Everyone familiar belongs to Janet. Mistakes are mine alone.

This discussion/showdown ended for Stephanie much like the earlier one she'd had with her father. She steeled herself, said everything she needed to, and immediately slumped in my arms the moment we were alone on the other side of their doors and she could let her guard down again.

"I want today to be over," she said into my T-shirt.

"I'm afraid we have a baby girl and two dogs who still believe there are more hours in the day left to use up."

Her lips created tension in my uniform's shirt as her mouth pulled up in a smile at just the mention of our daughter. "Alright, let me correct myself, I want our having to deal with crap to be over for the day so we can just hibernate in our apartment until the sun comes back up ... and hopefully my energy along with it."

"Consider it done, Babe. You definitely need a solid twelve hours to properly reboot."

"Or twelve hours to convince you to boot One Shot out of the building."

I knew it would take some time for her to forgive him for coming after me three lifetimes ago, but I assumed she'd talk big and watch everything he does up until he proves himself as trustworthy and he becomes one of many men she now watches out for. It doesn't often happen, but I could be wrong about her being able to get past his past. She's the most compassionate person I know ... but she's as tough as I am when it comes to defending her own. She credits me with guiding her into a happier, healthier life and having that taken away, even in retrospect, scares her and also pisses her off in a way that could prove fatal to Atlas' hope for another new start. I'm loyal to the men I've taken on, and I will always offer my assistance in any way I can to secure them anything they may need, but my wife and daughters come before anything or anybody else.

I slipped an arm around my wife's waist and curled it so Steph stayed tucked protectively into my side as I walked her into the elevator. I waited until the doors closed before I cupped her face in my hands and lifted it so I could look directly into her eyes.

"Were you just giving Atlas a hard time?" I asked her. "Or do you really have a problem with him being here? He can work in Boston just as well as he can here if you really don't trust him or want him near Olivia. I wouldn't allow him access to my people or my building if I didn't fully believe he's not a liability or a threat, but this is your home. If his presence here bothers you, I'll move him out. I can't abandon him, but I refuse to sacrifice your peace of mind for his needing a safe place to stay."

She sighed. The small puff of air I felt against my face brought to mind an earlier-in-the-day encounter between us that was much more relaxing and definitely more satisfying.

"I have a problem with him almost killing you," she finally said.

I brushed an unruly curl back behind her ear. "I got that loud and clear. I don't like saying this in front of him ... his ego can be a fragile thing, but there was no way he could have killed me even if I hadn't set him up that day. The network of 'friends' I had, made sure I was informed of any trouble heading my way. If that's the only thing you can't get past, cross it off the list because it was never going to happen."

"So you had an informal group of Rangeman-style almost-men growing up?"

The elevator opened, but she waited for my answer before she was willing to move.

"My friends didn't have much back then, but we all lived by a strict moral code ... a brotherhood. My family loved me, but those guys understood me in a way my parents never could, and we vowed to protect each other no matter the cost to ourselves."

After I spoke, she let me tug her out of the elevator on the seventh floor. "I'm going to read between the lines here," she said, as I unlocked our apartment's door. "If Atlas hadn't been someone you could handle on your own... he would've been taken out by someone, or a few people, close to you?"

"That was the plan," I told her, "but not one I would approve of or accept even now."

"Of course you wouldn't. You go to bat for everyone else, but don't want the same treatment."

"I can take care of myself," I reminded her.

"You can, but you really need to accept that some of us want to take care of you too. You're not alone any more than I am."

I know what she's saying and it didn't sit well with me that she doesn't see how her appearance in my life completely altered it.

"You can do whatever you need to," I said, stopping her in the front hall after I relocked us in, "for me and our daughters. I'm not going to question your instincts or the reasons you act on them, I'm only asking you to give Atlas a chance if your only issue with him is he had a job to do that he already had no chance of accomplishing."

She had stayed against my side and now hugged me before we could venture further than the front entrance. "I can't promise that I'll like him or forgive him, but I also won't order him on his way ... yet. I have no reason to trust him, so I don't feel compelled to ... but I trust you completely. I know you wouldn't invite a psycho to live in our building, I just need some time or a few examples of why you don't see One Shot as just a gang member who took the easy route in life."

We'd started moving again and I could feel the physical change in her body when Tank and Olivia came into view. Our daughter had discovered the benefits of her GodTank being so tall. Her entire sleeping body stretched out, fit the exact length of his quadriceps. I felt the impact the scene had on Stephanie. The stressors of the day immediately disappeared and her smile was an automatic happy one. She crept quietly around the obstacle course lying in front of us until she reached the couch. She squatted down beside the duo to press a barely-there kiss to the baby-cheek not smooshed into her Uncle's leg.

What Steph did next surprised both Tank and I. She sat down beside him on the couch and turned to sling a hug around his chest. I wasn't expecting it, but I knew the thought and feelings that prompted the gesture. Tank, however, was shocked and struck momentarily silent.

Like he's done alongside me in firefights, he faced the attack head-on. "What was that for?" He asked, using a voice not far above silent so he wouldn't wake our daughter.

"For always having Ranger's back, and never once thinking of putting a bullet in it."

He nodded as understanding dawned. "You met One Shot while you were already out," he stated instead of asked.

Steph transferred her body weight to me by resting her temple on my thigh as soon as I sat on the arm of the sofa beside her. It wasn't lost on either Tank or I how similar Olivia and Stephanie are to each other. I know firsthand how both prefer sleeping on someone whenever they're presented with the opportunity. Luckily, I've been able to provide Stephanie that option almost every night we've been together.

"Yup," she said to his statement. "And I'm not a fan."

"Yet," I told her.

"We'll see."

"I can tell how one meeting went, how'd it go with Frank?" Tank forced himself to ask.

He couldn't help but notice how nervous she'd been to confront and also care for her father. Though Tank is likely feeling relieved that she's so distracted by other things right now, she isn't pressing him on his budding love life.

My wife relaxed a little more. "My Dad and I ... I have hopes for."

He knew what she didn't say. "Unlike Atlas. What did he get himself into this time?" Tank asked me. "Last I heard, he was putting down roots in Detroit."

"He was, but he sold his shop and headed here. Today wasn't the day for details, but I'd guess an old 'family' friend located him and wanted a favor."

"It's a shame he had to sell. I bet 'Gunmans R Us' was a popular hangout," Steph said, still not giving Atlas an inch.

Tank tried unsuccessfully to squelch a grin. He can find this funny since he doesn't have to feel responsible for anyone else's reaction to the situation.

"It was a custom-built bike shop, Babe. Nothing more sinister than that."

She sighed. A sound oddly sadder sounding than all of the others she's had to make today.

"Don't tell me that," she ordered. "I really don't want him to have any checks in the 'pro' column."

"He does have a few whenever you're ready to see them," I promised her. "Remember that woman Atlas mentioned?"

"Yeah, the one who wanted to 'save him' but he decided to bail on instead."

"We heard that story differently, but yes. And you were obviously paying close attention when he said this isn't the first time he's had to prove himself. In a way to get her father to ease up on the promises to kill him, Atlas got into helping him repair bikes. He realized he could have a different - far more legal - career that uses only his hands."

"Your friend apparently isn't real likable. Everybody seems to want to kill him. I'm sticking with the guys I already like, ones who Olive clearly has complete control of," she added, as she surveyed the state of our living room. "Did a bomb go off in here or something?"

"We would've heard it blow if one had," I replied. "It appears the two kids, one big and one tiny, have dragged out every toy Olivia owns."

"It was the mutts. They couldn't tell their toys from Olive's and just dragged them all in here," Tank tried out.

My wife cut her eyes to me. "And to think, I just told my Dad that he'd need backup from guys like this one if he were to ever babysit, and now I'm thinking we should have had Grandma check on how Tank was doing."

"Edna was here for a bit," he confessed. "She took Gunner and Ammo back to her apartment with her. 'So they won't wake the kid' was her excuse, but Vince called ten minutes later to report that she had enlisted the help of Ramon and Ram to walk them with her."

"She's going to make these dog-walks a daily thing," I predicted.

Edna always enjoys having company around her, but that company being one - or many - of my men ... she loves even more. They're the only ones strong enough to handle a woman like her, she claims.

Steph's grin was an understanding one. "That explains the chaos and also the non-greeting at the door. You're sweet for covering for her."

"He didn't cover for Edna, he lied and tried to pin this mess on Mo and Gunny," I pointed out.

"For the greater good," was her reply.

"You really got a problem with One Shot, don't you? If you're cuttin' me all kinds of slack."

"I'm cutting you slack because I love you, and you just spent a few hours of your day amusing my baby and my grandmother when you didn't have to. I said I'd give the guy a chance, and I meant it, but that doesn't mean that I don't have a few issues with him living only a few floors below this one."

"You know we would never let anything happen to Olivia," Tank reminded her.

"I won't let anything happen to Olive," she replied. "It's my husband I'm worried about."

Tank was back to looking confused. Rightly so, since my reputation is based on how effectively I keep myself alive when everyone who comes at me 'accidentally' gets dead.

"Babe, Atlas can't hurt me."

"What if you believing that is what gets you shot or injured in the end?"

"I appreciate your concern, but it's not needed. I can take out a threat even if it hits close to home. My extensive training means I can also tell whether a person is a danger or not. One Shot hadn't been a threat back then, and he's even less of a worry now. If you don't like him, that's fine. You're not going to love every person you meet here, but don't let your feelings for me change what you could do for him."

"I don't know what I can do for him except maybe shoot him."

"I'm with Stephanie on this one," Tank added. "Nothing will humble an assassin like being taken out by a pissed-off wife of the guy he couldn't manage to kill."

"Don't make me hug you again, Tank, cause I'll do it," she warned.

Knowing she'll do exactly that, he backed away from her as far as the couch and our daughter would let him.

I was grinning when her cell vibrated. She'd muted the thing before we got to Frank's apartment, but she refused to turn it off just in case Olivia needed something. That my cell is active at all times never figures into her decisions regarding how she can be reached.

"That'll be Grandma Mazur wanting to hear my play-by-play of the therapy session," Steph said, as she brought her cell up in front of her to answer. "She'll have already grilled Dad thoroughly by now."

Instead of hitting the spot to open the call, she did the opposite and actually turned it completely off, sparing only two words for the now lifeless phone before tossing it on the chair in the far corner of the room.

"Not today," is what she'd told it.

It didn't take a lot of brain power to figure out who picked the exact wrong time to resurface.