I do not own JE's characters. I just like playing with them.
A/N: My muse fluctuates and this story came out of me trying a twist. I wish I could have a do-over like this sometimes, but I guess I will just make it good for Steph and Ranger.
This fic is a little slow moving as is their relationship. Sometimes, the buildup is better. I am trying to show a new Ranger and a new Steph.
Bear with me and my silly sense of humor. The rating is earned for some language.
Thanks for your messages! Please read and review.
Stephanie POV
"We can do a fake girls' night out tonight for these FTAs at club Juicy. It is short notice, but I leave tomorrow for the weekend. I know that Lula and Connie would come with us. I want them to meet Cat anyway. Lester why are you glaring at me?" He continues to stare holes into my forehead and I look over at Cat. She is grinning.
"I get to meet them finally, Chica. This sounds like fun. When should we do it?" A throat clears.
"Babe, can I see you in my office for a moment?" I look around the conference room and none of the guys will meet my eyes. Okie Dokie. I nod and follow Carlos to his office.
He sits across from me all the way behind his desk and he takes a deep breath. "Stephanie, these 4 men are wanted by the FBI for rape and murder. They are cousins. One of their friends owns the club. I really do not think that this is a good idea. Please reconsider doing this. I am very concerned for your safety."
I know he is trying hard to be civil right now because he is clenching his jaw and he is fighting his blank face. I can work with this. Game face, Stephanie. I sent a text to Cat.
"Carlos, will you see me as an employee instead of your girlfriend, please? You know I have improved my skills and Cat definitely has skills. You know that we will have some guys in there with us. Are you saying that if I was not your woman I could do this? Cat will be the one taking point. We will not really be drinking if that is what you are worried about." He gets a little angry now.
"You said that you would not go to takedowns anymore, Stephanie." I smile at him.
"I am not doing the takedown. I am being a part of the distraction. If you send Cat in alone, she will just give off dangerous vibes or something. We are her buffer zone. We will be giggly and appear to be drunk. We will wear wires and I will be armed. Lula and Connie will have mace. So what is the verdict, Boss? Can I do this or what?" He has his blank face under control now.
"I don't want you hurt, Stephanie." Good, me either.
"I will be careful, Carlos." He gets up and leaves the office without another word. Okay.
Back in the conference room, things are pretty quiet. I look at Cat and she nods at me. I nod back. We are both dressed in silver today. I am wearing a wrap dress and Cat has a silver knee length skirt and a silver and white sweater that fits her like a second skin. We are both wearing knee boots with our hair pulled into loose buns. She wanted to dress alike. She is so funny.
Carlos clears his throat. "Gentlemen, we will set up for the op tonight. Santos, let Brown take point on this. We will reconvene at 1900 hours for a comm check and the last run through. Have a good day. Ladies, please let us know if the rest of your party agrees as soon as possible." He leaves the room and Lester follows him.
"Come along, Cat. We have to go to the bond's office. Ram, do you want us to pick up the files?" He just nods at me. Fine they all have to be so squeamish about this. Men!
In the car, Cat is quiet, too. "Do you think they doubt our skills or something, because that was just weird in there, Chica." I sigh.
"Nope, they love us and they cannot see us as separate than their women right now. They will be alright. We can use this, though. Angry boyfriends are also a good distraction." She grins at me.
"I like the way you think, Chica." We pick up juice and beef jerky and head into the office.
"Hey, White Girl! Who is this?" Lula is wearing a red skirt with a white blouse and a red sweater. She looked professional. I winked at Cat.
"This is Catalina. She works for Rangeman now and she wants to go out tonight. Are you ladies in?" Lula and Connie look at each other and then back at me.
"Girl, I am loving this outfit you are rockin. Are you dating a Rangeman, too? I am starting to feel left out. Connie likes Ram, but she is too chickenshit to say something. What do you think, White Girl? Which one should I holler at?" Why is she stalling?
"I don't know, Lula. Are you sure you want to date a Rangeman?" She looks at me like I am crazy.
"Hell yes. Jenna from Saint Francis' told me all about how great it is to have a big strong man to date and I have seen your happy ass floating around for weeks! I know your new hot tomale friend has a Rangeman, too because she already got that glow. You need to hook a sister up!" I laugh and we snack on the beef jerky.
"I will think about it, Lula. Do you guys want to go out with us tonight? If you do, I need you to meet us at the building at 6:30pm." I give them a look and they straighten in their seats.
"Okay, White Girl, we are in. Now tell me all about Batman. Does he wear boxers or briefs? Inquiring minds want to know, Girlfriend." Cat laughs and we stay for a few more minutes and take the files.
Outside, Morelli is leaning against my car. I do not feel like dealing with him today. Cat just looks at me.
"Who the fuck is that, Chica?" I whisper to her.
"He is a detective with the police department, Cat. He is also a tiny dicked, hairy assed stalker that does not take a fucking hint. I want to shoot him really bad."
He gives me a look that he thinks is sexy. "Hello Cupcake. Who's your friend?" I stand far enough away from him that he cannot reach me.
Cat answers his question. "Why do you call her Cupcake? Are you hoping that she likes it because, it just seems to piss her off. Maybe you are trying to distract her from thinking about your baby penis. It's not working. She just told me you might as well be wearing underoos underneath that bad suit." Burn!
"As to who I am, Detective? I am Catalina Torres. I am sure that there was an update from your police chief on my presence in town. Step away from our vehicle before we are forced to make you." Wow. I love being her friend. She said all of that with a sort of smile on her face.
Morelli turns red, then purple, then white. It is a little fun to watch. Baby penis! I want to laugh and holding it in is killing me. After a minute, Morelli gives up and walks away. Good.
"After that, I need to spend some time at the range, Cat. Let's drop off these files so I can get in some practice with my gun." She nods and drives us back. We agreed to take turns. After an hour at the range, I go back to my office to find that Wyatt is not alone. Lester is sitting there. As soon as I sit down, Wyatt leaves.
"Yes. Lester?" He seems calmer than earlier, but just barely.
"Beautiful, I thought we were cool. Why are you doing this distraction tonight?" He looks like he has been coached.
"Lester, all I am doing is helping to create the illusion that Cat is part of a group of drunk girls and is an easy mark for the FTAs. You know she can handle herself. If you are going to be like this, then maybe she should not work here. Either that, or she could stop seeing you. No one is asking you not to do your job, are they?" He shakes his head no.
"Just recognize that she has skills and that she will have backup. I need to get these new files completed. I will see you at the comm check." He gets up and leaves. Wyatt comes back with our lunch which is salads and we get to work.
Ranger POV
Lester came into my office and sat down. "Look, Cuz. I think that Beautiful is right. You know Cat has skills. I was blinded by my feelings for her, but she can definitely handle this. We will be their backup. Just stay calm, man." I hear what he is saying, but I still want to punch someone.
Tank refused to spar with me anymore today. He said he has a date later and he did not want to be limping. I trust Babe's intuition, but these are some serious bad guys. I guess we will have to have extra backup. I do not want anything to happen to my Babe. She is so stubborn! I needed to make up with her. Maybe after the op.
I waved Lester off and answered my ringing phone. "Yo." A chuckle was the response.
"Hello, Captain. How are you, today?" No. I am not doing it. Whatever he asks me to do.
"I am fine, General. How are things?" He sighs.
"Look, I need you to do a quick mission for me. It should be in and out and it will only take a week." Still no.
"General, you know I am not taking any more missions. I am devoting my time to running my business."
"Manoso, I know the real reason that you are not taking any more missions and she has pretty blue eyes. Now why don't you stop stonewalling me and ask about the fee or the location?" I want to hang up, but he will just call back.
"General, I do not want the mission. Why don't you call Williams? I am sure that he will do it for you." He chuckles again.
"Williams just got married and he told me to call you. Manoso, this will take a week and the fee is $1M. You would leave Sunday night. I will consider this a personal favor and the risk is minimal. What do you say?" I run my hand over my face and think. Fine.
"Send me the specs, I will leave at 0400 Monday morning and I want $2M." His booming laughter is all I hear before he hangs up. I really have to talk to Babe now.
Joe Morelli POV
I thought I really lucked out when I saw Cupcake's new car sitting outside the bonds office this morning. I waited for her to come out and it was like I hit the jackpot when she had a beautiful woman with her. I poured on the charm and that bitch insulted me!
I am sick and tired of being the butt of jokes around here. I do alright in bed and these women need to recognize. Most of them already spread their legs for me and now they suddenly want to earn brownie points with Cupcake by badmouthing me? I came back to the station to see the new bulletin about their takedown tonight at a nightclub. The Chief says that we are to stay out of the way on this takedown. Whatever. I would show them real police work and I would teach that bitch a lesson about making fun of me!
Stephanie POV
We were dressed in what Lula calls our freakum dresses and we each had our wires on. Lula and Connie were not even scared when we told them about the FTAs. They said a creep was a creep. They were very thrilled to know that they could earn money for doing the distraction though. We were using our real names because people would recognize us anyway. At the comms check, the guys treated us professionally and we got assigned to have Hal as our driver. Cat approached Les before we left and I walked up to Carlos.
"Hey, are you alright?" He nods at me.
"Babe, after the op, I need to talk to you about something. It's important." Okay, he is not smiling at me.
"Sure, Ranger. No problem." He flinches because I do not really call him Ranger anymore. He is the one acting all distant with me. He had better not turn into a male chauvinist on me. I am not taking that crap again.
We drive to the club and enter like we are already drunk. Since the FTAs know the owner, they are already in the VIP section. Per the plan, we do shots and act like "Woo" girls and giggle and dance with each other. We work our way towards the VIP section and flirt with the bouncer there. One of the FTAs whispers into his ear and we are let inside.
Thug Number One grins at Cat and crooks his finger at her. She giggles and dances over to where he is seated and starts flirting with him. Connie goes over and tries to take him from Cat and they start pushing and shoving each other and then they are rolling around on the floor.
Cat straddles Connie and starts running her hands up and down Connie's breasts. Lula and I run over and join in and we must look like an orgy on the floor. The FTAs mysteriously get removed from the scene and we are signaled to get up off of the floor. We stand up and hug each other and dance around.
Our victory dance is short lived, however when at least a dozen cops burst into the club telling everyone that this is a bust and that we should all freeze. Since the guys already left except Hal and our fake bartender, Woody, we comply with the cops' orders and allow ourselves to be carted off with the rest of the patrons. The club had been pretty packed for a Thursday night, so we were placed into one of five vans and packed like sardines. The ride was uncomfortable because we were in restraints. Poor Lula looked like she was going to pass out.
Ranger POV
We had just finished handing off the FTAs to our contact with the FBI, when I got an urgent call from Woody. "What?"
"Boss, you guys are needed with the lawyer at the TPD. There was a bust right after you left and the girls all got arrested as part of the full sweep. I think Morelli was in charge of the bust, Ranger." He is such a fucking asshat. He arrested my Babe!
"Fine, Woody. I will call Sawyer." I nod to Tank and Lester and tell them the story. I tell Tank to go ahead on his date and Lester and Bobby agree to meet me at the TPD.
I walk into the station and find that things are kind of hectic. I stroll right past all of the unhappy partygoers and into the office of the Chief. He looks pissed and he motions me to sit down.
"Hello, Chief Buchannan. What a coincidence that your Vice Detectives decided to have a bust on the night of my op for the FBI. We were fortunate that we had already apprehended our FTAs before this took place." He sits back and relaxes a little.
"Unfortunately, our four inside workers were among the sweep. I have my attorney on the way here, but I want them released. They are not criminals and they were not even drinking tonight. Both Torres and Plum have permits to carry concealed, so there are no grounds to hold them. If they were hurt, I will not be pleased. At all." He sighs.
"Look, Manoso. I know you gave us a heads up and I appreciate the professional courtesy. Let me call in Morelli so I can get this resolved. If he does not have satisfactory information, he is toast. This opens us up to ligitation and the City does not need this type of negative publicity. The mayor will not be in a forgiving mood." He makes a call and ten minutes later, Morelli comes swaggering into the office holding a stack of files.
"Hello, Chief. We made ten arrests for drug possession and some for carrying concealed, underage drinking, and we caught a flasher." I just glared at him.
"Morelli, weren't you aware of the FBI takedown that was slated to occur at the club tonight?" He smirks at me.
"Of course, Chief, but I got an anonymous tip that there would be drug dealers there tonight and I had to treat it as a priority." The Chief does not return the smile.
"Morelli, you disobeyed a direct order and you could have compromised the captures of four men wanted by the FBI. I want you to drop the nuisance charges you must have for Torres, Plum, Jackson and Rosolli immediately." Morelli jumps to his feet.
"They were carrying concealed and they refused to be booked! I have them under guard right now. If they are not booked, then they cannot call their lawyer. That one woman, Torres put down two uniformed cops that tried to frisk her. That is assaulting an officer, sir. Surely you are not going to bend the law for some new chick in town." He is an idiot.
The Chief turns a withering look on Morelli. "Detective Morelli, you should have done your research. Torres has a status of Untouchable just like Manoso does. You know that she along with the other three ladies were a part of the op tonight. I don't know what your malfunction is, but you were warned the last time you ignored the procedures for one of their takedowns and you cost the city money and blew up your car."
He gets louder. "You deliberately tried to ruin this op and the four men were wanted for murder. Your little power play could have seen those men still at large or caused them to hurt someone. You are now on suspension effective immediately. I would suggest that you see your union rep. Hand over all paperwork on tonight to Costanza. I will take your gun, car keys and badge." Morelli slams his hands on the desk.
"What? I made good arrests tonight and because Manoso came running to you about his fucking girlfriend, you want to make an example of me? How much is he paying you to look the other way on this?" Wow. I cannot believe he said that, let alone thought it.
"You may want to refrain from saying anything else that may make your suspension permanent, Morelli. I would advise you to lodge any grievances you have officially and you are more than welcome to pursue them. I can assure you that my reasons for suspending you are valid and I have followed the chain of command and updated your file along the way. Leave your badge, keys and gun and get out of my office."
Morelli threw his badge, gun and keys onto the desk and glared at the Chief and me before storming out of the office. Well, that was fun to watch. I stood up to leave and get the girls.
"Thank you, Chief. I will leave now, too. You have a good night."
I found the girls in a conference room waiting for me. Steph ran to me and kissed me and the other girls cheered.
"Come on, ladies. You are free to go. Are you alright, Lula?" She looked a little shaky.
"Yeah, Batman, I am cool. Just get me out of here. I need a freaking shower." I escorted them from the building to the waiting cars.
Stephanie POV
After a shower, I walked to the kitchen for a snack and a drink. Carlos was in the living room waiting for me.
"What's wrong, Ricky?" He pulled me into his lap and held me.
"Babe, I have a mission to go to and I leave early Monday morning. I should only be gone a week. I cannot have contact with you during that time. There is a 95% chance of success, so I am sure that I will return home to you. What do you think?"
I felt like I had tunnel vision and sounds were distorted. I think I dropped my water bottle and I could hear Carlos saying my name over and over, but I could not answer him.
I was staring at the floor and taking deep breaths when I came back to my senses. I could feel Carlos' hand on my neck.
"Babe, do you need me to get Bobby?" I sat up slowly and leaned against him.
"No, I need you to make love to me, Carlos. I don't want to think about you going away and possibly not coming back." I got up and walked to the bedroom where I stripped and sent Max to the living room.
Carlos sat on the bed and I attacked him with kisses all over his face and neck. "I love you, Carlos." My tongue came out to soothe the sting of the bite mark I made on his neck.
"Si, Babe, I love you, too." His hands were pinching my nipples and making them hard. I moaned loudly and felt myself getting wetter.
"Yes, Carlos. I want you. Take me, please!" He shoved me back onto the bed and covered my body with his. I used our lovemaking to go into Denial Land for a while and I lost track of my orgasms. I love this man so much.
"I adore you, Babe and I am sorry for being so stubborn earlier. I just worried that those men could have done something to you or that you could have been hurt. I should have trusted your instincts." Dammit, now I have to do the same about his mission. I sighed and cuddled with him.
"Carlos, I know you are one of the best at what you do, so I am going to trust you to come back to me. Unharmed, too, Carlos and I mean it." He chuckled at me and kissed my forehead.
"I will come home, Babe, I promise. Now did you pack for tomorrow?" I leaned up and kissed him deeply.
"Yes, love. Ella helped. I am ready for our trip." I got up and let Max into the room and I used the bathroom. I emerged wearing Carlos' tee shirt and Max jumped onto the bed, making Carlos laugh.
"Good job, Max, now move." He shoved the puppy off of him and I took Max's place.
"Promise me that you will be careful, Carlos." He stroked my hair.
"I promise, Stephanie. I did not resign my contract and I am doing this as a favor to the General. Now let's get some sleep, Babe." I settle next to him in sleep and try to calm my mind. I know he has gone on missions before, but I always thought of him as a superhero before. Now I think of him as a man—my man. I would just pray for the best.