All familiar characters belong to Janet. Mistakes are solely mine.
"Knock, knock."
I looked up to see Stephanie in my doorway. "The door's open, Babe. That means knocking, physically or verbally, isn't required."
"Sue me … I'm polite."
I gave her a 50-watt grin. "Eighty percent of the time."
She came all the way into my office and bent her head to kiss me. "You're pretty hot when you're lying."
"Or being generous with percentages."
"That too. Do you think I can borrow your office? I have a meeting and Olive still hasn't recovered from her RangeUncle-sized playdate and decided to take her nap earlier than I expected."
"That's fine with me as long as you promise not to hide junk food in my desk drawers again. Santos now stops here first to check for snacks because it's closer than the kitchen."
"Can you imagine if things did work out between him and Ayanna? She works in a restaurant ... he'd have his own personal food dealer. Not exactly my Dad and Aideen's coffee connection, but it'd be close."
I stood up, not wanting to leave our daughter alone for longer than it takes to ask and answer a question. "I want the details when your meeting's over."
"You're where I'm headed to first ... and not just because you'll be with Olive."
I kissed her on my way to the door. "Good luck."
"Thanks. I'm going to need it."
"You found the deadbeat dad and helped his kids by getting their mom the money she needs to take care of them, you don't really need luck. Just be you and do what you do best."
She rolled her eyes at how easy I make it sound for her, but I saw her shoulders relax before I stepped out into the hall.
"Vince!" I called to get his attention. "Make sure Stephanie's appointment is directed to my office. That's where she is currently."
"Will do, Boss."
I lifted my hand and gave my wife a thumbs up when I passed my office again and moved a few feet down to hers. It always takes me a second to adjust to seeing Olivia sleeping without Mo, Gunny, or Mado in front, behind, or next to her. Knowing today was going to be a 'normal' workday, the pets had to adapt to our periodic visits to Seven and walks outside rather than having the run of the fifth floor.
My daughter is full girl today. She is a literal bright spot sprawled out on her toddler sofa. Her pink, daisy-printed shorts and white eyelet lace shirt had her standing out from the solid blue background like a human flower. What surprised me is seeing that her sneakers remained on her feet when she still pulls them off more than half the time. It's likely because they also have flowers on them.
I bent almost in two in order to kiss her and wish her sweet dreams, and then I sat in Steph's too-small chair to go over the Rangeman budget for the month while I waited for my daughter to wake up or my wife to show up and reclaim her space.
Stephanie was the first to reappear. "Thank you for letting me borrow the Bat Office," Steph was saying thirty-three minutes after I left her. "I didn't want to disturb Olive, but also I didn't want to further hurt my new client."
"You got a signed contract?" I asked while she kissed Olivia after walking into the room.
Her nose wrinkled in displeasure. She sat on the corner of her desk so she could talk to me and keep an eye on our daughter. And that simple action was inappropriately distracting since she's in corporate wear today - a black pencil skirt, white blouse, and heels - so I could see and skim my fingers over her legs from the curve of her now crossed knees down to her ankles.
"Yeah, but I hate that part. It feels wrong to take someone's money when they're going through the worst moments of their lives."
My head gave an imperceptible nod. I understand, but I also know that information, programs, and people that can lead to new intel, doesn't come cheap.
"You can go pro bono if taking a paycheck for doing a good job isn't sitting well with you, but I'll have to add more high-level cases to make up the difference."
If she was displeased before, her expression now screams 'fuck that'. "You are NOT taking on extra dangerous assignments to make up for me being an even bigger softie than the guys accuse me of being."
"Caring about people isn't a defect, Steph."
"It is from a business standpoint. I'm not signing you up to get shot at more often because I feel bad for taking money from people hitting their personal rock bottoms."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Yeah. If you have a few minutes."
"I have all the time you need. This case involved a child and that's why you wanted a kid-free space?"
She sighed in a way that conveyed the pain she'd just been exposed to. "Yeah. I was going to just bring Olive to your office to play until I was done, but then she fell asleep. Farren Wauster has been trying to find her daughter. Her ex-husband picked up their little four-year-old, Halina, for his court-appointed weekend with her. But he disappeared with Halina shortly after he left Farren's house. The police are looking for him, but they can't do what we can. I didn't want her to see Olive and twist the knife on what she's missing. I can't do much to hide him," she said, framing her rounding belly with her hands, "but rubbing her nose in our good fortune of having the cutest toddler close to the same age as hers, felt cruel."
I nodded. "Good call. Where are we starting the search?"
"The ex has dual citizenship and she's afraid he took their daughter and fled the country, so airports and all airstrips in both areas are going to need to be checked out."
Dealing with two or more countries does complicate things, but as Steph said … we have channels law enforcement can't tap into.
"I'd appreciate it if you can put all her information together and send me a copy of her file," I told my wife.
"I will. I won't even argue if you want to take on this case yourself. If someone took Olive away from me," she paused as she tried to get her emotions under control, "I'd want the best. I'd also tear the planet apart to get to her myself. I'd do way worse to whoever took her."
"Breathe, Babe. Olivia is here and I would never allow you two to be separated. God won't even be able to help anyone who comes near our kids with an agenda that doesn't match ours."
I didn't get a call from my guy at the TPD saying the shrew is accusing me of murder, so even Helen is starting to understand the lengths I'll go for my girls.
Steph blew out a breath. "Thank you for saying that. There's nothing I wouldn't do for our kids, and all it takes is one reminder that some people aren't as lucky as I am to completely screw with my emotions. I want to blame being pregnant for the reaction I'm having …"
"Trust me, Babe. It's not just pregnancy hormones. This case would piss off anyone in the building. You do not use kids as a weapon against your ex. That's why I let Ron adopt Julie. I wasn't able to be the father he could be to my daughter, but even knowing that Rachel never stopped or blocked me from seeing her when I was able to or when Julie asked to contact me. It could've been an ugly custody battle, but we both agreed we'd never put our daughter through that."
"Good thing I don't have to worry about that, because if you try to divorce me … I'll kill you."
There's a fifty/fifty chance she's not kidding.
"Good thing," I repeated, "I'd die before I'd divorce you. Seems we had the same idea."
"Sounds like it, but we should probably just stay alive and stay married."
"That's a much more satisfactory plan."
She uncrossed her legs and slid off her desk to press her lips to mine. I was just about to break some rules on office etiquette by pulling her into my lap and kissing her properly, but we heard a familiar yawn followed by a partial conversation Olivia was having with someone in the dream she's slowly coming out of.
"Hi, sleepyhead," Steph said, standing upright again and watching our baby as she rolled and stretched herself awake. "Did you enjoy your nap?"
"No naps," Olivia stated.
"Maybe you should have told yourself that, because you were definitely taking one … unless you've learned to play 'Statue' even better than GodTank."
With one last yawn, our daughter rolled off her mini-sofa and headed towards us. "We made a hut," she said, stretching her hand out to me.
I met her wrist with mine and we formed the customary heart-hello with our separate halves of one. Only then did she crawl up onto my lap.
"Mama is done with her meeting, Olive. Do you want to spend the rest of our workday down here or head back upstairs?"
The way our daughter rested her cheek where she can hear my heartbeat, and draped one arm lazily around my ribs, I'd say she's happy right where she is. I can say the same.
"I don't have another place to be at the moment," I told Steph. "You can tell me what you need to start hunting the guy."
"The police are following the law and aren't having much luck, so I'm planning on breaking as many as I can to track him and Halina down. I hope you're okay with that and will be ready to step in if he did anything to that little girl. I already know I'm not going to be acting rationally at any point in this case."
She leaned towards us just to brush her fingers over our daughter's cheek. Sometimes I consider forcing my wife and her parents to take DNA tests just to see it in writing that they are in fact related. Everything she does for our kids she's had to learn with no frame of reference from them. Frank's a bit more demonstrative these days, but he isn't as natural as Stephanie's become at showing affection.
"You know me, I always try to follow the rules and keep you under control."
I managed to say that with a completely blank expression, which got my wife laughing in response. Olivia perked up and started giggling so she wouldn't be left out of something her Mama finds amusing even if she doesn't know what the joke is.
"Daddy is really funny when he wants to be," she whisper-spoke to Olivia.
"Dada da silly."
My wife looked up at me. "Just for the record, I said 'funny'. She's the only one calling you silly."
"Scared of potential payback?" I asked.
"Not anymore. I welcome it now."
"Because you're braver? Or you think I'm less evil when it comes to plotting revenge."
"Door number two … when it comes to me. You're actually a lot more vengeful towards certain kinds of troublemakers."
She isn't wrong. I've been called ruthless, even heartless, my entire career and I move closer to soulless when I'm protecting my family.
Like a light switch had been flipped, Olivia's head popped up from my chest and she was sliding off me at almost the same time. Stephanie claims our baby gets that all-in-one maneuver technique from me.
Another correct observation.
"Do you need to use the big girl potty down here, Olive? Or your special seat at home?"
"No potty."
"That 'no' word is Daddy's favorite too. When Julie gets here, I'm calling a family meeting and we're getting you two brand new favorite words. Now is this your 'no potty' where we need to sprint to the bathroom five minutes later so we don't have any accidents?"
Seeing a lot of baby teeth as Olivia stopped to smile over her shoulder at her Mama, had Steph quickly taking her hand. "Let's save the running for the backyard with Mo and Gunny," she was saying to Olivia as they were walking out of the office, "and just take care of business now."
I was alone for less than two minutes before Edna was standing in Steph's doorway. "When I asked at the desk, Gene said Stephanie was in her office?"
"She's on a bathroom break for Olivia. She'll be back in a minute. Take a seat. Is there something I can help you with?"
"Maybe …"
"Hey, Grandma," my wife said a beat later, as Olivia ran to her toy corner. "What's with the freshly dyed and styled purple/gray curls and new dress?"
Edna immediately stood up and struck a pose in her square-heeled pumps. "I had me a date to look good for."
"Really? With who?"
"Me," Santos answered, coming into the office behind Stephanie. "And it was a dud."
I want to pinch the bridge of my nose as a way of bracing for the bullshit that's about to be spewed, but I won't give him the satisfaction of seeing me react to him.
"Explain," I said instead.
"Hot Stuff here thought he'd get himself some 'gentleman' points for taking an old lady out to lunch, but …"
"But he chose the wrong old lady," Steph finished for her. "Lester, you forgot that Grandma was with us for that lunch, so Ayanna already knows and has heard her. If you were hoping for 'awww' points, you should've taken Ranger's grandmother. Mine inspires sympathy more than anything else."
"Exactly!" He said. "I should've made a good impression for taking out my feisty adopted grandma when most of Jersey would pay big money to avoid her."
"Now wait just a minute …" Edna began.
Santos put a hand on her bony shoulder and squeezed. "Because they can't handle your awesomeness, Edna," he assured her. "Not many men can measure up to you."
"Great," Steph said to me. "She's going to be on a hormone high for the next month."
"That's not something I ever needed to hear."
"I'm gonna need to borrow the kid next time," Lester said to Stephanie.
"No," I told him. "My daughter is not a date-lure."
Steph got close enough to gently elbow me. "I don't know about that. Every time I see you with Julie or Olive, I want a date with you."
"Clearly," Santos replied, pointing at her pregnant belly.
"One date is all this took," my wife said back, sliding her hand over where our son is growing. "But I'm greedy and I want as many as I can get with The Boss."
"See?" Edna said, poking Santos in the ribs. "You should say stuff like that to your young lady."
"She isn't his lady," Steph corrected, "so he should definitely not say anything like that to her. It took me a marriage and two-and-a-half kids to be comfortable saying exactly how I feel to anybody listening. Lester tries that … and Ayanna will go straight to the police for a restraining order."
"I can control my mouth and what comes out of it," he whined.
"Why am I just learning that now?" I asked. "Life would've been a hell of a lot easier if I knew you were capable of biting your tongue."
"If there weren't three ladies present, I'd have an epic comeback for that one."
Steph turned to me. "Maybe he does need a little Olive magic … with appropriate bodyguards protecting her."
"No," I said again.
"No Olib," my daughter added, sitting back on her sleep-couch with two plush unicorns.
Lester slumped down into the chair Edna had vacated. "I thought I could count on you guys."
"You can," Steph assured him. "But my days of being involved in stupid schemes to avoid actual work are over. If you're serious about this, Les, you need to show Ayanna what we see in you."
"Which is?"
"A guy who has a big heart but doesn't want it broken again so he's never made an effort to be 'real' … until now. Until her."
