All familiar characters are Janet's. Olive, the Rangedogs, new Rangeguys, and any mistakes, are mine.
"Olive was still crawling or butt-scooting last time she was here. How did the guys react to her walking?" Julie asked us, as I parked in one of my spots in this city's Rangeman garage.
"We're about to find out," Steph told her. "Your Dad and I wanted you to get the full-brunt of Olive's 'I really missed you' attention, so the four of us waited in the 'Range-bus' ..."
Looks like Stephanie and I are going to be revisiting an earlier discussion. "It's a six-seater SUV, Babe, not a bus."
"When a vehicle spills over into a second parking space, it can be called and considered a bus. Don't mind him, Jules. Your Dad's pretty proud of himself for totally pulling this surprise trip off and he's been feeling unusually - sometimes annoyingly - playful. As I was saying, we just made a quick stop to drop off our bags, which your Dad ran in. Since you missed your Trenton RangeUncles seeing Olive walk, you now get to watch Miami's reaction when your Uncles spot you walking in with her."
I thought Julie would laugh at the lengths Steph and I will go to make sure she knows she's our daughter, and a vital member of our family, just as much as Olivia is, but our oldest went quiet instead of appearing amused.
My wife, our dogs, our baby, and myself ... stopped our walk to the lobby door in order to turn towards Julie.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"That's just it ... nothing's wrong. I know I'm part of the family, but it just hit me how lucky I am to be."
I responded as honestly as I could. "We're the lucky ones," I told her, pulling her into a two-armed, four front-paw hug.
"We really are, Jules," Steph seconded. "It's because of you that I wasn't as scared as I could've been when I found out that I was pregnant with Olive. Getting to hang out with you, I learned all the things I have to look forward to."
Now the expected laugh came, though Julie and Steph's eyes were suspiciously damp. "Uncle Lester would call you sappy for saying something like that, Steph."
"And he'd be right. But I'm allowed to be sappy when it comes to my family if I remain a total badass at work ... don't repeat that word, girls, either of you. Now you get to make saps out of our Miami guys. Olive will try to leave you in the dust if she sees a new play opportunity, so I suggest hanging on."
"Gotcha," she said, carefully but firmly curling her fingers around Olivia's impatient to get moving hand and wrist.
With the two of them taking point, Steph circled my waist and took Ammo's leash as I kept hold of Gunner's.
"Oh mon dieu, notre princesse marche," Launcher exclaimed for everyone's amusement, but mostly his own.
"I got this one," Steph told me. "He said something along the lines of warning God that the Princess is walking."
"Close enough," I told her. "Though it was likely more a plea for his God to stay on his toes because our Princess is now able to walk."
She nodded. "That's basically what I just said."
We unclipped the leashes and let the dogs go as Julie released both of Olivia's hands so she could go to whichever RangeUncle 'spoke' to her. Gunny and Mo divided and conquered the control room while Olivia became more selective, feeling out the guys and heading towards the ones she remembers the strongest or had the biggest smile on his face. They can shoot someone without blinking an eye, but put an excited sounding baby in their vicinity ... and they suddenly remember that they are in fact human, not just weapons to be used and then tucked away until next time one's needed.
With a squeal of delight ... Olive headed towards our resident Frenchman.
"I've always been popular with la petits."
"It's likely the accent," Steph told him, watching Mo head to Wrecker and Gunny veer off towards Smith.
"Sé lo mucho que amas un acento, nena," I said to my wife.
Saying that I know how much she loves an accent, isn't sexy at all, but wrap it up in Spanish ... and Steph's face instantly turned pink. I know from experience other places would soon be wet if I kept it up.
"Not in front of the kids or the guys," Steph warned me, fully aware of the effect I have on her.
My eyebrow warned her right back that I will be continuing later on when we are alone.
"It appears that your parents are very adept at flirting," Launcher said conversationally to Olivia. "Now that you possess the ability to walk, Notre Petite Princesse, I bet you could even fly if you were so inclined."
That was followed by him easily lifting her active little body up in front of him and aiming her towards the rest of the men.
"Be careful ... " Julie tried to tell everyone.
But Launcher was too busy saying ... "Bombs away," to Breaker.
"Right on target," Wrecker stated, as the side-effect of teething was cued up in Olivia's mouth only to be released through a happy giggle over the target ... Breaker's unsuspecting face.
"Told you so," Julie told them. "Olive's diaper-deep in the drooling phase of getting all her teeth. She slobbers more than Mo and Gunny do. No offense, Olive."
"None taken," Steph answered for her little sister. "She understands that she got you pretty good in the car on the ride here."
"Add me to the hit list," Breaker said with a smile lacing his voice, hiking up the hem of his Rangeman shirt to wipe away all evidence of my daughter's air attack.
My eyes strayed to my wife, hoping for my man's sake that she didn't take notice of the flash of flesh and muscle that was temporarily on display, but Steph's eyes were shining proudly at Olivia and Julie before finding me already looking at her.
Mo and Gunny seemed to sense the amusement in the control room's atmosphere and started to act accordingly. One bark sounded, followed by a second from Gunner, as Ammo raced towards Olivia and the action surrounding her.
Launcher carefully set Olive down and backed slowly away as if concerned he'd get nailed next with something either from her or our canine unit.
"Tienes suerte de estar vivo," Álvaro said to him.
Steph looked at me and I smiled. Álvaro speaking Spanish did nothing to her except have her ask me to translate for her. Apparently she's wrong. It's not the accent after all, it's solely her love and desire for me that causes her automatic full-body reaction.
"Álvaro just joked that Launcher is lucky to be alive, Babe."
She bravely waded through the canine-fray and knelt down in front of our baby, enveloping her in a hug. "As if our daughter would be responsible for causing friendly fire," she said against Olivia's temple as she picked her up. "But in case her drool-missile sent the wrong homecoming message, I say we order in and have a sorta welcome home party here ... while we're here. What do you think, Julie, since you're our vacation coordinator?"
My daughter's familiar dark eyes collided with mine. The smile shining in them was contagious. "I think we need a pizza and Chinese food combo ... maybe ice cream too."
"Consider it done," Steph said, hugging Olive before snagging our dog's leashes to hand to me in anticipation of getting take-out.
"This is the best day," Julie shared with me.
"It is," I agreed.
My ladies are one buried-threat safer and two daughters' laughter happier.
