AN: Okay, so while the rest of my fam-damnly was playing poker, I wrote some more. And let me tell you, I was very proud of myself. And, okay, so I had lots and lots of stuffing, and I ate more whilst everyone else was doing the cards thing (the fun part was, I found out my cousin is just as obsessed with LOST as I am. We'll be talking a lot more from now on.) and I just kept writing and writing. (I now have Rory Gilmore's voice in my head, saying, "And eat and write and eat and write and eat!") and I got about 3 more chapters written. This is all handwritten, of course, because I'm weird like that…and I was at my grandparents house…so I will probably procrastinate on typing it until I need to start on my AP homework, but it's written. LOL.

So once again I extend to you a nice "Happy Turkey Day!" and hope you've all eaten as much as me. Or, of course, to those of you who aren't crazy and American, "Happy Thursday!"

In other news, to those of you who are Dallas fans… THE BRONCOS FREAKING WON! Woot! Lol. Done with that.

Fiona McKinnon: You have no idea how much fun it was for me to put that in there. I had to make Ranger imperfect. I just had to.

Bowlingforshrimp: Please tell me your name is a clever play off Bowling for Soup. Because I freaking love them. And thank you very much. Glad you like.

dork1147: You like Gilmore Girls! Yay! Glad you liked. And, because today I'm in the mood for some fic pimping, if you like Lit or Javajunkie, check out my GG fics.

eleanor: I know. I was smiling as I wrote it. I loved it too. Hope you like this next bit even more.

Date Date! Part III

Sipping my wine, I smiled slightly at the story Ranger was telling. I'd never seen Ranger like this. Ranger had always spoken in monosyllables, he'd always been this mysterious man with the tight lips and soft voice, and I'd always thought that if someone could break his shell, she'd be set for life.

At the time, I hadn't expected it to be me. And I hadn't expected this man to come out of the proverbial shell. He wasn't overly verbose, that was to be expected. But he wasn't succinct, either. He had a way of capturing the tiniest detail and making it into something big, and his eyes, usually so closed off, shone like a kid in a candy store. It wasn't exactly exuberance, but there was an excitement to his words, as if each and every one of them meant something to him.

God, I was lucky. We'd been talking for the better part of an hour, going over things that, in the long run, really didn't matter, and then things that I'd wondered about for so long.

At the moment, he was speaking of his family. There was something, some quality about his voice, which at once conveyed all the love in the world, and every protective bone in his body. I hung onto every word like a lifeline.

"Josephine just graduated law school. Harvard. Her boyfriend is ten years older than her, but she won't listen to a word of warning from anyone. She thinks he loves her."

"Maybe he does."

Ranger's head turned up to me. "Babe, if you knew the guy…"

"I'm not saying you're wrong," I told him, staring at our intertwined hands. We'd scooted closer and closer as the conversation wore on, and now we sat almost hip to hip, leaning back against soft cushions, basking in the soft candlelight. "It's just…I've had my fair share of men who are hard to figure out. It's never easy, and people don't accept it right away. But even if no one else knows the whole truth, you know it. And I think…I think maybe that's the best love of all."

Ranger's breath fanned at my ear, and his voice was soft, almost too quiet to hear. "Babe."

It sounded like a prayer. I turned my head, and our eyes caught.

And suddenly his tongue was in my mouth, and I was sliding down the cushions, my back resting on the seat with Ranger on top of me, his lips on mine, doing glorious things that made me want to continue the piety bit. Or at least sing the Hallelujah chorus.

His fingers were slowly parading their way up my thigh, and I was just a little too distracted to turn them in another direction. This, I was sure, was not something that should happen on a first date. I was just enjoying it too much to stop it.

And really, if I rationalized it, we had known each other for a long time. It wasn't as if we were strangers. His hands had already been a lot farther up my skirt than they were now.

And then, as fate would have it, the curtain swung open, and I small 'meep' sounded. The curtain closed again, and in a rush to sit up, I bumped my head against Ranger's. Hard. We scrambled up, rubbing our heads, staring bashfully at anything but each other.

"Can I come in now?"

We both made noises low in our throats, and the curtain opened again. "Ricardo Carlos Manoso, you're lucky I'm fighting with your mother right now. First date, and already you were…" she muttered something in Spanish that made Ranger shift uncomfortably. It was odd, really, to see her like that. She was short, maybe 5' 3", with pale skin and freckles dotting her face, blue green eyes contrasting with bright red hair. She'd obviously been part of the Manoso family for a long time, to make Ranger squirm like that.

"No bodily fluids will be found on this seat, Carlos, or it's your head I'll have."

"Your 3rd child was conceived in the seat next to this one," Ranger muttered.

"Be that as it may, you will not be conceiving any children tonight. No bodily fluids." She sighed. "I'm bringing desserts," she said in a slightly reprimanding tone. "And I expect you to behave."

She slipped away, and I turned my eyes up to his, looking, I was sure, like I'd been caught with my hand in mom's cookie jar. Not my cookie jar, because, of course, mine had a gun in it.

He smiled brilliantly. "Well. That was fun."

"Your sister-in-law just caught us making out."

"Yes."

"Are you really not weirded out by this?"

"Antoni is eleven years older than me, and Miranda has been a part of my family since I was born. She's seen a lot. She's the one who would always catch me sneaking out of the house. Because she was always sneaking in."

"But…"

He grinned, tracing the line of my jaw as I burned bright red. He left his hand at my temple, leaning over to kiss my forehead. "Worried about your honor?"

I gaped, knowing for certain that I looked like a fish out of water. "Uh…"

"I promise you, no one I know is worried about your honor."

"Hey!"

"Babe. You lived with Morelli on and off for three years. You're almost 33. No one's going to care that we made out in my brothers restaurant."

"So?" I asked, trying for indignant.

He smiled, leaning backwards, his hand taking hold of mine again. "Serious question?" he asked after a moment, the chocolatey goodness of his eyes holding my own cerulean.

"What?"

"Were you ever really that freaked out about the deal?"

I coughed. "Um…"

He continued to watch me, his eyes holding mine.

"I think maybe I was…psyching myself up a little. You can be a little scary sometimes."

He frowned. "I scare you?"

"I don't…" I bit my lip, searching for the correct words. "You don't scare me anymore. But I guess your life, and how you act around other people…you do scare some people."

"But I don't scare you?"

I smiled. "No way, Batman. You're a teddy bear."

He shot me a look.

"Well, you're my teddy bear, anyway."

His eyes darkened, and he moved, catlike, across the booth towards me. My throat dried out, my eyes widened, and I watched, paralyzed, my nerve endings on fire, as he came closer. One hand slid up my thigh, under the dress, to rest just below the line of my lace panties, and the other reached behind my head, pulling me to him. He didn't kiss me, instead leaning his forehead against mine, his eyes not breaking from my own. He sighed softly, and, eyes closed, breathed out my name. "Stephanie."

It sounded so much different when he said it.

He pulled back, his eyes blazing with something that was most definitely not lust, and removed the hand, smoothing my dress again, pulling back just in time for Miranda to reappear with two plates of what looked like heaven. It was chocolatey, and ice-creamy, and there were brownies and nuts and whipped cream.

I stared in awe. "Oh god. I love your brother."

"That might pose a problem. I don't share."

I smiled bashfully across the table at him, blinking more than was strictly necessary.

Miranda stood there for a moment, and then, with a smile, turned and left.

I was halfway through it before I looked up to find that Ranger had barely touched his.

I stopped. "You have to eat this. It would be a sin not to."

"Babe."

"I'm serious. Pollute the temple this one time. It'll be worth it."

"I can wait."

"It's going to melt."

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind for dessert."

The way he was looking at me told me just what he wanted for dessert. I gulped.

AN: I've actually decided that this is going to be a bit of a sequel to my first venture into Babe fics, Not Wearing Pantyhose, which, if you've read, can very easily be finished up as a prequel. So look out for that. And while you're looking out for it, review it. Please.