Reality Bites

Chapter One

Ranger POV – Rangeman Trenton 9AM

Robin's Lester POV Challenge. Opening italics mostly from Robin's fic 'Free Willy.'

Robin set the challenge to use Lester POV in the stakeout in her fic. Steph was looking for a guy who'd had his 4ft willy garden statue impounded and he hadn't paid the fine. This short fic is set kind of in my odd AU world crossed with Robin's Anthony universe. I think it will make sense when you read it. Bailey works in Boston like in AFILAW, but with Anthony, Ranger, Tank, Bobby and Les knowing about her existence – so maybe set about 4 years after Better the Devil.(I think you could say that this is set at the same time as AFILAW, but in an alternate universe. Ya'll still with me, ladies?) Bobby and Lester are also a couple in this, yet totally in the closet, but Ranger has his suspicions. Steph is a little OOC in this fic, but I had to do this to make things work and I don't really care anyway. This in all honesty started out as another one of my famous 2 part fics. Well, we all know what happens to them, don't we?

I looked across the breakfast table at sleepy, morning sex tousled Stephanie and asked her what she had on deck for the day.

Steph poked a finger at the stack of FTA files next to her plate and said, "I'm gonna stake out this guy's shop. Should be an easy pickup. He's not violent or anything, just stupid."

"Do you need back-up?" Lula and Tank were out of town for a few days. Their romance had heated up considerably after Lula found a good allergy doc. Armed with high dose Claritin, Tank's feline menagerie didn't bother Lula...and Tank had regained his appeal in her eyes.

But let's not dwell.

Whatever. The point is, I was short of my own backup man and so was Steph. But I had a very important meeting all day in Boston, so..."What's the exact charge?" I asked.

"Ah. Um." First pink blush creeping up her throat. Interesting. Won't meet my eyes. "Hadlow, Jason; Caucasian, age 39. No priors...Picked up for LLB," read Steph from the file.

"LLB?"

"Lewd and lascivious behavior, public indecency."

"He's a flasher?"

"No, um...no. And he had a fine to pay but he refused, jumped bail. Word is he's back at his art and decor for the garden shop almost every day. So, I'll just do some stakeout thing, see if he turns up."

So far I wasn't at all sure what the guy did, just that Stephanie was too embarrassed to tell me in exact words. You'd think after the night we just had-and this morning...plus our shower just now-well. But you never know. And backup is essential, I don't care how routine a pickup seems, shit can happen. I said, "I have to go to Boston, babe. Take Lester, okay."

"Nooooo!" Her face got pinker.

"You and Les have a problem?" I asked.

"Nooooo! But, well, please, Ranger!"

I raised an eyebrow. What was wrong with her taking Lester?

Steph squirmed in her seat. "Besides, I thought Lester had the day off."

"Late shift," I corrected. "And Bobby's on nights, well until Tank comes back, anyway."

"I can't take Lester with me. Ranger, please! Can't you come with me?"

"No can do, babe, I have to go to Boston."

Steph pouted. "Fine, I'll go by myself. It's only a teeny bit of surveillance anyway; can't see there being any problems."

I sighed. "Babe, I have years of training, but I still take back up out in the field with me. Take Lester, please."

"It's because I'm a woman, isn't it?" she said with a glare.

Crap, she was pulling out the big guns now. All I wanted was for her to be safe, I couldn't care less that she was female; I'd have expected any of my men to take back up with them on the job, Bailey included. "No babe, it has nothing to do with you being a woman. If I was sending Bailey out on this job I'd expect her to take back up too."

Steph looked up from the files and nailed me with a sharp look. "Who's Bailey, Ranger?"

Fuck! Okay, keep it simple, Manoso. "Independent contractor who sometimes works for Rangeman."

"Bailey is a woman?" Steph pressed.

I nodded.

She frowned. "I didn't think we had any women in the field in any of the offices. Which office did you say that she worked out of?"

"I didn't. Look, I don't see what she has to do with your surveillance gig; I'm going to call Lester for you," I asserted as I pulled my cell from my pocket.

Steph shoved her chair back from the table and stood, hands on hips. "Fine, if you think I can't be trusted."

I bit back a groan.

"Oh, and aren't you getting changed if you have a meeting?" she questioned as she took in my standard Rangeman black cargos and t-shirt.

"Not that sort of meeting, babe," I replied as I hit speed dial #4 on my cell. Shit, after the cluster fuck so far this morning, telling her I was going to Boston to see Bailey was not a good idea. Besides, Steph didn't need to know about some of the darker sides to my business. I also wasn't sure how well she would react if she found out I was off to pay a crazy Irish woman - who had up until recently been in and out of my bed, a large sum of money to clean up a little problem for me.

Lester's cell rang a couple of times before it was picked up.

"What?" Bobby groused.

It didn't take a genius to work out why Brown was answering Lester's cell at some crappy hour in the morning. I hadn't asked, but it was obvious to me what was going on between the two of them. Still, they both lived over at the secure warehouse just off Stark and what they did outside of company time was their own business – it had just surprised me a little, as I'd never thought that either of them were that way inclined sexually.

"Lester there?" I asked.

"Hang on a sec," he murmured sleepily. I'd probably just woke him up after a hour of sleep.

"Boss?" Lester said with a yawn.

"Need you to go on surveillance with Steph this morning."

Lester groaned. "Why me? I'm not on until 16.00.

"Because I told you to. Who else do you want me to ask?"

"You," he said hopefully.

"Going to Boston."

"Oh shit, I forgot about that fuck up," Lester muttered. "Hey, I don't mind going to Boston; I haven't seen Bailey in ages."

I smiled. "The last time you went to Boston you were gone for four days, dyed your hair bright red and got your dick pierced. I think that is more than enough of a reason why you and Bailey can't be trusted together, Santos."

"You have no sense of fun, cousin," Lester teased. "Okay, give me twenty to get some coffee down me and I'll come and pick Steph up, okay?"

"Fine."

"And give my regards to Bailey," he said with a laugh before he hung up.

I snapped my cell shut and looked around for Steph; she was nowhere in sight. "Steph?" I called out.

No answer. I finally tracked her down to our bedroom. "I need to head out, babe; it's a long drive. Don't wait for me at dinner, just get Ella to cook something for you; I don't know what time I'll be back, probably very late. Lester will be over in half an hour, okay?"

She pulled her hair into a sloppy pony tail and tossed her gun into her pocket book. "What's this meeting about, Ranger?"

Why wouldn't she let this go? I sat down on the end of the bed and sighed. "You know that there are some things I can't tell you, right?"

Steph nodded.

"Well, this is one of those times."

"Were you can't tell me what's going on, yeah?"

I shrugged. "Mostly, but also because I won't tell you as you don't need to know." And she didn't need to know that I was hiring an assassin to do some dirty work on behalf of some shady government department that, if push came to shove, didn't exist. She also didn't need to know that said assassin was my ex lover. Bailey and I had an understanding about our relationship and she knew that I was living with Steph now. Shit, the last thing I'd heard was that she was back in Anthony's bed anyway. Bailey had never been my girlfriend, she'd just been a… a good fuck. But I hoped to hell Bailey never heard me say that about her; I liked my balls just where they were.

Steph bristled. "You don't trust me?"

I stood up swiftly and grabbed a hold of her hand. "No! I mean yes, it's not like that Steph, I promise. It's just that… It's just that there are some aspects of my job that go beyond morally right and legally grey and this is one of those times. The less you know the better, trust me."

She bit her lip and I hugged her to me. "This has nothing to do with how I feel about you, babe. I love you and I trust you, I just don't want you to think any less of me because of some of the things I have to do."

"Tell me," she whispered.

"I can't, babe."

Steph pushed away from me gently. "I don't care what you do, Ranger, it won't make me feel any differently about you."

"Good to hear," I responded as I headed into the closet to my gun safe. It didn't hurt to be packing for bear when visiting Bailey, as you could never predetermine what sort of mood she would be in. The girl carried four guns and three knives on a good day, and after four years I still didn't know what she kept in the weapons crates that were stacked up at the foot of her bed. Okay so I admit it, the girl unnerved me a little and I didn't want to be caught flat footed.

"Ranger?"

I glanced around at Steph; she was leant against the closet door jamb. "Yeah?"

"Who's Bailey?"

I stashed an extra knife in my boot. "I told you already, an independent contractor who sometimes works for Rangeman."

"Does she work in Boston?"

Huh? "Why do you ask?"

"You commented to Lester about the last time he went to Boston and it sounded like he met Bailey there."

I slid a knife into a sheath at my wrist, stashed both Glocks in my shoulder rig, then slid a Browning at the small of my back and blew out a sigh of frustration. "Yes Bailey lives in Boston, yes I am going to see her today, and no I am not sleeping with her. Happy now?"

"Why didn't I know about her?" Steph pressed. "I mean I know everyone else who works for Rangeman."

"Because she doesn't exist, she's a spook; only myself and a hand full of guys know about her. Don't make a big deal out of this, Stephanie, and please don't talk about her to anyone," I gritted out as I tried to reign in my temper. Ricardo Carlos Manoso, the cool calm and collected was being steadily worn down daily by Steph's constant barrage of questions, and it was starting to give me a headache. Yeah, I needed to get out of here for the day and blow some cobwebs out of my head on the interstate in my new Porsche.

"Fine," she muttered.

I stared at her and tried to work out what was bugging her. Why was she so obsessed about Bailey? "Are you jealous?"

"What? No!"

I grinned and stepped up to her. "Sound like you are jealous, babe."

"I…"

I dropped a kiss on her forehead. "You have nothing to worry about; I just have to go see a very dangerous person about a very dangerous situation. Simply business, I promise."

Steph nodded, though she didn't seem to buy what I was saying. "What does she look like?"

I cocked my head to one side and thought of Bailey and how best to describe her. "Short, dark haired, tattooed and scary."

"Lesbian?"

I coughed, so not going there, babe; nice try though. "No, definitely not a lesbian."

"How do you know?"

I shook my head, headed for the door and decided on the partial truth. "Because I caught her fucking Anthony once, that's why. Look I'll see you later, and wait for Lester, babe."