Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong solely to Janet Evanovich. Unfortunately so does all the money. Everyone that you don't recognized, including characters to be named at a later date, are completely made up by me, myself, and I.

A/N: Hahahaha I originally had a bit of smut in this one but I decided to take it out. lol. I'm not quite there yet.

I hope you like it anyways :)

As Always, Thanks For Reading.
Sky

Anniversary Story:

"I love you, Babe." Ranger whispered in my ear.

We were in Point Pleasant on the beach. Ranger had whisked me away yesterday for our anniversary. To be honest I thought he wasn't even going to remember...thats what happened last year anyways. But thats a story for another time. He definitely remembered and surprised me this year. Here we are on the beach, watching the sunset, lying in each others arms.

"I love you too, Ranger. Always have, always will." I kissed his arm that cushioned my head.

I felt him move slightly away from me. Then he rolled me over so that I went from looking at the sun reflecting off the beach to looking into a pair of dark chocolate eyes. His eyes left my face and went to my neck. "They say the right jewelry can enhance a womans beauty. I think its the opposite for you, Babe."

A smile bloomed on my face and my hand subconsciously went to my neck. Ranger had definitely out done himself this year. Hanging around my neck was the most beautiful necklace I'd ever seen. A pair of diamond encrusted wings were connected by a blue sapphire heart. The whole thing was set in white gold.

My left hand went up to cup his face and my thumb stroked his jaw. "I always knew you'd give me my wings, Ranger. Thank you."

He shook his head slowly. "No. You've always had them. I just helped you realized that." Ranger leaned down and lightly brushed his lips over mine. "I should be thanking you, Babe." This time when his lips met mine, his tongue traced the seam of my lips, but before I could open them, he had already pulled back slightly.

I moaned at the loss of his lips on mine. Having Ranger so close to me was reeking havoc on my brain. You'd think after four years together that I'd have gotten over it by now. Nope. His effect on me is stronger than ever.

I struggled to remember what he said. When I could I just ended up more confused than before. "Why are you thanking me?"

Leaning down again, Ranger took my bottom lip in between his teeth and gently pulled. "Because even though you already had your wings, you wanted for me to find mine so I could fly with you."

Oh God. How could I be this lucky?

Ranger kissed away the few tears that flowed from my eyes. "I'm the lucky one, Babe."

We made love under the stars after that. Longing looks. Gentle caresses. Loving kisses. Tonight, love flowed through the air with our passionate cries.

Satisfied and content, we rested watching the waves break on the shoreline surrounded by a blanket Ranger grabbed from our beach side house.

I was laying on Ranger stomach with him running soothing circles all across my back. Ranger lifted his head up and said, "I have one more present for you, Babe."

Sighing, I wiggled my hips. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for another 'present' yet, Ranger."

His rich laughter warmed my heart. "Not quite what I meant, Babe, but I'm sure I can convince you otherwise."

Laughing softly, I lifted my head onto my folded hands on Rangers chest. "Hmm, I wouldn't doubt it. Then what did you mean, Batman?"

"I wrote something for you."

It took me a second to realize what he just said. "You wrote me something?" I'm positive he could hear the surprise in my voice.

If Ranger rolled his eyes, I'm sure he would have done it now. Maybe Ranger does roll his eyes. After all I didn't know Ranger wrote...what did he write?

"What did you write?" I asked out loud.

Sighing, Ranger answered. "I wrote you a . . . . . you know never mind, Babe. How about we go back -"

"Aw, no, Ranger! Please? I wanna hear what you wrote me!"

"Babe its nothing serious. Lets just go inside an -"

"Yes it is serious. You brought it up. I want to hear what you wrote."

"Babe -"

"Ranger." I said with a little force behind it.

Ranger gave up with a ground out, "Fine. Sit up." I did as he asked and wrapped the blanket around me when Ranger pulled his pants back on. "I'll be right back."

I tried to raise an eyebrow, but based on the smile tugging his lips, it didn't work out so well.

"Don't worry. I'm just going to go get it, Babe."

I never really understood the phrase "I hate to see you leave, but I love to watch you go," until I saw Ranger's ass moving. Only one word can describe that sight.

Yum.

True to his word, Ranger came back moments later with a piece of paper in one hand and two bottles of water in the other. Handing me the water, he sat down across from me with the paper carefully folded in his hand.

I'm sure I smiled as soon as I saw it. He waited a breathe and carefully extended his hand towards me. I was just about to grab it when a thought occurred to me. Hell I wanted to see how far this could go, so I withdrew my hand and shook my head.

At Rangers raised eyebrow I said, "I want you to read it for me."

His face took on a pained look. "Babe..."

"Oh, come on Ranger! You wrote it for me. You know with my luck I'll end up reading it wrong and everything will get blown out of proportion! Please, Ranger. It'll really mean that much more to me if you read it to me."

Ranger just shook his head. "Why am I doing this?"

I smiled when I realized he was going to read it. "Because you love me and you want to read it to me. And because everything I said was true."

"Right," was all he said. Sighing again, Ranger unfolded the piece of paper.

As he mentally prepared himself, I opened one of the water bottles and began to chug half of it.

With one last look at my face Ranger began. "Once upon a time in Trenton..."

It was like time stood still for several seconds. Then all hell broke loose. I started chocking on the water I just inhaled. Half of it flew out of my nose, while I coughed trying to get the other half out of my lungs. Ranger started to pat my back, which just made it worse for me. I struggled to get my breathing under control and though about what the hell just happened.

Then. . . . . . . . I started laughing my ass off. Tear where streaming down my face, my breathing was just a chocking sound, and my stomach started to ache from the force of my laughs.

Oh God!! Once upon a time in Trenton... To hear that come out of Rangers mouth! Just thinking about it made me laugh even harder.

In the back of my head, I knew I shouldn't be laughing but . . . . . . . DAMN. How could I not laugh at that? Whats next? Are the Merry Men gonna drop out of the sky and perform its "Raining Men"?

God only knows how long it was until I got myself under control. My head was pounding, my eyes were burning, and my stomach still ached. I just laid on the sand breathing for a few more moments.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Ranger sitting across from me. He was PISSED. I was sooooo gonna pay for this later.

When he saw I was done, all he said was "Babe."

And then. . . . . . . . . . . . . . I started laughing all over again.

Challenge: Please use one or both of the following prompts in your response: 1) use the phrase: "Once upon a time in Trenton..." 2) Use as a title or theme: "Stephanie And The Sleeping Skip"

Hahaha I wanted to put the challenge at the end to see how many would have guessed where this was going. Love it or Hate it, Please review.

Sky