Hi! It's me, I know it's been a few years, but I thought I'd give it a go and try to finish this.

Still only own the plot and spelling errors.

Enjoy!

The meeting

Friday morning, I set out straight to RangeMan and my meeting with Silvio. He too, was relieved that the Breeland case was easily solved. I would opt out of their meeting since I've explained everything in my report. Because I had no open cases to deal with and no absolute need to be at the office, I went back home. Theo was napping and Gabby was pleasantly surprised I came home early. She said she had to make an urgent call to her sister and run some errands. I decided to call Lester and see what he was up to.

"Hi Lester, how are you?"

"Hello Beautiful, I'm good. I would be better if you came to see me."

"That's what I'm calling about. Gabby has some errands to run this morning, so I'm back home with Theo. Would 2 pm be too late to do lunch?"

"Since it's Friday let's call it after work and go for drinks instead."

"Lester, I can't just go for drinks when you snap your fingers. Did you forget the mini-man I have?"

"Don't you have another babysitter for emergencies?"

"You consider after-work drinks to be an emergency?"

"Well, yeah! It's been years since we've talked and I'm going back to Trenton in a week. I'd really like to hang out with you."

"I'd like to hang out with you too Lester, but a girl needs some time to prepare, especially when she has a kid. You wouldn't by any chance like to hang out at my place?"

"Although I do love you, I think I'm going for some Miami-style loving while I can."

"So, you were going to ditch me at some bar if you met someone?"

"Beautiful, not 'if' I meet someone, 'when' I meet someone."

"You're still a pig, you know!"

"Never denied it."

"Seriously Lester, come over. I'll feed you and we'll catch up and you can go your merry way by six. How's that sound?"

"I think that's an awesome idea. See you later."

"Later."

I love my sometimes days off on Fridays. I get to spend more time with Theo doing things we both enjoy. Like today, it's promising to be scorching hot and we're going to the park with the kiddie pool. I've packed snacks and drinks, sunscreen, and toys and I'm waiting for him to wake up from his nap. Meanwhile, I made a few phone calls and set up a Zoom meeting with dad, myself, and the admin at The Sands at South Beach Care Center. Let's get the ball rolling in getting dad moving down here. I connected the memory card from Theo's camera to the printer, leaving it to spit out pictures from the birthday party. I'm not sure how many will be projecting anything else than sky, fingers, or blurry faces. We'll see.

We had a blast at the park and barely made it home by two when Lester arrived for lunch. Only, he didn't come alone, he had Rick tagging along. I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, I'm still pretty pissed off by his earlier behavior, but on the other hand, I'd like to get to know him and for him to get to know Theo. The ever-polite hostess in me welcomed them into our home.

"Unca Jeste come look at my pictejes fjom my pajty."

"Theo, can you take the pictures to the living room and show them, mean while I'll get lunch ready. Ok?"

"Ok, mama. Come."

"You take Lester and I'll go see if your mama needs any help in the kitchen. Is that ok?"

"Ok, come on Unca Jeste, me gots dinosouws too. You like dinosouws?"

"Dinosaurs are awesome little man."

"Me not little man, me big boy." Their voices faded when they left the room.

Don't panic Steph, he can't be an asshole all the time, right? Set the facts straight and go from there. You're a grown woman.

"I hope you don't mind me barging in here uninvited, but I needed to apologize for my behavior."

"Ok, it's unexpected, but I'll hear you out."

"I am really sorry for the things I said, I was rude and totally out of line. I don't know anything about your situation and jumped to conclusions without any real facts. I hope you'll accept my apology."

"How come it took you five days to come up with that?"

"I don't know how much you know about me and what I do."

"Not much. You're Lester's cousin, Tank's best friend, you do some super-secret spy stuff somewhere. You look good in dress blues and you're Theo's father."

"Super-secret spy stuff, yeah. Wait, what?"

"What what?"

"What did you say about Theo?"

"Oh, that what. Yeah, you're his father."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. And before you go accusing me of sleeping around, again, I haven't had sex with anyone besides you in over five years. If you don't believe me, I'm happy to provide a sample for a DNA test."

"Wow. I need to think about this."

"What's there to think about? I'm not asking you for anything. Just putting it out there so you know. You can leave here with absolutely no expectations. I'm making no demands of child support, no forced visitations, or monetary compensations for anything."

"Still, wow. This turned out to be, yeah… I'm speechless."

"How about I try to distract you while you let it sink in?"

"How?"

"Tell me about you. Not the spy stuff, but regular things like favorite color, favorite food, best movie you've ever seen. Anything really."

"Yeah, I think I was going to do that before the bomb. As I told you my full name is Ricardo Carlos Manõso. I go by Ranger professionally, Carlos with family, and Rick with friends outside those two groups."

"So, what should I call you?"

"Carlos, Babe, call me Carlos. We're family now."

"Ok, Carlos it is. Go on."

"I'm the CEO of RangeMan and up until last Saturday, I ran, as you say, super-secret spy missions for the government. I'm now a retired officer of the United States Armed Forces. I'm 34 yo and the youngest of six children. I have four sisters and one brother. They all still live in Newark. My favorite color is blue, and my favorite food is Ropa Vieja. I don't smoke and I don't do drugs. I might indulge in a glass of wine or two occasionally. I'm a workaholic, I drive fast cars and I relax by hitting the gym. However, with my current injuries, I've had to tone it down some. I own a house on La Gorce. I've never been married and up to a few minutes ago, I didn't have any kids. My favorite movie is 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. The rest I'd like for you to find out as we get to know each other. I haven't dated since I was a teen, so I'm really not sure I know how to, but I'd like to take you out for a date."

"If I agree to go out with you, you do understand that I'm a package deal, right? I won't have Theo getting attached to you, for you to just blow him off if we don't work out. I'm also very busy with my studies as I hope to graduate this summer. The little free time I have I try to dedicate completely to Theo."

"It almost sounds like you don't want to go out with me. All you have to do is say so."

"It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have the time."

"Mama, mama, I hungwy, Unca Jeste also hungwy. Me wants food."

"Yeah, Beautiful, you lured me here with the promise of lunch. What are we having?"

"Okay, you two, calm down and maybe set the table. We're having Teriyaki chicken with broccoli and cauliflower rice."

"Mama, I don't want yucky chimkin. I want good chimkin."

"I promise you, baby, it's good chicken. Remember, we had it at Daito and Noriko's house. And then there's frozen yogurt and berries for dessert."

The chicken turned out great and there were no leftovers. During lunch I noticed Carlos' eyes were drawn to Theo most of the time. Maybe looking for a likeness, who knows? After lunch, it was time for Theo's nap. Lester said he'd need a nap too before trolling the bars or clubs for company.

"You sure you don't want to come Beautiful? We could leave Ranger here to babysit."

"You're volunteering his services? What if he wants to go clubbing with you?"

"Nah, he's been out of the loop for so long he wouldn't know what to do anymore. Right cuz?"

"I admit it's been a few years, but it also doesn't sound that appealing anymore."

"You're getting old, man!"

"Shut it, Santos!"

"Oh, touchy."

"Boys, boys. Stop arguing or I'll have to put you both in time-out."

"No time-out needed. I'll take him off your hands before he gets impossible. Come on Santos."

"Yeah, yeah. See you later Steph. BTW my nephew Theo is an amazing kid."

"It's because you're on the same level of maturity as him. Steph, would you mind if we spent some time together this weekend? Do you have any plans?"

"Nothing definite, being outside if the weather is nice. Why?"

"Would you and Theo like to come over and play in the pool? We could maybe, I don't know, look at some playground equipment to set up?"

"So, you're just going to take my word that he's your son?"

"Do you have a reason to lie?"

"No, but as I said, I also don't expect anything from you."

"And that's why I'd like to spend time with you both."

"Come on cuz, you sound desperate and pathetic."

"Shut up Santos!"

"Yeah, Santos, shut up. He sounds sweet and sincere. We'd love to come over. What's your address?"

"2995 Flamingo Drive."

"That's fancy."

"Well, it wasn't all that fancy when I bought it as a foreclosure eight years ago. Mateo, my big brother, is in construction and Celia, my oldest sister, is an interior designer and decorator. The house is their brainchild. The most time I've spent in the completed house has been this past week."

"We'll show up after Theo's morning nap, around 11, is that ok?"

"That's fine, see you tomorrow. Come on Santos, weren't you in a hurry to nap? By the way, why aren't you working today? It's Friday. I wasn't aware there was a new policy of not working on Fridays."

"There's not, but there could be. Instead of casual Friday, we could have Free Friday."

"Santos, we don't have casual Friday. What we do have is a 24/7 operating security company."

"Just saying, Free Friday sounds awesome. Sun, fun, beach, babes."

"And you forgot that you live in Trenton, New Jersey. No sun, no fun, no beaches, and the only babe there was, has relocated to Miami."

"Exactly, that's why I'm enjoying this for as long as I can. See you Beautiful."

"Bye Lester. Be careful tonight, ok. Don't do anything stupid."

"Like get someone pregnant?"

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of getting arrested. By the look on Carlos' face, I'm not sure he would be happy bailing you out."

"You're right on that one, Babe. Santos, you are toeing the line here. Go wait in the car."

"I'm the one who drove, remember?"

"Yeah, a company car, so I can make you walk back."

"That's just cruel. It's at least ten miles."

"Actually, it's just over five, you'll run that in like 15 minutes."

"You're both just jealous cause I'm going out tonight and you get to sit at home."

"Shut up, Santos."

"Yeah, shut up Santos, and get out of here. Carlos, we'll see you tomorrow."