Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich. Not making any money, just writing this story for my own amusement. Couple of OCs will be present in this story.

Rated M, adults will act like adults. There may be smut, but since I've never written it, I can't guarantee it will be any good.

Also, there may be spoilers from the actual novels, sorry for not warning sooner.


Chapter 7

October 19, 2011 1730 EST

Steph's POV

Leaving Haywood for the second time today, I decide to put in a metal mix CD that Sally for me to listen to on the way to his place. However, just as soon as the beginning drumbeat for 'Enter Sandman' comes on, I hear Sally audibly sigh next to me. Sneaking a glance over at him, I notice that he looks tired as he stares down at his hands, examining his nails too closely.

"You want to talk about it?" I probe. Sally focuses his gaze on me, and I'm in shock at his expression; he looks heartbroken. Instead of answering though, he just shrugs and looks returns his attention to his nails. "Come on, Dude! Don't make me guess." I fish again. Looking back up at me, Sally gives me a weak smile.

"It's just…" He begins, but again, shrugs his damn shoulders at me. "Dammit! Shrug 'em again, I dare ya, punk! Going to bitch smack his ass if he does it one more time." "Smack mine, and I'll smack back!" Sally threatens with a small smile ghosting his face.

"Look, Steph, it's just, this happened two fucking months ago to Kat! Other than earlier, I haven't heard from her at all since it happened. Something this big happens, you'd think, you'd fucking think, that she'd let her friends know! Why the fuck did she wait so long to ask for help?" Sally spits out to me, venting his frustrations. Although he wants me to take his side, and I do to an extent, I can understand where Kat may be coming from.

"Sally, listen to me. I think she should've told you, but maybe she likes to live in the Land of Denial, like me? Maybe she wanted to pretend like it never happened? You may dress like a girl sometimes Sally, but you aren't one. Even the idea of being raped causes me to break out in a cold sweat, especially because I've come close to having it happen to me. It's a major fear for a lot of women, and, every woman has thought about what would happen to them, if the unthinkable were to happen, and they were raped. Would they survive, both literally and emotionally? Could they ever trust another man again, if they did survive? Should they seek help, because they need it, or avoid it, because they're ashamed? Do you realize that some women are actually embarrassed that they were raped in the first place?" Stepping of my soapbox, I steal another peek over at Sally. His expression is still that of a broken hearted kid, but he also has another sentiment brewing below the surface; understanding.

"I guess I…I was just hurt that she didn't tell me…why didn't she tell me?" He confesses.

"And I understand that Sally, but you have to see it from her side. Plus she's come to you now!" I remind him. Nodding his acceptance at my response, he switches his attention to the window.

"I just want her to be safe and happy again…" He whispers, not meeting my gaze again for the rest of the ride to his condo.

Luckily for me, it isn't a long drive, and we make our way quickly from the Cayenne to his front door. Having only been to his place when he lived with Sugar, I notice that he's completely redecorated the entire entry way.

Following Sally to his room, I step on a large platform heeled shoe, and trip forward smacking face first into Sally's back. We both collapse jumbling our limbs together. Way to be aware of your surroundings…I grumble to myself.

Sally, laughing at our new positions on the floor, disentangles himself from me and hauls me up off of the floor. "Thanks…" I mutter, and he just shrugs his shoulders, holding onto my hand and pulling me into his bedroom. "No wonder I almost killed us! Look at this mess…must've leaked out into the rest of the condo."

"Hey! I've been to your apartment, Steph! I know just how messy you can be!" He jokes, clearly hearing my thoughts. I should just keep my mouth taped shut, taking it off only when I want to actually speak. Would keep these thoughts from vomiting out of my mouth constantly.

"You mean, you've seen my old apartment. Seven always stays clean now."

"Yeah, because Ranger is a neat freak." Sally counters, giving me a knowing smirk, and then he takes in his room from the doorway. Still grinning, Sally shoos me to his bed, where I sit, and watch what I will now dub 'Cyclone Sally'. No wonder his entire room is a mess. He's completely indecisive when it comes to packing.

I watch dumbfounded, as he opens up all of his drawers, tossing out tops, both clearly women's tops and men's; skirts and jeans; dresses; and I swear something that has to be a kilt. Also, something I wish I didn't watch him do, as he opens another drawer, pulling out undergarments, clearly feminine. Finally, looking at the floor around him, he picks out a couple of outfits and makes his way to the bed. Plopping the pile down, he heads to a smaller dresser in the corner of his room by the TV. There, he grabs his makeup and nail polish. Depositing this smaller pile onto the bed, he races to his closet, pulling out a duffel bag and three pairs of shoes: a pair of black high tops, a pair of the most hideous wedge sandals I've ever seen, and a pair of black patent knee high go-go platform boots with what appear to be a 4" heel. With his new bounty firmly in his arms, he makes his way back to the bed. Tossing the shoes into the duffel, he folds his outfits and place them in next. Closing up the bag, he opens up a side compartment and haphazardly throws in his makeup, while gazing quickly around the room.

"Done in here!" He exclaims. I look at my watch and break down laughing. It has taken 'Cyclone Sally' just over five minutes to pack. That's got to be some type of record, I think to myself. Grabbing his bag and my hand again, Sally drags me along to his bathroom and grabs the necessities from there. Finishing, we make our way back out to the Cayenne. I still have some stray tears from watching him pack, but I get myself under control, hitting play on the console for the CD we never got a chance to listen to, 'Enter Sandman' starts up.

"Let's get this show on the road." I say, and with that, I start navigating us back to Haywood. We drive in sync together, singing 'Enter Sandman', and then 'The Heretic Anthem' by Slipknot, when it starts playing. Sally's head banging to the music, and I'm doing my version of a drivable head bang too. We make it back to Haywood, a little quicker, due to the music causing me to have a bit of a lead foot.

"Thanks for earlier." Sally starts, and I stare curiously at him, as we step out of the Cayenne together.

"For what?"

"For your explanation. For why maybe Kat never told me before today about what's been going on."

"Oh, no problem." I state dumbly.

"It helped." He responds, and we step into the elevator, looking at my watch, I notice that it's 6:45, so I decide to fob us up to seven. When the elevator opens its doors to the floor, I notice that there are loud muffled voices coming from the apartment. Squaring my shoulders for a possible disaster, I enter my home, dragging a reluctant Sally behind me.

The first thing I notice is that Ella has made us a fettuccine dish with garlic bread for dinner and a large salad. It smells heavenly, well the fettuccine and bread smell wonderful, the salad smells like salad. However, my food coma will have to wait, because I then take in the six large men in the room, five of them on one side near the living room and one close to the door where Sally and I are at. As soon as I shut the door, the voices drop immediately, but there's a thick tension in the air.

"I have the right to talk to her!" Tank shouts into the silence. The others glower at him, but they don't talk back. I stare at all of the guys, and then fix my gaze pointedly onto Ranger. He gives Tank a curt nod.

"Babe, Sally, Tank, my office now." He commands and heads back towards it. The others, Lester, Bobby, Cal and Woody look like they want to follow, but Ranger looks back at them with a hard glare. "You aren't coming. Go eat. Lester, after you're done, rest for a bit. We leave at 2030." He finishes, dismissing the others, as the rest of us head down the hall into his office, with Ranger closing the door behind him when he enters.

"Sit." Ranger commands, and I give him my best death glare. He knows that I hate being ordered around, and when he barks out commands like that, it raises my hackles. Noticing my temper is rising, itching for a fight, Ranger motions for me to stop. "Please Babe. Not now." Ranger groans. Submitting, I sit down in his office chair and Tank and Sally take the couch. Ranger looks around for a brief moment, before coming over to where I'm sitting. Picking me up quickly, he sits in the office chair, replacing the chair as my seat with his lap. Fine by me. I think to myself, leaning back into his chest, breathing deeply in his Bulgari scent.

"Tank knows Kat." Ranger says, getting right to the point. Sally looks shocked at that comment, looking from Ranger to me to Tank and then back again. If it wasn't for Ranger's voice when he gave that information, I'd be laughing at Sally's reaction. However, Ranger doesn't chit chat. He's telling us this for a reason, and based on the yelling and the edgy energy everyone out in the living room had, I'm guessing it's not a good reason.

"Earlier, almost right after you left, Tank called requesting an update. I had him meet me in my office on five, and I handed him the file. From the DOB and name, Tank surmised that Kat was his girlfriend from college. They dated for two years. He broke up with her, and it wasn't clean." Ranger quickly explains, giving the basics.

"And?" I ask, knowing there has to be more. Ranger leans into my hair, giving me a quick kiss on the back of my head.

"And, he wants to come with us to pick her up."

"Why?" Sally asks, shooting Tank an accusing glare.

"Because, I haven't seen her in nine years, and I want to make sure she's OK!" Tank gruffly retorts, dismissing Sally's glare and looking behind me at Ranger.

"Why haven't you seen her in nine years? And how bad was the breakup?" I ask, putting all of my attention onto Tank. He reluctantly looks at me for a brief moment, and then he gets a nervous look on his face.

"Look Little Girl, it was nine years ago. I've changed, and I just want to help her."

"And we will when she gets here, but why haven't you seen her and how bad was the breakup?" I question again. Blowing out a sigh, woah, Tank sighing!, he looks over at Sally, for what, I'm not sure.

"Breakup was pretty bad. We dated our Freshman and Sophomore years. I joined the Army right before our Junior year-"

"And she dumped you for that?"

"No, Bomber, I broke it off with her." Tank quickly corrects, defending Kat. "After Basic, a few soldiers got it in my head that all women cheat, and that I'd be better off solo, so I broke up with her. But she still waited. My mom and sister made her think that I was just scared, and Kat wanted to prove that she could be faithful. After waiting for three years, my mother and sister confessed that I knew she'd been waiting, but when I still didn't try to get back with her, Kat assumed I didn't love her anymore."

"And do you?"

"Do I what? Still love her?" Tank asks, looking at me, and then down at his hands. When I nod, he does too.

"Tank! You're marrying Lula in four months!" I shout at him. Oh, if he hurts my girl, I'll make his life hell.

"You guys are still gonna help her though, right?" Sally quietly asks from his seat. I look at him, for a brief moment before spinning around in Ranger's lap to face him.

"We have to Ranger! Tank can go somewhere else or handle other RangeMan duties! We have to help Kat. We've already promised. I told her we'd catch the bastard! We can't just-" Whatever we can't just do disappears from my brain, as Ranger's lips descend onto my mouth, forcing it to accept his tongue.

As quickly as the kiss starts, it ends, with me staring stupidly at a grinning Ranger. "Of course we'll still help her. The rest of the guys don't want Tank to come on the pickup." He pauses briefly, "but, I wanted to wait to ask your thoughts on it, before I said one way or another."

He wants my opinion?! What could go wrong with Tank coming with us? They meet again after nine years, and devastated, Kat kills Tank. Or, they meet again and re-fall in love!? Oh, that can't happen. Poor Lula. She's going to be devastated. The wedding will be cancelled. "Damn, I'll have to return my dress!"

"What the hell are you talking about Bomber?!" Tank barks out. Ranger tenses underneath me at Tank raising his voice to me. I just blush, because I realize that I can't give really tell him what I was thinking. I just shrug, and look back up into Ranger's smirking face. He always knows exactly what I'm thinking.

"Even if Steph doesn't think it's a bad idea, we're still going to call Kat and ask her permission too. If she doesn't want you there, or on the case for that matter, you won't be." Ranger states calmly.

"Well, call her then!" Tank frustratingly snaps back. Ranger slaps a blank face in place, and I twist my neck to see Tank slowly shrink back into the couch. Giving him a good minute to calm down, Ranger reaches behind him, turning on the speakerphone to his landline and dials in the number.

"You don't talk." Ranger commands, fixing his gaze onto his second in command briefly.

"…Hello?" We hear Kat quietly answer the phone, audibly yawning.

"Kat, its Ranger."

"Oh! Hey, what's up?" She cheerfully asks. It's weird to hear her sound so upbeat, because not even four hours ago her voice sounded pitchy and panicky.

"We're still planning on getting to you by midnight, but there may be an eighth. Need to get your input though." Ranger begins to explain.

"Another person to protect me? Hell, I'm all for that!"

"He says he knows you."

"Oh? I don't know anyone from New Jersey, other than Sally. Well, and now you guys. What's his name?"

"Pierre." I hear a gasp, and then a loud bang. A couple of seconds tick by, and then I hear Kat breathing slightly heavier on the phone.

"As in Pierre Pierre, like from college Pierre?" She asks, her voice now slightly raspy with a hidden emotion. That or she's panicking.

"Yes." Ranger tersely replies, giving nothing else away.

"Did he tell you about-umm, does he know about my situation?"

"Yes, and he wants to come down with us for your protection detail." Ranger confirms.

"Is he there?" Kat quietly asks, her voice now barely above a whisper. I look behind me and see both Sally and Tank have come over to stand next to the phone on the desk.

With a quick glance in Tank's direction, silencing him before he has a chance to talk, Ranger acknowledges Kat's question. "Yes, he's here."

"Can he hear me?"

"Yes."

"Shit, could you umm, Pierre, could you go away?" She hesitantly requests. Blank face in place, Tank makes no move to the door, but Ranger gives him an imperceptible shake of his head and then a nod towards the door. With the unspoken command to leave, Tank dejectedly does.

"He's gone." Ranger confirms to Kat, and I hear her let out a quiet sigh.

"Does he need to come?" Kat questions.

"No, and if you don't want him on the case, he won't be."

"Ranger, in your opinion, should he be?" She inquiries. Ranger gazes at me, blank face slipping as a small smile appears, and he leans in to give me a quick kiss.

"He's my second in command. If there wasn't a history between you and him, then he'd be helping. Either handling the search with me or commanding another team for a search. He's damn good at what he does. But there is a-"

"No, buts. You've given your opinion, and that is what I needed to hear. Look Ranger, no bullshit, we don't know how dangerous this guy is. I mean, I know how dangerous he is, but is that only with women who've modified themselves? Or, once you guys start digging for him, will he turn violent towards everyone involved? I don't want anyone getting hurt, and if Tank's that important to your business, I'd imagine that it wouldn't be the smartest to leave him out." She states, interrupting Ranger.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Just…look, I know it's not your job, but since you called about it and all, I guess you're concerned, either for me or for him or because you don't want any drama, and I don't either. So, I'm just gonna say it. If you want to let him know, that'd be great. I don't love Pierre anymore, well, I'm not in love with him anymore. If he could just treat me like a stranger or just as a job that would be perfect. We'll just stay totally professional and polite, but that's it." She blurts out to us, quickly and then exhales loudly.

"Will do."

"Thank you! Damn, it's almost 7. I really need to lie back down for a little bit longer before Mitch leaves. Sorry, you guys are absolutely still coming, right?"

"Correct. We'll be there by midnight."

"OK, good. See you then!" Kat disconnects. Simultaneously to the disconnect, my stomach let out a loud growl, making itself known due to my neglect of it today.

"There better still be food left!" I grumble and race to the door. However, instead of being able to run into the kitchen, I collide into a mountain. "Dammit Tank! Outta my way!" I exclaim, trying to push past him. He doesn't move.

"What's the word?" He demands.

"You're not going, but you're still on the case in general. You will give her space and be professional at all times." Ranger orders him and then walks directly forward. Tank moves quickly to avoid being run over by Ranger, and I follow with Sally on my tail to the kitchen for dinner.

It smells even more wonderful than earlier! Grabbing a plate, I toss piles of fettuccine onto it with two pieces of garlic bread. Heading to the island to eat, Ranger grabs the back of my collar, keeping me from going to sit down.

"Forgetting something, Babe?" He inquires with a smug look on his face. Grumbling to myself, I turn back around. Looking at the evil salad, I grab a small scoop and put the offending greenery onto my plate. "Of course, no ranch to get rid of the taste," I mumble to myself, getting a laugh from Woody and Cal, who are leaning up against the wall near the island. Throwing a one-finger salute in their direction, I make my way to my stool and begin digging in.

Following my lead, Sally makes his way to where I'm sitting with Ranger directly behind him. We eat in silence for a couple of minutes. Well, they eat in silence, but the food is so delicious that I can't stop myself from moaning in delight after each bite. "Any dessert?" I ask, looking around for anything currently covered that could be hiding my precious treat. Unfortunately, I spy nothing that would indicate I'm getting anything delightfully sugary tonight.

"Sorry Babe. I forgot to mention dessert to Ella." Ranger apologizes, shifting in discomfort at forgetting my treat.

"Payback's a bitch, Ranger." I grumble, fixing my death stare onto him. He gives me a wolf grin, and I innocently smile back. "Not tonight dear, I have a headache."

"Damn Boss! Beautiful is serious about her dessert, huh?" Lester jokes, "bet you're wishing you didn't forget about it? Bet you're wishing you could call Ella up right now to fix it? Bet you're wishing for an emergency cake stash? Bet you're-"

"Wishing you'd shut the fuck up?" Ranger growls at him.

Lester gives me a flirty grin, waggling his eyebrows. "Beautiful, since the Boss is in the doghouse, if you need me at any time tonight during the flight, come on up to the cockpit." Another growl rumbles from Ranger's chest, as he possessively places an arm around my waist.

"Enough. Santos! Babe go check your bag and make sure Ella was able to pack everything you'd need. We are leaving in five everyone." And with that remark, I race into our bedroom and see my bag on the bed. Opening it, I quickly scan the contents. Rushing over to the closet, I pull out another pair of pumps to toss in with everything else. Nodding to myself, I pick up the bag and head back out into the living room. Only Ranger, Sally and Tank are still in there.

"Good to go, Babe?"

"Aye, aye Cap'n!" I reply with a salute.

"OK smartass, let's go then." Ranger replies, grabbing the bag and my hand, as we head towards the door.

In the elevator, he turns to Tank, "Tank, don't pick up the vehicles at the airport. We'll be back Sunday evening at the latest and will need them. Call if you have an emergency." Ranger commands. The elevator stops, Ranger gives Tank another knowing look and Tank steps out of the elevator to begin running RangeMan.

"What was that about?" I ask.

"Just his attitude earlier." Ranger vaguely responds, and then he gives me an 'I'll tell you later' look, so I decide it's best to drop the subject for now. Sally just looks between the two of us, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Babe, you, Sally, and I will be in the Cayenne. Lester and Bobby are bringing a secondary vehicle and Cal and Woody are bringing another."

"Why three vehicles?" I question.

"Because, we're bringing three more back with us." Duh! I cringe to myself.

Not having much time to feel like a dork, the elevator doors open again, and I see the four Merry Men who will be coming with us, all dressed in black, looking like bad asses. I also notice that each have their guns holstered on their utility belts.

"Private plane, Babe." He answers my silent concern. I smile to myself and make my way over to the Cayenne. Giving the boys a finger wave, I plop myself into the vehicle unceremoniously. Ranger and Sally step into the vehicle with much more grace than me, the Merry Men follow our lead. With all of us comfortably in our vehicles, our convoy departs Haywood.