Disclaimer: I still fail to own Janet Evanovich's marvelous creations. I am just borrowing them for a while but I promise I'll put them back where I found them, good as new. Even Ranger. Haley, Dom, the St. Louis Merry Men, Alec, and Deering are mine. But if you really feel the need you may borrow them. They don't bite... very often. .

Note: Thanks to everyone for all the support and help. Especially to Alexis, Military Goddess of the Babes! In case you are wondering, this is the sequel to Baby Blue. I split the two into separate stories.

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Caribbean Blue

Sung by Enya

... Eurus...
... Afer Ventus...

... so the world goes round and round
with all you ever knew
They say the sky high above
is Caribbean blue...

... if every man says all he can,
if every man is true,
do I believe the sky above
is Caribbean blue...

... Boreas...
... Zephryus...

... if all you told was turned to gold,
if all you dreamed were new,
imagine sky high above
in Caribbean blue...

... Eurus...
Afer Ventus...
... Boreas
Zephryus...
... Africus...

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Prologue

Several weeks had managed to pass without any major mishaps and absolutely no communication from Morelli. Since I was still ready to cuff him to the nearest shower stall and rip his heart out, that was probably a good thing. I probably would have been less violent toward him, but he had somehow managed to cost me the possibility of a Ranger-induced orgasm even after we were broken up. See, Ranger had volunteered to help keep me awake after I managed to get a concussion from being nailed by one of my cousin Haley's wicked aunts. I was thinking bed, Ranger, lots of sex. What I got was bed, Ranger, and a movie marathon. Not that I'm complaining exactly, but--.okay, hell yes I'm complaining.

Ranger told me he wasn't going to take advantage of someone with a head injury. He also said he doesn't do rebounds. Frankly, I don't think it counts as a rebound if you've been fantasizing about that person for months, but I wasn't about to tell him that. And head injury or none, I'd have to be more than dead to not want him to take advantage of me. Some opportunist, Ranger. When did crazed, self-professed opportunist mercenaries turn into gentlemen? Did I miss a memo?

My name is Stephanie Plum, and I am a bitter ex-girlfriend. I'm also a bounty hunter, but the bitter ex-girlfriend gig gets more respect. On the more domestic front, I am mother to the world's most expressive hamster and sort-of babysitter slash roommate to my younger cousin Haley, whose arrival had been the last source of major excitement (read, pulse-pounding, gut wrenching terror) in my life. I had thought someone was trying to kill her to get to me, but it turned out they were after her and I was a convenient excuse, since I was possibly targeted for revenge from the Slayer street gang. In fact, it had lead to the disturbing realization that my family might actually be the normal branch of my family tree, adding yet another powerful argument for me to never have children.

Currently, however, all of this was in the back of my mind as I glared across the bedroom at Haley, who was smirking at me in an annoyingly superior way. Probably it wasn't as annoying or superior as I thought, but I was suffering from a very light hangover and she wasn't, so I was a teency bit bitter about that.

"Get over it, Stephie," she said smugly. "You and Ranger are meant to be." I raised my eyebrows and tried to look down my nose at her. This is a particularly snotty move and one that Haley has had mastered since about age three. I still haven't gotten the hang of it, apparently because her smirk became even more obvious.

"And how do you know this, oh wise one?" I asked coolly, fighting the urge to just go back to glaring at her.

"Because of your dad," she said sounding even more superior. I shook my head. I knew my thoughts were still foggy this morning from last night's margaritas and I was probably missing something. No more ladies' nights at Underground for me.

"Huh?" I muttered, still confused.

"Because of your dad," she repeated smugly. Ok. So I had heard her correctly. It still didn't explain what she had just said.

"Um, explain." I glared at her again.

"Well, we all fall for someone like our dad. And your dad doesn't talk, and he goes off and disappears for random amounts of time to go do stuff your mom doesn't know about..." she giggled. "And Ranger doesn't talk, and he disappears for random amounts of time doing mysterious things you don't know about..."

I had a sudden picture of Ranger sneaking off in a cab to play poker at the Elks with Tank and Bobby. I shuddered and grabbed the nearest weapon, which happened to be a pillow. I swung it at her and connected solidly. "You and your damned mental pictures."

"Ack! Stephanieeeeee!" She yelped, grabbing another pillow. It connected solidly with my shoulder and sent me reeling back.

"Take it back, Haley!" swing and thunk. Haley staggered back, raising her pillow in defense as I swung again.

"Never!" She blocked my pillow, and grabbed a second weapon. It bounced off my head.

"You are one dead pixie!"

"Hah! Better a dead pixie than a soft, spongy cupcake!" she taunted, skittering out of range and into the hallway. I followed and lunged at her, pillows flying.

"I am not a cupcake! I am Wonder Woman!" my first pillow smacked her in the ribs, eliciting a startled shriek, as her throw pillow hit my shoulder.

"Cupcake!" she yelled, laughing.

"Die, Tinkerbell!" I snarled, "or should I say... baby doll?" I added, my voice turning saccharine sweet. Haley's eyes narrowed, and she brought her pillows up into attack position.

"All right, pastry puff. Bring it!"

And the pillow fight was on, raging down the hall and into the living room where we barely avoided the piles of boxes, toppling over the sofa instead, still bashing away at each other. We were so busy trying to beat one another senseless, we barely noticed the feathers flying, and we sure as hell missed the entry of the heavily armed and highly amused commandos.

"Take it back, doll-face!" I growled, rolling Haley off me with a well-aimed pillow upside the head. Haley yelped and grabbed a bigger pillow for a shield as I followed it with another swing.

"Not gonna happen, pastry puff!" she drawled, her other hand bringing around another throw pillow, aiming for a neat hit to my side.

It was about this time that the masculine laughter finally registered with us. I looked toward the kitchen, dreading what I was certain I would see. Yep. I was right. Shit. Tank was leaning against the counter for support. And Ranger... oh my god, Ranger himself was collapsed into a kitchen chair laughing. I could feel the blush creeping up my face, and suddenly became very aware of the fact I was in a tank top and a pair of boy-cut briefs. Urgh, of all the ways to start the day...

I glanced down to see Haley peeking around the huge pillow she'd been using as a shield. Her face was as pink as mine felt, and she was keeping the pillow strategically placed to cover her own tank top and undies set. I looked back at the men in black and cringed. How long had they been there? Did I really want to know?

"I think I saw a porno like this once," Tank laughed. Looking insulted, Haley stood up to her full 5'1" height, carefully keeping the pillow in front of her, and raised an eyebrow. Christ, was I the only person on the planet who couldn't do that?

"Only one? You look like the kind of guy who's seen a lot more than that... " My eyes widened further and I cringed. I just don't consider baiting Tank the greatest idea. Maybe Haley felt the same, because she didn't give him time to make a comeback, instead choosing to make a hasty retreat back to the bedroom to get dressed.

"Any particular reason for this visit, guys?" I asked pointedly as the laughter died down. Not that Ranger and his guys were unwelcome, but I couldn't figure out what they would be doing here on a Saturday morning. I hadn't seen him or any of the others since they'd saved us from the big bad grannies in Pennsylvania.

"Just came by to help with the move, Babe," Ranger said, still smiling.

Oh yeah. Today was moving day. Duh. Haley must have knocked my brain loose with that last pillow. "Oh. Thanks..." the girl in question walked out of the hallway on cue, dressed in jeans and a tee. "Haley, wanna show the guys which boxes to take down? I'll be right out." And I made my escape into the sanctuary of the bedroom, leaving Haley to deal with the still-chortling Batman and Robin.

The move to the RangeMan building had only taken one trip since we weren't taking any furniture. My apartment had been decorated in early dorm room, really, so it wasn't like I was attached to any of it. Sadly the bulk of the cargo was clothes, shoes, and make-up. The biggest thing we had to worry about was the large flat-screen plasma TV that Haley had carted home a couple weeks earlier.

Actually, it wasn't such a bad idea after all, since it seemed to draw several Merry Men out of hiding when we opened the back of the Expedition. Like any other guy, they couldn't resist the siren song of a new gadget. With our newly acquired team of the large and scary variety we were installed in the apartment in less than two hours. These guys were nothing if not efficient.

Once everything was stashed in the living room and Haley was occupied with supervising Tank and Lester's attempted installation of the television, Ranger pulled me out into the hallway.

"Got a job for you, Babe," his said quietly, leaning back against the wall, his eyes sweeping over me. He was as clean and neat as when we had started, while I was rumpled, dusty, and sweaty. I swear, one day I'm going to look up 'cool' in the dictionary and his picture is going to be plastered next to it. And it's going to cross reference 'mysterious.' Apparently he was able to read my thoughts because his lips curved up a little in his usual half-smile. I sighed and tried to focus on the current topic.

"What's the job?"

"Decoy work. We need you to keep the guy occupied while we get his car." Hm, I'd heard this set up before, although not since the first time I played decoy. Sounded refreshingly less dangerous than usual.

"Sounds good to me. What role do I dress for?"

"Doesn't matter. Maybe you should try that group sex line on him. The guys are dying to hear that one again." Yikes! And just when I thought they hadn't noticed that... Oh, who was I kidding? They never missed anything, let alone something that choice. "I'll pick you up at six tomorrow." He tucked a curl behind my ear and looked at me for a second with a completely unreadable expression, but before I could mention it there was a roar from either an angry pit bull or one of the guys.

"I told you that wire was hot!" Lester howled with laughter. There was a hostile rumble that could only have come from Tank.

"Someone should go referee them," I said, looking at the door nervously. A moment later Haley's head popped out and she focused on Ranger.

"I think you better get in here, or send one of the others. I am not breaking those two up, and I'm not being held responsible if they force me to stun them." With that she disappeared back into the war zone. I heard Ranger sigh, then I was getting swept along with him back into my new home. Tank and Lester were sniping at one another in Spanish, and Haley was sorting through a box in the kitchen area. I let Ranger deal with the two bears.

"Problems, Pix?"

"I can't find the extra stun gun," she growled, tossing a couple boxes of bullets onto the counter. I glanced back to see the three guys working on the entertainment system again, this time with no dangerous mutterings, and mainly in English again.

"Looks like the problem is solved."

"Huh. Have they read the directions yet?" I looked around, but no paper was in evidence.

"Doesn't look like it…"

"Then you're sure you don't want me to find the stun gun?" I looked back at her and sighed.

"Good point." I grabbed another box and started searching. Probably if they got into a brawl we'd need more than a stun gun, but at least it was something.