Chapter Ten

As it turned out, Anna Santos had spent the night in Lester's apartment. He hadn't been home, so he was caught by surprise to find his sister in his apartment or at least that's what Tank said. Ric and I walked into the control room to find the two fighting.

"Ric, you have to be the voice of reason here. It's pretty clear that Lester isn't capable," Anna complained. Her eyes were puffy from crying.

I didn't know whether or not to say anything, but Ranger managed to break them apart anyway.

"Lester, conference room now. Anna, you stay with Stephanie." No one argued with Ranger when he exerted his authority.

We weren't exactly eavesdropping, because the yelling carried outside the conference room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing yelling at your sister?" Ranger's angry voice, obviously.

"Man, look at her. She won't tell me who did this to her. I'm telling you, someone's gotta pay."

That would be Lester.

"She's grown, Les. You can't go fighting all her battles. Let her deal with the father. You start acting like the big brother." Ranger again.

"God, I thought we raised her better..."

Anna heard this and headed for the conference room. She burst into the room yelling, "What do yo mean 'you raised me better'? You act like I committed some damn crime. Well, big brother, like it or not, I'm having a baby. Better than that, I want this kid. You'd just better get used to it, because both of you are expected to act like the primo uncles. Got it!"

Anna stomped out of the room, leaving a stunned Ranger, Les and me standing there.

I sighed. "Well, that could have gone better."

"Yeah, Babe, it could have."

Lester just banged his fist on the table. "She's all I have, Ranger. I just wanted more for her, you know. What's she going to do now with the police work? How's she going to support herself and the kid?"

Ranger sat down next to Lester. "Listen, she probably has the same questions running through her head right now. We didn't make it any easier for her. Think maybe you should go find her and try to make things right. Let her know that we're all behind her, no matter what."

Lester frowned. "Man, I don't want to face her alone right now. She'll eat me alive."

That brought a smile to both our faces. Ranger answered, "Yeah, she probably would. How about we both find her?"

The men left to find Anna and I took my place in front of the computer. I was curious about the woman and made a mental note to learn more. Watching Ric with Lester just now was interesting. I had never seen him like that with his employees. It's obvious that there was more between Lester and Ric than an employee relationship and certainly more between Ric and Anna than casual friends. I tried to reconcile Ranger's explanation of Anna's upbringing to what happened today. Lester had obviously assumed the fatherly role in her life and as such had only wanted the best for his sister. He was disappointed that she ended up pregnant, just as any father would be in the same situation. He reacted before thinking, just as my mother would have done. In the end, though, I knew that both Lester and Ranger would stand by Anna's decisions, whatever they may be.

Later that morning, I felt Ranger's presence behind me. This time, I turned around to find him staring. "How's Anna and Lester?" The question seemed to distract him.

"They'll be fine eventually. Les needs time to adjust to the idea of becoming an uncle," Ranger explained. "I'm worried about Anna, though. She's out there now trying to find the father. Who knows how he's going to take this."

I looked at Ranger. That explained the staring without saying anything. Ranger was worried. This was a new experience in our relationship. In the past, I didn't really know when Ranger was worried because it was probably about me anyway and he was careful to hide those feelings. Now, he wasn't hiding his feelings and I was getting better at interpreting them anyway.

"You said that you thought you knew who the father was. Do you?"

Ranger looked at me for a moment without responding. Finally, he answered. "Yeah, I do. She admitted that I was right last night. I promised not to say anything until she talked to him."

I considered that and changed my line of questioning a bit. "Did you use the ESP thing?"

Ranger grinned. "No, that only works with you, Babe."

The rest of the day was rather quiet. I hadn't seen Lester or Anna any more that day. Ranger had meetings scheduled that took him out of the office for most of the day. I ate a quiet lunch and having finished all the files, decided to check up on Lula.

When I pulled up to Vinnie's office, I was surprised to find Ranger's truck parked outside. I went inside to see Lula and Connie. Ranger was no where in sight.

"Yo, girl, what's you been up to?" Lula yelled from her post next to the file cabinet. "Connie and I were just talking about you."

"Oh yeah, what about exactly?" I couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside Vinnie's office with Ranger.

"Well, Batman came in here and he sure seems to be irritated with someone. Connie here figured you must have had a fight. I mean, no one ever gets Batman pissed, you know."

So Ranger appeared mad. Interesting, I thought. "I don't think it's my fault. I was at work, doing my job. Just thought I would check in to see if you needed any help with your FTA files. Need someone to ride shotgun?"

Lula was shaking her dyed blond dreds. "Girl, this place has been dead. I haven't had a decent file all week. Connie just gave Ranger two new ones, but nothing's come in on the small stuff. This bounty hunter shit has its good times and its bad, you know."

Don't I remember, I thought. It was actually nice having a decent paycheck and not having to worry about paying the rent. Almost as if on cue, Ranger exited Vinnie's office. He came to me, placing his hand on the back of my neck and guided me out the door. "I need to talk to you," he stated flatly.

I followed his lead and stood by the truck waiting for more information. I was rewarded for my patience with a toe-curling kiss.

"I've been wanting to do that all day long," Ranger explained, his breathing a little labored.

"Yeah, well so have I. What have you been up to?" I asked.

"Isn't that my line usually," Ranger teased. "I just wanted to let you know that I might be late coming home tonight. I got a call from Anna. She needs to talk to me without Lester around. I told her I'd meet her tonight."

"Sure, no problem. Is everything okay with her?" Talk about being kept in the dark, I was starting to feel like a mushroom.

"Yeah, she's fine, but things are getting complicated. I should be able to explain everything to you tonight." He leaned in for another kiss. "Love you, Babe."

As Ranger's truck pulled out of the lot, I went back inside to talk to Lula and Connie.

"So, trouble in paradise?" Connie teased.

"Did that look like trouble?" I knew they witnessed the kissing.

"No way," Lula added, "that was more like sex in public."

I had to smile. "That was nothing. You should see when we're really trying."

That did it, both women started to fan themselves. "That man is the shit," Lula sighed.

I spent another half hour catching up with the girls. Vinnie was pretty quiet in his office, leaving me to wonder exactly what he was doing. I was better off not knowing for sure. The lack of FTAs meant that I would most likely venture back to the computer and see if any new files had arrived there. If I was really desperate, I could check on mom and dad, but I'd have to be pretty bored.

Without realizing it, I had driven to my parent's house. If Ranger was going to be late tonight anyway, I might as well do the family dinner thing tonight. I'd do that kill two birds with one stone thing.

"Hey, Mom. How's it going?" I asked as she entered the kitchen. I noticed that my father wasn't home. Grandma Mazur was in the kitchen with my mother.

"Stephanie, so nice to see you. You never stop by any more. Is everything all right at work.? How's Ranger?"

I had to smile. My mother was the typical Burg housewife. She'd ask all the right questions, despite the fact that she didn't particularly care for the answers. I knew that my mother would get to the real issues soon enough.

"Work is fine. Ranger is fine. He's working late tonight, so I thought I'd come here for dinner. Is that all right with you?"

Ellen Plum smiled at her daughter. "Of course its all right. You're always welcome at the table, you know that."

I did know that. In fact, I was more than welcome, I was expected ... a couple of times per week, if my mother had her way.

"I'll be back around dinner time," I explained. It was about three o'clock now, so I would have time to go home, check the computer files, change and get back here by six.

I pulled into the Rangeman garage, noticing that Ranger's truck was missing. I went directly to my cubicle and rifled through the in-box. There was a few new files, which I should be able to finish before having to leave for dinner.

Once the files were completed, I went upstairs for a shower. I had a little over an hour to get to my parent's house. I showered and dressed pretty quickly, as there was no Ranger distraction. I made sure to dress pretty decent, which meant foresaking the typical black and donning a pair of dockers and a sweater. As luck would have it, I made it to my parents house with a few minutes to spare.

Dinner at the Plum household was always an experience. Tonight was no different. Valerie, the girls and Albert were all in residence. Dinner conversation was varied and fast paced. I realized that I was rapidly becoming accustomed to the quiet dinners with Ranger. The noise and line of questioning was a bit much and my head started to pound. By the end of dinner, I felt like she needed to lie down. Mom gave me some aspirin and a bag of leftovers, including the dessert that I couldn't eat.

"You need to go lie down and rest, dear," her mother admonished. "I know that having everyone together can be a little taxing on the nerves, but that's family for you."

I had no doubt that while she had been in the kitchen packing the leftovers for me, she had also been stealing hits from the bottle she kept hidden in the pantry.

"I'll see you later, Mom, Grandma," I called out to the kitchen. "Bye, Dad," I stated as I gave him a kiss on the top of the head.

"Bye, pumpkin. Give my regards to Ranger," my father replied.

I smiled. He had never once said the same thing about Joe.

This time when I parked in the garage, I noticed that Ranger's truck was already there. Good, I thought, I had hoped he'd be home. I had left a message on his cell that I would be at my parent's for dinner. I had wondered if he turned the cell off or if he was already on a call. It wasn't like Ranger to turn off his phone.

The lights were on in the apartment, but Ric wasn't in the living room. I headed for the bedroom, when I heard a noise from the kitchen.

"Hey, Babe. How was dinner?" Ranger eyed the bag in my hand.

"Leftovers. Want some?" I offered.

"No, but I'm glad you're back. We have to talk."

I placed the leftovers in the refrigerator and leaned against the counter, taking a deep breath. My head was starting to pound again. Ranger noticed and started to rub my temples.

"Headache?" He softly rubbed the sides of my head.

"Just the usual after effect of dinner at the Plum household. How was your night?"

The rubbing stopped. "Not much better. I don't think you're going to like what I have to tell you."

Just great, I thought.