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"Wake up Beautiful." Lester was kissing up and down Stephanie's body trying to wake her up. They had to be to work in two hours and he knew she would need extra time to wake up. They had been up late last night talking with their bodies.
"Mmmm, don't wanna. Need sleep." She grabbed the covers and rolled over. Lester curled up behind her and kept up with the kisses.
"Steph, we need to get to work. The sooner we get to work, the sooner we get home." His hands were rubbing up and down her side, drawing circles every once in a while. His hands went over her hips and she moved her legs so his hand fell off.
"I know how you can wake me up."
"I'll wake you up in the shower." His fingers started to dance around the spot she really wanted them.
"Okay, okay. Let's go."
Forty-five minutes later, they were out of the shower and Stephanie was wide awake. They got dressed and grabbed coffee on the way out the door. They made it to work with fifteen minutes to spare.
As they walked off the elevator, they saw Bobby and Ranger in the hall. "Morning guys." Stephanie waved to them both. They both nodded and kept talking. Lester walked Steph to her office and sat down for a few minutes.
"What are you up to today?" Stephanie turned on her computer and waited for it to boot up.
"Bobby and I need to go bring in Zielinski. We finally found where he has been hiding. I think we are going to get him this morning before he starts his day. Other than that, I have some paperwork to do and then we have surveillance this afternoon on Carter."
"Ok. I just have some searches I need to go over that Zero and Manny did. Then Tank and I have a meeting at 10:00 with a possible new client. Then a meeting at 1:00 with Diane from Diane Jewlers, she wants to up security." Stephanie went over to the chair and sat on Lester's lap.
"Are you going to be free for lunch?" He was nibbling on her earlobe and causing her to moan.
"Not sure. Call me when you are ready and I'll let you know."
Just then Bobby walked into Stephanie's office. "Man, you two just got here from home and you are at it again. Don't you ever stop?" They could hear the laughter in his voice.
"You are just jealous, Brown. I get to see my woman all day and night."
"Yeah, but if we are going to get Zielinski, we need to roll."
Lester got up and put Stephanie down and gave her one last hard kiss. "Love you Baby. I'll call you later."
"Love you too, Sexy. Stay safe."
He gave her a hug and turned to leave. "Stay sane."
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Tank walked into Stephanie's office and saw her staring at a report. "You ready, Nie?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, just give me a second to print out a few more copies of this. Is this just you and I or is Ranger joining us?"
"He is going to sit in. You find a problem?"
"Not sure. Just something seems off to me, so I have a few more questions for Mr. Lamkin. Depending on how he answers, we will see if what I suspect is correct. I'll meet you in the conference room."
Stephanie printed off three more copies of the report she just ran. Zero knocked and came in. "Hey Bomber, I have something for you to look over." He handed her a paper and she looked at it. "I'm sorry it wasn't done sooner. I was talking with Manny last night and we both stumbled on the same thing at the same time. I did this report and found this. It might be important for your meeting." Zero was sure Stephanie was going to be upset with him for not catching something sooner.
"Zero, thank you. I discovered the same thing this morning. I was going over your report and my spidey sense was humming. I'm going to be questioning him about this. Don't worry, it wasn't something that would normally stand out, but if put with the rest of the reports, it needs to be questioned. You and Manny did well. Thank you."
"Sure thing, Boss." Zero left the office glad he wasn't in trouble.
Stephanie gathered all her files and headed for the conference room.
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Stephanie walked into the room and saw Tank, Ranger and Mr. Lamkin sitting around the table. She took her spot and handed files to Ranger and Tank. She looked at Lamkin and nodded. "Mr. Lamkin, I'm Stephanie. I think you have already met Tank and Ranger." They all nodded that they had.
"Very well, now let's get down to business." Just then Hal knocked and came into the room.
"Boss, I'm sorry, but there is a problem."
Stephanie looked at Hal and knew. Ranger spoke up first. "What is it, Hal?"
"Brown and Santos are in the hospital." Hal looked at Stephanie and she saw the sadness. "They were shot, sir."
Tank caught Stephanie as she fell to the floor. Ranger told Mr. Lamkin that they would have to do the meeting another time. Hal rushed to be next to Steph and make sure she was okay. "How? How bad? Are they okay? I need to go. I need to be there." She tried to stand up, but Tank wouldn't let her.
"Nie, you need to settle down for a minute. I'll drive you to the hospital." Tank stood up and pulled Stephanie up to him. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. "Hey, we don't know how bad it is yet, so don't do this. Nie, you need to be strong for him."
"I know. Can we go yet?"
Ranger, Tank and Stephanie went to the garage and jumped in the Escalade and raced to the hospital. As they entered the ER, Stephanie ran up to a nurse she knew from her many trips there. "I need to know where Lester Santos is, please."
"Are you family?" The nurse didn't even look up.
"I'm his girlfriend."
The nurse looked up finally. "Oh, Stephanie. I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was you. Let's go sit."
Stephanie, Tank and Ranger followed the nurse to the sitting area. "I assume you are also here for Mr. Brown?" They all nodded. "Lester and Mr. Brown are both in surgery. All I can tell you is they were shot. I don't know where or how bad it is. The doctors will be out when they can.
After two hours, a doctor came out and walked over to Stephanie, Tank and Ranger. Stephanie was laying down on the couch with her head in Tank's lap, sleeping. Tank shook her a little trying to wake her up. "Nie. Steph, wake up. The doctor is here."
She instantly sat up and looked around. She noticed there were a lot of RangeMan employees sitting around. Ranger had on his blank face again. She saw the doctor looking at her finally. "Doctor, how is he?"
"Lester was shot twice. Once in the arm, through and through, no damage. The second was in the side. It went in and barely missed his heart. We got the bullet out, but he is going to be in a lot of pain. Right now, he is still knocked out, but you can go see him."
"How about Bobby? How is he?" Stephanie wanted to go see Lester, but needed to know about Bobby as well.
"Bobby is fine. He was shot in the arm as well. He just needed a little repairing done. Nothing major. He will be released soon."
"Thank you, Doctor. Can I see Lester now?"
"Of course. Follow me."
Stephanie stood up and looked at the guys. She knew they wanted to see him as well, to make sure he was okay.
"Go on, Bombshell. We will see him later. Go let him know you are here." Manny hugged her and sent her down the hall. He knew she was worried about not letting anyone go first.
Stephanie walked into Lester's room and gasped. No matter how often she had seen it, she still wasn't use to seeing tubes hooked up to people she loved. She quietly walked over to him, kissed him lightly on the lips and then grabbed a chair to pull up to the bed. She grabbed his hand and held it in hers. She laid her head on the side of the bed and closed her eyes. She only meant to fight off the tears, but she fell asleep.
SPOV
I woke up to someone playing with my hair. I opened my eyes and saw Lester looking down at me. I smiled up at him. "You're awake." I stood up and kissed him.
"Hey Beautiful. I'm sorry." He was still weak, I could hear it in his voice.
"Nothing to be sorry for. I'm just glad you are going to be okay. I can't lose you."
"I know. And that is why I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get shot at. How's Brown?"
"He's fine. He got shot in the arm, but no major damage. Doc said he'd probably go home today. You will be here a few days, I guess." I crawled up in bed with him. I needed the contact. Just then the nurse came in and glared at me being in the bed.
Lester saw the look from the nurse and held me tighter. "She stays here. You cannot make her leave."
The nurse just nodded, took down some numbers from the machines and left.
"What happened?" I needed to know how he got shot
"Bobby and I went to get Zielinski. He opened the door with his gun in his hand along with two buddies next to him with guns. Before Bobby and I could even blink, they were firing at us. I got one shot off, but I don't know where it went. I don't know if Bobby shot or not. Then we were taken down by his buddies. They knocked us to the ground and ran off. I called Hal and Bobby called 911. I'm so sorry, Baby."
I hugged him to me and laid my head on his shoulder. He was hurt, yes. But, he was alive and going to be okay.
I spent the next few days with him at the hospital. I made sure he got cleaned up every day, made sure he had good food to eat and took his pills. Finally we were able to leave the hospital. He needed help to move around, so we stayed at the apartment on four. That way, I could still work, but I was near if he needed anything. Plus, all the guys could stop in and see him.
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Only one more chapter... so far, it is still tied... I need a few more votes to break the tie...