Well, we've come to the end of another story. Sorry, again, that it took forever to get out. I was having problems getting it out of my brain. It didn't want to transfer onto the screen, but thankfully after three hours and a numb butt, it finally came out! I could've made it into two chapters, but I figured since you guys waited so patiently, you deserved the rest of the story in full. So please, enjoy the final chapter of Fate's. There may be an epilogue, but nothing's in the works right now. I think it ends quite nicely.

As you know, I have another story already stirring the pot. I'm going to take some time off from writing, recharge, and be back with the next full length story in a few months. There might be some one shots, but nothing concrete on that yet.

Not mine. I just like playing with characters and putting them in crazy situations.

"Girl, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Lula asked when she stormed into my office.

I ignored her and continued to look through my filing cabinet. "What does it look like? I'm working." I replied, distracted. "You know, something that you should be doing?"

"Nuh huh. That's not what I'm talking about and you know it." She closed the door and got in my face. I actually had to back up to the wall. "That man has been nothing but nice to you. He's practically perfect bending over backwards for you and if it wasn't for my Tankie, I'd be all over that. But what you're doing right now? You're screwing this up!"

I pretended to ignore her again, but on some level I knew she was right. It had been five days since I found out my grandmother had set me up my latest boyfriend and I wasn't any closer to figuring out what to do. You know what's funny? I wasn't pissed at my Grandma Mazur. Not in the slightest. She was just trying to help.

So why was I blowing this relationship?

Because the last time this happened, I married Dickie. Mom had us casually meet (exactly like Carlos) and we hit it off (exactly like Carlos). A few months into my relationship, my mother explained what she had done. And I was grateful. Dickie was a wonderful guy. As it turns out, Dickie lived up to his name. Now, all I wanted to do was to make sure that this wasn't the same thing. My brain knew that.

My heart? Not so much. There would always be a part of me worried that I wouldn't be enough for him, like I wasn't enough for Dickie.

After four months, I knew I loved him. I was all ready to give Carlos my heart.

Now I wasn't so sure. My heart was now living firmly in denial land. I thought I loved Dickie and he cheated on me. I worried that if I told him I loved him, the same thing would happen again. In my family, history tended to repeat itself.

"Look, I know what your Granny did was crazy, but you can't blame her forever."

"I don't blame her." I sat back down behind my desk.

"You don't? Why not? She did the exact same thing that your mother did! You hated her for months!"

"I know it sounds crazy, but she didn't do the same thing. She just hired a man to do some work. It was up to us to figure out the rest. My mother pushed me straight into Dickie's and Joe's arms. She forced relationships; Grandma just put a man in my way. I had the right to say no."

"Then why haven't you called him! I thought that you were avoiding him because you thought he and Granny were in on it, like Dickie was. Girl, you need to give that man some peace of mind!"

Because it was the rest that I wasn't sure about. Sure, he wasn't a mom-made relationship, but how do I know for sure that we were real or not. My mind was literally going in confusing circles. "I'll talk when I'm ready."

"Well… then you better get ready."

"Why?"

"He's here."

I dropped my pen. I wasn't ready to see him yet. "What?"

She put her phone away. "Just talk to him about this. He deserves to know what's going through your head. That man's in this relationship too."

Crap. She had a point there. I sighed and nodded. "You're right."

"Damn skippy I'm right."

"I know you did this."

"Who me?"

She left after that and Carlos came in. Man, he looked gorgeous. Carlos had chosen his commando look today; black shirt, black cargoes and black combat boots. My stomach dropped. His face was blank. He reserved that face for employees or when he was mad.

And considering I'm not an employee…

"Hey," I croaked out.

"Hi."

We stared at each other.

I pushed some papers around my desk. "I was going to call you."

He cricked up his eyebrow. I bit my lip.

"Five days, Stephanie."

Uh oh. Not Babe.

"Five days and all you've sent me is a text."

"I know. I was just..." I sighed. "I've got a lot on my mind right now."

He crossed his arms. "So… Let's talk."

I sat down silently and bit my lip.

After a few moments of silence, he sat down too. "Fine, I'll go first. I talked to your grandmother yesterday."

"What?"

"When you didn't return my calls, I went to see her. I needed something, Steph."

I felt my hackles rise. "So you figured going behind my back was the way to do it?"

"What else was I supposed to do? You weren't talking to me." His face flickered with anger for a moment and then went back to being blank. "I'm not a man who enjoys being ignored and has to beg for scraps, Stephanie."

Guilt filled my stomach. Before me, Carlos didn't have relationships. He made the terms in every encounter he had. With me, he changed the ballgame. And now I was doing the same thing to him that he did to those women. I promised myself I wouldn't put him in that situation and I broke it.

I just needed some space from this and the guilt that was settling so easily in my body.

So I did what I do best. I tried to go into denial.

"Look," I sighed again, rubbed my forehead. "I don't care that you talked to my grandmother. You can talk to whoever you want. I've got a lot of work to do and I haven't really had a chance to think things over."

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

"You've done nothing but think about it. Stop trying to lie to me, Stephanie. I've learned from the best."

I stood up and started to pace. "What do you want me to say? That my grandmother set us up? That she's been pushing us together for months and we didn't even know about it? That I'm frustrated and confused and mad all at the same time?" It went unsaid that all the emotions were pointed at myself. Frustrated that I couldn't completely let my insecurities go. Confused about all the feelings and mad because I was going to screw this up and was powerless to stop it.

"That's a good start. What else?"

"You think this is really going to help?"

"If it gets us past this, yes."

"You're not pissed?"

"No. In fact I'm grateful."

That made me stop. "What?"

"If your grandmother hadn't done what she'd done, we may have never met."

"You can't believe that. Your second in command and my best friend are dating. It was inevitable."

"And by then you could've been married. Or you'd be seeing someone else. I don't break relationships up, Stephanie. We might've missed each other. And that would've been tragic."

"And you don't think that's somehow wrong?"

"No. I think your grandmother loves you and wants to see you happy. She was just trying to make sure you had what she had with her husband."

"Did she tell you that?"

"Actually she did. After she talked to you, she figured I needed the whole reason why. For some odd reason, she didn't think you'd listen."

"I would have." I said, sitting back down. "I think she's worried that I am mad at her, when I'm really not."

"So if you're not mad at her, what's the problem?"

I crossed my arms and bit my lip. I knew it was time to talk. Carlos wasn't going away until we did and Lula was right. I wasn't the only one in this relationship. "I'm… scared…" I started. "That I won't be enough."

"Babe, we've been over this. You're more than enough for me."

"I know, but I still worry about it. I think a small part of me will always wonder after Dickie…" I trailed off when his eyes went flat.

"Don't. Don't do this."

I bit my lip and said nothing. I hated that Dickie was still coming between us.

"When are you going to stop comparing me to him? When are you going to realize that I'm not him?"

"I don't think that!"

"Then why is he still part of our relationship?" He asked quietly. I wish he would yell at me. I deserved it. I hated myself enough already.

"You have no idea how happy that my grandmother pushed us together. I want to thank her every day." I paused.

"But…?" Carlos prompted.

"Even though you're not Dickie, I guess there's still a small part of me that will always be waiting for you to change like he did. He did a one-eighty so fast that I missed it. I didn't want to miss it the next time it happened. Joe was like that. I had the feeling I ignored with Dickie."

"I won't change, Babe. I haven't seen any other woman in months. Not since I saw you."

My heart melted at that. "I know that. But isn't there some small part of you that wonders if this is all real or if it's just because we were pushed together?"

"No. I don't have any doubts about us. But clearly you do."

This was what I was trying to avoid. Carlos looked at me with such distance that even if I was in his arms, I would still be millions of miles away from him.

Every fiber of my being wanted to shout that I didn't. That I knew it was real between us and Dickie just used me. I knew that Grandma was just trying to help and he was as much of an innocent bystander as I was. Dickie knew exactly what my mother was doing, but Carlos had no idea. But something still held me back. Something kept me from being one hundred percent sure.

"Looks like this might be a good time to take a break."

My stomach dropped.

"I have to go visit the other offices over the next few weeks and I think we could use the space." He frowned as he watched my face pale. "When I come back, we can talk, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

His eyes bored into mine. "You okay?"

"Mmhmm." But I didn't feel like I wasn't.

"I'll call you when I get back, okay Babe?"

Even the use of my nick name didn't make me smile. I was breaking in two. "Okay."

His frown stayed, and he kissed me on my forehead. "Don't go crazy."

"Don't get shot."

He smiled softly and left.

Taking my heart with him.

Over the next few days, I was a zombie. I worked, I slept, and I ate, but not much else. I thought about what he said every moment I let myself.

Fortunately, that wasn't too often. But often enough.

Connie and Lula tried to talk to me the first couple of days, but after I yelled and threatened to fire them, they stopped. Now they just gave me worried looks.

I wished they would just stop. I needed space from the whole situation. He'd be back and we'd figure this all out. I just needed a little more luck to make it through this.

But apparently, it wasn't my lucky day.

Jeanne came sauntering in. Lula cursed and Connie rolled her eyes. Her eyes roamed the store until they landed on mine and they began to glow.

"When I'm right, I'm right." She said when she came over to me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I started to walk away.

"Ranger wasn't going to change for you. To him, you were a nice little distraction, but we both knew that he was going to get bored one day."

"The fact that you still call him Ranger says it all. You still call him by a nickname from his Ranger days. He's moved on since then. Clearly you haven't."

"You have no idea what he's been through."

"I know enough that I don't need to dredge up the past every time I see him. What does he talk to you about? Missions? Ranger training? We talked about things like what he was doing tomorrow. Did he ever ask you what you were doing next week?"

Her face started to turn red and I knew I had struck a nerve. But she rebounded quickly. "Sure he did. We talked all night last night. On seven."

I felt my face pale.

"Oh, didn't know that?" She grinned widely. "Yeah, it was heartbreaking for the first few hours. He talked about how you were so understanding and pretty but as the night went on, he showed his real feelings. He told me that you were a sad little gnat that just wouldn't go away. He found you tedious, boring and full of petty drama. Of course, the next morning, I told him that he should tell you the truth, but of course, he doesn't want to break your heart, little girl."

I glared at her. "I don't believe you."

"Ella makes a mean breakfast omelet, doesn't she?"

This is where things get hazy. Jeanne taunted me for a few more minutes, but I tuned her out. My sight turned red.

And I blacked out.

"Get this crazy fucking bitch off me!" Was the next thing I heard.

I felt like Ralph in A Christmas Story. I was literally beating the shit out of Jeanne. She had a black nose, scratches on her neck and my hands were currently around her neck. Lula and Connie were standing around, staring at us.

I didn't care what kind of spectacle I was making. I didn't care that my mother would hear about this. I just didn't care.

Thankfully, Lula came to her senses. "Okay, Rocky, let's go." She picked me up and pulled me off of her.

Connie stepped in between us and kept us apart.

"Bitch can't handle the fact that he was always going to end up with me!" Jeanne shouted.

"You okay?" Lula asked, ignoring Jeanne's shouts.

"I'm fine."

For a second, I thought she didn't believe me, but then she let me go. We were standing so close that I could feel her chuckle. "I told you so."

"What?"

"You were holding it in for so long that I'm surprised you didn't blow sooner." She chuckled some more. "Nice blowout though."

I looked over at Jeanne. I felt no guilt at what I'd done. She'd stuck her hand in the cage of a hungry lion. All I felt was satisfaction. She was Army Ranger trained and I got the jump on her.

"Thanks." I said.

Jeanne's eyes narrowed. "You were never good enough for him. He was playing house for a few months, but he got bored. You're just another Burg housewife."

I gave a hollow laugh. "If he wanted you, why didn't he keep you when he had you?"

That shut her up.

"Oh, didn't know that?" I asked, throwing her words back at her. I grinned for the first time in a week. "He told me all about your… encounters. And yet, somehow he managed to pull his pants up and walk away. You may have spent the night on seven, but I've spent several. Did he ever spend every last moment in bed with you, wishing he didn't have to go as he hugged you tighter?"

"He was just playing the role you wanted him to. He was humoring you. Placating you." She may have said that, but I detected envy in her voice and eyes.

"Believe what you want to, Jeanne. But he'll never be yours."

"We'll see about that." And she came at me.

And I leveled her with one punch.

The store was silent. Lula and Connie had their mouths open.

"And that's how a Burg housewife takes care of her man." I said to her motionless body.

The women in the store smiled and cheered. I felt my smile widen. As the congratulations came pouring in, there was only one thought going through my mind.

What the hell am I doing here?

After a few moments, Lula began to draw the attention to her reenactment for the people in the back. "That was one good Trenton smack down, girl." She chuckled.

I grinned again. When everyone was distracted, I snuck off to my office and made a phone call.

"Tank, I need a plane." He paused and then, "thank God."

I asked the one question that changed my life.

"Where is he?"

Carlos' POV

"Okay, get the numbers ready for me and I'll look at them tomorrow." I said to the men in the Miami office. Silvio nodded and wrote down what I needed.

"Questions?" I asked. There were none. I nodded once and dismissed the men.

"You okay?" Mateo, Miami's manager asked me when the room cleared. Mateo and I went through basic together and when he got out of the Army, I knew I needed him on my team.

Unfortunately, he saw too much.

I nodded. "Just tired."

"Uh huh." He said. "You want to talk about her?"

"How much did Lester blab?"

"None." He grinned. "I know you. I guessed."

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm tired."

"Sure. I'll be up for another hour if you change your mind."

"Thanks man."

I called for the elevator and thought about Stephanie. It had been almost two weeks since we last talked and it felt like half of me was missing. Stephanie and I may be having trouble, but I thought I knew her well enough that she would want to talk at least once. Maybe even try to work this out before I got back.

But nothing. Radio silence from Trenton.

The doors opened and I got in. As I did each night, I felt the numbness creep into my bones. Before our big fight, we'd call and say goodnight to each other. Hearing her breathe kept me stable.

Now I was just numb.

The elevator reached my floor, bringing me out of my reverie. I was glad we were getting the space. She needed to be sure in herself. In us.

I didn't need to be convinced.

Sure, I was kind of mad I was manipulated into the relationship by Edna. At first. Now, all I felt was thanks. I was thankful every day that Stephanie was in my life.

Now I needed her to be thankful.

I tossed my keys into the dish on the sideboard and picked up the mail. Most of it was bills, so they could be dealt with tomorrow. I crossed the room to put them in the office when I stopped after passing my bedroom door.

I stepped back and reached for the gun on my hip.

The light flicked on. "I won't move."

My hand relaxed. "Babe."

"Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

"Mateo called. He told me you were on your way up."

She was wearing one of my shirts, her hair was tousled and I could see a crease in her cheek from the pillow. I was glad she was here, but there were still blanks. "How…?"

"You were supposed to be here last week." She told me how she had called Tank and flown where he thought I was going to be. I wasn't checking in as much as he would've liked and definitely wouldn't have known I changed my plans.

"I went to Atlanta first. I wanted to spend more time with Julie." I paused. "How long have you been here?"

She rubbed her eyes. "About eight days?"

Eight days. Eight whole days. I could've been with my Babe for eight whole days?

Steph saw my face and got off the bed. I groaned. She was wearing only my shirt. Her nipples pebbled against the cloth and the light behind her showed me she wasn't wearing her panties either.

"Let me talk first. You went first last time."

I nodded. It wasn't going to be hard. I hadn't seen my Babe naked in two weeks and I couldn't keep my eyes off her now.

"You were right."

My eyes left her body and locked on her eyes. "I was scared that you were going to become like Dickie and I get why I'd think that, but it wasn't fair to you. You did nothing to show me that you had the 'wandering eye' and by the way you were just looking at me, I can't imagine that you would."

I grinned. "I haven't seen you in over two weeks. You look positively mouthwatering."

She blushed furiously. "You're nasty."

"And you love it."

"God help me, I do." She smiled widely. "That plus the fact that you barely let me out of bed when we were together makes me realize that you wouldn't have time to chase other women."

"I only want to chase you. Preferably around the apartment."

Her face glowed. "Maybe later."

"You're not Dickie. And you'll never be Dickie." She cupped my cheek. "I'm sorry it too long for me to realize that. I actually had a conversation with Dickie."

"Did you really?"

"Well, it was more or less me kicking him in the nuts and asking him why, but still effective."

"You kicked him in the nuts?"

"Well I was angry. He treated me like trash and I thought he should pay for it."

I grinned. That's my Babe. "And what did he say?"

"He apologized for sleeping with all the women. He told me he was just using me to gain more power in the burg and was sorry that he misjudged the fact that I would just let him sleep around. Most housewives do that."

"I'm glad you didn't either."

"Keep that in mind mister. If you do cheat on me, you'll get it worse than a kick in the nuts."

Unlikely, but I wasn't going to tell her that. She might bolt. "Duly noted."

"Good." She took a deep breath. "I'm really glad that he won't come between us anymore."

"Does this mean that you trust me?"

"I never stopped trusting you." Her nose crinkled. "I stopped trusting myself."

I rubbed her shoulders and arms. "And now?"

She took a deep breath. "I think I was scared. Scared because Grandma had set us up and history was repeating itself. I was afraid the love that I felt for you wasn't different like it was with Dickie. But I know now that it's not true."

My heart stopped. She loved me?

"But now I know that it is different. It's better. It's more real than anything I've ever felt before. I love you Carlos Manoso and if you even feel the slightest…"

I stopped her by kissing the hell out of her. "Oh," she breathed. I smiled. "I love you too." I said.

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah."

"Well good. I'm glad to hear that." She smiled sweetly. Right before she punched me in the shoulder. "Did you really have Jeanne in your apartment?"

"Yes. How do you…?"

"She came into my store. I really should send her a thank you card because she made me realize how much I loved you and how big of an idiot I was being."

"What did she do?"

She told me the whole story and I had to grin. "You went all Jersey on her ass. For me."

"Duh. Who else would I go all Jersey for?"

"Good to know." I smiled and tucked a curl behind her ear. "She spent the night on the couch. She came over with a bottle of Jack. I think she was hoping we'd drink enough and have sex, but I'm not twenty-five anymore. I know better than to fall for that."

Her shoulders sagged. "Thank God."

"I told you Babe. I haven't seen anyone else since you."

"I'm glad that's still true. Because I haven't seen anyone either."

The numbness that had settled in was gone. My Babe was back at my side.

"Now," she said as she pulled my shirt over her head. "I distinctly remember you saying something about chasing me around the apartment?"

My cock bobbed alive. I nodded with it.

She pushed me out of the doorway. "Tag! You're it!"

Stunned, all I could do was watch her ass twitch out the door. Her giggles filled the apartment and my heart.

Thankfully, my training kicked in and I regained thought. I stripped quickly and ran after her. Only a few seconds later, I grabbed her naked waist and pulled her tightly to me.

"No fair," she giggled. "Ooh, did you forget to take off your gun?"

I growled as her ass rubbed sensually against my cock. "It needs a good oiling. I haven't used it in a while."

"Well, you should oil it regularly."

I turned her around. "You know we're not talking about guns right?"

She grabbed me and I ground loudly. "Yeah, I got that." She tilted her head. "Are we going to make love now?"

"Oh hell yes." I picked her up and fireman carried her to the bed.

"We're okay, right?" She asked me nervously.

"Are you mad and your Grandmother for setting us up?"

"No, I'm glad she did it."

"And am I Dickie?"

"No," she moaned as I gently swiveled my hips against her. "You are definitely not Dickie."

"And you're going to trust us?"

"Yes. And I trust you too."

"Even with Jeanne?"

"Yeah. She's a skanky ho, but I can trust you around her. She can try to steal my man but the only one you'll be sending penis pictures to is me."

"Same goes for you Babe."

"I got no problem with that."

"Good." I growled. I cupped her. "Because, this is mine."

"Good." She mimicked my voice and grabbed me. "This is mine."

"For as long as you want."

"Forever isn't long enough, but it's a start."

I grabbed her lips with mine. Time for talk was over.

I was ready for forever.

The end.