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Chapter 4

Stephanie climbed into her car. It had been a long day at Rangeman.

Her back was still aching and her good humor was at an all time low. She had regretted eating that brownie for the rest of the day. The guys had been kind, and funny, and teasing, and had tried to make her smile. They had sent over donuts, and muffins to her desk. Apparently they wanted a repeat performance.

She had taken off from her desk and the monitors found her in the gun range firing at a picture of a birthday cake. They had stopped laughing when they saw how many times she had hit it dead centre.

She felt much calmer now.

The garage gate closed after her and she drove in the direction of her parent's house. Her mom had called with the offer of supper but it was the veiled threat behind it that left her cold. Her mom stated that Val and her entire family were coming and her presence was requested or pineapple upside down cake would be forever history.

Stephanie pulled up to the house. Her mom and grandma were at the front door watching as she slowly stood up and walked their way. She wondered how criminals heading to their date with the gallows had felt.

They were silent as she passed through them into the hallway. Her dad was sitting in the living room hiding behind his paper. Mary Alice was galloping through the kitchen and thundered up the stairs. Angie was sitting in the window seat reading a book. Baby Lisa was crawling toward Stephanie with her blanket dragging behind her.

Albert was holding Val in his arms and whispering to her.

Stephanie suddenly had a really bad feeling.

She had made it with minutes to spare and headed to the kitchen to help with setting the table.

Her mother followed her.

"I don't even recognize your cars anymore, Stephanie, you change them so often. Janice Mann's daughter is still driving the same car she bought five years ago."

Stephanie wondered if she had any more Aleve in her purse. Her back was fine but the headache she could feel coming on was shaping up to be a doozy.

Everyone finally settled at the table. Tonight it was a new recipe. Stew and dumplings.

There was a collective gasp around the table. Where was the gravy? Where were the potatoes? Were those vegetables swimming in it? And, where was the wine?

Val stood up.

"We have an announcement. Albert and I are expecting a baby. We just found out and wanted to let you know before it gets out. We are hoping for a boy."

There was shocked silence then as if it was the proper thing to do, congratulations rolled around the table.

Albert was looking a little too proud of himself at the moment, and Val just looked sick. Angie rolled her eyes and looked down. Baby Lisa started to cry and Mary Alice spoke.

"Well, I hope it's a boy. Do boy horses pee differently than girl horses?"

Val looked at the ceiling and sighed.

Dessert was a quiet affair and it was almost as if everyone wanted to vacate the table as soon as possible and go home.

Stephanie was helping to clean up in the kitchen. Val was sitting at the little kitchen table wringing her hands over and over.

"I don't want to be pregnant again. We cannot afford it. The house is too small. Albert still isn't making that much money. I was looking forward to the girls all heading to school and the house being quiet for a few hours. Now, I will be getting saddled with a crying baby for another 6 years! I don't think I can handle any more than I already am and I'm barely managing that."

Edna looked at Val. It was on the tip of her tongue to mention that it took two to tango, but probably this was not a good time to bring that up. Instead, she moved her dentures around in her mouth and spoke.

"Well, maybe it will be a boy. You know how Frank keeps complaining that beside Albert the only other male in our household is Rex."

Valerie burst into tears.

Helen walked over to her oldest daughter and pulled her into her embrace.

"Honey, every baby is a gift. We will help you whenever and wherever we can. Since Stephanie is not currently seeing anyone, she has lots of time to help you. Maybe she can take the girls for an afternoon every weekend."

Stephanie just about dropped the large cooking pot she was drying. He face must have registered the shock her brain was feeling, because Val looked at her and grinned.

"Well, that would be lovely, Steph. Thanks for volunteering."

She grinned at her sister who was still standing like a deer in the headlights of life. Stephanie looked at her and faintly smiled back. They both knew that would not be happening. Rex had a hard enough life.

Stephanie finished up in the kitchen and excused herself. Her headache was really starting to pound and she wanted to go home to a nice quiet, apartment without all the drama that took place at her family's home on a regular basis.

She hugged her mom, grandma and Val on the way to the door. Her dad had already escaped to his garage. Albert was trying to sort out Mary Alice and Angie's latest argument.

She grabbed her purse and opened the front door, heading for her car. As she was walking down the sidewalk, she noted that it was in need of a bath. It was quite muddy from the rains a few days ago. When she had more money, she would get it cleaned, and maybe even vacuum the rugs. She was about to walk toward the back of the car when out of the corner of her eye she spied a non-nondescript dirty brown car with blacked out windows drive by and somebody lean out and toss something.

She dived to the ground as the bottle broke, burst into flame and her car exploded. A large metal piece of her car flew over her head landing on the lawn. She could feel the concussion from the blast rush over her and tiny pieces of shrapnel smacked against her clothes with some hot metal hitting bare skin.

As she lay on the ground shaking her cell phone began to ring.

Stephanie had a pretty good idea who it was. The tracker would have gone off line and Rangeman would be checking on her status.

She crawled to where her purse had fallen, reached in and dragged out the phone then flipped it open. Obviously there was no time to even say hello before the questions started.

"I'm alright, and no I was not in the car. I was just walking to the car to go home when it went up. No, I can just borrow Big Blue again. No, you don't need to contact Ranger. Fine, but tell him not to rush."

Stephanie contemplated taking off around the back of the house and hiding. Her first thought was always flight, not fight and tonight was no different.

She could hear sirens in the distance. She assumed the fire and police departments would have fielded a number of calls from the neighbors. She could already visualize in her mind money changing hands once again.

Her family had come outside. Val was holding Lisa in her arms and she was crying. Angie and Mary Alice were looking at the inferno with eyes wide open taking in the sight. Frank had raced through the house and was running to her side. He helped her to her feet and guided her to the porch where the family watched in wonder.

As the fire engine pulled up, a sleek black Porsche also pulled in.

Ranger slid out of the car and walked up the driveway, taking in the fact that the whole extended Plum family was standing on the porch, under the bright light.

He shook his head. Stephanie was in danger whether she wanted to admit it or not and here she was standing outside under a bright light like a sitting duck in an arcade.

He moved a little faster, all the while checking the surroundings for anything suspicious. He could hear another vehicle pull up and park behind the Porsche and suspected that it was Tank also checking it out.

Ranger walked up to the family and tried to usher them inside the house but the lights from the flames and the water hitting the fire made for a spectacular view. He sighed then changed his tactics and shielding Stephanie from the road with his body, he gave her a hug.

"Having a tough day, Babe? I see that this one lasted a whole two weeks. Maybe we should be looking at getting you an armored personnel carrier. I have some contacts."

Stephanie had had enough of this day too. She burst into tears as she held her head between both hands. Her headache was getting worse, and her back hurt from diving to the ground.

A scuffed light green Grand Am pulled up. There was a flashing light on the roof and Ranger sighed. He looked at Morelli as he stepped out of the car. He could already see by his demeanor that he was ready to give Stephanie an earful. Great, this was the last thing anybody needed.

Joe Morelli and Stephanie Plum were like oil and water right now. Ranger mentally went through the opening sentence that Morelli usually lead with anytime he was dealing with a Plum disaster. Let's see. 'I told you one of these days that your family will get hurt because of the stupid things you do, or, I just knew it was you when I heard of a car exploding, or, you should quit working for those thugs and marry me, or, your place is in the home taking care of babies, not running around town destroying cars; and his own personal favorite, NOT, what the hell have you gotten yourself into now, Cupcake?'

Stephanie looked up at Ranger. She could feel his muscles contract and his arms hold her a little harder.

"You can't punch or shoot him. He's not worth it, Ranger."

Luckily a black and white pulled up right behind Joe and Carl and Big Dog emerged. They looked at the flaming inferno and nodded at each other.

Strolling over to the porch, they could feel the tension in the air. Carl headed over to Joe to guide him away from the porch. Nobody needed a blow up right now.

Big Dog took out his notebook and a pencil and stood ready. He just knew that this was going to be good. Every time Stephanie's cars blew, it was something out of the ordinary. He also knew that at some point she would be professing that it was not her fault. Actually, most of the time it really wasn't, but she had the worst luck. It was the old adage, if she didn't have bad luck, she would have no luck.

Maybe in her case, no luck would be safer.

Big Dog looked at Stephanie as she was engulfed in Ranger's arms. He was in protective mode right now and even though the scene appeared to be safe, he was not stupid enough to race in and scare either of them with sudden movements or conversation.

He cleared his throat and waited until Ranger acknowledged his presence. Big Dog was a patient man.

Stephanie shuddered then straightened up. He was already cognizant that she had had a bad day yesterday with Freddie and was probably still feeling the effects of the attack. He noted that her face was screwed up as if in pain.

"I'm not going to keep you too long Stephanie. There are obviously enough witnesses around this block that we can get lots of perspective here. Did you recognize what might give us a clue who did this or what might have been behind the attack?"

Big Dog had already assumed that the explosion had not been her fault.

Stephanie thought for a moment.

"I was just heading to my car and a brown car drove by. He slowed down and someone reached out the window and threw something. I dived to the ground as it rolled under the car and then my car blew up. I never saw that car before. I didn't recognize who threw the incendiary, but the size of the muscles of the arm on the person led me to believe that it was male. He was quite muscular and I thought I saw a flash of a tat, or something that appeared like a flash of red."

Big Dog marked down her observations. Carl and Joe were standing on the street as the fire fighters were getting ready to roll up the hoses. A tow truck was standing by ready to hook onto the burned out car.

One pointed to the ground and both men headed to a streak of rubber. They looked from the hulk of the car to the skid mark and brought out a tape measure. They bent down and started to take some measurements.

Big Dog looked at Ranger.

"I'm assuming that you will take her home. Looks like everything is wrapping up here but if we find something, we will let you know, Steph."

Big Dog headed to where Joe and Carl were standing. They compared notes and prepared to leave.

Stephanie wiggled out of Ranger's embrace.

She headed back to the family who were preparing to leave. Val had gathered up all the baby supplies and had Angie and Mary Alice putting on coats and gathering up their school work. Albert was carrying the first load to their mini-van.

She kissed her parents good bye and hugged her grandma.

Tank was speaking to Ranger as they watched the remains of the car roll away behind the tow truck. Tank nodded and moved to his vehicle. He was already on his phone.

Ranger waited for Stephanie to finish her farewells then met her at the porch and walked her down the sidewalk. He walked her to his car, and opening up the passenger door, watched as she slid into the soft leather seat. He reached in and helped to put on her seatbelt. She was grimacing in pain and her face was screwed up fighting it.

He walked around to the driver's side and slid in, putting on his seatbelt as he started the car. He turned off the radio and blessed silence filled the interior.

Stephanie looked out the window but she was not seeing the scenery as he pulled away. She didn't acknowledge the neighbors drift to the Plum driveway to discuss the incident. She didn't see as Ranger turned the car left at the corner, heading to Rangeman.

Stephanie was totally unaware of her surroundings until Ranger drove up to and waited for the garage door to open before driving down the ramp. He parked in one of his personal spots and turned off the car.

"I thought you were going to take me home Ranger. I do not think I will be very good company tonight. I have a really bad headache right now and I just want to take a shower and go to bed."

Ranger nodded. He had already had Tank notify Bobby and he would meet him on seven. Tank was already in contact with Ella and she was preparing something light but special in case Stephanie felt the need or desire to snack on something.

Tank had also contacted Hector. If this was gang related they needed to know the amount of danger levelled at Stephanie. They had assumed that the Slayers had moved on, but there might always be someone who was carrying a grudge and they wanted to check out that possibility.

Stephanie sat in the car. Ranger had opened the passenger door and reached in to assist her to climb out but she didn't move.

"I really don't want to see anybody or bother anybody, Ranger. I would really appreciate it if you would just take me home."

Her eyes plead with him.

Ranger knelt down so he was at eye level with her.

"Babe, I can see you are in pain. I want Bobby to check you out, even just to give you something to dull your headache. Ella left something up on seven in case you wanted a snack. She already took the time to run you a bath. How about you stay for awhile and then when you want to go home, I can run you there when you say so."

He hoped that with the temptation of a bubble bath in his oversized jet tub and an Ella snack, she might cave in. He was also banking on the fact that after that, and some mild sedative that Bobby would administer, that she would consent to stay the night.

It was so much safer at Rangeman and until the danger had been averted, he wanted to keep an eye on her.

Stephanie thought about her options. Well, she was here and Ranger had promised to take her home later.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and with Ranger's hand holding her by the elbow, she stepped out.

They walked to the elevator which was open waiting and Ranger pressed his key fob taking them directly to seven. She had watched that the elevator was not stopping on four first.

Ella had been and gone from the apartment by the time they walked in. Stephanie could see another cake dome sitting on the counter. She could also smell the bubble bath fragrance wafting from the bathroom.

Unfortunately, Bobby was standing in the living room. He had his bag with him and guided her to the couch.

He took out a small penlight and checked her eyes. He felt around her neck then asking permission to lift her shirt at the back, checked the bruised area.

"I have something that will take your headache down to a manageable level Bomber. Take these and go have a bath. I think the combination will take away your headache pretty soon."

He handed her two pills and a bottle of water.

Stephanie looked at the pills. They did not look like anything she had had before and her eyes lifted to check out Bobby. He gave nothing away that it might be anything more powerful than a mild pain reliever, and with a sigh she swallowed them followed by a large gulp of water.

Stephanie headed for the bathroom and closed the door. She quickly stripped and stepped into the tub. She turned on the jets and tried to relax.

Bobby looked at Ranger.

"I added a muscle relaxant to the pain reliever I gave her. She wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight with the additional trauma her back has had otherwise. I expect that they will take effect in about ten minutes so you better be prepared to help her out of the tub before she falls asleep in there. Those pills should knock her out for the entire night.

Ranger nodded and set his watch.