Chapter 15 - April Showers bring May Flowers

SPOV

Last week after the Easter weekend we completed the third round of our competency exams which all three of us passed. Without Tag we all got along really well and it became a lot less competitive. Instead we now focus on everyone achieving their own goals. A new element to the exams was for our sparring exam we had our first round of sparring with the seasoned Rangeman employees. I was assigned Manny and I managed to take him down 5 times while he only took me down 3. Fish had to face Vince and had similar results. Jace ended up losing by one to Binkie but his scores in the other portions allowed him to pass. As for the other elements we actually repeated the round two B&E and driving exams since the first time was derailed and the shooting portion was a simulated paintball competition of the three of us vs. our sparring partners. We were victorious and I added paintball to my list of new hobbies in my resolutions notebook. The only part that I regressed on was the physical fitness exams but considering I was out of commission or with Julie most of the month I didn't consider it a loss. Following the exams we each had to choose a specialty to be added to our exams this month. I choose client service, Fish choose security installations, and Jace choose Bond enforcement.

That brings me to the present. Me and Ranger split our duties in the morning after our workout. He gets Julie ready for the day and I get the dogs. So I'm currently standing on the curb walking Rosie and Bob around the neighborhood before heading in for work today. It was going to be a busy day since I had three client calls and painting class this evening. My basic classes ended in February and March turned into a whirlwind of events so I wasn't able to take the next level but I was able to find a mother daughter class to take with Julie this month.

I heard the rustling of a bush behind me but when I turned around I didn't see anything. I kept walking but everytime I stopped I swear I heard someone or something ducking somewhere to hide. I picked up the pace of my walk and seemed to lose my tail two blocks from the Rangeman building.

I passed off the leashes to Binkie who had met me in the lobby. I ran up the stairs to shower before heading out to my first client of the day. Ranger was eating breakfast at the dining table when I walked in.

"Good morning Babe. How were the dogs today?" He asked as I wrapped my arms around him from behind.

"They were good but" I moved to sit down in a chair to face him. "Someone might have been following me. But before you go and assign me a protection detail, I'm not too sure as whenever I turned around nothing was there and I definitely could be hearing things. Also the dogs didn't pick up on anything but I suppose they could have been distracted."

"Okay Babe I won't assign you a protection detail, yet. Thank you for telling me. But do me a favor and call the control room if you need anything today and take your panic button with you."

"I never forget them" I then pulled out the tracker and panic button that I kept on a necklace. Hector had found one that everything could be put on a simple chain and then he customized the pendant to be a Bat Signal that if pressed would send a message to the control room and had an embedded tracker. Ranger laughed and took the tracker into his hands.

"Babe. Where did you get this?"

"Hector. Okay I'm gonna shower and get ready for the day. Let Julie know I will be back at 5 and the class starts at 6 so we need to leave by 5:45."

"Will do. Good luck Today" He gave me a gentle kiss and then pushed me toward the bedroom.

I quickly showered and got dressed in a black pencil skirt and a navy blue blouse then I threw on a short black blazer and some black kitten heels before heading out the door blowing a kiss to Ranger who was doing dishes in the kitchen.

I took the elevator down to the garage and got into my dark blue Audi SQ8. The core team told me that as a term of my contract I was allowed a company car to use when I was doing client calls. At first I wasn't sure but Ranger explained that luxury vehicles appealed to our upper class clients so I caved but I refused to let them get me a Black car. I checked to make sure I had everything I would need for the day. Once I completed my check list of purse, business cards, clipboard with notepad and drafting papers, and the folders that contained the brochures and details of all the services we offered I made my way to my first client, a pawn shop a few streets from Stark that was struggling with break ins. The man who owned the shop was a nice older gentleman who had been running the shop since his grandfather bequeathed it to him 40 years ago. His son was worried about his father's safety so he contacted Rangeman.

As we introduced ourselves I asked him about his family and learned that his granddaughter had gotten first place in her dance competition this weekend. He pulled out a stool for me to sit across from him at the counter. I pulled out one of the folders and my clipboard and sat down to walk him through the packages. "We have six commercial packages: basic, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond. Since you don't own a franchise and your store front is less than 5000 square meters, I don't believe that you will need to consider gold, platinum, or diamond." I took the one pager and folded it in half and placed it in front of him using my pen to various points, I continued my pitch. "The basic package includes cameras and sensors connected to a local control panel that you could place behind the counter. You will have to put a pin in within 2 minutes of opening the store or a silent alarm will be triggered. Your control panel alerts will be monitored 24/7 but it does not include remote monitoring of the cameras. The bronze package is the same but includes a 24/7 remote monitor watch. Finally the silver package builds on those two and includes your store on the 24/7 watch patrol which includes drive bys of your store at least every hour. If there is an emergency, and Rangeman has to pull back patrols you will be notified and the remote monitoring will continue. The basic and bronze come with minimum one year contracts and the silver comes with a minimum of three years. Do any of these packages sound of interest to you today?" I circled the base costs at the bottom of the page. I had learned from Lester to never directly say the price until asked.

He pondered a pitch for a minute before replying. "Wow this is quite the business you've got going, how did you come into this line of work?"

"Well I used to be a bounty hunter and my mentor who was in the Army started this company with his army buddies. Eventually I decided to come work for them."

"That's pretty cool. Well tell me then Ms. Plum, can you make modifications to these packages?"

Yes and we also offer other add-on services like background checks on employees if you are interested. What do you have in mind?" I pulled out the second sheet that included our add-ons for things like background checks, personal security, and event security.

"Well I like the basic package so I definitely want that but I don't think I really need offsite monitoring 24/7 but I do like the idea of the area patrols. So could we modify the bronze to replace the remote monitoring with the patrol and still have the option for remote monitoring in cases of emergency? I don't think I need any of these add-ons today."

"I can certainly modify that for you Mr. Jacobs. Please note that this modification does cause the price for the bronze to go up a little since our prices include fees for our fleet vehicles and you will still be added to our emergency feeds list."

"That is perfectly fine. When can you come and do the installation?

"That's wonderful. I'm happy I could do business with you. I will have our lawyers draft the contracts this afternoon and send them over to you. You will also get a bill for the deposit fee of $1000 which will cover the control panel, 5 cameras, and 10 sensors. If more are needed we will bill them in the first month's payment. The full price of the package will be calculated out and you will be sent a monthly bill. If you prefer to avoid monthly payments we do offer a one time payment option that comes with 2 additional cameras as part of the install and a 5 percent discount. Then once you sign and pay the deposit our installers will come out and do the installations within a week. If you would prefer to test out the system we offer a 3 month trial but it does come with a 10% interest and restock fees if you choose not to continue with us. I will also take some preliminary drafts of the install today."

He pondered the options before getting a calculator out to punch out some numbers. "How about we sign a contract for 2 years and I would like to do the one time payment."

"That sounds perfect. It has been a pleasure doing business with you today. I will do my drafts now. I will let you know when I'm headed out." I shook his hand and made my way outside to start the drafting process while Mr. Jacobs moved to assist some customers who had entered during our meeting.

I was walking around the building sketching out the general layout and making notes of the number of doors and windows when I heard the rustling behind me again. I turned and looked around and again saw absolutely nothing. I finished up my sketches, said goodbye to Mr. Jacobs and returned to my car. I made my way over to a rug store in Hamilton Township. They were excited about the services and purchased the gold package with our background check services. The gold package was similar to our bronze but allowed for additional franchise locations at a discounted rate. Unfortunately when I was out doing sketches for their first store I heard the rustling again.

My next client was at one and near the bonds office so I picked up a bucket of chicken, sides, and drinks from Cluck in a Bucket and drove over to the bonds office.

"Hey White Girl! Long time no see and you brought lunch!" Lula exclaimed, taking the buckets from my arms.

"Hi Connie! You're looking good. Lula! Let me see the rock." She held out her hand which was a beautiful round cut emerald at the center of an infinity symbol surrounded with smaller diamonds going down each side.

"Wow, that's beautiful. It must have cost a fortune."

"Probably! But this here is a family heirloom from Tankie's Mama."

"That's even more priceless Lula. Congratulations."

"Thanks Stephanie." Her eyes got a little misty as I gave her a hug. "Well white girl what brings you here did you decide to quit working for Rangeman and come back to spend your days with us?"

"Nope. I was just in the area between clients and thought I'd stop by and see you two."

"That's a shame this new bounty hunter Vinnie hired is awful." Connie said while finishing up the top coat of her nail polish.

"What do you mean new bounty hunter? I thought Rangeman took over my skips?"

"They were and then Vinnie threw a fit about losing too much money due to Rangeman's cut being double yours which on the lower bonds is quite a lot of money."

"They make double what I did?! Unfair. Well what makes this guy so bad?"

"Well if Ranger's Batman then he's the Joker. He goes by Blade. We've started losing clients for the lower bonds cause he gets real rough with the skips and they always got unexplained injuries when he drops them off. Even Mooner and Dougie have stayed out of trouble just to avoid him."

"That's terrible. Well let me know if there is anything I can do to help." We sat and gossiped as we ate the chicken and made plans to go wedding dress shopping with Lula next week. We were also going to do bridesmaid shopping. I was going to be the maid of honor but I made Lula promise my dress wouldn't have any tulle.

As I made my way to my car I heard the rustling again but not seeing anything I quickly got in and went to put my purse down before grabbing my phone to get the next address. When I looked up my heart nearly stopped and I hit my head on the roof after jumping in my seat. Mooner was standing by my driver side door and Dougie was standing by the passenger looking in. "Fuck!" Once my heart calmed down I rolled down the windows.

"Gezzus what are you guys doing! Wait… Have you been following me all day?!"

"Sorry Stephanie. We just wanted to talk to you." Mooner said looking like a child after being scolded by his mom.

"Just get in the car. I have to be at a meeting in fifteen minutes but then I'll have some time to talk. There's a park next to the building you guys can hangout in while I finish up."

"Okay Steph. I'm sorry we followed you, it was my idea. We just wanted to know what you were doing now." Dougie said as they slid into the backseat

"It's okay but seriously next time just show your faces instead of stalking and following people that's really creepy." I turned off Hamilton Ave. and made my way to a warehouse just south of the Burg. There was a small neighborhood park that Dougie and Mooner could walk around if they got bored in the car.

"Okay I'll be back in one hour and then we can talk. If you decide to leave, use the inside drivers door buttons to lock the car after you get out." I quickly walked through the warehouse that seemed to just be storing a bunch of crates of different building materials. The man at the front said they stored a lot of the materials here in Trenton and then shipped it to New York City. The man was rather crass and was quite misogynistic when I was going through our services so I made a few notes on my notepad and ended our meeting early. I told him to call the office if he was interested in one of the packages I would send one of my colleagues out to finish the evaluation. However, I had every intention to tell Carlos and Lester that we shouldn't be doing business with the likes of him anytime soon. What a pig! I also planned to run a search on him. Something told me that those crates didn't just hold building supplies.

I made my way back to the car and didn't see my two stalkers so I walked over to the park and found them swinging on the swing set trying to see who could get the highest.

"Okay boys. I've gotta be back at the office soon but first why don't you tell me what's going on." I said sitting on a bench while they got off their swings to join me.

"We're really sorry about that, we didn't mean to scare you. We just wanted to see you and hopefully talk to you. See you just disappeared and we were worried about you and then this new guy came to get us after we skipped bail and he was really mean. He didn't want to finish the Star Trek marathon with us and he broke Dogie's arm." Dougie held up his arm with a blue plaster cast I hadn't noticed earlier.

"Oh no that's terrible. I'm sorry guys I didn't realize what quitting my job would mean for my regulars. I work for Rangeman doing all sorts of things really but as you saw today I do mostly sales now."

"We're happy for you Steph. We planned to follow you around today to see what you are up to and maybe convince you to go back to bounty hunting. We saw you go to the bonds office at lunch and were hopeful our plan could work. But then you didn't leave with any files so we decided to come talk to you."

"I understand. I can give you guys my phone number so next time you can call me instead of following me around. I'll see what I can do about this new bounty hunter but I'm afraid that I like my life a lot right now so I don't think I'll be returning to bounty hunting, at least not full time."

"You don't have to return for us Steph." Mooner said

"Yeah after that Blade guy we decided to follow in your footsteps and improve our lives too! We even got jobs at the Best Buy but we have friends that have also been affected and were worried about them."

"That's great guys. I promise I will look into the issue. Now where can I drop you guys off?"

"The movie theater we're gonna see the new Star Wars movie." Dougie replied.

We all walked back to the car and I drove them to the movie theater. Then I returned back to Haywood to give Ranger the updates from my day.

RPOV

I watched as Stephanie pulled into the Garage on the monitor in my office and knew she would be heading up here to see me. I couldn't wait. I never thought I would be such a lovestruck puppy and it certainly didn't go with the badass persona most people recognized me by but after the past 2 months I missed my Babe every second she wasn't with me.

I looked up at Julie who was sitting at the small table in my office doing her schoolwork. "Julie, Stepanie is home and we will need to go over her day when she gets up here. Why don't you go up to Ella's to finish your work."

"Okay Dad. Can I stay to say hello to Stephanie first?"

"Yes of course." Not even a minute later Stephanie walked into the office. Julie beat me to her giving her a hug before gathering her stuff and leaving the office. The dogs who had been lying at her feet followed her out. Stephanie reminded her about their painting class as well. "Babe. I missed you" I took her into my arms for a hug smelling the strawberry scent her curls often held.

"I missed you too Ranger. Now let's talk business." I thought it was funny when she called me Ranger now. She only called me that when she was in her business woman zone.

"Okay Ms. Plum how were your client calls." she glared at me from the formality of the question. She rolled her eyes before jumping in.

"Well I had quite an eventful day! Do you want the client update first?" I smiled. I should've known she'd have multiple things to tell me nothing was ever simple with Stephanie Plum.

"Sure, go ahead."

She launched into a recap of the two clients from this morning: the pawn shop and the rug store. I listened as she went through the modifications made to the pawn shop and explained her idea to potentially update our pricing structure to include a build your own package option. We discussed her putting together a business plan for it that showed how often we get modified orders to present to the rest of the core team. She would have to work with Lester on that project. When she told me about the warehouse I was angry that I didn't send her with a partner. I knew that she was perfectly capable of standing on her own two feet but I still wanted to protect her. I made a note to have Lester follow up on that account and run the background checks. When she finished she looked up and smiled shyly. I could tell she was nervous about not signing all of the potential clients.

"I'm proud of you Babe. Don't worry about the warehouse, I'll have Lester deal with that. I refuse to provide service to anyone who makes you feel uncomfortable. Now I'm assuming you have additional updates for me?"

"Yes I do. You know how I thought someone was following me this morning." It was a statement not a question. I clenched my fists together, willing her to continue with my eyes. "Well turns out I was right. In fact they followed me to all of my clients and the bonds office today."

"Who's ass do I have to kick?" She grabbed my shoulders to stop me from storming out of the room.

"No one. It was Mooner and Dougie. They missed me but they also wanted to try and convince me to come back to bounty hunting. I told them that I loved working at Rangeman and wouldn't be doing skip work anymore, at least not like before. They told me that Vinnie hired a new guy named Blade. He broke Dougie's arm and has injured a lot of my other regulars as well. The fortunate part is it's kept them out of trouble. I think that might also be because of me. I told them I would look into the issue though. They said that Vinnie stopped giving Rangeman the lowerbonds since he was losing too much money with the percentage you guys get."

"That's true. I didn't realize that he would hire someone potentially dangerous. I thought he would just hire Joyce."

"That was probably a fair bet. Well since he didn't he's now losing even more money since the regulars are not skipping bail. Is there anything we can do to help them out?" My Babe might be the only person in existence to care about the well being of petty criminals but that was what I loved about her.

"I'll see what I can do. Maybe we can renegotiate separate deals for the lower bonds and the higher bonds with Vinnie."

"Thanks Carlos. How was your day?"

I told her about my day meeting with the lawyers, updating our contract with our weapons supplier and making sure we completed all the paperwork needed to make everything legal. Then I told her about my first assignment with my new contract with the government. This weekend I would be traveling down to Fort Benning to be an examiner for the Best Ranger Competition, Me and Tank still held most of the records so he would be joining me. We talked a little bit about what Julie and Stephanie could do without me and then Steph left to go get ready with painting class.

Julie POV

"Julie! Are you up here?" I quickly placed my journal and shoved the tissues off my bed.

"Yes I'm in my room!" A few seconds later Stephanie came into my room.

"Hi Jules. I thought you would be at Ella's."

"I finished my school work and Ella had to prepare dinner for the guys so I thought I'd come up here and hangout until we had to go."

"Ah, Julie have you been crying?" Stephanie sat down next to me and moved me so my head was on her lap facing away from her and she started to stroke my hair.

"I was just thinking about my mom and Ron and my siblings. I know it's probably weird but I really miss them. Don't get me wrong I love being here with Dad and you but it wasn't always bad living with them."

"It's okay to feel that way Jules. They are still your family. My family was never super accepting of me or my life and I'm not gonna lie it was really hard to be with them sometimes. When I was growing up I was always told I was an embarrassment. When I grew up it only got worse but then going over to dinner also meant my mom would try and set me up with some random guy from the burg and my grandma would try to open the casket at the funeral home. I call my sister perfect Valerie cause no matter what I did she always did it better. But, the point is that even though we didn't always get along I still loved them because they're still my family."

I nodded along while listening to her story. "Why did you forgive your family for all the mean things they used to say and do to you?"

"Because I knew that despite what their actions they loved me even if it was buried deep inside/ Listen everyone's mistakes and it's perfectly normal to be angry, sad, rejected, or even guilty about everything that happened with your parents but if you live in that grief you'll never be able to move forward. But your also not alone. You have me, your Dad, the Merry men, the Manoso's, the Plum's. Just don't be afraid to ask for help when you're struggling with these thoughts. If you want we can talk to you dad about getting you a therapist. At the end of the day though the best way to get through this will be to make choices that give you control over your life by looking after yourself and doing things that you love to do."

"Thanks Stephanie. Do you think I could call my siblings soon?" I sat up and gave her a big hug.

"Of course! We can call Kim before we go painting." She pulled out her phone and scrolled down to Kim's phone number.

It was a few rings before she picked up but she was excited that I called. I talked to Ronnie and Olivia for 30 minutes. They now lived with Kim and her husband. They weren't able to have kids of their own so they spoiled my siblings. They told me all about the new kids they met at school and how much fun they were having living in South Carolina. Stephanie and Kim talked a little and worked out that I would get to talk to them every week and they would join us at the beach house this summer. I was feeling much better so me and Steph ate the dinner Ella dropped off and headed to our first painting class. I knew it was a mother daughter class and we weren't technically qualified but in my heart I had made a space for Stephanie as my mom.

I hoped Daddy would propose to her soon.

Maybe she'll officially adopt me.

Maybe she'll let me call her mom anyways.