A/N: So this new job is kind of kicking my butt! I get less downtime than I did with my previous employer so posting chapters keeps slipping my mind. So I apologize! Posting 2 chapters today! They're pretty blah and not too exciting yet so I apologize in advance but I hope to groove into it better with the next. =)

Previous Chapter: I scrunched my nose. Ranger thought I needed more discipline? "Fucking asshole," I swore under my breath.

Les shrugged, "He's the man you're in love with."

"I am not in l-lobe with him!"

"Did you just say 'lobe,' Beautiful?" Les' eyes twinkled in amusement.

"Shut up. I have skips to bring in before I leave for Sin City," I punched him in the ribs before stalking off.

Ranger, you are now further up on my shit list. I'll show him who needs further discipline.

Chapter 10

"Oooh, Short Round, this is going to be one hell of a trip!" Lula exclaimed fanning herself with the plane ticket as she positioned herself in the window seat.

I was positioned miserably in the middle seat squished in between Misty and Lula on the plane that seemed to not be pumping enough oxygen into the cabin and a crying baby in front of me and a monstrous four year old kicking my seat behind me.

So let's backtrack shall we? Why the hell was Lula sitting on the plane with us? Well, when I called Misty to clue her in on the plan, she in turn called Lula for "extra muscle" who called Tank for permission who thought it was a marvelous idea. Safety in numbers, he explained to me when she showed up at our briefing.

Ten minutes after takeoff, Lula was fashioned with a pillow and eye mask and snoring like a herd of water buffalo while Misty began callously flirting non-stop with the passenger across the aisle who was attending a conference for his company in Vegas. I waved down the flight attendant named, Dale, who reminded me of the cartoon chipmunk Simon with his tall slender body, round glasses and buck teeth.

"What can I do for you, Ma'am?" he smiled cheerily.

"Are there any empty seats I could move to by any chance?" I practically begged him.

He looked down on his clipboard and nodded, "There's an empty middle seat towards the front of the cabin in 9B. You are welcome to move to if that pleases you."

I nodded furiously and immediately began to stand up, "Yes, please." I know it's another middle seat but at least I was hoping I had a little bit of room to at least turn my head if I needed to.

I looked down at Misty, "I'm switching seats."

She nodded at me without making eye contact as she shifted over to allow me to pass. Sheesh, you'd think she was shopping for a new man or something with the way she was enthralled in her conversation.

I made my way up to the front of the cabin and stopped at Row 9 and looked down to find Deuce occupying seat 9A with a pair of earbuds on watching the inflight movie on the back of the seat in front of him, so much for not arriving together.

He looked up at me perking up to the typical Rangeman high alert when something seemed off base, pulling out his earbuds ready to spring into action.

I smiled at him and introduced myself to him through my given alias, "Hi, my name is Sandy. My neighbors are a little noisy so I was told I could take over the seat next to you."

He nodded and began unbuckling his seatbelt.

I stopped him, "It's ok. I can climb over you."

I stepped over his legs and as our thighs brushed up against each other while was straddling him my stomach began to get a fluttering feeling. He placed his hands around my waist and helped steady myself as I maneuvered into the seat.

I blushed slightly and buckled myself in, "Thanks."

"No problem," he replied nonchalantly and returned to his inflight movie.

Prick, I thought to myself before turning to the douchy-looking man sitting by the window, "Sir, would you please kindly remove your hand off of my thigh?"

He grinned up at me and slowly lifted his hands after giving my thigh a quick squeeze, "Sorry, I don't know how it got there."

I flashed him a smile, "No problem," and grabbed his crotched gave it a tight squeeze a twisted roughly, "let's just try to keep our hands to ourselves, huh? Cause sometimes my hand has a mind of its own too," and I released my grip and pulled a Cosmo Magazine out of my bag and sat back in my seat.

I might be mistaken but I thought I felt Deuce shift slightly further away from me.

^o^ * ^o^

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving in Las Vegas in fifteen minutes. At this time we ask you to remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened and your seat and trays restored to its original positions. Time of expected arrival will be 9:10am without a cloud in the sky at sixty-seven degrees."

I groggily willed my eyes to open and realized a blanket was drapped over me and I was sprawled all over Deuce. My leg was thrown across his lap, head in the nook of his arm as it draped across my shoulder and my hand fisted in his red skintight t-shirt. I lifted my head quickly and disengaged myself from him and blushed what I can only imagine a hideous shade of red that was competing fairly well with his t-shirt.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized.

"No problem," he replied stoically.

Wow, now I see why Ranger wanted him to partner with me to further "discipline" me. He was worse than Ranger with his no nonsense personality. He's the perfect example of a good solider. Probably plays everything by the rules and always follows his orders.

But you know Ranger used to be unmoving, but now he's slightly more open than he was from the first time I met him. If Ranger can break, so can Deuce. In the inspiring words of Barney Stinson of How I Met Your Mother, "Challenge accepted!"

^o^ * ^o^

We walked into my "new" two-bedroom apartment in Green Valley west of the city.

"This letter came for you," the Leasing Manager said handing me a plain envelop with my new alias on it. "If you need anything or have any questions, call me," he handed me his business card.

"Thank you," I replied with a quick smile.

"Yes, thank you so much…" Misty cooed grabbing the card out of his hand, "…Dodge. Dodge, that's a cute name. Sandy's new in town. I think maybe you should show her a good time on the town tonight."

Dodge's gave me a quick wink and smiled over at me, "I'm here to be of service to you if you need anything. My apartment is 106 right below yours."

Dodge was a really good looking guy with charm oozing out of his pores. He had soft brown eyes and dark think wavy hair that reminded me of Joe's how it always curled slightly around his ears and always seemed like he was due for a haircut.

I have him a quick head nod and shut the door behind me as he stepped out of the apartment. "For once, would you mind not pimping me out to random strangers making me look like a pathetic idiot?"

"But then what would I do for fun?" Misty shrugged her shoulder, grabbing her bags, and claimed one of the rooms.

"Yeah, Short Round, you've been looking kinda off lately since the cop skipped town. Maybe some lovin' is what you need or maybe some fried chicken. A bucket of Cluck in a Bucket always pulls me out of any kind of funk," Lula exclaimed loudly as followed Misty into the room.

"So what's the plan?" Misty asked appearing back in the living room. The apartment gave off the vibe of a rundown motel and was furnished with furniture that looked like it came out of the 1970s. Ranger had Hal set up an apartment for us and I guess in order to keep with our cover, we couldn't very well look like we were living in a life of luxury.

"The plan is that I get a job at the casino and try to dig up whatever information and dirt I can. Our goal is to locate Cami's boyfriend Mitch."

"So where do we come in," Lula asked plopping down on the armchair.

"You guys just need to act like tourists and hang around the casinos, get to know people and see if there's anything that you can learn on the streets. Your role is really to keep my cover story up. We have to be incredibly careful. The people we're dealing with could be extremely dangerous and Ranger's entire family is in harm's way right now."

Both Misty and Lula nodded their heads.

Lula beamed at me, "Girl, I think we should become actresses. If we pull off this caper, it will prove what great actresses we are. Maybe while we're out here, I can find us an agent."

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long ass assignment.