Disclaimer: See previous chapters, please.


Warnings: These characters are adults. They think, act, and speak like adults. If you are easily offended or are under age, please read no further.


A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. Please keep it up, I'm a review slut! Thanks for all the ideas and encouragement, keep that up,too. I really listen. Thank you, Christie, for everything!


As The Worm Turns!

Chapter 11: Hooked!

Steph's POV:

Ow, ow, ow ow! Oh my God. There are little men with jackhammers behind my eyeballs trying to dig their way out of my skull. I can't even pry my eyes open. They seem to be nailed shut, probably by the same little fuckers that have the jackhammers. This is all Tank's fault and I'm gonna kick his ass the next time I see him. At least I would if I could kick that high. Bleck! It feels like a garbage truck drove through my mouth.

I've heard the term 'hungover' all my life. It finally dawned on me last night, in a rare moment of clarity, it's because you spend the next twelve hours hung over the toilet bowl, losing everything you ate in the past year! All I have to show for last night is a headache, a sore throat, and a queasy stomach. God! What I wouldn't give for the 'The Cure'!

Coffee, I need coffee! I slid out of bed onto the floor and crawled to the kitchen on my hands and knees to make some. I was pretty sure I could do that with both eyes shut. Halfway there I swear I could smell MacDonald's French fries. Wishful thinking, I guess. I crawled around the corner and rammed my head into the kitchen table hard enough that something fell off and landed onme. I cracked an eye open. It was a beautiful MacDonald's bag. The most beautiful MacDonald's bag in the whole, wide world. I laid on the floor and stuffed fries in my mouth. I couldn't even chew; I just sucked the salt off them. When I was finally able to sit up, I reached up and felt around for the Coke that I knew would be there. Aaaahhhhh! The straw was even unwrapped and poked through the little hole in the top of the cup.

I decided that I just might live. I sat, leaning against the fridge, and I swear I could feel the salt, fat, and caffeine course through my veins. I finally pried my eyes open and was able to focus long enough to spot the pot of coffee that was just finishing brewing. Then it hit me. I had found The Cure on my kitchen table and it was still hot. There was fresh coffee! I didn't make it. Hangover fairies? Didn't think so!

I dragged myself up off the floor, no easy feat considering my condition, and headed for the coffee. Arranged neatly alongside the pot were a mug, a spoon, sugar, and milk. Next to that were 3 aspirin and a bottle of water with the cap loosened. Somebody knows that hungover Stephanie is uncoordinated.

Three cups of coffee and The Cure later, I realized that I was wearing my pink Snoopy T-shirt and panties that I didn't remember putting on. I staggered back into the bedroom and there was my Rangeman uniform, neatly folded on the chair next to the bed. Who folds dirty clothes? Sure as hell not me! Unless I have turned into a drunken sleepwalking Donna Reed clone, I didn't undress myself! I didn't think that Tank would undress me like that and the only other possibility was ... oh dear God! ... Ranger!

It had to be Ranger! It all added up. Very few people knew about The Cure, and only one of them could have known that Tank had gotten me tanked. That was number one. Number two was this shirt. For some strange reason, Ranger just loves this shirt. Every time we go running, he wants me to wear it. It's faded, shrunk to at least two sizes too small, and it's a little ragged around the edges. At first, I thought it was because he really liked Snoopy, but when I bought a different Snoopy shirt, Ranger never even noticed. Men! Number three, is the ... oh hell, forget about it, I'm going back to bed!

I fell, face first, onto my bed and passed out, yet again. When I finally woke up, hours later, I didn't feel all that bad. Queen of denial that I am, I still didn't want to think about last night's possibilities, so I spent most of Sunday afternoon giving real thought to how to handle the Karvic situation. I even went to my parents' for dinner and afterwards, my Dad and I went for a drive. Of course we couldn't let my Mom know what was going on; she'd take the Four Roses bottle into the pantry and never come out again.

Dad drove us to the City Park in the taxi. We walked around the small lake and we talked a lot about the difference between doing what was easy, and doing what was right. He told me that he knew I'd never taken the easy road, and knew that I probably wouldn't start now. Dad told me to do whatever it was that I needed to do and that he'd back me in whatever my choice was. That's my Dad for ya, he doesn't say a lot, but when he does, it speaks volumes.

Escaping from my parent's house had been a blessed relief. The Kloughn Circus was in full swing, and Grandma Mazur had invited her latest studmuffin. The funny thing is that people tell me I have a crazed life. I've come to the conclusion that I come by it naturally. It's a genetic predisposition. And it's not my fault!

I was back home by 8pm and I gave Christie a call. We talked about Karvic and our night in jail, about what eye candy the Merry Men were, about how great Tank was; you know just regular girlie stuff. She said that Tony had been back at The Wharf every night, asking about me and when I'd be there. Christie had let him think that I hadn't been able to make bail and was still in jail. The fact that he was so interested in me really gave me the creeps and my spidey sense was jangling off the hook. Christie and I made plans to meet for lunch later in the week, and I headed off for bed.

Monday morning dawned bright and clear. Ranger didn't show up to drag me out of bed to go running, so I went by myself. It gave me a chance to clear my head and do some thinking. Oh my God! Did those words just come out of MY mouth? It must be all that subtle brainwashing that Ranger's been doing. You know, all that stuff about eating healthy, exercising, gun practice and stuff.

I supposed he was still angry with me. Even if he did bring me The Cure, I hadn't really seen or heard from him since I left his apartment the night before last. I figured he was still pissed because I wouldn't accept his pitiful excuse of an apology. Tough! Let him stew! I was sick and tired of playing by his rules all the time. Surprise, surprise! We're getting a new set of rules. Mine!

I was concerned that I hadn't heard anything one way or another about a second try at grabbing Tony Panzarelli, either. I knew that RangeMan held the paper on that apprehension for another week and that meant that time was running out. Not that I was looking forward to that mind you, but it would be a nice chunk of change. And remember, I had never said no to a distraction job. Since I had committed to this one, I'd see it through to the end.

I was giving myself a headache from all the thinking I was doing so I fed Rex, took my coffee into the bathroom and got ready for work. When I got finished with the hair and makeup thing, I decided that I looked pretty damned good. My eyes were sparkling and my skin was glowing. Hell, there's no man in my life so it couldn't be afterglow, and my shower massager doesn't produce these kinds of results. Holy shit, the exercise? Nah! Yeah? I always thought I looked like this because I was with Ranger. Ugh! Why does everything always come back to him?

The thought of having to deal with a sulky Ranger just irritated the hell outta me. I figured if he was gonna be pissy, I'd really give him something to be pissy about. I stopped at Tasty Pastry and bought 3 dozen assorted donuts to put in the breakroom. He'd probably have the place exorcised to remove the fat, sugar, and carbohydrate ghosts that would haunt it. Marring the temple, my ass! It'd serve him right if he gained weight just from the smell of the grease. Hmmm, I wonder if I could have that pumped through the air ducts into his office.

When I stepped out of the elevator and onto the 5th floor, the entire crew stood and applauded. They were giving me a standing ovation! At first, I thought it was because of the donuts. But it seems that it's a RangeMan tradition when one of their own is arrested for the first time. While on the job, of course. Tank, as my supervisor, made a silly speech and each one of the guys gave me a white rose, symbolizing my innocence. Each rose had a small card attached with a personal message from the guy who had handed it to me. The messages ran the gamut from funny to sweet and included two marriage proposals and one indecent proposal, from Lester, naturally.

I also got a kiss from each and every one of the Merry Men, symbolizing everything from support, to lust, to 'we got your back'. Lester, of course, made a big show of throwing me across a desk and trying to climb on top of me, all the while attempting to stick his tongue down my throat. By the time Tank picked him up off me, by the back of his shirt, and dropped him on the floor, I was choking with laughter. It was all in good fun and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the kissing part.

Lunch would be provided by RangeMan. Ella had ordered pizza and 'Stephanie Plum' sandwiches (meatball subs) from Pino's. In all the time I had worked here, this was the first time that RangeMan had ever brought in non-health food for lunch. Oh, there was always food in the breakroom, but it was stuff like turkey on whole wheat bread without mayo, which goes against God and nature, and green stuff; I think its called salad. Nothing that I considered really edible. If you wanted real food, you had to go get it yourself.

Anyhow, there I stood with this huge bouquet of flowers in my arms that I had no idea what to do with. Ella miraculously appeared and whisked the roses away. She returned with them beautifully arranged in a huge vase, with greenery and babies breath. The lovely scent of the flowers filled the whole room. She handed me the little stack of cards that had been attached to the roses.

"Ella, is this really a RangeMan tradition?"

"Oh yes, my dear. Well, the boys did make a few minor modifications to the tradition considering that the honoree is a woman. Normally, they would grab the man and strip him naked, carry him over their heads down to the garage and hose him down with cold water. Then he's locked out of the building until he can find a way in. It usually entails him running around the outside of the building in the nude."

I must have turned ten shades of purple because Ella laughed and patted my shoulder. "They only one in favor of maintaining that tradition was Lester and no one takes him seriously." Great!

"In the evening they celebrate with Cuban cigars, large quantities of alcohol, and many dirty jokes, usually at a strip club. They all get disgustingly drunk and RangeMan provides designated drivers to bring them back here, unaccompanied, of course. They all spend the night in the apartments on the 4th floor. The next day is always very quiet since most have terrible hangovers."

"Gee whiz, sounds like fun. Too bad I'm not a guy! I hate to think I'm missing out on running around the outside of the building naked!" I rolled my eyes. "Ella," I spoke softly so that no one else would hear. "Does Ranger usually participate in these ... festivities? I mean, I noticed that he wasn't here and I wondered if it was because this was for me. I didn't want to ask the guys because, well, you know."

"Oh Stephanie, do not worry. He never attends these little celebrations in the office. He just pays for the lunch. He feels that his presence would put a damper on the party atmosphere. Occasionally, he attends the evening's entertainment, but only stays briefly and then leaves. Perhaps he will go with all of you this evening."

"This evening? Where? Nobody's said anything to me about this evening. Oh God, we're not really going to a strip club, are we?"

"No, dear. Just wait. Truthfully, I do not know what their plans are. I think they might be afraid that I would tell you." She gave me a smile and a conspiratorial wink.

Things calmed down and I actually got some work done. I started searching for information on Detective Vincent Karvic. I wanted no surprises when I brought my complaint against him. RangeMan would also utilize these searches, passing them on to their lawyer. At some point during the day I'd have to arrange some personal time off to deal with the whole situation.

Tank and I finally got a chance to sit and talk about what I had planned. Apparently it was standard procedure that RangeMan would file a formal complaint against Karvic on the grounds that he had interfered with a scheduled takedown and with the RangeMan employees involved. The Trenton Police Department and RangeMan LLC had an unspoken agreement that RangeMan would do skip tracing and fugitive apprehension without TPD interference. The TPD backed off because they didn't have the manpower to do these jobs. Everybody benefited. RangeMan made money and the TPD saved money until, that is, an asshole like Karvic got involved.

Tank informed me that Haver Williamson would be handling the legal issues for RangeMan. He was the RangeMan lawyer who had arranged to have the charges dropped against Christie and me the other day. I had already contacted him. He had explained that I had the option of having my complaint included with RangeMan's since I was one of the employees with whom Karvic interfered. As my lawyer, he could handle everything and I probably wouldn't even have to show my face at the station.

Tank even suggested that I might want to take advantage of this solution. Despite the fact that I had mountains of evidence, as well as eye witnesses to support my allegations, a formal complaint against a police officer could get really ugly. The face to face confrontations, the sworn depositions, the questioning, would all be like a trial. Oh, that easy way out was just looking better and better! Too bad I couldn't go with it!

I groaned. "Tank, much as I would LOVE to avail myself of that offer, we both know that I can't. What Karvic did was personal. He didn't molest RangeMan, he molested me. You and I both know that he's done this before, and unless somebody stops him, he's gonna do it again. I don't see that I have any choice." I sighed very deeply.

"I know, Bombshell, but I had to offer. I'll tell Ranger. I don't know what his reaction will be. Since he's not real happy with Karvic himself, he may not be happy that you want to take him on personally."

"Thanks but no thanks, Tank. I haven't been afraid of Ranger for a long time now, and since this is my decision and my battle; I'll face the devil by myself. This is personal and it has nothing to do with RangeMan. Whether he likes it or not, Ranger has no say in this. And what's the worst he can do, fire me?" Tank snorted.

I rarely got a private moment at work, and thought I'd take this opportunity to ask about the other night. "Um ... Tank, about the other night… um ... did you undress me? And leave MacDonald's and a pot of coffee for me?" I already knew the answer, but I was hoping against hope.

Tank's eyebrows raised and he gave me a huge smile. "I guess you had an early morning visitor, Bomber!" I just hid my face in my hands and groaned while Tank chuckled.

I finally left Tank's office and walked down the hall to Ranger's inner sanctum. I raised my hand to knock, when an arm came around me, pounded on the door and threw it open. You wouldn't think a man the size of Tank could sneak up on anybody, but he was surprisingly light on his feet. "Company!" He sang out, gently pushing me into the room and seated me in one of the guest chairs. He threw his huge frame into another, leaning back and crossing his long legs.

Ranger looked at Tank and cocked an eyebrow. "Come in." Sarcasm dripped from his words.

"What can I do for you, Tank?" He hadn't even looked at me.

Tank looked at Ranger and pointed to me. "Steph has the floor."

I took a deep breath. Saying it outloud would make it so. "I'm going to press formal charges against Karvic. I intend to file separately from RangeMan."

Ranger sat tipped back in his chair, his fingers steepled in front of him, and his patented RangeMan blank face on.

He looked at Tank. "You haven't been able to persuade her otherwise?"

Tank just shook his head. "Nope! The lady has a mind of her own." He looked at me and smiled affectionately.

"Well, it's her funeral. Tell her she has my permission." And the son of a bitch waved his hand in dismissal. My eyeballs almost rolled right out of my head and I'm pretty sure that my head spun around like the kid in 'The Exorcist'. I could feel my face start to burn. I turned to look at Tank and I swear to God the man turned pale. I stood slowly and took the step to Ranger's desk. I placed my fingertips on the polished wood and leaned across the desk slightly.

I spoke very softly, through gritted teeth. "I believe that you have misunderstood the reason for my coming to you. I most certainly am not asking for your 'permission' to file against a man who sexually assaulted me. I was extending you the 'courtesy' of informing you of my intentions, in advance, so that you would be prepared for any backlash against you personally or RangeMan in general. Obviously, I was sadly mistaken in thinking that I owed any loyalty to my employer or to this company." I turned to leave.

"Okay children, time out." Tanks voice was very firm. "Let's play nice here. You two need to call a truce, at least on this subject. This could turn into a volatile, even dangerous situation for everybody involved. Let's put your battle on hold until this thing with Karvic is worked out."

Ranger and I eyed each other suspiciously, but we each gave Tank an imperceptible nod at the same time. I sat back down and gripped the arms of the chair so tightly my knuckles turned white.

Ranger leaned his arms on his desk. "Do you have a lawyer yet?" I just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Please, Babe, use Haver." When I opened my mouth to speak, he held up one hand to stop me. "Let me explain. I'm ... concerned that your family will pressure you to use Kloughn. I'm not saying he doesn't know his stuff, it's just that you're gonna need a shark between you and Karvic. And Haver has very sharp teeth."

I couldn't argue with him this time. He knew my family too well. My mother and sister would be all over me to let Albert handle this. With my luck this would become a high profile situation and they would want Albert involved so he could make a name for himself. What name that would be, was questionable.

"Babe, there are other advantages to having Haver in your corner. Since he's handling RangeMan's complaint, he'll be familiar with all of the evidence and witnesses and has seen it all from every possible angle. He has a lot of experience working with these type of complaints. Not that it would make any difference to you, but I would feel a lot better about this whole mess if you would leave it in Haver's hands. I have great faith and confidence in him. He's served RangeMan, and me, long and well."

"What do we know about Karvic, anyway? Have we got any info or dirt on him yet?" Tank asked.

"I have the search engines fired up now. Everything that's available on the man should be ready after lunch. I'll go through the reports like I do any research project and let you know if I find anything interesting." I looked at Tank as I spoke. I tried to sound calm and professional and not reveal my desire to lunge across the desk and rip Ranger's beating heart out of his chest with my bare hands and serve it up for lunch!

I stood to leave and walked to the door. "Ranger, I've already contacted Haver. I know from my research on him that he's more than capable and qualified to handle my needs."

Ranger raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You researched Haver Williamson? Why?"

"Well I certainly wouldn't use a lawyer whose track record I wasn't familiar with, Ranger."

"So ... you were going to use him all along?"

"Of course. He has the experience and the expertise, plus the fact that he was a cop for 10 years and understands the inner workings of IAD and the Brotherhood in Blue. I would be foolish not to take advantage of that." Ranger and Tank exchanged looks. Ranger glared and Tank smirked. Tank looked like a proud papa. His little girl had just passed another test. Tank's phone rang and he took off to solve a problem in the Comm Rom leaving me alone with Ranger.

He stood and came around his desk to stand next to me at the door. "Babe, there's one more thing. We only have a few more days to pick up Panzarelli. Are you willing to give it another try? If not, I can always bring in someone from Boston or Miami, so I don't want you to feel that you have to do this."

"Ranger, you know I've never refused a distraction job, so of course, I'll see it through. But I have a few conditions." Ranger's blank face slammed into place. "One. I choose the clothes. Two, someone other than you takes me to The Wharf. And three, before you offer me another distraction job, you call a meeting of the entire team, that I will chair."

"That's it?" I nodded. "Done. We'll set up for tomorrow night." I turned to leave when a thought struck me.

"How do you do that?" He raised a questioning eyebrow. "The Jekyll and Hyde routine? It's like you flip a switch."

"Self defense, Babe. Conditioned reflex, learned behavior, call it whatyou like. I shouldn't have done that toyou, I shouldn't everdo that toyou."

I figured I had nothing to lose, so I forged ahead. "Ranger, do I have you to thank for The Cure?" He hesitated, and then gave me a nod.

"Then I suppose I have you to thank for undressing me, too?" This got me a slight twitch of the lips.

My curiosity finally got the best of me. "What's with the Snoopy shirt, anyhow? You want me to wear it every time we go running? Why do you like it so much?" This time I earned a full 200 watt-er. "Well?"

"Because he's doing his 'happy dance' and..." He upped the wattage. "His little outstretched paws reach your nipples."

"So it looks like Snoopy is copping a feel?" I squealed and swatted him on the arm. "Under all that Man of Mystery crap you are SUCH a guy!" I guess I sounded surprised at the revelation.

He reached out his hand to touch my hair and looked deep into my eyes, studying me. "I wondered whether you realized that," he said softly.

"Ranger, how come, when I'm passed out drunk, or a blubbering mess, or tired beyond words, you act one way. But when I'm perfectly fine, you act like a ... a ... an I don't know what?"

"An opportunist?"

"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of 'jerk'!" I left his office with a smile on my face. My new mantra was 'Don't let him have the last word.'

I went back to my cubicle to check on the Karvic searches. I immediately noticed that three gorgeous, blood red roses had been added to the middle of the bouquet of white ones. The card was still attached to them. I untied the ribbon holding the card to the stems and sat in my desk chair to read it. I smiled when I recognized the handwriting. 'Babe, you never disappoint. R'.

We all knew from the aroma that lunch had arrived. Ella had set up the break room with all the necessary items for our little party. From extra napkins, to Parmesan cheese, Ella thought of everything. Some of the guys had pushed the tables together and had put a chair for me at the head of the table. It turned into a mini-roast, with everyone telling their favorite 'Bombshell' story. If it hadn't been so good natured, I would have been embarrassed.

"Bomber, who do you want to pick you up for dinner tonight? We reserved the whole back room at Rossini's in you honor." Lester was grinning at me like a loon. I was stunned.

"I was prepared for, maybe Shorty's, but Rossini's? To what do I owe this honor?"

"Look Bomber, lunch is on RangeMan. Dinner is on us. We're trying to show you how much you being here means to all of us. Plus which, we're all trying to show up Ranger. We're going to ply you with massive doses of tiramisu in hopes that you'll fall for one of us." This statement was met with laughter and applause. I blushed furiously and hoped that they were pulling my leg.

Bobby leaned over to me. "Rossini's has added a dance combo in the bar, Bomber. I claim the first dance."

"Oh Bobby, that's great! I love to dance! And I can't even remember the last time I went dancing."

"How come we don't know this about you, Steph? What kind of dancing?"

"You name it. Salsa, ballroom, swing, everything short of square dancing." With that, Bobby pulled me out of my seat and started dancing me around the room. The guys set up a salsa beat, complete with rhythm and percussion sections. For a big man, Bobby was amazingly light on his feet and moved like a dream. He had me doing steps that I didn't know that I knew. Lester took me out of Bobby's arms and twirled me around, changing the dance into a mambo. Hal followed, who knew he could jitter-bug like that? Then Ram and Cal took turns dancing me dizzy.

Bobby reclaimed me and had just finished swirling me around and into a dip, laying me back over his arm with my arm thrown dramatically over my head, when he froze. I heard him mutter "Oh shit!" and the room became absolutely silent. I turned my head to see what he was looking at and found myself face to crotch with a pair of black pants. Oh ye gods! Let me die now!

I froze, too. I rolled my eyes up, to see with whom I was having this up close and personal moment. Ranger stood, hands on hips, looking straight down at me. "Stephanie." He had that one damned eyebrow raised.

"Ranger." I gave him a tight little smile and wrinkled my nose at him. I was going for cute here. I'm not sure I succeeded since I know that the color of my face was less than becoming. While Ranger's package is certainly impressive, (insert hot flash here), finding my face less than 3 inches away from it in a room full of onlookers is not my idea of up an intimate encounter.

The seconds seemed to drag on endlessly. Me, looking at Ranger, looking at me, looking at his crotch. My proximity was not lost on him. His eyes had turned into the obsidian pools that signaled his arousal. His crotch sent the same signal, only by a different method. Afraid to move, I cut my eyes up to Bobby who was still staring at Ranger. "Stand me up or put me down, Bobby." I said through my frozen smile. Bobby dropped me right on my ass.

My butt hitting the floor seemed to break the spell and everyone sprang into action. In seconds the room was cleaned and cleared, and Ranger and I were left alone. He reached down and took my hand, pulling me to my feet. I stood, rubbing my sore butt.

His eyes were dark as he looked at me. "I could kiss that and make it all better."

I think my eyes glazed over at the thought. "Oh, you can kiss my ass alright. But not to make it better."

Ranger stared at me for a few seconds. He took my hand off my butt and bringing it to his mouth, planted a slow, wet, hot kiss in the palm. His eyes never left mine. He took a step closer and put my palm firmly on my butt cheek. Leaning in, he whispered in my ear, "Too bad. My way would have been so much more fun. Consider your ass kissed," and he licked my neck right below my ear. I swear, if I hadn't grabbed onto the back of a chair, I would have landed on my ass again!

While he collected a salad and a bottle of water from the fridge, I managed to regain my composure. By the time he turned around, I was leaning against the doorframe with my arms folded over my chest ... his usual stance. As he walked passed me to go back to his office, wearing that damned smirk of his, I grabbed the front of his shirt with both my hands and shoved him back against the doorway. I plastered myself against him and hauled his mouth down to mine. I gave him the hottest, sexiest, deepest kiss I could muster, sucking his lower lip into my mouth and giving him a sharp nip before I let him go. I put my lips against his ear and whispered, "Your loss, not mine." I licked the shell of his ear and bit the lobe for good measure. Then I simply let him go and walked casually back to my desk. I noticed Lester and Bobby give each other a thumbs up as I strolled passed. What was that about?

As I walked into my cubicle I glanced over to find Ranger still standing in the doorway, an absolutely stunned expression on his face. I was very calm as I sat down, but inside I was doing a happy dance and jumping up and down. Gotcha, Ranger! How does it feel it be on the receiving end? A little confused are we? Good! A little off balance? Even better! After all the times you dragged me into the alley at Vinnie's, or trapped me against a wall or desk, it's my turn to play. And by the time I'm finished with you, you'll be lucky if you can walk straight! Who knew that getting even could be so much fun? Let the games begin!

TBC ...

Ranger is waiting to hear from you, so please read and review. Something tells me that the tables are turning. What do you think?