Epilogue

1 Year Later… ish…

We had been standing in babies R us for over an hour. "Why are there so many different choices?" I had never seen Ranger look so out of place before. He kept looking between the list and the items on the shelves, each time causing his eyebrows to crease even more. "It wasn't like this when Julie came."

It amused me to think of Ranger having done this before. "Did you go baby shopping with Rachel when she was pregnant?"

He stood up straight, hands on hips, "No."

I laughed, "Then how do you know there weren't so many choices back then?" He just stared at me. It was his way of accepting defeat without actually admitting I was right. I had gotten used to this and just smirked as I took the paper out of his hand.

I scanned the list for something easy. When Valerie had kids I always just gave mom money, I was just as clueless as he was. "Let's just grab some clothes. You can't go wrong there." I looked up.. "Ranger?" Lord, where would he have gone?

I walked up and down the aisles looking for the man in black. I couldn't help the smile when I found him, still looking confused, staring at strollers. "Babe, let's get this one." He pulled a box from the shelf and pointed at the picture, "It's black. Perfect right?"

My eyes just about popped out of my head at the price, "Holy crap Ranger! Did you look at the price?"

He just shrugged, threw the box over his shoulder, and headed towards the registers. I quickly followed still stunned at how much he was willing to spend on a baby.

The young girl behind the counter smiled and flirted, but I was used to that. "This is a hot stroller. Brand new from Bugaboo. It's their chameleon line." She said scanning the bar code. "Is it for your sister?" She nodded towards me. Ranger glared and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Actually this is my wife." The girl blushed. Ranger and I had gotten married two months ago and he surprised me by taking me to Fiji for a month. It was the most relaxing and beautiful place I had ever been. I begged him to open an office there but he said Fiji didn't have any security needs he would be able to offer them.

"That'll be $1029 dollars. Did you want to apply for a store credit card? It'll save you 10% and …"

He cut her off by handing over his credit card, "No." The girl stumbled through the rest of the transaction and once I was handed a receipt Ranger hauled the box up again and we headed out to the car.

Once in the truck he looked over at me, "Do we need to wrap it?" Mental head slap! I forgot about gift wrap.

"I've never been good at wrapping things."

"Be right back." He jumped out of the car and I watched him jog back into the store. A couple minutes later he was climbing back in the truck a huge pink bow in hand. "This will work right?"

Why not? "Yup."

It was ironic how things ended up. Joe went through 2 months of intensive alcohol treatment as ordered by the court. The captain of the police force didn't want to give him his job back, and he understood. I had expected him to show up right after the restraining order was up, but he kept his distance.

A month after his treatment ended he called and asked to meet with Ranger and I.

"Did he say what he wanted?" I nervously toyed with my sweater as we waited for him to arrive.

"No." I glared at Ranger; he knew I hated one word answers. This earned me a smile, "Babe, there aren't any more words to answer your question. I only needed one."

Joe's explorer pulled up outside the office, Ranger and I stood to greet him as he approached. He smiled and shook Rangers hand, "Thanks for agreeing to this Manoso." Ranger nodded and Joe looked to me. A pained expression crossed his face. He was probably contemplating shaking my hand but didn't want to lose it to Ranger.

"Hey Joe." I smiled at him trying to ease the tension. "Should we head upstairs?" Ranger and I had decided to meet in one of the conference rooms, giving us more space than the office.

Once we were all seated at the table Joe cleared his throat. "This is awkward." He played with his glass of water, "I owe you both my life. I didn't deserve what you did for me in the courtroom."

While I was trying to find something to say Ranger surprised me, "You're not a bad guy Morelli, Steph and I both know that. We couldn't sit back and watch you go to jail for that long. Not when we knew you just needed some help coping with all the loss you felt."

Joe nodded but didn't look up from his water. "I'll get right to the point. I wanted to come here today to say thank you, but I…." He looked up at Ranger, "people are still upset with me about what I did. Understandably so, but it's made it difficult for me to get a job." Was he going to ask Ranger for a job? I glanced over at my boyfriend who had his blank face in place, but I could tell he wasn't sure what Joe was looking for either.

"I had a job interview at the city. It was working with the schools and police assisting troubled youth. My job would be to intervene before they got sucked into gangs, drugs, or whatever else. It would also involve help kids, younger kids, which are stuck living in harsh environments. Maybe their parents do drugs, or their mom works the street. They offered me the job two weeks ago."

"That's great Joe!" I smiled at my friend but found it weird he didn't look happy. "Are you excited?"

"I was but I got a call yesterday letting me know the program had been cancelled due to budget cuts."

"How can we help?" Ranger asked, resting his elbows on the table and leaning towards Joe. He seemed to genuinely want to help him.

Joe averted his eyes again, "I have no right to ask you, after everything I've done, but I know RangeMan has a huge part in supporting the community and.. well… I didn't know if this was a cause you would be interested in funding."

So that's what he needed. I felt relief that he wasn't going to beg Ranger for a job and I knew Ranger would give Joe or the City whatever they needed to fund the project. Anytime someone from the community asked RangeMan for a donation he gave more than what they needed. It's why people look the other way when his business falls into a gray area.

"Is this a cause you truly believe in?" Ranger asked him. I knew the answer to that as well. As a cop, Joe always took time out to help a kid in need. He always wished someone had stepped in with him when he was going through his rebel years in high school. If it wasn't for the Navy Joe would probably be behind bars like most of his family.

Just like in court, Joe squared his shoulders and, looking Ranger right in the eye answered, "Absolutely."

"Let me make some phone calls, I'll get back to you."

Turns our Ranger had more contacts that I could imagine. Before the end of the day he had put together a troubled youth program of his own, taking over the city's original plan. For the next week Joe and him worked together to purchase and set up a community center which Ranger paid Joe to manage. All the Merry Men were required to work 1 shift a month there, helping the youth learn to read, write, and use computers. The older kids were taught to box and wrestle as a way to get their aggression out instead of turning it on someone else.

The program was great, especially since Ranger's name was on it. The youth crime rate had dropped significantly. Not only did the kids have somewhere safe to go if they needed, but there were always RangeMan vehicles driving through the city and the kids knew if they were caught getting into trouble they would wish for jail time rather than mat time with one of the guys.

"You guys are late!" Joe called from the front door.

Ranger glanced at his watch and grimaced, he was never late. "Do you know how much shit there is in a baby store?" He stuck the bow on the box and pulled it out of the back of the truck.

Joe laughed and hugged me as we entered his house. The place was filled to the max. Lots of RangeMan employees had showed up, Joe's family, and Caitlin's family. Even my mom and sister were there. My relationship with her was still a little rocky, mom having to learn to just let things go when she didn't agree with a decision I was making, but Ranger and I come to family dinner one Sunday a month and things have progressively gotten easier.

Ranger and my dad get along great; they usually share war stories with Albert, trying to see who can make him pass out first, while Mom, Valerie, and I get dinner ready in the kitchen. Well, I test everything; Mom and Valerie cook it all.

Caitlin was sitting in an oversized chair looking ready to pop. I smiled when Joe leaned down and kissed her forehead, "You need anything?" A couple weeks into the community center being up and running Joe met Caitlin. She was a high school teacher and wanted to see how she could help.

Her and Joe hit it off and have been inseparable since. She even quit her job to work at the center as a tutor, Ranger paid her nicely.

When she looked over at me and Ranger her eyes bugged out of her head, "Ranger! Is that what I think it is?"

Again, he shrugged and placed the box next to her. "Your list said you wanted a stroller. Will it work?"

"Will it work?" She squealing, "This is a brand new Bugaboo stroller. It's the hottest thing on the market for babies." Her eyes glazed over and we all groaned, as soon as Caitlin got pregnant she cried over everything. "Oh hush. I'm not going to cry. Thank you, you guys. This is amazing."

We wandered through the house saying hello to everyone before settling in the family room with most of the other Merry Men. Ranger pulled me so I was sitting on my lap and whispered into my ear, "When should we tell me our news?" His hand was resting on my stomach, if anyone was watching us it would look like he was just holding me around the waist.

I knew different however. Ever since I took the pregnancy test and it showed a plus sign; Ranger had found it necessary to touch my stomach every chance he got.

"Not today. This is Joe and Caitlin's day. We can tell them next week or something." I melted into him and smiled at the people around me. Never had I been happier surrounded by friends and family, and most of these people were definitely my family.

THE END