Disclaimer: I don't own these character nor do I make any money off of these stories. All characters will be returned... But maybe Ranger will get lost on the way and he'll get returned to the sender ;)

Thank you to my wonderful Beta Heather (Txbabefan) for getting this chapter back to me so quick and helping me out! Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! I love reading them, keep them coming!

Chapter 6

What the hell?

Steph POV:

I sat at the conference room table with Ranger, Stan the lawyer, Joe Juniak, and the precinct Captain. "Miss Plum." He said. "It's good to see you."

I nodded. "You too captain." I said, my burg manners kicking in.

"We were informed by a few concerned parties that you had been kidnapped by Rangeman. Can you confirm or deny that?" He asked. "You're under no obligation to answer any questions as You're not under arrest but it would make the process easier."

"I was not kidnapped by any member of Rangeman LLC." I said.

"Where have you been the past six months? There have been very limited sightings of you and your family said you normally come to dinner at least once a week and you haven't been in six months."

"I'm currently estranged from my family. I have been living and working for the past six months and working on my life. Of course I would want to stay out of the spotlight. I was improving my life, and trying to live it the way I wanted to without interference. Not that it is any of yours or the departments business." I said. Ranger squeezed my hand under the conference table.

"My god daughter is right. She doesn't have to answer any of these questions concerning the choices she has made in her life lately." Uncle Joe said. The captain pales slightly.

"You made an accusation against Joe Morelli that he had physically abusive to you." He started. "You do understand this is a serious accusation?"

"What are you implying Captain Marcus?" Stan Holt our lawyer asked.

"I'm not implying anything ." The Captain said.

"It sure as hell sounds like you are." I muttered under my breath.

"Let's move on then with the questioning." Uncle Joe said.

"I want to know why I wasn't contacted with these claims against my company and some of my employees?" Ranger said. "I would say that my company has a good working relationship with the Trenton police department, but yesterday you brought multiple uniformed officers and detectives to my offices and accused me and my men of kidnapping Miss Plum."

"Mr. Manoso, we were informed by a very credible source that Miss Plum was being held against her will." Captain Marcus said tugging at his shirt collar; sweat beading on his brow.

"That source being Detective Joseph Morelli, who is Miss Plum's ex-boyfriend. Why were these claims not looked into? For the past two weeks Miss Plum has been seen around Trenton so obviously she was at Rangeman of her own free will." Holt said, sitting forward to look directly at the captain.

"I'll admit that the claims weren't looked into as they should have been but they were from one of our own." The captain admitted.

"Is it alright for one of your own to physically abuse their spouse?" Holt asked, as he picked up his pen to write down the Captain's answer.

"Uh, well, of course not. It's never right to hit anyone." Captain Marcus said stumbling over his answer.

"I think this meeting is over." Uncle Joe said. "If you have any more questions for Stephanie you have her extension at Rangeman but I suggest you refer them all to her lawyer."

"We'll let you know if we have any more questions." The Captain said trying to salvage the meeting that went downhill so quickly.

We stood and made out way out. Ranger wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side. He kissed the top of my head and I wrapped my arms around his waist as we walked out. We got looks from the officers on duty.

"Hey Steph." Eddie said.

"Yeah Eddie?"

"All that shit Joe said is a lie, isn't it."

"It is." I nodded.

"I'm sorry, Steph." Eddie told me softly, his voice full of remorse.

"I am too Eddie." I said before walking out with Ranger and the guys.

"Thank you, Uncle Joe, For coming." He smiled and kissed my cheek.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Uncle Joe said as he pulled back. He turned to Ranger.

"Take care of her Ranger." He said seriously.

Ranger opened the door for me to get into the Turbo. He kissed me soft and sweet, before closing the door and walking around.

XXXXXX

After the ordeal at the police department Rage and I decided to go pick up our files from the bonds office. He drove and I sat in the passenger's seat of one of the fleet vehicles.

We rode in silence which was strange for me. When he pulled into the bond office parking lot, I opened my door and slid from the seat. Rage followed me inside.

"Connie, Lula." I said nodding to both of them. They hardly looked at me once they noticed Rage.

"Holy shit Steph. Where did this Rangeman come from?" Lula asked, fanning herself. "He's almost as good lookin' as Batman."

I rolled my eyes. "Girls this is Rage. He's my partner." I said.

Connie's eyes roamed over Rage as he crossed his arms over his chest, standing far back from them. I hid my smile.

"I here to pick up the files for Rangeman." I said.

"Ranger and Tank where in here the other day." Connie said as she handed me a stack of files. "They said you were working for them now."

"I'm wearing the uniform." I said.

"So all of the files will be going through Rangeman." Connie said.

I rolled my eyes. "I guess."

"So what happened at the police department today?" Lula asked. "Officer Hottie came down here earlier lookin' for ya."

I could feel the atmosphere in the room shift and Rage looked around. "We need to get going." Rage said his voice low and controlled. I nodded at him over my shoulder and took the files from Connie.

"See you later." I said walking out. Rage scanned the area and remote started the SUV.

I slid into the passenger seat and Rage got into the drivers. He pulled out of the lot and glanced at me. "The cop is going to try and corner you."

"He is probably going to try." I sighed. I was pissed. After everything he's done now he's showing up at the bonds office hoping to catch me.

"You should call Ranger." Rage suggested. I whipped out my phone and dialed Ranger's number.

"Babe." He answered.

"Carlos." I said softly with a smile.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Rage and I just left the bonds office. Apparently Morelli was there asking around about me." I said.

"He's going to try and corner you," Ranger growled.

"That's what Rage and I suspect. There's no other reason for him to be there."

"I would feel better if you would come back to Rangeman, but I'm not going to tell you too. If you think you can do your job and stay away from Morelli than I trust your judgement." He said.

I felt my chest warm with something that felt like happiness. "I think we'll be fine. I appreciate you letting me make the choice."

"It's your call Babe. Keep your panic button on you and make sure you and Rage don't get out of sight." He said. I could agree with that, it was a good idea.

"Okay."

"And when you get back, will you join me for dinner and a movie on seven?" He asked. I smiled.

"Sounds like a date Batman."

"I'll see you at six Wonder Woman." He said. Then he was gone.

I had a goofy grin on my face after he hung up that Rage noticed. "What did the boss have to say?"

"I need to keep a panic button on me and we need to maintain visual contact on each other."

"And what caused that smile?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I smiled.

"You can't tell anybody." I said. He nodded and glanced at me.

I let out a breath. "I'm seeing the boss." I couldn't' hold back the smile if I try.

I swear to God he rolled his eyes at me! He chuckled. "Everybody knows that." He said.

I made an indignant sound. "Well not everybody knows I have a date with the boss tonight." I said. He looked over at me, slightly surprised.

"Bomber, I haven't ever seen Ranger like this. It's been a few years since I've seen him but when I got out he came to me and offered me a job at Rangeman. We sat around and got to talking. After I asked him what was going on in his life he started talking about you. His Babe, the Bombshell Bounty Hunter."

I groaned and Rage smiled. "He was smiling like I had never seen and his eyes were full of love and had a sparkle in them. The only time I see that look now is when he's with you."

I grinned at him. "I'm a lucky bitch ain't I?" I asked. He chuckled.

"What's the first file?"

"Let's start with a low bond." I said. He nodded. I opened the first file and started reading it aloud.

"Michael Whitestone." I said. "Arrested for carrying concealed without a license. He should be easy. He lives in the burg, I went to sunday school with him. I think he's living in his grandmothers house. She just passed away a couple months ago and she left it to him."

"How do you know that?" Rage asked.

"Burg Grapevine." I said. He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Gossip mongers." I explained. He nodded.

I pulled out my phone and called the one person I knew that would know. "Steph! I feel like we haven't talked in forever."

"Sorry, Mary 've both been super busy." I said.

She made a sound of agreement. "So what can I help you with?"

"Michael Whitestone, what's the latest on him?" I asked her putting on speaker.

"His grandmother died and left her house to him. A cute little two story that most would kill for. He was arrested for carry concealed as if everyone in Jersey doesn't. His mother kicked him out but is paying the taxes for her mother's house even though the place is in Michael's name."

"So he's living there?"

"Last I heard."

"Thanks ML. We'll have to find a time to see each other and go to the mall." I said.

"Definitely. I'll let you know, alright?"

"Sounds good. Talk to you later." She said before hanging up. I looked at Rage and smiled. He shook his head.

"Can you get me to the house?"

"Yep, the address is just two streets over from my parents." I said. I directed him there with a growing sense of dread. I didn't know if it was because I was back in the burg or if it was because I was so close to my parents house.

We decided to park down the street. We made our way down the street towards the house. I scanned everything ahead of us. Rage threw his arm out in front of me stopping me mid stride, We were feet from stepping onto the path to the front door.

"What?"

"There is a feather blocking our path." He said going deadly still and looking from side to side. The back of my neck tingled as he spoke. "Something is wrong."

"Rage..."

"Get down." He said covering my body with his as the first gunshot pierced the air. Soon the sound of multiple automatic rifles filled the air. I, hit my panic button, crawled behind a car and pulled my sig. Rage was next to me. He risked a glance around the front bumper. "Call for backup." He said as he fired three rounds off towards the house.

I pulled out my phone, taking a deep breath and dialed Ranger. He didn't answer. I dialed Rangeman and got Hal.

"Hal I need you to send backup to my panic button's location. Rage and I are under fire. Code 115, under heavy automatic weapons fire."

"Do you know how many assailants Bombshell?"

"Rage, how many are there?"

"I count three but there could be up to six." He said back firing the rest of the bullets in his mag. He dropped that one out and whipped one from his belt.

"Three to six."

"Four units are responding. Two minutes out. Can you hold until they arrive?" Hal asked.

"Yeah, but not much longer after that." I said. I had my gun, and knew how to use it. It was time to put my training to good use.

"Switching you to my headset Hal." Rangemen carried a Bluetooth ear piece to connect to their phone during situations like this. It sounded absurd but it was true. It allowed us to have both hands free, keep the control room updated, and return fire.

"Returning fire!" I said. I laid under the rear of the car and zeroed in on one of the targets. They were in the downstairs window to the right. Almost directly across from me. I opened fire. There was a yelp of pain as the gun barrel disappeared from view.

"One hostile down."

"Backup is thirty seconds out." Hal said.

Two black SUV's slid to a stop: Cal and Dallas to our right, and Ram and Lester on our left. The other two pulled into the alley behind the house.

Soon the air was silent aside from the sirens closing in. "Bomber what's going on?"

"We're approaching the house." I whispered as Rage and I crept around to the side. We entered through the side door and found the house empty.

We met one of the teams that had come through the back as we went into the dinning room. "We got one of them. He's wounded." Bobby said.

"That would be the one Bomber shot." Rage said. Bobby nodded.

I stood leaned up against the SUV. I watched as Rage walked over to where we had been before the gunfire had started. He got down on one knee to pick up the feather delicately. He said something quickly before tying the feather into his hair tie. He walked back over and zeroed in on my arm.

"Your wounded." He grabbed me by my hand and pulled me to the ambulance.

"It's a Band-Aid level wound." I said. He thrust me towards the ambulance and the medic raised an eyebrow.

"Right shoulder." Rage said. I rolled my eyes as the medic pulled up the sleeve.

"Just a graze." He said as he went to cleaning and bandaging it. "You might need stitches."

"I'll get the company medic to stitch me up." I said. I heard tired squealing as a familiar Porsche turbo slid to a halt. Ranger came out of the drivers side. He accessing the scene. He saw me and jogged over. He must have been in a meeting as he wore one of his suits with a white dress shirt. His black and gray tie loose around his neck.

"Babe." He said grabbing my arms and looking me over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I said shrugging his hands off. He looked at me, his eyes showed that he was confused by my behavior. I let my fingers brush against his and gave him a half smile. I stood and looked around, finding Eddie close by.

"I don't want to have to come down to the station today again. Is it alright if Rage and I come in tommorow to give our statements?" I asked. He nodded his consent.

"Would it work better if I came to Rangeman, so you don't have to risk running into Joe?" He said.

"That would be wonderful Eddie." I said. He kissed me on the cheek before I walked back over to Ranger and Rage.

"Rage, I'm going to go with Ranger." He nodded.

"We'll meet in the morning to get our reports ready for Tank." He said. I nodded.

"See you in the morning." I said. He walked over to the SUV as I turned to walk to the Turbo.

We drove for a few minutes in silence. "Why didn't you answer the phone?" I asked him.

"I left it in the car while I was in my meeting." He said, his voice tense. "Why did you push me away?"

"I just got this job Carlos. Everyone needs to understand that I didn't just get it because I'm your Babe, your woman." I said. I heard him let out a breath.

"I understand that Babe but that hurt." He said in a soft voice. I took his hand.

"I'm sorry. It's just my whole life everyone has though of me to be a failure, even when I was a bounty hunter. The only person who has ever put any faith into me was you and then the merry men."

He pulled over. "No matter what you do babe I'm always proud of you. You need to stop letting everyone else's opinions weigh on you. None of them matter."

"I care what you think of me." I said softly. "That matters a lot to me."

He reached over and cupped my cheek. "That means the world to me Babe." He said kissing me softly.

"I'm working on it Carlos." I said. "Its how I grew up. What will the neighbors think if I do this or that?"

"I don't expect you to change that way of thinking overnight Babe."

"I'm sorry I pushed you away, I just needed everyone to see I don't need to be coddled."

"How about if next time you give me a signal that you want me to hold you and if I need told hold you I'll give you a signal?" He asked.

I smiled. "Sounds like a plan, Batman."

"We still need to figure out what the hell happened back there." Carlos said.

"Did the guys take the guy I shot back to Rangeman?" I asked. He nodded.

"You got him in the shoulder and a piece of glass from the window left a gash on his head. Nothing serious. Bobby already took care of it."

"Then let's find out what the hell is going on."

I hoped you enjoyed! Next chapter will be up in a few days.

Leave a review! Authors don't know what you think about the story if you don't!