Disclaimer: I own no characters that occur within the Stephanie Plum series.
Warning:
This story contains: Angst and Spoilers for Ten Big Ones and Twelve Sharp
TT's Big Secret Challenge - June's Month-long challenge is all about secrets - BIG Secrets.
Choose any two or more Plum characters. One or more are keeping secrets that will significantly affect the friendship/relationship between/among the characters you have chosen.
Out of Necessity
by BurumaBabe
Tank stepped out of the elevator on the fifth floor. He nodded to the men as he made his way through the Control Room to his office. Once inside, he quietly closed the door and then sank into the leather chair behind his desk. He looked at the stack of files and mail that sat there and ran a rough hand over his face. He started sorting through the paperwork waiting for him and decided to leave the package from the General's office for last.
When he finished with the contracts that needed signing, he stopped, and closing his eyes, leaned back in the chair and thought about the date. It had been two years and three weeks. Two long years and three weeks to the day since the Slayers had attacked Stephanie at the playground. Trenton was never the same after the night Sally Sweet mowed down the Slayers at the playground and rescued Stephanie. Too bad the Slayers hadn't given up.
Out of necessity to keep her safe, Stephanie remained at the RangeMan building, trying to avoid the fallout from Sally's rescue. At Ranger's insistence, Sally relocated within the week. He complied with Ranger and, with his help, had disappeared. Ranger never told anyone where Sally had relocated.
Stephanie…Stephanie wasn't so lucky. Three weeks after the playground incident, she had gone to visit her parents, driving a RangeMan vehicle. The truck had been equipped with every detection device available but in the end, it hadn't made a difference.
By the time they got to the truck, flames consumed it and the gas tank blew seconds later. They were all too late to save Stephanie. Even Ranger.
Her death came as a shock to everyone. It had become the norm for Steph to escape certain death no matter what disaster she found herself in the middle of, she always seemed to emerge relatively unscathed. But, as the saying goes, everyone has to die sometime. Luck only carries you so far.
The funeral was a somber affair even though it seemed like everyone in Trenton showed up for it. The cop stood with Steph's family as they grieved and the men from RangeMan stood behind Ranger as he watched them bury the woman he loved more than he had ever been able to imagine he could. The only woman he had actually loved. The woman that had brought light and happiness to his life, to the rest of their lives as well.
There was a long line of black RangeMan vehicles idling in the street as Ranger went inside the Plum's house to offer his condolences after the burial. He didn't stay long, only lingered for a moment to speak briefly with Stephanie's father, Frank.
He had slid sunglasses on as he left, ignoring the cop as he tried to catch him, slipping into his Porsche, the car Stephanie had loved, and drove back to the Haywood building, the line of black SUVs flowing him.
Ranger didn't come out of his apartment for a week except to run and workout when none of the men were around. When he came down to the office for the first time in seven days, he didn't say a word to anyone. Ranger would work but his interactions were kept to the bare minimum with everyone. He avoided Morelli at all costs, knowing that the cop blamed him for Stephanie's death. He stopped picking up the files from Vinnie's, and two weeks after the funeral he left for the Miami office. He came back to Trenton once a month, and only for a few days, leaving as quickly as he was able.
The one thing he refused to let anyone do was let go of Stephanie's apartment. He took over the lease with Frank's permission and every time he came back to Trenton, he'd stop there. The men knew because the GPS on his car would be turned off shortly after he left the garage, stay off for a few hours, and then would reappear when he was a few blocks from the building; the same way it had when Stephanie was alive.
Ranger went 'in the wind' more and more, taking nearly every government mission he was offered, no matter the risk. And every mission was riskier than the last.
The men had come to Tank with their concerns about Ranger's behavior, but there was nothing Tank could do. He had spoken with Rachel who had told him that she had tried getting him to talk about it to no avail. Ranger refused to talk to anyone about Stephanie; no one spoke her name or mentioned her in his presence, period. The closest he ever came was the day he ran into Morelli four months after Stephanie's funeral. Tank had held Morelli back while Ranger stood there and rubbed his jaw where the cop had clocked him. Ranger hadn't put up any resistance, and when Tank asked why he had let Morelli hit him, had simply said, 'he had every right. I didn't keep her safe.'
Four months later, while Ranger was 'in the wind', Tank got the phone call he had been dreading. It was the General calling to tell him that Ranger had been killed on his mission and that his ashes, as per his instructions, would be returned to Tank at RangeMan as soon as possible.
They arrived four days later. A quiet service was held and Ranger's ashes were buried with Stephanie's at the surprising request of Frank Plum. He told Tank that a Ranger's lawyer had notified him of Ranger's death at Ranger's request. Frank cancelled the lease on Stephanie's apartment the day after the funeral.
Upon his death, Ranger's controlling shares of RangeMan, LLC were divided between Tank, Bobby and Lester, each receiving eighteen percent. Forty percent was left in the hands of Ranger's silent partner and the remaining six was held in a trust for Julie.
On the first anniversary of Stephanie's death, Tank received an unmarked package from the General's office amidst the files for the government work in which RangeMan was involved. It was a plain mailing envelope, no label on it. He closed and locked his door, and then carefully slit the envelope open. Inside was a slim dossier with a letter attached to the front.
As he scanned the letter, he felt anger at first and then blinding relief. He picked up his phone and called Santos and Brown into the office and the three of them went through the dossier's contents thoroughly before going up to the roof with a metal wastebasket and setting them on fire.
Tank opened his eyes and let out a deep breath, reaching for the package from the General. Santos was at the Miami office and Bobby was in Atlanta, they were supposed to have arrived in Trenton earlier that afternoon but it was hurricane season and their flights had been grounded, so Tank was left to open the package alone.
He slit the envelope open carefully and pulled out the dossier inside. Opening it, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he looked at the picture of Stephanie and Ranger, arms wrapped around each other on a beach somewhere.
He picked up the letter and began to read, Stephanie's handwriting flowing across the page.
Hi guys,
We wish you could have been here for the wedding. It was perfect. No fuss, just quiet and simple, the way we wanted it. I've officially been Mrs. Michelle Pardo for five months now, and the only way I could be happier was if we could see the RangeMan family as well as my own.
We got some incredible news a few weeks ago. I'm pregnant! Ranger and I are thrilled. We went for our first ultrasound last week and I've included a copy of it for you guys.
Tank flipped through the pictures until he found the ultrasound and he smiled, happy for them. The letter went on to fill them in on the normal, everyday things Ranger and Stephanie had been doing and the pictures they had sent kept the smile on his face.
Guys, we just wanted to say how much we appreciate and how sorry we are that we've given you such a heavy secret to keep. This wasn't an easy decision for us to make, both what we did and our telling you, but we felt that we needed you to know that we were all right and that we're happy. We love you and can't apologize enough at the hurt we must have caused you in the beginning. Maybe someday soon, this secret won't need to be kept anymore and when it's safer, you can meet Mr. and Mrs. Marc Pardo and their child.
Stay safe.
Love,
RS
Stephanie's parting words made him wish he could reach through the page and hug her and tell her it was all right, that he was glad they had entrusted them with their secret. Yes, the secret was a big one to carry, but they were safe and happy and as Steph said, someday they'd meet again.
Ranger had thought of everything when he had set up his Marc Pardo alias, Tank thought as he came to the end of the dossier's contents. The last page was a list of twelve new locations, one for each month of the year, where Tank, Bobby and Lester could send any documents needing a signature by RangeMan's silent, unnamed partner, Marc Pardo, CEO of Pardo Consulting.