Disclaimer: Anything that is recognizable from the Stephanie Plum Novels is not mine and I do not receive any form of credit from it.
A/N: I had this story written for about half a year but never had the courage to put it up. It is a Babe ending but there isn't any cupcake bashing. Enjoy--Adora
To say it had been a hard month was an understatement. Ranger was in the wind, where the wind actually was, well, hell if I know! All I know is that for the past month I tried to get some of his skips with Lula and now, as I'm grabbing my gun from the cookie jar, I realize what a bad idea that was.
Somehow I managed three of my skips and one of his, the other I plan to go after today. One of my skips Aida Mason managed to destroy my car so I've been stuck driving Big Blue or forced to go with Lula in her firebird. Another one managed to push me into a pool that was filled with various insects, leaves and plenty of algae to cover the top. The one skip I was able to capture of Rangers, I got lucky. Mr. Christian Fisher was drunk and willing to get in any car with a little small talk.
I locked my apartment door and headed out to Big Blue. Before I got in I studied the front of the car and smiled, remembering when I broke Morelli's leg by running him over. I debated for a minute whether I should take the drive over and run him over now, but I didn't want to waste the gas. If he laughed at me today I would wait to get him when he got to his house, maybe him and Terri. Not that I wasn't happy about them, I just hated when he laughed at me. And Terri? Well, she could do with some boob deflating.
I placed my pocketbook in the passenger seat and headed to the bonds office to get started on the Ranger's second skip. An arsonist, just my luck.
When I got into the office, Connie handed me the file to read as I waited for Lula to come in. She was always late it seemed, and she couldn't even use Tank as an excuse since I know for a fact he went with Ranger, as well as Lester and Bobby.
As I studied the skip's face and his known addresses, the phone rang. Connie filed her nail for at least two more rings before sighing and picking the thing up.
"Plum Bail Bonds, this is Connie. How may I help you?"
I flipped one of the pages in file over as I drowned her voice out. A nail file broke me out my thoughts and I turned to glare at Connie. I immediately stopped when I saw her face. Her eyes were wide and she looked like she was about to drop the phone.
"Yes, she's right in front of me. No she's late today like always, but give her about ten minutes and she should show up too. She's not leaving any time soon. Right, I'll tell her. You sure you don't want to speak with her? Okay, sure." She hung the phone up the same shocked expression on her face.
"What is it?" I asked anxiously. She shook her head and stared at the phone for a bit before turning to me.
"That was Ranger."
"He's back?"
"It would seem so." I sat back against the sofa, confused. Why would he call? Usually he just came over.
"What did he call for?"
"You." Huh? I dropped the file in hands not caring that the papers skittered across the carpet. "And Lula. He told me to tell you not to leave. He has some important news he would like to discuss with you. And Tank wanted to know if Lula was in too. He wanted me to keep you here till he showed up." I nodded wordlessly and looked out the windows of the Bond's office.
"He's at the airport still, it may be a while. Can you hand me back my nail file?"
I reached for it on the floor, disregarding the fallen papers by pushing them aside, and handed her to offending thing. She resumed nail filing and soon there were no sounds in the office. I tapped my fingers against the armrest and turned so I was facing the window as much as I could. My fingers tired out and I began to jiggle my legs, the rustle of my jeans filling the office walls.
"Stop that." Connie ordered. I resisted the urge to glare at her and crossed my arms in front of my chest. It was then I remembered what I had put on. A plain white t-shirt and a pair of old jeans. I groaned, why couldn't Ranger come back when I had on a nice skirt and a pair of heels, or maybe just a nicer shirt. My luck that he comes the day I dress like this. I grabbed my pocketbook and re-applied some of my make-up, touched up on my lip-gloss and added a few more coats of Mascara, that done, I sat back and prepared myself to wait for a while longer.
I clicked my tongue against my teeth trying not to seem so obvious as I looked outside every second.
"Stop that." Connie snapped. I closed my mouth shut and shot her another glare, which went unnoticed as she changed the hand she filing on. Trying to find position where I could stay mostly still. I decided on leaning my head back and closing my eyes, but I couldn't rest because I would peak every so often at the window. I let out a breath as I sat back up and looked dejectedly at the dropped file. I got to my knees and picked the papers back up shuffling them to get them in order, but with how much I was distracted I just ended up shuffling them.
Connie's nail file hit my forehead and this time she didn't need to talk to tell me what she wanted me to stop. "I'm not giving it back to you now." Serves her right.
She opened her mouth to snap back at me but it just remained opened and her eyes looked to the windows. I snapped my head to the window getting up on my feet as quick as possible. I step on the file on I walked closer to the door of the bonds office.
A large black SUV skidded to a stop across the street, the driver and passenger doors flew open. Tank came out the passenger side and took off running down the street. I walked outside to and saw that he was running towards Lula's firebird. She careened to a stop while he ripped her door opened and lifted her into a hug. Confused I turned back towards to the SUV just in time to be engulfed by a set of Cuban arms. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up, spinning me once, all the while saying "No more, no more. It's done." He had the biggest grin I had ever seen on his face. My arms were pinned to my sides by his and I quickly becoming dizzy.
"Ranger!" I called, trying to get him to place me back on the ground, but he just kept spinning and spinning. Smiling and repeating, "No more, no more."
"Ranger!" I finally yelled, his eyes met mine and he put me down.
"What's go-" He placed his hands on either side of my face and leaned his forehead against me, he was breathing hard but was still smiling. This was the most emotion I had ever seen displayed from him. He kissed me hard and I swore I saw stars when he let me go and hugged me again. From over his shoulder, I saw Tank repeatedly kissing Lula and I wondered what the hell was happening to these usually stoic men. That's when I remembered that Lester and Bobby went with them, and sure enough there they were with shit eating grins leaning against the SUV.
When I was able to move from his grip I stepped back and placed my hands, palms down on his chest. "What in the world is happening? Are you guys okay?" I asked.
He interlaced my fingers with his and took a deep breath, holding my hands under his chin. "It was our last mission. There will be no more for us. No more being in the wind. No more waiting for check-ins and debriefings. No more packing at a moment's notice. No more top secret missions. No more pushing you away. No more. We're all free. I'm free." He kissed the tops of my fingertips and pulled me closer. I'm sure there were tears by now making their way across my cheeks but I couldn't find it in me to care.
"You're free," I whispered and smiled up at him. He grinned at me again and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around my waist laughing as he spun us around. I kissed his forehead and as I looked over at Lula more tears escaped my eyes as I saw Tank on bended knee.
I hugged Ranger tightly to me, neither one of us wanting to let go, and I found myself joining him with his mantra of "No more, no more."