A/N: I wrote this little chapter last night, then decided this morning I should maybe post a Ranger POV of the last few events, but somehow he faught me hard to put his words on paper :O I guess that will be postponed... I try to keep the tone of this story light, but every once in a while a little angst creeps in. In all fairness, I think if Steph would jump right into Carlo's arms it would seem a tad bit unrealistic, she had been with Morelli for a while...
I made it outside the station with surprisingly few steps. Or maybe I wasn't paying too much attention, seeing as my mind was elsewhere right now. Pushing the heavy entrance doors open, I took a deep breathe and felt an urgent need for the cold air that was hitting my face. What I didn't need was the drizzle raining down on me from the sky. Great, could this get any worse?
"Stephanie," I heard a voice behind me that made me wonder if the universe had it out for me? I took another deep breath, put on my smile and turned around, looking straight at Carlos.
"I swear my life is a mess and I have no idea how to fix it," I said, more to myself justification and to him as some sort of explanation. For what? I wasn't really sure. "As a child I …hated Morelli. He was mean and stupid and a bully. And yet, as a grown up I end up dating him and engaged to him, just to realize he is still mean, stupid and a bully. Some things never change! And now I dragged you in there right with me. I'm… I'm sorry for that."
"For what?" he asked, looking confused and seeming like he was getting out of his windbreaker? Why? Was he warm?
"I... it wasn't my business to drag you into this and telling him he was screwing your girlfriend. Though, I am not entirely sure what made him seem so proud."
He managed to get out of windbreaker and surprised me a moment later when he put it above his head and mine, shielding us from the soft rain. Well, me actually, seeing as he had been shielded already.
"You worry I might hold it against you that you mentioned to him he was fucking my girlfriend?" he asked and I winced at his words. Somehow I was getting accustomed to me thinking that Morelli cheated, but hearing someone else say it – in other words – felt odd. "I don't care," he almost laughed. "Morelli and me go back quite a while and not in the best of ways. He has this strange idea about my company and what I do for a living, I think he's a decent cop who is maybe a little too lazy and has too much of an ego. We get along on a professional level, but probably more because we have to and I have a better connection to his superiors. Though, I think it should be mentioned that we more or less tolerate us at best. The fact that he slept with my ex-girlfriend won't dimmish or improve our relationship, but it isn't something I'm angling for anyway. I try to avoid him when possible, seeing as that reduces my headaches. He's a cop, due to my job my path crosses often enough with law enforcement."
"Speaking of cops… what are you doing here anyway? You…weren't following me, were you?" I asked confused and remembered a moment later that there had been unknown faces next to him who I had assumed were employees of his? So, maybe the 'following-me' comment was uncalled for and pretentious.
"We were dropping of an FTA and just needed to finished the paper work."
"An…FTA? What's that? A security system?"
At my question he looked amused at me for a second. "Either that was an incredibly lucky guess or someone looked me up," he remarked and I realized my mistake in regards to the security. "Second option would beg the question of how since you don't know anything about me, let alone my name."
Oh crap, I walked right into that one.
"I have my ways," I answered mysteriously. "You have legions of men looking up information about people within a few keystrokes, I have… other options," I said, sounding even to my own ears like a whole lot of BS.
Instead of a reply, he just looked at my for a long time with an intensity in his dark eyes that made me give up my act within seconds.
"Your hoodie," I finally said, seeing him raise an eyebrow at me in question.
"My hoodie told you who I am?"
I let out another sigh, hung my head in slight embarrassment and decided I might as well just go ahead and tell him everything. "When you visited my place the first time and wrote that it was your favourite hoodie, I got curious, since nothing about it seemed special. It was black and… nothing else. Like any ten-dollar hoodie you can buy in Chinatown. So, I looked for clues whether it maybe is from some brand or stuff like that. That's when I found the black stitching that spelt RageMan or something and I wasn't sure whether that was just a misspelling, or a name of some brand I never heard of or… stuff like that. So I typed that into my phone and landed on the company website."
There was silence for a long moment and I was almost certain he tried processing the given information.
"That's impressive," he replied and I felt like I heard a bit of pride in his voice. "So, you went through all that work and still didn't call me back?" he asked, though it sounded more like a statement. I decided on hanging my head even lower.
"Would you believe it when I told you that I actually really intended to call you back but every time I wanted to, something came in between? And then there was also the question about what to even say."
"In other words, you wanting to call me but getting interrupted was actually just the excuse because you didn't know what to say?" he asked and despite that I really had planned on calling him, it had been also very easy to distract me. And it wasn't as if I had been that mad. So maybe he was right?
"I..," I started, before a thought came to me. "You had my number before I had yours. You could have called me as easily and if words come to you that easy, maybe it would have saved you two trips to my place. Also, isn't the guy supposed to call first?" I don't know where that came from and it didn't make me sound like some ungrateful bitch, but somehow, I felt like it. For all I knew, he could have gotten me arrested and here I was, playing blame games.
He didn't say anything at my remark, which surprised me, seeing that he could easily call me out on my ridiculous statement.
"Maybe I liked my visits to your place a little too much. Interesting neighbourhood you live in, Babe."
"It's quiet, cheap and safe," I said, shrugging.
"How safe can it be when I managed to break in?" he asked amused and I hit him playfully in his chest, which I regretted since I wasn't expecting the wall of muscles. I didn't hurt myself too much though.
"You work in security, that isn't fair. I highly doubt I am on any list of a high-end burglar. Nothing in my place is worth much to begin with."
"Depends on what you are looking for."
"Thank you by the way," I said after a second.
"For what?"
"For... not getting me arrested or…arresting me yourself, I guess?"
"You think I would arrest you for a hoodie?"
"Well, no. But for breaking into your house in the first place."
"I'm pretty certain the way I handled the situation was more than beneficial for the both of us," he replied and I felt the crimson already crawling up my neck.
"Tell me, Stephanie Plum, had I called, would you have picked up? And if I had left a message, would you have called back then?" he asked curious after a longer silence which was only interrupted by the sound of rain drops hitting the windbreaker which he still held above both of our heads.
"I guess it depends on the message?" I asked uncertain.
"How about an invitation to dinner?"
"That would have been…," I started, before I took a good look at him and stopping mid-answer. "I don't think either one of us wants to be the rebound for the other one and if we went for dinner, that's exactly what we would be. I just ended an engagement, and I'm certain you didn't meet Catalina just last month either."
"That wasn't what you were about to say."
"No, but it's the truth. I… we had this really great night and as much as I would like for it to happen again, I don't think either of us is in a position where that should happen. I…don't think I can be the rebound girl and neither should you."
He looked at me for a second, studying me long. "Actually, I'd love to be your rebound guy," he said, grinning. "If that's all you let me be."
"I won't," I replied and noticed movement behind Carlos. Someone was walking towards us and after a few steps I realized it was a female cop I had seen once or twice before. She walked past us, nodding to me and smiling at Carlos. Of course. I was trying to get back to the conversation when Carlos called out to the cop.
"Hey Rachel."
She turned around, still smiling at him and waiting for what would come next.
"You interested in drinks by any chance?" he asked and I was confused.
"What are you doing?" I asked when I saw Rachel nod almost enthusiastically, feeling a need to roll my eyes at her behaviour. Make a guy work a little maybe? I don't mean to play hard to get, but maybe don't seem almost too enthusiastic?
"Making her my rebound so I can take you to dinner," he just replied, a soft smile gracing his lips.
"Are you serious?" I asked, mainly because I wasn't sure what else to say.
"With dinner? Very. Her as my rebound? Not so much. But if that's what it takes…"
"You're really serious," I realized, seeing how he was looking at me. I heard the clicking of heels behind me, seeming to get further and further away and assuming Rachel didn't want to wait. I wasn't sure how much she had heard of our exchange, but being asked for drinks and then nothing happening afterwards probably gave her an idea about how serious he had been.
"Yes. And… Look, I get it. All what you said with you getting out of an engagement and me out of this relationship. But… I don't feel like that. I know I should be heartbroken and pissed and getting drunk, but that's not how I am. I don't get very attached to people and for the longest wasn't even certain I could feel more than desire or lust for someone. That's what Catalina was to me, someone I lusted after but wasn't in love with."
"So…what changed?" I asked curious and saw him look up into what would have been the sky if the windbreaker wasn't still held above our heads. He let out a laugh and then looked back at me.
"I couldn't get you out of my head. As weird as it sounds, but… that's what it is. You broke into my place, we spent this night together and the next morning you are gone, with my hoodie. And when I broke into your place, giving you my number, you didn't call back. You are everything I never encountered before. Not wanting to sound arrogant, but I'm used to women throwing themselves at me and not running the other direction. Even now, when dinner is offered you are still fighting me tooth and nail."
"I'm… I'm not playing hard to get," I said, biting my lower lip carefully. "It's just… all of that isn't me. I don't break the law or have one-night-stands or have hot guys giving me their number and …overwhelm me that way. I don't want you to have this image of me of a risk-taker and fearless woman when that is probably the furthest from the truth. I think you might be intrigued by an image I wouldn't be able to uphold. You must be so incredibly confused with my behaviour."
"It actually turns me on in a way I can't explain. You don't just fall into line and throw yourself at me. No, you play hard to get without even meaning to. You do your thing and still have such an innocence about it, caring for things and people. I think I had never anyone except for my family worry that they might have overstepped a line in regards to private issues or that they might come across as odd for investigating who I could be. You know that you weren't stalking me, don't you?"
"Usually when you look up a guy on the internet you are the crazy one. So…," I replied, letting the end of my sentence hang in the air.
"Have dinner with me?" he asked once more and I swear all that was missing were puppy dog eyes. Christ, how could anyone be immune against that? Turns out, I somehow managed to stand my ground. Slightly. How? No idea myself.
"If I promise to agree, will you promise to wait two weeks for that to happen? And if you are still interested to take me to dinner after that I'd gladly come."
Instead of a reply, he just laughed for a full minute. "I can give you two weeks if that's what it takes."
A black, shiny car pulled up next to us and one of the guys I had seen earlier inside the precinct got out, tossing the keys to Carlos and got into an SUV a second later.
"Oh, and there is something special about that hoodie," he said, opening the driver's door a second later, referring to my earlier statement.
"Which is?" I asked confused, still not certain what this could be.
"You wore it," he replied smoothly, winked at me and got inside the car, driving off a second later.
I don't know how long I stood there, looking after him, but when I came to my senses, I realized his windbreaker still wrapped around me.
Now I had two pieces of clothing of his and was still none the wiser about anything.