Their plane was delayed by forty five minutes. Ranger played with the book in his hands, but hadn't cracked the spine of it. Stephanie watched him out of the corner of her eye. He had on his 'face' and Steph couldn't see a trace of emotion. She could only guess that he was hurt, and she was the sole cause.
There was a whole lot she wanted to tell him but she couldn't find the words. How do you tell your mentor, friend and lover that you couldn't handle it? Stephanie understood that if she had just asked him, Ranger would have helped her out of anything. Truthfully, she liked the face that she could rely on him like that, but she felt that she had abused that power. So she dissapeard. But how to tell him that, and not make it seem like it was his fault?
"It's too quiet." Stephanie said calmly.
"I told you I wouldn't ask you any questions." He tossed the book in the empty seat next to him.
"You need to." She said quietly.
She was too used to Joe and the ultratantrums.
"A promise is a promise. And here is not the place." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her partially out of her seat and held her there in the same manner you would have with a small child.
They began to call rows. Being as Stephanie had booked the flight with her own money, the tickets weren't first class. Ranger sat unconfortably in his seat. Stephanie noticed that first off. The pilot came on the intercom and told everyone to fasten their seat belts and then they began their take-off.
Stephanie watched the buildings get smaller and smaller. By the time they had gotten to the right altitiude the cabin had almost completely frozen over. Stephanie wiggle in her seat and brought her knees up and under her sweatshirt. She heard Ranger chuckle and she took off her socks. She slid them over her hands, and pulled the hood over her head. That got another chuckle.
"Here babe." Ranger said and pulled his own sweatshirt over his head.
"Won't you get cold?" She lifted her head off her knee.
Ranger stared at the baby blue eyes staring at him out of the hood of her jacket. "I'll live." He said and she took the jacket.
Ranger sensed that Steph was about to pass out. There were bags under her eyes, and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. Ranger lifted up the divider separating the two seats and Stephanie took the hint. She scooted over and leaned on him, and practically instantly afterwards, she was asleep.
And that left Ranger to wonder again. He had been piecing information together for the last three hours. His babe was suposedly dead. Head on collision with a large tree. Ranger had seen the mess of car that it had left. No survivors possible. She did it beacuse she was in over her head, and Ranger understood that. Why she didn't ask for help is what he didn't understand.
He had half a heart to ask. But he promised, and one of his rules was to not break promises. Like his rule to not do relationships. Even as badly as he wanted to break it, he wouldn't. Breaking one rule would lead to breaking the rest, and breaking the rest could cause problems for everyone around him. Instead, he just stroked her hair and smiled.
The plane touched down in Vegas at a quarter till 6 a.m. While passing through security, Ranger was pulled aside again, and the guard radioed someone in control to bring down an arrest record. Stephanie grimiced and sat down on the bench to wait for him.
Whatever prior arrests that had gotten him banned from the state of Nevada had been taken care of by his lawyer only a week after they found Samuel Singh shot dead in his car. But, like last time, they set him free with all his belongings.
"I never knew you had a belly button ring." Stephanie said when he was let out of the glass room, after being forced to lift his shirt again.
"One of those things I couldn't leave behind." He pulled Stephanie to him again.
Stephanie kept wondering why he kept doing that. On the plane, he almost seemed anxious to have her scoot next to him. And before that, he was only a hair away from her at all times. She was worried that she was breaking down Batman's ego. Stephanie compared it to breaking security at NASA. It wasn't done.
"I promised no questions, but since I'm driving, where are we staying?" Ranger asked.
"Shit. I hadn'gotten to that part." Stephanie suddenly panicked.
Ranger stopped infront of a hunter green Nissan Frontier. "Not a problem."
Stephanie watched him as he drove. He took his eyes off the road to watch the casinos pass by. Really unlike Ranger, she kept thinking. It was still in the dark of morning, and the casino lights were blinding.
"Would you like to stay on the strip or in the city?" Ranger asked and watched the Excalimbur pass by.
Stephanie looked at him with a twisted face. The city would be cheeper, and she could get off her chest what she needed to get off. But the strip might be fun, and it would give them something to do. Stephanie wasn't looking forward to going back to Trenton, if ever.
"I have a place in mind. They owe me a few favors." Ranger grinned and drove off down the street.
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(Bach in Trenton)Esentrik must appologise for the creative cussing.
"Where the fuck could he go!" Tank exclaimed and threw a stack of papers onto his desk.
"He's probably drunk off his ass sitting somewhere in a bar." Lester said.
"He's not. I did a check of every fucking bar in Jersey." The vein in Tank's neck was prominent.
Just then, Bobby decided to walk in. He looked at Tank, then to Lester, then back to Tank. "Maybe I should come back at a better time." He said in a small voice.
"Just find that rat-bastard." Tank said, straightened out the papers he had thrown, and left.
"Which rat-bastard?" Bobby asked Lester.
"Ricardo. Carlos. Manoso." Lester said solemly, and retreated to his own desk.
"What'd he do? Skip again?" Bobby asked in a hushed tone as they both left.
"Sorta. Went out drinking last night and never came home. He probably just sitting somewhere with a hangover." Lester made his way down the staircase to the garage.
"Can't be too hard." Bobby said after a while, when they both slid into the black Range Rover Rangeman had provided for them.