Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical.
Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear.
Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters.
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I realized I was alone the second I woke up, and immediately felt worse than I had the night before. I didn't cry though. Apparently the roller coaster of emotions over the past 48 hours had simply used up all the tears. Well, if that were the case, it would certainly be simplify matters.
I mulled through my next problem as I drug myself out of bed into the shower and through my morning routine. I had promised Ranger I would keep one of his men with me today. After everything that had happened the night before, my biggest worry was that I had ruined our friendship. And I had a suspicion that if I hadn't ruined it already, then ignoring my promise and going out alone today would take care of it. I didn't want to call him, but I also didn't want to call Tank and have to explain the whole thing.
As I munched on a pop-tart and fed a corner to Rex, I decided the mature thing to do was to just call him. If I wanted to fix this, I had to at least talk to him.
I took a deep breath and dialed.
"Yo Bombshell," I heard Tank's big voice bellow.
What the fuck? In all the years Ranger and I had worked together, never once had someone else answered his phone. I could hear a lot of noise in the background, but I couldn't make out what it was.
"Uh, hi Tank. Ranger wanted someone to go with me today to get skips. Um, is he there?"
"Yeah, he mentioned that. I thought I'd go with you today. Want me to pick you up?"
"Sure, I'm ready whenever."
"Okay, give me half an hour, I'll be there." He clicked off.
That was just bizarre. Was he really that mad at me that he wouldn't even answer his phone? I sank down onto the couch, staring into space. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation. Like maybe Tank happened to be in Ranger's office, and Ranger was in the middle of something. That could be it. Or in the bathroom. Wouldn't that be a funny story? I'm over here all worked up just cause he had to pee. Even Batman couldn't always answer his phone. Yeah, that had to be it.
Putting aside the crushing feeling in my chest, I trucked it to the bathroom to add some more mascara before Tank arrived. At the very least, my skips would come easy today. One look at Tank was usually all it took for them to handcuff themselves. It was a convenient trick, I must say.
Tank didn't say anything when I came down and climbed in his truck. Because I still had some files from the day before, we decided to go get them before heading to the bond's office.
Because of the late start to the day, by the time we had brought the first two skips to the police station, it was already noon. I didn't take much to talk Tank into going to Pino's for lunch.
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"So, wanna tell me what you did to put the boss is such a foul mood this morning?" he asked, once we had our food, shoveling pizza into his mouth.
"What I did?" I sputtered. "What I did? What about what he did? I swear, that man is impossible. I didn't do anything. He wanted me to sleep with him, I said no. At least this time wasn't payment. Or if it was, I don't know what I was paying for. Last time I at least knew what the fucking tab had added up to. And last time he mumbled an 'I gotta go, babe.' This time he was just gone when I woke up."
By now tears were starting to drip down my face (I deny that I was ever crying in Pino's while eating lunch with Tank, no matter what is currently being passed around the Burg grapevine). I really hadn't meant to pour my heart out to Tank of all people, and I certainly didn't mean for it to come out sounding nearly as bitter as it did, but he asked. His eyes had gotten progressively wider during my little rant, but at the word 'payment' he had actually started choking on his pizza.
"What? I thought you said you didn't sleep with him?"
"I didn't. I was screaming at him to get out. He laid down with me and let me cry, and when I woke up he was gone." Come to think of it, it was probably a really nice thing to do, minus the whole disappearing act at the end. Though I have no idea what I would have said to the man this morning.
'Oh. Wait, no. You guys have been together before?" he asked, probably shocked he hadn't already found out.
"Remember Eddie DeCooch?" When Tank nodded, I continued. "He told me that if he helped me bring in DeCooch, then I had to spend the night with him. And of course, DeCooch just couldn't be brought in by a girl. So I had to call Ranger, and he, being a man of his word (this was muttered sarcastically), collected on his deal."
"Not that I really objected," I added hastily, when Tank's eyes had gotten even wider. "I was all for it. I just wish he hadn't decided to end the evening by telling me to go back to Morelli. Though I guess it's good that I didn't have to hear that lovely speech again this morning."
"Ahh. I remember that night. He made me take DeCooch to the hospital, and didn't show back up till the next day. Came back lookin happier than he had since he found out you were engaged to Morelli too."
At this point I thunked my head down on the table, the tears dripping again (still not crying). "It wasn't that night, he didn't 'collect' till a few months later" I said softly.
Tank stopped chewing, realizing the implication of what I said. Then he just shrugged. "Must of gotten happy some other way" he said non-committaly.
This pissed me off just enough for the tears to stop dripping. "You sit there and tell me slept with some other woman and just shrug!" I ask, slightly outraged (though knowing deep down I have no right to be).
"Stephanie, you were engaged to another man! And you don't even know for sure there was some other woman." Tank said, reinforcing that whole, I-have-no-right-to-be-mad-here feeling. "Not to be overly crass, but I'm pretty sure you been banging Morelli for a long time. All those nights that he had to drop you off at Morelli's house? Nuh uh, Bomber, you don't get to complain about another woman."
"Uggn, you're right," I replied, thunking my head back down onto the table, which I realized belatedly was pretty greasy and gross, and really not somewhere I wanted my head to be.
"If it makes you feel any better," Tank said, awkwardly patting the back of my head, since my face was still plastered to the table, "I haven't seen him with another woman since the whole Abruzzi mess. And he don't give cars to nobody else."
That had me smiling, since I was pretty sure that anybody else who blew up as many of his cars as I had would have a new permanent address in Bangladesh by now. And I felt even better, though slightly more vain and shallow, at the news that he probably hadn't slept with anyone else since me. Though that seemed like an awfully long time. Best not to think about the implications of that one.
"So, how do I get him in a better mood, since his foul one is clearly because of me?" I asked, optimistically trying to get relationship advice out of Tank (not that we were actually in a relationship – that was certainly made clear last night). I was pretty sure I had already used up Tank's allotment of words for the day, though his outrage over my immaturity probably added to his usually amount.
"Dunno, Bomber" he said, crushing my hopes for quick-Ranger-fix. "This whole mess is way deeper than I thought. He does love you, I can see that. But just case he's got it bad for you doesn't mean he knows what to do next. Just give him his space, let him work it out. He'll come around."
Huh. Guess this is one of those situations that requires my patience. I've never been too good at that. But good to know that even Batman gets confused now and then.
"So," Tank said, as we left Pino's and climbed back in his SUV. "Care to explain to me how exactly I came to have a cat attached to my shirt yesterday?"
Uh oh. "Uh, is this the part where I'm supposed to watch my back?"
"Yeah, Bomber. This is that point," Tank said, giving me his best intimidating look. I've gotten immune to Ranger, but Tank could still scare the stuffing out of me. I seriously had to discreetly check to see if I had wet myself, and started trying to stealthily slide my hand toward the door handle.
Tank bust out laughing, a huge, booming laugh. The shock of it made me jump a good six inches out of my seat, which only served to make him laugh harder. Of course, by now I had come to the relieving, if belated, realization that he was just messing with me. Hey, a man that large and scary could make anyone a bit slow on the uptake.
It took Tank a good five minutes to control his laughter. I was giving him my best Burg glare, but he was having none of that. I guess a big ex-military guy didn't scare near as easily as a little white girl who hid her gun in a cookie jar.
"It's okay, Bombshell," Tank sputtered when his laughter was mostly under control. "I kinda like the little bugger. But if you tell anyone about this….well, I have a reputation to uphold, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, I think I got the point" I muttered dryly. So the guy could kill me in my sleep a hundred different ways, he still liked the little kitten. See, he was just a big softie deep down.
"Besides, Lula really likes the thing. Something about maternal instincts. As long as the thing doesn't live in my house, I can deal with it if it makes her happy."
See? He's a big softie. I grinned at him.
"I'm serious about you blabbing your big mouth about this, Stephanie."
Uh oh. We're on to first names now. Too bad I didn't know Tank's. I was quite sure his given name wasn't Tank. Though if it was, I'd be very interested to meet his mother. "Aye, aye, sir!" I said, snapping off a smart salute, and sitting up in the truck seat.
Tank just shook his head and turned back the road.
"So what's your real name, Tank?"
He just shot me a look and turned back to the road. Well, that was no fun. I thought through my arsenal of weapons, trying to come up with something that would make a guy like Tank talk. Nothing. Unless….
I stretched in my seat, my little black tee-shirt riding up dangerously. I continued stretching, making sure to point my chest out as far as it would go. Tank actually swerved. Success!
"If you do not start behaving right now I swear to God I will drive directly to your mother's house."
I instantly snapped back into my original posture. My mother may be the only person in the world I am more scared of than Tank. And if he was willing to risk facing my grandmother, than he must really be serious.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Tank muttered, seeing my instant dejection at my plan being foiled. I thought about whining, but one look at his face told me it wasn't going to get me anywhere. Too bad, really.
"Well, if you won't tell me, I'll just ask Lula or Ranger."
"Lula don't know either, little girl. No sense pestering her. And Ranger knows what'll happen if he tells."
I laughed softly. The conversation turning back to Ranger was enough to remind me of everything that was said the night before, which instantly burst my short-lived good mood.
Tank glanced at me and noticed the change in mood.
"He really does love you, Bombshell," he assured me softly.
"I don't know, Tank. He seemed to make it pretty clear last night that he doesn't. Or at least not enough to actually be in a relationship with me."
"Relationships are hard in this line of work, Bomber. Real hard. And what about you, are you really okay with him having to disappear without contact for weeks or months with no notice? Or him having to work all hours of the night. And there is the added risk that being with him implies."
"What do you mean, added risk?"
"Bomber, Scrog targeted you because he thought you were in a relationship with Ranger. If you guys really are in a relationship, you'll be targeted more. And no offense, but by people a lot stronger and meaner than the psychos you pick up. You really think you'd be able to protect yourself from that?"
"Huh. Maybe that's what Ranger always means by not wanting me to get hurt."
"That man takes his responsibilities seriously. He's had people under him killed before, and he takes it hard, but he takes it even harder when you're in danger. You should have seen him those six hours when Stiva had you, or just before he went in for you and Julie. And that was just with you guys being friends. Can you image how he would have reacted if you guys were together? You've put that man through a lot, Bomber. He never knows what you'll do next or if he'll even be able to protect you. It's a lot to put on a man you want to be in a relationship with."
Wow. That seemed strangely reminiscent of the conversation I had had with Ranger two nights ago, when said I was an 'unknown.' Though Ranger had managed to be a bit nicer about it. Tank didn't bother to spare my feelings.
I sat back in my seat to think, as Tank drove towards the bonds office. Tank did raise some good points. I was pretty sure that my lack of training and my complete inability to follow orders was not the entire reason that Ranger didn't want a relationship with me, but it certainly seemed to be a contributing factor.
And as much as I'm sure I love Ranger, I have to admit that I hadn't really thought through the practicalities of being in a real relationship with him. He always dropped everything and came to my rescue when I needed it, but I had no idea what he actually did with his day. And all those times he was 'in the wind,' he didn't have much warning, I'm sure. And sometimes he was gone for months. Would I really be okay with that? It bothered me when Joe ran off for under-cover work; would it really be any different with Ranger? Could I stand to wait, and wonder, and worry, without any way to contact him? That wasn't a pleasant thought.
My thoughts finally came to a grounding halt as we pulled up in front of the office. Good thing too. Much more of introspection that deep and I might actually combust. We passed the 'smell of something burning' quite a while ago. Maybe the real answer was just to hook up with an accountant. Someone with a 9-5 job. But accountant guys are not nearly so interesting as a guy like Ranger. Therein lies the problem, right?
I was still lost in my tumultuous thoughts as we walked into the office. I did, however, catch a blur of something red fly past me. When I finally shook myself out of my stupor and stopped blinking, I realized there was a bright red cat clinging to Tank's shirt.
Wait, red? No, that wasn't a red cat. That was a black and white cat in a red pleather cape.
A cape?
My eyes huge, I swung to Lula, who I was quite sure was the only person here who could offer any semblance of an explanation.
"A cape? You put the cat in a cape?"
"Yeah I did. He needed a costume."
"Um, why?" I finally sputtered out.
"Well, we named him Flash. You know, to round out the Justice League. So he needed a cape and a mask. See, we have Batman and Wonder Woman. Well, now we have ghd Flash, on account of how fast and brave he is. Now we just gotta pick names for the rest of us. We need a superman."
"Ranger's superman," I said without thinking.
"Thought he was Batman?"
"Yeah, well sometimes he's both," I answered, my face turning red.
Lula looked confused, but Tank burst out laughing. "You know he's used that line on other women, right?" he sputtered out, still laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure."
Connie and Lula still looked a bit befuddled, but I wasn't about to enlighten them. I'm sure Lula would worm it out of Tank pretty quick, who would tell Connie….looks like I'm going to be avoiding the office for a couple days.
I leaned over to pick up The Flash, who Tank had dropped from laughing so hard. I held him up to my face and my jaw dropped. 'Oh my god, you actually did put a mask on him!" He had a tiny, red pleather mask with eye holes strapped to his head.
"Well, of course I did. I think he likes it," Lula answered. Now we just need to decide who's gonna be Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. I'm thinking that since Tank don't wanna be Robin, then he should be the Martian Manhunter, seeing as how he's like a mini Superman. And if you say that Ranger's Superman…."
This could take a while. I didn't want to know how Lula and Connie were going to divvy up Aquaman and Green Lantern. There really should be more female superheroines.
"Wait, wasn't there some old group, 'Birds of Prey' or something, that were in Gotham City with Batman?" I asked. I vaguely remembered the cartoons. "Yeah, Connie could be Oracle since she's the computer guru of the office, and Lula can be Black Canary cause of the fishnets and spandex and screaming abilities."
"Ohh, Black Canary. I remember her. Yeah, I'd make a kick-ass Black Canary! Wanna hear me scream?"
Lula opened her mouth wide and sucked in air to imitate Black Canary's ultrasonic and incapacitating scream. Luckily Tank caught on quick and slapped a hand over her mouth as the rest of us were diving for the door.
In the midst of all the commotion, I had managed to grab our new files, so I just waited for Tank outside. Finally, he sauntered out grinning, and we climbed in the truck to track down a few more degenerates.
I was right about how helpful Tank would be. Everywhere we went, people seemed very willing to turn themselves in. I'm sure if we had been going after Tank's skips instead of my low-level ones the day would have wrapped up quite differently; but as it was, he was dropping me off at my apartment by four.
"Hey," I started to ask, my curiosity finally getting the better of me. "How come you answered Ranger's phone this morning? Was he busy or something?"
"Or something, all right. He was beating the shit out of Lester in sparring practice."
"Oh," I said, feeling terrible for Lester. That would explain all the noise I heard in the background.
"Don't worry, Bombshell, Santos was fighting back. It's good for them. Relieves stress."
I could think of a plethora of better ways to relieve stress. But then again, I guess that bubble baths and pedicures just don't cut it for these guys. Although that would really be fun to watch.
"I'll send Bobby over tomorrow morning to get you and stick with you for the day. Lester will probably be here the next day."
"Okay, thanks for you help today. Bye," I said, getting out of the car.
Four hours later, I was sitting on my couch with Ben and Jerry, staring at my phone. Part of me wanted to call and apologize for everything I said last night, and part of me thought it was simply time it got said. But I was still terrified at the thought of ruining our friendship. Mulling it over, I remembered that Tank had told me to give him space. It was the opposite of my instincts, but look where those had gotten me. I figured maybe Tank was right, and I should just give it a couple days. That, though, got me thinking about all the other things Tank had said, and how he was probably right about those too.
I'm sure I did need training, as much as I hated the thought. Tank had flat out said it, Joe had screamed it, and Ranger had told me several times. But I knew Ranger would never force me. I refused to change my life or myself for Joe, and I wouldn't for Ranger either. But this, this would be good for me, up my confidence, get me better at my job. Maybe Tank was right about this bringing Ranger around, and maybe he wasn't. But it was high time I started making decisions for myself, instead of worrying about Ranger's reaction. This training, this could be something that was all for me.
Smiling, I picked up the phone and dialed Tank.
"Hey," I said when he answered. "Do you think you and guys could help me get some training without Ranger finding out about it?"