Steph’s POV

My first month as CO was not as bad as I feared, but it wasn’t a walk in the park. One of the best decisions I made after I took over was to offload all Trenton branch work to Hal. There was no way I would ever meet standards and stay sane if I had to run the company and a branch. Besides, I had to remain neutral and above board. Being involved in the day to day operations of a branch wouldn’t help me do that. Hal grumbled about it, but he took on the extra work without too many complaints, restructuring the Trenton office and leadership to accommodate what has to be done. The guys here look a lot happier. I overheard one say that they were starting to feel like there was a possibility for promotions in the company, and I added that to my list of things to consider.

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Steph’s POV

A week later, Lester and Tank take special joy in letting me know that they’ve seen the wheelchair racing tapes and are teasing me about finding a workout that I can do sitting on my ass. Bobby is thrilled that Sarah has finally found something to do with me that I like; I was vocal with him about the fact that I still didn’t like her.

They’ve settled into San Antonio and have found apartments, but they still haven’t found office space that they like. Everything they saw online failed to meet requirements in person, so they’re contemplating constructing a building but that means remaining in Texas even longer.

The SA RangeMen are making a big splash on the streets, hauling in fugitives left, right, and center. The guys already have all the contracts they can handle and are contemplating requesting more men from each office. Lester’s having a field day hiring, but the training hasn’t gone like he hoped. The military men are definitely having problems with the ex-cons and ex-gang bangers. Creating unity in that office has not gone as smoothly as it has in the past.

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Steph’s POV

You should never assume you know anything about anyone because Hector was a complete surprise. After the guys left Saturday morning for Texas, Hector joined me in my office and closed the door.

“Hola.”

“Hola.” Well, with the exception of gracias, taco, burrito, and enchilada, we’ve just exhausted the extent of my Spanish.

“Yes, I know and that’s a damn shame, chica. We gotta work on that.”

I’m sure I have a bruise on my chin from the way it just slammed into the desk. Hector speaks English? Perfect English? Jersey-accented English?

“Of course I speak English. I was born and raised in this country, in South Orange, as a matter of fact. I’m just more comfortable in Spanish.”

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Manny’s POV (the next Monday)

Even though I’ve worked with Steph for three years, I’m asking the majority of RangeMan Trenton Research to attend this workshop on how she does what she does. Each office was required to bring the files on their five biggest outstanding skips. Hopefully, what they would learn from Wifey would help them catch these guys.

Wifey doesn’t consider what she does very special or innovative, but at RMTrenton, it’s well known that if you can’t find someone, sneak the search into Steph’s pile. She’ll find them. Ranger got pissed when he realized what we were doing. Evidently some of the searches we removed were searches for him.

After that morning on the mats, we were very careful about how we ‘modified’ her workload.

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Steph’s POV

Bobby speaks out

Thirty minutes later Bobby walks in, looking happy and content. He immediately hugs me, a long tight hug. Bobby and I joke around a lot but he’s more a side-hug man, so to get a big bear hug from him is really surprising and touching. I start to sniffle and he chuckles and passes me his handkerchief. 

We sit down on the couch and he pulls me close.

“It occurred to me this morning, as I walked around my empty apartment and office, that I’m not going to see you very much over the next year. No seeing your smile, or watching you eat your junk, or responding to your distress calls. I realized how much I was going to miss it.” He smiles, a full on Bobby smile. I don’t spend nearly as much time with him as I do Tank and Lester, and I’m regretting it now. Bobby has a way of making you feel that everything will be OK. “Knowing you has kept my skills fresh, Bomber.” We both laugh.

“Always glad to be of service, Bobby.”

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Steph’s POV

Lester dishes the dirt

It’s Friday afternoon. The guys told me last night that they each wanted to talk to me one on one about important issues they felt needed to be discussed. So I’m not completely surprised to hear a knock at the door after lunch. Lester is first, full of energy. He has frosting in one corner of his mouth and I glare at him and point at it. He goes to the bathroom to remove it and returns with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry.” He grins. “Alright, grab a legal pad and get comfy. I’m giving you the scoop on every office and XO and anything else I can think of.”

I pull another legal pad and grab a blanket to curl up on the sofa. Finally, someone willing to dish the dirt. I should’ve assumed it would be Lester. I need all the help I can get.

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A/N: Because this chapter is all over the place, time-wise, brownc0at thinks I should inform you that it’s late Friday morning. Don’t want anyone to be confused.

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Steph’s POV

The past week has been hell.

On Tuesday, I met with each XO for an hour. My meeting with Mark was awkward; the meeting with Armando had my spidey senses tingling. My best meetings were with Trenton Core, Danny and Javier. Hal really had thought about how to streamline processes and I couldn’t wait for our Monday meeting to discuss how he wanted to accomplish it.

While I was meeting with the other XOs, he, Manny and Ram had gotten together to discuss their goals for the branch. Since they had no intentions of keeping secrets from each other, they wanted to meet as a group. Their ideas are really good, centering on Private Investigations and Client Services. They also said they would like to hire a few female employees and want my opinion on what the hiring process for women should be.

“You guys want to hire RangeWomen?” I was a little surprised.

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A/N: Plot? What plot? This chapter has no plot. Smut warning people. That’s all I’m saying. Smut warning.

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Steph’s POV

This day has been exhausting. If this is a sample of what I have to look forward to for the next year then accepting this position has been a vast mistake. At 6PM, I’m finally free for the day. I’ve been up for over 12 hours, and all I can think about is a nap. I wheel myself upstairs and open the apartment door to the worst surprise ever.

Ranger is packing.

He turns to look at me, and I see his lips twitch.

“When?”

“Wednesday, 0900.”

So I have tonight and tomorrow night. That’s all for the next year. Well, I don’t have time to waste. I strip, right there in the living room, and hobble to the bathroom. “I’m taking a shower. Join me?”

I love that you never have to issue an invitation twice with Ranger.

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Ranger’s POV

I’m happy to see that the Trenton men are taking Steph’s elevation seriously. More importantly, the video of this little party is being broadcast live to each RangeMan office so they all know that the email was not a joke and that it should be taken very seriously. If they have questions, their XO is also here, standing in the background during this party. More importantly, the new CO has the backing, faith, and confidence of the entire Trenton staff and threats to her will not be taken lightly. I’m sure Lester is getting great shots of this party so that there are no questions about Steph’s legitimacy or her importance.

I’m covertly watching my XOs. The guys were listening into C3 and they report that Steph’s elevation was not really commented on after we left. Danny offered Babe some good advice, which she appears to have taken on board, and she’s running the meeting with a firm grip. Good. I wanted her to take control from the beginning.

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Manny’s POV (All conversations in Spanish)

After the meeting, Ranger asks me and Hector to follow him to his office- Wifey’s office, whatever. My brain is on overload. Ranger is headed into a completely FUBAR situation. I think it will take some time to process everything I’ve heard, but one thing is certain: I have a very good guess on who might be the New Jersey moles.

Ranger looks at Hector for a long moment. Hector, in turn, stares at me for a long moment, assessing. He turns back to Ranger and nods.

“Manny, Hector and I are trusting you with information we never want to hear discussed again. Your background in law enforcement and the FBI leads me to believe that you and Hector, more than anyone else in this company, might be able to help me piece together the information I’m going to receive in the streets. Plus, I may need you to tap back into the feeb network for me. If you feel helping me is going to violate your principles, leave now.”

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