A/N: This is my first story EVER! All mistakes are mine as this has not been seen by a Beta.
Disclaimer: Not Mine, not making any money.
The Phrase
I have just said The End to the most enjoyable depressing day of my life to date. One would think those two small words would be the most impactful that one could utter during a single day, however, one would be wrong….upon my utterance of a phrase that will never have the same meaning again, I realized just how impactful everyday words can be. I choose you.
I am a 5'8" 130lb blue eyed, curly headed brunette. My name is Stephanie Plum and until 14 hours ago, I have had the best 17 months of my life. Everything was finally falling into place in regards to both my professional and personal lives. After the managing partners of E.E. Martin were stuffed and cuffed and taken off to places unknown for trying to walk a thin line between the IRS and the Mob, my career as a lingerie buyer came to a very public and abrupt end. Due to the very public aspect of the ending, I struggled for the next 3 months, applying for and being oh so politely denied every job within a 50 mile radius of Newark. How and why my name and reputation were damaged due to something I had ABSOULUTELY no control or knowledge of is beyond me. On the edge of desperation and down to the last $100 in my bank account, I went home to Trenton and met my Dad for lunch at Shorty's.
Shorty's has a reputation within the right circles of being the best pizza joint known to man, but not normally frequented by women or families, due to the location and somewhat fear inducing ambience. The tables, floors, and walls had a very original and unique coloration on the dark wood which was either a really good stain job that resembled patterns made by blood that was lost during bar brawls OR it was the real thing. Hence the fear related to the ambience. Dad said he didn't care what the place looked like as long as the pie was good. Dad had REALLY wanted me to be a boy, I mean let's face it, I am truly surprised by name isn't Stephen, so he thumbed his nose at general societal opinion and has been bringing me to Shorty's since I was old enough to hold my own slice. While I was moaning my way through the large pie with everything, Dad proceeded to tell me that my cousin Vinnie had an opening for a file clerk at his bail bonds office.
As it turned out, Vinnie didn't need a file clerk, but he did need a BEA, bond enforcement agent, or commonly known as a bounty hunter. I know, I know, nothing I have shared with you in any way qualifies me for this type of a job, but money is money, and I was desperate. Little did I know that this would also be the first step that would eventually lead to me meeting the love of my life, but we will get to that later. Connie Rissoli and I had gone to the same high school and she was part of the one of the ruling Families in Trenton. When she discovered I was actually going to give this whole BEA thing a shot, she called in a favor from one of her many contacts in an attempt to keep me from getting shot.
Ricardo Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger, took one look at me and executed a perfect military style about face maneuver. I sacrificed my dignity, desperate remember?, and went running after him. I mean come on; he could have at least spoken to me prior to going the other way! Was he not raised with manners, jeesh! Finally catching up with him at the end of the parking lot of the diner we had agreed to meet at, damn he walks fast, I was out of breath from practically jogging, I went to reach out my hand and tripped over the only freaking rock on the entire lot. Hearing my indignant screech, those non-existent manners kicked in, or he was just curious, he turned to stare at me and uttered a single word, Babe. Now, I have to tell you the tingle that hit the back of my neck at that single word combined with a raised eyebrow on top of the best body I have ever seen, I was convinced I had met my match! Ranger walked back and assisted me to a sitting position while looking me over for any permanent damage. Upon the conclusion of his very detailed perusal, all while I was indulging in my own muscle by muscle ogling, he surprised me by offering to go back into the diner and get a cup of coffee and give me the chance to give him a SITREP (SERIOUSLY, that is the word he used!). Now, I had no idea what a SITREP was, but I knew based on my conversation with Connie, I needed his assistance to become even somewhat successful in this line of work. As we were getting situated in the back corner booth, him with his back to the wall, he enlightened me on what a SITREP was shortly after discovering the existence of the Beast that resided in my stomach.
As we were ordering the coffee from the waitress my stomach decided it was on empty and let itself be known by letting out the longest, loudest, growling noise I have ever heard. Ranger commented that if I was strong enough to walk around with what was apparently a very demanding beast in my stomach; maybe his initial judgement of me was tinged by the business suit I was currently wearing. I know, really funny, right? At the end of the hour, I had discovered that SITREP was military slang for situation report and Ranger wanted the details on why I wanted to be a BEA.
Years later, Ranger finally told me that my explanation had nothing to do with his change towards me, it was the absolute desperation and determination that he saw in my blue eyes when he turned around that convinced him to give me a chance. Instead of going to work directly for Vinnie, Ranger convinced me to join his company Rangeman as a paid intern to get the training I needed to be an effective BEA. He explained he employed military men as well as a few men with other colorful backgrounds. What he left out was the overwhelming good looks of his men. The men covered every color of the race crayon box and each was more gorgeous than the next.
Tank was Ranger's second in command and looked just like his name implies. It didn't take long for him to dub me Little Girl and for me to find the Teddy Bear that lived inside Tank. Bobby was the company medic and insisted on calling me Bombshell as he said I looked like every 50's representation of one that he had ever seen. I told him as a medic, he should see an optometrist and get his vision checked! As time went on, he became one of my best friends and allowed only me to call him Specs. Lester was the resident joker and told me repeatedly that it was his life's goal to irritate Ranger at least once a day. He referred to me only as Beautiful and when I told him that we may read different dictionaries he shocked me speechless, which is a HUGH feat only accomplished by very few situations, when he responded that it wasn't my outward shell that demanded that nickname. Jester, as I now call him, said it was my selfless ability to just accept someone for who they are that demanded the nickname. Rounding out the Fab Five (he, he, if it was ever discovered I called them that, I am pretty sure they would send me to a third world country) is Hector. The first time we met, we were both rendered motionless by the shock we were both feeling. From that day forward Hector has referred to me only as Angel. He said I so closely resembled the sister he had lost at a young age, that I must be an Angel. My Hermano, the brother of my heart if not in blood, became my invisible and silent protector as well.
Over the next few years, these became 5 out of the 9 most important men in my life. My Dad of course was towards the top of the list. While these 6 people were vital to my ongoing existence and happiness, the remaining 3 were my heart, my soul, the ones that got me through the very high highs, and the very low lows. It was during my conversation with two of them that I almost lost my Corazon, my heart.
It had been the best of the explosions yet, or so they said. The Fab Five were always amazed how I could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and still walk away relatively unharmed. Yet again, during one of my routine captures, my SUV exploded. It wasn't my fault that the people I tended to pick up were not always happy to be returning to jail and sometimes went to extreme measures to keep that from happening. Today's capture was no different and thought the black on black Explorer needed some flames for detail and tossed a Molotov cocktail through the window. There were flames all right! The explosion of my SUV caused a chain reaction and at the end there were 7 different vehicles all burning! Yet another reason why parallel parking should be outlawed!
Once all the excitement waned, I was brought back to my apartment to get cleaned up and was in the middle of a conversation with two of my guys providing reassurance that all was well. I was repeating the phrase, "I choose you. And I'll choose you, over and over and over. Without pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I'll keep choosing you." When the most important person in my life turned the corner ROARING "I will KILL whoever you are talking to and you can forget all about the date we have next weekend. There is NO WAY I would marry you now!" Once my heart settled and moved back north where it belonged instead of residing in my stomach where it ran to in abject fear of the unhuman roar, I broke into almost maniacal laughter. While I loved the Flaming Skull tattoo on his forehead, the bright red skin tone made it look utterly ridiculous and I couldn't control the laughter! When Cal discovered the men I was pledging my undying loyalty to was none other than Ben & Jerry and the carton of Chunky Monkey I was currently inhaling, he went red from the tip of his gorgeous blonde head to the tip of his steel toe covered toes!
And so, each night as I say The End to yet another day, I make sure I repeat to Cal, "I choose you. And I'll choose you, over and over and over. Without pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I'll keep choosing you."