(Chapter 3, enjoy! read and review please!)
Chapter 3: Let's Get Physical!
"Why Stephanie Plum?" Jeanne asked Heidi, who was sitting on a nice hotel bed, "From past experience, I know she's a screw up!"
Heidi tsked and said, "Do not say that, Stephanie has excellent natural instincts, they could come in handy, when dealing with fanatics and stalkers, like the one following me now, with a little training she will be the best bodyguard ever."
Jeanne made a face which made Heidi say, "I can feel your face screwing up in displeasure. Do not worry, we need Stephanie Plum, to make this tour successful.
"You're not going to try and play matchmaker, are you?" Jeanne asked, give Heidi an evil look, "Heidi…"
Heidi turned her head away and said, "All they need is a little push, I am not going to try too hard."
"No matchmaking!" Jeanne said walking over to Heidi, "Look, woman, you can do that who do voodoo on me, I would love to find a husband or a man who has long term goals. All you keep telling me is that, 'it's not time yet!' when are you going to match make me?!"
Heidi slid her jacket off, unbraided her hair, slipped her shoes off and said, "It is not time yet, I am starving, pick up some Chinese, Dim Sum please."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Jeanne said as she picked up the hotel's room service menu, "But you get weirder, every day."
"Thank you for the blunt truth, Jeanne, this is why I pay you well," Heidi said laying back on the bed, "Now hurry up, I really want some Dim Sum."
"Yes your, majesty," Jeanne said using the phone to place an order, "Wha-"
"I want all of them, every type of Dim Sum they have, a plate of cookie chip cookies, and a slice pie, apple." Heidi said to Jeanne, who gave her a glare, "Chocolate milk and a bottle of wine, white, Moscato."
"Anything else, you glutton?" Jeanne asked Heidi who shook her head, no, "Good, while we wait for room service, we'll go over what is going on before the Unite States tour."
"Okay, shoot." Heidi said sitting up, "What is the plan Jeanne?"
"You have a guest appearance on that hit French talk show 'C'est Paris,' next Monday; you'll be talking about your upcoming United States tour, you will be playing a song, which one?"
Heidi shrugged her shoulders and said, "I think we will play an upbeat one, I do like Real Emotion, yes, I'll do Real Emotion."
Jeanne checked off the planner in her phone, and said, "Then after that, next Thursday, you have a guest appearance in Berlin, on a radio show, the topic is the same thing, no singing. In the UK, same thing, but it's on their morning show, you will be playing some non-lyrical music, which one?"
"I will pick one of the new songs that I will not play on tour." Heidi said, sitting back on the bed, "A violin piece."
"After that, pretty much it's us preparing for the tour, a few autograph sessions at a book store in Belgium, but that's it." Jeanne said, putting her phone away, "On April 3, you have a guest appearance on Good Morning America; you will be singing a song, which one."
"The Real Thing," Heidi said with a smile, "I like that one."
Jeanne smiled and said, "Good one, now, let's get you fed and get some sleep, we have a plane to catch in the morning, the limo will be here at 9:30."
"I think this will be a very good tour," Heidi said covering her eyes, "A very good one."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Stephanie sat at the table in her apartment, looking down at the time schedule Bobby, Rangeman's medic, made up for her. It was a doozy. She would be up at 5 AM, warming up and doing a 5 mile job, at 6:30 a cool down and then she'd be in the gym for an hour. At 7:30, Stephanie would be learning self-defense until 9:30. She'd eat a light, healthy breakfast, and then at 10:30, she'd be down at the gun range, doing target practice until noon. At noon she would stop for a healthy lunch and then from 12:30 until 2 in the afternoon, she'd be learning various medical lingo, to get her certification in basic medical training. From 2 until 3, she'd be learning etiquette, a request from Jeanne. Since Stephanie would be with Heidi, 24/7 Jeanne wanted her to learn how to behave. Stephanie had her hands full for four days a week. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, she would only be jogging, working out and learning self-defense. Her whole week would be dedicated to becoming a body guard.
Stephanie turned to Rex and said, "Mommy's not going to be a bounty hunter anymore, she's becoming a body guard to a famous woman!"
Rex turned in his soup can, showing his bottom to Stephanie who sighed and said, "Everyone's a critic."
Stephanie looked down at her phone and made a sound, seeing that it was her parent's number, oh please, let it be her Daddy! Stephanie answered the phone with a soft, "Yes?"
"Stephanie, this is your mother," Helen Plum said to Stephanie, who made a face and put her head in her hand, "I want you to come over to dinner tonight, it's meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy."
Stephanie made a noise in the back of her throat and said, "I wish I could, but…."
"There's pineapple upside down cake."
Shit! That meant her mother was doing something, or was trying to get something from Stephanie. she never just made pineapple upside cake for nothing. Stephanie loved that cake, but she needed to gain some self-control, she was going to be a body guard soon, "I still don't think I can-"
"I made a separate cake for you to take home."
Sold, Stephanie had been bought and sold, over a pineapple cake, "I'll be there at 6 PM."
"I will see you soon." And then her mother hung up the phone. Stephanie took a hard look at her phone and snapped, "Damn it! Damn that cake, if it wasn't so damn good!"
Stephanie sighed and said, "Well, better prepare for the dinner from hell. If my mother is up to something, then I guess I better tell her my plans first."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Stephanie pulled her POS car in front of her parent's house. Her mother was waiting for her on the front porch of the house. Grandma Mazur was either inside the house, or off doing something she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing. Stephanie climbed out her 92' Civic and then made her way up the porch.
"Hello Mother," Stephanie said to her mother, as they walked into the house, "I'm here early."
"Dinner's almost done, please, go inside the living room," Helen said to her daughter, which made Stephanie suspicious.
"What are you doing Mom?" Stephanie asked out loud, making her way into the family room.
"Cupcake." Fuck, no wonder why she made two cakes, Joe Morelli was sitting in her parent's living room. Fuckity fuck!
"Hello Joe," Stephanie said with a forced smile, "how's work?""
"Good, not a lot of crime lately, so it's been slow, been doing a lot of desk work," Joe said flashing Stephanie a smile. The old Stephanie would have swoon, but this new Stephanie, the one who was training to be a body guard, only deflected it.
"I know, which is why I took a job at Rangeman!" Stephanie said with a smile watching Joe's eyebrows fall. Take that, Joe Morelli!
"That's Ranger's company right?" Stephanie's dad asked, from in front of the television, "The ex-army man?"
"Yup, and it's going to be a permanent job too." Stephanie said, proudly, "I'm training to be a body guard right now."
Joe started in on Stephanie, "Now Cupcake, that's a man job, body guards need to be males-"
"Shut up Morelli," Stephanie's dad said to the man, "I'm proud that she got a good paying job, it's not a man's world anymore, go take your 'Cupcake' ass and get out my house, Stephanie doesn't want you, and I don't want you in my house."
Joe gave Stephanie's dad a look and then left when the man turned and gave him a look. No one messes with frank Plum and his TV time. Joe crashed into Helen, made up a hasty excuse and was out the door. Helen looked at Stephanie and Frank, and asked, "Why did he go?"
"Oh, something must have happened at the police department." Stephanie said, hugging her father, "Right Daddy?"
Frank gave her a one armed hug and grunted, "Right, is dinner ready? Stephanie has good news to tell us."
"I sure do, Mom," Stephanie said as they walked into the Dining room, "I got a new job!"
Helen sat down and said, "I do hope it's a respectable job, like a job at the tampon factory.
'Not that damn tampon factory," Stephanie thought glaring at her plate, "never the tampon factory!'
"Nope, I'm going to become a body guard!" Stephanie said with a smile, "Ranger is training me, I'll be traveling the road with a famous person!"
Helen crossed herself and said, "A woman, being a bodyguard?! Elisa's daughters don't become body guards, they have husbands and children."
"Mom, I don't want to be a wife or a mother, I think this is a golden opportunity! I'll be traveling all over the United States, I'll be making a lot of money and it's a permanent job!" Stephanie said, as she ate her food, "Being a mom and wife isn't for me, at least not yet. I want to live a bit, my first marriage was a hot mess, I'm not ready to be tied down again!"
"Frank, talk some sense into your crazy daughter!" Helen demanded of Frank who put his fork down and looked at Stephanie.
"Are you happy?" Stephanie nodded her head, "You wanna do this?" another nod, "I like Ranger, good Army man, and he'll take good care you, proud of you Pumpkin."
Stephanie smiled and said, "Thanks Daddy!" as she resumed eating her food, "Good meatloaf mom!"
Frank turned to Helen and said, "She's 31, get over it," and went back to eating his food.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"So you're becoming a body guard, white girl?" Lula echoed, as she ate her slice of upside down pineapple cake, "who you guarding, so snooty old white lady?"
Stephanie had called Connie and Lula over to tell them the good news. Lula was excited as was Connie.
"Oh, a singer, by the name of Madam." Stephanie said, watching Lula and Connie freak out. they were extremely happy now.
"Oh my god! She's so gifted! I love her remake of The Beetles 'Hey Jude'" Connie sighed while Lula shook her head.
"Nah, she got this song called 'The Real Thing,' it's off the chain!" Lula said eating her cake, "Damn white girl, you gotta let us meet her! She's the best!
Stephanie nodded her head and said, "I'll see what I can do, but I have to admit, she's kind of eccentric, something about her, is off, I don't know what it is, but I can feel it."
Lula scoffed and said, "It's all that musical genius that's what it is white girl! Lula said to Stephanie, "She knows how to play every instrument. She was once on a talk show in Australia, and told them that all she had to do was play it once, and she'd remember everything."
Connie nodded her head and said, "You're so lucky Stephanie, looks like Vinnie's out of a bounty hunter, too bad for him."
"I'm so glad! Higher paying job, and benefits, and it's permanent, Madam wants to keep us on, she does world tours too, she wants us to do security for when she tours all over the world." Stephanie said with a smile, "I'll be traveling all over the world, I'll be sure to bring you guys back souvenirs!"
The three of them laughed and had a good time until around ten at night. Stephanie dragged herself to bed, and was out like a light.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Stephanie was awaken by her alarm clock. She let out a low groan, and got up, going inside her bathroom. She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, ran some hair cream through her curly hair and put it up in a ponytail. She left her bathroom, and put on black sweats, a t-shirt and a black windbreaker jacket, waiting for Ranger to come and take her on her morning jog. At 4:55 in the morning, Ranger had her running outside in the cold, for five miles. It was hard, and by the fifth mile, Stephanie was ready to call it quits. When they were done, the sun was up and the air was colder. Ranger told her to do her cool down stretches, and then they would be on the way to Rangeman, to work out in the gym.
In the gym, Ranger had Manny leading her in her workouts. He had her on three different machines for 20 minutes each, the rower, the leg weights and the pull up bar. She liked the rower the best, and the pull-up bar was not liked at all. Manny had laughed at her and told her that it would get better, he promised. Stephanie was making sure he kept that damn promise.
After the work out, she went to the ring that was in Rangeman Gym. Hal was teaching her self-defense moves. It was a lot of fun and it had Stephanie's attention. She had whooped with joy, when she landed an elbow jab in Hal's kidneys. She could not wait to for self-defense to happen again. She had learned how to break free from arm holds and head locks. She even learned how to throw Hal over her shoulder to break free of him.
She took a quick shower at 9:30, up on the seventh floor, ate the meal Ella prepared for her (A protein packed smoothie with flax-seed and wheat germ, there was enough berries and honey in it so it didn't taste too bad.) Stephanie met Lester down at the underground garage and then they were off to the gun range. Lester pointed out different hand guns telling Stephanie that as a bodyguard, she would need to carry one where ever she went, she'd get a special card that would permit her to pack heat in areas where you couldn't. Lester picked out two automatic handguns, two boxes of bullets and had Stephanie down at the range, shooting until noon. He took her out to lunch, a little organic café, they ate healthy sandwiches and power packed smoothies.
Bobby had given her a book of medical lingo, and told her she'd have to know just about everything in there to get her basic medical certification. They started off easy. He labeled equipment, a few basic medicines and then moved on to the human body. It was like high school all over again, but with a sexy medic for a teacher. A good two hours, she would say.
Cal had stunned her, when he said that he was her etiquette teacher. His mother had him attend etiquette classes from age 3 to 18, he knew everything. He was a fun and easy going teacher, not like those stuffy old women that usually taught these classes. They started off by having a real tea party of some sorts. Since Stephanie was going to be with Heidi 24/7, she would be dressed not as a bodyguard, but as a friend, in casual clothing. She would be required to attend functions and parties. This was why she needed to know what to do at a party. It was pretty funny, watching a man with a flaming skull on his head, pour a cup of tea and use tiny tongs to put sugar cubes in it.
She was tired and worn out by the end of the day, but seeing Ranger flash a smile, and then say, "Proud of you, Babe," made the achiness and fatigue go away.
This was going to be a fun month or so.
