I want to thank all of the beautiful people who have favorited this story and reviewed!
Seriously, you're all wonderful. I want to steal Rangeman cars and give them to you!
Here's chapter four, enjoy! I'm working on chapter five as we speak.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but if anyone sees Ranger on eBay, TELL ME.
~kj
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I heard movement and talking around me before I dared to open my eyes. I felt…comfortable. Which isn't a normal thing for me to feel when I wake up and don't know where I am.
Wanting to know what was going on, where I was, and what had happened, I kept my eyes closed and my breathing even.
I remembered working, and Frederick Menlo. I remembered Tank and Lester coming to my apartment and them agreeing to help me with Menlo. I remember them leaving, and checking my cell phone…and my mother's message.
The terrible, heart breaking message she left, reminding me that nothing I did was ever good enough for her or the Burg. That she had standards, of which my sister Valerie had met, and I had quite obviously not.
So that was what happened, but where was I?
"What happened?" A smooth voice asked, sending electric shock waves through my body.
"She seems to have had a fit. The surveillance video showed her coming out of her room looking peeved. She preceded to start crying and break her phone into a hundred pieces. It seems that she wore herself out and fainted." A voice I recognized, but couldn't quite put a face to replied.
"Do you know why?" Ranger asked.
"Luckily, she didn't destroy the SIM card in the phone, so we put it in one of the Rangeman cell phones. There was a terrible message from her mother, and we assume that must be why."
"Can I hear the message?"
"The phone with her card is in the kitchen. Come on, I'll show you."
As soon as I was sure they were both gone, I sat up. I was honestly surprised that Ranger hadn't called me on being conscious, he's always able to tell.
I was in my Rangeman apartment, in the bed. I stood and got a slight head rush from getting up too quickly. I ignored it and it passed as I walked to the kitchen.
"Holy Merry Men." I said lightly. In my kitchen were several Rangeman employees, several of which I recognized, and few of which I did not.
All the heads in the apartment turned to me, leaning against the doorway. Ranger was staring into me with his chocolate brown eyes with a phone next to his ear. He took a deep breath, closed the phone, and slammed it onto my marble counter top. The phone was flattened beneath his hand, destroyed.
There were several Merry men surrounding the kitchen table. Upon which, was my Frederick Menlo file. It was luckily closed, but when I looked back up, Ranger was following my glaze to the folder.
He took a step, and I practically ran towards the table to try to keep Ranger from seeing it. I had to push past several men larger than I was, so Ranger beat me to the table.
I held my breath and dug my nails into my palm while he looked through the papers in the file. Lester, Tank, and I exchanged nervous glances while we waited for him to do or say anything.
"Everyone out." Ranger said loudly. All of the Merry Men preceded to file out of my apartment, and I decided to play it safe and follow them. He did say everyone, right?
"Babe." I heard him say. I turned back around and went back into the apartment, sighing.
I really didn't want to get yelled at for Menlo.
Ranger leaned against the counter for a moment and I heard someone close the apartment door. I imagined that all the Merry men were in the hallway with their ears pressed up against the door.
"Are you okay?" He asked me.
"Wait, what?" I was so surprised that he wasn't yelling or scolding me.
"Are you okay?"
"Um…yeah. I guess I'm okay. I'm still kind of…heartbroken, I guess. Over what my mother said."
"I'm sorry about that."
Whoa. Batman said sorry?
"It's okay."
"What are you doing with the Menlo file? Connie wouldn't have given this guy to you."
My mind started going a million miles a minute. What could I possibly say to him? No matter what I said, wasn't he just going to take it away and take care of it himself?
"After four months of not bounty hunting, I need a big job to put a spark back into my career?" I asked more than stated.
"Babe."
"I want the money?"
"Babe."
"Don't Babe me, Batman. I want to prove something to myself."
"What are you trying to prove?"
"That I can do it! That I'm just as good as anyone else. That I can live up to my own standards."
"Can I help you?"
Whoa. Definitely not the response I was expecting. I was, in fact, so surprised, that I was taken aback.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Can I help you, with Menlo?" He closed the file and put it back down on the table. "It's one thing for you to be out there, battling Mooner. If you're going to take on a big case, I want to help. So if you're risking your neck, I know that I'm doing everything I can to protect you."
"Yeah." I practically squeaked. "Please, help me."
If Ranger wasn't going to take the file away from me, I didn't want to push my luck. If all he wanted was to help, I would let him.
He walked towards the door, taking me in his arms and kissing my forehead on his way. "Come to my office tomorrow morning." He told me, then disappeared like smoke out the door. I was watching him go, and I didn't even hear the door close.
"Batman." I breathed out.
Looking at the clock, I saw it that it was eleven at night. Deciding that it was time for bed, I put my pajamas on, locked my door, and went to sleep.
I awoke to the land line phone on my nightstand ringing. I reached over blindly, trying to find the receiver without opening my eyes.
"Hello?" I growled into the phone. I didn't enjoy being woken up.
"The cop is on hold for you, Bombshell. Do you want to take the call?" I could tell that it was Lester over the phone. I looked over at the alarm clock, which read 12:31pm.
Shit. I hadn't talked to Morelli since I had, not too kindly, left him at the alter. I could ignore his call, but I knew that he didn't deserve that. If he wanted to talk to me, I owed him that.
"Yeah, I'll take the call." I put my other hand on my forehead, hoping I wouldn't stress myself out to the point that I got a headache.
A heard a click.
"Hello? Stephanie?"
"Hi Joe." I said lightly.
"Jeez, did this wake you up? I'm sorry. I tried calling your cell phone last night, but it kept going to voicemail, and I really wanted to talk to you. I had a feeling that you would be there."
"Joe, I'm-"
"Cupcake, I don't want to do this over the phone. Do you want to meet somewhere for lunch? Pino's?"
"You know I can't resist an offer to Pino's." I groaned.
"Meet me there at two. I just want to talk."
"Okay. I'll be there. You're paying." I told him, hanging up before he could object.
Ha!
I rolled out of bed and got dressed and took care of the necessities. I dropped a few grapes in Rex's cage while looking for my keys, which were on the kitchen table. I grabbed my keys as I walked out the door and took the elevator to the control room.
I went straight to Ranger's office, where he was focusing on the laptop on his desk, his chin in his hand, his index finger tapping against his lips. He looked like he was deep in thought; he looked hot as hell.
"Hi." I said lightly as I sat in one of the seats in front of his desk.
"Babe." He acknowledged me, but kept his attention on the laptop for several minutes.
Eventually, he finished whatever he was doing, closed the laptop, and focused on me. "We're going to have to do a lot of surveillance."
"Okay," I nodded.
"What did Morelli want?"
"To ask me to meet him at Pino's at two."
"Babe."
"What? I stood him up at the alter, I owe him."
"So you're going to get back together with him, and start the cycle over?"
"I'm not going to get back together with him."
"What makes you so sure?" He raised an eyebrow at me.
"God, Ranger, you're so freaking dense!" I snapped at him.
"Babe." He was amused.
"Batman." I mimicked him, fully aware that I was being completely immature.
"There's a bar north of here, in a town where we suspect that Menlo might be hiding out. We'll do surveillance there tomorrow night, check the place out."
"Fine." I mumbled, leaning back in the chair, crossing my arms.
"So, got your eye on someone else?" He leaned foreword, amused. I could tell, under the amusement, that he was also slightly curious. At least he wasn't wearing his blank face.
At that moment, Lester walked through the door, making us both turn our attention to him.
"Yeah, Ranger, I do." I stood quickly and before Lester had a chance to leave or say anything, I pushed him against the wall and kissed him forcefully. I pulled away quickly and turned back towards Ranger.
"You don't mind if I take the Turbo, again, do you? No? Great, thanks."
Lester had been too shocked to kiss me back, or even close his eyes. The only way I had been able to push him or move him at all was because I had completely caught him off guard. Ranger was probably too shocked to move or say anything for the few moments to come.
I walked out of the office, swinging my hips at the two stunned men. There were a couple whistles as I got into the elevator and went down to the gym, needing to burn off some steam.
I went to my locker and changed into workout clothes, which I had left in there from the times that Ranger had sent me out of the control room. I went into the gym and punched a punching bag until I was sweaty and exhausted.
Feeling better, I took a quick shower and changed back into my clothes. It was almost two, so I had to go straight to meet Joe.
I went down to the garage and took the Turbo to Pino's, arriving just before two. I recognized Morelli's unmarked police vehicle in the parking lot. I parked and walked up to the doors. I took a deep, nervous breath and swung the door open and walked into the restaurant.
