As it is October, I was thinking about Halloween and this came to mind! I hope you enjoy it- my first Fanfic, so I'd try a one-shot to see if my ideas got anywhere desireable!
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It was one of the few times a year when Trenton ditched its dreary gray mentality and came alive. Autumn arrived and the trees were in full polychromatic splendor. Stephanie sat at her desk at Rangeman staring blankly at ceiling. Her duties as an "intelligence inquisition production specialist," or so she fancily self entitled her position, otherwise known as an information request searcher, were complete. She still had another hour and half and leaned back lazily in her chair dreaming of the variegated colors waiting for her on the drive home.
Tonight she would head to her parents' house to finalize with Grandma Mazur the details of Halloween. Of course she didn't mind that she would be getting dinner too with fresh pumpkin pie. With her back to the door, her eyelids started getting very heavy. A large hand resting on her shoulder startled her from slumber and she tipped back her chair.
"Oh, my…Holy…Geez!" She exclaimed covering her heart.
"Sorry, Bombshell." Tank apologized as he caught her, chair and all, before hitting the ground, effortlessly replacing her to a sitting position. "I didn't realize you were sleeping. I just thought you were relaxed and thinking, that's how I think too."
"I was relaxed, that's why I fell asleep! Good thing you have those reflexes, otherwise the guys in control would be in fits laughing!"
Tank grinned at her and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Boss wants to see you."
Stephanie calmed her wits and nodded in acknowledgement as she stood to walk to Ranger's office. She liked Ranger's office. It always stunned her that he had a desk because he never seemed like a desk guy. It was tastefully decorated with a very masculine feel, but she felt comfortable there. She always wondered if the other men felt comfortable there too.
As she approached she could hear Ranger talking rapidly in Spanish. She tapped on the doorframe and poked her head in. Ranger had the phone to his ear and put up his hand motioning for her to come in and sit. She sat in a plush chair and sank into its leatherness and inhaled, 'ahh,' she thought. Ranger spoke a departing phrase in Spanish and finished his phone call.
He faced her and his features softened as he silently examined the piercing blue eyes on the other side of the desk. Rising from his desk he sat next to her and delicately lifted her hand into his own. God, he felt so nice! He rubbed her hands gently and Stephanie felt a warm rush fill her body. "You alright Babe?"
"What? Oh, yes! Why wouldn't I?"
"You did this strange gurgle noise."
Damn did I do that out loud? "Nope, just peachy."
"Steph, I need you for a distraction job next Saturday night. Are you up for it?"
"Yea, sure, no problem." She rambled while becoming enveloped by the Ranger sensation.
"Babe?"
"Wha…" Steph replied, startled from her trance. "What?"
"Why don't you go home and call it a weekend? I'll see you on Monday."
Stephanie agreed, no questions asked, and bound down to her favorite deep freeze on wheels, Big Blue. The short drive to the Burg was relaxing as the brittle leaves blew across the street and children jumped around in leaf piles. Waiting at the door expectantly, though she was an hour early, was Grandma Mazur. How'd they do that?
"Stephanie! I can hardly wait any longer!" Grandma burst out as Stephanie exited the behemoth.
"What's up Grandma?" Stephanie said while inhaling the intoxicating scent of pumpkin pie spice.
"I went shopping after the morning viewing and saw them in the window! I knew that it was us!" She grabbed Stephanie by the hand and led her into the dining area. There on the table were two unlabeled brown boxes. Stephanie eyed them curiously and stole a glance over to her mother, Helen. She was rapidly stirring a pot on the stove and shooting fleeting glances to the cupboard that concealed her stress reliever.
"Open the box, Stephanie!" Grandma could barely contain herself.
Grandma Mazur stood by a box and Stephanie walked over to other one. She pulled the flaps back and stared into the box pulling out a hanger.
"Ain't it a pip? I saw these and just knew it was us! I know we had discussed the Spice Girls, but these are a more recognizable theme, don't you agree?"
"More like pedophile! You'll scare the children away!" Stephanie's mother cried.
Stephanie examined the Wizard of Oz "theme" costumes that Grandma picked out. She was positive she went to the local strip club to find them, but she wasn't about to ask. They would be Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and Dorothy. "Dorothy" generally consisted of a blue gingham dress, but aside from the pattern of fabric, that was as kid friendly as this outfit went. It had a skirt with a red rimmed petticoat that rested just below/at the ass, a tiny little apron sewn onto the seven inch skirt, a matching bikini looking gingham top with lace on the shoulders, white thigh-highs, and a gingham head bow.
Glinda was a different story. She held up a dress that was slightly longer, more like an inch or two below the ass, with a pink practically see through (though lined) ruffled satin and netting skirt and a black satin strapless corset top laced with matching pink thread, topped off with a pink and black hat.
"Umm, sure Grandma. I think they will be great. Don't you think we'll be a little cold?"
"Not at all! That's why we are indoors! I've thought this through, next Saturday we'll put the whole Burg to shame!"
"More like this house!" Helen exclaimed.
"Don't pay attention to her, she always tries to be the party pooper."
"Oh, no! Next Saturday! The distraction! How could I forget?" 'Of course you know how you forgot,' came a voice from her head, 'you were caught up in Ranger trance.'
"Something wrong, Stephanie?" Grandma asked.
"Nothing, I'll take care of it on Monday. I wouldn't miss this night with you for the world! It's tradition Grandma. You and me."
Though Stephanie was quite shocked when she pulled up the outfit, her mouth curved into a knowing smile as she examined her and her grandmother's costumes. Grandma never skipped a beat. That teenage spirit in the body of a 70 something year old, not looking a day past 98 would surely be a night to remember. They would be the talk of the Burg all right.
"Which one do you want to be?" Steph inquired.
"I was thinking that because you have the hair that can be braided, you should probably be Dorothy. Not that I don't have the body for it, it just seems more appropriate that I be Glinda. She's the wise mentor and all. Besides, they only had these sexy glitter shoes in your size. What do you think?"
On top of the outfit, the shoes took the cake. Screw the FMP's, these were full on six inch stiletto platform red ruby stripper shoes.
"Oh! I...I think you're probably right. What do you have to wear?" Stephanie asked, almost afraid of the answer. Stephanie's mother made the sign of a cross as Grandma pulled out another box.
"I picked these hot shoes up. Figure they would elongate my legs."
"More like break your hip! I'm not going to be pushing you around in a wheelchair for the next three months if you fall." Her daughter commented from over the spaghetti pot.
Grandma Mazur held up a pair of black patent leather thigh high wedge boots. They'd elongate her legs for sure, thought Stephanie.
"Let's clear this stuff off the table. It's time for dinner. I have pumpkin pie for dessert."
Mmmm, things couldn't be any better.
Stephanie and Grandma planned out the festivities of Halloween and spent the weekend decorating the porch and house with finishing touches of spiders and cobwebs and made sure to buy trick-or-treat candy for the kiddies; and herself. Monday came and Stephanie bound to Rangeman with a bag in hand.
"Hey, Bombshell!" Bobby boomed. "You look awfully perky for a Monday morning, everything okay?"
"It's a great week Bobby! Halloween is this weekend." Stephanie replied perkily as she took a bright orange pumpkin candy dish out of the bag and placed it on her desk. Bobby watched with curiosity as she fished through the bag and revealed a bag of candy corn. He watched her methodically empty the contents into the pumpkin dish and place it on the corner of her desk and place the bag in her desk. "You gotta be in the spirit Bobby. Here." She pushed the dish towards him and he surveyed the hall apparently looking for Ranger. He got a big childlike grin, took a handful, and went back to the monitors.
Self-satisfied, Stephanie trotted down to Ranger's office poking her head in.
He looked up expectantly at her and she came in. "Something wrong, Babe."
"Not exactly. Yes. But no. Well…" Ranger just kept staring at her waiting blank faced. "I know I told you I was available for the distraction job this Saturday, but I forgot that it was Halloween."
"And?"
"And, I had already made plans for that night." She could see his face still void of emotion and felt like she was letting Ranger and the Merry Men down.
"You're not letting us down, Babe." Damn, ESP!
"It's just, Grandma Mazur and I always do the Halloween thing. Maybe you could get Tank to dress in drag, he could probably get away with it."
This got a full on wattage smile and small chuckle. Who couldn't at the thought of a 6'5" prodigious black man in drag? "It'll be fine, Steph. We'll figure something out."
"Thanks, Ranger." With that Stephanie went back to her desk to find an empty candy dish. She smiled to herself and took out another package from the bag and refilled her dish. It went on like this all week. There was an unusually high volume of foot traffic through Steph's office. Rangemen would stop by to say "hello," and leave with a handful of candy corn.
Friday afternoon, Lester stopped by to get his fix. "Hey, Steph!" He grabbed a large fistful of candy. "Big day tomorrow, huh?"
She told him about her and Grandma Mazur's costumes and how exciting it was going to be. "Bossman wanted to see you." He said finishing their conversation. He grabbed another helping of candy and went on his way. Stephanie refilled the dish quickly and turned to leave, running into Ranger.
"Oh! You wanted to see me?"
Ranger eyed her desk suspiciously and got a small curl at the corner of his mouth. "My men have seemed to be lazier this week and they kept saying something of the "Great Pumpkin" in Stephanie's office."
"It's Halloween, Ranger! Just because you wear black all week doesn't mean you are in the Halloween spirit! If you added a little orange, maybe."
"Babe."
"Besides, today is the last day. Tomorrow's the big day and I'll put the pumpkin away. I promise." She added as he gave her a blank look. "Did you figure out the distraction? We can do it next week."
"No, everything will work out fine. I hear you and Grandma have a theme again."
"We do! We, well Grandma Mazur, decided on The Wizard of Oz. It's going to be something."
Ranger imperceptibly nodded and went to the monitoring area. Yes, tomorrow will definitely be something.
The big day arrived, and Grandma Mazur and Stephanie were dressed perfect for the part. Stephanie's mother signed the cross and poured herself some "witches brew," which Stephanie was sure it consisted of just pure whiskey with a grape floating in it.
The doorbell rang signaling the first trick-or-treaters of the night. Grandma answered and tripped on her towering shoes, falling into Stephanie who stumbled into the wall with a "umph."
"Don't worry, Stephanie. I'll have it before this night is through. These shoes are such a pip with this outfit, it would be a shame for all the kiddies not to see them. Oh! Look at these little S.W.A.T teams! Those guns are great! Would you like to see mine?"
"NO!" Came a conglomerated cry from the living room.
It was a busy night and the door bell rang non-stop. Pumpkins, ghosts, goblins, witches, plumbers, everyone came out and they loved Dorothy and Glinda. Candy traffic finally weaned to nearly nothing as it passed 10:30. It was a good thing because the dredges of candy were all that remained.
"I think it was a success, don't you?" Grandma Mazur asked.
"It was wonderful Grandma. We were quite a show."
"Yeah, but my feet are killing me! I gotta have more practice in these shoes if I want to wear these more often."
The sound of the doorbell took them away from their conversation. Stephanie grabbed the bowl following after Grandma who opened the door. There before them stood the largest Tin Man they had ever seen. They stood gawking open mouthed at this huge mound of metal.
"Trick-or-treat!"
"Whoa! He matches! You should have come earlier and we really could have been a sight." Grandma said.
"Trick-or-treat, Bombshell!" Came another voice.
Stephanie stood in stunned silence as she saw the rest of Dorothy's entourage fan out behind the giant tin man.
"Lester? Tank?" Stephanie burst out laughing at the sight before her. There in full Wizard attire stood Bobby, Lester, and Tank, respectively, as the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man. "Where's Ranger? You seem to have all the bases covered." There was a rustling sound from behind the Scarecrow and there in a flying monkey costume was Ranger.
Stephanie's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes as big as saucers. All the men and Stephanie were rolling in laughter as they realized just how ridiculous, though authentic, they all looked.
"Babe, it's not that bad, is it?"
"NO! No! You guys look great! But a flying monkey? You could have been the Farmer, or even made Lester be the flying monkey. Wow. You guys are the best."
"Can you believe this? What a pip! Look at that hot monkey thing, I wonder if he's got a package like one too. Wouldn't that be something? All we need is the Wizard!" Came Grandma Mazur's voice.
"That would be Randy Briggs' department." Stephanie acknowledged.
"Look at you, Steph! You're a sight to behold. You should come to work like this all the time!" Bobby exclaimed.
Stephanie blushed and handed the now empty candy bowl to Grandma. "What about the distraction?"
"You are the distraction, if you're up to it." Flying monkey, i.e. Ranger, said.
"Well, we haven't had anybody for awhile now, and Grandma's about done for the evening."
"That's for sure, these boots have about done me in." The guys all stared at Grandma trying not to openly laugh at the magnitude of her outfit. White teeth all around showed they expected nothing less.
"I'll have to go change real quick and then we can go." Stephanie replied as she turned to go in.
"Hardly not!" "Why?" "I don't think so!" Came combined shouts.
"But…"
"We're picking our skip up at a Halloween party, and you look…perfect." Ranger commented.
"Well boys, I'm ready to go. Let's follow the yellow brick road!"
They all chuckled and said their good-byes to Grandma as Dorothy skipped to the black Rangeman vehicles arm in arm with the Lion and Scarecrow, as skipping was quite hard in her ruby stilettos.
"I can't wait to see the look on his face when he gets taken down by the Tin Man and a flying monkey." Stephanie said as she attempted to gracefully climb into Ranger's truck.
"Yep- just think of the look on the cops faces when we take him down to jail!" Lester said with a chuckle climbing into an SUV with the Tin Man and Scarecrow.
"It will definitely be a night to remember, men." Ranger commented supporting Stephanie by the waist.
Stephanie was thrilled with the cheer everyone had and how uncharacteristically happy all the Merry Men and Ranger, yes Ranger, were, especially in ridiculous costumes. 'This Halloween tops all others,' thought Stephanie looking at the men who cared about her enough to go costumes and all to include her in the skip apprehension. A huge smile plastered her face.
"Let's head out! Stark Street Bar!" Ranger yelled, his men affirming the order.
Ranger helped Stephanie into the truck and whispered in her ear, "There's no place like home. Afterwards, we can explore the Emerald City, Dorothy."
A shot of heat ran through her body. Oh, my!