Stephanies POV

I was totally excited over this vacation, since I've always loved France and this time I got to go by myself. I had been to France three times, but always with either my parents or my sister. This time Ranger had suggested that he'd like to come with me, but I had stand my ground and refused. This was my vacation and nobody could ruin that for me, not that I thought that Ranger would do that it was just that I could never concentrate with him in the same room. And that was precisely what had happened yesterday.

Flash back start

I had packed the night before and was brushing my teeth when Ranger decided to show up. With my back to the door, deep in thought he scared the beejeezuz out of me by placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Christ, Ranger! Stop doing that!"

"You got to be more aware of your surroundings, babe" he said with that little annoying smirk he has EVERY time he scares me.

He moved his hands to my abdomen and hugged me from behind. I felt the usual burning down there and blushed furiously with my toothbrush still in my mouth. I wasn't quite sure what to do next. The urge to turn around and kiss him was strong but not strong enough for me to do that. My hair was totally messed up and I was feeling as un-sexy a woman can feel. And I still had my tooth brush in my mouth, and that would cause some problems too. I felt him shaking and soon enough came the laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" I snapped at him.

That caused more laughter and he had to let go of me because he was bent over in laughter. I still couldn't see what was so damn funny and I was becoming more and more angry with every moment that passed. I hated when he laughed at me. Luckily he was in the hallway and I was in the bathroom so I made the decision to slam the door shut and lock it. SLAM! The laughter died at the other side of the door.

"Babe?" I could still hear some contained laughter in his voice so I didn't answer. I marched over to the toilet seat and sat down. I crossed my arms and waited.

"Babe, talk to me" he pleaded through the door.

"I don't want to talk to you so please leave. And don't you dare to pick the lock on the door"

"Stephenie, please, I didn't mean to laugh at you but you look so damn cute when you think hard. You were so focused that you didn't notice that your toothbrush fell out."

Shit, he was right! I hadn't noticed that my toothbrush was on the floor by the door and my cheek was covered in foam. I was so embarrassed that I had to fight the urge to cry. Dammit, why was it always he who saw me when I did these stupid things? Why God, why? I quickly wiped the foam of my cheek.

"I'm going to be here all night if I have to, but sooner or later you'll have to come out of the bathroom." he said. Then I heard him sit down by the door. God, he was annoying, couldn't he see that I wanted to be alone at this time. Fine, two can play this game. I eyed the bathroom window and remembered that due to the renovation of the house there were these things the construction men used. You know those things they walk on? Also due to the renovation thing, we all had to open the bathroom windows so they could paint without painting the windows shut, This was my chance to teach him a lesson. As silently as I could I made my way towards the window. The window was above the shower, made out of tinted glass and to my relief, open. I figured I could crawl through it so I lunged for the window.

The good news were that I had reached the window and were now half way through, the bad was that I had made a lot of noise when I by mistake kicked the shelf with the shampoos and soaps. Now I had to hurry because there were no way that -ass bounty hunter hadn't heard that.

"Babe?" I heard through the door. "That's it, I'm coming in!"

Be my guest I thought as I was already outside. I had to fight the urge to giggle as I ran towards the ladders. I heard the sound of a door being kicked down and him swearing. A small giggle escaped through my lips as I landed on the ground. By the time I was running to my car I was flat out laughing. I took the spear key to the car from underneath the car door and unlocked the doors and jumped in. Quickly I locked the doors and just as I locked the final door I saw him standing by my car and trying to open one door. As I couldn't hold it in anymore:

"Haven't you always said that I should always lock the doors?"

The look he gave me made me laugh even more.

Flash back end

Yes, maybe I was acting a little crazy and stupid yesterday but I think that was just my nervousness kickin' through. This was after all my first Europe-vacation without any familiar faces. My dreaming was cut of by a text message. It was from Ranger. He hadn't said anything last night and had left so I could finish my packing. I was grateful of that but a little part of me was disappointed that he didn't put more effort in the "hunt". I shook the feeling away and read the message.

"Proud of you babe! Have a nice vacation, can't wait until you get back so I can get even with you. 3"

I was not looking forward to that, I can assure you that. Well, maybe a little if I must be honest. Most of Rangers revenges involved a lot of nudity. I couldn't decide which one was better; to look forwards to it or not.

"Flight AF023 to Paris is now boarding and we ask all passengers to head for the gate…" The rest of the message couldn't be heard but I had heard enough. That was my flight and finally I was on my way to heaven!

ONE WEEK LATER

Ranger POV

I was so bored. I didn't think that if Stephanie was away for one week it would get this boring. No cars blowing up, no late night visits to her place, nothing except for these uninteresting meetings I had tons of. Stephanie would often take care of the meetings, always from her own will. She had become a huge part of my everyday life, but not as huge as I wanted. I hadn't told her that I would like to have her living with me on seventh floor, that I would like to marry her, have children with her.. the list goes on. I didn't tell her because I wouldn't want to mess our relationship and make it more complicated than it already were.

Even though she called her week off a vacation, I knew that she were also having a little time of after the Morelli-thing. She had caught Morelli and Terry Gilman naked on his couch playing "hide-the-salami" a few days before she decided to go for a vacation. She was heart-broken but she put on a brave face that could fool many but not me and my men. I knew she was like a little sister to most of the guys, and many of them offered to "take care of the garbage" and "cut the salami to little bits". She had said no thanks but had clearly thought about accepting the offers.

A week later she had asked to be a part of RangeMan and I had said yes. She had been trained by most of the guys, learning everything about guns, pick up a tail or be the tail and much more. I had trained her in the gym, martial arts and escape technics among others. She was getting better everyday and that night she had surprised me in a positive way. I hadn't even thought about that window until it was too late. I was beyond proud of her and I fell even more in love with her when I saw her laughing in her new BMW I had bought to her. I could have gotten into the car, but I had decided not to, not wanting to spoil her fun.

I snapped out of my thoughts when somebody called to my phone from a number I didn't know. I recognized the land code in front of the number, France. I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Allô, monsieur Manoso?" a man said in thick french accent. "I am doctor Carrelet from the American Hospital in Paris. I have called because your number is an ICE *- number on mademoiselle Plums phone. I have some bad news and it's quite urgent, how fast would it take for you to get to Paris?"

*ICE- number: In Case of Emergency

Please Review as this is my first FF :)