Earlier this year I read an interview with JE, where she seemed pretty happy to get rid of the number centered book naming thing. It made me wonder about coming up with 27 number themed titles, and then pairing up story ideas with them. In the end, I came up with 31 story ideas (more, if you count the multiple ideas for several of the numbers), and The Number Series was born. Some stories are longer one-shots, some are short, and some developed into multi-chapter offerings. All have the title somewhere in the story. I have no set posting schedule for them.

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All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I'm just playing.

An interlude in the Do You Believe in Reinvention world, set the day after DYBIR ends. It's a Les/OC Megan story, with heavy doses of Steph and Ranger.

5 Reasons Why

Chapter 1

LPOV

Stretching my neck to get the kinks out, I have to concede that I'm getting too old for this overnight surveillance shit. Ram is making the same motions next to me, and the loudness of his neck and back popping makes me cringe. Reaching behind me, I snag my go-bag from the backseat floor. Digging through, I grab the deodorant and apply a liberal dose as Ram does the same from his bag. We expected to head to the Rangeman building and sack out there for the night, not spend it in the SUV outside of Steph's townhouse. Thank fuck it's the end of February and not August. Honestly, even if it was August, I'd have still sat here all night to have Ranger and Steph's back.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when Steph yelled at me for messing up her moment with Ranger. I was wondering if she was ever going to trust him enough to let him know where she lived. I mean, I can't really blame her; lots of baggage there, but it was weighing on him. I'm happy they seem to be over that hurdle now. Her jumping from "not gonna tell you where I live" to "move in with me" was unexpected, but Steph never does things the way we expect her to.

It's 0830 now; time to track down Beautiful's requested breakfast. Grabbing my phone from the console, I type in Lupe's, and locate it about where Steph said it would be. "How you wanna do this?"

Ram peeks at the screen. "It's only a couple of blocks. You had last piss break, so I'll walk over and get breakfast while you watch the house."

After getting my order, he exits the SUV and hunkers down into his coat as he heads down the block. A front moved in overnight, dropping the temperature for one last winter hurrah. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the wind. The cold didn't roll in until around 0500, but it was bearable in the car. Once you've survived a trip to Siberia, just about anything above 0 is bearable. Fucking Siberia. I think I'd rather crash land in the Sahara than do another job in that frozen fucksicle hell.

At 0400, Ranger texted me he was satisfied that the building was secure, and we could leave if we wanted, but we elected to stay. We didn't doubt his word, and we were sorely tempted, but having his back was an ingrained response. I think part of me was afraid that if we left, Steph would change her mind about letting us in, both literally and figuratively. She's polite around us and is letting her walls down a little, but I know it's going to take time for her to really trust us. Last year, Ranger was acting and reacting out of hurt and misinformation, but we simply followed orders. I think our actions might have been worse, making me surprised at the breakfast

invite. She was serious about breakfast, right? Shit.

The change in the bossman from before Atlantic City and after has been night and day. Steph has always brought out his human side and reconnecting with her was like pulling a drowning man from the ocean. He's happy. It's not something I've often said about him, but when he drops his guard around the people he trusts, you can see it.

It will be interesting to see what living together does for them. Both are strong willed and set in their ways. Steph never made it more than a couple of months living with the cop, so hopefully she and my cousin will figure out how to make things work. Nobody wants to watch them fall apart again, but I figure at this point they're maybe more willing to bend before they break.

Ten minutes later, Ram is ambling down the street and doing a visual sweep as he approaches Steph's house. By the time he's in front of it, I'm out of the SUV and shivering my ass off. Her townhouse is taller than both of the ones on either side, making it look a little different from the rest. Thinking back to her shitty little apartment in Trenton, I wonder what the inside is like. Or if we're going to be invited in or just handing off food at the door.

Ram gives me the side eye as I run a nervous hand through my hair. "Dial it back, man. I can feel your fidgeting from over here. Desperation isn't a good look for you."

Dial it back? Desperation? Easy for him to say. He and Steph are already mostly back on track. He followed orders, but he didn't walk her out and then abandon her on the street like I did.

He knocks and we wait, the swirls of late winter air kicking our ass. There's a lull before the door opens, and a happy and smiling Steph ushers us in before closing the door without letting too much of the wind in. Once upon a time, I might have commented on the fact that she looks… well loved. Glowing like a firefly's butt loved. She has a small hickey not quite covered by her t-shirt neckline and yeah. In the past, I would have given her shit about that, too. Now I'm afraid to rock the boat.

She takes the box of tacos from Ram with a happy thanks and steers us to the over to the kitchen where the warm oven is waiting to bring breakfast back to an acceptable temperature. The blue base cabinets are unusual, but they work when mixed in with the white wall cabinets and other lighter stuff. No dark woods, black or boring neutrals to be found. It looks more like my house than Ranger's penthouse, and I smother a snicker when I think about him living here, surrounded by color. Steph sees me glancing around and says, "Once Ranger is down, I'll give everyone a tour."

"Why do we have to wait for him? Didn't he see it last night?"

Oh. That blush tells a tale. I'm guessing they went straight to the celebrating last night. Can't blame them, I would have done the same thing. A smart-ass comment is on the tip of my tongue when she gives me a bland look and says, "Don't make me hurt you first thing in the morning, Santos."

Huh. I would have expected that from my cousin, but not Beautiful. I can't help myself. "I think you've been hanging out with Ranger too much. You've even picked up his violent tendencies."

The smile she gives me is just shy of terrifying and but it's the voice coming from behind me that's got my stomach in knots.

"Ignore him, Babe. I have an entire list of shit jobs that need done at the new office and it's got Lester's name all over it."

Fuck. Ranger moves around me and plants a barely safe for company kiss on Steph before pouring himself a cup of coffee. He's decked out in black sweats and an old Army sweatshirt. That he's so dressed down in front of Ram is surprising. I guess he's decided to keep a line between work and home and if Ram is going to be running the Philly office with us, then he's bound to see the private side of Ranger. I look over at Ram, and with one glance I can tell he understands the significance and that he's been moved up to the inner circle. Who's fidgeting now, asswipe?

"So, obviously, this is the kitchen. It was the second room I did. When I bought the house, renters had ripped it apart, and I had to take it back to the studs and start over. The tile over there was the first thing I bought for the house."

Steph leads us on a tour of her house, starting with the floor we're on. Kitchen, dining room, entryway, and a half-bath, all filled with colorful furniture and personal touches. I'm impressed; not only with the house itself, but the way she went about it and especially the well thought out security plan. The vestibule in the back is genius, and I can tell that Ranger is thinking so, too. Even more so when she tells him she'll get his fingerprint scanned later and give him the codes for the exterior doors and the app for the camera feeds outside. It's obvious that she's made safety a priority, and I have to wonder how much of that is because of us.

The small home gym in the partially finished basement gets our attention; it's not something we'd expect Steph to have and just another sign of how little we know her now. She's got an exercise bike with a touchscreen monitor and a rowing machine along the wall; a heavy punching bag and a bright pink yoga mat are out in the open. A TV mounted on the wall has pictures on either side of it. Looking closer, I see a snap of her, Megan, Ryan, and Jake covered in colored powders with gigantic smiles on their faces. Doing a double-take, I realize all the pictures show them wearing racing bibs.

"You run now, Steph?"

She laughs. "Only when Megan makes me! We do a lot of those 5K fun runs. Mostly I do the bike or rower, and we take kickboxing and Zumba at the gym."

I'm impressed. The only exercise she used to do was taking the stairs when the elevator was broken. My sight snaps back to Megan in one picture; her hair is piled into a messy bun and she's smiling despite some tears coming from her eyes. "Is your friend crying?"

That earns me a smile. "Yeah. Zombie fun run where you get chased by people who actually pay money to get made up to look nasty and chase runners. Megan hates zombies. Hates them."

"Then why do the race?"

Steph shrugs. "Personal challenge."

It seems like there's more to the story, but she turns to Ranger. "We can finish this area out if you want to add anything."

His arm is around her, like he doesn't want her to get too far away from him. "Maybe some weights. Looks good down here, Babe. Do you do self-defense drills down here?"

"No. The guys turned the basement of their office into a gym area and with better mats." She points to the hot pink one. "I just have this for when I'm stuck on something. I'll pull up YouTube and throw on a yoga or stretching video. You can add better mats down here, if you want."

We follow her back up the stairs to the second floor, where there's the biggest U-shaped sectional couch I've ever seen. It takes up most of the room, leaving just enough room for a tv mounted on the wall with a shallow console table underneath. Two ottomans that match the couch are next to the stairs. She laughs at the look on my face.

"The ottomans slide into the middle and it makes a giant solid area. I fell in love with it at the store and splurged on it; it's so comfy and I imagined a sleepover with my nieces. The couch is great for movie nights."

A year ago, I'd make a joke about the group sex night she talked about during her first distraction, or porn movie nights, just to make her blush, but I'm not sure she would appreciate it now. But damn, she's not wrong.

That looks like one comfy couch, and I resist the urge to throw myself onto it and take a nap.

The rest of this floor is a guest bedroom, bathroom, and an extra, larger room that she uses for an office. That room is only accessible with a key fob, and the inside is pure Stephanie. One entire wall is pinboards surrounding a giant framed floor to ceiling dry erase board; there are some childish drawings on the lower half. Steph sees us eyeing them. "My contractor does the work for me on nights and weekends and sometimes I keep an eye on his daughter when he uses the big tools. He finished up a project for me this week."

We wait, but she offers no other information. A couple 32" monitors sit on a long desk against another wall and a laptop is on a docking station next to them. The shelves above the desk are neat but filled with books and decorative boxes. There are two brightly colored 5"x7" index cards above the monitors. The blue one is labeled leads found and has seven tick marks on it; the pink one is labeled skips found and has significantly more marks on it, all lined up in groups of five. A heavy oak worktable stands in the middle of the room; on it is a cup of pens and highlighters next to a stack of sticky note pads. It's obvious the room is one that gets a lot of use. One corner of the room sits completely empty. At my eyebrow raise, she shrugs and says, "I didn't know if Ranger would want a home office space."

A glance at Ranger has me turning away; he's looking at Steph with pure pride and love. It's so clear on his face that it feels like an intrusion to witness or acknowledge it. He pulls her close and plants another kiss on the top of her head, whispering, "Thanks, Babe."

Ram and I shuffle out of the room ahead of them and we head up the stairs. The top floor is the master bedroom suite, and I laugh when I see the washer and dryer on the landing. Smart. No dragging shit to the basement. On the open shelf below the wall cabinets, there's another race picture; this time, all of them standing in mounds of colored bubbles. Steph blushes as we walk past the hastily-made king-size bed but happily shows off the monster closets (including one completely empty) and the bathroom. No more tiny, outdated crap space for Beautiful. She's refusing to look at the still wet shower and a side glance at my cousin shows him struggling to hide his shit-eating grin behind his coffee mug. Ah. Shower shenanigans and I'm jealous of both that and the look they share.

Because of the cold, we skip touring the roof, but Steph assures us it's decked out with a grill, fire-pit, and furniture. We journey back to the kitchen and Steph gathers up plates and utensils while Ranger pulls the now warm food from the oven. It's all very domestic and freaking me out a little.

As we eat, Ranger and Ram talk about work, and that makes me curious. "Will Rangeman Philadelphia take over security for the house?"

I get a "No" from Steph and "We're in negotiations," from Ranger. Okay…I'm so not touching that landmine with a ten-foot pole and a blast shield.

Just as we finish up, the doorbell goes off, followed by a knock on the door. Steph opens an app on her phone and smiles as she makes her way to the front of the house. I place the feminine voice right away. Megan. A minute later, she and Steph make their way into the kitchen; Megan's carrying a stack of files.

"Here's the initial file, and the first blush searches."

"You didn't have to do that."

Megan smirks. "Figured you'd be busy most of the weekend. You sure you want to host tomorrow night? Do you know what you're making?"

"Chili for dinner; I did all freezable swaps so I could do them Thursday and get them out of the way. I did 2 soups, the cabbage roll casserole and tried a new chicken recipe."

"The French onion one?"

It's not that I thought Steph couldn't cook. It's just weird to see her so… domestic. She fought that for years with Morelli. Ranger's got a small smile on his face as he watches her. I give him an arched eyebrow and WTF look; fucker shrugs like Steph discussing recipes is normal.

I shake myself out of the Twilight Zone moment as Steph comes back to finish her breakfast. Megan pours herself a cup of coffee and joins us. She politely nods to Ram before looking at me and greeting me with,

"What's up, Player?"

I'm not sure why she tagged me with that. I tried asking her out a couple times in AC, but she turned me down flat. Women have turned me down before, just never so… quickly and firmly.

"Megan. Planning to shoot anyone today?"

She gives me a genuine smile. "It's never the plan, just an… option."

Ranger shakes his head and Ram asks her about restaurants and stores; I'm jealous of the easy way she answers him. When I ask a question, I get a bit of snark and attitude. I double down on the charm and smiles, but nope. He still gets her attention. After everyone is done eating, Ranger and Ram ask Steph questions about her security measures, but I tune them out as I watch Megan wave to Steph and head toward the door.

I'll deny it if anyone comments that I followed her like a puppy, even if I totally followed her to the door while Ram was busy. At the door, she turns back and watches them; at first, I think she's watching Ram, but when he moves out of sight, she doesn't leave. Instead, she watches Ranger pull Steph to him and tuck her under his chin. They just stand there, happy in their little bubble.

"They're in the honeymoon stage. I hope it lasts for them."

I don't think she meant to say it out loud; she blushes and pushes a flyaway hair behind her ear while keeping her gaze on the floor.

Watching Steph tilt her head back and wait for him to lean down a give her a tender kiss, I feel a tug somewhere down in my gut. Seeing them together hits it home that the bar scene's been getting stale and less appealing over the last year. I never wanted to settle down but watching those two over the last couple months has me thinking that it might not be such a bad thing. It doesn't help that the few times we've gotten a group together for a night out, I've been bored with the women that I'd usually try to seek out. Are you wondering what all those women you go home with would look like if you were still there when the make-up comes off? I had never thought about it before, but I certainly was after Megan's comment before we went after Grieveson. It also made me take a second look at her, and I liked what I saw. Funny, smart, brave, loyal. I definitely wanted to get to know Steph's friend better. Unfortunately, I couldn't get her to say yes to a date before we left the shore. Maybe now that I'm going to be living here in Philly, I'll have a better chance.

"Are you busy tonight?"

She doesn't even hesitate to say, "Yes."

"Going out on a date with me?"

"No."

I blow out a sigh. "Is there a magic number of times I need to ask?"

"No, and most people would have taken the hint by now."

Giving her my best grin, I whisper, "I'm not most people."

"No shit."

"Why not?"

"Uh, my friend is dating your friend. Huge mess if we end up hating each other."

It's not that she's not interested; she's just trying to manage the fallout that might not even happen. I can respect that, even if I'm not ready to give up.

"Maybe you should give me the chance to show you we could work before you have us breaking up and being mortal enemies."

Her lips twitch like she's fighting a smile. Seconds tick by and I fight the urge to fidget or talk some more.

"Give me five reasons why I should say yes."

"Um… One, you've conceded the inevitable and realize it's probably best to put me out of my misery. Two, you feel bad that I'm new in town and don't know the good places yet. Uh, three. You're just pretending to find me annoying, and you actually find me charming." It takes everything I have to not laugh, as her face scrunches up in a grimace. "You want to see how bad my one-liners are, and five, us smartasses need to stick together."

Before I even have the last reason out, I can tell she is unimpressed. Her eyebrows hitch up, and she asks,

"Really? That's the best you can come up with?"

With a headshake, she turns to the door. "Wait! You didn't say they had to be good reasons."

"You don't have much practice with this, do you?"

Sheepishly, I shrug and say, "Not really. I'm new to the grown-up dating world."

Her hand is on the doorknob, and I throw up a last-ditch Hail Mary pass to keep her from leaving. "I like you.

You're different. Snarky, smart, and don't take shit. Steph's always had good instincts, so if she thinks you're good people, then you probably are. I just want the chance to get to know you better and that hasn't changed in the two months since we worked the case."

Her arms cross over her chest and her feet rock forward. My eyes are caught on her lips as she pulls the lower one between her teeth. After what feels like forever, she nods her head. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Steph can give you my number and then you can text me the details and I'll meet you there."

I frown at that. "I can pick you up."

"Aren't you in the security business? Never give out your home address to strangers, Santos."

She's shaking her head in both amusement and exasperation as she opens the door and braces herself against the wind before pulling it shut behind her. Oh yeah, she's a smartass and this is going to be fun.