July 4^th dawned to another brilliant, warm, Arizona summer day. Alex felt like the king of the world as he surveyed the flurry of activity all around him.

His sister was parading Teo around with Jace Delacroix at her side. It was a relief to see Sophie so happy. She bloomed in her new role of mother, and without giving a shit what anyone thought, she was exploring a relationship with the agency’s newly named managing director.

For his part, Jace had conducted himself in the mold of an old-school suitor vying for the hand of his ladylove. Alex and his dad found the approach amusing and gave the guy mad props for ingenuity.

The Justice Ladies, on the other hand, positively swooned over the handsome Frenchman – something that did not sit well with Draegyn. His old friend morphed into a porcupine every time Jace appeared or someone mentioned his name. It’d be funny if his reaction were just a St. John vanity burp, but they’d all learned the hard way that when it came to Victoria, Drae was a clueless idiot. For some reason – probably a stupid one – he was jealous of Delacroix – plain and simple. The rest of the guys agreed with him – best keep an eye on that situation because the St. John marriage was like fly paper for foolish drama.

His parents were on a grandparent high that was as adorable as it was hilariously funny. The challenge of three babies and the promise of another on the way had transformed them into rowdy kids. Along with Parker’s folks and Meghan’s mom, with occasional assists by Uncle Ed and Calder, they found more shit to get into than was believable.

He searched for Maggie O’Brien and found her in the cabana with Lacey, Cam, and their kids. Loving his mother-in-law was as easy and right as loving her daughter. She was funny, capable, and as cool as the proverbial cucumber. Some of the reasons the Camerons were drawn to her.

Maggie stepped up big time and without hesitation or discussion set herself and Paddy up as honorary grandparents to Dylan and Lily. In Alex’s opinion, Lacey needed that. With Lily’s birth, she’d finally come to terms with losing her mother at such an early age. She’d never get over the loss, but when it came to being sensible and letting the past stay in the past, Lacey won hands down. Maggie’s gentle mom-isms and the way she quietly supported from the sidelines helped Lacey and that’s what mattered most.

Consulting his watch, he thought about the surprise he had for his mother-in-law and his wife.

Paddy O’Brien had stayed for ten days after Aiden and Stevie were born, but then he had to get back to work, so he returned to Boston and left Maggie here to help with the twins.

Alex talked to Paddy almost every day and had also done so throughout Meghan’s pregnancy. When his father-in-law dropped a bomb about deciding it was time to retire, they’d talked about it in depth. Paddy wanted to know how Alex felt about it.

One thing led to another, and before either of them realized it, a plan had been hatched. And in another hour or so, Sawyer would deliver the results of this plan when he, along with his family, showed up for the barbecue with Paddy in tow.

And good grief, when Paddy revealed what happened next, Alex expected quite a reaction.

Carmen scurried past and smacked his knee with a terse reminder to wear sunscreen. What was it with women and sunscreen? They all seemed to have some form of sun protection with them at all times. In a purse or a glove compartment. Stuffed in a pocket or a diaper bag. And once, he’d witnessed his wife reach into her shirt and pull out a tube of the stuff that she carried in her bra.

No, really – that happened!

Finn and Ben huddled together in the shade of the pool house awning. They were managing the smoker and had divvied up lunch responsibilities. The smoked briskets, chickens, and ribs were on the dinner menu, but it wasn’t Independence Day without hot dogs and burgers on the grill.

Bella ran up to him for a hello hug. He had a joke ready to go and waited until Heather and Brody caught up with their exuberant daughter before he broke it out.

“Ready for a Fourth of July ha-ha?” he asked.

Bella hopped up and down. “Ready,” she squealed with laughter.

“Why did the duck say bang?”

Brody chuckled. “C’mon, Bella, you can do this.”

Bella repeated the question. He smiled. It was a standard stall to buy time. She was going to kick some ass at a spelling bee in a few years.

“Give up?” he teased.

Bella looked at her dad who mimicked locking his mouth and throwing away the key. She was on her own.

“I give up,” she grumbled.

Alex grinned. “Because he was a fire-quacker! Get it? The duck was a fire-quacker.”

Heather laughed the loudest with Bella a close second. 

Brody offered a thumbs-up and innocently asked, “Are we a go?”

He nodded and quietly said, “Yes, and there’s a surprise inside a surprise.”

Bella caught sight of Danny running with a big purple ball and off she zoomed.

Heather gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Fatherhood and mayhem agree with you.” She chuckled.

“Hey,” he grumbled. “Now, come on. I do the best I can.”

“I see some babies to love, so if you gentlemen will excuse me.” She kissed Brody and dashed off.

“Quite a crowd, Major,” Brody said to him. “Family Justice is officially tribal!”

“Uh-oh,” he drawled. “Here comes trouble.”

They turned in unison as Angie descended on them with Parker following close behind.

“Tori deputized me,” she announced with a hand wave. “She’s uncomfortable walking around, so I get to do the honors.”

“The honors for what?” Brody asked.

She turned to Parker and held out her hand. He gave her a three-by-five card and an eye roll.

“Okay, listen up. These are the color choices for the baseball uniforms.”

“Wait, what?” Alex asked. “Uniforms? You mean t-shirts, right? I think uniforms would make us look like a bunch of girls.”

Angie socked him in the arm with enough force for him to bark, “Hey! Don’t damage the merchandise.”

“For your information, Mr. Know-it-Not-At-All, the females who aren’t playing will be the cheer squad. Pom poms optional. And yes, you dumbass, just t-shirts, okay?”

Parker’s curtailed snicker earned him a scowl and the finger.

“I say keep it simple. White is fine by me,” Brody announced.

Angie scoffed at the idea and barked, “Ew, no. And before you say anything else, Lacey nixed anything vaguely resembling camo or military green.”

“In other words, men, stick to the colors on the card,” Parker drolly stated.

“Got it?” Angie flippantly drawled. “All answers not relating to these colors,” she said while waving a second card in Brody’s face, “will be discarded. You have until tomorrow night to decide. Text Tori with your choice, and she’ll take it from there.”

Alex sniggered. “Did you intend to make that sound ominous?”

Brody seconded. “I’m with the boss on this one. When you say Victoria will take it from there, I feel true fear.”

The remark gave Parker a good laugh, and the three of them fist bumped while Angie smirked.

An unexpected breeze caught Alex’s attention, and he leaned slightly to glance around Parker’s shoulder as if he expected to find a whirling fan directed at them. Nothing was out of the ordinary, so he made a sound and straightened.

“Hmph.”

“Do I get a vote ’cause my money’s on the green.”

Alex very nearly jumped out of his skin. “Jesus Christ, Domineau! Warn a guy, would you? Fuck, woman. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Brody and Parker each wore expressions of astonishment. They were going to have to get used to Smoke appearing and disappearing at will.

The woman laughed. So did Angie.

With a pompous air, she looked down her nose – easy to do when you’re a six-foot-two female – and drawled, “Many have tried to hang a bell around my neck. All have failed.”

Once again, Angie cracked up as though Domineau’s snarky retort was the funniest thing ever. He gave his oldest friend a sneer and commented to Parker on her behavior.

“I see you’ve made headway getting the wife under control.”

Parker just laughed. “Actually, man, she gets extra points for making you twitchy.”

“Extra points for what?” Alex demanded.

This time, Domineau roared with laughter.

Was everybody going to fuck with him today?

She snigger-snorted and said, “Off sides. Four-yard penalty to the Major. Asking a husband questions about points or lack thereof around a spouse’s behavior is totally out-of-bounds.”

Parker’s smug grin got him going. That motherfucker! He stole his tally system and was using it to do god knows what to his sister.

A soft hand landed on his shoulder. Meghan.

“Mind if I steal Domineau for a bit?”

The question brought him back to the unfolding barbecue situation. Most everyone was here or was about to arrive. Shit was about to get real interesting.

“Hi, Meghan,” Domineau exclaimed.

Alex did a double take. When the hell had she become friendly?

“Where are those babies? I’m dying to see them.”

Meghan laughed. She hugged his arm before sweeping Domineau away. Alex swallowed hard, knowing that fireworks might be going off sooner than later.

A scream followed by a loud splash grabbed everyone’s attention. Meghan and Domineau looked at the pool, laughed, and kept walking.

“My bad,” Finn hollered.

A wide splash of directed water shot onto the pool deck. Finn stepped back and barely got a drop on him.

Remy, dripping wet, climbed from the water and started chasing him.

Alex laughed because it felt as though her shriek and resulting splash signaled the kickoff to a day promising nonstop Justice fuckery.

* * *

“Oh my god, Meghan. She’s beautiful. May I hold her?”

Kissing Stevie’s forehead, Meghan gently handed off her daughter into Domineau’s waiting arms.

“Well, hello, little missy,” she cooed. “You look just like your mama.”

Meghan couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Suspecting that Domineau was full of shit and witnessing her very female reaction to holding a small baby was incredibly eye opening. Maybe Alex was right about Rafe and this puzzling woman.

“Domineau!” she teased. “You surprise me.”

“What?” The tall, enigmatic warrior woman snickered. “Didn’t think I’d care about your kids? Meghan, come on.”

A passing breeze could have knocked her over with ease when Domineau Rivera did what every other woman does and stuck her face close to Stevie and inhaled.

“Gotta love that baby smell!”

Meghan was stunned. Okay. Seriously? Was she being punk’d?

“How’s Alex with the diaper changes? He’s helping, I hope.”

With a snicker and a smile, she confessed that Alex was better at the changing table routine than she was. “He employs military efficiency,” she mockingly explained.

“Where’s the other one? Aiden, right?”

“Aiden is currently doing the rounds with my mom. He’s Mr. Social.”

“Aw, that’s cute. You’re so lucky to have your mom around.”

Not sure how to respond, she froze for a second. Alex had told her a little bit about Domineau’s background. Without knowing the full story, she was nonetheless aware that her parents had been killed when she was still a kid.

The discomfort of being at a loss pushed her to speak what was on her mind. She led off with a softball to give her extra time to decide what she wanted to say.

“We’re so glad you’re here, Domineau. My husband holds you in high esteem. He wouldn’t turn Justice over to just anybody.”

She shrugged. “I’m happy to help. Hanging around New York wasn’t leading to anything. I guess you could say Alex’s offer came when not much of anything was on the horizon.”

“Still,” Meghan gently persisted. “It isn’t easy to relocate.”

She handed her the baby and sighed. “I needed the change.”

Yes! There was her opening. “Then Arizona is the place to be.”

Domineau didn’t appear convinced.

“In a way, we all ended up here after coming to a personal crossroad. Even Alex. There’s something about the land and the sky. The red earth and searing heat are good for the soul. Maybe during your time here, you’ll find what you’ve been looking for.”

“What makes you think I’m looking?”

Meghan smirked and gave her a pointed look. To Stevie, she cooed, “Did you hear that, my sweet? Domineau thinks we don’t know.”

Her comment was met with a laugh. “Is this how you domesticated Alex?”

“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”

“Pfft. Fat chance of that happening.”

She never skipped a beat and unloaded on the unsuspecting woman.

“Did you know Rafael is in town?”

It was easy to tell she counted to ten before answering.

“Is that so? Hmph. Well, how lovely. He’s come to pay his respects, I presume?”

“Newsflash, Domineau. I married the king of manners, and my dad is a Boston Irish cop. Whenever I hear terms like how lovely and pay respects, I know I’m being bullshitted.”

It took a couple of beats before she looked at Meghan. “Tell me something, Mrs. Marquez. Are we engaged in a round of good cop, bad cop?”

She chuckled. “I knew you were smart, but damn gurl!”

Domineau flinched.

“I insisted,” she told her.

“Why the hell would you get involved?”

“Because I thought you might want to talk to a female about what’s going on. Alex would be fine sending out an ‘oh by the way’ text and leave you to freak on your own. The Justice Ladies, however, see things differently.”

Domineau stared at the baby in Meghan’s arms and part of her heart cried at the anguish she saw in the woman’s expression.

“Thank you for caring. I’m not used to being around people ... good people.”

Meghan knew a high hurdle when one appeared, and she secretly cheered for Domineau’s baby steps.

She liked the female Justice Brother very much.

“I’ll stay out of Rafe’s way while he’s here. There’s way too much water under the bridge. And besides, his visit is about you and your adorable kids.”

“Is it? Is it really?” she gently asked.

They locked eyes. She saw the conflict in Domineau’s expression and felt for her. There was no way she couldn’t tell her the rest. She needed to know.

“Domineau.”

“Oh god, what? I know that tone.”

“He’s not traveling alone.” One, two, three, four, five. She took a deep breath and added one more detail. “And he’ll be here any minute, so avoiding him isn’t in the cards.”

“He’s with someone?” Domineau asked in a near whisper as all the color in her face faded.

“We’re not sure what any of it means. He hasn’t exactly been forthcoming. I’m sorry for the shock, but you needed to know.”

Several silent minutes ticked by before Domineau said anything.

“It’s too fucking early for a drink, and cigarettes are off the table, so that leaves nothing except a fuck my life feeling.”

She responded with a half-smile that acknowledged the predicament.

“Mind if I make a suggestion?”

Domineau shrugged. “Sure. Why the hell not?”

“Be authentic. Be your real self, Domineau. Don’t fall back on an easy act.”

“Jesus. Easier said than done.”

Stevie let out a cute squeak. “She concurs.”

“Okay, well, if this is the way it’s going to be, I guess I’d better put my big girl panties on and deal with it.”

Meghan laughed. “Truer words have never been spoken.”

They started making their way back to the festivities when Domineau stumbled to a halt.

“Oh, shit. Wait. I almost forgot. Do you know about Roman and Kelly?”

Meghan frowned. “I know that I’m having a word with my husband if he’s been keeping a secret.”

“Man, for real. This is shaping up to be one hell of a day.”

* * *

Roman started laughing as they were cleared through security. As much as they possibly could, he and Kelly managed to keep their surprise arrival a secret.

In the back seat of the SUV he rented for their stay, Matty was almost bouncing off the window glass.

“Everyone ready?” he asked as the vehicle slowed to a stop and was put into park.

Getting them and their gear out of the car wasn’t easy or organized. They had bathing suits and changes of clothes along with a load of easy fireworks he’d scored the day before.

Roman whirled around when a deep, amused voice boomed, “Need any help?”

“Rafe! My god! This is a surprise. What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are,” the bald mountain of muscle responded. “Hey, wanna meet my lady?”

“Uh, what?”

Roman looked down at Kelly when she giggled. She was staring at Rafe’s knees.

“Hi,” she said with a hand wave. “Who might you be?”

Matty stepped up to see who Kelly was speaking to. When Rafe moved aside, Roman was pretty sure he had an out-of-body experience. This was Rafe’s lady?

“It’s okay, honey,” Rafe said. “These are some old friends of mine.”

Roman was acutely aware that his mouth was hanging open.

Kelly extended her hand. “I’m Kelly and this is Matty.”

“Hi.”

They all turned and looked at Rafe.

“Guys, this is my daughter, Marielle.”

Roman’s jaw remained on the floor.

“Daddy calls me Molly,” the little girl with a ponytail of blond ringlets told them. “I’m five.”

“Not yet, you aren’t,” Rafe chuckled. “Three more months.”

“I’ll be five my next birthday too,” Matty enthusiastically announced.

He. Was. Speechless. Frowning at Rafe, he grated out, “Not once the whole time we were overseas did you mention being a dad.”

Rafe shrugged and blew him off.

“Does Alex know?”

Rafe’s shaking head let Roman know shit was about to get real interesting.

“Hey,” Matty hooted. “Wanna meet Bella? She’s six. And she has a pony!”

The cute little girl looked at Rafe, and all Roman could think was, My god. Rafe D’Alessandro has a kid.

“Can I go, Daddy?”

Rafe looked at him with a question in his expression.

“It’s fine,” he drawled. “You made it past the gate, so you have some idea of the level of security Alex insists on. Don’t be surprised if you see a cactus suddenly morph into a commando.”

Kelly reassured Rafe that they’d be fine. She also reminded Matty about the rules. “Handshakes for the gentlemen and what for the ladies?” she asked with a hand cupped to her ear.

“Manners,” Matty recited. “Use my manners.”

Molly giggled. “Daddy says manners too!”

“See?” she drawled. “And tell you what. You guys lug the crap, and I’ll stalk the kids. How’s that sound?”

Matty did not wait for an answer. He grabbed Molly’s hand and took off running. Kelly yelped, said, “Crap, that boy is fast,” and took off after them, leaving him and Rafe alone.

Roman’s thoughts centered on Alex not knowing about Rafe’s kid. What the hell was the guy thinking? Playing gotcha with Alex Marquez was a bonehead move that might not end well.

Grumbling at Rafe because he just knew all sorts of shit was about to go down, Roman loaded the guy up like a pack mule. He and Kelly had gone shopping and had a ton of outdoor gear.

Another vehicle pulled into the driveway and stopped behind his SUV. The driver and passenger doors opened at the same time. The first person he saw was Bentley Sawyer wearing a goofy grin.

“Dear lord in heaven. Is that Rafael D’Alessandro and Roman Bishop I see? Who moved the rock?” he boomed.

They shook hands and went through some shocked hellos.

“Can’t stay,” Sawyer informed them. “But I’ll drop by later with the family.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Just bringing Meghan’s dad from the airport.”

He ran off to help Alex’s father-in-law with his luggage.

“I’d better lend a hand,” he murmured to Rafe. “You go on ahead. Take the path that splits off to the right and head for the pool area. I’ll catch up.”

Rafe nodded and lumbered off. Roman ran up to Meghan’s dad, said hello, shook his hand, and then helped Sawyer lug the guy’s crap into the big house.

“Everyone is back by the pool, Mr. O’Brien. Have fun!” Sawyer told the man. Then he looked at Roman and asked a million-dollar question.

“Uh, isn’t Smoke working for Alex now?”

Roman nodded.

“Ho-ly shit,” was all Sawyer had, and he agreed.

Holy fucking shit.

* * *

A whirlwind came straight at Domineau and Meghan while they were under the portable awning at the beverage station getting something cool to drink.

“Domineau!”

A wide smile shot onto her face as Matthew Liam James hurled himself at her.

“We’re here!”

She dropped to a knee and hugged the boyish bundle of energy. Meghan laughed and said, “Ah, now I get it.”

“Hi, Meghan,” Matty cheered with an overabundance of happiness. “This is Molly. She’s almost five.”

Completely startled by Matty’s surprise appearance, Meghan barely knew what to say, but it didn’t matter because the exuberant boy had a case of motormouth going on.

Domineau greeted the little girl. “Hi, Molly.”

Matty stepped up and got serious. “I forgot my manners. Molly, this is Domineau. She’s my friend too. And that’s Meghan. My dad says I should call her Mrs. something. I forget.” He shrugged.

The cherub-faced child had a mass of blond ringlets in a ponytail. There was something familiar about her.

“You just make friends wherever you go, eh, mija?” Domineau said.

“We just met,” he explained.

Just met? Now she was even more confused. Before she could ask where Roman was, Matty said, “We gotta find Bella. Bye!” and took off with his little friend.

Two seconds later, Kelly followed. “That boy is gonna kill me someday,” she said through heavy breathing. “When did he get so fast?”

Domineau chuckled. Kelly did too, and then the little woman got all kinds of serious. She studied Domineau’s face for a minute and sighed.

“Uh, Domineau,” was all she had time to say before Bella’s excited shriek rang out.

Laughter rippled through the adults. As Meghan watched, Bella, Matty, and Molly made the rounds, stopping to talk to everyone.

At that exact moment Calder, Stephanie, and baby Wolf came strolling down the pathway from the house.

“What’s all the commotion?” Calder asked.

Stephanie chortled. “Kelly? I didn’t know you were in town.”

Meghan drily pointed out that she also was kept in the dark about a surprise visit. They all looked at Domineau, who just shrugged and smiled.

“Matty was miserable in the city,” Kelly explained.

Domineau made a fake cough into a fist that sounded like, “Bullshit.”

“As I was saying,” Kelly said with a cheeky grin, “the city makes us miserable, and our new house will barely be ready in time for Labor Day and the start of school.”

Stephanie chuckled as if she knew what was coming next.

“Roman wanted to make sure Domineau settled in, and Matty can’t live without his two ladies, so here we are.”

“Tell them the rest,” Domineau urged.

“There’s more?” Calder looked skeptical, and Meghan had to agree.

“We bought a house. Sedona suburb. Gorgeous views.”

“A what?” Meghan asked.

“A vacation home. Someplace where we can hang out for school vacations and stuff like that.”

“Are you serious? You are, right? Oh, my goodness, Kelly!” Meghan said with a burble of laughter. “I just knew we’d make a Justice gal out of you!”

She hugged the stuffing out of the diminutive woman.

“So many changes for Justice,” Calder remarked. It sounded like he was thinking out loud.

It was Meghan’s turn to have her mind blown when an arm slung over her shoulder, and a familiar voice crooned her name.

“Meggie, me darlin’. Give your old da a hug.”

“Daddy,” she screamed. “Oh my god! You came back.”

All her silent worries about motherhood and Alex’s issues more or less evaporated once she felt her father’s arms around her. Her da would make sure everything was all right.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he told her, “but I was anxious to hug my girl.”

Domineau, Kelly, Calder, and Stephanie melted away, leaving her alone with her dad.

“I’ve missed you so much.” She had to wipe away tears when he released her.

“Ah, Meggie, things are changing fast. But I have news. Good news.”

“Did Ma know you were coming?”

He smirked the way he always did when the subject was what his wife did or didn’t know.

“Well, let me ask you this. Did you know? Or suspect?”

She found it impossible not to laugh and roll her eyes. “No, of course not because this little setup is an Alex Marquez exclusive. Am I right?”

“My baby girl’s husband is a smart guy. And he’s been a big help.”

“Help? What did you need help with?”

Her da fed her hand through the crook of his arm and began walking them away from the drinks tent – along the path leading to the pool area.

“Your man has a solid head on his shoulders. I ran some stuff past him, and he helped me look at things in a way that made a decision easier.”

“You’re being awfully cryptic.” She sniffed.

“Is Finn here? I want to tell all you together.”

They came around the corner and immediately appeared on everyone’s radar. Shouts of “Paddy!” and cheers of greeting filled the air.

Her mother came dashing toward them – Aiden clutched in her arms. She quickly handed the baby off to Meghan and jumped on her husband with eye-opening enthusiasm.

She was used to seeing her parents’ PDA, so it came as no surprise when her father kissed the life out of her mom, coolly turned with his wife plastered to his front and lifted her feet off the ground so he could move them away from the audience for a more private hello.

She caught Alex’s eyes, smiled big, and mouthed, “I love you.”

As if that wasn’t enough of a shock, the fun times continued when Roman and Rafe also came around the corner, catching the gathered group by surprise.

Meghan saw Domineau stiffen. The tall woman was hard to miss.

“Look who I found wandering about!” Roman shouted.

Cam and Drae laughed their asses off and quickly moved to greet their former team member. Alex received many pats on the back for having produced a one-two surprise.

Finn, who was dragging a dried-off Remy by the hand, ran up to her and yelled into her face, “Is that Da?”

“I sure hope so, or Ma has some explaining to do ’bout why she’s smooshing face with a stranger.”

Remy punched him in the arm. “Great. Look at me! My hair’s wet, and I’m sweating like crazy. What will your parents think?”

Meghan guffawed and hugged her. “Seriously, Remy? You’ve met them before, right? My parents couldn’t be more consistently inappropriate and crazy if they tried.”

Finn quickly kissed Remy’s cheek. “Be right back.” He dashed off toward their making out parents and boomed, “Unhand my mother, you swine!”

Da stopped kissing Ma and dropped her on her feet so he could pretend to scuffle with Finn. Laughter broke out when everyone witnessed their antics. After a good deal of theatrics, father and son hugged it out – much to her mother’s smiling delight.

There was so much going on all at once that Meghan didn’t know which thing to react to. Like magic, Alex appeared at her side.

“Did you purposely plan this wild rumpus?” she drily asked.

“Indeed, I did,” her husband snickered. “Although I can’t take credit for the all-at-once thing.”

Looking around, she murmured, “Domineau seems to be missing.”

Alex didn’t bother to look; he just said, “She ‘smoked’ the minute Rafe appeared. Let’s go say hello and find out what’s going on.”

* * *

Cam elbowed him hard and gave Rafe a snotty smirk. “I still fucking hate you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not glad you’re here.”

Rafe shrugged. “Things change with time, and it felt right when the team was together. Pakistan sucked, but Justice still has it.”

Sinjin added his nickel’s worth of opinion. “I’m glad you came, Rafe. It’ll mean so much to Alex.”

There was a twinge in Drae’s voice that piqued his curiosity for all of thirty seconds – until he remembered. July wasn’t a good month for Justice. The suicide bombing that ended up changing a lot of lives affected the whole team.

He thought of their fallen brother in arms, Bryan Sloate. Old Sloate was their medical guy. He’d patched all them up at some point until he got blown to bits.

And Alex, of course. Man, he’d been completely fucked up. Rafe remembered Cam and Drae frantically searching through rubble to find the Major and everything that happened after. The expression on Sinjin’s face when Alex was medevaced off the base still haunted his dreams. And Cam’s deep dive into an emotional funk in the weeks that followed had worried him at the time. Their humorous rivalry had been all for show – that was the kind of shit you did in a war zone to stay sane and act like every day wasn’t a fucking horror. Throwing all that aside, Rafe tried to be there for his warrior friend, but Jason Cameron wasn’t much of a sharer back then.

My god, how things had changed.

Drae wasted no time in getting right to the heart of the matter. Rafe shouldn’t have been so surprised, but he was.

“Domineau is here. Did you know?”

“Yeah, Alex may have mentioned it.”

Both of those fuckers snickered in unison.

Cam crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels with a deep laugh. “Oh, I get it. So you’re playing Mr. Cool, huh?”

He snickered. “Is it working?”

“Rafe, how nice to see you again,” Meghan Marquez crooned as she greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

He liked Alex’s wife. She was the shit. For real.

“Meghan,” he crooned. “You didn’t look like this the last time I saw you.” He wagged his brows at Alex. “It’s a good thing you guys met first because I would totally have challenged you for this one!”

Alex pushed him aside and sneered. “Fuck off, Rafe.”

It felt great to laugh with his old friends.

Childish screams and yelling caught everyone’s attention. They all looked and saw the boy Matty and his friend Bella running around with the stars and stripes as Marielle chased after them. He grinned. It was just like his little girl to make instant friends. She was a thousand times more social than he’d ever be, and if he was being honest, Rafe had to admit that he hid behind her and used fatherhood as a shield to ward off emotional entanglements.

Domineau’s’ face flashed in his mind and sobered his mood.

Alex and Meghan watched the kid’s antics and laughed. “Did Matty bring a friend?” Meghan asked. “Yeesh! Hope Bella doesn’t get jealous.”

“Yeah,” Drae muttered. “Who’s the kid? Did I miss an introduction?”

Rafe chuckled and then turned to do the D’Alessandro whistle. Six distinct notes cut through the noisy air. Right away, Marielle came to a screeching halt. He gestured her to come. She said something to the other kids and then came bounding up to him with her usual smile.

When he looked at Drae, Cam, Alex, and Meghan, he found all them with open mouths and wide eyes.

“Guys, this is Marielle D’Alessandro. My daughter.”

“Daddy! You promised!”

Rafe snickered and patted her head. “You’re right, honey. I’m sorry.” He cleared his throat and grandly announced that she preferred to be called Molly.

Meghan recovered first and squatted when she greeted Molly. “I love the name Molly. It begins with the letter M. My name has two Ms! I’m Meghan Marquez,” she told her with a kiddie handshake. “And this guy is my husband.”

Alex helped Meghan stand and also shook Molly’s little hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Molly. Happy Fourth of July.”

His daughter laughed. “Hi. It’s hot here,” she informed everyone. “Matty says we can go swimming. Is that okay, Daddy?”

“In a little bit, okay? We haven’t said hello to everyone yet.”

She slotted her small hand into his and beamed at him. When he looked his daughter in the eyes and found her boundless love shining back at him, he was glad about the decisions he’d made.

A puff of air on the back of his neck made him straighten. He moved in slow motion. With Molly’s hand in his, he turned and found Domineau standing behind them with an expression on her face that nearly gutted him.

Meghan noticed where his attention was and turned too. He watched as most of the color in her face went ashen. He also noted that she clutched her husband’s hand in a death grip.

Alex turned to Domineau. His voice was gentle when he called out, “Smoke! Look who’s here.”

She took half a step and stopped. He heard Meghan’s groan and wanted to kick himself for being such an asshole. He never should have let this moment unfold publicly. What had he been thinking?

Without saying a word, Domineau turned around and walked away.

He sighed heavily. So … nothing had changed. His heart felt heavy. All these years later, she just walked away. Same thing – different day.

Fuck.

* * *

Finn’s parents went on and on about how happy they were to see her. Remy heard the silent subtext of amazement that she and their son were still together. Her so-called boyfriend grinned like the idiot that he was – earning him a double hug from his dad.

If things got any weirder, she was gonna start checking behind every plant and stick of furniture for a hidden camera because this shit was definitely one for the history books.

Remy saw Domineau making a fast beeline away from the Justice gathering and frowned. What the hell crawled up her shorts?

She touched Finn’s arm and whispered, “Gotta check something out. Be right back.” Explaining to the O’Briens that she had to do something, Remy accepted their warm hugs and promised not to be long. Finn’s dad had some news, but he wasn’t giving it up till everyone was together.

“Don’t be long,” Finn murmured. He kissed her lips and smiled into her eyes. She returned the smile before realizing what she was doing.

There wasn’t much mystery where Domineau headed when she took off. Remy knew she’d end up in the old gym, so she hurried after her as fast as she could without breaking into a run.

What she found after catching up was a familiar sight. Remy knew all about using physical activity to burn through shit she didn’t want to face.

Domineau was at the heavy bag, literally punching and kicking the shit out of it.

“Yo,” she barked.

Domineau startled when Remy yelled and turned to her with bleakness blazing in her eyes.

“Get out, Bissett. This doesn’t concern you.”

Okeydoke, Remy thought. If this was how she wanted to play, it was fine by her.

Removing her shoes as Domineau had done, she walked up to the bag and gave the thing a roundhouse kick that almost sent it flying back to yesterday. Then she faced Domineau, gave the Matrix-inspired hand gesture for bring it on, and readied for a smackdown.

In less than five minutes, she’d upended the dynamic and put Domineau Rivera on the floor. When the woman tapped out with a furious growl, Remy back off and gave her space to get up.

Calmly, and with no comment, they each put their shoes on and stood tall eyeball to shorter eyeball. Since there was no way she would give an inch to the Amazon bitch, Remy stood firm.

Eventually, Domineau backed down.

“Fuck. If you tell anybody about this, I will ...”

“Shut the fuck up,” she growled. “I’m no brown-nosing point grubber. You needed a reminder, and I gave you one. Nobody has to know my business.”

The angry woman whirled around, balled her hands into fists and bellowed an anguished sounding cry.

Sadly, Remy recognized the sound. It was something she was old friends with.

“Why are you here, Remington?” Domineau bit out.

She chuckled. Why did people think that barking her full name made a bit of difference?

“Let’s just say I know a wounded animal when one runs past me.”

It wasn’t much of a surprise that the other woman started yelling.

“Clairvoyant, are you? Ha! More like full of shit. Nobody lays a finger on me so nice try.”

Ah, the grumbling noises a cornered female made. Remy wished she didn’t have the firsthand knowledge that she did.

“Pfft. I just put your ass on the ground, so eat shit, lady.”

Domineau bristled. Remy glared. She let her words sink in and continued.

“Look, it takes one to know one, right?” She shrugged at her comment. “You can be as big a bitch as you want, but it’s not gonna change anything. I know this firsthand.”

“Are you sleeping with Finn O’Brien?” Domineau snippily demanded.

Remy had a good laugh at the wasted tactic. “Nope.”

Her reply was met with shocked silence. Clearly, Domineau hadn’t expected an answer.

“So now that you’ve thrown in my face what the gossip train whispers about me, are you interested in what’s being said about you?”

“Who are you?” Domineau groused. Her expression registered a small measure of discomfort due in no small part to Remy’s refusal to back down.

“Well”—she sniggered—“until this very second, I was the fucked-up one. But you’re giving my damaged ass a run for the finish line.”

“Is that what they say about me? That I’m fucked up and damaged?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Goddammit,” Domineau gravely sneered. “Coming here was a mistake.”

“Why? Because you can’t get away with shit around people who know you? Give it a rest, lady. You’re here for the same reason we all ended up here.”

“Oh, Jesus. Please don’t start with the find yourself bullshit. I’m fine. Better than fine. This,” she said with a dismissive wave, “is an anomaly.”

Mimicking taking notes, Remy arched a brow. “Anomaly. Good one. Gonna have to use it. Care to try again?”

Throwing her hands up, Domineau plopped onto a weight bench. She hunched over and rested her forearms on her thighs.

“It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, no shit. I’m the captain of complicated, so guess you’ll have to pick a number and get in line.”

Rather unexpectedly, Domineau began to laugh. “Did you see the movie Deadpool?” She didn’t wait for a reply and kept going. “There’s a great scene where Wade and Vanessa verbally joust over who’s the most fucked up. Is that what’s happening here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Remy answered with an amused snort.

“Well, I’m not into forming a whiney bitch squad, so don’t expect me to spill my guts.”

“Fifty-fifty,” she said. “Equally fucked up. How’s that?” She held her hand out.

They shook on it and eventually laughed.

“You have a mean kick, Bissett.”

“And you, Ms. Rivera, pack quite a wallop.”

They looked around the room at the same time.

“Jesus Christ this place is dismal,” Domineau muttered. “The shiny new workout rooms in the compound make this look like a dump.”

Remy nodded her agreement. “The guys hide in here. It’s more a therapy room than a place to work out.”

“And then there’s that.”

“Look,” she mumbled on a heavy sigh. “You know where I live if you ever wanna vent.”

Domineau almost smiled. Almost. “Do you keep vodka in the freezer?”

She laughed. “No, but I will now!”

They shuffled awkwardly. Women didn’t generally bond with their fists.

“I’d better get back before the O’Briens send a search party. We good, Rivera?”

“Yes, we are,” she replied, “but I gotta ask one thing.”

Remy sighed. “Whatever.”

“Why you no do the suck ’n fuck with your boyfriend?”

She jerked slightly at the blunt mocking question, and a cascade of negative input flooded her brain. Can’t. Shouldn’t. Afraid. Crazy. Damaged. Pitiful. The list is endless.

The only thing to do was counter with a shutdown question of her own.

“Why did you take off like a bat out of hell?”

Domineau sneered, but Remy was sure she saw sadness in her eyes.

“If I ever figure it out, maybe I’ll let you know.”

She watched the conflicted woman walk away. They had more in common than anyone knew.