Title: For Blue Skies
Chapter: 1
Category: Angst / Adventure / Romance
Pairing: Hector / Steph / Lester
Rating: R… I guess.. Some innuendo, and some language.. Geez, I don't think there's even any violence this time.
Summary: Miami.. Finally. Throw out any preconceptions you had about what would come in Miami, cuz I don't think this is it.
Previously on:… Go read the first 3 stories in the series if you don't know what's going on.
Disclaimer: The characters your recognize, do not belong to me, they belong to Janet Evanovich, I've just got them out on loan. I promise Steph will be back in one piece.. But I make no promises about Lester and Hector… Everybody else, is mine. Especially Rufio twinkle
Warning!! There are two naked guys in this story who want to do dirty things to eachother, if you're too narrow minded to accept that, close the window, I will not be held responsible for your squeamishness.
Author's Note: Took me long enough, I know. Blame the Muse. She took Hector and ran off on a nice little Winter vacation. It was extremely lonely here without them, so I suffered right along with you.
Music for this section:
Strays Don't Sleep - For Blue Skies
For Blue Skies
Chapter 1
"Come on man, you can't NOT tell me about Miami now." Lester could whine with the best of them.
Guess that'll teach me to leave off storytelling for a breath before Lester gets what he wants.
"Would you prefer I ran out of breath and passed out from going non-stop?"
Stephanie lay on the bed between us, smiling back and forth at us as she followed our banter.
"Hehe, no worries Hector, I promise if you pass out, I'll take good care of your unconscious body."
And out comes that damnable smirk.
"Just try to ignore any extra aches and pains you might find when you wake up."
"Amante, you are troublesome. If you expect me to get on with the story you need to zip those pretty lips." And pretty they certainly were.
The longer I sat here talking, explaining my past to these two remarkable people, the more I wished that I could just shut up and enjoy them instead.
I couldn't let myself do that though, not until I'd explained everything. Not until they'd heard every last terrible deed. Only then could I move on with them with a clear conscience. Only then would I truly be starting over, the way I'd hoped to years ago when Ranger first found me. I can only hope that when it's all said and done, they still want to touch me.
"Yeah, but you love me anyway," Lester's voice was just as playful as it had been a minute ago, but his eyes weren't quite the same. His usual confidence had fled, taking the light that made his gem colored eyes gleam. He wasn't positive that he was right.
"Si. I do. You make it hard not to most of the time." A sincere smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
I didn't realize that eventually letting someone back into my heart would be the final step to healing myself of the hurt I'd experienced, but there it was.
There was a new man inside me, clamoring to get out and move on with his life. To have Stephanie and Lester be a part of that life. But first I had to shed the skin of the old me. Throw off the terrors of my past. The only way to do that was to share it with these two people. For them to understand who I had been.. Who I wanted to be.
"So you want to hear about Miami do you? It's probably going to be disappointingly boring."
OoOoOoOoO
Miami was everything I'd expected it to be.
Sunny and hot.
I'd tried not to set my expectations too high.
When my plane landed I was met at the gate by Macario himself. The resemblance to Ranger made him easy to pick out in a crowd. A softer version, somewhat smaller, closer to his mother in height. Ella's stern mouth, but the eyes.. they were those soft, dark brown eyes Ranger had let slip for just a moment. I'd even bet if he let his short spiky brown hair grow out, it would look exactly like Ranger's. I'll bet they were hell on their mothers growing up.
Apparently he was worried that his 'overly chatty cousin' might have forgotten to mention the details of what I would be doing. Turned out Macario had a sense of humor.
So he decided to give me a crash course on the drive, before he dropped me in the lions den.
Macario himself and Silvio were the only one's who had been apprised of my situation in Trenton. Silvio because he would be responsible for the bulk of my training. Everyone else in the Miami office was blissfully oblivious of my former status.
I would be given a real chance to start fresh.
OoOoOoOoO
"See, even that is more then Ranger ever told me about himself."
Stephanie should probably have gotten points for holding out as long as she had without interrupting me. I just wish she'd choose something other then Ranger to interrupt about.
"Why do you say that chica?" Best to humor her and just get it out of the way now.
"Because I didn't know he had a twin cousin! What is he? Patty Freaking Duke!?" Ok. Irritated does not even begin to cover this.
"I didn't even know Ella was his Aunt." Her voice had suddenly softened, remorse coloring her words. "I'm just so sorry that he didn't feel he could let me in that much. It seems like such a simple thing to me, but I realize he must not look at it that way." She seemed so sad.
I reached out to her, pulling her down against the mattress so she landed squarely on my chest. Her big blue eyes blinking down at me in surprise. Long curly brown lashes batting against her cheeks.
"Chica bonita, don't look so sad. You make my heart hurt. None of this takes away from what you two mean to eachother. The friendship that you have is a beautiful thing. Don't let that be belittled." I tried my best to soothe her. Stroking my hand down her mass of curls, losing myself in her.
She was learning a lot, and leaving a lot behind.
She settled her head on my chest, laying a kiss over my heart. I swear I felt it nearly thud to a stop when her lips traced over my skin.
She must have felt it too. I felt her cheeks harden and round as she smiled, no doubt bringing out those beautiful dimples and making her eyes shine.
Lester settled in beside us, his hand gently tracing up and down our sides where Stephanie lay atop me.
"Go ahead Hector, I'm sorry I interrupted you." Her lips brushed against me with each word.
"If you're sure Stephanie."
I wasn't the only one moving on from things.
OoOoOoOoO
Macario explained to me that Miami didn't do much skip tracing, the office handled more private and corporate security instead. Apparently there was big money in securing the ritzy homes that dotted along the coast.
I wouldn't have to worry about any of that though. As it turned out, I left the building less than a dozen times in the entire six months I spent in Miami.
I asked to stop on our way to the office that first day, and loaded up on everything I would need to get by. A few new outfits to start off my new life, the necessary toiletries. Almost a dozen of the long black thermal shirts that would become part of my normal uniform beneath my RangeMan shirts.
Even in Miami's heat, it was the best way I could think of to hide the tattoos that would set me apart from everyone else. I even went so far as to spend twenty minutes in the women's aisle of a pharmacy. Comparing and matching those little bottles of liquid makeup until I found just the right shade to mask the teardrop on my cheek.
My time in Miami was truly eye opening in some respects.
I covered the teardrop before we made it to the building. Only one person ever saw me as anything other then a normal guy. And none of them ever treated me like anything different than themselves.
OoOoOoOoO
My time with LK wasn't entirely wasted, out of all of the possessions they stole, I made good use of anything educational that came my way. Textbooks and novels from the backpacks of college students who shouldn't have been walking alone at night. Business plans from the briefcases of suits who had angered The Crowns. Even Computer manuals from an IT truck that stayed parked in the wrong place for too long.
With what little money I could sneak from the gang's collections each week, I would frequent the computer and book stores in Newark, expanding my education to include the art that had always interested me and the poets my sister used to talk about when I was a child, as well as anything I could find that would help me learn about electronics and technology.
It all eventually led me to building my own computers and teaching myself the ins and outs of the electronics on my own time, with my own two hands.
Silvio had been impressed with the skills I had coming in, but took his time introducing me to the specific software programs that Rangeman had access to. Things I had never even thought to dream of, these men could do at the touch of a few buttons, simply because of their connections to our government.
Some of the gadgets amazed me as well. After my sessions with Silvio I would spend hours breaking down old pieces of hardware and trying to figure out how to integrate one piece of technology into another to make them work in tandem. I wasn't so good with it at the beginning, but over time I started learning which things would and wouldn't compromise with eachother to become useful. By the time I left Miami, Silvio had two new pieces of equipment that did not exist elsewhere, to give his men an edge over the competition, and the bad the guys.
A third person at Rangeman Miami eventually figured out part of who I was. Rangeman Dave was what they called him.
I had been working with Silvio for three weeks. Most of what he'd had to teach me I had already taught myself.
Dave was Silvio's right hand man in Miami. I never learned exactly what his specialty was, but he was a hard worker, and a good man.
He towered over me at just over six and a half feet, dark straight hair pulled tight into a ponytail at the base of his neck, so brown it was almost black. His skin was that dark flesh tone that you knew would tan well if it ever got it's time in the sun.
Dave seemed to be the one exception to a few of the RangeMan norms. Rather then the usual RangeMan uniform, Dave showed up every morning wearing work boots, a pair of faded black jeans, a thick, white cotton button down, folded up above his elbows, covered in a black leather vest with the RangeMan logo branded into the leather of the left breast.
A well worn brown suede cowboy hat topped his head each morning, but found it's way to his desk before lunch everyday, the sides lovingly rubbed over and over again until the hat held the perfect shape, sloping down to hide a set of big, expressive, bright brown eyes.
Dave also didn't carry a gun, he lived and worked in the building, leaving even less frequently then I did. Silvio said it was because Dave was RangeMan Miami's secret weapon, and the less people connected him to the company, the easier it was for him to do his job without distractions.
We were in the basement of the building one day, swapping out the old coaxial wiring with new fiber optics. I had gotten comfortable around Dave, working with him every day, and I guess I wasn't as aware of my actions as I could have been.
It was hot down there with the main ventilation of the building being above ground, and the sweat was rolling off of me. Without thinking about it, I raised my arm to my face, wiping the sweat away with the sleeve of my shirt.
Dave was much more aware of his surroundings then I was. He stared up at me from his crouched position next to one of the generators in the basement, the room around us lit up bright as day with our work lights. After a minute of careful consideration, his deep bass voice cut through the hum of equipment.
"Was it necessary?" I had learned that Dave wasn't one to beat around the bush, but at the time, I wasn't entirely certain what he was referring to. I stared back at him, blank faced, a question in my eyes.
"The teardrop.. Was it necessary, what you had to do to get that?" I was astounded. I hadn't been aware enough of myself to realize that in wiping away the sweat from my face, I had also wiped away the makeup that was covering my most obvious gang connection.
I turned, studying my reflection in the metal face of an electrical box that hung on the wall. Streaks of sweat had trickled down under my eye, leaving trails through the makeup that had covered the teardrop, the ink just barely peeking through around the edges. A smudged line running across my upper cheek where my shirt sleeve had rubbed both sweat and makeup away. It was still barely visible.
I really thought about what he was asking me. Had it been necessary?
"Maybe not necessary, but at the time, it seemed unavoidable. A life for a life, and it allowed me to keep mine." I rubbed at my cheek, trying to spread the remaining makeup around with my fingers to cover the bare edges of the tattoo. "But how did you notice it, there was barely any makeup missing?"
I couldn't help but wonder if Dave's noticing was going to lead to my life in Miami becoming more difficult for the rest of my stay. He was quick to alleviate my fears though. As I watched him crouched there on the floor, he raised a hand to his face, wiping away a line of sweat that ran from beside his eye down to his mouth. Slowly, as his hand slid, crème the color of flesh slid with it, uncovering a harsh red line beneath the makeup. I stared, unsure of what I was seeing.
"But… what….?" I was confused, my brain couldn't make sense of what my eyes were seeing.
Dave chuckled a little under his breath before answering me. "It's a birthmark Hector. You get a nice little one on your ass and I get this."
How the hell did he know about my ass!?
He motioned with his hand, up and down the side of his face, around his chin and down his neck. I could only imagine the bright red splash beside his eye continued down along the rest of his face.
"Hey, how the hell did you know I had a…?" I didn't even get to finish before Dave's booming bass laugh bounced back and forth around the walls of the basement.
"I didn't, it was just a joke." He choked on the words as they tumbled from his mouth, stumbling one over the other with his laughter.
Dave and I stuck together after that, still talk on occasion too. He was mostly a loner by the Miami offices standards. Only spending time with the other men once a week for a card game. A social gathering I was eventually invited in on as well.
Together we learned the joy of waterproof concealer. He let me in on one of Miami's best kept secrets, the best Mexican takeout this side of the border.
I learned that he was born up north, though how far north, or where exactly, he would never say. He had said that somewhere in his family's past was a lineage of Cherokee Indians, but their linking to his family was shrouded in mystery. That mystery was what led to his choice of professions.. Although I'm not entirely sure how.
Dave acted as a link to a group of people I would have felt like an outsider in otherwise. I didn't socialize with the rest of them much more then he did, but I was accepted by them. People would walk by me in the halls, and instead of averting their eyes, they would say hello and pat me on the back. When the floor ordered out for lunch, they would order extra for me, even if I wasn't there to ask. I was shown photos of children by proud Papa's as we bonded over illegal Cuban cigars and 5-card stud.
My time in Miami exposed me to a camaraderie that I had never known in my life, barely known since. To say I was grateful for the experience that Ranger had given me, would be such an understatement it's nearly disgraceful.
OoOoOoOoO
"You really weren't kidding about it being boring were you?" Lester had gone way too long without joking about something. I felt a little edge of surprise that his defense mechanism had held off this long. Almost as surprised that he hadn't used the birthmark as the focus of his distraction.
Lester's joker tended to come out when he was uncomfortable, or just plain didn't know how to handle a situation. Or maybe, when he just didn't want anyone to know what was inside him. His own form of blank face.
We both knew that the next part of the story wasn't going to be fun, to tell, or to listen to.
Lester's voice had dropped the taste of laughter before he continued, seriousness setting in. A voice Lester reserved for moments of honesty. This was what I'd always thought the man behind the masks sounded like. Quiet, unassertive, as if he was certain only of himself and everything else must be questioned.
"I never knew you had gone that far to play normal while you were down there."
"No. Not 'play' as you say, Lester." I wasn't entirely certain that I had the words to explain the feelings behind what I did in Miami. "First you must understand that in my entire adult life, up to that point, no one had ever treated me like a human being. I was always either a commodity or a criminal."
"But, Rufio.." Lester tried to interrupt, to prove me wrong for some reason, but I wanted him to understand things the way I saw them, the way I felt them.
"Yes Lester, Rufio treated me differently, but Rufio was a part of me. We had spent so many years, sharing so much of ourselves with each other, it was almost as if we'd become one. But an ocean without earth to wrap itself around is simply rain. Lost." I closed my eyes against the reality of the room around me. Grounding myself to the present not with sight, but with the feel of Stephanie's curls under my hand as I stroked her hair where it lay draped across my chest. The feel of Lester's hand as his fingers absently brushed my thigh.
"When I left for Miami, I was lost. I thought if I could just find humanity again, if I could find someone who could spot that humanity in me, then maybe I could find myself again. Maybe there really could be more to me then the street thug the world had tried to make me. If a little bit of paint over my tattoos could save me, could deliver me into the world that Ranger had so easily offered me, I was not going to lose the opportunity."
Silence filled the room, so complete was the lack of voices that the stirring noises in the rest of the apartment suddenly became more apparent. The hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen alcove, the tick of the clock atop the entertainment center. Even the brushing of my hand over Steph's hair, and the rub of Lester's thumb across the hair of my leg suddenly had a sound, a pressure that weighed against the inside of my skull.
"In some twisted way it worked too. And in some twisted way it made everything that happened when I came back to Trenton so much harder, and so much easier all at the same time."
End Chapter 1