All familiar characters belong to Janet. And lucky me, the new Rangeguys are solely mine.
I had the penthouse apartment in Rangeman Miami redesigned and baby-proofed after Olivia had been born. But I hadn't wanted to be away from my family before or after her birth, and I don't trust what I haven't inspected myself, so Steph and I chose to stay in a hotel until I could do a proper walk-through and deem our apartment here safe for Olivia and comfortable for Stephanie.
After our afternoon fly and climb, plus a Coco Loco smoothie for Julie, she and I picked up Stephanie and Olive and we found a mutually agreed on, child-friendly restaurant that served food both Julie and Steph would approve of. To end our family-day, my wife wanted to visit the Rangeman building here. I could've predicted down to the second the call Steph received as she shook hands with Solder who's stuck on lobby duty this evening. He's also the brother of the man who made my and Julie's adventure-laced afternoon possible.
Stephanie dug her cell out of Olive's diaper bag with one hand and answered after checking the number on the screen.
"Are you cheating on us?" I heard Brown demand.
"What? No! You know me, I'm nosy. I just want to see what the building looks like," she quickly explained.
"What's going on?" Julie asked us.
Steph answered her by letting us all hear the call.
"Yeah, right," Brown said, disgust detectable in his tone. "Just remember your first."
"I don't have to remember ... Ranger's here with me. He's the first everything in my book."
"Maybe so, but we're your first team. Don't let a pretty face, funny name, or fancy accent, turn your head or shift your loyalty. We're the ones who've got you."
"You all are Olive and Julie's Uncles, which means you'll always be our immediate go-to guys."
I would say this call is unnecessary, but the men don't trust easily. When they finally let their guards down and allow someone to care about them, they won't relinquish that affection without one hell of a fight.
Bobby started to relax until we felt another thought hit him. "You didn't bring them anything, did you?"
Steph's eyes cut to Julie, and my wife made a 'Hide the Pastelitos!' gesture to my daughter as if Brown could see the bakery box in Julie's hands.
"Ummm, noooo," Steph tried. "I wouldn't do that, since I've learned that the way to a Merry Man's heart is through the junk food portals in all your stomachs."
"Alright then. Enjoy your visit. Just keep in mind ... our Miami guys are good, but they aren't us."
With that being stated, he ended the call.
"You lied, Steph," Julie was quick to point out.
"Yup. I sure did, but it was for a good cause. And I don't feel a bit bad about doing it. The last thing I want to do is hurt my guys by making friends with the ones here."
"It'll take a lot longer than one quick stop to make the Miami-Merry Men act like my Trenton RangeUncles," Julie told her.
I wish that were true. Stephanie-formerly-Plum is a damaged-man whisperer. If a man is broken, she can have him suddenly feeling fixable. That's heady stuff for the ones who had already given up on themselves ... and on life in general.
"I'll try to rein in the need for protection. I'll already have tons of explaining to do when word gets back to the control room in Trenton that I had been a snack-pusher here."
"You never have to explain your motives or your actions to anyone, Babe."
"If it'll prevent misunderstandings, I do. But I'll face that when it or he calls me again. Now ... introduce Olive and I to whoever's here. No doubt our Julie is already on everyone's Christmas card list from needing some protection herself."
My daughter grinned. "It is hard being so much fun that everybody wants to be around me, legally or illegally."
Steph changed her hold on Olive so she could also wrap an arm around Julie. "I'm guessing that's something you and your Dad spend hours discussing, since you both have that in common. I know I threaten to kidnap one, or both of you, at least once a week. But I'm allowed to say that, because I would take excellent care of you. I'll probably have to threaten the same with Olive when she can walk well enough to run away from me."
"Run to you is more likely," I corrected.
Olivia continued to smile at her Mama as Steph spoke, all the while shaking and waving the red carnation our baby had confiscated from the restaurant, which she's yet to let go of. Julie could put in for bodyguard pay for watching to make sure Olive didn't eat any part of it on the drive here. We found out that trying to remove it from her small but strong hand was eardrum-suicide.
"I hope so," Steph said, loudly kissing our baby which caused a laugh from both, one from the action and the other from Olive's reaction to it. "I suck at running. It'll be way easier if she heads our way rather than away from us."
I grinned and turned to the blonde/gray-eyed semi-giant who just stepped off the elevator.
"Julie already knows him, but Steph, Olivia, meet Smith," I told them.
"Nice to meet you, Smith," my wife said, holding out a hand. "Where's Wesson?"
"Out on patrol," Smith answered, not unfamiliar with the joke.
"Really?" Steph asked, looking at him and then to me as Olive showed off her flower to a new pair of eyes.
"Amm baa ... yah!" She eagerly stated.
She proceeded to 'knight' Smith with her carnation instead of using the typical sword.
"You'll never know, Babe."
"I would've come bearing flowers had I known you ladies were down here, but it seems someone beat me to it," Smith said, well on his way to falling in love with Olive if the dimples and teeth he was displaying were any indication.
"We brought Pastelitos," Julie told the man who had been her shadow for months after Scrog. "I got Steph to admit they're better than jelly doughnuts."
He took one from the box after I nodded an okay. "Good thing you didn't put them up against a Boston Cream. The food fight would've turned dirty."
"I don't know you yet, but I already love you," my wife told him.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Mrs. Ranger, but please don't say something like that anywhere near The Boss," he said, suddenly looking worried.
"Why?" She asked, not seeing anything wrong with liking a fellow doughnut-connoisseur.
"C'est un homme d'action," said Launcher, coming into the building in time to see Smith squirm.
I am a man of action ... and everyone here is well aware of that occasionally painful-for-them fact. Being a former member of a French Special Forces team didn't make Launcher any less scared of me.
"You speak French?" She asked him.
"I not only speak the language, a born and bred Frenchman is now at your service," Launcher said in flawless English, adding an overkill bow that still didn't mess up his perfectly-in-place dark hair.
"Oooh, another language and accented-English. Say something else."
"Nous avons un problème," he immediately responded, but he delivered that message to me.
"Crap. I can barely speak English most days," Stephanie stated, "but I can sense a problem anywhere and in any language."
"Talk," I ordered Launcher.
Coming here today with my family when I didn't need to, was clearly a mistake. I don't mix business with pleasure. I looked down at Steph, who was watching Olive blow flower-kisses to Smith, Launcher, and Solder, and amended that mental-statement. The one time I couldn't not combine work and play ... continues to offer rewards.
