Disclaimer: Not mine! All characters you recognize belong to JE. I'm just playing.

Warnings: Possible spoilers book 1-18

Author's Note: Thanks again to Cristi0819 for being my Beta. You're the best, Babe!

Previously:

And she was. We got her to the cop shop without incident and headed back to the Bonds office. Connie didn't have any more files waiting for me so I decided I should head home. I was excited about what Monday would bring and ready to spend a weekend relaxing and hopefully hunting for a new apartment. I finally felt like I was beginning to leave single life behind. While Ranger and I weren't "settled down" by any means, we were committed to each other. I was finally prepared to move out of my dorm room existence and into adulthood. I've never looked so forward to a Monday in my life.

Ch. 6

The weekend passed by in mostly a blur. I spent a good deal of Saturday looking at apartment buildings with Lula. And while my idea of what I wanted in an apartment and her idea of what made it great seemed to differ, we did walk away with one really good prospect.

The one we could agree was a 6-story apartment building located only a few blocks from RangeMan. There were currently only two units available, a one-bedroom unit on the third floor and a two-bedroom unit on the sixth floor. Lula seemed very happy with the one-bedroom unit thanks to the walk-in closet. Knowing how important it was to have room for all of her clothes and shoes, I could appreciate the closet being the selling factor for her. The bathroom was nothing spectacular, but she said the apartment felt very "homey" to her and the price wasn't outrageous.

The moment I saw the two-bedroom unit, I fell in love. It was located on the southwest corner of the building and from the master bedroom window I could see the windows of Ranger's apartment. The closet in what was amazing with an organizer built in that would be perfect for my ever-expanding shoe collection. The bathroom attached to that bedroom was a huge step up from my current bathroom, with no orange and brown tile in sight. The tub was slightly larger than standard and the shower came with a deluxe massager.

The second bedroom in the unit was smaller than the master but would be perfect for a makeshift office, combination spare guest room in case Grandma Mazur ever needs to escape from my mother again. This way neither of us would be on the couch. The kitchen wasn't huge but it opened up to the living room with an island/breakfast bar separating them, a perfect location for Rex's cage. The dining room sat adjacent to the living room and a small bath with a pedestal sink, toilet and stall shower sat between it and the second bedroom.

While the apartment was bigger than I really needed, something about it was screaming at me to get it. Not one to go against my spidey-sense, I was determined to have Ranger check it out and if it met his approval for security, I would begin the paper work to make it mine. I was able to convince the super to hold it for one week to allow Ranger and his men time to check it out.

With that task handled much quicker than anticipated, I spent the rest of my Saturday and all of Sunday going through most of my apartment deciding what I would keep, what I would donate and what should go to the garbage. Ranger stayed with me at my apartment on Saturday and I stayed with him on Sunday after he convinced me it would give me more time to sleep on Monday morning before being to work by 9 a.m. And considering he kept me awake late into the evening, I was thankful for the extra time.

Ranger woke me when he returned from his workout at 6:30. He knew I wanted plenty of time to get ready. We shared breakfast and then while he headed down for the morning meeting, I got ready. I wanted to surprise Ranger by showing up downstairs fully dressed. I wanted him to know I was taking my role with the company seriously. I smiled as I attached my thigh holster, hoping Ranger would appreciate the effort and perhaps take extra time to show me how much he appreciated it later.

Apparently several of the Merry Men wanted a shot at being my partner, so I would have to partner with two each day and have my final decision by the end of the week My first day I would spend partnering with Manny and Hal. I was still very nervous about having to choose between them but was reassured by each one that there would be no hard feelings.

I can tell you, Manny must have wanted to be my official partner awfully bad to start the day by bringing me two Boston Creams and a cup of coffee made to perfection. I had been waiting in the kitchen for them to arrive and heard the elevator before they knocked. Before I opened the door to greet Manny and I Hal I heard Hal telling him, "That's low man. You could at least let me tell her the coffee's from me." I opened the door quickly hearing the word coffee not allowing them time to knock and was rewarded with a huge smile on Manny and a blush creeping up Hal's face. It might be fun to keep Hal as my partner just to have someone around who seems to blush more often than I do.

Manny handed over the goods and we were on our way out the door. They already had two skip files left over from Saturday morning that they had done preliminary research on. Tommy Mancuso, age 45 had assaulted a female bartender leaving her shift at a bar just off Stark Street. He was highly intoxicated at the time and claimed he thought she was a 'ho and was just trying to "score." When the guys did their research, they found out he liked to drink heavily most nights and could likely be found sleeping it off in his apartment located at the end of Stark. While that part of Stark wasn't somewhere I would feel very comfortable going alone, with two Merry Men with me, I didn't mind.

We arrived at Mancuso's apartment and as predicted he was passed out on his couch. Manny picked the lock and he, Hal and I approached Mancuso in silence. Hal was just behind me but when I bent down to pick up the beer can I had knocked onto the carpet, Hal stepped in front of me to assist Manny with cuffing Mancuso. About that time, he woke up and threw up all over Hal. Manny gagged, turned and threw up on his own shoes.

I stood there momentarily looking like a fish and then jumped to action and was able to cuff Mancuso before he could get himself off the couch. I had to hide my grin that I was the only one walking away clean from this. Maybe my luck was changing.

We delivered Mancuso to the station and then stopped by Manny's apartment so he and Hal could clean up. It was amazing to me that men could clean up so quickly. Manny and Hal combined took less time than me.

The next skip we were looking for was Stanley Gallo. He had held up Ricci's Liquor Store on Stockton Street. Stanley lived on the edge of the Burg and his wife recently left him for his neighbor and best friend Guiseppe Costa. He came home from work on a Thursday afternoon to find his wife's side of the closet completely empty and a note saying sorry, but that she and Guiseppe were in love and she was going to be moving in with him. Apparently she left their liquor cabinet and bank account empty as well and Stanley was in need of a little comfort, which led him to Ricci's. His bond was high because he robbed the store at gunpoint and shot the clerk in the shoulder in his efforts to get away. Unfortunately for Stanley, he didn't also attempt to take out the camera behind the counter, which captured his crime in living color. Luckily for Stanley, the shot was a clean in and out with no serious damage done. The clerk, Tom Lyons, had gone through a similar situation with his ex-wife and didn't file additional charges against Stanley. Instead, he invited him to a support group.

Grandma Mazur and Stanley's soon to be ex-wife, Margaret, often spent time together at the Clip –n- Curl so when Stanley saw me with Manny and Hal, he decided to come without any argument. He didn't want to give Margaret anything more to talk about at the salon.

I finished my shift playing 20 questions to pass the time of a four-hour surveillance shift. I learned that Manny's favorite donuts were jelly-filled and that he had had two this morning between the Tasty Pastry and meeting me. Hal doesn't like donuts, but he loves chocolate chip muffins. He told me he would bring me one next time. Neither answered very succinctly when asked questions about their family, leaving me to believe they either weren't close with family or weren't comfortable sharing that much personal information with me.

Ranger and I had dinner together, but spent Monday evening sleeping apart as he had to cover a surveillance shift from 10-2. Despite knowing I would be missing Ranger as well as his sheets, I decided to spend the night in my own apartment. There were still some things I needed to go through in anticipation for my upcoming move. Tuesday morning I awoke to feather light kisses moving down across my jaw and down my neck. When I opened my eyes I was greeted by two nearly black with desire eyes and an almost smile.

"Morning, Babe."

"Mmmm." That seemed to be all I could muster at 6 a.m. I was trying desperately hard to be angry that he woke me up when I still had 30 minutes before my alarm clock went off, but I suppose if I had to wake up early, this was a pretty nice way to wake up.

"I missed holding you in my arms last night," Ranger said as he continued to kiss down my body after lifting my shirt up and over my head.

"I missed you too. I had the hardest time falling asleep. I tried in vain to organize my pillows around me, but they just didn't compare to you," I said sounding slightly breathy even to my own ears. "Isn't it early for you to be finished with your morning workout?"

"I decided to forgo a normal workout and instead I ran over here and thought I would see if I could interest you in joining me in the shower," Ranger said lifting his head and giving me his famous wolf-grin as his hands slowly slid down my body and rested on top of my mound with only a light strip of panties separating him from where I wanted him to be.

"You know, I've been told before you are pretty good in the shower but it has been a while, so I might need a reminder," I said to him giving him my own attempt at a wolf-grin as my hand slid under the waist band of his basketball shorts.

Before I knew it, he had me up with my legs wrapped around his body and was quickly moving into the bathroom. He held me as he reached in to turn on the water to allow it to warm up and then with one hand under my thigh for support his other hand proceeded to rip off my panties and toss them aside. I quickly helped to relieve him of his shirt and he somehow managed to lose the shorts and before I knew it I was pressed up against the cold tile wall. A small shriek from the sudden coldness was caught with Ranger's mouth as he aggressively kissed me as if we had spent weeks apart instead of just one night.

Forty-five minutes later we were both clean after our second attempt and my memory was definitely refreshed with how good he was in the shower. I would have to curl my hair creatively today if I was going to avoid showing the marks Ranger left on my neck. Not that I was at all embarrassed by them, but I was partnering with Lester and Bobby today and I didn't need to give Lester any extra ammunition for his attempts to have me constantly blushing.

Ranger and I rode together to Haywood for me to meet Lester and Bobby. We had a high dollar skip to go after and they hadn't had much luck in tracking him down so we were going to spend a little time digging deeper in the search engines to see where he might be hiding out. The guys know the programs and are pretty good with them, but sometimes they don't think outside the box when looking for clues to find a skip. I will admit, that is one thing I'm pretty good at.

An hour later we were on our way to 587 State St. to pick up Albert DeSalva. I couldn't help but balk at the name when I first saw the skip's file. Bobby had asked me what was with the face I made and I explained that his name was one letter off from the name of the Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo and his crime was strikingly similar. DeSalva, 33 had sexually assaulted Maria Finelli, a 24-year-old nursing student after her shift at St. Francis Hospital. She had been walking home in the early evening when he pulled her into an alley, raped her and was attempting to suffocate her with a plastic bag when one of the TPD's finest happened to walk by. Luckily the cop, not one I was familiar with, heard her struggling and was able to subdue DeSalva just in time. Hospital reports showed serious lack of oxygen and had her airway been compromised much longer it would have had a different outcome.

Lester and Bobby tried to get me to stay in the SUV for this pick up but after my best Burg glare they agreed to let me participate but pleaded with me to stay back. DeSalva was dangerous and they didn't want me to get caught in the crossfire if he happened to be armed. The takedown was easy, too easy in fact and it left me with my spidey senses screaming. Lester had knocked on the door and when DeSalva answered, Bobby quickly maneuvered behind him blocking his retreat back inside. DeSalva had his eyes on me the entire time and I don't even think he heard what Lester was saying or realize that Bobby was cuffing him. He hummed a creepy song the entire way to the police station. When Bobby got him out of the back of the SUV at the station he leaned toward the front passenger window where I was sitting and gave me a sinister grin that caused goose bumps to spread all over my arms. That was one guy I hoped to never cross paths with again. Lester noticed my shiver and asked if I was ok. I nodded and said, "yeah, just a little cold." Since it was early November, it was believable. I didn't want to make a big deal about DeSalva.

With our only skip now in custody, I convinced Bobby and Lester to take some time working on a little bit of self-defense and B&E with me. I'm still not sure about spending time in the gym, but I had promised Ranger I would try to improve my other skills to be more effective and with time on my hands I figured I would get a jump on it.

Bobby showed me how to get out of a few basic holds that I would come across if being attacked from the back. After several attempts with each hold we moved to front holds. I had to reign in my panic the first time Bobby straddled me and put his hands to my throat. After explaining that this would be a difficult hold to get out of and that I wanted to avoid getting into this position with a skip, as if that wasn't obvious, Bobby showed me a couple tricks to get out of it. Two hours later I was in need of lunch and my stomach was speaking up loudly. With a chuckle, Lester suggested Shorty's and even though it was no Pino's it was still pretty good pizza, so I readily agreed.

During lunch I attempted the same game of 20 questions to see if I could get these guys to let down some of their walls and share a little bit of their personal lives with me. I learned that Bobby and Lester both met Ranger in boot camp but that they knew they would always have each other's back after a mission overseas that they couldn't elaborate on. I appreciated that small detail and didn't push any further, respecting that they shared what they could.

While Lester spent a lot of his time joking through his answers, Bobby really did open up. More than any of the Merry Men had before. He told me he has a younger sister, Monica who is married and lives in Alabama with her husband and two year old son Alex. She works as a lawyer and her husband is an engineer. Bobby spoke with such pride in his voice when he described her, Alex and her husband John. It was great to see him being so open. He explained that he had a great relationship with his Mom, Judy but that his Dad, Robert and he didn't have the best relationship. His Dad wasn't happy that Bobby hadn't chosen to make a career with the Army, being a career Naval Commander himself. While his Dad seemed to respect what he was doing now, things hadn't been the same since Bobby left active service and he didn't seem to hide his disappointment in him.

That was something Bobby and I had in common. A parent who didn't seem to understand the choices we made and weren't afraid to let us know their disappointment in the fact that we didn't choose what they thought was best for us.

After lunch, we worked on B&E. Lester showed me how to pick just about any and every lock I could potentially come across, including handcuffs. He had me working on them in front of me, behind my back and while secured to shackles at my ankles. I'm sure I looked silly while I struggled to open them, but neither Lester nor Bobby allowed their faces to show it if they thought so, which made me more comfortable during my attempts. The B&E work took up the rest of the afternoon and before I knew it I was meeting Ranger on seven for dinner. We discussed the apartment I found and I showed him where it was located out his living room window. He smiled at how close I would potentially be and agreed to go with me the next day to check it out.

After my chocolate cake prepared especially for me by Ella, Ranger carried me to the bed where we laid together in each other's arms. He told me he had to make up for the time he missed having me in his arms the night before. We spent hours holding one another talking about family, the goals he had for RangeMan, and how he saw me helping him reach those goals. We talked about our future together and while we didn't spend much time discussing marriage or kids, Ranger did tell me of all the places he wanted to take me around the world. We spent hours making love and then drifted to sleep holding tightly to one another. It was one of the best night's sleep I had ever had.

TBC…

Author's Note: So…what do you think? Please let me know how I'm fairing. Review!