I leaned against the counter and thought about it. I looked at Ranger and tapped my finger. I raised my finger and everyone went quiet.

"You men couldn't handle a teenager?" I asked Ranger. He looked at me.

"Why?"

"Someone said they looked a little stressed when they showed up." He nodded and smiled.

"They might not have been ready for the job." He told me.

"So, they bribed her?" I asked him.

"Wasn't my choice. I would have just turned the TV on."

"No man, she wouldn't have lasted an hour with the TV if she knew she was stuck inside." Vic said. Everyone looked at me. I shrugged.

"How's Christiana?" Grandma asked.

"Waiting for me to go home. I haven't been home for a while. Dating a prick." Weston shrugged.

"Anything else?" Grandma asked everyone.

"For now, that's enough. Are you staying for dinner, Grandma?" I asked her. She looked back at me.

"Sorry Sissy no. I'm going to leave the surprise for tomorrow. It would be smart to bring some more food. Valerie will be there with her hoard. Chair's also." I nodded.

"We'll remember." I told her.

"Bring them also." She kissed my check and Andra's and left.

"So, the crazy is just an act?" Les said. I shook my head.

"No, she really does believe to live life to the fullest." I told them and picked up the box. I walked down stairs and put it in its place. I shut the safe room and headed back upstairs. I grabbed a beer and leaned against the counter next to Andra.

"She's right you know Baby Doll. Fitting in a box or mold is not who we are." I nodded and looked outside. All the guys were fitting together like they have always been together.

"I need them and they need each other. It might work." She leaned over and kissed me.

"It will. Go show them you like to share. I like Tony and Bobby." I nodded and smiled as I took a drink. I walked outside and around the fire. I waved Tank's arms out of the way and sat down on his lap. He put his arm around me and I took a drink.

"Who else is shipping out?" I asked the guys.

"I'm heading up to my brother's. Haven't spent time on my bike in a while." I nodded and smiled. I waved my two fingers at him and he flicked a smoke over to me. I caught it and then his lighter.

"Still working on it?" I asked and through the lighter back. I gave Weston a look and pointed to his bottle. He shook his head.

"Same frame. I've changed it a few times. It's still a roadster." I nodded and smiled. It was always a great bike. He looked at me waiting. I took a drag and pointed my smoke at the shade. He looked at me and I nodded.

"You'll have to move some things around." He got up and headed to the shade. I looked at the boy's?

"We're heading to the lake house." Kyle to me and I nodded. They wanted some peace and quiet and space to get there freak on. I looked at Chris and Vic.

"What's our plans sweetheart?" Vic yelled back to the house. Andra showed up in the doorway and put her hands on her hips.

"What you think I like traveling?" She asked him. "I packed, here I am. That's it." She gave him a look and walked inside. "Men." She shook her head though.

"There's your answer." Chris told me. Vic nodded and was smiling. I looked at Milo. He gave me a look right back. I winked at him. He was staying here. I looked back at Adam and saw he was looking the bike over. I got up and grabbed the gas can and handed it over.

"She's been well taken care of." He said and filled her up. I smiled and nodded. "Go for it." I told him and flicked the smoke into the fire.

"You're sure?" He asked me.

"Yeah." He nodded up at me. I nodded to him.

"Baby Doll where's Steven's?" He asked me. I thought about it and looked back at the house. He noticed also and kissed my head. I walked back over and sat on Tank. He was watching Adam.

"Where'd you put it?" I asked Vic. I looked over at him when he didn't answer. He smiled and took a drink.

"In the warehouse. Andra came to me after the fact and I cleared and cleaned everything up. That's the last place you would look." I looked at him for a long time thinking about it. I rubbed my forehead and thought about it. Then looked at the house and shook my head.

I got up and headed inside. I shut the door behind me and leaned against the bar and looked at her. She looked back at me and checked on her food. When she was ready, she turned and looked back at me.

"I told you it was a risk." She told me.

"How long?" I asked her.

"We wiped your mind of a major part of your life and you kept it like that for years. It's going to take some time Baby Doll. It's going to take some time for you mind to break through all the barriers. On top of that your coming back into your gift. What did you forget, what's upsetting you?"

"I forgot the warehouse." I told her. She looked at me

"I'm sorry Baby Doll." She told me. I pulled my hair out and rubbed my forehead. "Everything well come back to you." She told me. I looked through the herbs and dumped some in my palm. I grabbed a new beer and headed outside. I dropped them in the fire and sat down in Adam's chair.

"So, who's all coming to dinner?" I asked the guys.

"Why am I getting the feeling it's not something you want to do?" Milo asked me.

"It's a three ring circus." Ranger told him. "But it's fun to watch and her niece Mary Alice is crazy like Steph is."

"We're all going. Besides the show and Andra's making us. We would go just to get to smoke in the garage." Vic told me. I nodded.

"Andra sends my Daddy cigars and while he's working on the cars he smokes in the garage. He'll let you guys join him also." I told Ranger and the Merry Men. They nodded and wanted to join. Milo and Chad shrugged they would think about it.

"Think about it. My Daddy wouldn't care and my Grandma already invited everyone."

"It will be a blast. Helen will be so pissed off and Val will shit a cow. She never did like me. Maybe it was because her husband wanted to fuck me. Come on all of you, dinner's ready." She said and waved us all inside. We all sat down and ate.

After dinner, I walked Milo and Chad out.

"You know if you want it, you can have my apartment." I told Chad. He gave me a look. "Give me a few days and we'll talk. I have a job for you if you want it." He nodded. I kissed their checks and watched them leave. I heard my bike and smiled. Adam pulled to a stop and turned off the bike.

"She's a beauty, needs a little work though."

"I know, there's dinner." He nodded and headed inside. I closed my eyes and centered myself.

"I'm surprised none of you have been called in." I told Ranger.

"The office is in good hands. If we're needed someone would tell us." He told me. I nodded and still really didn't understand. He came over and put his arms around me. His thumb started rubbing circles on my stomach. "For some reason though this morning Hector dropped off some things for us." He told me. I smiled and nodded.

"He's all knowing like that." I laid my head on his shoulder and started getting tired.

"Tired?" He asked me softly. I nodded and smiled when he picked me up. "Let's get you to bed then Babe."

"Shower." I told him.

"Babe you're going to fall asleep in the middle of it." He told me. I shook my head no. He didn't say anything. Just walked me into the bathroom and sat me on my feet. I pulled off my boots and threw them in the hall. I pulled off my shirt and shorts.

I started the water and adjusted it to the temp I wanted. Then pulled out my hair band and took off my bra. I heard something and thought it was Ranger. I started on my underwear when a hand grabbed mine. I looked back and saw Bobby.

"Side." He told me. I felt the water again and closed the door. I moved over to the counter and sat on it. He was just staring at me. I looked over at Ranger. He was leaning again the door frame smiling.

"Bobby?" I asked and looked back at him. He shook his head.

"What happened to the shy woman I knew?" He asked and walked over. He took the bandage and wrap off.

"Oh, Honey I'm hardly shy." He felt the area and looked back up to me. "I'm still full of surprises." I winked at him, dropped my panties and walked in the shower. I moved under the water and let it beat down on me.

"Why are you getting headache's?" Bobby asked me. I brushed the water off my face and looked through the door at him. I started washing my hair.

"When my brother died, I asked Andra to help me bind myself. By doing that I pretty much wiped my mind of a lot of information. It takes or will take some time for my mind to rebuild the bridges and I remember everything." I told him.

"How, explain." He said and didn't understand.

"I can't even if I wanted to. Andra might, but she's not really one to get all blue. It was hard trying to make it happen. But it was needed and gave me a fuck load of peace." I told him.

"Why?" He asked me.

"To what?" I asked right back. I didn't understand what he wanted to know.

"Why would you bind yourself, why can't you explain and why wouldn't Andra?" Bobby asked me. I grabbed the different bottles of body wash and smelled them.

"Andra might not because it's my business and it brings up painful memories. I can't really explain because I wasn't doing the work really. I don't do much casting and if I do it's the same thing not something new. I bound myself because I wasn't in a good place. I don't think I would have let it go this far. I wasn't really thinking at the time.

"Why weren't you in a good place Bomber?" He asked me. I looked over at him. I wiped my face off again.

"Maybe later." I turned off the water and pulled the towel on. I opened the door and wrung my hair out. He cut a look to Ranger. I looked over and saw he was thinking about it.

"Technically not a medical questions." I smirked and walked over to Bobby. I stopped just before we were touching.

"How bad do you want to know?" I asked looking up at him. He dropped his blank face. But I could read his eyes. He was worried, puzzled, but wanted to know. "What will you give me if I tell you?" I asked him. His eyes went to Ranger. I was smiling when he looked back at me. I raised my eye brow and waited.

He wrapped his arm around me, turned us. Sat me on the counter. Cupped my neck and kissed me deeply. I wrapped my legs around his hips and kissed him back. He slowed the kiss and kissed me once more. Then pulled back to let us catch out breaths. I gave him time, when he opened his eyes and looked at me I dropped my legs.

"I was made to watch my brother tortured and killed. There at the end I lost control and I never really gained my control back. Coming out of the bind it's having an effect that I remember, but is less personal for me. Don't think I'm cold hearted or impersonal. I still feel the pain and loss. It's just not on the surface. Not all of our missions were clean cut." I told him.

"What happened?" He asked me. I cleared my throat.

"I killed every last one." I told him looking in his eyes. "But the person in charge. He wasn't there at the time. I wasn't in the best shape either and I pretty much passed out when I was done."

"It's understandable Steph." I shook my head and knew he didn't understand.

"I'm a gypsy Bobby, I have many gifts and I'm very powerful. But we live through love. Yes, some con others and make bad deals. But some work only out of love. That's why I was put in charge of Whitewall. Mostly we are sent out just to retire lost soldiers. But there are black ops we're sent on. When I say I lost control I mean I snapped. I no longer had a handle on my gifts and let everything just flow. Yes, I killed many like you're thinking.. But not all and for me to do that it taints me. My gifts, my energy and my soul. If I would have kept going I wouldn't have ever gotten a handle on myself again. The outcome would have been worse. A gypsy without love isn't something you want to meet." He was understanding.

"How did you live through it then Babe?" Ranger asked me. I wanted to know how I survived. I let out a breath and thought about it.

"There is a way, it's a huge risk and can be painful. But there is a way for some to learn how to detach a soul. We came back from our first tour and my Grandma noticed something was wrong. With some help, I learned how. But when Andra called and told me Steven never made it home I went down and looked for him. I didn't have time, I didn't have a chance."

"I didn't like it." He told me. I nodded to him.

"It's hard to handle, I'm hard to handle like that. Even though my soul is tainted, it always welcomes me back. The risk is, if I die like that my soul is lost. Not a pretty outcome. There's a give and take with everything." I told him.

"The clock." He said. I smiled at him and nodded.

"I can't be apart to long."

"What's the deadline?" He asked me. I shrugged and didn't know.

"I've pushed it a few times. It's more like an hour glass then a timer. The sand moves at different speeds. The more I'm calm the faster it flows." He nodded.

"The dry?" He asked me.

"There's a few different parts to the ward. The outer layers are to bank my powers. The inner are to protect my soul. When it's flipped, the middle is a spell more than a ward. It's like scrying. But on another level. I can find people. They bleed when my powers pushed against the ward." He thought about it.

"You're a gypsy?" Bobby asked me. I looked Bobby's face over and cupped his cheek.

"Trust me Honey I'm not crazy. Take your time, and come to grips." He just looked at me. I hopped off the counter and walked over to Ranger. He tipped my chin and kissed me. I walked passed him and pulled on shorts and a nighty.

I walked down stairs as I finger combed out my hair and checked on everyone. I leaned on the back of the couch looking at the TV. I rubbed my face and looked around. I headed into the living room and found my laptop and books. I sat down and opened my laptop.

I read through my classes and started working on my homework.

"I know Stark." Bobby said. I nodded and looked over at him. He was sitting next to me. He was looking off into nowhere. "From how you've sounded you've passed your psych review." I nodded to him.

"Until I retired. I didn't have to take one to return. Now if I stay on the team I will." I told him and went back to my homework. I did look at him a few times. I finished my homework and put everything away. I folded my legs and looked at him.

I brushed my hair back and shook my head. I got up and locked down the house. I turned off all the lights besides the living room and headed up stairs. I crawled up the bed and moved under the blanket. Les put his arm around me and held me. I fell asleep.