"What are you still doing here?" Tank asked in a hushed voice. His head was twisted and his arm was raised in a fist, knocking against Ranger's forehead.
"Hey man." Ranger said, blinking at the light.
The room was still dark, but the early morning was fast approaching. Stephanie, still asleep, stirred against his chest and a tiny moan escaped her. Ranger felt horrible. Her face was bruised, with stitches above her eyebrow that ran the length of her face. Rings of finger-like bruising crawled up her arms, and there were two bloody rings. Ranger had seen a lot, done a lot, and felt a lot, but looking at Stephanie made him sick to his stomach. There was something he should have done to prevent it.
"Ranger?" She mumbled, stretching the word and nuzzling deeper into his chest.
"Hmm?" Ranger replied.
"I want to go home." She said in her sleep.
Tank snorted in the corner. "Looks like our old Bombshell's back."
Stephanie shot him a look out of the corner of one eye. "Peanut gallery." She snorted back.
"Be nice." Ranger chuckled and peeled himself away from Stephanie.
In one fluid motion, he was gone. He returned a moment later, a clipboard in one hand and a bag of cheese doodles in the other. "Eat, and then you can go home."
The bag of doodles threw across the room and landed in Stephanie's lap. In a matter of minutes, the bag of cheese doodles turned into just a bag, and Stephanie sat up and waited for the chart to be signed. Ranger watched her with amusement. She was sitting straight, and if she were a dog, her tail would have been wagging at full speed.
"Ok kiddo, I'm going to sign this if you promise me that you will not, under any circumstances, go to work for a week. No strenuous activities..." The doctors glance changed from Stephanie to Ranger. "No sex, for a week."
Tank suppressed a laugh. Ranger's hand traveled down his back and touched the butt of his gun, as a treat. It didn't help much, and Stephanie sent him another death glare. She was realizing her power over him.
"Any questions, call me at any time." He said and handed Ranger a prescription.
"Ready?" Ranger asked.
Stephanie nodded and stood up, only to fall back down. She wasn't ready for the pain that had followed. The bruises on her legs made them sore. Ranger was on her the instant she fell, holding out his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he lifted her off the bed.
Tank headed towards a shiny, gleaming black Porsche, and Ranger headed in the other direction to a black Bronco. It had bug lights on the top.
"I thought Abruzzi torched that truck." Stephanie noted.
"Cars can be replaced." He smiled and started the engine.
The growl that the Bronco produced was much different than the one that the Buick made. The Bronco sounded more hi-tech. The Buick sounded like it was about to fall apart. Stephanie buckled herself in.
"There are a few, arrangements, I need to finish up, and then..." Ranger's eyes dropped from Stephanie's face to the ring, and her's followed.
"Then...?"
"Then we go to work, unless you don't want to. You can back out at any time, I'm not going to push you or anything..."
"Shh. I like this song." She said, to end Ranger's rambling. She never would have thought you could put Ranger and ramble in the same sentence.
Actually, she had never heard the song on the radio. It was some teeny-bobber song, singing about someone stealing another girls boyfriend or something. "My daughter was on radio control." Ranger said.
"I thought your daughter lived in Miami." She said and left it open for an answer.
"She did." Was all the answer she got.
Stephanie didn't feel right pushing the subject, so she let it drop. "You don't really like this song do you?" He asked and switched the channel.
"Never heard it in my life. You were rambling." She laughed.
He made a turn off a block from Haywood, where his office was. There were some residential homes, all normal sized. He pulled up infront of one and parallel parked between a massive Silverado and a Corvette Stingray that couldn't have been any blacker.
"Need to finish our personalities and then we can go 'move in'" He bent his fingers to simulate the quotes.
Stephanie nodded, and tried to match Ranger stride for stride. Ranger noticed she was having a problem walking still, so he slowed down. When they reached the door, it opened. A friendly face stared out at us. Stephanie didn't recognize him, but he recognized her. "Stephanie... Ranger... you're late." He said in a cheerful voice.
"Sorry. There were a few... minor... complications." Ranger chose his words carefully.
"Ok, I've got everything set up. All I need is some names and a occupation and you're set." He sat Stephanie and Ranger down on a deep leather sofa and sat across from him and folded his hands in his lap.
"Carlos." Ranger said. "Babe, come up with a name that you'll answer to. We're making a entire fake personality here."
"Rachel." Stephanie said enthusiastically and it made everyone smile.
"Last name?" The man asked and punched the names through a program.
"I had Garcia in mind. If, that's ok by you." Ranger turned to Stephanie.
"Rachel Garcia." Stephanie nodded in approval.
"Want a middle name?" She was asked.
"Ashley." Stephanie said, as if she had already planned having another name since she was born.
"Diego." Ranger said after Stephanie.
"Okay. One Carlos Diego Garcia and one Rachel Ashley Garcia coming up." The man said with a punch of a button and a grin. A printer started up in the corner of the room, and Stephanie jumped.
Ranger took her hand and set it in his lap. He was handed a card and Stephanie was handed a card that looked like a drivers license. Stephanie read hers under her breath. "Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona. DOB: 06/13/76." She looked up. "I'm 29?"
"I'm 33. What's it to ya?" Ranger looked from his card to hers.
"Born in Scottsdale, Arizona? I've never even heard of Scottsdale until... well Vinnie wanted to move there but..."
"It's in the middle of Arizona. Hotter than hell." The man said and smiled again. He was finding Stephanie amusing. He always asked Ranger why he still helped her, but now he realized she really was one in a trillion.
"Any other questions?" He asked.
Stephanie shook her head. "Give me a day or two to really get all the background information set up."
Ranger nodded and got up to leave. He held out a hand to Stephanie. Ranger caught the other man staring, and slid his hand into Stephanie's back pocket. She tried to shove him away playfully, but he only stepped a few steps away from Stephanie, bringing her with him.