All familiar characters belong to Janet. The new ones and any mistakes are solely mine.

"You may need some help with Gunner and Ammo," Santos tried. "Or you'll at least need me to wrangle them while you guys and our Olive-pit greet your guests."

"Nice try," Steph told him. "But if you go down there, not only are you going to flirt with whoever they brought with them, you'll also smile too charmingly - and too much - at Harper which Kane will shoot you for. Too much RangeMan blood has been shed already."

She whistled to our dogs to get their attention as she reached for our daughter. "Come on, team, we've got some investigating to do." Santos took a step forward, towards the elevator. "Not you," she said, stopping him. "You get the honor of escorting Raphael to his apartment and making sure he gets some R&R."

"I ain't his Mama. He's a big boy, he knows when he's tired."

Steph didn't say a thing, didn't even move except to raise an eyebrow.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, immediately caving like I knew he would.

"I don't need a babysitter, Steph ..." Raphael started to point out.

The eyebrow got turned onto him next. Even Olivia grabbing a fistful of her Mama's curly hair in one hand and a baby-handful of petal-soft cheek in the other, didn't detract from Steph's stare.

"Let's go," Raphael said in defeat to Santos.

My wife patted his arm reassuringly, and also as a thank you, as the two men passed her on the way to the stairs.

"My work here is done," Steph said to me, raising her voice to be heard over Olive, Gunny, and Mo's, conversation. "I'm clearly ready to tackle Kane again."

"He didn't stand a chance, Babe. Then or now."

With a smile she let me get the elevator for the four of them.

"There's my girl!" Kane shouted, hooking an arm around Steph's neck, carefully bringing my ladies close a beat after they exited the elevator.

"You'd better be talking about my daughter and not my wife," I warned him, emphasizing the MY part of both.

"There's enough of me to go around," Kane said, relieving Steph of our baby after a handshake/shoulder bump with me.

"I can see that," Steph said, looking to the women who accompanied them while receiving a hug from Harper.

It isn't just Harp and a blond Kane drove here. A woman with hair far darker than Harper's stood to the side, watching the show with obvious amusement. I already know who they both are from my earlier call to Kane, but I let Harper make the introductions.

"Steph, Ranger, Olive, and you two canine-cuties, I'd like you to meet my cousin, Kenzie," Harp said, with a nod to the black-haired woman. "And this completely-natural blond is our friend, Aubrey. She wanted to personally thank you both for helping her with her ... um ... difficult situation."

That's one way to describe a missing husband case that led to us discovering three bodies by the end of it. The George Tipple killing spree isn't one that's easily forgotten. Aubrey lost faith and her husband. Mrs. Tipple lost herself and her life. And George was sent straight to hell without suffering anywhere close to enough for what he had done.

"Once I found out about the affair," Aubrey shared after a quiet moment, "I can't count how many times I threatened to end Leo's life, but I still didn't want to find out that he had been murdered."

Harper, Kenzie, and Steph, all reached out to her in sympathy. Kane and I took another stance. I was smart enough to not voice mine. Kane, unsurprisingly, said exactly what he was thinking.

"That son-of-a-bitch deserved to die for what he did to you, Aubs. I just wish I'd have been the one to kill the bastard."

"Kane, honey, not in front of Olivia ..." Harper said to her husband.

"Or in front of Aubrey," Kenzie added.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry, darlin'," he said to either Olive, Harper, Aubrey, or Kenzie.

Likely all four.

"Let's talk about something else," Harp suggested.

"Like our baby?" Kane said proudly, touching Harp's stomach briefly with his free hand.

Unless Olive's sleepy, she requires two hands on deck at all times.

"My turkey-timer finally popped," Harper told us, pressing her hands flat against her stomach, equally proud to show off the baby bump that hadn't really been visible when we left them in Key West. "Almost halfway in and I finally have something to show for all my hard work."

"Just wait until you feel her moving," Steph shared. "Olive was a busy baby well before she was fully formed. Feeling something kick you from the inside out made things real ... real fast."

That is true. Steph looked completely panic stricken at Olivia's first-felt flutter. She steadily relaxed as she realized that she already was - and would be - a great mom despite the voices of her past in her head trying to convince her otherwise.

"I know I'm ready to be a daddy now," Kane told us. "They talk about how fast the pregnancy months fly by, but I'm not buying it. I feel like we've already been waiting forever."

"We all know patience isn't your thing," Kenzie told him, as she kissed Gunny's head while scratching Mo's.

Casual studies have shown that women don't see either one as intimidating guard dogs except for my mother-in-law.

"Patience for damn sure isn't for me," Kane said, letting Olive fly high much to her delight. He then cut his eyes to me. "You ready to roll?"

One word about one of my men being missing, had Kane making himself available for body-searching or ass-kicking, whatever I felt was needed. Raphael solved his own case, but that didn't stop Kane from arriving with the cavalry to help both Steph and I.

"Yes," I answered, moving my own eyes towards my wife. "Will you be alright?"

"Yep. Just do me a favor and make sure those a-holes fully understand that no one hurts our family and gets away with it."