I pulled into the parking lot of the new Vincent Plum's Bonds Office, gently idling my newly used Toyota Vista. It was beat up and had enough miles to have gone across the world, but it was cheap and working, and the dealer threw in a free can of gas and I was sold. Better yet, Ranger didn't know I'd switched cars from the Buick, which was still sitting in the parking lot of my apartment building, and it wasn't bugged. Ranger was born Ricardo Carlos Manoso, a second generation Cuban-American with Ivy-League intelligence and a street-savvy attitude. I met him a few years back when I started working at my cousin Vinnie's Bails Bonds business and our relationship had grown from there. Originally, he'd been my mentor but now he was a part-time lover and my best friend. The best friend part was useful but the lover part gave me hives. Especially considering the other man in my life, Joseph Morelli who works Vice for the Homicide department for the service men of Trenton.
Recently, the screwy relationship came to head in a fateful and definitely memorable fight in Hawaii which ended with me stun-gunning them, leaving them at a hospital and catching a midnight flight out of the state. That had finally cleared up but now I had a much worse problem on my hands and I didn't want either man to contact me until I had left town. Preferably the country but I didn't have enough money in my bank account for a trip to Tahiti. Which was why I was heading into the Bonds office. If anyone could help hide me from Ranger and Morelli, they would be in there.
Connie was at her newly installed desk, typing away at her brand new computer. Recently the Bonds Office blew in a targeted explosion and everything was replaced. Connie's desk was situated right in front of my cousin, Vinnie's office, which was good because then all the men that Vinnie's screwed have to get through her to shoot his dick off. And Connie knew how to blow a hole in someone with a semiautomatic without killing them. A trick, I supposed, she learned from her mob affiliated family.
"Why are you here?" I suppose the question could be rude but seeing as I never rolled into work until about ten and it was eight, I let it slide.
"I need a favor. I need your family to help me disappear?" One of Connie's perfectly plucked black eyebrows rose half an inch and she stopped her typing to stare at me incredulously.
"Honey, half the people living in the slums are willing to help you disappear, what the hell are you asking me for?" I paled at the thought and one hand instinctively went to my still flat stomach.
"Not permanently, just long enough to get away. I got a problem and I need time to solve it. Will you help?" I replied hastily, dropping my hand as quickly as possible. That was a mistake. Connie's heavily darkened eye immediately dropped to my stomach in suspicion.
"Oh Mother Mary and sweet Baby Jesus, you're knocked up aren't you?" Connie smiled widely and I blushed, giving away the secret I'd kept for the past few weeks. I was slightly irritated that she had found out the secret so fast seeing as I had taken pride out of telling no one, seeing as I had nearly passed out upon finding out myself. "When you gonna tell Morelli?" I paled at the thought of telling Morelli and hastily shook my head.
"With any luck, never." I didn't elaborate. There was no need in informing Connie that I hadn't been knocked up by Morelli. Connie seemed to catch something in my voice however, because her dark eyebrows disappeared somewhere in her five inches of teased up black hair and she gapped at me.
"Holy shit, Batman knocked you up?" I shushed her quickly as I looked around the room worriedly. I had little doubt that I would be able to sense Ranger's approach but Vinnie, Lula, or any of the various Rangeman employees could be around and if any of them were, I was dead. "He don't know?" Connie guessed, looking at me with slight sympathy.
I shook my head but didn't elaborate. It seemed awkward to explain my fears about telling Ranger I was pregnant. I couldn't explain them myself but I could probably pinpoint it to his adamant disapproval of commitment or perhaps that his only other child, a small eleven year old girl named Julie, had been held hostage by a crazy man just last year. Or the fact that being a mother scared the crap out of me and I was worried that I would be like Ranger's other ex-wife - married and then ceremoniously divorced after the child was born. Or that I didn't want mine and his relationship, no matter twisted it was, to be changed. So I had a bunch of reasons.
"So you need to disappear so neither will know? You know that's just a temporary solution right?" I nodded because sadly, no matter how much I wanted to skip to a new country, I'd have to return. My mother would only watch Rex for so long before she would give him up to an animal shelter. "Alright, you sit tight and I'll call up my cousin Leo. He likes you ever since we kidnapped that baby gangbanger, I'm sure he and my Uncle Vito will find a way to help you." I blushed at the memory of hiding a semi-illegally kidnapped gang member in Vinnie's summer cabin, but otherwise made no response.
Connie stepped outside to make the call and I sat in the faux leather couch that was normally reserved for Burg housewives there to bail out their misbehaving children. The thought of raising a child was frightening but telling Ranger that my birth control had lapsed during our tryst in Hawaii was even more so. I knew I would be back, or he'd find me but I just wanted a few weeks to myself. To get used to the idea and find a way to break the news to him. Maybe I'd call. If I called, I wouldn't have to see his disappointed face. That wouldn't stop his words from reaching me, but distance might make them hurt less. That's all I needed some distance. And a good drink, but that wasn't good for the Batbaby growing inside me so I'd have to part with those.
An hour and a few angry Italian remarks from Connie on the phone later, her cousin Leo was hanging outside the bails office, grinning at me. I'd gone to school with Leo and had always gotten along well enough with him.
"Knocked up by Ranger, eh?" he grinned. I blushed red and he shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it. Things like this happen. Connie says you need some time to think it all over before you drop the bomb on your boy-toy. My dad Vito got some property in upstate New York. Real secluded. Normally we take up some old-shot Bookies and the like up there to take care of them, but dad says it's okay to live in it for a few weeks." I paled at the thought of staying in a house that the mob uses to take care of their problems, but smiled gratefully.
"Thanks, can we leave?" I must have looked nervous or perhaps he caught me as I tried to inconspicuously check around for any sleek black cars that were near enough to identify me because Leo laughed outright and led me to his car. A shiny new Buick. I wasn't surprised.
"After you my lady," he replied, opening the passenger door. I was surprised when Connie got into the car, swinging her leather purse beside me, instead of Leo.
"Girl's weekend," Connie explained with a grin. "I need a break from this place and what better excuse is there going be any time soon?" I nodded and waved politely towards Leo who was still grinning as we drove off. I closed my eyes briefly before opening them and nervously checking for a tail. No shiny black SUV's were following us and I couldn't identify any Porsches or personalized trucks, so I figured we were good and looked at Connie. She was singing off-key to the music, bobbing her head erratically as her four inch heels pushed the pedal to the floor. I smiled despite myself and began singing as well. Just a girl's weekend sounded about right. Even if there was three instead of two.
So originally I was going to hod off and wait a bit before I started a new story, but this nagged at me and I decided to write it down. It's not necessarily AU but more a continuation. My take on the nineteenth book, I guess. It's based off all the little hints Stephanie kept making about more pressing problems and worries. I figured it was another pregnancy scare (I can't remember if it was ever completely expressed) and decided to run off it. I tried to make it as close to how the books are written as possible and I hope you liked it. I'm not sure if I'll continue but probably. Please tell me what you thought and any ideas you might have that you want in the story. Thank you for reading!