A/N: I usually just post chapters on Tuesdays and Thursdays but felt the strong desire to post an extra chapter this week. =) Hope you enjoy it!

Previous Chapter: "Can you step into my office for a few minutes?"

"Can't. I have dinner plans."

He quirked his eyebrow as if he's never been shut down before. Wait — this was Ranger — the Batman — the Cuban Sex God — of course he's never been told "no" or turned down before.

"Yeah, got a hot date. Can't keep him waiting," I attempted to wink at him but instead turned out to be a retarded squint.

I grabbed Les' arm and hauled ass out of there.

CHAPTER 4

Les dropped me off at my apartment after dinner and found bouquet of dead roses in front of my door. He stepped forward cautiously inspecting the dead flowers before picking them up and disarmed my new security system still walking through and making a sweep declaring it safe for entry. These guys were nothing but thorough.

I reached for the flowers and tossed them on the coffee table. He gave me a silent puzzled look as if to ask who they were from.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I haven't exactly been home for the past two weeks. Maybe they're from Joe before he left and they died."

He nodded his head in agreement, "Are you sure you want to stay here alone? I can stay."

I nodded my head, "I'm fine."

We shot the shit for a little longer and then I had to practically shove him out the door after repeatedly reassuring that I was going to be ok.

Now, I wasn't so sure if I had made the right decision after hovering in the doorway to my bedroom. I stared into my dark bedroom and the big empty bed that stood before me. After my return from a wonderful holiday vacation with Ranger and Les' family, I came home to the most amazing surprise.

A couple of months ago my apartment was firebombed and everything I owned went up in flames except for my beloved Monster and a box filled with memories. Because of my layoff, I had unintentionally let my renter's insurance lapse and I owed the property management company for all of the damages to the property from the explosion. I didn't have the money to pay for the damages and furnish my apartment so I slept on the floor and of course that's how I ended up with my temporary gig at Cowbells.

I've been incredibly lucky in the last year to have so many wonderful people come into my life. But since receiving this wonderful gift, I haven't had the opportunity to actually appreciate and enjoy the comforts of my newly renovated and furnished home. I've been strangely cowardly after my breakup with Joe and hiding out at Les and Bobby's place.

Tonight was my first evening in my place. In fact, it was the first time since I've seen Monster since New Year's. So who is Monster you may be wondering. Monster would be my son but most people would probably refer to him as a fern. Monster used to be my one constant companion. The woman at the nursery told me, he would be one of the easiest plants to ever care for — next to impossible to kill, she said.

Total bullshit because most people who meet Monster ask me why I don't just chuck him since he was dying. I resent the fact that people would say that to my face. I mean, would you walk up to a mother with a pig-nosed baby and say, "Ew, your child looks like a pig?" No! You would lie through your stinking teeth and tell them how precious their bundle of joy is.

And, I happen to think Monster is beautiful and a true survivor. But I am ashamed to admit, I am a horrible mother. During my shameless depression, I've neglected to come home and check on him. He was once flourishing under the care of Ella, Ranger's building manager, while my apartment was under construction. And now his limbs were wilting once again and browning along the edges.

I stared at the big empty bed ahead of me, terrified to move forward. Had I really messed up my life and made all of the wrong decisions? Joe and I had an awful fight over the holidays which resulted in us breaking up which had me hooking up with Ranger for one amazing night. In my moment of pure lust and confusion over what I thought was something real between me and Ranger, I'd gotten lost in a fantasy.

But Ranger had always been up front with me. He's never led me astray offering me something that he wasn't willing to give. And the one thing that I mistakenly thought he'd give me was him — I mean all of him. Ranger's told me repeatedly that he doesn't do relationships. That his life doesn't have room for a relationship and that his love comes with a condom and not a ring. So upon our return to Trenton, he made it clear to me that he didn't want anything further from me and I should mend my relationship with Joe.

And I know, you probably want to say "what a jerk!" and trust me I said that plenty in several different ways. But he's always been up front and honest with me, it was my own damned fault for living in a fantasy world thinking that he'd fallen head over heels and was willing to change his outlook on relationships for someone like me.

Well, after he told me to fix things with Joe, I did just that. And then come New Year's, Joe dropped the bomb on me. He told me that he had been offered a job with the FBI in Washington, D.C., asked me to move with him, and then proposed to me. Some days I feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life declining his proposal.

I did love the man. And any woman would count herself lucky being with a sexy, tall, dark and handsome Italian man. But I just couldn't bring myself to say yes so I watched Joe walk out of my life and follow his dreams of joining the Bureau in D.C.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Alyssa," I muttered to myself. "It's not like you haven't slept in a bed by yourself before. What are you so scared of? Come on you can do this!" I tried encouraging myself as an involuntary shiver ran down my spine.

I willed my feet to slowly take a few steps closer towards the bed. When I finally reached the foot of the bed, I collapsed to the floor in the fetal position and began to weep. You're probably thinking "what a coward" or "what the fuck is wrong with her?" because trust me I was thinking the same thing. Lately, I've been feeling hormonal and it's been quite annoying.

"Babe," Ranger whispered in my ear and lifted me into his arms.

"Ranger?" I sniffled. "What the fuck are you doing here? How long have you been sitting there in the dark?" I asked shifting my eyes towards the armchair in the corner, knowing that when Ranger furnished my bedroom he included that armchair for his purposes of scaring me shitless in the middle of the night.

"I needed to talk to you."

"This late at night?" I asked pushing myself away from the comfort of his embrace.

"Babe, I just wanted to see you."

Pft. You walk out without a single word and have the nerve to claim you want to see me? Whatever.

"Babe, I was called in for a last minute contract. There was no time to call you and I had to go offline."

Shit…I guess I said that out loud.

"Ranger, it's late. I'm really tired. Whatever you have to talk about, can it just wait until tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Ok, well, you know how to let yourself out," I responded standing up and brushed off the invisible dirt off my shorts.

"Babe," Ranger said hesitantly reached out to me but instead turned around and disappeared into thin air.

My heart fell but that's what I wanted, right? So he was giving me what I wanted. I walked over to my nightstand and picked up my phone and dialed out.

"Manny."

"Hey, Manny. Are you done with your shift yet?" I asked quietly.

"Bomber!" he replied in a surprised tone. "Yep, just about to leave Rangeman. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, um…just wondering if you wanted to come over and hang out for a bit. Maybe watch a movie?" Or maybe, spend the night so that I'm not in this godforsaken apartment alone.

"Sure, I'll be over in fifteen. Need me to pick up anything on the way?"

I shook my head, "Nope. I've got popcorn and the Terminator box set."

I could hear his grin over the receiver, "Have I told you how perfect you are?"

I smiled back, "Not lately but you know a girl can never get tired of being told that."

"Well, you are."

Click.

Was it that difficult to just say "goodbye" before disconnecting a call? Sheesh.

^o^ * ^o^

And being the reliable Rangeman that he was, Manny showed up at my door exactly fifteen minutes after he hung up the phone. Before his knuckles came in contact with my door to knock, I yanked the door open and threw myself into his arms.

Maybe I should ask Bobby to run some blood tests on me to see what the hell was wrong with me because obviously my hormones are all out of whack. I was feeling depressed one minute, angry the next, needy, and hysterical at random times in the day. I don't remember the last time I've felt this needy but ever since Joe packed up his things for D.C. and Ranger stopped answering my calls. I've just been finding it difficult to be alone which was weird because I spent most of my life alone.

"You ok, Alyssa?" Manny asked returning my embrace.

"Yeah, perfect. Thanks for coming over. I know you probably want to go home after working all day."

"You know I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to spend time with my favorite ticking bomb," he grinned.

I punched him softly in his rock hard abs and pulled him towards the couch.

He sat down, pulling me into his lap and brushed my hair out of my face. "Truthfully, what's wrong? I know you've been shacking up with Santos and Brown the past couple of weeks. What's going on?"

I laid my head down on his shoulder, "I don't know. I just can't seem to handle being alone lately. I think I may have a chemical imbalance or maybe I've hit my head one too many times."

He kissed the top of my head, "Well, you know I'm always here whenever you need. Any time. Any day."

"I know. Thank you," I kissed his jawline. "Now let's stuff our faces with greasy popcorn and learn important tactics to prepare us for a future robot uprising."

"You truly are the perfect woman," Manny grinned at me and threw his arms around my shoulder.

^o^ * ^o^

"Morning," Manny smiled up at me as I propped my head up on my hands and gazed into his eyes.

We apparently fell asleep during the movie and somehow I managed to crawl on top of him in the night.

"Morning," I blushed slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." Liar.

The corner of his lips twitched, "You're not a very good liar."

I shrugged. "That's a good thing though, isn't it? I mean who would want to be friends with a person who's an excellent liar? This way you'll always know what to expect."

"Hate to break it to you, Alyssa. But with you, everything is unexpected."

I stuck my tongue out at him and sat up straddling his waist. "So are we going to do some car shopping today or what?"

We jumped back a little startled as the front door slammed shut and Manny hands were already going for his utility belt for his gun, no doubt. I turned my head and found a very pissed off Ranger standing by the door. Manny shot up quickly and shoved me off of him causing me to land hard on my ass.

"Ow!" I cried out.

"Oh sorry, Alyssa," Manny turned quickly to help me back up clumsily.

"I'm fine," I swatted at his hands as he fumbled about obviously flustered in Ranger's presence with me. "Stop breaking into my apartment, Ranger. Ever heard of knocking? What good is a security system if you keep breaking in?"

"It wasn't armed," his unwavering eyes trained on Manny.

"Alyssa, I should head home and get cleaned up. I'll be back in a couple of hours if you still want me to help you look for a car."

"I do. Thanks, Manny," I tiptoed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He blushed and stumbled backwards grabbing his utility belt off of the floor and nodded at Ranger before exiting. Traitor.

I slumped back onto the couch and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Babe, so I see you've moved from my cousin onto Manny."

I grabbed the TV remote and flipped it to the Cartoon Network ignoring Ranger.

"Babe, are you ignoring me?" he asked taking a seat next to me.

I turned to him angrily, "Are you going to always have a problem with me being friends with your men?"

His unreadable blank face was slipped into place.

"I don't see how it's any of your business what I do with my personal life and the personal lives of your men. I don't think I should have to explain myself every single time I call up a friend and invite them over for some popcorn and a movie."

"You could call me."

I scoffed at him, "You? Eating popcorn and watching a movie? I didn't think superheroes did that kind of stuff."

"I'm a normal man, Babe."

"You're far from normal, Ranger. But like I said, is this going to start becoming a problem? Because if it is, maybe it's not such a good idea for me to be working at Rangeman."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his chest pressing his lips up against mine. Ranger's lips were like magic. This man had no flaws in the kissing department. He was sex on legs.

I let out an unlady-like moan, "Ranger, stop."

Let's not forget that this man slept with me and sent me off to be in the arms of another man like I was just a play thing.

"You said you needed to talk yesterday, so talk," I shoved myself off of him trying to retain what was left of my dignity.

"It's more of a favor."

My eyes widened in delight. Ranger rarely asked the likes of me for favors it was always the other way around. Because let's face it, I don't have much to offer a man who practically has everything — skills the average man could only dream of having, the looks, a successful profitable business, and the respect of people all around him that could make even the Dalai Lama jealous.

His lip curled up slightly in amusement at my excitement. "It's my younger sister."

My smile quickly morphed into a nose scrunch.

"I think she's in some kind of trouble but she won't confide in me."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Talk to her."

"What makes you think that she'll talk to me? I'm not what you would call a great gal pal. I tune out half of the stuff Misty tells me."

"Babe."

"Ask Misty."

"Babe."

"What about Lula?"

"Babe."

"Connie?"

Silence.

"Ella?"

Silence.

"The new cute brunette waitress that the just started at Pino's all the guys have been drooling over?"

His eyebrows furrowed slightly indicating to me that he was less than amused at me brushing him off.

"Fine. I'll talk to her but I can't guarantee anything. Now you need to leave so that I can get in my Saturday morning cartoons, get cleaned up and dressed before Manny comes to get me."

"Babe, are you and Manny—"

"—No," I cut him off before he could say anything further. "Joe and I just broke up. What makes you think that I'm the type of person to just throw myself at the next suitor?"

"You and the cop broke up?"

I looked up at him in amazement, "Where have you been, Batman? Living under a rock? We've been over for more than two weeks now. It's been the number one hot topic of the Burg Grapevine. There's all sorts of different variations of why Joe left town and the botched proposal. Some of the reasons are actually quite amusing. You should start catching up."

"Babe, I've been out of the country living in a jungle for the past couple of weeks. I'm not plugged into the Burg Grapevine yet."

I frowned at him, "I'm sure that Tank would've filled you in on the latest Bomber news."

He shook his head, "Tank doesn't gossip, Babe. Last I heard was that he's joined the FBI down in Langley. And a 'congratulations' was in order for the two of you, but I came back and found you half naked with my cousin and company medic."

"I didn't accept his proposal obviously and he moved on without me," I shrugged my shoulders.

"You ok?" he slid in closer to me.

"I'm fine. We weren't good for each other. He deserves better and now he's living the dream he was chasing before he even met me. It was for the best."

I sat back and quickly tried to change the mood settling in, "Anyways, Bobby and Les have been really supportive and great friends. However, Les snores like a hyena and I strongly disapprove of the women he brings home. The man should have some standards. Bobby's going to make a wonderful wife someday," I grinned. "That man can cook."

"Babe, I'm glad that they could be there for you."

Yeah, because you weren't and you ran off.

"Babe, I'm on contract with the Government. They can call me at a moment's notice and have me shipped out of the country within hours."

"I know."

"This is why my life doesn't allow for relationships."

Stop fucking reminding me. "I don't know why you keep telling me that. Nobody asked for a relationship with you," I tried to casually reply to his remark.

Standing up from the couch, I headed into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and dropped a couple of frozen toaster waffles into the toaster.

"Babe," Ranger followed me and turned me around, pinning me up against the counter.

I sighed loudly, "Ranger, I don't want anything from you but your friendship. All I ask of you is to be my friend. I'm not interested in a relationship right now either. I miss Joe. He hasn't even bothered to call me since he's left town."

The toaster popped out two brown crisp waffles. I pulled out a jar of peanut butter from the cupboard and slabbed on a generous portion onto each piece and grabbed a banana off of the counter and sliced them on top. I don't know where those bananas came from.

Now typically fruit would just be too much of a healthy food to consume for breakfast. But I felt that I needed to add something a rabbit would eat to my waffles with Ranger staring at me prepare my breakfast.

"I would offer you some but I'm pretty sure your response would just be, 'Babe, that stuff could kill you,'" I mocked his voice.

"Babe," he said, flashing his rare but brilliant 300-watt smile that could easily melt hearts.

"Seriously, Ranger. You need to go," I said, taking a bite of my waffle. "Next time call, knock, whatever, just stop breaking into the place. Besides, I need to get ready for my hot date with Manny today," I smiled.

I was about to take another bite of my piece of heaven when he startled me by grabbing me and roughly pulling me into him for a searing kiss. The waffle slipped out of my hands and landed peanut butter side on my chest.

"Ranger!" I cried out in agony peeling the waffle off of my chest. "You just ruined my breakfast!"

He grinned and bent down licking the peanut butter off of my chest and like lightening he had me in his arms and suddenly pressed down on the bed. Great so my first time lying on this new bed I had Ranger pressed up against me, ravaging me with kisses, I thought in annoyance. Wait — what was wrong with that again?

I moaned instinctively and wrapped my legs around his torso losing myself in his soft kisses, warm touch, and comforting aroma. Images of our forlorn night of lovemaking flashed in my head. Falling in love with Ranger was too easy, not to mention dangerous. I could easily fall right back into this game but honestly I'm not sure if I could take the heartbreak.

"Ranger, leave," I said firmly pulling my head back away from his.

"Have dinner with me on seven tonight?"

I shook my head, "I don't know when Manny and I will be done today and I don't want to cut my day short so that I can make it to dinner with you on time. Raincheck?"

He gave me a curt nod and walked out of the room without a second glance. Besides, how could I forget about the beautiful curvaceous woman who seems to be currently occupying his time? I may be the type to put up with a lot of bullshit but being a woman in a long string of others is not something I will not stand for.