I was wrapped in the back of an ambulance when the reporters started to arrive. Dickie was sitting beside me, holding me tight as my teeth started to chatter. I had a blanket wrapped around me but it didn't seem to help.

Eventually I was allowed to go and got into Dickie's car. I headed for the shower as soon as we got home, and spent half an hour in there warming up and removing all traces of Scrog cooties from me.

I went downstairs to find pancakes and coffee waiting for me. I stared at Dickie in confusion.

"What? I can cook!" he said.

"Since when?"

"Since I can do shake 'n' make pancakes and work the coffee maker, that's when," he said. I tipped maple syrup over my pancakes and ate. I was so tired. I guess being kidnapped, drugged and watching two people get shot right in front of your eyes takes it out of you.

"I need to call Morelli," I said, looking around for my phone.

"He called while you were in the shower. So did your mother. And your sister. And Mary Lou," Dickie told me.

"Got it."

"I told your mother you were sleeping, told Val to ask Joe, and told Mary Lou you'd call her back," he continued. I stared. Who was this helpful man and what had he done with my husband? "Joe called with an update on Ranger. He's out of surgery. It looked worse than it was, apparently," Dickie told me.

Well that was some good news at least. I pushed away a memory of how Ranger looked lying on the floor, and me trying to stop his bleeding. If I was lucky, I could stuff that memory far down and never think about it again.

"Did he say how Julie was?"

"Just that her mother is flying up from Florida."

I took a big gulp of my coffee. It was perfect. I'd been waiting hours for this coffee. And it might counteract that my eyes kept wanting to close.

I picked up my coffee, moved to the couch and wrapped my couch blanket around me. Dickie sat next to me and we started watching Ghostbusters but I must have fallen asleep because I didn't remember getting to the end.

I ended up staying home for the next couple of days. I texted Ranger at one point to see how he was. I wondered if I should visit and bring him some cake to help him recover. I also wondered if that might be inappropriate. I had a lot of free time for thinking and that didn't make for a happy Stephanie. Were my feeling for Ranger just fear that he would die? Was there something more? Why was I wondering this, I was a happily married woman! I felt guilty, especially since Dickie was being extra attentive to me when he was home.

After two days boredom got me over my shock and reluctance to leave the house, and I found my way to the Tasty Pastry, and loaded up on doughnuts. I was feeling like I needed an extra dose of bravery to face my office again. I texted Mary Lou and she told me that she was in at work already and to stop being a baby and to get my butt into work already.

Extra publicity means packages everywhere. Orders out the wazoo. Get your butt in here. I can't bend down anymore. XX

She had a good point. Mary Lou's stomach was expanding rapidly and she wasn't able to bend over very far. Poor Mary Lou. This was her third pregnancy, and her body had given in early on this one.

When I arrived at Plum Lingerie, I could see Mary Lou's car and a black SUV in our parking lot.

Hal was standing in the foyer, relaxed but watchful, and nodded to me when I opened the door. The carpet was clean and the office looked normal. I let out a breath that I hadn't realised that I was holding. I didn't know who had arranged to have the floor cleaned but I was grateful that I wasn't stepping back into a floor soaked with Ranger's blood.

"Is that Steph?" Mary Lou called out. "I'm packaging up orders. Get your butt out here and help," she yelled at me. I grinned and put the pastry box down on our kitchenette area.

"I was getting doughnuts when I got your text," I yelled back, getting out my coffee cup.

"Doughnuts? Oh beautiful, you're an angel. And Mary Lou is a harder taskmaster than Tank," a voice called out, and Lester appeared.

I was happy to see Lester. I hadn't seen any of the RangeMan crew lately, except for those moments after Ranger was shot, and I didn't really want to think about those moments.

"Hey Lester!"

"Hi Stephanie. How's it going?"

"It's fine, Les. How are you? How is Ranger recovering?" I asked him.

"He's fine. He's been shot worse. He's gone to Florida for a while to spend time with Julie. And his Abuela. She doesn't like her when her favourite gets shot."

I smiled, imagining Ranger being fussed over. "Hopefully he gets some time to relax in the sun. I was going to visit but I didn't want to visit without checking, and Ranger didn't answer my text. He must have been busy."

Lester rolled his eyes in response.

"My cousin is overly dramatic and is busy punishing himself for his daughter being kidnapped, and then you as well. He is feeling responsible for both," Lester said.

"That's ridiculous," I said.

"That's Carlos," Lester told me. He sounded like he wanted to do another eye roll but was holding himself back.

Mary Lou appeared and headed straight for the doughuts.

"Out of the way, Lester, I'm growing a human here and need those doughnuts more than you do."

Hal looked like he was trying to hold back laughter. Lester grinned.

"So Lester, what brings you to the office? Surely you have better things to do than pick up things from the lower shelves for Mare?"

"All part of the service. Check your Rangeman contract. There was an incident on site that Rangeman needed to respond to, so you get in house security for a few weeks while we monitor the situation."

"Is that standard?"

"Usually it would be at a heavily discounted price, but since it was due to a Rangeman activity that you got caught up in, we're footing the bill. And you get me. Usually I'm too busy and important to leave my office," he informed, taking a second doughnut.

"You buy the doughnuts tomorrow," I told him.

"Deal."

I followed Mary Lou into the warehouse we did our packaging and stopped.

"All those are orders?" I asked her, looking at the massive pile.

"Yeah. And they keep on coming in. I guess any mention in the media is a good one. You need to do a stock count because we need to think about a re-order," Mary Lou told me.

"I'll do the stock check tonight. I got our supplier to hold some back because we didn't have the room here so they can ship straight away," I told her.

We had a lot of work to do. I ordered in Pino's for lunch to treat Lester and Hal for one of their legendary meatball subs. Lester claimed that he'd eaten better in Miami, which I found hard to believe. Cuban food, probably, but Italian? This was Jersey!

Mary Lou left early afternoon to go pick her boys up, and our courier company came to pick up the parcels. Hal watched carefully as they collected the packages.

"Time to leave for the day?" Lester asked me.

"I've got a few more things to do, but feel free to go," I told him.

"No can do, beautiful. We'll stick around until you leave for the day."

"I'm fine. I've got to do my stock count, then I'll leave. You guys go on ahead, I'll be fine."

"Hal can't go home until you do," Lester told me. I sighed. Looked like Lester was taking his guarding duties seriously. I wondered how long he would be hanging around, and if I could complain to Ranger that his cousin was crowding me. I texted Ranger but there was no reply.

Mary Lou had the day off, and I'd decided that after our busy few weeks, I deserved an extra day off too. I'd taken myself to the mall to see Mr Alexander and have my hair done, then looked at shoes and handbags. I'd bought two pairs of shoes and hadn't found a handbag that I wanted, but I had noticed something a bit odd.

Lester had said that our weeks of extra monitoring were over, but there was definitely a Hal-o-saurus behind me. Every time I walked towards him, he disappeared. I ducked into Victoria's Secret to see if he would follow me in there. I was all set for lacey underwear and other items, but it never hurts to check out the competition, and I was curious to see what Hal would do.

I ended up buying some new lacy underwear anyway and left with Victoria's Secret bags. Market research, I told myself, but really I just wanted new fancy underwear.

I caught a glimpse of Hal behind me. His face looked red but he was still there. I took myself off to the food court for a smoothie, then decided to head home. A black SUV could be seen in my rear view window for most of the drive but disappeared as I turned into my street.

It was time to get ready for dinner with my parents. We were nearly a full house, Dickie wouldn't be there, and Joe would be as long as he didn't get a call out. It was going to be a noisy night, so I decided to stop on the way and pick up an extra bottle of red wine to go with dinner. My mother didn't trust my cooking so I was still limited to bringing either wine or bread to go with meals.

I was leaving the store with my wine when I saw someone familiar walking towards me. Ranger was back! I stepped out of the store doorway and into his path, and seemed to surprise him a little. I felt a big smug. Take that, Mr Be Aware Of Your Surroundings At All Times.

"Hey Ranger."

"Hi Stephanie. Sorry, I've got to keep walking," he told me.

"Oh. Okay. Can we catch up for coffee sometime?"

"Sorry Steph, I'm busy at the moment," he said. Hmmm. Was I getting the brush off?

"I thought you said we were going to have a talk about something," I said, curious. Mary Lou has a saying of, "Don't poke the bear". It means to leave well enough alone but I've never been able to do that.

"No," he said abruptly.

"No?"

"No. I was wrong. Excuse me, I have a meeting I need to get to," he said, walking past me. I felt hurt, and it must have showed on my face, because he hesitated. "I can't thank you enough for saving Julie. You saved my daughter when I couldn't. But you were in danger because I involved you in my life. I shouldn't have done that to you."

"Ranger-"

"No. That was wrong and you nearly paid the price. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"

"You don't need me as a friend in your life, Stephanie."

"So why do I have a Hal-o-saurus following me around?" I asked.

"You spotted him?"

"He's the size of a building. He's hard not to spot."

"He's just there while everything settles down. He'll be gone soon."

"Like you?" I asked wistfully.

"Yeah. Sorry. But that's the way it is. Goodbye, Stephanie."

Author note: sorry this one took so long! I wanted to make it longer or better but stopped in the end in favour of finally getting an update out. Stayed tuned for the equivalent events of Lean Mean Thirteen!