AN: Serious thanks to my Beta Di and my husband for looking this chapter over for me! JE owns everything, I'm just having fun. I also wanted to thank all of you who reviewed and a special thanks to those who reviewed as Guests.

The weird Ladies Night was about to get underway. My friends for the evening were going to be Burrows, Connie and Lula; we were going to be going to Pino's which is full of cops plus I was going to have Bobby and Tank tailing me. What could possibly go wrong?

Then I remembered that this was me we were talking about and the answer to that was, of course, everything. With that in mind for my night out to get sauced with Linda, I was wearing jeans and a white girly t-shirt with a pair of converse sneakers that had seen better days. I swiped on a few layers of mascara for courage to combat the bad feeling I had about tonight. I figured I was looking as good as I was going to get and went to meet the girls in the garage.

For the first time since I met her Jeanne Ellen was dressed in casual, non-black clothes. She was wearing an oversized white sweater over a pair of deep blue denim skinny jeans and brown knee high boots. In my opinion the look softened her, and the jury was still out on which look I liked better. Given she was part of my protection I kind of liked it better when she was scary looking. I took comfort in the fact that there was probably a knife in her boot and a gun at the small of her back. Lula had opted for the classic Lula look. She was wearing poison green spandex that, despite the weight loss, was still two sizes too small and stretched to the limit; her hair had been dyed hot pink. Connie was wearing a pair of leopard print skinny jeans and a scooped-neck red sweater that hugged her curves to perfection. All in all we looked pretty good and not like we were trolling. Keeping the girls company in the garage were Tank, Bobby and Julio.

"Steph, you and Lula will take your car. You are both going to be wired which means I want one of you on Linda at all times," Bobby instructed. "Once you are in the bar your goal is to get her talking about her father. Anything you can get her to say would be great. Tink called and they will be executing warrants on the places in Boston and Princeton simultaneously. Anything we can get about her father's plans for tomorrow will make the job easier. We'd also like to know about his men. Has he added non-Rangemen Security now that he's fired us? Do any of the new men scare her etc?"

"Any questions?" Julio asked.

I should have asked if Ranger was really okay with this; I know I should have, but I trusted his men and, frankly, I was dying of curiosity. It seemed somewhat strange that Linda called to ask me out for a girl's night. I mean she's a nurse. Why not ask some of the girls from work? Joe said she was popular at the hospital, not to sound like my mother or anything but, why me?

I felt the back of my neck tingle and heard the door of the garage open. Ranger and Lester were back. Ranger smoothly parked the truck and angled out of it. His expression was unreadable as he walked up to me, "Babe, can I see your gun?" It was a rhetorical question, really, as it was said as he pulled it out of the waistband of my jeans. He checked it over, made sure it was actually loaded and slid it back into place. Next he tugged on the chain around my neck exposing the Batman necklace he had given me on the job in Vegas just before we got married. It was a tracker and panic button. He grinned, tugged the neck of my t-shirt back open and dropped the pendant back between my breasts. His finger grazed the skin on the neckline of my t-shirt before he let go and folded his arms across his chest. "Where are you placing the men?" He ask Julio.

It was dumb to even be worried about whether or not Ranger knew. There is no way his men do anything involving me without clearing it first.

"Bobby and Tank are going to be her visible protection and, obviously, we have Burrows at the table. I've got Hector tapped into the security cameras of both the lot and the bar. He'll follow in a van. Vince is working the bar tonight so the only one getting booze will be Linda. Tink is already at the bar. We're going to let her know when the girls are close then she's going to scope out the ladies' room to make sure the girls can't get grabbed from there. Then Ram is going to take up position at the bar beside the hall to the bathrooms. He'll keep an eye on the restrooms from that point on so Tink can do whatever the hell she wants."

Ranger looked at Lula and Burrows and said, "If Stephanie goes to the washroom, one of you go as well. I want all four of you wired, that way Steph has someone on her inside the restrooms and we still have someone recording Linda."

For the record, I didn't plan on making any trips to the bathroom if I could help it. I mean it had to be a dire emergency because the idea of the guys listening was just…eeew!

"Something I should know about Linda?" I asked, "Is there a reason you don't trust her?"

"Babe, right now I don't trust anyone who doesn't carry Rangeman credentials; especially where you are concerned. You have a habit of attracting trouble."

RSRSRSRSRSRS

Lula and I got into my Porche, and let me tell you, saying the words "my" and "Porsche" together in the same sentence didn't really ever get old. We left the lot leading a parade that soon dispersed. If I hadn't known they were there, I wouldn't have known they were there.

"I don't like that Ranger seems jumpy," Lula said after about a block, "'cause Batman don't do jumpy."

"He's not jumpy; he's just being cautious. I mean, he was just kidnapped. You'd be a little nervy afterwards, too. As a matter of fact, you're very jumpy for weeks after being grabbed."

"Still, I'd feel better if Batman was in the bar with us or since it's ladies night, maybe Tink."

"We have Burrows. She's badass. I think between the three of us we'll be okay."

"Catwoman is cool and all but she ain't even a Rangewoman. She's like a contract Rangewoman, like she's the Diet Coke version of Tink." She then did a bizarre Jersey version of Doctor Evil's voice, "Just one calorie, not Tink enough. You know what I'm sayin'?"

"I can hear you, you know." Jeanne's voice came over the coms.

"Oops, my bad," Lula said and slapped her hands over her mouth.

"The real Tink is having issues with her coms, she's cleared the rest room and has gone back to Haywood. She should check in soon. She wants you to send her a picture of whatever Linda is wearing. She wants to try something." Another voice said.

"Yo this is weird having all these voices in my head. How'd you know who is saying what? All I hear is 'Man.'"

"Well, that was Bobby." I laughed, "Guys, introduce yourselves so Lula hears your weird electronic voices and isn't creeped out by you."

"I'm hurt she didn't recognize me right away," Bobby pouted into the coms.

"Shut up, B. Hey, Lu, Lester here."

"You better know my voice." The third voice growled.

"Hi, Tank," Lula laughed.

"Ram here."

"Hector."

"Vince."

"I'm, you know, the girl," Meagan said. "I'll be in and out."

"And the one you can hear rolling his eyes and smiling would be Ranger," I said.

"Babe."

"Hey you got him to talk! Good job, Beautiful!" Lester laughed.

"Enough chatter," Ranger growled as we rolled into the Pino's lot, "Wait until you get the 'all clear' from Tank before you get out of the cars."

"You're clear," Tank said after a few minutes. We got out of the car and found Linda in a booth that just happened to have a clear view of the door. The booth at the back, two booths away, was also empty and that's where Bobby and Tank took their seats. Linda stood up when she saw us and beamed a friendly smile in our direction and I introduced Jeanne Ellen and Connie to Linda.

"What do you do, Jeanne?" Linda asked pleasantly as we took our seats around the table.

"I'm doing some minor contract work for Rangeman, you know, office stuff." Technically true. Jeanne was guarding Terri and Terri wasn't allowed to leave the building. Usually. So Jeanne was hanging around the office. Just not doing what Linda probably thought she was doing.

"Cool," she replied just as we became distracted by the waitress arriving to take our drink orders. The three of us stuck with white wine, AKA apple juice, while Linda ordered herself a vodka soda. "I'm just so excited to be going out with you girls tonight. I needed to get away from it all for a while."

"I'm just surprised that you chose to call me. I would have thought that you would want to go out with friends from work or something." I took off my jacket and surreptitiously snapped a picture of her outfit and sent it to Meagan.

"No thank you. I love my job, don't get me wrong but the girls I work with don't know how to leave it at work. There's more to life than the gore we see in the ER, you know?"

"Hear, hear!" Connie exclaimed and raised her glass for a toast. I clinked glasses with the rest of them. If my spidey sense were Bob the dog, his ears would have perked up wondering if the sound he heard was worth getting off of the couch over.

"Don't you like being a nurse?" Jeanne Ellen asked, "I was thinking about going back to school and seemed like something worth looking into."

"It's alright. I think my dad is disappointed that I chose to go into nursing."

"Why on earth? My mother would be thrilled if I decided to go into nursing," I said with a laugh.

"He just doesn't approve of my life plan." She toyed with her glass. "He doesn't like my taste in men, doesn't approve of my job or my choice in clothing. Nothing I do is right. He's never happy." Actually Linda's choice in clothing was very similar to mine. Her t-shirt was long-sleeved and baby pink but the jeans were similar and the converse sneakers were in better shape than mine. While casual, it was flattering and quite modest. I couldn't see any fathers objecting to their daughters leaving the house in it.

"What does your daddy want you to do?" Lula asked, "I thought he'd like the nurse thing since he seems the type to like traditional jobs."

She snorted, "Yeah, right! He wanted me to go to business school so I could take over the company my granddad left my mom. I told him it's not my thing."

My Spidey sense was now completely off the sofa and barking like crazy. The real door chimed and Meagan walked in with Joe. Joe had his hand on the small of Meagan's back and they were chatting amiably as he led her towards a table occupied by Carl, Big Dog and Eddie. The bar was pretty full and since there was only one open seat at the table Meagan perched on Big Dog's knee and Joe took the chair. While they waited for a waitress to scrounge up a chair for her she stole a sip of Eddie's beer and one of the fries off of Carl's plate.

They seemed to be chatting companionably and she laughed at something one of the guys said. It was a delighted laugh that carried well through the bar. When her chair appeared a minute later, Joe took it from the waitress and you could see him flirting with the waitress from where we were sitting. She was pretty, in her early twenties with spectacular curly black hair and a pretty blush. We knew this because she was blushing brilliantly at whatever line he'd tossed at her with his wicked grin and those bedroom eyes.

As the flustered girl scurried off with their orders, Joe kicked Carl's chair, he adjusted the seats so Meagan would be sitting in between Big Dog and himself. Then he draped his arm around the back of Tink's chair and she said something that made the table laugh. They were clearly trading jibes but Meagan must have been selectively transmitting because I couldn't hear what they were saying. It looked like she was acting like one of the boys.

"Ugh." Linda said, "She just…"

"They are just friends. Trust us; she's very happily married," Connie said when it looked like Linda was about to blow a gasket.

"Be warned. Joe and I are going to put on a show. Watch her reaction closely."

Meagan stood up, took off her leather jacket and revealed a shirt that was shockingly similar to Linda's. Joe blatantly checked out her body as she draped the jacket over the back of the chair. She sat down and he leaned in close to whisper into her earring mike, "How is Lester's blood pressure right about now?"

"Oh, my blood pressure is fine. I know what's under that top and know that you aren't ever going to see it."

Linda was pale with anger. She signalled the waitress and ordered us a round of shots. "They look pretty cozy for just friends. What's so perfect about her anyway?"

"You met her once for like five minutes and you met her during the first Rangeman meetin' where she'd be actin' all professional and shit," Lula said. "How do you know she's perfect? She is, and I agree it should get on your nerves, but she's kinda sweetly badass so it don't."

"I have been hearing about Colonel Meagan Harris since I was 17. My dad met her and Ranger on some mission in some jungle somewhere. They brought Daddy out of retirement to help this stupid unit.

She made a call that Daddy thought was questionable and he decided not to follow the order. She's not a pilot so he thought she didn't know what she was talking about. Daddy made a judgment call and everyone got out alive; but he ended up being told to retire again or he would be up for court martial for failing to follow her orders. She was like 20 or something.

Anyways, I thought this would make my dad hate her, but noooo… He was super impressed like she was some kind of perfect specimen of womanhood.

Then he looked her up and basically sat me down and told me how at age 16 she had already amounted to more than I could probably ever hope to achieve unless I started taking life seriously. Now she's married to this gorgeous guy, she's CEO of two massive money making machines, a Colonel, an FBI SSA, drives a hot car and, oh yeah, has every guy at the bar staring at her. I mean I'm wearing the same shirt as she is and I have a good body but guys aren't staring at my breasts like they were crafted by God. She probably bought them. She's rich enough."

"Wow!" Connie injected when Linda paused for breath.

"Yup, Linda needs another shot," Jeanne Ellen said. Linda ignored them; she was on a roll.

"I mean, where does she get her hair done? Like she has to color it it's not a normal color and, okay I'm sorry, but that can't be her real nose either. She's too symmetrical. She's had work done. Good work sure, but work."

My phone buzzed in my pocket, I had an email from Lester and I checked it. It was a picture of Meagan at 6 years old. She obviously didn't have the boobs but the hair, the eyes and the nose were the same just in a ]perfect, cherubic, little face. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but she hasn't had work done. I asked her husband once and he sent me this picture. Meagan is all natural." I showed her the phone.

"I fuckin' hate her." The door chimed again and Julio and Lester entered the bar and made bee line to Tink's table. Lester stood behind Meagan and tugged her hair until she tipped her head way back and he planted a very thorough, if upside-down, kiss on her.

"She's MARRIED! I mean come on! Is everyone so afraid of pissing her off that she can just let a man kiss her like that without being afraid of it getting back to her husband?"

"Uh, that is her husband," Connie stated.

"He might look like her husband but it's not her husband. Her husband is shorter and has brown eyes," Linda replied.

"No." Then I realized the problem and said, "Wait, Linda, you've met Ranger right?"

"No, but I know that's," she waved in Lester's direction, "isn't him."

"She's not married to Ranger," I said. "Her name is Meagan Santos. She's married to his cousin; they've even lived together since she was in her early twenties."

"That can't be right." She furrowed her brow. "He's a junior officer, it's not allowed."

"I dunno about that, but I'm pretty sure they bend rules for Meagan. She made Colonel at 22 so does it really shock you that they'd look the other way when it came to her love life?"

I googled their wedding on my phone and pulled up one of the pool photos of them at the White House that showed the picture of their wedding ceremony in the Oval Office and handed her the article. "Their wedding was front page news. They were in the paper for weeks." Linda took my phone and read the article.

"But Daddy said…" She closed the window on my phone and saw the wallpaper. It was Ranger and I on the beach. "Wait, Ranger is your husband?" She looked at me, "Are you sure?"

I chuckled, "Yeah, very sure."

She grabbed her coat and stood up, "Sorry, but I have to go. I.. I'm just sorry, I have to go. Have a drink on me." She threw some cash down on the table and ran out of the bar.

"Well that was interesting." Meagan said, "Someone going to tail her?"

"Hector and I are on it," Ranger replied. "I want Manny and Vince to pick up my position and take over the tail. I need Hector back at Rangeman on his computer. I think I know where we met Beals."

"All right, fun's over," Meagan said as she approached our table. "Home, ladies. I don't like that she's about to go tell daddy that he was wrong about who I married. I'm afraid of what he's going to do if he is confronted by his daughter with the information he's happily ignored."