Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews. I know I don't answer them as often as I should but trust me when I say that each and every one means something special to me and that they keep me writing. I was hoping to add a little action to the story with Steph's broken leg being on the mend and all. Hope you like.

Chapter 10

As expected, Steph wanted to stay for dessert so I begrudgingly asked for the menu. I would have rather gone home and had Steph for dessert. But of course, I allowed her sweet tooth to come between us...again.

"Oh look, Carlos. They have tiramisu," she told me, reading every line of the small addendum as if her life depended on it. "Are you sure you don't want some?"

"I'm good, Babe. Order whatever you want."

"Whatever? I can get the tiramisu and the cannolis?"

"You can get whatever you like but I'd prefer you didn't throw up on me when I roll you on top later."

"Yeah, you might even rethink that proposal."

"Not gonna happen." If she only knew how long it had taken me to get my shit together.

The waiter came back to take our order and I couldn't help but wonder what Steph would do.

"Single espresso for me," I told him while Steph ran her finger down the menu one more time.

"I'll have the tiramisu," she ultimately conceded. "And a coffee. Light, please. And could you bring sugar with that? Thank you," she added, looking smug.

"Proud of you, Babe."

The phone in my pocket decided that now would be a good time to chime in. I looked at the display, put the speaker volume on low and handed it over to Steph.

"Lula?" she asked, tentatively taking it from me and glancing at it.

"Sorry to bother you again but it took Lester a while to get here...and Eisman left before he arrived. I tried to follow him but I wasn't going to run around Comstock on foot and I didn't want Lester to think I'd abandoned him. We don't do that to our partners..."

"What is it that you want Lula?"

"Can you come with me to pick him up tomorrow? I know where he's gonna be. It'll be easy and you won't have to do anything but sit in my car so no one steals it."

"What about Lester?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm on his shit list now."

Steph looked up at me and studied my face. I could tell she was feeling the draw of a little action. And as long as she wasn't doing anything more stressful than sitting in a car, I wasn't going to stop her.

She looked back down to the phone and then up at me again.

"You're decision, Babe. Just remember you can't drive. And maybe take Santos?"

She frowned but nodded. "What time?"

"Most days he heads over to the car wash on Broad at around 2:00. He goes into the office for about twenty minutes and then he comes out. I thought that would be a good place to get him, seeing that running through all those suds ain't much of an option. He be on his ass in ten seconds flat and then ol' Lula can pounce."

It wasn't a terrible plan but I was going to send a few men out to watch from the sidelines anyway. I wasn't taking any chances with Stephanie.

"Ok. I'll come with you. You want to pick me up at Rangeman around 1:15?"

"Well I been being nostalgic for the good ol' days. Thought we might wanna do Cluck in a Bucket, too. How's about I get you at noon?"

"Carlos wants me to take Lester."

"Well he's just gonna have to get his own ass there. This here is ladies time and he ain't no lady."

I'll say.

"I'm sure he can meet us at the car wash."

"This is gonna be fun. Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll be out front at 12 sharp."

"Ok, Lula," she said, handing me back my phone and rubbing her temples. "I love her but sometimes she gives me a headache."

"You going to be good with this, Babe?"

"Peachy."

Steph seemed anxious the next morning. It's been just about a month since she broke her leg and had to stop bounty hunting so I could understand the anxiety.

"Babe, are you ok? You can call Lula and cancel if you're not up to this, you know."

"I know. I'm good. I just haven't been out in the field for a while. And I don't want to be tempted to try to take him down if he accidentally finds his way near Lula's car while I'm watching it."

"That's why I want you to take Santos. He can be your legs for the day."

"Yeah, but I figured he'd partner with Lula. That is what he volunteered to do. Well, before she said something to piss him off."

"Santos has a short memory..."

"I don't think Lula should be doing a takedown alone..."

"Then Hal and Santos will meet you at the car wash. Hal can be your legs. He won't mind. He volunteered, too"

"Really?"

"As did Cal and Manny."

"My hubby?"

"Babe." I told her gruffly. I know they joke about her playing Mrs. Manuel Ramos to get in to see him after he was shot but I don't find it funny. No one is going to be her husband but me.

"Sorry, you know we laugh about it."

"Unfortunately I do. Although I'd rather not hear it."

"Are you jealous, Ranger?"

"Of Manny? No. I just hate that he calls you wifey."

"It's a term of endearment. He was happy I snuck in to check on him. Jeez, you'd think I married him for real. You have to lighten up. I'm not going anywhere, Carlos. I said yes, I'm wearing your ring and all is good in my book."

"I'm sorry, Babe. I guess I'm a little possessive."

"A little?"

"I'll try to work harder on my social skills. I realize I'm being unrealistic; you have friends, acquaintances and a job to do. This is new to me. I've never had a fiancé before."

"Aside from Dickie, who doesn't count, me neither. The 'sort of engaged to be engaged' with Joe was bullshit. Even I knew it. It was a way of keeping you at bay. I'm sorry. You know I was afraid of being hurt..."

"I'd never hurt you."

"But I didn't know that until recently."

Me and my big mouth. "I guess I had commitment issues, too."

"Guess? The things you said to me were the reasons I tried to stay away..."

"I'm sorry, Babe. Forgive me?"

"Of course I do. Now if you'll let me get ready, I have a commitment to Lula."

I kissed her and let her get up from the table so she could get dressed for her lunch date/takedown.

She came out of our bedroom around 11:30 looking way to good for someone who was just meeting a friend for lunch. Her hair was perfect, her makeup subtle except for the red lips...and she was dressed to the nines in wide-legged pants to hide the boot and a low cut stretchy red tee.

"You look beautiful, Babe. Sure you don't want to stay home?" I asked, staring at her lips.

"Carlos. I have work to do. In case you don't remember, Lester is just helping me keep my job so Vinnie doesn't find a permanent replacement. I should be back by 2."

I had already thrown a tracker into her bag, unsure if any of the others I'd thrown in over the last six months had been neutralized. Of course, I could have just asked the control room to pull one of them up but I'm a man who errs on the side of caution. At least where Steph was concerned.

"I'll take the afternoon off. I want to be with you after your first day back."

"You're being ridiculous. You have a business to run. I'll stop by your office when Lula drops me off so you can see for yourself that I'm ok."

She was right of course. I didn't know why I couldn't seem to give her a little more rope. The worst was over, she'd only get stronger and stronger from here. "Well at least let me walk you to the door and we can wait for Lula together."

"Ok. Fair enough," she told me rolling her eyes in that adorable way I love so much.

When we got down to the foyer, Lula was already outside waiting in her Firebird. I knew that Tank had scattered a few trackers inside of it, so I wasn't worried. They had more coverage than they normally had.

"Your ride is here," I told her pointing out the car as flamboyant as Lula herself. "Have a good lunch," I told her, kissing her goodbye in front of Benny at the desk.

Lula's POV

I saw my girl and the Man of Mystery make their way to Rangeman's front door. She looked good and didn't even seem to be limping. He looked mighty fine, too. Not as fine as Tanky, but fine none the less. I beeped to let them know I saw them. Batman nodded to me and pulled Steph in for a kiss before letting her go. He then placed a kiss to the ring finger of her left hand. I thought I saw the light catch on something there...I'd have to look closer when she got in.

She opened the passenger door and made her way inside, more careful with that right leg than she was before she broke it. I ain't never broke anything but I could only imagine it still hurt. I took the opportunity to glance up at her hand. Yep, there was a big diamond on it. I could only imagine the scene Officer Hottie would create once he got wind of it. Good thing we weren't going to Pinos.

"Sos I see you got a new addition," I told her, referring to the ring.

"It's better than the cast and I can take it off to shower."

"That ain't the addition I'm talking about," I told her waving my left hand in her face.

"Oh, yeah...that. Um...Carlos asked me to marry him last night..."

"Congratulations, girlfriend. You need a hug," I told her, leaning awkwardly over the console to pull her into my arms. "Ain't everyday a girl gets engaged. Your mom and granny know yet?"

"Nope. We're going to stop by tonight and tell them but I think Carlos already spoke to my dad."

"Really? He asked permission? That don't seem like a Batman thing."

"I'm not sure but the last time I spoke with my dad, he sounded like he was in on a secret."

"Uh oh, this be getting good," I told her putting the car in gear so we could get to Clucky's and I could get more of the story from her.

It was still on the cool side and the sun wasn't too bright so we decided to eat our chicken and biscuits indoors. Not a particularly good place for a conversation, so not surprising Steph didn't tell me much. Connie and I could try to get the details from her tomorrow but knowing Steph, if she didn't feel like talking about something, she wouldn't.

Even though we didn't say too much, when I looked up at the clock it was twenty to 2. We needed to get going so we'd be in place before Eisman showed up. I had money from my takedowns this month since Les gave me the whole bounty, so I paid the bill for both of us and we got back into my car. Broad was about 5 minutes away so we'd still be fifteen minutes early. I just hoped Eisman wasn't going to be a no-show today.

I saw a black Explorer parked down the block from where I parked and pointed it out to white girl. "Looks like Les is already here..."

"And probably Hal, too. Carlos is a little over-protective," she told me as both doors of the Explorer opened simultaneously and Hal and Lester made their way over to my baby.

"He's already here," Les told me, pointing to a white Range Rover and ushering me out of the driver seat while Hal got into position to access it. "There's no back door so let's hang out in front. He's been in there for five minutes, should be coming out soon."

I looked over at Steph to make sure she was ok with the arrangements but Les already had a grip on my elbow and was pushing me away from my car. Guess we were doing this now.

Just as we got to the front door, it opened abruptly and two men ran out. Les called Hal on that comm thing they wear and took off after them. My skip, so I took off after Lester, Hal passing me seconds later. We were all in heavy pursuit, so it took me a second to realize that I heard my car engine turn over. What the fuck? I stopped and turned around and sure enough my car was on the move: Eisman in the driver's seat and Steph still in the passenger's.

I whistled for Les to let him know what was coming up behind us and then I saw Steph's body lean towards the driver, pulling the wheel sharply to the left. It also de-accelerated suddenly as if someone pulled the emergency brake. Well not too suddenly since it careened into a parked car. Shit. My Baby! Steph! The last thing I thought about before I moved towards the curb to throw up was that Ranger was going to kill me.

"Jesus Christ, Lula, what did you eat?" Les asked coming over to my side after making sure Hal had Eisman in cuffs and Steph was unharmed.

"We been together for a while now. You know a big, beautiful woman like me gotta keep up her strength. White girl and I had lunch."

"God help me," he said, shaking his head and leading me over to my heavy-damaged baby. I burst into tears as soon as I saw the exploded air bags and the smoke coming out of the engine.

Two other Rangeman guys, I think one was Cal, came around the corner with two guys in tow. One looked an awful lot like Eisman so I did a double take to make sure Hal still had him in cuffs.

"Brother," Cal told me, securing them into the back of yet another Rangeman vehicle.

Well whatever was going on, it looked like we got them all. I was praising myself, to myself, as yet another Rangeman vehicle pulled to a stop next to us. Tank and Ranger. Fuck.