Two months later.
Lula and I stared in stunned disbelief at my car. How? How was this possible? I sighed.
'Maybe I should start going to church more often.'
'Girl, I think god explodes your cars for fun. I don't think going to church will help you none. Besides this ain't god's fault, it's the FTA's.'
My FTA was a stoner called Jonesy. He was 18 and appeared to have spent the majority of his life smoking pot. Jonesy's brain probably looked a lot like coral. It turned out that the bottle that he'd been carrying when I apprehended him had been full of petrol. He'd been so compliant that I hadn't bothered with cuffs. So he'd sat in the back and had occasionally unscrewed the lid of the mystery bottle, then he'd inhale. Turned out Jonesy liked the smell of petrol. That would have been ok except he was sniffing when I drove over a bump as we neared the cop shop and the petrol had spilled everywhere. He'd sighed and said bummer. Then the doped out loser had lit a goddamn cigarette, and then dropped it. I screeched the car to a halt in the police lot and we all leapt out. And started running. Kabooom.
And now we were staring. Holy crap.
Nearly two hours later I'd finished with Jonesy and done the paper work for my car. I took out my cell phone and speed dialled two.
'Yeah.'
'Can you pick me up?'
Pause.
'Angel, what happened to your car?'
'Kaboooom.'
Danny's rare laugh rang out over the phone. Eventually he composed himself asked where I was. He said he'd be there in 15.
Sure enough in exactly 15 minutes Danny's black humvee pulled up. I climbed in.
'So. Explain.'
And I did. I explained all about that goddamn stoner, and by the time I was finished he was laughing so hard he had to pull over.
'Oh Angel, only you. Cheer up Angel, I'll buy you pino's.'
That brought a genuine smile to my face. 'Thanks Bro.'
Danny had rode shot gun for a week and since then he'd been declared an official bounty hunter and given his first skips. We called each other if we needed back up, brought each other pizza, and he dragged me out running every morning. I grumbled every morning but the truth was I actually enjoyed running now. My body had never looked this good, it was all toned muscle and sleek perfection. Ok, so perfection was pushing it but still I looked damn good. No problems doing up the top snap on my jeans, in fact I'd even gone down a size. And chasing skips was a helluva lot easier.
After a week riding shot gun for me, Danny had asked what training I had. I started laughing in his face. When I got my breath back I explained how I went to college, then to lingerie buying and then how I'd wanted a filing job for Vinnie but had ended up bounty hunting instead. Then I told him all about my first skip. He laughed real hard when I told him bout the shower rail thing.
Later on that evening he let himself into my apartment and started moving the furniture in my lounge to the edge of the room until he'd cleared a sizeable space. I stared at him. And finally, being the intelligent person that I am I had said, 'huh?' He'd gestured for me to come stand near him and with I shrug I did so. He sat down on the floor and I copied him.
'Angel, I joined the army at eighteen, I stayed for two years before I transferred to the navy. A year later I joined the seals. Then I was in the seals for six years. For the past four years I've been training the future seals. It got a bit monotonous for after a while and so I got out. I wanted a change, and Nick wanted to see more of me. So here I am Angel.'
'Wow, that's the most I've ever heard you say!' Danny had smiled slightly. 'So what's this all about?' I asked, gesturing to the furniture.
'Angel, you do a dangerous job. I've only known you a week Angel and I don't want you to get hurt. But you love the job and you have the instincts and reactions for it. I've trained the seals Angel. I can train you.'
I stared at him, dumbfounded. 'But it's a waste of your time!' I finally managed to say.
Danny frowned at me slightly, 'making sure you wont get hurt is not a waste.' He sighed. 'I didn't want to get into this. I don't do this well,' he muttered under his breath. Then he looked up at me and waited till I met his eyes.
'Angel, Nick and I...we've had a rough time of it. Not in our relationship but prejudice against us. Nick's an only child and his parents died a while ago, he doesn't have any family. My family-' he sighed, 'they cut me off Angel. They didn't want to know me, or Nick. I'm officially disowned. We moved here so I wouldn't have to walk down the street and see them cross the road to avoid me.' I saw the flash of pain in his eyes before his emotionless mask came down over his face.
'I came here and you were the first person I met, struggling with your shopping but determined to carry it all up somehow. I told you I was gay and you just said something about my partner probably being as gorgeous as I was. Then you invited two strangers into your house and got me a job. You told me about your life in the burg. About Joyce, the divorce. And you invited us to your family's home and we sat and had dinner and your grandma asked us if it was painful to take it up the ass.' He smiled slightly at that.
'I call you Angel because you are. You accepted Nick and me when my family wouldn't. You've spent virtually every night with us, taking us out to places, showing us around, introducing us. I've known you a week Angel and I love you already. I want you to be safe. In a week you've made such a difference to me and Nick, we're both happier, we feel accepted. I want to make sure you can handle yourself, I don't want to see you hurt, so please Angel let me help you.'
'That's definitely the most I've heard you say.' I took a deep breath and hoped Danny wouldn't take this the wrong way, 'Your family suck.' Oops a bit to blunt. 'What I mean is, you and Nick are such great guys, I love you both already.' I looked at Danny and waited till he met my eyes, 'what I'm saying is...would it be ok if I called you Bro?'
Danny closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath and then he pulled me close into his arms and whispered, 'I love you Angel, I'd love it if you called me Bro.'
We'd stayed like that until Nick had come to investigate half an hour later. 'I told her,' Danny said, sounding dazed, 'and she asked if she could call me Bro.' Nick grinned at me and then hugged Danny and me.
Two hours of training every night from 6 to 8 plus an hours run every morning at 6 for nearly two months had me physically stronger than I'd ever been before. Lula did the low bonds now, I did the middle bonds and Danny did the higher bonds, Joyce seemed to do as little as possible. We were stretched a bit thin but we managed.
Nick and Danny had become an integral part of my life. We spent virtually every other evening together and when I felt lonely and needed a man's arms around me I went to them to be held. When I was down they brought me Pino's and Ben and Jerry's and wedged me between them on my couch so I had nice warm muscley bodies next to me.
Neither Ranger nor Joe had called but at least I had known Ranger was going out of town, at least he had told me. Joe hadn't even done that. Weird, cos he professed to love me but I was pretty sure it wasn't an act of love to leave town without a word for two months. I'd told Nick and Danny all about the other two men who had, until recently anyway, been in my life. I was pretty sure that they wanted to rip Joe and Ranger into little pieces. They were so cute sometimes.
After training, pizza, beer and laughter with my boys I was feeling much better about my stupid car exploding. Bro had said I could work shot gun with him for a while until I got a new car. So that meant that I'd still be getting regular money, not that I needed it – my bank balance had fluffed out considerably in the last month or so, all hail the mighty Bro. At eleven I got ready for bed and slipped between the sheets in my cute boxer shorts and a t-shirt. I woke up in a still dark room; disorientated and certain that someone was in the room with me. I slipped my hand under my pillow and pulled out my loaded gun. I clicked off the safety and turned on the bedside lamp at the same time. My gun was pointing unerringly directly at Ranger's heart.
'Huh.' I put the safety back on and slipped the gun back under my pillow.
Tank was standing next to Ranger and was staring at me, eyes wide.
'What?' I said to Tank, hmmm I sounded pissed off. I checked the time. 2:37am.
No wonder I was mad.
Tank blinked. 'Nothing.'
'Humph.' Then I looked at Ranger, 'Was there something you wanted?' Jeez, I
really sounded cranky.
'Babe.'
'Christ, It's 2:38 in the morning, knock off the I-can't-speak-more-than-one-word thing and tell me WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT.' Hmm, maybe cranky wasn't the right word. I'd yelled the first couple of words but by the time I'd finished the sentence I was nearly screaming. Huh, guess I was secretly mad that Ranger hadn't called. Not once. Before Ranger could respond my door burst open. In seconds I had my gun out again, as did Tank and Ranger.
'Oh, it's you two.' I said to Nick and Bro. I put my gun away and so did everyone else.
'Who are you?' said Bro in a hard voice that he'd perfected while training arrogant seals-to-be.
Ranger met his glare and didn't reply. The heavy silence dragged on. I sighed.
'Jeez, gotta love this amount of testosterone in the room. Relax Bro, this is Ranger and his sidekick Tank.'
'Bro?' Ranger enquired.
'It's an honorary title. It's better then him being a blood brother because you can't pick family but I chose him as my brother.' I said, not managing to stifle my yawn. 'I'm tired Ranger, did you want something?'
Ranger looked at me for a moment. 'I just wanted to see you Babe.'
'Huh.' I thought about it for a second and then said, 'well that's nice.' Then I yawned and snuggled back down under my covers. Bro laughed softly, he leaned down and kissed me lightly on the forehead, 'G'night Angel.' The room went dark again as he clicked off the side light. A few moments passed and then the door clicked shut behind the men. I could hear the soft murmur of voices in the next room but I was so tired, in minutes I was asleep.
My alarm went off at 5:50. I got up and changed into my running clothes. I stretched out quickly and tied back my unruly hair. At 6 I went into my living room. And there was Bro, Nick, Tank and Ranger.
'Huh.' I said. I bet they were beginning to think that was the only word I know.
Tank grinned.
'Gimme a break, I don't make polite chit chat at 6 am, especially when people wake me up at 2:40. And definitely not without coffee.'
Nick laughed, 'She's not a morning person, are you Angel?'
I stuck my tongue out at him. Which only made him laugh harder. I rolled my eyes then stepped out into the hall, time to run. Bro ran along side me, and we set off at a fast pace. I didn't want to think, I just wanted to run. I kept my eyes on my surroundings, ready to catalogue any threats. Keeping my mind blank I focused on my body, of the feel of my muscles pumping. More, I wanted more. I stepped up the speed and felt Bro match me. Yeah this is what I needed, who needed men? Who needed sex? Not me, no siree, just a good run. More, I pushed harder, felt Bro with me. More, I was running flat out running round the park faster than I'd ever run before, my mind on auto pilot, still checking out potential threats. I realised abruptly that this was the fourth time round the lake. I let my pace slow and glanced at Bro, he smiled at me, 'feel better?'
I thought about it, 'Hell yeah.' Danny threw his head back and laughed.
'I'm glad, Angel. Do you wanna head back now?'
'A couple more laps?'
'Sure.' And we set off once more, running in easy silence.
In the parking lot we stretched out carefully, warming down to avoid cramped and painful muscles. We both had sweat stains down our front. Mmm, sexy.
Bro went to shower in his apartment and I went to shower in mine. I walked in and stopped. There was a new man standing in my apartment who hadn't been there before.
'You've been running?!' said Joseph Morelli in an incredulous voice. I looked at him for a moment, ignoring Ranger, Tank and Nick. Then I blinked, shook my head slightly and strode into my bedroom to get to my bathroom, to my shower. Something I loved almost as much as running. The hot water rushed over me. And I just stood in bliss. Ten minutes later I was out and was drying my hair. A few days ago Mary Lou had wanted to wax her legs, being such a good friend I went with her. And now my legs were deliciously smooth, no more shaving for a few weeks. I'd also gotten a bikini wax - that had hurt like a bitch, still, everything looked nice and neat. I eased on a pair of black lacy French panties and a matching bra. I tugged on my new jeans and a tight black t-shirt. Then I pulled on my CAT boots. I put on my utility belt and put my cuffs and spray in all the right places. I placed my gun at the small of my back and added a black leather jacket to hide it. I pulled my hair up and made it look pretty. Then I sloshed on several coats of mascara. Ok, you can do this; you're not going to brutally murder Joe. Not in front of so many witnesses any way. I checked the time, 7:45. Ok not too bad. I took a deep breath and calmly opened my door.
Chapter 2
I walked through and stopped in surprise. 'Mom. What are you doing here at quarter to 8?'
'I came to see if you were ok.' My expression must have been pretty confused, what the heck was she talking about?
'The explosion? Your car?'
'Oh, yeah. That. Don't worry, no one was hurt.'
'Why didn't you tell me that Joe was back Stephanie?'
'Why should you want to know?'
'Stephanie! Don't be rude, he's your boyfriend.'
'No, he's not.'
'Yes, he is.'
'No, he's not.'
'Is.'
'Not.'
'Is.'
'Not.'
'I am your mother. You can't argue with me.' I felt a small smile tug at my lips, my mom and I hadn't had a fight like this since I was a kid.
'Can so.'
'Can not.' Mom's lips began to twitch, and finally she laughed softly, 'Stephanie, what are we arguing about?' I smiled.
'Nothing.'
'Yeah.' My mom agreed. 'I'm glad you're ok sweetheart.' Then she leaned over and hugged me. She pulled back while I was still in shock and headed to the door.
'Come to dinner sometime Joseph.'
'He can't.' I said.
'Why not?'
'Because he hasn't spoken to me in nearly three months and he didn't tell me he was going on assignment.'
'He didn't call?'
'Not once.'
'Huh.' My mom frowned at Joe, 'On second thoughts I think the table is going to be full for a while.' The she turned and left. Sometimes I love my mom so much it hurts.
'I would have called but-'
'Save it Morelli. I don't give a fuck.' Weird, it was true. I suddenly didn't care what his reason was, he hadn't called and even before that he hadn't seen me. I love him but not enough to be ok with him leaving me for nearly three months without a word.
Joe looked at me, eyes wide. I don't know what he saw but he swallowed hard and got up, 'I'll see you around, ok Steph?' and then he left. Hmmm, no cupcake – interesting.
I turned to Ranger, my eyes narrowing, 'What's your excuse?'
He looked at me for a second and then he said, 'so you give a fuck about my reason?'
I considered my answer, 'yeah. You told me you were going, you even told me who you were going to meet. You didn't specify a time frame. You even leant me your spare apartment. So yeah, I give a fuck. But it still better be good.' He smiled his almost smile and nodded.
'I met with the rest of the justice league,' I smiled at that and saw Tank shoot a highly amused glance at his boss. 'One of my partners had signed a contract with the Feds for Rangeman to deal with a situation that he wasn't qualified to deal with. It was agreed that I would handle the situation. The Feds required that I had no contact with anyone outside the situation. The only allowed me to contact Tank, and he couldn't tell anyone. I only got back today, at 2:30am.' Ranger's smile grew into a full on grin, 'See? More than one word. Are you impressed Babe?'
God I have missed this man so much. I've missed being called Babe.
'I've missed calling you Babe.'
'Huh? Oh crap I though out loud again.'
Ranger laughed softly, 'I love when you do that Babe. Especially when you don't even realise that you've done it.'
I felt myself smile ruefully, 'So, Mr Esp gets some help, huh?'
'Yeah Babe.' I looked at Ranger, truly looked at him. His body was as toned as ever, his skin was a tad darker than usual. Nothing looked wrong with him, but I suddenly realised that he was tired.
'When did you last sleep?' I asked with a frown.
He raised his eyebrow slightly.
'Answer the question. You're exhausted. When did you sleep?'
He considered me for a moment. 'A while ago Babe. It doesn't matter, I can function well without sleep.'
'I don't care if you can 'function well' or not. You need to get some sleep. Tank, you've handled Rangeman for the past two months, you can handle it for an extra day or so. Ranger, go home, rest.'
Ranger stared at me and then said, 'I'll do that Babe if you'll answer two questions for me.'
I sighed, I didn't want to play 20 questions – but I really wanted Ranger to rest.
'Shoot.'
'How did you know I was tired? I don't look it.'
'I just know.'
'Not much of an answer Babe.'
'Not much of a question.' He smiled suddenly, flashing me all 200 watts.
'It's good to see you Babe. You miss me?'
'Is that your second question?' I asked, stalling for time.
'Yeah.'
I took a deep breath, 'Yeah Ranger. I missed you.' I didn't meet his eyes; I didn't want him to see how much I'd missed him. He touched my face and gently tilted my chin up until I lifted my blue eyes to meet his gorgeous brown eyes. I don't know what he saw but he drew me into his arms and held me close. The scent of him washed over me, so comforting and so familiar. I stayed there, my proximity to him just making me feel so content, until I idly wondered when he was going to go away again. I tensed in his arms and he drew back to search my face. He sighed softly, 'I'm not going anywhere Babe.' Then I felt his muscles ripple and bulge as he easily lifted me up, he sat down on my sofa and drew me down against him. He reached up and carefully untied my hair until it tumbled down my shoulders. Ranger closed his eyes and ran his hands through my hair, thank god I'd conditioned my hair and there wasn't any snags. Then his hands began to knead my shoulders and my neck. The tension I'd felt over the past few weeks just drained away and my mind just skipped happily over to the land of snooze.
I awoke slowly, enjoying the warmth at my back. The first thing I saw was Tank kneeling in front of me.
'If you move you'll wake him up.' Huh? What? Then I realised that the heater at my back was Ranger. Damn, this wasn't fair. I finally get to be with Ranger when he's sleeping and I can't look because if I turn around he'll wake up. Sucky.
I relaxed. Pretty sure that tensing would have the same effect as moving. Taking my cue from Tank, I spoke in a normal voice. 'How long have I been sleeping?'
'5 hours. You think you can stay still for a bit longer? Once Ranger wakes up he won't go back to sleep until tonight, but he's really exhausted – he needs to sleep.'
'Ok.' I said, careful not to nod.
I'd been sitting still for nearly 22 hours and my bladder was bursting. Tank had kept me fed and watered whilst I had tried to eat and drink without moving. The TV was on and I was watching Ghostbusters for the fourth time. It was ten o'clock and I was dying to stretch my legs and run and have my two hours training. My body screamed for exercise but I kept still. My mantra was all that kept me going, 'Ranger needs to sleep. I must keep still. Ranger needs to sleep.' I chanted it over and over in my head.
My door opened and Lester Santos came in. I'd done a redecorating job with him and sometimes he was part of my back-up when I did distraction work for Ranger.
'Here you go beautiful.' Lester said as he handed me a Boston Cream. Oh yum, my favourite. I made short work of the donut and then remembered my manners.
'Thanks Lester.'
'Sure thing. You gotta be dying sitting there like that.'
'Thanks for reminding me.' I glared at Santos. 'Oh god I need to pee.'
Tank looked startled and then he grinned at me. 'If you were a bloke this would be easier, I could just pass you a bottle and then all would be well.'
'If she was a bloke Boss wouldn't be asleep against her. He doesn't swing that way.'
'He could be bi.' I suggested.
'Nah,' said Lester, 'besides the Boss doesn't want anyone but you.'
'Huh? What? Explain.'
Lester and Tank exchanged glances, grinned at me, and then didn't answer me.
'Guys.' I said in my most whiney tone. 'Puh-lease tell me.'
'Not gonna happen beautiful. No matter how much you beg.' Lester's grin transformed into an exaggerated leer, 'bet the Boss would enjoy hearing you beg though.' My eyes widened and I swallowed, hard. Abruptly I was remembering my night with Superman and how much he had enjoyed making me beg for him. Suddenly I was completely conscious of his body against my back, all those gorgeous muscles packed against me. I moaned. I bit my lip and tried to bring myself back to the present. Lester and Tank were staring at me, eyes wide, mouths open.
'What?' I snapped.
'Nothing.' They both said instantly, but then they started exchanging glances again. Damn I wish I had Esp.
'Hmph. Don't know why you'd think he wants me. He told me his 'lifestyle doesn't lend itself to relationships'. So, clearly he doesn't want a relationship with me and I'm not cut out for no-strings-attached sex.'
'Relationships are hard in our line of work; it doesn't mean that they can't work. Anyway, nothing easy is worth doing. Besides, when he told you that you were still kinda involved with the cop. You hadn't decided what you wanted. Seems to me that you've decided that you don't want the cop. So, what you've gotta decide is if you want Ranger.'
Crap, this was getting a bit too close to my thinking over the past coupla months.
'What are you? My new agony aunt?'
Lester grinned at Tank, 'You never told me you were an auntie, congrats man.' Tank glared at Lester and I struggled not to laugh.
'He does want you Steph. Not just in his bed. Think about it.' I opened my mouth to say something biting and witty but all that came out was, 'uh huh.' Just then I felt Ranger stir against me.
'He's waking up.' Lester stated.
'Wow,' I said, 'I bet you're Rangeman's secret weapon – Lester Santos; the master of obvious deductions.'
Lester just grinned at me and started slowing shaking the bottle of water on the table. 'Did you say you needed the toilet, beautiful?'
I glared at Santos, 'Bastard.' Ranger moved more strongly against me and then froze; I would have given a lot to see his face then.
'Babe?' he said
'Yeah. Glad you're awake.' Then I got off his lap and bolted for the toilet.
