Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich. Couple of OCs will be present in this story.
Rated M, this story will have depictions of sexual violence, physical violence, crude language, and possible smut. If any of this offends you, please avoid this story.
There may be spoilers from the novels 1-18.
Chapter 10
October 20, 2011 0600 CST
Ranger's POV
Hearing the alarm on my watch, I swiftly turn it off and shift out from underneath Steph's warm, delicious body. While it's only 0600, my day has officially started without me. I woke earlier, but my body wasn't willing to move away from Steph. Looking down at her sleeping, peaceful form, I contemplate whether to skip a workout today, but knowing that my body will rebel against me if I did, I drag myself away from my temptress.
Quietly, I move about Kat's bedroom, efficiently throwing on my gym clothes and running shoes. Afterwards, I walk down the hallway to where Lester's sleeping and slip silently into the bedroom. He's sound asleep and his subconscious doesn't even recognize that another person come into the room with him. Not good. He should be uncomfortable at my being here. He should be waking up to figure out what's causing the discomfort. But he's not, and that's unacceptable. Stepping lightly up the side of his bed, I take a jab at his shoulder.
"Huh, wha-?" Lester groans, attempting to become alert out of his haze of sleep. At least he goes for his gun underneath the pillow, although the look he's giving me, still causes me to shake my head in disgust at him.
"You'd be dead, if I were an enemy." I sneer at him. Lester, looking amazingly similar to Steph, rolls his eyes at me, and that disrespect causes me to punch him in the jaw, before stepping away from the bed. Smugly grinning at him, I watch as Lester's face changes lazy from sleep to irate.
"Get ready. We're going for a run." I command and leave the room, before he can start fuming at the cheap shot.
Heading into the living room, I hear Sally a moment before I see him. His mouth is open, and he's snoring loudly. I look over at Bobby and grin at the fact that not only is he awake, but he's staring daggers at Sally. He switches his focuses onto me as soon as I step fully into the room. At least one of my partners is alert and aware at his surroundings.
"Brown."
"Ranger." He tersely replies. Removing the blanket from his waist, I see that he's already dressed. Giving him a raised eyebrow, he glares over at Sally again. "He's been snoring since 0400. So, I've been up since 0400. Took a run and came back, already showered and dressed." He says, speaking slightly lower to be respectful of the two sleeping people in the room.
"And Kat?" I question looking over at her on the recliner. She is sleeping in a bizarre twisted form. Her legs are curled up underneath her, and instead of leaning the recliner back, she has her head on the side of one of the arms. Her position reminds me of her namesake. Bobby's eyes wander to where I'm staring, and I see him smiling, watching her, when I refocus my attention onto him.
"Yeah, she hasn't moved from that spot since we got out here. Sally actually made fun of the position, and she asked if he wanted the recliner instead. Shut him right up. I contemplated moving her for a second, but I didn't want to wake her and scare her. She seems comfortable enough."
"Did she talk about anything after we went to bed?" I question, but Bobby shakes his head no. Before he can answer me, Lester steps into the living room. Seeing Kat, he barks out a sharp laugh. While it isn't enough to wake up Sally, I watch Kat tense and then slit her eyes open. She looks at us, but her eyes aren't focusing onto us. They're seeing something else, and it's terrifying her. She starts shaking, and if it's possible, balls herself up further, making herself even smaller.
"Hey Kat, it's Ranger, Lester and Bobby." I remind her, and she visibly relaxes. Changing her position, and again reminding me of a cat, she stretches and climbs out of the recliner.
"Err, sorry, I should've realized it was just you guys." She mumbles, her face blushing in embarrassment. Before I have a chance to ask her what scared her, she speaks again. "You guys hungry?" She asks. Lester looks like he's about to answer, but I catch his gaze and give him a quick shake of my head.
"We're heading out for a run, but Bobby will be here, and Cal and Woody are downstairs." I discuss with her, and she nods.
"OK, well then, Bobby, come on into the kitchen with me, and we'll start getting breakfast together." She grins wickedly at him and bounces out of the room. After she's out of hearing, Bobby groans but has a genuine smile on his face. I watch him quickly jump up and follow her into the kitchen.
Looking over at Lester, I see confusion on his face. "Bobby's going to cook? Our breakfast?" He asks me.
"Most likely Kat's going to cook, and Bobby will just help." I reply, heading towards the front door.
"But what if she makes him cook? You do remember Iraq, 2000 right? Bobby cooked. We all got food poisoning. I was hospitalized…in fucking Iraq…in a dirty, underground clinic to keep from getting killed!" Lester bitterly answers.
"That was years ago, I'm sure he's a better cook now."
"You really wanna chance it? Beautiful will be eating whatever's cooked, you know that." He warns. Thinking over the consequence of Steph getting food poisoning versus leaving the situation alone, I make my way towards the kitchen. Leaning up against the door of the entryway, I hear Bobby warning Kat about the same story to which she's laughing at him, an honest carefree laugh. Through breaths between her laughing, I hear her say something along the lines of just watching. Not feeling the need to interrupt, I go back to the front door where Lester is standing.
"It's handled." I tell him, smirking, and we make our way out into the crisp morning air.
Bobby's POV
Sitting on a stool by the island after warning Kat about my lack of cooking skills, she continues to laugh and walks over to the fridge. I watch her take out eggs and bacon, my gaze dropping below her waist, staring at her completely covered, non-existent backside. Dammit Brown, eyes front and center! I chastise myself but stare a moment longer before complying.
"So Kat, how are you doing with all of this?" I tentatively bring up. Although the mood is light, and I don't want to bring it down, I want to gauge where her mind is with what has happened and what may still happen to her. She pauses for a second, and then starts cracking the eggs open. A couple of minutes go by without her reply, and I assume she isn't going to answer.
"I'm scared, of course. But not just for me. I think most people lie when they say they aren't afraid to die, and I'm not going to pretend like that thought doesn't scare me, but I'm more worried about what will happen to the boys, you know?" She finally begins talking, looking up at me to see if she has my attention. I nod for her to continue.
"They're grandfather, the one who's been coming and helping me out, Mitch, he has major health issues. Had opened heart surgery last year, his cholesterol's high, blood pressure's high, he eats like he's going to die tomorrow, and for all I know, he might. He wouldn't be able to keep up with two active seven year olds. Hell, I can barely keep up with them. Their uncles, my other brother Patrick and his partner, Jason have a little girl, Claire. She's 10. Now, I'm sure they could take Ezra and Zeke, but it would be a burden on them. So who else? My mom, she's a hippie and living in Nevada. We talk to her once a year. The boys actually haven't met her. My dad? At least he's healthy, but he's ten years older than Mitch, so who knows how much longer before his age starts getting to his body?"
She pauses to catch her breath. "Ezra and Zeke, need me to survive this, both physically and emotionally. I can't fail them. I can't have them see another parental figure die on them. Not yet, it's too soon." She finishes, her voice catching at the end with emotion.
Slowly moving over to her to avoid startling her, I stand in front of this petite, strong woman. She cranes her neck to stare up at me, and I see every doubt and fear she has. She truly believes she may not make it out of this. No matter how hard she fights, she's afraid it won't be enough. I'm afraid it won't be enough too. I whisper my concern to myself.
But I do the only thing I can for her, I lean down and give her a light hug, tightening my arms around her slightly when she doesn't flinch away, although I almost flinch at a shock that passes between our bodies. Pushing my hormonal desires aside at having a beautiful woman in my arms, forcing my body to realize that there is nothing sexual about our embrace, my heart breaks slightly as she starts to cry. Emotions causing her to shake in my arms for about five minutes, she begins to settle down, hiccupping her final tears away and then timidly giggles out her nerves.
"Sorry for falling apart." She apologizes, attempting to move out of my arms, but I continue to hug her, not ready to release her.
"I've seen worse breakdowns…hell, I've had worse breakdowns." I joke giving her another quick squeeze in the hug, wanting to pass comfort to her, but feeling another shock pass between us instead. This time, I feel her flinch, but I'm not sure if it's from my embrace or the shock. Nervously, I step back, allowing her space if it's my closeness that's bothering her. If it's the electricity that past between us, well I have no idea how to handle that either. She's one of your best friend's ex-girlfriends...I glumly warn my body and my mind, and watch her go back to cooking breakfast.
"Are you seeing someone to help you with what you're going through?" I question, reigning in my desires and attempting to get her talking again.
"Yeah, and I'll need to find someone in Trenton. My doctor gave me a couple of people to look up."
"Got a list?" I ask, hoping to help with this part. She nods and steps away from the food. She walks over to a counter near where the garage must be, and digs through a giant bag. Pulling out a binder, she opens it up. From my seat, I can see it's extremely messy. Pages are stuffed into the sides and a couple of smaller pieces of paper fall out to the floor, but she seems to be able to navigate it. Pulling out a page from the back sleeve, grabbing up the ones that had fallen, she brings the list over to me.
Glancing at the names, I notice there are a mixture of men and women on the list. Some I recognize, others I know personally, and a few I would recommend she never go to.
"Do you have a preference on the doctor's sex?" Blushing, Kat nods.
"I'd prefer to stick with a woman." She hesitantly answers me, and I nod back.
"Well, Dr. Angelica Giovanni is great, specializing in women's abuse, and she's on your list. In Trenton too. Some of these are in Newark or even Princeton. I know I'd rather you stay in Trenton." I reply to her, handing back the list.
She looks at Dr. Giovanni's name, nods and takes a highlighter, marking her name with an elegant star. At the bottom of the page, still using the highlighter, she adds another star, with 'Bobby's choice, call her' next to it. Smiling to myself, I'm extremely happy that she's choosing to go with my suggestion.
A loud noise in the living room shifts my attention away from Kat, and I instantly have my gun out. Positioning myself between the kitchen's entryway and Kat, I make my way out into the living room. Briefly allowing my eyes to take in the room, they end at the couch Sally's sleeping on. Holstering my pistol, I watch as two young boys sitting on Sally's chest and legs, bounce.
Behind me, Kat slides up and maneuvers herself around me, slightly brushing past to take in the scene, again that spark passing through us.
"Oh shi-shoot, Sally, I'm sorry. Guys get off him!" She says through giggles and the boys look up at her, smiling wider, and we hear Sally mumbling something, most likely a few expletives.
"Aunt Kat! Aunt Kat! Mr. Sally's here!" One of the boys exclaims and starts bouncing again.
"Ezra, stop! Both of you, off him now!" Kat commands her voice changing from fun aunt to authority figure, and the boys obey quickly. Ezra, the one on the left has a bright red Mohawk and Zeke's is dark green. I look at her quizzically, and she just smirks at me. "They love looking 'freaky' like their Aunt Kat, and it washes out. Win win." She states and heads back into the kitchen, with me and her two 'heathens' following.
"Little Dudes, what would you like to eat?" She asks, once we're all back in the kitchen, sans Sally.
"Pancakes!" They answer simultaneously, and she just nods at them. I move back to my spot at the island, and the two boys climb up on either side of me.
"Who are you?" Ezra asks.
smile at both her and then the boys.
"I'm Bobby."."
"Are you here to take us on an adventure?" Zeke asks.
"Huh?" I idiotically reply.
"You'll be taking us and Cthulhu to the airport! We'll be leaving Missouri for the first time!" Ezra explains, and I nod.
"Yep, that's what I'm here for." I agree with them. They both look excitedly at me, before turning their attention back to their aunt.
"Can we go out?" Ezra and Zeke ask tag teaming her by moving up to either side of her.
I almost laugh at the picture. Although Kat is taller than them, they look like they're only a foot shorter. But, with their Mohawks, the height difference looks even less.
"Sure, after breakfast." With that, Ezra and Zeke run out of the kitchen. "Wait!" Kat calls out, and they both turn back towards her. "Stay upstairs. You've already woken up Sally but there are two men downstairs-"
"No ma'am, we're up now." Woody drawls entering the kitchen with Cal.
Behind them, I hear the front door open and see Ranger and Lester walk past the kitchen's now crowded entryway. They acknowledge us with nods, but continue on their way to clean up.
"So, if they're up here, can we go downstairs?" Ezra asks, eyeing the two newest additions coming into the kitchen.
"You have a tattoo like Aunt Kat!" Zeke blurts out, and she laughs.
"Oh no sweetie, he has a cool flaming skull on his forehead, but mine's an adorable rendition of a Jolly Roger. Totally different." She corrects Zeke. "And yes, you can go downstairs."
"Did it hurt?" Zeke asks Cal, still looking at the tattoo, while Ezra runs off.
"Not much." Cal quietly replies and Zeke gives him another long look. Shrugging his shoulders, he runs off after his brother.
"Cute kids." I say, and Kat rolls her eyes at me.
"OK, eggs and bacon are done, get some, grab a drink and go sit down" She instructs us, and we all quickly get our breakfast together. I take my spot back at the island, close to Kat and she smiles broadly at me. I notice that Cal's glaring at me, but I ignore him. I'm not doing anything wrong. I think to myself. Kat steps away, grabbing a plate for herself and then situates herself next to me at the island.
When the pancakes are done, she calls down for the boys. They rush up, grab their plates and glasses of juice, and then walk slowly back down into the basement. After they leave, Sally comes in looking exhausted.
"How are you guys awake? It's like 8 am!" He grumbles and looks at the food dismissively. Grabbing a mug that Kat pulled out, he makes his way groggily to the coffee machine.
"Good morning Sally!" Kat smiles up at him, playfully hip checking him as we walks past her. His attitude quickly changes from groggy with sleep to fun loving, and he tugs gently on a strand of her hair. It looks silky, not dry or fried looking. I wonder how she keeps it so healthy. I wonder what it would feel like to run my hands through-. Stopping myself mid thought, I force my focus back onto the room.
"Is everything real?" Sally asks, and I look down at my plate, and then up to Kat giving her a questioning look.
"Yes." Noticing my look, God, she's got to think I'm an idiot, constantly confused. Hearing confirmation, Sally loads up a plate and sits next to me on the island. Adding for my benefit, she explains, "Sally knows I'm a vegetarian. Guess he thought it was tofu or something."
Soon after Sally sits down, Lester makes his way into the kitchen, hair still wet from his shower. Grabbing a plate, he stops when he notices aren't many seats available, so I give up mine for him, but I stand at the edge of the island, taking in Kat's appearance.
She's still in her pajamas from earlier, the word 'Bazinga!' on the shirt. I wonder what that's from? I think to myself.
Starting at her ears, I take in the multiple earrings. Unlike most women, she's not wearing any that dangle. The three in the top part of each ear are silver hoops, and they're plain and small. The other three studs are geeky. I recognize Tetris as her heart earrings and those studs are closer to the bottom hoops. Below them are little '1 UP' mushrooms from Mario, and the last ones on her lobe say 'POW!' and 'BAM!'.
Moving to her face, I see that she has two silver hoops through her nose's right nostril. Past her nose, I stare at her lips. God those lips are kissable. They're full and naturally pouty. I can feel my eyes glazing over at picturing her lips on mine. Mentally shaking my head, I refocus on tagging her piercings.
I notice that she is missing a few lip rings today. During the Skype call, she clearly had three rings in her lower lip. Today, she only has one in the middle and a sparkly stud in the upper left side of her top lip. I also know that when she laughs loudly, although it's only been a couple of times, she has two tongue piercings. One where I've always seen it, and another, a hoop on the tip. I wonder if that makes kissing challenging?…Dammit Brown, quit thinking about kissing her.
Moving down to her arms, I see they're both completely covered with tattoos. Her right arm is covered with Alice and Wonderland related tattoos on her forearm, a wide grinning Cheshire cat covers her elbow. Up past the elbow joint, partially covered by the shirt's sleeve, I see what looks be a collage of Winnie the Pooh characters, Care Bears, and other miscellaneous other colorful things. Her left arm, while still covered with cartoony items, looks more adult oriented. On this arm there is a collage of Nightmare Before Christmas where Winnie the Pooh and company are on the right arm. This collage is much bigger and goes past her elbow, melding into a Labyrinth inspired forearm tattoo.
Before I can travel further down, I hear someone clear their throat behind me. Jumping, I turn to see Ranger and Steph walking into the kitchen. Ranger's giving me a disapproving look, and I slightly shrug my shoulders as a response. Sneaking glances at everyone else, they all look clueless at my gawking, which is a relief. Bad enough Ranger thinks I'm openly checking her out. It's not like I'm Santos, I wouldn't make her uncomfortable by making any passes. I'm not a creep.
"What's on the agenda today?" Kat asks taking me out of my thoughts.
"Packing." Ranger answers as he and Steph grab breakfast, taking it to the table. Kat looks like she wants to roll her eyes at his response, but stops herself.
"And you said to pack for a few months?"
"Correct."
Kat looks thoughtful for a second, walks over to the entryway and looks out; I'm guessing looking for her nephews.
"Okie dokie, that works for me. So, next item on my agenda anyway before we get down to serious business, who wants to come to Iron Age with me around noon today?"
"What's Iron Age?" Steph asks, and Kat gives her a quirky smirk.
"A tattoo studio." She promptly replies. Steph raises both eyebrows up in question, and Kat's smile turns into a wicked sneer.
"We haven't talked about it yet, but the reason that bastard took me and the others are because we changed our bodies. The other women honestly all looked a bit like Barbie, you know, bleach blond hair, very thin but statuesque. Each one had at least a major boob job, but I know Erica had a nose job. Natasha looked like she had something done with her lips as well…I'm the only one that I would consider normal looking, if you don't count my tattoos and piercings."
"So, you're getting another tattoo?" Steph inquires.
"Yep in spite of that son of a bitch! Going to get a teal ribbon tattooed on my left ankle." Lifting up her pant leg, she points to the spot, "See that humming bird's flower, see how the stem kinda ends up by my ankle, that's where I'm going to incorporate some leaves or something, and then have the ribbon interweaving through the leaves wrapping around ankle. Should be cool." Kat excitedly explains, the passion she has for her tattoos and this future tattoo obvious.
"What's the teal ribbon stand for?" Lester jumps in, questioning.
"Honestly? It's got several different meanings. But both ovarian cancer awareness and sexual assault awareness use it. I mean, even though I already have a tattoo for surviving my cancer, it's personal and doesn't really indicate what type of cancer I survived. It'll be good to get this tattoo. Like one pretty badge of survival."
"I know Sally mentioned it, but I guess I didn't think about it really, you're only 29. Was it hard to go through, being so young?" Back to Steph again, asking the question. I feel like I'm in a tennis tournament with all of this bouncing back and forth.
"Yeah, it was tough, but that's a story for another day, really. Although when that asshole saw the scars from the surgery he asked about them. When I told him, well with Stage 2, both ovaries had signs of cancer, so the docs got rid of them plus my uterus. Oh as soon as he heard that, he got inhumanly brutal. Started punching me in the stomach and chest, and choking me, saying I wasn't even a real woman anymore. He said I should've done the honorable thing and died. Instead of living as a harlot, lying to men about what I am. I really thought he was going to kill me right then." Kat tells us, becoming quieter with each sentence, tears shining in her eyes.
I'm seeing red. I know this guy's insane…demented…evil…but how could he think she's not a woman anymore? How sick do you have to be to jump to that conclusion, to think someone should die instead of using medicine to their advantage?
I look around gauging the reactions of my partners and co-workers upon hearing this. Ranger's jaw is twitching with anger, although his blank face is firmly in face. Woody is openly livid, his blank face seemingly long gone. Lester and Cal both have their blank faces firmly in place, but they too are working their jaws. Neither has Ranger's control though, so their anger is clearly visible by the fists at their sides.
Steph quickly makes her way to Kat and gives her a comforting hug. I hear her whispering, but I don't know what she's saying. Whatever it is, though, it's calming Kat down. Sally slides up next to them and puts his arm around Kat. A flare of jealousy rises up, as I watch her lean into him, but I choke it back down.
Ranger gives Kat a couple more minutes to pull herself together, and then clears his throat.
"I know that this is hard Kat, but we didn't get a chance earlier this morning. Do you think you're up to going over the case?"
Kat moves out of both Steph's and Sally's arms, and squares her shoulders.
"I'm ready."