Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, not making any money. You know, the usual. This was supposed to be a happy short. Oh well, I'll try short next time. Yes, I know the characters are catholic dont send me any messages about that. Anything else, please feel free to post a comment. I'm not trying to offend anyone, just having some fun . Hope you like it. Julia
Easter Egg Hunt
The best part about being the aunt is I don't have to do this full time. I wouldn't be able to handle it.
Every year, the Elks Club holds a huge egg hunt for the children. It is done the Saturday before Easter, and this year I had to take my nieces. Albert actually had a client, and Valerie was helping him prepare for the trial on Monday. Since tomorrow was Easter, Valarie claimed they needed to work a full day Saturday to be ready and she needed time to make the girls baskets too. My mother and Grandmother were both mysteriously volunteering at the church today. My father had to drive the cab. So I got stuck toting all three girls to run around a lot covered in hay, to look for plastic eggs. Next year, I'll be busy too.
It's not that I don't love my nieces, but I really have things to do. Easter shopping for one. But in order to do my shopping, I had to catch Jimmy Butler. Jimmy was a known arsonist. So far my car had survived. Unfortunately he has tried to set me on fire three times. He was the ticket to money for shopping and rent. He had been evading me all week, and frankly it was getting frustrating. Tomorrow was Easter and I needed gifts for my nieces.
Valarie made me promise to have the girls wait till they were home to open the eggs. Each age group took turns. They were given ten minutes to collect all the eggs they could find before the whistle blew. They started with the older children. Angie's group had been second. She only found ten eggs. She wouldn't dig in the hay to find them. She had dressed in a nice shirt and shirt. When I tried to coach her to dig she said it wasn't lady like. I rolled my eyes. She was my sister's daughter.
I read the next event from papers given to the parents. Breakfast would be served while they hid eggs for Mary Alice's group. Lisa's group would be last. I still had a few more hours to go.
We ate a pancake breakfast. I let Lisa feed herself, even though Angie protested about her getting messy. Too much like my sister. Babies always had food on themselves right?
Even with just a little syrup, Lisa made a big mess. Her bib was covered, her face and hands were sticky. Naturally she grab a hand full of my hair, so now I would need to wash it. I used baby wipes to clean her up and we rushed to get back to the egg hunt for Mary Alice.
I held Lisa and cheered on Mary Alice. She was doing it just like I did when I was young. Crazy, and flung hay everywhere. She ended up with thirty eggs. She of course gloated and rubbed it in Angie's face. I hide a smile. They reminded me so much of Valarie and me.
While they set up eggs for the one to three years age group, we all went to the raffle. They were giving out prizes to the children. It took almost an hour for them to get through the prizes. There must have been huge donations this year. I never remember there being that many gifts when I was younger. Lisa's ticket won her a huge stuffed Rabbit. It was so soft. We put it in the back seat of my car so I didn't have to lug it around.
When it was time to take Lisa, I had Mrs. Donaldson watch Mary Alice and Angie. For the little kids, hundreds of the eggs were sitting on top of the hay. Lisa stumbled around while she picked up some by her self, I helped her though. We picked up twenty eggs together.
The girls were dying to open up their eggs, but I repeated what Valarie said. "Your mom wants to you to wait. She wants to watch you open them since she had to miss being here today." they seemed to accept that.
When we got closer to my car I noticed it shooting out huge flames. I started looking around, that meant Jimmy was around. No one else would set my car on fire.
Then I heard his gravely voice. "Give me the egg baskets, and I won't hurt anyone."
The girls gripped there baskets tightly. And started shaking their heads no. Mary Alice said " But there mine"
He held the huge bunny in one hand and his other was hidden behind his back.. That pissed me off. It was baby Lisa's bunny.
"Your so low you would steal from children? That's pathetic" I practically snarled.
"So what, I want the eggs, give them to me or else" He showed his other hand. It held a flaming Molotov cocktail. I knew from experience he would throw it at us. I quickly told the girls to set their baskets down and we backed away. He grabbed the baskets and ran. As he passed the hay lot, he tossed the cocktail and the hay burst into flames.
The girls began crying. I felt like dirt. My skip set the place on fire and took my nieces baskets.
A few minutes passed and a fire truck showed up. Followed by Ranger. Morelli left town on assignment when we broke up, so he wouldn't show up to tell me I suck at my job.
Ranger approached us. I looked at him with unshed tears in my eyes. He gave me a hug. It helped calm me down. I told him what happened. He knelt next to the girls and spoke softly to them.
"Don't worry about those eggs. My source told me they only had peeps, mints or were filled with nasty hard candy." he whispered. I rolled my eyes, or course he thought the candy was nasty.
Both of the girls quieted down. "Who are your sources?" Angie asked. She's a smart kid.
Ranger raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn't used to people other than me questioning him. Even I wouldn't ask about his sources. Finally he said "Cant tell, but don't worry your Aunts egg hunt has much better eggs."
My eyes got huge, I didn't have anything set up. And I didn't have money to set one up either. That's why I was upset. Ranger saw my look and just winked at me.
The girls looked at me and Mary Alice asked "is that true? You didn't say we had another hunt" she sniffled a bit.
Just then the girls saw Mrs. Johnsons son sit down to open his eggs a few feet away. Ranger was right, they ones he opened had peeps or mints. One was filled with hard peppermint candy. Who would put that into a kids Easter egg? Maybe that's why they had so many gifts. They sure didn't spend it on candy for the eggs.
I looked at them as they watched him open egg after egg. I was afraid they would get upset again since theirs baskets were stolen. The had scrunched up noses and then looked at Ranger in awe. Tank was right, Ranger knew everything.
"Babe, talk to me for a minute." he stepped a few feet away. I handed Lisa to Angie and joined Ranger.
"Ranger, I don't have any other egg hunt planned. They are going to be heart broken. What am I going to do?" I already felt guilty over what happened, but hurt them any more and Valarie and my Mom would surely kill me.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Can you bring them to Rangeman in… he glanced at his watch… one hour?"
I wondered what he had planned, but nodded. He gave me the keys to his Cayenne, since I was now car less. I had to delay the girls for one hour. I noticed that a car seat had been put in the back seat. How did he know I would need one?
I loaded the girls up, and convinced them I needed to run some errands before we went to the second egg hunt. I took the girls to Vinnie's, pretending I had to check in with work. They bought it. When I parked out front, my phone rang. It was my mother. I ignored the call.
We went inside. Lula was in Pastel yellow today. The girls started asking about her hair. She was explaining to them the importance of matching everything with your clothing.
I whispered to Connie, "I need to distract them for an hour, can you help me out by painting their nails?"
"Does this have to do with Butler setting fire to the Elk's Egg Hunt? She whispered back.
"Yeah, I replied softly. Can I tell you about it later though?"
Connie nodded yes. She then looked at the girls and said. "Do you want me to paint your nails to match your Easter dresses?"
Both girls nodded enthusiastically. Connie spent time giving the girls a mini manicure and painting their nails. Angie's were done in pastel pink and white like a French tip design. Mary Alice's were pastel blue with a white strip down the middle like her belt for the dress she was wearing. Both girls looked happy again. I felt marginally better.
When Connie was done, it had been forty eight minutes. By the time I drove to Rangeman, an hour would have passed. We thanked Connie, I told her I would be back after I dropped the girls off, I asked Lula if she wanted to help me catch Butler. He was going down. I was spitting mad. I would catch his ass today, and buy each of the girls an extra special gift.
Lula agreed to wait for me to come back. I guessed I would be only an hour or two longer. Connie said she would be gone, but I could tell her tomorrow. The girls and I loaded back into Ranger's Cayenne and drove off.
When I pulled in to the garage, my eyes immediately got teary. There was a hay area toward the back of the garage. It was lit by pink lights hanging around from the ceiling. I guessed Ranger hide eggs for the girls. How he was able to get this all done I would probably never know. The girls were excited. As I got out, Ranger appeared out of no where to help the girls down. He gave them each a new large woven basket. The baskets were pastel pink, blue, green and yellow. The handles were wrapped in white velvet ribbon.
"Ready" he asked them both. They both screamed yes. He said go. They both ran over and dug in. I was surprised to see Angie flinging hay everywhere too. They were all excited. I held Lisa on my hip watching them. Ranger stood next to me and talked to Lisa a bit before watching with me. We both turned when we heard footsteps behind us. It was Ella and Hal. Hal held two large filled gift baskets. Ella arms held a huge basket full of stuffed animals. I bit my lip to stop crying.
Ranger pulled me to his side and rubbed my back. Ella and Hal set the items down on a small table that had been set up next to the hay pen. Mary Alice and Angie were still hunting for eggs.
"How many eggs did you hide in there?" I asked. They were not even paying attention to us.
I was startled when Lester answered, "We were only able to fill about a ninety of them" I hadn't noticed him. Quite a few of Rangers crew had come down to watch the girls.
My eyes were huge. Ninety eggs, what did he mean by only Ninety. I looked at Ranger but all he did was smile.
Ella came over to me "How are you doing dear?"
" better than I was a little while ago" I replied, still kind of shocked about everything.
She smiled. "Who is this little one?"
"Oh, this is my niece Lisa" Lisa began making smiles at Ella. She apparently liked her a lot. Maybe it was because she wasn't dressed like Grandma Mazur. She looked like a sweet lady.
She reached out to take her and I let her. Lisa began making happy talking noises back as Ella began talking to her. She hadn't said any words yet, but she tried all the time.
I glanced at the girls they were still hunting. I looked at the animals and baskets. My heart warmed. All of these people did this to help make my nieces happy again.
I squeezed Ranger's hand and went to thank his men. I was still teary eyed. I gave each of the guys a quick hug and thanked them. Hal actually blushed, and seemed a little timid of me. I hoped he wasn't still worried about me stunning him. All of the guys said no problem. I went back to Ranger. Some of my tears must have leaked because he wiped my cheek. I was still trying to find the right words when Mary Alice said "I think we found them all."
Tank said "how many do you each have"? the girls paused for a second at the sight of him, then began counting. Mary Alice had forty six, and Angie had forty-four. They had found them all.
They began begging to open an egg, and after the day they had, I made the decision that it wouldn't hurt to open up one. I made them pinky swear to keep it a secret from their mom though. They agreed. Each picked one egg. They both had several chocolate candies and they picked out one piece before closing the egg back up. They came and gave me a hug. I told them they should thank the guys too. Mary Alice gave Ranger a big hug and whispered into his ear. He just smiled and nodded at what she said. They she went to hug each of the guys. Angie followed her sisters lead. All the guys seemed shocked or uncomfortable about the hugs, but played along. It made me realize how little I knew about all them. I wanted to get to know them better, they were really great guys.
When the girls turned around, Ranger and Hal had moved away from hiding the baskets on the table. Ella had already picked up a stuffed animal and gave it to Lisa from her basket.
The girls eyes got even bigger when they noticed the baskets. "Is that from you Aunt Stephanie, the girls asked. I nodded no, and pointed toward ranger and the guys."
They both enthusiastically said thank you again. The guys began loading the items up in the back of the Cayenne while others began dealing with the hay.
I put Lisa in her seat, and Ranger lifted the girls up so they could buckle up. It was just the two of us between his truck and the Cayenne. I closed the door, and gave him a deep kiss. When we pulled back, I said "Thanks" and tried to catch my breath.
"Babe, do you need help catching Butler?"
I looked at him to see if he was giving me a hard time, but he wasn't. "Me and Lula are going to try again after I return the girls. I want him bad after today. He just keeps getting away while I avoid being set on fire." I sighed.
"How about I come and help" Ranger replied.
I was watching him again. He wanted to come with us? "Babe, anyone that will rob children on Easter deserves to be punished. Plus, I'm bored of paperwork." he smiled, but it had a kind of feral look to it.
"Ok, Do you want to come with me to return the girls? I offered. Maybe if Ranger came I could avoid the lecture from my mom.
"Need backup, Babe?"
This time his voice showed amusement. But I just said "Yeah"
"Come on, I'm driving."
When we pulled up to my parents house, Mom, Grandma, and Valarie were all waiting. I wondered if even Ranger's arsenal could be enough back up.
Ranger went around to the passenger side and helped the girls out while I unbuckled Lisa from the car seat. He Jumped in the vehicle and unhooked the seat too. I looked at him silently questioning why he wanted me to take the seat.
"Babe, if my mother saw that she would get ideas." He went to the back to get the girls baskets. "Leave the car seat for last, and I will carry it inside." It was an expensive convertible seat. I went from baby, to toddler booster. I wouldn't be able to carry anything else but it.
I just replied "ok" and got out. I slung Lisa on my hip and went to help carry the baskets. Ranger had already picked up Angie's and Mary Alice's baskets. His arms showed a slight bulge from the weight. He held one egg basket and one gift basket in each hand. I grabbed Lisa's basket with my free hand. We walked up to the porch where everyone else was.
The girls had run to their mom to tell about what happened right after Ranger set them down. They had already finished the story about Butler and were telling about the second egg hunt when we approached carrying everything.
"Oh my" my mother replied.
"Look at those muscles! My grandma exclaimed happily seeing Ranger's arms.
I quickly said "Please grandma". Ranger was helpless against any groping attacks since his hands were full.
Her lips formed into a pout. My mother opened the door so Ranger could take the baskets inside. He sat them on the dinning room table, and said "be right back".
Everyone looked confused about where he was going, but I knew it was for the car seat. He must have forgotten, or thought they would be too shocked. He had just left me alone with the wolf pack. Valarie took Lisa from me.
"Stephanie, you need to find another job. What would you have said if your nieces had been hurt?" my mother started with. I sucked in a deep breath. That comment hurt.
"It was because of Steph the girls were safe. Today wasn't her fault" Ranger replied from behind all of us.
"What are you talking about? The criminal she was chasing set fire to the place, and took the girls baskets."
Before any of us could reply, Mary Alice said " I don't mind that they were taken. It was full of yucky candy." Angie nodded her agreement and added "Jacob Johnson's had mostly peeps and mints" Valarie asked the girls to wash up for lunch.
My mother turned back to Ranger "Well?"
"Butler was mad at the club and decided to set fire to the place. If Steph hadn't been there, he would have set fire to the place earlier. He waited till she was leaving to attack. " Ranger replied.
"Why was he mad" my sister asked.
"His sisters children weren't allowed to sign up because they were not members."
"Well, that's just silly. Of course you have to be a member to participate." my mother replied as if she couldn't understand.
Valarie and grandma were busy looking over the baskets. "These are so nice" Valarie commented. "Who made them?"
"Ella" me and Ranger both replied. We smiled at each other.
That's when Valarie noticed the car seat, "This isn't mine Steph. You got the wrong seat."
"Uh, its your new one. The old one burned up with my car."
I noticed my grandmother was awfully quite. She was just watching everything wearing a big smile. Before my mother could question me anymore, I said we have to go. We were going to catch Butler.
"I hope you get him dear. He's and awful man, robbing children and starting fires" my mother said disapproval evident in her voice. I almost tripped but Ranger caught me.
"We will" Ranger replied and we made our retreat.
After we collected Lula, we drove to Alice Swanson's home. She was Jimmy's sister. Lula was in the back seat drooling over being in Rangers car, with him.
We made a plan for me and Lula to once again approach the door and ask about Jimmy. Ranger would be in back waiting for his escape attempt. It worked like clockwork. Jimmy ran out the back straight into Rangers elbow apparently. Purely an accident. When I noticed her children sitting around with the girls baskets, looking happy, I felt a pang of guilt. It vanished when Alice pointed my rudeness out for picking up Jimmy today.
I whipped around and said, "I'm so nice and considerate, I won't even tell you where Jimmy got the Easter gifts. Hope your children enjoy them." I turned on my heel and went to Rangers vehicle. I climbed in. When I glanced back, Alice was still standing there. I really did hope the kids liked the baskets.
We dropped Lula off at the office. She didn't want to go to the police station. I got my receipt for Butler with minimal teasing. Probably because Ranger was a few feet away.
On the way to my apartment, I asked "How can I possible pay you back for today?" He always does things to help me.
"No price, remember?"
I sighed then said "Yeah I remember, but I'm not sure I understand".
I zoned out trying to figure out what Ranger got from helping me other than entertainment. No one needs entertainment that bad. He didn't pressure me to sleep with him. Sure, he kissed me but if I was honest with myself, he could show up and I'd be singing hallelujah if he wanted to.
When we arrived at my apartment Ranger went upstairs with me. After his usual sweep he joined me in the kitchen where I fed Rex.
"You going shopping today?" he casually asked. That got my attention. Ranger never pried for information, he just knew it, or straight out asked me.
"Yeah, I am going to get the girls something for Easter. Why?"
He looked at the wall for a minute or so then replied. " My mother said Ella wasn't allowed to do my shopping this year. Can you help me?" he practically whispered that last part.
"You have to ask?" I was hurt he didn't think I would help.
"Babe, just wasn't sure if you had other plans."
"Nope" I replied. I smiled. This was something I could do for him.
He pulled a list out of his pocket, and handed it to me. It had fourteen kids on it. It listed name, age, clothing sizes, and a few favorite things for each of them. It wasn't Rangers handwriting. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.
"Ella. My mother never said I couldn't get help. Just that Ella wasn't allowed to do the shopping." he replied.
That was the Ranger I knew. Most people would see Rangers path as cheating. He would call it grey.
"You didn't know anything about them?" I was a little shocked. Ranger knew all about me. He just shook his head and explained he doesn't see them often. Major holidays, but he usually only stays a few hours before he leaves to cover for his men with families or children. That was another thing I easily pictured Ranger doing. Apparently his emotional rules didn't only apply to women.
We left to get our shopping done. I had already picked out what I wanted for each girl. I got Mary Alice and Angie each a birthstone cross necklace. For Mary Alice I also got her a silver galloping horse silver bracelet. For Angie I got her a button sized pearl set. It had earring studs, necklace and a bracelet. I knew they both would love them. For Lisa, I got her a replacement bunny, and children books.
We spent several hours picking out gifts for Ranger's nieces and nephews. The list Ella made was a life savor. After we finished shopping, we went to collect bags for the gifts. Ranger gave me a weird look.
"You cant just give them the stuff. It has to be in a basket or gift bag or you can wrap it if we can find Easter themed paper. ." I rolled my eyes. I'm not the most girly woman, but even I know how to properly present gifts. After a few moments of debate, which was mostly me trying to fit the various gifts into something, we ended up using small baskets. I purchased one for the girls too. After collecting the grass, candy, ribbon, and tags to do the decorating we left. We spent four and a half hours shopping, and my day with the girls left me beat. I must have dozed off in the car. I woke when a loud pelting noise jolted me awake. I was still in Rangers cayenne.
I sat up and looked around only to find we were on a rural road. The noise that woke me must have been a rock or something.
"Where are we going?"
"My house" Ranger answered.
"W..what?" I finally got out.
"I want to give you your Easter surprise." he said.
I didn't know what to say so I just began looking around. I had no clue where we had gone too. I had been asleep. We kept driving, and I dosed off again. I was never good on car trips.
I woke up when Ranger unbuckled my belt. I blinked my eyes open and looked at him. It was dark outside now.
"Hey" he said softly.
"Hi, are we there yet?" I said, still not fully awake.
"Yes"
I sat up and looked around. We were in a garage. I noticed a covered vehicle next to us.
"Come on babe, lets get you inside… that was as far as he got before everything became pitch black. "Babe, wait here ok." and I saw him go through a door. A few minutes later he returned again, and I was able to use the open doors light to move around. I followed him inside.
He led me to the living room. I tried to take in the house but had to keep moving to keep up with Rangers quick stride. I was curious about my Easter surprise. Was it being taken to the Batcave?
He motioned for me to sit down on a plush couch, and I did. Once again he left me alone. I began looking around the room. Everything was comfortable looking. It was masculine, but didn't have the hotel feel his apartment had. I looked around for pictures, but none were in sight. I did see several books around the room.
Ranger reemerged carrying our purchases from today. He set the gifts down and returned to get the decorating supplies. When he returned, I had everything set up around the living room table. I began tearing long strips of pink colored cellophane to use on the baskets. I carefully laid it out in a overlapping star pattern. I picked up one of the girl colored baskets and placed it in the middle. I added some purple stuffing grass. I then propped Angie's gifts un in the basket. I added chocolate bunnies and candy around the jewelry. I cocked my head to the side, it didn't feel right. I opened the necklace and removed it from the box. I left the box open inside the basket, placing one of the chocolate eggs in it. I opened the birthstone necklace's clap and hung the necklace around the basket handle. It draped perfectly down above the rest of the items. I put a small piece of tape to secure its spot, and began lifting the cellophane up. With the basket wrapped I glanced at Ranger. I could use another set of hands. He was just watching me.
"Hold this while I tie the ribbon"
He took the tops and I tied the pink and purple ribbon creating a nice bow.
"Do you have a pair of scissors? I wanted to make ringlets to hang from the bow.
Ranger disappeared again, and returned with a pair of scissors. I curled and separated the ribbons ends till I had a full bow, and a cascade of ringlets. I added a hand written bunny shaped tag with her name. I smiled and began ripping the cellophane for the next basket. I looked at Ranger and he was still just watching me.
"Well, aren't you going to start on yours?" I asked sweetly. I was going to help, but I figured he should do them too. We had lots of baskets to make.
"I'll just have Ella do them. " he replied. I frowned at him.
"No you wont, there isn't time. Plus its not hard, even I can do it. Come on, I'll help you."
He watched me unblinking. I patted the spot next to me. He finally gave in. Good thing because I wasn't going to cave on this.
"Just think, when your mother asks, you can say that you did this too. She will be surprised."
Ranger nodded. He began ripping off short strips of the blue cellophane. I stopped him and showed him it had to be long enough to wrap around the basket. I did a few of them and let him take over. Next he filled the basket completely with green grass. I shook my head and removed some of it.
" You have to leave room for the gift and candy. The grass should fill the bottom and help prop up the gift."
"My mother will never believe I put candy in a basket." Ranger replied.
"Well, she can call Ella. I'm sure she knows the office number." I handed him some of the candy, which he dropped all in the front. I glared at him, smacked him and told him a better way to do it.
"Babe" he glared back at me
"Ranger, your not even trying to make it look nice. You agreed with the baskets, now do them"
I returned to finish Mary Alice's basket. I hung her necklace too. I held Rangers wrapping while he tied a bow on it. Then he helped me hold mine. For the boys baskets, I didn't want to do the frilly ringlets so we just made a big loopy bow. We both began another basket, and this time I only had to suggest a few different places for the candy. We just kept filling baskets, wrapping them and putting tags on. Ranger wrote out all of his family's tags. Soon we were all finished. The chairs and table were lined with baskets.
"You hungry?" Ranger asked.
My stomach decided to voice its agreement. I hadn't eaten since breakfast. Ranger stood and offered me his hand. He easily lifted me. My legs had fallen asleep from sitting so long, and I wobbled a bit. When I was steady I followed Ranger into the kitchen. It was large. The center island had a small setting area. I noticed a table too. My guess was it was rarely used. I'd always seen Ranger eat at the breakfast bar at his apartment. With this sitting place, I guess he did the same here. Ranger went to the freezer and pulled out some dishes. I noticed writing on them. It looked like cooking instructions and dates. Huh.
Ranger must have seen my look, because he filled in the blank.
"Ella makes me things I can just heat and eat when I'm here." He began fixing the dinner. He also got out stuff for a salad. I wrinkled my nose at it. I knew he would want me to eat it. He opened the fridge again, and handed me some ranch dressing. I smiled at him. At least this time, he gave me real dressing. Soon we were eating a wonderful meal by Ella. We sat at the island and munched on chicken and pasta. Usually I eat this covered in alfredo sauce, but Ella's red sauce was good too. Since ranger was eating it, I assumed it to be healthy too. I ate my salad to humor Ranger. I mentally checked my Ben and Jerry's supply at home, dessert was waiting. When the dishes were rinsed and put into the dishwasher, Ranger was the first to speak.
"I'll get your Easter surprise" I went into the living room to wait. I still wasn't sure what was going on.
Ranger came out carrying a large Wonder Woman Bust. It had to be at least sixteen inches tall. He motioned for me to look inside. I realized it was a large cookie Jar. When I lifted up her head the inside it was filled with gifts. The first thing I noticed was the DVD collection of the Wonder Woman series. There were all kinds of Wonder Woman themed items. There were coasters, a coffee mug. There was a thermal mug with the wonder woman logo etched on the outside, There was even plastic eggs with the wonder woman logo on them. Inside I found my favorite kinds of candies. There were Tastykakes stuffed into her head. There was even a hamster treat for Rex. I sat there looking at all the wonderful items when I came across something that didn't match the rest of the gifts. I found a yellow plastic egg. What was different about it was the batman logo glaring at me. I looked at Ranger, and he just smiled. I opened the egg and gasped. Inside the egg sat something so beautiful my eyes began tearing up. There was a necklace in the shape of the Wonder Woman logo. The gems were in a channel setting, small red garnets lined yellow topaz to make the red and yellow logo. I sat there completely stunned.
Ranger lifted the necklace from my hands and placed it on me. I reached out and kissed him again. I didn't have words to say thank you. When we pulled apart to get oxygen, I looked at him. One thing crept into my mind. I needed to ask.
"Ranger did Ella buy my gifts too?" I would still cherish them, but today had me wondering.
Ranger looked apprehensive. "Yes and No"
I know my face fell. "I just wondered if you picked them out. I love them all. Thank you. " I placed my hand over the necklace pendant.
"Babe, I picked out everything, except the candy. " He Smiled. "I did have Ella pick them up, and she put the stuff inside there." he motioned to the wonder woman jar. " I would have just left everything on your counter" He grinned at that. I didn't doubt that for one minute after seeing his gift presentation methods today.
I climbed in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I didn't get you anything. We've never given gifts before." I felt bad. This was the second time he has given me a gift unexpected. It made me think about the rose I received on Valentines Day.
"I asked for Ella to arrange that also" Ranger supplied after using his ESP powers.
"Is that why your mom got mad and made you do your own shopping? I understand that your busy. Did explain you picked out the gifts, and Ella just got them ready?" I didn't see anything wrong with that.
"No, Babe. Your gifts are the only ones I pick out. Ella would do everything else for me."
I looked at him in shock. He only picked out my gifts.
"I told you, I have an emotional connection to you."
I smiled. I think I like being the one he is connected to. I felt very special. I shifted until I was straddling his thighs. Looking him directly in the eye I said "I think its time you explained this emotional connection to me."
"I'm more of an action man." he said and began kissing me senseless.
I wrapped my legs around his back and soon he scooped me up and carried me to his bedroom. He spent the rest of the night and into the early morning demonstrating his emotional connection to me.
I drifted off to sleep wrapped in a Ranger cocoon, happy the Batcave was forever. After being throughly ruined, I would've refuse to leave anyway.