Everyone familiar belongs to Janet. Olive, her Rangepuppies, and the mistakes, are mine.
Having some time and a few unlucky FTAs to take my residual aggression out on, mellowed the rage I'd felt in possibly losing my wife or daughter, but the moment I get back to the Rangeman building or walk into our seventh-floor apartment, I immediately go in search of Stephanie and Olivia. I start with being on the lookout for Mo and Gunny, knowing they are never far from my ladies.
I had dropped Gunther Malorive off at the station with only minimal injury done to his person for believing he could outrun me. Having had to master a five-mile run in under forty minutes, a habit I not only didn't break but have streamlined over the years to be under twenty, the asshole was still just contemplating running when I caught up to him and brought him down for a face-first meeting with the asphalt courtesy of my boot to the back of his knee.
I was still shaking my head at the stupidity of some people when I walked into my apartment. I greeted our canine welcome committee and gave Rex a carrot so he'll remember what a vegetable is, though Steph may have stumbled onto Pop-Tarts being the secret of hamster longevity since he's the oldest rodent I've seen. The rat was still in the process of wedging the carrot into his cheek when I went looking for my wife and a too-quiet Olivia. Not hearing my daughter's happy chatter or squealing laughter is only reassuring when the silence is happening around naptime or after we've tucked her in for what we always hope will be a peaceful sleep that lasts at least eight hours, but longer continues to be the goal.
I found both of my girls on the bed in our room, with Gunny and Mo happily trailing me before staring at me with wagging tails like they're responsible for where my family is and happy to be able to escort me to them. Not wanting to burst their protective instinct-bubble, I gave them both a head scratch for doing a good job of keeping my world in order before addressing my wife as they settled on the floor with the chew toys in here that purposely don't squeak.
"Don't start," Steph warned me. "Olivia was playing with Wigglebutts One and Two here, so I thought I could do a little your-baby-is-coming-soon shopping for Harper and Kane while she was distracted playing kissy-face with the furry ones, but she crawled up to me and wanted to cuddle. I didn't have the heart or the willpower to move her before or after she fell asleep ..."
I leaned over the bed, which put me over them, kissed her quiet and then kissed Olivia's unruly even-in-sleep wavy hair.
"I would've done the same, Babe. Why do you think I come searching for you the minute I get home?"
"You miss us."
I was pleased to note that she stated that, not questioned it.
"I did and I do, but I also need to see that you're both alright. I understand wanting to keep our daughter close right now. Even before this happened, I breathed easier on the days I know you'll be sticking close to home."
"I wish I could say the same, but you hardly ever have a day that's spent entirely inside the building. Apparently being the 'Boss' means you're in charge of everything."
I grinned at her mock-disgruntled tone. We both know who we married ... and both wouldn't alter the other even to be able to relax easier. Since my wife is currently immobile, relaxing doesn't sound like such a bad idea. I put one knee on the foot of the bed and crawled partially up it as carefully as I could as to not jostle Stephanie's body and wake Olivia. I settled my body between my wife's legs, resting my head on her hip right across from where Olive's bare toes are lying still, and I stretched my left arm out over Steph's thigh.
"Get comfy why don't you," my wife said, looking down over our daughter at me.
"Want me to move?"
"I'll shoot you if you do," was the exact answer I wanted and the one I did receive.
I pressed a kiss near the zipper of her jeans and relaxed even further.
"How did the takedown go?" She asked me. "I was betting you'd be back before Olive woke up. Looks like I'm right again."
"Who were you placing bets with? Tank or Lester? The skip ran, but not fast enough," I summarized.
She snorted and we both went still as the sound and sudden movement caused Olivia to shift in her sleep. Our daughter moved her head away from Stephanie's neck to her chest, and I almost got my nose relocated as a tiny foot jerked like our baby is running free in her dreams. A dual silent-count to thirty was enough to assure us that she's still asleep, but not for much longer.
"One of these days, I'll realize that not all comments require a sound effect," Steph softly joked. "That was a close one. What I should have stuck to saying is that the FTA should've taken one look at you and figured out that you can run a marathon before the toast even pops out of the toaster ... and he'd be toast if he tried anything funny. It was Tank who stopped by to see Olive and bring her another 'Tankie' Bear, this one being purple camo to join the pink one he gave her. We're not the only ones who were affected by the park-game."
"I didn't expect us to be the only ones concerned about Olivia or the possibility of her being harmed. She means a lot to everyone, as do you."
"I know. I love everyone more just for loving her so much. Tank told me what you arranged for the three kids responsible for scaring the shit out of all of us. How your brain works always impresses me, but that was an especially brilliant way of putting your words into a visual they will never be able to forget."
"War is all fun and video games until you find yourself on a battlefield with real people shooting at you while you watch your buddies get blown up inches from you. The kid, friend, and brother, all needed to see that an innocent, 'cool' bullet can rip someone's life apart as well as their body when it's shot out of a gun. Accident or not ... the destruction is the same."
"And everybody knows the local medical examiner enjoys having some assistance when performing and cleaning up after autopsies. You really are trying to avoid killing two birds with one stone/bullet by making the public service part of their punishment having to see up close and personal the damage they could've done to any one of us."
"You never forget your first body. The three of them are getting off easy by the ones they're seeing not being who they put in the morgue themselves."
"I can't say that's a good way of looking at this, because I really, really wish I could scrub your mind clean of anything horrible you've ever had to do or see."
"You can't, but you standing by me has given me something irreplaceable that has made everything I've done, good or bad, worth it. Any way I can protect you and our children, I'll do ... with a smile on my face and without feeling an ounce of remorse over."
Her fingers wound their way into my hair. I placed another jean-kiss, this one on the bare skin of her stomach where Olivia's toes had worked the material of Steph's T-shirt free. I'd moved out of the way just in time to avoid another Olive-kick. Fortunate man that I am ... I got to watch my daughter slowly wake up one more time. She stretched all four limbs out as far as they would go. She made soft sounds of pure delight when she blinked open her big brown eyes and discovered she's still surrounded by her Mama. She then turned her beautiful face to the side and gave me the kind of unapologetically-wide smile that suggested I'm the sole reason she wanted to wake up.
