This story is based upon characters created by Janet Evanovich. I don't own them, I only play with them, and for entertainment purposes only.

A/N

Thank you all for your very encouraging reviews! I am having a good time writing this story and plan to update it often. Your continued feedback is appreciated. Thanks, Chica.

I was running down a quiet street and tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. Tumbling forward, I scraped the palms of my hands and my knees, but I got back up and kept running. I knew that I would be safe if I could just get to my car.

Rounding the corner, I saw my beat-up Nissan sedan and nearly cried with joy. I could hear the sound of his feet hitting the pavement behind me but I didn't dare turn around to see how close he was getting. When I heard the tell-tale sound of a bullet flying past my head, I cried out.

My eyes flew open and two tall men burst into the room with guns drawn. To say that I was terrified would be putting it mildly. My heart was racing so fast that I could feel it beating in my ears.

"Babe, you're OK, it was just a dream. You're safe here." said the brown-eyed man who still occupied the chair by my bed.

He looked to the armed men and nodded his head almost imperceptibly. They lowered their guns and put them back into the holsters on their hips. Once I was fairly confident that the men were not here to shoot me, I looked them over more carefully.

The first of the gunmen stood to the left of the door and was easily 6'4" with more muscles than should be legal. He was built like a football star, but had a much more frightening countenance. His light brown hair was sporting a buzz cut and he had a light dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks. His eyes were light grey and appeared to indicate embarrassment or bashfulness.

The second of the gunmen was a few inches shorter than the first, but was easily his equal in muscle mass. His naturally tan skin was set off perfectly against his black clothes. His dark hair appeared to be highlighted and styled as though he were a fashion model. He saw me staring at him and gave me a lopsided grin.

"Glad to see those baby blues, Beautiful." He said. "You had us worried."

"Sorry." I said. I didn't know who these men were, but it was clear by their actions that they knew me, and I didn't like the idea of worrying anyone.

"That's OK, Beautiful." He replied as he sat down on the end of my bed and put his hand on my sheet-covered foot.

I flinched back at the unexpected contact and heard the man next to me growl before he barked out, "Santos! Out!"

That seemed to have an immediate response as the man, Santos, jumped up and quickly exited the room, his counterpart leading the way. Santos winked at me as he closed the door behind him. When the door shut I looked at my brown-eyed friend again. He picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles. My heart began to race again, but this time it wasn't in fear.

Apparently I'm still hooked up to the heart monitor because it once again advertised my erratic rhythm and I lowered my eyes in embarrassment.

"Babe," He said. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused, mostly." I replied. "My head hurts and my whole body aches, but it's not so bad." I had a lot of questions, and I wanted a chance to get some of them answered before he left or we were interrupted by someone else. "What's your name?"

For a moment, a look of sadness crossed his face, but just as quickly it was replaced with an expression devoid of all emotion.

"My name is Ricardo Carlos Mañoso." He said. "Most people call me Ranger."

"Ranger…" I repeated. "Are we friends, Ranger?" I asked.

"Yeah, Babe. We are." The sad look passed across his face again, just for a moment.

I repeated his name over and over in my head, hoping that something would sound familiar. I didn't recognize his name any more than I recognized his face, but I really wanted to… if for no other reason than to try to remove that sad look from his eyes.

"Ranger," I asked. "What's my name?"

"Oh, Babe," He began. His face was no longer devoid of any emotion as I read the sorrow clearly in his expression. "Your name is Stephanie Michelle Plum." He told me. "You and I met a little over three years ago when I began showing you the ropes as a bond enforcement agent.

"A what?" I asked.

"You're a bounty hunter, Babe." He replied. "You've got the best natural instincts I've ever seen, which has helped you to maintain a nearly perfect capture rate."

"Wow!" I said. I couldn't wrap my head around what he'd just told me. A bounty hunter! "That must be exciting!"

"It certainly can be." Ranger said with a small smile.

We were interrupted from further conversation by the opening of the door to my room. A short, grey-haired man walked in. His white coat looked comically long on him and appeared to be a little snug around the middle where he had the beginnings of a belly growing. He looked at me and smiled and I could see the crow's feet in the corner of his eyes, indicating that he smiled a lot. He had kind eyes.

"Good afternoon, Stephanie." He said. "I'm glad to see you awake. I'm Doctor Wesen and I've been taking care of you here at St. Francis."

"Hi." I replied. "Why am I here? What happened? How long have I been here? Why don't I remember anything?" My mouth began to resemble that of a runaway train. The more questions I asked, the more I thought of. I was afraid that I would forget to ask something if I didn't ask it as soon as it crossed my mind.

Dr. Wesen smiled a patient smile and waited until I took a breath before responding. "Stephanie, you were in an accident and due to significant brain trauma, you have been in a medically induced coma for the past eight days. We began weaning you from that medication yesterday when it appeared that the swelling in your brain had reduced sufficiently. You had been intubated, but we removed the tube from your throat when it was clear you were able to breathe on your own." He paused and looked at Ranger and then back to me. "With an injury like yours, memory loss is very common."

I sat there in silence, contemplating everything he said. When I began to truly feel the weight of my situation, I was sad and a little frightened. "Will I get my memory back?" I whispered.

Dr. Wesen smiled at me sweetly and patted my hand. "Let's not worry about that just yet. There is every reason to believe you will get your memories back. They may begin to trickle in little by little, or you might wake up and remember everything all at once. The point is, we won't really know until it happens." Here he looked at Ranger again. "It won't help to stress about it or try to force your mind to remember."

"Now, before I let you get some rest," Dr. Wesen said. "I'd like to give you an exam. Would you like Mr. Mañoso to step outside?"

I wasn't sure how thorough this exam was going to be, and I was a little nervous for this beautiful man to see me in any state of undress. Ranger was, however, the only person I knew at this point, and I wanted a friend to stay with me.

"He can stay if he wants." I said shyly. I looked him in the eyes and he seemed to read the question there.

"I'm not going anywhere, Babe." He said.