A/N: The following short is what happens when teachers bore me to death...
I don't own the characters, I make no money off of this and no copyright infringement was intended. I promise to return them unscathed to the author.
Bombshell Talks
by Katrin
"I'm bored," I whispered.
"Babe?" Ranger looked over at me, that damned eyebrow of his raised.
"What? He's telling us what we've already known for years."
"Some of the people here might not know it."
"Judging by the background noise I'd say that the majority of people here already knows it. And who wants to hear about laws and rules anyway. You can pick these up as you go along or just read it. You don't need someone to talk about it for hours without really ever saying anything of importance."
"Babe."
"Don't you 'Babe' me. I know that you've been playing Solitaire on your laptop for the last half hour."
"Yep."
"But I'm bored."
"You want to play for a change?"
"No. I want the guy up front to get the hell out of here and let someone take over who knows what he's doing. He's so damn unsure of what he's talking about that I'm wondering how long he's been in the business."
"Babe."
We were at a convention. A bounty hunter convention to be exact that was held in Trenton for the first time ever. RangeMan had gotten an invite, as opposed to Vinnie, and Ranger had decided that the two of us would go. He knew how much his men hated events like this. Sadly though I had missed my chance to tell him I hated it too. So now I was sitting here, stuffed into a business suit, wearing panty hose that were itchy as hell, and wanting nothing more than to go out and have a donut. Not that that was anything new.
The noise level was increasing and the guy up front was happily clicking away on his power point presentation.
"I'm bored."
"You already said that."
"I'm still bored. Entertain me."
He looked at me incredulously. "Didn't know you were into exhibitionism."
"I'm not. And you know damn well that that's not what I meant either."
"How do you want me to entertain you?"
"Don't know. Twenty questions?"
"That's not the place for that."
"Tic tac toe?"
"Nope." He was seriously pissing me off with his answers. I mean, he was playing on his laptop entertaining himself and I was left to listen to the lecture that was oh so captivating and interesting. I'd brought a book but he'd confiscated it.
"Damn it, you stay here and continue playing and I'll go up front and show the guy how it's done."
"Babe."
"My mom will hear about it anyway, so why not take the chance and give people something to talk about? It's been a long time since I've been on the front page."
"Have at it."
That settled it. I stood up and the guy stopped talking. I'd forgotten his name as soon as he'd said it but now he was looking at me expectantly.
"Miss?"
"Name's Manoso. Stephanie Manoso. Give me a second and I'll join you."
Cheering was heard as I walked up to the short guy with gray hair and a beer belly. How he wanted to know anything about bounty hunting was beyond me.
When I reached him I grabbed his mic and turned to the room at large.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, my name's Stephanie Manoso but you might know me as the Bombshell Bounty Hunter."
The crowd cheered. I sought out Ranger and he was smiling that half smile of his.
I smiled and the crowd fell silent again. "While we certainly appreciate," I pointed to the guy still standing beside me, looking befuddled, "somebody to tell us about the theory of being a bounty hunter, we all know that nothing can replace the first hand knowledge collected in day to day bounty hunting.
There's all the rules, tricks and guidelines and as I've been told there's even a bounty hunter handbook though my copy got lost in the mail somehow; when it comes to collect the skip what it comes down to is instinct. Instinct to know how dangerous one particular skip is and how to take him down. Most people though are lost when it comes to finding the skip in the first place.
To succeed in finding your skip you need two things. Instinct and a good network of contacts."
Ranger's POV
She'd done it again. The guy, whatever his name, was standing right next to my Babe, staring at her like she'd hung the moon. I was sure it was the first time somebody had dared to interrupt in, but Steph was right. Looking at him there just wasn't a way to believe that he had ever been a bounty hunter. And he had absolutely no idea how it was done these days.
Steph had captivated her audience's attention. The room was absolutely silent and you could've heard a pin drop. She talked about her experiences and what to look for. Though most people had already heard of her exploits a few of the people here hadn't heard of her yet. Talk about broadening horizons.
I let my thoughts drift to her exploits, the kidnappings and stalkings. Ramirez, Abruzzi, Scrog and all the other crazies after her. The fear for her life whenever she got taken, the worry when there was another stalker after her, but also about the private moments we had shared. Kisses in the alley behind Vinnie's office, our night together after the deal.
She talked nearly an hour and only the clapping brought me back to the presence. Steph was standing on the little stage, a big happy smile on her face.
After the applause died down she nodded to the audience and made her way back to me.
"Proud of you, Babe."
Thanks for reading.
I promise to post a new chapter of Birthday Surprises as soon as I can decide which way I want the next chapter to go.