A/N – Standard disclaimers apply: I don't own the characters, am not making any money, etc. etc
I had previously started this story under a different username so it may seem familiar if you read it then. I never finished it and honestly always thought it was poorly written. Recently, I found it again in my computer files and started re-working and finishing it. Hopefully, I've written it a bit better than the original. It's a babe story but no cupcakes are hurt.
Chapter 1: The Distraction and Aftermath
Steph's POV
Another night, another distraction job, I was starting to feel like the RangeMan whore. Ok, maybe whore was a bit too strong of a word. After all, I only seduced a skip to get him outside; I didn't actually have sex with them. Sometimes they'd get a little free with their hands, but generally the Merry Man kept a very close eye and typically didn't allow any harm to come to me. On the rare occasion that I did get hurt it seemed like the guys had a harder time dealing with it than I did.
Tonight was typical, I was dressed in a short skirt, a low-cut tight shirt, and 4 inch "fuck me pumps." I was sitting at the bar trying to get the attention of a sleazy man so that I could get him away from his bodyguards and outside for the Merry Man to take him back to jail. Hal and Brett were playing pool to keep me and the skip in their sights and Merry Men were stationed outside at various exits. I was wearing a transmitter so that the entire team could hear what was going on.
I had gotten the attention of the skip, fairly quickly; my clothing always got me attention rather quickly on these jobs. Sometimes I was able to get the skip outside quickly, but not tonight. Tonight this guy was taking his time. He kept ordering me drinks, obviously wanting me to get drunk. Thankfully, Bobby who was playing bartender, kept pouring me virgin drinks otherwise I would have been drunk. I pretended to be tipsy, clinging to the skip's arm, slurring my speech. I must've convinced him because he leaned in and asked me if he could take me home. I nodded and he grabbed my elbow and led me to the front door.
The bar had a strange entrance; there were double doors that led from the sidewalk into a small room with a coat rack and another set of double doors that opened into the actual bar. It was only in this tiny bit of space that a Merry Man wouldn't have actual eyes on me and of course it was the spot where things went wrong and fast. The skip slammed me against the wall and grabbed my breasts, mangling and squeezing them painfully between his fingers. I winced and tried to push him away, "Baby, I don't want to do this here, someone could walk in, I don't really like audiences. "
"Listen, honey, I'm not one of those renaissance men. Women should do as they're told, so you just shut up and do what I want, ok?" I could see the rage in his eyes before he reared back and slapped me. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes but pushed it back knowing that the Ranger and his men would have heard and be on the move. "Now just remember to do as I say, ok? Let's get out of here now."
He pulled me towards the door and opened it. I was a few steps behind him, but he had me by the wrist. He'd no sooner opened the door when I saw Tank and Lester approach. Tank swung instantly even before the standard FTA speech, knocking the skip to the ground. Normally they wait for me to get free from the skip but tonight Tank's anger bubbled out first and as the skip fell so did I. My knee scraped on the sidewalk as I tried to break the skip's hold on me and roll away. I sat on the sidewalk, with my back against the building as Tank and Lester punched the skip more than necessary before putting him into cuffs.
Within seconds, Ranger was wrapping his coat around my shoulders and squatting in front of me, "Babe, are you ok?" His hand gently caressed the cheek that had been slapped, I'm sure I'd have a nice bruise in the morning. His face was mostly blank except for the tightly held jaw, letting me know that while he was still very much in control, he was also angry.
"I'm okay. Can I go home now?" I wanted to take a shower, distractions no matter how smoothly done always left me with the obsessive need to scrub myself clean. When they went wrong, like tonight, I knew I'd be taking several showers throughout the night as I woke from nightmares. I wish I could control that better but I didn't know how and while I know the guys would never pressure me into doing distractions, I like being apart of these operations, liked knowing I was making the world a slightly safer place.
Ranger nodded and helped me to my feet. He tucked me into his side and walked me over to his SUV sitting me in the front seat. Holding his flashlight, he quickly scanned my body looking for injuries. His eyes landed on his my raw and bleeding knee before he reached out to touch it, his jaw clenching again. Two clenches of the jaw in less than five minutes let me know that Batman was pissed.
I winced and sucked in a breath at his light touch on my knee. "Ouch, I can't believe a scrape can hurt that bad."
He shined his flashlight on my knee and looked closer. "You have some broken glass embedded in your knee, Babe. Let me get Bobby to get this cleaned up." His eyes met mine before leaning forward to kiss my forehead. "I'm so sorry Babe." His hands slowly reached forward, his fingertips grazing the skin under my shirt, softly. It wasn't a sexual touch as much as one of comfort and reassurance for himself and me. I leaned into his touch needing the strength he had to offer. His hands quickly removed the transmitter from between my breasts. Leaning back, he cupped my cheeks in his hands and gave me a tiny smile. "I'm going to get Bobby."
After a few minutes, Ranger returned with Bobby who was carrying his medical bag. Ranger held a flashlight on my knee as Bobby cleaned the wound and removed the bit of glass. He applied some antibiotic ointment and covered it all with a bandage. He examined the swelling on my face and let out a deep sigh, "You face should be just fine Bomber, it'll likely bruise a bit, but use an ice pack to get the swelling down." He handed me a tube of the ointment and a stack of bandages, "After you shower, apply some more of this ointment and keep it covered to prevent infection, ok?"
I nodded, "Thanks, Bobby." Ranger's cell rang and he stopped away to answer the call.
"I'm sorry Steph, we all hate when these distractions get out of hand. Are you ok?" He smiled at me, but his eyes were worried.
"Bobby you just examined me yourself and said I would be ok." Denial is always my friend.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." He winked at me.
"Nothing a long hot shower and a showing of Ghostbusters can't cure." He patted my good knee and walked away as Ranger returned.
"Babe, I need to run a quick errand. I'm sorry, I hate to leave you alone even for a few minutes right now." Ranger knew I was likely to have an adrenaline crash when I got home and while he couldn't do anything to stop them, he liked to be there for me. I liked having him there too, liked feeling his arms hold me as I worked through any remaining fear from the night's events. "I'll have Brett take you home and I'll be by just as soon as I can."
"Ok." I let out a deep breath as he walked me to Brett's waiting SUV.
Ranger helped me into the seat and looked at Brett, "Take Steph home, make sure she gets into her apartment and that no one is inside. Stay in the parking lot until I get there." Brett nodded as I buckled myself in the passenger seat. Ranger kissed my forehead and looked me in the eyes, "Proud of you, Babe. I'll see you in a bit. I promise I won't be long." He closed the door and Brett pulled out into the street.
The ride to my apartment building was done in silence, which was typical operating procedure for rides with one the Merry Men, they aren't great conversationalists. He walked me up to my apartment and checked all the rooms to make sure there were no monsters hiding under my bed. This too, was standard operating procedure after a RangeMan job; it always left me feeling a bit irritated but on a night like tonight when my nerves were a bit frayed, it also left me feeling hugely relieved.
I was leaning on the kitchen counter while he did his thing. When he finished his inspection, Brett came into the kitchen and said, "Looks like it's just us." Before I knew it he was standing in front of me, his large form looming over me and I was getting uncomfortable. Normally, the Merry Men never make me feel that way, but there was something different about this interaction, something in his body language and eyes that made me want to run.
"Thank you. I'll follow you out and lock the door behind you." I tried to hide the nervousness in my voice as I tried to slip out from between him and the counter. His arms quickly grabbed on the counter on either side of me, effectively keeping me trapped. I was starting to get really frightened now and my nerves were already on high alert after the distraction job.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Isn't this what you want, a hero to take you and rip off those flimsy clothes? You know you wear these clothes not only for the distraction and the skip but also for Ranger and the rest of us guys – you like knowing that we walk around with hard-ons while we watch and listen to you work, don't you?"
"Stop it, Brett. You're scaring me." I tried to push him away, but he didn't move at all under my shove. I knew it wouldn't do any good there was no way I could make him do something he didn't want too. He on the other hand would have no trouble doing anything to me.
He grabbed my upper arms, his large hands encircling them completely. He squeezed tightly causing me to whimper and I knew I would have more bruises in the morning. He pressed his body into me and ground my back into the kitchen counter. "What do you have on under these clothes? I bet you let Ranger see, why not me?" His eyes looked down at my chest as his finger traced my collarbone.
As soon as he said Ranger's name, I tried to use that to my advantage. I hoped he was as worried about pissing off Ranger as everyone else in New Jersey was. "R-Ranger will be here soon, I think you'd better leave."
He let go of my arms and ran the back of his hand down my cheek. I shuddered and tried to move away. He looked at me with hard eyes and spat out, "You won't tell Ranger about this unless you want me to expose some of his less than legal activities to your ex-boyfriend, the cop. You got it?"
I nodded and tried to stop the tears from escaping down my cheek. He laughed at me and left the apartment. I ran to lock the door, knowing it would do absolutely no good if he wanted to come back. I hoped Ranger would show up soon, at least Brett wouldn't do anything while Ranger was here.
Locking myself in the bathroom, I took a long hot shower. Standing in front of the mirror, I got a good look at myself and could see the bruises forming on my cheek from the skip and my arms from Brett. My mind raced as I applied the ointment and a bandage Bobby had given me to my knee. How do I constantly get myself in these situations? I can't believe one of the Merry Men would threaten me; they'd always been a source of protection, a rock for me. Was I really leading them all on, did they really think I was a tease? I couldn't stop the tears from coming now, so I just hung my head and sobbed.
I don't know how long I stayed like that, but a knock on my bathroom door woke me from my misery and startled me enough to make me gasp. "Babe? Are you alright? Can I come in?" I let out a deep breath at hearing Ranger's voice on the other side of the door. I unlocked the door and through my towel clad self into his arms. He held me and sshed me; when it didn't seem like I was going to calm down he picked me up and carried me into the bedroom. He sat down on the bed and kept me in his lap until I calmed down. I took in a slow shuddering breath as Ranger's hands ran up and down my arms.
He leaned back just slightly to look me over. He let out a sigh, or well as close to a sigh as he gets when he saw my various bruises. "My God, Babe, I didn't know he'd gotten such a tight hold on you. I'm so sorry, I hate when things to wrong on these distractions."
A shiver quaked through my body and he stood up helping me slip into one of his t-shirts before tucking me under the covers. His hands rubbed through my hair. "Babe, you want to talk about it?"
I shook my head but kept my eyes on his, I didn't know how to talk to Ranger about Brett's threats. I knew I should open up but I needed time to gather my thoughts and maybe live in denial too. "Will you stay with me, please?" I was terrified that he might leave and that Brett would come back.
"Of course, I wasn't planning on going anywhere." He stripped out of his boots, utility belt and shirt and crawled in next to me. His arms enveloped me and as I took comfort in the strength and warmth he always provided I tried to still my mind. Eventually I fell asleep, exhaustion always wins out, even when my mind was racing on how to deal with the latest bit of trouble that I seemed to have gotten myself into.
Ranger's POV
I held Steph as her breath evened out and she fell asleep. My eyes kept wandering to the bruises on her arms and face and while watching her sleep generally calmed me, those bruises enraged me. I hate when she gets hurt and I especially hate when some sleazy skip lays his hands on my woman. I'd made sure to land a few hits on the bastard before turning him over to the cops tonight but now I was wishing that I'd kept him in a holding cell at RangeMan for a few days. I forced myself to relax and think of only comforting the beautiful woman in my arm, I knew nightmares would be coming and that I should rest while she slept soundly so that I could provide for her later.
"Stop, you're scarring me!" Steph's frightened voice woke me. She was still sleeping but her arms and legs were frantically moving as a nightmare invaded her mind.
"Shh, Babe. I'm here, you're safe now. It's just a dream." I pulled her into my embrace, my fingers tracing her hairline. I didn't want to wake her, hoped that I could chase away the boogeymen so that she could just sleep restfully. I've been with her after worse distractions and knew that sometimes she'd wake multiple times needing to shower and remove the dreams and thoughts of the night from her skin again and again. That was so hard for me to stomach, the first night I'd watched her do that I'd promised to never ask her to do another distraction again. I hadn't been aware of the toll they took on her. She, of course, got pissed at the idea of me taking away her work and so I didn't try to cage or protect her despite my better judgment. Still on nights like tonight, I revisited the idea of never asking her to help me with a distraction again. She was so damn good at distractions, I only asked when there no other options but hearing her get hurt and knowing how deeply effected she was by them made me want to protect her more than I wanted to bring in skips.
She seemed to be calming down when she mumbled against my chest. "Threatened you." I couldn't catch all of her words and as she was still asleep I assumed her dreams were getting jumbled. I knew from past experience that her dreams often combined some mixture of her past demons, the slayers, scrog, and the distraction were no doubt all converging as her subconscious tried to deal with the denial she often let her conscious mind dwell in.
"No one can hurt me or you, Babe." I kissed her forehead as her body relaxed and once again fell into that deep, peaceful sleep that I hoped she could have every night of her life.
