll be working in Newark and not Trenton. I think if you look at all the pluses and minuses, I'm out one lousy boyfriend, I'm up one job and several new friends.

"If I hadn't met Carlos, I'd be stuck in Trenton right now. I'd be in a relationship with an untrustworthy man and I wouldn't even know it. I realise now how fortunate I was when Carlos stole my seat that morning."

"It was fortunate indeed." Ricardo said quietly.

I stifled a yawn as stealthily as possible but it did not escape notice by Maria. She looked at me and then at Carlos and said, "Carlos, you need to get Stephanie home. She must be exhausted after these past couple of days."

Ricardo agreed and added, "I need you well rested for Monday, so relax and enjoy your weekend as much as possible. I look forward to working with you."

I went to shake hands with Maria, but she pulled me into a hug instead. As she was hugging me she said, "Stephanie, if you run into any more problems, please feel free to contact one of us. I'm sure any of us would be happy to help."

I thanked her for her kind words and promised to contact her if I needed to talk in the future. I, waved goodbye to Isabella and Evelyn, and said, "It was nice to meet you two. I hope I get a chance to speak to you again soon."

I shook Ricardo's hand, and told him that I would see him at 9AM on Monday and then followed Carlos out to the car. Before we headed back to my apartment, we emptied his belongings from the car and placed them inside the entranceway. Carlos promised his parents that he would clean up the mess as soon as he returned. We waved one final time, climbed into the car and drove away.

We sat in silence for about ten minutes before Carlos finally said something. "You know Steph, I'm really worried about you. You live alone now that your roommate is gone for the summer and Ryan has already proven that he can break in without much effort."

"I know Carlos. The police have already installed another lock to the door. I will stay with Molly tonight and then I will collect the keys from Detective Carter tomorrow morning. I won't be spending all that much time in my apartment this summer though. The trip back and forth alone means I'll be gone by 7AM, and I'm not likely to return before 7PM. I'll be alright, but I do appreciate your concern."

"Good, just take care and let me know if anything else happens. I'll come as soon as I can."

I smiled at him as he drove and said, "Thanks Carlos, you're a really good friend, and right now, I can use as many as I can get."

The next chapter will be up when the reviews hit a sufficient number. Please let me know what you think so far so I know that you want me to continue. :)