Sorry this is so short, but I hope you'll still enjoy... more tomorrow hopefully! Leave a review please!
Reaching the door to Ranger's room, Stephanie turned and faced the guys. They were only allowed to go in two at a time and she wondered who would go first.
"Go ahead, Steph. We can wait our turn," Tank said as he looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, you deserve to be the first one. You made him open up and I know you're worried about him." Tank hugged her and stepped back.
Looking at Zero, she reached out a hand, "Come with me?"
Not fully understanding why she wanted him in there, he told her, "I trust you, Belle. You can go talk to him alone if you want."
"What I want, is you in there with me. If you want to be," she replied while looking him in the eye.
Zero grabbed her hand and pushed the door open for her. Walking up to the bed, she saw Ranger was awake. "Hey there," she whispered.
Looking over to his side, he did a half smile, "Water?" he rasped out.
Stephanie held the straw to his lips as he sipped some of the cool liquid. Once he was done, she sat the cup back down in his reach and smiled.
"The doctor said the surgery went well; they got it all out."
"Good," he replied. "I'll be glad to be back to my old self."
"Ah, the Ranger we all know is coming back?" she joked.
She saw something flash across his face but it was gone before she could read it. "Listen, Tank, Bobby, and Les are outside. I don't know what the guard order is, but they are there. I think Zero and I are going to head back to RangeMan and get some rest. We'll stop by again tonight."
Ranger nodded, "Thank you for being here."
"I told you I wasn't going to leave…"
He stopped her, "No, I mean for being here by my side and not walking out of my life a few months ago."
Stephanie stopped for a moment, "It was close, Ranger. It was very close. But, we'll discuss that some other time. Get some rest."
Stephanie walked to the door and waited for Zero who was staring at Ranger.
"Take care of her, she's a good woman," Ranger whispered.
"I plan on it." Shaking his boss' hand, he told him "Get some rest. We'll be back later."
As Stephanie and Zero were walking off the floor, a nurse stopped them, "Excuse me, can I ask you two a question?"
Stephanie and Zero turned to face. "Of course," smiled Stephanie.
"The guys with you, or more particular the blond one… is he, I mean, does he…"
They could tell the nurse was embarrassed to ask her question, so Zero stepped aside thinking if it were just the nurse and Steph, she'd feel more comfortable.
A few moments later, Zero heard Stephanie laughing and shaking her head. The nurse looked visibly relaxed as she walked back to the nurses stations. As Stephanie stepped up to Zero, they heard the nurses all yelling, "YES" and looking around for Lester.
"What was that about?" Zero asked Stephanie while pulling her into the elevator.
"Seems we need to have a talk with Marco when we get back."
Zero looked at Stephanie and wondered what Marco had to do with anything the nurse wanted.
"Just wait… you'll find out," she said as she kissed him and smiled.
Arriving back at the office, Stephanie called Marco from the garage and asked for a video meeting. When Stephanie and Zero arrived in the conference room, they closed the door, booted up the monitor, and had a seat.
Marco's face appeared on the screen moments later. "So, since when does Lester have Syphilis?" Stephanie asked without warning.
Marco, who had been sipping his coffee, spewed the hot liquid all over his computer monitor and down the front of his pants. "Shit," he mumbled.
Zero looked at Stephanie, then Marco, and back to Stephanie. "Is that why he was having problems?"
Stephanie nodded and stared at Marco. "Okay," he surrendered, "I told a friend that he had syphilis… she just happens to work at the hospital and I guess she told some of her friends. It was just meant as a joke; I didn't want him to go down there and leave behind a trail of broken hearts."
Stephanie stood up and began pacing the room. "If you were here, Marco, I'd strangle you." Trying not to laugh, she stood in front of the camera again, "Do you know how hard he's tried to get a number? Do you know he's wondering what he did to lose his touch? He's going nuts!"
Zero and Marco began laughing uncontrollably as Stephanie just stood and watched them. Finally, she could no longer contain herself and began laughing as well. "You will fix this," she scolded Marco.
Marco agreed and signed off the chat, leaving Stephanie and Zero alone in the conference room.
"How did you find out what was going on?" Zero asked her as he pulled her onto his lap.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she replied, "The nurse at the hospital. She asked me if "The blond guy was really sick?" I asked her what she meant and she told me that she'd heard he has syphilis. When I told her that as far as I knew, he didn't, she muttered the name Manoso. I asked if she knew either Ricardo or Marco and she admitted she knew Marco."
"I didn't ask her, but figured he'd said something of the sort and planned on confronting him. She told me that she was glad Les wasn't sick and was sure the other nurses would be thrilled as well. I bet his card will be full by tonight."
Zero laughed and then nuzzled her neck, "I would love to have been there when he finds out the reason he wasn't getting numbers at first."
Sitting up, Stephanie suddenly remembered the one female by the elevator that Bobby and Tank were betting on. "Hey, what happened to Bobby and Tank's bet?"
Zero threw his head back and barked out a laugh, "Technically, I don't think either won that bet."
"Why not?" she asked as his fingers began running circles on her back.
"Well, it turns out she was a he looking for her or his partner."
Stephanie sat there for a moment before she looked at Zero, "How bad did Les embarrass himself?"
"I think he got as far as his Joey Tribbiani impression before he noticed the Adam's Apple and turned away."
"Well," yawned Stephanie, "I'm ready for a nap. How about you?"
"I could definitely curl up with you… but I don't know about sleep," he winked.
Walking out of the conference room, they took the elevator down to the apartment they were using. Two and a half hours later, Stephanie was finally curled up with Zero and drifting off to sleep. Zero closed his eyes and thought she had a pretty good idea about sleep now that he was worn out.
Ranger was released from the hospital a few days later; as long as Bobby promised to stick around and take care of him. With him on the mend, he sent Lester and Tank back to Trenton, but he didn't warn Marco that Les was coming home.
Stephanie and Zero stayed a few extra nights just to make sure Ranger wouldn't be giving Bobby any problems with his recovery. One the way back to Trenton, Stephanie couldn't help but wonder what Lester did to Marco.
Arriving at the Trento airport, Stephanie looked around and spotted Binkie and Ram walking towards them.
"Bro," Binkie said as he shook Zero's hand.
"How's the family?" Zero asked his brother.
"Everyone's fine. Ma wants to see you and Steph soon for dinner," Binkie smiled. He knew that Zero hated going home for dinner; it turned into a question session from his mother.
Stephanie sensed something was different but she couldn't put her finger on it. As she turned around to look for luggage, she saw Eddie and Big Dog approaching and her spidey sense started going off. Grabbing Zero's hand, she squeezed to get his attention.
Zero turned around and watched the cops approach them. "Officers," he said.
"Zero. Steph. Welcome home," Eddie said as he pulled her in for a hug.
"What's going on, Eddie? How did you know we were coming home today?"
Eddie looked around like he wanted to be anywhere but there, "We didn't know, Steph. We aren't here for you."
"Oh, okay," she said. As she was turning to face Zero, her skin began to crawl and she heard a voice she swore she never wanted to hear again.
"Cupcake."
Her world started to spin and she saw red. Zero reached out for her, but she avoided his grasp. Spinning around, she came face to face with Joe Morelli
"What the hell?" she said as she glared at Eddie.
"He's who we're here for, Steph."
"What's he doing here? What's he doing out of jail?" she demanded. Looking at Ram and Binkie, she realized something. "You two knew? You two knew he was out and didn't say a damn thing?"
Knowing they were busted, they remained silent; they weren't sure what to say to her. Zero came up, wrapped her in his arms, and led her away from the baggage claims.
