Chapter 13

"Please, Miss, don't let them kill me!" the man at knife and gun point from Ranger and Pat immediately whined, turning big, afraid, pleading eyes on Steph.

Ranger gave him a hard shove. "Shut up," he growled, lowly.

Involuntarily, Steph felt herself shivering. Ranger definitely was in his most dangerous mood. And he was angry, as much she could see. One look into Pat's hard and furious eyes and she could tell that he wasn't much better than Ranger – if not worse. Her eyes swept over her living room, taking in the two other guys, bound and gagged, already forming several bruises, and finally looked back to the bleeding guy her both men were – interrogating.

She did a double take. Both her men? Now where had that come from? Sure, she could probably say in all honesty that Pat was definitely her man, hell, husband even, but Ranger? She held no hold or rights whatsoever over him.

No, but you'd like to.

Frowning, Steph mused over that sudden thought for a moment, but then she pushed it away. Now was so not the time to contemplate her relationship – or lack thereof – with Ranger. There were two over protective men to deal with. Oh yeah, and those guys who obviously had broken into her apartment.

Again.

Tired of pretty much everything, she put her bag down and looked at the guy between Ranger and Pat. "Who are you?"

The guy wet his lips and shot his capturers a wary look. "Charlie Potter. I've got orders to bring you to my boss, Zacharius, but I swear, we weren't going to hurt you," he hurried to answer me. "Oh, and sorry for the shooting earlier on."

Her eyebrows shooting up, Steph almost had to suppress a smile. Boy, Pat and Ranger really must have done a number on him if he provided this much information without any probing. They didn't look too happy about his sharing mood though. Oh well, their problem. She for her part felt it refreshing to be in the loop for a change. Well, almost.

"And who's Zacharius?"

"A very dangerous and unpleasant guy you don't want anything to do with," Pat answered before the guy could. "He likes it rough with his women, regardless if they want it as well or not – or view themselves as his. But you'd want to meet his boss even less."

Steph looked him directly into the eyes, fighting down the sudden nausea. "And who would that be?"

Pat didn't offer a name. She narrowed her eyes. He still kept his silence.

"Oswald Bauer, Babe, and he's right: you don't want anything to do with either of them, but especially not with Bauer," Ranger told her quietly, earning a glare from Pat that would have made Steph wet her pants. Ranger though seemed to not notice it – or, more likely, simply ignore it. Or it could simply be that tough guys like him were immune against it.

He certainly was immune against her best Burg glare and Pat was no better in that department.

Ugh. Situation to deal with at hand, she reminded herself sternly and pushed her treacherous thoughts away.

She nodded her thanks to Ranger and thought this all over for a moment. "Is Felton working for Bauer?" she asked Pat finally.

Pat didn't look happy, but Ranger gave her the smallest of smiles. He was proud of her. Steph tried hard to ignore the happy flutter of her heart at his smile. Eventually, Pat gave a slow nod, albeit reluctantly. "I think so, but I've got no proof for that yet."

It was easy to see how much the thought of the man Pat looked up to as a father being a traitor pained him and while she never really had been that much of a fan of Felton, her heart went out to him. Part of her wanted nothing more than to take him into her arms and console her. Another part wanted to jump his bones and remind him that Felton didn't matter. She was his family, his wife and all he'd really need. And if that wasn't enough, there was also a part of her who still wanted to just kick his stupid ass for being so unbelievable stupid. Still… She was well aware that most part of her just wanted him and nothing more.

Problem was that yet another part wanted to jump Ranger's bones really bad as well. Plus, there was something in his dark eyes – defeat? She didn't like that look, despite everything, and a big part of her just wanted to reassure him as much like she wanted to reassure Pat. Then again, what could she reassure him of? Like said, Ranger and her weren't a couple – or even heading that way.

She was Pat's wife though.

Oh hell…

"Look, I'm tired. Can't you just take this," she waved at the muscle men, "somewhere else so I can go to bed?" she suggested, wanting them just out of her sight. Perhaps, she miraculously would figure out what to do about all this if the main reasons for her momentary confusion wouldn't constantly be right under her nose.

Pat's eyes narrowed. "You can't still insist on staying here!"

Steph gave him her best Burg glare, seeing out of the corners of her eyes how Ranger had to suppress a smile that looked almost gleeful though and quickly included him into the glare. But of course, those idiots were completely unaffected. Unbelievable. Well, she could do stubborn as well. "This is my home. Of course I'm staying here."

"Damn it, Nisha, you've just had three guys breaking into your home to abduct you!" stupid Pat still argued though.

Steph glanced at the thugs then shrugged. "So what? It's not like they had a chance to touch me, let alone hurt me."

Ranger grinned at her answer but said nothing. Actually, it looked as if he was waiting to see what Pat decided to do in the end. Huh? "What is the deal with you two?" she demanded to know, her eyes sharp on them.

Suddenly, they were eager to avoid her eyes. That could only mean one thing. Shit. "Don't tell me you contracted RangeMan to help you!" she gaped at Pat.

Pat looked back at her at last. "And if I have, what's the matter with that?"

Suddenly, Ranger looked mighty interested in her answer to that as well.

Which made the walls of her living room feeling like they were a lot closer than they should be. But could anyone blame her for that, with two men she cared about a lot, maybe even loved and were highly lethal to her everything staring at her like that, waiting intensely for an answer? Well, Steph didn't know what to say to that. She could hardly tell them that Pat shouldn't bother Ranger because there was something between them. Something that Steph had hoped would eventually progress to the point where she could convince Ranger to try out a relationship with her after all. Shit. She never had admitted this to herself and this revelation had to come upon her now of all times?

Damn it!

Thinking the best defense would be confrontation, she turned her glare towards Ranger, for what it was worth. "And you had nothing better to do than take this job on? Don't you have some third world country to invade?"

Ranger gave his equivalent of a shrug. His shoulders lifted maybe all of a millimeter. "Not at the moment. This pays better." His eyes bored into hers. "And is a far more important job."

Hot damn!

Steph's eyes slid from Ranger's dark and meaningful eyes over to Pat's slightly narrowed green eyes and felt panic rising while the walls crept closer another few feet.

Now Ranger decided to apply some more pressure?

Okay – there was only one thing to do in such a situation. "You know what? You guys just do what you want. I'll be in my bedroom," she told them and made a beeline for her bedroom.

Pat opened his mouth as to protest again, but then he thought better of it and instead sighed. "All right. If that's how you want it." He looked at Ranger. "You take these guys with you. Find out where they were supposed to bring Nisha to. And see if they know Bauer's location, though I doubt that he'd let them know very much. I'll stay with Nisha."

Steph's steps faltered. Oh no. This was exactly what she couldn't need right now! But before she could even protest Pat looked at her, hard. "You either relocate or I'm staying here, Nisha. No discussion."

Oh really? Steph thought different. But once again she got interrupted even before she could get a word out, this time by Ranger. "He's right, Babe. You staying here alone is out of question. If you don't want to move back into my apartment for the time being, one of us stays with you." His tone didn't allow any protest.

Pat glanced at him at the mention of her staying with him again, but he didn't comment on it and turned back to Steph, nodding once. "Your choice, Steph."

She looked from one to the other and for just a tiny moment, she was tempted to take up Ranger on his offer. But that would just cause too much additional problems. Not to mention that it wouldn't be fair on either of them. So she threw up her arms and turned away. "Fine. Whatever. Cushions and covers are in the cupboard. Serve yourself." Thus said she marched into her room and slammed the door, leaning heavily against it.

This was so far away from being fine…

And worse – she doubted strongly that this closed door would be enough to keep Pat out of her bedroom – or her inside for that matter..

No. This was not good at all.

It took Pat a full hour to come into the bedroom. He padded through the dark room to close the windows. In her bed, Steph stayed silent, acting as if she was sleeping deeply, pretending to have no idea how dangerously close he was.

Almost. He was almost out of her room again.

But then he did the unavoidable that would doom them both. He stopped at her bedside and she could feel him gazing down on her.

Still, Steph tried hard to ignore the pull she could feel in her body in response to his gaze and fought to be completely still, her breathing even.

"I love you, Nisha. I love you so much. I'm tired of always fighting. I'm tired of always being alone. All I want is to come home at last, after all these years. Home to you, mo gradhàich," he said so softly she had to strain to understand him. And with so much desolation and longing that it went straight to her heart and into her soul. "I want to quit my job and settle down with you, here or wherever you want, and make love to you day in and day out. And I want us to have a baby again and this time, I'll be at your side the whole time, Nisha, and we're not going to lose it like we've lost Brianna. I want us to grow old and wrinkled together to die one day far in the future in peace, with our children and grandchildren around us." His voice broke a little at Brianna's name and Steph had to bite her lips to not cry out – or telling Pat to stop talking and kiss her already. "I just want us to be together again. Husband and wife, like it was supposed to be for all these years since we've parted. Like I'm sure it's our destiny. And I don't want to lose more precious time. Is that so wrong, mo gradhàich?"

With a sigh, Steph gave her pretense up and turned around to face him, his eyes green and shining intensely with his love for her, even in the room only lit with moonlight. For a long moment she stared into his eyes, while he waited, completely still, barely daring to breathe. And she made her decision – or at least a first decision. "No," she answered quietly, grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to her.

Pat didn't need any more invitation. In a flash, he was kissing her, devouring her, body, heart and soul.

"Thank you, Nisha. Taim i'ngra leat, mo gradhàich. Thank you," he whispered, just before he sank into her and she welcomed him home with open arms.

TBC!

(Author's Note: And here is at last the first of the new chapters. I hope I didn't disappoint after the long wait for this chapter for some of you and I hope the Babes aren't ready to kill me now. Just always remember that I too am a Babe and am suffering with poor Ranger here, no matter how much I love Pat as well. More will come soon, until then: enjoy the wait!)