Author: Ren Kayashima

Rating: T

Disclaimer: It is sad to say that my attempt to get the rights to the Stephanie Plum characters was unsuccessful. They still belong to Janet Evanovich, who is one lucky person for having a mind like that.

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Chapter Twenty-Four:

Leo eased Cayden into a wooden beach chair carefully as Stephanie sat p her little nest of snacks and water. Ranger stood next to her, arms crossed and feet apart in his floral swim trunks. He watched at Julie threw a Frisbee to Zook. Stephanie sat down and looked up at him. "Either sit down, or get in the water. Nit picking every friendly gesture that Zook and Julie make towards each other isn't going to quell any fears you have about her dating. Accept it and move on."

Ranger took a seat next to Stephanie in her brown shorts and brown bikini top. Her head was tilted up towards the sky as the warmth of the sun made her smile.

"Duke!" Allegra screamed.

The Great Dane was practically dragging Allegra towards the water. She was wearing a black hat with white letters that read FBI, a grey tank top, and black jean shorts.

James came running after the petite albino and the dog that was too big and too excited. "Duke! Sit!" he yelled.

Allie stumbled and let the leash go as she face planted in the sand. Leo ran over as James helped her into a seating position.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked.

Allie corrected the position of her hat and readjusted her dark sunglasses. "That dog has a scary obsession with the ocean," she grumbled.

James started to brush the sand off of her arms and legs. He looked over to the twins as they jumped around the water trying to catch the almost full grown puppy. "Aren't you going in the water?" he asked as he observed her outfit.

"I'm only going to walk around in the waves."

James saw the outline of her bathing suit. Light pink strings were tied in a knot under Allie's pink hair. "If you aren't going to swim, then why are you wearing a bathing suit?"

"Because it's extremely uncomfortable to walk around in wet underwear and a bra. I know that somewhere along the line of unfortunate events, I'm going to fall and get wet."

James blushed and Leo shook his head. He helped Allegra to her feet before jogging over to the edge of the ocean. He whistled and Duke came running over to him. The large dog jumped on the FBI agent and knocked him onto his butt.

Allie walked over to her mom as she brushed her hair out. "I love Duke, I really do, but he's too strong when he's excited."

Stephanie laughed. "He's more than half your size when he's on four legs and at least twice your weight. Of course you're going to be dragged behind him is he's running."

Cayden smiled. "Put her on asphalt and she can keep up. Sand is difficult to run in."

Allie grinned widely. She liked to run and could proudly claim the title of fastest female sophomore. She sat down in front of Cayden and buried her feet in the sand. James sat next to her as she pulled her iPhone out. She handed him a set of headphones and unwrapped her own set.

"How are you going to listen?" Stephanie asked.

James held up the end of his headphones. The jack was plugged into a headphone splitter. This allows you to plug in two sets of headphones."

"Huh," Stephanie hummed. "Why not go for a walk or something?"

Allie looked over at Leo who was walking over as he held Duke by the collar. "We're waiting for volleyball to be set up," she said.

Leo let Duke go and crossed his arms. "I'm not putting it up by myself."

James laughed. "Allie's too short to set it up properly."

"That's a poor excuse and you know it," Leo retorted. "If the Wonderland Brigade doesn't help with the set up, we aren't playing volleyball."

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The sun had set an hour ago and the large vacationing group had moved to the bonfire pit farther away from the beach. The Wonderland circled the pit excitedly as they waited for the smores ingredients to be brought out. Allie sat down on a driftwood bench with a speaker system and she plugged her iPhone in and Josh Kelley's Georgia Clay began to play.

Julie's face lit up like the fourth of July. "I love this song."

Allie gave her dad a high five. "Told you I could get her to like someone better than Justin Beiber."

Julie started to bob her head to the music.

"I hope we haven't missed all the fun," Clarissa spoke as she and Braden walked over to the bonfire pit.

"Grandma, Grandpa!" Allegra and the twins yelled.

The three ran over and hugged their grandparents. Leo and Cayden waved from the beach chairs. Stephanie stood up and walked over to Braden to give him a hug. Braden pulled the honorary McAllister into a tight hug. "All is well I hope?" he asked.

Stephanie smiled weakly. "I'll tell you about it later, but I'm sure the kids want their smores now. Did you bring the ingredients?"

Allegra took her seat once more and James sat next to her.

"Just trying to steal a kiss on the tailgate of that ride," Allie sang. "Good old days just wash-"

James leaned over and kissed Allie on the lips. She tensed up and her eyes widened behind her sunglasses. James pulled back and smiled. "You shouldn't sing lyrics that give me ideas," he told her.

Julie started laughing as Allie tried to find something else to focus on. She watched as Allegra pushed James off the bench. James grabbed Allie's arms and the two toppled off together. Allegra yelped as she fell on top of him.

The entire group started to laugh hysterically as they looked at the two teenagers. Even Ranger chuckled a bit. Allegra sat on James's stomach and smiled down at him after a moment. "You could have asked you know?"

James reached up and tucked some of Allie's long white hair behind her ear. "That's not nearly as much fun as stealing a kiss from fair maiden's lips."

Ranger walked over to Stephanie. "Let's go for a walk," he said.

Stephanie looked at him curiously before nodding. "Okay."

As they were walking off, Allegra rolled off of James. "Whatever you do, don't have sex on the beach. Sand gets in uncomfortable and unmentionable places," she yelled.

Stephanie turned to look at her daughter. Allegra and Julie were stand side by side with their hands curved to form hearts. "Love you!" they chorused.

Ranger shook his head. "It's scary how close teenage girls can get." That stuff never happened with the male sex.

"They've still got a ways to go until they're as close as Mary Lou and I were at that age. Soon Julie and Allie will be sneaking out of the house to meet and discuss their deepest and darkest secrets in the dead of night."

"Julie can't sneak out of Rangeman," Ranger stated.

Stephanie laughed. "Keep thinking that. She'll find a way to get out if it's important enough."

Ranger felt some of the blood leave his face. Was she telling the truth? Would Julie sneak out to meet a boy when the night was pitch black? He would have to talk to Tank about tightening security at the office.

"What's going on Batman?" Stephanie asked feigning ignorance.

Everyone knew that Stephanie and Allegra were having problems after the abduction. Stephanie had yet to convince herself that make up was a good thing. She was eating more Jelly doughnuts then she cared to admit. But to her credit she was walking off the extra calories with Duke on their evening outings. Allegra's grades had dropped slightly and her music had taken on a melancholy air.

"You haven't spoken about the abduction," Ranger said. "You can't keep it locked up inside. It kills the spirit."

Stephanie frowned. "Since everyone found out about Allegra, I've been forced to think about the rape that brought her into this world. However, when I see her with Julie, and I see the two of them smile. I feel like my family is going to be great. Allegra isn't smiling like she used too. It's forced and faked. Seeing her smile at James, I had to wonder if it was real."

"She doesn't want to worry you," Ranger said.

"She talks to Cayden and me about everything, but she hasn't started talking about this. Ranger, she was kidnapped by her biological father and thought that her dad had been murdered. I don't know how to talk to her about it."

"You'll figure it out," Ranger said. "You always do, but I actually wanted to talk about you. You don't talk much when you're in the office."

"Are you pointing this out because we haven't had sex for three weeks?" Stephanie asked bitterly.

Ranger stopped walking and looked at her. "I don't expect you to jump into my bed after a trauma like the one you went through. I'd be more worried if you were having sex with me right now. You were kidnapped by your rapist and that's going to take some getting time to get over it once more," he explained. "I want to know that you're okay. I worry about you just like everyone else does. I'm worried about Allegra just like you, but I know that like her mother, she'll talk when she's ready."

Stephanie stared at him for a moment. He actually understood. The man in front of her was willing to wait until she was ready to be intimate again. She walked back to him and pulled him into a kiss.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Ranger pulled her back into the kiss and the two made out under the silvery moonlight.

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Author's Note: Well that was fun. I did so enjoy this chapter. I've been trying to decide how Allegra's first kiss should happen, and I wanted to set up some stuff for the next chapter and I think I did that. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I really shouldn't have posted when fanfiction was having so many problems, but I hate having something sit on my computer. If I don't post, I grow negligent in my writing. So I posted the last chapter in the midst of a login fiasco for many of you guys. I apologize for that, and thank everyone for their kind reviews in the last chapter.

I'm glad that I got all of this written out quickly. I have a couple of arcs coming up that can be a lot of fun, or wind up in disaster. So I need you guys to submit honest reviews. That way I know if I've done something horribly wrong with the story line. Rest assured there is going to be a lot of movement in Stephanie and Rangers relationship. A couple more date scenes.

Note: Don't ever expect a lemony scene from me. I can't write a sex scene to save my life. Probably because I'm still quite young… Anyway, I can write the stuff leading up to and after sex, but actual sex scenes… Nope. Besides, I think this story is more geared towards the development of an odd family.

Drop a review letting me know what you think of the chapter. I didn't respond to the reviews of the last chapter, but that's because fanfiction has been crazy in its operations and I wasn't going to try my luck. Responses will start again this chapter.

Shane/Ren