Disclaimer: See First Chapter.
Author's Note:To my faithful reviewers:
I am very sorry about the delay. I'm working so many stories at once that it get's a little complicated sometimes, but the real issue is I have school work.
The good news is the semester is almost over and I'll be able to focus more on this. This chapter is mostly fluff. Just interaction with Ranger and his family.
I'm not sure who it was that commented on my stating that the family "owned" the kids. I most certainly did not mean that literally and I'm sorry if that's the way it seemed. I meant for it to be a form of humor, like a parent who pulls aside a playing child for a quick introduction - "And this one's mine" - sort of thing. I didn't even remember when I'd said that and had to re-read the thing in order to find it.
As for the "working on dicipline" phrase, that will be explained later...
Thank you all so much for your interest and support. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
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"I need to contact people Ranger, I can't just bail on my life." I told him firmly, my new sense of power adding strength to my voice, and maybe just a little smugness.
He eyed me a moment, "Real good points Babe, but we're already late. We'll deal with points later." He said, than grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the kitchen.
I didn't know what to be more shocked about – his avoiding the point again or his grabbing my hand.
"Where are we going? Late for what?"
He pulled me out into the living room, up to the poolroom and all the way across that gigantic room. There was a door near the exercise machines, he pulled me through it and I found myself on an elevated, glass-enclosed patio overlooking a yard.
Or rather a mountainside.
I was beginning to notice that all the views you got in this house were mountainsides… it seemed we were at the top of a mountain.
I looked out the windows below and found Alex, Paul, Lane, Suzie, and Lacey. They were outfitted in big bubble jackets and snow boots and they were sledding down one of the smaller hills.
Mama-Bat was running around taking pictures, while Ralphie, Luke, Tan- ugh! I'm gonna get this right someday – Eddie -- Clark, and Richie were at the top of the hill building snowmen and angels.
It looked like a winter hallmark commercial.
Except for the darkly clad men on the fringes of the fun activities and the bulges at their waists.
Suddenly I was being stuffed into a jacket. I spun around, kinda twisting into it, "What are you doing…"
"Put this on…" He said, then went and sat on a chair. I righted the jacket and watched as he put snow boots on.
"I'm sure that in your head you've told me what's going on, but out here in the world you've said nothing… so I'm going to ask… what are we doing?"
"We're going sledding. It snowed last night, and fresh snow is the best thing to sled on."
"Sledding?"
"Yeah, you know, what they're doing out there."
I looked out at the scene below again – it looked kinda cold to me. Cold and wet and reeking with physical exertion.
"I think I'd rather talk about me going home."
He grinned, stood, walked over to a closet and pulled out a pair of snow boots, "Here, these were in your closet, but mom set them out here for you along with the other snow stuff. Said it would be easier for you to leave it here than have it cluttering up your closet."
I stared at the boots in his hands, than at him.
He grinned, "Come on Babe, it'll be fun. A lot of fun…"
"No…"
He walked over to me and pulled me over to the sofa, sat me down, than sat down next to me and pulled my feet onto his lap.
He proceeded to untie my shoe lace.
"Ranger I don't want to go sledding."
"Why not."
"I haven't done it since I was a kid and it involves getting cold."
"It'll be a lot of fun." He said again, taking the shoe off and going for the next one. I did my best to ignore the fluttering feeling I was getting at having his hands on my feet.
"Jus- just go without me." I said after a few minutes, when he'd taken off the second shoe.
He paused; he'd been about to put a boot on my foot. "But I want you to come." He said softly and felt myself start to weaken. It was no fair; he was using the sweet, gentle voice I wasn't used to hearing from him.
"I won't have as much fun if you're not there." He added, and I clenched my eyes shut.
"Ugh!" I said softly but with real disgust. "That's as low as the line you used last night."
He laughed.
"As low as what you did to Lane."
His laughing continued.
I waited till it stopped than opened my eyes and found him grinning at me, "I'm discovering an entire new way of dealing with you Babe." He said smugly, as he slipped the boot on my foot.
I glared at him, "Don't overuse it or I'll develop an immunity." I hissed.
He laughed again and tightened the laces. I remained silent as he worked on my second foot.
When he was finished he placed my feet on the ground. Than he reached behind him and produced a scarf, hat, and gloves. He wrapped the scarf around my neck, stuck the hat on me, and then held up the glove.
"Hand." He said and I sighed, holding it up.
He slipped it on.
"Other hand."
I held up the other one. It was promptly covered too.
"Good," he said happily, than stood.
"Come on Babe," he said holding out both hands to help me up. I looked up at him – right into sparkly chocolate eyes and a big smile.
My expression of resigned, grudging acceptance must have changed because his hands fell a little, "What?" he asked, a little suspiciously.
It was my turn to grin, "I had no idea Batman could be so…" I paused, he arched an eyebrow.
"….adorable." I said cheekily.
He said nothing, I waited for the outrage, it didn't come. I was however, quite suddenly hauled to my feet and pressed up hard against him.
"Ahhhh, but remember, Babe, this is Bruce Wayne."
I barely had time to register the words before his lips were on mine and all conscience thought ceased to exist.
I felt myself light on fire and then he was gone.
I opened my eyes slowly, my face still tilted upwards, he was staring at me…
"Still worried about the snow?" It was his turn to be cheeky.
I just blinked, no use attempting speech.
"Come on," he said happily, pulling me outside with him.
I let him, not at all worried about the snow… in fact I was beginning to think that maybe the snow should worry about us…
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"Steph!" the boys shouted when they saw me.
How they all managed to all see me at the same time when they were divided into two different groups is beyond me. The point is that they all converged on top of me as if I were the answer to world hunger… or handing out free frudge bars.
"Come play with us…" Clark called.
"No, come sledding…sledding is MUCH more fun…" Paul insisted.
"No, play with us, Steph…puh-leeeese!" Richie screeched, grabbing my gloved hand with his mittened one.
"We're doing grown up stuff!" Alex stated, more vivacity on his face than I'd ever seen.
"You like us better don't you Steph? Play with us?"
They were all standing in front of me, calling for my attention and I had no idea what to do. Kids didn't usually like me. They tolerated me, sort of like I tolerated them. It occurred to me that since I really liked these kids, it seemed they really liked me too. And I wanted to keep it like that… but who should I play with?
"What about me?" a mocked outraged voice, said from behind me, "… no one wants to play with me!"
They all froze and looked over at him with shock on their faces. The fact that they'd just noticed him, quite obvious.
Cries of "Uncle Ricky!" filled the air, before the boys launched themselves at him.
They all converged on him now, and he knelt at the waist and grabbed the two closest to him. In a roar of mock rage, he swung the two… Alex and Clark… around in a circle before depositing them on a mound of snow.
He bent over them and it took me a few minutes to realize that he was actually tickling them. How the hell someone could tickle kids through bubble jackets I wasn't sure, but apparently it was possible. They were writhing and laughing loudly and I looked around, but found that no one had really stopped what they were doing.
Tank – Eddie - was making-out with his wife, Luke had wandered off and was now sledding down the hill with his wife; Ralphie was rolling a big ball of snow.
They weren't looking, because to them it was perfectly natural for Rick to play with his nephews.
For me it was another discovery -- watched cartoons, didn't like needles, manipulated his sister, played in the snow.
Suddenly, the snow ball in Ralphie's hands sailed threw air and landed squarely in Ranger's face.
It caught him completely off guard, and suddenly I felt the atmosphere change. Looking around I found that the people closest to us had stopped what they were doing and had kinda tensed.
Ranger stopped tickling the boys, and met his brother's eyes. Some kind of silent communication passed between them, and suddenly a cry of WAR filled the air and there was activity everywhere.
I saw Ranger drop to the snow next to the boys and roll himself and them to the other side of the mound, effectively out of view.
I looked around a little, and noticed that everyone was doing similar things – hiding.
Suddenly, I got hit with a snowball on the arm, followed by another in the shoulder, I was screaming or move or something; but before I actually registered what the hell could be going on, I was tackled and rolled onto and over another mound of snow.
I looked up to find Ranger grinning at me, "Don't wanna just stand there Babe."
I had snow in my eyes, in one of my ears and dangerously close to my nose, "What the heck was that!"
He grinned at me, "Its war."
He said before getting up and launching snow over the mound.
War.
Fucking-A.
"Can't stand out in the open, Babe, won't last a minute."
I stared at him, he'd lost his hat and had snow in his hair and was grinning bigger than I'd thought he knew how.
I swallowed hard, "War?"
"A game, we play till you're too dead tired to move. Last man or woman standing is the winner."
"Who's team are you on?" I asked, by which I meant who's team are we because I was planning to stick to him like cheese on macaroni.
He leaned in and I felt his lips on mine, it was a brief kiss and suddenly I felt something cold sliding down my spine, "It's every man for himself." He whispered against my lips just as it registered in my mind that he was putting snow down my back.
I screeched, he jumped back laughing, I glared and was about to yell when we were suddenly both bombarded with snowballs.
Ranger laughed and amid a flurry (literally) of snow, he was gone. I slumped down finding that I was sitting with my back against a wall of snow.
And there was no way I was moving, no way...
These people were barbarians.
I had snow in my ear
I wasn't going to move… so what if I could hear laughter and screeches, so what if it did kinda sound fun, so what if my pride demanded pay-back.
I wasn't going to move.
The majority of people in this family were trained, professional killers. No way was I engaging in war with them.
No way.
Nope
No.
I launched my first snowball into open air, the second one kinda went up into the air, but with the third I finally hit someone.
Funny thing about hitting someone… it draws there attention to you.
Ralphie's whole focus shifted to me and I found myself being steadily pelted, as I grappled for more snow.
I could hear the grin in his voice as he spoke, "Come on Steph! Is that all you got! The kids do better than that! Of course you don't actually get snow in Jersey do you? Not real snow! Just the wimpy kind and you can't even handle that!"
Okay… so I wasn't doing such a great job at snow war, I knew that.
I understood that as part of some cosmic joke the snow had decided it was going to wage war on me. That was fine; I'd dealt with worse, no reason to get myself worked up.
I'd been about to give up, to let it be – live to see another day and all that…
But now… well now… I had the reputation of Jersey to uphold. You see, we're a lot things in Jersey, but wimps isn't one of them.
I sent him a glare – sort of – and with one arm, I reached up and took off my hat; Ralphie was coming closer, he'd stopped talking though – too busy laughing – we'd see who was laughing in a minute…
I bent down, true, that exposed the top of my head to his snow balls, but hey sacrifices had to be made for pay-back… quickly I stuffed snow into the hat.
On a side note, why the hell is it so hard to move in snow clothes?
The snow balls suddenly stopped and I knew he was really close, I could hear his laughter; "Christ Steph, you could at least give it a shot!" he was saying, laughter gurgling out of his voice.
I swung up and launched my snow filled hat at him. It's a lot easier to direct snow when it's in something.
The snow missile hit him on the side of the head and exploded. I mean it really exploded, I'd meant it to of course, but even I was shocked at the way the snow burst out of the open-ended side of the hat. It shot out and up and on its way down landed squarely on the top of his head.
Hmmmm, well look at that… he's not laughing anymore…
I started to chuckle, I couldn't help it, the expression his face… just like the commercial says - priceless…
The pricelessness of it faded quickly though as Tony and Eddie arrived, took in the shocked expression and snow-covered head of their comrade and grinned. Then bent down and began assaulting me with snow balls.
Three against one!
I stood there trying to shield myself when suddenly someone grabbed my arm and yanked. I looked over and found myself staring into the bright, laughing eyes of Lane.
"Run!" she yelled, "When you're being attacked, you run!"
Run.
Yeah, sure, run… in knee-deep snow swaddled in a hundred pound jacket… why didn't I think of that?
Still though, she yanked and I followed. A few hours later – what felt like hours anyway – she stopped.
I couldn't breath, my nose was running, and my hair, now devoid of a hat, was dripping with clumps of snow.
She wasn't even breathing hard.
Disgusting.
She was still grinning, her eyes still twinkling, looking for all the world like there wasn't a war going on a few feet away, "The guys take war really serious, they'll play until we all go in, sometimes longer." She explained, "No one ever actual wins, but it is sorta fun. When they gang up on you, just run, they'll only chase you for a few steps then they lose interest," after this very helpful advise she grabbed my arm again, "Lets sled, come on…" and before I could say a word, she was pulling me again.
I have to be fair – it turns out that sliding down the side of a mountain on a small piece of plastic can actually be fun.
I screamed in terror all the way down the first time. After a few rides though, I screamed in fun.
Occasionally I'd feel someone snuggle in behind me just before push-off and I'd look back to find Ranger's dark eyes glittering as he wrapped his arms around me.
Those were my favorite rides, the ones where Ranger showed up and snuggled me close – those times I forgot to scream.
I ran around after the kids –the running got easier after a while, who knew? – I made snow angels and snowmen and actually forgot that I wanted to go home.
Sometimes, in the middle of something, I'd get this feeling of being watched and when I looked up I'd find Ranger's gaze fastened on me; he never looked away, never pretended like he hadn't been watching – instead he'd grin at me and bend down to scoop up snow intent on flinging it at me.
Most times he was successful, occasionally I hit him too… what I missed in actual aim I made up for with enthusiasm… sort of…
When Mama-Bat called out that it was time to head in, it caught me completely by surprise. She was standing in the balcony that over-looks the whole area, dressed in a sweater and looking very warm – when had she gone in?
The men were all ahead, and I found myself very naturally - - a little too naturally - - rounding up the kids with Lacey and Lane.
Richie had just taken my hand when I felt an arm drop around my shoulders.
"Did'ya have fun Babe?" Ranger asked when I looked up.
I grinned, I couldn't help it; I felt the smile bloom on my face as images of the day flashed in my mind – it had been a good day.
"'Course she did, Uncle Ricky!" Richie cried before I could answer, his childish voice inflected with insult, "She play-ed with us!"
Ranger threw his head back and laughed, reaching down behind my back, he tousled the boy's hair, "Good point, kid, good point."
We all trudged towards the house in companionable silence. Mama-Bat met us all at the door, and jackets, boots, gloves, hats, scarves and mittens were shed.
Again I found myself helping with the kids – not a big deal, right?
I had just accepted a hug from Alex when I felt the familiar feeling of being watched. I knew it was him even before I looked up, when I did though I felt my heart melt just a little bit more.
He had Clark on his lap; the boy was talking animatedly about something that his Uncle wasn't really hearing.
His Uncle with the chocolate eyes, and the wet hair, and the lips that even from a few feet away called out to be kissed.
His Uncle who played with him and watched cartoons with him.
His Uncle who was becoming much too human for comfort.
Something was happening between us. Of course, something had always been happening between me and Ranger, but this time… this time it was different... this time it seemed almost easy… almost real…
"Steph?" Lacey was standing in front of me, looking at me, her face perfectly normal, but I swear her eyes were smirking.
"Huh?"
"I asked if you wanted hot chocolate…" the smirk in her eyes – her eyes had seriously been smirking – spread down to her lips, "… but I don't think I can pour the kind you want in a mug."
She winked at me and I felt my face turn red.
She grinned and turned to Ranger, "Clark come get some cocoa…" she called and the boy promptly hopped off his uncle's lap and followed his aunt.
That's when I noticed, everyone else had left the balcony, we were alone.
I didn't move, didn't' look at him, but I felt him. Felt him when he go up, and felt his large, warm presence sit down next to me.
"Mom makes the best hot chocolate," he said.
"…the kind you want…"
Lacey's words washed over me again and I blushed, I couldn't help it. The fact that I could feel his eyes glued to my face, wasn't helping.
"Do want hot chocolate, Babe?"
Not the kind you can pour in a mug…
"Stephanie? You okay?" he asked, his voice was getting concerned. I should probably say something.
His hand came out and using his forefinger he turned my face towards his, slowly I lifted my gaze to meet his.
"You had fun?"
Apparently this was a big deal to him. Slowly I nodded, but he didn't move his hand.
"Good… I had fun watching you. You look good here, Babe."
The kiss was soft and light and ended too quickly.
He pulled back a little, "I was wondering…" he said, "… if you'd take a drive with me tomorrow afternoon…"
His voice was hesitant and soft and his eyes had lost the melted chocolate look – they were too dark now, so dark you could get lost in them.
Slowly I reached up and kissed him.
I'd meant it to be another soft, light kiss. Instead his arms wrapped around me, and I found myself pressed against his warm torso. Utter instinct took over and suddenly I wasn't aware of anything but him. I don't know how my hands got in his hair, or even how my body got on his lap. I don't know how his hands got under my shirt, or even how my bra ended up un-hooked…
Okay, I know how those things happened, I just don't actually remember them happening. All I remember is wanting to be closer, wanting to feel more of him, wanting him all over…
"No, no, Babe…" huh? He was pulling away?
"Wha- what's wrong?" I asked, breathless, as I followed him.
"Not here, Babe, not now…" he said softly.
His hands were on my shoulders, and I blinked at him a moment before his words actually filtered into my brain.
Jeeeshhhh, could this be any more embarrassing…
"Oh, oh!" I cried softly as I nearly fell on my face, getting off his lap…
…yep, it could get more embarrassing…
He grabbed my forearms and steadied me, I refused to look at him. Especially since I had to… you know… re-hook my bra…
… yep, it could get much more embarrassing…
"You don't have to be embarrassed, Babe."
Ugh! The man was infuriating! How did he do that!
"It's just they're expecting us inside…" he continued, "I wouldn't us to be… interrupted…"
Oh… well that was true….
"Are you not going to speak?" He asked suddenly, his tone a little condescending.
And quite suddenly I was angry…
Speak? He wanted me to speak…
My eyes narrowed slightly and I think maybe he got the feeling that suddenly I wasn't quite pleased with what had just happened.
"On second thought…" he started saying but I cut him off.
"Fine Ranger, I'll speak… I have plenty of speaking to do. The first thing I'd like to speak about is when the hell am I going to get to go home? The second thing I'd like to speak about is what the hell is going on between us? And the third thing I'd like to speak about is how the next time you kiss me like that you'd better follow through, cause I'm getting freakin tired of this game…"
With that I turned around and headed for the doorway. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? Kissing me and leaving me… so what if the last I'd been the one to kiss him.
I sure as hell had had help getting on his lap and unhooking my bra. And he kept kissing me and then using the moment of blank understanding to his advantage…
Suddenly I found myself swung around and firmly, yet gently, held against Ranger's chest.
"Look at me Babe…" he said seriously.
I didn't want to, but something told me that it would be better if I just obeyed… you know considering I was currently pressed against his chest.
"I am not playing a game," he said firmly, and than he leaned in, his nose almost touching mine, "And I promise next time, I'll follow through…"
I was released, just as suddenly as I'd been grabbed, "Yeah… uhhhh… right… see that you do…"
Not the best response but not bad… if only I'd managed it while he was still in the room.
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