A/N: These characters are not of my making and are used without permission.
Chapter 4
"You're being childish."
"I'm being childish? Who hid in a closet with me last week?"
"That was different."
"Why because it was your parents we were hiding from?"
"You can't avoid talking to your mom forever."
"I'm not going to wait forever."
"Babe."
"Ranger, the last time I went she was pushing for me to marry Morelli. Now that he's seeing Sarah, she is going to start in on me dying alone. It's enough to ruin my appetite."
"Why would you die alone?"
"Since I'm not married, have no children, and have a dangerous job."
"We're seeing each other, you're not alone."
"Yeah, but it's you and we have the same job, that doesn't help. She's not going to see you as…" Stephanie stopped her rant when she noticed Ranger's furrowed brow.
"See me as what?" Ranger asked crossing his arms over his chest.
Ranger and Stephanie were in the middle of a late night stake out when Helen had called to let Stephanie know that her presence had been missed at the dinner table. This may have actually been code words for that Helen had invited an eligible male to dinner and Stephanie had unintentionally stood him up.
"Well, you know marriage material."
"I've been married."
"Yeah, I know that, I don't think it's come up in conversation with my mother."
"We're going to dinner."
"Absolutely not. Why are your offended by what my mother thinks, I'm not. And who knows who she'll invite to dinner, that'll be awkward. 'Hi this is Ranger; he's the guy I'm seeing. What? No, I don't know why you're here.' I don't want to go through that."
"I'll call her." Ranger was already taking out his phone.
"No, that's a bad idea."
"Hi, Mrs. Plum, this is Carlos Manoso, Ranger."
"Is she still alive?" Mrs. Plum asked in a quiet voice.
"What? Stephanie is fine; I'm actually calling to let you know that both of us will be joining you for dinner tomorrow night."
"Both of you?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Thanks for letting me know, I'll be sure to set an extra plate."
Ranger hung up the phone and looked at Stephanie. "See that wasn't bad."
"You just hung up on my mother without saying goodbye."
"Babe."
"Do you hang up on your mother?"
Ranger smiled a half-smile and glanced in the rear view mirror at the vehicle that had just pulled up behind them. "Our replacements are here."
The next morning at Ranger's apartment Stephanie was pacing the dining room. "I have some skips to catch today; I may not be able to make it to dinner."
Ranger looked up from the kitchen counter where he was eating breakfast, "Babe. After my meetings I'll come and help to make sure we get there with plenty of time to spare."
Stephanie opened her mouth to retort, but instead grabbed her purse and headed to the door. "I'll see you later."
Stephanie went straight to the bakery and then to the Bond's Office.
"Hey Girl, you got jelly donut on your shirt."
"Ranger's going to dinner with me at my parents' house tonight."
Connie looked up from doing her nails, "Haven't you put the guy through enough. He loves you. You don't have to subject him to your grandmother."
"It was his idea. He's not happy that my mother doesn't think he's marriageable material."
"Uh-oh girl, it sounds like he's ready to up your relationship status and wants your parents' approval."
"What? No, we're happy."
"When's the last time you spent any length of time in your apartment? By yourself?" Lula quickly amended the question as Stephanie opened her mouth to answer.
"Well, there really hasn't been a need; most of my stuff is at Ranger's."
"Exactly, you've moved in with him."
"No I haven't, I still have my apartment."
"Why do you? It's not like you need it anymore."
"Wouldn't it be rather presumptuous to get rid of it?"
"Yeah, but that way you've got nowhere to run to when you get in a fight."
"We don't fight."
"Then you don't need it anyways."
"I've got skips to catch; I'll see you both later." As Stephanie went after her skips, Lula's comments played over and over in her head.
"You seemed preoccupied, everything okay with Bomber?" Tank asked after the client left the meeting room.
"Yeah, fine."
"Ranger, something is bothering you, don't bullshit me."
"We're going to her parents' house for dinner."
"Oh, grandma's fingers got you thinking?"
"What?" Ranger thought about it and smiled. "No, her mother doesn't think I'm good enough for Stephanie."
"You're not, she's a classy girl. Well, when she's not rolling in garbage or standing next to the burnt out husk of one of your cars."
Ranger didn't say anything.
"You really worried? That girl loves you, you practically live together."
Ranger thought about that and nodded. "We got an hour till our next meeting; I've got something I have to do." Ranger closed himself in his office without another word.
"Glad we had this talk." Tank said to the empty conference room.
By the time Stephanie arrived back at Haywood, she had only gotten covered in flour. She went up to seven to shower and change, by the time she got out of the shower Ranger was waiting in the bedroom still in his suit from his last meeting.
"I heard we had a ghost in the building."
"A ghost? Who said that? I was covered in flour."
"Of course you were."
Stephanie continued to frown as she picked out an outfit to wear to her parents' house. She noticed that Ranger wasn't changing.
"Wait is that what you're wearing?"
Ranger lifted an eyebrow at her, "What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, but it's a little dressy."
"You ready to go?"
Stephanie looked down at the towel she was donning. "We aren't this causal." She quickly grabbed an outfit, slacks and a blouse, so she didn't look too bad compared to Ranger.
They were almost to the Plum residence when Ranger started talking.
"How much longer is on the lease to your apartment?"
"What? Why?"
"You're not there much anymore; we could finish moving the rest of your stuff into my apartment this weekend."
"This weekend? That's fast, are you pregnant?"
Ranger lifted a brow at her.
"The lease isn't up for another two months; we could slowly bring everything over." Stephanie thought back to what Lula had said earlier. "Have you been talking to Lula?"
"No, do I even want to know what she said?"
"No." Stephanie stepped out of the car as soon as it came to a stop. Her mother and grandmother were in the doorway watching them.
"Mrs. Plum, Mrs. Mazur." Ranger greeted them as he joined Stephanie.
"I like when you bring the package." Grandma Mazur commented as she wiggled her fingers at her side.
"Mother, please. Carlos, Stephanie, come in dinner is almost ready." Helen told her as she made her way back into the kitchen.
"Hey daddy, we winning?"
Frank turned from the TV shaking his head, "Not even close."
"Frank, turn that off, dinner is almost ready." Helen reminded him as she started bringing pans out from the kitchen.
Stephanie and Ranger sat on one side of the table, Frank and Helen at opposite ends of the table and Grandma Mazur sat across from Stephanie.
As Helen began filling plates and passing them out she turned toward Ranger, "I was surprised to receive your phone call. You're not guarding Stephanie, are you?"
"Stephanie is not presently in any danger, Mrs. Plum. I know your daughter comes to family dinner and I enjoy sharing my meals with her."
Stephanie turned in her seat, her jaw dropped open. Under her breath she whispered," What are you doing?"
"Have you been sharing a lot of meals with Stephanie?" Helen asked as she finished passing out plates.
"Mom."
"Yes."
Everyone stopped to ponder Ranger's blatant answer.
"From what I hear, Stephanie isn't spending too much time at her apartment." Grandma commented, winking at Stephanie.
"Is everything alright, Stephanie? Is something wrong with your apartment?" Helen asked. "A man would be able to keep things in working order."
"Mom."
"Actually, Mrs. Plum, she's been staying with me."
Frank's eyes briefing left his pot roast and took in Ranger. He saw a man in a suit that had his own place.
"Stephanie, you're never going to find a husband while you're staying with another man."
"Mom, I'm not looking for a husband."
"Joseph was probably your last chance."
"Mrs. Plum," Ranger's teeth were clenched, "Stephanie's with me, it would be awkward if she started looking for another man while we're together."
"Awkward, the prefect word for this evening." Stephanie replied under her breath as she finished off a glass of wine.
"I didn't mean for them to have dinner in your apartment or anything."
"Mrs. Plum, I am the man in Stephanie's life, I love your daughter. While we are not making plans to get married, I have asked her to move in with me."
"So soon?" Helen closed her eyes and turned to Stephanie. "Are you pregnant?"
It was all Stephanie could do to not plunk her head down on the table.
"That could have gone better." Steph commented as she followed Ranger into the seventh floor apartment.
"She now knows how we feel about each other."
"Oh yeah, she's probably booking a church now."
"Babe."
"I'm serious Ranger."
"We'll take this as slow or fast as we want to go, your mother will not force us to get married before we're ready."
"Do you not hear yourself? Its comments like that, that made mother think we're planning on getting married."
"Babe, we live together, marriage isn't much different."
"We don't live together. I still have my apartment."
"Are you having doubts?"
"About us? No, this just seems sudden. This still seems like your overreacting to my mother not thinking of you as marriageable material."
"No one makes me do anything I don't want to do."
Stephanie met Ranger's eyes. "You're sure?"
"Babe." Ranger leaned down and softly kissed her lips. "Yes."
"Well, in that case, I need to go make room in your closet." Stephanie side stepped Ranger and headed toward his walk in closet.
Ranger left to go to his office on five to get ahead on paperwork so he could take the following day to move Stephanie in. When he returned to his apartment several hours later, Stephanie was already in bed. After a quick peak in his closet, where he determined he didn't lose any of his clothes, he climbed into bed behind Stephanie.
In the morning Stephanie awoke surprised to find Ranger was still in bed. "Did you oversleep? Are my habits rubbing off on you? That's only going to get worse after I'm moved in."
"Maybe some of my habits will rub off on you."
"Oh no," Stephanie threw an arm over her eyes. "If I'm going to have to start eating like you or exercising, this isn't going to work."
Ranger rolled over, his body hovering over Stephanie, his arms bracketing her head. "We're going to do this and it's going to be good."
"Are we still talking about moving in together?"
Ranger smirked, "I'll let you decide."
When the two of them finally rose for the day, Ranger surprised her by telling her he had the day free to help her move. Together the two of them set off for her apartment armed with boxes, packing tape, and garbage bags. It took two hours to pack up her bedroom and another hour to finish the rest of her apartment. When they finished they had three different piles, one that was going to Ranger's apartment, one going to Good-will and the last was garbage.
Ranger picked up a couple of the garbage bags, "I'll start getting these down to the dumpsters, if you want to pack up the truck." Ranger tossed the car keys at Stephanie.
Everything that was going to Good-will fit inside the vehicle and it only took one trip to drop the items off. It took several trips and some help with the Merry Men to get all of her stuff up to Ranger's apartment.
Stephanie was standing in the middle of the apartment directing where the boxes should go when Ranger came up with the last of the boxes. She was in the middle of trying to convince Lester that she didn't need any help unpacking the boxes. He watched as she grabbed the box Lester was holding, "Lester, you've done enough, thank you."
"But, Beautiful, I don't mind helping you sort though the boxes."
Ranger stepped up behind Steph where he finally saw the label on the box: Lingerie. "Santos. We got it; once we're done pizza will be on us. Let the rest of the guys know."
Lester smirked at Ranger and left the apartment closing the door behind him.
"So what's in the box?" Ranger asked as he took the box from her and followed her into their bedroom.
"Just stuff for the bathroom."
"What?"
"You know, shampoos, lotions, and the like."
Ranger frowned but carried the box to the bathroom, he opened it and sure enough the contents were not as advertised. "Babe, how did you label these?"
"Is this what you're looking for Ranger?" Ranger turned to find Steph holding up something black and lacy out of a box labeled bathroom. "I noticed I switched them after they were packed. It would have been too much work to switch the contents."
A long time later they finally took the guys out for pizza for helping them move in. Unsurprisingly Ranger and Stephanie were the first ones to leave that night, explaining that moving was exhausting.
As they left Lester held up his beer, "To the boss and bomber, for finally get their acts together." Everyone else cheered and raised their beers in return.