A/N: So I have been duly reminded by my super fantastic readers that Mr. Morelli did not leave the key! Was it on purpose or simply an oversight my part? We shall see...
I wanna give a great big shout out to my new beta TexanBabe (yay!), who has been listening to my ramblings for the past week (the poor dear) and giving me some structure in my otherwise come-what-may approach to writing this fic. So, props to her =)
As always, a thank you to my chief nudge-r Margaret Fowler (she only had to nudge me twice this time), and to every one of you lovely ladies (and men?) who've left me a review, you make my day much brighter.
I'm almost at 100 reviews, I'm so excited! And hey, this chapter is over 2000 words, are you proud of me? Was it worth the wait?
Read On!
Previously:
Steph looked up at the man as he passed by her, struggling to keep the air of finality without letting any regret creep in. She didn't want to give Morelli any false hope.
And she seemed to pull it off, because the lips Morelli pressed to her forehead before he strode out the door definitely felt like a final goodbye.
Chapter Six
SPOV
For a moment, Steph wavered at the open front door, uncomfortable with the sombre mood. Morelli wasn't a bad guy, he was just... a guy.
Which reminded her of the other guy she still had in her apartment. Steph shut the door, hoisted Lisa higher on her hip, and retraced the few short steps back into the kitchen.
I don't think you can call Batman a guy, she mused, rounding the corner to survey the six foot something Latino lounging against her kitchen counter. The thought made her pause at the point where the faded carpet met the patterned lino, and she took another look at what appeared to be Casual Ranger wearing a plain grey t-shirt and a pair of well worn dark wash jeans.
Point taken. That's definitely a man.
And then she noticed his feet. The bare, masculine feet peeking out from beneath the dark wash jeans.
Damn.
...
...
Damn.
And then:
Make yourself at home, why don't you?
Which was a thought she enjoyed a little too much, so she gave herself a mental headshake and tried to focus on the piece of wall just beside Ranger's left ear.
You'll be less distracted if you don't actually look at him.
Yeah ... right.
"Babe?"
She avoided the question by adjusting Lisa on her hip again, but it seemed Ranger's ESP was broken because he asked again, "Babe, are you okay?"
"You're not wearing any shoes."
But he was not to be dissuaded. "You wanna talk about it?
Do I look like I want to talk about it? "Yes. Where are your shoes?"
Ranger looked like he was thinking about being exasperated as he pushed of the counter to come stand in front of her, his feet a hair's breadth away from the mysterious lino/carpet line.
"Do you want to talk about what happened with Morelli?" he asked carefully, dipping his head to try and catch her gaze.
Um, no. "I'm sorry, did you say you're ordering me a meatball sub?"
If Ranger had a confused face, this was definitely it. "Babe?"
"Two meatball subs?"
He gave her a disbelieving look.
"That's what I thought."
She left a bewildered looking Ranger staring at her back as she carried Lisa into the lounge.
So this is what it feels like to get the last word.
She gave Lisa a slow, secret grin as she laid the baby down onto her play mat.
I think I like it.
Eventually, after laying Lisa down on her play mat and arranging herself on the couch, Ranger followed Steph through to the lounge. With Steph splayed out in a modified form of her thinking position, and a lack of other furniture in the small room, Ranger lowered himself onto the floor with his back leaning against the couch. He was within arm's reach of both the females in the room, and used one hand to tug at the adult woman's curls and the other to rub the baby girl's stomach.
It was a while longer before he spoke. "My shoes are at the front door. It's raining outside."
"Uh huh."
The conversation lapsed until Steph remembered one of Val's instructions.
"Did you burp her?"
"Yeah, Babe." He looked down at the baby, noticing that her eyelids had started to droop in the same way her Aunt's did when she was worn out. "She'll be asleep again soon."
"I'll be asleep soon if you keep playing with my hair," she said wryly, rolling onto her side and folding her arms under her head. She fidgeted a little bit more, adjusting her legs, shifting her arms. From her position on the couch see could see the two folders that sat on her coffee table. She knew she'd left them in the kitchen, but why had Ranger moved them? The sight was niggling away at her as she wriggled on the narrow couch.
The two folders she had been given were both low bond, peanuts-for-income skips. One was born, raised and resided in the 'Burg, and would be easy enough to bring in. The second folder was a first time domestic abuse, although the low bond reflected not the harmlessness of the skip, but rather the lack of evidence on the weapon that the wife had claimed was used.
Neither, however, were people she wanted near her niece.
Steph blew out a loud sigh and wriggled some more. Even if Val did recognise that having Lisa would put a cramp in Stephanie's criminal-catching plans, none of her family would know the financial strain it would put Steph under. Living pay cheque to pay cheque, there was definitely no money saved away for Steph to fall back on. Although she had managed to keep her empty bank account a secret from friends and family, there was one person that she couldn't hide from.
He was sitting on her floor, eyes fixed on his hand that continued to rub methodical circles on her niece's tiny tummy.
Her thoughts were melancholy, but she smiled in spite of herself. Never thought I'd see the day.
Steph looked back over at the folders. If Ranger wanted to talk about them, she was sure he'd have a solution she didn't want to hear. She knew she was going to balk if he tried to solve her problem for her. Even though her priority right now was Lisa, Steph still wouldn't be able to swallow her pride and accept Ranger's help if there wasn't a way to pay him back.
Unless...
"I can't chase those skips with Lisa in tow." She spoke as the idea unravelled in her head.
"RangeMan can take care of your skips Babe." And that was what she was counting on, so she steam-rolled ahead.
"But I can trace them. I can do the legwork, hand them to your men gift-wrapped. I just can't be the person to pick them up."
Ranger nodded slowly, aware that the compromise would lessen the argument when he had the full pay-out wired into her account.
"If I came in and used your search programs, I could do the same for some of your skips. Clock some man hours to make up for using your men."
Steph watched Ranger closely. For what felt like a long time, he remained still, and she concentrated on not fidgeting so that she didn't break his Zen. Eventually, he nodded again.
"Zero has your cubicle now. You can use my office."
"On seven?"
"On five."
Steph struggled with the logistics of two people sharing one desk, but if Ranger was prepared to lend her a Merry Man or two, she wouldn't complain about his odd request.
"I'll need to bring Lisa with me," Steph said. She didn't doubt that Ranger hadn't factored in Lisa, but she put it out there to make sure that they were both on the same page.
Ranger barely glanced down at the brightly coloured activity centre that Lisa lay on before speaking. "Her mat will fit on the floor."
"I don't think they make the play mat in black," Steph quipped, but she wove her hand into his and squeezed to give the thanks she was too inhibited to verbalize.
He squeezed back. "Come in Monday Babe. Take this weekend to get the hang of babysitting."
With her skip-problem solved, Steph had relaxed into the couch, back to making her arms into a comfortable pillow for her head. "Monday," she repeated. And then she grinned.
"Should I get Lisa a black onesie for work?"
"Babe."
From there they lapsed into a comfortable silence, Stephanie with her eyes closed and Ranger with one finger still loosely wrapped around a curl. When Lisa was moments away from being claimed by sleep, Ranger tugged on that curl, and Steph unfolded herself from the couch to carry her niece into the bedroom. She went over Val's instructions in her head as she laid Lisa down in the Porta-Cot.
No pillow. Check.
Tucked in tight. Check.
Baby monitor. Not needed. Though she knew Val had expected her to leave the cot in the lounge, Steph knew she would worry with the child those extra few steps away. Maybe she wasn't the most maternal woman in the world – a fact that had started more than one fight with Morelli – but this was her niece ... her very young, very small niece. Despite that she wasn't a fan of children, family was family, and Steph wasn't about to let her own opinions affect how she took care of her family. So the bedroom it was.
And it would only be for a few days, right?
"Could be a week Babe," Ranger spoke from the hallway. He came to stand behind her, a hand resting lightly at the nape of her neck, his thumb slowly stroking the sliver of skin underneath it.
If Steph hadn't already sorted out her work with Ranger, she knew she would have panicked. Even now she struggled not to flinch, wondering exactly how she was going to stay sane looking after an infant for a week. She'd be calling Mary Lou so often her best friend would leave her phone off the hook!
It's just a week, she told herself. It's just a week, it's just a week, it's just a week. Oomm.
"You want me to stay over tonight Babe?" If the humour in his voice counted for anything, Steph knew she'd spoken aloud again. She considered his offer, but he was already supplying her with Merry Men. She wasn't sure how she could pay him back for his own time.
"No, I'm a big girl, I can handle this." Maybe.
Ranger leaned in close enough that when he ran his nose down her neck, she could feel the smile on his lips as he spoke. "I could keep the bad guys away."
Stay strong, she thought. I am a capable Aunty! "I don't have a stalker this week."
By now Ranger's strong chest was flush with her back. "I could keep the bed warm."
Steph was already plenty warm as his heat washed over her from his position behind her. "I think I've had enough excitement for one day. I haven't even had lunch yet and I can't decide whether I'm hungry or tired."
His arms slipped around her waist. "Hungry, Babe?"
"Maybe I'm tired."
She felt the mega watt grin that he pressed into her shoulder. Ranger's arms tightened for a fraction of a second before he dropped a kiss on her curls and released her to make an exit.
She stayed where she was, a wide smile on her face from their banter as she listened to Ranger putting on his shoes. When she heard the front door open she turned her head over her shoulder and called out to him.
"Batman?"
He paused, waiting for her to speak.
"Thanks."
His voice was warm as it carried down the hallway into her bedroom.
"No price Babe."
Steph wasn't sure how long she spent standing at Lisa's cot after she'd heard the front door close and the deadbolt slide home, so when she heard an impatient knock at the door, she jumped.
"Pino's delivery, enjoy your Pino's meal!" Stephanie opened the door to an exuberant youth holding a takeout bag thrust out in front of her. Bewildered, Steph took the bag, but called out as the teenager began to walk away.
"I didn't order Pino's!"
The young girl didn't pause, but instead turned to face Steph whilst walking backwards towards the elevator. "This is the right address, I double checked."
"But I didn't pay for it!"
"It's paid for," sang the girl.
"But ..." Steph faltered. How do you explain to a kid that she regularly received gifts from her stalkers?
"The guy who ordered it was super gorgeous too. To die for! Gosh I wish a gorgeous man would order me food," she gushed, almost at the elevator.
Wait a minute. "What did he look like?" Steph yelled down the hallway.
"Like an action hero! A tall, dark, yummy action hero," was all the description Steph got before the elevator doors closed in front of the teen.
Ahh. If anyone would mistake that description for Morelli they'd need to be shot.
Steph looked down at the bag in her hand, and then peeked inside.
There were two Pino's subs with MTBLL scrawled in black sharpie across the wrapper.
She shook her head and grinned.
Carlos Manoso. He's not just an action hero. He's Batman.
End
A/N: Okay so I just remembered that you Americans are weird about your shoes, but where I come from it's pretty rude to wear shoes inside, especially if you've been stepping in puddles. You almost always take them off at the door. So forgive me for that non-canon boo boo.
Love love love...
-Sarah
