As always, I own nothing. And as always, a huge thank you goes to Stayce, for making this readable!
And so, one more to add to the pile. Happy Birthday, QC J
L.
Eliminating Options
It hadn't been one of my better moments, that was for sure. It was, however, probably my most memorable one. From cars, to my apartment building, my ability for attracting explosions was definitely growing. There had already been nervous chatter that, perhaps, I was headed for bigger things, like the city of Trenton.
That night led to Ranger attaching himself to me like glue, as he attempted to protect me while I attempted to catch Shorty Johnson. Johnson, who apparently lived up to the 'short' part of his name, was far from my typical low-dollar skip. Suspect in twelve counts of rape, murder, and two counts of blowing up known prostitution buildings, he had gotten bonded out on a technicality. It was questionable why I had him, and hadn't let Ranger have him the, oh, eight times he'd demanded? Then he'd be the only one with a wet ass right now. Oh, who'm I kidding? Water wouldn't dare seep through Ranger's pants and dampen his ass. Batman was waterproof. My ass, however, was definitely wet. And cold. Probably November was not the time to be sitting on wet leaves, under a tree, in a forest, by a lake. But here we were, a week after I blew up my home - thank God Rex was at Valerie's, Mary-Alice having borrowed him for show and tell - sitting in the middle of nowhere, silent, waiting for Johnson to emerge from the shack in front of us.
He'd led us on a merry chase, this day, and I'm pretty sure he knew he had done it, too. Personally, I thought he was just going to sit in that shack while we froze to death out here, and the last laugh would be his.
My phone vibrated against my hip, then, and Ranger cut his eyes to me. I gave him a barely-there shrug, and ignored it. I knew it would be Joe, again. He called at least eight times a day, and they were never particularly pleasant calls. He was pissed that I moved into Rangeman, albeit to the 4th floor, pissed that I wouldn't just give the file to Ranger, pissed that wherever I went, Ranger went... probably, along with the numerous nasty threats and photos I'd received, that should have told me something about my skip - like I didn't want to touch this one. Ranger never leashed himself to me like a dog, but in this, he did. I didn't go ANYWHERE without him. If I went to Morelli's to watch the game, Ranger came too. If I went to my parents, Ranger braved Grandma Mazur. If I went to the bathroom, he stood outside the door. Morelli pointed that out quite nastily the last time I talked to him. His most pressing concern, though, was the fact that he wasn't comfortable playing "Football star fucks the cheerleader" with Ranger sitting in his living room.
I haven't been speaking much to Ranger either, ever since he slanted me a look and told me, in front of Morelli, that HE wouldn't need to role play, if he spent the night with me.
And now, we got a call on a lead, and traced Short-prick to the middle of nowhere. I swear, we drove so far I would have thought we were in the Gobi desert - if it weren't for the fact that it was cold, and wet, and somewhat green, even if it was mostly moss. Ranger, of course, looked perfectly comfortable. It didn't matter that we'd been out here for hours, the temperature was dropping fast the darker it got - and it was getting dark fast, too. We'd traced Shorty to the old rundown shack he was currently in, and he'd barred himself inside. I wanted to go in and roust him out, but Ranger refused.
"We'd be walking into his domain, and into a trap." He told me, and I could hear him think that I was far, far too impulsive. Truth is, I just hated having a wet ass.
So we waited, and waited. It was almost dark, and cold, when Shorty's nose poked up in the window. He peered out, narrowed his eyes, and disappeared again. I thought maybe he figured we'd given up and would come out, so Ranger could take him down - I was too frozen to be any good - but we waited some more, and all we saw was more smoke puff up the chimney.
I was so cold I couldn't even fidget, and since we didn't want to make a noise - I had to work real hard to keep my teeth chattering to a silent noise level. And Batman, of course, was probably toasty warm.
Just then, his hand touched my shoulder, and I started. "C'mon. We'll come back tomorrow." Ranger breathed in my ear. I shifted closer to him, shivering. He tugged me to my feet, and steadied me as I swayed, my toes tingling and my sense of balance disrupted. Then, we set off, slowly, winding our way through the bush, Ranger frequently checking back to make sure Shorty wasn't following us. Ha. He might be a psychopath, but he was smart enough not to leave his warm little shack in this kind of cold.
We walked a ways - well, Ranger walked, I stumbled. My mind was firmly stuck on my wet ass and my frozen solid legs. We were a fair distance away, probably a mile or so, from the cabin, when I couldn't help myself any longer. I reached my hand around and placed it on Ranger's closest butt-cheek. "Babe." He whispered, his tone one of complete disbelief.
"Just checking to see if your ass is wet, too." I told him, as I slid my hand around to the other butt cheek. It clenched under my fingertips, and I took my hand away. I guess water did dare dampen Batman's ass..or...at least his clothes. Hm...but maybe I'd better check... Ranger caught my hand as I started to slide my fingertips under the waistband of his cargos. He twisted my wrist, gently, and pulled me to him, tugging me close enough so I could see the warning in his eyes.
"My ass is just as wet as yours. Don't play with fire if you don't wanna get burned, Babe." He told me, and then kept walking, my wrist firmly grasped in his hand. I tugged my hand free and stepped a respectable distance away from him. We walked, side by side, for what not only felt like hours, but literally was - I kept checking the clock on my phone, which vibrated two more times - Morelli, both of them - and it took us two and a half hours to get to...wherever it was we were now.
"I hadn't thought this forest was this big." I commented, as we both stood and stared at the cabin in front of us. It wasn't much bigger than the shack Shorty was holed up in, but it was in slightly better shape. There was definitely emphasis on the slightly. "Where are we?"
"Safe house on a lake. And it's not so big as that. We could have got here in about an hour if we had walked along the lakeshore. I wanted to make sure we weren't tracked."
"Two extra hours?!" Was out of my mouth before I thought better of questioning Ranger.
"Better than being burned to a crisp overnight by your skip." My skip, who should have been Rangers, who probably would have been captured days ago, had he been.
"Point taken." I sighed, as we walked up to the cabin. Ranger walked around it once, shining his flashlight over the building, surveying it.
"Guess I'd better get out here sometime soon and make some repairs." There were shingles falling partway off the roof, and the porch steps were rickety.
"Do you use this place?"
"Haven't in a while. Used it as a safe house a couple of times. Lived here for two years, a while back."
I filed that bit of information away in the box in my brain labeled "Ranger" and peered anxiously over his shoulder as he unlocked the door to the cabin. It may not be the Batcave, but it was part of Ranger and I couldn't seem to stop craving what I started to call Rangerisms - those little bits of information about Ranger and his life, past and present, that made him seem less like Batman and more like Carlos.
I amended that thought quickly - anyone who lived in this place was definitely more Ranger than Carlos. Only Batman would stand this for two years. The "cabin" was a one-room shack, with a small wood cook stove, a tiny table, a cot that was barely big enough for one person, and a fireplace. There was a small desk in one corner. The floor linoleum was scratched and torn in places, and there was a layer of dust over everything.
Other than the dust, though, it was neat and tidy. But it was in the middle of nowhere; there was no power or running water... I glanced at the oil lamp sitting on the desk. And then I looked around for anything that might be hiding a toilet.
"The outhouse is behind the cabin." Ranger told me. I wrinkled my face in disgust, and looked for a place to sit. Ranger walked over to the cot and pulled the sheet off of it.
"There you go. Sit there." He said, then disappeared outside. He came back in a few minutes later, his arms filled with wood. He made a second trip, and then very efficiently got a roaring fire burning.
"Where do you shower?" I asked. If there was no toilet, it stood to reason that...
"The lake."
Now THAT would suck in the winter. Never mind the fish and everything bathing with you in the summer. I shuddered.
"I can draw up a bucket of water and heat it for you. You can sponge bathe."
"I'm alright." I told him. At least for today. I mean, we'd be going home tomorrow anyhow, right? Ranger checked the fire, and then headed back out, coming in with a big bucket brimming with water. He walked to a trunk in the corner, and dug out a couple more blankets. Tugging me up off the cot, he tossed them down and pulled the cot closer to the fire.
"Get out of your clothes and get in."
"Um..." I really didn't think being in bed, naked, with Ranger in the same room was a good idea. Ranger's back was turned as he worked on lighting the oil lamp, so I quickly shimmied out of my jeans and shirt and crawled under the blankets. Then I reached out and snagged my cell phone. I wasn't going to call Morelli - I really didn't feel like explaining this one to him, but I figured I'd check my messages and see what kind of mood he was in, at least.
"Cupcake, where in the hell are you? Do you realize what people are saying? My future wife shouldn't be running around with a psycho street thug. And what, you can't even check in with me? The whole Burg's talking about how you ran off with Ranger. I can't do this anymore. If you want to be with me, you're going to have to ditch Rambo. You might as well pick your stuff up. And come alone." His tone changed to one he reserved for when the boys missed me. "I know you'll want to spend a night saying goodbye to the boys. I know how much you love it when we play Football hero and cheerleader."
I flipped the phone shut and threw it across the room. Ranger glanced up from where he was standing by the desk, going over some paper or other, and looked at me. "Nothing." I told him, and flopped back on the cot. I lay there for a few minutes, while Ranger went back to whatever he was doing at the desk, as the fire crackled to my left. Then, I propped myself up on my elbows.
"Ranger?"
He looked up and turned, watching me and waiting for me to go on. "Where are you going to sleep?"
"There's only one cot, Babe. We're going to share it."
Oh boy. I flopped back down and closed my eyes, determined to be asleep before he came to bed. I'd shared a bed with Ranger before, but never a barely-there cot where we'd probably have to sleep double-decker...Yikes... I wasn't sure what would be worse - being on top of Ranger, or Ranger being on top of me. Those thoughts made me nervous, and then I got uncomfortable. I twisted and turned a bit, but couldn't get comfy. I closed my eyes, but I couldn't find that peaceful feeling that happens just before you fall asleep. Nope, it wasn't there at all. I'd be up all night at this rate, worry about what would happen when Ranger came to bed... if you could call it a bed.
"Ranger?"
He turned again and looked at me.
"When are you coming to bed?"
"When my pants are dry."
Oh. I wondered how it was fair that he got to sleep in his pants, and I didn't. Seemed kinda chauvinistic, if you asked me.
"Why can't you just take them off?" I propped myself up again, and eyed his ass. I mean, if I had to...
"He turned, and shot me a very pointed look. "Babe."
I felt my face heat up, and I knew it wasn't just the heat of the fire. I rolled over and stared into the fire, so that I could at least, maybe, pretend that it was the fire making my face burn. I should have known. I mean, I knew what the man had, and what he didn't have, in his underwear drawer. And I doubted his black silk boxers were stashed in one of the pockets of his cargos.
I didn't dare say another word, until a while later, when he finally straightened, threw a couple more logs on the fire, and pulled his shirt off over his head. He turned and stood by the cot, staring down at me for a long moment. "You should be sleeping." He told me. I didn't dignify it with an answer - if I could sleep, I would - god knows I wanted to be asleep. But I couldn't. My mind kept flipping between Joe, and Ranger, and what Ranger was, and wasn't, wearing. "Babe." He gave his head a slight shake, then scooped me up and settled us on the cot so that I was tucked on top of him. His arms were around my waist, hands splayed on my bare back, and my head was tucked on his shoulder. He smelled wonderful - like an odd mix of forest, Bulgari, and Essence-of-Ranger. The blankets were magically tucked around us, and the fire bathed us in flickering light, and heat that melted into us.
Ranger was still, silent, his breathing even. But still I couldn't wind down and sleep. It just wouldn't come, and I was just as edgy with Ranger in bed with me as I had been with him across the little room. It was no use. I just watched the fire, and pretended that it was Joe underneath me, dead to the world after one of his nights of hot, role playing monkey sex. That, at least, was totally unappealing. But it didn't work. Nothing in the world could decrease my awareness of the man underneath me. I shifted thoughts, instead, and wondered about the cabin.
"Ranger?"
"Babe."
"When did you live here?"
"After I got out of the Special Forces." His voice was quiet, and his answer matter of fact. But he didn't offer anymore information. I waited, to see if the silence would break him and he'd actually tell me more. It was a foolish hope. Nothing broke Ranger. I was more apt to break, and I did. I mean..why would he come out here, instead of...
"Why didn't you go home?"
"Babe." The word was as close to a sigh as I'd ever heard, from Ranger.
"Well, why? I mean, HERE? Why not Newark? At least Newark is civilized."
Ranger was silent, just long enough that I thought he wouldn't answer me. "I've seen things, and done things that people could never understand. I needed the solitude."
"What do you mean? You mean, like, your deep dark secret?"
"Partly."
"Well, what is it? It can't be that bad."
"Let it go." He warned me. He always was touchy about that.
I propped myself up on his chest, and looked down at his face. His eyes were closed, but there were slight tension lines around his mouth. "It can't be as bad as that. I mean, you ARE human, right?"
Slowly, he opened his eyes. "Not in the eyes of most people." He shifted, then, pressing me back down against him, until my head was tucked under his chin, again. "Go to sleep, Babe." He said softly.
We lay silent for a bit, and I watched the fire some more as his breathing evened out. I knew he wasn't sleeping, though. There was a slight tension in his body that was never there when he slept. I wondered who'd dare think he wasn't human. He lived, he ate, he drank, he breathed, and he could go out in daylight.
"Well what the hell do they think you are?" I finally burst out. "Your heart beats, so you're not dead, and you can go out in the sun, so you're not UNdead, so what the hell are you if you're not human?"
"Babe." There was a tinge of exasperation in his tone. "Does it really matter?"
"It matters to me." I muttered into his chest. His face tipped down and I felt him press a kiss onto the top of my head. I squirmed a little, and shifted so that I could gaze into the fire. I thought about all the times he'd saved my life, and the number of times he'd refrained from wringing my neck...or tossing me out the window of his 7th floor apartment... Whatever he'd seen, or done, whatever this secret was, it built his moral code, and made him into the man he was today, the man who handed me 1/4 million dollar cars without flinching, and shrugged it off when I blew them up. He was the man who kissed my shredded wrists when he found me in Stiva's cabinet...the man who walked into my apartment ready to die for Julie and me.
"How the hell could anyone think so little of you?" I demanded. I tried to prop myself up again, but his arms locked around me like steel bands, effectively imprisoning me so I couldn't move at all.
"Stephanie." His tone was quiet, expressionless. "If you knew half of it, you'd think less of me too."
"Yeah right." I huffed. Nothing in the world could make me think less of the man who had both killed and offered his life for me.
"Babe." His voice was soft when he spoke again. "It doesn't matter. Not any of it. I am who I am, and I do what I have to do. Now, sleep."
I'd lost track of how many times he'd told me to go to sleep. It didn't matter, because I couldn't stop thinking, and I was far too aware of the intimacy of our bodies.
"Ranger?" I couldn't help myself.
"Babe."
"Does it bother you, that people think that? Are you happy doing what you do?"
"Are you happy doing what you do?" He asked. I wasn't so sure it was fair that he answered my question with a question, but it stopped me long enough. I didn't really like what I did. Problem was, I didn't really like my other options, either. The best one was working at Rangeman, but being in close quarters with Ranger and his men was a bit too much... there were all those unresolved feelings for Ranger, and that entertainment factor. I didn't like being Sherwood Forest's mascot. The unresolved feelings were an issue, too, though. They were a good part of the reason I doubted I'd sleep tonight. And how on earth did he manage to live in a cabin with no running water for two years?
"You really didn't mind living here with no power or water? What did you eat, twigs and roots?"
"This was a luxury compared to where I'd been living before I came here. I drove to the store and got food. I had a generator here at that time. And there's solar power. It's just not hooked up right now."
"Oh."
"Are you going to sleep now? Or do you need some help?"
Yikes. I knew what kind of help Ranger was offering, and I wasn't sure it was such a good idea. There were those unresolved feelings, after all, and I wasn't sure we could really deal with them. And I really wasn't sure that bigamy was my thing, even if it wasn't within marriage. Then again, Joe had basically broken up with me. Strange that I wasn't upset about it. I suppose, too, it meant that... well, I wasn't sure what it meant. Probably it was mostly that this was just another one of Joe's phases, and I knew it. He'd want me back in his bed by the end of the week. He always did. But I suppose, for this exact moment, at least, I was kind of single and could do what I wanted.
But what did I want to do? And would it be wrong? I mean, even if were were off again, my stuff WAS still at Joe's... and I did love him. But I loved Ranger too - and I always would. No matter what I found out about him. But I'd always love Joe, too. I scrounged deep in my conscience and dug out my moral code. Maybe that would help me. Not really, though. My moral code seemed to think that I could have my cake, and the Cuban sex god too. Where was Mary Lou when you needed someone to work out this kind of problem? Then again, I had the master of the moral code, right here.
"Hey, Ranger?" I asked, and felt him exhale. Probably he was wishing he'd just smothered me with the pillow in the first place, and not even had to share the cot.
"Babe."
"You ever have a moral dilemma?"
"Like the one I'm having right now, wanting to fuck someone who is in love with someone else?"
"What about the one where I love two men?"
Ranger was silent for a long moment. "Only one of them's your boyfriend."
"Not really." I said before my mouth could connect with my brain and realize this was probably the time to shut up. Ranger was NOT Mary Lou, and I was definitely giving information to the enemy - so to speak.
"Explain."
"Well, technically, I'm really just Thing 1's fuck-buddy, and Thing 2 classifies me as entertainment. And I've been thinking of branching out."
Next thing I knew, Ranger had us flipped so that I was on my back and he was looming over me, our hips pressed together. "Branching out?" He demanded.
"Um...yeah." At least, it seemed like a good idea, before I had Ranger's eyes glaring into mine. I shifted my gaze from his, and watched as the firelight danced over his skin. Then, I glanced back at his face. "What do you think of Diesel?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. Ranger's eyes just got blacker, until even the firelight didn't flicker in them anymore. "Ok...maybe not Diesel. Well... Geez, Ranger, I only have so many options."
"You don't need anymore options." He told me. "You have too damned many options as it is." And then he kissed me. It wasn't just any kiss, either. It was hot, and demanding, and when I didn't open for his tongue quickly enough, he nipped my lips with his teeth.
The instant his tongue touched mine, heat shot through my body. That was it - there was no need to worry about consensual, I was his for whatever he wanted. As he kissed me, his hands slid over my body, and underneath me, arching my back up. His mouth never left mine, and I couldn't think beyond the heat of his lips and the taste of him. My arms slid over his shoulders and I pressed him to me, even as he shifted back. And then my bra was undone, and he was sliding it down my arms, and kissing me... He rubbed his body against mine, and finally moved away from my lips, trailing hot, open mouthed kisses down my jaw line, my neck, my collarbone... He moved slowly, covering every inch of skin, sucking at the sensitive skin between my collarbone and my neck, then laving it. And then he took my breast in his mouth. I gasped and arched against him when he nipped my nipple with his teeth, and couldn't help the moan that came out when he moved away, working his way further and further down. He skirted away from where I wanted him, kissing down one leg, and back up the other, as he pulled my underwear off.
I've no idea how he managed it, comfortably, on a cot the size of this one, but he had no trouble settling in at ground zero. He did, however, quit kissing me long enough to move my legs where he wanted them, and when his mouth touched me, it was instant and hot and my body convulsed, instantly ready to orgasm.
The thing about sex with Joe was that it was definitely wonderful. But Ranger...Ranger made love, and when he touched me, the pleasure was more than physical. It wasn't just my body, but it was my heart, and it was there instantly. That thought was sobering, and I tensed against his onslaught.
"No..Ranger...maybe this is a bad idea." I choked out. I didn't want him to stop, far from it, but suddenly, I was scared of what it would bring.
"No more options." He murmured against me, one hand come up and running down my breast, settling on my stomach. Seconds later, I shattered.
I could sleep forever, now, I thought lazily as I sank into the cot. Damn, Ranger really was magic. I barely noticed when he slipped out of his cargos, and crawled and kissed his way back up my body. "Damn, Babe." He whispered as he kissed alongside my ear, settling overtop of me again. "What you do to me."
"What you do to me." I mumbled while he trailed kisses down my jaw line. What he could do to me with the touch of one little finger was... Nothing compared to the feel of him as he sank into me, groaning into my mouth. The lazy feeling was gone, and I was already impending explosion. In no time he had me trembling against him.
"Ranger...Please...I need..."
"Oh no." He rasped. "This is gonna take longer than five minutes. I've waited...A long..time."
I'd always known Ranger had phenomenal self-control. I hadn't realized it extended to sex. He held us both off, over and over, driving me to the brink, until I was convulsing under him, beyond desperate for release, and then he'd stop, completely, if he had to, to hold us both off. His lips never left mine, though. He just kept up the same slow, steady pace, until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Tomorrow night, you're going to be in my bed." He murmured against my lips once, when he'd stopped again, deep inside of me.
"Oh God, yes." I gasped. Anything to get him to move. I was so close, and he was killing me. I was going to die, I just knew it... He moved again, and this time, it was going to be the end. It was for him, too, I realized, as he broke away from my lips, fisted his hands in my hair, and locked his eyes with mine. His face was bathed in firelight, and it flickered in his eyes, revealing their intensity. The look on his face was one I'd never seen in my life, one I'd never imagined would be reserved for me.
"Dios, Babe, you make me crazy." He groaned and then his pace quickened, and I clenched around him. Almost instantly, together, our bodies exploded. I couldn't breathe, my heart stopped, and I'd never experienced anything like it.
It was a long time before either of us had the energy to even think about moving. I was dimly aware of Ranger, collapsed on top of me, his delicious weight pressing me down, sheltering me from everything but our own little bubble. The one thing that caught my attention with startling clarity was his breathing, which was as ragged as my own. I'd never heard Ranger breathe heavily in my life. Finally, Ranger shifted, and carefully rolled us so he was on his back, and I was tucked on top of him again. He reached down and pulled the covers up over me.
I was almost asleep, when a thought crossed my mind.
"Ranger?"
"Babe?" His voice was soft, affectionate, even.
"Will we really be in your bed tomorrow night?" The idea of making love like this, beneath Ranger's phenomenal sheets, just seemed too good to be true. Plus, it would mean he wouldn't be sending me back to Morelli in the morning.
"Yes." His arms tightened around me. "Someday it'll be OUR bed."
That was good enough for me, and I started to drift off. I was happier, and more relaxed, than I'd been in a long time. And the idea that someday, Ranger's bed would be mine...ours... Some---Ours?!
"Ranger?"
"Babe." He sighed. I could tell he was almost asleep, but holy shit! I had to know.
"When's Someday?"
Ranger was silent, but his arms tightened around me again.
"Ranger?"
"When you quit thinking you have options. Now go to sleep, before I keep you up the rest of the night."