Note: The characters, places and descriptions in this story recognizable as Janet Evanovich's are used solely for entertainment purposes.

I cut my eyes to him sharply. "Don't tell me we came all this way and now you're going to reveal to me something is wrong."

He hesitated. "He's okay, it's just that there's a situation."

I pressed a hand to my heart. I could feel the Captain's pendant beneath my shirt, pressed over my heart beneath my hand. He was okay and he was going to stay okay. "Okay, exactly what type of situation? Is Salazar holding him hostage?"

"Not really…" Tank looked through the trucks and sent a nod. I looked up and saw Ranger coming toward me.

"Babe," he said when he came over. He looked wary. "Did you tell her?" He asked Tank.

"I started to…"

"NO! He's been working on it…"

We both spoke at the same time. Ranger stared at Tank and Tank blew out a breath. "Maybe you should just tell her. It would be better."

"Someone tell me!" I shouted.

Ranger pulled out a handcuff key and unlocked us. He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me in between two emergency vehicles. "Chris is fine right now. Salazar is on his way to jail."

I held back my joy, sensing a "but" was coming. "And?"

"He has a bomb strapped to his chest. There is a timer set and there are about five hours remaining. The trouble is that no one's seen this type of mechanism before and it's a really sticky situation." He was speaking softly to me, his hand massaging my shoulder. "I'll take you to him so you can see him."

"Why do I get the feeling you're telling me to get my final moments with him?" I asked, my voice panic-stricken.

"I think that you should just spend time with him. When they're ready to make a move on the bomb, you'll have to leave." He said quietly. His expression was grave and I knew that things weren't good. "Salazar is crazy. He wouldn't say a thing about the bomb citing that if Louisa couldn't have him, then he should be dead. He'd take the secret with him to the grave, I'm convinced."

My breath was coming in shallow gasps and I was starting to see black spots. Ranger's strong arms wrapped around me in a hug, "You have to pull it together. He's really worried about you and you both need to stay calm. When you go in there, you need to focus on him and not the situation."

I nodded. He was right. We hadn't seen each other in over a week, I'd been searching for him and he'd been worrying about me. The last thing we needed was to focus on this situation. We needed to focus on how much we loved each other. "Okay, take me in."

He led me through the front door of the house and my gaze immediately locked with Chris's. He was seated in a chair with about four men surrounding him looking at the contraption on his chest. I chose not to look at the contraption or the men. I just smiled at my Captain. He looked relieved to see me and smiled, albeit a tight smile. "Princess."

I walked up to him and grabbed his hand, sinking to my knees in front of him. "Hey Captain." I smiled at him, so happy to see him, yet so pained at the situation he was in. "You're not supposed to actually be like Kirk, you know."

He burst out laughing in spite of himself. "God, I love you, Princess."

"I love you."

The men looked at each other and one of them spoke. "Eef you want to keess heem, pleez do so now. We weel not stand in zee way of love, but we 'ave a zhob to do."

I smiled at them. "Trust me, I don't want to interfere with your job, but I do want to kiss my husband."

Chris leaned forward and gripped my shoulders. We didn't dare hug. He pressed his lips to mine in a fierce kiss full of love, desire, and fear. His hands gripped my neck and jaw, his thumbs caressed over my cheeks, wiping away the tears I couldn't stop.

"It's going to be fine, Princess. We just have to wait a bit." He kissed my forehead. "They'll figure it out.

I looked down at the bomb. It was so small. Hard to believe it was as dangerous as it was, but I knew that with jewelry and bombs, big things came in small packages. The encasement where the timer was housed looked familiar to me. I stared at it.

"So, no one knows what this is?" I asked.

They all shook their heads. "We 'aven't seen zees type of mechanism before."

"I have and I know who can solve it." I was smiling wide.

Every eye turned to look at me.

Ranger and Morelli walked over, hands on their hips. "It's uncanny how you do this," Morelli said. Ranger only shook his head.

"How you do what?" Chris asked his eyes looking between the three of us.

Ranger and Morelli just grinned. "We don't have time to explain now, but you'll probably need a beer when this is over, right?"

Chris nodded. "Sure, but not as much as I will need to be alone with my wife."

"Right," Ranger said. "So, Babe. Who do we need to call?"

"Sally Sweet."

Morelli shook his head. "I can't believe Sally's going to steal our save again." But he was smiling.

I tried Sheena's land line, but got her voicemail, so I called Sally's cell phone. "The Sweet man," he answered.

"Sally, it's Stephanie."

"Hey, I wondered how the search was going, dude."

"Hey to you, too, Sally. Listen, I want to send you a picture. Can you do a super hex puzzle from a cell phone picture or do you need to see it in person?" I asked, pacing.

"Uh, I could try, but it'd be faster in person," he said. "Why?"

"What's the fastest time it has taken you to solve one?"

"I don't know, about four hours?" I released my breath. That could be good. "But it was a super easy one. The hard ones take days."

"Oh my God." My face paled and I felt dizzy.

Joe slipped an arm around my waist to steady me. "You okay, Cupcake."

I nodded. "Okay, Sally. I'm going to send you a picture so you can work on it, but you have to get down here." I looked at Ranger. "Can you get him down here fast?"

Ranger nodded. "I can pull in a favor and probably get him here within a couple of hours."

"Do it," I said.

"Him?" Chris asked. "You know a guy named Sally."

"Wait til you see him," Ranger said with a smirk.

"Sally, someone's going to come get you, be ready. I'm sending the picture."

"I'm on tenterhooks," he said and disconnected. I shook my head. Sometimes he could be a bit … remote.

I took a picture with my phone, taking care to get several angles so Sally would have what he needed. "I'm concerned that this won't be good enough for him to see. These things are intricate. He said the hard ones … take a while to solve."

Chris leaned forward and looked into my eyes. "A while?"

I nodded and met his gaze. "The easy ones take four hours. The hard ones…" I gulped, "can take him days." I stood and shook my head. "I've watched him work these before. It gives me a headache after five minutes."

"I 'ave one of zee men researching zees super 'ex puzzle." The one I assumed was the commander said. "Eef zere ees a way to solve eet quickly, we weel do so."

I nodded and thanked him."He'll do it. Sally always comes through for me."

Chris nodded. "I'm going to have to get a rundown on all the characters you know, Princess."

The commander smiled. "Zees one eez a preencess?"

Chris looked intently into my eyes, never looked at the commander. "She's my Princess."

I smiled at him. "I love you, Captain."

"Oh! Captain Kirk, oui?" The commander asked. "I 'ave seen eet. You are very good."

Chris flicked him a glance and a smile. "Thanks."

The men closed in around him again and started easing some Kevlar between his chest and the bomb. The commander came over to me. "We put zees under zee bomb to 'opefully protect heem in case somezing goes wrong."

"Let's hope nothing goes wrong," I said absentmindedly. I sent the picture to Sally and got a call back a few moments later.

"This one looks complicated. What is it on? I've never seen one executed this way before, it's stellar." He sounded impressed. That didn't make me feel any better.

"It's on a bomb strapped to my husband's chest that is going to go off in…" I checked the timer, "four hours and forty two minutes."

"Fuckin' A," Sally said. "Shit! Okay, I'll work at it." I heard some commotion behind him. "Ugh, I think Ranger's man is here. I'll see you soon."

"Sally got the picture?" Ranger asked.

"Yeah." I pressed my lips together and looked at Chris.

He smiled at me. "So, what have you been up to this week?"

"Looking for you. Everywhere," I said, walking over behind him to stay out of the way of the bomb team. I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed the top of his head, laying my cheek against his hair and staying near him. "It was such a wild goose chase, but I'll tell you all about it when the bomb is defused."

"Okay." He reached up and caressed my face. "This is nice. We were short on crazy whacked out situations the last couple of years."

I smiled and held my throat in check. I wasn't going to cry. I still had to tell him about the baby, but I didn't want to do it here. "Yeah, I was turning into a bore. I needed an adventure to remind myself that I was used to having my life in danger on a weekly basis once upon a time."

"Was your life in danger when you were looking for me?" he asked.

"How about if we talk about it later?" I asked.

"How about if we talk about it now?" he asked.

"No, I want to keep things calm right now. I'm a mess and I just want to tell you everything later when we can both react how we need to react," I said quietly, kissing his head again.

He nodded. "You win this time, Princess."

"This time?" Morelli and Ranger asked in unison.

I could feel Chris smiling. "Sure. I win arguments, she wins arguments. It's what we do."

"You win arguments," Morelli said as if it was a concept he couldn't fathom.

"Yes. Mostly because I play dirty." Chris's voice held amusement. "I say please."

They both stared at him and Ranger said, "Actually, that's worked for me one or two times in the past."

"Works every time," Chris said. "She can't say no to please."

I sighed. "It's the Burg obligation. It's still in me even though I moved away. If my mother says please when she's asking me to saw off my arm, off it goes."

***

A couple of hours later, Sally strode through the door and he did not disappoint. He had on a blue leather mini skirt, a white leather bustier with a Union Jack on the back, red leather platform heels, and a black wig. He was in full makeup and stood there almost seven feet tall in all his hairy glory. I thought he looked wonderful.

"Hey, Sally."

"Shit, that was the coolest ride I have ever been on. Rock and roll." He made some sort of hand gesture and looked over at Chris. "Oh, hey, dude. Let me take a look at that thing."

Chris was looking at Sally as if he'd just stepped off an alien spaceship. I laughed and made introductions. "Chris, this is Sally Sweet. He's a friend of mine and is tight with Grandma Mazur."

"Grandma Mazur is totally stellar," Sally said with a grin.

"I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for Sally. He saved me from a mob of gangsters a few years ago," he and I grinned at each other, "with an Uzi."

Chris was staring and shaking his head. "Sometimes I forget the life you lead before we met."

"Steph was the ultimate," Sally said. "Oh, hey dudes." He nodded over at Ranger and Joe. "Okay, sorry to be a bummer, but I need to get looking at this thing. It's totally fucking up my brain."

Ranger got a look on his face that said he thought it was too late, but he wisely didn't say anything.

Sally looked at it and made to remove the cover and everyone shouted "NO!" at him. "Dudes, you have to remove the cover to get to the wires. They have to be moved."

"Okay, but everyone 'as to leave 'oo does not need to be een 'ere." The commander said. He began ushering me, Joe and Ranger out.

"No!" I said. "I want to stay!"

"Princess, I agree on this. Please, do this for me. I won't be able to let him do this if I think you could get hurt," he said. His eyes were on mine and his love was pouring out to me. He wanted me safe.

"I'll be able to work faster if I don't worry about you either, Steph," Sally said giving me a thumbs up. "This puzzle is stellarific."

I shook my head. Only Sally could make up such a weird word and make it make sense. "Fine. Don't blow up yourself or my husband."

"Don't worry. I have a gig later tonight. I don't want to mess up LaShaye's outfit." He looked at me, his eyes serious.

I ran over to hug him. "Thanks, Sally. You didn't have to do this."

"Hey, I didn't have anything else better to do. I was getting sick of British television," he said with a smile.

I looked at Chris and gave him a nervous smile. We kissed and got as close as we dared. "No dying today," I said. "I have plans for you later."

He smiled. "I love you, Princess."

"Always, Captain."

The waiting was worse than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. It was agonizing. I paced, I sat, I cried. No one could comfort me, I didn't want to eat or drink, I just wanted to see Chris walking out of the house.

Ranger tried to talk to me and Joe tried to talk to me. Tank came over and held out his arms. I walked into his hug and he held me close for a while. Time was dragging on. One hour slipped by and then two. My stress level went from high to out of this world.

I was pacing and wringing my hands with tears running down my face and Joe walked up. "Cupcake, you need to settle down."

"I can't. It's been two hours. How much time is left?" I asked.

He looked at his watch. "Thirty five minutes or so."

I felt my blood pressure zing to an unprecedented level and felt a stabbing pain go through my abdomen. "Ow!" I doubled over.

Joe scooped me up into his arms and marched me over to the ambulance. Tank was at my side immediately. The pain was becoming worse. My breath was coming in gasps. The EMT's pulled a stretcher out and Joe laid me on it. Ranger came over. "What's going on?"

"She got really upset and started having abdominal pains." Joe looked worried. Ranger looked less calm than usual.

The EMT's were asking questions in French and we all stared at them. Tank began speaking to one of the EMT's in French and the man nodded. He said something back to Tank and he said, "Lie on your left side and draw your knees up to your chest. They're going to check you over and make sure things are okay."

I looked at him. "And to think, I didn't think you had much of a vocabulary at one point."

Tank smiled. "I like to keep a low profile."

"I guess that I can't expect anything less from a guy named Pierre," I said smiling.

Tank gave an annoyed look at Ranger. Ranger's hands went up. "Don't look at me. She learned it at the hospital when you broke your leg."

"Pierre?" Joe asked with a grin.

"Pierre" gave Joe a look that said he'd better call him Tank. Joe's hands went up in surrender.

The EMT put a blood pressure cuff on my arm, checked my heart rate and then asked Tank something. Tank leaned down. "He asked if you are feeling any better."

"Yes. The pain is gone." Tank spoke to the EMT and got a response.

"Okay, he says to continue to lie down and try to relax." His expression was grim as if he knew that was nearly impossible.

"How much time?" I asked Joe.

"Twenty five minutes," he said.

"Shit! Why are they still in there!" I felt my heart banging in my chest and another stab of pain in my side. The EMT said something to Tank and he relayed the message. "He said that if you don't calm down, they're going to have to sedate you. You seem to be very stressed."

"I seem to be stressed?" I looked at Tank and the EMT as if they'd sprouted wings. "Ask him if his one true love has a bomb strapped to her chest!"

Tank stared at me and I sat up. "Ask him!"

Tank grabbed my upper arms and laid me down on the stretcher. "This is it, Stephanie. The moment when you can shut the fuck up or you can stress yourself out. I'll sedate you myself if you don't calm down. Sally still has some time. This isn't easy on anyone. No one here wants to see Chris get hurt."

It was the final straw. I broke down and curled up into a fetal ball on the stretcher. Tank still had a hand on my shoulder. He reached around to my back to massage my muscles, working out the tension. A hand rested on my calf. Joe's. Another hand rested on my thigh. Ranger's. I let out my anxiety and my fear, and cried until I was spent.

I laid there a while, wiping my face and cleaning myself up. We stayed that way for a few moments and then I looked at Morelli. "How much time now?"

He hesitated. "Don't worry, I'm too exhausted to get hyper."

"Two minutes." I nodded and took a few deep breaths.

I looked up at Tank and placed my hand on his arm. "I just want him out of there. I want him to walk out and tell me that everything is fine. Is it too much to ask?"